Amundi delivered a further improvement in results in 2013. Its full-year net income Group share was 444 million euros, an increase of 5.2% compared with 2012. Revenues increased by 3.0% over the year while operating expenses increased by 2.3%. The cost/income ratio therefore stood at «a continued highly competitive level» of 54.6% and 52.6% in the fourth quarter. Net income Group share was up 5.0% for the full year to 325 million euros. The asset management owned by French banks Crédit Agricole and Société Générale recorded net inflows in all customers segments, except for the French retail networks. Amundi attracted net inflows of 10.3 billion in 2013, including 12.7 billion euros from institutional investors and 4.8 billion euros from the international networks, driven by the Asian joint ventures. Lastly, third party distributors delivered net inflows of 2.8 billion euros, excluding money market funds. Net outflows across the French retail networks totalled 9.9 billion euros for the full year, lower than in 2012 with a sharp slowdown in the fourth quarter (-0.3 billion euros). Amundi’s share of this market increased by 0.3 percentage point over the year to 26.9%. Total assets under management amounted to 777.1 billion euros compared with 739.6 billion euros at 31 December 2012 (including the Asian joint ventures at 100%), an increase of 5.1%. This figure includes the consolidation of US company Smith Breeden, acquired in the third quarter of 2013 with its 4.7 billion euros of assets under management, and a positive market and currency effect of +22.4 billion euros. By asset class, inflows came mainly from long assets (+9.1 billion euros) while money market assets held up well and ended the year slightly positive, at +1.2 billion euros in a contracting market.

Axa IM, which has placed its first CLO since mid-2006, is planning to repeat the experience this year, although it may have to wait for some regulatory questions to be resolved. “Our objective is to work on two new US transactions for about USD400m in 2014,” explains Jean-Philippe Levilain, head of the structured financing team at Axa IM in the United States.

Santander Private Banking has recruited four people, Bluerating reports. In Brescia, Ivan Rodari and Mauro Vai have joined the team, from Banca Aletti, while in Milan, Annamaria Zotti and Lorenzo Cappello join from Unipol Banca.

The shareholders’ meeting at which the new chairman of Assogestioni, the Italian assocation of asset management professionals, will be named, will be held on 26 March, Bluerating reports. He will succeed Domenico Siniscalco, who resigned in November. Since then, his functions have been temporarily reassigned to vice-president Giordano Lombardo, chairman of Pioneer Investment Management.

The administration services provider TMF Group has acquired the 49% of capital in Custom House Global Fund Services, a financial services provider for the alternative management sector, according to a statement released by TMF Group. TMF Group will be able to develop activities in the alternative management sector, including the private equity and real estate sectors. Assets under administration at TMF Group will now total nearly USD40bn.

For Islamic finance, new prospects are opening now in North Africa, where regulatory changes are creating a favourable environment for growth in the sector, Standard & Poor’s states in a study published on 18 February entitled “Islamic Finance Could Make Inroads Into North Africa.” However, the growth of this asset class remains limited in this region, where it has yet to prove its added economic value. The competitiveness of Islamic banking products, compared with their conventional counterparts, will be one of the major determining elements in the success of these products in North Africa. After the Arab Spring, the importance of running deficits and a drop in conventional sources of financing, due to more difficult access to finance markets, have led the governments of countries concerned to examine the possibilities offered by Islamic finance. Standard & Poor’s is following these developments in the countries of North Africa, where it rates banks: Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. These countries have recently takes mesaures to support the growth of Islamic finance. Tunisia and Egypt have set up new regulatory frameworks to issue Sukuk in 2013. Tunisia will issue one Sukuk, aims to attract a new category of investors. In January 2014, the Moroccan Council of Ministers passed a legal framework for Islamic banking operations, forming the foundations for the development of Islamic finance activities.

Marshall Wace has become one of the top five European hedge funds by the amount of money they have made since launch, a new study by LCH Investments cited by Financial News shows. The top of the rankings is Alan Howard, the founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management. Its flagship fund has made a net gain of USD17.5bn since its launch in 2003. The second is Lansdowne Partners, followed by Egerton Capital and TCI.

BNY Mellon has recruited Imad Abukhlal as its new head for the Middle East and Africa for its asset management unit, Cityire global reports. He joins from Western Asset Management. Abukhlal will be based in Dubai, and will report to PeterPaul Pardi, CEO for asset management in Europe and the Middle East and global head of distribution at BNY Mellon Investment Management.

