Bordier & Cie (France), la filiale française de Bordier & Cie, des banquiers privés genevois, a annoncé, lundi l’arrivée de Jean-Yves Gérardin, en tant que secrétaire général de Bordier & Cie (France).Après avoir rejoint la Direction des Prestataires de Services d’Investissement de l’Autorité des Marchés Financiers en 2003 pour travailler sur différents sujets ayant trait aux instruments financiers et aux services d’investissement, Jean Yves Gérardin a travaillé, à compter de 2007, sur les impacts de la directive MIF notamment sur les sujets immobiliers (SCPI, OPCI) et de titrisation, précise un communiqué.

L’information révélée lundi 17 janvier par le site H 24 Finance selon laquelle Roger Mainguy, le directeur des réseaux et partenariats Cardif allait quitter le groupe BNP Paribas dès le 1er février a été confirmée à Newsmanagers. Selon l’assureur, le départ du cadre ne va pas entrainer un remplacement poste pour poste. En revanche, Hervé Cazade, qui était jusque là responsable Epargne Financière et Protection France chez BNP Paribas Assurance devient responsable de l’ensemble des réseaux de distribution en France et récupère de fait les conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants.H 24 Finance croit savoir que, de son côté, Roger Mainguy rejoindrait la société April.

Nyse Euronext attend au moins cinq nouvelles venues au premier trimestre sur son marché destiné aux PME, rapporte Les Echos. 2010 avait été marquée par une reprise des cotations (37 sociétés pour plus de 87 millions d’euros levés), grâce notamment aux transferts.

Selon l’Agefi, AllianceBernstein, la filiale américaine de gestion d’actifs d’Axa a fait état la semaine passée d’actifs sous gestion s'élevant à 486 milliards de dollars au 31 décembre, soit un repli de 2 % sur douze mois. L’an passé, les actifs actions ont chuté de 17% (pour représenter 45% du total), tandis que les actifs obligataires et «autres» (indiciels, alternatifs notamment) progressaient de 6 et 65% (42 et 13% des actifs à fin 2010). Le montant des actifs institutionnels abandonnait 6%, à 58% du total, celui des clientèles de détail et privée progressant de 5 et 4% (à 26 et 16% du total), précise le quotidien.

JP Morgan a annoncé le 14 janvier l’introduction en Arabie Saoudite d’activités sur devises, sur le marché monétaire et sur les titres du Trésor.Dans cette perspective, la banque américaine devient une banque à part entière du royaume saoudien, avec notamment des fonctions de contrepartie sur le marché local.

Le suédois Catella Fondförvaltning, filiale de Catella AB, a annoncé le 17 janvier le lancement de quatre fonds alternatifs coordonnés de droit luxembourgeois spécialistes des actions ou des obligations des pays nordiques. Ces produits sont tous à liquidité journalière.Il s’agit du Catella Nordic Long-Short Equity, du Catella Nordic Fixed Income Opportunity, du Catella Nordic Tiger (spécialiste des sociétés nordiques fortement engagées dans les marchés émergents) et du Catella Allocation Sweden (actions et obligations suédoises).

ING Real Estate Investment Management a confirmé être en discussions avec «plusieurs parties» au sujet de la vente éventuelle d’une partie de son activité, alors que plusieurs articles de presse donnaient CBRE favori, rapporte IPE.com. La société de gestion immobilière a précisé que les négociations pourraient aboutir à une ou plusieurs transactions.

RWC Partners devrait lancer début février un fonds de performance absolue, le RWC Enhanced Absolute Rate & Currency (ARC), qui sera piloté par deux anciens gérants de Threadneedle, Peter Allwright et Stuart Frost, partis en juin dernier pour rejoindre RWC.Il visera un objectif de rendement du marché monétaire plus 6% et tirera partie des mouvements à court terme sur les marchés obligataires dans le cadre du format Ucits III. Le fonds ne devait pas être proposé au marché avant la fin du premier trimestre mais son lancement a été avancé en raison de la forte demande de la clientèle. Il sera disponible en sterling, euro et dollar américain. L’investissement minimal est fixé à 25.000 livres pour les investisseurs retail.

