Hedge Week rapporte que BNP Paribas Securities Services a remporté le mandat de compensation et de conservation à l’échelon européen pour Knight Capital Europe. Cela concerne des services de compensation, de règlement, le conservation, de prêt de titres et de financement pour les activités actions européennes de Knight Capital en Europe et en Afrique du Nord.

Jeremy Leadsom, sales director UK financial institutions, a reconnu selon Money Marketing que 2012 a été une année d’enfer pour Aviva Investors, avec le licenciement de 12 % de son effectif et le départ du CEO Alain Dromer.Cependant, bien que la maison se soit séparée de ses fonds ISR, l’encours des activités britanniques OEIC a augmenté à 14 milliards de dollars fin 2012 contre 13,5 milliards dix-huit mois plus tôt.Les souscriptions du retail britannique ont été fortes : en net, elles sont ressorties à 290 millions de livres, soit 70 millions de plus que l’année précédente, alors que les statistiques de l’IMA montrent que la plupart des sociétés de gestion de fonds ont subi des sorties nettes durant cette période.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } CoreCommodity Management, an affiliate of the US investment bank Jefferies, has launched the CoreCommodity Strategy Fund – Founders I, a Luxembourg Sicav, which may invest directly in commodity futures with the objective of outperforming the Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index. The management team for the institutional fund uses a quantitative method allied to risk measurement and return steering.CharacteristicsName: CoreCommodity Strategy Fund – Founders IISIN code: LU0775716714Management commission: 1.50%Performance commission: 20% on performance exceeding the Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lyxor has launched the Lyxor ETF Dynamic SHORT VIX Futures Index, a product which allows investors to expose themselves to a short volatility index, on the Milan stock exchange. Meanwhile, the Société Générale affiliate has also launched the Lyxor ETF Dynamic LONG VIX Futures Index.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UniCredit will distribute the Algebris Financial Credit Ucits fund, specialised in debt and financial instruments issued by major banks worldwide, on its private banking network, Bluerating reports. It is the first long-only fund from Algebris. UniCredit has a network of 800 dedicated bankers at its 170 private banking affiliates.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Investment Partners SGR has appointed Matthieu David as head of external distribution for Italy, Bluerating reports. David had been head of retail distribution for three years. In the past, he had worked at Fortis Investments, Rothschild and Axa Sim.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pimco on 8 April announced the launch of the PIMCO GIS Inflation Strategy Fund, a fund aimed at investors who would like to protect their portfolios against global inflationary risks, while increasing their odds of earning higher real returns. The PIMCO GIS Inflation Strategy Fund combines the expertise of PIMCO in the area of real returns and an approach based on risk factors concerning asset allocation. It is managed by Mihir Worah, managing director and head of the Real Return portfolio management team.The Pimco GIS Inflation Strategy Fund uses a multi-asset approach to identify the best way to provide protection against inflation by investing in various types of real assets, such as international index-linked bond, commodities, emerging market currencies, international publicly-traded real estate funds, and gold. Asset allocation and underlying investments are managed actively, and strategies to hedge against the risk of extreme events are put in place to attenuate the risk of major shocks. The strategies are designed to offer protection against the risk of falling markets, while ensuring that the positioning of inflation-linked assets allows for their full potential to be exploited. By “risk of extreme events,” Pimco means an marked and generalised downturn on the markets.The fund comes as an addition to the Global Investor Series (GIS) from Pimco, which complies with UCITS regulations. The range, registered in Dublin, now includes 45- sub-funds, with USD150bn in assets under management as of 31 March 2013. In addition to daily liquidity, these funds offer investors a way to expose themselves to a wide range of asset classes, ranging from traditional global and regional bond funds, to credit portfolios, alternative solutions, and asset allocation. The funds are available in various asset classes denominated in various currencies, according to the needs of the client.The Pimco GIS Inflation Strategy Fund is available in several asset clases, denominated in various currencies, and designed specifically for institutional or retail investors.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paris-based Amplégest is releasing its asset allocation fund, Patrimoine International, founded in November 2012, and managed by Xavier d’Ornellas, managing partner, and whose objective is to generate regular performance higher than that of its composite benchmark index, composed of 35% MSCI World, and 65% Euro MTS 5-7 year (dividends and coupons not reinvested), for sale on a larger scale. The fund already has EUR20m in assets. The new fund, which comes as an addition to the Pôle Flexible range from Amplégest, offers wider diversification both in terms of asset classes (fixed income intrument, equities, treasury, etc.) and by geographical region (Europe, the United States, Japan, emerging markets, etc.). Its exposure to equities remains limited to 35%; the target portfolio is composed of direct investment in shares and funds specialised in geographical regions, economies, or management strategies. Asset allocation and distribution of risk will be subject to rigorous discipline, “based on a top-down type method developed exclusively internally,” a press release says.CharacteristicsName: Patrimoine International (AC share class)ISIN code: FR0011321298Front-end fee: maximum 3%Management fee: 2.7%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A new ETF specialist, the New York-based ETF Issuer Solutions Inc., has applied for permission from the SEC to launch the Manna Core Equity Enhanced Dividend Stream Fund Index Universe reports. The product is an ETF advised by Manna ETFs Management LLC, which invests in other ETFs, but with the ability to take short positions on shares in order to hedge country or currency risks.The fund focuses on high-dividend equities, and may add direct investment in equities to investments in ETFs based on broader indices. The ticker for the fund on NYSE Arca will be MANA. The declared total expense ratio is 0.85%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head of the growth largest caps team at AllianceBernstein until May 2012, Scott Wallace, is returning, with the creation of a hedge fund boutique, Ranger Asset Management, Citywire Global reports. The first product is a long bias hedge fund, the Ranger Opportunity Partners Fund, which was soft-launched in February.

