Pour l’exercice au 31 décembre, Oppenheimer Holdings fait état d’un bénéfice net de 38,3 millions de dollars ou 2,87 dollars par action contre 19,5 millions et 1,49 dollar pour 2009.Au 31 décembre, les encours sous administration se situaient à environ 73,2 milliards de dollars tandis que ceux sous gestion ressortaient à 18,8 milliards, contre respectivement 66 milliards et 16,4 milliards un an plus tôt.
En 2010, les rémunérations et avantages totaux dans les banques et les sociétés de valeurs mobilières cotées à Wall Street ont atteint un niveau record de 135 milliards de dollars, indique une étude menée par The Wall Street Journal. Le total est en hausse de 5,7 % par rapport aux 128 milliards de dollars constatés en 2009. Cette augmentation a été alimentée par un rebond des revenus.
La banque américaine Citigroup entend relever la part de ses bonus payables en actions à 50%, contre 40% un an plus tôt, rapporte L’Agefi. Cette part constituerait cependant une moyenne, le paiement des bonus pouvant varier d’un banquier à l’autre. Citigroup n’a pas souhaité faire de commentaires, note le quotidien.
Les Echos rapporte que Standard & Poor’s envisage de faire évoluer ses modèles d'évaluation afin de prendre plus en compte les efforts des banques pour mettre assez de capital en réserve en prévision de périodes difficiles. Une évolution qui pourrait entraîner la dégradation de la note de crédit long terme de la moitié des grandes banques mondiales, note le quotidien.
Pour un montant non divulgué, Pershing (groupe BNY Mellon) a acquis une participation minoritaire dans HedgeMark International et s’est vu ménager l’option de reprendre cette société en totalité ultérieurement.HedgeMark exploite une plate-forme de comptes gérés de hedge funds entièrement intégrée depuis la due diligence jusqu'à un moteur de surveillance de la conformité en passant par la construction de portefeuille, la rétropolation, le suivi du risque et l’analyse des tests de résistance. Cela permet aux investisseurs d’analyser et de suivre un portefeuille diversifié d’investissements alternatifs tout en intégrant et en agrégeant des données de risque traditionnelles et alternatives.
BlackRock a versé à Larry Fink, son fondateur et directeur général, 13 millions de dollars en actions restreintes et options, rapporte le Financial Times. Dans le détail, l’attribution d’actions, qui constitue une partie du bonus 2010 de l’intéressé pour 2010, inclut 46.031 actions temporairement inaccessibles et 18.712 options qui seront disponibles sur trois ans, soit plus du double des 6 millions de dollars d’actions qu’il avait reçus en 2009.
Le 1er février, Allianz Global Investors Investments Europe (118 milliards d’euros d’encours au 30 septembre 2010), la plateforme d’investissement européenne d’Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI) a annoncé avoir signé fin 2010 les Principes pour l’investissement responsable des nations-Unies (UN-PRI). Cela fait suite à une démarche analogue d’Allianz Global Investors France S.A. en 2007.AllianzGI Investments Europe aligne une équipe ISR dédiée composée d’une dizaine de gérants et analyste. Près de 10 milliards d’euros de ses encours gérés et conseillés s’inscrivent dans le cadre de stratégies ISR.
Les Echos rapporte que le président de HSBC, Douglas Flint, a annoncé hier aux députés britanniques que la banque avait prévu une enveloppe de près de 2 milliards de dollars pour les bonus de cette année contre environ 2,41 milliards de dollars l’an passé. HSBC a aussi transformé l'équivalent de 150 millions de dollars de bonus en rémunération fixe, note le quotidien.
En 2010, la part des revenus nets des sociétés de gestion britanniques allouée aux rémunérations s’est élevée à 42 %, en hausse de 4 points par rapport aux 38 % de 2009, selon une nouvelle étude de PricewaterhouseCoopers menée auprès de gestionnaires d’actifs basés à Londres.L’étude montre aussi que 40 % des sociétés de gestion ont augmenté leur «pool» de bonus l’an passé et qu’un tiers seulement ont réduit leurs dépenses en la matière.
