Pour le troisième trimestre, Bank of America Corporation a fait état mardi d’une perte nette de 7,3 milliards de dollars imputable à une charge exceptionnelle liée aux survaleurs de son activité mondiale de cartes de crédit de 10,4 milliards de dollars. Hormis cette charge non déductible fiscalement, le bénéfice net serait ressorti à 3,1 milliards de dollars contre 1 milliard pour le troisième trimestre 2009.Le bénéfice net de la gestion d’actifs et de fortune (GWIM) est ressorti pour juillet-septembre à 313 millions de dollars contre 356 millions pour le deuxième trimestre et 234 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier. Parallèlement, les encours à fin septembre se montaient à 624,1 milliards de dollars contre 603,3 milliards au 30 juin et 739,8 milliards pour le 30 septembre 2009. Pour les neuf premiers mois de l’année, le bénéfice net de GWIM ressort à 1.129 millions de dollars contre 1.123 millions pour la période correspondante de 2009.La division indique que ses actifs sous gestion ont augmenté en juillet-septembre à cause de la hausse des marchés ainsi que de souscriptions plus importantes pour les produits à rendement élevé, ce qui s’est traduit par une hausse de 14 milliards de dollars des dépôts et de 6 milliards de l’encours long terme.

Au 30 septembre, les actifs gérés par BNY Mellon, hors prêt de titres, se situaient à 1.140 milliards de dollars, affichant ainsi un gonflement de 9 % sur fin juin et de 18 % sur un an pendant que les encours sous conservation et administration atteignaient un montant record de 24.400 milliards de dollars, soit 12 % de plus qu’au 30 juin et 10 % de plus qu’au 30 septembre 2009. Ces dernières augmentations proviennent principalement des acquisitions de Global Investment Servicing (GIS) au 1er juillet et de BHF Asset Servicing GmbH le 2 août.Au troisième trimestre, les rentrées nettes de la gestion d’actifs et de fortune sont ressorties à 11 milliards de dollars pour les produits long terme et à 18 milliards pour les produits court terme.Au niveau du groupe, le bénéfice net disponible pour les porteurs d’actions ordinaires s’est situé au troisième trimestre à 625 millions de dollars contre 688 millions pour le deuxième trimestre et une perte de 2.439 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier.

Graham Campbell, fondateur d’Edinburgh Partners qui a quitté sa société en décembre, a été nommé CEO de Saracem Fund Managers. L’intéressé prendra une participation importante au capital de la société, qui relocalise son activité de Glasgow à Edimbourg, précise Investment Week. Saracem a prévu d'étoffer prochainement sa gamme avec le lancement de nouveaux produits absolute return et obligataires.

Entre juillet et septembre 2010, Jupiter Fund Management a enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 734 millions de livres, portant le total de sa collecte à 1,5 milliard de livres depuis le début de l’année. Ses encours sont ressortis à 22,2 milliards de livres à fin septembre, contre 19,8 milliards fin juin.La société de gestion britannique annonce par ailleurs avoir obtenu l’agrément pour lancer un trust marchés émergents monde au dernier trimestre de cette année. Le produit sera géré par Kathryn Langridge, qui a rejoint la société en juillet.

Selon Fund Strategy, Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) a recruté David Billyard, head of sales chez Premier Asset Management, comme business development manager. L’intéressé sera chargé principalement de promouvoir les fonds retail sur le marché de gros en se focalisant sur Londres et le Sud-Ouest de l’Angleterre.

Jersey voit le secteur des services aux fonds croître, ce qui témoigne de la confiance dans le secteur de la gestion d’actifs sur l’île, selon Lipper. Ainsi, à fin juin 2010, 1.688 fonds et compartiments faisaient l’objet de services (administration, audit, conservation, juridique) contre 1.654 fonds un an plus tôt, représentant un encours de 323 milliards de dollars. Le plus gros administrateur de fonds à Jersey est State Street, avec 76,6 milliards sous administration, devant Bedell Trust Company et R&H Fund Services.La principale catégorie de fonds domiciliés à Jersey est celle des fonds de capital investissement et de capital risque (43,6 milliards de dollars) et celle des fonds immobiliers (37,3 milliards). Ensemble, ils représentent 57 % des actifs sur l’île. L’encours des ETF matières premières atteignent 12,2 milliards de dollars.

