Lombard Odier Investment Managers has launched shares denominated in pounds sterling compliant with the British Retail Distribution Review for nine sub-funds of the Luxembourg-domiciled Sicav, Fund Web reports. The Swiss firm has also added to its team for the United Kingdom, with the recruitment of Ricard Hanson, who will be sales support. He joins from the Swedish chamber of commerce in the United Kingdom.

GLG Partners has recruited Simon Price to work as a manager in its team dedicated to financial sector stocks, FundWeb reports. Price had previously been responsible for the financial sector and macro analysis at Occitan.

The former Threadneedle manager Quentin Fitzsimmon has been appointed as head of portfolio and investment management on the RBS Short Term Markets team, Citywire reports. Fitzsimmon had been head of government bonds and currencies at Threadneedle, which he left in 2012. He joined RBS in March this year.

The ultra-high net worth (UHNW) segment, and their advisers in the United Kingdom, claim that equities, and particularly emerging market equities, agriculture and private equity, will be the best-performing asset classes in the next few years, according to a survey carried out by the multi-family office Fleming Family & Partners, Funds Europe reports. In terms of larger trends, in the context of an abandonment of bonds in favour of equities, high net worth investors are increasingly turning to alternative assets. Another lesson of the survey is that diversification is cited by a high percentage of investors, while real estate is considered the most attactive alternative asset class by more than one in two investors.

In 2013, the consultant Scorpio Partnership has counted 60 takeovers, involving wealth managers worldwide, 28 of which took place in the United Kingom, where the Retail Distribution Review has led to a wave of consolidation, the Financial Times reports. Since 2008, 236 deals have been recorded; those represent assets transferred of USD1.770trn. A large proportion of assets have been acquired in the past 12 months, which shows that mergers and acquisitions are accelerating in the sector, the FT notes.

Blackrock has invested at least EUR10bn in companies listed on the Milan stock exchange, according to Il Sole – 24 Ore, quoting Capital IQ. It makes the asset management giant the first foreign investor in Italy. Telecom, Atlantia, Prysmian, Azimut, Banco Popolare, MPS… it is almost impossible to find an Italian company which does not count BlackRock among its 10 main shareholders, according to the Italian newspaper.

The US financial sector regulatory authority Finra on 17 December announced the creation of a committee of investors, which will be responsible for advising Finra on all regulatory or other issues which may affect individual and institutional investors. The new committee will be operational from January 2014. Finra has also announced the appointment of two new members to its board of governors: Brigitte Madrian, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School and a specialist in behavioural finance, and Luis Viciera, a professor at Harvard Business School, who is focused rather on asset allocation strategies for long-term investors.

Hedge funds are not as risky as one may think, according to a head at the US Treasury department, Richard Berner, who is responsible for the new office of financial research at the Treasury. Berner says that this provisional conclusion is based on an initial analysis of a broad battery of factors, including leverage levels at hedge funds, their risk modelling, and the difficult-to-estimate asset levels, the news agency Reuters reports. The collection of this data has been rendered possible by the Dodd-Franck law, which requires some large funds to submit confidential information to regulators, in order to help them better identify systemic risks. “These results may be provisional, but they appear to contradict the idea that hedge funds are major users of high-risk strategies,” Berner said at a press conference held by the Brookings Institution. Without prejudicing the results of work which has not yet been published, the international alternative management association (MFA), which represents primarily hedge funds, welcomed any analysis, however partial, which appears to suggest that hedge funds do not represent a systemic risk, and therefore do not need to be further regulated.

Fitch Ratings said on December 17 that the newly launched negotiable certificates of deposits (NCDs) are eligible for inclusion in the agency’s rating analysis of Chinese money market funds (CMMFs) if they meet the agency’s national scale money market fund criteria and rating considerations for CMMFs. These new instruments are currently reserved for issuance by banks approved by PBOC (as of 12 December 2013 the PBOC had approved 10 issuers) and are currently restricted to deposit-taking financial institutions, policy banks and commercial banks which are assigned an annual quota. The first issue of NCDs, totalling CNY19bn (USD3.1bn), was offered Thursday last week.

