Les Echos reports that the US justice department has found that half of all clients of Bernard Madoff withdrew more money than they invested. Of 4,902 account-holders, about 2,336 saw losses totalling more than USD13bn. The authorities estimate that seized assets totalling about USD1bn may be returned to victims.

The European Commission on 23 September passed a series of important bills which will significantly increase surveillance of the financial sector in Europe. The goal of the improved regulations in the area of cooperation, largely inspired by the Larosière report, is to increase financial stability throughout the EU, to guarantee that the same basic technical rules are applied everywhere, to reduce risks that threated the system as far as possible, and to permit much more effective collective action in urgent situations and to even out differences between national regulatory authorities. “The new system which we are proposing today, on the strength of the political will of member states in light of the Larosière report, will aim to protect European taxpayers from the dark days of autumn 2008, in which governments had to pay billions of Euros to support banks. The European system could also inspire a global system. This is the position which we will maintain at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh,” the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, says in a statement. The battery of laws will create a new body, the European committee for systemic risk (ECSR), which will be in charge of detecting risks to the financial system as a whole and issuing warnings, to ensure that action is taken rapidly when necessary. It will also institute the European financial surveillance system (EFSS), a network made up of national surveillance authorities as well as three newly-created European surveillance bodies, which would cover the banking sector, the financial markets, insurance, and professional pensions. For micro-prudential surveillance, there are currently three EU committees for financial services, whose role is merely advisory: the European committee of banking controllers (ECBC), the European committee of insurance and professional pension controllers (CECAPP), and the European committee of securities markets controllers (ECSMC). The new authorities, the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European insurance and professional pension authority (EIPPA) and the European financial markets authority (EFMA), will take over the functions of these committees. These agencies will have new powers, which they will use to elaborate propositions for technical norms that would respect the European goal of “better legislation,” to resolve differences between national surveillance authorities when legislation requires that they cooperate or reach an agreement; to contribute to the coherent application of European Community technical rules (particularly in reciprocal analysis); and for the European financial markets authority, to exercise direct powers of surveillanceover ratings agencies, and to act as a co-ordinator in urgent situations. All the measures passed by the Commission will be submitted to the Council and Parliament to be passed quickly, so that the structures may become operational by 2010.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on 23 September removed Monaco from its grey list of uncooperative tax havens. Monaco, which was placed on the list, established by the G20, this April, is now on the white-list of countries whose tax policies comply with OECD principles, which may be consulted on the organization’s website.

L’Agefi reports that the US Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, has called for the creation of a government body to protect consumers in the financial sector, a proposal that has been strongly opposed by banks. Geithner has stated that the government is open to changes proposed on Tuesday by Barney Fran (D), chairman of the financial services committee.

The Federal Reserve is looking to team up with the money-market mutual fund industry as part of its strategy to ensure that its unconventional policies to stimulate the economy do not produce a bout of post-crisis inflation. So says the Financial Times. The central bank considers eventually draining liquidity from the financial system by engaging in “reverse repos” with the money-market funds. In these, the Fed would pledge mortgage-backed securities and Treasuries acquired during the crisis as collateral for short-term loans from the funds.

The Spanish government is planning to severely toughen the tax policies applicable to SICAV funds, the preferred vehicle of high net worth families, which represent assets of EUR26bn, Expansión reports. These high net worth parties have already begun exploring alternatives. It is now possible to merge a SICAV with a normal investment fund, which would avoid closure fees. But there is also the solution in which the fund is liquidated, which would be fiscally less of a problem as many SICAVs accumulated latent capital losses during the market crisis. Lastly, there is the possibility of transferring the capital to Luxembourg funds.

The private equity investor Permira is reducing its stake in the mobile phone operator Freenet to 10.1%, from 24.99% previously. Its unit Telco has sold 19.1 million shares at EUR9.25 each, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. This price is above the price at which the shares were valued on its books. Financial circles think that Permira was in a hurry to sell the shares before the publication of Freenet’s results for third quarter, which are expected to reveal a double-digit fall in earnings.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Börse announced that the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform gained one new entry, an ETF from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank). The Luxembourg-registered product, which carries a management commission of 0.75%, is the db x-trackers Short Daily Index ETF. It provides an inverse replica of the Hang Seng index of the Hong Kong stock exchange. With the addition of this strategy ETF, the XTF now lists 496 products.

