Assets under management at the Cantonal bank of Zurich (ZKB) rose to CHF14.8bn in the year 2012, at CHF191.4bn, according to statistics released on 8 February. Net inflows last year totalled CHF8.3bn, compared with CHF12.3bn in 2011. The bank has reported profits for the past year of CHF594m, down 23% year on year due to a one-time charge of CHF150m.

Asian Investor relays reports in Nihon Keizai Shimbun that the Chinese asset management firms China AMC and CSOP are planning to list physical replication RQFII ETF funds in Japan from 27 February, as depositary receipts. They would be the first products of their type to be listed outside Hong Kong.RQFII ETFs are ETFs which invest directly in Chinese A-class equities. The products concerned will be listed in yen, while in principle they are traded in yuan or Hong Kong dollars.

The Scottish firm Aberdeen Asset Management will be introducing front-end fees of 2% for the Aberdeen Global Emerging Markets Fund (USD15.5bn in assets) and Aberdeen Global – Emerging Markets Smaller Companies Fund (USD.27bn) from 11 March 2013, “as the next step to reduce inflows to these funds.”In a context of low interest rates, the interest of institutional and private investors in emerging markets remains high, with new inflows expected to this asset class. Despite the efforts of Aberdeen to limit inflows to its global emerging market equity products, the asset management firm has reported a further increase in sales. In order to prevent future increases, the decision has been made to apply a front-end fee.Front-end fees of 2% will be charged for the funds concerned, which will be paid to all shareholders. Annual management fees for the fund will remain unchanged.

The activist hedge fund Green Light Capital has asked the US giant Apple to distribute its enormous liquidity mattress to investors. The firm’s cash reserves have risen from USD98bn as of March last year to USD137bn, Investment Europe reports. The head of the hedge fund, David Einhorn, has told the television network CNMB that the Apple group has a “Great Depression-era mentality” to save.

Franch-based Métropole Gestion, whose Luxembourg international Sicav has been registered in Spain since 2007, has received a license from the CNMV for its flagship equity fund, Métropole Sélection, Funds People reports.

State Street is facing two lawsuits in the United States which argue that it claimed an “exorbitant portion” of revenues from securities lending, which resulted in “massive losses” of “hundreds of millions of dollars” for investors, Financial Times Fund Management reports. The plaintiffs are the Retirees of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Health Care Trust and the Glass Dimensions Inc Profit Sharing Plan and Trust. State Street claims that the accusations are baseless, and has declared that it intends to defend itself against them.

The British FTSE Group has announced the launch of two ranges of indices, the FTSE Cyclical and FTSE Defensive, with the objective of offering “contrasting degrees of sensitivity to the economic cycle, in order to improve the transparency of market dynamics.” These indices are available in real time, and may serve as the underlying for new investable products.

After a turbulent beginning to the year, equity funds have continued to attract investors, but at a more modest pace. The remarkable fact of the first few days of February is that investors once again appear to be showing an appetite for French equities, which had become less popular through most of 2012, and which have posted their highest inflows since third quarter 2011, EPFR Global reports.European equity funds overall finished the week to 6 February will outflows, of a modest USD264m, however, according to estimates by EPFR Global. Worldwide, equity funds finished the week to 6 February with net inflows of USD6.56bn.Emerging market equity funds continued to attract significant inflows with a market interest in Chinese and siversified funds, as well as certain niche markets, such as Colombia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.Another centre of investor interest is real estate funds, which continued to attract investors in early February, and which have posted net inflows of nearly USD4bn since the beginning of the year.Bond funds attracted a further USD1.08bn. Diversified bond funds did well, with cumulative net inflows since the beginning of the year of nearly USD6bn.

In Europe, the default rate for businesses rated speculative grade came to 1.4% in January, compared with 1.8% in December, and 3.3% in January 2012, according to statistics from the financial ratings agency Moody’s.In the United States, the default rate fell back to 3% in January from 3.3% in December 2012, and 2.3% in January 2012.Worldwide, the default rate for businesses rated speculative grade, which at the end of January stood at 2.5%, may come out to 2.7% by the end of the year, a level which would be well below the average of 4.3% observed since 1983, according to Moody’s.

Nils Ossenbrink, COO for asset management and the products & sales division, as well as head of products for development and provision of all products from the Swiss group J. Safra Sarasin, has been appointed by the supervisory board as chairman of the board at the German affiliate Bank Sarasin AG.According to a statement from the business, the appointment is a sign of the importance of the German market to the J. Safra Sarasin group.

