La présidente du Medef Laurence Parisot a proposé que la taxe de 3% sur les dividendes envisagée par le gouvernement dans le cadre du prochain projet de loi de finances rectificative (PLFR) ne s’applique pas aux montants versés en actions.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking a lancé Alpha Metals, une nouvelle plateforme de trading électronique sur les contrats à terme échangés sur le London Metal Exchange (LME). Alpha Metals permet aux clients de la banque d’avoir un accès direct sur LMEselect et de bénéficier de ses capacités de teneur de marché sur les contrats à terme et les «spreads» de contrats à terme LME sur l’aluminium, le cuivre, le plomb, le zinc, le nickel et l’étain.

Selon des écoutes téléphoniques ordonnées par la justice italienne dont Reuters a eu connaissance, des analystes de S&P travaillant en Italie jugeaient que l’agence manquait d’analystes pour évaluer l'évolution de la note souveraine italienne au moment où la crise de la dette européenne s’aggravait. Cette enquête s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une procédure plus large encore impliquant Moody’s et Fitch.

La BCE a réagi aux craintes concernant la dégradation de son bilan en décidant hier, avec effet immédiat et contre toute attente, de plafonner le recours à des obligations émises par des banques avec garantie d’Etat comme collatéral pour ses opérations de refinancement. Toutefois, en cas de circonstances exceptionnelles et avec l’accord préalable du conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE, les banques pourront augmenter leur recours à ce type collatéral.

L’accord définitif sur une aide européenne aux banques espagnoles pourrait être reporté de quelques jours afin de donner plus de temps à la période de négociations, a indiquéhier soir Reuters de deux sources proches du processus. La signature du protocole d’accord était initialement prévue pour le 9 juillet. Elle pourrait n’intervenir que le 20.

L’ancien président du directoire de Lagardère Active, PDG d’Orange et membre du comité exécutif de France Télécom, rejoint le conseil de surveillance du groupe de capital investissement 21 Centrale Partners. Il prend également la présidence de Coyote Systems, spécialiste des systèmes d’aide à la conduite.

Le Fonds monétaire international a exhorté les Etats-Unis à lever rapidement les incertitudes sur sa politique budgétaire. Des hausses d’impôts et des coupes automatiques dans les dépenses du gouvernement d’un total de 4.000 milliards de dollars doivent entrer en vigueur à la fin de l’année si les parlementaires n’adoptent pas des décisions pour les reporter ou les supprimer. «Sur le plan intérieur, l’absence d’accord sur les politiques fiscales et budgétaires à court terme déclencherait un resserrement budgétaire sévère en 2013, menaçant la reprise», écrit le FMI dans un rapport. Les Etats-Unis devraient atteindre le plafond de la dette, fixé à 16.400 milliards, entre novembre et fin décembre. «Il est essentiel de lever les incertitudes créées par le mur du budget ainsi que de relever le plafond de la dette, en poursuivant un objectif de réduction de déficit sans saper la reprise économique».

Axa Private Equity, la société d’investissement de l’assureur Axa, a fait part mardi du rachat d’un portefeuille de onze fonds de capital investissement évalué à 850 millions de dollars (674 millions d’euros) auprès de la division investissement du fonds de pension canadien OMERS. Ce portefeuille est constitué majoritairement de fonds nord-américains et internationaux, ont indiqué les deux groupes dans un communiqué. «C’est une très grosse transaction pour laquelle nous avons une excellente visibilité sur la qualité des actifs, notamment grâce à notre présence en tant qu’investisseurs dans la plupart des fonds», a déclaré Benoit Verbrugghe, responsable du bureau d’Axa PE aux Etats-Unis. Axa avait déjà racheté l’an dernier un portefeuille de fonds de capital investissement de 1,7 milliard de dollars à Citigroup ainsi qu’un portefeuille de fonds de 740 millions de dollars auprès de Barclays.

Une première émission à trois mois est annoncée demain. Le programme d'ajustement prévoit 15 milliards d'euros d'émissions d'ici fin 2013

Certaines des réformes annoncées, comme la hausse du plafond du Livret A, seront progressives

Les tensions sur le marché interbancaire poussent à chercher des modes de financement alternatifs. Le projet est axé sur le financement des PME

Certaines des réformes annoncées, comme la hausse du plafond du Livret A, seront progressives

Le Wall Street Journal croit savoir que la mise en vente de l’agence photo contrôlée par Hellman & Friedman a suscité l’intérêt de nombreuses sociétés de private equity, dont KKR et TPG avec des offres voisines de 4 milliards de dollars. Le Financial Times avance de son côté que Hellman & Friedman vise une part majoritaire du consultant dans l’énergie Wood MacKenzie, valorisant ce dernier à 1,1 milliard de livres.

