La Banque de France publie un rapport critique. Son homologue chinoise calme le jeu en interdisant à ses banques de prendre part à son utilisation

Malgré un discours moins accommodant, Mario Draghi évoque une LTRO tournée vers l'économie réelle

L’endettement du Royaume-Uni devrait commencer à reculer en 2016-2017, avec un an d’avance sur le calendrier initial, selon le chancelier de l’Echiquier

Malgré un discours moins accommodant, Mario Draghi évoque une LTRO tournée vers l'économie réelle

La Banque de France a publié hier un rapport critique sur l’ascension de la monnaie virtuelle. Son homologue chinoise, la PBoC, a pour sa part interdit à ses banques de traiter le Bitcoin, alors que la Chine se trouve au cœur de la flambée des prix autour de ce moyen de paiement en ligne.

Le liquidateur de la banque américaine a selon le quotidien mis en vente sa participation de 20% au capital du gestionnaire alternatif new-yorkais D.E. Shaw. Goldman Sachs organise la manœuvre pour une part dépourvue de droits de vote. Le quotidien souligne en outre que le fondateur du hedge fund, David E. Shaw, aura le dernier mot pour le choix de l’acquéreur, qui pourrait débourser entre 650 et 800 millions de dollars, dont une part indexée sur les performances à venir du gestionnaire, contre un coût estimé de 750 à 800 millions pour Lehman Brothers en 2007. Six prétendants auraient sélectionnés, dont Affiliated Managers Group (AMG), Foundation Capital Partners, ou Blackstone. Deux finalistes resteront en lice début 2014.

Virginie Chapron du Jeu, Directrice de l’investissement et de la comptabilité, CDC Retraites à la rédaction de www.institinvest.com : Il y a des thématiques d’investissement sur lesquelles CDC Retraites et Solidarité travaille, comme les infrastructures, la biodiversité et le financement des collectivités locales. Dans tous les cas, si nous rentrons sur ces classes d’actifs, cela se fera sur des poches réduites, car nous sommes tenus par des règles de dispersion, ce qui nous limiterait si nous investissions dans des fonds spécifiques. Pour le moment, nous n’avons pas d’appel d’offres programmé sur les réserves. Cependant, dans le cadre de notre politique de diversification, nous pourrions ouvrir des mandats supplémentaires. Cela nous permettrait de rendre une partie de l’allocation plus active et de mieux cibler nos objectifs d’allocation tactique.

Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) américain a progressé de 3,6% en rythme annualisé sur la période juillet-septembre, après 2,5% sur les trois mois précédents et 2,8% annoncé en première estimation, montrent les chiffres publiés jeudi par le département du Commerce. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters s’attendaient en moyenne à une croissance révisée à 3,0%. La révision provient cependant d’un effet restockage dans les entreprises, ce qui laisse attendre un ralentissement de la croissance au dernier trimestre 2013.

Les laboratoires pharmaceutiques vétérinaires français, Ceva Santé Animale et Sogeval (filiale de Sofiprotéol), annoncent l’ouverture de négociations exclusives en vue de leur rapprochement. Détenu par Euromezzanine, Natixis et Sagard depuis 2010, Ceva a réalisé 600 millions d’euros de chiffre d’affaires en 2012, contre 58 millions pour Sogeval.

La Banque centrale européenne a publié ce 5 décembre ses nouvelles prévisions d’inflation et de croissance en zone euro. Elle attend désormais 1,1 % d’inflation en 2014, contre une précédente prévision de 1,3%, et seulement 1,3% en 2015, ce qui constitue la plus faible projection d’inflation à deux ans de la part de l’institution. Sur le front de la croissance, la reprise sera molle : le PIB progresserait de 1,1% l’année prochaine (+ 0,1 point par rapport à la dernière prévision) et de 1,5% en 2015. La conférence de presse de Mario Draghi a surpris par son ton plutôt «faucon», et les réticences à lancer une nouvelle LTRO. «Si nous faisons une opération comparable aux LTRO, nous voulons être sûrs qu’elle profitera à l'économie, a indiqué le banquier central. Et nous ferons en sorte que cette opération ne soit pas utilisée pour subventionner la formation de capital du système bancaire dans ces opérations de ‘carry trade’.»

