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03/06/2010

RBS lays off 500 in asset management

Royal Bank of Scotland is to shed one in seven jobs at its wealth management arm over the next three years, says the Financial Times. The part-nationalised bank plans to cut 500 of the 3,500 staff who work for Coutts, based in London, and Adam & Co, its smaller wealth management division which has its headquarters in Edinburgh, as it moves to introduce a more efficient IT system across these businesses.
03/06/2010

JP Morgan recruits a head of hedge fund services for Asia

JP Morgan has recruited Adam Wallace as executive director and product head for activities covering hedge fund services in Asia-Pacific. Wallace will be based in Hong Kong, and will oversee hedge fund administration services, transfer agency, fund of hedge fund custody, and middle-office services for hedge funds and funds of hedge funds. Wallace previuosly worked at Citi as regional product manager for alternative investments.
03/06/2010

Double trouble for money market funds

Since January 2009, assets in US money market funds have fallen by USD1trn, to a total of USD2.8trn, due to the fact that interest rates are low, and equities performed well last year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Vanguard Group has even closed some of its funds, estimating that it could no longer profitably operate them in the current environment. In addition to those troubles, new rules imposed by the SEC in January to protect investors are making it even more difficult for funds. Generally, these rules require money market funds to retain higher levels of liquidity, and to restrict their investments in top-quality shares, while shortening the average time to maturity for securities in the portfolio. All of these things can only reduce returns. And to deliver returns of at the highest 0.2% to 0.25%, managers are now required to operate at a loss. For the client, it pays better to put money in savings accounts, which pay 4 to 5 times more in interest.
03/06/2010

Reshuffle of UBS top brass

Luciano Diez-Canedo, who was previously head of bonds and Sicav products at the Spanish firm UBS Gestion, has been promoted to president and CEO of the entity. Funds People reports that he replaces Jorge Colomer, who becomes head of sales for private banking activities at the group, replacing Pablo Rodríguez, who left the firm in March. The Global Asset Management business unit will continue to be led by Juan Infante.
03/06/2010

HSBC launches MSCI USA ETF

HSBC this Wednesday launches the HSBC MSCI USA ETF tracker fund, which aims to replicate the performance of the MSCI USA index. The ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and domiciled in Ireland. It is denominated in US dollars. Characteristics ISIN: IE00B5WFQ436 Total expense ratio: 0.30%
03/06/2010

T. Rowe Price closes two equities funds

T. Rowe Price has announced the closure of two of its funds, in order to maintain the integrity of the investment strategies of its vehicles, and to protect the interests of shareholders, who may continue to invest in the funds affected. The funds are the Mid-Cap Growth Fund, which as of 30 April this year had assets under management of USD18bn. Since the product reopened in December 2008, assets in the fund have risen by USD8.7bn, of which USD1.6bn was due to net inflows. The other fund, the Mid-Cap Value Fund, had assets under management of USD8.8bn as of 30 April this year. Since reopening in May 2009, assets in the fund have risen by USD3.7bn, of which USD1bn was due to net inflows.
03/06/2010

Baring Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund tops GBP2bn

Assets under management in the Baring Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund, the multi-asset class flagship institutional fund from Baring Asset Management, launched in January 2007, have topped EUR2bn. In the three years to 31 March this year, the fund has earned returns of 8.3% per year, with volatility of 8.9%. In the same period, the FTSE All Share index lost 0.2%, with volatility of 19.3%.
03/06/2010

