L’ancienne ERNY Financial, transformée en Reality Shares Inc en juillet, a officiellement annoncé le 18 septembre le démarrage de son activité, qui se manifeste par une demande d’agrément pour trois ETF fondamentaux focalisés sur les dividendes : il s’agit de deux produits passifs, le Reality Shares Isolated U.S. Dividend Growth Index ETF et le Reality Shares Isolated Global Dividend Growth Index ETF, et d’un fonds à gestion active, le Reality Shares Isolated Dividend Growth ETF.Reality Shares est dirigée par Eric Ervin, co-fondateur, CEO et president, qui a mis sur pied en seize ans le pôle de gestion de fortune Ervin Miller cheze Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.Les autres membres de l'état-major sont Ryan Ballantyne, director of capital markets (ex-Miller Tabak et Susquehanna), Dan Janowiak, director of institutional sales (ex-Allianz Global Investors Capital), Kristi Procopio, director of marketing (ex-Bank of the Internet et BofI Federal Bank), et Tom Trivella, chief administrative officer & chief compliance officer (ex-Citadel Securities)

Le gestionnaire américain Nationwide Financial (King of Prussia, Pennsylvanie), qui gérait 54 milliards de dollars dans 108 fonds au 30 septembre, s’est fixé pour objectif d’accroître ses rentrées nettes de 18 à 20 % en moyenne sur les cinq prochaines années. Dans cette optique, il a annoncé le 20 novembre le recrutement de six spécialistes de la distribution «wholesale» pour développer les ventes de mutual funds.Il s’agit de Linc DuPree (ex JPMAM), Jane Flanigan (ex ProShares), Michael Harvey (ex Columbia), Michael Matarazzo (ex Direxion), Maryam Rusch (ex Highland Capital) et de Carla Jimenez, qui était financial advisor.

Amiral Gestion vient de nommer Benjamin Biard directeur général délégué en charge du développement et du marketing. Par ailleurs, la société de gestion a recruté Bastien Goumare en tant qu’analyste small et mid caps. Arrivé en mars 2012 chez Amiral Gestion en tant que directeur du développement et du marketing, Benjamin Biard était auparavant directeur de la distribution France de Tocqueville Finance, et ce depuis 2009. De son côté, Bastien Goumare a rejoint Amiral Gestion en tant qu’analyste en 2013. Auparavant, il a effectué plusieurs stages dans le cadre de ses études au sein des équipes de Crédit Agricole CIB, Conseil Plus Gestion et Natixis, indique un communiqué. La société de gestion compte 14 collaborateurs et gère 470 millions d’euros.

