La sophistication des ETF présente des risques pour la stabilité financière
Ces produits sont exposés au risque de contrepartie. Le FSB pointe aussi le manque de transparence et la complexité des nouveaux fonds
Les régulateurs jugent la « finance de l'ombre » étroitement liée aux banques
Le FSB a livré hier une définition du « shadow banking » en soulignant son degré d'interconnexion avec le secteur bancaire traditionnel
Les risques s’accumulent sur les marchés actions
La hausse des chiffres d’affaires aura du mal à compenser celle des coûts de production et des conditions de financement
Le marché des RMBS britanniques de qualité gagne en profondeur
Northern Rock a réussi son retour sur le marché primaire. Permanent, le véhicule de Lloyds reprendra bientôt du service
Le léger ralentissement de l’inflation incitera la BoE à rester accommodante
la hausse des prix est ressortie à 4 % en mars contre 4,4 % en février. Les taux nominaux britanniques restent inférieurs à l’inflation
Le Conseil de stabilité financière pointe les risques des ETF
Dans une note publiée mardi, le Conseil de stabilité financière (FSB) met en exergue les risques potentiels créés par le développement et la sophistication des ETF. «On observe des développements inquiétants dans certains segments du marché qui méritent une surveillance plus étroite» note l’instance, qui rassemble banquiers centraux, régulateurs et superviseurs. Le FSB pointe notamment du doigt l’extension des ETF à des classes d’actifs moins liquides et moins transparentes (matières premières, crédit high yield). Il s’alarme aussi de la croissance des ETF synthétiques et du «recours intensif» au prêt de titres par les fournisseurs d’ETF physiques standards, deux tendances susceptibles d’augmenter le levier et les risques de contrepartie. Le Conseil de stabilité a par ailleurs publié une autre note sur la «finance parallèle» ou shadow banking.
La France espère un accord au G20 Finance de Washington
Les ministres des Finances du G20 devraient se mettre d’accord vendredi à Washington sur une méthodologie d’encadrement des indicateurs de mesure de leurs déséquilibres macroéconomiques, a-t-on déclaré mardi de source française citée par Reuters. Les critères retenus pourraient être «un peu plus durs» pour les grandes économies que pour les autres. Lors de leur réunion de février à Paris, les ministres s'étaient mis d’accord sur une batterie d’indicateurs pour évaluer les déséquilibres macroéconomiques nécessitant des mesures correctives afin de permettre une croissance mondiale «forte, durable et équilibrée».
Reflux inattendu de l'inflation britannique
La hausse des prix à la consommation sur un an en mars en Grande-Bretagne a été, contre toute attente, moins marquée qu’en février. L’Office national des statistiques a déclaré que les prix avaient augmenté de 4,0% sur un an le mois dernier, contre un plus haut de 28 mois de 4,4% atteint en février. Le chiffre a amené le marché à revoir ses anticipations de hausse des taux, à l’image des économistes de BNP Paribas, qui ont repoussé de mai à août leur prévision d’un resserrement monétaire de la Banque d’Angletere.
L'AIE s'inquiète des effets du pétrole cher
La flambée des prix du pétrole commence à ralentir la croissance de la demande mondiale pour l’or noir, constate mardi l’Agence internationale de l'énergie dans son rapport mensuel. «Un baril dont le prix se maintiendrait durablement au-dessus des 100 dollars créerait un environnement qui risquerait réellement d'être incompatible avec le rythme prévu de la reprise économique», écrit l’AIE.
Le Japon pèse sur les indices actions
Les indices actions s’inscrivent nettement dans le rouge mardi midi, après que les autorités japonaises ont porté la gravité de l’accident nucléaire de Fukushima-Daiichi à 7, soit le niveau maximal. Le pays a été secoué mardi par deux fortes répliques sismiques. L’Euro Stoxx 50 perdait 1% et le CAC 40 est repassé sous les 4.000 points.
La Grèce émet des bons du Trésor
L’agence de la dette grecque a placé mardi 1,625 milliard d’euros de bons du Trésor à 6 mois. Le rendement est ressorti à 4,80%, contre 4,75 % lors de la précédente opération du genre le mois dernier. Les investisseurs non résidents ont souscrit la moitié des titres.
12/04/2011
Skandia IG to serve the Netherlands from Paris
Bogdan Popescu, head of distribution in France for Skandia Investment Group, will now serve the Netherlands, in addition to Monaco and France. The firm was not previously represented in the Netherlands. It will offer sub-funds of the Skandia Global Funds Sicav, which are already available in France. These will be aimed primarily at the major financial institutions based or present in the Netherlands, as well as family offices and institutional investors. Popescu will continue to be based in Paris.
12/04/2011
Wealth management: IT investments in North America continue
Following the rebound observed last year, investments by North American wealth managers in IT industries are expected to increase further this year, the research and consulting firm Celent says in a new report (“The Financial Planning Market,” April 2011). Celent finds that spending may increase by 7.6% in 2011, to about USD1.6bn. Front office (45%) will absorb a considerable part of that spending, followed by back office (30%) and middle office (25%).