Union bancaire privée (UBP) is reportedly about to acquire the Geneva-based private bank Syz & Co, according to the Swiss magazine Bilan. The agreement in principle has already been signed. UBP already acquired the Swiss activities of ABN Amro in 2011, and of Lloyds in March this year. Assets under management at Syz totalled about CHF25bn as of the end of December 2012. At UBP, Jérôme Koechlin, a spokesperson contacted by Bilan, had no comment. The bank simply says that it is in talks with Syz to share common services. At Syz bank, the reports are refuted: “We have to date signed no agreement with this bank, nor with any other establishment elsewhere,” says Ricardo Payro, a spokesman for Syz.

Marcel B. Salzmanna was in early December appointed as head of Allianz Global Investors for Switzerland, Finews reports. Salzmanna previously served in a similar role at GMO. Before that, he was director of Invesco Switzerland. In his new role, he will aim to develop AGI’s activities on the Swiss market. He will report to Tobias Pross, managing director and head of the institutional activity of AGI in Europe.

Harcourt, the alternative boutique of Vontobel Asset Management, has launched the Pure Premium Strategy to offer liquid alternatives in UCITS wrapper. The Vontobel Fund – Pure Premium Strategy offers diversification benefits to institutional and private clients in periods of stress in financial markets. The fund, managed by Martin Tschunko, complements Harcourt’s newly created «Research-Driven Strategies» product line. The fund is actively managed and mainly invests in liquid call and put options that Harcourt believes, based on an in-house systematic analysis, represent attractive investment opportunities. The funds aim is to achieve a risk-adjusted return exceeding the three-month US-dollar LIBOR by 3% to 5%.Characteristics :Codes Isin : B: LU0971938781 I: LU0971938864 H-CHF: LU0971938948 HI-CHF: LU0971939086 H-EUR: LU0971939169 HI-EUR: LU0971939243Frais de gestion : 1,50 % pour la part retail et 0,75 % pour la part institutionnelleCommissions de performance : 10 %

As of the end of November, Vanguard had a total of nearly USD65.31bn in net inflows over 11 months, according to estimates by Morningstar. The second-largest actor in terms of net inflows was Dimensional Fund Advisors, with more than USD20.98bn, followed by JPMorgan with USD18.2bn, MFS (USD17.36bn) and OppenheimerFunds (USD15.41bn).Meanwhile, the largest net redemptions were from Pimco (USD20bn) and American Funds (USD15.7bn).In total, long-term funds posted net inflows of USD258.84bn in January-November, of which USD132.16bn were for allocation funds, while money market funds saw net outflows of USD14.33bn. Total assets in long-term funds as of 30 November totalled USD10.824trn, and money market funds totalled USD2.460trn.In terms of assets, only three firms as of the end of November had over USD1trn: Vanguard, with USD1.896trn, excluding money market funds and funds of funds; Fidelity Investments, with USD1.144trn, and American Funds, with USD1.086trn.

