GMI Ratings, which claims to be the global leader in research into environmental, social and governance (ESG) and accounting risks affecting the results of publicly-traded firms, has published its first “list of black swan risks,” which identifies 200 North American firms which are running the highest risk of a significant fall in their share prices in the next six months.Based on a proprietary scientific accounting model from GMI Ratings (AGR), the list includes firms with the lowest ratings and market capitalisations of USD750m to USD100bn. AGR ratings reflect the entirety of financial reports from businesses; the lowest ratings identify firms whose financial reports reveal “highly aggressive” accounting practices which considerably increase investment risks.Among the 50 companies most exposed to a potential accident, the best-known in Europe are AOL, Dynegy, BNY Mellon, Hewlett-Packard, Harley-Davidson, Northern Trust, Caterpillar, Marathon Oil and McCormick.
Bo Kratz has joined the Northern Trust group as head of asset management for the Asia-Pacific ex Japan region, Asian Investor reports. Kratz zucceeds Kevin Hardy, who has joined BlackRock. Kratz will be based in Hong Kong, and will lead a team that manages about USD50bn in assets for sovereign funds, pension funds and businesses in the region. Kratz previously worked (until January 2011) for the alternative asset management firm Permal as head of the Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo offices.
BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced the appointment of Madhu Gayer as head of Investment Reporting and Performance (IRP) for the Asia-Pacific region, a newly-created position in Singapore. Gayer, who had previously worked at Northern Trust, will report to Mostapha Tahiri, head of the asset and fund services unit for Aia, and Nicolas Le Clech, global head of IRP.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Limited (SMTB) has completed its acquisition of the Global Asset Services division of Daiwa. The activity now acquired by SMTB has been renamed at SuMi Trust Global Asset Services. It includes the fund administration activities of Daiwa, as well as the UCITS fund management firm and the custody, trustee and authorised corporate director entities. The acquisition will allow SMTB to develop its activities in alternative management services.
Open-ended funds on sale in Italy have posted net redemptions in October of EUR635m, ending several months of inflows, including +EUR1.4bn in September, according to Assogestioni, the Italian asset management association. Outflows were driven by money market funds, which saw outflows of EUR1.3bn. Equity and hedge funds also show outflows, with redemptions totalling EUR446m and EUR339m, respectively. However, bond funds show inflows of EUR1.1bn, flexible funds EUR278m, and balanced funds EUR60m. In terms of domicile, foreign-registered funds have continued to post inflows (EUR280m), while funds based in Italy show outflows (-EUR915m). With the addition of closed funds and mandated management, the Italian asset management industry in October posted net redemptions of EUR1.9bn. As of the end of October, total assets were EUR1.182trn, compared with EUR992bn as of the end of September. This increase of EUR189bn is largely related to the effects of a reorganisation of the asset management firm of the Generali group, Assogestioni states.
On 6 July 2012 the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the future timeline for the start of the loan-level data reporting requirements for asset-backed securities as part of the Eurosystem’s collateral framework. In order to ensure that all the necessary amendments will have been made to Guideline ECB/2011/14 at the national level, the Governing Council of the ECB has decided to adjust this timeline as follows:For residential mortgage-backed securities, the reporting requirements will be mandatory as of 3 January 2013.For asset-backed securities, where the cash-flow generating assets comprise loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, the reporting requirements will be mandatory as of 3 January 2013.For commercial mortgage-backed securities, the reporting requirements will be mandatory as of 1 March 2013.The nine-month transitional phase for each asset class, starting on the dates indicated above, will also be adjusted accordingly.These slight postponements will allow for the smooth implementation of the necessary amendments.For other asset classes (i.e. auto loans, consumer finance loans and leasing receivables) the date of entry into force remains as originally announced, namely 1 January 2014.
