The CEO for Asia Pacific at ING Investment Management, Grant Bailey, will be leaving the firm, Asian Investor reports. The departure comes at a time when negotiations between Ameriprise Financial, its affiliate Threadneedle Asset Management and ING over the sale of the Asian activities of the latter have broken down. Bailey will be replaced by Satish Bapat, currently chief financial officer.

Credit Suisse AM is scaling up its product range on the Italian market with five equity products and six bond products, Bluerating reports. The funds are: Credit Suisse Sicav (Lux) Equity Russia, Credit Suisse Sicav (Lux) Asian Equity Dividend Plus, Credit Suisse Sicav (Lux) Equity Asia Consumer, Credit Suisse Sicav (Lux) Equity Biotechnology and Credit Suisse Sicav (Lux) Equity Luxury Goods. Credit Suisse AM has also announced the arrival of four senior managers in the equity team led by Filippo Rima, and four experts in the fixed income management team led by Maurizio Pedrini and Michel Degen.

The Basel Committee on 11 October published its recommendations on the treatment of systemic banks at a national level, which follow on from the recommendations for international systemic banks. The Committee has laid out a set of principles to establish a methodology for the evaluation of national systemic banks. The document also focuses on the potential impact of the bankruptcy of a systemic bank on the national economy. The principles will be applied from January 2016.

Andreas Schmid, who had been director of distribution for private banks and wealth managers at Fidelity Investment Services Germany, is joining Pimco as vice president global wealth management for Germany and Austria, Das Investment reports.

A statement to the market released on 11 October has announced that the two heads of the German financial service provider Aragon Financial Services AG, Sebastian Grabmaier and Ralph Konrad, have taken control of the business via their holding company. Aragon Holding has acquired a 40.7% stake in capital from Angermayer, Brumm und Lange Unternehmensgruppe GmbH (ABL Group). The other shareholders are Axa (27%), Citigroup Financial Products (10%) and Credit Suisse (8%).The transaction, whose amount was not disclosed, is justified by the fact that it is impossible to realise significant synergies between the financial product distribution activities of Aragon and the capital market operation of ABL Group.The deal, which will be completed by the end of the year, will result in a change in directors. The chairman of the supervisory board will be Herbert Walter (former chairman of the managing board at Dresdner Bank), while the co-chairman will be the lawyer Christian Waigel. Walter had previously been director. He replaces Harald Petersen as chairman of the supervisory board.

The Allianz group already manages assets of EUR1.3bn in shares in companies of the renewable energy sector and EUR1bn for other infrastructure (gas distribution, parking). It has now announced the establishment of a team at Allianz Global Investors (AGI) dedicated to private equity investment in the area of renewable energies and infrastructure, which complement the recently-created infrastructure debt team led by Deborah Zurkow (see Newsmanagers of 6 July).The first investment products are already in the process of development, and the team is planning to launch a diversified portfolio of investments in renewable energies aimed at institutional investors in the near future.Armin Sandhoevel, Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Climate Solutions (ACS) for more than five years, will be director of the new team as director of private equity investment in Renewable Energies / Infrastructures. He will be assisted by five team members from the ACS investment team, including the portfolio managers Roderick MacDonald and Martin Ewald.The infrastructure debt team has been scaled up since July, with the arrival of four former members of Trifinium Advisors, an affiliate of monoliner MBIA, who followed their CEO, Deborah Zurkow, and who are specialists in long-term investment in infrastructure debt, with faultless track records in terms of defaults. The idea is to help to pick up the slack from governments, which no longer have the financial resources, due to their debt levels, and from banks caught up in the maelstrom of Basel III, on more rewarding projects, with a liquidity premium compared with classic corporate bonds, lower default rates, and recovery rates of about 80%.With Zurkow’s team, Allianz Global Investors is creating a platform for third-party institutional investors interested in liability-driven investment (LDI), for deals totalling between EUR10m and EUR200m, either in the form of funds or mandates.

The wealth manager IIG Financial Services has retained RBC Investor Services to provide it with currency and custody services, according to a statement released by RBC. The Gibraltar-based business has awarded a mandate to RBC Investor Services as part of an international development strategy.