Investors enter 2014 optimistic about the global economy and outlook for Japanese and European equities, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey, undertaken between 6 and 12 December on a sample of 237 participants with a total of USD655bn in assets under management. The proportion of investors believing the global economy will strengthen in the year ahead has risen to a net 71 percent from a net 67 percent in November. Conviction in the global economy is far stronger than 12 months ago when a net 40 percent of the panel predicted it would strengthen. Similarly, the outlook for profits has ticked upwards month-on-month and is far stronger than the end of 2012. A net 41 percent believes global profits will improve over the coming year, compared with a net 11 percent taking that view a year ago. Preference for equities over bonds remains at historically high levels. The spread between equity overweights and bond underweights stood at 118 percentage points in December, compared with 76 points one year ago and just 19 points in July 2012. Investors demonstrated a strong preference for Europe and Japan. Global investors have increased overweight positions in Japanese and eurozone equities in the past month and indicated appetite for more, while domestic investors in each region have become more optimistic. “Weakness in the U.S. dollar next year is the biggest threat to positioning given a consensus to go long Japanese and European cyclicals,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. Investors and asset allocators have increased allocations towards banks over the past month. The net percentage of the global panel overweight banks rose to a net 17 percent from a net 12 percent in November. A net 22 percent of European respondents said they are overweight banks this month. Commodities and related stocks remain deeply unpopular. A net 31 percent of asset allocators are underweight commodities, up seven percentage points month-on-month.

With Delta Data Software Inc, the settlement agency BNY Mellon has launched a fee management service aimed at asset managers, to help them to identify which distributors are the most effective in the distribution of their funds. In other words, it allows managers to better understand the services which they receive in exchange for the commissions that they pay to broker-dealers.The service automates tasks which many asset management firms had previously been carrying out manually, explains Michael DeNofrio, head of enterprise investor services in the global financial institutions unit at BNY Mellon.

Assets in non-traditional bond funds leapt by 76% in the United States in 2013, the Financial Times reports, citing Morningstar. Since January this year, USD51.5bn have been invested in the funds, which are sold under the name “absolute return” or discretionary,” bringing assets in the category to USD119.4bn.

On 17 December, NYSE Euronext announced the admission to trading on the Paris stock exchange of a new ETF from Lyxor Asset Management, the Lyxor ETF SX7T, which replicates the Euro Stoxx Bank index, and which charges 0.30%. The ticker code for the product is BNKE.As a result, the European markets of NYSE Euronext currently list a total of 561 ETFs 651 times.

The manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG), Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), has announced that in early December, it signed a joint venture agreement with MetLife Inc. The agreement will result in an initial investment of USD238m, for a GPFG stake of 47.5% in the One Financial Center office tower in Boston (120,800 square metres). The asset management of the platform will be provided by MetLife, which has increased its stake in One Financial Center Equity LLC, an affiliate of Beacon Capital Strategic Partners V LP, from 2.5 points to 52.5%.The joint venture between NBIM and MetLife will aim to invest “over a long period” in “class A” office properties in the major United States markets.

Mutual Fund Wire reports that Bill Miller, star manager and former Legg Mason CIO, has submitted an application to the SEC for the Miller Income Opportunity Trust (LMOPX), a mutual fund which he will manage, with the assistance of his son Bill Miller IV.The fund will be launched by LMM LLC, a boutique with USD.16bn in assets in which Legg Mason controls a stake.

Vanguard has announced that John J. Granahan will at the end of this year cease to participate in the management of the Vanguard Explorer Fund, Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund - Small Company Growth Portfolio and Vanguard U.S. Discoveries Fund, which are advised by Granahan Investment Management. Granahan, aged 77, is the co-founder of the firm, which he will continue to lead. The management of the funds will from the beginning of January be provided by Gary C. Hatton and Jane M. White, respectively chief investment officer and CEO of Granahan Investment Management.

The Swedish asset management firm Optimized Portfolio Management (OPM) has closed its fund CTA Efficient Global Equity Allocation (EGEA), Realtid.se reports. The fund, launched two years ago, posted gains of 10% in 2013, but has not met with the commercial success that had been hoped for it. OPM is 50% controlled by Carnegie Investment Bank, and 50% by its founders.

David Steyn, former COO of AllianceBernstein and CEO of Gulf International Bank since January 2013, will join Aberdeen Asset Management in January 2014 as head of Americas. He will replace Gary Marshall, who has spent four years in this position, and will return to the United Kingdom, “where he will continue to play a key role in the development of the group,” a statement says.

