Giulano D’Acunti has recently been appointed as head of sales for Invesco in Italy. In an interview with Bluerating, he explains that in his new role, he will aim to define the commercial strategy for the firm in the country, and also to handle customer relations and support. At the same time, he will retain his position as head of retail distribution. Alongside his appointment, a European sales committee has been created. The new body was sought by Sergio Trezzi, head of Invesco in Europe and head for Italy, and aims to “share market trends and local projects between various countries, and also to work on long-term strategies able to contribute to strengthen the position of Invesco on the European market.” In 2012, Invesco posted net inflows in Italy of EUR2.106bn. In the month of May 2013 alone, the firm posted inflows of EUR440.5m, and now has assets of EUR8bn.
Henderson Global Investors has appointed Sonia Ginelli as the new general manager of the Italian asset management firm Mario Pellò, as its new head of property in Italy, Fondionline reports. The appointments follow the departure of Alberto Albertazzi, who had served in the two roles until 1 August. Ginelli and Pellò have both worked at Henderson since 2006.
The default rate for corporate issues rated speculative grade totalled 2.9% in the month of July, up slightly compared with the previous month (2.8%), the financial ratings agency Moody’s reports. In Europe, the default rate remained stable at 3.4%, while it had remained at 2.8% in the United States, compared with 2.9% the previous month. As of the end of July 2012, the default rate stood at 3.4%, both in Europe and the United States. Since the beginning of the year, the number of issuers rated by Moody’s which defaulted totalled 43, of which 24 were in the United States, 13 in Europe and the remainder in Latin America.
BlackRock has appointed a new head for its ETF activities at iShares, the Financial Times reports. Rachel Lord, global head of corporate equity derivatives at Citi, will become head of iShares for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. She succeeds Linhares, who will return to the United States at the end of 2013, after a three-year term.
Bill Ackman of the fund Pershing Square Capital Management has called for Thomas Engibous, chairman of the board at the retail chain JCPenney, to be replaced as soon as possible, Les Echos reports. Ackman already has a replacement in mind: Allen Questrom, former CEO of JCPenney, who would be willing to return to the role. The current chairman and CEO, Myron Ullman, is not to the liking of Ackman either, who would like to see him go. The speculative fund Perry Capital, which controls 7.3% of capital, on Friday announced that it plans to support Ackman, the largest shareholder in the business. The management at JCPenney has called Ackman’s agitation “misleading, inaccurate and counterproductive,” at a time when the survival of the business is at stake.
The True Potential platform has signed a distribution agreement with Goldman Sachs, which will allow it to offer two of its multi-asset class strategies on the British retail market, Fundweb reports. The platform will be exclusively responsible for distribution of the Goldman Sachs Multi-Asset Dynamic Strategy Portfolio and GSQuartix Multi-Asset Dynamic Protection Strategy Portfolio funds to advisers and their clients.
The co-manager of the Kames Strategic Bond fund, Phil Milburn, has reduced his long-term underweight position on interest rate risk, in order to take into account the scale of the recent exodus of investors from bonds, Fundweb reports. Milburn states, however, that his fund, whose assets under management total slightly over USD640m, remains underweight on duration risk, and that this position helped it to get through a period of aversion to bonds.
The London-based asset management firm Threadneedle is planning to set up an asset management team in Asia, which will initially specialise in the equity asset class, Asian Investor reports. Threadneedle, which has also received an Islamic finance license for Malaysia, is studying the possibility of creating a range of Sharia-compliant funds. About 10% of assets under management at Threadneedle, which total about GBP86bn, originate from the region.
The Swiss private bank Bank J. Safra (Deutschland) on 9 August announced in a statement that it is planning to build a presence in the south of Germany, opening an office in Stuttgart. The new office will open on 1 October this year, with a dedicated team led by Arthur J. Montanhas, who has been working for the bank since 2009. He will also be regional head for Baden-Wurttemberg, while Werner Shenk becomes deputy director of the Stuttgart office. As a corollary to the opening of this Stuttgart office, activities in Nuremberg will be transferred to Stuttgart and Munich from 30 September 2013, a statement says.
