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29/04/2013

“We got the retail OPCI market off the ground”

As head of Amundi Immobilier, the real estate unit of the Amundi group, Nicolas Simon can congratulate himself for the success that the retail OPCI fund Opcimmo met with last year. With a market share of 75%, the product was one of the drivers of the nascent market, which had been flatlined for some time. The CEO of Amundi Immobilier discusses the reasons for this success with Newsmanagers, and also discusses plans for institutional clients, another strong area at the firm.
29/04/2013

Profits up at Waddell & Reed

The US asset management firm Waddell & Reed Financial (ticker : WDR) has posted net profits in January-March of USD53.9m, compared with USD52.4m in fourth quarter 2012, and USD46.8m in the corresponding period of last year.Assets totalled USD103.8bn as of the end of March, compared with a previous record of USD96.4bn three months previously, and USD93.8bn one year previously. Net subscriptions totalled USD2.1bn, compared with net outflows of USD165m in October-December, and net inflows of USD1.3bn in first quarter 2012.
29/04/2013

Citigroup acquires custodial activities of ING in Eastern Europe

The US banking group Citigroup on 26 April announced that it is acquiring the custody activities of its Netherlands-based rival ING in Eastern Europe. The activities acquired total about EUR110bn in financial assets in seven countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine), a statement says.The transaction, whose total price has not been disclosed, is expected to be finalized in first quarter 2014. Assets under custody at Citigroup come to a total of USD13.5trn. The operation comes in addition to a long list of divestments announced by ING a year ago, to pay off a public bailout of EUR10bn which it received in 2008, during the financial crisis. The bank has recently sold off its 49% stake in the Korean insurer KB Life Insurance (for EUR115m), and its 5% stake in the South Korean financial group KB Financial Group (EUR500m). ING has also sold its stake in the US financial group Capital One (for EUR2.4bn), as well as its online banking activities in the UK (for an undisclosed total), in Canada (for EUR2.5bn), and in the United States (for USD9bn).
29/04/2013

Jean-Paul Betbeze joins Deloitte France

The economist Jean-Paul Betbeze is joiningDeloitte France as an economic adviser. Betbeze, founder of Betbeze Conseil SAS, HEC, Doctor and Professor on the Faculty of Economic Sciences, had previously been Chief Economist at Credit Lyonnais, and then at Crédit Agricole. Betbeze is also a member of the Economic Commission at La Nation, of the Circle of Economists, and of the Scientific Committee at the Robert Schumann Foundation.
29/04/2013

Record assets for T. Rowe Price at March 31st

Assets under management at T. Rowe Price Group Inc as of 31 March reached a record total of USD617.4bn, compared with USD554.8bn one year previously, already a record. They increased by USD40.6bn in first quarter, compared with USD576.8bn as of the end of December, also a record.In first quarter, net subscriptions totalled USD3.3bn, compared with net outflows of USD4.2bn in October-December, and net inflows of USD12.4bn in the corresponding period of 2012. Market appreciation represented USD37.3bn, compared with USD6.6bn in fourth quarter last year, and USD52.9bn in January-March 2012.Net profits in January-March totalled USD241.9m, compared with USD188.4m in the previous quarter, and USD197.5m in the corresponding period of last year.
29/04/2013

AUM at Lazard up 3%

Assets under management at Lazard as of the end of March totalled a record USD172bn, up 3% compared with the end of December, and up 10% compared with the end of March 2012, according to a statement released on 26 April.In first quarter, the asset management unit posted a net outflow of USD995m, which was offset by positive market effects. Management commissions totalled USD220m, up 5% compared with third quarter 2012, and up 10% compared with first quarter 2012. Operating revenues from management totalled a record USD240m, up 14% compared with first quarter 2012. The French-US bank posted a decline of 40% to its net profits in third quarter, however, to USD15m (by US GAAP accounting standards), due to a significant decline (-39%) in earnings from merger and acquisition activities, and a one-time charge of USD26m related to its cost reduction programme.
29/04/2013

Commerz Real replaces CRO

As of 1 June, Eduardo Moran will join the board at Commerz Real (the real estate unit of Commerzbank) as chief risk officer. Moran, who who joined Commerzbank in 1997, is currently chief credit officer corporates for all of the German and international portfolio of business clients of the SMB bank (Mittelstandsbank), for both enterprise clients and the corporates & markets division.Moran will replace Frank Jenes, who will now sit on the board with responsibility for participations in businesses and asset structuring.
29/04/2013

