Greece, India, China and Thailand are the countries in which pensoin reform is most urgent, according to the 2011 Allianz Global Investors survey of the health of pension systems in 44 countries. In Greece the need for reforms are most pressing, Allianz GI finds in a statement. Despite the reforms initiated as part of austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB), the legal retirement age in Greece remains among the lowest (even though it will soon be raised to 63), and replacement rates are too high. However, the largest challenge which the Greek retirement system is faced with is thee fact that the demographic dependence ratio (the ratio between the active population and the number of pensioners) remains considerably higher than the European average. Meanwhile, Autralia appears to be the best-prepared country, with a public regime based on limited distribution and a system of capitalisation via highly developed pensoin funds, followed by Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The rise in public debt levels and the financial crisis have increased the need to reform pensions in many countries. The findings of the study were significantly affected this year by the rise in sovereign debt in the context of financial crisis, particularly in Greece and Ireland. In Ireland, following the financial crisis and the bank bailouts, sovereign debt levels have exploded in the past three years. Accdording to the study, France is another example of a country where improvements to the system obtained through pension reforms (highly controversial and difficult to make the population accept) were wiped out by a deterioration in public finances related to an increase in sovereign debt levels. The same is true in Spain. However, Norway and Finland have benefited from the relative strength of their public finances.

The UCITS Alternative Index Global gained 1.8% in October, but remains down 2.71% since the beginning of the year, according to data from the index provider Alix Capital. In the month under review, UCITS funds dedicated to emerging markets earned the best returns, while the Ucits Alternative Emerging Markets fund gained 6.12%. However, since the beginning of the year, this strategy has lost 6.2%' Event-driven equity strategies also earned good returns, with gains of 2.16% and 2.07%, respectively. Commodities, which earned a monthly gain of 0.75%, remain the only strategy in positive territory since the beginning of the year, with gains of 0.85%.

Credit Suisse on 8 November confirmed in a statement that the US tax authorities had submitted an application for administrative mutual assistance to the Swiss Federal finance administration. As a result of the procedure, the Swiss authority then requested Credit Suisse to share information. The request includes documents and information about client relationships concerning US citizens. Credit Suisse did not state how many individuals’ information was concerned.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has appointed Thomas Breitenmoser to the position of head of institutional clients for Switzerland. The asset management firm has also recruited Eduardo Illitsch to serve as senior sales manager for Swiss institutional clients. Patrick Beuret has been appointed senior sales manager for banks in German-speaking Switzerland. Breitenmoser will be responsible for relationship management for pension funds, insurers, trusts for retirement planning institutions, and businesses in Switzerland. He will report to Roland Vogel, country head Switzerland, and will begin in his new role from 1 July 2011, a statement says. Breitenmoser has already been a member of the Swiss team at J.P. Morgan Asset Management for nine years; he had previously been head for distribution activities via banks and family offices. Illitsch, for his part, will furtehr strengthen institutional client relationships in Switzerland. Since 2009, he had been head of Swiss institutional client relationships for State Street Global Advisory, a position which he had previously held for eleven years at Credit Suisse Asset Management. Illitsch will report to Thomas Breitenmeyer, head of institutional clients. Beuret had previously worked at Bellevue Asset Management, where he was a partner, and since 2009 had been in charge of international distribution. Beuret spent more than ten years in various sales positions, including as head of international clients at Julius Bär Asset Management. Beuret began in his new position on 1 November 2011, and report to Roland Vogel.

Assets under management at the Cantonal bank of Lucerne as of the end of September were down 1.6% compared with the end of June 2011, to CHF24.8bn, the bank announced in a statement on 8 November. Net inflows totalled CHF328m, compared with CHF87m as of 30 June. The bank reports that settlements related to the integration of the Adler private bank have already been integrated into the balance sheet. In the first nine months of the 2011 fiscal year, the bank earned net profits up 2.9%, to CHF115.9m, the statement says. The bank is hoping to post profits in 2011 equivalent to those it earned in 2010.

State Street Global Advisors has announced the appointment of two new sales staff dedicated to ETFs in Paris. Olivier Paquier will now be head of sales for SPDR ETF in France, Spain and Portugal. He joined State Street from Amundi ETF, where he was a product specialist for four years. Eric Geffory, who began his career as head of ETF products at Invesco PowerShare, has been recruited as a salesman for SPDR ETF. State Street currently offers 29 SPDR ETF funds on various European stock markets, including Deutsche Börse, NYSE Euronext, London Stock Exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange and Borsa Italiana.

