Le gestionnaire alternatif hambourgeois Aquila Capital (3 milliards d’euros d’encours) a annoncé le 31 octobre l’ouverture d’un bureau de représentation à Singapour.Cette nouvelle implantation (Aquila Capital était déjà présent sur sept autres places internationales) est dirigée par Cumyong Quah, qui a été ces deux dernières années head of private banking & South East Asia development chez Fidelity.

Malgré la crise de la dette dans la zone euro, les lancements de fonds conformes au format Ucits devraient se poursuivre en Asie, selon le cabinet juridique luxembourgeois Arendt & Medernach, rapporte Asian Investor.Les gérants asiatiques devraient notamment continuer à proposer des fonds obligataires libellés en RMB au format Ucits en raison de la forte demande émanant tant des investisseurs asiatiques qu’européens.

Trois nouveaux ETF de droit français lancés par Lyxor Asset Management ont été admis à la négociation le 31 octobre sur la plate-forme parisienne de NYSE Euronext. Ces produits répliquent des indices Russell. Il s’agit des fonds RUSG, RUSV et RUS2, tous chargés à 0,40 %.Désormais, les plates-formes européennes de NYSE Euronext cotent 692 fois 594 ETF. Depuis le début de l’année, elles ont admis à la négociation 153 ETF, dont 125 en cotation principale et 28 en cotation secondaire.Caractéristiques :Dénomination;: Lyxor RUSGIndice sous-jacent : Russell 1000 GrowthTFE : 0,40 %Dénomination : Lyxor RUSVIndice sous-jacent : Russell 1000 ValueTFE : 0,40 %Dénomination : Lyxor RUS2Indice sous-jacent : Russell 2000 Net 30%TFE : 0,40 %

Les principaux produits d’investissement de fLAB Luxembourg, à savoir fLAB Core et fLAB Satellite, sont désormais disponibles au travers d’Axeltis, la plateforme de distribution des fonds d’investissement du groupe BPCE, a indiqué fLAB dans un communiqué.Le fonds d’allocation d’actifs fLAB Core et le fonds de performance absolue» fLAB Satellite sont des compartiments de Lux-Investment Partners Sicav-SIF, réservés aux investisseurs qualifiés. Ils sont gérés par fLAB Luxembourg, qui appartient au groupe Financial LAB, dont le siège social est à Barcelone.

Le 17 octobre, iShares (groupe BlackRock) a fait admettre à la négociation sur Borsa Italiana l’ETF Barclays Capital Emerging Market Local Govt Bond fund qui est coté sur le London Stock Exchange depuis le 21 juin.Il s’agit du 43ème ETF de la gamme obligataire d’iShares dont l’encours représente 30 milliards de dollars. C’est un fonds à réplication physique qui réplique l’indice Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Currency Core Government couvrant des obligations émergentes en monnaie locale d’une échéance initiale comprise entre 2 et 30 ans.

A son tour CaixaBank se lance dans la course pour attirer l'épargne des Espagnols. L'établissement catalan lance le 3 novembre un produit structuré à trois ans avec un coupon annuel de 3,25 % destiné à ses clients de banque privée, rapporte Cinco Días.Le capital est garanti à l'échéance et les souscripteurs ont la possibilité de percevoir à cette échéance un coupon supplémentaire de 15 % si, au bout des trois ans de vie du produit, la somme des performances mensuelles de l’indice Euro Stoxx 50 a été positive, avec un plafonnement à 1 % mensuel.La souscription minimale est de 50.000 euros. Le produit aura une fenêtre de liquidité mensuelle.CaixaBank vise un volume de 200 millions d’euros.

Christian Eckert, le directeur de la gestion obligataire d’Union Investment depuis février 2010, a décidé de quitter l’entreprise fin janvier, a confirmé un porte-parole à Das Investment. Anja Mikus, directrice de la gestion de portefeuille, assurera l’intérim. Avant d'être promue à son poste actuel, elle avait occupé la direction de la gestion obligataire jusqu'à l’arrivée de Christian Eckert.