In an interview with the Börsen-Zeitung, managing board member Jens Wilhelm states that in the face of persistent interest on the part of investors in real estate, Union Investment is increasingly taking an interest in properties located abroad, particularly in the United States.The central asset management firm for the German co-operative banks is planning to launch real estate credit funds aimed at institutional inestors, who are currently hungry for products of this type.

Until a permanent managing director for Germany and Austria can be appointed, Jon Skillman, managing director, Continental Europe, will serve as head of Fidelity for the interim, replacing Christian Wrede, who has resigned from his position after five years “to take on other professional challenges,” Fonds Professionell reports. Meanwhile, Claude Hellers becomes head of distribution for Germany. Hellers, who has 15 years of experience at Fidelity, most recently served as head of distribution for Benelux.

Until a permanent managing director for Germany and Austria can be appointed, Jon Skillman, managing director, Continental Europe, will serve as head of Fidelity for the interim, replacing Christian Wrede, who has resigned from his position after five years “to take on other professional challenges,” Fonds Professionell reports.Meanwhile, Claude Hellers becomes head of distribution for Germany. Hellers, who has 15 years of experience at Fidelity, most recently served as head of distribution for Benelux.

The board of the SVM Global Investment trust has awarded a management mandate to Henderson Global Investors, Investment Week reports.The portfolio, which had hitherto been managed by SVN Asset Management, will be taken over by Ian Barrass, head of private equity funds of funds at Henderson, and Paul Craig, a member of the multi-management team.

F&C Investments is planning to discontinue the Thames River brand name, and rename each Thames River fund as F&C, Fundweb reports. The changes will take place on about 6 April. They will affect 20 funds.

Boaz Weinstein, former owners’ equity trader at Deutshe Bank, and Reservoir Capital, the alternative asset management firm led by Dan Stern, are supporting a new hedge fund firm specialised in credit entitled Camares Capital, Financial News reports. The firm was founded by a former protégé of Weinstein.

According to the most recent Pridham Report from Fundscape, relayed by Investment Week, the top three asset management firms by retail net subscriptions last year on the British market were M&G (GBP2.6376bn), followed by Standard Life Investments (SLI, with GBP2.5351bn) and BNY Mellon, with GBP2.038bn. BlackRock and Threadneedle take fourth and fifth place, respectively, with GBP1.9692bn and GBP1.5694bn. Axa IM is in ninth place, with GBP1.0426bn.

Regional managing director EMEA, Gary Withers, has left First State.He will be replaced by Chris Turpin who is currently the global head of product at First State. He is responsible for the strategic development and on-going product management of First State’s investment capabilities globally and the firm’s approach to responsible investment. Turpin has been with the business since 2003 and will continue to be responsible for these global functions. Kanesh Lakhani has also been appointed head of distribution, EMEA & global consultant relationships. Lakhani has over 25 years of experience in the asset management industry and is currently responsible for First State’s institutional and wholesale business in EMEA and joined the business in 2011.Separately, Michael Stapleton has been appointed to the newly created role of managing director Asia Pacific, while regional managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Joanna Davison, has left the firm. Michael Stapleton will now be responsible for institutional relationship management, consultant relationships, sales activities and institutional marketing and communications in Australia and New Zealand. Stapleton will continue to oversee the firm’s business development and sales activities in Asia and Japan.Stapleton has been with First State since 1998. Since joining First State, he has held a variety of roles. He is currently the regional managing director for Asia and Japan, a role he has held since 2009. Prior to that he was the head of business development in the UK and started his career at First State in the institutional business development team in Australia in 1998. These appointments are effective immediately. Mr Stapleton will continue working from the First State Hong Kong office. Mr Turpin and Mr Lakhani will continue working from the First State London office.

Pimco, Axa and BlackRock are the three asset management firms to have posted net inflows of over EUR10bn in Europe in 2012, at a time when the sector as a whole posted net inflows of EUR185.9bn, according to the most recent statistics from Lipper. Pimco takes a clear lead, with net inflows of EUR35.1bn, profiting from a wave of popularity with investors of bond funds. These funds posted net subscriptions in 2012 of EUR225.2bn, their highest level ever recorded. Axa is next with EUR24bn, while BlackRock had inflows of EUR14.8bn. Victims of the success of bond funds, equity funds saw net redemptions of EUR8.8bn, while money market funds saw outflows of EUR44.5bn. Lipper notes, lastly, that cross-border funds posted net subscriptions of EUR220.7bn in 2012 (excluding money market funds), and now represent 45% of assets in European funds.

Alain Pitous, head of diversified investments at Amundi, maintains a favourable strategic opinion of equities, even though he has reduced exposure to them to 62% in January, and 54% in February, Agefi reports. In this environment of rising appetite for risk and improving momentum for profits at businesses, the head is maintaining the themes of returns and growth through targeted selections. For fixed income, Pitous remains favourable to credit markets. Carry remains attractive, he explains. Meanwhile, the emerging market theme is being strengthened with investments in local currencies.

