La France aimerait faire avancer la réforme prudentielle, celle des indices, des dérivés échangés de gré à gré et du shadow banking

L’amélioration du secteur bancaire a profondément modifié les anticipations des opérateurs et induit une forte demande de couverture optionnelle

Le gouverneur de la BoE a indiqué que l'institution était prête à tolérer une inflation supérieure à son objectif de 2%

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Elle demande aux banques de mettre en place un volant anticyclique de fonds propres sur les prêts hypothécaires d'ici à septembre

Face à la hausse des prix immobiliers, le Conseil Fédéral a demandé aux banques de mettre en place un volant de fonds propres anticycliques pour les prêts hypothécaires finançant les logements d’ici à la fin du mois de septembre prochain. Les banquiers traînent des pieds.

Dans une note d'analyse, ils estiment que les projets actuels constituent une étape importante mais que la mise en œuvre sera déterminante

L’enquête des autorités américaines concernant des soupçons de délit d’initiés au sein du gestionnaire alternatif SAC Capital Advisors a été étendue pour concerner selon le quotidien 4 à 6 nouveaux titres. L’enquête menée par le FBI et le procureur en est à un stade préliminaire et pourrait ne pas aboutir à des poursuites formelles, selon le quotidien.

La Banque du Japon a décidé ce matin d'observer le statu quo, mais la nouvelle contraction du PIB devrait l'inciter à accentuer ses mesures

Pierre Richert, directeur financier d’Agrica à la rédaction de www.institinvest.com : Des décisions ont été prises au cours des comités financiers puis votées par les administrateurs d’Agrica, afin d’augmenter le rendement à long terme tout en multipliant les axes de diversification pour répartir le risque : Possibilité données à nos mandats obligataires de détenir jusqu'à 20% d’obligations souveraines des pays périphériques. Abandon de la répartition pivot 80 % dettes souveraines / 20% crédit corporate au sein de la poche obligataire. Les obligations corporate peuvent désormais représenter jusqu'à 50 % du total des obligations. Une poche obligations convertibles pouvant aller jusqu'à 20% de la poche actions. Une poche cible actions émergentes pouvant représenter 5 à 7% de la poche actions. Des investissements high yield pouvant représenter 5% de la poche obligataire. Surpondération des actions par rapport aux obligations de 3 % quant à l’allocation tactique. La répartition entre les différentes classes d’actifs est actuellement la suivante : 72 % d’obligations corporate et d’obligations d'État 22 % actions et actifs diversifiés 6 % immobilier

Le Premier ministre portugais Pedro Passos Coelho a fait part de son inquiétude quant à la récente hausse du chômage dans le pays. Le taux atteint un record de 16,9% au quatrième trimestre de 2012. «C’est la partie la plus dramatique du processus d’ajustement. Ces chiffres sont inquiétants», a déclaré Pedro Passos Coelho à la presse.

Le premier gérant mondial de fonds indiciels cotés (ETF) va bientôt commercialiser une nouvelle série de fonds à taux fixe disposant d’une date de maturité, à l’image des obligations ordinaires. Ces nouveaux produits visent à simplifier la tâche des investisseurs institutionnels, a expliqué le président de BlackRock Robert Kapito lors d’une conférence organisée par Credit Suisse.

Les stocks des entreprises américaines ont augmenté de 0,1% en décembre, à 1.623,1 milliards de dollars, après une hausse révisée de 0,2% le mois précédent, a fait savoir le département du Commerce. Les stocks hors automobiles - mesure qui entre dans le calcul du produit intérieur brut - ont progressé de 0,3%, comme en novembre.

L’Italie a placé avec succès son premier emprunt à 30 ans en près de deux ans lors d’une adjudication qui s’est tenue mercredi, balayant les inquiétudes liées aux tensions politiques avant les élections législatives des 24 et 25 février. Le Trésor a adjugé 888 millions d’euros d’obligations à échéance de septembre 2040, avec un rendement de 5,07% et un ratio de couverture qui a atteint 1,973.

Le Groupe des Vingt (G20) doit adopter le communiqué publié mardi par le Groupe des Sept (G7) afin d’apaiser les tensions sur la question des taux de change, a déclaré un haut fonctionnaire du gouvernement allemand. Dans son communiqué, le G7 affirme que les politiques monétaires ne doivent pas avoir pour objet de dévaluer les devises, alors que le Japon prend depuis trois mois des mesures très accommodantes qui ont conduit à une forte dépréciation du yen.

