The UBS group has announced the launch of a new family office activity in Australia in order to assist with the needs of high net worth clients in Australia, according to reports in several Australian publications. The initiative will include the merger of investment banking and wealth management activities at UBS in Australia, in order to cover existing clients of the bank and other prospective clients among the 50 most wealthy families in Australia.

Federal Finance, the asset management firm of French group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, and SEB Asset Management group, an asset management affiliate of the Swedish bank SEB, have formed a partnership for cross-sales, Newsmanagers has learned. This agreement will allow the French structure to sell some of its funds in Sweden and the Scandinavian firm to distribute its products in France.The alliance has recently led to an investment by the SEB private bank in Luxembourg in the Schelcher Prince Convertibles fund, a fund from the asset management firm Schelcher Prince Gestion, which is controlled by Federal Finance, said Laurent Farcy-Briant, head of sales for France and French-speaking Switzerland at SEB, and Estelle Levy, Merger-Lévis, head of international development at Federal Finance.The fund is among the ones selected by the teams at SEB to be ‘pushed’ to private banking and institutional investor clients.Once the agreement was signed, the two banks undertook a sort of ‘due diligence’ of the other firm’s product range, in order to identify products that would be likely to interest them. At the conclusion of this analysis, SEB selected the Schelcher Prince bond strategy (and thus the Schelcher Prince Convertibles fund as well as the SP Convertibles Global Europe), and the IR variable rate funds from Federal Finance, a bond management with a socially responsible side.From Federal Finance, the expertise selected from SEB was in areas which distinguish the Scandinavian asset management firm: Scandinavian equities, equities from countries of Eastern Europe, and global equity quantitative management.In both cases, the partners have selected areas of expertise which they don’t have internally, and which offer some attraction in the current context. They will make products available to their private or institutional clients via multi-management or mandates. However, they are not considering selling products over their networks.The partnership, which has been called a “win-win” by SEB and Federal Finance, will be extended to other products as opportunities arise. It may also include joint sales or marketing efforts.

The council of governors of the European Central Bank (ECB) has presented two candidates to take over as head of the future euro zone banking supervisory body, the French Danièle Nouy and the Dutch Jan Sijbrand, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. The ECB will ask the European parliament to select one of these two candidates, who are currently active as banking supervisors in their respective countries, the German newspaper continues.

Riding on the success of the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (ticker: DXJ), which has USD10.6bn in assets, largely due to USD9bn in inflows since the beginning of this year, Wisdomtree on 7 November launched the WisdomTree Korea Hedged Equity Fund (DXKW).The new ETF replicates the WisdomTree Korea Hedged Equity Growth Index; it invests in quality South Korean equities, but hedges currency risks against the won by shorting with futures contracts.The total expense ratio is 0.58%.

The financial data provider FactSet has announced that it has joined the Market Vectors ETF platform from Van Eck. Market Vectors ETFs and indices will be available on SPAR (Style Performance and Risk) and FactSheet Portfolio Analysis, a tool which allows portfolio managers to study the performance, composition and characteristics of a portfolio on an absolute basis or compared with an index. In an initial phase, bond ETFs from Van Eck covering international credit, investment grade, and high yield, will be integrated, as well as municipal bonds. Equity ETFs will be taken next.

On 7 November, Global X Funds listed the Global X Next Emerging 7 frontier ETF (ticker: EMFM) for trading on the NYSE Arca platform, with fees of 0.58%. It replicates the Solactive Next Emerging & Frontier Index from the German firm Solactive AG (basis of 100 for 22 October 2013).“Next emerging markets” exclude the BRIC countries, as well as the most developed emerging countries, which currently include South Korea and Taiwan. The index includes 21 frontier and 14 emerging countries.The underlying is composed of equities, ordinary shares, either ADR and GDR, from a selection of businesses worldwide which are domiciled in these countries, or which have their primary listing or derive more than 50% of their revenues from these countries. The equities selected have been chosen from among the largest caps on the basis of publicly-traded capital, and their weighting is then a function of liquidity.

