Enregistrée depuis quelques jours à la même adresse que les locaux de la banque Vontobel à Genève, une filiale de la banque devrait être opérationnelle prochainement, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors, dont le siège est à Zurich, est une entité exclusivement dédiée au conseil en investissement pour les «US persons».Contacté par L’Agefi suisse, l’entreprise ne souhaite pas pour l’heure commenter l’ouverture de cette succursale. D’après les quelques documents disponibles, Vontobel Swiss Wealth Advisors fait partie des rares sociétés de gestion européennes enregistrées auprès de la SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, l’autorité des marchés financiers américaine). Elle semble également réservée aux HNWI (high net worth individuals) puisque l’investissement minimal requis est de un million de francs pour les programmes de conseil.

La banque Syz & Co a été mise en examen au début de mois d’octobre en France, a confirmé lundi à l’agence suisse ats le porte-parole de la banque privée genevoise Ricardo Payro, confirmant une information des sites Internet de la «Tribune de Genève» et de «24 heures». L’affaire est liée à un conflit du droit du travail à la suite du licenciement d’un employé français en juillet 2009. «Il s’agit simplement d’une nouvelle étape procédurale, sans aucune décision ni préjugé sur le fond. C’est une affaire ancienne, qui se limite à des questions assez techniques de droit du travail et ne concerne qu’un seul ancien collaborateur chargé de commercialiser des fonds de placement auprès d’une clientèle institutionnelle», précise Ricardo Payro.L’agence ats précise que selon le porte parole, la procédure n’a aucun impact sur la commercialisation des fonds de la banque en France. «Le litige porte sur la proportion du temps de travail passée en France par un ancien collaborateur qui, contrevenant à ce que prévoyait son contrat de travail, a, de sa propre initiative et pour des raisons d’ordre purement personnel, passé en France plus de temps que demandé. Licencié en juillet 2009, cet ancien collaborateur prétend qu’il aurait dû être soumis au droit du travail français», ajoute-t-il.

Bruno Gatella, directeur de la distribution wholesale chez Clariden Leu et Credit Suisse Asset Management, a rejoint au 1er octobre DJE Finanz, filiale suisse du groupe munichois Dr Jens Erhardt (DJE Kapital) comme directeur de la distribution de fonds en Suisse, rapporte finews. DJE Kapital gère environ 10 milliards d’euros (au 30 septembre).

Selon la radio NDR info, la Landesbank du Schleswig-Holstein et de Hambourg, HSH Nordbank, aurait vendu en août sa division HSH Real Estate pour un euro symbolique. Cela recouvre des fonds immobiliers d’un encours de 2 milliards d’euros et un parc immobilier de 320 millions d’euros. Le porte-parole de HSH Nordbank a refusé de commenter l’information, précise Fondsprofessionell.

Philipp Orth, Nadejda de Lousanoff et Umberto Prandi ont été recrutés pour l'équipe de ventes institutionnelles de Pimco sur les marchés allemand et autrichien, sous la responsabilité de Frank Witt, executive vice president et head of institutional customer relationships pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche.Le premier devient vice president et CRO. Il était auparavant directeur du suivi de la clientèle chez Vescore. Nadejda de Lousanoff vient du Banesto, où elle était responsable de la distribution des produits structurés en Allemagne et dans les pays nordiques pour l’espagnol Santander. Elle est nommée chargée de clientèle chez Pimco.Enfin, Umberto Prandi quitte Infineon Technologies, où il était manager pour les fusions et acquisitions, pour devenir chargé de clientèle chez Pimco.

Après une perte moyenne de 0,54 % en août, les hedge funds couverts par l’indice BarclayHedge ont affiché en septembre une performance moyenne de 2,09 % en septembre, ce qui porte les gains à 7,28 % sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année.En septembre, seul l’equity short bias (3 fonds) accuse une perte, de 3,55 %, de sorte que la chute depuis le début de l’année atteint 19,84 %. En revanche, l’equity long bias (202 fonds) se distingue avec des gains de 3,63 % pour septembre et de 15,23 % sur les trois premiers trimestres, tout en demeurant en retard sur la stratégie santé et biotechnologies (20 fonds), dont les performances ressortent à respectivement 4,27 % et 20,93 %. Quant aux 37 fonds bassin Pacifique (Pacifique Rim) ils gagnent 17,20 % sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année, mais «seulement» 2,62 % pour septembre.

