BlackRock has launched a frontier market investment trust, according to the Financial Times. The BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust, managed by Sam Vech, aims to raise between GBP80m-GBP100m from institutional investors.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Nikhil Srinivasan, currently chief investment officer at Allianz Investment Management (CIO) for the Asia-Pacific region, has been appointed CIO for the group. He will be based at the group’s Munich headquarters. The promotion, unusual for a European firm, may be viewed as a fair reward for Allianz’s results in the region. Asian life insurance activities have grown by 45% in the first nine months of the year. Srinivasan, CIO for Asia-Pacific since 2006, reduced exposure to equities to less than 1% in August 2007, just one month before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that the German private bank Hauck & Aufhaüser Privatbankiers KGaA has merged its two affiliates, based in Zurich, into a single entity, under its own name: Hauck & Aufhaüser (Suisse) SA. The firm is the result of a merger of Dr. Höller Vermögensverwaltung und Anlageberatung AG and the private bank’s original affiliate, Bastei Privatfinanz AG, which has been present in Zurich since 1994. The new entity has no banking license. It is dedicated exclusively to institutional asset management, family offices, financial consulting and management of investment funds, including ethical and sustainable funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Frankfurt-based independent asset management firm Lupus alpha on 26 November announced the launch of the German-registered, UCITS-compliant fund Lupus alpha Structure Emerging Markets, which allows subscribers to profit from the evolution of equities markets in emerging countries, without having to bear the full risks. Potential losses are limited to 10% per calendar year. The system will allow institutional investors with limited risk budgets to position themselves on emerging equities markets. Lupus alpha already manages over EUR800m in its protected Structure Invest range.The new fund will invest in a nearly index-based manner, based on the MSCI Emerging Markets index (24 countries). In addition, the management team may actively take advantage of the evolution of some more strongly-weighten country indices. The selection of countries is undertaken quantitatively with a trend-following model. The manager, Stephan Steiger, invests actively, using ETFs or futures on certain emerging markets. In addition, as the fund invests in local currencies, there may be positive currency effects if the currencies rise.The capital protection mechanism uses active management of exposure to equities using risk models which have been integrated into the Structure Invest fund from Lupus Alpha since 2003. The level of allocation to equities is determined as a function of the calculation of the expected shortfall on a daily basis, and dynamically adapted. If the value of the portfolio minus the expected shortfall is higher than a predefined limit, the manager has a risk margin which will allow him to increase exposure to equities.CharacteristicsName: Lupus alpha Structure Emerging MarketsISIN code: DE000A0YFF46Front-end fee: 5% maximumManagement commission: 1%Performance commission: 20% of performance against a composite benchmark index of 50% Eonia and 50% MSCI Emerging Markets TRInitial price of shares: EUR100

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 26 November, Deutsche Börse announced that it has added its 753rd ETF to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform. It is the German-registered bond fund iShares Markit iBoxx Euro High Yield (DE000A1C8QT0), which replicates the Markit iBoxx Euro Liquid High Yield Index, an index of high yield bonds issued by businesses and denominated in euros, although the issuers are domiciled outside the Euro zone. Ratings are below investment grade. Each issue must have a volume of at least EUR250m, and the weight of each issuer is limited to 5% of the index. Management commission is 0.50%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Deutsche Börse has announced with a slight delay that it has admitted the Goldman Sachs Absolute Return Tracker Index ETF Portfolio fund to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform. The Luxembourg-registered product (LU0529341090) charges 1.215%, and replicates the Goldman Sachs Absolute Return Tracker Index. The index reflects the evolution of a basket of long and short investible market factors. An algorithm determines the composition of the basket, in order to replicate potential evolution of a wide range of hedge funds as faithfully as possible. This is the first ETF which Goldman Sachs Structured Investments Sicav II has listed in Germany.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that the Green party MEP Pascal Canfin on Monday, 29 November published a report on proposals made by the Commission in mid-September to better regulate short-selling and transactions on credit default swaps (CDS). He would like to require investors in sovereign debt CDS to hold the underlying government debt as well. The economic and monetary affairs commission of the European parliament will finalise its position in a vote scheduled for 7 February. The planned regulations will then be subject to an agreement with the Council before being definitively passed.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In absolute terms, French funds have sustained net redemptinos fo EUR52bn in the first nine months of the year, which is the largest outflow in all countries covered by Efama, Expansión reports. However, these outflows represent only 4.15% of assets in French funds. Spanish funds may have seen outflows of only EUR16.34bn in January-September, but this total represents 10.4% of total assets under management, and thus the heaviest outflows in relative terms. The third country on the list is Italy, with net redemptions of EUR14.2bn, or 7.3% of the total. At the other extreme, Luxembourg funds have attracted a net EUR88.89bn, or 5.6% of their initial assets. But British funds have done better: their inflows of EUR38.5bn represent 7.3% of the amount observed at the end of 2009.

