The US affiliate of Julius Baer Holding, Artio Global Funds, has filed with the SEC a fall in its profits in first half, to USD6.87bn, compared with USD44.7bn in January-June 2011.Assets as of 30 June totalled USD21.16bn, compared with USD46.83bn twelve months previously. Net redemptions totalled USD10.46bn, compared with USD7.76bn, while market effects were positive by USD1.26bn in the first six months of the year (compared with USD1.19bn in first half 2011), despite a negative impact of USD1.02bn in first quarter.In the period under review, Artio laid off 25 employees, but this measure which aimed to save USD20m annually did not affect portfolio managers or analysts in the areas of international equities, high yield or high grade bonds. The asset management firm has announced that it will be liquidating its four US equity funds (Artio US Multicap Fund, Artio US Midcap Fund, Artio US Smallcap Fund and Artio US Microcap Fund).

Leslie Richman, based in Chicago, and Duncan Crawford, based in London, have been promoted to the position of co-global head, alternative investment solutions, in the prime clearing services unit at Newedge, a joint venture of Société Générale and Crédit Agricole CIB. They will report to Chris Topple, global head of prime clearing services. The former has for the past two decades been head of alternative investment solutions for the United States, while the latter was global head of the capital introuctions branch, in which position he will be replaced by Keith Johnson, based in Chicago, who had previously been head of capital introductions Americas.James Skeggs, in London, and Ryan Duncan, in Chicago, become global co-heads of the advisory group, which is responsible for analysis of hedge fund strategies. Skeggs had been head of research EMEA, wile Duncan has been head of research Americas (he is also chairman of the index committee at Newedge). In their new roles, they will report to Richman and Crawford.

Icap, the major inter-bank broker worldwide, has made technical modifications to come into effect on 17 September, which will affect its EBS electronic trading platform, due to dissatisfaction on the part of its major clients, banks, due to competition which is viewed as aggressive and disruptive from high-frequency traders, Agefi reports.Icap will modify the granularity of its listings, removing the fifth decimal point from the relative price of strategic currency pairs. The broker will also reduce the percentage of allowed orders which are not processed as transactions, since these are only used to survey the market, in order to profit from any short-term inefficiencies.

On 6 August, the US firm Eaton Vance completed its acquisition of 49% of the Canadian firm Hexavest (CAD10.8bn in assets as of the end of July). On 4 September, Eaton Vance (USD192.9bn in assets as of 31 July) announced that it is launching four equity funds, which will be managed by the Hexavest team led by Vital Proulx, chairman and CIO.The funds are the Eaton Vance Hexavest Emerging Markets Equity Fund (Class A: EHEAX, Class I: EHEIX), Eaton Vance Hexavest Global Equity Fund (Class A: EHGAX, Class I: EHGIX), Eaton Vance Hexavest International Equity Fund (Class A: EHIAX, Class I: EHIIX) and Eaton Vance Hexavest U.S. Equity Fund (Class A: EHUAX, Class I: EHUIX). These products will be managed with a method that combines Hexavest’s proprietary fundamental approach with quantitative models.

Vanguard Group has announced that Edward Owens, senior vice president of Wellington Management Company, which manages 20 Vanguard funds, will be retiring at the end of this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Owens manages the Vanguard Health Care Fund, whose assets total USD22.4bn.Owens will be replaced by Jean Hynes, associate portfolio manager, who has been a part of the fund’s management team since 1991.

The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations this morning signed an agreement with China Development Bank, its Chinese counterpart, to invest in French and Chinese SMEs, Les Echos reports. The two partners are creating a fund with EUR150m in assets, to be managed by Cathay Capital. The fund offers a way for China to invest in French SMEs with EUR10m to EUR200m in earnings, and for France to invest in Chinese businesses, with investments of EUR3m to EUR15m. Two investments have already been identified.

The Scottish asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management, via its German affiliate Aberden Immobilien Kapitalanlagegessellschaft, this May launched a real estate fund aimed at institutional investors, with slightly over EUR100m in initial capital. It is the second real estate fund launched this year in Germany by Aberdeen. The fund, known as «Städte und Wohnen,” will initially invest in residential properties in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Karlsruhe. Investments are also underway in Heidelberg and Munich. The objective for the fund is to invest about EUR1bn in German residential real estate.

GulfMena and SoloCapital will be launching a hedge fund in the next few days, which will be based in Dubai, and which will be only the second hedge fund accepted by the financial markets, Mena FM reports. The two firms are planning to deploy a systematic trading strategy which aims for returns of over 25% per year, with volatility of about 10%. The hedge fund, which has already been approve by the regulatory authorities, will be launched in mid-September with capital of EUR10m. The two partners are aiming for assets of EUR40m to EUR50m by the end of the year, and EUR250m to EUR350m in the next three years.

