P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morningstar has announced that Daniel Needham has been appointed global chief investment officer for Morningstar Investment Management and managing director for Morningstar Investment Management Europe. Needham previously served as managing director and chief investment officer for Morningstar Investment Management’s Asia-Pacific operations, including Ibbotson Associates Australia. He will continue to lead this area until the company appoints a new chief investment officer, Asia-Pacific. Needham will relocate to the United Kingdom from Australia later this year and will divide his time among London, Chicago, and Sydney. As of the end of March 2012, Morningstar Investment Management had approximately $157 billion in assets under advisement and management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The bond specialist Bill Gross has reduced the cash positions of his flagship portfolio, the Pimco GIS Total Return Bond fund, whose assets under management total USD292bn, to 3%, from 8% as of the end of March, Citywire reports. The manager has also reduced his exposure to investment grade credit from 9% at the end of March to 7%.Gross has increased his exposure to Treasuries, from 28% in February to 33% as of the end of March, and 39% as of the end of April. Gross has also redeployed liquidity from MBS and emerging market debt. Exposure to MBS now totals 34%, compared with 1% as of the end of March, while emerging market debt accounts for 8%, compared with 1% at the end of March.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British tax authorities on 9 May launched a vast international investigation with their Australian and US counterparts, after receiving confidential information on offshore companies created by businesses or individuals to avoid taxes. The government has 400 gigabytes of data, which will help them to track parties who have concealed assets offshore. “The message is simple: if you engage in tax evasion, we will come after you,” the British finance minister, George Osborne, warns in a statement. The British government has invested hundreds of millions of pounds into combatting tax evasion, at home and abroad. These data represent a new weapon in the arsenal of the British financial regulators. According to the Guardian newspaper, the data provided to the authorities may in part be the same as those which were recently unveiled at an inernational press conference by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), inclulding confidential information on thousands of offshore companies. The 400 gigabytes of data are probably the largest leak of its kind ever to the British financial authorities, the press notes. They reveal the extensive use by rich individuals and businesses of complex offshore structures in order to conceal assets in various countries, including Singapore, the Virgin, Cayman and Cook Islands, the British Treasury says in its statement. The data are still being analysed, but the British tax authorities have already discovered that at least 100 people have benefited from these structures. Some have already been identified and are being investigated, according to the same source. The British tax authorities will also focus on the names of more than 200 accountants, lawyers and tax advisers who helped to set up these structures. British citizens who have used them will have to regularize their situation themselves, in default of which, the tax authorities warn, they will be exposed to legal action or very high financial penalties. Their identities may also be made public. The joint investigation by the British, Australian and US tax authorities may be the beginning of one of the largest tax investigations in history, the ICIJ notes on its website.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } By 2020, the number of Chinese millionaires will double, putting the country just behind the United States, according to projection by WealthInside published by Asian Investor. Their number will increase from 1.3 million in 2012 to 3.3 million. Indian millionaires will number over one million by 2020. According to a survey by HSBC of continental Chinese clients, 70% are planning to entrust the management of their financial assets to a professional in the future, and to invest outside China.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Gottex Fund Management Sarl, an affiliate of the Lausanne-based firm Gottex, and Astmax Asset Management, a firm based in Tokyo, have pooled their offerings in the area of Sub-Advisory services for institutional and other clients in Japan. The two partners are offering bespoke multi-asset class products and investment services for hedge funds, Gottex says in a statement. The two businesses have also decided to sell a selection of products from the two firms on their respective networks.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head of wholesale activities in the United Kingdom for Martin Currie, Alan Burnett, will soon be leaving the firm to join Lyxor Asset Management, Money Marketing reports. Burnett, who will be leaving his position at the beginning of June, is replaced with immediate effect by David Townsend, who is promoted to managing director for sales and services to UK clients, and who will also retain his responsibilities as head of relations with UK consultants and institutionals.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } iShares has launched the iShares Barclays Euro Corporate Bond Financials UCITS ETF, which offers exposure to investment grade bonds denominated in euros, issued by financial sector firms. The fund, which comes in addition to the ETF range from iShares dedicated to corporate bonds, replicates the Barclays Euro-Aggregate: Financial Index. The fund charges fees of 0.20%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Brevan Howard Asset Management has recruited Peter Blandford, former head of gilt trading at Jefferies. According to several English-language sources, Blandford, who left the US bank in February this year after two years, joined Brevan Howard last week as a partner.Brevan Howard, whose assets under management total about USD37bn, is said to be nostalgic for the City, and to be seeking premises in the hedge fund district, after leaving the British capital for Geneva.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Norwegian sovereign fund has decided to significantly reduce its exposure to inflation-linked bonds, due to the restricted nature of the market, the Financial Times reports. The fund, which had inflation-linked bond assets of NOK95.7bn in June 2012, reduced this to slightly over NOK42bn as of the end of 2012, and to NOK26.1bn at the end of first quarter. Inflationary outlooks in the United States and Europe have fallen, as concerns about deflation have taken the fore.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm F&C has seen outflows of GBP1.5bn in the first three months of the year, as subscriptions in the retail segment were offset by redemptions from several strategic partners. Outflows due to redemptions by strategic partners in first quarter totalled GBP1.3bn, while F&C warns that the life insurer Achmea is planning to withdrawGBP10.3bn when its exclusive contract expires in October 2013. Despite redemptions for the quarter, assets under management at F&C rose 3.8%, to a total of GBP98.8bn as of the end of March, due to positive market and currency effects.

