La Royal Bank of Scotland vient de dévoiler le premier ETF au monde qui suit la performance des CTA (commodity trading advisers), rapporte le Financial Times. Concrètement, il répliquera la performance de l’indice RBS CTA (moins les frais), qui a généré des rendements annualisés de 10,1 % depuis juin 2007. L’indice se divise à parts égales entre CTA discrétionnaires et systématiques.

Pour remplacer Simon White parti chez BlackRock comme head of investment trusts (lire notre dépêche du 13 septembre), RCM a recruté Melissa Gallagher comme responsable des relations avec les boards, les relations investisseurs et le développement dans le domaine des investment trusts, rapporte Fundweb.Melissa Gallagher avait déjà été head of investment trusts chez Gartmore mais n’avait pas rejoint Henderson Global Investors après l’acquisition de Gartmore par Henderson.

UBS Global Asset Management vient de recruter Kevin Zhao en qualité de gérant de portefeuille senior pour les stratégies de dette souveraine. Kevin Zhao travaillait précédemment à l’Union Bancaire Privée où elle gérait des stratégies de performance absolue, rapporte Investment Week.Par ailleurs, Paul Lambert rejoint également l'équipe fixed income en qualité de responsable devises. Il travaillait précédemment chez Polar Capital en tant que responsable des stratégies macro. Troisième recrutement, celui de Rachid Semaoune, transfuge de Old Mutual, qui va cogérer l’ensemble des stratégies obligataires britanniques avec Alix Stewart. Parallèlement, l'équipe internationale a été renforcée avec l’arrivée de Vivek Acharya pour cogérer les stratégies global aggregate et global corporate. Vivek Acharya travaillait chez Western Asset Management.

Dans un entretien paru dans la revue Option Finance, Didier Mangin, directeur financier de PSB Industrie revient sur la politique de placements de son entreprise: Nous avons privilégié le placement de notre trésorerie dans des fonds monétaires euros qui, s’ils offrent une rémunération très faible, ont l’avantage de ne pas subir les contrecoups de la crise boursière. Nous n’envisageons pas non plus de modifier la répartition de ces placements entre nos partenaires bancaires.

The Board of Jupiter Fund Management has appointed Jon Little, the ex vice chairman of BNY Mellon Asset Management, as an independent non-executive director with effect from 12 September 2011. Jon Little is currently a partner and founder of Northill Capital, a private investment business backed by one of Europe’s largest family offices. He has developed extensive experience of the asset management industry on an international scale over more than 20 years through roles with a number of global institutions. Jamie Dundas, Chairman of Jupiter Fund Management plc, said: «I am very pleased to welcome Jon to the Board. He has considerable expertise in running asset management businesses in the UK and overseas, particularly during his time as Vice Chairman of BNY Mellon Asset Management. His experience and wisdom will be very valuable to Jupiter as we seek to develop our successful UK brand and increase our share of the international asset management market.»

Companies based in Greece, Ireland and Portugal have witnessed a steep rise in the discontent of shareholders this year, a European study of voting at general assemblies in the first six months of the year by Institutional Shareholder Services cited by Financial Times Fund Management has found. The mood is due to economic turbulence in these countries, which is driving investors to vote more actively, says Jean-Nicolas Caprasse, head of governance at ISS.

Major investors in hedge funds, such as Blackstone, UBS and HSBC Alternative Investments, invested about USD21bn in funds of funds in first half, according to a survey by InvestHedge, Bloomberg reports. Assets in funds of funds increased by 3.3% in first half, to USD655bn, compared with a declint of 0.6% in first half 2010, to USD595bn. Funds of funds lost an average of 1.9% in the first eight months of the year, while hedge funds, for their part, lost 1.2%.

