L’agence de notation Moody’s estime que la situation des banques espagnoles s’est améliorée, mais que ces établissement pourraient encore faire face à des problèmes de liquidités et à des difficultés pour se financer."En dépit d’une accélération de l’activité sur les marchés au début de l’année 2013, les pressions sur le financement et les liquidités des banques espagnoles persisteront durant les prochains mois», estime l’agence dans un communiqué publié le 20 février.Parmi les «signes positifs récents», Moody’s souligne le fait que plusieurs grandes banques du pays aient pu émettre de la dette sur les marchés, en janvier 2013. De plus, certains établissements ont commencé à rembourser, de façon anticipée, les fonds empruntés à la BCE dans le cadre de ses programmes de liquidités, ce qui «a réduit la dépendance du secteur bancaire dans son ensemble au financement de la BCE», observe Pepa Mori, analyste chez Moody’s.Toutefois, l’analyste estime que «l’accès aux marchés de capitaux, s’il s’est amélioré, ne s’est pas encore normalisé». Aussi, si certaines banques pourront y accéder en profitant de fenêtres de moindre volatilité, on ne peut pas parler de retour durable de cette source de financement, estime l’agence de notation qui prévoit la persistance d’un environnement négatif au cours des douze prochains mois «tant pour le secteur bancaire que pour la dette souveraine espagnole».

French boutique Montmartre Asset Management, the sister asset management company of the Compagnie Financière Jacques Cœur, has launched its second fund, Montmartre Second, nearly one year after the first. It is a treasury product, managed by Brigitte Dutoit and Jean-Sébastien Morançais, both formerly of DWS. It is managed in the same spirit as the former, with two drivers of performance: short-term credit and positions on futures. Its performance objective is the Eonia +2.5, and volatility on futures is 0.30. The fund is also able to hedge for duration in whole or in part. CFJC has also announced the arrival of Olivier Schatz, as a board member, and Patrick Cheula, as a salesperson on its teams.

On 7 February, Franklin ETF Trust, an arm of Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton Investments) filed a N-1A application with the SEC for a license to launch the Franklin Short Duration Government ETF, which will primarily invest in Treasuries (at least 80%) and “substantially” in MBS issued in the United States “as soon as possible.” The total expense ratio for the fund has not yet been set.The duration objective for the portfolio will be a maximum of 3 years.The ETF, the first from Franklin Templeton, will be actively managed, without aiming to replicate an index, and may therefore have a higher portfolio turnover rate than traditional ETFs.

The volume of investment funds in Switzerland increased as of the end of January to CHF736bn, up by CHF13bn compared with the previous month, the Swiss fund association (SFA) announced on Wednesday. Of this total, about CHF280.4bn were placed in funds dedicated to institutional investors. As in December, most inflows went to bond funds, which posted subscriptions totalling a net CHF2.66bn. Inflows to equity funds totalled CHF798.1bn, while money market funds saw a net outflow of nearly CHF3.14bn.

Investment Week reports that the British firm Investec Asset Management has announced that effective immediately, it will no longer charge a fee for any of its British-registered OEIC funds.Investec reserves the possibility to reintroduce front-end fees to control the size of these funds if necessary.

Investment Week reports that Philip Howell, who in May last year left his job as CEO of Williams de Broë, will on 4 March join Rathbones as deputy CEO. He will report to CEO Andy Pomfret. Howell will also join the executive board at Rathbones.

Pending the arrival of Emmanuel Roman as CEO for the group, the British Man group is restructuring. Luke Ellis becomes chairman of the firm, responsible for its three major units, FRM, GLG and ALM, which manages the largest hedge fund of the group, AHL, Hedgeweek reports. Sandy Rattray will replace Tim Wong as CEO in charge of AHL, as Wong will become executive chairman of the quantitative division. AHL, whose assets under management were down to USD16.3bn in fourth quarter 2012, compared with USD19.5bn at the end of March 2012, is expected to merge with Man Systematic Strategies. Mark Jones nd Teun Hohnston have been appointed as co-chief executives of GLG, and become members of the executive board of the group.