David Córdoba, qui a travaillé jusqu’en 2009 chez LCF Ed. de Rothschild, rejoint Privat Bank Degroof, filiale de la banque belge Degroof, rapporte Expansión, citée par Funds People. L’intéressé sera responsable de l’activité institutionnelle et de la gestion d’actifs, un pôle nouvellement créé à Madrid alors que Privat Bank a son siège à Barcelone.L’objectif est de commercialiser en Espagne toute la gamme de fonds Degroof en passant aussi par les plates-formes inversis et Allfunds. D’autre part, David Córdoba sera chargé de développer les ventes des fonds belges de Degroof en Amérique latine, en commençant par le Chili.Fin 2010, l’encours de Privat Bank Degroof se situait à 1,1 milliard d’euros, ce qui représente une hausse de 6 % en un an.

La société de gestion sud-coréenne Mirae a nommé Woong Park en qualité de directeur général de Mirae Global Investments (Magi), le pôle international du groupe, en remplacement de Peter Lee, qui a été désigné managing director de la division recherche de Magi, rapporte Asian Investor.Woong Park était précédemment chief marketing officer de Magi. Mirae a par ailleurs lancé le premier ETF de la place de Hong Kong sur l’indice Kospi, le Tiger Kospi 200 ETF.

Le gestionnaire helvétique responsAbility Social Investments AG, spécialiste des investissements sociaux propose aux investisseurs qualifiés ayant un horizon de long terme, un fonds de capital-risque investissant dans des entreprises au fort potentiel de croissance et actives dans le domaine du développement. Ce produit de droit suisse, responsAbility Ventures I, va se focaliser sur un portefeuille équilibré d’entreprises spécialistes des marchés du «bas de la pyramide» mondiale des revenus (base-of-the-pyramid ou BoP) dans des domaines comme l’approvisionnement en énergie, l’agriculture et la technologie de l’information et de la communication.Le fonds a été élaboré avec l’organisation spécialisée dans la coopération au développement Helvetas et la fondation néerlandaise DOEN. Le concept du fonds est soutenu par le secrétariat d’État à l’Economie SECO, la DEZA - direction du développement et de la coopération - et la SNV, l’agence de développement des Pays-Bas.responsAbility Ventures I a drainé 15 millions de dollars lors de la première clôture et 2,35 millions de dollars supplémentaires ont été levés pour l’assistance technique. Le fonds accepte désormais des souscriptions à partir de 250 000 dollars de la part d’investisseurs qualifiés.

L’association espagnole Inverco des sociétés de gestion a indiqué le 17 janvier que les 1.229 fonds de pension individuels représentant 51,58 milliards d’euros sur 8,4 millions de comptes ont affiché pour l’ensemble de 2010 une performance de 1,43 %, contre une perte de 1,83 % sur un an à fin novembre. En novembre, la statistique avait porté sur 1.202 fonds de pension d’un encours total de 50,4 milliards d’euros.Cela posé, sur le plus long terme, les rendements annuels moyens pour décembre sont supérieurs, puisqu’ils ressortent à 3,35 % (contre 3,27 %) sur 15 ans et à 4,97 % contre 4,96 % sur 20 ans.

Le capital-investisseur Diana Capital a l’intention de lever 175 millions d’euros pour son second fonds, Diana Capital II. D’après Expansión, il est déjà parvenu à lever 100 millions d’euros pour investir dans des sociétés espagnoles, malgré la crise économique qui touche le pays, en convaincant les investisseurs qui lui ont déjà fait confiance pour le premier fonds, les familles Masaveu, Alvargonzález, Gut et Carceller ainsi que les caisses d'épargne Caja de Avila, Caixa Galicia et Caja Madrid. Le fonds va se spécialiser sur les entreprises industrielles dans lesquelles il investira entre 10 millions et 25 millions, sans effet de levier.