Aberdeen AM France has had an equity type alternative multi-management mutual fund under management for five years, and has a similar “global” fund managed in London, but not on sale in France. Despite the interest for these funds by competitors, their assets are low... The deputy CEO of Aberdeen France in charge of investment, Sandra Craignou, analyzes investors' reticence, and the means that the firm is using to win them back.

The team responsible for liquidating the business bank Lehman Brothers has filed a lawsuit in New York bankruptcy court against Credit Suisse, according to the news agency Dow Jones. It accuses the bank of having inflated the losses undergone due to the bankruptcy of the US bank. The trustee is asking for the USD1.2bn sought by Credit Suisse in damages and interest to be lowered by more than USD1bn. He claims that the initial amount is exaggerated and that the claims of Credit Suisse are valid only for about USD75m. He also claims that Credit Suisse owed him CHF150m for international transactions.

Janet Squitieri, chief compliance officer and senior vice president for North America at HSBC Global Asset Management from August 2010 to September 2013, has been appointed as vice president, global head of compliance at Van Eck Global.In this role, she succeeds Joseph McBrien, who has been appointed as senior vice president & chief legal counsel.

A spokesperson for Fidelity Worldwide Investment has confirmed to finews.ch that Alfred Strebel, country head for Switzerland since 2007, will be leaving the business in 2014 to “take on other professional challenges” in asset management.His position will be taken over by Adam Lessing, head of Austria & Eastern Europe since 2010. Lessing will add these responsibilities as head for the Swiss market to his current role.

A committee appointed by the Norwegian government recommends that decisions by the Norwegisn sovereign fund (USD800bn in assets) to exclude companies or sectors for ethical reasons will be taken by the central bank of the country, the Financial Times reports. It is currently the Norwegian finance minister who takes these decisions, on the advice of an ethical board composed primarily of Norwegian professors. This system has sustained cirticism, since it leads to slow decision-making processes.

Worldwide, in the first ten months of the year Vanguard was the ETP promoter which posted the most net inflows, totalling USD51.6bn, ETFGI reports. In second place is iShares, with USD51.3bn.These actors are far ahead, as the third-largest promoter by net subscriptions was WisdomTree with USD12.8bn, just ahead of PowerShares, with USD12.6bn. In fifth place is SPDR (State Street Global Advisors) with USD9.5bn.

Axa, in sixth place with USD1.47457trn in assets, BNP Paribas, in ninth place with USD1.30399trn, Amundi, in 14th place, with USD961.24bn), and Natixis, in 18th, with USD6779.32bn, are cited by Pensions & Investment and Towers Watson in their rankings of the 500 largest asset management firms in the world as of the end of 2012, published on 11 November.The two world leaders remain unchanged compared with the end of 2011: BlackRock, with USD3.79159trn, and Allianz, with USD2.44782trn. But Vanguard, with USD2.21522trn, has stolen third place from State Street, which falls to fourth, with USD2.08622trn.Total assets as of the end of 2012 came to USD68trn, up by 8.2% year on eyar, after a decline of 3% in 2011. They are now near an all-time record of USD69trn as of the end of 2007.The study also finds that since 2002, passively-managed assets have increased by 13% per year, while the market as a whole gained only 6%.

Macquarie Group will make a cash offer of GBP500m for Scottish Widows Investment Partnership in the next two weeks, in order to push the other suitor, Aberdeen Asset Management, out of the running, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.Aberdeen AM emerged two weeks ago as the favourite for the acquisition of the Lloyds asset management affiliate. But plans by the Scottish firms to issue shares to Lloyds to finance the acquisition reduced the attractiveness of the offer, and the British banking group is continuing talks with Macquarie for a cash offer.Sources familiar with the matter say that Lloyds will take a decision on the sale of SWIP by 22 November.

