Uffi Real Estate Asset Management (UFFI Ream) on 26 June announced that it has signed a partenrship agreement with Corpus Sireo, a top fund manager in Germany, to provide outsourced asset management with a dedicated team for the French portfolio of a Luxembourg Sicav-FIS investing in Europe. Uffi Ream will manage six office properties for the fund, which are valued at about EUR250m. As a part of these duties, Uffi ream will be responsible for valuation and rental of the properties. With this new management mandate, “Uffi Ream shows its capacity for development beyond its historical profession as a SCPI, in the management of real estate funds for French and foreign institutional managers,” a statement says. Assets under management at Uffi Ream total EUR1.5bn.

In response to criticisms of ETFs, and at the demand of many investors, BlackRock has decided to limit the room to manoeuvre it grants to its portfolio managers, and will now put a ceiling of 50% of the portfolio on the use of securities lending for products sold under the iShares brand, a spokesperson for the US asset management firm has told Reuters, Handelsblatt reports. In the past, the percentage of assets involved in these transactions has been higher than this limit.

The State Street Investor Confidence index for institutional investors in the month of June 2012 is up 7 point, from 86.5 in May to 93.5 in June, its highest level of the year. This rise is attributable to US and European investors. Appetite for risk on the part of institutional investors in North America rose 5.7 points from a corrected level of 88.1 in May, at 93.8 in June. The confidence of institutional investors in Europe is up 4.5 points at 102.5, compared with a corrected level of 98.0 the previous month. The confidence of investors in Asia has improved slightly. The regional index is up by one point to 90.4 in June, compared with a revised level of 89.4 in May.

Asset management firms now account for only 22% of global financial assets, which have increased in volume in four years, compared with 25% four years ago, according to the most recent edition of the annual McKinsey study of asset management, Les Echos reports. However, there is no more profitable area in financial services. Returns on owners’ equity totalled 13.5% in 2011 in asset management, compared with 8.1% in insurance and 5.1% in banking. In the next three, four or five years, McKinsey predicts annual growth of 3%, while the other two sectors will shrink.

Frédéric Potelle will succeed Michel Juvet, who became a partner in January this year, as head of research at Bordier & Cie, Agefi Switzerland reports. Potelle, who has been employed at the Geneva-based bank since 2008, was previously an analyst coering the industrial, construction, utilities and energy sectors. After beginning his career as a project manager in nuclear engineering, he then became vice president of Areva, in charge of financial communications and investor relations, before moving into financial analysis. Gianluca Tarolli is joining Bordier & Cie as a market economist. He was previously an investment strategist at Heritage Bank from 2009, and an equity strategist in the investment strategy team at Lombard Odier, after serving at Darier Hentsch and J.P. Morgan.

The private bank of the Lloyds Banking Group has announced the appointment of Anthony Valgimigli as head for the Middle East. He will report to Martin Fricker, director of high net worth clients. Valgimigli joins the firm from Barclays, where he was head of Middle Eastern clients, Finews.ch reports.

Traditional accounting systems at asset management firms engender risks, increase operating costs, and delay the launch of new products, according to a white paper on accounting systems at asset management firms (“Accounting Solutions: Backbone of Investment Management,” available for download from http://www.simcorp.com/Home/Campaignsites/Investment-Accounting-white-p…), released by the provider of software and serviced to the financial sector Simcorp, undertaken by the consultant Woodbine associates.The white paper studies ways in which the weaknesses of outdated accounting platforms compromise the competitiveness of asset management firms, lead to human error, issues with violations of compliance, inability to detect cases of fraud, and approximations in the valuation of portfolios.The white paper points to the collapses of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, and claims that traditional accounting systems are poorly equipped to detect high-risk operations and errors in valuation. As a result, investment managers are not always able to rapidly and precisely djust their positions to react to market volatility.The document also emphasises rising costs associated with the inability of traditional accounting systems to develop at the same pace as the objectives of portfolio managers. According to Matt Samelson, director of Woodbine Associates and co-author of the white paper, “these asset management firms will not tolerate having to wait 4-6 weeks for the back office to take on a new type of fund or share, any more than business heads would tolerate delaying their entry into new markets because the systems in place are unable to adapt in terms of accounting, financial instruments, currencies and regulations in the countries concerned. In addition, investors have now become extremely vigilant about operational risks and the costs of professional processes and technologies used, which may result in catastrophic losses. This is particularly the case from their point of view when they need to apply procedures or solutions manually. And recent events have only increased this vigilance.”

