p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Private Banking on 8 November announced the appointment of Laurent Joly as global director of wealth engineering, fiduciary services and life insurance. He will be based at the headquarters of the private bank in Paris. Joly, who has been employed at Société Générale since 1989, replaces Olivier Gougeon, previously international director of wealth engineering and fiduciary services, who has recently been appointed CEO of Société Générale Private Banking for the South Asian region. Claudio Bacceli is appointed as director of private banking activities at Société Générale Bank & Trust Luxembourg, replacing Joly. Bacceli joined Société Générale Bank & Trust Luxembourg in 2005 as director of wealth engineering for private banking, and later became deputy director of private banking in 2008, and head of sales in July 2009.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the beginning of this year, Aberdeen Asset Management has raised about EUR1bn in France, including mandates, meaning that assets under management for French clients at the UK management firm now total about EUR6bn, of which about EUR4bn are from Credit Suisse products, and EUR1bn for real estate products and mandates, while the remainder is net inflows, Frédéric Lejeune, head of business development for France and Monaco, explains. The Scottish management firm is not the only one to have posted highly respectable inflows this year, as Brice Anger, director of development for M&G Investments in France recently announced that the firm had already attractd EUR500m in net inflows in France (see Newsmanagers of 5 November), putting assets now above EUR1.2bn. Year-to-date net subscriptions at Schroders in France, according to information obtained by Newsmanagers, lie somewhere between the figures for the firm’s two British rivals.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) has announced two appointments. Guillaume Héraud will now serve as director of settlement services. He will continue to develop the range of settlement services from SGSS, for transactions on equities on traditional markets and multilateral trading platforms (MTF), on the one hand, and on the other, for all other types of assets subject to clearing processes, according to a statement. Héraud will report to Alain Closier, director of securities professions at Société Générale, and will also join the international steering committee of SGSS. Jeanne Duvoux has been appointed deputy CEO of SGSS S.p.A. And legal representative of SGSS in Italy. She will report to Massimo cotella, deputy director of SGSS S.p.A. One of Duvoux’ major responsibilities will be to support projects to optimise the range of services, including those intended to respond to new market requirements, and to foster the integration of new clients.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The former head of the Paris office of BlackRock, until October 2009, Sandrine Toulouse, has created the third-party marketing (TPM) firm Aloha Finance with Gilbert Nguyen, sales manager for distributor clients of BlackRock from September 2007 to October 2010. The new company offers services to asset management firms seeking to establish themselves or strengthen their position on the French market, provided that they have a license from the French regulator AMF. Aloha Finance develops the sales strategy for fund management companies it represents, designs sales and communication tools, and distributes financial investment products to French professional investor clients. Pending three more partnerships which are expected to be signed in the next few weeks and months, the new TPM will start with agreements with Wegelin (Lux) Funds SICAV), the European fund platform for the Swiss bank Wegelin & Co. Banquiers Privés, and with the French hedge fund manager Orchidée Finance.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } LGT Bank in Liechtenstein offered more than EUR300m to acquire the Deutsche Bank affiliate BHF bank, Agefi Switzerland reports, citing Dow Jones Newswires. The valuation of BHF is estimated at EUR600m.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In October 2010, funds and Sicavs on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR1.3bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers. These outflows were driven by redemptions of EUR2.5bn from Italian-registered funds. However, foreign-registered funds, managed either by Italian or other groups, saw inflows of EUR1.2bn. This category now represents 55.55% of assets in the sector. In terms of asset class, money market funds alone saw outflows of slightly over EUR2bn. Hedge funds have also seen outflows of EUR225m, as have flexible funds, of EUR100m. Equities funds, balanced funds and bond funds, on the other hand, have seen net inflows of EUR704m, EUR250m and EUR146m, respectively. Since the beginning of the year, Italian mutual funds have posted net subscriptions of EUR3.3bn. As of the end of the month, assets in the industry represented EUR450bn, a slight increase compared with the previous month. 49.5% of the industry is in the hands of four Italian groups: Intesa Sanpaolo, Pioneer Investments, UBI Banca and Mediolanum. The top two players posted some of the heaviest net outflows of the month, at EUR310.5m and EUR196.7m. However, Mediolanum saw the largest inflows of the month, with EUR217m.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dominic Rossi, who has left his job as chief investment officer (CIO) at Gartmore, has joined Fidelity Investment Managers as global CIO for equities. He will report to Robert Higginbotham, Investment Week reports. In his new position, Rossi will be responsible for the equities unit, including portfolio management, research, derivatives, trading and corporate finance.
