P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) has made two recruitments as additions to its Asian bond team, Citywire Global reveals. Jim Veneau has been appointed as the new head of credit for Asia, while Christy Lee has been appointed as a manager in the Asian fixed income team. Veneau, former chief investment officer at HSBC Global Asset Management, previously based in the United States, will be responsible for Asian credit and fixed income portfolios, and will also ensure development of the credit and fixed income strategy of Axa IM in Asia. Lee, for her part, joins Axa IM in Hong Kong from UBS Asset Management, where she had been a portfolio managing partner. She will now be responsible for the development and execution of credit strategy at AXA IM, focusing on the pan-Asian credit market.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Northern Trust is strengthening its positions in Asia-Pacific. The asset management firm, based in Chicago, on 25 February announced the opening of a representative office in Malaysia to assist its current institutional clients to develop its activities in the country and the region. It becomes the seventh affiliate of the firm in Asia. To direct the new location, Northern Trust has recruited Ariani Rustam from Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank of the country. Before joining Northern Trust, she served for 12 years in the institution where she was senior executive in charge of risk management, operations, quantitative analysis, and in the past five years, director of the External Fund Management division, in which she participated in the introduction of new asset classes to diversify the investment of reserves from the Malaysian central bank. The Asia-Pacific region already represents a major area for growth at Northern Trust. Its assets under custody have risen by 26% per year between 2008 and 2013, while its assets under management have increased by 15% per year over the past five years.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Legg Mason Global Asset Management is adding to its team in Italy with the appointment of Stefano Colombo as head of client relations, Investment Europe reveals. Before joining Legg Mason, Colombo was in charge of client service at State Street Global Advisors, after working at PwC in its division dedicated to the financial services industry, and more particularly in asset management and private banking.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Nordea has signed an agreement withBanca Popolare di Vicenza, by the terms of which the Italian bankwill distribute the 66 sub-funds of the Nordea I Sicav which arelicensed for sale in Italy, Bluerating reports.P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morgan Stanley Wealth management has announced an addition to its range of consulting services for defined contribution retirement programmes, with the introduction of a new discretionary investment programme. The new programme allows retirement heads at Morgan Stanley and Graysone to assume some fiduciary responsibilities to assist the providers of retirement plans with allocation decisions and complex selections. The providers may use Morgan Stanley models based on risk, or new target date portfolios put in place by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
BNY Mellon on February 24 announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the remaining 65% interest of HedgeMark International, LLC, a current affiliate and a provider of hedge fund managed account and risk analytic services. It has held a 35% ownership stake in HedgeMark since 2011. BNY Mellon will integrate HedgeMark’s capabilities with its Global Risk Solutions offeringsThe deal is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2009 and headquartered New York, HedgeMark assists in the structuring, oversight, and risk monitoring of hedge funds, specifically dedicated managed accounts.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a long article, the Wall Street Journal discusses the departure of Mohamed El-Erian from Pimco, where he was CEO, and seeks to paint the mood which reigns at the US asset management firm, with its founder, the emblematic Bill Gross. “A high-pressure work environment that turned less collegial over the past year, a deteriorating relationship between the two senior executives and certain decisions by Mr. Gross that confused some employees” are said to be responsible for the departure of El-Erian. In June last year, Gross and El-Erian, who had long been considered a successor, confronted each other publicly over the subject of the conduct of the founder of the firm, the WSJ reports. In November, the executive board tried to make peace between them. El-Erian was offered more power. But he announced that he would be leaving. “You can’t leave,” Gross protested. “We need you.” Some thought that the two men would eventually overcome their differences. At the beginning of this year, El-Erian agreed to work with a mediator to fin a new way of making the company work, but Gross rejected the mediator. At the end of January, El-Erian therefore announced to Gross that he had taken his decision and left. The WSJ article also relates that Gross is a very demanding boss, that the working conditions are difficult, but that the firm pays some of the best salaries in the world of asset management.