P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Helaba Invest, launched 18 years ago with EUR1.3bn in assets and 11 employees, now has EUR118bn in assets under management and has 260 employees, Börsen-Zeitung reports. Since 2012, Helaba Invest has been operating as a German asset management firm with a full-service KAG license, operating in two main areas: quantitative management and Master-KAG (fund administration) services. These activities have been supplemented by a real estate asset management unit ant another unit dedicated to alternative asset classes.In 2012, the firm took on two major mandates totalling EUR30bn, which are outsourced to SV SparkassenVersicherung and VPV Vereinigte Postversicherung.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Boston-based asset management firm Eaton Vance Corp has announced that its assets under management as of 30 June totalled USD260.6bn, compared with USD260.3bn as of 30 April.Assets in funds have fallen to USD126.2bn, compared with USD127.1bn, while institutional separate accountswere up to USD85.9bn, from USD84.7bn. High net worth separate accounts were up to USD18.3bn, while retail managed accounts were down slightly, to USD30.1bn, from USD30.4bn.Eaton Vance has seen declines both for equities, to USD87.9bn from USD89.5bn, and bonds, to USD46.9bn from USD50.1bn. However, floating rate income assets were up to USD36.2bn from USD33.7bn, and the volumes for implementation services rose to USD73.7bn from USD71bn. Alternative assets remained unchanged at USD16bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS, USD257.8bn in assets as of 30 June) has announced that in the 2012-2013 fiscal year, anding on 30 June, it earned returns of 12.5%, or gains 1.5 percentage points higher than its benchmark index. The discount rate stands at 7.5%, and over 20 years, CalPERS has earned returns of 7.6% on average, with an average gain of 8.5% per year since 1988.CalPERS explains that these returns come largely from 19% gains on US and international equities, 1 percentage point higher than the benchmark, and 11.2% returns on real estate, 1.4 points higher than the benchmark.In detail, the pension fund has posted the following returns: Public Equity 19.0% Private Equity 13.6% Fixed Income (1.6%) Real Estate 11.2% Liquidity (0.8%) Inflation Assets 0.2% Absolute Return Strategies 7.4%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The manager of the Telefónica pension fund, Fonditel Gestión, has crated a baby sibling for its absolute return funds Albatros, Velociraptor and Octopus, with the launch of the Fonditel Smart Beta, whose objective, with no guarantee, is to outperform the Eonia by 200 basis points, with ex ante volatility of 5-8%, Funds People reports.The product will invest in bonds via shares in investment funds, and Fonditel is not permitted to exceed 30% of its assets in non-UCITS funds.The fund is available in an A share class (from EUR50), with fees of 1.35%, a B share class (from EUR50) at 0.329%, and C shares (from EUR500,000 or EUR50 for employees of the group), at 1%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The most recent edition of the fund manager survey (FMS) from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, carried out on 5 to 11 July, covering 238 institutional managers with a total of USD643bn, has found record optimism with respect to the US dollar, while the increase in cash balances is sending a contrarian signal with respect to equity purchases. A net total of 83% of respondents predict that the US dollar will rise in the next 12 months. Equity investors are long on strong US dollar bets (US and Japanese equities), and short on weak US dollar bets (commodities and emerging market equities).The cash allocation has increased on average to 4.6%, while net exposure of hedge ufnds has fallen, at a time when asset allocators have increased their equity allocations and reduced their exposure to bonds to a two-year low. In addition, managers retain a net underexposure to commodities.As to equities, the favourite sector is tech, while utilities are the least popular. Investors have reduced their exposure to banks and staples, which have been the most extremely underweighted sectors over the past two years.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 October, Markus Gähwiler will join Rothschild Wealth Management in Zurich as a client adviser specialised in eastern Switzerland. Gähwiler joins from the Cantonal Bank of Saint-Gall, where he had been responsible for ultra-high net worth clients.Previously, on 12 August, Rothschild Wealth Management will be welcoming Martin Troxler, also in Zurich, as a client adviser specialised in small and mid-sized businesses and the Bern region. He leaves a position as deputy director of family office services at VP Bank in Zurich. Before that, he had been senior adviser and investment consultant at Julius Baer.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Australian asset management firm AMP Capital and the Chinese insurer China Life are planning to create a joint venture, entitled China Life AMP Fund Company. The fund, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be created by the end of the year, according to Asian Investor. It will allow AMP to offer its products to clients of the insurer, which has a dense network distinct from those of Chinese banks.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Shares in Charles Schwab Corp lost 3.3% on Tuesday, to USD21, on an announcement that profits in second quarter had fallen to USD256m, compared with USD275m one year earlier, although profits in April-June 2012 included a one-time receipt of USD70m related to the resolution of a vendor dispute. However, even at USD21 each, shares in Schwab are still up 46% compared with the beginning of the year, The Wall Street Journal points out.Excluding one-time items, net profits increased by 11%, but the market was focused on profits per share (USD0.18), which was one cent below average projections. In addition, Charles Schwab did not make savings on costs, particularly salary, and costs remain above the objective set for 2013.