Debbie Harris, qui était jusqu'à présent chez BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP), rejoint Standard Life Investments (SLI) comme head of strategic consultant relations au sein de l'équipe de développement de l’activité institutionnelle. Elle est subordonnée à Louise Kay, head of UK institutional business development et qui a la responsabilité globale de l'équipe de relations avec les consultants.Dans ce poste nouvellement créé, Debbie Harris, qui sera basée à Londres, est plus particulièrement chargée de renforcer les relations avec les consultants de taille mondiale.Parallèlement, SLI annonce avoir recruté John Andrews chez AT Capital. Il a été nommé investment director au sein de la UK institutional business development team.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Michael Radin, head of pension & portfolio solutions and global head of the quantitative strategies product specialist team in the asset management division of Deutsche Bank, has been recruited by Schroder Invesment Management North America as head of multi-asset solutions for the Amerricas.Radin will be based in New York, and will report functionally to John McLaughlin, global head of multi-asset solutions, and locally to Jamie Dorrian-Smith, CEO, Americas.Radin will collaborate closely with sales teams and consultants to develop the multi-asset class activity and provide assistance to existing clients.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For the fiscal year to 31 December, Oppenheimer Holdings has reported a net profit of USD38.3m, or Usd2.87 per share, compared with USD19.5m and USD14.9 per share in 2009.As of 31 December, assets under administration totalled about USD73.2bn, while assets under managemnet totalled USD18.8bn, compared with USD66bn and USD16.4bn one year previously.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The independent French asset management firm BDL Capital Management, founded in 2005, topped EUR100m in assets in 2010, with EUR106m, up from EUR60m in the early part of 2010. This is a major step for Thierry Dupont, co-founder of BDL with Hughes Beuzelin, who says that the structure has also returned to its pre-crisis asset levels. Most of these assets – EUR94m – are invested in the BDL Rempart Europe fund. The French-registered product, which received a UCITS III-compliant OPCVM status in 2009, is “a long-short fund of the most liquid European equities with over EUR1bn in cap size or earnings,” says Dupont.
Vincent Strauss, chairman of the asset management firm Comgest, based in Paris, on Tuesday, 1 February confirmed the opening of a new office in Singapore next week, confirming reports that appeared in Agefi on 16 September last year. For the new office, two employees have been moved from the Hong Kong affiliate, who co-manage the Asia ex-Japan funds with Paris: Yoon Lai Choo and Vincent Houghton, both of them analyst managers with 17 years of professional experience, who have spent 11 years and 2 years, respectively, at Comgest.The firm currently has EUR13bn in assets under management, 25% of which is from institutions, 23% from pension funds, 18% from multi-management, 12% from insurers, and 6% from foundations. Distribution networks and other channels, for their part, represent only 6% and 11%, respectively. While admitting that it is important to diversify in terms of the type of investment client in order to avoid being affected by overall movements, Strauss confirmed that his firm is not planning to launch new funds, nor to turn to major marketing firms in order to win over new clients. “We have been hiring product specialists for only two years,” the president of Comgest explains, “and that’s largely only to free up time for the manager.”However, it is clear that the management firm is planning to make a show of its management abilities in other areas of the world besides global emerging markets, where it has forged a fine reputation for itself. Hence the fact that these markets alone account for EUR7.4bn of the total EUR13bn under management. As a result, management is emphasizing global funds such as Comgest Monde, a sort of best ideas fund with 30 positions selected from portfolios of other Comgest funds, and funds which invest in Europe.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pershing (BNY Mellon group) has acquired a minority stake in HedgeMark International for an undisclosed amount, and has retained the option to subsequently acquire the entirety of the firm.HedgeMark operates a fully integrated hedge fund managed account platform, from due diligence through to a compliance surveillance search engine, portfolio construction, backtesting, risk monitoring and stress test analysis. This allows investors to analyse and monitor a diversified portfolio of alternative investments while integrating and aggregating traditional and alternative risk data.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-Michel Mépuis has been appointed as director of sustainable development for the Société Générale group from 1 March 2011. “He will aim to lead and amplify the social and environmental responsibility policies at the Société Générale group,” says a statement from the bank released on 1 February. Mépuis was previously head of strategy and development at Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS).
In 2010, total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms hit a record of USD135 billion, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. The total is up 5.7% from USD128 billion in 2009. The increase was driven by a revenue rebound.
