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07/05/2012

Sovereign funds top USD5trn in assets

Sovereign funds have for the first time topped USD5trn in assets, according to the sovereign fund institute (SWF Institute). Assets under management by sovereign funds as of the beginning of May totalled USD5.004trn, compared with USD4.995trn as of the end of March 2012.Several factors have contributed to the continued growth of sovereign funds. In addition to the performance of investments, growth in tax revenue transfers and a proliferation of new sovereign funds contributed, the SWF Institute states.In 2011, five new sovereign funds appeared in the SWF Institute rankings, including the Italian strategic fund, with a total of USD1.4bn, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, whose assets under management total USD1bn, the North Dakota Legacy Fund, the Papua New Guinea Sovereign Wealth Fund, and the Fiscal Stability Fund of Mongolia.
07/05/2012

Norwegian sovereign fund profits from market rebound

The Norwegian public pension fund (Governement Pension Fund-Global), one of the largest sovereign funds in the world, has posted returns of 7.1% in first quarter, due to a recovery of the stock markets, while its exposure to European countries perceived as high-risk was limited, the Bank of Norway announced on 4 May.The fund, supplied by oil revenues from the country, and largely invested in international equities and bonds, had NOK3.496bn, or slightly over EUR462bn in assets as of the end of March.Investments in equities, which represent 60.7% of the total value of the fund, gained 11% in the course of the first three months of the year, due to a recovery on the US, European and Asian stock markets, the central bank states. In bond markets, which represent 39% of the investment portfolio (the remaining 0.3% are invested in real estate), returns were much more limited, at 1.6%.In first quarter, the Norwegian fund sold all of its Portuguese and Irish government bonds, and reduced its holdings in government debt from several countries, including Italy and Spain, in favour of investments in emerging countries such as Brazil, Mexico and India.In the past quarter, the fund has received NOK60bn in oil revenues from the government, but its value also mechanically lost NOK110bn due to the effects of the appreciation of the Norwegian currency against foreign currencies.
07/05/2012

Record assets at John Hancock as of the end of March

At a presentation of results for first quarter 2012, the Canadian insurer Manulife announced that assets under management by its US affiliate John Hancock Mutual Funds as of the end of March totalled a record USD38.2bn, compared with USD35.5bn as of the end of December. In one year, assets increased by 7%.In January-March, John Hancock Funds has posted net subscriptions of USD3.1bn, compared with USD2.5bn in October-December, but these net inflows were down 10% compared with the corresponding period of last year.Manulife has posted net profits for first quarter of CAD206m, compared with a net loss of CAD69m in fourth quarter 2011, and net profits of CAD985m in the corresponding period of last year.
07/05/2012

Caceis group retained by asset management firm Neuflize

The asset management firms of the Neuflize OBC group, Neuflize OBC Investissement and Neuflize Private Assets, have retained Caceis as administrative and accounting manager of their French-registered OPCVM funds and custody mandates, Caceis announced in a statement published on 4 May. The transfer will include 80 mutual funds and mandates with total assets of EUR12bn. The agreement is part of a partnership with the Neuflize OBC Group, which was already in place for depository banking and custody. In France, the group will be able to concentrate on a single provider in Caceis, for all services expected to be needed by the two asset management firms for their development.
07/05/2012

Deutsche Bank recompletes private banking team in Spain

Since the beginning of this year, six people have left the Deutsche Bank private bank in Spain, four of whom went to Banco Espirito Santo, and one to Credit Suisse. The two heads of the team, Ángel Mascaraque and Jaime Hernández, were among those who left. However, Funds People reports, five of the six partners, including Hernández, who left in April, have already been replaced: four by external recruitments, and one by an internal promotion.The team includes 67 professionals serving clients whose financial savings are over EUR500,000.
07/05/2012

ING IM appoints a new head for Italy

ING Investment Management has appointed Simona Merzagora as country head for Italy, the Italian specialist press reports. Her appointment took effect on 1 May. Merzagora joined ING IM in 2001 as senior relationship manager. She then became director of institutional activities, with responsibility for sales and Italian and Austrian wholesale clients, as well as global partnerships in eastern Europe. In her new role, she will direct the firm’s commercial development in Italy.
07/05/2012

