The alternative asset management firm Segantii, based in Hong Kong, is closing its Asian hedge fund to new investors, Reuters reports. Assets under management in the fund total USD620m. The hedge fund, one of the few funds dedicated to Asia with assets over USD500m, earned returns of 41% in 2011, and 3.1% in the first five months of this year. The Asian Eurekahedge benchmark index lost 8.2% in 2011 and has gained 1.3% since the beginning of the year. The fund, launched in 2007, was already closed to new investors from September 2009 to the end of 2010.

The California pension fund CalPERS on 26 June announced the appointment of Ed Robertiello as a senior portfolio manager, in charge of absolute return strategies. Robertiello previously worked at Russell Investments, as managing director in charge of hedge funds. CalPERS has also announced that it has invested about USD100m in the real estate specialist Bentall Kennedy, taking over stakes previously controlled yb IvanhoeCambridge and the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. The California pension fund now controls about 33% of capital in Bentall, while the other two thirds are controlled in equal proportions by British Columbia Investment Management Coporation (bcIMC) and the management of Bentall.

As it did not succeed in winning over potential investors, the US firm J.P. Morgan Chase & Ca has decided to be the sole investor in its new real estate fund, Junius Real Estate Partners, itself, the Wall Street Journal reports.Junius is already active in commercial real estate. It has invested in the development of an equestrian farm in Virginia, acquired a shopping mall in a suburb of Chicago, and bought an hotel portfolio in Ohio, for about USD465m, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Investment Europe reports that the British asset management firm Threadneedle has been granted a sales license in Finland for 27 sub-funds of its Luxembourg Sicav. Meanwhile, the asset management firm has also launched a local website, providing access to NAVs, KIIDs, and other legal documents.

The index provider S&P Indices on 26 June announced the launch of the S&P Sri Lanka 20 index, which was developed in partnership with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The index includes the 20 largest caps on the CSE market. The 20 shares in the index are as follows: John Keells Holdings PLC Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Bukit Darah Co. Ltd. Hatton National Bank PLC Carson Cumberbatch& Co PLC Sampath Bank PLC Ceylon Tobacco Co. Ltd.. DFCC Bank Aitken Spence & Co PLC National Development Bank PLC CT Holdings PLC Distilleries Co of Sri Lanka PLC Hayleys PLC Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC Dialog Axiata PLC Cargills Ceylon PLC Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC Nestle Lanka Asian Hotels & Properties Sri Lanka Telecom PLC

Enrique Pardo, who joined the alternative management division of Allfunds Bank in 2008, has been appointed as director of research at the head of the investment analysis unit, Funds People reports. Pardo will be responsible for a global analysis team based in Madrid and London.Allfunds, a joint venture of Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo, is planning to recruit more employees in the British capital to increase its presence among the top international asset management firms.

The private bank of the Lloyds Banking Group has announced the appointment of Anthony Valgimigli as head for the Middle East. He will report to Martin Fricker, director of high net worth clients. Valgimigli joins the firm from Barclays, where he was head of Middle Eastern clients, Finews.ch reports.

Traditional accounting systems at asset management firms engender risks, increase operating costs, and delay the launch of new products, according to a white paper on accounting systems at asset management firms (“Accounting Solutions: Backbone of Investment Management,” available for download from http://www.simcorp.com/Home/Campaignsites/Investment-Accounting-white-p…), released by the provider of software and serviced to the financial sector Simcorp, undertaken by the consultant Woodbine associates.The white paper studies ways in which the weaknesses of outdated accounting platforms compromise the competitiveness of asset management firms, lead to human error, issues with violations of compliance, inability to detect cases of fraud, and approximations in the valuation of portfolios.The white paper points to the collapses of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, and claims that traditional accounting systems are poorly equipped to detect high-risk operations and errors in valuation. As a result, investment managers are not always able to rapidly and precisely djust their positions to react to market volatility.The document also emphasises rising costs associated with the inability of traditional accounting systems to develop at the same pace as the objectives of portfolio managers. According to Matt Samelson, director of Woodbine Associates and co-author of the white paper, “these asset management firms will not tolerate having to wait 4-6 weeks for the back office to take on a new type of fund or share, any more than business heads would tolerate delaying their entry into new markets because the systems in place are unable to adapt in terms of accounting, financial instruments, currencies and regulations in the countries concerned. In addition, investors have now become extremely vigilant about operational risks and the costs of professional processes and technologies used, which may result in catastrophic losses. This is particularly the case from their point of view when they need to apply procedures or solutions manually. And recent events have only increased this vigilance.”