La Commission souhaite généraliser le principe du document d'information clé pour les produits de détail et encadrer davantage les dépositaires

La Commission européenne a présenté hier trois textes destinés à renforcer la protection des particuliers. Ils généralisent le document d’information clé pour les produits d’investissement de détail, encadre la vente des produits d’assurance et les dépositaires liés aux OPCVM.

Si le véhicule de refinancement qui doit assister le «pôle public de financement des territoires» échoue, l'Etat indique qu'il répondra présent

Le gestionnaire empoche 7,5 milliards de dollars d’engagements. Les deux groupes nouent par ailleurs un partenariat dans la gestion alternative

La dollar australien a atteint un plus haut de deux mois contre le billet vert, mais les marchés anticipent une nouvelle baisse de 25 pb en août

Basé sur le règlement modifié de l'AMF, ce texte fixe les devoirs des prestataires pour les sondages de marché

Shortly before the summer holiday, the European Commission finally unveiled a group of three legislative proposals to improve consumer protection in the area of financial services, and to address a lack of confidence on the part of the public.The three parts of the whole include proposed legislation on key investor information documents (KIID) for retail investment products, a revised Directive on Insurance Intermediation (DII) and last but not least, a proposal to strengthen protections for subscribers to investment funds, currently protected by the OPCVM directive.Following the publication of these proposals, five major professional associations, the CFA Institute (investment professionals), EuroFinuse (an association representing the users of financial services), FECIF (an association representing financial advisers and intermediaries), EFAMA (the European association of fund and asset managers) and AILO (an association representing cross-border life insurance companies) welcomed the initiative by the Commission, and insisted on the need for KIID documents to cover the widest possible range of savings products.The five associations agree on the point that one of the major challenges of KIID legislation is the format and contents of key investor information documents. They need to be as standard as possible to allow retail investors to compare th characteristics, returns on investment, risks, and costs of various savings products. With this in mind, the CFA Institute, with the support of EuroFinuse and FECIF, is currently setting up a research project on a standardised cost presentation format for the KIID. The research will be published in autumn.OPCVM/UCITSModifications to current rules for mutual funds proposed by the Commission are based on lessons drawn from the financial crisis, so as to continue to guarantee the safety of investors and the integrity of the market. In particular, the proposal will aim to ensure that the OPCVM label continues to inspire confidence, by ensuring that the obligations and responsibilities of the depository (the entity which guarantees the assets) are clear and uniform throughout the EU3.The proposal includes three parts: A precise definition of the duties and responsibilities of all depositories acting on behalf of a mutual fund; clear rules concerning remuneration of mutual fund managers: the way in which they are remunerated must not encourage excessive risk-raking. Remuneration policy will take long-term investor interests and the realisation of the investment objectives of the mutual fund better into account; and A common approach to ways to sanction major infractions of the legal framework governing mutual funds, introducing joint standards for administrative fee levels, so that these will always be higher than the potential profits of violating the regulations in force. Key Investor Information Documents/KIIDThe Commission’s proposal in relation to retail investment products would inform consumers in an easy-to-understand way, introducing a new, innovative standard for product information, expressed in clear language, much more comprehensible to the consumer. The document is known as a Key Investor Information Document (KIID). The proposal would require that each designer of investment products (investment fund managers, insurers, banks) to produce these documents for each investment product.

First State Investments has announced the appointments of Will Oulton as global head of socially responsible investment (in London), and Pablo Berrutti as global head of socially responsible investment (in Sydney). The appointments follow the arrival of Amanda McCluskey on the Asia-Pacific Equities and global emerging markets team at First State Stewart, which is based in Singapore. Oulton, vice president of the European socially responsible investment forum (EUROSIF) and director of the British socially responsible investment forum (UKSIF), previously worked at Mercer Investments London, as head of socially responsible invesment for the EMEA region. Berrutti previusly served as head of socially responsible investment at Perpetual in Sydney. He is currently president of the research group at the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), and director of the Australasian socially responsible investment association.