Entre juin 2009 et juin 2010, les encours sous gestion des fonds d’investissement socialement responsables en Europe ont augmenté de 41 % à 75 milliards d’euros, indique une étude de Vigeo portant sur les fonds verts, sociaux et éthiques. Le nombre de fonds a lui aussi bondi de 29 % à 879 unités.La France est la locomotive de cette croissance, avec une hausse de 92 % des actifs gérés selon des principes de l’ISR. Le pays conserve ainsi sa place de leader en Europe, avec 36 % du marché. Vigeo note que la Suisse connaît une forte augmentation (+59 %), suivie par la Suède (+48 %). L’ISR progresse aussi au Royaume-Uni et en Allemagne, mais dans une moindre mesure (respectivement +9 % et +11 %). L’Italie renoue avec la croissance (+13%) après une année de stagnation. La Belgique est le pays avec le plus grand nombre de fonds ISR, qui pèsent pour 10% dans le volume total des actifs en gestion collective dans ce pays.L’analyse par typologie de produits montre une croissance plus marquée des fonds monétaires que des fonds actions.

Selon les statistiques de la Banque centrale européenne, l’encours des fonds d’investissements de la zone euro hors fonds monétaires ressortait fin août à 5.428 milliards d’euros contre 5.375 milliards un mois auparavant, un accroissement de 53 milliards attribuable presque à égalité à l’effet de marché et aux souscriptions nettes (qui sont ressorties à 28 milliards contre 20 milliards en juillet).Il conviendra surtout de noter qu’entre fin août et le 30 septembre, les actifs gérés dans les fonds monétaires se sont accrus (pour la première fois depuis un an) de 37 milliards d’euros (dont 28 milliards de souscriptions nettes), à 1.180 milliards.

BNY Mellon a annoncé avoir signé avec la Bourse de Shanghai (Shanghai Stock Exchange ou SSE) un accord de principe (memorandum of understanding) pour une collaboration qui portera sur des ETF répliquant des indices de depositary receipts de BNY Mellon qui seront traités sur le SSE. Cette Bourse obtient l’exclusivité pour la Chine de la cotation d’ETF utilisant ces indices.

La CNMV a enregistré 74 ETF d’iShares qui sont les compartiments de trois sicav irlandaises (iShares Public Limited Company, iShares II Public Limited Company y iShares III Public Limited Company). Ces produits s’ajoutent aux 17 autres que BlackRock avait déjà fait enregistrer en décembre 2009 lorsque la marque iShares a fait ses débuts sur le marché espagnol. Le gestionnaire a l’intention de faire enregistrer d’autres ETF iShares dans les prochains mois, l’objectif étant d'être le promoteur disposant en Espagne de la gamme la plus complète.

Des gestionnaires américains comme Apollo, Fortress, Cerberus et Carval, spécialistes des actifs «distressed» ont atterri en Espagne ces dernières semaines et vont boucler d’ici à la fin de l’année l’acquisition d’actifs sinistrés des banques et des caisses d'épargne, rapporte Expansión. Au total, il y a en Espagne des créances douteuses d’un volume record de 102 milliards d’euros. Les plates-formes de gestion de recouvrement comme Gescobro, Gesif et Lindorff étudient elles aussi la possibilité d'élargir leur activité.

The ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on 19 October announced that it has revised the rating of Man Group downward to BBB/A-2, from a previous BBB+/A-2, with an outlook which has moved from negative to stable.The decision follows the acquisition of GLG Partners by Man Group. The agency says that the deal, announced on 14 October, has resulted in weakened financial stability for the group, which is nonetheless expected to find an improved profile once it has completed its integration of GLG Partners.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Graham Campbell, the founder of Edinburgh Partners who left the firm in December, has been appointed CEO of Saracem Fund Managers. Campbell will acquire a significant stake in the capital of the firm, which is moving its headquarters from Glasgow to Edinburgh, Investment Week reports. Saracem will soon be extending its range with the launch of new absolute return and fixed income products.

In the three months to 30 September 2010, Jupiter experienced net inflows of GBP734m. Cumulative net inflows in the first nine months of the year were GBP1,548m. AUM increased to GBP22.2bn as at 30 September 2010, up 12% from GBP19.8bn as at 30 June 2010.Separately, Jupiter has received regulatory approval to launch a global emerging markets unit trust in the fourth quarter. It will be managed by Kathryn Langridge who joined as an emerging markets fund manager in July.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fund Strategy reports that Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has recruited David Billyard, head of sales at Premier Asset Management, as business development manager. Billyard will be primarily in charge of promoting retail funds on the wholesale market, and will focus on London and South-West England.

The alternative management firm Quaesta Capital GmbH, based in Frankfurt with EUR2bn in assets, has announced the launch of the Bond Global Select fund, a UCITS III-compliant fund with an opportunistic / Macro Funds strategy, offering daily liquidity.

Jersey’s fund servicing industry rose to 1,688 funds and subfunds at the end of June 2010 (1,654 funds a year ago), with total net assets of USD232.0 billion, says Lipper. Ed Moisson, Head of UKI & Cross-border Research, Lipper, said, “Confidence in the Jersey funds industry can be seen with the rise in the number of schemes being serviced there, despite the continued difficult market conditions.”The largest administrator of funds serviced in Jersey is State Street, with US$76.6 billion under administration. The largest asset classes of funds domiciled are private equity/venture capital funds (USD43.6 billion) and real estate funds (USD37.3 billion), together representing 57% of fund assets domiciled on the Island. The rise in interest in ETFs can also be seen with exchange traded commodity funds reaching assets of USD12.2bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNY Mellon has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) for a partnership which will include ETFs replicating depositary receipts indices from BNY Mellon, which will be traded on the SSE. The stock market obtains the exclusive right to list ETFs based on these indices in China.

Amundi ETF announced on Tuesday, 19 October that it has listed 23 more ETFs on the SIX Swiss Exchange, bringing the total number of its products available on the market to 43.The new series is composed of equities and bond ETF funds, including: 12 equities ETFs: of the US market, AMUNDI ETF NASDAQ-100, AMUNDI ETF MSCI USA and AMUNDI ETF S&P 500. Investors may also opt for an ETF which aims to replicate double the daily performance of the MSCI USA index. Also among the new additions, AMUNDI ETF MSCI WORLD EX EUROPE provides exposure to the global markets outside Europe with a single transaction; AMUNDI ETF MSCI NORDIC, for its part, offers investors a way to expose themselves to positive and negative performance of nearly 80 of the largest shares on the Scandinavian market (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden). In addition, 3 equities ETFs invest in the major emerging markets, AMUNDI ETF MSCI CHINA replicates the positive and negative evolution of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong; AMUNDI ETF MSCI INDIA allows exposure to nearly 60 shares of the Indian market, and AMUNDI ETF MSCI EASTERN EUROPE EX RUSSIA provides a way to profit from potenail growth of about 30 major stocks of central Europe excluding Russia. 2 new sectoral ETFs are also on offer: AMUNDI ETF MSCI WORLD ENERGY and AMUNDI ETF MSCI WORLD FINANCIALS. In bonds, 6 long and short ETFs of US government bonds are being made available. The ETFs aim to replicate the positive and negative performance of the Markit iBoxx $ Treasuries® family of indices for total maturities of 1 to 10 years. The indices are composed to government bonds issued by the US Treasury, denominated in US dollars. The range includes 3 long ETFs and 3 new short ETFs, to provide inverse daily exposure to the same indices, a statement says.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “In the current market, investors are constantly seeking new means to bring the risk in their portfolios under control,” says Will Kinlaw, managing director and head of the Portfolio and Risk Management Research group at State Street Global Markets. That’s why State Street Global Markets has launched the Systemic Risk Index, which aims to measure the vulnerability of the US equities market to market fluctuations. The index examines the influence of a limited number of economic macro risk factors on the performance of equities, compared with information which is specifically tied to a particular share or industry. “The Systemic Risk Index from State Street is designed to provide institutional investors with a first indication of the fragility of the US market, to make them able to adjust their strategies as a result and to optimise their returns, in a difficult market environment,” adds Kinlaw. The composition of the Systemic Risk Index from State Street includes the entire US equities market, in nearly 60 sectors of activity, a statement says.