Newedge has launched an improved currency prime brokerage platform which offers institutional investors access to the international currency markets. Trading infrastructure has been updated and connections to electronic forex market platforms have been scaled up.

The financial ratings agency Fitch Ratings has completed its examination of a group of major global banks, and their outlooks are stable, except for Société Générale, the agency has announced in a statement. The group of 13 institutions was established one year ago by Fitch as part of a vast evaluation of the major global financial groups. Fitch has confirmed its existing rating for 12 banks – Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Société Générale – the firm explains in a statement, adding that the 13th bank, HSBC, will be studied again in six months’ time. The two Swiss banking institutions, UBS and Credit Suisse, retain their A ratings, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale also retain their A+. Fitch is more prudent in the case of Société Générale, which gets a negative outlooks for its long-term debt, reflecting the rating for France. The lowering of the outlook implies a potential change to the rating in the mid-term, and reflects the engagement of the French state in the banking institution. More generally, for the sector, the outlooks are stable, according to Fitch, based on improved liquidity, financing, and capitalisation. Despite everything, banks continue to bear up to crosswinds, as the macro-economic environment continues to represent a challenge, as do market conditions that remain volatile, particularly in Europe.

According to Fundweb, Legal and General Investments, Ignis Asset Management, Fidelity Worldwide Investments, Threadneedle Investments, Henderson Global Investors, Kames Capital, Investec Asset Management, Jupiter and Standard Life all announced on Thursday that they do not intend to follow the example of Witan Investment Services, which will be discontinuing trail commissions before the date that the Retail Distribution Review comes into effect on 31 December.

EDHEC-Risk Institute has released a comprehensive new study in response to the European Commission White Paper entitled “An Agenda for Adequate, Safe and Sustainable Pensions,” published on February 16th, 2012, which proposed a series of measures related to information and monitoring, European harmonisation and portability, and pension design.In a letter addressed to Mr László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, on October 4, 2012, EDHEC-Risk Institute considers that the European Commission White Paper constitutes a first step but that the Commission should go further in terms of harmonisation and better take into account the specifics of the financial management of pension funds. As such, EDHEC-Risk has highlighted three key messages from its study:1. The current pension debate should be used by the Commission to foster increased coordination in pensions reform. When discussing the sustainability of public finance, one medium-term objective could be to recognise unfunded implicit pension commitments. 2. The prudential framework for pensions is bound to have far-reaching consequences, and it needs to respect the particularities of pension providers, which are not those of insurers. 3. New regulation should encourage the generalisation of asset-liability management practices, both for pension funds and individual retirement products, using the best available knowledge and techniques and evaluating micro as well as macroeconomic impacts. A move towards hybrid pensions could, with this objective in mind, provide a more adequate conceptual framework for European countries to converge towards.

Safra Group on 11 October confirmed the provisional results of its takeover bid (OPA) for Sarasin, announced on Monday. At the expiration of their extended bid, on 5 October 2012, Safra controlled 98.73% of A and B classes of shares in Sarassin, representing 99.26% of voting rights.

The Hennessee hedge fund index gained 1.26% in September, bringing gains since the beginning of the year to 5.03%. The global macro index posted gains of 1.10% in September, and 3.32% in the first nine months of the year. The emerging market index, for its part, has gained 0.57% for the month, and 2.59% since the beginning of the year.

When the US Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner, wants a first-hand run-down on the way the financial markets are interpreting the government’s policy or are reacting to the most recent crisis, he most often turns to Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the Financial Times reports. Fink appears more often than any other corporate chief in Geithner’s calendar, which is public, over an 18-month period. The two men have spoken on 49 separate occasions, or once every 11 days.

The Swiss asset management firm Swiss & Global Asset Management has become the eighth promoter to be licensed to sell its ETFs in Spain, Funds People reports. The first seven promoters are: Lyxor AM, iShares, Credit Suisse, db x-trackers, HSBC, Amundi and ETF Securities. Swiss & Global AM arrives on the market with four actively-managed products of the Julius Baer Smart Equity line, which have already been listed in Frankfurt since June: JP Smart Equity ETF World, JB Smart Equity ETF Emerging Markets, JB Smart Equity ETF Europe, and JP Smart Equity ETF Asia.

