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06/02/2009

United Kingdom - Fund assets fell by GBP107.2bn last year

According to statistics from the Investment Management Association, assets in British funds at the end of December totalled GBP360.7bn, compared with GBP379.6bn at the end of September, and GBP467.9bn twelve months previously, which corresponds to a decline of 22.9%. In the fourth quarter of last year, net subscriptions to retail products totalled GBP2.05bn, compared with net outflows of GBP528.2m in third quarter, and net inflows of GBP207.5m in October-December 2007, while net outflows from ISAs totalled GBP145.7m, compared with GBP992.7m in July-September, and GBP826m in the corresponding period of the previous year.For funds of funds, which had total assets under management of GBP30.3bn as of the end of the year, compared with GBP31.5bn and GBP34.4bn, three and twelve months previously, net subscriptions in fourth quarter 2008 totalled GBP304m, compared with GBP527.8m in the previous quarter, and GBP839.2m in October-December 2007.
06/02/2009

France - Acropole AM launches two horizon funds

Acropole Asset Management, a management firm specialised in convertible bonds, is launching two horizon funds with maturity in three years, as additions to the firm’s credit product line (see Newsmanagers of 16 January 2009). The two products will be ?based on credit-type convertible bonds, to allow investors to profit from the nice opportunities which are now offered by the convergence between convertible bonds and credit,? the asset management firm explains.To manage these funds, Acropole AM, which was previously focused primarily on mixed convertible bonds, is scaling up its partnership with Chayne Capital, an alternative management firm based in London, which is also one of the largest shareholders in the management firm, with a 33% stake. The British entity, which manages USD2bn in investment grade credit, out of a total of USD7bn in assets, has a 30-member team in the area of credit.The first fund in the new range, Acropole Convertibles Optimum, is a French-registered FCP fund, with a maturity date of 31 January 2012, and a perforamnce objective of 12% to 13% annually (before fees). It is invested in international convertible bonds (Europe, USA, Asia, and Japan), and currency risks are hedged for currencies other than the Euro. The fund will be managed by teams at Acropole AM, with the support of Cheyne Capital for credit analysis.The second product, Acropole 2012, is a Luxembourg-registered sub-fund, licensed by the CSSF, which complies with UCITS III, and matures on 30 June 2012, with a performance objective of 8% to 9% annually (before fees). The portfolio, invested in primarily European investment grade convertible and corporate bonds, will be managed by Acropole AM and advised by Cheyne Capital.
06/02/2009

World - All-star list of Madoff victims

What do Larry Silverstein (the architect of the World Trade Center), the Bank of Austria, and the American Jewish Congress have in common? They are all, along with thousands of other names, on the 163-page list of clients of Bernard Madoff, which was rendered public by a court in the US state of New York on Wednesday. The list includes the full names and mailing addresses of clients, most of whom are domiciled in the United States. Among them are the children and brother of Madoff, who is accused of orchestrating a global fraud that ran to more than USD50bn. His current lawyer, Ira Sorkin, and the two account managers Jerome Horowitz and David Friehling, formerly employed by his business, are also on the list of clients.The list also includes major banks such as Citigroup, Citibank and Bank of America, as well as charities, such as the Fondation Wunderkinder, founded by the film director Steven Spielberg, and Columbia University.American celebrities have not been spared; they are represented, for example, by the television presenter Larry King and the baseball player Sandy Koufax.Across the Atlantic in France, clients of Madoff include the Groupement Financier Français, BNP Paribas, and Oddo et Oddo as well as Access International Advisors, whose co-founder, Thierry de la Villehuchet committed suicide in December. The Halley family, which owns 13% of the Carrefour group, is listed under the name of the structure Halley Invest; the list also includes Financière Agache, the holding company for Bernard Arnault.
06/02/2009

United States - State Street cuts dividends

State Street announced on Thursday that it will be reducing its dividends and bonuses for its top management, the Financial Times reports. Dividends will be reduced to 1 cent per share, from 24 cents previously.
06/02/2009

United Kingdom - SSgA builds up European portfolio management team

Michael Arone, formerly senior portfolio manager in Boston in the quantitative and active equities management team in Boston, has been appointed to the London-based position of vice president and head of product engineering for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA). Brett Collins has also moved from Boston to London, where he will become vice president and product engineer in the enhanced equities products group. The two vice presidents will be assisted by three new recruits: Philip Barleggs (ex Insight Investment), Jennifer Hole (ex BGI), and Monica Fan (RBC Capital Markets).The product engineering team will aim to help teams to contact clients and prospects, in collaboration with the Advanced Research Center and with development specialists, to improve investment strategies and solutions for clients.
06/02/2009

