Nordea will be restructuring its Swedish “generations” range of funds, which will be reduced from 10 products to four, Privata Affärer reports. Eight funds, with 180,000 savings investors, will be merged in October. The funds affected are those aimed at savers born between 1950 and 1985.

On 25 May, DWS Investments (Spain) registered the German-domiciled bond fund DWS High Income Bond Fund (DE0008490913, EUR92.9bn in assets as of 30 May) with the CNMV. The fund invests in investment grade corporate debt from developed and emerging countries.

According to reports in Fondsprofessionell, DWS has reached the minimal subscription level required for institutional (beta) and retail (alpha) share classes in its hydroelectric fund, DWS Access Wasserkraft (see Newsmanagers of 3 November 2011 and 10 April 2012). The Deutsche Bank affiliate is reported to have seen inflows of EUR30m in investment pledges for beta shares, and over EUR5m for alpha shares. The closure of subscriptions, which has already been postponed twice, is now set for 28 June.

The 12th issue of the Global Wealth Report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has found that the global financial wealth of retail investors in 2011 increased by only 1.9%, to USD122,800, after increases of 6.8% in 2010 and 9.6% in 2009. BCG suggest that wealth managers have to proactively find new ways to combat adverse trends if they want to improve their performance. Globally, the asset bases of 130 institutions (private banks or wealth management units of large universal banking groups) analysed by BCG remained flat in 2011, compared with a gain of 11% in 2010. The lack of growth was mainly attributable to the deterioration in market values, which was not offset by net new inflows.“But wealth managers will still need to continue their cost-cutting and pricing initiatives, refocus on client discovery, master the ever-shifting regulatory environment, bolster risk management, and find ways to use alternative business models to their advantage», the report says.The report finds that wealth managers will need to continue to reduce their costs and the price of their services, refocus on the identification of new clients, master a perpetually changing regulatory environment, build risk management, and find means to use different business models to their advantage.

Fidelity Investments has announced the launch of two bond funds which are directly available to investors, the Fidelity Global Bond Fund and Fidelity International Bond Fund, and two other funds which are available via independent financial advisers, Fidelity Advisor Global Bond Fund and Fidelity Advisor International Bond Fund. Fidelity has also published a study of the bond environment worldwide, “Transformations in Country Dynamics and the Implications for Global Bond Markets,” which analysts structural changes now underway in the international bond markets.

The European Commission has refused to approve a resolution plan at the banking group Dexia, which was submitted to it in late March by the Belgian, French and Luxembourg governments, Les Echos reports. Unlike its precedents at WestLB and Anglo Irish Bank, the plan was too eclectic in its mix of restructuring and orderly resolution, the European antitrust authority has found.

Britta Häberling, who had previously been managing director and head of investment solutions at Clariden Leu, will no 1 June begin as head of ultra-high net worth individuals in the Zurich region at the Credit Suisse private bank, according to reports in Finews. Initially, Mike Baur had agreed to take the position, before deciding to leave the company.

The Chinese banking sector regulatory commission (CBRC) has authorised UBS to transform its Beijing office into a Chinese-registered bank under the name UBS (China) Ltd. The new entity, which is 100% controlled by the Swiss group, will begin its activities in third quarter, Z-Ben Advisors reports. UBS has now launched an “aggressive” campaign to promote its wealth management activities, which will be a strategic area in China, alongside asset management and investment banking.

Following the departure of Peter Cockburn, head of UK equities, a victim of resizing of the equity team, (which has been reduced from 38 to 15 people; see Newsmanagers of 16 April 2012), Scottish Widows Investment Partnership will be merging the UK Select Growth Fund (GBP371m) with the UK Opportunities fund (GBP124m) managed by James Clunie, Investment Week reports. Five other mandates managed by Cockburn will also be merged into the UK Opportunities fund.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has won at GBP1.5bn mandate from the British asset management firm Family Investments, Investment Europe reports. The mandate is for passive bond and equity strategies, and a tactical allocation overlay strategy. Assets under management at Family Investments total slightly over GBP3bn.