Bloomberg reports that Pimco is opening an office in Rio de Janeiro, with 15 members, including some transferred from New York, and local recruitments. Alec Kersman, head of Latin America & Carribean Operations, says that Rio has ambitions to become the centre of gravity for the activities of Pimco in Latin America.

The Spanish official gazette (BOE) has published announcements of four fines levelled by the CNMV against Ahorro Corporación for a total of EUR475,000, Funds People reports. The penalties are for failure to respect standards for valuation of assets in the portfolios of funds, in the period following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.Ahorro Corporación stresses that no shareholder suffered damages due to these methodological differences.

Ignis Asset Management will sell its 50% stake in the capital of Cartesian Capital Partners, as the two asset management firms have decided to end their joint venture, founded in 2005.Cartesian, a boutique specialised in UK equity management, was the last joint venture of Ignis AM, which has gradually pulled out of the other asset management companies in which it had bought stakes: Hexam and Argonaut. The Scottish firm in 2010 decided to end development of its network of partner boutiques in order to promote internal financial management.Cartesian Capital Partners will lose its independence. The boutique will reappropriate distribution of its funds and operational support, which had previously been provided by Ignis AM. The transition will take 9 to 12 months.

Edith Jousseaume, directrice des investissements de l’Ircantec à la direction des retraites et de la solidarité dans un article publié dans l’Agefi Hebdo : Après avoir fait évoluer l’allocation du c??ur du portefeuille ces dernières années, l’IRCANTEC va se pencher sur la mise en place de poches de diversification sur de nouveaux pays, produits ou styles de gestion, et ce toujours avec une préoccupation ISR. Nous allons mener ces travaux en 2013. Déjà quelques pistes sont sur la table comme les obligations convertibles, les obligations des collectivités locales, le financement des PME et plus tard le private equity. Cette diversification pourrait se faire au travers de fonds ouverts.

Stéphane Cros de la direction financière de Groupama Loire-Bretagne à la rédaction d’Instit Invest : En ce qui concerne les actions, nous sommes passés de 25% à 18%, nous avons profité depuis le début de l’année de la remontée des marchés financiers pour réduire notre poche, en cédant notamment les OPCVM actions détenus. Nous sommes dans une politique de désinvestissement de façon intelligente. Notre stratégie consiste à vendre des titres en plus et moins values tout en conservant les valeurs qui ont encore un potentiel de hausse. A ce titre, notre mandat de gestion nous permet d'échanger avec le gérant sur les différentes valeurs à désinvestir. En conséquence, nous disposons d’une poche de cash, qui oscille entre 10 et 12%. La baisse des taux de rendements monétaire ne nous inquiète pas tant que nous conservons notre capital. Nous sommes toujours dans une optique de renforcement de l’obligataire, à la recherche de rendement, nous nous sommes positionnés sur de la dette émergente ainsi que sur du high yield. Néanmoins, nous ne pouvons pas bâtir notre portefeuille sur ces produits, qui restent donc à la marge. Groupama Loire Bretagne a décidé d’investir dans les convertibles gérés par Groupama Asset Management. L’année 2013 nous semble loin, nous sommes en pleine incertitude actuellement, nous ne nous posons même pas la question de recommencer à investir.

Les inscriptions hebdomadaires au chômage ont, contre toute attente, très nettement reculé aux Etats-Unis lors de la semaine au 6 octobre, à 339.000, soit un plus bas depuis plus de quatre ans et demi, contre 369.000 (révisé) la semaine précédente, a annoncé le département du Travail. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne 370.000 inscriptions au chômage. La moyenne mobile sur quatre semaines s'établit à 364.000 contre 375.500 (révisé) la semaine précédente.

