Ian Pascal de Baring Asset Management rejoint Hermes Fund Managers en tant que responsible du marketing et de la communications, rapporte Investment Week. Il remplace Rob Page, qui a quitté la société en avril pour intégrer Henderson. Ian Pascal sera placé sous la direction d’Harriet Steel, responsable mondial du développement.

Les sociétés de gestion continuent à allouer un quart de leurs 5 milliards de dollars de commissions annuelles pour payer des courtiers qui leur offrent un accès aux dirigeants des entreprises, rapporte le Financial Times fund management, citant une étude de Thomson Reuters Extel. Le montant est le même qu’en 2012. Ces résultats interviennent alors que le régulateur britannique, la FCA, cherche à encadrer ces pratiques.

En 2012, le classement des dix principales sociétés de gestion institutionnelles dans le monde est resté inchangé, à l’exception de Vanguard qui s’est hissé à la deuxième place, avec 1.620 milliards d’euros d’encours, dépassant State Street Global Advisors (1.584 milliards d’euros), selon le classement établi par IPE. BlackRock reste en tête avec 2.869 milliards d’euros d’encours.Les autres sociétés de gestion du top 10 sont dans l’ordre décroissant : Fidelity Investments, Pimco, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, BNY Mellon Asset Management, Pramerica Investment Management, Amundi et Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management.Les dix principales sociétés de gestion institutionnelles dans le monde représentaient un encours de 12.800 milliards d’euros à fin décembre, soit une hausse de 9 % sur un an.

Neuf indices de stratégies de hedge funds sur les 14 de Lyxor ont terminé le mois de mai en territoire positif, avec en tête les situations spéciales avec +3,05 %. Viennent ensuite l’indice Lyxor long/short equity long bias (+1,66 %) et l’indice Lyxor merger arbitrage (+1,53 %). L’indice Lyxor hedge fund a enregistré une hausse de 0,33 % en mai (+3,53 % depuis le début de l’année).Les cinq stratégies dans le rouge en mai sont : L/S equity market neutral (-0,86 %), L/S equity statistical arbitrage (1,40 %), fixed income arbitrage (-0,70 %), le CTA long term (-3,36 %) et le CTA short term (-1,71 %).

Les sociétés de gestion sont elles préparées à compenser de façon centralisée les swaps de taux (IRS) et les swaps de dérivés de crédit (CDS) ? La réponse est négative pour 53 % des répondants à un sondage réalisé par Simcorps auprès de 60 responsables dans 34 sociétés de gestion d’actifs à travers le monde. De nouvelles réglementations comme Dodd-Frank et EMIR ayant pour objectif d’améliorer la transparence et l’efficacité des transactions de gré à gré (OTC) sur les produits dérivés devraient les pousser à s’intéresser à cette question.Interrogés sur les principales problématiques qu’ils rencontrent dans le traitement des dérivés, les répondants citent le coût, la gestion du collatéral, le reporting intraday, l’intégration des systèmes et la conformité réglementaire.

Hugau Gestion a recruté lundi 3 juin 2013 Pierre-Olivier Bordes en tant que responsable du contrôle des risques, a annoncé lundi la société de gestion. L’intéressé fera partie du comité de direction et sera rattaché directement au président. Pierre-Olivier Bordes était précédemment directeur général délégué de Cogitam, entre 2007 et 2013. Il a aussi été opérateur obligataire gérant chez Ecofi-Finance de 1986 à 1989, gérant obligataire chez Cardif de 1989 à 1991, responsable de la gestion des compagnies d’assurances et des produits de taux chez Cardif de 1991 à 1998, directeur général adjoint d’Ecofi-Finance en charge notamment de la supervision des risques financiers de 1998 à 2002, directeur du service de gestion quantitative, recherche et actuariat chez Ecofi de 2003 à 2007. Hugau Gestion gère près de 1,1 milliard d’euros, principalement au travers de 8 OPCVM et de produits dédiés.

Et de deux ! Après Ageas en décembre dernier, Natixis vient de signer un protocole d’accord avec CNP Assurances en vue d’investir conjointement, via un partenariat, dans des prêts d’infrastructures en Europe.En pratique, Natixis sera chargée d’originer et de proposer à CNP Assurances de nouvelles opérations sur le marché primaire de la dette infrastructure répondant aux critères retenus par les deux parties (pays, secteurs, devises, etc.), indique un communiqué. Pour sa part, CNP Assurances sélectionnera les opérations qu’elle souhaite financer en visant un investissement unitaire compris entre 50 et 150 millions d’euros.Natixis conservera une part significative de chaque prêt à son bilan, afin d’aligner les intérêts des deux parties pendant toute la durée de vie de l’opération.CNP Assurances vise à se constituer ainsi un portefeuille de financements d’infrastructures d’un montant pouvant atteindre 2 milliards d’euros en trois ans tandis que Natixis assurera le servicing et la gestion des actifs de ce portefeuille et poursuivra le développement de sa plate-forme dédiée aux infrastructures en l’adaptant à d’autres devises.

