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02/11/2011

Assets up at LG IM

Assets under management at LG Investment Management as of the end of September totalled GBP347bn, compared with GBP342bn one year earlier, according to a statement from the firm published on 1 November.Net inflows at LG IM totalled GBP4.8bn, of which GBP3.6bn (compared with GBP8.2bn in third quarter 2010) were for the Investment Management unit, and EUR1.2bn in savings assets under management by the group.LG IM says that gross inflows represented GBP25.1bn, of which GBP4.7bn were in the LDI (Liability-Driven Investment) segment. Assets under management in the LDI segment, which totalled GBP39bn in third quarter 2010, as of the end of September 2011 totalled GBP52bn.
02/11/2011

Threadneedle appoints new managers for LV= funds

In keeping with a partnership agreement signed on 15 August, Threadneedle on 1 November took over management of 21 retail funds from LV= Asset Management, and appointed new managers for the funds. The funds have total assets of about GBP8bn, while at the time of the announcement (see Newsmanagers of 18 August), assets under management were estimated at GBP8.5bn.The names of all the funds have been changed to include the Threadneedle brand name, but there are no changes to fee levels, and Threadneedle has no immediate plans to change the objectives or investment policies of former LV= funds.The complete list of funds, and their new names and managers, can be found here.
02/11/2011

Carmignac recruits a head of sales for UK

Mark Dunn, head of strategic business development at LV= Asset Management (LVAM), is joining Carmignac Gestion as sales director for the United Kingdom, according to reports in the British press.Dunn will report to Matthew Wright, who has recently been appointed as head of country UK at Carmignac Gestion (see Newsmanagers of 11 October). Wright had previously been head of professional clients at LVAM.
02/11/2011

Schroder PIM remporte un mandat auprès d'Invista

Le conseil d’administration d’Investa Foundation Property Trust a décidé de mettre fin au mandat de gestion confié à Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), rapporte Fund Web.Le mandat a été confié à Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM) dont la commission annuelle de gestion devrait s'élever à 1,1%. Selon le Trust, ce changement devrait entraîner une économie de l’ordre de 1,8 million de livres par an.
02/11/2011

Neil Robson joins Threadneedle

Threadneedle Investments has appointed Neil Robson as fund manager in its global equities team, reporting to Jeremy Podger, head of global equities. He will join in November 2011 and will be lead manager on the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Focus Fund. Neil Robson joins from Martin Currie Investment Management where he was global portfolio manager. Prior to this he was head of global equities at Pioneer Asset Management, having joined the company in 2003. Neil Robson’s appointment brings Threadneedle’s global equity team to a total of eight. The team manages EUR2.0bn.
02/11/2011

iShares releases an emerging markets ETF in Italy

On 17 October, iShares (BlackRock group) launched the ETF Barclays Capital Emerging Market Local Govt Bond fund, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 21 June, to trading on Borsa Italiana.The fund is the 43rd product of the bond range from iShares, which has total assets of USD30bn. It is a physical replication fund, which replicates the Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Currency Core Government index, which covers emerging market bonds in local currencies with a total initial duration of 2 to 30 years.
02/11/2011

Invesco modifies construction of one of its ETF portfolios

Fundweb reports that Invesco has announced to investors in the PowerShares EuroMTS Cash Three Months ETF that the fund may now invest more than 35% of its portfolio in government bonds and bonds from European local authorities.The fund had previously been required to invest in money market instruments and securities issued by the Italian government or by Italian local authorities.
02/11/2011

Madoff: Lawsuits against UBS and J.P. Morgan thrown out

US Federal judge Colleen McMahon has turned down a request by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, seeking USD20bn from J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS, the La Tribune de Genève reports. The judge found that the trustee did not have the right to bring the two banking establishments before the courts in this case. Only investors who lost money in the fraud would have been entitled to do so.
02/11/2011

