p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Léopold Arminjon, a long/short equity manager at Henderson Global Investors (Henderson GI), has left the asset management firm following a reshuffle and rationalisation of European long/short strategies at the asset management firm, Henderson announced on 30 January. On the same date, Henderson GI announced plans to merge the long/short strategies in its European equity fund range, in order to simplify its product range. As part of this move, John Bennett, principal manager of the European Absolute Return Fund and co-manager of the Pan-European Alpha Fund, has been selected to oversee the merger operation. As a result, “as part of the reorganization, Léopold Arminjon, principal manager of the Pan European Alpha/AlphaGen Tucana strategy and co-manager of the European Absolute Return Fund, has decided to leave Henderson to pursue other opportunities,” Graham Kitchen, Head of Equities, has announced.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The boards of directors at Towry Finance, a British firm specialised in wealth management advising and asset management services, and Ashcourt Rowan, a British wealth management firm, have signed an agreement relating to an offer by Towry Finance to acquire all capital in Ashcourt Rowan. Under the signed agreement, shareholders in Ashcourt Rowan will receive GBP270 pence in cash for each share held. This total represents a premium of 60.2% over the closing share price of Ashcourt Rowan on 30 January 2015 (which was 168.5 pence per share on that date). The operation thus values Ashcourt Rowan at nearly GBP97m. The operation, subject to approval by the regulatory authorities, is expected to be completed three months after it is announced. “The merger between Towry and Ashcourt Rowan will create a major player in the wealth management and private management market in the United Kingdom, which is now better able to meet the needs of clients by offering them a broader range of services,” the two firms have said in a joint statement. “The new entity will be one of the 20 largest players in the British private management and wealth management market in terms of assets under management.” Ashcourt Rowan manages more than GBP5bn in assets, and has about 340 employees, while Towry has over GBP6bn in assets under management, and more than 800 employees.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The French asset management firm Lyxor, an affiliate of the Société Générale group, on Monday, 2 February announced that it has listed the first euro-hedged share class in an ETF replicating the performance of the Japanese Nikkei 400 index, entitled LYXOR UCITS ETF JPX-Nikkei 400 Daily Hedged C-EUR. The launch follows the “success of the non-hedged version,” the asset management firm comments. Since its launch in September 2014, the fund has posted inflows of more than EUR300m, according to statistics from Bloomberg as of 16 January 2015. “The volatility of currencies may lead to significant differences between the performance of the index in local currency and the performance of the ETF, if it has no currency hedgeing mechanism,” Lyxor explains. “The share class in hedged euros offers an integrated hedging mechanism for the yen, integrated into the ETF, which allows for the effects of currency variations between the ETF and its underlying to be controlled. The currency hedging compensates for the impact of potential rises/falls in the yen against the euro.” The total expense ratio (TER) for the euro-hedged share class listed on Euronext Paris, whose Bloomberg ticker is JPXH FP - ISIN FR0012154821, totals 0.25% per year Lyxor is planning to extend its ETF range very soon to include currency hedging of various currencies.

Some of the world’s best-known asset managers have been exposed for failing “to walk the talk on Stewardship and Responsible Investment” in an independent report published by ShareAction, a NGO that promotes responsible investment by pension funds and fund managers.The report, which ranks asset managers on transparency and responsible investment, checked under the bonnet of the 33 largest asset managers in the UK, who are responsible for investing GBP13.8 trillion of assets for pension savers, charities, universities and individuals all over the world. The report scored each firm out of a possible 143 points for complying with industry best practice.All of the managers surveyed publicly commit to active oversight of the firms in their portfolios, having signed up to the UK Stewardship Code, first published in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis. 31 of 33 have also signed the Principles for Responsible Investment. The worst performing firms were UBS Global Asset Management (29 points), M&G Investment Management (26 points), Santander Asset Management (18 points), J O Hambro Capital Management (15 points) and Wellington Management (12 points).“Our survey blows the cover on a wide range of big names in asset management who still refuse to be transparent about how they invest clients’ money,” said ShareAction chief executive Catherine Howarth.The best ranked firms were Threadneedle Asset Management (125 points), Aviva Investors (121 points), Jupiter Asset Management (120 points), Hermes Investment Management (110.5 points), and Legal & General Investment Management (108.5 points).“The leading firms show a commitment to acting in clients’ best interest that we applaud. Trustees of pension schemes should pay close attention to these results, and encourage take up of the individual recommendations made to each firm in this survey,” concludes Catherine Howarth.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } F&C Investments, an affiliate of BMO Asset Mangaement, has recruited Alex Howe as director of sales on its United Kingdom wholesale team. Howe joins from Schroders, where he served for eight years on the British sales team. In his new role, Howe will work in close collaboration with John Bennett, head of the wholesale team, and Simon Cordery, head of investor relationships and head of development for investment trusts.

