A la suite de la démission de Bob Diamond fin juillet, en raison du scandale des manipulations du taux Libor, la banque britannique Barclays a annoncé jeudi la nomination d’Antony Jenkins au poste de directeur général, rapporte La Tribune. L’intéressé était jusqu'à présent responsable de l’activité de banque de détail et d’affaires du groupe.
Comme tout récemment M&G et Aberdeen, Threadneedle a décidé de lancer en octobre des parts Z, conformes à la réglementation Retail Distribution Review (RDR) qui seront disponibles sur des plates-formes. Elles seront assorties d’une commission de 0,75 % pour la plupart des fonds d’actions, rapportent Fundweb et Investment Week.Cette formule concernera 51 fonds de type OEIC tandis que les parts I réservées aux institutionnels seront utilisées pour un nombre limité de produits.Généralement les parts I et R (retail) sont assorties de commissions de 1 % et 1,5 % pour les fonds d’actions.Carmignac Gestion va aussi proposer des classes de parts RDR. En plus des parts existantes, les clients britanniques de Carmignac Gestion auront désormais accès à des parts de capitalisation et à des parts de distribution libellées en livres sterling. Les parts libellées en livres sont systématiquement couvertes contre le risque de change vis-à-vis de l’euro. •Carmignac Investissement (A) EUR / acc•Carmignac Investissement (E) EUR / acc•Carmignac Investissement (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Investissement (D) GBP / inc•Carmignac Emergents (A) EUR / acc•Carmignac Emergents (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Emergents (D) GBP / inc•Carmignac Patrimoine (A) EUR / acc•Carmignac Patrimoine (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Patrimoine (D) GBP / inc•Carmignac Euro-Patrimoine (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Euro-Patrimoine (D) GBP / inc
Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP, 138 milliards de livres d’encours fin juin) a annoncé avoir entamé sa campagne de recrutements pour 2013 en sélectionnant quatre jeunes diplômés comme stagiaires dans le cadre de son Trainee Investment Manager Graduate Programme. Ils rejoindront SWIP (Lloyds Banking Group) en septembre 2013 à raison d’un dans chaque pôle d’investissement (actions, obligations, immobilier, solutions d’investissement) pour une période de deux ans avec la possibilité de devenir investment manager dans leur spécialité.Les huit diplômés recrutés au titre de Graduate Programme de 2011 ont pour leur part achevé avec succès leur première année de formation.
Après le départ de Bob Diamond, emporté par le scandale de la manipulation du Libor, c’est Antony Jenkins qui sera aux manettes de Barclays en compagnie de David Walker, ce dernier assurant la présidence dès novembre en remplacement de Marcus Agius, également victime du scandale du Libor, rapporte L’Agefi. Antony Jenkins, homme du sérail, prend ses fonctions tandis que la banque britannique est au cœur de différents scandales. Actuellement, une enquête est menée par le Serious Fraud Office et la FSA concernant la manière dont certains honoraires auraient été payés à l’occasion d’accords commerciaux entre Barclays et le principal fonds d’investissement du Qatar, Qatar Holding, précise le quotidien.
Assets under management at the Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) increased by CHF0.6bn, or 1.2% in first half, to a total of CHF48.7bn, according to a statement released on 30 August. Most of this increase is due to positive market effects, while net inflows in the half totalled only CHF2m. Profits for the group in first half totalled CHF61.6m, compared with CHF34.3m. The cost/income ratio improved to 57.8%, from 75.3% one year previously. In the mid-term, the bank is aiming for a ratio of 55-60%
The Scandinvian asset management firm Odin Fonder has hired Sofie Zetterlund to become a member of its sales team, the Swedish website Fondbranschen reports. Zetterlund joined from BlackRock and will be based in Oslo, Norway.
Nicholas Pothier, who left HSBC Global Asset Management to move to South Africa (see Newsmanagers of 29 March 2010), is joining Pioneer Investments in Dublin as co-manager of a multi-asset class global thematic fund of funds, alongside Bertrand Paquot, Fundweb reports. The new arrival will report to John O’Tolle, head of multi-asset fund solutions.
Following the resignation of Bob Diamond in late July over the Libor rate manipulation scandal, the British bank Barclays on Thursday announced the appointment of Antony Jenkins as its CEO, La Tribune reports. Jenkins had previously been head of the retail and business banking activities of the group.
Lighthouse Group announced on 30 August the resignation of David Hickey, who had been executive chairman of the firm, following a vote of shareholders against a plan to withdraw the company from the AIM stock exchange, which had been unanimously passed by the board of directors. Hickey, who has worked at Lighthouse for 10 years, claims that in his position as head of shareholder relations, he was obliged to resign, due to his opposition, which he shares with other members of the board, to continued listing of the firm on the AIM exchange.
Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP, GBP1.38bn in assets as of the end of June) has announced that it has kicked off its 2013 recruitment campaign, electing four young graduates as interns in its Trainee Investment Manager Graduate Programme. The four will join SWIP (Lloyds Banknig Group) in September 2013, one for each investment unit (equities, bonds, real estate, investment solutions), for a period of two years, with the potential to become investment managers in their specialised fields. The eight graduates recruited in the Graduate Programme for 2011 have been successful in their first year of training.
