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28/01/2009

Suisse - T. Rowe Price ouvre un bureau à Zurich

T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services Limited a ouvert à Zurcih son cinquième bureau européen depuis 2001. Il s’agit d’une antenne de la filiale londonienne. Le bureau sera dirigé par Josef Bossi, senior business development executive. L’intéressé a quitté State Street Global Advisors en décembre 2008.
28/01/2009

France - Le rachat de Fortis par BNP Paribas menacé

Selon Le Figaro, alors que l"opération de démantèlement au profit de BNP Paribas doit être validée d"ici quinze jours, « un rapport d"experts plaide pour une renégociation, certes marginale, des accords conclus en octobre », une hypothèse a priori rejetée par BNP Paribas. Parmi les négociations souhaitées par les experts, figure le transfert des 25 % du capital de Fortis Banque que conservera l"État belge à Fortis Holding, c"est-à-dire aux actionnaires du groupe, relève notamment le quotidien. De son côté, la banque française a indiqué s"en tenir au protocole du 6 octobre tout en refusant d"allonger le calendrier judiciaire afin de clarifier rapidement la situation.
28/01/2009

France - Skandia Global Funds renforce son équipe marketing

Skandia Global Funds annonce le recrutement de Céline Claudel au poste de sales & marketing officer. Elle rejoint le bureau parisien en provenance d"East Capital, où elle occupait des fonctions de support commercial (animation clientèle).
28/01/2009

Spain - Payouts to Madoff victims cost Santander EUR500m

An issue of preferential shares to clients of its private bank who were victims of the Madoff fraud via the Optimal Strategic US Equity fund will have an impact on Santander of only EUR500m, wholly taken into account in the 2008 fiscal year, Cinco Días reports.
28/01/2009

Switzerland - BCZ releases Euro-denominated shares in physical gold ETF

The Cantonal Bank of Zurich (BCZ in French, or ZKB in German), on 16 January launched shares in Euros and US dollars in its physical gold ETF fund ZKB Gold ETF, which was launched in Swiss Francs on 15 March 2006. The product is still licensed for sale only in Switzerland. Investors in the fund can sell shares at any time, or order payment in the form of physical gold.
28/01/2009

United Kingdom - Friends to sell F&C

Trevor Matthews, CEO of Friends Provident, has announced that there are no ?substantial? negotiations over the sale of Friends’ majority stake in F&C, and that Friends will continue the process of selling the stake.
28/01/2009

World - Fitch revises ratings criteria for money market funds

Fitch Ratings will publish proposals for new criteria to rate money market funds. The criteria will aim to bring evaluations of the liquidity of the portfolio into better alignment with potential for redemptions to investors in periods of difficulty.
28/01/2009

United Kingdom - MPs put hedge fund managers on the hot seat

On Tuesday, a Parliamentary commission heard testimony from the heads of several alternative management firms, to determine the extent to which they were responsible for the recent banking crisis in the United Kingdom, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among the executives who spoke to the panel were Chris Hohn (TCI), Paul Marshall (Marshall Wace) and Douglas Shaw (BlackRock). The managers defended themselves in the usual way, claiming that they were only seeking to profit from turbulence in the markets, but that they cannot be held responsible for it. Hohn and Marshall also stated that assets at their firms have fallen to USD9.5bn and USD6.6bn, respectively, from about USD15bn each one year ago.
28/01/2009

Germany - Hansainvest launches the first German physical gold fund

Hansainvest on 2 January 2009 launched the German-registered fund Hansagold, which has been issued a sales license in Germany. The fund may invest up to 30% in physical gold. The manager is also authorised to invest in certificates which replicate the evolution of the price of gold. To ensure diversification, Hansagold may also invest in certificates backed by silver, government bonds, or potentially in inflation-indexed government bonds. Front-end fee for the fund is 4%, and management commission is 0.65%.
28/01/2009

United Kingdom - Assets up at F&C

In the last three months of 2008, F&C Asset Management saw an increase of 6% in its assets to GBP98.6bn. The firm benefited from the strength of the Euro in particular.
28/01/2009