Le gestionnaire londonien Finisterre Capital a injecté 55 millions de dollars d’amorçage dans son nouveau fonds obligataire long/short consacré à la dette émergente, le Finisterre Emerging Market Debt Fund, rapporte Citywire. Il s’agit d’un produit de droit irlandais qui bénéficie d’un agrément de commercialisation dans la plupart des pays européens. Les gérants sont Paul Crean, co-fondateur et CIO de Finisterre, et Christopher Watson.Le portefeuille sera investi dans tous les segments de l’obligataire (souverain, entreprises, haut rendement, en monnaies «dures» ou locales) avec une stratégie long/short plus diversifiée et un taux de rotation plus bas que pour les autres hedge funds de Finisterre. Il aura également un horizon d’investissement plus long. Si l’on en croit l’agence Reuters, Finisterre a lancé ce véhicule coordonné afin de conserver un client assureur qui menaçait de se désengager d’un fonds offshore existant en raison des nouvelles règles renchérissant les investissements dans les produits non régulés.Solvabilité II prévoit en effet des fonds propres supplémentaires à compter de 2016 pour un investissement dans un hedge fund offshore. En conséquence de quoi, Finisterre, qui gère quelque 1,75 milliard de dollars dans trois fonds offshore, a lancé un nouveau fonds Ucits dans lequel son client a transféré ses fonds.Le nouveau véhicule coordonné sera un peu moins performant, il utilisera un peu moins de levier et affichera aussi une moindre volatilité. La commission annuelle sera de 1,5% et non de 2% comme c’est souvent le cas avec les hedge funds et la commission de surperformance sera limitée à 15% (au lieu de 20%).

State Street Global Advisors a laissé entendre qu’il pourrait doubler le nombre des ETF qu’il gère en Europe, rapporte Ignites, un service du Financial Times. Scott Ebner, le responsable mondial du développement de produits chez SSgA, pense qu’il y a de la place pour environ «100 ETF» au sein de la gamme de la société. SPDR, la succursale ETF de la société, affiche actuellement 52 produits, contre 13 lorsqu’elle a relancé ses activités européennes en 2010.

Le britannique Liontrust vient d’acquérir North Investment Partners dans le cadre de son projet de développement dans la gestion multi-classes d’actifs, rapporte FundWeb.Le patron de North Investment Partners, John Husselbee, devrait diriger la nouvelle équipe multi-classes d’actifs chez Liontrust. Un ancien de LV=, Paul Kim, devrait rejoindre l'équipe en tant que gérant senior.

Le britannique Hargreaves Lansdown a fait état pour le premier trimestre à fin septembre de son exercice 2013-2014 d’une progression de 8% de ses actifs sous administration qui ont ainsi atteint le niveau record de 39,3 milliards de livres contre 36,4 milliards de livres à fin juin selon les résultats intérimaires publiés le 15 octobre. La société qualifie l’activité du premier trimestre d’"exceptionnelle», cette période de l’année étant généralement très calme. Le nombre de clients actifs sur la plate-forme a augmenté de 20.000 à 528.000. Au premier trimestre de l’exercice précédent, le nombre de nouveaux clients s'était accru de seulement 7.000.

Henderson vient de recruter Rob Gambi en tant que directeur des investissements (chief investment officer, CIO). L’intéressé était précédemment managing director chez UBS Global Asset Management, responsable mondial de l’obligataire et membre du comité exécutif.Au sein de Henderson où il a déjà travaillé par le passé, Rob Gambi sera placé sous la direction d’Andrew Formica, qu’il connaît bien, et siégera au comité exécutif. Il rejoindra la société en 2014. Il s’occupera notamment du développement des capacités d’investissement de la société de gestion dans le monde, et plus particulièrement aux Etats-Unis et en Asie.