Switzerland, for the fourth consecutive year, tops the overall rankings in The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released on September 5 by the World Economic Forum. France has lost three places to 21st place, due to the declining confidence of investors in tax policies that heavily penalise investment decisions. Singapore remains in second position and Finland in third position, overtaking Sweden (4th). These and other Northern and Western European countries dominate the top 10 with the Netherlands (5th), Germany (6th) and United Kingdom (8th). The United States (7th), Hong Kong (9th) and Japan (10th) complete the ranking of the top 10 most competitive economies. The report indicates that Switzerland and countries in Northern Europe have been consolidating their strong competitiveness positions since the financial and economic downturn in 2008. On the other hand, countries in Southern Europe, i.e. Portugal (49th), Spain (36th), Italy (42nd) and particularly Greece (96th) continue to suffer from competitiveness weaknesses in terms of macroeconomic imbalances, poor access to financing, rigid labour markets and an innovation deficit. Despite growing its overall competitiveness score, the United States continues its decline for the fourth year in a row, falling two more places to seventh position. In addition to the burgeoning macroeconomic vulnerabilities, some aspects of the country’s institutional environment continue to raise concern among business leaders, particularly the low public trust in politicians and a perceived lack of government efficiency. On a more positive note, the country still remains a global innovation powerhouse and its markets work efficiently. The large emerging market economies (BRICS) display different performances. Despite a slight decline in the rankings of three places, the People’s Republic of China (29th) continues to lead the group. Of the others, only Brazil (48th) moves up this year, with South Africa (52nd), India (59th) and Russia (67th) experiencing small declines in rankings.

The number of fallen angels, or companies whose ratings have fallen from investment grade into the speculative category, totalled 30 in second quarter, compared with 6 in the previous quarter, and 25 one year earlier, according to the financial rating agency Moody’s which is offering a new quarterly review of changes in ratings for investment grade corporate issuers. Moody’s sates that 26 of the fallen angels in second quarter, 87% of the total, were based in Europe, which brings the rate of fallen angels in Europe to 3.3% compared with 0.8% in first quarter 2012. This percentage is only 0.1% in North America and 0.0% in Asia, while the global rate was 1.2%, compared with 0.2% in first quarter. Moody’s estimates, however, that the rate of fallen angels will fall to 0.8% in third quarter, with rates of 0.5% in North America, 0.2% in Asia and 1.6% in Europe. This significant improvement in the European rate is said to be related to stabilising outlooks for the financial sector due to poor results in second quarter. Only 12% of firms in the financial sector are on a negative ratings watch at the end of second quarter, compared with 55% at the end of first quarter 2012.

Following the recent manipulation of LIBOR, the European Commission on September 5 launched a consultation inviting stakeholders to comment on possible new rules for the production and use of indices serving as benchmarks in financial and other contracts.Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier said: «The international investigations underway into the manipulation of LIBOR have revealed yet another example of unacceptable behaviour by banks. Doubts about the accuracy and integrity of indices can undermine market confidence, cause significant losses to consumers and investors, and distort the real economy. It is therefore essential that steps are taken to ensure the integrity of benchmarks and the benchmark-setting process. The Commission has already acted quickly to amend its legislative proposals on market abuse. However, changing the sanctions regime alone may not be sufficient: wider work is required to regulate how indices and benchmarks are compiled, produced and used."The consultation is wide-ranging: it covers all benchmarks, not just interest rate benchmarks such as LIBOR but also commodities and real estate price indices for example and it seeks to identify possible shortcomings at every stage in the production and use of benchmarks.The ultimate objective is to ensure the integrity of benchmarks. All options are on the table but any solution should guarantee that benchmarks are not subject to conflicts of interest, reflect the economic reality that they are intended to measure and are used appropriately.

Tobias Pross, director of institutional distribution, on 5 September announced that Allianz Global Investors (AGI) will be offering its clients a way to reduce counterparty risks on their over-the-counter derivatives (OTC) from December: transactions made in this area from client portfolios will go via a central counterparty. AGI will thus allow investors to benefit from the protection provided by European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), which is expected to come into force sometime in 2013.

The joint venture Ping An Russell Investments is preparing to launch a multi-managed fund aimed at high net worth individual (HNWI) clients early in fourth quarter, Hedge Week reports. The new product, known as MoM, will provide access to the same local hedge funds selected by Russell Investment for US dollar investors via the future QFII fund reserved for qualified foreign institutional investors.

The CNMV has issued sales licenses to two more UCITS-compliant hedge funds from BlackRock, Funds People reports. They are products with daily liqudity, the BSF Absolute Return Bond Fund, a bond fund managed by Ian Winship, and the BSF Americas Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund, an equity fund to be managed by Raffaele Savi and Travis Cooke.