Ed Moisson, an analyst at Lipper in London, claims that German investors should expect an overall increase in average commissions, and that at any rate, the structure of fees will become more complex and less transparent. According to figures by Lipper on behalf of Handelsblatt, management fees for funds on sale in Germany have increased to an average of 1.47%, compared with 1.13% ten years ago. The total expense ratio (TER) for funds overall is 1.93%, compared with 1.70%. German managers have followed the example of foreign managers, who, with no network in Germany, have been obliged to offer distributors a larger share of management fees. However, some major actors, such as DWS, BlackRock and Schroders, have reduced their fees. The application of performance fees has also become more widespread: commissions of this type are now charged for 17% of equities funds on sale in Germany, compared with 9% seven years ago. For German-registered funds, the percentage has risen from 3% to 22%.

BNY Mellon Asset management has obtained permission to release four recently-created sub-funds in its Irish range BNY Mellon Global Funds (BNY MGF) in Germany. The products are the BNY Mellon Emerging Markets Equity Fund, launched on 18 March, managed by Blackfriars Asset Management in London, the BNY Mellon Euro Corporate Bond Fund, managed by WestLB Mellon Asset Management KAG (Düsseldorf), launched on 22 July, and the BNY Mellon Evolution Long/Short Emerging Currency Fund, managed in London by Pareto Investment Management, launched on 25 March. Lastly, the BNY Mellon Global Real Return Fund (USD), launched on 30 June, is managed by Newton Investment Management in London.

The financial and banking crisis will open up very meaningful possibilities for hedge funds which survive the turbulence, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung predicts. Many hedge funds have disappeared, while investment banks have ceased to intervene in the markets for operations involving their own capital. Competition has therefore been reduced, and available capital to take advantage of opportunities on the market has been reduced. As the crisis has also reduced the efficiency of the markets, arbitrage has become more lucrative, which will bring profits for the major hedge funds that survive. Statistics for third quarter may reveal that investors have withdrawn much less money from hedge funds than at the beginning of the year, not only because they have become more inclined to take risks, but also because they are now seeing better prospects for returns at the surviving hedge funds.

Money Marketing reports that the Australian Macquarie group, which is launching a SICAV on the European markets, is still in search of strategic acquisitions and majority stakes in high quality firms. The group is also planning to develop its current range of offshore and OEICS products aimed at British investors.

Selon Money Marketing, le groupe australien Macquarie, qui lance une Sicav sur les marchés européens, est toujours à la recherche d’acquisitions stratégiques et de participations majoritaires dans des sociétés de gestion de qualité.Le groupe envisage par ailleurs de développer sa gamme actuelle de produits offshore et Oeics à destination des investisseurs britanniques.

Le principal fonds souverain de Singapour, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), a annoncé le 22 septembre qu’il avait ramené à moins de 5% sa participation dans Citigroup, qu’il avait portée à plus de 9% le 11 septembre dernier. A cette date, GIC avait échangé ses 6,88 milliards de dollars de titres préférentiels convertibles contre des actions ordinaires au prix unitaire de 3,25 dollars (contre 4,43 dollars lundi soir 21 septembre), ce qui avait eu pour effet de porter sa participation à plus de 9%, rappelle le communiqué de GIC."Une participation inférieure à 5% reflète les objectifs et la volonté de GIC d'être un actionnaire de portefeuille», souligne le fonds singapourien. Le cas échéant, «GIC poursuivra son investissement dans Citigroup car nous sommes confiants dans ses perspectives à long terme».

The Bank of London and Middle east (BLME) has mandated European Fund Administration S.A. (EFA) and the Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat (BCEE) for administrative and depository banking services for the first European money market fund to comply with Sharia law, which has been launched in Luxembourg. The BLME Umbrella Fund Sicav-SIF, created with capital of more than USD50m, invested in a diversified portfolio of top quality Islamic money market products such as Murabahas (trading contracts), Sukuks (Islamic equivalents of bonds), and Ijaras (rental contracts for assets). In order to serve BLME and respond to the rapid growth of the Islamic finance market, EFA has adapted its accounting and transfer agency tools and has set up a special training program for its dedicated teams.