Tocqueville Finance s’engouffre à son tour dans le créneau des fonds PEA-PME. La société de gestion appartenant à La Banque Postale aura l’exclusivité de la gestion de ce type de fonds, notamment vis-à-vis de La Banque Postale Asset Management. «Il s’agit d’une création, nous partons d’une feuille blanche et non pas d’une évolution ou d’une scission d’un fonds déjà existant dans notre gamme», a indiqué à Newsmanagers Didier Roman, qui en assurera la gestion. Baptisé Tocqueville PME, le fonds sera commercialisé par le réseau de la maison mère de Tocqueville, mais aussi via la Banque Postale Gestion Privée, Tocqueville Finance Gestion Privée et bien évidemment les conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants. Le fonds a été amorcé avec dix millions d’euros venant à la fois de La Banque Postale et de la société de gestion. En pratique, Didier Roman entend s’intéresser aux titres pour lesquels cette nouvelle génération de fonds a été créé. Autrement dit, des petites valeurs dont la capitalisation est inférieure à 500 millions d’euros, représentant des entreprises dont les besoins de financement sont réels. «Nous irons jusqu'à des capitalisations de 20 millions d’euros», a précisé le gérant qui compte cependant porter une attention particulière à la liquidité du fonds, et misera sur une bonne diversification du portefeuille. Ce dernier comptera une soixantaine de lignes. D’un point de vue géographique, la France représentera la zone d’investissement principale avec 50 % à 75 % du portefeuille. Exprimé en capitalisations, cela correspond à une population de 450 titres répondant aux critères de Tocqueville Finance. Quant aux 25 % minimum restants, ils seront réservés à des valeurs européennes sachant que l’application des mêmes critères permet d’identifier plus de 2 500 valeurs chargées éventuellement de jouer un rôle d’amortisseur. Par ailleurs, Tocqueville PME pourra investir dans une poche obligataire qui pourra varier de 0 % à 25 %. La gestion n’investira pas dans des obligations non cotées et celles émises par les PME-ETI ne pourront représenter plus de 5 % de l’actif. Enfin, en matière d’encours, Tocqueville Finance ne s’est pas fixé d’objectifs précis mais assure qu’en cas de succès important du fonds, toujours pour des raisons de sécurité, il remonterait de 500 millions d’euros la capitalisation maximum à un milliard d’euros, pour élargir l’univers d’investissement. Une éventualité à ne pas négliger d’autant que le fonds doit être aussi éligible à l’assurance vie. Caractéristiques : Part I :Droits d’entrée : Non Droits de sortie : 1 %Frais de gestion : 1 %Commission de surperformance : 20 % maximum de la différence entre la performance du fonds et celle de l’indice CAC Small dividendes nets réinvestis majorée de 1 % à condition que la performance absolue du fonds soit observée sur deux exercices consécutifs. Part P : Droits d’entrée : 3,5 % maxDroits de sortie : 1 %Frais de gestion : 2,2 %Commission de surperformance : 20 % maximum de la différence entre la performance du fonds et celle de l’indice CAC Small dividendes nets réinvestis majorée de 1 % à condition que la performance absolue du fonds soit observée sur deux exercices consécutifs.

La société de gestion d’actifs quantitative Tobam vient de nommer Rudyard Ekindi au poste de directeur marketing. L’intéressé organisera et renforcera les efforts de la société pour expliquer et promouvoir les avantages de la diversification maximale auprès des investisseurs et de la communauté financière, y compris les consultants.Rudyard Ekindi sera basé à Paris et est rattaché à Christophe Roehri, directeur du développement de Tobam De janvier 2009 à août 2013, Rudyard Ekindi était directeur de la recherche pour le National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) au Royaume-Uni. Il était auparavant directeur chez Crédit Suisse Asset Management, où il travaillait en tant que gérant de portefeuille spécialisé dans les stratégies quantitatives et les investissements alternatifs.

Petercam a obtenu le feu vert pour distribuer ses Sicav luxembourgeoises Petercam L Fund en Italie, rapporte Investment Europe. Les fonds sont accessibles aux clients privés depuis le 19 novembre.

Santander a annoncé jeudi avoir conclu un accord de principe avec un fonds européen affilié à Apollo Global Management portant sur le rachat d’Altamira, la plate-forme qui gère les recouvrements de créances et les actifs immobiliers pour le compte de la banque en Espagne, rapporte L’Agefi. Les modalités financières de l’opération n’ ont pas été communiquées mais selon des sources citées par Reuters, la transaction pourrait atteindre 700 millions d’euros.

La CNMV a enregistré le 31 octobre le SSgA Europe Small Cap Alpha Equity Fund et la sicav SSgA EMU Small Cap Alpha Equity Fund, deux produits de droit français de State Streey Global Advisors (SSgA), rapporte Funds People. Ces fonds seront distribués en Espagne par Allfunds Bank.

Les fonds monétaires de la planète devraient perdre un tiers de leurs encours sous gestion l’année prochaine sous l’action combinée de la faiblesse des taux d’intérêt et des nouvelles réglementations, rapporte le Financial Times. Les réformes du secteur aux Etats-Unis et en Europe pourraient provoquer des sorties d’au moins 30 %, selon Moody’s. Les fonds de taille petite et moyenne seront les plus touchés.