12/04/2011
Financière de l’Echiquier adds to sales team for Germany
Financière de l’Echiquier, having recently received a sales license on the German market for its diversified fund Arty (see Newsmanagers of 06/04/2011), is now stepping up its development in Germany further, with an addition to its German sales team. The French asset management boutique has recruited Csaba Dani, formerly of Eurogroup Consulting. The Austrian Dani will assist Sébastien Guedy in developing sales of funds on the German market, where the management firm led by Didier La Menestrel has been present since 2006. With this recruitment, the sales team at Financière de l’Echiquier dedicated to international sales now includes 15 people, a statement says. The management firm, which is planning to triple its assets to EUR15bn by 2015 (see Newsmanagers of 21/01/2011), posted net subscriptions in 2010 of EUR700m, of which 36% came from clients outside France. Since the beginning of the year, inflows have totalled EUR400m.
12/04/2011
Tong Yang AM looks to develop in Asia
The Korean management firm Tong Yang Asset Management is seeking to strengthen its presence in several countries of south-east Asia, and is in talks with several potential clients in Japan, Asian Investor reports. Assets under management in the Korean asset management sector represent about USD267bn, of which 20% come from abroad. This percentage is expected to increase strongly, says Paik Chang-ki, CEO of Tong Yang AM.
12/04/2011
Credit Suisse launches a bond fund in Italy
Credit Suisse has launched the Credit Suisse (Lux) Fixed Income Cycle Invest fund, a dynamically-managed bond fund, in Italy. The fund may invest in government or corporate bonds of any rating. Allocation is defined as a function of the economic context.
12/04/2011
State Street recruits an ETF specialist in Italy
State Street Global Advisors has appointed Francesco Lomartire as an ETF specialist, Bluerating reports. He will also belong to the IBG (Intermediary Business Groups) team, and will report to Danilo Verdecanna, managing director of SSgA Italia. Lomartire joins from Morgan Stanley Capital International.
12/04/2011
Steep fall in defaults in 2010
After a year 2009 marked by succeeding records in corporate defaults, the year 2010 was characterised by a reversal of that spectacular trend. Defaults of corporate debt issuers worldwide last year totalled 81, compared with a record 265 in 2009, according to annual statistics compiled by Standard & Poor’s (“2010 Annual Global Corporate Default Study and Rating Transitions.”) None of the 81 defaulting companies began the year 2010 with investment-grade ratings, while 87.3% of them were rated B- or lower as of the beginning of the year. Alongside the fall in defaults, an improvement in credit quality has also been observed. There have been 1.36 upward ratings revisions for every 1 downward revision, while the percentage of unchanged ratings is 72.7%, a level not seen in six years. As of the end of 2010, the default rate for speculative category issuers was down to 3.27% in the United States, compared with 1.03% in Europe, and 1.23% in emerging markets. The global default rate came to 1.14% in 2010, compared with 4.04% the previous year.
12/04/2011
Major UK banking reforms in the works
The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) on 11 April published its interim report on the British banking system, at the request of the government. The commission, led by the economist Sir John Vickers, recommends a separation of retail banking and investment banking activities in a document of over 200 pages, without making any definitive statements about the details of the separation. Rather than a structural radicalism, which would require the universal banking model to be dismantled, or a laisser-faire policy which would require much higher levels of owners’ equity at banks, the Commission estimates that “the most effective policy is probably a combination of more moderate measures in terms of absorption of risks or structures.” The report recommends increasing the owners’ equity ratio from 7% currently to 10% for banks which present systemic risks, and for major British retail banks. In structural terms, the report suggests that an entity protected by taxpayer money should be created, distinct from the larger entity, and with its own share of owners’ equity. The report will now be submitted to a period of consultation of several months, which will likely be very active. The Commission will submit its final report to the government in September.
12/04/2011
Nest awards mandates to F&C and HSBC GAM
NEST Corporation has announced the fund managers it has appointed for its ethical and sharia mandates, the building blocks for the scheme’s ethical and sharia funds.NEST’s Ethical Mandate has been awarded to F&C Asset Management.NEST’s Sharia Mandate has been awarded to HSBC Global Asset Management.More specifically, the equity portion of NEST’s Ethical Fund will be invested in the F&C Stewardship International Fund, an actively managed global equity fund.NEST’s Sharia Fund will invest solely in the HSBC Life Amanah Pension Fund. This fund passively tracks the Dow Jones Islamic Titans 100 index, a global equity index screened so as to be in accordance with Sharia principles.
12/04/2011
iShares releases four ETC funds
iShares, the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) platform of BlackRock, has launched its first physically backed Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs) in the UK.The iShares Physical Gold ETC, iShares Physical Silver ETC, iShares Physical Platinum ETC and iShares Physical Palladium ETC listed on the London Stock Exchange on Monday morning.