Some prominent mutual funds have made spectacular comebacks this year, says the Wall Street Journal. Fidelity Magellan, Legg Mason Value Trust and Dodge & Cox International Stock are among the funds beating the markets again. But investors aren’t following and many funds still are losing clients.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is to launch 12 more retail hedge funds, on top of the York Event-Driven Ucits Fund it announced yesterday. So reports Ignites Europe.Eric Personne, EMEA head of the fund solutions group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, says the bank’s target is to have around 15 funds and at least USD2bn in assets under management from its Ucits-compliant Luxembourg Sicav called Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions.

Catella Real Estate AG on Tuesday announced the appointment of Michael Denk as head of business development/high net worth. He will be in charge of managing the accounts of financial intermediaries, churches and charities, as well as assisting new high net worth private clients and family offices. He was previuosly director of UBS Deutschland in Munich, where his responsibilities as a certified financial planner (CFP) included the management of real estate assets for retail clients and real estate financing.

Selon les informations de la Börsen-Zeitung, la Deutsche Börse envisage de créer une plate-forme de négociation pour les ETN et les ETC.

In an interview with L’Agefi Switzerland, Joachim H. Strähle, executive president of Banque Sarasin, says organic growth is a first preference, but does not rule out an acquisition (of a firm with assets under management of at least CFH20bn), if an opportunity presents itself. “We see big opportunities in the next three to five years, especially in Asia and the Middle East. Private banking remains fundamentally a growth industry, with enough potential for all actors in the market. Consolidation is probable, even if it takes a while to fully appear. The recovery of the financial markets is helping to defer this process, and is inciting some actors to wait for a better sale price. In the longer term, the process is inevitable, particularly for banks whose private banking operations are not a core activity, who will need to divest in order to repay debts. Whatever happens, the next twelve months will be interesting,” the CEO of the Sarasin group explains.

Le fonds souverain China Investment Corp (CIC) acquiert pour 850 millions de dollars environ 15 % de Noble Group Ltd, une société de négoce de matières premières basée à Hong-Kong et cotée à Singapour qui compte réaliser de nouvelles acquisitions dans le secteur agricole avec ces capitaux frais, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. L’opération s’effectue par l'émission de 438 millions d’actions et l’acquisition de 135 millions d’actions auprès du fondateur, Richard Elman. En 2008, Noble a réalisé un chiffre d’affaires d’environ 36 milliards de dollars, qui est tombé à 13,3 milliards pour le premier semestre 2009. En août, CIC avait indiqué que 87,4 % de son encours de 297,5 milliards de dollars étaient toujours détenus sous forme de liquidités. Le fonds souverain serait en négociations pour acquérir une participation dans le constructeur américain de centrales électriques AES Corp.

Catella Real Estate AG a annoncé mardi la nomination de Michael Denk comme head of business developpement/high net worth. Il sera chargé de la gestion des comptes des intermediaries financiers, des Eglises et des fondations ainsi que du suivi de la clientèle de particuliers haut de gamme et des family offices. Il était auparavant directeur chez UBS Deutschland à Munich où ses responsabilités de certified financial planner (CFP) couvraient la gestion immobilier pour les particuliers et le financement de l’immobilier.

Seuls 4,9 % des baux des immeubles appartenant aux fonds immobiliers allemands offerts au public arrivent à échéance cette année. Jusqu'à fin 2013, cette proportion sera d’environ 10 % annuels, rapporte l’association BVI des sociétés de gestion sur la base de données au 30 juin 2009. Autrement dit, les baux n’auront à être négociés qu’après 2014 pour environ la moitié des immeubles et une partie importante des recettes des fonds se trouve ainsi assurée sur une période assez longue.La crise financière n’a occasionné pratiquement pas de défauts de paiements des loyers. De plus, le portefeuille des fonds immobiliers se compose généralement d’actifs de bonne qualité dont la valeur est moins sujette aux fluctuations que la moyenne du marché.Le BVI souligne en outre que les immeubles dans les portefeuilles des fonds sont relativement récents, ce qui limite les frais d’entretien. Les actifs remontant à 5 ans au maximum représentent 32,7 % du total, ceux entre 5 et 10 ans correspondant à 29,7 %. Donc les portefeuilles comportent plus de 60 % d’immeubles construits depuis moins de dix ans.Sur les douze derniers mois sous revue, les fonds immobiliers ont acheté 129 actifs pour 8,2 milliards et en ont vendu 48 pour 1,1 milliard d’euros. Les achats à l'étranger ont représenté 6,7 milliards d’euros, ce qui a réduit la part de l’Allemagne à 29,5 % du total, contre 41,1 % pour les autres pays de la zone euro.