According to reports in Investment Week, Chris Rice, who managed European equity funds at Cazenove, has founded Sanditon Asset Management with his predecessotr Tim Russell, who left Cazenove in July 2011. Pending approval by the FCA, they are planning to launch a long-only fund and a long/short UK equity fund in second quarter 2014, managed by Tim Russell, as well as a long-only fund and a European long/short equity fund managed by Chris Rice.

Quilter Cheviot has recruited Matthieu Duncan as chief operating officer, Fund Web reports. Duncan had previously been head of strategy at Newton Investment Management and chief investment officer at Cambridge Place Investment Management.

Delphi Fondene a fermé l’un de ses fonds actions domestiques, Delphi Vekst, compte tenu du désintérêt des investisseurs, rapporte Citywire Global. Le fonds, lancé en 1997, était géré par Håkon Hovengen Saetre. Il a été fermé fin octobre avec 75 millions de couronnes norvégiennes d’encours.

Le secteur des fonds d’Amérique latine a enregistré un taux de croissance annuel de 21,3 % entre 2008 et 2012, et vu ses encours s’établir à 1.100 milliards de dollars fin 2012, montre une nouvelle étude de Cerulli Associates couvrant le Brésil, le Mexique, le Chili, la Colombie, le Pérou et l’Argentine.Côté fonds de pension, la hausse des encours a été de 15,1 % entre 2011 et 2012. La croissance a été similaire sur chacun des principaux marchés de la région, indique Cerulli. Au Brésil, les encours des fonds ont augmenté de 15,6 % entre 2011 et 2012, et le secteur des fonds mexicains a terminé 2012 sur une hausse de 13,9 % par rapport à 2011. En Colombie, le secteur des fonds a connu une croissance moyenne de plus de 20 % sur les cinq dernières années, tout comme le secteur des fonds de pension, tandis que les encours des retraites obligataires et volontaires au Chili ont progressé de 10 % chaque année. Nina Czarnowski, analyste senior de Cerulli, estime qu’il existe des opportunités très intéressantes pour les sociétés de gestion mondiales souhaitant se développer dans la région, les fonds et fonds de pension augmentant leurs allocations aux véhicules transfrontières, notamment aux ETF.

Quilter Cheviot a recruté Matthieu Duncan en tant que chief operating officer, rapporte Fund Web. L’intéressé était précédemment responsable de la stratégie chez Newton Investment Management et directeur des investissements de Cambridge Place Investment Management.

Macquarie Group va lancer une offre de 500 millions de livres tout en numéraire sur Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) dans les deux semaines qui viennent, afin de sortir du jeu Aberdeen Asset Management, l’autre prétendant, rapporte le Wall Street Journal, citant des personnes proches du dossier.Aberdeen AM a émergé il y a deux semaines comme le favori au rachat de la filiale de gestion de Lloyds. Mais le projet de la société écossaise d’émettre des actions à destination de Lloyds pour financer l’acquisition a diminué l’attrait de l’offre et le groupe bancaire britannique continue de discuter avec Macquarie pour une offre en numéraire.Les personnes proches du dossier indiquent que Lloyds va prendre une décision sur la vente de SWIP d’ici au 22 novembre.

Une société basée au Royaume-Uni, Gravis Capital Partners, lance un fonds sur la dette d’infrastructures dans les pays du Golfe de 250 millions de dollars, afin de profiter des besoins de financements des projets dans la région pétrolière, rapporte le Financial Times. GCP Sovereign Debt Infrastructure Ltd sera coté sur le marché londonien.

Selon les informations d’Investment Week, Chris Rice, qui a géré des fonds d’actions européennes chez Cazenove, crée Sanditon Asset Management avec son prédécesseur Tim Russell, qui avait quitté Cazenove en juilet 2011. Sous réserve de l’obtention d’un agrément de la FCA, ils comptent lancer au deuxième trimestre 2014 un fonds long-only et un fonds long/short d’actions britanniques géré par Tim Russell ainsi qu’un fonds long-only et un fonds long/short d’actions européennes géré par Chris Rice.