Marcin Plichtra, founder and CEO of the Amber Gold company, was arrested in Gdansk on Wednesday; the court imprisoned him for three months while prosecutors carry out investigations, the Wall Street Journal reports.Plichtra is accused of using his firm, which the financial regulatory authorities placed on a blacklist in 2009, to construct a Ponzi scheme, in which incoming investments from new subscribers were used to pay off existing ones.So far, about 3,000 people have filed claims, bringing the total to PLZ182m or USD55m. Amber Gold entered bankruptcy in early August.
In the next few days, according to sources familiar with the matter, the SEC will file civil charges against several executives in the empire of R. Allen Stanford, the Wall Street Journal reports. The regulator is expected to sue the former chairman of Stanford Group, Danny Bogar, and the former head of compliance, Bernerd Young.Stanford was sentenced in June to 110 years in Federal prison for a Ponzi-type fraud totalling USD7bn.
Axa Real Estate has teamed up with the Japanese firm Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank to create a fund which will invest JPY50bn in office properties in Tokyo, the Financial Times reports. The fund will be launched this Friday. SuMi Trust will be responsible for asset management of the portfolio.
The US asset management firm Federated Investors is seeking acquisition targets in Asia Pacific, with the objective of growing globally, Asian Investor reports. Meanwhile, the asset management firm is planning to establish several fixed income teams in the region. The asset management firm has recently recruited Craig Bingham as its new CEO for Asia-Pacific. Bingham is the former CEO for the region for Aviva. He will be based in Melbourne, Australia, at the new main office of Federated Investors for Asia.
Open-ended funds on sale in Italy recorded net inflows in July of EUR52m, returning to positive territory after net redemptions of EUR1.9bn in June, according to statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers. These inflows were driven by bond funds, which took on EUR3.2bn, and flexible funds, with EUR1.7bn in inflows. However, equity funds saw outflows of EUR986m. But the majority of redemptions were from money market funds, which lost EUR3.3bn. Since the beginning of the year, open-ended funds on sale in Italy have seen outflows of EUR5.1bn. With the addition of closed funds and mandates, the Italian asset management industry has seen net redemptions of EUR1.3bn in July, and EUR11.4bn since the beginning of the year.
Funds People reports that La Française Asset Management has received a sales license in Spain for a further fund, the LFP Rendement Emergent 2017, a bond product which currently has EUR46m in assets.
According to estimates by VDOS relayed by Funds People, assets in Spanish funds as of 23 August totalled EUR128.165bn, up by EUR1.686bn since the end of July. This increase is due to a positive market effect of EUR1.934bn, offset by EUR247m in net redemptions.
For his 82nd birthday, Warren Buffett has doubled his donations to the charities of his three children, assigning each of them a further USD3bn in shares in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, the Wall Street Journal reports.
U.S. prime money market funds (MMF) continued to increase their exposure to Japanese banks, which as of end-July represent 12.3% of total MMF holdings or a 118%increase on a dollar basis since end-May 2011, according to Fitch. This exposure exceeds aggregate MMF allocations to eurozone banks, which increased moderately since the prior reporting period and now constitute 8.5% of total MMF assets, still 76% below end-May 2011 levels on a dollar basis.
Das Investment reports that four private bankers from Berenberg Bank have announced their departures to become independent. They include Sven Albrecht (24 years at the firm), one of the 50 directors of the firm, and Andreas Kitta (15 years at the firm), who had been director of the wealth managers department. Also departing are Holger Knaup, head of the private banking department (12 years at the firm) and Carsten Riehemann (who joined the firm in October 1998).
Repeated assaults on Swiss banking confidentiality do not appear to be discouraging investors who have previously trusted Swiss managers, Investment Europe reports. According to statistics disclosed by the US firm SNL Financial, Credit Suisse has even reversed the trend of eroding assets under management, with a 2.4% increase in first half, to CHF1.210trn, which was facilitated by a 2.11% increase in the value of assets. Bank Corp has also posted an increase in its assets under management of 4.17% in first half 2012, largely aided by market effects. EFG International, however, did not reverse the trend, but still had a limited downward movement in assets under management of 2.62%, compared with more than 8% last year.
