p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { } The volume of activity on European markets for structured products and leveraged products totalled EUR26.4bn in second quarter 2014, down 21% compared with the previous quarter, according to statistics released by the European structured product association (Eusipa). Activities involving structured products totalled EUR9.4bn, down by more than 17% compared with the previous quarter, and nearly 28% compared with second quarter 2013. For leveraged products, activities totalled EUR17bn, down 17.1% compared with the previous quarter, but up 4.8% compared with second quarter 2013.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { } State Street Corporation on 2 September announced the appointment of Bob Keogh as head of its Alternative Investment Solutions (AIS) unit for the Asia-Pacific region. Keogh will be based in Hong Kong and will be responsible for activities dedicated to hedge funds, private equity and real estate throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Keogh has more than 20 years of experience in financial services, including 14 years in the hedge fund industry. Keogh had previously been senior managing director for hedge fund servicing activities at State Street in Europe. He had previously worked at Goldman Sachs Administration Services as head of this activity in Europe and Asia.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { } Carmignac Gestion has announced the arrival of Fabian Herzog as business development manager for Switzerland. He will reoprt to Marco Fiorini, head of country, and will aim to develop private banking and third-party clients located in German-speaking Switzerland. The team at the group dedicated to Switzerland now includes six people and covers the entire country, a statement says. The new recruit had previously worked at Credit Suisse in the Asset Management division, where he was responsible for sales of all multi-asset solutions from the firm on various markets.

RepRisk, the leading provider of business intelligence on environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, and Mission Markets, a US-based impact investing platform, announced today a partnership that will provide Mission Markets’ investors with comprehensive ESG business intelligence. RepRisk’s ESG data and metrics will be integrated into Mission Markets’ impact investing platform, which serves as an independent capital marketplace and community network to connect investors with companies that offer financial, social and environmental returns.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { } The Swiss federal financial market surveillance authority (Finma) has opened an “enforcement procedure” against the private bank Espirito Santo, which is under voluntary liquidation, it announced on 3 September. Finma will investigate distribution of securities and financial products form the Swiss affiliate of the Portuguese Espírito Santo group. “Finma is seeking to determine what role the Swiss Banque Privée Espírito Santo SA played …. in the distribution of securities and financial products from the Espírito Santo group, and whether it violated surveillance requirements,” Finma announced in a statement. The regulator has also opened investigations “into the influence of bank owners into the process in Switzerland,” without providing more details.

The suspense has been lifted at last. J.P. Morgan Asset Management (J.P. Morgan AM) on 3 September announced the appointment of Pietro Grassano, 44, to the position of CEO of its Paris office. He replaces Karine Szenberg, who on 12 June was appointed to take over as CEO of Schroders France, from September. He takes over as head of a firm which has USD8.1bn (about EUR6.1bn) in assets under management in France as of the end of July 2014.Grassano, who has been present at J.P. Morgan AM since 2002, and who has more than 15 years of experience in the asset management sector, had previously served as director of sales for Italy, responsible for wholesale and retail clients. Grassano officially began in this role on 1 September, and has moved from Milan to Paris. Before joining J.P. Morgan in 2002, Grassano took on a sales position at BNP Paribas Asset Management in Milan, covering wholesale and distribution clients. Before that, he worked at a consultant in the financial unit of Andersen Consulting. His mission at the head of J.P. Morgan AM in France is clear: “increase our presence in the country,” says Massimo Greco, CEO for the distribution unit in Europe, who claims that “France represents a strategic market for the growth of J.P. Morgan AM in Europe.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { } Swiss Life is adding to its “insurer private management” office, with the arrival of Claire Fremin as head of development for private banks on the private banking & family office team. She will report to Emmanual Saint-Pierre. The insurer private management office, led by Christophe de Vaublanc, now has 22 employees. The recruitment comes as part of a continuation of the development strategy at Swiss Life serving wealth management clients. The insurer private management office unites and includes all expertise at the Swiss Life group serving wealth management clients, with a global product range for life insurance, private banking and financial management. Since its inception, the group has accelerated its development serving this strategic target client base, with an increase in wealth management clients of more than 15% in one year (to the end of 2013), and of 24% in its single premium revenues. In her new role, Fremin will aim to develop new banking and family office partnerships, relying on the Luxembourg and French product ranges from the group. Fremin began her career at Schroders France in 2008 as an external distribution salesperson to IFA and private banking clients. She then serves as head of IFA partnerships in the development office at Fival in 2009, and then as head of private banking, IFA platform and asset management firm partnerships as part of the savings and wealth management client office at AG2R.