Swiss Life Select, an affiliate of Swiss Life, and the Austrian consumer protection organisation Verein für Konsumenteninformation VKI, have settled a lawsuit out of court, according to a statement released on 12 August by the insurer Swiss Life. The insurer will pay EUR11.1m to settle the case. The affiliate Swiss Life Select, successor to the financial advisng specialist AWD, has settled a series of class actions as part of mediation approved by the Vienna court. The affiliate will pay damages of EUR11.1m to investors who suffered losses from AWD financial products. After deduction of costs associated with the legal proceedings. VKI will receive EUR7m, which it will pay out to investors who suffered losses.
Bond funds for sale in Europe showed net outflows of EUR28bn for June, according to Lipper. At the same time, the European funds industry faced net outflows of EUR70.4bn.Sectors such as Bonds Emerging Markets (-EUR5.4bn), Bonds Global High Yield (-EUR4.8bn), and Bonds USD Corp. High Yield (-EUR4.6bn) were among the five sectors with the highest net outflows. Meanwhile Bonds EUR Short-Term (+EUR1.6bn), Bonds Flexible (+EUR1.5bn), and Bonds Speciality (+EUR1.bn) posted net inflows above EUR1bn.As the most popular asset class for European investors, bond funds still led the table for the year-to-date period, with net inflows of EUR81bn. Total inflows for the year-to-date period is at EUR109.6bn.As in May, asset allocation funds were by far the most popular for June (+EUR4.4bn net).In terms of fund flows the single fund markets showed a mixed picture, notes Lipper. While core European markets such as France (-EUR28.1bn) and Germany (-EUR2.7bn) posted net outflows, peripheral markets such as Spain (+EUR1.6bn), Italy (+EUR0.6bn), and Greece (+EUR0.3bn) stated net inflows.Finally, BlackRock was the best selling group for long-term funds for June, with net sales of EUR1.7bn, ahead of Banco Popolare Società Cooperativa (+EUR0.8bn) and Standard Life (+EUR0.7bn).
The Swiss boutique Swan Asset Management has launched the SIF Bond Enhanced SICAV, an all-terrain global bond fund, Citywire reports. It has also converted one of its funds based in the Cayman Islands into a Sicav entitled Swan SICAV SIF Bond Fund. It is an unconstrained fund.
Comgest has promoted Galina Besedina to strengthen the management team for its GEM Promising Companies fund, Citywire reports. Besedina, an analyst at the firm since January 2008, is assuming responsibility for portfolio management for the first time. She will work alongside Jean-Louis Scandella.
Soros Fund Management decided to exit form Pershing Square Capital Management, the fund by William Ackman, due to disappointing returns, according to the Reuters agency, citing a source close to the case. Pershing is expected to redeem funds to Soros, totalling uner USD250m, by the beginning of 2014. Pershing Square lost 2.2% in July, but has continued to deliver returns of 3.8% since the beginning of the year. The decision comes at a time when Soros and William Ackman have been locked in a merciless battle for several months over the case of Herbalife, a firm of which Soros is the chairman.
ING US, via its broker-dealer ING Financial Partners, is launching a wealth management platform aimed at financial advisers and their clients. The new platform is expected to be operational in fourth quarter 2013 to the 1,500 advisers of the ING Financial Partners network.
The final phase in the process of transfering the invstment team and the Sustainable Future range of funds from Aviva Investors to Alliance Trust Investments has been completed. Since 26 July 2013, the Sustianable Future Pan-European Equity fund, which had previously been a part of the Aviva Investors Sicav, has joined Luxexcellence, according to a statement from Caceis. The fund, now known as the Luxcellence - Alliance Trust Sustainable Future Pan-European Equity Fund, is a sub-fund of the Luxcellence Sicav, the UCITS platform from the Caceis group. Alliance Trust Investments thus becomes one of the foremost asset management firms on the sustainable and socially responsible investment (SRI) market, with a portfolio consisting of one Sicav and seven British-registered open-ended investment companies (OEIC) with total assets of GBP1.37bn, or EUR1.58bn. The fund has outperformed its benchmark index by 5.85% as of the end of June 2013, and its cumulative performance comes to 43.82% as of the end of May 2013.