Geoff Barker, un ancien économiste chez HSBC, envisage de lancer un hedge fund macro dédié à l’Asie d’ici au mois de mars 2014, rapporte l’agence Bloomberg.Le Counterpoint Asian Macro Fund sera géré par une entité mise en place par Geoff Barker en partenariat avec City Financial Investment, ce qui fait de l’ex-économiste le premier gérant basé en Asie soutenu par la société domiciliée à Londres pilotée par deux anciens cadres de Perpetual (Invesco).

Isaac Corré and Josh Astrof, two partners at the hedge fund firm Eton Park Capital Management, will leave the firm at the beginning of 2014, Financial News has learned. The reasons for their departure remain unclear.

New research from Cerulli Associates finds that consultants expect that their outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) business will comprise 18.5% of total assets in 2016, on average up from 12% at the end of 2012."Over the past decade, institutional investors have been seeking more proactive advice and ceding portfolio decision-making, as investment options have grown increasingly complex and markets have become more volatile,» Michele Guiditta, associate director at Cerulli, explains. «A number of institutional investors have opted for an OCIO arrangement, delegating oversight and decision-making for all or part of their investment portfolios.»

Quantitative asset management firm Tobam has appointed Rudyard Ekindi as head of Marketing. Ekindi will organise and strengthen efforts by the company to explain and promote the advantage of maximal diversification to investors and the financial community, including consultants.Ekindi will be based in Paris and report to Christophe Roehri, Director of Development at Tobam.From January 2009 to August 2013, Ekindi was director of research for the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) in the United Kingdom. He was previously aDirector at Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he worked as a portfolio manager specialised in quantitative strategies and alternative investments.

SF Institutional Invest GmbH, the investment asset management firm for SachsenFonds Holding GmbH, has retained the depository banking services of CACEIS for its alternative investment funds (FIA). SF Institutional Invest GmbH is specialised in the management of real estate assets and in development projects related to renewable energies in Europe. Jürgen Gobel, Managing Director de SachsenFonds Holding GmbH, comments: “Caceis has solid experience in the closed fund industry and has a lot of expertise in real estate assets. Its ability to manage issues of compliance with the AIFM direcive and its extended range of services for FIAs such as Special funds, were a determining factor in our choice.”

The US-based asset management firm Nationwide Financial (King of Prussia, Pennsylvania), which had USD54bn in assets under management in 108 funds as of 30 September, has set itself the objective of increasing its net inflows by 18% to 20% on average over the next five years. With this in mind, on 20 November it announced the recruitment of six “wholesale” distribution specialists to develop mutual fund sales.They are Linc DuPree (formerly of JPMAM), Jane Flanigan (formerly of ProShares), Michael Harvey (formarly of Columbia), Michael Matarazzo (formerly of Direxion), Maryam Rusch (formerly of Highland Capital) and Carla Jimenez, who had been financial advisor.

The former ERNY Financial, which was transformed into Reality Shares Inc in July, on 18 November officially announced that it is starting up its activities, as manifested in the application for a license for three fundamental ETFs focused on dividends: two passive products, the Reality Shares Isolated U.S. Dividend Growth Index ETF, and the Reality Shres Isolated Global Dividend Growth Index ETF, and an actively-managed fund, the Reality Shares Isolated Dividend Growth ETF.Reality Shares is led by Eric Ervin, co-founder, CEO and chairman, who over 16 years has set up the wealth management unit of Ervin Miller at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.The other members of the management are Ryan Ballantyne, director of capital markets (ex Miller Tabak & Susquehanna), Dan Janowiak, director of institutional sales (ex Allianz Global Investors Capital), Kristi Procopio, director of marketing (ex Bank of the Internet et BofI Federal Bank), and Tom Trivella, chief administrative officer & chief compliance officer (ex Citadel Securities)

Amiral Gestion has appointed Benjamin Biard as deputy CEO in charge of development and marketing. The firm is also recruiting Bastien Goumare as a small and midcaps analyst.Biard, who arrived at Amiral Gestion in March 2012 as director of development and marketing, was previously head of distribution for France at Tocqueville Finance, since 2009. For his part, Goumare joined Amiral Gestion as an analyst in 2013.The asset management firm has 14 employees and manages EUR470m.