To widespread surprise, Lithuania, which currently holds the European Union presidency, has accelerated the process of the UCITS V directive, increasing the likelihood that the controversial measure to cap bonuses will be dropped, Financial Times fund maangement reprts. In July, the European parliament rejected a proposal to limit bonuses to 100% of fixed salaries and to forbid performance commissions for UCITS funds by a vote of 348 to 341. Due to the tightness of the vote, many thought that it might be overturned by the parliament formed after the elections in May 2014. Lithuania has formed a working group for 21 October, which suggests that the planned directive may be completed by spring, meaning that the new parliament will not have a chance to review it.

Dexia Asset Management has announced the launch of the UCITS IV Equities Global Optimum fund. The fund, which is aimed primarily at institutinoal investor clients such as pension funds, mutuals and insurers, may be exposed via a flexible allocation ranging from 0% to 200%. The portfolio is invested in global equities via derivatives, primarily options. The objective for the product is to “allow institutional investors subject to the constraints imposed by regulations to benefit from equity markets while limiting capital charge,” a statement says. “Let’s take the example of insurers: while traditional investment in equities implies an SCR of 39%, the management strategy used for the Equities Global Optimmum limits the SCR to less than 25% while seeking returns higher than those of the MSCI World hedged in euros with dividends reinvested,” says Nagi Nasr, head of alternative investment solutions at Dexia AM. Characteristics ISIN code: FR0011535897 (capi). Front-end fee: 1.00% Withdrawal penalty 1.00% Ongoing fees: 1.45%

Dexia Asset Management has announced the launch of the UCITS IV Equities Global Optimum fund. The fund, which is aimed primarily at institutinoal investor clients such as pension funds, mutuals and insurers, bay be exposed via a flexible allocation ranigns from 1% to 200%. The portfolio is invested in global equities via derivatives, primarily optins. The objective for the produc is to “allow institutional investors subject to the constraints imposed by regulations to benefit from equity markets while limiting capital charge,” a statement says. “Let’s take the example of insurers: while traditional investment in equities implies an SCR of 39%, the management strategy used for the Equities Global Optimmum limits the SCR to less than 25% while seeking returns higher than those of the MSCI World hedged in euros with dividends reinvested,” says Nagi Nasr, head of alternative investment solutions at Dexia AM. Characteristics ISIN code: FR0011535897 (capi). Front-end fee: 1.00% Withdrawal penalty 1.00% Congoing fees: 1.45%

Currently, La Financière Responsable has about EUR90m in assets under management, compared with EUR62m at the end of last year, and has posted net inflows of about EUR20m since the beginning of 2013. The “historic FCP” from the firm, LFR Euro Développement Durable, as of the end of September had EUR51.43m, and was 99.5% exposed to equities, of which 61.3% were French stocks. Since 31 December 2009, the fund has posted returns of 22.30%, compared with losses of 2.42% for the EuroStoxx 50 Price, and a gain of 11.06% for the EuroStoxx 50 Total Return, with volatility over 52 weeks of 12.59%, compared with 14.99% and 14.94%, respectively. The portfolio includes 35 positions and the turnover rate stands at about 33%. These results are consistent with the SRI strategy of La Financière Responsable, while on Tuesday, its chairman, Olivier Johanet, declared that “at the end of the day, SRI is a question of financial performance.” With that said, it needs to be demonstrated that extra-financial considerations are not counter-financial, and the difficulty for SRI or ESG managers is obtaining extra-financial information, and then enriching the data (LFR is now working with 63 indicators), and then take into account and justify extra-financial factors. Basic criteria (personnel, shareholders, companies, environment, partners, providers, clients, governance) allow for a eco-social footprint to be calculated, which is then used as a basis for financial judgements. In the construction of portfolios, capitalisation and weight biases are eliminated, stresses Stéphane Prévost, CEO.

London-based asset manager Finisterre Capital has injected USD55m of seed capital into its new long/short bond fund dedicated to emerging market debt, the Finisterre Emerging Market Debt Fund, Citywire reports. It is an Irish-registered product which has a sales license in most European countries. The managers are Paul Crean, co-founder and CIO of Finisterre, and Christopher Watson.The portfolio will invest in all bond segments (government, corporate, high yield, hard or local currncies) with a more diversified long/short strategy and a lower turnover than for other hedge funds from Finisterre. It will also have a longer investment horizon.

