The Geneva-based Banque Reyl & Cie, whose assets have now exceeded CHF7bn, has announced the appointment of two new partners, Christian Fringhian as head of development, and Lorenzo di Torrepadula as deputy head wealth management Switzerland. The two bankers join the partners Dominique Reyl, chairman and founder, and François Reyl, CEO, at the helm of the company.Fringhian had most recently worked for Barclays Capital, where he led the Public Sector Solutions group, and developed and managed a range of risk management and financing strategy advisory services.Di Torrepadula joined Reyl et Cie in 2002, where he specialised in the area of private management. He previously worked for Credit Suisse First Boston in London, first in the mergers and acquisitions sector, and then in the LBO coverage group.

Swiss asset management firms have won only 19 major mandates in 2012, which represents a decline compared with 47 mandates in 2011 and 78 in 2010, Financial Times Fund Management reports, citing data from its sister firm MandateWire. UBS Global Asset Management won the largest number (10), compared with 15 in 2011 and 17 in 2010. FTfm attributes this setback to scandals in the Swiss financial sector in recent years.

On 28 January, J. Safra Sarasin Holding SA, Banque Sarasin & Cie SA and Banque J. Safra (Suisse) SA announced that their respective boards of directors had approved the merger of the two firms as Banque J. Safra Sarasin SA, whose primary headquarters will be in Basel.The CEO of Banque Sarasin, Joachim H. Straehle, becomes CEO of the merged bank. “Bauque J. Safra Sarasin will continue the strategy of Banque Sarasin, and will position itself as a sustainable international provider of financial services,” a statement says, adding that “Banque J. Safra Sarasin will rely on the strengths of both brands.”

Cogefi Gestion on 28 January announced the arrival of Anne d’Anselme at the firm. She takes responsibility for Long/Short equity management, and is particularly responsible for the Sarbacane fund, with the support of Maxime Chemouny. D’Anselme, who holds a DESS in Finance from the university of Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), and is a member of the French society of financial analysts (SFAF), has 15 yeas of experience on equity markets. She was a financial analyst for 8 years for the oil and oil services sectors at Natexis Capital and then at Crédit Lyonnais Securities, and subsequently advised institutional investor and long/short manager clients as a ventor of European equities at CM-CIC Securities / ESN. D’Anselme also contribute to the management of outsourced long/short portfolios from 2007 to 2012.

US prime money market fund (MMF) exposure to eurozone banks decreased slightly during December 2012, with the notable exception of French banks, according to a new Fitch Ratings report. Allocations to French banks continued to increase and as of end-December 2012 represent approximately 6.5% of assets under management. This is the first time since end-August 2011 that France represents the largest single country exposure within Europe. Japan remains the largest single-country exposure globally at 13.2% of MMF assets, a 6% increase since end-Nov. 2012. Overall, MMF allocations to Eurozone banks have increased by more than 70% since falling to a historical low in end-June 2012 and now represent 12.9% of MMF assets. However, Fitch notes that MMF allocations to Eurozone banks remain more than 60% below end-May 2011.

The number of poorly-performing retail funds has fallen sharply in the most recent “Spot the Dog list” rankings by Bestinvest. The firm counted only 64 retail funds, with cumulative assets of GBP12.1bn, whereas last summer, it had counted 113 funds, with a total of GBP26.6bn. To compose the list, Bestinvest takes into account equity-based portfolios which had underperfomed by more than 10% in all of the past three years to the end of 2012. Scottish Widows retains the top spot in the rakings, with four funds, totalling GBP3.96bn in assets, followed by BlackRock (GBP1.27bn), Baillie Gifford (GBP1.08bn), and F&C Investments (GBP613m), Money Marketing states. Jupiter places on the list with two funds, Jupiter China and Jupiter Ecology, with assets of GBP501m. Jupiter’s inclusion is largely due to the Jupiter Ecology fund, which, like all green funds, had a difficult year compared with broader indices. JP Morgan Asset Management, M&G, Axa Investment Management and BNY Mellon/Newton had no funds on the Bestinvet black list, despite a very rich range of funds.