United States - Failed trader leaves behind USD1.8bn hole in Deutsche Bank coffers

Of the USD5bn in losses announced by Deutsche Bank, USD1.8bn were caused by operations involving owners’ equity by Boaz Weinstein in New York, the Wall Street Journal reports. This loss more than wipes out the profits of USD900m and USD600m reported in 2006 and 2007 for the traders group Saba (Hebrew for wisdom), led by Weinstein. Weinstein left the bank this week to found his own hedge fund, which may be known as .. Saba.
06/02/2009

United States - TPG returns money to investors

TPG, which raised USD6bn to invest in companies in financial difficulty, has decided to return 25% of this amount to investors, the Financial Times reports. The move comes as some of the firm’s competitors are raising funds to invest in these businesses.
06/02/2009

Spain - Assets in retirement savings plans down in January

Funds People reports that, according to VDOS Stochastics, assets in individual retirement savings plans fell in January by EUR562m, or 1.16%, to a total of EUR47.88bn. EUR481m of this decline is due to negative market effects. The major actors in this area are BBVA Pensiones with a 16.49% market share, followed by Santander Pensiones (15.84%) and Vida Caixa (13.37%).
06/02/2009

Germany - Reimbursement of Lehman victims begins

The BdB association of private sector banks has announced that the deposit guarantee fund on Tuesday began the process of reimbursing investors whose money was caught up in the collapse of Frankfurt-based Lehman Brothers Bankhaus Aktiengessellschaft. So far, this has involved sending a message to the people and companies concerned. Deposits, including nominative savings coupons, are guaranteed for up to EUR285.1m per investor.
06/02/2009

Switzerland - SFA now has 145 members

In 2008, the Swiss Funds Association (SFA) recorded an 11% increase in the number of its members, to 145 in total. In the past five years, the number of members of the association, founded in 1992, have increased by 65%. Among the new active members, all of them based in Switzerland, are Axa IM Morgan Stanley, the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Caceis Fastnet, EIM, FundStreet, Gottex Wealth Management, Saint George Capital Management, and Union Investment.
06/02/2009

United States - Losses for financial services at Prudential Financial

For the fiscal year ending on 31 December, Prudential Financial has declared a loss for its financial services operation of about USD1.1bn, compared with net profits of USD3.51bn in 2007, and a loss of USD1.64bn in October-December 2008, compared with profits of USD792m in the corresponding period of the previous year. Asset management, for its part, has posted operating losses of USD69m for October-December, compared with profits of USD198m the year before, while profits for last year as a whole are down to USD232m, from USD701m.As of 31 December, assets fell to USD395.4bn from USD438.5bn three months earlier. For the group as a whole, assets under management totalled USD558bn at the end of December, compared with USD648bn at the end of 2007.
06/02/2009

Italy - Mutual funds start 2009 in the red

In January, mutual funds on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR4.9bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals. Outflows are continuing, it seems, for the Italian management sector, although the start of this year has proven slightly better than the EUR8.9bn in net outflows in December.The heaviest redemption demands affected bond funds, at -EUR2.3bn, and hedge funds, at -EUR1.2bn. Equities mutual funds saw outflows of only EUR108m.At the end of January, assets in mutual funds on sale in Italy totalled EUR404bn, a decline from the EUR408bn recorded at the end of December. At the end of 2007, assets totalled EUR618bn. Among the management firms which suffered most severely in January is Pioneer Investments, the second-largest management firm in Italy in terms of assets, which has seen net redemptions of EUR2.8bn. On the other hand, Mediolanum, BNP Paribas and Generali stand out with net subscriptions.
06/02/2009

United Kingdom - Skandia launches an online platform comparison tool

Skandia on Thursday announced the launch of PriceWatch, an online calculation tool which allows independent financial advisers to make specific comparisons between the fees charged by various platforms for each fund or portfolio of funds. It is also possible to integrate fees related to a rebalancing of the portfolio, with transfers from one fund to another, into the calculations. PriceWatch allows comparisons between the Transact, Cofunds, FundsNetwork, Nucleus and Standard Life platforms.
06/02/2009

Spain - BBVA AM launches a corporate bond fund

To take advantage of the current potential on the corporate bond markets, BBVA Asset Management is offering subscriptions until 6 March to the BBVA Bonos Corporatives 2011, which will be capped at EUR400m in assets. The product matures after 36 months, and will be invested in shares rated at least BBB- by S&P (it will not invest in securitisations). Minimal subscription is set at EUR10,000. Positions in currencies other than the Euro will not exceed 5% of assets.After one year, the fund will pay a 3% coupon. To avoid being forced into fire sales of assets made necessary by redemption demands, BBVA AM will charge a 5% penalty for early withdrawal, while the front-end fee for the fund is set at 2%. Annual management commission is set at 0.9%.
06/02/2009