Gartmore has entered a phase of strategic reflection with the assistance of Goldman Sachs, the asset management firm has announced, at a presentation of its interim results. Meanwhile, Gartmore will take measures to strengthen its firepower and improve its financial situation, with the deployment of a GBP10m per year cost reduction program.The Gartmore star manager Roger Guy is leaving the firm. As a result, Gertmore will be merging its teams dedicated to European equities (large cap and all-cap) into a single team, which will be led by John Bennett. Guy will continue to serve at the firm for the next few months in order to ensure a smooth transition. Guy’s large cap team managed GBP3.5bn as of 30 September, of which GBP1.3bn were in hedge funds, GBP0.5bn in mutual funds and GBP1.7bn in discretionary mandates.Gartmore has also announced the departure of Dominic Rossi, chief investment officer, who will take a new position at Fidelity. Until a successor can be appointed, Jeffrey Meyer, CEO, will serve in this role in the interim. Brian Mitchell, currently head of trading, has been appointed chief operating officer for the investment unit.Assets under management at Gartmore increased 4% in third quarter, from GBP19.9bn as of 30 June to GBP20.7bn as of 30 September. Positive market and performance effects were partially offset by net outflows of GBP700m. As of 31 October, assets under management totalled GBP20.9bn, despite net outflows of GBP300m in October. The group has also received GBP500m in redemption demands, of which GBP200m are for European large caps, and will be honoured by the end of the year.
According to Financial News, Fidelity Investment Managers has decided to cut its UK staff by 500 to 1,500 over the next five years, due to a less welcoming approach by UK regulatory authorities, higher income tax, and deteriorating prospects for new business. It will not be making anyone redundant, adds the website.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Securities & Exschange Commission (SEC) on 8 November announced its decision to severely limit the use of stub quotes, a practice which involves issuing orders at irrational prices in relation to the market consensus. The decision is the result of investigations in the wake of the one-day crash of 6 May this year. Stub quotes contributed to a loss of more than 9% for the Doe Jones in the space of a few minutes. The US market regulator says in a statement that the limitation on stub quotes is essentially a pure and simple prohibition: “By prohibiting stub quotes, we are reducing the danger that market transactions may take place at irrational prices,” says Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the SEC, cited in a statement. The new rules will come into force on 6 December.
A Russell Reynolds’ annual survey suggests compensation for asset managers in Europe could go up by 20 per cent, compared with a 10 to 15 per cent rise in the US, according to the Financial Times Fund Management. “European based asset managers tend to have more asset classes that are doing well, so levels of optimism about bonus pools are higher,” said Amanda Foster, managing director of Russell Reynolds’ practice in London.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Finles index of 28 hedge funds in the Netherlands as of 1 October measured 112.74, for a gain of 2.18%, its third consecutive monthly gain, following increases of 0.31% in August and 0.2% in July (see Newsmanagers of 29 and 8 September). The five best performances since the beginning of the year have been for the Trade Wind Equity fund (27%), QTR fund (20%), HIQ Invest Market Neutral fund (17%), Flonds Bloemendaal (12%) and Antaurus Europe Fund (12%). From 1 October, the Finles index includes a 29th fund, the Frog Fund.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As Pierre-Yves Cahart told Newsmanagers on 23 April 2010 (see interview on that date), Wegelin Asset Management, the unit dedicated to institutional clients at Wegelin & Co. Private Bankers, on 8 November announced the launch of its international equities strategy in France. The strategy, known as Active Indexing, combines active and index-based management and is available in three different UCITS III-compliant funds, which received licenses from the French financial market authority (AMF) on 27 July 2010: Active Indexing Europe, Active Indexing World and Active Indexing All Country World. The range is managed by Daniel Leveau, director of the quantitative management team at Wegelin Asset Management. The strategy involves market picking: the management team invests in the most attractive sectors and countries out of a given universe, as a function of their position in the valuation cycle.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British management firm Schroder announced on 8 November that it has received a sales license for its Luxembourg sub-fund Schroder ISF Small Cap Energy Fund in Austria (see Newsmanagers of 7 October).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 8 November, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and Deutsche Börse announced that the asset management firm from State Street Corp has listed 12 French-registered SPDR ETF funds on the Xetra platform, including 10 based on super-sectors of the MSCI Europe, one product based on the MSCI Europe, and one on the MSCI Europe Small Cap index. The admissions bring the total number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 751. In detail, the newly-created funds are the following: – SPDR MSCI Europe (FR0000001885) – SPDR MSCI Europe Small Cap (FR0010149880) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Consumer Discretionary (FR0000001752) management commission: 0.40%– SPDR MSCI Consumer Staples (FR0000001745) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Energy (FR0000001810) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Financials (FR0000001703) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Health Care (FR0000001737) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Industrials (FR0000001778) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Information Technology (FR0000001695) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Materials (FR0000001794) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Telecommunication Services (FR0000001687) management commission: 0.30%– SPDR MSCI Europe Utilities (FR0000001646) management commission: 0.30%
