Standard Life Investments has appointed Amanda Young as head of socially responsible investment (SRI). Young, previously at Newton Investment Management, is also a board member and a member of the consulting committee of the British forum for sustainable and responsible investment (UKSIF).Standard Life Investments has also added to its SRI team with the recruitment of Rebecca Maclean and Alix Chosson, the former from Trucost, where she was a senior analyst, and the latter from Generali Investments in Paris, where she had been an analyst specialised in the energy and tech sectors.

Nicolas Walewski’s Alken Asset Management is soft closing its Alken Fund European Opportunities Fund. «Following very strong interest from investors for the Alken Fund European Opportunities Fund in the past few months (...) it has been decided to temporarily soft close the Sub-Fund to subscriptions with some exceptions for existing investors», wrote the asset management company.Launched in January 2006, the fund managed by Nicolas Walewski has assets under management of EUR3.9bn. The soft close will be effective for orders placed after 16h00 CET on the 3rd of October 2013. Existing shareholders’ maximum daily subscriptions are limited to EUR 500.000,00.

The British asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management has appointed Álvaro Antón Luna (ex AON Accuracy) and Ana Guzmán Quintana (ex DekaBank) to manage its office in Spain, Funds People reports. They will take over the activities which had previously been carried out from London by Marina Poleto.

The financial research office of the US Treasury on Monday published a report detailing the ways in which the asset management industry could create vulnerabilities for the financial system, the Financial Times reports. The data will be used by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which ordered the report, and decides whether certain non-banking institutions present a systemic risk. The research office finds that asset management firms can create vulnerabilities in the financial system, if they increase their leverage, buy similar assets at the same time due to competitive pressure, or start massively selling off.

On 27 September, Vanguard submitted an application to the SEC for a license for a global low volatility equity fund, the Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility Fund, which will be launched in fourth quarter.The product is actively-managed, and will focus on securities with a lower volatility than global equity markets, and will invest about half of its assets in equities in US firms. In order to minimise currency risks and lower volatility, a part of the exposure to currencies will be hedged with forex futures contracts.Vanguard (USD2.25trn in US mutual funds, including over USD290bn in ETFs) is planning two share classes for the new fund: Investor shares, with a total expense ratio of 0.30%, and a minimal initial subscription of USD3,000, and Admiral shares, with a TER of 0.20%, and a minimal initial subscription of USD50,000.The new product will be managed by the Equity Investment Group from Vanguard, which is responsible for assets of USD13bn in traditional active quantitative strategies.

Using a newly-created index, the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Growth Index (WTEMGC), which covers about 250 shares, WisdomTree has launched the ETF WisdomTree Emerging Markets Consumer Growth fund on Nasdaq, with the objective of profiting form a rise in consumer spending in emerging markets, in a broader manner than the MSCI Emerging Markets index, and taking into account valuations more than the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Titans 30.CharacteristicsName: WisdomTree Emerging Markets Consumer Growth FundTicker: EMCGTotal expense ratio: 0.63%

With Smart World, Turgot Asset Management on 30 September launched a global allocation FCP which invests in equity and bond ETFs. The French-registered product belongs to the international diversified fund category with predominantly equities, and will use the MSCI World 100% as its benchmark index.“This wealth management fund aims to outperform its benchmark by aiming for the top third in returns regularly, and to bring back wealth management professionals and their clients to equities, while limiting their risk, which is not always possible in limited themes where diversification is weaker by construction,” the asset management firm says. The recommended investment duration is 5 years.Turgot Asset Management has set up a management committee composed of the management team and external advising from MyFlow. MyFlow will provide the management team with investment and trade recommendations. Every month, the firm will present both macroeconomic and financial analysis of major current trends.CharacteristicsName: Smart WorldISIN codes:FR0011499599 (AC shares)FR0011563527 (SC shares)Management commission: 4.50%Performance commission: 20% of performance exceeding the MSCI with dividends reinvested

Marc Seidner, interim head of equities at Pimco, is responsible for managing thee products of the StockPlus Pimco GIS U.S. Fundamental Index StocksPlus Fund, Pimco GIS Global Fundamental Index StocksPlus Fund and Pimco GIS EM Fundamental Index StocksPlus Fund, which will be available in Europe, Citywire reports. The manager will be assisted by Research Affiliates, an independent firm specialised in tactical asset allocation, which works only for Pimco funds.