Le capital-investisseur suédois Cevian Capital indique avoir acquis 12,6 % du groupe allemand de BTP et de services Bilfinger Berger, et ne pas exclure d’augmenter cette participation, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. Aux prix de marché, cette transaction représente environ 370 millions d’euros. Cevian devient ainsi le seul actionnaire de référence du groupe, dont l’action fait partie de l’indice MDax.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange is planning to offer ETFs in the near future. To start with, the exchange will offer a range of indices from next week, which will serve as underlyings for ETFs and other index-based products, in an effort to attract foreign capital, Handelsblatt reports.In June, the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority (CMA) had announced the opening of a derivatives market, which will trade futures on currencies and commodities.Ghana is also planning to launch ETFs, the newspaper notes.

On 17 October, iShares (BlackRock group) launched the ETF Barclays Capital Emerging Market Local Govt Bond fund, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 21 June, to trading on Borsa Italiana.The fund is the 43rd product of the bond range from iShares, which has total assets of USD30bn. It is a physical replication fund, which replicates the Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Currency Core Government index, which covers emerging market bonds in local currencies with a total initial duration of 2 to 30 years.

Fundweb reports that Invesco has announced to investors in the PowerShares EuroMTS Cash Three Months ETF that the fund may now invest more than 35% of its portfolio in government bonds and bonds from European local authorities.The fund had previously been required to invest in money market instruments and securities issued by the Italian government or by Italian local authorities.

CaixaBank has become the next firm to enter the fray in a battle for Spanish savings. The Catalan firm on 3 November launched a three-year structured note with an annual coupon of 3.25%, aimed at clients of its private banking operation, Cinco Días reports.Capital is guaranteed at maturity, and on that date, subscribers may receive an additional coupon of 15%, if over the three-year life of the product, the sum of the monthly performance of the Euro Stoxx 50 index is positive, with a limit of 1% per month.Minimal subscription is EUR50,000. The product will have a monthly liquidity window.CaixaBank is aiming for assets of EUR200m for the product.

On 31 October, the Parisian platform of NYSE Euronext admitted three new French-registered ETFs from Lyxor Asset Management to trading. The products replicate Russell indices; they are the RUSG, RUSV and RUS2 funds, all of which charge fees of 0.40%.The European platforms of NYSE Euronext now list 594 ETF funds 692 times. Since the beginning of this year, 153 ETF funds, of which 125 are primary listings and 28 secondary listings, have been added to trading.CharacteristicsName: Lyxor RUSGUnderlying index: Russell 1000 GrowthTER: 0.40%Name: Lyxor RUSVUnderlying index: Russell 1000 ValueTER: 0.40%Name: Lyxor RUS2Underlying index: Russell 2000 Net 30%TER: 0.40%

Four ETFs from Invesco PowerShares were admitted to trading on the NYSE Arca platform on 1 November. They replicate indices from Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) and Invesco; there is no unitary fee for the products until 1 February 2012. This is made possible by the fact that all of the major partners of Invesco PowerShares have also agreed to waive commissions.Invesco PowerShares has become the exclusive partner of KBW since State Street Glboal Advisors (SSgA) made S&P its index provider.The four new sectoral funds are:PowerShares KBW Bank Portfolio (acronyme : KBWB)PowerShares KBW Capital Markets Portfolio (KBWC)PowerShares KBW Insurance Portfolio (KBWI) andPowerShares KBW Regional Banking Portfolio (KBWR)