Richard Titherington, CIO for emerging market equities at JPMorgan Asset Management in London, on Thursday announced at a presentation in Paris that the US asset management firm is planning to scale up its presence in Brazil, where it already has a small affiliate (USD50m) specialised in local bonds. The firm is now planning to build its holdings in Brazilian equities, which currently represent 15.2% of the portfolio of the Emerging Market Opportunities fund, compared with 14% in the MSCI Emerging Markets TR index. The product currently has USD437m in assets, in 61 holdings, and has seen inflows of about USD150m since the beginning of this year.

The BASF SE, Berkshire Hathaway, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, MacDonald’s and Qualcomm companies have joined the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 index, the index provider Dow Jones Indexes has announced. However, the five companies leaving the index include the German firm Allianz and the French BNP Paribas. The other three outgoing companies are E.ON, Hewlett-Packard and Petroleo.

At the Deutsche Bank AGM on Thursday, Ingo Speich, a portfolio manager at Union Investment, announced that he would be voting agains the discharge to Clemens Börsig, chairman of the supervisory board at Deutsche Bank, in which the asset management firm for the German co-operative banks is one of the largest shareholders, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. He accuses Börsig of having poorly managed the succession of Josef Ackermann as chairman at the bank, and of appointing a chief risk officer who was rejected by BaFin.Union has also been critical of a lack of transparency in acquisitions by Deutsche Bank (Noris and Berliner Bank), and of making unfortunate investments in the United States, as Scudder was absorbed by DWS and must now be resold along with RREEF and all asset management activities in North America.According to the Börsen-Zeitung, a motion to discharge the supervisory board received only 77.7% of votes in favour.

Man Group is expected to be removed from the FTSE 100 at the next update of the index in June, Investment Week reports. The firm will reportedly be replaced by Babcock. Man Group, which has a market capitalisation of GBP1.305bn, has seen a fall in its share price during a difficult first quarter in which its AHL strategy underperformed.

The European financial and asset management association (EFAMA) on 31 May published the fifth edition of its annual atlas of the asset management sector in Europe (“Fith Annual Review Asset Management in Europe: Facts & Figures”), on the basis of statistics from the end of 2010.In addition to the usual statistics, the document underscores the importance of the sector and its role in the management of long-term savings and in financing the economy. Asset managers as of the end of 2010 controlled 23% of all debt issued in the euro zone, and 31% of corporate equities in the region.Institutional investors remain the largest category of clients for asset management firms, representing 69% of assets under management in Europe, of which 42% are managed for insurers, and 27% for pension funds. Meanwhile, the sector remains concentrated, as the three largest countries by asset volume – the United Kingdom, France and Germany – account for 65% of all assets under management in Europe.

“Our assets in Paris remain stable at over USD2bn, as at the end of 2011, but since then we have taken on a gross total of USD300bn and our subscriptions are positive overall,” Nicolas Bouët, deputy CEO for development at Invesco in Paris, explained on Thursday. Demand is coming mostly from institutional investors, as well as, to a lesser extent, from private banks and multi-managers.The Euro Corporate Bond fund was particularly popular with clients seeking income, as was the Balanced Risk Allocation fund for decorrelation and diversification.In terms of asset allocation, Barnard Aybran, deputy CEO for multi-management, reports that the wealth management time portfolio currently includes about 25% “safe heaven government bonds (US Treasuries, gilts and bunds), 40% investment grade corporate bonds and emerging market debt in local currencies, 15% equities, only 2.5% of them European (with the rest divided between Asia and US tech stocks), and the remainder, equivalent to about 20%, in cash and money market products.”

Thomas Idzorek, who is already CIO of Morningstar Investment Management, has been promoted to chairman of the Investment Management division of Morningstar, whose assets under management and advising total about USD190bn. Idzorek replaces Peng Chen, who leaves Morningstar at the end of June to return to Asia. The division in includes advised and managed assets, retirement solutions and management of investments in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.Idzorek joined Morningstar six years ago, when the group acquired Ibbotson Associates.

BNP Paribas Private Bank yesterday inaugurated its fourth regional wealth management office, in Toulouse, following offices in Bordeaux, Lille and Marseilles, Les Echos reports. Offices will open in Lyon in September and Rennes by the end of the year to complement these offices, dedicated to clients with assets of over EUR5m. A private bank has also been founded in Poland.