The ETP promoter Source has announced the promotion of five partners in the area of sales. Ludovic Djebali and Stefan Garcia become managing directors and co-heads of sales. Pierre Olivier Coher is promoted to executive director of sales for France, Belgium and Luxembourg, while Fabrizio Palmucci is promoted to director, fixed income specialist, and Jasmin Stoschek becomes associate, marketing.

The ETF specialist IndexUniverse and Structured Solutions on 29 January announced the launch of a series of currency indices. These are primarily a series of indices which measure the performance of the US dollar against various baskets of currencies. The flagship index, the IU – Solactive U.S. Dollar TW Index, includes a weighted index of 26 currencies, including the Chinese RMB, which represents 20.37% of the index. The US Dollar Index, which was created in 1973, includes only six currencies, including the euro, which represents 57.60%. All of the new indices are available on Bloomberg. -IndexUniverse–SolactiveDollar TW Index (Long USD) (IUSLATL.Index) -IndexUniverse−Solactive U.S. Dollar TW Index (Short USD) (IUSLATW Index) -IndexUniverse–Solactive Developed Markets Currencies TW Index (IUSLADTW Index) -IndexUniverse–Solactive Emerging Markets Currencies TW Index (IUSLAETW Index) -IndexUniverse–Solactive -Pacific Currencies TW Index (IUSLAATW Index)

Globally at least USD 13.6 trillion worth of professionally managed assets incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns into their investment selection and management, according to a report on the size and trends within the sustainable investment industry released yesterday by the newly created Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA).This represents 21.8 percent of the total assets managed professionally in the regions covered by the report - Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia, Japan, and Africa.Europe is the largest region with about 65 percent of the known global sustainable investing assets under management. Europe, along with the United States and Canada, account for 96 percent of SRI assets.The most common strategy used globally is negative/exclusionary screening, with USD 8.3 trillion in assets. Norms-based screening is also significant at USD 3.0 trillion, but this approach is currently only found on a large scale in Europe.Positive/best-in-class screening stands at just over USD 1.0 trillion, with the US market contributing most of the global assets invested in positive screening.Assets utilizing ESG integration are at USD 6.2 trillion.Approaches to corporate engagement/shareholder action varies greatly across regions, but this is the third-most common strategy, at USD4.7.trillion.Impact investing and sustainability themed investments are comparatively small at USD 89 billion and USD 83 billion respectively. The release of this report also launches the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) and its website at www.gsi-alliance.org.The GSIA is a collaboration of the seven largest sustainable investment membership organizations in the world: Association for Sustainable & Responsible Investment in Asia (ASrIA ), European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA), Social Investment Organization (SIO) in Canada, UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), US SIF: The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, and Vereniging van Beleggers voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (VBDO) in the Netherlands. The mission of GSIA is to deepen the impact and visibility of sustainable investment membership organizations at the global level.

The Frankfurt-based independent asset management firm Universal Investment has announced that assets in its institutional funds (Spezialfonds) had risen by EUR18bn in the first eleven months of 2012, to EUR116.3bn. They have risen by more than EUR50bn in the past five years.In the past twelve months, assets under management by Universal in open-ended funds incerased by EUR3.3bn, to a total of EUR17.4bn.

The board of directors at DekaBank on 28 January approved a redistribution of responsibilities among its board, as well as the appointment of Martin K. Müller, a board member at Landesbank Berlin (LBB), with whom DekaBank is planning to pool its market trading and asset management activities, as a board member from 1 April 2013.Müller becomes CFO/COO. As CFO, he will assume responsibility for treasury and finances, which is currently held by Matthias Danne, in addition to his role as a board member responsible for asset management in the area of real estate and credit. As COO, he will become responsible for operations, which will allow Friedrich Oelrich to concentrate on his role as chief risk officer (CRO).The other members of the board will retain their responsibilities. Michael Rüdiger remains as chairman of the board, with Oliver Behrens as vice chairman, while Georg Stocker retains responsibility for marketing and distribution.