Bond funds posted a net inflows of EUR22.05bn in Europe in October, their highest level of subscriptions in one month since the beginning of the year, according to statistics from Morningstar. For the first ten months of the year, bond funds show net inflows of EUR136.81bn. The most popular bond strategies were high yield funds, private bonds and emerging market funds.Investors appear to be returning to equities, however, but their considerable preference for bonds has limited flows to equities, which remain positive for the second consecutive month. Net inflows totalled EUR1.76bn in October, compared with EUR3.1bn in September. Emerging market equity funds take the prize, with net inflows of nearly EUR2bn.Allocation funds have seen stable inflows, totalling EUR2.76bn. Prudent allocation funds denominated in euros led this category, with inflows of EUR1.21bn in October, followed by flexible allocation funds in euros and pounds sterling.Among the winners from the trend for bonds are Pimco, with inflows of EUR3.91bn, Credit Suisse (EUR1.96bn) and AllianceBernstein (EUR1.81bn). All companies in the top ten for inflows are bond specialists, with the notable exception of BlackRock, which in fourth place, has earned net inflows of EUR1.54bn.It is also of note that BNP Paribas, Santander and Amundi are among the asset management firms which underwent significant redemptions, with totals of EUR2.34bn, EUR1.06bn and EUR654m, respectively.
Footsie announces that the global assets in exchange traded funds (ETFs) linked to benchmark FTSE EPRA/NAREIT real estate stock indices have jumped by over 90% in the past year to USD 7.1 billion. Investors have been attracted into these tracker funds by high yields, quality diversified real estate exposure in a tradable form and the outperformance oflisted real estate relative to general equities indices. ETFs tracing the index series are currently available via HSBC, Blackrock iShares, Deutsche Bank,Lyxor, First Trust and EasyETF.Since October 2011, the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Total Return Index of developed market real estate stocks has rallied 26% in euro terms (17% in US dollars).
SAC Capital will face civil charges of fraud from the Securities and Exchange Commission in what authorities are calling the largest insider trading scandal ever, the Financial Times reports. The hedge fund firm, with USD14bn in assets, held a 20-minute telephone conference with its investors on Wednesday. Steven Cohen, founder of the firm, spoke briefly and stated that he was confident that the firm acted appropriately.
BlackRock is at a turning point, the Financial Times argues in a long article dedicated to its founder and CEO, Larry Fink. “BlackRock’s size and power has not received much attention from the public or regulators, but that could change. Some analysts suspect that, BlackRock will be considered a “systemically important financial institution” – a designation that brings with it capital requirements and tighter regulatory scrutiny. And after a period of rapid expansion, marked by a number of acquisitions, it appears to many investors that the firm’s growth rate is going to slow,” the FT writes.
UK-based FTSE Group has announced the launch of a new broad range of 11 equally-weighted indices, calculated in real time on the basis of traded capital, the FTSE Super Liquid Index Series (FLQ). They replicate the characteristics of the major FTSE indices in a smaller, but highly liquid equity universe.The new indices use a new method to determine the size of indices and select the most liquid equities from each underlying industry index. This reduces implementation, maintenance and replication costs, while retaining the sectoral weighting and performance characteristics of the original index.
Javier Mallo, co-head of sales at Legg Mason Global AM in Spain, has announced that the group is releasing the bond sub-fund Legg Mason Brandywine Global Opportunistic Fixed Income of the Irish Sicav Legg Mason Global Funds in the country.The product is managed by David Hoffman and Stephen S. Smith at Brandywine Global (USD30bn in assets), an affiliate of Legg Mason based in Philadelphia.
Deutsche Börse has announced that it has admitted four new German-registered ETFs of the iShares brand (BlackRock group) to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform. They are three bond funds and one equity product, bringing the total number of ETFs listed on Xetra to 1,009. CharacteristicsName: iShares Global Government AAA-AA Capped BondISIN: DE000A1J7CM0TER: 0.20%Benchmark: Barclays Global Government AAA-AA Capped Bond IndexName: iShares Global Corporate BondISIN: DE000A1J7CK4TER: 0.20%Benchmark: Barclays Global Aggregate Corporate Bond IndexName: iShares Barclays Capital Euro Corporate Bond Interest Rate HedgedISIN: DE000A1J7CL2TER: 0.25%Benchmark: Barclays Capital EUR Corporate Interest Rate Hedged IndexName: iShares MSCI Mexico IMI CappedISIN: DE000A1J7CN8TER: 0.65%Benchmark: MSCI Mexico IMI Capped Index
Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE) has acquired the “multicube rhein-neckar” logistical property in Heddesheim, which will be completed next month, from Phoenix 2010 GbR, for its open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Europa. The sale price has not been disclosed.The multicube rhein-neckar is already wholly leased to the storage specialist pfenning Logistik.
