p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The European asset management association (EFAMA) on 18 October called the reasons offered by the European Commission for introducing a tax on financial activities in the asset management sector “seriously biased.” EFAMA noted that the Commission does not take into account the fact that the asset management sector has not received government support, and that it does not enjoy the security assurances such aid would offer. An increase in costs related to the introduction of a tax on financial activities would probably be borne by the final consumer, i.e., the investor. The phenomenon could result in an undesired distortion in the matter of small investors’ choice between direct investment in equities and investment via collective funds. That evolution “should concern governments, who are seeking to encourage investors to invest responsibly for retirement,” says Peter de Proft, chairman of EFAMA, cited in a statement. EFAMA therefore encourages the Commission to enter into dialogue with the various sectors of the financial industry to ensure that measures are “targeted, effective, and adapted.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After joining BNY Mellon in 2006 and leading the corporate trusts public finance for the central United States region (200 employees and 16 locations for US state regional organisations, with 32,000 accounts and USD90bn in assets) until the present, Timothy Vara has from 1 January 2011 been appointed president of the Bank of New York Mellon Trust, replacing Troy Kilpatrick, who has recently been appointed head of global business development & marketing at BNY Mellon Trust. BNY Mellon Trust provides services on assets of about USD12bn, in 61 locations in 20 countries. Among its clients the business counts governments and their agencies, multinational businesses, financial establishments and other firms which have access to global capital markets. Among its principal services are bond debt trustee, paying agency and escrow activities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } David Einhorn, head of the hedge fund management firm Greenlight Capital, revealed last week that he is shorting shares in the developer St. Joe Co., on the premise that the land the firm owns is worth only a fraction of what the firm values it at, the Wall Street Journal reports. Einhorn became famous due to his bets against Lehman. But Einhorn has found that St. Joe is one of the major bets of another hedge fund manager, Fairholme Capital Management, led by another emblematic personality, Bruce Berkowitz. Berkowitz, whose firm owns 29% of St. Joe, trusts the figures advanced by the firm.

The UK’s Financial Reporting Council will on Tuesday publish a list of 68 investment institutions who have submitted to the Stewardship Code, a set of seven principles designed to promote greater scrutiny of companies by their shareholders, according to the Financial Times. 48 asset managers are backing the new code, including BlackRock, Axa and Capital International. Calpers is also among the supporters.

