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13/12/2010

Assets in Pictet funds in France up by 40% since the beginning of the year

“Currently, assets in our funds total EUR2.8bn. As of the end of 2009 they were EUR2bn. And the difference of EUR800m corresponds in reality to net subscriptions, as market effects were negligible,” Hervé Thiard, managing director of the Paris office of Pictet & Cie Europe, has announced.The situation for the Paris office of Pictet Funds is sufficiently positive for its director to have been authorised to recruit two more people, one sales person and one product support specialist, who will join the current six members of staff. Clients of Pictet Paris consist of 40% funds of funds, 20% private banks, and the remainder institutionals and professionals.“In 2011, Pictet is planning to pick up the pace of new product launches a bit, as the range has nealy matured. In the existing long-only products, we are now working to improve performance.” Some projects are also in the works. The new family of UCITS III-compliant hedge funds may additionally gain funds of funds, while single manager funds such as Corto and Mandarin may be complemented by, for example, an Asia ex Japan long/short product and a fixed income product.
13/12/2010

Illinois seeks asset managers

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The State of Illinois, whose unpaid bills run to USD4.5bn, is seeking the assistance of banks and asset management firms to pay off USD2.5bn directly to its creditors. The system generates about 12% returns for the lender, the Wall Street Journal reports.The local government has turned to Goldman Sachs, Fortress Investment Group, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and BlackRock, who had no comment on the reports. At least one other hedge fund management firm refused the job for reputational reasons. The merchant bank Trivergance says it was one of the first to participate in the program.
13/12/2010

Egamo wins a management mandate from a mutual

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Egamo, the asset management firm from MGEN, which manages more than EUR2bn in assets, has won a discretionary management mandate from the Mutuelle Générale Environnement et Territoires (MGET). The amount of the contract has not been disclosed.“This is a result of two causes: that MGET has decided to outsource a part of the management of its assets, and the continued professionalisation of its financial assets and preparation for the introduction of the Solvency II legislation. In addition to this double need comes the choice of an operator who shares the mutualist values which MGET has defended for 64 years,” a press statement says.
13/12/2010

iShares continues to dominate ETF net subscriptions

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The monthly statistics from BlackRock confirm each month that iShares remains not only the largest provider of ETFs in Europe, with assets as of the end of November of USD94.2bn, compared with USD98.2bn as of the end of October, but also that it has the largest net subscriptions, with USD12bn in January-November, out of a total of USD41.2bn for all ETFs listed in Europe.db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank), for its part, continues to have larger inflows than Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with USD8.4bn compared with USD5bn, but remains in third place in terms of assets, with USD45.1bn, compared with USD47bn as of the end of October. As of the end of November, Lyxor had USD47.3bn in assets, compared with USD49.9bn one month earlier.In total, assets in European ETFs as of 30 November (1,052 products listed 3,577 times, compared with 1,048 funds listed 3,512 times) totalled USD261.8bn, compared with USD274.1bn one month earlier. Since the beginning of the year, assets under management have increased 15.4%, compared with 20.8% as of the end of October.BlackRock also states that since the beginning of 2010, six providers have launched their first ETFs, while one management withdrew from the sector, and four others are planning to launch their first products soon.
13/12/2010

Merkel and Sarkozy reject E-bonds for the near future

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German chancellor Angela Merkel and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy on 10 December in Fribourg, at a meeting of French and German ministers, rejected the idea of creating joint bonds for Euro zone countries, with the French president adding that it was not impossible to consider the possibility again in the future if European integration progresses. The idea of issuing European bonds is defended by the president for finance ministers in the Eurogroup, Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker, and supported by several Mediterranean countries. “On the question of Euro-bonds, I have said that the mutualisation of rates … would not help us much,” said Merkel. The coherence of economic policy has to be increased. “This does not mean mutualising risks,” she added. Sarkozy stated that “if this means creating debt for all of Europe, it would have the effect of making each government less responsible, when what we want is precisely the reverse.” “If one day there is more integration and a much more harmonised economic policy, could we talk about it again? Maybe. But in the current state of affairs, the position of France is precisely the same as the position of Germany,” he added.
13/12/2010

Michel Barnier soon to unveil the major outlines of UCITS V

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to reports in the Börsen-Zeitung, European commissioner Michel Barnier will soon present the main lines of the future UCITS V directive, with the ambitious objective of passing it in the second half of 2011.The bill will stipulate that bonuses should be based on long-term performance, and not incentivate the generation of short-term results.In addition, management and custody of assets will in the future be strictly separated betweem the manager on one hand, and the depository bank on the other.
13/12/2010