With the Sauren Absolute Return Dynamic, managed by HansaInvest, investment advisor Eckhard Sauren has announced the launch of a dynamic fund of fund on 27 December 2013, managed with an absolute return outlook, and aiming for returns higher than the Sauren Absolute Return fund, while accepting a higher level of volatility.CharacteristicsName: Sauren Absolute Return DynamicISIN code: DE000A1WZ3Z8Front-end fee: 3%Management commission: 0.80%Distribution commission: 0.55%Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding 4% with high watermark

With the publication of its group preliminary results for the year to end September, which produced a profit before tax of GBP 28.6 m vs GBP29.9m, Brewin Dolphin stressed that RDR’s full implementation in 2013 has intensified the competitive environment. The move away from financial advice for the mass market and increased pricing transparency has prompted a change in client behaviour.Clients are increasingly sophisticated and using more complex technology which is leading to the development of new propositions and fuelling a real trend towards self-directed solutions. Investors are becoming more sceptical of in-house funds and products and also expect more education and guidance from their advisers. Scale has become a more important consideration as investors require reassurance regarding the security of their assets as well as the robustness of the organisation dealing with their money. One of the consequences of RDR has been the creation of the so called ‘advice gap’, which has led to a large potential market for investors seeking some guidance but who are unable to justify paying for full advice or have no such requirement. New propositions are being created to address this new market which could present a threat to established providers as they fully leverage the capabilities of today’s technology. In addition, there is increased competition for high net worth clients and these are two of the key challenges facing the sector.Brewin Dolphin also stated that its total managed funds rose to GBP28.2bn at 29 september 2013 vs GBP 25.9bn one year earlier and that discretionary funds areached GBP21.3bn vs GBP18.2bn.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) conceived by the United Nations as its financial arm in the battle on climate change, opened its head offices in Seoul on 4 December. The symbolic coffers of the fund are still empty, Reuters reports.The Fund, which is expected to attract most of about USD100bn (EUR74bn) which developed countries are planning to dedicate to this cause each year from now until 2020, is not expected to be operational before the second half of 2014.Richer countries affected by the financial crisis have not paid the sums promised, meaning that the GCF has only USD40m at its disposal, from a contribution by South Korea, which is also intended to cover administrative costs.

Despite his losses on Herbalife, William Ackman finished the month of November with further gains, the news agency Reuters reports. Its flagship fund, the Pershing Square L.P., whose assets under management total about USD12bn, has posted gains of 1.4%, after commissions, for the month of November, which brings returns in the first eleven months of the year to 10%, according to updated figures distributed to clients and obtained by Reuters.

The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan in November improved 2.1 percentage points to 93.9 percent, the highest level since September 2008, as higher interest rates lowered liabilities, according to the BNY Mellon Investment Strategy & Solutions Group (ISSG). The funded ratio for corporate pension plans is up 16.8 percentage points since the beginning of the year. For U.S. corporate plans, assets increased 0.4 percent and liabilities fell 1.8 percent. The decline in liabilities was due to a 15-basis-point increase in the Aa corporate discount rate to 4.85 percent. Plan liabilities are calculated using the yields of long-term investment grade bonds. Higher yields on these bonds result in lower liabilities.

The Austrian asset management firm Erste Asset Management has announced the launch of the Erste Responsible Bond Emerging Corporate Fonds, which will invest in corporate bonds from emerging countries selected according to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria from a universe comparable to that of the CEMBI index from JPMorgan.The portfolio of the fund, managed by Peter Varga, will not include any bonds rated less than B-, and all issues selected are required to have a higher-than-average volume, for reasons of liquidity.ISIN codes:AT0000A13EF9 (A, distribution share class)AT0000A13EG7 (T, accumulation share class)AT0000A13EH5 (VT total accumulation share class)

London will set up a shareholders’ forum by June 2014, Les Echos reports. The aim of the forum is to allow British shareholders to coordinate with larger international investors who also hold shares in British firms, to combine forces to confront boards of directors. In other words, they seek to increase pressure to fight the excesses that have led some directors to be paid salaries considered excessive. The forum is supported by the British insurers’ association, the Investment Management Association (IMA) and the national pension fund association.