Assets under management at the alternative asset management firm SkyBridge, based in New York, totalled USD9bn as of the end of October 2013, compared with USD7.1bn as of the end of December 2012, Opalesque reports. The fund of hedge funds Skybridge Multi-Adviser Hedge Fund Portfolios has returned 9.73% in the first 10 months of the year. Since its launch in January 2003, its performance is 7.675 per year, compared with 3.94% for the HFR Fund of Funds Composite index in the same period. Assets in the fund have increased from USD2.7bn in August 2012, to USD4.5bn in October this year, an increase of USD1.8bn in the space of 14 months.

OppenheimerFunds has announced the appointment of Arthur Steinmetz, currently chief investment officer, as chief executive officer from 1 July 2014. Steinmetz will on that date replace William Glavin, who will remain as chairman of OppenheimerFunds. From 1 January 2014, Krishna Memani, currently head of bond investment, will replace Steinmetz and will assume the roleof chief investment officer. Also from 1 January 2014, John McDonough, head of sales nationwide, is promoted to head of distribution, replacing Philipp Hensler, who has left the firm.

The German asset management firm Buss Capital GmbH & Co. KG has selected Caceis to provide it with depository services for its closed funds investing in shipping containers, managed under the new “Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch” (KAGB) regime, according to a statement released on 17 December. Buss Capital, based in Hamburg, is a leader in the market for closed funds investing in containers in Germany, with 29 FCP funds, four private placements and eight direct investments. Dirk Baldeweg, executive director of Buss Capital, says: “Our objective was to select an experienced depository to allow us to fulfil the obligations of the KAGB regime, while concentrating our resources on the management of investments. The services of Caceis corresponded to our needs.”

Promesse tenue. Comme Antoine Briant, responsable de la plateforme amLeague l’avait annoncé en juillet dernier, un nouveau mandat actions «full invested» va faire son apparition à compter du 31 décembre prochain : le mandat ISR Europe. A la différence des trois premiers qui se distinguent par des zones d’investissement distinctes (zone euro, Europe, international), ce mandat s’intéresse donc à la nature ESG de la gestion, avec l’Europe pour terrain, le Vieux Continent s'étant imposé afin d'éviter une sur-représentation d’asset managers français dans la seule zone euro, et disposer d’une bonne couverture des agences ISR, ce qui n’est pas le cas au niveau mondial. «En outre, les fonds globaux y sont rares», indique-t-on chez amLeague. Actuellement, six sociétés de gestion ont d’ores et déjà annoncé qu’elles participeraient à ce mandat : Allianz GI, Petercam, Ecofi, BNP Paribas IP, Roche-Brune et Federal Finance. Mais amLeague compte enregistrer rapidement de nouveaux candidats. Il est vrai que l’ISR présente une importance croissante auprès des investisseurs institutionnels qui ont, à ce titre, participé à la genèse de la nouvelle offre. En l’occurrence, outre le GIP suisse et l’AF2i dont des membres importants font partie du club des investisseurs d’amLeague, le FRR, l’Erafp, le groupe Humanis et la Caisse des Dépôts sont intervenus aux côtés d’amLeague et de la société Cedrus AM dans l'élaboration du cahier des charges dudit mandat. Si l’un des investisseurs a qualifié l’ISR «d'émotion», le groupe de travail a aussi insisté sur la nécessité de faire du concret. Moyennant quoi la plateforme amLeague s’est attirée les services de l’agence Sustanalytics qui, pour chaque titre de l’indice Stoxx 600, délivre une note E (environnement), S (social) et G (gouvernance). Dans ce cadre, amLeague, pour chaque portefeuille concourant au sein du mandat ISR Europe, va réaliser une moyenne pour chaque critère à laquelle la plateforme ajoute une note globale. Les notes iront de 0 à 100 et permettront naturellement de déterminer le «biais» des portefeuilles. Toujours avec la volonté de faire du concret, amLeague a fait le choix de délivrer également une information partielle portant sur les éléments entrant en ligne de compte pour l'évaluation de Sustanalytics. En l’occurrence, le groupe de travail - qui a été amené à trancher sur le sujet - a décidé de faire paraître pour chaque pilier (E, S, G), deux ‘sous-notes’. Une positive et une autre négative - Pour la question de l’environnement (E) par exemple, la première note doit souligner les efforts faits par chaque entreprise pour réduire les émissions à effet de serre. A l’inverse, la deuxième note (négative celle-là) prend en compte les incidents environnementaux dont chaque entreprise a été responsable. Pour la question du social (S), la première sous-note reflète le contrôle de la chaine d’approvisionnement de l’entreprise tandis que la sous-note négative relève les problèmes sociaux qu’elle peut rencontrer. Enfin, pour les questions de gouvernance (G), la sous-note positive prend en compte l’indépendance de la direction tandis que la sous-note négative relève des questions de gouvernance en général. In fine, toutes ces données vont permettre aux investisseurs d’effectuer des tris en dehors de la simple performance. Mais les informations en question pourront être également enrichies via des données ESG propres à chaque société de gestion. Autrement dit, une société qui utilise par ailleurs une agence de notation différente (Vigeo, Ethos, Oekom, etc) pour sa gestion ESG pourra naturellement conserver cette organisation et publier sa notation correspondante. A ce jeu, il est probable que des différences se feront jour entre agences de notation, anticipe amLeague, qui assure, par ailleurs, qu’aucun filtrage ne viendra «censurer» les portefeuilles. Des approches «best in class» ou «best efforts» pourront donc cohabiter avec des approches plus strictes, basées sur l’exclusion par exemple.

