KanAm indique avoir investi 35,6 millions de francs suisses dans l’acquisition de l’hôtel trois étoiles Holiday Inn Zürich Messe qui a été ouvert le 19 mars 2009 et qui entre dans le portefeuille du fonds institutionnel KanAm Spezial grundinvest. Cet actif, qui est le premier dans le secteur hôtelier pour ce fonds, est loué pour 20 ans à Holiday Inn (InterContinental Hotels Group).

Selon L’Agefi suisse, a Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild a publié hier un bénéfice net consolidé de 201 millions de francs pour 2008, en repli de 18% par rapport à l"année précédente. Les actifs sous gestion ont diminué de 17,9 %, à 82,3 milliards de francs, avec des afflux net de 5,4 milliards. La banque, qui a recruté 142 nouveaux employés l"an dernier, faisant passer ses effectifs à 1517 personnes, se veut résolument optimiste concernant l"année en cours. Près de 1,7 milliard de francs d"argent frais a rejoint la banque depuis janvier et cette tendance devrait se poursuivre.

D’après Les Echos, le G20 s’est mis d’accord jeudi pour que l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) publie une liste des pays fiscalement non coopératifs - c’est-à-dire qui n’acceptent pas de publier la liste des particuliers et des entreprises qui pratiquent l'évasion fiscale - a annoncé le Premier ministre Gordon Brown. «Le temps du secret bancaire est révolu», a estimé le président français Nicolas Sarkozy

Selon Les Echos, les parlementaires ont voté hier un amendement au collectif budgétaire pour mieux encadrer la rémunération des patrons. S’il ne va guère plus loin que le décret gouvernemental, il apporte une victoire politique aux centristes et à l’opposition.

D"après Les Echos, Les pays du G20 se sont mis d’accord pour mettre en oeuvre de «nouvelles règles» sur les salaires et les bonus au niveau mondial. Les «hedge funds» et les agences de notation de crédit devraient être de leur côté mieux encadrés. Nicolas Sarkozy a indiqué que le G20 avait décidé de réintégrer le «hors-bilan» dans le calcul des ratios prudentiels. Selon le président français, le forum de stabilité financière va en outre être remplacé par un «Conseil de stabilité financière», incluant les pays du G20, don les pouvoirs seront accrus.

Suite à l"audit réalisé en décembre 2008 par l"AFAQ-AFNOR, l"obtention de la norme environnementale ISO 14001 pour Barclays France a été reconduite pour l"année 2009. Cette norme certifie la capacité d’une entreprise à maîtriser son impact sur l’environnement.

Selon Les Echos, le siège de BNP Paribas a été perquisitionné le 26 mars dans le cadre d’une des trois enquêtes préliminaires ouvertes en France à la suite de plaintes d'épargnants considérant avoir été lésés par la fraude de Bernard Madoff. Cette perquisition a bien été menée dans un service de la banque par des policiers de la brigade financière qui se sont fait remettre des documents, selon une source citée par l’Agence France-Presse, confirmant ainsi une information du site du «Parisien».

Le Parquet américain a déposé sa première plainte au pénal contre un client américain d"UBS, Steven M. Rubinstein, suite à l"accord passé avec la banque, rapporte le Wall Street Journal. L"homme est accusé d"avoir rempli une fausse déclaration d"impôts sur le revenu.

Le Système européen de banques centrales (SEBC) et le Comité européen des régulateurs des marchés de valeurs mobilières (CESR) viennent de publier un document intitulé Projet de recommandations concernant les contreparties centrales, modifiées pour les produits dérivés de gré à gré aux fins de consultation publique, dans le cadre des travaux conjoints entrepris par le SEBC et le CESR dans le domaine de la compensation et du règlement-livraison de titres.Ce texte ne concerne que les produits dérivés de gré à gré. En effet, compte tenu des risques que l"ampleur croissante des expositions aux produits dérivés de gré à gré, et en particulier aux dérivés de crédit, fait peser sur la stabilité financière, le Conseil Ecofin a souligné l’an dernier la nécessité de soutenir des initiatives appropriées visant à réduire ces risques, notamment en développant une ou plusieurs contrepartie(s) centrale(s) européenne(s) au service des marchés de dérivés de gré à gré. En conséquence, lors de sa réunion du 2 décembre 2008, le Conseil Ecofin a chargé le SEBC et le CESR d"adapter les recommandations afin que les contreparties centrales puissent traiter explicitement les risques liés aux produits dérivés de gré à gré. La Banque centrale européenne souligne dans un communiqué qu’"étant donné le nombre limité de modifications introduites et compte tenu de la demande du Conseil Ecofin de finaliser le travail dans les meilleurs délais, les contributions de toutes les parties concernées (prestataires de services de compensation et de règlement, intermédiaires, banques, entreprises de services d"investissement, émetteurs, investisseurs institutionnels, associations professionnelles et commerciales), et en particulier celles des petits investisseurs et de leurs organisations, devront être reçues le 17 avril 2009 au plus tard».