The alternative asset management firm Segantii, based in Hong Kong, is closing its Asian hedge fund to new investors, Reuters reports. Assets under management in the fund total USD620m. The hedge fund, one of the few funds dedicated to Asia with assets over USD500m, earned returns of 41% in 2011, and 3.1% in the first five months of this year. The Asian Eurekahedge benchmark index lost 8.2% in 2011 and has gained 1.3% since the beginning of the year. The fund, launched in 2007, was already closed to new investors from September 2009 to the end of 2010.

The California pension fund CalPERS on 26 June announced the appointment of Ed Robertiello as a senior portfolio manager, in charge of absolute return strategies. Robertiello previously worked at Russell Investments, as managing director in charge of hedge funds. CalPERS has also announced that it has invested about USD100m in the real estate specialist Bentall Kennedy, taking over stakes previously controlled yb IvanhoeCambridge and the Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. The California pension fund now controls about 33% of capital in Bentall, while the other two thirds are controlled in equal proportions by British Columbia Investment Management Coporation (bcIMC) and the management of Bentall.

As it did not succeed in winning over potential investors, the US firm J.P. Morgan Chase & Ca has decided to be the sole investor in its new real estate fund, Junius Real Estate Partners, itself, the Wall Street Journal reports.Junius is already active in commercial real estate. It has invested in the development of an equestrian farm in Virginia, acquired a shopping mall in a suburb of Chicago, and bought an hotel portfolio in Ohio, for about USD465m, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The market capitalisation of the CAC 40 index as of 31 December 2011 was at the same level as owners’ equity at businesses composing the index, according to the 6th CAC 40 Financial Profile. Although funds represent what is commonly known as the “cash value” of a business, a “price to book” (ratio of share price to assets) of 1 means that investors have a low opinion of the growth and value creation outlooks of the business and the immaterial assets on the balance sheet. Even at the height of the crisis, in 2008, market capitalisation was 20% higher than the balance sheets of CAC 40 businesses. Never since the creation of the CAC 40 Financial Profile have businesses appeared to be valued as poorly compared with their solid fundamentals, a sign of concerns over macro-economic uncertainty. “The alignment of market capitalisation and book capital in the CAC 40 is the most remarkable aspect of the 6th edition of the CAC 40 Financial Profile. Weak share prices when corporate results are rising are expressions of macroeconomic concerns. Banking and Insurance and Industrial sector businesses which are still highly exposed to the European market are suffering due to the euro zone crisis. The utilities sector is affected by multiple regulatory hazards it is subject to,” explains Jean-Charles de Lasteyrie, chairman of Ricol Lasteyrie.

The asset management firm A Plus Finance, a specialist in private equity, has announced the promotion of Olivier Huon as chief financial officer, and the appointment of Alexandre Fernandes as head of Client Services. The latter manages relationships with major clients of A Plus Finance (institutional investors, banking networks and insurance companies) in the Development team, and is in charge of middle office for the multi-management activity. “These appointments are a part of the growth strategy at A Plus Finance, via a global and diversified management range, aimed at institutional and retail investors,” a statement says. Huon, who is also a member of the executive board, had previously been general secretary of A Plus Finance, which he joined in November 2008. Fernandes was previously in Luxembourg at Ernst & Young, and was a client marketing analyst at BNP in the Netherlands.

DNCA Finance has announced the recruitment of Carl Auffret, a specialist in growth shares. This “growth” approach will help the firm to extend its fund range, which had previously been primarily “value” in its orientation.The new recruit will work with Rajesh Varma, manager of the DNCA Invest Global Leaders fund, in this management style. “In addition to enriching the investment universe for all European equity portfolios (Euroe, DNCA Evolutif, DNCA Value Europe, etc.), Auffret will manage a new European fund, DNCA Europe Growth, of growth shares of all cap sizes,” the asset management firm says.Auffret, 36, previously served at CM-CIC Asset Management, from 2003.

SG Private Banking is increasing its coverage of Russian clients in Asia, with the recruitment of its first Russian-speaking speciaist in Singapore, Asian Investor reports. Garry Frenklah joined SG Private Banking as a senior director, in charge of development of Russian and international clients in the region. Frenklah previously worked at Royal Bank of Scotland, as managing director.