United Kingdom - Ethical products suffer more than funds overall

In one year, assets in ethical funds in the United Kingdom fell 25% to GBP4.4bn, while funds overall fell by only 22.9%. According to statistics from the Investment Management Association, net subscriptions in fourth quarter totalled GBP54.8m, compared with GBP20.5m in third quarter and GBP99.7m in the corresponding period of 2007.
06/02/2009

Switzerland - Profits at Julius Baer down by one quarter

The Julius Baer group on Friday announced a 25% decline in its net profits to CHF852m. Clients’ assets as of the end of the year totalled CHF338bn, with a contraction of 32% in assets under management, to a total of CHF275bn at the end of December, while assets in deposit totalled CHF63bn (down from CHF68bn), after CHF11bn in net inflows. CHF94bn of the fall in assets under management is due to falling markets, while CHF31bn is due to the falling value of the Swiss Franc, and CHF5bn to net outflows.Net inflows of capital totalled CHF22bn, thanks to a record contribution from the private banking operation (CHF17bn), while the asset management unit saw net outflows of CFH27bn.Total assets under management by the three specialist entities in the Asset Management unit totalled CHF116bn at the end of 2008: CHF42bn at GAM, CHF48bn at Artio Global, the US-based asset management division of Julius Baer, and CHF26bn at Julius Baer Asset Management Europe. The Asset Management unit posted an overal decrease in assets of CHF96bn, of which CHF50bn was due to the poor performance of the markets, CHF27bn to net outflows of capital at GAM and Julius Baer Asset Management Europe, and CHF19bn to currency effects.
06/02/2009

Germany - Deutsche Bank to court American bankers

Josef Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank, thinks Barack Obama’s proposal to limit the pay scales for directors of US banks which accept government assistance to USD500,000 is a boon for his firm, as it will allow his bank to recruit American talents, the Financial Times reports. ?If US banks can only pay a bonus of USD500,000, I think the talent will be happy to work for us,? he says.
06/02/2009

United Kingdom - SLI launches ?strategic? bond fund

Standard Life Investments (SLI) on Thursday announced the launch of a bond fund aimed at retail investors, which will allow them to invest in a wide range of assets, such as government bonds, investment grade credit, high yield bonds, and indexed bonds, in the United Kingdom and overseas. The Strategic Bond Fund, managed by Andrew Sutherland (who is also head of credit at SLI), will also be authorised to invest in derivatives such as futures, inflation or interest rate swaps, and CDS.As of 31 December, SLI had assets in bonds of GBP47.4bn.
06/02/2009

Spain - Record losses for Santander real estate fund

In January, the Santander Banif Immobiliaro posted losses of 4.21%, the heaviest losses in its history. The firm is also predicting similar developments in February, and potentially worse, as the results of a one-time audit of the portfolio which began on 1 January will be announced, Expansión reports. The liquidity window has been open since Monday, but subscribers who wish to exit from the fund will have to request redemptions without knowing what price they will get.
06/02/2009

World - Madoff: Investors take on auditors

Since it appears likely that Bernard Madoff’s firm and his personal assets will not be sufficient to reimburse investors, lawyers for the plaintiffs are turning to auditing firms, the Financial Times reports. Of the roughly 20 lawsuits filed since Madoff’s arrest, at least 11 name national subsidiaries of PwC, Ernst & Young, KPMG or BDO as codefendants. Only Deloitte appears to have been spared. None of the agencies directly audited Madoff, but they examined numerous hedge funds that invested with him.
06/02/2009

Monde - Madoff : les pertes estimées entre 15 et 25 milliards de dollars

Selon Les Echos, le «whistleblower» (dénonciateur) Harry Markopolos, qui a décortiqué le fonctionnement du schéma de Ponzi de Bernard Madoff depuis plusieurs années, estime que le niveau des pertes engendrées se situe entre 15 et 25 milliards de dollars, contre une estimation initiale de 50 milliards de dollars confessée par l’auteur de la fraude au FBI, lors de son arrestation le 11 décembre. Il estime ensuite que l’ancien président du Nasdaq n’a, en aucun cas, pu mettre en place son système sans un réseau important de complicités internes et externes. En particulier, le dénonciateur a encouragé les autorités de régulation à poursuivre les fonds nourriciers («feeder funds») principalement investis dans Madoff, tels Fairfield Greenwich, Kingate Global Fund ou Access International, qui n’ont pas accompli la «due diligence» nécessaire sur les activités du courtier indélicat. A cet égard, il a indiqué à la Chambre qu’une douzaine de fonds rabatteurs supplémentaires, ayant subi des pertes significatives et dont il se réserve le droit de révéler la liste, «se cachaient encore en Europe».
06/02/2009