Responsible investment sows seeds in alternative management field

Sustainable development has an increasing presence in investment strategies from US alternative management specialists. At the beginning of 2011, there were 375 alternative investment funds, representing a cumulative volume of USD80.9bn, which integrated environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) into their investment strategies, according to a survey by the Center for Social Philanthropy and the Tellus Institute, on behalf of the US SIF foundation. This total of nearly USD81bn represents an increase of about 16% compared with last year, when 146 funds integrated ESG criteria, with a cumulative total of USD69.8bn. In detail, real estate funds are the largest category, with 95 funds integrating ESG criteria, and a total of USD44.3bn, followed by private equity and venture capital, which apply ESG criteria for 233 funds and a cumulative total of USD33.9bn in assets. Hedge funds remain far behind, with 47 funds, and a total of only USD2.6bn. The study finds that investors who are aware of alternative strategies that integrate ESG criteria range widely, from high net worth private clients to institutionals, including fund incubators, philanthropic organisations, and pension funds. Of the three ESG criteria, the theme of the environment remains dominant, with a total of nearly USD69bn, putting it far ahead of social criteria (USD48.8bn) and governance (USD37.5bn).
02/11/2011

Donna Toth joins AIM as COO

The founder and managing principal of the hedge fund management firm Park Hill Group, Donna Toth, has joined Alternative Investment Management (AIM) as chief operating officer (COO), and will report to Jonathan Harris, chairman of AIM. Toth will be based in New York.Before founding Park Hill, Toth was chief financial officer (CFO) at Atlantic-Pacific Global, a position she held after leaving Ziff Brothers International, where she had been controller and director of financial reporting.
02/11/2011

T. Rowe Price launches no-fee share class for advisers

Independent financial advisers in the United States may now have access to transactions on 41 funds from T. Rowe Price free of charge on the institutional platform Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource. T. Rose Price managed USD453.5bn in assets as of 30 September.
02/11/2011

Pimco recruits a product manager for emerging markets

Ignacio Sosa, managing director and portfolio manager at Voras Capital Management, has been recruited by Pimco (Allianz Global Investors group) as executive vice president of the emerging markets product management group at its Newport Beach headquarters. He began in his new position on 31 October.Sosa, who had been one of the founders and co-CIO of OneWorld Investments, from 1999 to 2008, will report to Wendy Cupps, managing director and head of the product management group, and David Fisher, executive vice president and head of global & emerging markets product management.
02/11/2011

Insurers want to cut back ETF investment universe

The ABI association of British insurers is preparing a request to exclude newly-listed companies from indices such as the FTSE 100, for a period of three months. The rule would prevent ETFs from investing in these firms, the ABI claims, according to Money Marketing, which cites reports in the Mail on Sunday that ETFs have recently driven up the share prices of companies that have recently arrived on the market. These firms are said to include mining companies which joined the FTSE 100 as soon as they were admitted to trading in London.
02/11/2011

FSA launches a consultation on commissions

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 31 October launched a consultation on the calculation of regulatory commissions. The FSA is proposing to modify the way in which commissions are calculated, so as to be based not on the number of qualified personnel, but on the regulated earnings of the firm. The initiative is related to the MiFID directive, which introduces a different distribution system for authorised personnel. Regulated earnings are earnings resulting from advising, brokerage, commissions, and other revenues related to regulated activities of companies, the FSA says.
02/11/2011

Schroder PIM wins a mandate from Invista

The board of directors at Investa Foundation Property trust has decided to withdraw a management mandate from Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), Fund Web reports. The mandate has instead been awarded to Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM), with an annual management commission of 1.1%. According to the Trust, the change will bring savings of about GBP1.8m per year.
02/11/2011