Forthcoming launch of white paper on long-term investment

The European commissioner in charge of the internal market and services, Michel Barnier, on 4 May announced the forthcoming launch of a white paper on long-term investment. “We would like to study the impact of our proposals – CRD 4, Solvency 2 and the revised pension fund directive, currently underway – from this point of view. And I would like to seek new ways to encourage long-term investment, which is essential, particularly to finance major infrastructure investments and ecological transitions,” Barnier said at a meeting of the European financial and asset management association (EFAMA). Barnier has also announced that the Commission will be undertaking three key initiatives in the next few weeks. The content of these initiatives may not be new, but the Commission appears to be putting its heart into them. Firstly, these will aim to better protect consumers of retail investment products (PRIPS) by favouring better information and introducing stricter rules for vendors of financial products. Barnier points to the introduction of a identical information document for all types of PRIPS. Now more than ever, it is also time to introduce stricter accountability for losses by financial instruments which are held at a depository bank, and to bring the depository regime of the OPCVM directive into line with the new and more detailed MiFID directive. Lastly, the Commission is seeking to protect consumers of insurance products, partly by setting up a level playing field between the various vendors of these products, such as insurance companies, banks, and brokers.
07/05/2012

Electronic trading faces its first ESMA alert

The market surveillance systems provider Redkite Financial Markets on 2 May issued its first warning related to the entry into force on that date of European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) regulations related to electronic trading.Redkite is acting on behalf of a European institutional client, following the detection of a suspicious transaction, which is suspected of having been a case of “quote stuffing,” in which orders are placed in a highly aggressive manner, at tens of thousands per second, compared with 100 to 200 per second at the highest rate a traditional order routing system would have delivered.
07/05/2012

A promotion and an appointment at Sal. Oppenheim

Thirteen months to the day after returning to Sal. Oppenheim (Deutsche Bank) as chief operating officer for the portfolio management team in the strategic client portfolio management division (serving clients with complex wealth structures), Wolfgang Sawazki on 1 May became director of portfolio management of the private banking unit (see Newsmanagers of 24 March 2011).Meanwhile, Sönke J. Siemßen, who had most recently served as director of fixed income research at BayernLB, on 1 April joined Sal. Oppenheim as director of fixed income portfolio management.Sawazski and Siemßen will report to Wolfgang Leoni, CIO.
07/05/2012

Feri acquires one quarter of Coresis

The German financial services provider MLP has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Feri AG has acquired a 25% stake in Coresis Management GmbH, a stake which the firm may opt to increase later, for an undisclosed amount.Coresis is a specialist in direct investment in real estate in Germany. It works for institutionals and high net worth private clients.
07/05/2012

Pictet denies being under investigation by US authorities

Pictet & Cie claims that it is not the subject of any accusations on the part of US authorities, and “energetically” rejects “any insinuation that Pictet & Cie is being targeted by the US tax authorities.” The Geneva-based private bank reacted in a statement released on Sunday evening which appear in the SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche.Pictet states that since 2011, when the Qualified Intermediary Agreement (QI) came into effect, an agreement over documentation for clients holding US equities, the group has “scrupulously complied with the rules.”Pictet says that it is developing in the market serving US residents via its affiliate Pictet North America Advisors S.A., which is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and that it is important for the bank to scrupulously respect US tax legislation.
07/05/2012

Strong growth for UCITS hedge funds

Assets under management by UCITS hedge funds have virtually quadrupled in the past three years, according to the most recent quarterly report by the index provider Alix Capital, InvestmentEurope reports. In the period under review, assets in the sector have increased 375%, and in first quarter 2012 alone, assets under management have increased 6.2% to EUR120m, Nearly three quarters of the growth observed is related to net inflows, whlie 28% is due to positive market effects. Fixed income remains the most popular strategy, representing 32.3% of assets, followed by macro strategies (15.84%) and long/short equity (15.20%). Half of funds launched in first quarter 2012 were long/short equity funds, 15% were market neutral equity funds, 10% were macro funds and 10% were volatility funds. More than two thirds (67%) of new funds were domiciled in Luxembourg. “The UCITS-compliant hedge fund sector in first quarter maintained its long-term rate of growth, and this trend is expected to continue in a context in which investors continue to require the transparency, liquidity and regulatory oversight offered by UCITS vehicles,” says the CEO of Alix Capital, Louis Zanolin. At the end of first quarter 2012, the three largest providers in the UCITS-compliant hedge fund sector were Standard Life Investments, BNY Mellon and GAM. Assets under management by these three firms totalled nearly EUR30bn, 24% of total assets under management by UCITS hedge funds.
07/05/2012