The Cologne-based Monega KAG, an asset management firm of the DEVK Versicherungen insurance group, has announced the launch of the German-registered fund Monega Rohstoffe, designed mainly for retail clients. As its German name indicates, the product is a commodity fund, which will invest at least 51% of its assets in commodity funds, commodity indices, commodity ETFs and ETCs, and shares in companies whose primary activities are related to commodities. The rules, however, exclude any investment in agricultural commodities.The manager, Dirk Viebahn, may weather periods of economic slump by adopting positions of up to 49% on bonds, bank savings or money market assets.CharacteristicsName: Monega RohstoffeISIN code: DE000A0YJUM2Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.2%Depository banking commission: 0.039%
Having observed that a growing number of investors is taking an interest in debt related to foreign trade, since government bonds are no longer paying high returns, the Cologne-based DF Deutsche Forfait has announced plans to launch a “trade-finance” fund in 2013, which will offer an attractive risk/return profile.The product will be primarily aimed at “small” institutionals and family offices which do not have the adequate internal expertise to acquire debt related to external commerce directly.DF recruited a specialist team in third quarter 2012, and the first product will be released in second quarter next year.
Fondsprofessionell reports that ETF Securities has taken into account criticisms of its investments in soft commodities and livestock: on 29 November, the British firm is launching the ETFS Ex-Agriculture and Livestock DJ-UBSCI (acronym: OOEC) on the German market. The UCITS-compliant ETC, which excludes agriculture and livestock, will replicate the DJ-UBSCISM ex-Agriculture and Livestock index via total return swaps.
Schroders is launching the Schroder GAIA Global Macro Bond fund in France, its new fund managed by the team led by Bob Jolly, a specialist in global macro fixed income strategies. The global, flexible product “aims to deploy uncorrelated strategies on currency, government and corporate bonds markets. It aims to earn annual returns of Libor +8% in an annual volatility range of 6% to 12%,” a statement released on Wednesday says. Schroder GAIA Global Macro Bond is the latest product on the Schroder GAIA alternative platform, a Sicav specialised in liquid alternative strategies, adapted to the UCITS IV format. The range, launched in November 2009, now has four strategies, with assets under management of EUR1.3bn as of 31 October 2012. Two of these strategies involve external hedge fund managers (Schroder GAIA CQS Credit and Schroder GAIA Egerton Equity), while the other two are based on internal expertise. A fifth fund, launched with Sloane Robinson, was liquidated due to poor returns on the part of the manager. Other funds will be released on the platform in 2013, probably three of them, Eric Bertrand, director of Schroder GAIA, announced a few days ago. It states, however, that the objective is not to launch funds in all directions, but to have a few products which can rapidly achieve large size.
Expansión reports that Mirabaud Asset Management has released its Luxembourg-registered emerging market equity fund Mirabaud Equities Global Emerging Markets, founded in July, for sale in Spain.
The asset sale plan negotiated with the European Union by the Spanish firm Bankia includes EUR90bn in the first five years. But, Funds People states, this does not involve either the asset management firm Bankia Fondos (EUR5.51bn in AUM), nor the pension fund management firm Bankia Pensiones (EUR4.17bn), as these affiliates are considered strategic, as are the private banking and retail banking operations.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Limited (SMTB) vient de boucler l’acquisition de la division Global Asset Services de Daiwa. L’activité désormais dans le giron de SMTB a été renommée SuMi Trust Global Asset Services. .Elle comprend les activités d’administration de fonds de Daiwa, ainsi que la société de gestion des fonds Ucits et les entités de conservation, de trustee et de «authorised corporate director».Cette acquisition permet notamment à SMTB de développer ses activités dans les services à la gestion alternative.
Le plan de cessions d’actifs négocié avec Bruxelles par l’espagnol Bankia porte sur 90 milliards d’euros pour les cinq prochaines années. Mais, souligne Funds People, il ne concerne ni la société de gestion Bankia Fondos (5,51 milliards d’euros), ni le gestionnaire de fonds de pension Bankia Pensiones (4,17 milliards), car ces filiales sont jugées stratégiques, comme les pôles banque privée et banque de gros.
