Le responsable des alliances stratégiques chez Aviva Investors, Malcolm Mackenzie, doit quitter la société dans le cadre d’une restructuration de l'équipe de vente, rapporte Fund Web. Un responsable des ventes, Nick Hendy, serait également sur le départ.En début d’année, Aviva Investors avait annoncé la suppression de 160 emplois dans le monde, avec notamment la fermeture à Londres des desks d’actions européennes, émergentes, internationales et ISR.

Les actifs sous gestion de Rathbone Brothers («Rathbones») s’inscrivaient à fin septembre à 17,4 milliards de livres, en progression de 9,5% par rapport à fin décembre 2011, selon les chiffres publiés le 24 octobre.Le résultat d’exploitation s’est accru de 6,7% sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année à 116 millions de livres. Rathbones précise toutefois que la collecte nette s’est ralentie à 5,5% sur neuf mois contre 8,2% l’an dernier.

Résultat de la fusion d’Old Mutual Asset Managers (UK) ou OMAM et de Skandia Investment Group (SIG), Old Mutual Global Investors, qui affiche un encours de 13 milliards de livres au 30 septembre, a présenté sa stratégie de croissance, qui repose une «expansion active» de ses capacités directes de gestion d’actifs.Il est prévu que la nouvelle entité utilise en matière de distribution les capacités d’Old Mutual Wealth, sa maison-mère qui est spécialiste des solutions de gestion de fortune, tout en développant fortement sa distribution tierce au travers des CGPI, des gestionnaires de fortune et des banques, au travers d’un renforcement des relations avec les plates-formes au Royaume-Uni et à l’international.Le cœur du dispositif de croissance sera l’investissement dans des domaines et des classes d’actifs où de nouvelles offres peuvent être envisagées, tout en élargissant les domaines d’expertise existants. Pour étendre sa gamme, Old Mutual GI a «significativement investi» dans le renforcement de ses capacités en matière de développement de produits.Le nouveau logo a été adopté et la nouvelle marque sera progressivement introduite tout au long de 2013, à partir du premier trimestre.D’autre part, le gestionnaire, dont l’activité est répartie sur quatre pôles (actions, obligataire, alternatif et multigestion) a communiqué la composition de son état-major :– Julian Ide, Chief Executive Officer– James Millard, Director of Investments– Ashton Bradbury, Head of Equities– Stewart Cowley , Head of Fixed Income– Paul Simpson, Head of Alternatives– John Ventre, Head of Multi-Manager– Paul Nathan, Chief Operating Officer– Mitchell Dean, Chief Financial Officer– Warren Tonkinson, Head of Distribution– Celeste Dias-Brennan, Head of Product– Marcus Bolitho, Head of Marketing– Karen Barnett, Head of Human Resources

Le gestionnaire de fortune Quilter a confirmé à la presse spécialisée britannique qu’il était sur le point d’acquérir Cheviot Asset Management.Le groupe de capital investissement Bridgepoint, qui a racheté Quilter en début d’année, devrait faciliter la fusion de ces deux entités spécialisées dans la gestion de fortune qui disposeront d’un encours d’actifs sous gestion de quelque 12 milliards de livres. La société issue de ce rapprochement comptera parmi les tout premiers gestionnaires de fortune britanniques. Le prix de la transaction serait inférieur à 100 millions de livres.

La société de gestion suédoise GustaviaDavegårdh Fonder change de dénomination pour s’appeler désormais Gustavia Fonder, rapporte le site suédois Fondbranschen. La raison de ce changement est que Björn Davegårdh n’est plus actif dans l’entreprise.

Le britannique Schroders vient de recruter Alan Young en qualité de responsable des ventes institutionnelles à Hong Kong, rapporte Asian Investor.Alan Young est un spécialiste du marché asiatique qui travaillait précédemment chez State Street Global Advisors en tant responsable de l’Asie septentrionale.

As of 30 September, total assets at 3,866 Luxembourg funds came to EUR2.314448trn, compared with EUR2.295399trn one month earlier, and EUR2.296717trn as of the end of August, according to statistics from the CSSF. Assets under management in specialised investment funds (SIF) represented EUR10.715bn.

