La BaFin a récemment octroyé son agrément de commercialisation à huit nouveaux ETF de droit irlandais lancés depuis le 8 décembre par HSBC Global Asset Management. Ces produits seront bientôt cotés sur le segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra de la Deutsche Börse.En dehors du HSBC MSCI Canada ETF (IE00B51B7Z02) lancé le 24 février (0,35 % de commission) et du HSBC MSCI World ETF (IE00B4X9L533) lancé le 10 décembre 2010 (0,35 %), les nouveaux fonds sont tous focalisés sur les marchés émergents.Il s’agit du MSCI China ETF (IE00B44T3H88) lancé le 28 janvier (0,60 %), du MSCI South Africa ETF (IE00B57S5Q22) lancé le 16 février (0,60 %), du HSBC S&P BRIC 40 ETF (IE00B5YLK706) lancé le 26 janvier (0,60 %) , le HSBC Mexico Capped ETF (IE00B3QMYK80) lancé le 4 mars (0,60 %), le HSBC MSCI Turkey ETF (IE00B5BRQB73) lancé le 8 décembre 2010 (0,60 %) et enfin le HSBC MSCI EM Latin America ETF (IE00B4TS3815) lancé le 11 mars (0,60 %). HSBC GAM compte disposer de 50 ETF cotés en Allemagne d’ici à la fin de l’année.
Le new-yorkais Van Eck Global a annoncé le 26 avril le lancement du Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF (azcronyme sur NYSE Arca : FLTR). Ce fonds s’efforce de répliquer avant commissions et frais l’indice Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate publié par 4asset-management GmbH et qui correspond à un portefeuille d’obligations à taux variables émises en dollars américains par des entreprises catégorie investissement (investment grade). Le caractère innovant de ce produit tient au fait qu’il se focalise sur des valeurs de grande qualité plutôt que des émissions bancaires (bank loans).Les titres pris en compte doivent provenir d'émissions dont l’encours est d’au moins 500 millions de dollars et d’une échéance résiduelle d’au moins 6 mois à chaque date de repondération. Au 31 mars, l’indice comprenait 188 valeurs, dont 94,9 % de financières.Le FLTR est le 33ème ETF de la marque Market Vectors et le 7ème des fonds obligataires de cette gamme. La commission nette est fixée à 0,19 %.
Pour un montant non divulgué, le capital-investisseur TA Associates (16 milliards de dollars) a acquis 54,4 % de la société de gestion Stadion Money Management (6,7 milliards de dollars d’encours fin mars).Ce n’est pas le premier investissement de TA Associates dans la gestion d’actifs, puisque le groupe détient des participations dans Affiliated Managers Group, AIM management Group (Invesco); Evanston Capital Management, First Eagle Investment Management, Jupiter Fund Management, K2 Advisors, Numeric Investors et Thomson Advisory Group (Pimco).
Selon Asian Investor, HSBC Private Bank a recruté William Lawton en qualité de responsable du «South East Asia Investment Group» de la banque privée.HSBC Private Bank a également fait appel à Jeffrey Benjamin en qualité de responsable de la clientèle résident non asiatique au sein de l'équipe de gestion de fortune internationale. William Lawton a travaillé précédemment chez RBS Coutts et Standard Chartered Bank notamment. Jeffrey Benjamin a de son côté travaillé onze années chez Investec à Londres. HSBC Private Bank n’a pas précisé les dates d’arrivée de ces nouvelles recrues.
Threadneedle a recruté trois commerciaux responsables de la clientele «wholesale» en Asie. Gerard Clancy (ex BlackRock), Richmond Herrera (ex Standard Chartered Bank) et Kent Ng (un ancien de Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management Group) travailleront sous la direction de Michael Langlois, head of wholesale distribution en Asie Pacifique. La mission des trois recrues sera d'établir des relations avec les établissements financiers asiatiques sur le plan local ainsi qu’avec les banques privées de taille mondiale implantées sur le continent.
Les actifs sous gestion des single manager hedge funds se sont accrus de 11% l’an dernier à 1.600 milliards de dollars, selon l'étude annuelle de PerTrac dont les estimations se fondent sur les informations agrégées de dix bases de données mondiales. Le nombre de fonds dépassant le milliard de dollars d’actifs sous gestion s’est inscrit l’an dernier à 280, un chiffre en très légère augmentation par rapport à l’année précédente.Si l’on prend en compte les fonds de fonds, les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivent à 2.100 milliards de dollars. Les actifs sous gestion des seuls fonds de fonds se sont élevés l’an dernier à 518 milliards de dollars, en recul de 10,5% par rapport à 2009 et de 31% par rapport à 2008. Le nombre de fonds lancés par les single manager funds a progressé l’an dernier de 51% par rapport à 2009 à 1.184, selon les premières estimations. Parallèlement, les lancements émanant des fonds de fonds sont passés de 304 en 2009 à 352 l’an dernier.