Octopus launches two new funds

The asset management firm Octopus Investments has added to its multi-manager range with two new products, one global absolute return fund, and one fund dedicated to emerging markets, Investment Week reports. Both funds, IM Octopus Global Strategies and IM Octopus Emerging Market Equity, will be launched on 8 November. The absolute return fund will invest in alternative strategies, including long/short equity funds and thematic funds offering low correlation to high-risk assets. The fund dedicated to emerging markets will invest largely in BRIC countries, via 30 funds, two third of them based on active strategies, while the remainder are ETFs.
02/11/2011

UBS Geneva recruits Saudi market expert

Anthony Zammar has become director of one of the two desks dedicated to Saudi Arabia at UBS Geneva, Agefi Switzerland reports. He will report to Ali Janoudi, who oversees wealth management for Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa. With more than 20 years of experience in the Saudi market, Zammar joins UBS from J.P. Morgan, where he had been managing director and senior client advisor for the Middle East, and previously Head of Sales Management for the region.
02/11/2011

CaixaBank wades into battle for savings

CaixaBank has become the next firm to enter the fray in a battle for Spanish savings. The Catalan firm on 3 November launched a three-year structured note with an annual coupon of 3.25%, aimed at clients of its private banking operation, Cinco Días reports.Capital is guaranteed at maturity, and on that date, subscribers may receive an additional coupon of 15%, if over the three-year life of the product, the sum of the monthly performance of the Euro Stoxx 50 index is positive, with a limit of 1% per month.Minimal subscription is EUR50,000. The product will have a monthly liquidity window.CaixaBank is aiming for assets of EUR200m for the product.
02/11/2011

Euronext Paris lists three new ETFs from Lyxor

On 31 October, the Parisian platform of NYSE Euronext admitted three new French-registered ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management to trading. The products replicate Russell indices; they are the RUSG, RUSV and RUS2 funds, all of which charge fees of 0.40%.The European platforms of NYSE Euronext now list 594 ETF funds 692 times. Since the beginning of this year, 153 ETF funds, of which 125 are primary listings and 28 secondary listings, have been added to trading.CharacteristicsName: Lyxor RUSGUnderlying index: Russell 1000 GrowthTER: 0.40%Name: Lyxor RUSVUnderlying index: Russell 1000 ValueTER: 0.40%Name: Lyxor RUS2Underlying index: Russell 2000 Net 30%TER: 0.40%
02/11/2011

Invesco waives fees on four new ETFs

Four ETFs from Invesco PowerShares were admitted to trading on the NYSE Arca platform on 1 November. They replicate indices from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) and Invesco; there is no unitary fee for the products until 1 February 2012. This is made possible by the fact that all of the major partners of Invesco PowerShares have also agreed to waive commissions.Invesco PowerShares has become the exclusive partner of KBW since State Street Glboal Advisors (SSgA) made S&P its index provider.The four new sectoral funds are:PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio (acronyme : KBWB)PowerShares KBW Capital Markets Portfolio (KBWC)PowerShares KBW Insurance Portfolio (KBWI) andPowerShares KBW Regional Banking Portfolio (KBWR)
02/11/2011

Union Investment loses its CIO for fixed income

A spokesperson for Union Investment has confirmed to Das Investment that Christian Eckert, CIO for fixed income at the firm since February 2010, has decided to leave the business at the end of January. Anja Mikus, head of portfolio management, will hold the position in the interim. Before being promoted to her current position, Mikus served as head of FI management, until the arrival of Eckert.
02/11/2011

High yield bonds popular with investors

In the first few days of October, investors opted for high yield bonds, according to the most recent estimates from EPFR Global. Net inflows to these funds totalled USD4.7bn in the week to 26 October, bringing total inflows in the past two weeks to nearly USD8bn.This rebound in investor appetite for risk has also benefited emerging market bond funds. Since the beginning of this year, inflows to these funds have once again topped USd900m, 102% of total inflows in the year 2010. Bond funds as a whole have posted net inflows of USD1.69bn.Equity funds, for their part, have seen a net inflow of USD2.8bn, as subscriptions to ETFs more than offset redemptions from actively-managed funds. Investor sentiment in relation to emerging markets appears to be improving, although investors are still hesitant to increase their exposure to specific regions or countries. In the first ten months of the year, net outflows from all funds dedicated to emerging market equities totalled USD40.2bn, while in the corresponding period of 2010, net outflows totalled over USD52bn.
02/11/2011