La société de gestion américaine a nommé Joseph Sullivan au poste de président directeur général en remplacement de Mark Fetting, qui a démissionné sous la pression. Il détenait la fonction de PDG par intérim et de responsable des ventes depuis le 1er octobre 2012. Cette décision fait suite à un processus de recherche de cinq mois mené par Korn/Ferry International.

Sévère ralentissement de la croissance des ventes au détail aux Etats-Unis en janvier. Sous le coup des augmentations d’impôts et de la hausse des prix de l’essence qui ont freiné les dépenses des ménages, les ventes au détail n’ont augmenté que de 0,1% le mois dernier, comme attendu par une majorité d'économistes, après une hausse de 0,5% (chiffre confirmé) en décembre.

Le coût des importations a augmenté de 0,6% aux Etats-Unis en janvier, pour la première fois en trois mois, tiré par la hausse des prix du pétrole, selon les chiffres publiés par le département du Travail. Cette hausse pèse sur le pouvoir d’achat des consommateurs, déjà affecté par des hausses d’impôts. Le coût des importations de pétrole a augmenté de 2,9% le mois dernier.

In 2012, conversions of French money market funds to SRI (socially responsible investment) totalled EUR7.7bn, Novethic reports in its most recent study on the subject. Like last year, this phenomenon explains most of the increase in assets for open-ended UCITS-compliant funds on sale in France with an SRI approach, which increased by EUR12.491bn to a total of EUR76.736bn (+19.4%). The other contributor was a market effect totalling EUR4.1bn. However, investors are still not a part of the picture: SRI UCITS funds have seen net redemptions of EUR1.4bn. In 2011, they had posted slightly lower inflows. However, not all funds are alike: bond funds posted subscriptions of EUR1.2bn, while equity funds saw outflows of EUR2.8bn. Money markets had a virtual flatline. Novethic also notes that 34 SRI funds disappeared as product ranges were rationalised. Due to the launch of only 26 funds, the total number of products fell for the first time this year, to 304, compared with 312 in 2011. Conversions of money market funds also brought changes to the rankings of asset management firms active on the French market. The conversion of the money market fund BNP Paribas Mois tripled the firm’s assets in open-ended SRI funds to about EUR8bn, and put it in second place, ahead of Natixis AM, whose SRI unit has been renamed as Mirova. With over EUR30bn, Amundi remains the leader. The firm of the Crédit Agricole group consolidated its lead with an increase of EUR8bn to its assets, partly thanks to inflows of EUR3.5bn and the conversion of a money market funds. Mirova, however, has seen a decline in its assets of over EUR2bn, due to redemptions from its money market funds.

BNP Paribas on Tuesday, 12 February confirmed to Agefi that subscriptions to the Parvest World Agriculture fund, which is the most exposed of its product range to soft commodities, has been suspended since 11 February. The decision was taken “as a precaution,” following the publication yesterday of a report by the NGO Oxfam about the activities of French banks on soft commodity markets, the newspaper states.

Morningstar reports that US long-term mutual funds in January posted net subscriptions of USD86.54bn, bringing their assets as of the end of the month to USD9.565bn. With the addition of USD28.6bn in net inflows to ETFs, it adds up to an all-time record for the month.However, money market funds have seen net redmptions of USD3.45bn, and their assets under management as of 31 January totalled USD2.536bn.Two asset managers clearly stand out for net subscriptions to their open-ended funds, excluding money markets and funds of funds. They are Vanguard, with nearly USD17.63bn, of which USD4bn went to the Vanguard Total Bond Market fund, and Pimco, with USD9.14bn.

The former economist in chief for WestLB Asset Management, Holger Sandte, is joining the asset management firm Nordea in Copenhagen, as head of research for Europe, Das Investment reports.

Andrea Calandra has been appointed as a salesperson for Italy at UBS ETF, in the team led by Simone Rosti Advisoronline reports. Calandra joined the UBS group in 2011. He had initially been responsible for investments for UBS Global Asset Management (Italia) SGR, and then served in the wealth management team, as a client adviser.

On 12 February, AllianceBernstein, “the operating company,” announced a net profit for the twelve months to 31 December of USD188.9m, compared with a loss of USD174.8m, while AllianceBernstein Holding, “the publicly-traded company,” posted net profits of USD51.08m, compared with losses of USD93.27m.

AllianceBernstein, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Legg Mason have all posted increases in assets in January 2013, totalling USD65bn overall.Franklin Templeton alone has seen an increase of USD28bn in one month, of which USD14.8bn went to equities, and USD8.8bn to bonds, for a total of USD809.8bn. Invesco, for its part, has posted an increase in its assets of USD24.9bn, to USD712.6bn, with USD14.6bn of this increase going to equity products.AUM at AllianceBernstein increased by USD7bn in January, to USD437bn, while at Legg Mason they totalled USD654.1bn as of 31 January, up 5.2bn since the end of December.