Credit Suisse on 27 April reported net profits of CHF1.1bn for first quarter, a decline of 45% compared with the first three months of 2010, while net revenues totalled CHF8.2bn, and returns on owners’ equity eligible for dividends to shareholders came to 13.4.% Excluding downward revisions of fair value of CHF617m due to its own debt and individual difficulties related to financing commitments, adjusted pre-tax profits were CHF2.2bn and adjusted net profits were CHF1.6bn.Net profits totalled CHF19.1bn, compared aith CHF13.9bn in fourth quarter 2010, and CHF26bn in first quarter 2010. Capitalisation is “very high,” the bank says, with a base tier 1 ratio of 18.2%.Total assets under management at the group totalled CHF1.2824trn as of the end of first quarter, stable compared with first quarter 2010, and up by CHF29bn or 2.3% compared with fourth quarter 2010.
As of 31 March, assets under management by the GAM Holding group totalled CHF118.7bn, excluding the CHF17.1bn in funds distributed by Swiss & Global Asset Management, and advised by GAM. The increase in assets in first quarter totalled CHF0.9bn, the to rising markets and a slight gain for the euro against the Swiss franc. Overall, subscriptions and redemptions were neutral.At GAM, assets as of the end of first quarter represented CHF53.3bn, compared with CHF53.6bn as of the end of December, following slight net redemptions related to exits of clients leaving offshore funds of hedge funds.At Swiss & Global Asset Management, assets under management increased by CHF2.1bn in January-March, to CHF82.5bn. The increase was due both to net subscriptions, currency effects, and market effects. Net inflows in the period under review were fed by development of white label fund activities, and to increasing demand for physical precious metals funds and bond funds advised by GAM.
Corinne Vitte will be starting in her position on 2 May as head of relationship management in Switzerland for RBC Dexia Investor Services, serving clients in Switzerland and Luxembourg, alongside Andreas Schmid, who was recruited for a similar role earlier this year. She will report to Marco Siero, managing director of RBC Dexia in Switzerland.Vitte spent eight years in positions of responsibility in sales and client relations at Citigroup.
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has published a series of directives which will allow management firms from insurance companies to widen their area of activity, including managing third-party assets. In addition, the requirement of eight years of activity has been relaxed, with the Chinese regulator now requiring only 5 years of experience, Z-Ben Advisors reports.In these conditions, at least eight new actors can be expected to enter the market, in addition to the nine which already have an affiliate dedicated to asset management, which will increase competition, particularly in the Chinese institutional segment. Investible insurance assets, according to various estimates, are expected to reach CNY5.7trn (nearly EUR600bn) by the end of this year.
The return of Rose Ouahba, one of the key managers at Carmignac Gestion, from maternity leave, has resulted in a few changes in the organisation of FI-management. Ouahba becomes head of the fixed income team, and once again takes on responsibility for the bond allocation of the Carmignac Patrimione fund, which had been entrusted to Charles Zerah in her absence, since December 2010. Zerah will continue to oversee management of the Carmignac Global Bond fund.The asset management firm is also adding to its fixed income team. Carlos Galvis, who had managed the Carmignac Sécurité fund in Ouahba’s absence since last December will continue to manage the fund from 1 April, in addition to the Carmignac Cash Plus fund. The management process for the Carmignac Sécurité fund, and its objectives, will remain unchanged, a statement says.Meanwhile, Keith Ney, former global analyst at Carmignac Gestion, takes over as head of credit analysis, and Caroline Slama, a former global equities analyst, will join the fixed income team as a credit analyst.
The private equity investor TA Associates (Usd16bn) has acquired a 54.4% stake in the management firm Stadion Money Management (USD6.7bn in assets under management as of the end of March), for an undisclosed amount.This is not the first investment by TA Associates in asset management, as the group already holds stakes in Affiliated Managers Group, AIM management Group (Invesco), Evanston Capital Management, First Eagle Investment Management, Jupiter Fund Management, K2 Advisors, Numeric Investors and Thomson Advisory Group (Pimco).