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 30 June, assets under management by Goldman Sachs totalled USD849bn, compared with USD860bn as of the end of March, and USD839bn one year previously, while the volume of assets under supervision totalled USD955bn, compared with USD968bn three months earlier, and USD916bn as of the end of June 2012.A decline of USD4bn in assets under supervision for long-term products is largely due to a negative market effect of USD11bn, largely in bonds, which was partially offset by net subscriptions of USD7bn. Assets under supervision in the area of money markets have fallen by USD9bn. Between long-term and monty market assets, the decline in assets under supervision totalled USD13bn.Net profits for the Goldman Sachs group in second quarter 2013 totalled USD1.931bn, compared with USD2.260bn in January-March, and USD962m in the corresponding period of last year. In the first six months of the year, Goldman Sachs has declared net profits of USD4.191bn, 365 more than the USD3.071bn recorded in January-June 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds investing in mid-term bonds saw redemption demands of USD24.4bn (EUR18.8bn) in June, accordging to figures from Morningstar publised by Funds Europe. The Pimco Total Return fund was the most severely affected, as it alone underwent USD9.6bn in redemptions.For the range overall, Pimco has posted outflows of USD14.5bn in June, making it the asset management firm most severely affected by redemptions, followed by Fidelity, which has seen outflows of USD5.1bn from its funds in June.MFS Investment Management has beaten out all of its rival with net subscriptions of USD1.4bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (USD49bn in assets) on 16 July announced that Blackstone Alternative Investment Advisors is launching its first hedge fund with daily liquidity, a multi-managed, multi-strategy fund, the Blackstone Alternative Multi-Manager Fund (ticker: BXMMX).The objective is to use the expertise of Blackstone as an asset allocator and integrator to provide a product with low equity and bond betas, using managers with whom the group already has trusted working relationships.The sub-advisers are as follows:  Two Sigma Advisers, LLC Cerberus Sub-Advisory I, LLC Credit Suisse Hedging-Griffo Servicios Internacionais S.A. HealthCor Management, L.P. Caspian Capital LP Boussard and Gavaudan Asset Management, LP Wellington Management Company, LLP Good Hill Partners LP BTG Pactual Asset Management US, LLC Chatham Asset Management, LLC et Nephila Capital Ltd.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Roger Cozzi, CEO of Gramecy Capital Corp, has been recruited as head of the commercial real estate debt group at AllianceBernstein. He is also the manager of the first commercial real estate debt fund from the group, which has attracted USD700m in investment, and whose portfolio will be invested in first mortgage loan investments secured by high-quality, transitional properties throughout the US, with sums of USD15m to USD75m for each investment.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBP has launched UBPAM – Unconstrained Bond, an unconstrained bond fund which offers a decorrelated and flexible strategy, appropriate for all market conditions. More particularly, the fund is designed to work well in an environment of rising interest rates.“The capacity of the fund to reduce its exposure to fixed income to a total of 0 and -2 years provides a means to limit the regime of increased volatility inherent in less accommodating environments.“The investment objective for the fund is to offer investors returns similar to those from bonds, with an additional positive contribution generated by rising interest rates. “unconstrained” investment solutions as an asset class, either tactical or strategic contribute to improve risk-adjusted performance for larger portfolios,” [Citation?]The fund, which is based on a “top-down” allocation process covering global credit and fixed income markets, has no constraints with respect to the benchmark index. The fund is also highly flexible in terms of exposure to bonds, with a proactive allocation to the most attractive segments.Chararacteristics:ISIN code:I – Capitalisation: LU0940721409I - Distribution: LU0940721581Retail share classesA - Capitalisation : LU0940720344 A - Distribution : LU0940720427Performance commission: 20% on performance exceeding the Eonia +1% (I-share and A-share)Denominated in US dollars, Swiss francs, Swedish kroner

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 15 July, NordLB Asset Management launched an actively-managed, open-ended bond fund aimed at institutional investors, which deploys a strategy inaugurated in 2007 with the Global Challenges Index Fonds equity fund. The portfolio for the new NORD/LB AM Global Challenges Corporate Bonds is invested in a universe composed by the Munich-based agency oekom research and the Hanover stock exchange, according to the sustainable development criteria of the Global Challenges Index from the Hanover stock exchange, as well as exclusionary criteria from the German evangelical church. Seed capital has been provided through capital from the ecclesiastical sector.The portfolio will include 40 to 70 positions, mostly on bonds from European issuers ranked as “prime status” by oekom research. The portfolio will include at least 75% corporate bonds, and financials will be limited to 25%.CharacteristicsName: NORD/LB AM Global Challenges Corporate BondsISIN code: DE000A1J3WP0Minimal subscription: EUR250,000Management commission: 0.4%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Tyler Page, global head of business development at Guggenheim Fund Solutions, has been appointed as head of hedge fund solutions for Europe at Guggenheim Partners (USD180bn) in London.Ajay Chitkara, senior managing director at Guggenheim Fund Solutions, says that the appointment is related to a demand from European institutional investors who are interested in Guggenheim’s expertise in the area of overseeing, monitoring and reporting on hedge fund portfolios.Page had been head of marketing, and allowed the hedge fund managed account platform at Guggenheim to take in several billion dollars of commitments.