Private equity outperforms public markets

Returns on investments have generally held out better in private equity than in public markets before and since the onset of the financial crisis, according to a study by Preqin. The PrEQIn study finds that all private equity strategies except venture capital have outperformed the S&P 500 since 31 December 2000. The PrEQIn All Private Equity index, based on a score of 100 on 31 December 2000, stood at 198.5 in third quarter 2011, compared with 105.1 on the same date for the S&P 500. In other words, it has virtually doubled over the period. Private equity funds specialised in distressed debt have earned better returns than all other strategies, with a PrEUIn score of 322.1 as of September 2011. However, there has been significant variance in the performance of different private equity funds. While 1,830 funds cure currently seeking investors, it is more delicate than ever to make an effective selection of managers, the study finds.
07/05/2012

Investors on the defensive

With elections in France and Greece ahead and dire manufacturing data from Italy and Spain behind, investors erred on the side of defense going into May. In the week ending May 2, EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds took in a net USD7.1 billion while Equity Funds absorbed USD3.8 billion. Investors did commit another USD1.84 billion to High Yield Bond Funds, steer USD540 million into Emerging Markets Bond Funds. Over 85% of the flows into all High Yield and Emerging Markets Bond Funds went into US High Yield and EM Hard Currency Funds respectively. US Money Market Funds posted outflows for the 10th week in a row. This week those redemptions were not offset by the modest inflows recorded by their European counterparts.
07/05/2012

Former Clariden Leu CEO quits Credit Suisse

Olivier Jaquet, the last operational CEO of the former bank Clariden Leu, will be leaving Credit Suisse at the end of May, finews reports.Jaquet, previously head of CS Trust and CS Life & Pensions, took over as head of the Credit Suisse affiliate in March 2011. His arrival made it possible to relaunch the firm, whose survival was then in doubt. In first half 2011, Clariden Leu posted a net inflow of CHF3.3bn.But the group has decided to absorb Clariden into Credit Suisse in November last year, a decision which is now resulting in the departure of Jaquet.
07/05/2012

Assets under management at RBS up 2%

Assets under management by the wealth management unit of Royal Bank fo Scotland (RBS) as of the end of March 2012 totals GBP31.4bn, up 2% compared with 31 December 2012, RBS announced in a statement on 4 May.This development is due to positive market effects, and to net subscriptions in Asia, the group states. Assets under management are nonetheless down 9% compared with first quarter 2011, due to the negative evolution of the markets, and outflows in second half.Operating profits for the wealth management unit are down 38%, to GBP45m, due to a fine of GBP8.75m to the British Financial Services Authority (FSA).The group has also stated that it is continuing to restructure its wealth management operation in the United Kingdom ahead of the forthcoming introduction of the Retail Distribution Review regulation (RDR).
07/05/2012

Dexia AM opens an office in London

A cette occasion, Naïm Abou-Jaoudé, Président du Comité Exécutif de Dexia Asset Management, déclare : « Notre approche centrée sur le client et notre large diversification nous ont permis de demeurer une entreprise saine et rentable en dépit du processus de cession en cours. L’ouverture d’une succursale à Londres était un objectif à long terme pour Dexia Asset Management et une priorité stratégique pour 2012. Le Royaume-Uni est un marché ouvert et varié qui joue un rôle pivot dans le secteur de la gestion en Europe. Cette évolution nous permettra d'intensifier notre pr
07/05/2012

Inflows down in first quarter in the UK

Net inflows to funds in the UK fell significantly in first quarter compared with the quarterly levels observed in the past two years, according to statistics from the British Investment Management Association (IMA).In first quarter, net inflows totalled GBP3.8bn, compared with net inflows of over GBP6bn in the first quarter and in the fourth quarter of 2011, and in the same periods of 2010.In March alone, net inflows fell to GBP1.4bn, compared with GBP2.7bn one year previously. Fixed income remains the most popular strategy, with inflows in March of GBP660m, followed by diversified funds (GBP348m) and equities (GBP17m).Assets under management by British funds as of the end of March totalled GBP613.2bn, compared with GBP615.6bn as of the end of February.
07/05/2012