A survey for the most recent edition of the CDP Global Water Report of 185 mid-sized businesses finds that this year, 53% of firms surveyed, compared with 38% in 2011, suffered a negative impact due to problems related to water (drought, flooding, increase in compliance costs, regulatory uncertainty, and poor water quality). Now, 68% of respondents, up from 59%, estimate that water represents a substantial risk to their activities, while 71%, compared with 63% see a commercial opportunity in responsible water strategy. However, 29% of respondents are still unable to wholly perceive the risks to their activities related to water. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which manages the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG, former Norwegian Oil Fund), estimates that companies need to provide more information on the way in which they manage risks related to water.

At the end of third quarter, net profits at comdirect bank (Commerzbank group) were down 6.3% compared with January-September 2011, to a total of EUR53.93m.Assets under administration as of 30 September totalled EUR47.91bn, compared with EUR39.40bn one year earlier, while assets on the B2B platform (ebase) totalled EUR20.62bn, compared with EUR15.20bn.

A Paris court of appeals yesterday confirmed a five-year prison sentence, with a minimum of three years hard time for the former Société Générale trader Jérôme Kerviel, the news agency Reuters reports.Kerviel, who was sued for losses at the bank of EUR4.9bn in 2008, will also have to repay damages. The verdict confirms that the young man has been found guilty of “abuse of confidence, false statements and fraud, and introduction of fraudulent information into an IT system.”David Koubbi, Kerviel’s counsel, says he is studying the possibility of an appeal, and says that the verdict is an “absolutely lamentable injustice.”Kerviel walked out of court free, as the court did not require his detention.

Judge jed Rakoff has setenced Rajat gupta to two years in prison and a fine of USD5m, Les Echos reports. The former McKinsey head, who was found guilty in June this year of insider trading after disclosing insider information to the Galleon fund about Goldman Sachs, will enter detention on 8 January. He is planning to appeal the verdict. Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the speculative fund Galleon, has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. He is awaiting a verdict on his appeal on Thursday.

Rajat Gupta, former head of McKinsey, has been sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of USD5m, the Financial Times reports. Gupta was found guilty in June of providing insider information he was privy to as a board member at Goldman Sachs to his friend Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of Galleon Group. The secrets included details of a capital injection of USD5bn from Warren Buffett.

Open-ended funds in Italy posted net subscriptions in September of EUR1.4bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals. These inflows, entirely to foreign-registered funds, were driven by bond funds, with EUR1.8bn, and balanced funds, with EUR1.3bn. However, equity funds saw outflows of EUR378m, and money market funds, EUR1.1bn. With the addition of closed funds, collective management posted net inflows of EUR1.6bn in September. However, mandated management saw outflows of EUR1bn, of which EUR904m were to institutionals. In terms of players, Banco Popolare ranks first, with net subscriptions of EUR573m, followed by Invesco (EUR301m) and Ubi Banca (EUR268m). At the bottom of the rankings, however, are Generali (-EUR492m), BNP Paribas (-EUR239m) and Credit Suisse (-EUR190m). As of the end of September, open-ended funds on sale in Italy had assets of EUR494bn, while the entire Italian asset management sector (including closed funds and mandates) had EUR990bn.

La CNMV a donné son agrément à la commercialisation du fonds à compartiments Fongrum FI d’Inversis Banco, rapporte Funds People. Ce véhicule comporte les fonds Fongrum/Valor et Fongrum/Renta fija mixta. La gestión est confiée à atl2 Capital Gestión.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) has sanctioned two firms, Plus500UK Limited and James Sharp and Company, for failing to send detailed reports within the required deadlines on transactions completed between 2007 and 2011. The two firms have been fined GBP205,128 and GBP49,000, respectively. The FSA has also filed actions against former independent financial advisers who no longer had licenses to practice their activities.