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The equities team at Franklin in Frankfurt has recruited two sell-side analysts from Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), Robert Mazzouli and Tim Burkhardt. In addition, the management firm has recruited Anne Friedrich, also as a research analyst, but she joins the firm from a venture capital firm, Creathor Venture Management. The team now includes eleven people, who will report to Uwe Zöllner. Meanwhile, Michael Clements, who was co-portfolio manager for the Franklin European Growth Fund, was appointed in October as lead portfolio manager for the fund, while Ed Lugo, who previously held these duties, remains as portfolio manager for the product.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Source on 8 November announced the listing of 15 ETC (exchange traded commodities) products on the Swiss stock exchange SIX. Source will initially list 14 T-ETC (Treasury Bill Secured ETC, ETCs which are secured by US Treasury bonds), replicating the performance of the S&P GSCITM Total Return commodities indices (dividends reinvested), and one P-ETC based on physical gold. The P-ETC Source Physical Gold replicates the evolution of the price of gold. Its assets are guaranteed by gold ingots held in the coffers of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, in London. The Source T-ETCs are collateralised by US Treasury Bills, and liquidity is held by an administrator in a separate account. Exposure to commodities indices is provided via performance swaps with diversification over several counterparties. All Source ETCs are available in US dollars on SIX. Annual management fees for the T-ETCs are 0.49%. Management fees for the P-ETC Source Physical Gold are significantly lower than for competing products, at 0.29% per year. In response to growing demand from investors for more efficient exposure to commodities, Source is also offering the T-ETC Source Crude Oil Enhanced (SEWTI). In the past few years, the performance of futures indexed on ETPs replicating the price of oil has been significantly hier than the evolution of the price of oil, due to the impact of the contango (report) situation on oil futures markets. The T-ETC Source Crude Oil Enhanced (SEWTI) aims to replicate the performance of the S&P GSCI Crude Oil Enhanced Total Return index. It is an optimised index, whose level of exposure to the futures curve on oil is adjusted on a monthly basis, which varies dynamically between NYMEX WTI contracts with maturities of up to six months, depending on the curve. The T-ETC Source Crude Oil Enhanced (SEWTI) has seen significant inflows in 2010, as investors have become more interested in the way in which ETCs replicate the performance of oil futures. In partnership with BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, Nyenburgh and 17 other market-makers, Source has collected more than USD7.5bn since its creation, in April 2009, of which USD850m have gone to its platform dedicated to ETCs. Growth in this segment is largely due to the success of the P-ETC Physical Gold (SGLD), which alone has collected over Usd600m in assets, due to the growing interest of investors in gold.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The monthly Lipper survey of major Spanish asset management firms reveals that they have increased their average allocation to equities to 42% in October, compared with 40.7% in September, Cinco Días reports. Meanwhile, they have not lost their confidence in bonds, which have increased to an exposure to 42.3% from 40.7%. This move was largely made to the detriment of cash, which fell to 12.25% from 14.15%, and alternative investments, down to 3.42% from 3.62%.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On the same day that Source listed funds on the SIX exchange, 8 November, db ETC AG (Deutsche Bank group) has listed 14 exchange-traded commodities (ETC) on the new ETP segment of the Swiss SIX exchange. Six of the products (Booster) use leverage, while eight do not. The market maker is Deutsche Bank, while the market maker for the Source ETPs will be Nyenburgh Holding BV. With the exception of the ETC based on physical gold, which charges 0.29%, the new products from db ETC all charge 0.45%. Ten of these ETCs replicate commodities indices, while four replicate indices of precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Michael McManus is joining Kima Capital to serve as chief financial officer, after previously working for Kima Capital as an accountant. He will report to Michael Gallagher, CEO of the hedge fund management firm.
Le premier opérateur boursier américain sur les futures a porté à 25 dollars par action, contre 22,5 dollars précédemment, son offre de rachat des titres détenus par ses anciens membres. CBOE a réduit de 13,3 millions à environ 12 millions le nombre de titres concernés par l’offre.
La FSA britannique a reçu une plainte de traders sur métaux qui s’inquiètent de l’effet déstabilisant des projets de lancement d’ETP sur métaux industriels.
La foncière vient d’obtenir auprès de trois banques allemandes une ligne de 270 millions d’euros sur sept ans pour un coût annuel inférieur à 3,50 % pour sa tour CB 21 à la Défense. Il s’agit du troisième refinancement de ce bâtiment acquis juste avant la crise financière.
«Notre part sera mise en vente d’ici à quelques jours et ce sera complété à la fin du premier trimestre» 2011, a déclaré Lionel Zinsou, le président de PAI, sur la radio BFM. Il a affirmé avoir reçu «beaucoup de marques d’intérêt venant d’industriels ».