Sous le coup d’un cinquième mois consécutif de baisse des exportations, le déficit commercial des Etats-Unis est ressorti à 44,2 milliards de dollars en août selon les données publiées par le département du Commerce, contre 42,5 milliards en juillet (révisé de 42 milliards). Les exportations américaines dans leur ensemble ont affiché un repli de 1%, les difficultés européennes pesant sur la croissance mondiale, mais elles ont tout de même atteint 181,28 milliards de dollars.

La Cour constitutionnelle italienne a rejeté une baisse des salaires de la haute fonction publique décidée en 2010 par le gouvernement précédent. Le tribunal a estimé que cette «contribution de solidarité», qui aurait dû s’appliquer entre 2011 et 2013, avait un impact «discriminatoire excessif». Cette mesure imposait une baisse de 10% pour les salaires de la fonction publique supérieurs à 150.000 euros par an et de 5% pour les salaires compris entre 90.000 et 150.000 euros.

La capitale française gagne quatre places pour devenir la quatrième ville mondiale du classement PricewaterhouseCoopers établi selon des critères économiques et sociaux. New York confirme sa première place, suivie par Londres qui en gagne quatre, et Toronto qui recule d’une place par rapport à 2011. Sur les 27 villes évaluées, Paris arrive première en qualité de vie, deuxième en termes de puissance économique et troisième pour le capital intellectuel et l’innovation.

L’Allemagne compte soutenir l'économie européenne en renforçant sa demande intérieure par le biais de baisses d’impôts, a déclaré Angela Merkel. «Nous nous efforçons de préserver la croissance et de maintenir la demande intérieure à un niveau élevé afin d’importer des biens en provenance des autres pays de la zone euro», a-t-elle ajouté.

Dynamisme retrouvé pour l’épargne salariale au premier semestre de 2012. Les actifs gérés dans ce segment s’établissent à 89,2 milliards d’euros, en progression de 4,5 % par rapport au 31 décembre 2011 mais en baisse de près de 5 % sur un an, selon les données fournies par l’AFG. Au 30 juin dernier, les fonds diversifiés (56,6 milliards d’euros) enregistrent une croissance de 2,5% sur un an mais les fonds d’actionnariat salarié (32,6 milliards d’euros) voient leurs encours fondre de 15,5% sur la même période.

Le taux de chômage en Grèce a augmenté en juillet pour le 35ème mois consécutif, inscrivant un nouveau record historique à 25,1%, contre 24,8% (chiffre révisé) en juin, ont annoncé jeudi les services statistiques du pays. La Grèce connaît désormais le taux de chômage le plus élevé de la zone euro, à quasi égalité avec l’Espagne. Par ailleurs, les revenus nets fiscaux ont cependant été moindres que prévu, à 36,7 milliards d’euros sur la période Ils sont inférieurs d'1,3 milliard d’euros à l’objectif fixé par le FMI et l’UE.

La banque centrale sud-coréenne a abaissé jeudi, comme prévu, ses taux d’intérêts ainsi que ses prévisions de croissance. Le comité de politique monétaire a réduit son taux directeur de 25 points de base à 2,75%, soit son plus bas niveau en 19 mois. C’est la deuxième fois en quatre mois que la Banque de Corée procède à une baisse de ses taux.

Les prix à la consommation ont reculé de 0,3% au mois de septembre en France grâce notamment à la baisse saisonnière des prix des services liés au tourisme, selon les statistiques publiées jeudi par l’Insee. Sur un an, l’inflation ressort à 1,9%. En août, les prix avaient progressé de 0,7%, sous l’effet notamment d’une forte hausse des prix de l'énergie, le taux d’inflation sur les douze derniers mois s'élevant alors à 2,1%.

Les prix à la consommation sont restés stables en septembre, tant pour la mesure nationale que pour l’indice harmonisé aux normes européennes (IPCH), a annoncé jeudi l’Office fédéral de la statistique. Sur un an, le taux d’inflation ressort ainsi à 2,0% (2,1% pour l’IPCH). En août, les prix à la consommation avaient augmenté de 0,4% sur un mois et de 2,1% en variation annuelle. Par ailleurs, les grands instituts de conjoncture allemands estiment que le programme de rachat d’obligations des pays de la zone euro en difficulté par la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) augmente le risque d’inflation.