Royal Bank of Canada and BlueBay Asset Management announced on Monday that their respective boards have reached an agreement on terms for a recommended acquisition of BlueBay by RBC. Under the terms of the acquisition, BlueBay shareholders will be entitled to receive 485 pence in cash for each BlueBay share. This represents a premium of 29 per cent to the last closing price of BlueBay shares, as at Friday, October 15, 2010. The acquisition values the issued share capital of BlueBay at approximately GBP963 million.The board of BlueBay has unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote in favour of the acquisition. It is anticipated that, subject to the satisfaction of all regulatory and other conditions, the acquisition will close by the end of December 2010. The transaction will be funded using RBC’s existing cash resources, and is not expected to have a material impact on RBC’s earnings per share in the near term. «This acquisition will further RBC’s strategy to leverage our position as a top 10 global wealth manager, and continue to expand our asset management solutions for the benefit of our clients around the world,» said George Lewis, group head, RBC Wealth Management. BlueBay is one of Europe’s largest independent managers of fixed income debt funds and products, with USUSD40 billion in assets under management (as at September 30, 2010) on behalf of institutional and high net worth investors in the UK, Europe, the U.S., the Middle East, Asia and Australasia. Based in London, BlueBay manages a combination of long-only and alternative investment strategies across the sub-asset classes of fixed income credit - primarily focused on European and emerging markets strategies - including: investment grade corporate debt, high yield corporate debt, emerging market debt, convertible bonds, distressed debt, and multi-strategy debt capabilities. BlueBay will retain its investment autonomy and related operational independence following the acquisition. The 220 employees of BlueBay will become valued members of RBC’s Global Asset Management business and collaborate with their new partners in RBC Wealth Management, RBC’s global segment for wealth and asset management solutions.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Banque Sarasin has announced the launch of a new equities fund, entitled Sarasin Sustainable Equity – USA. The fund is aimed at private as well as institutional investors, and allows them to participate in potential growth at US businesses which contribute to economic and social sustainability, the bank explains in a statement released on 18 October. In the past few years, the US government has passed stimulus measures to support sectors involved in sustainable development, such as clean and renewable energies and public transport. The Sarasin Sustainable Equity – USA fund was launched to capture the economic potential resulting from these incitements. With the density of US regulations increasing and tax regulations expected to toughen in the US, the fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, offers an attractive alternative for investors who prefer to avoid direct investment in US equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The German real estate fund management firm Warburg-Henderson KAG für Immobilien has acquired the office building located at 61-79 Buchanan Street in Glasgow for EUR42m. The property will be added to the portfolio of the institutional real estate fund RZVK-Immo-Fonds, which is managed on behalf of the pensions funds for the Rhineland region (Rheinische Versorgungskassen). Warburg-Henderson has also announced the appointment at the beginning of July of Rena Knöpke as director of marketing, distribution and client services. She was previously part of the the CRM institutional clients team at M.M. Warburg, after spending six years at Henderson Global Investors (2001-2007).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock will launch in Italy the BSF Funds of iShares range of funds invested in iShares ETFs. The range includes four portfolios with various risk and return characteristics: conservative, moderate, growth and dynamic. The funds invest in several geographical areas and asset classes.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } In the 27th issue of its publication Viewpoint (http://www.chelseafs.co.uk/documents/Viewpoint-Issue27.pdf), Chelsea Financial Services has published its “Premier League” list of 96 funds which are recognised for their good returns, and 102 funds in the “relegation zone” for poor performance in the three-year period to 31 August; these funds (which include 24 multi-management products) have a total of GBP14.5bn in assets, while 85 funds fall into a “drop zone” with GBP13.2bn in assets. The funds which earn a place in the “dirty dozen” include six large funds with poor returns. The SWIP Multimanager UK Equities is the worst, with over GBP1.1bn in assets, followed by the L&G Multimanager UK Alpha fund, managed by Barclays Wealth (GBP877m). There are three Standard Life Investments products (SLI) among the six (3rd, 5th and 6th), while another SWIP fund takes 4th place. Four funds, meanwhile, show negative deviations of over 30% compared with the average for their sector over 3 years: Elite-Henderson Rowe Dogs FTSE 100 (33.64%), Legg Mason US Equity (33.13%), MFM Techinvest Special Situations (32.51%) and EFA New Horizon High Income (30.55%). The list is rounded out by SVM Global Opportunties (26.04%), and City Financial Str Global Bond (26.01%).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) announced on Monday, 18 October that it has appointed Yves Stein as head of its banking activities in Luxembourg. Previously, Stein served as head of the Private Banking profession worldwide at the Fortis group. This is not the first time that UBP has added to its personnel by taking on a former Fortis manager. On 8 April 2010, Eli Koen and Mathieu Nègre, who joined the firm as co-heads of equities markets for emerging Europe, both came from Fortis Investments. In addition, Richard Wohanka, CEO for asset management and alternative management at the Swiss group, came from the firm which was taken over by BNP Paribas. Several sources say that other management staff are likely to follow in the very near future.

L’opérateur boursier a indiqué qu’il avait débuté la compensation de swaps de taux d’intérêt, le plus gros marché de dérivés de gré à gré avec environ 400.000 milliards de dollars d’encours. Du côté des investisseurs, CME a réussi à attirer Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, PIMCO, BlackRock ou encore Citadel. Dix sociétés s’associent par ailleurs au projet, dont Goldman Sachs et JPMorgan.

Selon EuroPerformance, la décollecte au troisième trimestre (-7,2 milliards d’euros) s’inscrit en nette diminution par rapport au trimestre précédent. La pression vendeuse qui s’exerçait sur les fonds de trésorerie régulière a fortement baissé (-6,6 milliards d’euros), et certaines catégories de fonds ont continué de recevoir les flux d’une demande soutenue. La gestion collective française enregistre une légère progression de ses encours de +1% sur le trimestre, à 838,6 milliards d’euros.