As M&G and Aberdeen have done recently, Threadneedle has decided to launch a Z share class in October, which will be compliant with the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), and which will be available via platforms. The shares will carry a commission of 0.75% for most equity funds, Fundweb and Investment Week report. The formula will be used for 52 OEIC type funds, while I shares reserved for institutionals will be used for a limited number of products.Typically, I and R (retail) shares carry commissions of 1% and 1.5% for equity funds.Carmignac Gestion has also decided to offer RDR (Retail Distribution Review) ready share classes ahead of the full implementation of the new regulation.In addition to the current existing share classes, Carmignac Gestion will be offering its UK based clients both accumulating and distributing clean shares denominated in GBP.For units denominated in GBP, currency risk vis-à-vis the euro is systematically hedged. •Carmignac Investissement (A) EUR / acc•Carmignac Investissement (E) EUR / acc•Carmignac Investissement (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Investissement (D) GBP / inc•Carmignac Emergents (A) EUR / acc•Carmignac Emergents (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Emergents (D) GBP / inc•Carmignac Patrimoine (A) EUR / acc•Carmignac Patrimoine (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Patrimoine (D) GBP / inc•Carmignac Euro-Patrimoine (I) GBP/ acc•Carmignac Euro-Patrimoine (D) GBP / inc
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has placed a six-page brochure online, entitled Financial Advice Changes 1–2–3, aimed at consumers, to inform them about changes which are taking place with the introduction of the Retail Distriution Review (RDR) on 31 December 2012. The document includes three main sections: know how much advice will cost; know what you are paying for; get improved professional standards.
A study published by the Edhec-Risk Institute in the Journal of Portfolio Management suggests that the major alternative equity indices are probably superior in terms of long-term perforamnce, but they run the risk of significant relative losses compared with cap size-weighted traditional indices. These “drawdowns” may last for long periods (over two years), and be large in scale (over 13%). These risks are largely due to two causes: More pronounced structural exposure to risk factors which may in some cases negatively influence the performance of indices Any system of weighting, be it qualitative or quantitative, requires a choice of model, and this carries modelling risks. On these grounds, the Edhec-Risk Institute makes three recommendations: Diversify beta investment, since beta is not exposed in the same way to various market conditions, particularly volatility (low and high) and trends (rising or falling). Maintain clear information on tracking error and extreme tracking error compared with cap size-weighted indices Manage this constraint actively, as ultimately that will improve the information and performance-adjusted risk ratios for these new indices. The findings of the study show that with explicit constraints in terms of tracking error the maximal tracking error for a diversified alternative index is reduced by 44%, while the median relative returns are reduced by only 17%. An efficiently diversified portfolio, which combines minimal volatility and stratgies to maximise Sharpe ratios, can improve the maximal relative drawdown compared with single strategies with no relative risk control by 35% and 28.5%, respectively.
The financial services provider Morningstar on 29 August announced that it is launching a platform for trading desks and risk specialists which offers data on energy and commodity makets. Further information about the new platform, entitled Morningstar Markets Commodities Edition, is available at the following address: http://www.morningstarcommodity.com/
The asset management firm which posted the largest net inflows in Europe in July was Pimco, with EUR3.9bn, of which EUR1.3bn went to the Pimco GIS Total Return Bond Fund, a clone of the fund managed by Bill Gross, Morningstar reports. The Allianz affiliate overtook Crédit Mutuel (EUR2.5bn in net subscriptions), Deutsche Bank (EUR2.1bn), Morgan Stanley (EUR2bn) and BlackRock (EUR1.6bn).According to FundWeb, the agency points out that EUR546m flowed out of the Templeton Global Bond Fund managed by Michael Hasentab in July, though the fund remains the largest in Europe with EUR33.5bn in assets, followed by the Carmignac Patrimoine (EUR28.1bn), the Pimco GIS Total Return Bond Fund (EUR22.3bn), the Templeton Global Return Fund (EUR19.9bn), and the AB Global High Yield Portfolio (EUR16.9bn).
The Basel-based Banque Sarasin on 30 August announced that it has recruited Marco Kuch for the newly-created position of director wholesale for the German affiliate in Frankfurt. He joins the institutional client & wholesale team, led by Christian Mosel, and will be particularly responsible for relationship management for fund of fund managers, private banks, direct banks, family offices and wealth managers. Kuch had previously been responsible for wholesale at Fidelity International in Germany, and previous to that, worked at HSBC Investments Deutschland, Deutsche Kreditbank and Berliner Bank.
The private banks Berenberg and Lampe have now increased their stakes in Universal-Investment to 50% each: they announced on 30 August that they have acquired the 27% stake which the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) had held in the Frankfurt-based asset management firm. The sale price has not been disclosed. The two banks had previously bought up the shares in Universal owned by Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers (H&A, see Newsmanagers of 30 May).The cooperation with LBBW in the area of institutional mandates and depository banking activities will be continued.Since the beginning of the year, assets at Universal have increased by EUR13bn, and now total EUR143bn.
Côté placements, une cession complémentaire de 3 Md€ aux emprunts d’Etat est intervenue au deuxième trimestre 2012. L’exposition brute des sociétés d’assurance du groupe Crédit Agricole aux dettes souveraines périphériques (Grèce, Irlande, Portugal, Italie, Espagne) est réduite à 8,5 Md€ au 30 juin 2012, contre 15,3 Md€ au 31 décembre 2011.
Les dépenses des ménages américains ont augmenté de 0,4% au mois de juillet, un rythme sans précédent depuis le mois de février, offrant l’espoir d’une accélération de la croissance au troisième trimestre. Le département du Commerce a également annoncé que les revenus des ménages avaient augmenté de 0,3% le mois dernier. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, les hausses annoncées sont conformes aux attentes des analystes.