Basel Committee published a guide for counterparty risk surveillance

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Basel Committee on 10 December published a guide dedicated to backtesting internal valuations of exposure to counterparty risks, entitled “ Sound Practices for backtesting counterparty credit risk models.” The document reviews regulatory requirements and lays out recommendations to strengthen validation of internal models for counterparty risk evaluation. This will eventually make it possible to improve the financial solidity of banking establishments and the financial system as a whole.
13/12/2010

Madoff: Picard seeks USD19.6bn from Sonja Kohn

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On Friday, Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for Bernard L. Madoff Securities, filed a civil suit in the Manhattan bankruptcy court to recuperate USD19.6bn from Sonja Kohn, head of the Medici bank in Vienna, who was a central personality in the fraud, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to Picard, the complicity between Kohn and Madoff lasted 23 years, during which time the banker channeled more than USD9.1bn into the Ponzi scheme.
13/12/2010

Son of Bernard Madoff commits suicide

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mark, one of the sons of Bernard Madoff, was found hanged in his apartment in Soho in New York on Saturday, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The lawyer for the deceased has confirmed that it was a suicide, on the second anniversary of the arrest of Bernard Madoff.
13/12/2010

ProShares casts itself as creator of ETF hedge funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 9 December, ProShares announced the launch of what it says is the first long/short ETF fund based on the RAFI index (Research Associates, Fundamental Index), the ProShares RAFI long/short, or RALS, which was admitted to trading on the NYSE Arca platform. The ETF replicates the performance of the RAFI US Equity Long/Short index before fees and commissions. TER is set at 0.95%.For the launch of the product, ProShares has borught in a new marketing slogan: “ProShares, the Alternative ETF Company.” The firm explains that ProShares was the first provider of leveraged ETF funds (reverse or not), and is a global leader in this area. Last year, ProShares launched a 130/30 ETF with Credit Suisse.As of 9 December, assets at ProShares totalled USD25bn in 112 ETF funds.
13/12/2010

M&G launches an inflation-linked corporate bond fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British M&G group on 13 December announced the launch of the M&G European Inflation-Linked Corporate Bond fund in France, which it describes as “the first European inflation-linked corporate bond fund available to retail and institutional investors.” Unlike the inflation-linked government bond market, the inflation-linked corporate bond market is quite small. Investors may buy bonds protected against inflation risks from companies such as Veolia, but the choice is very limited, says M&G, which predicts that eh market will grow, particularly if inflation rises again. The fund, launched in the UK on 16 September this year, offers access to a selection of bonds which are expected to perform well in times of high or rising inflation. It aims to protect the capital and income of investors against rising prices by generating performance exceeding inflation over the long term. Major characteristics Name: EUROPEAN INFL LKD CORP BD EUR A NET ACC ISIN code (A class shares): GB00B3VQKJ6 Minimal subscription: EUR1000 Front-end fee: 3.25% Annual management fee: 1%
13/12/2010

Former Liontrust duo returns with three funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Financial News reports that Jeremy Lang and Bill Pattison, UK equities managers at Liontrust until January of this year, will launch three Irish UCITS-compliant funds in first quarter 2011. The products, including a global long/short equities product, will be created through their new firm Ardevora.
13/12/2010

HSBC launches an ETF based on MSCI World

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 10 December, HSBC launched the HSBC MSCI World ETF on the London Stock Exchange. It is an Irish-registered product which uses optimised replication, investing in some of the approximately 1,600 underlying securities. Characteristics Name: HSBC MSCI World ETF ISIN code: IE00B4X9L533 Total TER: 0.35%
13/12/2010

Chinese firm Da Cheng to launch two ETFs in Hong Kong

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Chinese management firm Da Cheng International is planning to launch two ETFs on the Hong Kong stick exchange by Christmas. They will be the Da Cheng CSI Hong Kong Private-owned Mainland Enterprises Tracker and Da Cheng CSI Hong Kong State-Owned Mainland Enterprises Tracker. Asian Investor reports that the funds may be launched on 20 December. They will offer investors extended exposure to firms listed in Hong Kong.
13/12/2010