L’indice de référence HFRI des hedge funds a progressé de 1,5% au mois d’octobre, enregistrant ainsi sa dixième hausse des douze derniers mois, avec des contributions positives de l’ensemble des stratégies. Depuis le début de l’année, l’indice HFRI affiche une progression de 7,2%, la meilleure depuis 2009 sur dix mois.Les stratégies Equity Hedge et Event Driven ont continué de tirer les performances du secteur, avec des progressions de respectivement 1,8% et 1,5% sur un mois, et de 11,3% et 10% sur neuf mois. Les stratégies Macro ont mis fin à cinq mois de baisse avec un gain de 1,1%, ce qui a réduit le recul depuis le début de l’année à 0,9%. L’indice’ HFRI des fonds de hedge funds s’est également bien comporté, avec un gain de 1,5% en octobre, ce qui porte la performance des dix premiers mois de l’année à 6,6%.

Adam Levinson, le directeur des investissements des fonds Asia Macro de Fortress Investment Group, est en négociations avec son employeur en vue de lancer sa propre société, rapport Hedge Week, qui cite Bloomberg. Aucune décision n’a encore été prise et le «spinoff» (essaimage) ne devrait pas intervenir avant début 2015, indique une personne proche du dossier. Cela serait la première fois que Fortress (58 milliards de dollars d’encours) finance la société de l’un de ses collaborateurs.

Le géant obligataire Pimco a accusé des rachats nets (hors groupe) de 29 milliards d’euros au troisième trimestre dans ses produits obligataires traditionnels, montrent les résultats de sa maison mère, Allianz. Il y a un an, sur la période correspondante, le groupe avait enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 30,9 milliards d’euros, rappelle Financial News. Les encours sous gestion hors groupe de Pimco sont ressortis à 83,9 milliards d’euros au 30 septembre, contre 85,6 milliards d’euros au 31 décembre.

Le sélectionneur de fonds Vasco Nuno Jesus a décidé de quitter le groupe portugais BPI Asset Management après avoir passé six ans dans la société, est en mesure de révéler Citywire Global. Il quittera le groupe le 11 novembre et n’a pas encore dévoilé ce qu’il ferait après son départ. BPI affiche un encours sous gestion de 18 milliards d’euros.

Funds People rapporte que BNP Paribas Investment Partners a fait enregistrer auprès de la CNMV huit compartiments de la gamme Easy Future au sein de la sicav luxembourgeoise BNP Paribas Plan pour la vente en Espagne. Il s’agit de fonds à liquidité journalière et à échéances comprises entre 2018 et 2043.

La société de gestion Tikehau IM vient de lancer le FCT Tikehau Corporate Leveraged Loan Fund, conseillé par Gide Loyrette Nouel..Ce fonds, constitué le 6 novembre 2013 à l’initiative de Tikehau IM, est l’un des premiers fonds de prêts à l'économie (FPE), créé en application du décret du 2 août 2013 modifiant certaines règles d’investissement des entreprises d’assurance.Ce fonds a vocation à participer au financement des entreprises, cotées ou non, situées dans l’Union Européenne, en souscrivant à des émissions d’obligations ou en acquérant des créances de prêts dans le cadre d’opérations d’acquisition d’entreprises pour un montant de 250 millions d’euros.

Surfant sur le succès du WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (code mnémonique DXJ) qui affiche 10,6 milliards de dollars d’encours grâce notamment aux quelque 9 milliards collectés depuis le début de cette année, WisdomTree a lancé le 7 novembre le WisdomTree Korea Hedged Equity Fund (DXKW).Ce nouvel ETF réplique le WisdomTree Korea Hedged Equity Growth Index ; il investit en actions sud-coréennes de qualité mais couvre le risque de change sur le won en «shortant» par le biais de contrats à terme.Le taux de frais sur encours se situe à 0,58 %.

Dans un communiqué daté du 31 octobre, le «proxy advisor» Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) a indiqué que le conseil d’administration de sa maison-mère, MSCI Inc, l’a autorisé à explorer toutes les options stratégiques concernant son avenir et que cela pourrait déboucher sur une séparation totale des deux entités.