Au cours des dix-huit derniers mois, BlackRock a remplacé ses gérants de portefeuille dans 80% de ses équipes actives de gestion actions, selon MutualFundWire qui cite des informations de Pensions & Investments. Parmi les remplacements récents figure notamment Jean Rosenbaum, managing director et gérant de portefeuille au sein de l'équipe global opportunities equity.A l’origine de ce taux de renouvellement record, une décollecte de 20,5 milliards de dollars au sein des portefeuilles actions gérés activement au cours des douze derniers mois à fin mars. Les fonds actions gérés activement ne représentent que 7% ou 291,7 milliards de dollars sur les 3.900 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion de BlackRock, mais les revenus de ces portefeuilles sont à l’origine de plus de 20% des commissions au premier trimestre, relève Pensions & Investments.

Le nombre de fonds de hedge funds a diminué progressivement ces dernières années, selon Hedge Fund Research, revenant de 2.462 en 2007 à 1.855 au premier trimestre de cette année, rapporte le Financial Times fund management. Même si les rachats ont ralenti, ils se poursuivent. Les fonds de hedge funds ont ainsi vu sortir 22 milliards de dollars en 2012 et 5 milliards de dollars au premier trimestre 2013.

Le patrimoine global net des organismes de placement collectif et des fonds d’investissement spécialisés s’est élevé à 2.565,256 milliards d’euros au 30 avril 2013 contre 2.528,920 milliards d’euros au 31 mars 2013, soit une augmentation de 1,44% sur un mois et de 15,26% sur la période des douze derniers mois écoulés, selon les statistiques communiquées par la Commission de surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF).L’industrie des OPC luxembourgeois a donc enregistré au mois d’avril une variation positive se chiffrant à 36,336 milliards d’euros. Cette augmentation représente le solde des émissions nettes positives à concurrence de 32,491 milliards d’euros (+1,29%) et de l’évolution favorable des marchés financiers à concurrence de 3,845 milliards d’euros (+0,15%).

Les investisseurs semblent se mettre à douter du potentiel des marchés européens. Pour la première fois depuis août 2012, les fonds actions ont enregistré des rachats, à hauteur de 344 millions d’euros, indiquent les derniers chiffres de Morningstar. A l’inverse, les fonds obligataires ont engrangé une abondante collecte nette de 26,5 milliards d’euros. Au total, les fonds long terme ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 40,3 milliards d’euros en avril. Les catégories ayant subi les plus fortes demandes de rachats sont la catégorie UK Large-Cap Blend Equity (-1,5 milliard d’euros), Global Large-Cap Blend Equity (-1 milliard), Asia ex Japan Equity (-851 millions), Europe Large-Cap Blend Equity (-741 millions) et les Garanteed Funds (-665 millions). La catégorie ayant enregistré le plus fort succès est Global Bond avec des souscriptions de 4,1 milliards d’euros, suivi du USD Flexible Bond (+3,8 milliards). " L’attrait des fonds obligataires correspond à une recherche de rendement face à des taux historiquement bas, plutôt qu’une fuite vers la qualité», analyse Ali Masarwah de l’équipe de recherche européenne de Morningstar. Du côté des fonds, Le Templeton Global Total Return est le grand gagnant de ce mois d’avril en terme de souscriptions. Le produit géré par Michael Hasenstab a engrangé 2 milliards d’euros, portant sa collecte depuis le début de l’année à 6,3 milliards d’euros.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Global net assets in funds in Luxembourg totalled EUR2.565trn as of 30 April 2013, compared with EUR2.528trn as of 31 March 2013, an increase of 1.44% in one month, and of 15.26% compared with the past twelve-month period, according to statistics from the financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF). The Luxembourg funds industry posted a positive variation in the month of April totalling EUR36.336bn. This increase represents the positive balance between positive net issues of EUR32.491bn (+1.29%), and the favourable evolution of financial markets to the tune of EUR3.845bn (+0.15%).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The best pan-European broker for equity research is Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the most recent pan-European edition of the annual Thomson Reuters Extel survey. BofA Merrill Lynch takes the top spot from UBS, which this year is relegated to second place, ahead of Morgan Stanley. For asset management firms, JP Morgan Asset Management retains the top spot in the rankings, followed by Fidelity, which holds onto second place, and BlackRock Investment Management, which had been in fifth place the previous year. In the category of pan-European hedge funds, GLG comes out on top, followed by Tudor Capital and Exane Asset Management, which had held tenth place in the previous rankings. The survey also finds that sustainable development and ESG issues are increasingly important to investors, who would nonetheless like research to be integrated into analysis and classical themes.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2012, the rankings of the largest institutional asset management firms in the world remained unchanged, with the exception of Vanguard, which climbed to second place, with EUR1.62trn in assets, putting it ahead of State Street Global Advisors (EUR1.584trn), according to the rankings established by IPE. BlackRock remains in the lead with EUR2.869trn in assets. The other asset management firms in the top 10 are, in declining order: Fidelity Investments, Pimco, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, BNY Mellon Asset Management, Pramerica Investment Management, Amundi and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management. The ten largest institutional asset management firms in the world had assets of EUR12.8trn as of the end of December, an increase of 9% year on year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } FinEx ETF, the ETF activity of the British asset management firm FinEx Group, is studying the possibility of offering its ETFs on Chinese stock markets, after becoming the first to do so in Russia, Financial News reports. To do this, the firm is planning to create a Chinese joint venture. It is not possible for non-Chinese providers to offer ETFs in China.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The number of funds of hedge funds has shrunk steadily over the past few years, according to Hedge Fund Research, from 2,462 in 2007 to 1,855 in first quarter this year, Financial Times fund management reports. Although redemptions have slowed, they are continuing. Funds of hedge funds have seen outflows of USD22bn in 2012, and USD5bn in first quarter 2013.