Tobam adds to sales team

Tobam, formerly known as Lehman Brothers Asset Management France, has hired three people as additions to its sales team. Elizabeth Breaden becomes produce and client service specialist. The American-born Breaden previously spent several years at Fortis, as a Euro and US bond specialist, from 2005 to 2008, and then at Axa Investment Managers Paris, in product marketing (2008-2009). Laura Vu Thien joins Tobam as head of development for the UK. She previously worked at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, in UK sales, since 2006, and was responsible for both institutional and retail clients in all asset classes. Morella Hessels has been appointed head of development for Benelux. She will be based in Amsterdam, and will be in charge of development for Tobam in Benelux. She previously held a variety of positions, as head of client relations and development at Wilshire Private Markets (2002-2005), Goldman Sachs Asset Management (2005-2006), and Northern Trust Global Investments (2006-2008), in Amsterdam and London. The appointments come as part of Tobam’s development strategy. The firm now manages EUR930m in assets in France and abroad.
03/06/2010

Vontobel launches its first fund “made in Italy”

On 25 May, the Vontobel Fund – Target Return Euro received a sales license for Italy, Bluerating reports. The product becomes the first fund to be managed entirely by the Italian branch of Vontobel, led by Francesco Tarabini Castellani. The fund, which complies with UCITS III, is invested primarily in high-quality bonds, equities, and other financial instruments from various countries and issuers. The objective is to achieve returns 3% higher than the Euribor 3-month.
03/06/2010

GAM launches a Newcits fund based on European equities

The Swiss asset management firm GAM (CHF54.1bn in assets as of the end of March) has launched the absolute return fund GAM Star Absolute Europe, a long/short equities fund that complies with the UCITS III directive, which offers daily liquidity. It is the UCITS-compliant version of a hedge fund managed by Mark Hawtin, investment director. The fund allies fundamental research to identify market inefficiencies, with technical analysis to exploit trends and expertise in the area of transactions, to obtain price variations. Long and short positions are opened on individual shares and on baskets of shares. Characteristics Name: GAM Star Absolute Europe ISIN: IE00B5BJ5C73Share classes: EUR, CHF, GBP, USD, JPY, SEK Minimal subscription: EUR10,000
03/06/2010

BBVA AM liquidates Acción Ibex Top Dividendo ETF

The Spanish asset management firm BBVA Asset Management has announced that, due to assets of only EUR3.2m as of 1 June, it will be liquidating its ETF Acción Ibex Top Dividendo, in a process which will take four months to complete. The firm will suspend payment of dividends from 1 July 2010. With the move, the ETF range from BBVA shrinks to seven products, Funds People reports: Acción IBEX 35 ETF, Acción DJ Eurostoxx 50 ETF, Acción FTSE Latibex Top ETF, Acción FTSE Latibex Brasil ETF, AFI Bonos Medio Plazo Euro ETF, AFI Monetario Euro ETF, and FTSE4Good IBEX ETF.
03/06/2010

BNY Mellon offers new services to German managers

BNY Mellon has announced that it will provide collateral management services for derivatives to German management firms, via its platform DM Edge. DM Edge offers management services which make it possible to standardise the collateral management process for all over-the-counter derivatives transactions.
03/06/2010

Retail demand bounces back

Bosera announced on Wednesday morning that its Bosera New Growth Equity Fund has raised CNY3.42bn in 15 days, with over 100,000 client accounts. The results appear to Z-Ben Advisors to be a sign that Chinese retail investor demand is recovering. Without prejudice to the virtues ot Bosera as a management firm, more reputable and higher-performing management firms have seen lower levels of subscriptions recently, including Morgan Stanley Huaxin, which raised CNY2.26bn for 27,000 accounts, and China Post & Capital, which raised CNY2.23bn for 90,000 accounts.
03/06/2010

HSBC Global AM adds to sales team

Martin Scholz, who for the past five years has been a member of the board of directors at Allianz Global Investors KAG and Allianz Global Investors Advisory, serving institutional clients, family offices and high net worth retail clients, have joined HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland), effective immediately, as a member of the board of directors responsible for relationship management. He will be in charge of developing relationships with institutional clients and wholesale distributors.
03/06/2010