The coverage rate for US pension funds gained 4.7 percentage points in October, to return to 74.8%, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management. This development is largely due to the good performance of the equity markets and the stability of liabilities. BNY Mellon AM reports, nonetheless, that since the beginning of the year, the coverage rate has fallen by 10.3 percentage points.

John Paulson is preparing to sell USD580m in shares in Delphi Automotive at the firm’s initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reports. The manager holds a 22% stake in the firm via Paulson & Co. He will reduce his stake in the automotive group to 15%.

The French group Groupama has made informal contact with several investors, including foreign reinsurers, Les Echos reports. The investors may subscribe to hybrid securities with no voting rights issued by GroupamaSA. As counterparty, the securities would offer attractive remuneration. In this form, the operation would have the advantage of recapitalising the central organisation, without blunting the effectiveness of the regional banks, which have set Thierry Martel the task of maintaining the group’s independence above all else. Swiss Re, Munich Ré and the US firm Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company for the billionaire Warren Buffett, are some of the avenues that have been explored. Funds may also invest alongside an insurer. The investment under discussion would be about EUR200m for each investor. Meanwhile, the possibility of selling off assets has also been explored, but no decisions have been taken at this time. Groupama declined to comment to the newspaper yesterday.

On Tuesday, 8 November, Société Générale announced its results for the third quarter of the year. The Private Banking, Asset Management and Investor services unit “has shown resilience in unfavourable market conditions,” the bank notes. In asset management, the US affiliate TCW has posted net inflows of EUR0.2m, bringing net inflows since the beginning of the year to EUR1.6bn. Asset management has earned net profits for the part of the group of EUR16m, compared with EUR26m in the same period one year previously. Amundi contributed EUR19m in the quarter. In the first nine months of the year, this contribution brings net profits for the part of the group to EUR81m (compared with EUR65m in 2010). For the private banking activity, assets, totalling EUR83.6bn, are up 2% compared with last year. Compared with second quarter, assets are nonetheless down by EUR2.5bn due to negative market effects (-EUR3.3bn), outflows (-EUR0.6bn) and positive forex effects (+EUR1.5bn). Since the beginning of the year, inflows total EUR3.3bn. Net banking profits for the private bank totalled EUR190m, down 6.4% compared with last year, with management fees up 5.3%, at EUR158m, compared with the same period in 2010. Overall, over nine months year on year, earnings for the division total EUR604m (+14.4%).

The Texas state teachers’ pension fund has pledged USD3bn each to Apollo Global Management and KKR & Co, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is the largest amount ever invested by a public pension fund in private equity.

Alain Zeitouni, former head of multi-management at Barclays Wealth Management in France, who moved to Russell Investments in October, will not be replaced, a spokesperson for the firm has announced. The French team will now report directly to Jaime Arguello, who is director of multi-management and fund selection at Barclays Wealth in London. Overall, between Paris and London, the multi-management team includes 11 people, and manages about 25% of the total assets of Barclays Wealth IM, which total EUR38bn. In Paris, assets were about EUR500m as of the end of June. The London-based team manages a range of funds and mandates which will soon be launched on the French market.

Investors in the UK may be facing multiple price scales when RDR regulations come into effect, Investment Week reports. At a time when actors are working on various pricing models, differences are emerging between providers and platforms about the best ways to respond to investors’ requirements. It would appear, however, that a trend is emerging in favour of a mobile pricing structure, which would make it possible to charge a premium for high alpha products. Many experts predict that prices will rise at any rate. Total expense ratios may rise from about 1.5% to 2%.

The British asset management firm Royal London Asset Management on 7 November announced the launch of an international government bond fund aimed at institutional clients. The Royal London International Government Bond Fund will invest primarily in government bonds in currencies other than pounds Sterling. It may also invest in investment grade credit, while exposure to foreign currencies is hedged in Sterling. British bonds and money markets are allowed for up to 10% of assets. The fund will be managed by the government bond specialist George Henderson, who is already manager of the Royal London Global Bond Pooled Pension Fund and the Royal London Global Index Linked Fund. The fund aims for gross outperformance of 1.05% per year against the benchmark index, JP Morgan Traded World ex UK Government Bond. Minimal investment is set at GBP100,000, while each additional tranche invested may be no less than GBP50,000. As of the end of September, assets under management at Royal London AM totalled GBP44.2bn.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will soon propose sweeping reforms of money market funds, the Financial Times reports. The regulator is focusing on two options. One would require money market funds to hold capital as buffer against losses. The other would require that funds shift to a floating measure of their net asset value, the newspaper reports.