The Cologne-based wealth management firm Flossbach von Storch has confirmed to Das Investment that it now has over EUR10bn in assets, less than five years after its launch on the retail market. Of total assets under management, investment funds represent EUR5.2bn, of which EUR2.91bn are for the diversified fund FvS Multiple Opportunities.

A study by the Berlin-based agency Scope Ratings has found that on average, euro zone bond funds gained 26.1% in the past five years, while euro zone equity funds have lost an average of 25.9%.In the past three years, bond funds have gained an average of 12.7%, while equity funds have made 2.3%.But, in the past twelve months, bond products gained only 8.4%, while equity funds gained 18.3%.This year, Scope concludes, the extremely low level of interest rates is expected to continue to favour equity investments.

The number of strategies available in the UCITS hedge fund universe has topped 300 following the launch of several new funds in fourth quarter. Between October and December last year, 13 new funds were released, while 5 funds were closed in the same period, according to statistics from compiled by the Luxembourg-based firm Alceda Asset Management. There are now 307 funds, compared with 299 at the end of third quarter 2012. Long/short equity strategies were primarily offered in fourth quarter, accounting for five of the 13 new funds launched in the quarter. Alceda also notes that global macro funds represent 17% of all available funds, with 54 funds, representing 40% of all assets under management in the sector, or EUR34.7bn, out of a total of EUR86bn.

Following the Schroder GAIA CQS Credit, Schroder GAIA Egerton Equity, Schroder GAIA QEP Global Absolute and Schroder GAIA Global Macro Bond funds, Schroders will in February launch a fifth fund (the third external fund) on its GAIA (Global Alternative Investor Access) platform, the Schroder GAIA Sirios US Equity fund, manage by Sirios Capital Partners II, L.P.The fund already has an initial license from the Luxembourg regulatory authority, CSSF. The long/short equity fund will primarily invest in US mid and large caps, with potential exposure to Asia and Europe, reproducing the strategy of the Sirios long/short equity hedge fund in a UCITS framework.The product will invest in shares in businesses with attractive growth and valuation, and will short-sell shares in businesses whose fundamentals are deteriorating and whose balance sheets are weak.Management will be carried out by a team of ten investment professionals, led by John Brennan, co-founder of Sirios and managing director.As of 30 September, assets in funds on the GAIA platform totalled USD1.53trn.

The British asset management firm Veritas Asset Mangement has topped the most recent monthly rankings of European asset management firms by Asset Management Competition Reports (AMCR), the specialist website e-fundresearch reports. Veritas AM’s rise to the top is largely due to the long-term outperformance of the Veritas Global Euqity Income Fonds equity fund. In the rankings as of the end of December, Veritas AM finishes ahead of Carmignac Gestion SA, with its flagship fund Carmignac Patrimoine, First State Investments (UK) Limited, First State Investments (Hong Kong) Ltd and JO Hambro Capital Management Ltd.

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, one of the largest pension funds in the world, with CAD160bn, will increase its allocation to real estate from CAD30bn to CAD40bn in the next 18 months, the Financial Times reports. It becomes one of the most recent examples of an institutional investor moving away from bonds, which offer very low returns, towards real estate.

The Azimut group has appointed four managing directors for its wealth management division: Luigi Ardissone, Enrico Canazza, Massimo Collina and Paolo Cosmelli, Bluerating reports, citing Il Mondo. They will aim to bring growth to the division, through the recruitment of high-level private bankers. The objective is to increase assets at Azimut Wealth Management beyond EUR5bn by 2015.