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “A good year for asset management,” the chairman of the board at La Banque Postale, Rémy Weber, said at a presentation of the bank’s results. Assets under management at affiliates of the asset management unit of La Banque Postale last year rose 3.5%, to EUR150bn. Net banking proceeds are up 11.9% to EUR134m. Management costs ere stable at EUR68m, while gross operating results were up 27.2%, to EUR66m. The cost/income ratio improved by tens of basis points, to 52.7%. Net inflows at La Banque Postale Asset Management totalled over EUR900m, excluding CNP, driven by the dynamism of institutional clients and despite outflows from the retail segment. The good performance of the markets and the performance of management have also brought in a level of assets at the end of 2013 more than EUR4.5bn higher than 2012.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Investors are heading for bond ETFs in large numbers, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bond ETFs listed in the United States took in USD16bn between 1 and 21 February, according to TrimTabs Investment Research. It is expected to bring in the largest month since the launch of the first bond ETF in 2002, and double the monthly record set in May 2012 (USD84.bn). Among the ETFs which have benefited from this trend are the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF, which has more than doubled its size to USD6.3bn, after receiving USD3.8bn since the beginning of February. The Pimco 7-15 Year U.S. Treasury Index ETF has seen its assets multiplied by six after subscriptions of USD57.3m.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The bank UBS is prepared to pay EUR180m to EUR200m to the German tax authorities to avoid charges over its role in tax evasion practiced by Germans, according to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The bank “is preparing” to have to pay a sum of this order, the newspaper reports on the basis of “financial sources.” It would be “the largest penalty ever paid by a bank in Germany for complicity in tax evasion,” Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. The exact amount is subject to tough negotiations between the German authorities and the bank, the newspaper states. The regional government of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012 purchased a CD containing information on German tax evaders, some of whose money was placed at UBS in Switzerland. In total, about CHF20bn in untaxed assets may have been placed by Germans with UBS, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As part of the trial of four former employees of Bernard Madoff, his former secretary on Monday declared, in her own defence, that she considered the disgraced financier a “big brother” to her and that she granted him such trust that she never questioned his instructions, the Wall Street Journal reports. Annette Bongiorno, who worked with the fraudster for 40 years, considered him her “hero” and never imagined that he was orchestrating a massive fraud. The secretary said she learned everything from Madoff and was therefore not surprised that she often had to backdate documents.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Carl Vine, former managing director of UBS and SAC Capital Advisors, has teamed up with the firm Dymon Asia Capital in Singapore to launch a global long/short equity hedge fund, Bloomberg indicates. The fund will primarily invest in the Asia-Pacific region. The management of the fund will be assured by a team led by Vine based in Oxford. Dymon Asia Capital will provide the infrastructure for the fund. The product will have USD150m in assets at start, and does not plan to accept subscriptions beyond USD500m, according to Bloomberg.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Robeco has merged its natural resources and infrastructure equities funds into a single fund specialised in trends in global growth, Citywire reports. The new fund entitled Robeco Global Growth Trends Equities will be managed by Henk Grrotvels and Marco van Lent.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Invesco Real Estate has officially announced the recruitment of Etienne Dupuy as director for Europe of asset management (see Newsmanagers of 18 February 2014). He will be based in Paris, alongside Paul Joubert, director for Europe of transactions, and will be responsible for leading valuation projects for European assets, and will oversee a team of 16 asset management and real estate professionals located in 6 European countries. In this role, he joins the Investment Committee as well as the Executive Board Europe.
Robeco a fusionné ses fonds ressources naturelles et actions infrastructures en un seul fonds spécialisé sur les tendances de la croissance mondiale, rapporte Citywire. Le nouveau fonds s’appelle Robeco Global Growth Trends Equities et sera piloté par Henk Grootveld et Marco van Lent.
BBVA AM et Bankinter Gestión de Activos viennent d’enregistrer auprès de la CNMV, le régulateur espagnol, deux nouveaux fonds de gestion passive, révèle Funds People. Ainsi, Bankinter lance le fonds Bankinter Renta Semestral 2019, dont le portefeuille sera composé à 95 % de dette émise par les Etats de la zone euro ou les Communautés autonomes et à 5 % en liquidité. Ce véhicule pourra également investir en obligations privées ou publiques d’émetteurs de l’OCDE ayant une notation minimale de BB- ou identique à celle de l’Espagne.Pour sa part, BBVA lance le fonds BBVA Bonos Plazo VII, qui investira dans la dette émise par l’Espagne (initialement à hauteur de 96,6 %) et en liquidité. Si nécessaire, le véhicule pourra également investir dans des dettes émises par les Etats de la zone euro ou les Communautés autonomes, ainsi que dans des dettes privées en euros d’émetteurs de l’OCDE.Le montant initial d’investissement est de 500 euros pour le fonds de Bankinter et de 600 euros pour celui de BBVA. Les commissions de gestion sont fixées à 0,58 % pour le produit de Bankinter et à 0,85 % pour celui de BBVA.