Paulson clients stick with hedge fund

Clients of John Paulson have chosen to remain invested in his hedge fund, in a sign of their confidence in the manager’s ability to cancel out his recent losses, the Financial Times reports. In a letter to investors, Paulson says that gross redemptions are estimated to represent less than 8% of the firm’s total assets under management. Subscribers had until 31 October to apply for redemption before the end of the year.
02/11/2011

Henderson GI hires a real estate asset manager

Henderson Global Investors’ property business, which manages around GBP12.4 billion of property assets, has hired Michael Samuel as an asset manager for its GBP1.3 billion North American Property Business. He will be based in Henderson’s Chicago office where he will be responsible for the ongoing management of operations, value enhancement and dispositions of a portfolio of North American fund and separate account assets, including industrial, multifamily and retail property types. Prior to joining Henderson, Michael Samuel was a senior associate and loan officer with Transwestern Investment Company (now Pearlmark Real Estate), where he was responsible for the origination and asset management of commercial real estate mezzanine loans on behalf of a series of institutional investment funds. He was also responsible for the workout and resolution of distressed loans and REO.
02/11/2011

Aquila Capital sets up shop in Singapore

The Hamburg-based alternative management firm Aquila Capital (EUR3bn in assets) on 31 October announced that it is opening a representative office in Singapore.The new location (Aquila Capital had already been present in seven other international locations) is led by Cumyong Quah, who in the past two years has been head of private banking & South East Asia development at Fidelity.
02/11/2011

Outflows continue from Spanish funds

In October, Spanish securities funds saw further net redemptions of EUR891m, following outflows of EUR681m in September, and EUR699m in August. It is the seventh consecutive month of net outflows from funds, according to the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms.However, total assets as of 31 October came to slightly over EUR129.48bn, stable compared with the initial Inverco estimates for the end of September (see Newsmanagers of 3 October), but an increase of EUR241m in one month compared with the revised total for 30 September.Of the twelve largest asset management firms by volume, ten saw net redemptions in October, with the heaviest outflows from Santander Asset Management (EUR239.6m), BBVA Asset Management (EUR183m) and CatalunyaCaixa Inversió (EUR127.6m).Of the leading firms, the two ones which posted net subscriptions are Ahorro Corporación, with nearly EUR1.5m, and Barclays Wealth Management, with EUR10.25m.
02/11/2011

Steep rise in pay scales in asset management

As corporate salary costs overall increased by 4% in 2010-2011 compared with 2009-2010, pay scales in asset management increased by an average of 18% (with bonuses up by as much as 30%). The 2011 issue of the “Asset Management Reward Survey” from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) also finds that in asset management, remuneration (basic salary and bonuses) increased more rapidly for investment specialists than for distribution specialists. The average pay level for chief investment officers (CIO) also increased more rapidly than for all management positions, including chief investment officers (CEO).The survey also finds that pay scales are increasing at a faster pace in Asia, where asset management is a growing industry and inflation is high, and in some product niches such as ETFs, global emerging markets and international equities.PwC states that competition to win over the most talented managers, at a time when the subsequent evolution of bonuses depends particularly on the asset manager’s ability to deliver consitently high performance, has resulted in significant increases in pay scales.The study finds that although the third European Capital Requirements Directive (CRD III) is not as restrictive as initially thought, it does work to the disadvantage of European asset managers, particularly against their Asian counterparts, as 85% of respondents to the PwC study say that they are concerned about the new regulations, particularly due to practical difficulties in recruiting top talent when faced with competition from outside Europe.

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