United States - S&P posts decline in revenues

Les Echos reports that activities at Standard & Poor’s (an affiliate of the US conglomerate McGraw-Hill) in 2008 are down by nearly 13%. ?From USD736.7m in 2007, revenues for the last three months of 2008 fell to USD623m,? says the newspaper. S&P is suffering from the drought in credit markets and debt issues from private businesses, which represent the core of its financial ratings activities, which are down heavily.
28/01/2009

Germany - Catella reopens real estate fund

Catella Real Estate AG KAG announced on Tuesday that it is reopening its real estate fund Fokus Nordic City to redemptions starting 28 January at 11:01 AM. The manager states that, after redemptions are brought up to date to reflect requests since 29 October 2008, the net asset value of the fund will total EUR10.66; as of 27 January 2009, it is EUR10.40, after the payment of a dividend of 36 cents per share on 1 December 2008.The Fokus Nordic Cities fund is, according to DEGI International, the second of the real estate funds which were closed to redemptions at the end of October to reopen its doors. The other management firms in this position have so far largely chosen to extend their redemption freezes (including DEGI, for the DEGI Europa fund).
28/01/2009

Germany - Feri Wealth Management becomes Feri Family Trust

Michael Stammler, one of the directors of Feri Finance (MLP group), announced on Tuesday that Feri Wealth Management GmbH adopted a new name at the beginning of the year, and is now known as Feri Family Trust, to show that it includes traditional wealth management and family office services. Feri Family Trust will focus on ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI).Personnel at Feri Family Trust has also been strengthened with the arrival of three new members, who join Michael Stammler and Frank Straatman. The new members are Thomas Hafner (who will also be in charge of the Swiss market), Marcel Renné, and Riklef von Schüssler.
28/01/2009

Germany - Deka posts profits in 2008

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Franz Waas, chairman of the board at DekaBank, announces that the management firm for the German savings banks earned profits in fourth quarter, and that it has posted a net profit of EUR90m for the year 2008 as a whole. Deka is planning to pay out an unchanged dividend of the same amount it paid in 2007. It also states that liquidity currently totals EUR40bn.Meanwhile, Waas states that Deka has ambitions to become the second-largest actor in Germany in derivatives trading, after Deutsche Bank. The manager also emphasizes that three of the largest Deka funds and six of the best-selling Deka funds in 2008 use derivatives. As derivatives are produced in-house, this further reduces costs by eliminating commisions to third parties. Derivatives contributed EUR130m to results in 2008, says Waas.
28/01/2009

Europe - ?Asset management firms are still too expensive,? says J. Little (BNY Mellon AM)

At a presentation in Paris on Tuesday evening, Jon Little, vice president of BNY Mellon Asset Management, said he expects the process of concentration in asset management to continue throughout the world. In his opinion, prices have not yet fallen enough for the United States-based firm to be completely interested in some potential takeover targets. The problem, says Little, is that European banks, and others, are afraid that valuations have stayed too close to their 2007 levels. Often, asset management firms which have been sold so far, particularly in cross-border deals, have been firms which were punished for not getting through the worst of their troubles by the end of the year. Since these firms were still sold at too high a price, BNY Mellon AM will wait a little longer.
28/01/2009

France - BNY Mellon to set up shop in Paris

BNY Mellon has applied to the AMF and other French authorities for the necessary licenses to open an office in Paris, and is awaiting approval from the regulator. The American firm is hoping to obtain a complete banking license eventually. When the time comes, explains Paul Feeney, director of international distribution at BNY Mellon Asset Management, the group may set up a team of nine people, with four members dedicated to asset management activities, three of whom would be based in Paris, and one of whom would travel back and forth between Paris and London.
28/01/2009

Switzerland - T. Rowe Price opens an office in Zurich

T. Rowe Price Global Investment Services Limited has opened its fifth European office since 2001, in Zurich. The office is a branch of the London affiliate, and will be directed by Josef Bossi, senior business development executive. Bossi left State Street Global Advisors in December 2008.
28/01/2009

France - Fortis launches a bond horizon fund

Fortis Investments on Monday 26 January launched a Euro zone investment grade bond fund that matures in 2013, which is limited to 20 institutional investors in France. The fund, which already has more than EUR20m under management, is invested in 60 positions, and excludes asset-backed securities (ABS), subordinated debt, and leverage, according to a statement.
28/01/2009