From January 2015 Threadneedle will report the active share of its equity funds, having announced its intention to do so late last year. In a move to enhance transparency and disclosure to clients, Threadneedle’s latest professional investor factsheets, to be published this week, include each fund’s active share, a measure of how much the fund’s holdings deviate from its underlying benchmark. A portfolio with no holdings in common with its benchmark would have an active share of 100%.Threadneedle will report the active share on over 30 of its equity funds as at 31 December 2014. The majority of these show an active share above 70%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Van Lanschot on 2 February announced that John Hak is to resign from the board of directors at its affiliate Kempen & Co. the reason cited for the decision is “a divergence of opinion about the governance model for the group,” a statement says. “We have worked hard to smooth out our differences in point of view about the governance model. We did not succeed, to my great regret. I remain convinced, however, that Kempen has all the advantages to continue to succeed in its activities,” Hak explains, cited in a statement. Hak wil be leaving his role on 1 March this year.

Nikko Asset Management has hired four seasoned executives in New York, Tokyo and the United Kingdom to bolster the company’s institutional sales and marketing functions.Fred DeSerio, based in New York, has been named head of sales in the United States. He will be responsible for developing business in the institutional investment market in North America. He joined the Tokyo-based asset manager’s U.S. arm on January 30 from Invesco where he was a managing director. He previously worked for firms including Segal Advisors, American International Group and Smith Barney.Peter Knight joined the company on January 1 as head of global product specialists. Based in Tokyo, he will help drive the global sales effort by helping the firm articulate its product messaging from an investment perspective. He most recently worked as a business development manager in Japanese equities at BNY Mellon, having previously worked for Citigroup Asset Management Japan.Daisuke Kono, based in Tokyo, has been named head of international institutional materials on February 1. He is creating a centre of excellence in Tokyo specializing in creating materials for sophisticated international clients and prospects. He was previously a director of Invesco Asset Management’s product management section.Finally, Cameron Kuwahara joined the company on February 2 as head of solutions marketing based in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Nikko Asset Management has a global equity team. He will be working in Edinburgh and the company’s full-service European headquarters in London, as well as its New York office. He was previously a senior sales director for Citigroup Global Markets in Singapore. He also worked for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch Securities and Deutsche Securities Tokyo.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Sycomore Asset Management has recruited Benjamin Tolub as senior analyst in its management team, which now has 13 analyst-managers. More precisely, Tolub will join the long/short team, and will work in close collaboration with Gilles Sitbon, manager of the Sycomore L/S Opportunities, a flexible long/short fund of European equities. “This recruitment aims to accelerate the development of the long/short strategy, which now has a total of over EUR200m,” the asset management firm says. Tolub, 30, has seven years of experience in all sectors of trading, with a specialty in long/short and event-driven. Before joining Sycomore AM, Tolub served for four years as senior analyst at Millennium Partners, specialised in European long/short strategies. Before that, he served at Ohana & Co as an analyst dedicated to mergers and acquisitions.