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) vient d’ajouter Danske Capital, à la liste des sociétés de gestion du fonds Skandia European Best Ideas Fund, un fonds regroupant les meilleures idées de dix gérants soigneusement sélectionnés, après qu’Argonaut Capital Partners et Gartmore Investment Limited ont perdu leur mandat. La filiale de la banque danoise Danske Bank s’est ainsi vue confier 38 millions de dollars. Le fonds Skandia European Best Ideas est géré par Lee Freeman-Shor (Skandia Investment Group), dont la mission consiste notamment à optimiser l’allocation des actifs du fonds entre les différents gérants sélectionnés. Aux huit gérants actuels (Crispin Odey de la société de gestion Odey, James Inglis-Jones, de Liontrust, Hugh Cuthbert, de SVM, Raj Shant, de BNY Mellon/Newton, Tobias Klein, de First Private, James Buckley, de Barings, Terrance Burnham, d’Acadian, Damien Lanternier de la Financière de l’Echiquier), il faut donc désormais ajouter Henrik Husted-Knudsen, de Danske Capital. Skandia ne compte pas passer à dix gérants pour le moment, le fonds se comportant bien.

La société de gestion alternative Algebris Investments vient de confier à l’un de ses associés, Alessandro Lasagna, la mission de piloter depuis Londres son développement européen en commençant par l’Italie. Les prochaines étapes de cette expansion seront l’Espagne et la Suisse.Créée en 2006 par Davide Serra et Eric Halet, Algebris gère aujourd’hui 1,4 milliard de dollars d’actifs. La société gère notamment un fonds long short actions sur le secteur financier, Algebris Global Financial Funds, et a lancé début 2010 un fonds long short sur les financières dans les pays émergents, Algebris Emerging Market Financials Fund. Basée à Londres, Algebris a aussi des bureaux à New York et Singapour et regroupe 17 professionnels. «Nous pensons qu’après quatre années de forte croissance et après avoir atteint un niveau d’encours sous gestion important, le moment est venu de regarder l’Europe et de s’adresser à un spectre plus large d’investisseurs. En Italie, en particulier, nous pensons offrir à court terme la possibilité d’accéder à notre savoir-faire dans les investissements alternatifs via des solutions ad hoc», déclare Davide Serra, associé fondateur d’Algebris. La personne choisie pour piloter le développement européen, Alessandro Lasagna, est membre du conseil d’administration d’Algebris Global Financials Fund depuis 2006. Il a notamment été membre du conseil d’administration d’IN Alternative SGR où, depuis 2006, il s’est occupé de faire croître les actifs des fonds de hedge funds gérés par la société italienne.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The organs of the Swiss Confederation in charge of financial questions are seeking to improve their cooperation. The Federal finance department (DFF), the Financial markets surveillance authority (Finma) and the Swiss national bank (BNS) on 17 January announced that they have signed a three-way protocol agreement. The conclusion of such an agreement, which in no way modifies the responsibilities and competences in decision-making of the various authorities named in the law, was required last year by the Management commission of the federal chambers. The agreement sets up a collaboration between the three authorities, which will include exchange of information on questions of financial stability and regulation of financial markets as well as collaboration in cases of crisis which may threaten the stability of the financial system, with the creation of two committees. The exchanges of information will involve the macroeconomic environment as well as financial markets and the banking sector. They also include national initiatives in regulatory areas, as well as international standards, and challenges and risks for the Swiss financial market. These exchanges of information will take place at least twice per year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has added Danske Capital to its Skandia European Best Ideas Fund, a fund which incluces all the best ideas from 10 selected managers, after Argonaut Capital Partners and Gartmore Investment Limited lost their mandate. Danske Capital, a division of Danske Bank A/S, will take on a EUR38m mandate.Launched nearly three years ago, Skandia European Best Ideas Fund is managed overall by SIG fund manager Lee Freeman-Shor who allocates capital to the leading European equity managers; currently, Crispin Odey of Odey, James Inglis-Jones of Liontrust, Hugh Cuthbert of SVM, Raj Shant of BNY Mellon/Newton, Tobias Klein of First Private, James Buckley of Barings, Terence Burnham of Acadian, as well as Damien Lanternier of Financiere de l’echiquier. Those investment managers have now been joined by Henrik Husted-Knudsen of Danske Capital.