Frédéric Potelle will succeed Michel Juvet, who became a partner in January this year, as head of research at Bordier & Cie, Agefi Switzerland reports. Potelle, who has been employed at the Geneva-based bank since 2008, was previously an analyst coering the industrial, construction, utilities and energy sectors. After beginning his career as a project manager in nuclear engineering, he then became vice president of Areva, in charge of financial communications and investor relations, before moving into financial analysis. Gianluca Tarolli is joining Bordier & Cie as a market economist. He was previously an investment strategist at Heritage Bank from 2009, and an equity strategist in the investment strategy team at Lombard Odier, after serving at Darier Hentsch and J.P. Morgan.

SG Private Banking is increasing its coverage of Russian clients in Asia, with the recruitment of its first Russian-speaking speciaist in Singapore, Asian Investor reports. Garry Frenklah joined SG Private Banking as a senior director, in charge of development of Russian and international clients in the region. Frenklah previously worked at Royal Bank of Scotland, as managing director.

39% of European institutional investors are planning to increase the proportion of assets they delegate to external asset management firms, by an average of 5%, in the next 12 months, a Caceis Investor Services and PwC survey undertaken between February and April, of a sample of professionals representing total assets of USD4.5trn, presented Tuesday at the Fund Forum International (“Taking the Reins: A Roadmap for Navigating the Institutional Investors’ Universe,”) has found.Of the survey, 32% are planning to increase the number of asset management firms to which they delegate assets.Currently, institutionals ousource an average of 59% of their assets to external managers, while the practice is much more sidespread at pension funds (69%) than at insurance companies (10%).They outsource an average of EUR553m to each asset management firm. This amount is lower for those who tend to invest in funds (EUR240m) than for those who prefer mandates (EUR809m). At the same time, 52% of investors surveyed use fewer than 10 external asset management firms, in all investor categories combined.When they select external managers, institutional investors, who account for 69% of assets under management in the asset management sector, or EUR12trn, are most swayed by the transparency of the product, followed by performance and expertise, François Marion, CEO of Caceis Investor Servies, said at a presentation of the study. Their level of satisfaction depends on operational strength, independence of verifications of controls and procedures, and the quality of service, the survey continues. As a result, says Marion, the study suggests that investors are not focused solely on performance. However, poor performance is the most popular reason for investors to decide to replace an asset management firm. The other two reasons are high fees and poor quality reporting. These are three areas where asset management firms need to seek to improve.

30% of asset managers will disappear in the next ten years, a survey by KPMG of 25 CEOs in the asset management industry to be published in July, from which Nicolas Griffin, partner, presented a few findings at the Fund Forum International on Tuesday in Monaco, has found. The head of KPMG says that by asset managers, he means both asset management firms, and people working in the industry.This is a result of overcapacity in the sector, and compressing margins, he explained to Newsmanagers at the conference. “That will primarily affect asset management firms which are too large, and those which have a cost/income ratio of 80-90%, a relatively large population,” says Griffin.The KPMG head also predicts that sovereign funds will become full-blown asset managers. He would not be surprised if sovereign funds started buying up asset management firms as soon as next year.

In the past few years, aversion to the equity markets has given rise to an increasing appetite for bond funds in Europe, according to a Lipper study. But that hasn’t worked to everyone’s advantage. An examination of inflows in 2011 finds that a small percentage of funds accounted for a large percentage of inflows. According to Lipper, slightly over 5% of bond funds took on nearly 50% of bond inflows in 2011.This may encourage some managers to launch new strategies to attempt to capture a part of the inflows to the best-selling funds. The number of funds in Europe, however, remains very high, with an increase of about 1,000 in the number of funds in barely a year.