State Street Global Advisors has suggested that it may double the number of ETFs which is manages in Europe, Ignites, a service from the Financial Times, reports. Scott Ebner, global head of product development at SSgA, thinks that there is room for about “100 ETFs” in the range from the company. SPDR, the ETF arm of the firm, currently has 52 products, compared with 13 when it restarted its European activities in 2010.

German asset management firms posted net subscriptions in August of EUR3.4bn, of which EUR2.8759bn were for institutional funds, and EUR839.2m for open-ended funds, while mandates saw net outflows of EUR313.6m. In July, net inflows totalled EUR17.66bn, according to the German BVI association of asset management firms, of which EUR9.26bn went to Spezialfonds, EUR5.29bn to Publikumsfonds, and EUR3.1bn for mandates.However, in the first eight months of the year, net subscriptions totalled EUR62.4bn, comapred with EUR48.72bn in the corresponding period of 2012, of which EUR44.97bn, compared with EUR40.52bn for Spezialfonds and EUR16.87bn compared with EUR10.02bn for open-ended funds.The BVI states that as of the end of August, assets in open-ended and institutional real estate funds totalled EUR121bn, distributed over 3,300 properties in 35 countries. The portfolios include about 1,800 properties located in Germany, representing 63% of assets in institutional funds, compared with 42% of open-ended funds. France is the top destination country abroad, with 263 properties, followed by the Netherlands, with 247.In terms of asset management firms, Allianz Asset Management in the first eight months of the year has posted net inflows of EUR5.1447bn for open-ended securities funds, out of a total of EUR13.238bn for the sector overall. The Deutsche Bank group, for its part, has posted net inflows of EUR2.9254bn, less than Universal-Investment, a white label product specialist, which attracted EUR5.0364bn. These three asset management firms alone have thus posted more in net inflows than the entire profession combined.Union Investment is still has not put up with the loss of a mandate in April for EUR4.4bn outside the perimeter of the BVI, and shows net outflows of EUR2.1678bn. Deka has had net redemptions in the first eight months of the year which are down to EUR1.2741bn, from EUR1.38bn as of the end of July.

M&G Investments has registered its M&G Short Dated Corporate Bond fund in Italy, Bluerating reports. The fund is 80% invested in short duration investment grade corporate bonds (0-3 years).

Specialist advisers manage nearly two times as many assets on average than advisers overall, according to a study carried out by Cerulli Associates in “The Cerulli Edge – Advisor Edition” (Fourth quarter). As of the end of June 2013, assets under management by specialists represented about 29% of total assets for advisers. “The great majority of financial advisers are generalists. Only 15% of advisers carry out their activities for a single client category, institutionals, corporate retirement programmes, or high net worth (HNW) investors,” says Bing Waldert, director at Cerulli. According to Cerulli, specialists clearly limit the market for an adviser but improve the degree of success in the development o the activity. By targeting a very small market and setting up a range of services which is tailored to it, advisers have more chances of winning requests for proposals when they are competing with a generalist.

After an average loss of 0.54% in August, hedge funds covered by the BarclayHedge index in September posted average returns of 2.09%, bringing gains to 7.28% for the first nine months of the year. In September, only equity short bias (3 funds) has seen losses, of 3.55%, while the decline since the beginning of the year is 19.84%. However, equity long bias (202 funds) stand out with gains of 3.63% in September, and 15.23% for the first three quarters, while remaining behind the healthcare and biotech strategy (20 funds), whose performances total 4.27% and 20.93%, respectively. The 27 Pacific Rim funds have gained 17.20% in the first nine months of the year, but “only” 2.62% in September.

The widespread use of “value at risk” to measure the risk exposure of funds is a “time bomb” which could provoke a serious crash on the markets, according to Jeremy Monk, chief investment officer at Akro Investicni Spolecnost in Prague, cited by Financial Times fund management. He estimates that in the case of a fall on the equity markets and a rise in volatility, fund managers would have to sell equities, which would exacerbate the fall.

Hedge funds and “distressed” asset managers are buying Puerto Rican debt, taking advantage of sales by traditional investors, the Financial Times reports. “Many traditional funds are selling these securities at a discount, and since several entities in Puerto Rico sell bonds, the liquidity is good. That is unusual in the municipal bond market,” says one manager. The monthly trading volumes on Puerto Rican bonds have increased to USD30bn at the end of September, compared with an average of UDS3-5bn, according to Citigroup.