At its general meeting in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) has appointed four new members to its board:Philippe Zaouati, deputy CEO in charge of development and responsible investment at Natixis Asset ManagementPhilip Armstrong, director of the Global Corporate Governance ForumHeloisa Belotti Bedicks, CEO of the Brazilian Institute of Corproate GovernanceJon Feigelson, senior managing director and general counsel & head of Corporate Governance, TIAA-CREFThe four replace Arnaud de Bresson (Paris Europlace), Sandra Guerra (Better Governance), Dr. Nasser Saidi, (Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance in Dubai) and Christy Wood (ICGN).

Credit Suisse has sold another 7% of its stake in Aberdeen Asset Management, reducing its stake to 2.8%. The group sold 80.4 million shares, representing about GBP205m at current prices. The Swiss group has confirmed reports initially circulated by Bloomberg, and adds that the operation will have a positive influence on the group’s profits in third quarter, without specifying further. The reduction in the stake will also have an impact on owners’ equity at Credit Suisse. In first quarter 2012, the Swiss bank already reduced its stake in Amberdeen by 10 percentage points, to 9.8%. Tier 1 owners’ equity got a boost of CHF0.2bn, while the contribution to profits of the operation totalled CHF146m.

Eric Helderlé of Carmignac Gestion, Jean-Louis Laurens of Rothschild et Cie Gestion, and William Margoline of CM-CIC Management have joined the board of the French financial management association (AFG), as trustees, the association has announced in the most recent issue of Gestion Info (June 2012, no. 4). Also on the board are Pascale Guillier of Carmignac Gestion, Denis Faller of Rothschild et Cie Gestion and Luc Peyronel of CM-CIC Asset Management. The AFG states that it has two new members, LFPI Asset Management and Nature Gestion.

The hedge fund firm Cube Capital has decided to open its Global Opportunities hedge fund to external investors, Pension & Investments reports. Assets under management in the event-driven fund from Cube Capital total about USD100m, from partners, funds of funds, and family offices.

A survey by the Edhec-Risk Institute of 139 North American professionals specialised in index-based investment finds that this population is certainly aware of the biases that cap-size weighted indices involve, but that they do not want to replace them. Although nearly 100% of those surveyed consider that the size-related biases introduced by cap-size weighted indices are an important or very important question (compared with 71% in Europe), only 23% of professionals estimate that “alternative” indices could replace cap-size weighted indices.

Over the weekend, a hidden clause in a transportation bill, which will have a significant impact on pension funds, has come into force in the United States, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The discount rate will now be calculated on the basis of average returns over the past 25 years on good quality corporate bonds, and will no longer be based on the past two years. As rates have been much higher over the longer period than the shorter one (during the recent downturn), this accounting trick had given manoeuvring room to pension funds, whose coverage rate on liabilities will mechanically increase. This could lead funds to return to equity markets as investors. As contributions to pension funds by businesses are set to decline, profits will increase, and thus so will tax revenues.

The German financial services provider max.xs has announced the creation of an advisory unit, “sales consultants,” which will aim primarily to offer asset managers a practical toolbox to help them elaborate the positioning of their products and their commercial strategy in German-speaking markets. Concretely, max.xs will provide information on distribution channels and assistance to establish marketing and communication strategy, as well as contacts with the major service providers. That may prove useful for asset managers seeking to develop an access strategy for German-speaking markets, and to establish a solid business plan. In addition, max.xs specialists may provide useful assistance in evaluating the effectiveness of commercial strategy and optimising sales service activities.max.xs has also announced that it has received an exclusive distribution mandate serving German institutional and wholesale investors for the Austrian asset management firm Kathrein Privatbank. The agreement extends to mutual funds as well as institutional products in the areas of European government bonds and overlay solutions.

Mario Lenke, most recently head of relationships with major banking clients, has been appointed as head of IFA sales at DWS. He will be responsible for distribution to IFAs, IFA networks, platforms, and financial portfolio managers. His predecessor, Ivan Rancic, has become director of distribution for retirement products throughout Germany. The two newly-promoted men will report to Steffen Leipold, director of external sales for Germany.

The 300 largest institutional investors in Asia, Japan and Australia have posted cumulative assets of USD32.8trn, according to the July issue of AsianInvestor magazine. For the first time, the magazine has included Japan and Australia in its rankings, meaning that it is not possible to evaluate year-on-year developments. In the Asia ex Japan region, however, assets under management are up year on year, to USD18.1trn, from USD15.6trn. This development is due to growth in inflows as well as corrections, the magazine reports. The 50 institutional investors in Japan add USD13.1trn to this sum, while the 26 names selected for China represent cumulative assets of USD11trn, far higher than South Korea (USD2trn).