Axa Investment Managers has confirmed the hiring of a new team dedicated to the service of its Nordic clients, with the appointment of Henrik af Donner, David Andersson and Viktoria Orhamn, based in Stockholm. The new team joins Axa IM from UBS Global Asset Management where they worked together for five years. During this time the team served UBS’s wholesale and institutional client base in the Nordics across all asset classes, as well as handling client service, sales support and marketing activities in the region. At AXA IM Henrik af Donner and David Andersson will co-head the Nordics region and jointly manage Axa IM’s Nordic client relationships. Viktoria Orhamn, as client service manager, will oversee client service, sales support and marketing for the region. Henrik and David will report into Stephan Heitz, head of Axa IM Continental Europe & Nordics and Viktoria will report into Henrik and David.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Lazard Frères Gestion on 2 February officially announced the arrival fo Denis Faller. Faller joins the firm on 2 March hits year as a managing partner and chief operating officer. He will be based in Paris, and will direct support and control functions. “We are convinced that the arrival of Faller will allow Lazard Frères Gestion to take on new challenges related to its development in France and Europe,” François-Marc Durand, chairman of Lazard Frères Gestion, says in a statement.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The Swiss asset management firm Unigestion has appointed Ken Harvie as head of consultant relationships on its team dedicated to institutional clients. Harvie, based in London, joined the asset management firm in December 2014. He will report to Tom Leavitt, managing director and head of institutional clients, and will be responsible for strengthening the company’s relationship with the global community of consultants. With more than 30 years of experience in the retirement sector, Harvie previously served as director of client and consultant relationships at Ignis Asset Management.

Eurizon Capital, the asset management affiliate of the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, has recruited Romain Roucoules to develop on the French market, Newsmanagers has learned.Roucoules, who previously worked at the Compagnie Financière Jacques Cœur, will be based in Luxembourg, where Eurizon Capital has an asset management affiliate.But he will spend several days per week in Paris, where he will work to meet institutional and professional investors and to introduce them to the company and its expertise.Although not yet well known in France, Eurizon Cpaital is one of the largest asset management firms in Italy, with assets of EUR227m, after net inflows of over EUR23bn in 2014.The firm, present in all asset classes, stands out largely or its bond management, which represents EUR43bn, and inludes 25 managers, who have worked together for an average of 14 years. Its other great specialty is flexible management (46% of assets). The asset management firm also has two affiliates, Eurizon Capital SA (EUR42.3bn), specialised in low tracking error management, and Epsilon (EUR15.6bn), dedicated to quantitative management.The recruitment of a salesperson in France comes as part of the international development of Eurizon Capital, begun in 2005, and led by Hugo Sansone in Luxembourg. In addition to France, the Italian asset managaement firm also covers Spain and Scandinavia via distributors. It is also present outside Europe, particularly in Latin America, through sales partnership, and in Asia, where it has a sales office in Hong Kong and an asset maangement affiliate in China (Penghua).

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Loomis, Sayles & Company on 2 February announced the recruitment of Esty Dwek to the position of strategist responsible for emerging markets. Dwek, based in the London offices of the company, will report jointly to Peter Marber, head of emerging markets, and Christine Kenny, co-CEO of the London office of Loomis Sayles. In her newly-created position, she will be responsible for analyzing trends on emerging markets, and formulating general recommendations in terms of the geographical distribution of asset allocation. Dwek will be a member of the team responsible for emerging markets, and will work closely with sell-side analysts, consultants, prospective clients and existing clients. Before joining Loomis Sayles, Dwek worked as a strategist in the private banking division of HSBC in London for six years, shere she oversaw the training programme in London, Geneva, New York and Singapore. She holds a degree from Princeton University and a CISI license.

La banque centrale irlandaise a relevé mardi sa prévision de croissance pour 2015, à 3,7%, en raison de la vigueur de la consommation et de l’investissement. Lors de sa dernière estimation en novembre, elle prévoyait une croissance du produit intérieur brut de 3,4% cette année. Elle s’attend à une progression de 3,8% en 2016. Elle estime que la croissance du PIB a été de 5,1% en 2014, contre une précédente estimation de 4,5%.

La Reserve Bank of Australia s’est jointe mardi au mouvement d’assouplissement monétaire engagé par les banques centrales sur fond de guerre des changes et de baisse des prix des matières premières. En rupture avec les conclusions de sa précédente réunion du mois de décembre, la Banque centrale d’Australie a abaissé mardi d’un quart de point son principal taux d’intérêt, à un plus bas historique de 2,25%, et rompu ainsi avec 18 mois de statu quo. La devise australienne a perdu plus d’un cent américain et le rendement à 10 ans des obligations d’Etat a baissé à un creux historique de 2,36%, alors que la probabilité d’une nouvelle baisse des taux lors de la prochaine réunion de la RBA en mars s’est renforcée aux yeux des investisseurs.