BNP Paribas Real Estate Investissement Régions qui a réalisé la transaction a annoncé, hier, l’acquisition par une foncière privée de bureaux à Toulouse(Saint Martin du Touch). Le prix de cette acquisition qui développe une surface globale de 5 348 m² louée en totalité par une société du secteur aéronautique s’élève à 12,5 millions d’euros HT, acte en main.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Finance Asia reports that Jason Kern, head of of the real estate investment board at the HSBC bank in Asia Pacific, has left his job to become CEO of LaSalle Investment Management in the United States. He will begin in his new role at the real estate investment specialist on 1 July, and will be based in Chicago. In this position, Kern replaces Peter Schaff, who last year announced that he plans to quit his job as CEO for North America. The group had USD47.7bn in assets under management as of the end of 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish asset management firms Bestinver, Mutuactivos and March Gestión have teamed up with the Portuguese Banif, the German Lampe, the Italian Sella, the Mexican GBM and the Chilean Corpbanca to create the Group of Boutique Asset Managers (GBAM), Investment Europe reports. The structure will allow members to improve their competitiveness and strengthen their position against major players in their respective markets.Other boutiques, including two British, one Swiss and one Asian firm, have expressed interest in the project.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Marco Ruijer, senior fund manager at MnServices in the Netherlands, has been recruited for the emerging market debt team at ING Investment Management. The unit had assets of USD13bn at the end of February, and 20 employees. It has been led for slightly over two months by Sylvain de Ruijter (see Newsmanagers of 30 January).Ruijer takes the position of lead portfolio manager, and will be responsible for all global emerging market bond portfolios in hard currencies. He will be based in the Hague.

Ben Fulton, managing director des ETF globaux chez Invesco PowerShares, va quitter ses fonctions fin avril, rapporte IndexUniverse.Après huit années passées à la tête d’un des poids lourds du secteur des ETF, Ben Fulton souhaitait donner un nouveau tour à sa carrière. Il ne sera pas remplacé dans l’immédiat. Andrew Schlossberg, responsable de la distribution retail aux Etats-Unis et des ETF globaux, assumera les fonctions de Ben Fulton. Ben Fulton a rejoint PowerShares fin 2004. La société, qui avait été lancée en 2002, est passée dans le giron d’Invesco en janvier 2006. Au moment de l’acquisition, ses actifs sous gestion s'élevaient à 3,5 milliards de dollars. PowerShares affiche désormais un encours de quelque 77 milliards de dollars. «Parmi toutes les créations d’ETF des deux dernières années, seulement une poignée d’entre eux ont passé la barre du milliard de dollars, et deux des plus grandes réussites viennent de PowerShares», a relevé Ben Fulton qui faisait référence au PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (3 milliards de dollars) et PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (4,4 milliards de dollars)..