A growing number of investors are predicting a recession in Europe in the next twelve months, according to the most recent survey by BofA Merrill Lynch, undertaken between 1 and 8 September, and covering a sample of 286 managers, with assets under management of about USD831bn.More precisely, 55% of European institutional investors estimate that Europe may see two consecutive quarters of negative growth in the next twelve months. Last July, only 14% of respondents to the survey saw such a possibility as likely.A growing number of investors are also focusing on risks related to government debt issues for the banking sector, with 68% of respondents to the survey putting debt in the euro zone at the top of their list of risks, compared with 60% in August, and 43% in June this year. Sentiment in relation to European banks is also at its lowest since January 2003.These negative outlooks are clearly being expressed in investment strategies, with 38% of investors underweight in European equities, compared with 15% the previous month. Worldwide, equities are underweight (by 5%) for the first time in over two years. “The survey finds that sentiment in Europe is so negative that the risk of contagion for the rest of the planet has risen considerably,” says Gary Baker, head of strategy for European equities at BofA Merrill Lynch Research.BofA Merrill reports that the composite ML Risk & Liquidity indicator, which measures investors’ aversion to risk, in early September reached levels not seen since March 2009, in the wake of the financial crisis. The survey finds that 45% of investors are taking less risk than represented in benchmark indices, an increase of nearly 20 percentage points since August.Alongside these developments, investors are maintaining significant allocations to cash, for an average of 4.9% of their portfolios, and one third of managers are overweight in cash. They are also more sympathetically inclined to bonds, with the percentage of investors underweight in that asset class down to 21% at the beginning of September, compared with 45% in July this year.Deteriorating outlooks for Europe have taken their toll on investor sentiment in other regions of the world. 42% of Japanese managers predict that the economic situation will improve in the next 12 months, compared with 75% one month earlier. Similarly, 30% of regional managers are predicting a slowdown for the Chinese economy in the next twelve months, compared with 11% in August.

The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on 13 September announced that it has placed its BBB+ rating for Groupama on a watch with negative outlook.The ratings agency is concerned about the fact that the firm has not yet begun its program to reduce the sensitivity of its exposure to equities, which totalled 16% of investments as of the end of 2010. Standard & Poor’s estimates that credit risk has increased due to the group’s significant exposure to government bonds, particularly Greek and Portuguese bonds.

After six months of poor performance for the Magellan fund (USD17bn), Harry Lange will “now explore other opportunities within the company,” Fidelity Investments has announced, adding that Jeffrey Feingold will now take over as manager of the product, the Wall Street Journal reports.Feingold is already manager of several funds at Fidelity, including the Trend Fund (USD1bn), which has outperformed its benchmark by 1.8% during the past year.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Cerberus Capital management is curently seeking to raise USD3.75bn for its first major fund to be launched since the financial crisis. This total represents half of the USD7.5bn which Cerberus partly used to acquire Chrysler and GMAC, both of which were severely affected by the crisis.Now, Cerberus is planning to focus on distressed firms of a smaller size, some of which are so small that they have no way to finance themselves on the junk bond markets.

Everett Ehrlich, president of the US consulting firm ESC Company, on 13 September published a report on the evolution of the role of alternative strategies in relation to US pension funds (“The Changing Role of Hedge Funds in the Global Economy,”) Agefi Switzerland reports. With complex evaluation models, the author demonstrates that even a modest allocation to hedge funds generates significant additional performance for pension funds. In absolute terms, hedge funds may contribute an additional USD13bn per year to the major US pension funds and university endowments. The author of the report, former undersecretary of State under president Bill Clinton, says that he is persuaded that “with USD13bn on the table, a growing number of IPs will consider hedge funds at least a partial solution” to the challenges they face.

The former CEO of Goldman Sachs for Spain and Portugal, Juan del Rivero, has been appointed as president of the investment firm Alpes 2000 SIL, formerly a Sicav, controlled by the family office Omega Capital, which manages the wealth of Alicia Koplowitz, Cinco Días reports (see also Newsmanagers of 21 June).Assets at Alpes 2000, following its change of status, have increased from EUR6m to “several tens of millions.” The fund manager is BBVA Patrimonios Gestora, its debt capacity is limited to 50%, and the performance objective is a total annual non-guaranteed return of 6% to 9%.

UBS Global Asset Management has recruited Kevan Zhao as senior portfolio manager for government debt strategies. Zhao previously worked at Union Bancaire Privée, where she managed absolute return strategies, Investment Week reports. Paul Lambert has also joined the fixed income team as head of currencies. He previously worked at Polar Capital as head of macro strategies. A third recruitment is that of Rachid Semaoune, who joins the firm from Old Mutual, and will become co-manager of British bond strategies, with Alix Stewart. The international team has also been enlarged with the arrival of Vivek Acharya as co-manager of global aggregate and global corporate strategies. Acharya previously worked at Western Asset Management.

