The two Singapore sovereign wealth funds, Temasek and GIC Private, have quietly increased their exposure to Europe, and especially the United Kingdom, this year, the Financial Times reports. Last month, the GIC sovereign wealth fund bought a 28.5% stake in the British firm Rothesay Life. It also increased its stake in Royal Mail to slightly over 4%. Earlier, Temasek bought a small stake (less than 1%) in Lloyds Banking Group. In August, GIC was in negotiations to acquire half of Broadgate in the City of London.

finews.ch reports that David Keel has left his position as director of institutional sales at Lyxor Asset Management in German-speaking Switzerland after only 10 months, to join the UK-based Bluebay Asset Management as head of sales for Switzerland. He will be responsible for the acquisition and management of institutional clients.Before being recruited by Lyxor, Keel had worked at Barclays Capital Fund Solutions.

Assets under management for US clients of Pictet total USD3.6bn, Bertrand Demole, one of the top managers of the Swiss private bank, has told the Jerusalem Post.Demole also states that Pictet would not like to develop through external growth operations. “We have engaged in an organic growth process and we have never planned a merger or an acquisition in our history,” he says.

André Bantli, regional head of investment & portfolio management Asia Pacific and country head asset management Singapore at Credit Suisse Asset Management, has joined BlackRock as head of retail distribution for Switzerland, finews.ch reports.Bantli will be based in Zurich, and will work in close collaboration with Roger Stüber, senior client relationship manager, who remains head of key retail accounts, and will report to Martin Gut, country head Switzerland.

The private bank Julius Ber is planning to merge its external investment advising partner Infidar and WM Partners. The market will thus see the creation of a new giant in wealth management, according to the website “Inside Paradeplatz.”A spokesperson for Julius Baer has confirmed that the firm is “in advanced negotiations” with WM Partners with the intention of merging the two businesses. Further information will be provided only when the deal has been completed.

Daniel Vaquero, director of fixed income management, has been promoted to chief investment officer at Popular Banca Privada. He will be replaced in the position he is leaving by Ángel Pérez Carretero, who joins from Allianz Popular AM, Funds People reports.The asset management affiliate of the private bank from Banco Popular has 11 people, led by Jordi Padilla, and has assets of EUR1.25bn, which represents an increase of 15% since the beginning of the year. Overall, assets at Popular Banca Privada total EUR5.1bn.

The German asset management firm Acatis, which a few months ago opened a sales office in Paris (see Newsmanagers of 29 March 2013), has decided to participate in the development of a new asset management firm, with the purchase of a 30% stake in the capital of the young business Mars Asset Management.The newcomer in the field of asset management in Germany is an independent asset management firm founded in Spring 2013 by four asset management professionals: Volker Kurr, Jens Kummer, Andreas Bichler and Damian Krzizok. It offers multi-asset class portfolio management, manager selection and geographical allocation as part of equity management.As part of the strategic partnership, Mars AM will provide Acatis with anvestment advising for its Acatis 5 Sterne-Universal fund, which assigns a lot of importance to geographical allocation. Acatis will however not distribute funds from Mars AM, whose range includes the open-ended fund Mars 10, aimed at institutional investors.

Four former fund managers from the asset management firm MEAG (Munich Re group) have decided to create a boutique specialised in absolute returns, Citywire reports. The new entity, entitled Skalis, which will be based near Munich, has not yet received clearance from the supervisory authorities. The initiative follows the departure last month of the bond manager Ingmar Przewlocka, with three other colleagues, Jens Bies, Andreas Grassl and Marc Decker, to found the new firm. Grassl and Decker also worked at MEAG while Bies comes from Deka Asset Management. The four partners are planning to launch a strategy which will be inspired by the MEAG Eurorent fund, and which will invest primarily in European bonds, but which may also be exposed to equities and may introduce derivatives.

From 1 January, Philipp Lehner will join ACM Bernstein, and will leave the institutional sales team at BlackRock in Germany. He joined the group in 2001, at the time Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Das Investment reports. He will remain based in Munich.The process to replace Lehner has already commenced, says Markus Taubert, who leads BlackRock institutional distribution in Munich.

Robert F. Auwaerter, principal and head of the fixed income group, has announced intentions to retire in March 2014, after 23 years at Vanguard. He will be replaced by Gregory Davis, who will be responsible for USD750bn in bond assets from the asset management firm based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, including USD450bn in actively-managed assets, and USD300bn in tracker funds and ETFs.Davis is currently CIO for the Asia-Pacific region and director at Vanguard Investments Australia, after having been a senior portfolio manager and head of bond indexing for the fixed income group, where he was responsible for about USD200bn in tracker products. He joined Vanguard in 1999.