In the UCITS fund market, hedge fund strategies are growing at a faster pace than expected. In the first nine months of the year, inflows to UCITS-compliant hedge funds, or Newcits, totalled EUR25bn, according to a study by Strategic Insight on behalf of ALFI (the Luxembourg investment fund association), with the assistance of the Luxembourg for Finance (LFF) association.Inflows for the year as a whole may total about EUR33bn, compared with EUR19.2bn in 2009. Assets under management in over 1,000 Newcits as of the end of September totalled EUR114bn.The study finds that products domiciled in Luxembourg this year represented more than half of all inflows and Newcits account for 45% of all funds. Excluding funds domiciled in the UK, Luxembourg funds account for two thirds of all flows.Most funds use hedge fund strategies adapted for the increasing need for absolute return solutions, with lower volatility and lower correlations, in order to diversify portfolios.Gains remain concentrated in a few products: only 50 funds account for 90% of net inflows for the year. Some funds have shown spectacular inflows. The Global Absolute Return Strategies fund from Standard Life Investments has posted net inflows of EUR3.5bn, and the Julius Baer BF Absolute Return has attracted a net EUR2.1bn. Three other funds have collected over EUR1bn this year.The fundamentals which have supported the development of Newcits remain solid, say the authors of the study. Liquidity, a rigorous regulatory framework, transparency and the UCITS brand are all factors which support the development of UCITS hedge funds. And the study points out that these are all factors which on balance outweigh access to investors, the AIFM directive and its impact, or the need for absolute returns and diversification.The estimate of net inflows of EUR33bn for the year cited above represents 15% of all net inflows to long-term UCITS funds. If this percentage increases to 25% by the end of the next decade, and inflows increase by only 5% per year – two relatively conservative estimates, the study says – then Newcits will accumulate net assets of EUR600bn in the next decade.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedgeweek reports that Frontier Capital Management has launched a second managed futures fund, the FrontEdge Managed Futures Fund. The defensive qualities of managed futures, one of the most liquid absolute return strategies, were once again demonstrated when the markets fell in 2008, and the segment saw positive returns of about 17%. The fund has initial capital of USD40m in investments, which will increase to USD60m by the end of the year. The lead portfolio manager on the fund, Alex Gaitan, while Marc-Philippe Davies, head of investments, is its co-manager.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Brazilian asset management firm Arx is planning to release its new Latin American infrastructure strategy, managed by Bruno Garcia and Rogério Poppe, in France, Alex Gorra, director of the international BNY Mellon Arx platform, announced in Paris. The product is already available in a Brazilian-registered form, and invests 75% in Brazilian and 20-25% in Mexican securities, while the remainder is invested in Colombian, Peruvian and Chilean equities. It is a strategy “which privileges domestic stories,” and which, in the case of Mexican companies like America Móvil, Cemex and Homex are absolutely not dependent on the economic activity in the United States.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that Lamda Privatbank has launched its banking activities, becoming the 16th such institution in Liechtenstein. It has received authorisation from the competent authority (FMA) and will concentrate on traditional private management activities for high net worth clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the past, hedge funds have had the decisive advantage over ETFs of being more maneuverable and being better able to anticipate rebalancing or adjustments of indices, which often lead to market movements that negatively impact ETFs. At the beginning of next year, the Wall Street Journal reports, the Center for Research in Security Prices (CSRP) at the University of Chicago will launch investible indices which will prevent funds which replicate them from having to make mandatory transactions when changes are made to traditional indices. The distinctions between small, mid and large caps will be expressed as a percentage of the value of the total market, rather than as fixed amounts in dollars or an unchanging number of companies. Equities will be “partially weighted” via various cap size indices. If a company grows or shrinks, its shares will no longer be required to be added or removed all at once. Additions and removals will be made gradually, adn the date on which the changes are finalised will be randomized.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cotizalia reports that Manuel San Salvador, deputy CEO of Banco Urquijo (private banking, business banking, asset management), has left the business after being gradually relieved of various responsibilities, as Urquijo also lost its independent status within the Sabadell group (which acquired Urquijo in 2006). Officially, it is a divorce by mutual consent. In practice, it is more a consequence of the rise to power of Ramón de la Riva, who was appointed deputy CEO of Sabadell and executive vice president of Urquijo on 25 November.

Marc Olivier, directeur général France de Nordea Investment Funds

Isabelle Rome, gérante crédit chez Dexia AM

Laurence Boone, chef économiste France chez Barclays Capital

David Deddouche, stratégiste change chez Société Générale

Les cours ont reculé vendredi dans le sillage de l’annonce par le marché chinois du relèvement de ses exigences en termes d’appels de marge

Dans cette opération, qui relance le marché de l’investissement immobilier de La Défense, la tour CB 21, louée aux deux tiers, est valorisée 588 millions d’euros. Le mode d’investissement de CNP dans cet actif rénové témoigne de la pénurie d’offre de qualité sur le marché.

L’assureur vient d’acquérir auprès de Foncière des Régions 25 % de la tour CB 21, valorisée 588 millions d'euros

La Commission européenne consulte les parties prenantes jusqu'au 31 janvier en attendant de légiférer dans le courant de l'année 2011

Le nouveau régime de résolution d'une crise bancaire, voté le 26 novembre, permettra aux autorités de faire payer les créanciers obligataires

Bank of Ireland, AIB, Irish Life et EBS devront porter leur ratio core Tier one à 12% d'ici fin février 2011

La banque centrale, qui se réunit jeudi, a dû apporter la semaine dernière aux banques de la zone euro plus de liquidités à 3 mois que prévu

La banque centrale, qui se réunit jeudi, pourrait devoir décaler sa stratégie de sortie en raison d’un nouveau regain de tensions sur la liquidité bancaire.

En place à compter de mi-2013, ce système au cas par cas fera appel aux clauses d'action collective en cas de restructuration de la dette

La zone des 3.025-3.045 points reste le premier objectif de la reprise initiée fin mai à 2.450 points

L'Union européenne a approuvé hier un plan d’aide à l’Irlande de 85 milliards d’euros, dont 35 milliards destinés à assainir le secteur bancaire

Bruno Vanier, directeur de la gestion actions chez Edmond de Rothschild AM