On 1 August, Olivier Jaquet, former CEO of Clariden Leu (Credit Suisse group), was appointed as CEO of the Liechtenstein-based Centrum Bank (Marxer group), replacing Thomas Lips, who is retiring. And on 1 October, Centrum (CHF8bn in assets) appoints Daniela Lohner Amman as director of wealth management, a statement released on 30 September states.Amman served in the wealth management unit of Credit Suisse from 1991 to 2013. Since 2011, she was both head market & wealth managementt and a member of the executive committee at Clariden Leu.

The Swiss private bank Bank Julius Baer AG on 1 October anounced that it has opened an eighth branch in Germany, in Mannheim, to offer its wealth management services in the Rhine-Neckar region.The Julius Baer network (CHF304bn in assets as of the end of June) in Germany already included branches in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Kiel, Munich, Stuttgart and Würzburg.

AXA Investment Managers has announced that it has finalised the sale of its stake in AXA Private Equity, which is becoming known as Ardian. The transaction values AXA Private Equity at EUR510m, before transition costs.The capital is already majority controlled by management and employees of Ardian, led by the board, composed of Dominique Senequier, Vincent Gombault, Dominique Gaillard and Benoît Verbrugghe.These are the first circle of investors, with 46.4% of capital. External investors, consisting of European institutions and French family offices, control 31%, while the Axa group holds 22.6%.The AXA group has said in a statement that it plans to continue to invest in funds offered by the new entity. Commitments are expected to total about EUR4.8bn between 2014 and 2018.Ardian has a total of USD36bn in assets under management or advised, for 255 investors in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.

As Newsmanagers announced last week, BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) has overhauled its operations. From today, the organization of the firm will be focused on three categories of priority clients: institutional investors, distributors, and clients in the Emerging Markets and Asia-Pacific regions. The three new business lines will have entirely dedicated sales and marketing departments, a statement read by Newsmanagers says. The institutional investors business line will be headed by Philippe Marchessaux, CEO of BNP Paribas IP. Christian Dargnat will supervise the distributors and Theam line. The third business line will be directed by Ligia Torres.

The Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI) on 30 September published a report on the impact of the financial crisis on the behaviour of Eiropean invetsors and the future of asset management, the report, undertaken by the research agency MackayWiliams, and entitled “Beyond 10%: The Case for Enlarging the Pool of Retail Investors in Europe’s Investment Funds,” points out that in Europe there are about EUR4trn in household assets which are not managed by professionals, and which are either losing value or are unable to seize opportunities for growth available in long-term vehicles.“The clear conclusion of this report is that there is an enormous amount of cash available, an amount of cash higher than the net worth of South American households, which would have a lot to gain from being invested in investment vehicles. However, in order to capture these unmanaged assets, asset management firms need to look beyond the 10% wealthiest,” the chairman of ALFI, Marc Saluzzi, says in a statement.In other words, this is a missed opportunity both for asset managers and for savers. The report finds that since the financial crisis, assets from European households in collective management have fallen to EUR1.2trn in 2011 from EUR1.7trn in 2006. In the United States, however, assets in mutual funds have risen 8% in the same period. In Europe, cash represents 42% of the wealth of households, compared with only 18% in the United States.Despite market turbulence and mediocre performance of equities, which are often cited in the press, European household assets (excluding pensions and insurance) have posted returns of 34% in the past ten years, while the assets of US households, which are more invested for the long term, have earned 47%.The report emphasizes the need for asset management firms to pay more attention to certain aspects of the household market. In addition to the cash level, which exceeds 40%, the port cites factors, such as taxation, which may slow investors’ interest in OPCs, but which management firms can influence, and changing demand on the part of investors, for example, for capital preservation or transparency.These are genuine changes, which represent so many opportunities for asset management firms who are prepared to do a little learning and to take up the challenge of winning back households to financial markets which they still consider “too risky” for their savings.

About 7,000 jobs in Swiss private banking may be lost if European regulations aiming to improve market infrastructures go ahead as planned, Financial Times fund management reports. The Swiss banking association has warned that significant job losses are inevitable if proposals contained in the MiFID directive, which would require Swiss bankers to open branches or affiliates in the European Union to access onshore clients, are approved. Nicolas Faller, managing director of UBP, admits that the directive is “definitely a problem for small banks.” He says that it “will hurt profitability terribly.”

Alfred Berg, the Swedish affiliate of BNP Paribas Investment Partners, has recruited Sara Stevinger for its sales team in Stockholm. Stevinger, who will deal with institutional clients, previously worked at Bank Vontobel AG/Harcourt Investment Consulting. The recruitment comes at a time when Dagens Industri has recently announced that BNP Paribas Investment Partners is planning to transfer all of its Eastern European management to Alfred Berg. Alfred Berg has about EUR19.6bn in assets under management.