Deutsche Börse on 28 January announced that State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) had listed an additional SPDR ETF for trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform. The SPDR MSCI EMU UCITS ETF, an equity product, becomes the 1,021st ETF to be listed in Frankfurt.The benchmark index, the MSCI EMU, currently includes 244 mid and large cap equities from EMU businesses, which represent about 85% of total capitalisation on euro zone markets.CharacteristicsName: SPDR MSCI EMU UCITS ETFISIN code: IE00B910VR50TER: 0.30%

According to statistics from the Inverco association of Spanish asset management firms, pension funds (retirement savings plans) at the end of 2012 had a record volume of EUR86.536bn, which represents an increase of 4.1% in one year, Funds People reports. Gross inflows totalled EUR3.928bn, and benefits totalled EUR3.870bn, meaning that net inflows totalled EUR58m.The two major leaders in the sector are BBVA, whose assets under management as of the end of December totalled EUR16.834bn, and VidaCaixa, with EUR14.261bn. That corresponds to respective increases of 6.7% and 4.7%. The third-largest actor is Santander, with EUR8.660bn (+5.02%).

The financial ratings agency Fitch Ratings on 28 January announced that it is raising its very short-term negative outlook for the credit rating of the United States, citing a decision by the Republican opposition to allow the Obama administration to exceed the legal debt ceiling for a period of four months. The report removes the danger of a downgrade from AAA for the United States in the very short term, which the agency on 16 January had warned could be revised down from the top rank, which it still accords to the world’s largest economy, if th US Congress failed to reach an agreement to raise the country’s debt ceiling. Now free of the short-term financing crisis the Federal government had faced, Congress and the Obama administration now have latitude to concentrate on the substantial budgetary choices necessary to set public finances on a viable mid-term and long-term course, the ratings agency explains. The agreement on a credible mid-term deficit reduction plan with a viable recovery of the economy will probably result in a confirmation of the country’s AAA rating, and an upgrade of the long-term outlook for the rating from negative to stable, Fitch says. In the absence of a plan, however, the current negative outlook will probably lead to a ratings downgrade at the end of 2013.

Investment Week reports that Henderson Global Investors (HGI) may at least partially freeze subscriptions to the Henderson European Special Situation fund, which, with GBP510m, has passed the GBP500m mark which its manager, Richard Pease, had announced not long ago would be an upper limit, in order to protect the interests of existing shareholders, Investment Europe reports. The fund had GBP393m as of the end of May 2012.Another fund which has fallen victim to its own success and the major shift to equities (the «Great Rotation») is the Fidelity UK Smaller Companies Fund, managed by Alex Wright, which has GBP157m in assets. A soft closing may be held at GBP250m, probably in three months.

The volume of transactions on ETFs fell 31.6% in 2012, to USD7.6trn, according to statistics from the international federation of securities exchanges. This development is largely due to a 33% decline in activity in the United States, which represents 83% of total trading volumes. However, the number of ETFs rose 12% last year, to 7,721.

The Chinese authorities have authorised a first group of five qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) to trade on futures indices, Asian Investor reports. This would theoretically allow investors to more easily provide absolute returns in falling markets. The identities of the members of this first group have not been disclosed.

A New York court on 28 January authorised the US tax authorities to demand data on all US clients of UBS who are reported to have transferred their assets to the Wegelin private bank. It has filed a John Doe Summons to obtain the data.Wegelin at the beginning of this month pleaded guilty to assisting US citizens to evade the tax authorities in their country. As the private bank had no affiliate in the United States, it is reported to have made the transactions via a “correspondence account” with UBS.According to the lawsuit filed on Monday, two other banks which are not named are accused of using this correspondence account to secretly launder the money of US taxpayers.