Clariden Leu builds presence in Asia

In a new sign of the development of private banking activities in Asia, Clariden Leu has recruited several staff as additions to its Asian teams. Finance Asia reports that Matthew Man and Christy Bheung will this month join the Hong Kong private bank, as senior investment client advisor, and head of operational risk activities, respectively. Man previously worked at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, while Cheung had worked in the operational risk team at HSBC since 2008. Last month, Clariden Leu recruited two senior heads for its wealth management activities. Clariden Leu has also recruited three relationship managers in Singapore: Alex Lau and Sundar Ramani previously worked at HSBC Private Bank, while Nikita Rossinsky worked at Société Générale.
03/06/2010

Two departures from Skandia Fonder

Pia Hagen and Christian Sterndahlen have left Skandia Fonder to join the Swedish financial group Max Matthiesen Värdepapper AB. Hagen, who was previously chief investment officer and manager at Skandia, has been recruited for the same responsibilities at Max Matthiesen. She will also have additional responsibilities. Sterndahlen, for his part, has been appointed as a manager. The two will begin in their new positions in August 2010.
03/06/2010

AGI and DWS/DB post more in inflows than the entire asset management sector as a whole

Pour janvier-avril, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) affiche des souscriptions nettes supérieures à 5,95 milliards d’euros tandis que l’ensemble DWS/DB Adivsors/DB (Deutsche Bank) a drainé 2,79 milliards d’euros. Au total, ces deux acteurs ont ainsi attiré 7,74 milliards d’euros, pendant que le total constaté pour la période sous revue par l’association allemande BVI des sociétés de gestion se montait à 7,81 milliards d’euros.Trois des promoteurs d’ETF ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes. Il s’agit notamment de db x-trackers du groupe Deutsche Bank (1,62 milliard d’euros), de ComStage (Commerzbank avec 411,9 millions et d’ETFlab (Deka) avec 315,7 millions. En revanche, BlackRock et ses iShares accuse une sortie nette de plus de 1,35 milliard d’euros.Parmi les autres grandes maisons, Deka (caisses d'épargne) a subi des sorties nettes de 2,41 milliards, Union investment (banques populaires) accusant des remboursements nets de 2,16 milliards d’euros.A noter qu’en matière d’encours, Franklin Templeton pesait fin avril 11,97 milliards d’euros, avec 615,8 millions d’euros de souscriptions nettes, alors que Pioneer est tombé à 11,52 milliards après des sorties nettes de 385,2 millions pour les quatre premiers mois de l’année.
03/06/2010

EUR5bn in outflows from money market funds in January-April

In April, according to statistics from the German BVI association of management firms, the investment fund sector saw net subscriptions of EUR2bn, of which EUR1.5bn went to institutional funds and mandates, while open-ended funds received only EUR0.5bn, despite EUR2.4bn in net inflows to diversified funds. This means, among other things, that equities and money market funds have seen net redemptions of EUR1bn and EUR1.8bn, respectively. In the first four months of this year, diversified and open-ended real estate funds have seen inflows of EUR7.8bn and EUR3.31bn, respectively, while bond and equities funds have seen net inflows of EUR2.5bn and EUR1.38bn, respectively. Even hedge funds have attracted EUR945.3m. However, money market funds have seen outflows of EUR5.08bn. In the twelve months to the end of April, total assets in the sector have increased 14%, to EUR17.621bn, of which EUR317.9bn were in mandates, EUR683.2bn in open-ended funds, and EUR761bn in institutional funds.
03/06/2010

Invesco will extend product range in September

On Wednesday, released an official statement in Europe announcing that on Tuesday it completed its acquisition of the retail asset management activities of Merrill Lynch, including Van Kampen Investments, for USD800m in cash and 30.9 million shares in Invesco Ltd. The firm estimates that the deal will contribute more than the initially predicted USD0.04 to profits per share in the twelve months to the end of May. Bernard Aybran, head of multi-management at Invesco Paris, says the first Morgan Stanley funds will be released in Europe after the summer, in September. The range will be enlarged with the addition of new strategies, under the Invesco name, particularly in the areas of commodities (in equities or in physical form via derivatives), quantitative products, and precious metals.
02/06/2010