L’autorité des marchés financiers a annoncé avoir mis à jour son guide sur l’élaboration des prospectus obligataires et les modalités pratiques d’obtention d’un visa. Un guide, paru initialement en septembre 2009, destiné à favoriser selon l’AMF le développement du marché primaire obligataire pour les émetteurs français.

La politique accommodante des banques centrales américaine et britannique ne sont plus seules en cause

La société américaine propose 1,73 milliard de dollars pour le gérant d’actif Perpetual dans un marché qui pèse 1.300 milliards de dollars australiens

Des tensions sont réapparues sur la partie longue de la courbe des taux américaine

Des tensions sont réapparues sur la partie longue de la courbe des taux américaine

Selon une enquête, sept salariés sur dix n'ayant pas accès au dispositif souhaiteraient épargner en moyenne 9 % de leur salaire

Barclays réfléchit à un nouveau type d’obligations dont le coupon varierait en fonction du niveau de fonds propres de la banque

Le taux de rémunération des échanges interbancaires européens a été publié hier à 1 %. Une première depuis juillet 2009

Sur le marché des futures, les positions nettes acheteuses de devises japonaise et australienne s’établissent encore à des niveaux records

L’offre valorise le gérant britannique autour de 19 fois ses bénéfices estimés en 2011, un multiple supérieur à celui du secteur

Le comité central du PCC prévoit dans le cadre du plan quinquennal de faire de la demande intérieure un moteur de croissance plus important

L’Allemagne obtient en contrepartie l’assurance de réviser les traités

Royal Bank of Canada a annoncé le rachat du gestionnaire de fonds BlueBay Asset Management pour environ 963 millions de livres (1,1 milliard d’euros), le groupe canadien cherchant à s’imposer parmi les 10 premiers gestionnaires de fortune au monde. La première banque du Canada en termes de capitalisation boursière a proposé lundi 485 pence par titre, ce qui représente une prime de 29% par rapport au cours de clôture du titre vendredi à 375,70 pence.

La foncière cotée a convoqué pour le 24 novembre une assemblée générale extraordinaire, afin de voter l'émission d’obligations subordonnées remboursables en actions (OSRA) pour un montant de 40,9 millions d’euros. Les principaux actionnaires (Amber Capital, Neuflize Vie, MMA, Maaf, GMF, Predica) devraient souscrire. Foncière Paris France discute du rachat de l’activité immobilier d’entreprise de la SAGI, filiale de la SNI, elle-même détenue par la Caisse des dépôts.

Pour la première fois depuis juillet 2009, l’Euribor 3 mois a atteint lundi matin 1%, soit le niveau des taux directeurs en zone euro. La réduction de l’excès de liquidité dans le système bancaire, qui pousse aussi les taux au jour le jour à la hausse, explique cette forme de retour à la normale. Les futures sur Euribor parient sur une poursuite du mouvement d’ici à fin 2010.

La performance du Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR) au troisième trimestre a atteint 4,5 %, portant à 2,7 % la performance depuis le début de l’année 2010. Au 30 septembre, le montant des actifs s’établissait à 35,7 milliards d’euros, contre respectivement 31,9 milliards il y a un an et 33,3 milliards fin 2009. Le portefeuille est constitué à 33,3% d’actions, 3,8% de matières premières, 3,5% d’immobilier, et à 59,4% d’actifs obligataires et monétaires, indique le FRR.

Au cours des douze derniers mois, les ETF actions ont fortement progressé sur le marché indien, selon Asian Investor.Au cours des dix-huit prochains mois, le marché devrait encore enregistrer une forte augmentation. Actuellement, le marché des ETF est dominé par la Chine, avec une part de marché de 40%, devant Hong Kong (33%), le Japon (12%) et l’Inde (0,2%). Les ETF dédiés à l’Asie cotés à l'étranger représentent toutefois un total de 3,4 milliards de dollars.

Le prince Kyril de Saxe-Cobourg, qui était jusqu'à présent responsable commercial de GLG pour la Péninsule ibérique, sera désormais chargé également de la vente des fonds alternatifs et newcits de Man Group, la société de gestion qui a acheté GLG Partners, rapporte Funds People. Le second fils de l’ex-roi Siméon de Bulgarie succède dans cette fonction à Frank Pauls.