Le relèvement de la note du pays décidé par Moody's la semaine dernière facilitera les émissions prévues dans la prochaine quinzaine

EDF a réussi à boucler la semaine dernière son programme annuel de financement avec des émissions à 100 ans en dollar et sterling

L’institut d'émission serait prêt à intervenir sur les marchés des changes en cas de «développements extrêmes», indique quotidien nippon qui cite le gouverneur Amando Tetangco. La banque centrale s’inquiète de plus en plus de l’impact inflationniste qu’entraîne l’affaiblissement du peso sur les prix à l’importation. Le gouverneur souligne toutefois que les fondamentaux de l'économie restent solides.

Amonis, le fonds de pension belge pour les médecins, dentistes et pharmaciens dont l’encours s'élève à 1,5 milliard d’euros, a remplacé deux gestionnaires après un examen des modalités de gestion. Ce changement lui permet d'être désormais exposé à la dette des marchés émergents. Par ailleurs, les matières premières ont été soustraites du processus. Et ce ne sont pas les seules évolutions effectuées au sein du portefeuille d’Amonis. « Nous avons entamé un examen des gérants l’année dernière, a révélé à MandateWire, Tom Mergaerts, CFO, qui nous a conduit à remplacer AllianceBernstein par Quoniam (AM) pour les actions émergentes (...) ». En novembre 2013, Quoniam s’est ainsi vu attribué un mandat d’environ 75 millions d’euros. « Nous avons changé la stratégie du portefeuille. Quoniam est un gestionnaire quantitatif qui utilise une stratégie de volatilité minimale pour le mandat », a déclaré Mergaerts. Parallèlement, le fonds de pension a décidé en décembre dernier d’interrompre sa collaboration avec Goldman Sachs Asset Management, mettant ainsi fin à un mandat de 35 millions d’euros. « Ce désinvestissement n’est pas lié à un éventuel problème avec Goldman Sachs, mais plutôt avec les restrictions réglementaires subies en matière d’investissement dans les matières premières. Nous ne sommes autorisés à le faire par le biais des fonds, mais nous ne pouvons pas acheter directement des contrats à terme. Les structures d'échange de ces fonds sont coûteuses et sont gérées passivement ou avec un index amélioré. Ce mode d’investissement n’est pas très productif. Bref, la manière d’obtenir une exposition aux matières premières est trop compliquée, coûteuse et inefficace pour nous », a expliqué Mergaerts. En outre, Amonis a réalisé une étude ALM en août dernier et a décidé d’ajouter des obligations émergentes dans le cadre de sa stratégie d’investissement de diversification. « Lorsque nous avons examiné nos dix compartiments, nous avons eu une couverture mondiale pour les actions et les obligations, sauf pour les marchés émergents, où nous sommes seulement présents via un investissement actions », a déclaré Mergaerts. Le gestionnaire danois Global Evolution a reçu 40 millions d’euros en août 2013 pour investir dans la dette des marchés émergents. « Maintenant, toutes les bases sont couvertes», a conclu Mergaerts. Les primes versées au régime ont financé le nouveau mandat. En conséquence, le portefeuille comprend désormais 50% d’obligations, 3% en immobilier, 40% d’actions et 7% d’actifs alternatifs. Amonis travaille avec Quoniam Asset Management pour les actions des marchés émergents, Amphiko pour les obligations gouvernementales, AXA Investment Managers pour le private equity, Henderson Global Investors pour les actions mondiales, Cohen & Steers pour l’immobilier, Martin Currie Investment Management pour les actions japonaises, UBS Global Asset Management pour les small et mid cap et des large cap européennes en gestion passive, William Blair & Company pour les actions américaines et Global Evolution pour la dette des marchés émergents.

Changement en vue pour Dominique Carrel-Billiard passe de la filiale d’un assureur à une PME entrepreneuriale. L’ex-patron d’Axa Investment Managers de 2006 à juillet 2013 a été nommé directeur général et membre du comité de direction de la Financière de l’Echiquier, selon un communiqué envoyé lundi. Il prendra ses fonctions le 1er avril, en remplacement de Stéphane Toullieux, qui comptait 13 ans de maison. Ce dernier change totalement de secteur d’activité puisqu’il rejoint Madeve Production, une société de production audiovisuelle spécialisée dans les vidéos éducatives et fondée par son épouse, selon son profil LinkedIn. Présidée par Didier Le Menestrel, Financière de l’Echiquier revendique 7,5 milliards d’euros d’actifs sous gestion et 95 collaborateurs.

Le pôle de compétitivité Finance Innovation a annoncé la nomination de Jean-Hervé Lorenzi au poste de président. Il succède ainsi à Georges Pauget. «L’objectif clairement affirmé du nouveau Président est de renforcer le rôle de la finance au service de la croissance économique et de l’emploi et de favoriser le financement des entreprises, particulièrement des PME et des ETI», indique un communiqué. Antoine Lissowski, directeur général adjoint et directeur financier de CNP Assurances, rejoint la gouvernance du pôle en tant que vice-président.