Attendu sur la régulation, le sommet a agréablement surpris par les moyens donnés au FMI

Les dirigeants du G20 réunis aujourd’hui à Londres ont publié le communiqué suivant (en anglais)

The Bank of Spain’s bailout of the Caja Castilla-La Mancha (CCM) is good news for about 60 Spanish investment funds which held preferred shares in the savings institution as of the end of December worth about EUR325m, according to statistics from the CNMV reported in Expansión. Many of its funds are reputed to be managed conservatively, particularly bond and money market products, and especially the BBVA Dinero range. Expansión observes that, the number of funds concerned in the Lehman and Madoff affairs, respectively, were 129 and 39.

After a dark year in 2008 in which assets fell by 30%, net redemptions in the first quarter for funds distributed in Spain were limited to EUR4.33bn (of which EUR1.59bn were in March), compared with EUR13.1bn in January-March last year, Cinco Días reports. This is not only due to the rebound of the stock markets: banks are putting less sales pressure on capturing savings deposits to the detriment of investment funds. According to Ahorro Corporación, the decline in assets may be limited this year to 15% to 20%, with totals of less than EUR150bn at the end of December, compared with EUR161.89bn at the end of March.

The French national pension fund, the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR), on Wednesday announced the results of two restricted RFPs launched in 2008 to renew some of its expiring mandates.For US equities (value style management), the FRR has selected Robeco Institutional Asset Management (financial management outsourced to Robeco Investment Management, Boston), and Wellington Management International (financial management outsourced to Wellington Management Company, Boston). The mandate is for a 4-year term, and the indicative overall total capital placed under management is approximately EUR500m.For its RFP for European equities (active small caps management), the FRR has selected Allianz Global Investors France (financial management outsourced to RCM, Frankfurt), Kempen Capital Management, Montanaro Fund Managers, Scottish Widows Investment Partners, and Threadneedle Asset Management.The mandate is also for a 4-year term, and the indicative total capital placed under management is approximately EUR600m.

Investors are returning to hedge funds, the Financial Times reports. Highbridge Capital Management, which was once the largest hedge fund in the world, has posted net subscriptions of USD1bn this year, of which USD225bn have come from its majority shareholder, JPMorgan. It finished the quarter with USD20bn in assets.

The Massachusetts state market regulator has filed a vibil suit against Fairfield Greenwich, one of the feeder funds invested in Madoff, the Financial Times reports. William Galvin, the regulator, says there was a ?profound disparity? between the due diligence which Fairfield claimed it was carrying out and what it genuinely undertook.

In one year, assets in Italian equities funds have been halved, from EUR10bn to EUR4.6bn in January 2009, Il Sole - 24 Ore reports. This has had the effect of minimizing the influence of asset management firms belonging to the Assogestioni association on Italian businesses, particularly in terms of governance.

Julius Baer CFO Dieter Enkelmann has announced that if business at the group continues to evolve as it has in the first two months of the year, spending will have to be cut by 10-15%, the Wall Street Journal reports. That would mean cutting CHF279m in spending, partly through staff reductions in the private banking division, which since 2006 has been the subject of a costly and initially highly successful expansion. Currently, Julius Baer employs 4,335 people, of whom 69% are in private banking.

PFA Pension in 2008 earned pre-tax profits of SEK3.5bn, or EUR460m, on its investments, thanks to an increase to its allocation to bonds, IPE reports. This has allowed the insurer (SEK219bn in assets) to acquire Nordic Asset Management (SEK28bn), making the firm able to offer asset management services to institutional investors.