In a summary document which concludes three years of research with the support of Caceis into improved awareness of non-financial risks in the collective management industry in Europe, the Edhec-Risk Institute has laid out a series of recommendations to limit these risks, whose emergence in 2007-2008 marred the quality reputation of the UCITS label.According to the Edhec-Risk Institute, the sophistication of UCITS funds is one of the main causes of the increase in non-financial risks. These risks do not derive directly from positions on financial markets, but are the result of the functioning of a value chain in the collective management industry.In this environment, the Edhec-Risk Institute proposes that regulations and improved practices be put in place for financial risks, based on three major themes. The first is reinforcement of information on non-financial risks, including a requirement to describe the risks and their controls in the KIID, and to include a synthetic indicator of net risks for funds. Similarly, advising requirements under MiFID should be strengthened in the area of non-financial risks.The second area is to increase accountability for all actors in the fund management industry. The new accountability regime would lead parties to improve their management of non-financial risks, by tying the level of regulatory capital requirements to the level of residual non-financial risks taken by the principal actors in the value chain.Last but not least, the document recommends that in counterbalance to the high level of sophistication of UCITS funds permitted by evolving regulations, and exploited to the hilt by NewCITS, a “Restricted UCITS” label should be created, for a category of UCITS products whose fields of investment would be limited to what may genuinely be conserved, and that the depository in this role should have a complete guarantee for non-financial risks. The “Restricted UCITS” label would make it possible to sell these products not only to European retail investors, but also worldwide, as UCITS funds worthy of the name in terms of safety.

Amplégest, primée parmi les cinq meilleures jeunes sociétés de gestion de moins de cinq ans par Morningstar, affiche une forte croissance de ses encours sur les deux dernières années avec une hausse de près de 87%. Amplégest, forte de 18 employés dont 10 associés, atteint 560 millions d’euros d’encours sous gestion cumulés dans ses activités de gestion privée et gestion collective à fin 2012, en comparaison avec 300 millions d’euros à fin 2010.

La banque centrale indienne a annoncé avoir abaissé son principal taux directeur pour la première fois en neuf mois afin de soutenir une économie qui devrait connaître son plus faible taux de croissance depuis 10 ans. La Banque de Réserve d’Inde a toutefois ajouté qu’elle n’avait guère de marges de manœuvre pour assouplir davantage sa politique monétaire en raison des pressions inflationnistes. Le taux d’intervention a ainsi été abaissé de 25 points de base, à 7,15% En revanche, de manière plus inattendue, la banque centrale indienne a également abaissé son ratio de réserves obligatoires imposé aux banques de 25 points de base, à 4%.

Rome a placé pour 8,5 milliards d’euros de bons du Trésor papier (BOT) à six mois, un montant qui correspond à son objectif, à un rendement de 0,731% contre 0,949% lors de la précédente adjudication. S’il s’agit du plus bas rendement pour du papier de ce type depuis mars 2010, les investisseurs estiment qu’il reste très attrayant en comparaison au retour quasi-nul offert par des titres de dette allemands de même échéance. Le ratio de couverture dans le cadre de cette adjudication de titres à échéance juillet 2013 a été de 1,646 contre 1,567.

Selon des sources proches du dossier citées par Bloomberg, la vente du distributeur français de parfums et cosmétiques Nocibe pourrait valoriser la société environ 600 millions d’euros, soit dix fois l’Ebitda. Hutchison Whampoa a acquis Marionnaud en 2005 pour 758 millions d’euros, soit un multiple d’Ebitda similaire, tandis que L’Oréal a accepté un multiple de douze pour Body Shop en 2006. Le propriétaire de Nocibe, le groupe de private equity britannique Charterhouse Capital Partners, a mandaté des banques afin de mettre le concurrent de Sephora sur le marché. D’autres fonds pourraient être intéressés. Charterhouse, qui détient une participation de contrôle dans Nocibe, l’a acquise pour 490 millions d’euros à Bridgepoint en 2006. Basé à Villeneuve d’Ascq dans le Nord et fort de 3.000 employés, le distributeur compte 450 points de vente dans l’Hexagone.