Primonial Reima acquis auprès de Sofilo, foncière du groupe EDF, un ensemble immobilier de bureaux situé au 69-71 rue de Miromesnil à Paris 8ème, en plein coeur du quartier d’affaires de Paris. L’ensemble immobilier, composé de deux bâtiments haussmanniens mitoyens, développe une surface utile totale de 2.670 m2. Il est occupé depuis une vingtaine d’années par EDF qui a signé, concomitamment à la vente, un bail bénéficiant d’une durée ferme. Le prix de vente n’est pas dévoilé.

UBS a noué deux accords avec Murex et Ion Trading pour externaliser le gros de sa plate-forme obligataire, rapporte le Financial Times. Les analystes estiment que cela permettra à la banque de réduire ses effectifs et ses coûts.

La société d’investissements israélienne Koor Industries a cédé le reliquat de sa participation dans Credit Suisse, soit 0,23%, pour 110,5 millions de francs suisses (121,5 millions de dollars), selon le journal israélien Haaretz.Koor, dont la participation au capital de Credit Suisse avait culminé à 3,2% environ, espère dégager au premier trimestre une plus-value de 7,75 millions de dollars de cette transaction.

Adveq est un gérant zurichois de plus de 400 fonds de private equity, qui gère 5 milliards de dollars d’actifs institutionnels. Dans Le Temps, son directeur Rainer Ender revient sur le très bon cru 2013 qui s’est traduit par une hausse sensible des capitaux levés. Pour lui, c’est un signe de l’intérêt croissant des investisseurs institutionnels. Adveq est d’avis que les taux d’intérêt extrêmement bas favorisent les placements alternatifs, et l’amélioration des degrés de couverture des caisses de pension accroît leur marge de manœuvre et leur propension au risque. «Les réalisations (ventes de sociétés par entrée en bourse ou fusion) ont nettement augmenté», selon Adveq. L’expert zurichois s’attend à la poursuite de cette tendance en 2014, dans un contexte d’accélération de l’activité de fusions et acquisitions. «Mais la progression sera plus faible», prévient Rainer Ender.

La Banque Palatine, banque des PME-ETI (Entreprises de taille intermédiaire) et du patrimoine, a annoncé le 17 janvier le lancement de son offre « PEA PME-ETI », le nouvel outil d’investissement qui permettra aux entreprises cotées et non cotées de diversifier leurs sources de financement. La Banque Palatine proposera en particulier Palatine France Small Cap (code ISIN FR0000978439), un FCP élaboré par Palatine Asset Management, filiale de gestion d’actifs de la Banque Palatine. Créé en 1987 et géré depuis 14 ans par Laurent Pancé, Palatine France Small Cap est investi à hauteur de 75 % minimum en actions françaises de moyennes et petites capitalisations inférieures à 500 millions d’euros. Le fonds est composé actuellement d’une vingtaine de valeurs, sélectionnées selon une approche pragmatique qui s’appuie notamment sur l’expérience de son gérant.

What categories of equity funds performed best last year? According to the German ratings agency Scope Ratings, funds dedicated to biotechnologies have posted the best average returns, while precious metals funds have posted the largest losses. After an examination of 83 equity funds, the agency finds that funds dedicated to biotechnologies earn the bets annual returns, with earnings of 52.2%. The DekaLux-Bio Tech CF (LU0348461467) stands out in this class with returns og 57.7%. This is followed by the categories Equity Italy Small Caps and Equity Finland, with returns of 375 and 36.4%, respectively. The fund category Equity Europe, very popular with investors, has earned average returns of 19.2%. Funds dedicated to precious metals performed worst, with an average loss of 48.9% over the past year. The heaviest loss, at 62.9%, was for Stabilitas-Pacific Gold Metals + P (LU0290140358). One fund in this class, HWB Gold & Silver Plus R (U0438415993), limited its losses to 9.5%.

The week ending January 15 saw over USD21 billion flow out of money market funds as equity investors showed more energy, bidding up key developed market indexes to multi-year or record highs and helping equity funds record their biggest inflow since the fourth week of November, according to EPFR.During a week when collective flows into all Equity Funds totaled USD9.4 billion retail investors made their strongest showing since early August, with Europe equity funds absorbing over USD4 billion, Japan Equity Funds taking in another USD1.3 billion and flows into China Equity Funds hitting a 51 week high. Three-quarters of the money absorbed by Europe equity funds this week went into diversified regional funds with country fund groups dedicated to the UK, Spain and Switzerland accounting for much of the remainder. Retail investors made their strongest showing since early 4Q06, committing over USD1 billion against a backdrop of mixed macroeconomic data, growing concern about deflation and speculation surrounding this year’s ‘stress-testing’ of Eurozone banks.Bond Funds posted back-to-back weeks of inflows for only the second time since 2Q13 as commitments to US, Europe and Global Bond Funds more than offset further redemptions from emerging markets and Asia Pacific bond funds. Overall flows were only a fifth of the previous week’s USD5.2 billion as retail investors pulled money out of these funds for the 30th time in the past 33 weeks. At the asset class level flows into high yield bond funds climbed to a six week high as Europe high yield bond funds took in fresh money for the 28th straight week and funds with global mandates recorded their biggest net inflows since late July.