Some of the world’s biggest institutional investors have joined forces with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to try to recover losses on more than USD47bn in mortgage-backed securities issued by Countrywide Financial, bought by Bank of America, says the Financial Times. The eight investors, which include BlackRock, Pimco and MetLife, own more than 25 per cent of the voting rights on the securities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } US managers like Apollo, Fortress, Cerberus and Carval, specialised in distressed debt, have arrived in Spain in recent weeks, and will conclude acquisitions of distressed debt from banks and savings banks by the end of the year, Expansión reports. In total, there is a record volume of EUR102bn in distressed debt in Spain. Recovery management platforms such as Gescobro, Gesif and Lindorff are also studying the possibility of extending their activities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV issued licenses for 74 iShares ETFs, sub-funds of three Irish Sicav funds (iShares Public Limited Company, iShares II Public Limited Company, and iShares III Public Limited Company). The products come in addition to 17 others which BlackRock had previously registered in December 2009, when the iShares brand made its debut on the Spanish market. The manager is planning to register other iShares ETFs in the next few months, with the objective of becoming the provider with the largest product range in Spain.

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse hedge fund index (formerly Credit Suisse/Tremont) has posted returns for September of 3.43%, bringing gains for these funds in the first nine months of the year to 5.98%.The two strategies which posted the best results in September were long/short equity, with 5.09%, and emerging markets, with 4.77%. The only category to show losses was dedicated short bias, with losses of 11.28%. Since the beginning of the year, fixed income arbitrage and global macro have led the index, with returns of 9.79% and 9.33%, respectively, while dedicated short bias has lost 12.49%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } All alternative strategies monitored by the Edhec-Risk Institute posted gains in September, except short selling, which lost 8.63%. Short selling was also the only strategy in the red since the beginning of the year, with losses of 9.4%. The best-performing strategy was emerging markets, which gained 4.63% in September. In the first 9 months of the year, convertibles arbitrage was the strategy which performed best, with gains of 8.5%. Fund of funds strategy has gained 2.2% for the month, and has returned to positive performance since the beginning of the year (+1.7%).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Currently, the Irish-domiciled BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency fund, managed by Alexander Khozhemiakin at Standish, has USD4bn in assets, of which USD2bn in net subscriptions have come since the beginning of this year USD300m from France). The fund, which was once again presented to investors in Paris on 19 October, invests in government debts from emerging countries which are expected to generate double-digit performance, with returns of 6-6 1/2% and currency gains against the Euro of 4-5% per year. The management team reserves the right to use currency forwards to dissociate bets on currency rates from those on interest rates. The fund invests in 17 countries with liquid bond markets, with a vast range of maturities. About one third of the fund is invested in Asia, one quarter in emerging Europe, and one tenth in Brazilian debt, among others. The fund has no exposure to frontier markets. Khozhemiakin explains that the fund is focused on the safest investments in local currencies, the one which are privileged by the major local institutionals. The turnover rate is between 60% and 70%. The team currently includes 12 investment professionals in Boston and London. A senior analyst is now being recruited in Singapore.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the most recent estimates by Preqin, about USD96bn remain available for hedge fund investments from institutional investors, who are moving into this asset class or who are seeking to increase their exposure, Hedge Week reports. Aside from insurers, all groups of investors have increased their allocation to hedge funds in 2009-2010, with the average increase representing 1.2% of total assets. A large part of this new capital will go to single manager funds. Preqin has observed that there is a trend this year to pull out of funds of hedge funds and move instead to direct investments. The portfolios of 50% of pension funds continue to be composed entirely of investments in funds of hedge funds, compared with 10% of endowments.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investors have regained their appetite for risk, concentrating largely on emerging markets equities, in the expectation of a second wave of quantitative easing, according to the most recent survey by BofA Merrill Lynch of a sample of 194 management firms with USD492bn in assets between 8 and 14 October. The level of risk taken on by investors has not increased by such a large proportion since April 2009. The proportion of allocators who are heavyweight in equities has more than tripled, to a total of 27% in net, compared with 10% in September. They have also maintained underweight exposures to bonds, while only 6%, compared with 18% previously, are overweight in cash. The evolution worked largely to the advantage of emerging markets equities, in which 49% of allocators were overweight, a month on month increase of 17 percentage points. Appetite for US, European and Japanese equities remained stable, while respondents were less pessimistic about UK equities. Managers were also slightly more optimistic about the growth of the Chinese economy in the next 12 months (19% compared with 11% in September). Investors were also much more optimistic about the growth outlooks for corporate profits, as the percentage of allocators who are overweight in industrial shares increased from 4% to 15% in the space of one month. Investors would like to see businesses adopt a more aggressive investment policy, though last month many of them wanted to see them consolidate their balance sheets.