According to a survey by Investec Wealth & Investment, 47% of British IFAs already use discretionary fund managers, and another 10% are considering outsourcing their portfolios to managers of this type, now that RDR regulations have come into effect, Fundweb reports.About 20% of IFAs surveyed predict that RDR will lead them to increase the number of client portfolios that they will outsource to discretionary managers.Although 11% of IFAs currently subcontract out their clients’ investments to platforms, 34% are planning to place a higher number of portfolios with platforms, also due to the introduction of RDR legislation.

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by Handelsblatt, the German real estate fund management firm RREEF (Deutsche Bank) and a group of investors led by Maurizio Borletti will sell the 16 Le Printemps stores they purchased from PPR seven years ago (for EUR1.1bn) to Qatari investors this summer, for EUR2bn including debt.

Assets under management at the asset management unit of the AXA group were up 7% last year to EUR903bn, the group announced on 21 February. This is mainly driven by a market appreciation, slightly offset by a change in scope following the disposal of UK Life, Canada and Australia & New Zealand operations. AllianceBernstein experienced net outflows of Euro -4 billion mainly from institutional and private clients whilst AXA IM reported net inflows of Euro +3 billion mainly driven by inflows from both key investor segments, retail and institutional. “Asset management has experienced several challenging years; however, 2012 showed signs of a turnaround. There was growth in earnings, with the last 4 months of the year delivering positive inflows at both AXA IM and AllianceBernstein. The long-term strategy to improve investment performance, diversify the business, innovate for clients with new offerings and strengthen the financials is delivering positive results”, said Denis Duverne, AXA Group deputy chief executive officer. Asset Management revenues were down 3%, mainly on lower management fees at AllianceBernstein, reflecting the product shift towards lower margin fixed income business as well as lower average AUM. AXA IM revenues were stable. Underlying earnings were up 14%, mainly driven by lower operating expenses at AllianceBernstein. AXA IM underlying earnings were up 1%.

JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) has added to its range of multi-asset class products, with the launch of a macro fund which will be managed by James Elliott, who took over as head of the division in December last year, Investment Week reports. The JPM Multi-Asset Macro fund, which aims for absolute returns over twelve months, will invets in a wide range of assets including equities, bonds, currencies and derivative products, with a potential 100% exposure to equities. The minimal investment in the vehicle has been set at GBP1,000, and annual management fees are 1.5%.

Odey Asset Management has confirmed the launch of a UCITS-compliant version of the flagship fund from Crispin Odey on 11 March, Investment Week reports. The fund will be entitled Odey Swan.

Spanish banks will still face funding and liquidity pressures in coming months even though some were able tap bond markets earlier this year, Moody’s Investors Service said in a statement released on February 20. Some larger Spanish banks have been able to sell senior and covered bonds this year, while lenders have also cut their reliance on funding from the European Central Bank and maintained household and company deposits, Moody’s said. “While recognizing the decline in the system’s overall financing requirements, Spanish banks continue to display wholesale funding reliance at a time when accessibility to long- term wholesale markets, while improving, has not normalized.”

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has updated its risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratios for the top 100 banks that it publicly rate globally. The study, entitled «Top 100 Rated Banks: S&P Capital Ratios And Rating Implications,» finds that there has been a slight improvement in the bottom lines of major banks in the past year. Banks have improved their bottom lines by increasing the proportion of profits not paid out, puying back hybrid capital, rising capital, and reducing their perimeter. However, Stefan Best, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s, observes, the health of the bottom line remains a negative ratings element for nearly half of the 100 banks. Banks in Australia, Japan, the U.S., Canada, and the Nordic countries exhibited stronger regional averages, whereas banks in parts of Western Europe and China had generally weaker RAC ratios.

Deka Immobilien has acquired the Kirchgasse 17 building in the centre of Wiesbaden for one of its institutional real estate funds, from the British firm Associated Property Investors. The property, with 5,000 square metres of area (shops, offices and housing) is wholly leased on a long-term contract to Heinrich Hugendubel GmbH & Co. KG, who lets office and commercial premises to other tenants.