The months are lining up for Spanish asset management firms. According to data released by Inverco, the Spanish association of asset management funds, spanish funds posted a net inflows of EUR3.66bn in January 2014. In the past 13 months, net subscriptions total EUR26.72bn. Driven by this positive dynamic, assets under management increased 2.6% compared with December 2013, or EUR4bn, to EUR157.89bn as of the end of January 2014. Since December 2012, assets have risen 29%, or an increase of EUR35.57bn. Meanwhile, Sicavs have risen more modestly, by 0.9% of assets, to a total of EUR27.57bn. Overall, taking into account real estate funds and firms and collective investments in foreign firms, global assets on the Spanish market total EUR255bn, up 1.7%.

The hedge fund sector index calculated by Credit Suisse is down 0.29% in January, after growth of 1.19% in December, according to estimates released on 18 February. Half of the strategies on the index finished the month of January in the red, including managed futures (-3.42%) and emerging markets (-2.27%). Convertible arbitrage shows gains of 2.09%, after 0.54% in December, while bond arbitrage is up 1%, after 0.18% in December. The underlying Multi-Strategy index has gained 0.81% in January, after performance of 1.63% in December.

Growing fears of a hard landing for China’s economy have further marginalized emerging market equities. But investors have sent a clear signal that sentiment toward developed world equities remains strong, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for February. An overall total of 222 panelists with US$591 billion of assets under management participated in the survey from 7 February to 13 February 2014. A growing proportion of investors – 46 percent in February – say that a China hard landing and commodity collapse represents the biggest tail risk to the global economy. That figure compares with 37 percent in January and 26 percent in December. Is there a causal link? At any rate, belief in global economic growth has moderated. A net 56 percent expects the global economy to strengthen in the coming 12 months, down 19 percentage points from a net 75 percent last month. Global equity allocations are down; a net 45 percent of asset allocators say they are overweight equities, down from a net 55 percent in January. Average cash balances have increased to their highest level since July 2012 of 4.8 percent of portfolios, up from 4.5 percent. But regional data shows that concerns are focused on Global Emerging Markets (GEM), while optimism towards Europe and the U.S. remains strong. Allocations to GEM have reached a record low with a net 29 percent of asset allocators underweight the region. At the same time, a record net 40 percent of the global investor panel says that the eurozone is the region they most would like to overweight in the coming 12 months. U.S. equities are becoming more popular – a net 11 percent of asset allocators are overweight the U.S., up from a net 5 percent a month ago. “Investors remain firmly bullish towards developed markets and Europe in particular. But we would caution that current valuations in Europe already fully price in the region’s growth outlook,” said John Bilton, European investment strategist.

The Amundi group and the smart beta index provider ERI Scientific Beta on 18 February announced that they are signing a strategic partnership which will combine the expertise of ERI Scientific Beta in the development of smart beta indices and the expertise of Amundi in the replication of indices and ETF construction. The partnership will include the construction of smart beta passive investment solutions and their promotion to a wide range of institutional clients. The range has been developed on the basis of the «Smart Beta 2.0” approach, which allows for smart beta indices to be designed as risk control instruments within a multi-smart beta allocation.

The California-based asset management group Pimco (Allianz) would like to buy a portfolio of real estate loans totalling EUR4bn from the Northern Irish national asset management association, SWF Institute reports. Several institutional actors have expressed an interest in this portfolio, which has led NAMA to publish a statement indicating that investor enquiries in relation to the portfolio will be examined on a case-by-case basis. However, the Pimco initiative is not fortuitous. The asset management firm has recently added to its staff in the European bond sector, including the real estate loan sector.

ERI Scientific Beta (an emanation of the Edhic-Risk institute) on 18 February announced that it is signing a partnership with Morgan Stanley, to offer innovative Smart Beta strategies to its institutional clients. The partnership will allow Morgan Stanley to deeply analyse the performance and risks of all Scientific Beta indices, and also offers a way to develop indices using the full Scientific Beta range on the platform http://www.scientificbeta.com/. ERI Scientific beta hopes to position itself as the top provider of a smart beta platform to help investors to understand and invest in advanced smart beta equity strategies.

Cheyne Capital Management, a London-based alternative asset mangement firm with USD6.5bn in assets under management, has launched a new fund dedicated to real estate debt. The vehicle, entitled Cheyne Real Estate Credit Holdings Fund III (CRECH III), is intended to “capitalise on the ongoing dislocation on European real estate debt markets and to meet growing demand for real estate financing,” the firm says in a statement. Like the first two funds of the same nature, CRECH III will invest in European “core” real estate markets, specifically the United Kingdom and Germany, via a wide range of instruments (CMBS, senior loans, mezzanine loans, equities and special situations). The team dedicated to real estate at Cheyne Capital Management currently manages over USD2bn in public and private funds.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) is adding to its range of SPDR ETFs. The US asset management firm has launched a new short maturity bond exchange-traded fund (ETF) entitled SPDR Barclays 0-5 Year Sterling Corporate Bond Ucits ETF. The vehicle, which is available for trading on the Xetra platform from Deutsche Börse, allows investors to participate in the performance of corporate bonds denominated in pounds sterling. The underling index of the ETF includes businesses which operate in the industrial, utility and financial sectors, with a maturity of up to 5 years. Only investment grade bonds are included, and the composition of the index is reviewed every month.