Assets at the 500 largest fund management firms worldwide increased 16% in 2009 to a total of USD62trn as of the end of the year, after they contracted by 23% in 2008. Though this was the second-largest increase in assets under management since the beginning of the data series (1996), according to the Pensions & Investments / Towers Watson World 500 Ranking, the level of assets remains below that observed at the end of 2006. In addition, Towers Watson remarks, only have of managers who posted the largest increases to their assets of the past five years say the increase is due to organic growth, while the other half did it through mergers and acquisitions.In fact, the market share for the 20 largest management firms has increased to more than 40%, compared with 38% in 2008. Of this group, asset management firms controlled by banks continue to dominate. Meanwhile, the study reveals that of the 20 largest management firms, 12 are domiciled in the United States, and 8 in Europe, of which 4 are in France (Axa, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Natixis). The market share for emerging countries has more than doubled in ten years, to 4%, while Japanese management firms have fallen to under 7%, from over 13%.The study also reveals that assets for the major passive asset management firms has steadily increased in the past ten years. As of the end of 2009, they totalled USD7.3trn, up 62% compared with USD4.5trn as of the end of 2008, largely due to the acquisition of BGI by BlackRock, which took it up to USD1.7trn in passive assets, overtaking State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) with USD1.4trn.Among the winners in recent years, P&I and Towers Watson cite BlackRock, which has grown from 41th place to 1st, BNP Paribas (33rd to 7th), Federated Investors (72nd to 42nd), Wells Fargo (51st to 23rd), Crédit Agricole (24th to 12th), Goldman Sachs (25th to 14th) and Legg Mason (37th to 18th).See the rankings of the top 20 assetmanagement firms by assets below.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics from the European Central Bank, assets in Euro zone investment funds excluding money market funds as of the end of August totalled EUR5.428bn, compared with EUR5.375bn one month previously, an increase of EUR53bn nearly equally attributable to market effects and net subscriptions (which totalled EUR28bn, compared with EUR20bn in July). Between the end of August and 30 September, assets under management in money market funds increased (for the first time in one year) by EUR37bn (of which EUR28bn were net subscriptions), to EUR1.18trn.