As the first step towards creating a fortified emerging markets hub in London, Pioneer Investments has announced the appointment of two senior investment professionals with extensive experience in emerging markets. The first of further hires that will be announced, Sean Taylor joins as head of global emerging markets equity and Fabiana Fedeli joins as senior portfolio manager, Asia equity. Sean Taylor, who will head the global emerging market equity team has over 18 years of experience managing emerging market equity funds and has worked in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Previously, he was investment director at GAM, responsible for managing global emerging and frontier markets funds. Prior to GAM, he was head of global equity at Societe Generale Asset Management UK, where he also headed up the emerging market desk.Fabiana Fedeli, who will play a key role on the Asia equity team, joins from Occam Asset Management LLP, where she was partner and fund manager, co-managing Asia ex- Japan fund. She will report to Angelo Corbetta, Head of Asia Equity, Pioneer Investments. Pioneer Investments currently manages around EUR7 bln assets in this asset class. Over the coming months, the asset management company will continue to recruit talented and experienced individuals and develop new strategies, further boosting its emerging market capabilities. Mauro Ratto, formerly head of investments Europe and Asia, will now dedicate himself fully to leading this new franchise in London as head of emerging markets, responsible for both equity and bond strategies.

In the first nine months of 2011, the Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat has posted net proficts of EUR2.52m, compared with EUR9.34m in the corresponding period of last year. However, management commission revenues increased to EUR33.04m, compared with EUR25.14mn, while performance commissions fell to EUR0.3m from EUR10.29m. As of 30 September, assets under management or administration totalled EUR2.82bn, comapred with EUR3.33bn at the end of December 2010.

In the seven countries that the German firm Feri maintains rankings of asset management firms with more than 25 funds rated that have the highest percentage of funds rated A or B as of 30 September, Threadneedle leads in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Austria, with respective scores of 57.4%, 61.7%, 63.2%, 69%, and 46.7% (see attached table). Fidelity is in second place in three countries: France (51.9%), Italy (57.8%), and Austria (45.5%). Among the management firms with 8 to 24 funds rated, the winner is Janus Group, which does well in virtually all countries. Janus is: first in Sweden (81.3%) and Italy (84.6%), second in the United Kingdom (76.5%) after Royal London (87.5%) and in Austria, after Banque de Luxembourg (73.3%), third in Switzerland (70.6%), after JO Hambro (75%) and Baldifor (73.3%) and in France (64.7%), after Carmignac Gestion (70%) and Financière de l’Echiquier (69.2%), fourth in Germany (70.6%), after First State (87.5%), dje (76.9%), and JO Hambro (75%). Carmignac Gestion, first in France (70%), is in second place in Italy (77.8%), fifth in Germany (66.7%), and sixth in Switzerland (62.5%).

Le quotidien croit savoir que l’autorité britannique des marchés, la Financial Services Authority, pourrait annoncer aujourd’hui une sanction majeure, de l’ordre de six millions de livres, à l’encontre de Coutts & Co. La branche de banque privée de Royal Bank of Scotland est accusée de n’avoir pas respecté les intérêts de ses clients dans le cadre de la vente de produits d’épargne liés à l’assureur américain AIG.

Les responsables de la BNS ont été obligés de durcir le ton pour faire refluer le franc suisse au-dessus de sa borne haute de 1,24 contre euro

Alors que l’eurozone attend des gages d’Athènes et de Rome, elle avance sur la démultiplication de sa capacité d’intervention sur le marché des souverains

Olli Rehn a adressé un «questionnaire» à Silvio Berlusconi concernant la crédibilité de son plan budgétaire et attend une réponse «cette semaine»

Le Fonds a émis au bénéfice de l'Irlande 3 milliards d’euros d’obligations à dix ans au taux mid-swap plus 104 points de base

Selon le responsable de l’institut de recherche du ministère du commerce chinois, Huo Jianguo, cité par l’agence, les exportations pourraient connaître une croissance de 18% sur l’année en cours. Huo Jianguo prévient néanmoins que ce niveau ne permettrait pas au niveau de l’excédent commercial en 2011 de dépasser celui de l’année précédente.

Le gouvernement limite à 6 milliards la rédution de l'impôt sur le revenu, en dépit du violent trou d'air conjoncturel

L’immobilier est touché par la hausse du taux de TVA, la suppression du Scellier et le recentrage du «prêt à taux zéro +»

Le programme de rachat, qui doit commencer ce mois-ci, ciblera plus de titres que celui lancé en 2009

Pour tenir ses engagements de rigueur, il veut récupérer 18,6 milliards d’euros d'ici 2013

Les achats en hausse de la BCE n'ont pas réussi à calmer le stress sur la dette souveraine italienne

Pour tenir ses engagements de rigueur, il veut récupérer 18,6 milliards d’euros d'ici 2013