Operating profits for the asset management unit of Allianz (Allianz Global Investors, or AGI) in 2012 rose 33.6%, to EUR2.3bn, with an internal growth rate of 24.9%, as the cost/income ratio continued to improve, to 55.9%, from 59%, far better than a declared objective of 65%, the German group announced on 21 February.Assets as of the end of December were up 11.8% year on year, to EUR1.852bn, as assets under management for third parties totalled EUR1.438bn, compared with EUR1.281bn as of the end of 2011.Net subscriptions jumped to EUR113.6bn in 2012, from EUR38.3bn the previous year.Net profits for the Allianz group last year more than doubled, to EUR5.2bn, from EUR2.5bn in 2011.

Although it received a license as a manager of collective investments in March 2012, Azora Gestión launched its first product only this week, with the transformation of its affiliate Lazora, founded in 2004, into a real estate investment firm, Funds People reports.Lazora has assets of EUR1.1bn in 90 properties subsidized by the government and student residences. The management commission is 0.7%, and the performance commission is 20%.

On 15 March, nine ETF funds with low asset levels will be closed by Guggenheim Partners. They have total assets of USD148m, slightly over 1% of total ETF assets at Guggenheim (USD14bn n 65 funds0, Index Universe reports.The ETFs affected by the closure are the following:•Guggenheim ABC High Dividend ETF (acronym on NYSEArca: ABCS), USD9.66m as of 15 February, launched in June 2011 •Guggenheim MSCI EAFE Equal Weight ETF (EWEF), USD12.03m, December 2010•Guggenheim S&P MidCap 400 Equal Weight ETF (EWMD), USD7.14m, August 2011•Guggenheim S&P SmallCap 600 Equal Weight ETF (EWSM), USD3.58, August 2011•Guggenheim Airline ETF (FAA), USD21.57m, January 2009•Guggenheim 2x S&P 500 ETF (RSU), USD52.86m, November 2007•Guggenheim Inverse 2x S&P 500 ETF (RSW), USD30.63m, November 2007•Wilshire 5000 Total Market ETF (WFVK), USD10.14m, March 2010•Wilshire 4500 Completion ETF (WXSP), USD7.15m, March 2010

For institutional investors, the Austrian asset management firm Raiffeisen Capital Management (RCM) has launched a locally-registered, UCITS-compliant long/short fund (ISIN code: AT0000A0XG67), which will invest primarily in government bonds (“govies”) from the euro zone rated at least AA. The portfolio will be complemented by liquid Eurex portfolios using three trend-following strategies to manage duration, which may range from -5.5 to +5.5. Management fees will be 0.55%.

The Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms has sent the finance ministry a letter explaining in detail the expected deleterious effects on collective investment and pension funds of any application of the financial transaction tax (FTT), Funds People reports. It is therefore asking that its vehicles be exempted from the FTT, on the grounds that the cost would have repercussions on the profitability of these products, and would distort competition against other vehicles which are not be subject to the tax, such as savings accounts or insurance policies.

In a joint media release issued on February 20, SIX and Deutsche Börse have announced that the Scoach cooperation agreement, launched in 2007, is to be terminated as of 30 June 2013. The contributing markets of Scoach will return to the parent companies, and the exchange for Structured Products in Zurich will be continued.Strategic focusThe purpose of this decision is to target each market more specifically. With this step, SIX reinforces its commitment to the Swiss market for Structured Products and will decide in the following months, which organizational structure offers the biggest potential for its future development.

The Italian asset management industry has set at new record, with assets of EUR1.195trn at the end of 2012, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals. The news comes despite net redemptions of EUR11.8bn during last year. More than half of assets (56%) are managed under dedicated mandates, which have seen net ouflows of EUR6.5bn. The remainder is in collective management, which has posted net inflows of EUR2.6bn.

Agefi reports that the bank HSBC this week announced the sale of its banking, brokerage, asset management and insurance activities in Panama to Bancolombia for USD2.1bn, in cash. This sale price is three times the net book value of the assets (with a portfolio of USD5.7bn in loans and USD5.8bn in savings). The parties hope to finalise the transaction in third quarter.