UBS offers an emerging markets specialist allocation fund

Andreas Köster, head of asset allocation and currencies at UBS Global Asset Mangement, is the manager of the new UBS Emerging Markets Allocation fund, which is a multi-asset class product dedicated to emerging markets, Das Investment reports. The portfolio will be invested primarily in equities and bonds, while commodities are also used as a complement. Forex management is achieved via an overlay.CharacteristicsName: UBS Emerging Markets AllocationISIN codes:LU0730958831 (shares denominated in US dollars)LU0730959219 (shares denominated in euros)Management commission: 2.08%
07/05/2012

Deka sells a property in Germany, while Union buys one

Deka Immobilien GmbH has announced that it has sold the Schlössle Galerie shopping centre (19,000 square metres) in Pforzheim to a fund from Real I.S., for EUR76m.Union Investment Real Estate (UIRE), meanwhile, has announced that it has acquired the office and retail property Neue Promenade 6, in the centre of Berlin, The 3,140 square metre property will be added to the portfolio of the institutional real estate fund DIFA-Fonds Nr3. The acquisition price has not been disclosed.
07/05/2012

Robeco releases an emerging market equities institutional fund

The product range from Robeco in Germany since March has gained a variant of the Robeco Institutional Emerging Markets Quant Fund, with the release of the Luxembourg-registered fund Robeco Emerging Enhanced Index Equities. The product, which is priced like an ETF, is aimed at institutional investors.The portfolio includes between 320 and 370 physical holdings, in equities from 21 emerging countries. Allocation is made according to the distribution of the MSCI Emerging Markets index. The fund, denominated in US dollars, is managed with a quantitative approach by Michael Strating and Tim Dröge.Name: Robeco Emerging Enhanced Index EquitiesISIN code: LU0746585719TER :0.72%Minimal subscription: EUR0.5m
07/05/2012

Growth of SICAR firms continued in 2011

The number of venture capital investment firms (SICAR) registered in Luxembourg continued to increase last year, with 43 new companies registered, and 14 closed down over the course of the year, the financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF) says in its report on 2011 activities. Most of the founders of these SICAR firms are French, followed by Swiss, German and Luxembourg nationals. In terms of investment policy, these SICAR firms prefer private equity.
07/05/2012

La Française AM lance le premier OPCI conforme à la sharia

La société de gestion a annoncé la création d’un organisme de placement collectif en immobilier conforme à la sharia, pour le compte d’une banque koweïtienne souhaitant rester anonyme. Le véhicule a financé l’acquisition d’un immeuble de bureaux situé 91 boulevard Saint Michel à Paris, loué à France Télécom et cédé par Foncière des Régions pour 46 millions d’euros. L’acquisition a été financée en partie par un crédit murabaha.
07/05/2012

La production de crédits a légèrement baissé en mars

Selon les statistiques de la Banque de France, les flux corrigés des variations saisonnières de crédits nouveaux ont diminué légèrement dans presque tous les segments de marché au mois de mars. La production de crédits à l’habitat s’est ainsi élevée à 6,8 milliards d’euros, contre 7,3 milliards le mois précédent. Les taux de ces crédits sont restés globalement stables mais ceux des crédits aux sociétés non financières ont fléchi sensiblement.
07/05/2012

La Chine ouvre encore davantage le capital de ses courtiers

A l’issue d’une rencontre au sommet entre la Chine et les Etats-Unis, Pékin a fait part vendredi de sa décision d’autoriser les investisseurs étrangers à détenir jusqu'à 49% d’une société de courtage, contre 33% jusqu'à présent. La Chine affirme ainsi qu’elle respecte la promesse faite lors de son adhésion à l’OMC d’ouvrir son secteur financier à la concurrence étrangère.
07/05/2012

L’immobilier de Singapour séduit Blackstone

L’entité dédiée à l’immobilier au sein du groupe américain aurait selon le quotidien conclu sa toute première acquisition à Singapour, pour 220 millions de dollars locaux (136 millions d’euros). Un rachat auprès du fonds d’investissement allemand SEK, contraint de céder des actifs afin de faire face aux demandes de rachat de ses clients. Blackstone tire ainsi parti d’un climat morose pour nombre d’institutions financières européennes.

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