Italian funds are returning to the favours of Italian retail investors, 10% of whom would now like to own investments of this type, compared with 2% at the end of October 2012, a new study by the Anima-Eurisko observer released in early 2013 notes. In particular, they would like to invest in bonds and bond funds (12% to 16%). This comes to the detriment of government bonds, which have fallen from 36% to 22% in investors’ preferences. 8% would like to keep their money in current accounts or other liquid investments.

Helene Williamson, head of the emerging market bond management team at First State, has been made responsible for managing a local currency emerging market debt fund, which will have share classes in pounds sterling and euros. The portfolio will invest both in corporate and government bonds.

Syz & Co has liquidated an Asian fund of hedge funds (Oyster Multi-Manager Asia) which had high exposure to China, Asian Investor reports. The product, with assets of USD15m, was merged into the Oyster Multi-Strategy fund. Meanwhile, the Australian firm Queensland Investment Corporation has closed its Asian quantitative strategy and the boutique which managed it. The poor performance of the products is the reason for the decisions, the firm’s website says.

The International Organisatino of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on 8 February published a consultation document, which proposes a series of recommendations to protect client assets. The principles proposed by IOSCO include a number of means for regulators to improve supervision of intermediaries who hold assets for clients, clarifying the roles of intermediaries and the regulator in the protection of these assets. The consultation will remain open until 25 March.

Credit Suisse has appointed Neil Harvey as its vice chairman for the asset management unit in the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports. He remains as co-CEO for Greater China and CEO for Hong Kong. The appointment was announced internally on 8 February.

The Asian hedge fund sector finished the year 2012 very well, with 7.5% growth in capital invested, according to estimates published in the HFR Asian Hedge Fund Industry Report. Assets invested in the Asian sector totalled USD88.25bn, their highest level since 2007. Assets under management increased by USd3.9bn in fourth quarter 2012, due to net inflows of USD1.17bn, which were concentrated on emerging Asia. The HFRX China index posted returns of 8% in fourth quarter, and 9.4% for the year as a whole. The HFRX India index, for its part, gained 4.3% in fourth quarter, and 27.6% over the year as a whole. The total number of Asian hedge funds rose 5.3% in 2012, to 1,150, nearly one third of which (31.7%) were domiciled in China. Hedge funds based in Japan and India also increased, while the population of funds based in Singapore and Australia declined.

Assets in Spanish funds as of 31 January totalled EUR129.210bn, according to VDOS, compared with EUR126.805bn at the end of December. EUR1.0463bn of the 1.9%, or EUR2.4048bn, increase was due to net subscriptions, while EUR1.3585bn were due to market effects.At the major asset management firms, Santander posted an increase of 1.28% in one month to its assets under management, to EUR21.4124bn, due in part to EUR87.6m in net subscriptions, while BBVA posted an increase of 0.8% to its assets, to EUR19.3146bn, but with net outflows of nearly EUR7.6m. At CaixaBank, volume increased 2.4% compared with the end of December, to EUR17.5593bn, with EUR211.9m in net inflows.

Eurex récidive. La Bourse des dérivés allemande a annoncé lundi le lancement d’un deuxième contrat future sur la dette française, sur le point à 5 ans de la courbe, basé sur les OAT de maturité résiduelle 4,5 à 5,5 ans. Les premiers contrats, d’une valeur notionnelle de 100.000 euros et de coupon 6%, seront traités le 11 mars. Banca IMI, Morgan Stanley et Natixis en seront les principaux teneurs de marché. En avril 2012, le lancement du premier contrat d’Eurex sur l’OAT 10 ans en pleine campagne présidentielle avait suscité une polémique autour d’une supposée «spéculation» sur la dette française. Depuis, 5 millions de futures ont été traités et les positions ouvertes sont de 200.000 contrats.

Les autorités fiscales suisses excluent que le ministre français du Budget ait eu un compte bancaire ouvert à la banque UBS «à son nom ou à celui d’une société» depuis 2006, affirme le Journal du Dimanche, qui cite une source dans l’entourage du ministre de l’Economie Pierre Moscovici. Le journal en ligne Mediapart a toutefois maintenu ses accusations.

La banque d’investissement a mis la main sur «certains actifs et activités» du broker britannique spécialisé dans les valeurs moyennes et les small-caps. La société de Bourse était à la recherche de fonds depuis que la FSA avait bloqué il y a plusieurs mois un financement qui devait provenir de l’homme d’affaires ukrainien Denis Gorbounenko.