Europe - Madoff : Meeschaert restitue les sommes investies

Dans un entretien aux Echos, Cédric Meeschaert, président du directoire de Meeschaert Gestion Privée, indique qu"il veut restituer à ses clients les sommes investies dans la sicav Luxalpha que le régulateur luxembourgeois a décidé de liquider. «Avec cette affaire et la crise, notre métier, fondé sur la confiance, est touché par la défiance. Nous voulons restaurer cette confiance avec nos clients. C’est pourquoi nous allons restituer l’investissement dans la sicav, au moins à hauteur du prix de revient. Le holding patrimonial de notre famille va se substituer à eux. Des contrats de cession de gré à gré seront signés, pour la totalité des titres Luxalpha. Nous envisageons un règlement en deux temps : 50 % en avril 2009 et le solde en avril 2010", explique au quotidien Cédric Meeschaert qui souligne que «ce qui compte avant tout pour nos clients, c’est de récupérer leur investissement initial».
06/02/2009

France - L'AMF lance une consultation sur les modalités d'introduction en Bourse

A la demande du Haut comité de place, l"Autorité des marchés financiers a examiné les modifications susceptibles d"être apportées à certaines règles d"admission sur le marché réglementé concernant l’allocation aux investisseurs particuliers et l’encadrement du prix dans une fourchette de 15%. L’AMF propose notamment lune modification des règles d’encadrement du prix au moyen d’une fourchette indicative ou impérative élargie à 20%. L’Autorité des marchés financiers se dit par ailleurs favorable au maintien d’une procédure destinée aux investisseurs particuliers mais estime qu’elle devrait être aménagée «en cas de déséquilibre manifeste». La consultation est ouverte jusqu’au 20 mars 2009.
06/02/2009

Suisse - Warren Buffett recapitalise Swiss Re

Selon La Tribune, le réassureur a annoncé une perte de 1 milliard de francs suisses et une recapitalisation de 5 milliards dans le cadre de laquelle Warren Buffett investira 3 milliards de francs suisses via son groupe Berkshire Hathaway.Cette opération prendra la forme d’un emprunt perpétuel convertible que la société suisse pourra racheter par anticipation en payant une prime de 20%., précise le quotidien. Pour sa part, le milliardaire américain, s’il convertit sa participation dans les 3 ans qui viennent, détiendra 20% de Swiss Re.
06/02/2009

Allemagne - Bruxelles donne son feu vert au plan d'aide au capital-investissement

La Commission européenne a approuvé jeudi un règlement allemand sur le capital-investissement adaptant provisoirement certains mécanismes de capital-investissement au cadre temporaire adopté par la Commission dans le domaine des aides d"État pour faciliter l"accès au financement dans le contexte de la crise financière et économique actuelle. Cette mesure permettra d"assouplir les investissements en capital-investissement jusqu"en 2010. Le régime connu sous le nom de Bundesrahmenregelung Risikokapital permettra notamment de faire passer les tranches d"investissement maximales de huit régimes d’investissement en capital-investissement mis en ?uvre par des Länder allemands de 1,5 million d’euros à 2,5 millions d’euros par période de 12 mois et ce, jusqu’en 2010. La participation minimale des investisseurs privés est ramenée temporairement de 50 % à 30 %.
06/02/2009

Suisse - Deux gérants retenus par la Banque Mondiale

Selon Le Temps, BlueOrchard et responsAbility Social Investments ont été sélectionnés pour gérer un fonds de 500 millions «destiné à soutenir la croissance des institutions de microfinance». Ce fonds, appelé «Microfinance Enhancement Facility», vise "à refinancer plus de 100 institutions de microfinance dans une quarantaine de pays». Ces spécialistes genevois et zurichois de la microfinance partagent le mandat avec Cyrano Management, une société établie à Lima (Pérou). En 2008, le fonds Dexia Micro-Credit, géré par BlueOrchard, a dégagé une performance de 5,31% en dollars, selon son dernier rapport. Pour sa part, le fonds responsAbility Global Microfinance a terminé l"année sur un gain de 6,44%.

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