From 1 January 2013, Fidelity Investments will be slashing the TER for eight tracker funds of its Spartan range. The minimal subscription for the 14 Spartan funds will also be lowered from USD10,000 to USD2,500 for investor share, and USD100,000 to USD10,000 for advantage shares. Minimal subscription for the other eight Fidelity funds will be reduced to USD2,500 from USD10,000.

According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, in early 2013, Natixis Asset Management (NAM) will release a UCITS-compliant fund which already has comfortable seed capital for active sale in the long/short segment. It is a highly actively managed credit arbitrage fund, which uses the resources of the quant and credit teams, and aims to earn returns 250 basis points higher than the Eonia, although the portfolio currently in incubation is generating far higher returns.The portfolio, which will be highly actively managed, uses pair trade and directional trade techniques. It is active in all fixed income segments, and uses options on CDS.

As Newsmanagers reported last week, Philippe Couvrecelle has officially launched PTH-Conseil, his own asset management consulting firm. The former chairman of the board of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) will collaborate with Jean Maunoury, previously head of strategy and a fund of funds manager at EdRAM. In practice, PTH-Conseil, the announcement of whose launch coincides with that of the 2013-2016 strategic plan at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (see elsewhere in Newsmanagers), «will provide strategic guidance to both local and global asset managers, with a particular emphasis on European, American and Asian markets. In light of the challenges and changes facing the asset management industry, they are poised to step in with a differentiated approach to help companies to re-think and re-shape their business architecture,» a statement says.

In November, assets at Legg Mason, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and AllianceBernstein increased to a total of USD31bn.As is frequently the case, Franklin Templeton has posted by far the largest increase in its assets, which in November increased by USD14.9bn to a total of USD768.8bn. This time, however, this largely reflects the firm’s acquisition of K2 Advisors and of USD8.7bn which came in as an addition to hybrid assets of USD118.9bn. The volume of assets in bond products increased by USD6.6bn to USD341.9bn.At AllianceBernstein, total assets in November increased by USD7bn to a total of USD426bn, largely due to fixed income products, while at Invesco, an increase of USD6.4bn to USD683.8bn went to various sectors (equities, fixed income, mixed, money markets and alternative).Lastly, at Legg Mason, an increase of USD2.7bn, to USD648.3bn, resulted in an increase of USD6.6bn only for money market funds.

The structure born of the merger of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers, which now represents the unified asset management unit for the Edmond de Rothschild group, has set itself the goal of increasing its assets from EUR24bn to a total of EUR35bn by 2016, Christophe de Backer, CEO, has announced, presenting the group’s 4-year strategic plan on Wednesday. The merger of the two French asset management firms resulted in the loss of 66 jobs out of 250, de Backer confirms. These layoffs were largely in support roles, marketing, and sales, where the overlaps were, says Marc Samuel, head of the bank in Paris. The resulting structure, which will have a new head in first quarter, and which will be known as EdRAM, will become the core of asset management at the group, with EUR50bn worldwide and a target of EUR70bn by 2016. The profession overall, in several geographical regions, will also undergo some rationalisation. This will include a consolidation of the product range, so as to have funds with over EUR1bn in assets, Samuel explains to Newsmanagers. “We are seeing that inflows in Europe are going to large funds,” he says. However, he has not said what the target is in terms of the number of funds. He also says the bank is considering options for fund domiciles, between Paris and Luxembourg. In addition to these cost reductions, gathering forces in asset management also response to a desire to position the group as a major player in Europe and to develop internationally, which is also intended to be a driver of asset growth. The group is particularly targeting Switzerland, where it has a presence primarily in private banking, its other core profession, and “two enormous and virtually unexplored markets: the United Kingdom and Germany,” de Backer says. In order to increase assets, de Backer has not ruled out external growth, through small operations. These objectives come as part of an overall plan to increase assets under management at the Edmond de Rothschild group from EUR125bn to EUR158bn by 2016, to lower the cost/income ratio from 85% to 66%, and to offer returns for shareholders of 11%, up from 5% currently. This will involve a 10% reduction in costs by 2016.

The board of directors at Janus Capital Group (JCG) has decided to pay a quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share on 31 December, to shareholders registered as of closing on 21 December. This replaces a payment which would have come in January 2013.As of the end of September, assets under management at JCG totalled USD158.2bn.

Franco-Belgian group Dexia announced on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to sell Dexia Asset Management to Hong Kong based GCS Capital for EUR380 million.The scope of the transaction includes the full perimeter of Dexia Asset Management, and it falls within the context of the plan for the orderly resolution of the Dexia Group undertaken in October 2011.Finalisation of this transaction could take place in the first quarter 2013.

Asian Investor reports that the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has received a Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) quota from the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) of USD1bn, which, as reported (see Newsmanagers of 22 November) is a record total, beating the previous total of USD770m for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Temasek Fullerton Alpha, an affiliate of one of the Singapore sovereign wealth funds. In practice, the quota is awarded to an affiliate of QIA, Qatar Holding. The most recent series of new QFII quotas brings the total to USD2.475bn for November. Hang Seng Bank and Korea Development Bank have received USD50m each, while Hai Tong Asset Management and Janus Capital Management have each received USD100m. The Ontario Pension Board has received an allocation of USD150m, while Macquarie Bank, Merrill Lynch International and HSBC Global Asset Management have each received USD200m. Lastly, Suva has received a quota of USD300m.As of 30 November, SAFE had awarded quotas totalling USD36bn in eleven months to 165 holders of QFII licenses.

The Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) is about to buy a significant stake in the Canadian forestry firm Timberland LB, the SWF Institute reports. Timberland LB is an affiliate of the asset management firm Brookfield Asset Management.

The alternative asset management firm Gottex Fund Management is expecting a considerable improvement in second half compared with the first half of this year, with a return to operational profitability despite an accounting loss, according to a statement released on 12 December. The firm has also announced that it is well-positioned in its equity repurchase programme.Approximately 566,000 shares were repurchased on 11 December as part of the equity repurchase programme, Gottex says in a statement.As of 30 September 2012, fee-earning AUM at Gottex totalled USD7.6bn. For fourth quarter 2012, Gottex states that it has won mandates totalling over USD125m, but also reports that one of its clients will be closing a separate account for relative value and event-driven strategies, totalling USD525m.

The British group LV= has announced the launch of a GBP800m life insurance policy for the 5,000 members of its pension fund. The policy, which circumscribes the life expectancy risks of the pension fund, will be managed by Swiss Re.

F&C Asset Management is releasing a long/short equity fund which will aim to capitalise on inefficiencies in the pan-European real estate market, Citywire reports. The F&C Real Estate Equity Long/Short UCITS fund was launched with EUR63.4m, and will be co-managed by Maymond Lahaut and Marcus Phayre-Mudge.

The Scottish fund management firm Martin Currie has decided to close its Chinese hedge fund due to a conflict of interest between two clients which could not be resolved, and which resulted in fines from US and British regulators totalling USD14m, Asian Investor reports.Assets under management in the long/short equity strategy launched in 2002 most recently totalled approximately USD10m, off a peak of about USD200m in 2010, at a time when the fund was earning returns of over 16% per year.

The asset management firm Standard Life Investments has won a bond management mandate from a British local council, Cumbria City Council.The total amount of this corporate bond mandate is GBP130m, a statement from Standard Life Investments says.

La banque centrale suisse a souligné sa détermination à plafonner le franc suisse à 1,20 pour un euro et a averti qu’elle pourrait prendre des mesures supplémentaires en cas de menace de dégradation de l’activité économique. «Le franc demeure à un niveau élevé. Une appréciation de notre monnaie menacerait la stabilité des prix et aurait de graves conséquences sur l'économie suisse», a averti la Banque nationale suisse, à l’issue d’une réunion trimestrielle.

La crise politique déclenchée en Italie par l’annonce de la démission du président du Conseil Mario Monti aura un impact limité sur sa note de crédit, a annoncé jeudi l’agence de notation Moody’s Investors Service.«Nous nous attendons à ce que l’agenda des réformes soit maintenu», a dit l’agence dans une note de recherche. Moody’s accorde actuellement un Baa2 à la signature transalpine, deux crans au-dessus de la catégorie spéculative, avec une perspective négative.

Elle rachètera par ailleurs 45 milliards de dollars de Treasuries tous les mois, en plus des MBS

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Le stock de bons du Trésor s'accroîtra de 20 milliards d'euros alors que les besoins de financement du pays ne cessent d'augmenter

Les ministres européens des Finances se sont entendus sur un système dual où une large partie du secteur bancaire restera sous contrôle national.

Elle rachètera par ailleurs 45 milliards de dollars de Treasuries tous les mois, en plus des MBS

Le fournisseur de données responsable de l’administration du taux interbancaire londonien envisage de diriger un nouveau système après avoir reçu l’assurance de la part des régulateurs britanniques qu’il ne sera pas poursuivi pour manipulation de ce taux. Thomson Reuters devrait rejoindre son grand rival Bloomberg parmi les prétendants à la gestion du nouveau système en gestation.

L'accord trouvé cette nuit entre ministres européens prévoit que Francfort soit le garant d’une supervision bancaire intégrée à l’échelle du continent

L’autorité de régulation monétaire de Hong Kong (HKMA) a envoyé la semaine dernière un questionnaire aux filiales de banques privées des établissements internationaux mais également locaux visant à déterminer le montant de dette d’entreprises «high yield» émise, selon le journal qui cite des sources bancaires locales. Une démarche parallèle à celle déjà menée par la banque centrale.

Le China Securities Journal croit savoir que la Chine s’apprête à relever les quotas autorisés d’investissement de la part des investisseurs institutionnels étrangers qualifiés, dans le cadre du programme QFII. Cela en conformité au souhait de renforcement de la convertibilité du yuan. Le programme QFII représente moins de 1% des placements sur le marché actions chinois.

Les ventes de produits de gestion de fortune (WMP) ont explosé de 85% pour atteindre 1.475 milliards d’euros, soit 16% des dépôts, selon Fitch

Le modèle tourné vers les régions et associant les métiers adjacents tels que le conseil aux entreprises a vocation à être dupliqué dans les autres pays

Le groupe, qui lance un plan stratégique à quatre ans, entend accroître ses actifs d’un quart et adopte une gouvernance plus centrale. Le bureau parisien, tourné vers les régions et associant les métiers adjacents tels que le conseil aux entreprises, a vocation à servir de modèle.

En reportant l’espoir d’une nouvelle baisse des taux sur le début 2013, la BCE a favorisé le statu quo sur la volatilité implicite du Bund

Le groupe vise 158 milliards d’euros d'encours, dont 88 milliards en banque privée. Il repense son organisation avec une gouvernance plus centrale