Charles Schwab Investment Management (CSIM) will this week launch six ETF Schwab Fundamental Index ETFs in the United States, which track Russell Fundamental indices. The new products come in addition to the 15 proprietary CSIM ETFs. Ttey will be available on the Schwab ETF OneSource platform. Schwab has USD12bn in assets under mangement in ETFs as of 30 June 2013, and over USD167bn in assets under custody in ETFs present on the platform. The funds are as follows: Schwab Fundamental U.S. Broad Market Index ETFSchwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental U.S. Small Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental International Large Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental International Small Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index ETF
La boutique suisse Swan Asset Management a lancé Swan SICAV SIF Bond Enhanced, un fonds obligataire mondial tout terrain, rapporte Citywire. Elle a aussi converti l’un de ses fonds basé aux îles Caïmans en une sicav, appelée Swan SICAV SIF Bond Fund. Il s’agit d’un fonds sans contrainte.
Le quotidien suisse NZZ fonde, en collaboration avec son partenaire technologique Crealogix et une équipe de direction, une coentreprise pour le développement d’une plateforme de gestion des finances personnelles baptisée Qontis. Cette plateforme doit être lancée l’automne prochain, ont indiqué les deux entreprises le 9 août dans un communiqué.Elles permettront aux utilisateurs de gérer leurs finances privées avec le même niveau de sécurité que l’e-banking. Des plateformes similaires existent déjà dans l’espace anglo-saxon et nordique.Le magazine en ligne Qontis a déjà été lancé, consacré aux thèmes de la planification, de l'épargne et des dépenses
Charles Schwab Investment Management (CSIM) va lancer cette semaine aux Etats-Unis six ETF Schwab Fundamental Index qui suivent les indices fondamentaux Russell Fundamental.Ces nouveaux produits viennent s’ajouter aux 15 ETF propriétaires de CSIM. Ils seront disponibles sur la plate-forme Schwab ETF OneSource. Schwab affiche 12 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion pour ses ETF au 30 juin 2013 et plus de 167 milliards d’actifs sous conservation pour les ETF présents sur sa plate-forme.Les fonds sont les suivants :Schwab Fundamental U.S. Broad Market Index ETFSchwab Fundamental U.S. Large Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental U.S. Small Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental International Large Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental International Small Company Index ETFSchwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index ETF
La dernière phase du processus de transfert de l’équipe d’investissement et de la gamme de fonds Sustainable Future d’Aviva Investors à Alliance Trust Investments a été achevée. Depuis le 26 juillet 2013, le fonds Sustainable Future Pan-European Equity, auparavant intégré à la sicav Aviva Investors, a rejoint Luxcellence, selon un communiqué de Caceis. Désormais baptisé Luxcellence - Alliance Trust Sustainable Future Pan-European Equity Fund, le fonds constitue un compartiment de la sicav Luxcellence, la plateforme Ucits du groupe Caceis.L’équipe, qui gère le fonds Sustainable Future Pan-European Equity Fund depuis 12 ans sous la houlette de Peter Michaelis, continuera de le faire après le transfert. Elle continuera également de collaborer avec le comité indépendant d’experts en investissements IDR («SRI Advisory Committee»), qui remplit une mission de supervision et de conseil supplémentaires sur les fonds.Alliance Trust Investments devient ainsi l’un des principaux gérants sur le marché de l’Investissement durable et responsable (IDR), fort d’un portefeuille constitué d’une sicav et de sept sociétés d’investissement à capital variable de droit anglais (OEIC) d’un montant total de 1,37 milliard de livres sterling, soit 1,58 milliard d’euros. Le fonds a surperformé sur trois ans son indice de référence de 5,85% à fin juin 2013 et sa performance cumulée s’établit à 43,82% à fin mai 2013.