For third quarter 2011, the Credit Suisse Group has announced pre-tax profits of CHF1.036bn, compared with CHF1.08bn one quarter earlier, and CHF753m in third quarter 2010, and has also announced further cost and risk reduction measures, according to a statement published on 1 November. Pre-tax profits distributable to shareholders totalled CHF683m as of the end of September, compared with CHF768m in second quarter 2011, and CHF609m in third quarter 2010. The Swiss group has also announced further cost and risk reduction measures, which will result in the loss of about 1,500 jobs. Net inflows in third quarter totalled CHF7.1bn, compared with CHF14.3bn in second quarter 2011, and CHF14.6bn in third quarter 2010. Assets under management as of the end of September totalled CHF1.1968trn, compared with CHF1.233trn one quarter earlier, and CHF1.251trn in September 2010. The Asset Management (AM) unit of Credit Suisse earned pre-tax profits in third quarter of CHF92m, down by CHF110m (54%) compared with second quarter 2011, and CHF43m from second quarter 2010. Net inflows for the Asset Management unit totalled CHF0.2bn, of which CHF4.2bn were in alternative investments, with subscriptions to private equity, real estate, commodities and hedge funds, and net redemptions of CHF4.2bn from traditional investments, largely from Swiss advising activities and multi-asset class solutions, reflecting inherent difficulties in these markets. In the Private Banking division (global Wealth Management Clients and Corporate & Institutional Clients in Switzerland), Credit Suisse has earned pre-tax profits of CHF183m, including provisions for legal actions of CHF295m for a tax fraud case in the United States, and CHF183m (EUR150m) in relation to the tax scandal in Germany. Credit Suisse had reported pre-tax profits of CHF843m for second quarter 2011, and CHF836m for third quarter 2010. Wealth Management Clients posted a pre-tax loss of CHF34m in third quarter, due to provisions for the aforementioned legal actions, totalling CHF478m. The Private Banking unit earned net inflows of CHF7.4bn. The Wealth Management Clients unit attracted CHF6.6bn in net subscriptions, with strong contributions from the UHNWI and emerging markets sectors. Compared with third quarter 2010, assets under management in Private Banking are down 4.7%, with strong net inflows more than offset by unfavourable movements related to currencies, mostly due to a weakening US dollar and euro against the Swiss franc, and other negative market evolutions.

The Vontobel group on 1 November announced the opening of a branch office dedicated to private banking in Dubai, to assist high net worth local clients in the region. The office will be led by Ramzi Charaf, who is a dual citizen of Switzerland and Lebanon, and who joined Vontobel with a team of experts this summer. Vontobel says that Middle Eastern clients will now have access to its expertise in the areas of structured products, which had previously been available only in Switzerland and Germany.

The European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) on 31 October announced that it has issued registrations to the three major global ratings agencies, Fitch Ratings, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, and to the Canadian agency DBRS. “In order to be allowed to operate in the European Union, Union regulations require that ratings agencies be registered,” ESMA says in a statement. Following the registration, ESMA may verify if the ratings agencies adhere to certain criteria, including independence, governance, and transparency. Registration of ratings agencies authorises ESMA to “set up on-site inspections in order to evaluate how agencies respect governance, conflict of interest and transparency regulations,” the chairman of ESMA, Steven Maijoor, says in a statement. The requirement to register is one in a series of measures announced in October 2009 by the European Union to regulate ratings agencies.

US Federal judge Colleen McMahon has turned down a request by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, seeking USD20bn from J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS, the La Tribune de Genève reports. The judge found that the trustee did not have the right to bring the two banking establishments before the courts in this case. Only investors who lost money in the fraud would have been entitled to do so.

Sustainable development has an increasing presence in investment strategies from US alternative management specialists. At the beginning of 2011, there were 375 alternative investment funds, representing a cumulative volume of USD80.9bn, which integrated environmental, social and governance criteria (ESG) into their investment strategies, according to a survey by the Center for Social Philanthropy and the Tellus Institute, on behalf of the US SIF foundation. This total of nearly USD81bn represents an increase of about 16% compared with last year, when 146 funds integrated ESG criteria, with a cumulative total of USD69.8bn. In detail, real estate funds are the largest category, with 95 funds integrating ESG criteria, and a total of USD44.3bn, followed by private equity and venture capital, which apply ESG criteria for 233 funds and a cumulative total of USD33.9bn in assets. Hedge funds remain far behind, with 47 funds, and a total of only USD2.6bn. The study finds that investors who are aware of alternative strategies that integrate ESG criteria range widely, from high net worth private clients to institutionals, including fund incubators, philanthropic organisations, and pension funds. Of the three ESG criteria, the theme of the environment remains dominant, with a total of nearly USD69bn, putting it far ahead of social criteria (USD48.8bn) and governance (USD37.5bn).

The founder and managing principal of the hedge fund management firm Park Hill Group, Donna Toth, has joined Alternative Investment Management (AIM) as chief operating officer (COO), and will report to Jonathan Harris, chairman of AIM. Toth will be based in New York.Before founding Park Hill, Toth was chief financial officer (CFO) at Atlantic-Pacific Global, a position she held after leaving Ziff Brothers International, where she had been controller and director of financial reporting.