Christian Paris, who arrived nearly two years ago at ING IM France with the objective of reducing the proportion of money market assets as a part of “French” assets, can claim to have satisfied this first point. These assets now represent only 7% of the total. ING IM France may have paid for this with modest inflows in 2013, but it is now able to move its management expertise to long-term asset classes which are much more lucrative for the house, and more seductive to investors. This is the source of the firm's new ambitions in France.

The four US asset management firms – AllianceBernstein, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Legg Mason – have had a good year in 2013, marked by a significant rise in their assets under management, according to preliminary data published recently. The winner is Invesco, with growth of 13.23% in assets in the space of one year, from USD687.7bn as of the end of 2012 to USD778.7bn as of the end of 2013. Franklin Templeton has not been left behind, with an increase of 12.44% in its assets in one year, to USD879.1bn as of the end of 2013, from USD781.8bn as of the end of 2012. The growth is more modest at AllianceBernstein and Legg Mason. AllianceBernstein, an affiliate of the Axa group, has seen an increase in its assets under management of 4.88% year on year, to a total of USD451bn as of 31 December 2013, compared with USD430bn as of the end of 2012. Legg Mason, finally, has posted growth of 4.71% in its assets in the space of one year, from USD648.9bn as of the end of 2012 to USD679.5bn as of the end of 2013. The US firm has also announced that it is anticipating total profits of USD79bn to USD83bn for the third quarter of its fiscal year, which ended at the end of 2013.

The day after a presentation to institutional investors and private banks concerning Oddo Active Smaller Companies, a new fund which will invest in small caps and which will logiclly be eligible for SME PEA, Lorenzo Gazzoletti, deputy CEO of Oddo Asset Management, discussed the “good year in 2013” that the firm had. After net inflows of EUR600m, in addition to market effects of EUR1bn, assets under management at the firm now total EUR14.3bn. This is the third consecutive year of net inflows for the firm. However, the composition of sums collected last year was considerably different from previous years. “In 2012, 80% of the EUR400m collected were invested in target bond funds, while the rest went to equity funds,” says Gazoletti. “Last year, the proportions were inverted,” he adds. In terms of clients, Oddo Am has a virtually equivalent distribution between institutional investors (55%) and the world of distribution in the larger sense of the word: private banks, IFAs, etc. (45%). In this environment, the internalisation of investors represents an important phenomenon: 65% of net inflows last year came from foreign invetors. In terms of institutionals, “the percentage from outside France is preponderant and comes more precisely from Asia and the Middle East,” says Gazoletti. The trend is expected to become stronger: Oddo Am this year plans to participate more broadly in requests for proposals from these investors. In terms of distribution, Switzerland and Italy, where Oddo has local offices, are two particularly active countries, the manager says, while in 2014 growth is expected in Germany, where from 1 January, a new country manager has been appointed.

The wealth management division of Morgan Stanley in fourth quarter earned pre-tax profits of USD709m, compared with USD668m in third quarter 2013, and USD562m in in fourth quarter 2012, according to figures released on 17 January. The “investment management” division, for its part, has earned pre-tax profits of USD337m in fourth quarter, compared with USD300m in the previous quarter, and USD221m one year earlier. For the year as a whole, the wealth management division has posted pre-tax profits of USD2.6bn, compared with USD1.6bn in 2012. For investment management, pre-tax profits total USD984m, compared with USD590m the previous year. In the wealth management divison, assets under management which generate commissions rose by only 26% in fourth quarter, to a total of USD697bn as of the end of December. Inflows for the quarter totalled USD11.6bn. For the investment management unit, assets under management or supervised as of the end of December totalled USD373bn, compared with USD338bn one year previously. Net inflows in fourth quarter totalled USD4.2bn.

The German investment boutique Meriten Investment Management, which is owned by BNY Mellon, has announced the immediate recruitment of Thomas Herbert as chief investment officer. Herbert will succeed Uwe Fuiten, who has left the firm. Herbert previously worked for the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), where he was responsible for credit research portfolios. As of the end of September 2013, assets under management at Meriten totalled EUR24bn.