The annual report from the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild SA, published on Thursday, shows net profits down 18.4% in 2008 to CHF201m, and a decline in returns on owners’ equity to 17.8%, compared with 22.3% in 2007. Net inflows contracted to CHF5.4bn, from CHF10.2bn, and total assets, including CHF8.45bn in assets counted twice, fell at the end of December to CHF82.3bn, from CHF100.27bn twelve months earlier, which represents a decline of 17.9%.The board of directors is proposing to pay an unchanged dividend of CHF1,200 per share to shareholders, for a total distribution of CHF108m.

The annual report from the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild SA, published on Thursday, shows net profits down 18.4% in 2008 to CHF201m, and a decline in returns on owners’ equity to 17.8%, compared with 22.3% in 2007. Net inflows contracted to CHF5.4bn, from CHF10.2bn, and total assets, including CHF8.45bn in assets counted twice, fell at the end of December to CHF82.3bn, from CHF100.27bn twelve months earlier, which represents a decline of 17.9%.The board of directors is proposing to pay an unchanged dividend of CHF1,200 per share to shareholders, for a total pay-out of CHF108m.

The Bank of China announced on Thursday that it will be calling off plans to acquire a 20% stake in the Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild for EUR236.3m, of which EUR126m would have been tied to a capital increase, as the necessary regulatory approval was not obtained in time, according to Reuters. The transaction was announced on 18 September 2008, when it was announced that the Chinese bank would buy up shares in LCF Rothschild which had been held for three and a half years by the Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement du Québec.

Six organisations dedicated to responsible investment, including Eurosif, the European sustainable investment forum, have called on global leaders meeting in London for the G20 to integrate sustainability and social responsibility measures into their packages of economic incentive measures to bring short-term boosts and long-term reforms to the credit and investment markets. The other organisations are ASrIA, RIAA, Social Investment Forum, SIO and UKSIF.

Once again, assets in securities funds on sale in Spain fell in March. They contracted by EUR952m or 0.6% in one month, bringing them to a total of EUR161.89bn. Net redemptions totalled nearly EUR1.59bn, compared with EUR1.13bn in February, and EUR1.81bn in January, according to statistics from the Inverco association of fund management firms. That makes March the 21st consecutive month of net redemptions and declining assets.The top ten management firms in the country have all seen net outflows in March, with the heaviest outflows at Santander Gestión de Activos (-EUR664.25m, with EUR30.65bn in assets as of the end of February), Bansabadell Inversión (EUR244.44m, and EUR5.26bn), and BBVA Asset Management (EUR224.39m and EUR32.70bn).

Institutional investors in the United States have not lost their appetite for risk. A study by Casey Quark, cited by Financial Times Fund Management, finds that among traditional asset classes, active and aggressive strategies attracted more than USD300bn in the last three months of 2008.

Union Investment Real Estate on Wednesday announced that it has acquired the Monza shopping centre for about EUR142.6m from ImmobiliarEuropea SpA. The wholly leased property measures 28,000 square metres; it will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Deutschland. The primary tenant, with a 15-year lease, is the Auchan retail group.

Brummer & Partners has lowered the minimal investment for its multi-strategy hedge fund Brummer Multi-Strategy to SEK100,000, to allow retail investors access to it, Privata Affärer reports.

AmpegaGerling, the fund management affiliate of the Talanx insurance group, announced on Wednesday that it has recruited Hauke Höfer as «Vertriebsdirektor». In his new position, he will be in charge of distribution of AmpegaGerling funds and funds of funds, as well as white-label funds. For the past ten years, Höfer has been one of the heads of ACMBernstein Germany.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on Wednesday announced that it won seven mandates from Master KAG entities (centralised fund administrators for institutional investors), and two outsourcing mandates in Germany in 2008 for its local affiliate SGSS KAG. The new mandates bring total assets under administration by SGSS funds in Germany to EUR55bn as of the end of 2008, a 20% increase over their levels twelve months earlier.

Banco Popular has decided to offer between 0.35% and 1.25% of the amount transferred as a reward for clients who transfer assets previously deposited in funds from other asset management firms. The 0.35% bonus applies to AAA-rated government bond funds, while the 1.25% bounty will apply to equities funds, Funds People reports. To take advantage of the offer, clients must agree to leave their money in the funds for at least one year, either in the Popular fund selected or else in other funds from Popular Gestión.