By the close of the third quarter of 2010, as many as 680 of the 9,175 hedge funds and funds of hedge funds were run from Dublin, according to data from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research cited by the Financial Times Fund Management. Ireland is the domicile of choice for 63 per cent of all European-domiciled hedge funds, according to the Irish Funds Industry Association.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that a former banker from Julius Baer on 17 January handed over two CDs containing the names of clients of the wealth management firm to the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange. The former employee says the clients are guilty of tax evasion. The former banker, who was head of the Cayman Islands affiliate of Julius Baer for eight years, explained to the press in London that he hoped to make the world aware of the money hidden in offshore accounts. The man did not wish to disclose the number of people on the lists, though press reports put it at about 2000. The former employee, aged 55, whose trial will open before the Zurich courts on 19 January, is accused of several attempts at coercion and threats against his former employer, as well as violation of banking confidentiality. The public minister has called for a sentence of at least eight months in prison and a fine of CHF2,000.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The agreement between the French insurer Axa and the Australian group AMP to share Axa Asia Pacific Holdings (Axa APH) is “fair and reasonable,” an independent expert found on 17 January, marking a new step towards the conclusion of the operation, slated for March. “The added value for minority shareholders in Axa APH from the offer is convincing,” and “in the absence of a higher offer, the offer is fair and reasonable and in the best interests of minority shareholders,” according to the conclusions of the respor, prepared by the independent expert Grant Samual, cited in a statement. Shareholders in Axa APH, including minority shareholders who have a sufficient minority to block motions, will meet on 2 March to vote on the bid.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } RWC Partners will launch an absolute return fund in early February, entitled the RWC Enhanced Absolute Rate & Currency (ARC) which will be managed by two former Threadneedle managers, Peter Allwright and Stuart Frost, who left their former firm in June in order to join RWC. The fund will aim for returns equivalent to the money markets plus 6%, and will participate in short-term movements on the bond markets within a UCITS III-compliant framework. The fund will not be offered on the market until the end of first quarter, but its launch has been moved forward due to strong demand on the part of clients. It will be available in pouds Sterling, euros and US do;llars. The minimal investment is set at GBP25,000 for retail investors.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Coface, which for 2011 predicts a moderate downturn in the global economy, announced on 17 January at its 15th Country Risk conference that the time has come for convergence between risk levels in developed and emerging markets, which have seen improving ratings throughout the crisis. The big winners from the crisis are emerging countries, which in 2011 will continue their trajectory of solid growth, with a slight slowdown, to 6.2% from 6.7% in 2010. This is in distinction to the Euro zone, where the private debt bubble led to gorwth for government debt. Activities in emerging markets are not burdened with these private debts. However, emerging markets are not safe from an increase in debt in the private sector. How can the investment boom which will continue to be seen in 2011 be financed? Coface estimates that the answer will be to focus on two types of profile. On the one hand is the “Polish-Brazilian” model of tendency to borrow abroad, as local banks are too reticent, and domestic interest rates are prohibitive, as a result of which there is a risk of having increasingly many collaterals in these countries denominated in the local currency, and on the other hand, the “Chinese-Vietnamese” profile, in which companies borrow more commonly in local currency from domestic banks, which are often not equipped to correctly analyse the risks. These entities have high levels of debt, and sometimes lack transparency, and may find themselves in difficulty. The global panorama of country risk presented at the 2011 conference points to a pronounced division in risk between developed and emerging markets, related to the stability of the latter and the resistant payments observed by Coface from businesses in emerging economies during the crisis. Emerging markets showed high and stable rates of activity and high levels of financial solidity, although risks have degraded in developed markets. Among these, only 9 out of 28 have returned to their pre-crisis levels. Before the crisis, the lowest raring for developed markets was A2, while 9 emerging markets had ratings higher than or equal to A2. In 2010, the lowest rating for developed markets was A4, and 27 emerging markets, including China, Turkey, Brazil, India and Poland, had ratings higher than or equal to A4, and have a higher rating than Greece, Ireland and Portugal, which are subject to the bubble in public and private debt. Turkey is now only a cut below the United Kingdom, while Poland is better rated than Iceland.