At a publication of its annual results, Société Générale has announced its commitment to the next phase of its Ambition SG 2015 plan. The organisation is now centred on three pillars of excellence, and the bank will see its structures and workflows simplified. In detail, with the objective of increasing is commercial and operational effectiveness, the bank has defined a first pillar which includes retail banking in France, which includes the current perimeter (Société Générale France Network, Crédit du Nord, Boursorama). A new pillar will be defined, which will include international retail banking and financial services. This will be created by merging the International Networks, Specialised Financial Services and Insurance units. Lastly, a third pillar will include finance and investment and private banking activities, asset management and investor services. This unit “will make it possible to develop commercial and operational efficiency, particularly in flox, with improed co-ordination of execution, settlement and custody activities, provided by SG CIB, Newedge and SGSS, respectively,” a statement says. The general management team is not modified, and will continue to be composed of the chairman and CEO, Frédéric Oudéa, and three deputy CEOs, Séverin Cabannes, Jean-François Sammarcelli and Bernardo Sanchez-Incera, working collegiately. The current perimeters of supervision for professions will also be retained, with Séverin Cabannes also responsible for overseeing the transformation of the group. For the management of new pillar projet plans, Didier Hauguel and Jean-Luc Parer will jointly assume responsibility for the new retail banking and international financial services unit which will be created. Didier Valet will be responsible for the new unit resulting from the merger of finance & investment banking with private banking, asset management and investor services. The name of the CFO of the group is now known. Philippe Heim will begin on 1 March. William Kadouch-Chassaing will suceed him as deputy CFO and director of strategy for the group. For his part, James Ripoll, director of asset management and investor services, has decided to continue his career outside the group, Société Générale has announced.

Société Générale, which released its annual results this Wednesday morning, has announced that it is combining its Corporate and Investment Banking and Private Banking, Global Investment Management and Services, as part of the second stage of the Ambition SG 2015 Plan. “This second stage consists in a project to simplify and refocus the organisational structure around the core businesses in order to increase revenue and cost synergies. This organisational structure would be based on three divisions,” a press statement says.Didier Valet will be in charge of the new division that will be the result of pooling the Corporate & Investment Banking and Private Banking, Global Investment Management Service activities. Jacques Ripoll, head of Global Investment Management and Services, has decided to pursue his career outside the Group. The two others divisions are : a French Retail Banking pillar, which covers the current scope (Societe Generale’s French Network, Crédit du Nord, Boursorama) and a new International Retail Banking and Financial Services pillar created by the combination of International Networks and Specialised Financial Services and Insurance, the aim of which is to improve synergies across countries and simplify the supervision. In 2012, the private banking, asset management and investor services unit saw its net contribution as a part of the group increase significantly, +21.6% compared with 2011 (not including the cost of the acquisition of TCW from Newedge), at EUR287m. Within the asset management profession, the contribution of Amundi, in which the bank controls a stake alongside Crédit Agricole, is EUR115m in 2012, compared with EUR98m in 2011. Assets under management at Lyxor, which is owned by the finance and investment banking unit, rose last year from EUR73.6bn to EUR75.4bn. For 2012 as a whole, net banking proceeds for Société Générale totalled EUR23.11bn, down 9.9% compared with published data, and 10.3% with constant data for last year, while its net profits fell 67%, to EUR774m.

The former head of alternative asset management in the financial institutions investment banking division of Barclays, Anthony Maniscalaco, is becoming managing director of the investment team at Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), alongside Greg Hall, senior managing director.The mission for the team is to acquire stakes in hedge fund management firms. Currently, BAAM has about USD45bn in discretionary assets under management in numerous business units.J. Tomilson Hill, vice chairman of Blackstone and chairman & CEO of BAAM, says that BAAM is planning to significantly increase its personnel this year. In 2012, the number of partners doubled, with six appointments.

Assets under management at the Cantonal Bank of St-Gall as of the end of 2012 totalled CHF38.2bn, up 1.8% compared with the end of 2011, according to a statement released on 13 February. Positive market effects are the cause of this increase, as the bank saw a net outflow of CHF177m.

Assets under management at the Cantonal Bank of St-Gall as of the end of 2012 totalled CHF38.2bn, up 1.8% compared with the end of 2011, according to a statement released on 13 February. Positive market effects are the cause of this increase, as the bank saw a net outflow of CHF177m.