BlackRock has awarded Larry Fink, its founder and chief executive, USD13m in restricted stock and options, the Financial Times writes. The stock award, which forms part of Larry Fink’s bonus for 2010, consists of 46,031 restricted shares and 18,712 options vesting over three years, more than double the USD6m worth of restricted stock he received in 2009.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The international investment advising agency bfinance on 1 February published the results of the fifth edition of its half-yearly survey of asset allocation by pension funds and insurance companies, which includes 50 institutional investors in Europe and North America, representing total assets under management of EUR149bn.In the short and mid-term, institutional investors are planning to reduce the proportion of their portfolios dedicated to traditional assets (equities and bonds) in favour of alternative asset classes, particularly real estate, infrastructure and private equity. This trend is similar to what was observed in June 2010, by the previous edition of the survey.However, contrary to expectations, international pension funds became negative on bonds between June and December 2010, due to tensions that developed for European government debt. The survey shows a total of 12% of respondents who reduced their allocation to bonds in second half 2010.This trend away from bonds is expected to continue in first half 2011 (with a total of 27% of respondents planning to reduce their allocations to bonds). However, it is less marked on a horizon of three years (total 6%).For equities, the trend is still significantly negative on a three-year horizon (a total of 14% planning to reducer investment). This suggests that the recent rise in interest in this asset class may be short-lived.A desire to diversify portfolios, which is highly marked on the six-month and three-year horizons, will largely benefit real estate and other alternative asset classes. Infrastructure and private equity have the strongest number of investors planning to increase exposure (14% and 10% on six month and three year horizons, respectively).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Allianz Global Investors will outsource its middle office as part of a move to establish a common back-office platform for RCM, the Allianz group’s institutional asset-management arm. The plans, which will also affect activities in the Asia-Pacific region, are in the process of being finalised. AllianzGI has not disclosed the identity of its service provider.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } DWPT Deutsche Weltpapiertreuhand GmbH is the «new distribution partner” of Fondsdepot Bank. The bank, an affiliate of Xchanging, becomes the exclusive provider for management on its open platform of investment accounts for clients of DWPT and its 45 partners.With the new agreement, Fondsdepot Bank consolidates its position as the largest independent provider of investment account administration in Germany, with more than 1.7 million accounts and about EUR31bn in assets under administration.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that Giovanni Bazoli, chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo, confirmed yesterday that the bank is studying a merger between its asset management affiliate Eurizon and its rival Pioneer, which is being offered for sale by UniCredit. Cariplo and Compagnie San Paolo, the banking foundations with stakes in Intesa Sanpaolo, overtly support this Italian alternative, the newspaper says.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of December, assets in Spanish pension funds fell to less than EUR84.76bn, from EUR84.92bn twelve months previously, though they had increased 1% as of the end of September. The number of members increased 3% year on year to nearly 10.85 million accounts for about 8.5 million account-holders, the Inverco association of management firms reports.Assets were divided as of the end of 2010 with EUR52.55bn in individual schemes, EUR31.24bn in corporate schemes, and EUR971m in hybrid funds.The largest managers by asset volumes were BBVA, with EUR14.49bn (-1.7% for the year), Seguricaixa, with EUR13.73bn (+2.66%), Santander with EUR8.97bn (-2.5%), and Aviva, with EUR5.13bn (-1.8%).
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a statement, Citibank España announced that it has signed an agreement with the management firm Franklin Templeton, by which it engages to distribute the latter’s funds throughout all of its network of branches in Spain, Cinco Días reports. Citibank advisors have already begun to work with Franklin Templeton specialists to familiarise themselves with the very wide range of products.Franklin Templeton is the 14th management firm with with Citibank España has signed an agreement of this kind.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Santander Asset Management España has recruited Nathalie González Vierecker as part of its sales team as head of relations with Banif, the private banking affiliate of Santander, Funds People reports. Vierecker will be in charge of coordinating commercial relations between the two entities, with a particular emphasis on development and monitoring of new products as well as training and sales support activities at Banif.For the past few years, González has worked at Inversis Banco in development of international operations and commercial relations with asset management firms.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 February, Allianz Global Investors Investments Europe (EUR118bn in assets as of 30 September 2010), the European investment platform for Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), announced that at the end of 2010, it signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI). The move follows a similar step at Allianz Global Investors France S.A, in 2007.AllianzGI Investments Europe has a dedicated SRI team composed of 10 managers and analysts. Nearly EUR10bn in assets assets under management and advisory are in SRI strategies.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The ratings agency Fitch Ratings on 1 February announced that it has lowered its asset manager rating for ECM (European Credit Management) from M2+ to M2.The cause of the downward revision was high turnover rate for personnel in 2010, and a reduction in assets under management in the past two years. This development has resulted in significant outflows (EUR2.9bn in 2010), and relative difficulty in raising assets in a favourable credit environment. The ratings also takes into account measures taken by ECM to rebuild and restructure the investment teams at the firm and to develop new products.As of the end of December 2010, assets under management at ECM totalled about EUR10bn.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Debbie Harris, who was previously at BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP), is joining Standard Live Investments (SLI) as head of strategic consultant relations in the institutional business development team. She will report to Louise Kay, head of UK institutional business development, and who has overall responsibility for the consultant relations team.In this newly-created position, Harris, who will be based in London, will be in charge of strengthening relationships with global consultants.SLI has also announced that it has recruited John Andrews from AT Capital. He will become investment director in the UK institutional business development team.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, the proportion of net revenue at UK asset management firms allocated to employee remuneration is high at 42%, up 4 points compared with the figure of 38% in 2009, according to a new study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which spoke to asset managers based in London. The study also finds that 40% of management firms increased their bonus pools last years, and that only one third reduced their spending in this area.
p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BoCom International AM, the asset management arm of the Chinese Bank of Commmunications, has appointed Jimmy Pang to the newly-created position of chief investment officer and head of asset management, Asian Investor reports.Pang, who previously worked at AllianceBernstein, is based in Hong Kong, He will launch several equities funds this year and next, including funds based on greater China and Asia.