The US SRI manager Calvert Investments (USD12.5bn in assets as of 31 October) has announced the recruitment of Michael L. Davis, who from 2009 to his resignation in November 2012 was deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Labor, before joining Prudential Retirement as vice president and head of the stable value business, as director of institutional sales. In 2006, at a time when he was working at JPMorgan Chase in asset management, Davis was appointed by Black Enterpreise magazine as one of the “75 most powerful Blacks on Wall Street.”

The New York-based private equity firm Blackstone on 21 November announced the appointment of David Calhoun as senior managing director and head of private equity portfolio operations. Calhoun, who is CEO of Nielsen Holdings NV, will become head of a team of 21 professionals responsible for deploying initiatives to create value in companies in the Blackstone portfolio, in cooperation with the CEOs of these firms.Calhoun will report to Joseph Baratta, global head of private equity.

Investec Wealth & Investment has posted net subscriptions in the period from March to September of GBP400m, bringing its assets under management to GBP40bn as of the end of September, compared with GBP40.4bn as of the end of March 2013.Investec Asset Management has also posted a decline of 5% in its assets in the six months to September, from GBP69.8bn to GBP66.2bn, despite net subscriptions of GBP1.4bn in the period.According to Fundweb, Bernard Kantor, managing director of Investec, has announced that operations which do not meet his expectations will be reviewed.

As part of its EUR1.5bn infrastructure programme put in action on behalf of its parent company Munich Re, the Munich-based asset management firm MEAG (EUR228bn) has acquired a 50% stake in the British firm Marchwood Power Ltd (MLP), which owns and operates an 842-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) located near Southampton.The transaction ran to “a small three-digit figure in millions of euros.” The vendor is ESB, an energy company based in Ireland.MEAG states that it has already invested more than EUR500m as part of the programme launched by Munich Re.

Andrew Gillan, senior investment manager on the Asia-Pacific ex Japan equity team led by Hugh Young at Aberdeen AM, and manager of the Edinburgh Dragon investment trust (GBP524.3m) in particular, has been recruited by Henderson Global Investors (HGI) as director of its Asia ex Japan equity team, Fundweb reports.The new arrival, based in Singapore, will become the lead manager on the Henderson Asia Pacific Capital Growth (GBp200M0 and the Henderson Horizon Asian Growth (GBP33m) funds. The current managers, Marc Franklin and John Crawford, will remain at the business, Franklin will assist Gilian with the two funds, while Crawford will work on absolute return mandates.

Fundweb reports that, according to a statement, Aviva Investors is planning to lay off 6% of its staff worldwide, which corresponds to about 60 people, in order to put the business in working order in time for the arrival of the new CEO, Euan Munro, in January 2014. This will not affect any funds from the British asset management firm, however.

A Japanese government working group has called on the GPIF and other public pension funds in the country to fundamentally restructure in order to improve their performance, diversify their exposure and revise their governance. The report from the working group, presented on 20 November to Prime Minister Chinzo Abe recommends that pension funds revise their investment objectives, with the objective of outperforming inflation, and thus of modifying allocations which are too exposed to Japanese bonds. Pension funds are also expected to plan to invest more over the long term, and thus to expose themselves more to high-risk assets, and thus to diversify into new asset classes, such as real estate funds, infrastructure, venture capital, private equity and commodities. The report discusses only hedge ufnds, btu according to a member of the working group, pension funds should consider other long-only allocations in high-risk portions of the bond or equity universes.