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Wall Street Journal reports that Cerberus Capital Management, which is known largely for buying Chrysler at the height of the financial crisis, is going into one of the most high-risk segments of the credit market. The hedge fund management firm is planning to invest in the highest-risk tranches of debt issues tied to commercial mortgages.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Job openings in banking announced by Swiss establishments as of the end of March totalled 1,153, an increase of 14% since the beginning of the year, Finews reports in its recent Finews-JobDirectory-Index. A year ago, 1,144 positions were listed. According to Finews, Swiss banks appear to have put an emphasis on recruitments, in order to maintain a satisfactory level of customer service.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richard Pandevant is joining Schroders France as head of marketing.He previously worked at Aberdeen Asset Management as marketing manager. Previous to that, he was at Banque d’Orsay (acquired by Oddo Asset Management) and as director of marketing and product specialist.Pandevant will join the team led by Nuno Teixeira.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The pension fund for Texas public employees (TERS) is planning to make 8 to 12 allocations to hedge funds, representing up to USD600m, in the first half of this year, Hedge Fund Intelligence reports. Due diligence has already been undertaken on some long/short equity and equity market neutral managers. Last year, the pension fund invested USD30m with Aspect Capital.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hedge fund managers have cut back their bets on commodities by proportions not seen since 2008, the news agency Bloomberg reports The range of commodity funds is continuing to rise in a context of reduced growth in the United States and record unemployment in the euro zone. Hedge funds have reduced their net long positions on 18 options and futures contracts by 31%, to 468,780 contracts in the week ending on 2 April, a decline not seen since October 2008, according to statistics from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Investors are predicting a fall in the price of silver and have taken record short positions on copper and sugar. The commodity super-cycle appears to be reaching its end, and it is unlikely that returns will return to performance levels of the past decade anytime soon, according to UBS.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based wealth management firm Eyb & Wallwitz has announced that on 1 April it recruited Michael Wedel, who has reconstituted the distribution team from Griffin Capital Management, after serving as key account manager at Threadneedle Investments and DWS in Frankfurt. Wedel joins the firm as senior sales manager, and will be most particularly responsible for wholesale and semi-institutional clients.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The London-based agency ETFGI, releasing its own estimates of asset flows to ETPs, has reported that the number of institutional investors using ETFs and other ETPs increased in the five years to the end of 2011 by 8.9% per year.ETFGI has also reported record net subscriptions for the products of USD73.4bn in first quarter (BlackRock recently estimated them at USD70.1bn), of which USD62.5bn (compared with USD65.1bn according to BlackRock) were for equity ETPs.These inflows have put total assets at a record USD2.090trn as of the end of March (compared with USD1.950trn as of the end of December), distributed over 4,778 products listed 9,847 times, from 209 issuers, traded on 56 stock markets.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Money Marketing reports that Jeremy Leadsom, sales director UK financial institutions, has admitted that 2012 was “a hell of a year” for Aviva Investors, as 12% of its personnel laid off and the departure of CEO Alain Dromer.However, although the firm has parted with its SRI funds, assets in British OEIC funds rose to USD14bn as of the end of 2012, compared with USD13.5bn 18 months earlier.British retail subscriptions were very strong: they totalled GBP290m, GBP70m more than in the previous year, at a time when IMA statistics show that most fund management firms were seeing net outflows.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm Jupiter is planning to launch a global equity fund after having failed, due to opposition from its shareholders, in transforming the strategy of its European Income fund into a global one, Investment Week reports. The Global Equity Income fund will be managed by Sebastian Radcliffe and Gregory Herbert, the two managers who were to have managed the European fund after its conversion into a global fund.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) is planning to launch an absolute return fund in the next few months, which will be managed by Paul Rayner and Craig Inches, Investment Week reports. The fund will be a mirror version of a mandate currently managed by the duo on behalf of an institutional client. It will aim for returns equivalent to the Libor + 3%. The new vehicle will be domiciled in Dublin for wealth management clients and retail clients in the high net worth (HNW) segment.

La note souveraine de l’Espagne risque d'être reléguée en catégorie spéculative en raison de la probable incapacité de Madrid à atteindre son objectif de réduction du déficit public cette année, a estimé mardi l’agence de notation Moody’s. L’Espagne a abaissé en 2012 son déficit public à 6,98% de son produit intérieur brut (PIB), sans atteindre son objectif de 6,3%. Moody’s juge que Madrid ne devrait pas non plus atteindre sa cible pour 2013, fixée à 4,5%.

Des sources concordantes semblent indiquer que la banque américaine a engagé des poursuites à l’encontre de l’opérateur boursier dans le but de percevoir des dommages suite aux incidents subis lors de l’introduction en Bourse de Facebook en mai dernier. Le Nasdaq fait l’objet de nombreuses critiques sur le sujet.

La société européenne de capital-investissement a conclu un accord avec RJD Partners pour la reprise de la société IPES, prestataire européen de services administratifs et d’externalisation destinés au secteur du capital-investissement, pour un montant de 60 millions d’euros. L’acquisition reste soumise à l’obtention des autorisations réglementaires.

L’Association pour la promotion de l’assurance collective a fait part de sa «colère» et de son «incompréhension» après l’adoption par les députés de l’article 1 du projet de loi qui prévoit la généralisation de la complémentaire santé, sans remettre en cause les clauses de désignation. L’APAC déplore que l’avis de l’Autorité de a la concurrence n’ait pas été pris en compte.

La taxe sur les transactions financières voulue par certains pays de l’Union européenne aurait des répercussions négatives sur l’ensemble de l’industrie de la finance, freinerait le financement et affecterait l'économie, juge l’ICMA. Selon l’association, il est indispensable que cette taxe envisage des exceptions pour les opérations de tenue de marché ou pour les opérations de prise en pension.