The Financial Conduct Authority on 17 January announced that it has appointed the Promontory Financial Group and Mazars to undertake an independent investigation of the treatment of business clients by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) during its period of financial difficulty. The investigation will allow evaluation of allegations of defective practices made in two reports (by Lawrence Tomlinson and Sir Andrew Large). If the supposed defective practices are frequent and systematic, the investigation will aim to determine the causes of the situation and formulate appropriate recommendations.

British investment advisers claim that most key investor information documents (KIID) are still too complex in their formulation, according to a survey carried out at the end of 2013, from 110 advisers. Most respondents, however, agree that the KIID is generally clearer and more concise than other fund documents. Since July 2013, the asset management sector will be required to offer investors information documents for UCITS funds which are formulated in “clear, succinct and comprehensible” language, and which avoid jargon. Many investment professionals have not yet been able to comply with the new requirements in Brussels.

The Financial Conduct Authority is planning to crack down on asset management firms who “grease” financial advisers with gifts or prestigious events in order to win over clients, the Financial Times reports. The regulator says that it has found instances of fund providers offering travel to advisers who were of “unreasonable value.” These very widespread practices penalise small asset management firms, which can’t afford such spending, says Gina Miller, founding partner of SCM Private, a British asset management firm. “Selecting funds is about selecting the best entertainment, and not the best advising,” she says.

Deutsche Asset &Wealth Management (DeAWM) has appointed Elke Schoeppl-Jost as chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific. She will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore, and will be responsible for leading investment teams responsible for equities, fixed income and multi-asset classes throughout the region. Schoeppl-Jost had previously been chief investment officer at BEA Union Investment in Hong Kong.

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama) has welcomed the European parliament, council and European Commission informal agreement on the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). The development means negotiations on the future of the European Financial Markets have finally been concluded after more than two years of intensive deliberations.However, the association is disappointed that insurance products have been omitted from the final agreement. And EFAMA believes that the failure to treat as equal all financial investment products means there will now be an absence of a level playing field. «While we applaud the EU for having concluded its widest reform of the European financial markets since 2007, we are disappointed that not all financial products have been treated equally», commented Peter de Proft, director general of Efama. The association now urges the European Parliament and Council to immediately restart the stalled negotiations on the review of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD II) to ensure that end investors are ultimately afforded the same level of protection and transparency across the whole range of financial products.

Assets under management at the British boutique Polar Capital as of the end of December totalled GBP7.95bn, up 80% compared with their levels at the end of March 2013 (GBP4.4bn), according to the most recent statistics from the firm. Assets under management are up 14% compared with their levels as of September (GBP6.97bn). Polar Capital states, however, that the closure of its British equity desk resulted in a reduction of GBP179m in its assets under management, and that, as a result, inflows in the quarter to the end of December are down compared with the previous quarters. In the three months to the end of December, Polar Capital has attracted a net total of nearly GBP1bn.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is making its “short-duration” bond range Euro with the launch of a new dedicated fund. The vehicle, entitled Goldman Sachs Euro Short Duration Bond Portfolio, will invest primarily in investment-grade securities and variable range short-term debt denominated in euros. Management fees will range from 0.40% to 0.80%, depending on the share purchased. Minimal investment is set at GBP1,500.

Amber Capital, a hedge fund firm with USD1.5bn in assets, has raised USD250m for a new fund to target Southern Europe, Financial News reports.

The US private equity firm Warburg Pincus has acquired a majority stake in the ETF provider Source from a group of banks including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, the Financial Times reports. The operation, organised by the former head of iShares, Lee Kranefuss, now one of the heads of Warburg Pincus, will provide Source with capital to strengthen its range in Europe, and to make acquisitions in other markets. The investment will value Source at USD300m, or 2% of assets under management (USD15bn).

Yves Perrier, CEO of Amundi, will join the board of directors at LCH.Clearnet Group next month, Financial News reports, whose information was confirmed by a spokesperson for the French asset management firm. The arrival comes as a reinforcement of the presence of client asset management firms at LCH.Clearnet on the board, which is largely composed of representatives of stock markets and investment banks.

Andbank is continuing to add to its teams in private banking. The Andorran-French group, which last year acquired the private banking activity of Inversis, has recruited Alberto García as senior private banker for its offices in Alicante and Murcia, Funds People reports. Before joining Andbank, García worked at Banco Banif for nine years as director of wealth. The appointment of García confirms the ambitions of Andbank in private banking. In October, the banking group recruited four new directors for its offices in Barcelona and Madrid.

A group of women working in the ETF sector are creating a network entitled Women in ETFs, Financial News reports. The club was created by Joanne Hill, head of investment strategy at ProShares, Sue Thompson, head of the registered investment adviser group at BlackRock, Linda Zhang, head of research at Windhaven Investment Management, Deburah Fuhr, partner at ETFGI, and Michelle Mikos, head of development at Invesco PowerShares.