Manulife Financial Corporation («MFC») yesterday announced that The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company («MLI») and Standard Life Oversea Holdings Limited, a subsidiary of Standard Life plc, have entered into an agreement under which MLI will acquire the Canadian-based operations of Standard Life plc for approximately $4 billion in cash at closing, subject to certain adjustments. «Several months ago, Standard Life decided to explore the sale of its Canadian operations through a competitive process,» said Donald A. Guloien, President and Chief Executive Officer, Manulife. «We are delighted to be named the successful bidder.» Standard Life is now the 5th largest life insurer in Canada, and has 2000 employees and 1.4 million customers. Standard Life is a provider of long term savings, investment and insurance solutions to the Canadian market, with $52 billion of assets According to Manulife, «this transaction significantly builds our capability to serve customers in all of Canada, and elsewhere in the world, from Quebec. Examples of this include Group Benefits, Group Retirement, several areas of Asset Management, Investment Risk Oversight and the growing and important field of Liability-Driven Investing, as well as others. «Excluding transition and integration costs, after the first year we expect the transaction to be accretive by approximately 3¢ to EPS per year over each of the next three years,» added Mr. Guloien. «It will also increase our earnings capacity beyond our 2016 core earnings objective of $4 billion. This transaction, and the financing, maintain our strong capital position, and in no way inhibit our ability to pay dividends. In fact, it will enhance our ability to increase dividends in the future. The transaction will improve core earnings, however the transition costs reported in core earnings will create a modest, temporary headwind on our core ROE objective of 13%.» With respect to Standard Life’s operations in Quebec, Mr. Guloien said «one of the key reasons we were interested in this company is its people in Quebec: we want to increase our presence in the province and use the very talented employee base to grow and expand our business in Quebec, throughout Canada and indeed the world.» «This transaction also allows us to leverage Standard Life’s strong presence, and deep understanding of the unique attributes of the Quebec market,» said Marianne Harrison, Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager, Canadian Division, Manulife. «We will build on Standard Life’s nationally-recognized expertise in many aspects of financial services.»

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { }Japan’s GovernmentPension Investment Fund (GPIF), which has released figures for itsfirst quarter, ending on 30 June, posted positive returns of+1.77% in the period under review, after delivering a negativeperformance (-0.8%) in the previous quarter.This rebound in thequarterly performance of the GPIF is largely due to itsinvestments in Japanese equities, which gained 5.1% inthe three months ending on 30 June, after decreasing 7.1%in the previous quarter. Investments in international equities, gained 3.1%, compared with 0.1% decline inthe previous quarter.For some time, thegovernment of Shinzo Aby has been pushing the GPIF to revise itsasset allocation in favour of equities, particularly Japaneseequities. At the end of June, equities represented one third of theGPIF’s asset allocation, and within this increased proportion,Japanese equities represented very slightly more than half.p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { }

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; }a:link { } The Luxembourg financial services surveillance commission (CSSF) has warned the public over the activities of an entity entitled James Doyle, which does not have the necessary licenses to provide financial services in or from Luxembourg. The firm claims to be based at 45, rue des Scillas, L-2529 Howald, Luxembourg (website: www.james-doyle.com).

La Banque centrale européenne a abaissé jeudi de 10 points de base son taux refi à l’issue de son comité de politique monétaire, pour le ramener à 0,05%. Les taux de la facilité marginale de prêt et de la facilité de dépôt ont également été abaissés de 10 pb, à 0,3% et -0,2% respectivement. L’euro a aussitôt plongé de 1,314 à 1,303 dollar après ces annonces.

Les adjudications de dette de l’Agence France Trésor ce jeudi ont permis à la France d’emprunter à des taux historiquement bas. L’AFT a adjugé 4,3 milliards d’euros d’OAT 10 ans de coupon 1,75% à un rendement de 1,32%, du jamais-vu sur cette maturité, avec un taux de couverture (demande/offre) de 2,82 fois. Quelque 3,5 milliards de titres à 15 ans et 1,15 milliard de titres à 30 ans ont également été placés, à des rendements respectifs de 1,92% et 2,37%.

Après une hausse de 1,1% au premier trimestre, la croissance du PIB australien a nettement ralenti au deuxième à 0,5%, sous l’effet d’une hausse des importations et d’un comportement prudent des consommateurs, selon le Bureau national des statistiques ABS. Sur un an, le PIB a progressé de 3,1% entre avril et juin, après avoir crû 3,4% au premier trimestre.