A deterioration in the quality of credit from European businesses has been relatively marked in the first half of the year, even though few of these businesses have defaulted, the financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s reports in a new study (“Europe’s Sovereign Crisis Continues to Erode Credit Quality.”) In the first nine months of the year, there were four ratings downgrades for every one ratings upgrade among both financial and non-financial sector businesses, compared with a ratio of about one to two in the previous two years. Continued access to financing will be a key factor in maintaining this default level, particularly in light of an increase in debt maturing in the next two years, the study finds. In September 2012, the default rate for businesses rated speculative grade was 2.3%, compared with 1.6% at the end of 2011, and 1% in 2010. On 2012, investors accepted a slight increase in their exposure to risk, when they could expect higher returns. That offset weak earnings and reduced refinancing risks, particularly for businesses at the bottom of the ratings scale.

AllianceBernstein used to be know for its equity funds. But since the former Goldman Sachs executive Peter Kraus became chairman and CEO in 2008, the asset management firm has turned massively to bond funds, the Wall Street Journal relates. At the end of 2007, Alliance Bernstein had 72% of its assets under management in equities (USD580bn), and 25% in bonds (USD198bn). Now it holds about USD240 billion, or about 57% in bonds and 27% in stocks. This strategy is paying off for the moment. But analysts estimate that an excessive dependence on the popularity of bond funds may be risky.

For July-September, Morningstar’s net profit was USD27.1m vs USD27.9m in Q2, 2012, but it stills shows a yoy increase of USD21.4m.Assets under management and advisory at end-September for the Investment Advisory Services division amounted to USD142.4bn vs USD138,1bn thre months earlier and USD119/3bn twelve months ago.For Retirement Solutions, AUM was USD45.4bn vas USD41.7bn as of June, 30th, and USD36.3bn on September, 30th, 2011.

According to multiple sources cited by the weekly Agefi Hebdo, the wholesale bank from BPCE will merge its affiliates Natixis Multimanager (NMM) and 1818 Gestion, as part of a project entitled “Elite.” On 1 January 2013, 1818 Gestion will absorb NMM, currently a part of Natixis Asset Management (NAM). NAM will control 40% of the new entity, compared with 60% for Banque Privée 1818, an internal presentation obtained by Agefi Weekly says. The firm will include the expertise of the Natixis group in multi-management, a sector in crisis, including funds of hedge funds.

BNY Mellon has named Marina Lewin head of sales for its Asset Servicing business in the Americas. Lewin will report to Samir Pandiri, CEO of Americas Asset Servicing & Alternative Investment Services. She will be based in New York, managing teams in several U.S. cities, as well as Dublin, London and Hong Kong.

The planned merger of the asset management structures of AG2R-La Mondiale, Agicam et La Mondiale Gestion d’Actifs, or LMGA (see Newsmangers of 24 October) and the creation of a single portfolio management firm will be likely to result in the emergence of a multi-management entity of respectable size, with EUR4bn in assets currently, half contributed by each of the two participating entities.Rationality is also expected to be maintained with the emergence of a single investment management team.

Assets under management at the asset management unit of the AXA group are up by EUR52bn as of the end of Sepemer compared with 31 December 2011, to a total of EUR899bn, the group announced in a statement on 25 October.Net outflows totalled EUR8.3bn, including:-EUR8.4bn from AllianceBernstein, largely from the institutional segment;-EUR0.1bn in flows to AXA IM, largely due to positive net inflows to AXA Fixed Income, AXA Private Equity, AXA Real Estate and AXA Framlington, partly offset by net outflows, primarily following a voluntary withdrawal from unprofitable employee shareholding schemes (-EUR4.0bn), and net ourflows from Axa Rosenberg (-EUR2.0bn).Market evolution represented +EUR63bn, at AXA IM as well as AllianceBernstein, proportionately on the basis of asses, whiel currency effects totalled +EUR8bn, primarily due to depreciation of the euro compared with major currencies.In addition to this, a perimeter effect of -EUR11bn, primarily due to a transfer of assets from Friends Provident following the sale to Resolution of life insurance activities in the United Kingdom, the sale of Canadian activities and the sale of activities in Australia and New Zealand.Earnings for the asset management unit are down 6%, to EUR2.46bn, largely due to a decline in management commissions at AllianceBernstein, relecting a decline of 3.9 basis points on average and a delcine in assets under management. Earnings at AXA IM are stable, as a rise in management commissions was offset by a decline in commissions on real estate transactions and performance commissions.