Le gestionnaire d’actifs GAM vient d’enregistrer sur le marché espagnol, en tant que compartiments de sa Sicav luxembourgeoise GAM Star (Lux), deux nouveaux fonds de performance absolue, l’un centré sur les pays européens et l’autre sur les pays émergents, dévoile Funds People. Le premier fonds, baptisé GAM Star (Lux) European Alpha C EUR et qui compte un historique de plus de 10 ans, investit ainsi dans les actions des pays européens libellées en euros. Géré par Gianmarco Mondani, Roberto Cantaluppi et Paolo Longinotti, ce véhicule combine des stratégies long/short avec une approche bottom-up. Le deuxième fonds, GAM Star (Lux) Emerging Alpha C Euro, est orienté exclusivement sur les actions des pays émergents et est géré par Enrico Camera et Ian Cartmill. Actuellement, le portefeuille est principalement exposé au Moyen-Orient (6,27%), à l’Europe de l’Est (4,95%) et sur Taiwan (3,32%).
La «silver économie» (activités liées au vieillissement) s’est enrichie d’un fonds d’investissement sectoriel, rapporte L’Agefi. Un premier tour de table pour ce fonds de capital-investissement de 42 millions d’euros, a été réalisé auquel ont contribué Bpifrance (premier souscripteur à hauteur de 10 millions), les organismes de prévoyance et de protection sociale Klesia, Malakoff Médéric, Ircem Mutuelle (5 millions), Ocirp, Réunica, Humanis et Harmonie Mutuelle. Les instigateurs du projet espèrent atteindre 100 millions, voire légèrement au-delà, dans les douze mois. Géré par Innovation Capital (ex-CDC Innovation), le fonds entend investir entre 2 et 10 millions d’euros dans dix à quinze sociétés innovantes réalisant jusqu'à une dizaine de millions d’euros de revenus.
L’Etablissement de retraite additionnelle de la fonction publique (ERAFP) a publié sur son site la liste des marchés conclus par l'établissement en 2013 et établie dans les conditions définies par l’arrêté du 21 juillet 2011 pris en application de l’article 133 du code des marchés financiers.On y retrouve les traditionnelles sélections d’entreprises d’investissement pour l’attribution de mandats de gestion financière. Par exemple, Robeco AM, Natixis AM et Fundlogic ont été retenus pour un mandat portant sur des actions cotées de moyennes et grandes capitalisations Etats-Unis dans le cadre d’une gestion active ISR non benchmarkée.Mais on y apprend également que la société Ethifinance a été sélectionnée pour la formation des administrateurs de l’ERAFP sur la gouvernance, le contrôle interne et la déontologie. Ou encore que deux agences de conseil en vote aux assemblées générales ont été sélectionnées, Proxinvest pour l’analyse des AG de sociétés françaises, ISS pour l’analyse des AG de sociétés internationales On observe aussi que la société Fractales a été retenue pour la sélection d’un outil de gestion actif-passif et la mise en place d’un modèle ALM pour un régime de retraite par capitalisation. Et l’ERAFP a également retenu deux prestataires pour son assistance juridique, le cabinet d’avocats en droit public Adden, et le cabinet d’avocats d’affaires Allen & Overy. Mais l’objet du marché le précise bien : il s’agit d’une assistance «ponctuelle"…
La hryvnia poursuit sa chute mercredi et a enfoncé le seuil des 10 contre un dollar. La devise ukrainienne traitait mercredi midi autour de 10,25 contre le billet vert, soit une chute de plus de 5% par rapport au cours de clôture de la veille. Vendredi, avant la chute de Viktor Ianoukovitch, la hryvnia s'échangeait à 8,95 contre un dollar. Les obligations ukrainiennes libellées en dollar, qui avaient connu un rally lundi, connaissent également leur deuxième jour de baisse.
Le bas niveau de l’inflation en Suède rend possibles de nouvelles baisses de taux dans les prochains mois, selon le compte rendu, publié mercredi, de la dernière réunion monétaire de la Riksbank. Le vice-gouverneur Per Jansson a précisé qu’il ne voterait pas en faveur d’un relèvement des taux tant que le taux d’inflation annuel, mesuré par l’indice CPIF, ne serait pas revenu à plus de 1,5%. Il est tombé à 0,4% en décembre, bien plus bas qu’attendu.
L'économie espagnole est en bonne voie d’atteindre une croissance de 1,0% en 2014, un rythme meilleur que celui que Madrid anticipait jusqu'à présent et qui devrait permettre au pays de renouer avec les créations d’emplois pour la première fois en six ans, selon le président du gouvernement Mariano Rajoy. Dans son discours annuel sur l'état de la nation devant le Parlement, il a également déclaré que la croissance devrait s’accélérer en 2015. Les prévisions 2014 du chef du gouvernement espagnol sont conformes à celles que la Commission européenne a publiées hier également.
LBP AM accuse 2,4 milliards d’euros de sorties nettes en 2013, du fait des retraits nets sur les contrats d’assurance vie CNP, dont elle assure la gestion, et de la décollecte nette sur ses fonds destinés au grand public. Elle a collecté auprès des institutionnels et des entreprises.