Funds People reports that, according to Expansión, Santander is planning to merge its ten foreign asset management affiliates in a single holding company. The project is already well-advanced, as Spanish, UK, Argentinian and Luxembourg asset management firms have already been integrated, and the Mexican asset management firm of the group will soon be added as the bank in this country holds its IPO.The group will gradually transfer the Brazilian, Chilean, Polish, Puerto Rican and Swiss asset management firms to the holding company, while Santander Asset Management has recently founded a German affiliate, which will soon open in Frankfurt.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has appointed Calum Smith to the newly-created position of head of the “Global Aggregate” unit, in the fixed income team based in Edinburgh, Investment Europe reports.Smith previously worked at BlackRock. The fixed income team at SWIP manages about GBP70bn in assets.

At a time when investors continue to prefer bonds, a survey by Neptune Investment Management finds that equities will be the preferred asset class for independent financial advisers (IFA) in 2012-2013.Neptune finds that 60% of advisers say equities will be investors’ preferred asset class, followed by fixed income (23.5%), commodities (3.5%) and real estate (2.4%). The survey also finds that investors continue to prefer British products to the detriment of international products.

The range of eight tracker funds from HSBC Global Asset Management will gain the addition of a share class that complies with RDR regulations, with a management commission of 0.10%, Fundweb has announced. The shares will be available from independent financial advisers (IFA) via a certain number of platforms, institutions and discretionary managers.Overall, with registration fees, the products will cost 0.15%, compared with 0.25% net of front-end fee currently.Total TER varies depending on the product (see attached table).

Ignis Asset Management has hired Joanna Howley as product specialist LDI and fixed income. She will be responsible for helping to grow Ignis’ fixed income and liability driven investment (LDI) business and will work closely with Ignis’investment professionals as well as clients, and will interact with all distribution channels.Jo Howley joins Ignis from BlackRock where she had worked since 1997. There, she held fixed income and LDI product specialist positions. Her responsibilities included mandateoversight, consultant liaison and client relationship management. She played a key role in helping to establish BlackRock as one of the UK’s leading providers of LDI solutions.

Hargreaves Lansdown announced on 5 September, at a release of annual results, that the co-founder of the firm, Stephen Lansdown, plans to resign from the board of directors at the next general shareholders’ meeting. Pre-tax profits at the group totalled GBP152.8m for the half-year to 30 June, compared with GBP126m the previous year, an increase of more than 20% year on year. Assets under administration as of 30 June totalled GBP26.3bn, up 7% compared with the previous year.

The asset management firm ÖkoWorld Lux, an affiliate of the German firm versiko AG, all of whose funds are managed according to environmental, ethical and social criteria, will on 15 September officially launch the emerging market equity fund ÖkoWorld Growing Markets 2.0, for which initial subscriptions have been open since 15 July,a nd conclude on 15 September.The management team will invest primarily in equities in companies active in the areas of education, renewable energies, water, sustainable financial services, IT, sustainable consumer spending and leisure, urban development and infrastructure, as well as technical progress, mobility and housing. This is a paradigm shift from the 1.0 version of the emerging markets universe, in which equity markets were boosted by commodity prices.The fund has sales licenses for Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.CharacteristicsName: ÖkoWorld Growing Markets 2.0ISIN code: LU08 0034 6016Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.76%

Ignis Asset Management vient de recruter Joanna Howley en tant que spécialiste produits pour la gestion sous contrainte de passif (liability driven investment ou LDI) et l’obligataire. Elle vient de BlackRock, où elle travaillait depuis 1997 et occupait des responsabilités similaires à celles qu’elle vient de se voir confier.Chez Ignis, Joanna Howley contribuera à la croissance de l’activité obligataire et de gestion sous contrainte de passif de la société de gestion britannique.

La gamme de huit fonds indiciels de HSBC Global Asset Management va être dotée d’une classe de parts conforme à la réglementation RDR avec une commission de gestion de 0,10 %, annonce Fundweb. Ces parts seront accessibles aux conseillers financiers (IFA) au travers d’un certain nombre de plates-formes, d'établissements et de gestionnaires discrétionnaires.Au total, avec les frais d’enregistrement, les produits seront chargés à 0,15 % contre 0,25 % sans droit d’entrée actuellement.Le total des frais sur encours varie en fonction du produit (voir tableau joint).