Un accord est intervenu lundi entre le gouvernement et sa majorité sur les tarifs des notaires qui vide de sa substance le «corridor tarifaire» prévu initialement dans le volet du texte de la loi Macron relatif aux professions réglementées du droit et qui inscrivait les prix des actes entre un plancher et un plafond. Emmanuel Macron a lui-même reconnu que le dispositif initial de corridor tarifaire était «compliqué» et qu’il comportait «des effets pervers».

La charge de la dette de la Grèce est faible et Athènes a la capacité de faire redescendre son niveau d’endettement à condition de retrouver un taux de croissance fort a estimé lundi Christian Noyer, membre du conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE, sans exclure de nouveaux aménagements. «La voie de sortie pour la Grèce c’est une accélération de sa croissance qui passe par la poursuite des bonnes réformes et la poursuite d’une politique économique de qualité», a déclaré le gouverneur de la Banque de France sur France Info.

La zone euro pourrait connaître une inflation négative au cours des prochains mois en raison de la forte décrue des prix pétroliers, a déclaré lundi Ewald Nowotny, membre du Conseil des gouverneurs de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE). Lors d’un discours à Budapest, il a toutefois répété qu'à son avis, il n’y aurait pas de déflation dans la zone euro sur l’ensemble de l’année.

La NTMA, l’agence qui gère la dette irlandaise, a mandaté des banques pour la syndication d’un emprunt à 30 ans dans un futur proche. Barclays, Citi, Crédit Agricole CIB, Danske Bank, Davy et Royal Bank of Scotland dirigeront la transaction.

La Banque centrale européenne a acquis un montant limité de titres adossés à des actifs (ABS) pendant la semaine au 30 janvier, pour arriver à un total de 2,325 milliards d’euros contre 2,266 milliards une semaine plus tôt.

L’activité manufacturière dans la zone euro a enregistré une modeste croissance en janvier. L’indice PMI manufacturier est ainsi remonté à 51,0, niveau identique à la première estimation de Markit, contre 50,6 en décembre. L’enquête de Markit a été menée avant la décision de la BCE de mettre en place un programme d’assouplissement quantitatif.

La responsable de la supervision européenne est favorable à l'imposition d'exigences en capital pour les détentions de titres souverains.

Neptune Investment a décidé de publier la part de gestion réellement active dans ses fonds, pour répondre aux critiques adressées au secteur.

En visite hier à Londres, le ministre grec des Finances, Yanis Varoufakis, ne réclame plus d’effacement de la dette détenue par les créanciers internationaux. En revanche, il a détaillé au quotidien sa proposition d'échange de dette, incluant deux types de nouvelles obligations. Le premier instrument, indexé sur la croissance économique nominale, remplacerait les prêts européens, tandis que le second, assimilé à un «titre obligataire perpétuel», remplacerait les obligations grecques détenues par la BCE. Selon Yanis Varoufakis, ce swap obligataire constituerait une forme «d’ingéniérie astucieuse de la dette» qui éviterait de recourir à des termes tels que «haircut», jugés intolérables en Allemagne.

Le troisième gestionnaire de fortune entend réaliser 100 millions de francs suisses d'économies, via notamment la suppression de 200 postes.

Le LBMA Gold Price sera administré par une filiale de l'opérateur boursier ICE et sera régulé à partir d'avril par la Financial Conduct Authority.

Pour un investisseur obligataire européen, les marchés internationaux apparaissent aujourd’hui intéressants pour capter des rendements plus élevés.

Avec la suspension temporaire des émissions souveraines, la banque centrale danoise espère agir sur les taux longs qui ont fortement chuté.

Malgré les belles opérations d'Altice, Carrefour, Unilever, Eni ou Wendel, les volumes levés ont chuté à 23,2 milliards d’euros la semaine dernière.