Tobias Petz, head of Ethenea Independent Investors for Germany and Austria, has been recruited as director of distribution at Jupiter Asset Management for southern Germany. He will report to Andrej Brodnik, director of distribution for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, who himself joined the British asset management firm five months ago (see Newsmanagers of 27 June), from BlackRock.A few weeks ago, Jupiter recruited Peter Peterburs (see Newsmanagers of 14 October) as vice president, retail business for Northern Germany.The distribution team for Germany at Jupiter now includes five people.

The Israeli Bank Leumi, which in January-September has posted net profits of NIS1.6bn (USD452m), compared with NIS1.19bn in the corresponding period of 2012, has announced that it has made an additional provision of NIS190m (USD54m) to cover additional costs the group may face as a result of investigations by the US authorities concerning the activities of Leumi between 2002 and 2010 with clients that are US taxpayers. A provision of NIS340m (USD96m) was previously made for the 2012 accounts.As of the end of September, assets under management by Leumi represented NIK1.039trn, or USD294bn, which represents an increase of 9.4%, compared with NIS950bn (USD269bn) one year previously.

The Californian pension fund CalPERS has adopted a set of core competencies that are desired for those that might serve as a member of the CalPERS board of administration. The complete list of competencies, recently adopted by the Pension Fund’s Board, specify more than 20 criteria in the areas of board governance, health care, pension plans, financial markets and communication, a statement from CalPERS released on 4 December states. The pension fund emphasises that the new initiative represents one more step in CalPERS efforts to strengthen the accountability, transparency and ethics of its board. Assets under management at CalPERS currently total over USD278bn.

Aviva Investors has recruited Mark Versey, chief investment officer at Friends Life, as its new director of client solutions, Investment Week reports. He will report directly to CEO Euan Munroy. Both will join in January.

Two of the largest actively-managed equity funds from Swedbank, Allemansfonden and Kapitalinvest, have outperformed their benchmarks only one year out of ten. In this context, the Swedish consumer protection agency will review whether marketing by the Scandinavian bank was misleading, Svenska Dagblatet reports. Both funds are managed by the Swedbank asset management firm, Robur.

As George Muzinich had announced to Newsmanagers (see Newsmanagers of 7 October), Munizich & Co is releasing the Irish-registered Global Tactical Credit Fund, managed by Mike McEachern, for sale.McEachern will make an effort to select the best credit investments on bond marktes worldwide, on the basis of the best relative values in terms of ratings, duration and geographical region, all coupled with rigorous bottom-up analysis of corporate bonds and loans in the IG and HY grades.The manager will be able to use portfolio heding techniques to reduce short-term volatility in periods of rising rates or widening spreads.The fund is not yet licensed for sale in France.CharacteristicsName: Muzinich & Co Global Tactical Credit FundISIN codes :IE00BF5S8N25 (distribution shares in GBP)IE00BF5S8J88 (accumulation shares in GBP)IE00BF5S8R62 (distribution shares in CHF)IE00BF5S8Q55 (distribution shares in EUR)IE00BF5S8P49 (distribution shares in USD)Front-end fee: 1%Management commission: 0.55% (distribution shares in GBP)0.29% for all other share classes

Sonja Laud will leave Schroders before the end of 2013, has announced the UK fund company.Ian Kelly, manager of the Schroder ISF European Equity Yield will take on her fund management responsibilities for the Schroder ISF Global Equity Yield and Schroder Global Equity Income Fund, in conjunction with Jamie Lowry. The latter currently manages the Schroder ISF European Equity Alpha.Ian Kelly and Jamie Lowry will also take on responsibility for the equity component of the Schroder ISF Global Dividend Maximiser, which is co-managed by Thomas See.There will be no change to the investment objectives of any of these funds, states Schroders.