The European Business Angels Network (EBAN) on 13 September published its fist sectoral study of responsible investment (RI), Agefi Switzerland reports. This segment includes businesses which are active in microfinance, philanthropy, clean tech, and sustainable social initiatives, while retaining an entrepreneurial orientation. This balance is difficult to find, particularly in venture capital and venture capital. Last year, less than 10% of high net worth individuals who had previously invested in funds or businesses with a sustainable orientation were convinced of their philanthropic impact. The report also finds that clients interested in this type of investment are currently largely drawn from the younger generations at family offices.

For its first allocation to emerging markets equities, the pension fund for the Swiss federal railway system (SBB-CFF, CHF12.8bn in assets as of the end of June) is planning to launch a RFP, probably via IPE Quest, for an allocation of CHF300m, IPE reports. The allocation would be funded from a subsidy of CHF1.1bn which the Swiss government is to pay to the fund in fourth quarter.In first half, the CP CFF earned returns of 0.59%, compared with losses of 0.16% for its benchmark.

BlueMountain Capital Management, a US investment firm specialised in credit, with USD7bn in assets under management, has appointed David Rubinstein as CEO of BlueMountain Europe, in London. He succeeds Jeffrey Kushner, who is leaving the firm and returning to the United States. Rubinstein, who joined the firm in 2006, will remain global CFO and general adviser. Noam Leslau, managing director, is also joining the development team at the British office of the firm. He will focus on Europe and the Middle East. BlueMountain has also announced the appointment of two senior credit analysts in London, Adam Feldheim and Jonathan Moore, who will report to Peter Greatrex, global head of research. The appointments and additions to the British office, which was opened seven years ago, reflect BlueMountain’s interest in Europe. “European institutions represent about half of the firm’s investor base,” a statement says. The recruitments bring the European team at BlueMountain to 21 professionals.

In cooperation with Investor Analytics, a specialist in risk management, BNY Mellon is launching a new stress-testing service for money market funds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The service has been in successful use in the United States, where it allows clients to comply with regulatory requirements.The service models the impact of shocks related to interest rate, credit or liquidity risks, or a combination of those three elements, on the valuation of funds.

Citywire relays reports of several changes of managers. Daniel Isidori is now the manager of the Threadneedle Latin American Return fund, replacing Jeremy Podger. At KBC Asset Management, Caitriona MacGuiness is no longer manager of the KBC Equity New Asia Cap fund, and Youri Amerijckx is no longer manager of the KBC Equity Medical Technologies Cap, the website reports.

Valérie Frappier joined SwissLife Banque Privée as a private banker on 1 July 2011. With this recruitment, “SwissLife Banque Privée is continuing to strengthen its sales management,” the firm says in a statement. Frappier will report to Daniel Resta, director of private clients, and will aim to assist clients of the bank in optimising their private and professional assets, as an expert in private management and wealth management. Frappier was previously a client representative at Safra bank.

The Australian asset management firm First State Investments is preparing to open its first office in Paris. The opening of the office is imminent, according to a spokesperson for the firm, who could not provide more specific information. It is slated for next week or the week following. A person is expected to be appointed to direct the office, who one may suppose would be one of the two who have recently left positions at other companies. It will be First State’s first office in continental Europe; others will follow in other countries.First State, which belongs to Colonial First State Global Asset Management, the largest fund management firm in Australia (GBP99.2bn in assets as of 30 June), is already present in London and Edinburgh, but not yet in continental Europe. The firm manages Asian and emerging markets equity funds, global resources, global equities, publicly-traded real estate, and infrastructure.What is known about First State’s Parisian office so far is that its first occupant will be Philippe Taillardat, who has joined the firm to become co-director of the investment and infrastructure Europe management team, with Danny Latham, alongside Niall Mills, head of infrastructure asset management, and Marcus Ayre, head of infrastructure transactions.Taillardat has more than 20 years of experience in infrastructure and project financing. Since December 2010, he has been director of his own consulting firm, specialised in investment and financing solutions in the non-publicly traded infrastructure investment sector. He previously worked at Amundi Private Equity Funds, where he was head of development for non-publicly traded infrastructure funds of funds for institutional investors.