Soros Fund Management a décidé de sortir de Pershing Square Capital Management, le fonds de William Ackman, en raison de performances décevantes, selon l’agence Reuters qui cite une personne proche du dossier.Pershing devrait restituer les fonds de Soros, au total moins de 250 millions de dollars, d’ici au début de l’année 2014, précise-t-on. Pershing Square a perdu 2,2% en juillet mais affiche encore une performance de 3,8% depuis le début de l’année.Cette décision intervient alors que George Soros et William Ackman se livrent une bataille sans merci depuis plusieurs mois sur le dossier Herbalife, une société dont George Soros est le président.
ING US, par le biais de son broker-dealer ING Financial Partners, lance une plateforme de gestion de fortune à destination des conseillers financiers et de leurs clients.La nouvelle plateforme devrait être opérationnelle dans le courant du quatrième trimestre 2013 pour les 1.500 conseillers du réseau ING Financial Partners.
Comgest a promu Galina Besedina pour renforcer l’équipe de gestion de son fonds GEM Promising Companies, rapporte Citywire. Analyste au sein de la société depuis janvier 2008, l’intéressée accède pour la première fois à des responsabilités de gestion de portefeuille. Elle travaillera aux côtés de Jean-Louis Scandella.
L’indice Euribor dollar, qui a été introduit en avril 2012 pour concurrencer l’indice Libor libellé en dollar (Libor USD), va finalement être retiré du marché dès le 1er septembre, les contributeurs ne souhaitant plus apporter leurs contributions dans un contexte réglementaire de plus en plus strict, a indiqué le groupe bruxellois Euribor-EBF qui gère les indices Euribor. «L’environnement actuel et les réformes en termes de régulation ont rendu les contributions difficiles. Nous sommes triste de perdre l’Euribor USD mais nous comprenons la position des banques», explique à Bloomberg Cédric Quéméner, directeur d’Euribor-EBF. Dix des 20 contributeurs, dont Commerzbank et Natixis le mois dernier, ont en effet décidé de ne plus contribuer au fixing de l’indice, suite aux 2,5 milliards de dollars d’amende qu’ont dû payer RBS, UBS et Barclays pour manipulations des taux Libor et Euribor.
La banque centrale allemande s’attend à ce que la Grèce ait besoin au plus tard début 2014 d’un nouveau soutien financier de ses partenaires européens, rapporte Der Spiegel, citant un document de la Bundesbank. La Buba qualifie d'«extrêmement élevés» les risques liés au plan d’aide en cours et critique le feu vert donné le mois dernier au versement à Athènes d’une enveloppe de 5,8 milliards d’euros, une décision qu’elle juge «motivée par des intérêts politiques».
Barack Obama a déclaré vendredi que Lawrence Summers et Janet Yellen, les deux personnalités les plus fréquemment citées comme de possibles successeurs de Ben Bernanke, étaient hautement qualifiés, mais il a précisé que leurs noms ne seraient pas les seuls étudiés. «Je prendrai la décision cet automne», a ajouté le président américain.
L'économie allemande devrait enregistrer une croissance de 0,75% au deuxième trimestre, son rythme le plus élevé depuis plus de deux ans, mais elle ralentira au cours du second semestre, a déclaré vendredi à Reuters Bernhard Heitzer, secrétaire d'État au ministère de l'Économie et de la Technologie. «La croissance sera moins forte au cours de la deuxième partie de l’année», a-t-il prévenu.
Le nombre de faillites d’entreprises a augmenté de 4,3% en juin sur douze mois, selon des chiffres provisoires publiés vendredi par la Banque de France. Ce sont les micro-entreprises qui sont les plus touchées, avec une hausse des défaillances de 4,4%, contre une baisse de 1,9% pour les autres PME. «Les encours de crédit portés par les entreprises défaillantes représentent 0,5% du total des encours de crédit déclarés», précise la BdF.
Malgré un contexte politique difficile, la chambre basse du parlement italien a définitivement approuvé vendredi un plan de relance présenté par le gouvernement d’Enrico Letta, qui compte simplifier l’administration et promouvoir des projets publics pour aider à sortir le pays de la récession.