Rob Geeraets, director of institutional sales at F&C, after working at Lombard Odier and Kas Bank, has been recruited as director for the newly-created position of head of distribution at Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) for Benelux, Fonds Nieuws reports. Geeraets will report to Jenny Segel, director of distribution for Europe at AMG.
Last month, the daily trading volume of on-book trades on ETFs on the European markets on NYSE Euronext fell to EUR192.4m in September, after an increase of 14.2% in August. Compared with October 2012, it has fallen by 13.5%.The median spread last month totalled 25.3 basis points, compared with 28.1 basis points in September 2013, and 29 basis points in October 2012.As of the end of October, the European markets of NYSE Euronext listed 557 ETFs 645 times. Three new funds were added to trading in October, two from Lyxor and one from EasyETF.
Funds People reports that Mutuactivos has notified the CNMV of its decision to open the liquidation period for its Mutuafondo Multimix fund of funds as of 7 November 2013. Due to the effects of redemptions and transfers to other funds from the group, assets in the product had fallen to EUR13.7m as of the end of June.As of the end of September, the Multimix posted returns of 4.25% since the beginning of the year. Its annualised performance over three and five years was 2.84% and 2.72%, respectively, according to calculations by the Inverco association of asset management firms.
The British boutique James Hambro & Partners has recruited Christopher Macklin, a former portfolio manager from Schroders Private Bank, as business development manager, Fundweb reports.Macklin, whose primary mission will be to develop activities with clients, will report directly to Tim Broughton.Assets under management and advised by Hambro & Partners total GBP1.2bn.
Net inflows to equity funds are on track to reach their highest levels since 2000, according to the most recent edition of the Pridham Report. According to statistics from the British investment management association (IMA), net inflows to equity funs have already topped GBP8bn in the first nine months of the year. In third quarter, Standard Life Investments tops the rankings for sales with net inflows of GBP819.9m. It is followed by Schroders with GBP622.1m, Artemis (GBP498.5m), Henderson (GBP481.9m) and BlackRock (GBP471.8m).
As announced to Newsmanagers by George Muzinich (see Newsmanagers of 7 October), the New York-based asset management firm Muzinich & Co (USD25bn in assets) has launched its Emerging Markets Short duration Bond Fund, which, as its name indicates, invests in a diversified portfolio of investment grade and high yield short-duration corporate bonds, issued by companies focused on emerging markets.For the new Luxembourg-registered fund, managed by Warren Hyland and Christina Bastin, which prefers bonds in hard currencies, for the moment only a super-inistitutional S share class (IE00BCCW0T67), with a minimal subscription of USD100m, has been launched. These shares charge 0.5%, but A shares in US dollars, euros and pounds sterling charge 0.8%. Assets total about USD60m.
On 12 November, NYSE Euronext admitted a 558th ETF to trading on the European markets, in Amsterdam. It is a FinEx fund, the Fin Ex HELD Gold, whose ticker is FXGD and which replicates the morning gold fixing in London (Gold London AM fixing). The total expense ratio totals 0.45%.Elsewhere, 15 new Netherlands-registered funds from SNS Beleggingfondsen (non-ETF) have been admitted to the NYSE Euronext NAV Trading Facility (formerly Euronext Fund Service of EFS). This brings the total number of non-ETF funds listed on the platform to 209. The list of new products is available in the attached pdf document.
Lazard Asset Management has launched a UCITS version of its Global Hexagon equity strategy, Fundweb reports. The long/short fund, Lazard Global Hexagon Equity, invests worldwide, including in emerging markets. The portfolio manager, Jean-Daniel Malan, will manage the fund.
A regain in interest in European equities has given an unexpected boost to a long neglected segment: 130/30 funds, Financial Times fund management reports. For example, the Europe Equity Plus fund from JPMorgan, launched in 2007, has seen its assets leap to USD1.25bn, although it had only USD24m in December 2012.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a statement on practices governed by the Takeover Bid Directive (TBD), focused on shareholder cooperation issues relating to acting in concert and the appointment of board members. The statement contains a White List of activities that shareholders can cooperate on without the presumption of acting in concert.The statement is in response to a request by the European Commission for clarity on these issues.
Funds on sale in Sweden in October recorded net inflows of SEK4.1bn (EUR0.46bn), after SEK1.3bn (EUR0.15bn) in September, according to the most recent statistics from the Swedish fund association Fondbolagens Förening. Inflows were driven by balanced funds, which totalled SEK3.9bn (EUR0.44bn). Equity funds, for their part, took in SEK1.3bn (EUR0.15bn), due to Swedish equity funds and European equity funds. Money market funds, however, saw recemptions of SEK1.6bn. Year to date, funds on sale in Sweden have recorded net inflows of SEK62.8bn (EUR7bn), due to balanced and equity funds. As of the end of October, assets in funds on sale in Sweden totalled SEK2.389trn (nearly EUR270bn), about 55% of which is in equity funds.