Following a column published on Tuesday, 13 September in the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, entitled “The Problem with French Banks,” by Nicolas Lecaussin, BNP Paribas has issued a statement officially denying the information including in the article. The column cites “an anonymous employee at BNP Paribas,” who is reported to have claimed that there are problems of liquidity in US dollars, and suggested that a “market in euros” should be created to respond to them. In response, the bank says that it finances itself in US dollars in the ordinary manner, either directly, or via currency swaps (see attached document from the bank).

Mutual Fund Wire reports that as of the end of August, the Total Return Bond Fund from Pimco, managed by Bill Gross, had increased its allocation to US Treasury bonds to 16%, from 10% at the end of July.

At a time when BNY Mellon is already under a critical investigation by regulatory authorities of its trading activities on behalf of pension funds, a Wall Street Journal investigation finds that the bank made several “netting” currency transactions on behalf of two major public pension funds, in a way that could trigger higher costs.

At a time when Asia is a region with strong potential, and a steadily growing number of millionaires, private banks are struggling to survive in the region, particularly due to their high costs, the Financial Times reports. According to statistics from the Boston Consulting Group, the cost/income ratio in Asia last year totalled 81% for private banks, and may be as high as 90%, according to figures from PwC. The operating ratio in 2011 totalled 70% in Switzerland, the FT adds. Competition is very intense on the private banking market, where many banks have set up wealth management operations (Julius Baer, Lombard Odier, BSI, Clariden Leu, Barclays Wealth, Standard, Chartered, Rothschild, and others). Clients who for generations have been in the habit of managing their wealth themselves, are less willing to pay high fees for the portfolio models offered by banks.

The US asset management firm ProShares (“The Alternative ETF Company”) has submitted a filing to the SEC for the first ETF on the United States market to exclusively replicate the evolution of German government bonds, including federal bonds and bonds issued by German regional governments (Länder), the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The underlying issues will be rated either good or very good, will have a volume of at least USD1bn, and a residual duration of at least one year.

Legg Mason Global Asset Management on 13 September announced the launch of the Royce European Smaller Companies fund in France (ISIN: IE00B4JZG492). The fund aims for capital growth over the long term, through investment in companies based in Europe, or whose activities are predominantly conducted in Europe, with market capitalisations of less than or equal to EUR5bn. The Royce European Smaller Companies fund, domiciled in Dublin, is managed by Royce & Associates, an affiliate of Legg Mason, one of the oldest and largest managers of small caps in the world, and replicates a strategy first debuted by the firm in December 2006. The fund uses a bottom-up approach for stock-picking, and managers seek companies which are undervalued compared with their intrinsic value. As of 31 July 2011, the three heaviest geographical exposures of the fund (France, Germany and the United Kingdom) represented more than 40% of the portfolio. Royce & Associates manages about USD38bn in open-ended and closed funds. The Royce European Smaller Companies fund is managed by David Nadel, director of international research at Royce, and Chuck Royce, co-CIO at Royce & Associates.

NYSE Euronext has announced that on 12 September it admitted the Lyxor ETF MSCI All Country World Index (FR0011079466), which charges fees of 0.45%, to trading on its Paris platform. As its name indicates, the fund replicates the MSCI All Country World index.The European platforms of NYSE Euronext now list a total of 573 ETFs 671 times. Since the beginning of this year, 132 of these funds have been admitted to trading, of which 104 are primary listings, and 28 are cross-listings.

RCM has recruited Melissa Gallagher as head of relations with boards, investor relations and business development for investment trusts, replacing Simon Webb, who has moved to BlackRock as head of investment trusts (see Newsmanagers of 13 September), Fundweb reports.Gallagher was already head of investment trusts at Gartmore, but did not join Henderson Global Investors following Gartmore’s acquisition by Henderson.

The CEO of M&G, Michael McLintock, made nearly GBP700,000 from a sale of shares in the asset management firm’s parent company, Prudential, Investment Week reports. He sold 120,000 shares, at 577 pence each.