Le rendement à l’adjudication des emprunts à trois ans de l’Italie est revenu à son plus bas niveau depuis janvier, illustrant le regain d’appétit des investisseurs pour la dette publique italienne. Le Trésor a émis 8 milliards de titres lors des adjudications de lundi, soit le haut de la fourchette indicative. L’Italie a émis pour trois milliards d’euros de titres à trois ans avec un rendement moyen de 1,92%, contre 2,29% lors d’une opération comparable il y a un mois.

L'économie française devrait connaître une croissance de 0,1% au deuxième trimestre 2013, annonce la Banque de France dans une première estimation fondée sur son enquête mensuelle de conjoncture d’avril publiée lundi. La banque centrale prévoyait déjà une progression de 0,1% du PIB de la France pour le premier trimestre, dont les chiffres seront publiés mercredi par l’Insee. L’enquête d’avril de la Banque de France fait apparaître une hausse d’un point de l’indicateur du climat des affaires dans l’industrie, à 94, et une stabilité de celui des services, à 93, les deux se situant en-dessous de leur moyenne de long terme (100). Le taux d’utilisation des capacités de production a rebondi de 0,6 point par rapport au mois de mars pour atteindre 75,9%. De son côté l'économie allemande a retrouvé sa dynamique au cours du premier trimestre 2013 et devrait continuer à se renforcer pendant le reste de l’année, estime le ministère de l’Economie dans son rapport mensuel.

Dans son rapport trimestriel, la confédération de l’industrie britannique table sur une croissance de 1% cette année et 2% l'année prochaine

Le député Hervé Mariton dépose aujourd’hui une proposition de loi «relative à la stratégie et à l’organisation de la fonction d’actionnaire de l’Etat». Il plaide pour un «vrai programme de cessions» et pour que ces dernières financent le désendettement. Le texte propose de créer selon le quotidien «un seul établissement, qui regrouperait toutes les participations publiques».

Certains des plus importants fonds alternatifs au monde font selon le quotidien le pari du secteur bancaire grec. Farallon Capital, York Capital Management, QVT Financial et Dromeus feraient ainsi partie des principaux intervenants dans le cadre de l’augmentation de capital de 550 millions d’euros prévue le mois prochain par Alpha Bank, le deuxième plus important prêteur du pays.

Pékin pourrait décider officiellement très prochainement de doubler la banque de fluctuation autorisée de la devise chinoise à plus ou moins 2%, indique le Shanghai Securities News qui ne cite pas de source. La PBOC a fixé le niveau du yuan ce matin à un nouveau record et cherche à faire converger le taux de change de référence avec celui déterminé sur les marchés.

Martin Wheatley, directeur général de la Financial Conduct Authority, le régulateur britannique menant les efforts visant à réformer le Libor, confie au quotidien que le taux interbancaire pourrait être déterminé l’an prochain par un double système de sondage auprès des intervenants et d’indices basés sur les transactions effectives. Un système permettant à ses yeux une continuité avant de songer à une nouvelle évolution. De quoi susciter l’opposition du régulateur américain, la CFTC, dont le patron Gary Gensler appelle à une transition immédiate vers une référence aux transactions. Il appartient selon Martin Wheatley aux intervenants de marché de décider.

Sur fond de forte baisse du yen, Tokyo estime que sa position est de mieux en mieux comprise

Christophe Besson, directeur des gestions chez CM-CIC Asset Management

Aymeric Forest, gérant multi-asset chez Schroders

Matthieu Louanges, vice-président exécutif de Pimco Europe

Hervé Boiral, responsable gestion crédit chez Amundi

Les deux agences de refinancement de prêts immobiliers, de nouveau bénéficiaires, pourraient être tentées de remettre en cause la tutelle étatique

En tombant largement sous l'objectif de la BCE, l'inflation en zone euro pousse à la poursuite d'une politique monétaire très accommodante

Valérie Perez, responsable change chez Deutsche Bank

Au premier trimestre, elle a enregistré un quatrième trimestre consécutif de décollecte. Amundi confirme son dynamisme

Pénalisées par la politique monétaire agressive de la BoJ, les principales économies asiatiques prennent des mesures pour affaiblir leur devise

Il faudrait franchir cette résistance pour pouvoir envisager un retour sur le plus haut atteint en 2011 à 3.075 points

La banque centrale sud-coréenne a baissé la semaine dernière son principal taux directeur, emboîtant le pas à la Banque d’Australie. Les principales banques centrales d’Asie-Pacifique sont contraintes de répliquer à la politique d’assouplissement monétaire massive initiée par le Japon.

Au premier trimestre, l’activité de gestion d’actifs de BNP Paribas a enregistré un quatrième trimestre consécutif de décollecte. Amundi confirme son dynamisme.