After an increase of USD71.5bn in September, assets under management by Legg Mason, Invesco, Franklin Templeton and AllianceBernstein posted further gains of USD57.5bn in October, for a total of EUR2.7487trn. Overall, that represents an increase of 2.14% month on month.In detail, Franklin Templeton has posted gains of USD24.2bn in its assets in one month, to USD868.9bn, while at Invesco total assets under management as of the end of October totalled USD763.9bn, an increase of USD18.4bn compared with 30 September.At Legg Mason, the increase totalled USD13.9bn, for a total of USD669.9bn as of 31 October. Lastly, AllianceBernstein has posted gains of USD1bn to its assets, to USD446bn.
Atos has entered the close circle of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World (DJSI), which from the 2,500 largest companies in the world, selects the 10% which are recognised as the best performers in terms of corporate responsibility, both from a governance and from an environmental and social point of view. This recognition represents a further step by Atos in terms of corporate responsibility. For three years, after a rating of A+ from the Global Reporting Initiative for its sustainable development report and the recognition awarded by the “Great Place to Work” institute to several of its affiliates, Atos would like to become a point of reference for the IT services industry.
Murielle Didier, head of multi-management clients and private banks for France and Monaco at ING Investment Management, after serving as a senior salesperson for these clients at BNP Paribas Investment Partners (initially Fortis IM), is joining JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) in Paris, in the position of senior head of sales for the multi-management and distributor client segment. Her arrival brings personnel on the dedicated team to four.
BNP Paribas Investment Partners is planning to launch a high yield corporate bond fund denominated in RMB via its joint venture HFT Investment Management, a joint venture with Haitong Securities, Citywire reports.The new strategy, HFT (HK) China High Yield Bond fund, allows the joint venture to buy shares in Chinese companies for up to RMB800m, or about EUR98m.
Domenico Siniscalco has resigned from the chairmanship of Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The decision was taken in order to avoid a “potential conflict of interests” between his position as chairman of the association of asset management firms, and his role as head of Morgan Stanley, at the time of the reorganization at Telecom Italia. Morgan Stanley is advising the telecommunications firm on its sales of assets, and for an issue of convertible bonds, but these operations are contested by minority shareholders in Telecom Italia.Domenico Siniscalco will be replaced by his vice chairman at Assogestioni, Giordano Lombardo, president of Pioneer, until the convocation of a general assembly.
finews reports that Crédit Agricole Switzerland has recruited Patrick Ramsey, who will be head of the new Swiss private banking division as well as for Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore, as its new head of the private clients division. He will report to Hervé Catala, CEO of Crédit Agricole Switzerland.Ramsey was CEO of Barclays Bank (Switzerland), head of wealth management Switzerland and country manager at Barclays Group for Switzerland. Before that, he was CEO of Merrill Lynch for Switzerland.Crédit Agricole Suisse has also recruited Hans Diederen as director of private banking for Asia, who will report to Ramsey, along with Youssef Dib, who has been appointed as head of ultra-high net worth investors (UHNWI). Diederen was previously at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, while for his part, Dib was global coordinator at BNP Paribas Private Banking.
The index provider Solactive AG on 12 November announced the appointment of Barbara Mahe as head of public relations (PR) and marketing, from 1 November 2013.Mahe, who will be based in London, previously worked for S&P Dow Jones Indices, as PR manager.
Ulrich Köhne has decided “for personal reasons” to resign from his position as a managing board member at Union Investment Asset Management Holding, effective from 30 November, the group announced on 12 November. Köhne was chief financial officer since 2003.In the interim until a successor can be appointed, the responsibilities of the outgoing man will be distributed among other managing board members.
Fund managers and analysts at SAC Capital Advisors are in talks with competing hedge fund firms, including Moore Capital Management, to join these companies as SAC prepares to close its London office, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. In addition to Moore, SAC employees have been in talks with Millennium Management, BlueCrest Capital Management and Balyazny Asset Management.
Schroders on 13 November announced its decision to bring its convertible bond management in-house, which since the beginning of 2008 has been outsourced to an external partner, the Swiss firm Fisch Asset Management.Peter Reinmuth, manager of the current “star” funds of the range, Schroder ISF Convertible Bond and Schroder ISF Asian Convertible Bond, will join the British asset management firm on 29 November 2013. he will be accompanied by two other experts from Fisch AM (including a member of the trading team), as well as an external manager, all of whom will join the British group by the end of Npvember to manage existing vehicles. The management team will be distributed between Zurich and Singapore, and will be placed under the responsibility of the Frenchman Philippe Lespinard, CIO Fixed Income at Schroders.Schroders has a volume of assets under management of nearly EUR1.5bn in convertible bonds, and as of 2013 has posted net inflows of over EUR500m to this asset class.