Zero net inflows for Swedish funds in November

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In November, money market funds on sale in Sweden saw net outflows of SEK2.6bn, according to statistics from the Swedish investment fund association Fondbolagens Förening. The outflows were just barely offset by net subscriptions of SEK1.6bn to diversified funds, SEK485m for equities funds, SEK151m for bond funds, and SEK232m for hedge funds. For equities funds, investor interest was largely concentrated on North America and Asia. As of the end of November, the Swedish fund sector represented SEK1.869trn, of which SEK1.103trn were in equities funds.
13/12/2010

Société Générale: Christoph Roos appointed Head of Insurance & Pension Funds Clients for Switzerland

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Société Générale has appointed Christoph Roos to the newly-created position of Head of Swiss Insurance & Pension Funds Clients, in the Cross Asset Solutions department, effective from 1 December. In his new position, Roos will handle assistance and strategic advising for institutional clients, particularly insurers and pension funds in Switzerland, the firm announced in a statement on Friday. Roos comes to Société Générale from BNP Paribas, where since 2000 he had served as head of the Fixed Income Derivatives Sales team. He will be based in Zurich, and will report to Benoît Petit, Head of Global Markets Suisse, and Eric Viet, Head of Sales for Pension Funds & Insurance.
13/12/2010

Changes in management at Hauck & Aufhäuser, act II

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After the appointment three months ago of Michael Schramm as a managing partner (see Newsmanagers of 17 September), the board of trustees at Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers KGaA (H&A) has appointed Jochen Lucht, COO since 1 February, to the position of managing partner, from 1 January 2011. He will also take over the position of CFO vacated by Wolfgang Weber, who will be leaving the bank on 31 December.Meanwhile, Volker van Rüth, the other managing partner “who is preferring to take on other professional challenges,” is also leaving H&A at the end of this year.The enlarged management committee will also include Hanns-Alexander Flemm, head of the investment bank, and Michael Bentlage, head of asset management, who also takes over as head of the IFA division.
13/12/2010

Fitch affirmsSEB Investment's Real Estate AM Rating

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Frankfurt-based SEB Investment GmbH’s (SEB AM) Asset Manager Rating at ‘M2', for its real estate investment operations."The rating affirmation reflects the company’s operational high quality and the depth of its disciplined due diligence and property management procedures», says the rating agency. However Fitch sees currently «an increased level of business risks resulting from the situation of SEB AM’s flagship investment vehicle, SEB ImmoInvest (largely retail-oriented; EUR6.3bn in net Assets Under Management (AUM), which had to suspend share redemptions for a second time in May 2010". The rating also factors in the continued uncertainty facing the entire open-ended real estate funds (OEREFs) industry in Germany. A new regulatory framework is currently proposed through the legislative process, to be enforced in early-2012, which could dampen investors’ interest for these investment vehicles - in effect increasing the risk on SEB AM’s business model and growth strategy, adds Fitch.
13/12/2010

Nikko AM seeks to increase assets

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Tim McCarthy, president and CEO of Japan’s Nikko Asset Management, has told the Financial Times that the objective for his group is to increase assets from USD120bn as of mid-November to USD200bn in three years time, and then to USD250bn in the next 5 to 7 years.The announcement comes as Nikko AM aims to make two acquisitions, including the asset management operations of DBS.
13/12/2010

“We now have a long-only beta team and a long/short alpha team"

As at all other firms in the industry, asset management at Lombard Odier was not able to completely meet up to the expectations of clients during the economic seismic shifts which recently disoriented the financial markets. But, apparently, the Geneva-based management firm was able to learn the lessons of this experience, particularly by adapting its tactical approach.
13/12/2010

UBP recruits four in Luxembourg

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) on 10 December announced the recruitment of four new specialists for its private banking activities in Luxembourg. Stephane Haessaert, 47, joins UBP as Head of Business Development Private Banking. He was previously Head of Business Development for Family Offices and UNHWI at BNP Paribas Wealth International for Europe, Brazil and the Gulf states. Georges Liberman, 43, has joined UPB as head of Wealth Engineering. Liberman was until recently head of Wealth Planning at HSBC Luxembourg. Charles A. Lamoulen, 37, joins UBP as Senior Portfolio Manager. With more than 13 years of experience in portfolio management and investment advisory at Société Générale and UBS, Lamoulen is in charge of the commercial product range for UBP in Luxembourg. Joel Murcia, 45, joins UBP as market head for France. He began his career in 1992 at Ernst & Young, with the Compagnie Générale de Banque Gonet and the Banque de Luxembourg. From 1999 to 2005, Murcia directed a family office.

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