Le Panda Renditefonds DWS (environ 15 millions d’euros d’encours) devient le Renditefonds UI. White Investments, un gestionnaire de fortune «développement durable», a donc changé de société de gestion, passant ainsi de DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank) à Universal Investment (UI), l’un des leaders des produits blancs en Allemagne. Ce changement de société de gestion s’explique par une réorientation du produit, qui a été lancé en 1997 en tant que fonds de partage qui distribuait une partie de ses revenus au WWF.Compte tenu de l'évolution de la demande, explique à Newsmanagers Johannes Weber, le directeur général de White Investments, le concept a été changé et le fonds obligataire adopte une optique «développement durable». A ce stade, White Investments a recherché sur le marché une société de gestion susceptible de fournir la même prestation que DWS, mais si possible à moindre coût, ce qui a été le cas de UI.Dans la nouvelle configuration, qui est en fait entrée en vigueur le 1er juillet 2009, White Investments prend en charge l’analyse des critères écologiques et sociaux, qui est sa spécialité. En premier lieu, White Investments procède à l’exclusion des émetteurs qui ne respectent pas les dix Principes du Pacte mondial des Nations-Unies ; ensuite, elle procède à une analyse selon des critères extra-financiers. Dans la troisième étape, la gestion obligataire proprement dite est déléguée au francfortois Johannes Führ Deutschland.Le droit d’entrée et la commission de gestion ressortent à respectivement 3 % et 0,95 %. Une commission de 15 % est de plus facturée sur la partie de la performance excédant le taux butoir (hurdle rate) de 4 % (avec high watermark).

Selon les informations de la Börsen-Zeitung, la Deutsche Börse envisage de créer une plate-forme de négociation pour les ETN et les ETC.

Pirelli Real Estate annonce mardi avoir vendu pour 15,8 millions d’euros l’immeuble Gossler’s Park situé à Hambourg-Blankenese à Paribus Capital. Il s’agit d’un immeuble mixte avec des magasins, des cabinets médicaux et des logements.

BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) a fait admettre mardi à la négociation sur le segment XTF de la plate-forme Xetra de la Deutsche Börse dix EasyETF de droit français couvrant les entreprises d’Europe, de la zone euro et des Etats-Unis ainsi que le marché monétaire en euros. Désormais la cote du XTF compte 496 ETF.Les produits nouvellement cotés à Francfort sont les EasyETF DJ STOXX 600 Double Short (0,60 % de frais), EURO STOXX 50 Double Short (0,50 %), EURO STOXX 50 (A Share) avec 0,25 % de frais comme pour le EURO STOXX 50 (B Share). Le STOXX 50 Europe (A Share) et le STOXX 50 Europe (B Share) comportent 0,30 % de commission de gestion.L’EasyETF EuroMTS EONIA est assorti de 0,15 % de frais, le S&P 100 (EUR) est chargé à 0,30 % dans que celui sur le DJ STOXX 600 est facturé à 0,35 %, comme celui sur le Russell 1000 (EUR).

Selon Funds People relayant Negocio, les associés dirigeants d’Atalas Capital Gestión, León Benelbas, Pablo Cervera y Moisés Israel, négocient actuellement la cession des 31 % qu’ils détiennent dans cette filiale de Daiwa Securities, l’ancienne Atlas Capital Close Brothers. Il reste à savoir si Julius Baer, actionnaire minoritaire conservera ou non ses parts.

Dans un entretien à L’Agefi suisse, Joachim H. Strähle, président exécutif de Banque Sarasin, privilégie la croissance organique mais n’exclut pas une acquisition d’envergure (des actifs gérés d’au moins 20 milliards de francs), le cas échéant. «Nous voyons de grandes opportunités dans les trois à cinq années à venir, notamment en Asie et au Moyen-Orient. Le private banking demeure fondamentalement une industrie de croissance avec un potentiel qui est suffisant pour tous les acteurs du marché. Une consolidation est cependant probable, même si elle tarde à se manifester pleinement. La reprise des marchés financiers contribue à différer ce processus en incitant certains à attendre en vue d’obtenir un meilleur prix de vente. A plus long terme, le processus est inévitable, notamment pour des banques dont le private banking ne représente pas l’activité de base et qui doivent désinvestir pour rembourser des dettes. Quoi qu’il arrive, les douze prochains mois seront intéressants», explique le CEO du groupe Sarasin.