Agefi reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission may file a civil suit against Philip Falcone, director of Harbinger Capital Partners, as soon as this week, according to multiple sources. The SEC suspects Falcone of using client money to pay taxes, of favouring certain clients, particularly Goldman Sachs, and also of manipulating the share price of MAAX Holdings.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) has been mandated by Hansainvest Lux S.A. to produce key investor information documents (KIID), according to a statement from SGSS released on 26 June. Hansainvest has chosen to adopt the entirety of the modular KIID range offered by SGSS, which includes: -creation of content, such as explanations of investment policy in everyday language, -calculation of various indicators, such as risk indicators, presentation of past performance, or calculation of management fees, -creation and layout of KIID documents: the documents are prepared by experienced teams, including asset servicing, legal, graphics, translation, quality control and distribution via a robust IT platform which is able ot manage very large volumes. Hansainvest Lux S.A., an affiliate of the Signal Iduna group, manages about EUR10bn in assets.

On Tuesday, the Munich-based asset management firm KanAm announced that shareholders in its US-grundinvest fund (DE0006791817) will be receiving a report on the liquidation of the fund, which was completed on 31 March. Historically, the product was the first German open-ended real estate fund to be liquidated. The decision to liquidate the fund was taken in late September 2010 (see Newsmanagers of 1 October 2010).KanAm insists that the fund, the only German product in the category to be denominated in US dollars, in its nine years of existence (the fund was launched on 20 May 2003), has earned returns of 48.8%. Over six years, the average investment duration, returns were 23.5%. And in the past year, performance was 23.9%, due to higher-than-expected tax refunds.Since 1 April 2012, the procedure to liquidate the fund and distribute its assets to shareholders has been transferred to the depository bank, the Hamburg-based M. M. Warburg & Co KGaA.

NYSE Euronext on 26 June announced that it has added two Luxembourg-registered ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group) to trading on Euronext Paris. The European markets of the NYSE Euronext group now list a total of 590 ETFs 686 times, replicating more than 450 different indices. The first of the two new Lyxor funds replicates the new Euro iStoxx 50 Equal Risk index, which has the same composition as the Euro Stoxx 50 Index. The new concept applies an equal risk contribution strategy to the underlying index to allocate the risk contribution of the components equally. In order to do so, at the monthly rebalancing a covariance matrix is calculated for the 50 components of the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, using the single components’ closing prices over the trading days of the past year.CharacteristicsName: Lyxor ERCISIN code: LU0776635921Underlying index: Euro iStoxx 50 Equal RiskTotal expense ratio: 0.25%Name: Lyxor WLDRISIN code: LU0776636812Underlying index: MSCI World Risk WeightedTotal expense ratio: 0.45%

First Trust Advisors will soon be launching its first actively-managed ETF, Mutual Fund Wire has announced. The First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund will invest in energy infrastrucure, and will be managed by Energy Income Partners on behalf of the US asset management firm.

AllianceBernstein on 26 June announced the launch of an income strategy, the Lifetime Income Strategy, by the United Technologies Corporation (UTC), which is available through the group’s retirement programme. The new vehicle is designed to bring simplicity to a horizon fund, and security for lifetime income, similar to a defined-benefit programme.

The Basel Committee on 26 June launched a consultation on collection of information and risk reporting. The financial crisis has shown that many banks, including systemic banks, were incapable of rapidly and exhaustively finding their total exposure to risk, the Basel Committee says in a statement. “These proposals are an important step to improve the risk management capacities of banks,” says Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee, and also governor of the central bank of Sweden. The consultation will be open until 28 September. The Basel Committee has also published a final revision of rules on information that banks must supply about the detailed composition of their capital.

The joint venture Ping An Russell Investments is preparing to launch its first multi-management fund aimed at high net worth clients on the Chinese market in third quarter. The new strategy will be available both to local hedge fund managers and to investors in US dollars, via an equivalent QFII fund (qualified foreign institutional investors). Ping An Russell Investments will be launching the new fund, entitled MoM, in collaboration with the Bank of Communications International Trust.

The index provider S&P Indices on 26 June announced the launch of the S&P Sri Lanka 20 index, which was developed in partnership with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The index includes the 20 largest caps on the CSE market. The 20 shares in the index are as follows: John Keells Holdings PLC Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Bukit Darah Co. Ltd. Hatton National Bank PLC Carson Cumberbatch& Co PLC Sampath Bank PLC Ceylon Tobacco Co. Ltd.. DFCC Bank Aitken Spence & Co PLC National Development Bank PLC CT Holdings PLC Distilleries Co of Sri Lanka PLC Hayleys PLC Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC Dialog Axiata PLC Cargills Ceylon PLC Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC Nestle Lanka Asian Hotels & Properties Sri Lanka Telecom PLC

The Boots pension fund has selected the real estate multi-management team at Schroders to manage a portfolio of GBP135m. The objective is to diversify the portfolio of the Boots Pension Scheme, which is highly exposed to the British real estate market, by investing in a selection of core, added value and opportunity-driven real estate funds.The real estate multi-management team at Schroders was formed in 1997, and currently has assets of about GBP2.5bn. Schroders had about GBP10.2bn in assets under management in the real estate sector as of 31 March.