Nine Lyxor Strategy Indices out of 14 ended the month in positive territory, led by the Special Situations (+3.05%), the Lyxor Long/Short Equity Long Bias Index (+1.66%) and the Lyxor Merger Arbitrage Index (+1.53%). The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index posted a positive performance at +0.33% in May (+3.53% YTD).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Bundesrat (the upper house of the German Parliament) on 10 June definitively approved the law to transpose the AIFM directive, without moditification. The directive may now come into force on 22 July this year as planned.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lyxor Asset Management has announced the appointment of Gilbert Tse as head of Lyxor for Asia, a newly created position. Tse is based in Hong Kong and will report to Pierre Gil, head of international development. Tse will work to co-ordinate all activities of Lyxor in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Korea. He will also be responsible for developing the co-operation with Fortune SG Fund Management Co., Lyxor’s Chinese joint venture. Since 2010, Tse had been deputy CEO of that firm. His replacement will be announced soon.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aviva Investors has appointed Aaron Grehan as head of emerging market debt, replacing Jerry Brewin, who has left the business to join ING Investment Management this August, the website Citywire reports. Grehan, who has been working at Aviva Investors since 2000, will be responsible for the Aviva Investors Emerging Markets Bond + and Aviva Investors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond + funds, which have combined assets of over EUR2bn. He has bee managing these funds alongside Brewin for more than three years.