A new study of the consequences of a prohibition on commissions and kickbacks received by financial advisers who sell investment products in the major international financial markets highlights the need for greater transparency for investors. The study, “Restricting Sales Inducements: Perspectives on the Availability and Quality of Financial Advice for Individual Investors,” covers efforts by international regulators and legislators to improve the quality of financial advising for investors. It also deals with the solutions proposed or implemented by regulators to palliate the problem of abusive sales and to explore future scenarios of business models for the industry. It finds that in the opinion of 70% of those surveyed, the poorly adapted character of distributor remuneration structures biased in favour of sales volumes or specific products, represent the main case of abusive sales. The three most popular solutions to combat abusive sales which do not involve a prohibition on commissions and kickbacks are the following: 1. Introduce precise standards for the presentation of fees to investors 2. Revise commission structures to remove those which are related to volume sales (progressive commissions) 3. Set uniform commission rates (a percentage of management fees) for all products in a single category

The Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corp. is selling its stakes in energy and commodities, in an effort to profit from the rising US and European economies, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last year, the USD600bn fund sold shares in energy companies totalling over USD1.5bn. In addition, it is planning to sell its directly-held stakes in some properties such as oil sand projects. At the same time, the fund is planning to transfer its North American base to New York (it is currently in Toronto) and to extend its presence to Europe. It is also taking positions on US and European businesses.

Pioneer Investments is launching two non-directional funds with daily liquidity. They are the Pioneer Funds – Long / Short Global Bond, which invests in all bond markets, and the Pioneer Funds – Long/Short Opportunistic Credit, which invests in the credit markets. The two Luxembourg-registered funds are managed by Thomas Swaney, head of non-directional bonds in the United States, and Benjamin Gord, portfolio manager in the same team. The products come as additions to existing Absolute Return Bond products, co-managed by Tanguy Le Saout and Cosimo Marascioulo. The “Absolute Return Bond” strategy, which has been available since 2010 internationally, is now available in the United States.

Le spécialiste de l’investissement et du trading en ligne Saxo Banque a annoncé le 18 février la nomination de Christopher Dembik en qualité d’analyste financier.Diplômé de Sciences Po Paris et de l’Institut d’Economie de l’Académie des Sciences de Pologne, Christopher a été assistant à la Mission Economique de l’Ambassade de France en Israël avant de prendre, en 2008, la direction du site d’informations et d’analyse du marché des changes Forex.fr qu’il a développé pour devenir un acteur de premier plan du trading Forex en France.

CM-CIC Asset Management a enregistré l’an dernier une croissance de son encours de 1,6 % sur le marché français, en passant à 58,7 milliards d’euros. Dans son rapport annuel pour 2013, le CIC indique que cette progression s’explique notamment par la collecte de 525 millions d’euros de la société de gestion sur les actifs peu risqués. Par ailleurs, la part relative des encours en OPCVM actions est passée de 8,9 % à 10,4 % du total.En matière de développements au sein de la classe d’actifs «actions», l’ensemble de la gamme « Mid Cap » a crû de 48 % en 2013, pour représenter 153 millions d’euros. Deux fonds y ont été redimensionnés et renommés selon les termes de la société : Union Entrepreneurs et Union Mid Cap. En outre, deux fonds PEA PME ont fait leur apparition : Union PME ETI actions et Union PME ETI diversifié. Enfin, la gamme «Europe thématique» s’est enrichie d’un fonds Union Europe Rendement dont les encours ont augmenté de 65 % (191 millions d’euros).Côté taux, CM-CIC AM a lancé en fin d’année sur le marché obligataire Union Obli High Yield 2018, qui combine des titres à haut rendement et une gestion à maturité ‘fondante’. Pour leur part, les nouveaux fonds à formule ont permis d’enregistrer une collecte globale de 363 millions d’euros. Enfin, le rôle de prestataire comptable de CM-CIC AM s’est également accru avec la valorisation de 1018 OPCVM internes et externes (dont 332 pour 79 sociétés de gestion externes), note la société de gestion. Au final, le chiffre d’affaires s’est élevé à 216 millions d’euros et le montant des commissions versées à l’ensemble des réseaux placeurs à 160 millions d’euros.