The British firm F&C Investments on 11 November announced plans to launch a new fund for its multi-asset class targeted risk fund, which already includes four products. The F&C MM Lifestyle Foundation Fund will be the least risky of the range, with an allocation to cash/fixed income of 64.3%, a proportion of equities of 27.7%, and a proportion of real estate of 8%. Each fund invests in a basket of 35 to 40 funds or instruments, and the range currently weighs about GBP435m.
M&G Investments is planning to launch a new income fund as an addition to its multi-asset class range, Citywire reports. The fund, M&G Income Allocation fund, is still pending permission from the authorities. It will be managed by Steven Andrew.
BNY Mellon has been awarded a Capital Markets Services licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its new dedicated Singapore-based subsidiary to provide fund management services in Singapore. The licence was approved on 11, November 2013.With the new licence, the Singapore subsidiary, BNY Mellon Investment Management Singapore Pte. Limited, will be able to conduct a full range of investment management activities, including research, portfolio management, marketing and sales of collective investment schemes. BNY Mellon Investment Management has been offering global investment solutions to institutional investors in the region through its investment boutiques.BNY Mellon employs over 450 people in the city.
The asset management unit at UniCredit, housed at Pioneer, recorded net inflows of EUR7.7bn in the first nine months of the year. Captive and non-captive clients both contributed to inflows, the Italian bank says. As of the end of September, assets under management totalled USD168.9bn, up 7% since the beginning of the year (+EUR11bn), also due to positive currency effects (+EUR3.3bn).
KBL European Private Bankers (KBL epb) announced today the appointment of Cédric Lebegge as General Manager, Project Management Office, based in Luxembourg. In this newly created role, Lebegge will lead the coordination, monitoring and support of large-scale group projects.This appointment comes at a time when KBL epb is focused on realizing its vision to become a top 20 European private banking group by 2015. To achieve this ambitious goal, the group is currently identifying inorganic growth opportunities – including through potential acquisitions in its core markets.Simultaneously, KBL epb has launched a group-wide Transformation Programme, a series of 14 key initiatives aimed at further professionalizing its approach to clients, delivering greater value and contributing to bottom-line results.As head of the Project Management Office, Lebegge and his team will play a steering role in both of these areas, among others, ensuring the long-term success of such projects across the group’s nine-country European footprint.Earlier, Lebegge served as a Brussels-based Partner in the Financial Services Practice at Bain & Company, a global business consultancy. During his 15 years of service there, he led a range of large-scale transformation and integration programmes for leading banks in Europe and Latin America, working from the firm’s Amsterdam, Kiev, Paris and Sao Paulo offices.
Murielle Didier rejoint JPMorgan Asset Management à Paris au poste de commerciale senior sur le segment de clientele multigérants et distributeurs. Son arrivée porte à quatre personnes l’effectif de l'équipe dédiée. Murielle Didier était précédemment responsable de la clientèle des multigérants et banques privées en France et à Monaco chez ING Investment Management après été commerciale senior sur cette même clientèle chez BNP Paribas Investment Partners (initialement Fortis IM)."Nous continuons de développer notre offre de produits et de services, notamment à destination des banques privées et réseaux, avec de nouveaux produits flexibles et à performance absolue ainsi qu’avec le déploiement du programme Market Insights, qui offre à nos partenaires de distribution une palette d’outils pour transmettre à leurs clients finaux les implications en termes d’investissement des évolutions économiques et financières», souligne Karine Szenberg, directeur général de J.P. Morgan AM en France dans un communiqué daté du 12 novembre.
A compter du 18 novembre 2013, Natixis AM informe les porteurs de parts du fonds Ecureuil Profil 50 (*), que la part actions du portefeuille pourra être investie en direct ou via des OPCVM jusqu’à 10 % de l’actif en actions de petites et moyennes capitalisations.(*) Code Isin : FR0000431090
Après un gonflement de 71,5 milliards en septembre, les actifs gérés par Legg Mason, Invesco, Franklin Templeton et AllianceBernstein ont encore affiché une hausse de 57,5 milliards de dollars en octobre.pour atteindre un total de 2.748,7 milliards d’euros. Cela représente globalement une augmentation de 2,14 % en un mois.Dans le détail, Franklin Templeton a enregistré en un mois une hausse de 24,2 milliards de dollars de son encours à 868,9 milliards de dollars, tandis que chez Invesco le total des actifs sous gestion ressortait fin octobre à 763,9 milliards de dollars, soit un accroissement de 18,4 milliards de dollars sur le 30 septembre.Chez Legg Mason, la hausse s’est située à 13,9 milliards de dollars, pour un total au 31 octobre de 669,9 milliards de dollars. Enfin, AllianceBernstein a enregistré une progression de 1 milliard de dollars de son encours, à 446 milliards.