Permira, CVC et PAI ont cautionné le licenciement d'un cinquième de l'effectif de Cortefiel

Cotizalia rapporte que les capital-investisseurs Permira, CVC et PAI, qui détiennent Grupo Cortefiel, ont imposé un régime draconien à la chaîne de magasins de vêtements, qui a licencié 1.570 personnes ou 20 % de son effectif durant l’exercice clos le 28 février. Cortefiel a notamment licencié 300 personnes au Maroc.Le chiffre d’affaires avait chuté de 7,3 % à 1,05 milliard d’euros pour l’exercice précédent. Parallèlement, le nombre de magasins a augmenté en un an de 22 unités, à 1.578 fin février 2010. Les actionnaires justifient les licenciements et les délocalisations en Asie à des conditions de marché difficiles. Cela a permis avec d’autres mesures non détaillées d'économiser 48 millions d’euros sur l’année.
02/06/2010
Fonds

Intermoney prend en charge les fonds de Cajamar

Comme annoncé en février, Intermoney Gestión a repris à son compte la gestion et l’administration des six fonds d’investissement de Cajamar Gestón à la demande de cette dernière. L’autorisation correspondante a été délivrée le 28 mai par la CNMV. L’encours concerné représente 165 millions d’euros environ. Intermoney, ou sa maison-mère CIMD, n’acquièrent pas les fonds mais partageront les commissions avec la caisse d'épargne rurale.
Fonds
02/06/2010
Fonds

L'hémorragie des fonds s'est poursuivie en mai

Selon les données provisoires de l’association espagnole Inverco des sociétés de gestion, les fonds de valeurs mobilières espagnols ont subi en mai une baisse de 5,18 milliards d’euros de leur encours, à 153,1 milliards d’euros au 31 mai, la contraction imputable aux remboursements nets se situant à plus de 3,16 milliards d’euros. La baisse de l’encours en mai représente 3,3 %, et le recul des encours depuis le début de l’année est déjà supérieur à celui de 5,08 milliards d’euros constaté pour l’ensemble de 2009.Les calculs d’Ahorro Corporación montrent de leur côté que l’encours aurait baissé de 5,5 milliards à 159,7 milliards d’euros, ce qui porte la diminution depuis le début de l’année à 6,3 %. Quant aux sorties nettes de mai, elles auraient représenté 3,9 milliards d’euros.
Fonds
02/06/2010

Aberdeen bâtit son activité de gestion alternative

La récente acquisition des activités de fonds de fonds et de hedge funds de Royal Bank of Scotland a fournit à Aberdeen les éléments qu’elle cherchait pour créer une division alternative. Ce pôle Alternative Investment Strategies (AIS), dirigé par Anne Richards, également directrice des investissements d’Aberdeen Asset Management, regroupe plusieurs activités allant de la multigestion aux stratégies multi-classe d’actifs, en passant par les actions indexées et les fonds de hedge funds. Les encours sous gestion totalisent 30 milliards de livres sur un total de 171 milliards de livres. Pour Anne Richards, interrogée par le Financial Times Fund Management, cette opération est arrivée au bon moment, car les investisseurs institutionnels s’intéressent de plus en plus aux produits alternatifs.
02/06/2010
Fonds