Russell Investments has replcated the managers of its Russell OpenWorld fund range, following the departure of Taisal Rahman, Fnancial News reports. Keith Brakeball will take over the OpenWorld US Credit fund, and Adam Babson will take over the OpenWorld Global Listed Infrastructure. Ronnie Sable will manage the OpenWorld Europe Focus Equity, and James Mitchell will be responsible for the OpenWorld Euro Credit. Lastly, Lee Kayser will handle the OpenWorld Commodities Long Neutral Strategy, as Phill Hoffman will be responsible for the Global High Dividend Equity fund.

According to Index Universe, Bloomberg has sold the license for its US dollar index to WisdomTree Investments, a provider of “fundamental” ETFs.The new index aims to fill the gap in the static US dollar index, which is weighted at 50% for the euro/dollar rate. The ten currencies represented in the index onclude more currencies, such as the Chinese currency, the South Korean won, the Mexican peso and the Australian dollar.The ticker code for the new index is BBDXY, while the total return version is available as BBDXT, and the inverse version is under the ticker BBCXI. Rebalancing will be carried out once per year, on the basis of data from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).

The US boutiques Argent Wealth Management and Pillar Financial Advisors, specialised in wealth management and both based in Massachusetts, have announced that they are merging, effective from 1 November. The new entity born of the merger, Argent Wealth Management LLC, will have assets under management of USD1.2bn, with similar contributions from each of the two firms.

The Recovery fund from Paulson & Co (USD2.3bn) has made 40% since the beginning of 2013, due to its investments in banks, insurers and also asset management firms, Financial Times fund management reports. Paulson & Co is interested in private equity firms, particularly Blackstone and Apollo Global Management. One of the major reasons for this interest is that private equity managers can charge performance commissions on top of management fees again.

Ignis Asset Management and Tyndall Investment Management Limited (Tyndall AM) have formed a strategic alliance in Australia. Under the terms of the agreement, Ignis will sub-advise investment strategies exclusively with Tyndall AM into the institutional market in Australia.Initially, Tyndall AM will offer Ignis’ Absolute Return Government Bond strategy and Liability Driven Investment (LDI) solutions to institutional investors. Tyndall AM may also consider other Ignis investment strategies, such as emerging market debt, as part of its multi- manager and World Series Fund platform offerings in future.Tyndall AM, based in Sydney, manages approximately GBP13.9 billion of assets on behalf of institutional, insurance and private wealth clients in Australia. It is part of Nikko AM, an independent fund manager in Asia headquartered in Japan.

According to a press release from Edhec-Risk Institute dated November 5th, EFAMA, the European Fund and Asset Management Association recently ventured that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) had exceeded its powers and mandate by issuing “quasi-regulation (...) on topics which were not previously regulated at EU level.” The representative body for the European investment management industry specifically targeted the ESMA Guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues and its provisions in terms of securities lending, collateral management, or the use of financial indicesEDHEC-Risk Institute, which, like EFAMA, has contributed to the consultation process that led to these guidelines , takes exception to this language and interpretation and wishes to underline the considerable investor protection and competition advances introduced by ESMA, notably with respect to the mitigation of counterparty risk and the quality and transparency of financial indices.EDHEC-Risk Institute «calls upon European lawmakers to transpose the advances pioneered by ESMA in the UCITS space to other Packaged Retail Investment Products so as to promote high uniform standards of investor protection and reduce opportunities for regulatory arbitrage within the EU. EDHEC-Risk Institute also encourages worldwide authorities reviewing the regulation of financial indices and benchmarks to adopt standards of transparency on par with those of the ESMA guidelines to establish the necessary conditions for the sustainable growth of an industry that can play a major role in enhancing investor welfare», the release says.

Deloitte, a consulting and audit firm, and Etops, a specialised middle and back office service provider, have decided to launch a new platform to integrally address the current and future challenges for asset managers. With the new platform, called Assetbox, the two partners offer a range of services, enabling asset managers to master regulation, risk, operations, tax, compliance and reporting requirements as well as improving performance, distribution, and cost efficiency.