Expansión rapporte que Mirabaud Asset Management a entamé la commercialisation en Espagne de son fonds luxembourgeois d’actions émergentes, Mirabaud Equities Global Emerging Markets qui a été créé en juillet.
GMI Ratings, qui se veut le leader mondial de la recherche sur les risques environnementaux, sociaux, de gouvernance (ESG) et comptables affectant les résultats de sociétés cotées, vient de publier sa première “liste des risques cygnes noirs”, identifiant 200 sociétés nord-américaines exposées au plus haut risque de chute importante du cours de leur action dans les six prochains mois.Se fondant sur le modèle comptable scientifique propre à GMI Ratings (AGR), la liste comprend des sociétés aux notes les plus basses et aux capitalisations boursières entre 750 millions de dollars et 100 milliards de dollars. Les notes AGR reflètent l’intégrité globale des rapports financiers des sociétés ; les notes les plus basses identifient des sociétés dont les résultats financiers publiés révèlent des pratiques comptables «très agressives» qui augmentent considérablement le risque d’investissement.Parmi les cinquante sociétés les plus exposées à un accident potentiel, les plus connues en Europe sont AOL, Dynegy, BNY Mellon, Hewlett-Packard, Harley-Davidson, Northern Trust, Caterpillar, Marathon Oil et McCormick.
Calao Finance a annoncé le 28 novembre le recrutement d’Yves Veret en tant que senior advisor pour les secteurs des technologies de l’information, de la cyber sécurité et de la défense.Yves Veret a été précédemment directeur général des services de Bull, directeur de la branche Ingénierie de Systèmes et Technologies de l’Information d’Aerospatiale,président de Cap Sesa Défense puis de Matra Cap Systèmes.
Schroders lance en France le Schroder GAIA Global Macro Bond, son nouveau fonds géré par l’équipe de Bob Jolly, spécialiste des stratégies global macro obligataires. Ce produit mondial et flexible «a vocation à déployer des stratégies peu corrélées sur les marchés de devises, d’obligations souveraines et d’entreprises. Il vise à dégager une performance annualisée de Libor +8% pour une fourchette de volatilité annualisée comprise entre 6% et 12%», détaille un communiqué diffusé mercredi.Schroder GAIA Global Macro Bond est le dernier-né de la plate-forme alternative Schroder GAIA, une Sicav spécialisée sur des stratégies alternatives liquides, adaptées au format UCITS IV. Cette gamme lancée en novembre 2009, compte désormais quatre stratégies pour un encours sous gestion de 1,3 milliard d’euros au 31 octobre 2012. Deux de ces stratégies font intervenir des gérants de hedge funds externes (Schroder GAIA CQS Credit et Schroder GAIA Egerton Equity), tandis que les deux autres s’appuient sur des savoir-faire internes. A noter qu’un cinquième fonds, lancé avec Sloane Robinson, a été liquidé en raison des mauvaises performances de la part du gérant.D’autres fonds verront le jour sur cette plate-forme en 2013, probablement trois, a annoncé il y a quelques jours Eric Bertrand, directeur de Schroder GAIA. Il précise néanmoins que l’objectif n’est pas de lancer des fonds tous azimuts, mais d’avoir quelques produits qui puissent rapidement avoir une taille importante.
Bo Kratz vient de rejoindre le groupe Northern Trust en tant que responsable de la gestion d’actifs pour la région Asie-Pacifique hors Japon, rapporte Asian Investor. Bo Kratz prend la succession de Kevin Hardy, parti chez BlackRock.Basé à Hong Kong, Bo Kratz sera à la tête d’une équipe gérant quelque 50 milliards de dollars d’actifs pour le compte notamment de fonds souverains, de fonds de pension et d’entreprises de la région.Bo Kratz travaillait précédemment (jusqu’en janvier 2011) pour la société de gestion alternative Permal en tant que responsable des bureaux de Hong Kong, Singapour et Tokyo.
BNP Paribas Securities Services vient d’annoncer la nomination de Madhu Gayer en qualité de responsable de l’IRP (Investment Reporting and Performance) pour la région Asie-Pacifique, un poste nouvelle créé à Singapour.Madhu Gayer, qui travaillait précédemment chez Northern Trust, sera rattaché à Mostapha Tahiri, responsable du pôle asset and fund services pour l’Asie, et Nicolas Le Clech, responsable mondial de l’IRP.