Investment Europe reports that the British asset management firm Threadneedle has been granted a sales license in Finland for 27 sub-funds of its Luxembourg Sicav. Meanwhile, the asset management firm has also launched a local website, providing access to NAVs, KIIDs, and other legal documents.

La société de gestion alternative Segantii, basée à Hong Kong, a fermé son hedge fund asiatique aux nouveaux investisseurs, rapporte l’agence Reuters. Les actifs sous gestion du fonds s'élèvent à 620 millions de dollars.Ce hedge fund, l’un des rares fonds dédiés à l’Asie dont les actifs sous gestion dépassent la barre des 500 millions de dollars, a dégagé une performance de 41% en 2011 et de 3,1% sur les cinq premiers mois de l’année. L’indice de référence asiatique Eurekahedge a reculé de 8,2% en 2011 et a progressé de 1,3% depuis le début de l’année.Le fonds, lancé en 2007, a déjà été fermé aux nouveaux investisseurs entre septembre 2009 et fin 2010.

Les systèmes comptables traditionnels des sociétés de gestion engendrent des risques, font grimper les coûts de fonctionnement et retardent le lancement de nouveaux produits, selon un livre blanc sur les systèmes comptables des sociétés de gestion (1) publié par le fournisseur de de logiciels et de services pour le secteur financier Simcorp et réalisé par le cabinet Woodbine Associates. Le livre blanc étudie en quoi les faiblesses des plates-formes comptables obsolètes compromettent la compétitivité des sociétés de gestion, entraînant des erreurs humaines, des problèmes de violation de conformité, une incapacité à détecter les cas de fraude et des approximations dans l’évaluation des portefeuilles. Pointant la faillite de Lehman Brothers et de Bear Stearns, le livre blanc affirme que les systèmes comptables traditionnels sont mal équipés pour repérer les opérations risquées et les erreurs d’évaluation. Résultat, les gestionnaires d’investissements ne sont pas toujours en mesure d’ajuster rapidement et précisément leurs positions en réaction à la volatilité des marchés. Le document souligne également l’envolée des coûts engendrée par l’incapacité des systèmes comptables traditionnels à évoluer au rythme des objectifs des gestionnaires de portefeuilles. D’après Matt Samelson, directeur de Woodbine Associates et co-auteur du livre blanc, « ces gestionnaires ne toléreront pas d’attendre 4 à 6 semaines pour que le back-office prenne en charge un nouveau type de fond ou de titre, pas plus que les dirigeants de l’entreprise n’accepteront de retarder leur entrée sur de nouveaux marchés parce que les systèmes en place sont incapables de s’adapter au plan comptable, aux instruments financiers, à la devise et à la réglementation des pays concernés. De plus, les investisseurs sont devenus aujourd’hui extrêmement vigilants quant au risque opérationnel et aux coûts des processus métier et des technologies utilisées qui peuvent se solder par une perte catastrophique. C’est à leurs yeux particulièrement le cas lorsqu’il faut appliquer des procédures ou des solutions manuelles. Et les événements récents n’ont fait qu’accentuer cette vigilance. » (1)« Accounting Solutions: Backbone of Investment Management » Le livre blanc est disponible en téléchargement depuis le site http://www.simcorp.com/Home/Campaignsites/Investment- Accounting-white-paper.aspx.

La banque privée de Lloyds Banking Group annonce la nomination d’Anthony Valgimigli au poste de responsable pour la région du Proche-Orient. Il sera placé sous la responsabilité de Martin Fricker, directeur de la clientèle haut de gamme (high net worth). Anthony Valgimigli rejoint la société en provenance de Barclays, où il était responsable de clientèle pour le Proche-Orient, précise Finews.ch..

Investment Europe rapporte que le britannique Threadneedle a obtenu l’agrément de commercialisation en Finlande pour 27 compartiments de sa sicav luxembourgeoise. Parallèlement, le gestionnaire a ouvert un site Internet local fournissant l’accès aux valeurs liquidatives, aux DICI et à d’autres documents juridiques.

La société d’investissement Fortress Investment Group, qui gère 46,4 milliards de dollars d’actifs, souhaiterait lancer son deuxième fonds d’investissement (Japan Opportunity Fund) ciblé sur l’immobilier japonais d’un milliard de dollars d’ici la fin de l’année, selon L’Agefi qui cite une information de Bloomberg. Les investisseurs institutionnels nippons pèsent 40% dans ce nouveau fonds.