Profits down at comdirect

For first quarter 2013, comdirect bank has posted net profits of EUR16.85m, compared with EUR19.45m in October-December 2012, and EUR22.05m for the corresponding period of last year. A fall in market interest rates has led to a 20% fall in revenues from interest, after risk provisions, at EUR33.4m.Assets under management or administration as of 31 March were up by nearly EUR2bn compared with the end of December, at EUR50.82bn, compared with EUR48.85bn, of which EUR28.98bn were for B2C (comdirect) and EUR21.84bn, compared with EUR20.95bn, for B2B (ebase).
29/04/2013

Four former Berenberg employees found a wealth management firm

Sven Albrecht, Andreas Kitta, Holger Knaup and Carsten Riehemann, who spent years as private bankers at Berenberg until summer 2012, have founded the wealth management firm Albrecht, Kita & Co. in Hamburg, with each of them holding an equal stake.The new firm is aimed at retail clients, family businesses, family offices and foundations. st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
29/04/2013

Investors rotate back to bond funds

EPFR global-tracked bond funds outgained their equity fund counterparts by the widest margin since late October during the third week of April as a mixed earnings season, weak macroeconomic data and concerns about the impact of Japan’s current monetary policy on emerging markets export stories curbed investor appetite for equities. Emerging market equity funds saw outflows of USD2.1bn in theweek to 24 April, while Japanese equity funds nonetheless continued to post inflows, largely due to subscriptions from Japanese investors. Investors sought to satisfy their appetite for returns with high dividend equity and high yield corporate bond funds. Overall, bond funds took in a net USD7.58 billion – a 23 week high – as they extended an inflow streak stretching back to late December while equity funds recorded net redemptions of USD3.73 billion, their first outflow since the third week of November. Investors pulled USD9.27 billion out of money market funds with Europe money market funds accounting for over half of that total.
29/04/2013

Long/short HFs outperform other strategies in first quarter

Long/short hedge funds have led the best-performing strategies in first quarter, according to the research firm Preqin. Cumulative net assets from these strategies totalled 4.43%, the most recent Hedge Fund Spotlight from Preqin reports.Long/short strategies were also the most popular with investors, as 43% of those planning to turn to hedge funds in the next twelve months planned to favour long/short. And long/short funds also represented 58% of all new product launched in first quarter 2013, compared with 36% in first quarter 2012.Macro strategies posted returns of only 1.17% in first quarter, but launches of new products dedicated to this strategy fell from 32% of the total in first quarter 2012 to only 14% in first quarter 2013. The appetite of investors for this strategy, however, remains at its highest level since second quarter 2012. 29% of investors continue to choose such funds, compared with 37% in second quarter 2012.
29/04/2013

Profits rebound at Van Lanschot

In first quarter 2013, the Netherlands-based firm Van Lanschot has posted net profits of EUR24.8m, compared with a loss of EUR164.7m in October-December, and a net profit of EUR16.8m in the corresponding period of last year.Client assets (including savings deposits and current accounts) increased by EUR700m to EUR53bn as of 31 March, largely due to market appreciation and net subscriptions to the asset management division.
29/04/2013

Kempen CM recruits for team dedicated to hedge funds

Igor Puljic and Marjoleine van der Peet will join the Hedge Funds team at Kempen Capital Management (KCM) in Amsterdam. Igor Puljic (36) will join KCM’s Hedge Funds team in May as senior portfolio manager. He has thirteen years of manager selection experience. Most recently, he spent eight years at London-based Key Asset Management where he was deputy CIO and portfolio manager for the firm’s flagship multi-strategy fund of hedge funds. Marjoleine van der Peet (38) will also start as senior portfolio manager for KCM’s Hedge Funds team in July. She has ten years of manager selection experience, the first three years as investment consultant at Watson Wyatt and the last seven years as senior investment analyst and portfolio manager at GAM Plc in London. MKCM manages two funds of hedge funds, Kempen Orange Investment Partnership and Kempen Non- Directional Partnership, for both institutional investors and private clients. Aggregate AUM across these funds was USD 738 million per 31 March 2013.
29/04/2013

Assets up at Sabadell

Thanks to its acquisition of Gestión del Mediterraneo, an affiliate of the savings bank CAM (see Newsmanagers of 6 June 2012), assets at the asset management unit of Banco Sabadell totalled EUR8.97bn as of the end of March, compared with EUR8.585bn three months previously, and EUR8.295bn one year previously. Assets in the pension funds operation, for their part, rose by 27.4% year on year, to EUR3.731bn, compared with EUR2.929bn; they totalled EUR3.709bn as of 31 December.Profits at Banco Sabadell in January-March fell by 51.1% compared with the corresponding period of 2012, to EUR51.1m, largely due to provisions of EUR324.9m imposed by the government to improve the balance sheet (Guindos plan). st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
29/04/2013