A survey of 21 institutional investors and 25 corporate CFOs (issuers), mostly European, undertaken by the Edhec-Risk Institute and sponsored by Rothschild & Cie, finds that investors consider inflation-linked corporate bonds the ideal instrument to hedge their liabilities, now that government debt is no longer considered an asset safe from the risk of default, in liability-driven investment by pension funds.For businesses, respondents say that inflation-linked bond issues tend ultimately to limit risks for businesses and to increase its share price.

Uffi Real Estate Asset Management (UFFI Ream) on 26 June announced that it has signed a partenrship agreement with Corpus Sireo, a top fund manager in Germany, to provide outsourced asset management with a dedicated team for the French portfolio of a Luxembourg Sicav-FIS investing in Europe. Uffi Ream will manage six office properties for the fund, which are valued at about EUR250m. As a part of these duties, Uffi ream will be responsible for valuation and rental of the properties. With this new management mandate, “Uffi Ream shows its capacity for development beyond its historical profession as a SCPI, in the management of real estate funds for French and foreign institutional managers,” a statement says. Assets under management at Uffi Ream total EUR1.5bn.

In response to criticisms of ETFs, and at the demand of many investors, BlackRock has decided to limit the room to manoeuvre it grants to its portfolio managers, and will now put a ceiling of 50% of the portfolio on the use of securities lending for products sold under the iShares brand, a spokesperson for the US asset management firm has told Reuters, Handelsblatt reports. In the past, the percentage of assets involved in these transactions has been higher than this limit.

The State Street Investor Confidence index for institutional investors in the month of June 2012 is up 7 point, from 86.5 in May to 93.5 in June, its highest level of the year. This rise is attributable to US and European investors. Appetite for risk on the part of institutional investors in North America rose 5.7 points from a corrected level of 88.1 in May, at 93.8 in June. The confidence of institutional investors in Europe is up 4.5 points at 102.5, compared with a corrected level of 98.0 the previous month. The confidence of investors in Asia has improved slightly. The regional index is up by one point to 90.4 in June, compared with a revised level of 89.4 in May.

Asset management firms now account for only 22% of global financial assets, which have increased in volume in four years, compared with 25% four years ago, according to the most recent edition of the annual McKinsey study of asset management, Les Echos reports. However, there is no more profitable area in financial services. Returns on owners’ equity totalled 13.5% in 2011 in asset management, compared with 8.1% in insurance and 5.1% in banking. In the next three, four or five years, McKinsey predicts annual growth of 3%, while the other two sectors will shrink.

La banque verte veut aider les collectivités locales alors que ces dernières éprouvent des difficultés à trouver des financements depuis les difficultés de Dexia. Pour y arriver, le Crédit Agricole va s’appuyer sur ses activités assurantielles. Dans un communiqué daté du 26 juin, le groupe mutualiste annonce que les caisses régionales vont proposer 1,875 Md€ de crédits à taux fixe sur 15 ans aux collectivités « de taille moyenne présentant des projets utiles pour le développement des territoires et ne pouvant accéder directement aux marchés obligataires ». 80% de ces créances seront ensuite rachetées par un véhicule de titrisation, qui se finance en émettant des obligations souscrites par Crédit Agricole Assurances. Les caisses régionales conserveront dans leur bilan les 20% restants, dont elles assureront la gestion. « C’est une source de diversification de nos placements, car nous nous sommes largement désengagés de la dette souveraine non française. Il nous fallait en outre un placement long pour être en adéquation avec la durée des contrats d’assurance-vie », a expliqué Jérôme Grivet, directeur général de Crédit Agricole Assurances, dans Les Echos.

Le prix des maisons individuelles a augmenté en avril, pour le troisième mois d’affilée, un signe encourageant pour la reprise du marché de l’immobilier, montre l’indice S&P/Case-Shiller. Ajusté des variations saisonnières, cet indice composite, basé sur les prix dans 20 zones métropolitaines des Etats-Unis, a augmenté de 0,7%, dépassant les attentes (+0,4%).

La confiance du consommateur américain a chuté pour le quatrième mois consécutif en juin, tombant à son plus bas niveau depuis janvier dans un climat de pessimisme accru sur les perspectives économiques du pays. Cet indice établi par le Conference Board est ressorti à 62,0 contre 64,4 en mai (64,9 en première estimation).