The most recent rankings of sovereign funds on the basis of transparency remained highly stable in third quarter compared with the previous quarter, according to the transparency index Linaburg-Maduell, from the SWF Institute. The top of the rankings continue to be occupied by 10 sovereign funds, which have scored the highest possible rating of 10. These are followed by 10 sovereign funds with a score of 9, one more fund than in the rankings for second quarter, due to the addition to the list of the Alabama Trust Fund. The most recent rankings gained five new entrants, bringing the total number of sovereign funds reviewed for transparency to 51 from 46 previously. Aside from the Alabama Trust Fund, the other new entrants do not necessarily score well, as the Oman Investment Fund has a rating of only 4, like the Mexican oil fund (Oil Revenues Stabilization Fund of Mexico).

The independent asset management firm City Financial has recruited Philip Lee with immediate effect as global bond manager in its bond team. He will work in close collaboration with Graham Glass, principal manager of the City Financial Defensive Global Bond Fund. Lee previously worked at Asset Risk Consultants, an independent investment advising firm, where he had been associate director.

The German association of promoters of structured products (DDV) has passed a new code of conduct which is much stricter than the last one. The new code, which came into force on 1 November, though voluntary, includes much stricter regulations than the previous one, with a particular insistence on the notion of transparency. “In addition to the transparency of products, the transparency of costs now plays a central role in good conduct. Structured products now have a lead time in terms of cost transparency. No other sector is as open with its clients,” says Hartmut Knüppel, CEO and member of the board at the professional association.

Citywire reports that HyunHo Sohn, portfolio manager and former tech sector analyst, has become the manager of the Global Technology sub-fund of Fidelity Funds (EUR330m), a position which had previously, until 31 October, been occupied by Dmitry Solomakhin. Solomakhin will now concentrate on the management of the FAST Global long/short fund launched recently (see Newsmanagers of 8 October).

Listed companies in London will have to comply to stricter governance rules to safeguard minority interests from abuse by controlling shareholders, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), announced on Tuesday. These proposals follow a consultation by the FCA’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, in October 2012. The consultation responded to concerns from the investment community over the governance of premium listed companies with a controlling shareholder and the rights of minority shareholders. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has strengthened its listing rules to protect minority shareholders. The new rules will give shareholders in premium listed companies additional voting rights and greater influence over key decisions, the FCA says in a statement. Companies listed in London under the premium regime will be expected to adhere to stricter governance criteria than those which are under the standard regime.

Equities were the most popular asset class in the United Kingdom in September for the sixth consecutive month. Retail net inflows totalled GBP1.3bn in the month, bringing the total for third quarter to GBP3.8bn. Inflows to bond funds totalled GBP99m, compared with an average of GBP55m in the past twelve months. Inflows to mixed funds totalled GBP375m, compared with an average of USD335m over twelve months.

BlueBay Asset Management has appointed Luc Leclercq as chief operating officer (COO).Previously, Leclercq worked at State Street where he was senior vice president and responsible for middle office client relations with a focus on asset management.

The Cologne-based ratings agency Fonds Advise has published its new list of transparency ratings for 3,099 funds from 69 asset management firms in 12 countries as of 31 October.The four funds with the near-maximal rating of 1- are four German-registered ETFs of the iShares brand from BlackRock. Among the asset management firms whose transparency rating has improved are one Luxembourg-registered fund (Postbank Dynamik Vision) from DWS (now rated 2+), and several Irish funds from GAM Fund Management Ltd (now rated 3), as well as a number of Luxembourg funds from Aberdeen Global (3+).Among the transparency ratings downgrades are several products from the Austrian firm Spängler IQAM Invest, Irish funds from Putnam Investments, and the Pioneer Investments Euro Geldmarkt fund from Pioneer Germany.

BlueBay Asset Management vient de nommer Luc Leclercq au poste de COO. L’intéressé avait auparavant travaillé chez State Street où il était responsable du middle office relations clients dans la gestion d’actifs, indique Funds Europe.

HyunHo Sohn, gérant de portefeuille et ancien analyste technologiques, est devenu selon Citywire gérant du compartiment Global Technology de Fidelity Funds (330 millions d’euros), poste qui était occupé jusqu’au 31 octobre par Dmitry Solomakhin. Ce dernier va en effet se concentrer sur la gestion fonds long/short FAST Global lancé récemment (lire Newsmanagers du 8 octobre).