12/04/2011
Two former Gartmore managers to launch a hedge fund
The Sunday Times reports that two former Gartmore managers, Roger Guy and Guillaume Rambourg, are to launch a hedge fund. They may base it in London, Paris or Geneva.
12/04/2011
Head of Hermes Fund Managers resigns
Glyn Jones, head of Hermes Fund Managers, the management firm for the BT Pension Scheme, has resigned from his job, Responsible Investor reports. Jones took over as head of the firm in 2008. The recruitment of a successor to Jones is underway, Hermes states.
12/04/2011
LV=AM for sale
Investment Week cites reports in the Financial Mail that Liverpool Victoria is looking to sell its management business, LV= Asset Management. Four potential buyers are reported to be interested.
12/04/2011
Two Canadian pension funds acquire a forest operator
The Canadian pension funds British Columbia Investment Management and Public Sector Pension Investment Board will acquire the forest operator TimberWest Forest for CAD1.03bn (EUR910m), including debt, Agefi Switzerland reports. The funds are offering CAD6.48 per share, in cash, which represents a premium of 25% over the share price over a 20-day period up to Friday, 8 April. The forest operator has changed the date of its general shareholders’ meeting, which was initially scheduled for 28 April, in order to allow shareholders to vote on the proposed acquisition.
12/04/2011
Investec AM to launch two emerging market debt funds
Investec Asset Management is going to launch two further funds to complement its range of investment strategies within emerging market fixed income. The two Luxembourg domiciled Funds both launch on 15 April 2011. The Investec GSF Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Fund will exploit opportunities across the emerging market corporate debt market. It is co-managed by Theo Stamos, Co-Head of Credit, with the support of the Investec Global Credit team. The second fund, the Investec GSF Emerging Markets Hard Currency Debt Fund, is managed by Peter Eerdmans and the Investec Global Emerging Markets Debt team. It will invest primarily in emerging markets sovereign bonds primarily denominated in US dollars. The fund will typically hold between 15 and 25 active long and short positions.
12/04/2011
Raj Rajaratnam's defense strikes back
From Monday, defence has its turn on the floor in the trial of Raj Rajaratnam, founder of Galleon. His lawyers are endeavouring to show that the information Rajaratnam obtained in order to trade shares on was already public, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rick Schutte, former chairman of Galleon for US activities, in his testimony described the way analysts work within the company.
12/04/2011
Gulf countries improve their corporate governance practices
Member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are making progress in terms of corporate governance, according to a report published recently by Standard & Poor’s (“Corporate Governance Moves Center Stage as Gulf Countries Aim for Increased Transparency.”) “Corporate governance, which has long been considered an Achilles heel for companies in the Gulf region, is beginning to appear on the radar of political leaders,” says Amra Balic, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s. However, the agency continues, significant changes in the long term will only take hold if pressure from investors keeps up.
12/04/2011
UBS hit with a fine and ordered to reimburse US funds
One of the United States financial regulatory bodies, Finra, announced on 11 April that the UBS group will be required to pay a total of USD10.75m, of which USD2.5m is fines, and USD8.25m are restitution, for misinforming clients about products with ties to Lehman Brothers. “Between March and June 2008, when the credit crisis was at its height, UBS promoted … structured securities such as protected investments on a principal, without mentioning that these were non-securitised bonds of (the business bank) Lehman Brothers, which ultimately collapsed in September 2008,” FINRA explains in a statement. “In some cases, financial advisers at UBS did not themselves understand the complex products they were selling, and they thus failed to reveal the necessary information to investors,” in a way that might have made them able to understand the magnitude of the potential losses, a Finra chief, Brad Bennett, added. UBS neither confirmed nor denied the accusations, but agreed to the proposed settlement, Finra says in its statement.
12/04/2011
Aviva Investors creates an executive board dedicated to Europe
The CEO of Aviva Investors Europe, Jean-François Boulier, announced on 11 April that he has created an executive board dedicated to the activities of Aviva Investors in Europe (excluding the UK). “The creation of an executive board dedicated to Europe will help us to integrate our management and distribution activities in the region, and to step up development of our activities in our priority markets,” Boulier says in a statement. The European executive board includes: · Jean-François Boulier, CEO of Aviva Investors Europe· Emmanuel Babinet, COO for Europe· Christian Dormeau, CFO and head of human resources for Europe· Shaun Meadows, head of strategy for Aviva Investors· Ted Potter, head of business development for Europe· Marek Przybylski, head of development for central Europe The members of the regional executive board already generally serve in similar roles in their respective areas or countries. Aviva Investors adds that the European executive board has four major missions, which fall into its global strategy: accelerate commercial development in Europe; set up an international operational platform for Aviva Investors; maintain excellent quality investment services by Aviva Europe, and to develop joint activities of Aviva Investors in Europe.