According to a survey by Greenwich Associates, institutional investors have reduced their spending in the twelve months to the end of March on research such as analysts notes and trading ideas by 9%, to USD6.2bn, the Financial Times reports.Hedge funds have been particularly severe with their reductions, with research spending as a proportion of brokerage commission budgets down 20%.

Axa IM has announced that it has finalised the production and distribution of 4,500 key investor information documents (KIIDs). This figure includes all the UCITS funds in the Axa IM Luxembourg ranges, notably AXA World Funds (AXA WF) and AXA IM Fixed Income Investment Strategies (FIIS), in addition to most of the funds covered by French law. The KIIDs for Axa IM’s UK and Irish ranges will be published in June 2012. “Axa IM is therefore on track to meet the 1 July 2012 deadline for the implementation of the KIID directive, including those for non-coordinated funds for which the regulator expects compliance by 1 July 2013,” a statement says. Axa IM rolled out its KIID compliance project in October 2010

After net redemptions of EUR5.4bn in first quarter, asset management at Axa will win back some strenght in the next few months. After EUR2.7bn in capital outflows as of the end of March, “Axa Investment managers will have positive inflows in first half,” Denis Duverne, deputy CEO for the French group, has told Agefi. AllianceBernstein (EUR2.7bn in outflows at the beginning of this year) is expecting to return to positive net inflows in third quarter.

Bernard Descreux, directeur de la division gestion d’actifs chez EDF dans un entretien paru dans Option Finance numéro 1175: Seule notre gestion obligataire sur les emprunts d’Etat, qui représente 5 milliards d’euros, est confiée à la salle de marché interne à EDF. Pour le reste, nos faisons appel à des gérants externes, à travers une centaine d’OPCVM ouverts ou dédiés, que nous sélectionnons à partir d’appels d’offres. Nous connaissons bien les gestionnaires d’actifs, en particulier français, mais nous donnons souvent une chance aux gérants étrangers ou même aux petits acteurs. Compte tenu de notre taille et des montants importants que nous confions, nos gérants doivent cependant avoir déjà un certain niveau d’encours, afin de respecter notamment le ratio d’emprise, qui détermine les montants maximum que nous pouvons investir en fonction de la taille d’un acteur. Actuellement, nous sommes en cours de consultation pour sélectionner des spécialistes sur les covered bonds. Nous étudions aussi la possibilité de sélectionner des gérants stand by, c’est à dire des gérants auxquels nous pouvons faire appel si nous souhaitons par exemple augmenter l’encours d’un mandat ou modifier le gérant principal. Cette technique déjà utilisée par le FRR ou l’Erafp permet notamment de challenger les gérants déjà en place. Au global, nous faisons appel aujourd’hui à une quarantaine de gestionnaires d’actifs. Nos relations avec eux s'établissent généralement sur le long terme, en moyenne au minimum pour trois à quatre ans, mais nous n’hésitons pas à nous séparer d’un gérant dont les performances seraient décevantes sur plusieurs mois.

Nous n’excluons pas le lancement d’un appel d’offres au cours de l’automne. Thierry Dissaux, le président du directoire du Fonds de garantie des dépôts, a confirmé à www.institinvest.com qu’un appel d’offres, concernant la totalité de la poche obligataire, soit un montant avoisinant les 400 millions d’euros, pourrait, sous certaines réserves, être lancé d’ici la fin de l’année. Le Fonds de Garantie des Dépôts (FGD) était resté en attente de directives de la Commission européenne susceptibles de modifier le cadre d’exercice des systèmes de garantie des dépôts. Toutefois, cette renégociation a pris du retard : le risque existe aujourd’hui que le texte ne sorte pas avant deux ans confirme le président du directoire. En attendant la remise à plat de sa gestion obligataire, le FGD a décidé de poursuivre sa politique de décorrélation vis-à-vis de son risque principal qui est, par construction, le secteur financier. Le Fonds envisage ainsi d’ajuster différents paramètres des mandats existants avant même le lancement éventuel d’un appel d’offres sur l’obligataire. Il ne s’agit bien sûr pas de notre part d’une quelconque défiance à l'égard du secteur bancaire, que nous connaissons bien, mais d’une saine politique de couverture de notre exposition. Nous allons encore resserrer les contraintes portant sur le secteur financier explique Thierry Dissaux. L’objectif premier du FGD demeure de maintenir un haut degré de liquidité et de sécurité. Pour ce faire, les investissements ne concernent que les classes d’actifs traditionnelles. Les 2 milliards d’euros d’encours sont répartis entre des fonds monétaires à court terme (75 % du portefeuille), de l’obligataire avec une duration inférieure à 3 ans (20 %) et une petite poche d’actions (5%). Le mouvement de décorrélation à l'égard du secteur financier a vocation à porter sur les trois classes d’actif.