Norges Bank Investment Management manager of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, and Axa Real Estate Investment Managers have entered a European commercial real estate loan co-investment programme.The programme will target investments in large size senior loans, of up to EUR600 million, with a primary focus on the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on October 15 published for public comment a consultative document on the Public quantitative disclosure standards for central counterparties. In order that the risks related to the use of central counterparties (CCPs) can be properly understood, CCPs need to make relevant information publicly available, as stated in the CPSS-IOSCO Principles for financial market infrastructures, published in April 2012. To provide guidance on what should be disclosed by a CCP and other financial market infrastructures, CPSS and IOSCO published a Disclosure framework in December 2012, primarily covering qualitative data that need relatively infrequent updating (for example, when there is a change to a CCP’s risk management framework). To complement that disclosure framework, the document now being published sets out guidance on the quantitative data that a CCP should disclose more frequently. Comments on the report are invited from all interested parties and should be sent by 13 December 2013.

The financial ratings agency Moody’s on 15 October launched a call for comments on proposed modifications to the ratings methodology for asset management firms. This would more systematically evaluate risk factors concerning alternative management firms, while also increasing the number of risk factors on the balance sheets of traditional asset management firms.

Neil Woodford, a colossus in British asset management, is leaving Invesco Perpetual after a quarter century, the Financial Times reports. Shares in Invesco, its US parent company, fell 5% on the news. Woodford controls half of funds under management at Invesco Perpetual, and some financial advisers predict large-scale redemptions. He has GBP33bn in assets under management (more than any other British fund manager), and has one of the best track records around. The manager hopes to found a new asset management firm in April, once he has left his employer.

The British firm Hargreaves Lansdown has reported growth of 8% in its assets under administration of its first quarter 2013-2014 to the end of September, which have reached a total of GBP39.3bn, comapred with GBP36.4bn at the end of June, according to interim results released on 15 October. The firm calls the activity in first quarter “exceptional,” as this time of year is generaally very quiet. The number of active clients on the platform increased by 20,000 to 528,000. In the first quarter of the previous year, the number of clients increased by only 7,000.

At the 6th annual national ethical investment week in the United Kingdom (13-19 October), the extra-financial research agency EIRIS has determined at assets in “green” and ethical retail funds now total a record GBP12.2bn. They totalled only GBP4bn in 2001. EIRIS counts 80 funds, of which 10 have seen increases of more than 50% in their assets in the twelve months to the end of June 2013, while 23 have seen an increase in their total assets of 20% to 50%.Meanwhile, on the basis of a survey of 2015 adults, EIRIS has found that 18% of respondents would like their pension fund to be totally invested in shares in companies which do not contravene best practices in environmental, social and governance areas.For its part, Triodos Bank has determined that 17 million British citizens potentially hold assets which do not correspond to their ethical convictions. And only 20% of investors say they are aware of the exact percentage of their fund activities, pension fund or stocks and bonds that they hold are genuinely ethical or not.

CPR Asset Management has announced the launch of the CPR Consommateur Actionnaire fund, a European equity fund eligible for investment from PEA accounts. The product has the primary objective of benefiting from household consumer spending worldwide. The managers of the fund, Nicolas Johnson and Caroline Canard, select the best-performing European businesses in sectors which are affectd by household spending. “The investment universe of CPR Consommateur Actionnaire is not limited to the ‘household’ basket but takes an interst in all sectors directly affected by household consumer spending worldwide. It is a fund whose vocation is to track the evolution of ‘trends’ while respecting the profile of household consumption. The particularly of the investment strategy is to construct the portfolio with a balance between the weight of the varius household spending areas,” a statement says. Currently, 10 areas are listed (housing, transportation, health, clothing, leisure, clothing, eduction, consumer, etc.). CharacteristicsISIN code: P share class FR0010258756 / I share class FR0011554237Subscription commission not paid to the FCP maximum 3%Recemption commission not paid to the FCP P and I share classes: noneMaximum annual management fees P share class: 1.50% in cluding all tax / I share class: 1% including all taxPerformance commission P and I share clases: 20% including all tax on performance exceeding the MSCI Europe, up to 2% of net assets