Martin Currie acquiert un hedge fund

Mardi, le gestionnaire écossais Martin Currie Investment Management a annoncé l’acquisition des activités européennes long/short equity de Sofaer Capital, ce qui représente un encours d’environ 280 millions de dollars, dont 140 millions pour le Sofaer Capital European Hedge Fund et 140 millions pour deux mandats. Les deux «principals», Michael Browne et Steve Frost, qui gèrent le fonds depuis le 1er janvier 2001, devraient rejoindre Martin Currie le 1er juillet 2010, tandis que Charlotte Dagg, l’analyste qui travaille pour ce fonds, sera recrutée par Martin Currie avant la fin de l’année.Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été dévoilé. Le Sofaer Capital European Hedge Fund sera géré par Martin Currie à compter du 1er juillet.Pour sa part, Sofaer Capital conservera une activité de recherche à Londres, mais se repliera pour le reste sur Hong-Kong, d’où Michael Sofaer gère des hedge funds depuis 1983. En d’autres termes, les fonds asiatique et mondial seront gérés et administrés à Hong-Kong.
Fonds
02/06/2010
Fonds

Skandia confie un mandat actions à Dirk Enderlein chez Wellington

Mardi, Skandia Investment Group (SIG) a annoncé avoir confié un mandat de 50 millions de livres en actions européennes à Wellington Asset Management Dans le cadre du Skandia global Dynamic Equity Fund (GDE). Cette décision est liée au recrutement par Wellington de Dirk Enderlein, dont le départ fin septembre de chez Allianz RCM avait conduit SIG a retiré le mandat confié à cette entité dans le cadre du GDE.De fait, le fonds d’actions européennes growth que Dirk Enderlein gérait chez RCM a perdu environ 35-40 % de son encours à son départ, mais il a entre-temps refait le terrain perdu, et même davantage.SIG a deja confié plusieurs mandats obligataires à Wellington AM.
Fonds
02/06/2010
Fonds

Un nouveau gérant pour la gestion du Sterling Strategic Bond

Selon Fund Strategy, Nick Hayes doit rejoindre Axa Investment Managers dans les tout prochains jours pour prendre en charge la gestion du fonds Axa Sterling Strategic Bond.Nick Hayes , qui sera basé à Londres, travaillait précédemment chez New Star en qualité de gérant obligataire.
Fonds
02/06/2010

La FSA ouvre une enquête sur un gérant de Gartmore

Dans une note, Gartmore annonce que la Financial Services Authority va bien ouvrir une enquête sur la conduite du gérant Guillaume Rambourg, afin de déterminer s’il a respecté les standards requis par le régulateur pour obtenir le statut de «personne approuvée». La FSA a aussi confirmé qu’elle enquête uniquement sur Guillaume Rambourg et sur aucun autre individu, ni sur Gartmore. La FSA n’a pas pu donner à la société de gestion d’indications sur le temps que devrait prendre cette enquête.Gartmore a ajouté avoir toujours l’intention de demander à la FSA de restaurer le statut de Guillaume Rambourg de façon à pouvoir le réintégrer en tant que gérant. Pendant ce temps, les fonds et les portefeuilles gérés par l'équipe grandes capitalisations européenne continueront à être gérés par Roger Guy et Darrell O’Dea avec le soutien d’une équipe d’analystes, dont Guillaume Rambourg.Gartmore avait annoncé le 28 avril 2010 avoir transmis à la FSA les résultats d’une enquête interne concernant une éventuelle infraction à ses règles.
02/06/2010

Chiristian Noyer critique les agences de notation

L’Agefi rapporte que le gouverneur de la Banque de France, Christian Noyer, au cours d’un débat organisé à Séoul a jugé que les agences de notation envoient des signaux inopportuns sur la dette souveraine, contribuant à dégrader la situation que traverse l’Europe. Les signaux adressés arrivent trop tard et accroissent les problèmes. En outre, les agences évaluent la situation d’un émetteur selon des critères de long terme (5 à 10 ans) tandis que les marchés auxquels elles s’adressent réagissent sur du court terme. Cela dit, ceux qui critiquent les agences de notation sont parfois responsables de leur position de force. Notamment la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) qui se sert des notes des agences pour évaluer la qualité du collatéral qu’elle prend en contrepartie afin de refinancer les banques, note le quotidien.

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