Amundi poursuit sa marche en avant. En 2013, la société de gestion d’actifs, filiale commune du Crédit Agricole et de Société Générale, a dégagé un résultat net de 444 millions d’euros, en hausse de 5,2 % par rapport à 2012. Le résultat net part du groupe s’établit, pour sa part, à 325 millions d’euros, soit une hausse de 5 % sur un an. A l’issue de l’exercice écoulé, son produit net bancaire a connu une progression de 3 %, à 1,43 milliard d’euros. L’an dernier, Amundi a connu un «très bon niveau d’activité», souligne le groupe Crédit Agricole dans un communiqué. De fait, sur l’ensemble de l’exercice 2013, sa collecte nette ressort à 10,3 milliards d’euros. «La collecte est positive sur tous les segments à l’exception des réseaux France», nuance le groupe bancaire. Dans le détail, la collecte nette atteint 15,4 milliards d’euros auprès de la clientèle institutionnelle, des corporates et des distributeurs tiers tandis que les souscriptions nettes s’élèvent à 4,8 milliards d’euros dans les réseaux internationaux, «portés par le dynamisme des joint-ventures asiatiques», précise Crédit Agricole. En revanche, les réseaux en France accusent une décollecte nette de 9,9 milliards d’euros sur l’ensemble de l’année 2013. «Sur ce marché, Amundi a vu sa part de marché augmenter de 0,3 point de pourcentage sur un an pour atteindre 26,9 %», observe toutefois Crédit Agricole.Grâce à cette bonne dynamique en matière de collecte, à l’intégration de la société américaine Smith Breeden au troisième trimestre 2013 (+4,7 milliards d’euros d’encours) et à un effet marché et change positif à hauteur de 22,4 milliards d’euros, les actifs sous gestion d’Amundi s’élèvent à 777,1 milliards d’euros fin 2013 contre 739,6 milliards d’euros fin 2012, soit une progression de 5,1 % en l’espace d’un an.Sur l’ensemble de l’année 2013, après deux années de pertes, le groupe Crédit Agricole a dégagé un bénéfice net de 5,1 milliards d’euros tandis que la structure cotée, Crédit Agricole SA, a enregistré un bénéfice net de 2,5 milliards d’euros.

La SPGP accélère le rythme de ses recrutements. Le 18 février, la société de gestion a ainsi annoncé l’arrivée de trois banquiers «expérimentés» afin d’étoffer son département de gestion privée. De fait, Pierre-Romain Gorot rejoint la société de gestion pour prendre la direction de cette entité. Après avoir commencé sa carrière en gestion de portefeuilles chez Oddo Pinatton en 1996, il a ensuite été nommé directeur associé d’IPEN Group avant d’intégrer la Banque Neuflize en 2001 où il a exercé les fonctions de banquier privé. Depuis 2005, il officiait chez Rothschild & Cie Gestion où il était en charge du développement du segment des clients à haut potentiel.En parallèle, Aymeric Diday intègre La SPGP au poste de directeur de la gestion sous mandat. Après avoir débuté sa carrière chez Neuflize avant de rejoindre le département de gestion privée de Richelieu Finance en 2005, Aymeric Diday, 36 ans, a travaillé pendant sept ans pour Banque Pictet & Cie à Paris où il a développé la gestion sous mandat.Enfin, Bérengère Garand Clavel est nommée gérant privé. Précédemment, elle assurait depuis 2006 le poste de banquier privé chez Rothschild & Cie Gestion pour développer le segment dédié aux entreprises. Elle a démarré sa carrière chez Société Générale à New York au sein du fonds de gestion alternative Amber Fund, avant d’intégrer en 2003 DNCA Finance en gestion collective.

Pioneer Investments lance deux fonds non directionnels à liquidité quotidienne. Il s’agit du Pioneer Funds - Long / Short Global Bond, investi sur l’ensemble des marchés obligataires, et du Pioneer Funds - Long/Short Opportunistic Credit, investi sur le marché du crédit.Les deux fonds, de droit luxembourgeois, sont gérés par Thomas Swaney, responsable de la gestion obligataire non-directionnelle aux États-Unis, et Benjamin Gord, gérant de portefeuille au sein de la même équipe.Ces produits viennent compléter la stratégie existante Absolute Return Bond, co-gérée par Tanguy Le Saout et Cosimo Marasciulo. A noter que la stratégie « Absolute Return Bond », disponible depuis 2010 à l’échelle internationale, est lancée aux Etats-Unis.