The British investment firm Polar Capital is proposing an interim dividend of 4 pence, up from 2 pence previously, Citywire reports.Net pre-tax profits at Polar Capital in the six months to the end of September totalled GBP10.1bn, up by 165% compared with the corresponding half of the previous year.Inflows in the period totalled USD3.2bn, largely due to strong demand from investors for strategies focused on Japan. Positive market and currency effects contributed USD955m. Assets under management totalled USD11.4bn as of the end of September, compared with USD7.2bn as of 30 March 2013.The Polar Capital Japan fund, managed by James Salter and Gerard Cawley, has earned returns of 22.3% over the three years to 3 December, compared with 18.6% for the benchmark index.

In 2012, 73% of European third-party marketers raised less than EUR100m, a new research* by Sagalink Consulting shows. The largest proportion of these players (36%), which help asset management firms to distribute their funds, took in EUR10m to EUR50m.These sums contrast with levels observed in North America, where 70% of TPMs raised more than EUR100m last year.This gap is due to a “more mature and more structured” market in North America, Sagalink explains. In Europe, the profession is more recent, and it is sometimes used as a “transitional solution” by some sales professionnels when they find themselves unemployed. The differences between European and North American TPMs does not stop there, however.71% of European TPMs have an average contract duration of 1 to 3 years, while in North America, 70% of TPMs have relationships with their clients of over 4 years. Sagalink suggests that this volatility in the TPM profession in Europe “is also comparable to the custom among foreign asset management firms, and particularly British and American ones, to use TPMs to test foreign markets, before either hiring local sales teams of their own or pulling out.”As a logical result, North American TPMs negotiate remuneration contracts which offer better financial conditions, with 85% of TPMs able to obtain a fixed monthly remuneration of USD7,000 on average, in addition to which they receive a variable rate of about 20%. The main source of remuneration in Europe is variable pay, whose average is higher in the United States (40% of management fees).In terms of product range, most North American TPMs sell alternative funds such as real estate, private equity and hedge funds. Due to restrictive regulations, European players are more concentrated on long-only expertise. Another difference is that US TPMs are focused on a few funds, often with only one star manager, while the majority of Europeans have a catalogue of over 6 funds.*The study covered 100 TPMs based in 20 countries.

Investors who track commodity indices are fleeing the strategy at a record pace, the Financial Times reports. New estimates by Citi finds that USD36bn left passive commodity investments in the year to the end of November, while for the year 2012 overall, net subscriptions totalled USD27.5bn. Assets under management in commoditites totalled USD273bn in October, compared with a peak of USD380bn in April 2011.

From January 1, 2014, Geneva’s Private Bankers will be replaced by the Association of Swiss Private Banks, according to a statement published on December 4. This creation follows announcements by several private banks of plans to change their legal structure to that of a limited company.Geneva’s Private Bankers will undergo significant changes, broadening its scope so as to include both the institutions which recently changed their legal status (La Roche 1787 Private Bankers, Lombard Odier & Cie, Mirabaud & Cie and Pictet & Cie), and private bankers who were not previously members of this group. Renamed Association of Swiss Private Banks (ASPB), it thus intends to become a national-level organisation representing privately-owned Swiss banks. The founding members of the ASPB are Bordier & Cie, E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Gonet & Cie, La Roche 1787 Private Bankers, Lombard Odier & Cie, Mirabaud & Cie, Mourgue d’Algue & Cie, Pictet & Cie, Rahn & Bodmer Co. and Reichmuth & Co.Christoph B. Gloor will serve as the chairman of the new association. From January 1, 2014, only 7 members will remain within the Swiss Private Bankers Association. The organisation will be scaled down and its objectives limited to defending the specific interests of private bankers.

The pension fund for Taiwan public services (PSPF) has launched its first request for proposals, for two international equity mandates based on smart beta strategies, representing a total of USD1bn, Asian Investor reports. The pension fund, whose assets under management total about USD18bn, has announced that it is planning to double the size of these mandates if the performance is satisfying. The mandates are awarded for a period of four years, with a maximum of two managers for each strategy.

Credit Suisse Group has sold its stake in DLJ Merchant Banking Partners to the UK private equity partner Coller Capital, finews reports, on the basis of a Federal Trade Commission document. The sale price has not been disclosed.DLJ Merchant Banking Partners is specialised in LBO transactions. Credit Suisse has also sold another private equity activity, DLJ Investment Partners, to the US firm Portfolio Advisors.