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced that it has completed the final phase in the migration of a large number of Hendreson funds to its platform. Overall, the migration project affected 25 formerly Gartmore funds, totalling over EUR8bn in assets. BNP Paribas Securities Services will now offer settlement, custody and fund administration services to these funds in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 12 July, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced plans to increase the total volume of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) quotas to USD150bn. It had increased the total to USD80bn from USD30bn in April 2012, Z-Ben Advisors reports. Currently, with USD72bn in liense issued since the beginning of 2013, there are 229 entities with QFII licenses, and the total quota amount adds up to USD43.4bn.In another sign of liberalisation, the CSRC has extended the possibility, previously restricted to Hong Kong businesses, to businesses based in Singapore and/or London, to obtain qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) licenses to allow them to invest in Chinese securities other than bonds on markets in continental China.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barclays is continuing to overhaul its management. The British bank has appointed Tushar Morzaria as CFO, replacing Chris Lucas. Morzaria had previously been CFO of the JP Morgan investment bank. He will join Barclays this autumn, and will join the board of directors on 1 January 2014. Lucas, for his part, will chair the board of directors until 28 Feruary 2014, when he will be retiring.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey recently carried out by Cerulli Associates, ETF providers report that liquidity is the topic that advisers understand least well, along with the manner in which ETFs are traded, while the risks of using ETFs in portfolio construction are the best-understood points.Alec Papazian, associate director at Cerulli, reports that although the type of assistance that advisers expect from ETF promoters varies widely from one to the next, it is clear that for providers, liquidity is the major growth challenge this year, as 63% cite this as their top concern.Cerulli encourages ETF providers to focus on new entrants to the advisory market in order to promote the use of this type of fund.The findings of the survey are available as an attachment.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mutual Fund Wire cites Christian Charest, editor at Morningstar, who published a study which finds that Canadian-registered funds are much more expensive in terms of fees than US mutual funds. Canadian investors are charged 2% to 2.5% in management fees on average, while US investors pay under 1%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Claire Fraser, global head of distribution marketing, has been promoted to head of marketing and communications at Baring Asset Management, replacing Ian Pascal, who will be leaving the business next month to join Hennes Funds Manger as head of marketing & communications.She will begin in her new role in London on 1 August, and will report directly to David Brennan, chairman & CEO. Before joining Barings in 2010 as head of EMEA marketing, Fraser had been associate director at Insight Investment.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CAD183bn in assets) will invest GBP179m in a 50% stake in a portfolio of eight office properties in the centre of London, which are owned by the BT Pension Scheme (GBP38.7bn) and managed by Hermes Real Estate Investment Management, Funds Europe reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Investment Week, Ed Moisson is leaving his position as head of UK and cross-border research at Lipper, to join another business in the sector. He spent 14 years directing the fund management division of Lipper for the United Kingdom and continental Europe. He had been head of communications at Fitzrovia before that firm was acquired by Thomson Reuters in October 2004.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fundweb reports that Janus Capital International has recruited Alan Glendon as UK financial institutions sales director for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. Glendon, based in London, will report directly to Nigel Austin, UK & EMEA COO. Glendon had previously been head of UK discretionary sales at Premier Asset Management, after serving as sales director at F&C Asset Management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ING Investment Management (ING IM) yesterday announced several appointments to its Emerging Market Debt (EMD) team. Daniel Eustaquio joins the firm as lead manager of the ING (L) Renta Fund Emerging Markets Debt (Hard urrency) fund, and will be based in Atlanta in the United States from 22 July 2013.He had previously worked at Oppenheimer & Co, where he had been chief investment offices, EMD FI Sales. From 1998 to 2009, Eustaquio served on the EMD team at ING IM US.ING IM has also added 3 EMD (senior) analysts to its EMD team. Patricia Medina joins the Atlanta team, whlie Jasmine Lie and Shilpa Singhal have joined the Singapore entity. The team of analyst at EMD now includes 6 members, ING indicates.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 July, Manfred Florie joined the Norwegian firm Skagen (EUR15bn) as client relationship manager for the institutional market in the Netherlands, Fondsnieuws reports. Florie has spent the past four years as head of relationships with pension funds at F&C at Amsterdam.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics published on 16 July by the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA), but established by the FSA, the number of financial advisers in the United Kingdom has fallen from 41,000 in 2011 to 31,000 as of 31 December 2012, when the new RDR regulations came into effect.Of the 41,000 client advisers identified in 2011, 26,000 were working for financial advising businesses. This number had fallen to slightly over 20,000 as of the end of 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Myanmar has decided to attract foreign investors by modifying its legal framework. By October 2015, the creation of a stock exchange, the Yangon Stock Exchange, will allow for foreign companies to be listed and brokers and services companies to be established. Foreign banks may create joint ventures with local banks, and then open affiliates, Finance Asia reports.