Cheyne Capital Management, une société londonienne de gestion alternative affichant plus de 6,5 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion, vient de lancer un nouveau fonds dédié à la dette immobilière. Baptisé Cheyne Real Estate Credit Holdings Fund III (CRECH III), ce véhicule entend «capitaliser sur la dislocation continue des marchés européens de la dette immobilière et satisfaire la demande croissante pour le financement immobilier», indique la compagnie dans un communiqué.Comme les deux premiers fonds de même nature, CRECH III investira sur les marchés immobiliers européens dits «cœur», à savoir le Royaume-Uni et l’Allemagne à travers une large palette d’instruments (CMBS, senior loans, mezzanine loans, actions et situations spéciales). L’équipe dédiée à l’immobilier de Cheyne Capital Management gère actuellement plus de 2 milliards de dollars à travers des fonds publics et privés.

Marshall Wace est entré dans le top cinq des sociétés européennes de hedge funds ayant fait gagner le plus d’argent à leurs investisseurs depuis leur lancement, montre une nouvelle étude de LCH Investments citée par Financial News. Le premier du classement est Alan Howard, le fondateur de Brevan Howard Asset Management. Son fonds vedette a dégagé un gain net de 17,5 milliards de dollars depuis son lancement en 2003. Le deuxième est Lansdowne Partners, suivi par Egerton Capital et TCI.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) étoffe sa gamme de fonds obligataires court terme et enrichit sa gamme d’ETF SPDR. La société de gestion américaine vient en effet de lancer un nouvel ETF (exchange-traded fund) obligataire à maturité courte, baptisé SPDR Barclays 0-5 Year Sterling Corporate Bond Ucits ETF. Ce véhicule, coté le 18 février sur la plateforme Xetra de Deutsche Börse, permet aux investisseurs de participer à la performance des obligations corporate libellées en livres sterling. L’indice sous-jacent de cet ETF, le Barclays 0-5 Year Sterling Corporate Bond Index, comprend des entreprises évoluant dans les secteurs de l’industrie, des utilities et de la finance, avec une maturité allant jusqu’à 5 ans. Seules les obligations «investment grade» sont incluses et la composition de l’indice est revue tous les mois.Désormais, 55 SPDR ETF sont disponibles en Europe. La gamme SPDR gère aujourd’hui plus de 400 milliards de dollars d’actifs - y compris les 31 milliards de dollars d’actifs du fonds SPDR Gold Trust - dans plus de 195 ETF dans le monde.

BNY Mellon a recruté Imad Abukhlal en tant que nouveau responsable Moyen-Orient et Afrique pour son pôle gestion d’actifs, rapporte Citywire Global. Il vient de Western Asset Management. Basé à Dubaï, Imad Abukhlal travaillera sous la direction de PeterPaul Pardi, CEO de la gestion d’actifs pour l’Europe et le Moyen-Orient et responsable mondial de la distribution de BNY Mellon Investment Management.

Eri Scientific Beta (une émanation de l’Edhec-Risk Institute) a a annoncé le 18 février la signature d’un partenariat avec Morgan Stanley visant à offrir des solutions innovantes de stratégies Smart Beta à sa clientèle institutionnelle.Ce partenariat permettra à Morgan Stanley d’analyser en profondeur les performances et les risque de l’ensemble des indices Scientific Beta et offre également la possibilité de développer des indices en utilisant toute l’offre de Scientific Bera sur la plateforme http://www.scientificbeta.com/.ERI Scientific Beta espère ainsi se positionner comme le premier fournisseur d’une plateforme smart beta pour aider les investisseurs à comprendre et investir dans les stratégies actions avancées de smart beta.

Le groupe Amundi et le fournisseur d’indices smart beta ERI Scientific Beta ont annoncé le 18 février la signature d’un partenariat stratégique qui conjuguera l’expertise de ERI Scientific Beta dans le développement d’indices smart beta et le savoir-faire d’Amundi dans la réplication d’indices et la construction d’ETF.Le partenariat comprendra notamment la construction de solutions d’investissement passives smart beta et leur promotion auprès d’une très large clientèle institutionnelle.L’offre est développée à partir de l’approche «Smart Beta 2.0", qui permet de concevoir les indices smart beta comme des instruments de contrôle du risque au sein d’une allocation multi-smart beta. Amundi et ERI Scientific Beta vont organiser de concert une série de séminaires en Europe entre avril et mai 2014 afin de présenter les avantages du concept de multi-smart beta et sa mise en œuvre en utilisant les capacités d’Amundi sur les ETF et l’indexation.