Hedge funds’ bets on falling asset values have dropped to their lowest levels in years, as traders predict a long period of rising equity markets in the coming months, the Financial Times reports. According to statistics from Mirkit, the total value of short positions on European equities has fallen to USD144bn, the lowest level since the data provider began publishing data in 2006.

Canadian-owned wealth management company CI Financial has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire a majority interest in Marret Asset Management, an alternative asset manager specializing in global and Canadian fixed income. CI is purchasing 65% of Marret, along with an option to acquire the remainder after three years. CI Financial has $108.8 billion in assets as of August 31, 2013.

On 31 August 2013, the total assets in collective investment organisms and specialised investment funds totalled EUR2.498939trn, compared with USD2.523186trn as of 31 July 2013, a decline of 0.96% in one month, according to statistics from the financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF). Over the past 12 months, the net asset volume is up by 8.86%. The Luxembourg OPC industry has posted a negative variation in the month of August, totalling EUR24.347bn. This decline represents the remainder of positive net issues, totalling EUR0.105bn (+0.00%) and unfavourable evolution of the financial markets totalling EUR24.452bn (-0.97%).

La nouvelle trajectoire des finances publiques dévoilée mardi prévoit un déficit public (Etats, collectivités locales et comptes sociaux) ramené à 1,2% du PIB fin 2017, alors que le programme de stabilité du printemps dernier visait 0,7%. Selon les nouvelles prévisions, ce déficit s'élèverait à 2,8% fin 2015, après 3,6% fin 2014 et 4,1% fin 2013. Le taux de dépenses publiques devrait baisser à 54,0% du PIB fin 2017 après avoir atteint un sommet cette année à 57,1%. Avec la réduction du déficit public, la dette publique en pourcentage du PIB devrait baisser d’un plus haut de 95,1% l’an prochain jusqu'à 91,0% fin 2017.

La Banque centrale australienne (RBA) a, comme attendu, maintenu son taux d’intérêt directeur à 2,5%, un plus bas record, mardi à l’issue de sa réunion monétaire mensuelle. Avec ce statu quo, la banque centrale se donne le temps d’analyser l’impact des baisses de taux d’août et de mai, et elle n’a guère fourni d'éléments d’orientation pour la suite. L’absence de biais explicite en faveur d’une nouvelle détente dans un proche avenir a permis au dollar australien de se raffermir sur le marché des changes.

A 141 milliards d’euros, le programme d'émission de dette à moyen et long terme du Trésor espagnol en 2014 devrait s’approcher de celui de l’Allemagne.

Le rendement des dividendes des marchés émergents tourne autour de 3%, voire 4% pour les marchés frontières

Le spécialiste du photovoltaïque est au cœur d’un incroyable imbroglio juridique. Sans action rapide, le groupe pourrait faire faillite

Le pays prévoit de lever 141 milliards d'euros de dette à moyen et long terme l'an prochain, s'approchant ainsi du volume d'émissions de l'Allemagne

L'Amafi fait des propositions pour harmoniser les pratiques en vigueur. La Place devrait s'en inspirer pour accompagner le développement du marché

Administrateur directeur général de BNP Paribas IP, Philippe Marchessaux revient dans un entretien sur la réorganisation du gestionnaire d’actifs, qui doit «pouvoir s’adapter aux nouvelles attentes des clients, mais également intégrer les nouvelles contraintes réglementaires». Investisseurs institutionnels, distributeurs, marchés émergents et d’Asie-Pacifique sont les «trois cibles cœur». A chaque type de clientèle sera dédiée une ligne métiers.

Le taux italien à 10 ans ne progressait que de 10 pb hier et le spread avec le 10 ans allemand reste inférieur de 50 pb à celui du début d'année

Le gouvernement devrait lancer un plan de relance de 5.000 milliards de yens pour compenser les effets négatifs de cette mesure sur l'économie

BNP Paribas Real Estate a acquis l’activité néerlandaise de property management d’Aberdeen Asset Management, dont l’équipe gère aux Pays-Bas un portefeuille immobilier de 333.000 m² réparti à 40% en retail, 38% en bureaux et le reste en logistique. Il s’agit de la deuxième acquisition en un an dans le pays pour la filiale de BNP Paribas, après le rachat de Holland Realty Partners en octobre 2012.

Les prix à la consommation ont augmenté moins que prévu en septembre, s'éloignant encore davantage de l’objectif de la BCE en matière d’inflation, selon Eurostat. Sur un an, ces prix ont enregistré une hausse de 1,1%, contre 1,3% en août et 1,6% en juin et juillet. L’inflation est ainsi au plus bas depuis février 2010.