Hargreaves Lansdown a annoncé le 5 septembre à l’occasion de la publication de ses résultats annuels que le co-fondateur de la société de gestion Stephen Lansdown quitterait le conseil d’administration lors de la prochaine assemblée générale.Le bénéfice avant impôts du groupe s’est élevé à 152,8 millions de livres pour l’exercice au 30 juin, contre 126 millions de livres l’année précédente, soit une progression de plus de 20% d’une année sur l’autre. Les actifs sous administration s'élevaient au 30 juin à 26,3 milliards de livres, en hausse de 7% par rapport à l’année précédente.

La CNMV a donné son agrément de commercialisation à deux fonds alternatifs coordonnés supplémentaires de BlackRock, rapporte Funds People. Il s’agit de produits à liquidité journalière, le BSF Global Absolute Return Bond Fund, un fonds obligataire géré par Ian Winship, et le BSF Americas Diversified Equity Absolute Return Fund, un fonds d’actions confié à Raffaele Savi et Travis Cooke.

Funds People rapporte que, selon Expansión, le Santander a l’intention de regrouper ses dix filiales de gestion d’actifs à l'étranger dans un holding unique. Ce projet est déjà avancé, parce que les sociétés de gestion espagnoles, britannique, argentine et luxembourgeoise sont déjà intégrées, et la mexicaine va l'être prochainement à la faveur de l’introduction en Bourse de la banque dans ce pays.Progressivement, le groupe va transférer au holding les filiales brésilienne, chilienne, polonaise, portoricaine et suisse, sachant par ailleurs que Santander Asset Management vient de créer tout récemment une filiale allemande qui doit ouvrir ses portes à Francfort.

Filiale de l’allemand versiko AG, la société de gestion ÖkoWorld Lux, dont tous les fonds sont gérés en fonction de critères écologiques, éthiques et sociaux, va lancer officiellement le 15 septembre le fonds d’actions émergentes ÖkoWorld Growing Markets 2.0 pour lequel la souscription initiale a été ouverte le 15 juillet et se termine le 15 septembre.L'équipe de gestion investira principalement en actions de sociétés actives dans les domaines de l'éducation, des énergies renouvelables, de l’eau, des services financiers durables, de la santé, de l’information, de la consommation et des loisirs durables, de l’urbanisme et de l’infrastructure ainsi que du progrès technique, de la mobilité et du logement. Il s’agit donc de changer de paradigmes par rapport au stade 1.0 des marchés émergents, où les marchés d’actions ont été dopés par la hausse du prix des matières premières.Le fonds bénéficie d’agréments de commercialisation pour le Luxembourg, l’Allemagne, l’Autriche et la Suisse.CaractéristiquesDénomination : ÖkoWorld Growing Markets 2.0Code Isin : LU08 0034 6016Droit d’entrée : 5 %Commission de gestion : 1,76 %

Leslie Richman, basé à Chicago, et Duncan Crawford, basé à Londres, ont été promus co-global head, alternative investment solutions, dans le pôle prime clearing services de Newedge, une co-entreprise de Société Générale et Crédit Agricole CIB. Ils sont subordonnés à Chris Topple, global head of prime clearing services. Le premier était depuis deux décennies responsable d’alternative investment solutions pour les Etats-Unis tandis que le second était le patron mondial de la branche capital introductions, poste auquel il sera remplacé par Keith Johnson, basé à Chicago, et qui était jusqu’à présent head of capital introductions Americas.Pour leur part, James Skeggs, à Londres, et Ryan Duncan, à Chicago, deviennent co-heads mondiaux du advisory group qui est chargé de l’analyse des stratégies de hedge funds. James Skeggs était head of research EMEA, Ryan Duncan head of research Americas (il est aussi le président du comité des indices de Newedge). Dans leur nouvelle fonction, ils seront subordonnés à Leslie Richman et Duncan Crawford.

GulfMena et SoloCapital vont lancer dans les tout prochains jours un hedge fund qui sera basé à Dubaï et qui sera seulement le deuxième hedge fund accueilli par la place financière, rapporte Mena FM.Les deux sociétés veulent mettre en œuvre une stratégie de négoce systématique qui vise une performance de plus de 25% par an pour une volatilité d’environ 10%. Déjà approuvé par les autorités de tutelle, le hedge fund devrait être lancé à la mi-septembre avec un capital de 10 millions d’euros. Les deux partenaires visent un encours de 40 à 50 millions d’euros d’ici à la fin de l’année et de 250 à 350 millions d’euros dans les trois ans.

Business Immo rapporte que la société d’investissement Patron Capital Partners lève 880 millions d’euros pour son fonds Fund IV. Spécialisé dans l’acquisition d’actifs distressed et investissements opportunistes pour un montant unitaire de 30 à 100 millions d’euros, le fonds a capacité à investir seul ou en joint ventures à hauteur de 3 milliards d’euros, précise le site. L’objectif de rendement est compris entre 17 à 22 %.