US pension fund TIAA-CREF (USD542bn) has announced a joint venture with CNP Assurances, a French insurance company, to co-invest in three retail properties in Germany.The portfolio has a gross value of USD1.2 billion (EUR924.1 million) and consists of shopping centers across Germany: PEP (Munich), Erlangen Arcaden (Erlangen) and Gropius Passagen (Berlin).TIAA-CREF acquired the assets and will manage them on behalf of the newly created joint venture. AEW Europe advised CNP Assurances on the deal.The announcement advances TIAA-CREF’s strategy to manage assets in partnership with sophisticated investors around the world. The US fund currently manages real estate investments on behalf of sovereign wealth funds and other institutions in the United States. This partnership is the first in which TIAA-CREF manages European-based properties for a joint venture, according to a press release.TIAA-CREF directly owns more than USD28.5 billion in gross assets (as of 9/30/13) of primarily high-quality properties in the office, retail, industrial and multifamily sectors across the United States and Western Europe.

Since 1 November, Petra B. Mennong has been serving as co-director of the private banking branch of J. Safra Sarasin in Frankfurt, alongside Markus A. Diekmann, the Swiss group has announced.The new recruit, who since 2011 had been head of private banking activities at Bank Vontobel in Frankfurt, will report directly to Andreas Brandy, CEO of Bank J. Safra Sarasin (Deutschland) AG.

Geoff Barker, a former economist at HSBC, is planning to launch a macro hedge fund dedicated to Asia by March 2014, the news agency Bloomberg reports.The Counterpoint Asian Macro Fund will be managed by an entity set up by Barker in partnership with City Financial Investment, which makes the former economist the first asset manager based in Asia supported by the London-based firm led by two former executives of Perpetual (Invesco).

On November 21st, Credit Suisse Group announced its programme to evolve its legal entity structure to meet developing and future regulatory requirements. This has been prepared in discussion with the Swiss regulator Finma and will address regulations in Switzerland (Banking Ordinance), the United States (the Federal Reserve’s Enhanced Prudential Standards for Foreign Banking Organizations) and the United Kingdom (Recovery and Resolution Planning), according to a press release.Credit Suisse’s legal entity structure currently consists of a global branch network, primarily used for its private banking business, and three main subsidiaries, primarily used for its investment banking business. In the future, the group will more closely align the booking of its investment banking business to the region in which it originates from a client and risk management perspective.These changes are designed to both meet future requirements for global recovery and resolution planning and result in a substantially less complex and more efficient operating infrastructure for the bank. Furthermore, Swiss banking law provides for the possibility of a limited reduction in capital requirements in the event of an improvement in resolvability which this program intends to deliver.As for Switzerland, Credit Suisse plans to set up a subsidiary for its local booked business, mainly wealth management, retal and corporate and institutional clients, as well as the product & sales hub in Switzerland.The group also intends to create a separately capitalized global infrastructure legal entity in Switzerland and a US subsidiary of Credit Suisse USA Inc. In principle, these will include all Shared Services functions.The two main operations in the UK, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd and Credit Suisse International, will be consolidated into one single entity. Non-European business will be transferred to the appropriate entities in the Americas, primarily Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and in Asia-Pacific, though the Singapore branch.The release also states that the implementation of this program is «well under way», with a number of key components to be implemented from mid-2015. Once the final legal framework is agreed, Credit Suisse plans to issue bail-in eligible debt out of the group holoding company, Credit Suisse Group AG «ton enable a single point of entry bail-in resolution strategy». .

Global money market funds will lost one third of their assets under management next year under the combined effects of low interest rates and new regulations, the Financial Times reports. Reforms to the industry in the United States and Europe may trigger outflows of at least 30%, according to Moody’s. Small and mid-sized funds will be the worst affected.

The CNMV on 11 October registered the SSgA Europe Small Cap Alpha Equity Fund and the SSgA EMU Small Cap Alpha Equity Fund, two French-registered products from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), Funds People reports. The funds will be sold in Spain by Allfunds Bank.