Arnaud Laforge, Directeur financier de Prépar Vie dans une table ronde organisée par amLeague et Newsmanagers : Pour notre part, depuis quelques temps, nous avons mis l’accent particulièrement sur le rendement. Pour nous assureurs, qui avons la durée devant nous, il s’agit d’avoir du rendement sur prix de revient, qui nous protège par rapport à ce dernier puisque, à un moment donné, cela fait parachute. Le second vecteur, plus récent, consiste à se positionner sur des OPCVM, à l’initiative desquels nous avons été, composés d’actions de rendement dans une optique « buy and hold ». Cela signifie d’avoir comme tactique de sortir du filtre des valeurs qui offrent moins de rendement à un moment. Comme nous sommes assureurs, nous avons le temps, nous essayons de voir le rendement dans la durée, même si, parfois, il y a quelques accidents. Nous essayons de capter une plus-value ; mais nous cherchons à avoir des valeurs qui offrent du rendement dans la pérennité, ce qui d’ailleurs est une protection à la baisse. Il peut y avoir de la tôle ondulée, mais sur longue période, c’est une protection à la baisse. Aujourd’hui, finalement, pour ces actions, il s’agit de sociétés qui offrent des rendements soit parce que le marché est un petit peu en retard sur leur capacité à générer du bénéfice et à faire du dividende, soit parce qu’elles sont bien implantées sur les marchés émergents. Certes, il peut s’agir de valeurs malmenées à un moment, mais exagérément, et pour lesquelles les craintes de baisse de dividende ne soient pas forcément justifiées. Ce peuvent être aussi des valeurs qui baissent un peu leur dividende à un moment, mais pas forcément par deux ou par trois. Ce peuvent être ponctuellement, par exemple, des valeurs du secteur bancaire qui, avec les contraintes de Bâle III, ont renforcé leurs capitaux. A priori, il n’y a plus lieu qu’elles ne distribuent plus de dividende. Nous avons créé ce genre d’OPCVM avec quatre ou cinq partenaires et ils font mieux que l’indice depuis le début de l’année. Ils n’ont pas forcément couru après la performance, parce que je réfrène leur volonté de faire du « trading », et globalement ils ont plutôt moins décru dans la baisse et ont mieux rebondi dans la hausse. Chacun a des choix de valeurs différents mais, finalement, le profil de performance est à peu près comparable. En tant qu’assureurs nous avons besoin de produits financiers et en même temps nous ne voulons pas prendre le risque de retomber dans les dotations de provisions pour dépréciations, dont nous sortons. Donc, nous privilégions des valeurs qui gèrent dans la pérennité, qui présentent une certaine préservation du capital investi, et qui offrent du rendement. Je viens de voir une société cette année dont les titres offrent un rendement d’un peu plus de 5 %, avec une performance positive. Cependant, la performance un peu au-dessus de l’indice ne m’importerait pas dès lors que cela ne fasse pas -10 % si l’indice faisait -10 %. L’idée est que ce soit assez protecteur. Nous nous intéressons aux sociétés qui ont une visibilité, une pérennité et qui offrent un rendement bien supérieur à ce qu’on peut avoir dans les rendements monétaires ou obligataires. Nous sommes sortis de sociétés de gestion qui avaient une approche différente de celle que nous privilégions ! Nous avons offert cette possibilité à certaines sociétés de gestion ; certaines ont répondu que ce n'était pas dans leur optique. Pour d’autres, cela s’est traduit par des créations de fonds, qu’elles ont ouverts à d’autres clients ensuite, ou par des transformations de fonds qui n’avaient pas du tout cette problématique là. Les clients ne sont pas partis parce que cela ne leur a pas semblé idiot.

L’assureur italien a selon Bloomberg convenu de céder un portefeuille de participations au sein de fonds européens de capital-investissement à Lexington Partners. La valorisation de ces parts approcherait 500 millions d’euros. Lexington a déjà acquis un portefeuille de même calibre auprès de Generali en juin 2012.