Laurent Guillet appointed as CEO of Amundi London Branch

Amundi on Friday announced the appointment of LaurentGuillet as chief executive officer (CEO) of Amundi London Branch. He replaces Laurent Crosnier, who had held the dual role of CEO and chief investment officer since October 2010. Amundi has now decided to separate these two roles. Laurent Guillet will take on his responsibilities as chief executive officer, Amundi London Branch on 1st June, subject to regulatory approval, while maintaining his role as chief executive officer of Amundi Alternative Investments which he has held since May 2011. “Laurent’s objective will be two-fold,” a statement from Amundi states: “to focus on business development with UK investors building on Amundi’s strong expertise and to promote Amundi London’s fund management expertise globally.” Now focusing on the investment side of the business, Laurent Crosnier will maintain his responsibilities as CIO of the London Branch and deputy head of Amundi’s Fixed Income platform under the direction of Eric Brard, global head of Fixed Income.“In this role,” the firm says, “Laurent will continue to drive the business as a centre of excellence in fund management for all global products including credit, government bonds, and emerging market debt, and equities.” Laurent Guillet has been CEO of Amundi AI since May 2011 and was previously Deputy CEO, having joined in April 2007 to focus on the managed account platform. Crosnier, for his part, was appointed CIO of Amundi London Branch. In October 2010, he took on the position of CEO of Amundi London Branch, retaining his role of CIO and continuing to act in this capacity.
29/04/2013

Hedge fund indices becoming more popular with institutionals

A growing number of institutional investors are considering allocating assets to alternative indices as a new active approach to beta management, according to a study by Northern Trust of 51 institutional investors representing cumulative assets of USD800bn under management.“Rather than considering investment strategy options as active or passive, investors are now considering that there is a continuum of options within beta solutions, with traditional indices weighted by cap-sizes on one hand, and 10)% active strategies on the other,” explains John Krief, managing director of asset management for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Northern Trust.Among the institutionals surveyed by Northern Trust, three out of ten are invested in alternative indices, while 32% are considering using these indices. Among those who already use them, six out of ten say that they have increased their allocation in the past two years.Alternative indices are attractive to investors, since they allow access to returns, while capturing exposure to specific factors such as value momentum and volatility. But the study finds that taking a decision to invest in a hedge fund, and choosing which index to invest in, represent active decisions: 60% of investors surveyed say that the decision to allocate to an alternative index is equivalent to an active investment decision, and required the same level of due diligence. The study finds that value and low volatility are the factors most sought after by investors (more than 50% of respondents), and that the vast majority of them (over 92%) say that they are seeking to reduce risk via exposure to alternative indices. Diversification is also cited by 84.6% of investors, while only 54% mention returns.
29/04/2013

Credit Suisse sees large potential for growth in wealth management

Credit Suisse claims that there is a lot of potential for growth in global wealth management, even though activities in the future will be considerably different from those which have existed in the past, the chairman of the board at Credit Suisse, Urs Orhner, stated on 26 April to a general shaerholders’ meeting. The development of new wealth is moving to emerging markets, and strategy should take this into account, in order to realize the potential that these markets offer.Credit Suisse nonetheless defends its integrated model, one of its key strengths, says Rohner. Investment Banking, though, remains “central and important.”Close collaboration between Investment Banking and Private Banking & Wealth Management can serve clients in a more targeted manner, he says.Due to changes in the environment, Swiss banks will need to overhaul their wealth management activities, revising their advising standards and product ranges of taxz-compliant investment solutions for clients in particular. Silently accepting the undeclared assets of clients can no longer be a model for the future, the chairman says.
29/04/2013

Strong returns for Norwegian Oil Fund

In first quarter, returns on investments for the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG) totaled 8.3% for the equity allocation, and 1.1% for the bond portfolio. In total, says Ingve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the oil fund under a mandate from the Bank of Norway, the performance of the GPFG was 0.3% higher than that of its benchmark index.Insofar as the Norwegian Kroner weakened in first quarter against several major global currencies, positive currency effects for the fund were NOK60bn for the government.As of the end of March, assets totaled NOK4.182trn, 62.4% of it in equities, 36.7% in bonds, and 0.9% in real estate.
29/04/2013

Rendement au plus bas depuis octobre 2010 pour l’émission italienne

L’Italie a adjugé six milliards d’euros de dette sur des échéances de cinq et 10 ans, avec des rendements revenus à des plus bas sans précédent depuis octobre 2010. Les investisseurs semblaient rassurés après l’annonce de la formation du gouvernement. Le Trésor a levé trois milliards d’euros à échéance 2018, avec un rendement brut en baisse à 2,84% contre 3,65% lors de la précédente adjudication de ce type.Sur l'échéance à 2023, Rome a également adjugé trois milliards d’euros de titres à un rendement de 3,94% contre 4,66%.

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