Natixis Asset Management (Natixis AM) on 24 October announced that it has signed a research agreement with the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) to promote sustainable investment and to encourage adoption of more responsible bahaviour by finance professionals in Europe and internationally. The partnership will have two levels. The first will be an active collaboration based on research, with nine joint publications over the next three years. These reports will analyse sustainable development challenges: how climate change is taken into account, how biodiversity and human rights can affect current business models and promote the generation of investment ideas. Analysts at Natixis AM and Cambridge academics will work together on concrete problems to formulate recommendations for sustainable investment. The reports will be made public in order to encourage the adoption of better practices. The second level of collaboration will take the form of a working group entitled Investors Leaders Group, based at CPSL, and led by Philippe Zaouati, deputy CEO and head of the responsible investment expertise unit at Natixis AM. The group, composed of directors and financial market experts, will meet for the first time next year. The objective will be to work to define concrete tools and measures to adopt to promote and deploy responsible investment.

Warrenn Buffett has announced that he is “salivating” at the idea of spending some of his USD40bn in cash on a major acquisition, after revealing that two USD20bn operations fell through this year due to disagreements over price, the Financial Times reports.

The US asset management firm AllianceBernstein LP, with total assets of USD418.9bn as of the end of September, with net outflows totalling USD44bn in July-September, has posted an operating loss for third quarter of USD56m, compared with profits of USD79m in second quarter 2012, and USD78m in the corresponding period of last year (see Axa results elsewhere in today’s Newsmanagers).

The State Street group on 24 October announced that it has been awarded a mandate by UTI International (Singapore) Private Limited to provide custody and fund administration services for its UCITS-compliant product range investing in India.UTI International (Singapore) Private Limited is an asset management firm regulated by the Singapore market authority. It is an affiliate of the Indian asset management firm UTI AMC, with assets under management of USD2.6bn.

John Paulson and his charity have given USD100m to Central Park in New York, the largest donation in the history of the park, the Financial Times reports. The personal wealth of the famous hedge fund manager is estimated at USD11bn, according to Forbes. Paulson is also a supporter of Mitt Romney.

The Swedish asset management firm GustaviaDavegårdh Fonder is changing its name to Gustavia Fonder, the Swedish website Fondbranschen reports. The reason for the change is that Björn Davegårdh is no longer active at the business.

The British firm Schroders has recruited Alan Young as head of institutional sales in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. Young is a specialist in the Asian market, who previously worked at State Street Global Advisors as head of northern Asia.

Net inflows at the Credit Suisse group in third quarter totalled CHF5.3bn, comapred with CHF4.4bnin second quarter, according to a statement released by the group on 25 October.Assets under management as of the end of September totalled CHF1.251trn, compared with CHF1.213trn as of the end of June.The Private Banking unit earned pre-tax profits of CHF689m in third quarter, with a contribution of CHF206m from the Corporate & Institutional Clients segment.Net inflows totalled CHF5.2bn, due to inflows to Booking Centers outside Switzerland, which were partially offse tb outflows form the Swiss platform in mature markets, largely in Western Europe.” Inflows to the Wealth Management segment represented CHF5.1bn, while Corporate & Institutional Clients accounted for CHF0.1bn.Assets under management at the Private Banking unit totalled over CHF1trn for the first time since 2007, at CHF1.023trn, which represents an incrase of CHF35.7bn compared with second quarter 2012.The Asset Management unit finished the quarter with pre-tax profits of CHF222m. These results include a gain of CHF140m due to the sale of a remaining 7% stake n Aberdeen Asset Management, and a write-down of CHF38m relad to Asset Management Finance LLC (AMF).The unit posted an outflow of CHF0.5bn, “with outflows related to traditional investments and diversified investments, partly offset by inflows to alternative investments.