Avec des marchés d’actions toujours bien orientés, le mois d’octobre à été de nouveau profitable à la gestion active. Mais bien que sur les trois mandats actions «full invested», aucun portefeuille n’ait enregistré de pertes et que les gains des meilleurs sont sensiblement plus élevés que ceux des indices de référence, on notera que ces derniers ont été, somme toute, difficiles à battre. Ainsi, seuls quatre gérants sur dix-huit y sont parvenus dans le mandat actions «zone euro» (5,38% pour l’Eurostoxx NR), huit sur vingt-deux au sein du mandat Europe (3,93 % pour le Stoxx 600 NR) et cinq sur douze dans le cadre du mandat «Global Equities» (3,46 % pour le Stoxx 1800 NR). Il s’agit donc dans ce dernier cas de la plus forte proportion de gérants actifs battant le marché. D’autre part, à quelques exceptions près, les gérants «value» auront une nouvelle fois dominé les débats. Mais des différences sont perceptibles en bas de tableau par rapport au mois précédent. Les «quants» n’occupent plus systématiquement les dernières places, certains - comme Vivienne Investissement dans le mandat Actions Europe figurant même parmi les meilleurs. Dans le détail, sur la zone euro, le portefeuille de Jeffrey Taylor chez Invesco AM se retrouve une fois de plus en tête avec un gain de 7,68 % devant ING IM (6,97 %) et AllianceBernstein (6,95 %). Ces trois portefeuilles se distinguent par leur forte exposition au marché et par une contribution positive des choix de valeurs réalisés, notamment pour ING IM et Invesco AM. En bas de tableau, Aberdeen AM pâtit d’une exposition au marché moindre (beta de 0,75) et d’un «stock picking» négatif. Deux quants suivent: Theam (2,77 %) et Dexia AM (2,79 %). Theam se signale par un indice beta de 0,57 seulement. Au sein du mandat Europe, le portefeuille d’AllianceBernstein tire lui aussi profit de sa gestion value. Il occupe la première place (5,17 %) devant Invesco AM (4,82 %). Ce dernier portefeuille suit une gestion quantitative mais se signale par un béta supérieur à un. Il précède ce mois-ci le portefeuille de La Française AM (4,80 %). Aux dernières places, Delubac AM - l’un des derniers participants – enregistre sur le mois un gain de 0,38 % devant Aberdeen AM et Sycomore AM (1,65 %). Outre un béta en deçà de un, ces portefeuilles ont souffert d’une contribution négative de leur choix de titres. Dans le cadre du mandat «Global Equities», Allianz GI (3,89 %) devance Petercam (3,83 %) et AllianceBernstein (3,79%). Aux dernières places, Roche-Brune AM surprend avec un gain de 0,77 %. Le portefeuille est plutôt habitué aux hauts de classement. Cette contre-performance s’explique principalement par un alpha négatif tandis que le béta du portefeuille est légèrement inférieur à un (0,93). Tobam et Theam font mieux (1,50 % et 2,83 %) mais leurs portefeuilles se distinguent une fois de plus par leur sous-exposition au marché, pénalisante dans les comportements actuels des places financières. Enfin, dans le mandat «Multi Asset Class» – qui est dépourvu d’indice de référence par construction - CCR AM (3,10 %) devance La Française AM et Vivienne Investissement (3,09 % et 3,08 % respectivement). Aux dernières places figurent un «quant» et un pur stock-picker : Swiss Life AM (1,64 %) et Federal Finance (1,61 %).

Jusqu’au 15 novembre, le guichet des souscriptions pour les parts en dollars du fonds UBS Emerging Markets Bonds 2017 USD est rouvert par UBS Global Asset Management, pour satisfaire l’importante demande de la clientèle. L’objectif est cependant de limiter à 100 millions dollars l’encours supplémentaire, par rapport aux 231 millions de dollars collectés durant les deux semaines qui ont suivi le lancement, le 21 octobre, rapporte Funds People.Le fonds est un produit «buy & hold» investi principalement dette émergente souveraine en dollars. L’échéance est fixée à août 2017.

La société de gestion britannique Ignis Asset Management vient de nouer un partenariat stratégique avec la société de gestion australienne Tyndall Investment Management Limited, filiale du japonais Nikko AM. Aux termes de l’accord, Tyndall AM proposera aux investisseurs institutionnels australiens la stratégie Absolute Return Government Bond et les solutions de gestion sous contrainte de passif (liability driven investment ou LDI) d’Ignis. De plus, la société australienne pourra envisager d’offrir d’autres stratégies de son partenaire britannique comme la dette émergente dans le cadre de sa gamme de multigestion et de sa plate-forme World Series Fund.Basée à Sydney, Tyndall AM gère environ 13,9 milliards de livres d’encours pour le compte d’investisseurs institutionnels, de compagnies d’assurances et de clients fortunés en Australie. La société est principalement spécialisée dans les actifs australiens, et s’allier avec Ignis lui permet d’élargir son offre.