Harcourt, la boutique de gestion alternative de Vontobel Asset Management, lance le fonds Vontobel Fund – Pure Premium Strategy, qui offre une stratégie alternative liquide dans un cadre Ucits. Le fonds, géré activement par Martin Tschunko, est principalement investi dans des options liquides d’achat et de vente. Libellé en dollars, il vise un rendement ajusté au risque supérieur de 3 à 5 % au Libor trois mois en dollars. Ce fonds de droit luxembourgeois s’adresse aux investisseurs institutionnels et aux clients privés. Il complète la gamme de produits Research-Driven Strategies récemment créée par Harcourt.CaractéristiquesCodes Isin : B: LU0971938781 I: LU0971938864 H-CHF: LU0971938948 HI-CHF: LU0971939086 H-EUR: LU0971939169 HI-EUR: LU0971939243Frais de gestion : 1,50 % pour la part retail et 0,75 % pour la part institutionnelleCommissions de performance : 10 %

GLG Partners a recruté Simon Price pour travailler comme gérant dans son équipe dédiée aux valeurs financières, rapporte FundWeb. L’intéressé était précédemment responsable du secteur des financières et de l’analyse macro chez Occitan.

Dans le cadre d’une transaction sous seing privé (off-market), l’allemand Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) a acheté à Commerz Real l’immeuble de bureaux One Snowhill (24.500 mètres carrés) situé à Birmingham. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été dévoilé. L’actif est affecté au portefeuille du fonds immobilier offert au public UniImmo: Europa.Avec des immeubles à Manchester, Glasgow et à présent Birmingham, le volume d’investissements du fonds Europa au Royaume-Uni se situe à 520 millions d’euros, a indiqué Martin Brühl, directeur des investissements internationaux chez UIRE.

Old Mutual Wealth, filiale de Old Mutual, aurait engagé des pourparlers en vue de racheter le réseau de conseillers financiers Intrinsic, croit savoir Money Marketing. Old Mutual Wealth aurait même déjà transmis une offre pour reprendre la société qui, en juin 2013, avait fait l’acquisition auprès d’Aegon de Positive Solutions. Suite à cette opération, Intrinsic avait porté à près de 3.000 le nombre de ses conseillers.