La société de gestion a annoncé hier l’arrivée de Pietro Grassano au poste de directeur général de son bureau de Paris. Jusqu’à présent directeur des ventes de JPMorgan AM en Italie, il remplace depuis le 1er septembre Karine Szenberg. Débauchée par Schroders, cette dernière vient de prendre la tête des activités françaises du gestionnaire britannique après le départ au printemps de Nuno Teixeira.

«L’instauration d’emprunts souverains européens ferait de l’euro une devise d’importance mondiale et ce de manière permanente, assurant ainsi la compétitivité et la place de choix de l’Europe de manière pérenne», a indiqué le président du directoire de Commerzbank, Marting Blessing, dans un entretien accordé au Handelsblatt. Des propos qui lui ont valu aussitôt de vives critiques de la part de Steffen Kampeter, secrétaire d’Etat aux Finances: «plutôt que de se préoccuper d’un sujet inopportun comme celui-ci, M. Blessing ferait mieux de se concentrer sur son rôle de dirigeant d’entreprise», a-t-il dit.

Les gestionnaires de sociétés de placement immobilier (SCPI) ont collecté en net 1,26 milliard d’euros au premier semestre 2014, selon leur association professionnelle, l’Aspim. C’est 158 millions d’euros de plus que l’an dernier. Au 30 juin, la capitalisation globale des SCPI dépasse pour la toute première fois le seuil des 30 milliards, pour atteindre un total de 31,34 milliards d’euros, en hausse de 4,6% par rapport à la fin 2013.

L’autorité européenne des marchés souligne que le financement participatif, qui a récemment bénéficié d’une «attention considérable en tant que source complémentaire potentielle de financement pour les petites et moyennes entreprises et pour l’économie dans son ensemble», «n’est pas exempt de risques». L’Esma salue les mesures réglementaires validées ou envisagées par certains Etats membres de l’Union, mais appelle de ses vœux une réelle convergence.

Les plus grandes banques américaines devront avoir un ratio de liquidité à court terme (LCR) à son plus haut niveau d'ici à 2017

Le pays, qui est sorti récemment de son programme d’aide financière du FMI et de l’UE, a levé 3,5 milliards d’euros à 15 ans hier, la maturité la plus longue trouvée depuis 2008. Malgré le coût du sauvetage de BES en août, Lisbonne peut commencer à préfinancer ses besoins pour 2015.

L’abondance de la récolte, notamment en Russie, a maintenu les prix internationaux bas, sous les 180 euros / tonne sur le Matif novembre

Le pays, qui est sorti récemment de son programme d'aide financière du FMI et de l'UE, a levé 3,5 milliards d'euros à 15 ans hier

Les taux français et belges sont tombés sous zéro pour la première fois de leur histoire, rejoignant ainsi six autres pays de la zone. Le 5 ans est sous pression

La banque privée Neuflize OBC vient de fusionner ses deux sociétés de gestion à savoir Neuflize OBC Investissements (NOI) et Neuflize Private Assets (NPA). Une fusion effective depuis le 1er janvier 2014 et qui porte les actifs sous gestion du nouvel ensemble à plus de 30 milliards d’euros.

La question des rétrocommissions sera au cœur du débat entre l'ACPR, l'AMF et un CGPI invité, a annoncé l'organisateur du salon Patrimonia Jean-Marc Bourmault.

Patrimonia a réalisé, en partenariat avec Morningstar, une enquête sur l'environnement professionnel de la gestion de patrimoine pour l'année 2015 auprès de plus de 400 conseillers en investissements financiers.

Pression sur les marges, émergence de nouveaux acteurs, concurrence de la gestion passive sont autant d'éléments qui inquiètent les sociétés de gestion européennes.

Nicolas Mahé, directeur marketing opérationnel de la plateforme 1818, devrait quitter le groupe, croit savoir H24 Finance.

Dans le cadre du renouvellement de ses mandats, le Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) lancera des appels d’offres sur les produits de taux fixe zone euro et US en 2015, selon nos informations. Le fonds de pension lancera également un appel d’offres sur la gestion overlay en fin d’année et sur le crédit high yield fin 2014-début 2015. Se trouvent également dans les projets d’investissement du FRR, les prêts à l'économie.

L’Office britannique des statistiques (ONS) a revu à la hausse mercredi les chiffres du produit intérieur brut de 2011 et de 2012, pour tenir compte d’une réforme européenne du mode de calcul du PIB, comme annoncé au printemps dernier. La croissance de 2011 est à présent évaluée à 1,6% au lieu de 1,1% auparavant. Celle de 2012, précédemment estimée à 0,3%, est désormais annoncée à 0,7%. Le PIB du pays est donc désormais supérieur de 2,7% à son pic précédant la crise financière de 2007, contre 0,2% estimé jusqu'à présent.