Mike Tamasco, who has spent ten years at Lazard Asset Management as head of development for a range of activities, has been recruited by the US firm Rothschild Asset Management as managing director and chief marketing officer, under the direct authority of T. Radey Johnson, CEO.Tamasco will be in charge of accelerating development and to rapidly scaling up the sales team, in a sign that Rothschild AM, an institutional management firm, is planning to launch a mutual fund sub-advisory activity, as he announced to Mutual Fund Wire.
Fewer Americans are holding investments in equities: currently, 54% have investments in shares either directly or indirectly (via investment organisms, retirement savings plans, or pension funds), according to a survey undertaken by the Gallup institute, Les Echos reports. The decline has been constant since the beginning of the subprime crisis: the percentage has fallen from 65% in April 2007, to 57% in 2009, and 54% this month. Retail investors’ lack of love for stock markets is even more visible in France. According to the most recent quarterly barometer by TNS Sofres for Les Echos and La Banque Postale, only 4% of French respondents say they would be prepared to invest in equities in December, a level not seen since at least 2001.
Alongside an operation with Eurazeo announced the same day (Newsmanagers of 26 April), OFI Private Equity Capital (OFI PEC) has reported an increase in its earnings in 2010 of 11%, to EUR339m, and an operating margin of EUR56m, an increase of 18%, representing 16.5% of earnings. Net profits after the restructuring of the debt of the HEI-Fondis totalled EUR13.9bn, and EUR4.9bn for the group. Without these elements, net profits are down EUR16.5m (EUR8.1m for the part of the group), compared with net profits of EUR6.3m (EUR8.7m) in the 2009 fiscal year. Difficulties encountered by the stake in HEI resulted in a depreciation of incorporal assets of EUR31.1m for the 2010 fiscal year. The supervisory board will propose a dividend at the general shareholders’ meeting to be held on 14 June 2011 of EUR0.50 per share for the 2010 fiscal year, paid in cash beginning on 20 June 2011. Dividends paid in 2009 totalled EUR0.27 per share.
Following the departure of David Bemussa, who was previously deputy director and head of distribution for Schroders in France, the management firm has announced a reshuffle of its Paris office.Nuno Teixeira will retain his position as deputy CEO, and will conrtinue to report to Philippe Lecomte, CEO of the firm. Teixeira will now be in charge of development for all Schroders clients in France, where previously, he had concentrated primarily on institutional clients.Alexandre Gabus, currently head of institutional clients and multi-management, becomes director of all distribution for Schroders in France (institutional and retail clients), and will report to Teixeira.Mustapha Bouheraoua, who also reports to Teixeira, becomes director fo institutional clients at the British management firm.Gabus and Mouheraoua’s teams will soon receive one new sales agent each.
Philip Haddon will be leaving Citywire at the end of May to join the bond team at Schroders, Das Investment reports. He will be in charge of editing fund reports and market analyses; in addition, he will handle the relationship between fund managers and press agencies, as well as public relations.
Allianz Global Investors (AGI) on 26 April issued a warning to its clients and potential investors that its brand name is being used fraudulently by an entity which offers financial services under the name Allianz Global Investors Fund, which offers electronic contacts at the domains allianzglobalinvestorsfund.com, aginvestorsfund.com, and aginvestorfund.com. The telephone number given on these websites does not correspond to any line at AGI.The genuine internet site for AGI is www.allianzglobalinvestors.de, the asset management firm says.
Craig Dimal, whose telephone conversations recorded in 2007 allowed the federal prosecutor’s office to launch its investigation of the Galleon insider trading scandal, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy. He faces 7 1/4 years in prison, the Wall Street Journal reports, adding that he becomes the 21st of 26 defendants to plead guilty to charges related to the case.
The 401(k) program ratings firm BrightScope on 26 April launched a website which will aim to increase information about independent financial advisers. BrightScope will grow out a database of independent financial advisers and registered brokers, providing information about potential conflicts of interest, litigation with clients, assets under management, and in a second phase, performance and fees, Mike Alfred, co-founder and CEO of BrightScope, has told Bloomberg. “Our initiative comes as part of a wider movement towards increased transparency for consumers” of financial services, Alfred says.
The New York asset management firm Van Eck Global on 26 April announced the launch of the Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF (NYSE Arca acronym: FLTR). The fund will aim to replicate the Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate index, published by 4asset-management GmbH, before commissions, which corresponds to a portfolio of floating rate bonds issued in US dollars by investment grade businesses. The innovation of the product is that it focuses on high quality securities, rather than bank loans.Securities taken into the portfolio must come from issues totalling at least USD500m, with a residual duration of at least 6 months as of each rebalancing date. As of 31 March, the index included 188 securities, of which 94.9% were in the financial sector.Net management commission is set at 0.19%.The FLTR is the 133rd ETF of the Market Vectors brand, and the 7th bond fund in the range.
Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) has announced that it is planning to add a retail asset class to its fund dedicated to British midcaps: the Axa Framlington UK Mid Cap fund, Investment Week reports. The fund was launched on 4 March, and is aimed at institutional investors for a minimal investment of GBP100,000. The fund will be available to retail investors from the end of second quarter, from a minimal investment of GBP1,000. The fund will have a minimal weighting of 70% to shares from the FTSE 250, and a minimum of 15% to companies of the FTSE 100.
Investment Week reports that Standard Life Investments has sent a letter to its clients to indicate its desire to limit access to its fund dedicated to British small caps, the UK Smaller Companies, from the month of June. The change will bring in a 4% front-end fee for new investors. Management fees may also be raised from 1.5% to 1.6% per year. The fund, launched in 1997, has earned returns of 73.7% in the five years to 18 April, compared with an average of 23.5% for small caps, according to Morningstar.
Threadneedle has recruited three sales personnel for wholesale clients in Asia: Gerard Clancy (ex BlackRock), Richmond Herrera (ex Standard Chartered Bank), and Kent Ng, formerly of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management Group.They will report to Michael Langlois, head of wholesale distribution for Asia Pacific. The mission for the three recruits will be to establish relations with Asian financial establishments locally, as well as global private banks who are present on the continent.
Asian Investor reports that HSBC Private Bank has recruited William Lawton as head of the South East Asia Investment Development Group at the private bank. HSBC Private Bank has also called in Jeffrey Benjamin as head of non-Asian clients resident in Asia in the international wealth management group. Lawton previously worked at RBS Coutts and Standard Chartered Bank, among others. Benjamin, for his part, spent 11 years at Investec in London.
BaFin has recently granted sales licenses for eight new Irish-registered ETF funds launched since 8 December by HSBC Global Asset Management, and these products will soon be available on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse.Except for the HSBC MSCI Canada ETF (IE00B51B7Z02)launched on 24 February (0.35% commission) and the HSBC MSCI World ETF (IE00B4X9L533) launched on 10 December 2010 (0.35%), the new funds are all focused on emerging markets.The other funds are the MSCI China ETF (IE00B44T3H88) launched on 28 January (0.60%), the MSCI South Africa ETF (IE00B57S5Q22) launched on 16 February (0.60%), the HSBC S&P BRIC 40 ETF (IE00B5YLK706) launched on 26 January (0.60%), the HSBC Mexico Capped ETF (IE00B3QMYK80) launched on 4 March (0.60%), the HSBC MSCI Turkey ETF (IE00B5BRQB73) launched on 8 December 2010 (0,60%), and lastly, the HSBC MSCI EM Latin America ETF (IE00B4TS3815) launched on 11 March (0.60%).HSBC GAM plans to have 50 ETFs on sale in Germany by the end of the year.
The Austrian hedge fund FTC Capital has filed a lawsuit in a New York federal court against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, WestLB, UBS and Credit Suisse, for manipulation of the Libor rate, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. FTC claims that the manipulations affected the euro/dollar futures market listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Assets under management in single manager hedge funds increased 11% last year, to USD1.6trn, according to an annual study by PerTrac, whose estimates are based on information assembled from ten global databases. The number of funds with over USD1bn in assets under management last year came to 280, a very slight increase since the previous year. Taking into account funds of funds, assets under management total USD2.1trn. Assets under management in funds of funds alone last year totalled USD518bn, down 10.5% compared with 2009, and 31% compared with 2008. The number of funds launched by single manager funds last year rose 51% compared with 2009, to 1,184, according to preliminary estimates. Meanwhile, launches from funds of funds rose from 304 in 2009 to 352 last year.
Ahmed Mohammed Al Sayed, CEO of Qatar Emirates Holding, confirmed at a press conference on 26 April in Madrid that the Qatar sovereign fund is planning to not only to invest EUR300m in the Spanish savings banks, but that the final amount may be even higher than that, Cinco Días reports.
Le fonds d’investissement a accru sa participation dans la biotech suisse à plus de 6% la semaine passée. Le groupe basé à New York, qui s’efforce de convaincre Actelion de se mettre en vente après que ce dernier a essuyé plusieurs échecs sur sa gamme de produits, était déjà le principal actionnaire. Elliott a proposé une liste de six personnes au conseil d’administration et plaide pour une démission du PDG à l’occasion de l’assemblée générale des actionnaires le 5 mai.