Man Group devrait sortir du FTSE 100 lors de la prochaine révision de l’indice en juin, rapporte Investment Week. La société serait remplacée par Babcock. Man Group, qui affiche une capitalisation boursière de 1.305 milliards de livres, a vu son cours chuter après un premier trimestre difficile pendant lequel sa stratégie AHL a sous-performé.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) a remporté un mandat de 1,5 milliard de livres auprès du britannique Family Investments, rapporte Investment Europe.Il s’agit de stratégies obligataires et actions passives ainsi que d’une stratégie overlay d’allocation tactique. Les actifs sous gestion de Family Investments s'élèvent à un peu plus de 3 milliards de livres.

Après le départ de Peter Cockburn, head of UK equities, victime du redimensionnement de l'équipe actions (qui tombe de 38 à 15 personnes, lire newsmanagers du 16 avril), Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) va fusionner le UK Select Growth Fund (371 millions de livres) avec le UK Opportunities (124 millions) que gère James Clunie, rapporte Investment Week. Cinq autres mandats gérés par Peter Cockburn devraient également être intégrés dans le UK Opportunities.

Le 25 mai, DWS Investments (Spain) a fait enregistrer par la CNMV le fonds obligataire de droit allemand DWS High Income Bond Fund (DE0008490913, 92,9 millions d’euros d’encours au 30 mai), qui investit en dette d’entreprises des pays développés ou émergents de catégorie investissement.

Lorsde l’assemblée générale de jeudi, Ingo Speich, gérant de portefeuilles chez Union Investment, a indiqué qu’il ne voterait pas le quitus à Clemens Börsig, président du conseil de surveillance de la Deutsche Bank, dont la société de gestion des banques populaires allemandes est l’un des plus gros actionnaires, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Il reproche à Clemens Börsig d’avoir mal géré la succession de Josef Ackermann à la tête du directoire de la banque et nommé un chief risk officer qui a été recalé par la BaFin.D’autre part, Union critique le manque de transparence sur les acquisitions (Noris et Berliner Bank) de la Deutsche Bank, ainsi que les investissements malheureux de cette dernière aux Etats-Unis, puisque Scudder a dû être absorbé par DWS et doit maintenant être revendu avec RREEF et toute la gestion d’actifs outre-Atlantique.Selon la Börsen-Zeitung, le quitus au conseil de surveillance n’a été voté que par 77,7 % des voix.

Selon les informations de Fondsprofessionell, DWS a enfin atteint le seuil minimal de souscriptions nécessaires pour les classes de parts institutionnelles (beta) et retail (alpha) de son fonds hydroélectrique DWS Access Wasserkaft (lire Newsmanagers du 3 novembre 2011 et du 10 avril 2012). La filiale de la Deutsche Bank aurait ainsi collecté 30 millions d’euros de promesses d’investissement pour les parts beta et plus de 5 millions d’euros pour les parts alpha. La clôture des souscriptions, qui a déjà été reportée deux fois, est désormais fixée au 28 juin.

Le nombre de lancements de fonds va chuter de 30 % sur les prochaines années en Europe, selon une étude de Cerulli Associates citée par Citywire. Et ce, alors que la région souffre d’une surabondance de fonds, qui sont soit trop petits, soit de trop mauvaise qualité. En 2011, le rythme de lancements de fonds a déjà ralenti. Mais le niveau des fermetures de fonds n’a pas encore atteint les niveaux de 2009.