Independent financial advisers in the United States may now have access to transactions on 41 funds from T. Rowe Price free of charge on the institutional platform Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource. T. Rose Price managed USD453.5bn in assets as of 30 September.

Ignacio Sosa, managing director and portfolio manager at Voras Capital Management, has been recruited by Pimco (Allianz Global Investors group) as executive vice president of the emerging markets product management group at its Newport Beach headquarters. He began in his new position on 31 October.Sosa, who had been one of the founders and co-CIO of OneWorld Investments, from 1999 to 2008, will report to Wendy Cupps, managing director and head of the product management group, and David Fisher, executive vice president and head of global & emerging markets product management.

The ABI association of British insurers is preparing a request to exclude newly-listed companies from indices such as the FTSE 100, for a period of three months. The rule would prevent ETFs from investing in these firms, the ABI claims, according to Money Marketing, which cites reports in the Mail on Sunday that ETFs have recently driven up the share prices of companies that have recently arrived on the market. These firms are said to include mining companies which joined the FTSE 100 as soon as they were admitted to trading in London.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 31 October launched a consultation on the calculation of regulatory commissions. The FSA is proposing to modify the way in which commissions are calculated, so as to be based not on the number of qualified personnel, but on the regulated earnings of the firm. The initiative is related to the MiFID directive, which introduces a different distribution system for authorised personnel. Regulated earnings are earnings resulting from advising, brokerage, commissions, and other revenues related to regulated activities of companies, the FSA says.

The board of directors at Investa Foundation Property trust has decided to withdraw a management mandate from Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), Fund Web reports. The mandate has instead been awarded to Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM), with an annual management commission of 1.1%. According to the Trust, the change will bring savings of about GBP1.8m per year.

The asset management firm Octopus Investments has added to its multi-manager range with two new products, one global absolute return fund, and one fund dedicated to emerging markets, Investment Week reports. Both funds, IM Octopus Global Strategies and IM Octopus Emerging Market Equity, will be launched on 8 November. The absolute return fund will invest in alternative strategies, including long/short equity funds and thematic funds offering low correlation to high-risk assets. The fund dedicated to emerging markets will invest largely in BRIC countries, via 30 funds, two third of them based on active strategies, while the remainder are ETFs.

A spokesperson for Union Investment has confirmed to Das Investment that Christian Eckert, CIO for fixed income at the firm since February 2010, has decided to leave the business at the end of January. Anja Mikus, head of portfolio management, will hold the position in the interim. Before being promoted to her current position, Mikus served as head of FI management, until the arrival of Eckert.

In the first few days of October, investors opted for high yield bonds, according to the most recent estimates from EPFR Global. Net inflows to these funds totalled USD4.7bn in the week to 26 October, bringing total inflows in the past two weeks to nearly USD8bn.This rebound in investor appetite for risk has also benefited emerging market bond funds. Since the beginning of this year, inflows to these funds have once again topped USd900m, 102% of total inflows in the year 2010. Bond funds as a whole have posted net inflows of USD1.69bn.Equity funds, for their part, have seen a net inflow of USD2.8bn, as subscriptions to ETFs more than offset redemptions from actively-managed funds. Investor sentiment in relation to emerging markets appears to be improving, although investors are still hesitant to increase their exposure to specific regions or countries. In the first ten months of the year, net outflows from all funds dedicated to emerging market equities totalled USD40.2bn, while in the corresponding period of 2010, net outflows totalled over USD52bn.

Clients of John Paulson have chosen to remain invested in his hedge fund, in a sign of their confidence in the manager’s ability to cancel out his recent losses, the Financial Times reports. In a letter to investors, Paulson says that gross redemptions are estimated to represent less than 8% of the firm’s total assets under management. Subscribers had until 31 October to apply for redemption before the end of the year.

Anthony Zammar has become director of one of the two desks dedicated to Saudi Arabia at UBS Geneva, Agefi Switzerland reports. He will report to Ali Janoudi, who oversees wealth management for Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa. With more than 20 years of experience in the Saudi market, Zammar joins UBS from J.P. Morgan, where he had been managing director and senior client advisor for the Middle East, and previously Head of Sales Management for the region.