Baring Asset Management has hired Staffan Lindfeldt, as head of global emerging market equities. He joins from Handelsbanken Asset Management in Stockholm where he has been chief portfolio manager for global emerging markets since 2006. He replaces Roberto Lampl who has left the company, according to Citywire Global. He started on June 10, reporting to Tim Scholefield, head of equities. Staffan Lindfeldt is responsible for leading and managing the Global Emerging Market (GEMs) Equities team and will be the lead investment manager on several of the GEMs portfolios including mutual funds and segregated portfolios, subject to regulatory approval. Baring AM has also hired Isabelle Alexander as investment manager in the global emerging market equities team. She starts on 12th June and will report to Staffan Lindfeldt. She has seven years’ investment experience and was previously portfolio manager at Pictet Asset Management in the global emerging markets team. Isabelle Alexander will be an investment manager assisting with the management of the GEMs portfolios, alongside William Palmer. Both will be based in London.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The pension fund for British Telecom (BT), whose assets under management total about GBP39bn, is planning to increase its investments in infrastructure, in order to protect itself against inflation, Financial News reports. The exposure objective for inflation-linked assets is now set at 31% of the portfolio, compared with 15% previously. As of 31 December 2012, the inflation-linked portfolio totalled GbP8.4bn, or about 22% of the portfolio, above the previously declared objective, but still well below the new objective.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asset management firms are continuing to allocate a quarter of their USD5bn in annual commissions to pay brokers who offer them access to corporate executives, Financial Times fund management reports, citing a study by Thomson Reuters Extel. This total is the same as in 2012. These results come at a time when the UK regulator, the FCA, is seeking to regulate the practice.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Ian Pascal of Baring Asset Management is joining Hermes Fund Managers as head of marketing and communications, Investment Week reports. He replaces Rob Page, who left the firm in April to join Henderson. Pascal will report to Harriet Steel, global head of development.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Aberdeen AM is planning to launch a fund dedicated to Chinese A-class shares, Asian Investor reports. The asset management firm is also considering opening an office in China. Aberdeen, which has about USD100bn in assets under management in the region outside Australia, would also like to create investment capacities in Asia in direct real estate investment. Aberdeen has received a quota of USD200m as a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII). However, unlike many of its competitors, Aberdeen has invested about 70% in bonds and 30% in A-class equities.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The FRR on 7 June 2013 launched a request for proposals to select one or more providers for financial management of active management mandates invested in large and mid-cap equities in the United States. For this round, the public market procedure selected is that of a restricted request for proposals in two lots: Lot 1: “'Value’ style United States equity management” This lot concerns the active management of one or more mandates which will deploy exposure to “Value” style large and mid-cap equities in the United States. For purely indicative purposes, the FRR estimates that the total amount of funds allocated for management may be set at EUR500m. Lot 2: “'Growth’ style United States equity management” This lot concerns the active management of one or more mandates which will deploy explsure to “Growth” style large and mid-cap equities in the United States. For purely indicative purposes, the FRR estimates that the total amount of funds allocated for management bay be set at EUR500m. Each mandate in the present round is signed for a period of four years from the time of notification with a possible extension for one year. Interested asset management firms have until 8 July, 2013 at 12:00 PM (Paris time) to respond to the FRR in compliance with the conditions specified in the consultation document.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hugau Gestion on Monday, 3 June 2013 recruited Pierre-Olivier Bordes, 52, as head of risk control, the French asset management firm announced on Monday. Bordes will be a member of the board of directors and will report directly to the chairman. Bordes was previously deputy CEO of Cogitam, from 2007 to 2013. He was also a managing bond operator at Ecofi-Finance from 1986 to 1989, a bond manager at Cardif from 1989 to 1991, head of management for insurance companies and fixed-income products at Cardif from 1991 to 1998, deputy CEO at Ecofi-Finance in charge of supervision of financial risk from 1998 to 2002, and head of the quantitative, research and actuarial department at Ecofi from 2003 to 2007. Hugau Gestion has nearly EUR1.1bn in assets under management, primarily in 8 OPCVM funds and dedicated products. The boutique has 10 employees.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the past 18 months, BlackRock has replaced the portfolio managers on 80% of its active equity management teams, according to MutualFundWire, citing information in Pensions & Investments. Among the recent replacements are Jean Rosenbaum, managing director and portfolio manager in the global opportunities equity team. The cause of this record turnover is an outflow of USD20.5bn from actively-managed equity portfolios in the twelve months to the end of March. Actively-managed equity funds represent only 7%, or USD291.7bn, of the USD3.9trn in assets under management at BlackRock, but the revenues from these portfolios are responsible for more than 20% of commissions in first quarter, Pensions & Investments points out.

French insurer Groupama on Monday evening announced the departure of Francis Ailhaud from its asset management affiliate, Groupama Asset Management (GAM). He will leave his position as CEO on 30 June this year, and will be replaced from 1 July by Philippe Setbon, who currently serves as CEO Asset Management Group at Generali Investments in Italy.Setbon, in practice, will report directly to Benoit Maes, group CFO, and will be responsible for “inscribing the action of Groupama Asset Management within the new strategic guidelines established by the group,” a statement says. When contacted by Newsmanagers last night, the group did not wish to give further information with regard to the new orientations in question.Ailhaud, also reached by telephone, has not participated in the recruitment of his successor, but emphasized his suitable qualities to lead the asset management firm, and confirmed that he would not be retaining the majority of his responsibilities beyond the month of June. This includes his responsibilities at the French association of asset managers AFG, where he is vice-chairman, and chairs the working group on variable pay. He will not retain his position as president of the FDIR Chair (Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment) either. However, he will be continuing to chair the CIREM (Centre for Information and Research on the Global Economy).Ailhaud, 63, arrived at Groupama in 1999, where he served successively as chairman of the board, and then as CEO of GAM. Before that, he served as deputy CEO at CPR, which he joined in 1988, before becoming CEO of CPR Gestion, at its inception in 1990.His successor, 48, spent ten years at Groupe Azur, which he joined in 1993, and successively served as European equity manager, head of asset management, and then as chairman and CEO of the asset management firm, Boissy Gestion, Groupama states. In 2003, he joined Rothschild & Cie Gestion, where he was head of equity portfolio management. In 2004, he joined the Generali group in the Asset Management unit of Generali France as CIO, and then in 2007, became CEO for Asset Management France.In 2009, he became chairman and CEO of Asset Management Group, Generali Investments. In addition to his current responsibilities as CEO, he has also been chief investment officer for securities investments for the group since 2011.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm Odey Asset Management has launched a fund dedicated to developed markets, which will be managed by James Hanbury, Fundweb reports. Odey Allegra Developed Markets is a UCITS IV long only fund domiciled in Ireland, with the MSCI World Index as its benchmark. Assets under management at Odey AM total about USD8.9bn.