Luxembourg - Assets in funds fell again in December

In December, collective investment organisms and Luxembourg-based specialised investment funds once again posted losses, of EUR44.584bn, of which EUR34.347bn were due to declining financial markets, and EUR10.237bn due to redemptions, according to the most recent statistics from the Financial Sector Surveillance Commission (CSSF). At the end of the year, total assets in funds came out at EUR1.559653trn, compared with EUR1.604237trn as of 30 November 2008 (-2.78%).
28/01/2009

France - Tocqueville rolls out a risk control software system

CID Consulting has announced that its STAR© (System for Tracking of Analysis and Reporting) software package for ongoing control of operational and non-compliance risks at financial establishments is now in use at Tocqueville Finance, after six months of testing.CID Consulting is planning to extend the functionality of the software package in April, with the addition of a module that provides automatic control of regulatory and statutory ratios for mutual funds. The versions of STAR currently available are aimed at management firms and brokers. The brokerage firm is also planning to offer an adapted version to banks and custodians and account maintenance providers in the near future.
28/01/2009

United States - Another baby Madoff?

Nicholas Cosmo, head of the management firm Agape World, has turned himself in to authorities in New York, who say he is suspected of setting up a Ponzi pyramid scheme similar to the one created by Bernard Madoff, but worth only USD380m, Die Welt reports, citing United States media. Agape World, which promised investors returns of 14%. in two and a half months, was founded by Cosmo in 2000, shortly after his release from prison at the conclusion of a sentence for fraud.
28/01/2009

United States - A plague of Ponzi plans

The US authorities are finding a growing number of financial frauds which echo the Madoff scheme, the Wall Street Journal reports. At least six more cases worth several millions of dollars have emerged this month, most of which are Ponzi-type pyramid schemes.
28/01/2009

United Kingdom - Threadneedle builds up ABS unit

Threadneedle announced on Tuesday that it has recruited Andrew Bristow (ex Goldman Sachs) as executive director in charge of investment in asset-backed securities (ABS) in the fixed income division in London. In addition, the British management firm has recruited a team of five people from Babcock and Brown in Australia, along with whom it will also take on the management of a portfolio worth AUD1.8bn under an advisory contract. The team, which includes professionals with an average of ten years of experience, will be jointly directed by Steven Fleming and Ashley Burtenshaw.
28/01/2009

Germany - Wallenberg releases African All Stars fund

Wallberg Kapital has announced that its Luxembourg-registered fund Wallberg African All Stars, managed by Peter Leger at the South African management firm Coronation Fund Managers, has now been granted a sales license in Germany, after receiving licenses in Luxembourg and Austria. The product is distributed by Fundmatrix.
28/01/2009

France - LCF Edmond de Rothschild Banque posts limited losses in 2008

In a year which brought ?dislocation in nearly all asset classes? in 2008, La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rotschild Bank has suffered from negative market effects, which removed 21.5 basis points from its assets under management, which fell from a total of 23.5% to EUR22.6bn at the end of December. Net capital outflows represented only about EUR600m, due to the fact that private management, which has a ?very strong synergy with asset management,? according to Samuel Pinto, deputy CEO, posted net inflows of EUR800m, for a total of nearly EUR9bn at the end of the year. Equities and diversified management, for their part, declined to EUR7bn from EUR12bn at the end of 2007, with redemptions of only 5% of assets under management in equities funds. In multi-management, assets as of the end of the year totalled EUR2.74bn, compared with EUR4.01bn twelve months earlier, of which EUR2.09bn, compared with EUR2.73bn, were in alternative multi-management.Pinto also emphasises the stability of assets in structured management, which increased by EUR10m for the year, to EUR2.926bn. In this area, LCF Rothschild is highly active, with the production of 100 supports which use ?simple, liquid and transparent scenarios? based on ?a rigorous selection of third-party issuers.? In fixed income and credit management, assets declined to EUR4.5bn in one year, from EUR5.4bn at the end of 2007. In private equity, finally, the group managed nearly EUR1.5bn in LBO midcaps, venture capital, life sciences, eastern European real estate, and funds of funds at the end of the year.
28/01/2009

United States - SEC thinks Madoff lied

Linda Thomsen, head of the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggested at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee that Federal prosecutors may bring charges against Bernard Madoff for lying to SEC repesentatives, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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