Pour le gouverneur de la Banque de France Christian Noyer, le solde des transactions courantes, déficitaire à hauteur de 1,9% du PIB fin 2011, doit s’améliorer. Ce déficit, persistant depuis 2005, représente en cumul 165 milliards d’euros. Outre l’impact de l'énergie, commun à toute la zone euro, la France présente un facteur spécifique : une compétitivité insuffisante, a souligné Christian Noyer.

Les PDG de trois grands groupes européens exhortent les dirigeants de l’Union européenne à faire preuve de «vision» et de «courage» pour «refonder» l’UE, à trois jours d’un sommet européen crucial. Dans une tribune publiée par Le Monde, Franco Barnabé (Telecom Italia), Henri de Castries (Axa) et Peter Löscher (Siemens) invitent les responsables des Vingt Sept à oublier les «mirages de la relance par la consommation, la dépense publique ou les transferts».

Des membres de la Commission européenne et de la BCE vont se rendre à Chypre la semaine prochaine pour se pencher sur le plan d’aide à l'île, a confié à Reuters un responsable de la zone euro impliqué dans le projet. Selon un porte-parole de la Commission européenne, il reste à déterminer si le FMI participera à l’aide financière, mais la mise en place d’une équipe commune chargée de se rendre à Nicosie a déjà débuté.

L’Espagne envisage de relever la TVA sur certains produits assujettis actuellement à un taux bas, afin de réduire le déficit budgétaire, a déclaré le ministère des Finances, confirmant des informations de presse. Le taux de TVA espagnol - 18% - est l’un des plus faibles de l’Union européenne et de nombreux produits bénéficient de surcroît d’un taux réduit de 4% ou 8%.

La baisse de l’activité des établissements de crédit spécialisés dans le crédit à la consommation s’accentue en mai 2012, indique l’ASF (Association Française des Sociétés Financières). La production de nouveaux financements est en recul de -9,4% par rapport à mai 2011 A fin mai, la production cumulée des douze derniers mois s’établit à 36,6 milliards d’euros, creusant ainsi un peu plus l’écart par rapport au point haut atteint en septembre 2008 (la contraction atteint maintenant -18,6%).

Le minister du Budget s’est prononcé pour une hausse de la taxe sur les transactions financières instaurée cette année par le précédent gouvernement. «Je propose 0,2%», a-t-il dit mardi, soit un doublement. La taxe sur les transactions financières, qui s’applique aux achats d’actions de sociétés française capitalisant plus d’un milliard d’euros, est de 0,1%.

L’Italie a adjugé au total 3,9 milliards d’euros d’emprunts à zéro coupon et indexés sur l’inflation, dans le haut de la fourchette annoncée entre 2,5 et 4 milliards. Rome a adjugé pour 2,991 milliards d’euros d’obligations à deux ans, à coupon zéro, à un taux de rendement pour ce type d’opération au plus haut depuis le mois de décembre. L’adjudication d’obligations CTZ s’est ainsi faite à un rendement de 4,712%.

Le Trésor espagnol a placé mardi pour 3,08 milliards d’euros de bons à trois et à six mois, un montant supérieur à ses prévisions, mais les deux adjudications ont été marquées par une baisse de la demande. Madrid voit ses coûts de financement à court terme atteindre leur plus haut niveau depuis novembre. Pour le papier à six mois, Madrid a émis 1,48 milliard d’euros, le rendement passant de 1,737% à 3,237%. Le Trésor a également émis pour 1,60 milliard d’euros de bons à trois mois, avec un rendement de 2,362% contre 0,846%.

Les mises en chantier et permis de construire de logements ont de nouveau reculé en mai, portant la baisse sur trois mois à 4,6% et 2,7% respectivement par rapport aux trois mois précédents, selon les chiffres publiés mardi par le ministère de l’Ecologie. Par rapport à avril, les baisses sont de 1,6% pour les mises en chantier et 0,3% pour les permis de construire (en données corrigées des variations saisonnières lissées sur trois mois).