Les actifs sous gestion du pôle gestion d’actifs du groupe AXA ont augmenté l’an dernier de 7% à 903 milliards d’euros, a annoncé le groupe le 21 février. Cette évolution est le fait principalement de la hausse des marchés, légèrement compensée par un effet de périmètre défavorable, lié à la cession partielle des activités vie, épargne, retraite au Royaume-Uni, ainsi qu’à la vente des activités canadiennes et des activités en Australie et Nouvelle-Zélande. La décollecte nette chez AllianceBernstein s’élève à 4 milliards d’euros, principalement auprès du segment institutionnels et de la clientèle privée, tandis qu’AXA IM présente une collecte nette de 3 milliards d’euros, principalement auprès de ses deux segments les plus importants, les investisseurs institutionnels et grand public.« La gestion d’actifs a traversé plusieurs années difficiles; cependant, 2012 montre des signes de reprise. Les résultats se sont améliorés, avec une collecte nette positive sur les quatre derniers mois de l’année pour AXA IM comme pour AllianceBernstein. La stratégie de long-terme qui vise à améliorer la performance d’investissement, diversifier l’activité, innover pour les clients à travers de nouvelles offres et renforcer la performance financière, délivre des résultats positifs », estime Denis Duverne, directeur général délégué du Groupe AXA, cité dans un communiqué.Les actifs sous gestion augmentent de 7%, principalement du fait de la hausse des marchés, légèrement compensée par un effet de périmètre défavorable, lié à la cession partielle des activités vie, épargne, retraite au Royaume-Uni, ainsi qu’à la vente des activités canadiennes et des activités en Australie et Nouvelle-Zélande. Le résultat opérationnel augmente de 14% à 382 millions d’euros, principalement grâce à la baisse des charges d’exploitation chez AllianceBernstein. Le résultat opérationnel d’AXA IM augmente de 1% à 223 millions d’euros.Le résultat net du groupe diminue de 4% à 4 152 millions d’euros, reflétant principalement l’augmentation du résultat courant (+1,1 milliard d’euros) et la non récurrence des principaux éléments exceptionnels de 2011 (-1,4 milliard d’euros) : la cession des activités canadiennes et des activités en Australie et Nouvelle-Zélande, la vente de la participation de 16% dans Taikang Life en Chine et la réduction de l’écart d’acquisition des Etats-Unis.

L’Agefi rapporte que la banque HSBC a annoncé cette semaine la cession de ses activités banque, courtage, gestion d’actifs et assurance au Panama à Bancolombia pour 2,1 milliards de dollars, en numéraire. Ce montant représente le triple de la valeur nette comptable des actifs (pour un portefeuille de 5,7 milliards de prêts et de 5,8 milliards de dépôts). Les parties espèrent finaliser la transaction au troisième trimestre.

Selon L’Agefi, le groupe bancaire espagnol a réduit de presque 35% l’an dernier la rémunération de ses principaux dirigeants. Le président Emilio Botin a été touché au premier chef avec une baisse de rémunération de 32% par rapport à 2011, à un peu plus de 3 millions d’euros. Son bonus a été divisé de moitié tandis que son salaire a été gelé, précise le quotidien.

L’Espagne a adjugé jeudi pour 4,2 milliards d’euros de dette à moyen et long termes, un montant supérieur au haut de la fourchette visée, à des rendements en nette baisse pour les maturités les plus courtes. Le Trésor espagnol a levé 1,1 milliard d’euros trois ans, avec un rendement moyen en baisse à 2,54% contre 2,823% lors de la précédente adjudication de ce type, le 7 février. Le ratio de couverture ressort à 3,7 contre 2,2 auparavant. Sur l'échéance 2019, l’Espagne a adjugé 548 millions d’euros de titres à un rendement de 4,275% (contre 6,701% précédemment).

Le travail juridique préalable à la naissance de la coentreprise de la Banque Postale (LBP) et de la Caisse des dépôts (CDC) pour le financement des collectivités locales devrait être finalisé au mois de mars. Mais la feuille de la route de la future joint venture reste floue.

Le ton plus restrictif des minutes de la Fed a entrainé un rebond du dollar à 1,3276 contre euro et une chute de 1,24% de l’indice S&P500

La commission réglementaire chinoise des marchés a distribué pour avis des nouvelles règles aux institutions du pays visant à simplifier le processus d’approbation des lancements d’émissions obligataires sur le marché chinois, indique le China Securities Journal. Les deux places boursières auraient dorénavant le rôle de donner leur autorisation à ce type d’opérations.