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Institutional investors not only plan to maintain, but even to increase their financial engagements to hedge funds. According to the fourth edition of the international survey undertaken in fourth quarter 2010 by SEI, in partnership with Greenwich Associates, more than 54% of institutionals surveyed are planning to increase their target allocations to hedge funds in the next 12 months, more than three and a half times the level observed in 2009. The portfolio allocation dedicated to hedge funds represents nearly 14% of total allocation, an increase of more than 10% since the onset of the financial crisis. Another illustration of the increase in popularity of hedge funds with insitutionals is that two years ago, 39% of investors had more than 10% of their portfolios invested in hedge funds. At the end of 2010, the percentage had increased to 59%. Allocations are much higher for charities, while businesses are at the lower end of the spectrum. In 2009, diversification and absolute returns were the top priorities for institutionals, at 31% and 30%, respectively. These objectives were, however, in second and third place, and the top priority for these investors last year was exposure to uncorrelated strategies, (at 30%, compared with 24% the previous year). There is also a much higher interest (18% compared with 8% previously) who are looking to lower volatility. This recovery of confidence on hedge funds comes with increased requirements, particularly in terms of transparency of information. This is the top concern for 70% of institutional investors, more than three quarters of whom would like more information about the level of sectoral positions, use of leverage, or risk analysis. Another subject of concern for 58% of respondents is over liquidity risks as the most significant. This risk was not even a factor in the selection of hedge funds in 2009. More generally, investors who are returning to hedge funds now, never had concerns about the sector in this way in the past. The number of investors who now say this is their largest concern has tripled compared with 2008. In other words, hedge fund managers more than ever need to clarify their investment process and set (more) realistic performance objectives.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The management firm ERA Resources, founded in 2006, a specialist in commodities, has changed names, and has now become Stabilitas Fonds GmbH, to underscore the relationship between the business and the name of its funds, whose promoter is the Luxembourg firm IC Concept Fund Management, Martin Siegel, the new CEO of the firm, announced on 17 January. The change in name comes along with a change in manager on 1 January. Siegel took over a stake in the business, and its operational direction, from its founder James A. Ullmann. In this context, the headquarters of the firm have been moves from Augburg to Bad Salzuflen. The Stabilitas range includes the Stabilitas Gold + Resourcen as well as the institutional funds Stabilitas Silber + Weissmetale, Soft Commodities, Uran + Energie, Gold + Resourcen Special Situations, Growth-Small Cap Resourcen and Pacific Gold+Metals.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The BS index of the morale of 350 advisers at German commercial banks, savings banks and co-operative banks undertaken by Robeco Germany in fourth quarter 2010 rose to 100.7 from 99.8 in third quarter, and 87.7 in fourth quarter 2009. For sales of open-ended shares, 32% of respondents say they are satisfied with the situation in fourth quarter of last year, compared with 27% who were satisfied with July-October, but the percentage of optimists about sales in the next six months has fallen to 34% from 37%. 56% of specialists surveyed expect to see an increase in sales of shares in equities funds, compared with 45% in third quarter, and only 2% in January-March last year. However, outlooks are deteriorating for real estate funds, with 25% optimistic, compared with 38% in July-September, and for money market funds, down to 5% from 9%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jörg Laser, who since October has been head of private banking clients at Donner & Reuschel, has been appointed as a member of the board from 1 January. He joined Conrad Hinrich Donner Bank in October 2002. Before its merger with Reuschel & Co, he was head of the private bank and of the business bank.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, the two open-ended real estate funds from RREEF Deutschland (Deutsche Bank group), grundbesitz europa and grundbesitz global, have invested EUR558m and EUR406m respectively, while the nine institutional funds of the range have acquired activities worth EUR823m. In total, the fund manager says, acquisitions included 34 properties in ten countries, 13 of which were in Germany.The biggest deal last year with the acquisition of a portfolio of office and commercial properties in New York by the RREEF fund Spezial Invest for EUR210m, while the largest investment in a single property was the acquisition of a commercial property in Osaka by the grundbesitz global for EUR170m.Net subscriptions totalled about EUR1.1bn for open-ended funds, and about EUR500m for institutional funds, says Georg Allendorf, CEO.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Effective from 1 January, Allianz SE (insurance), Allianz Global Investors (AGI, asset management) and Allianz Lebensversicherung (life insurance) have founded a joint venture in the name Allianz Corporate Pension Advisors (ACPA). The new structure will act as a single outlet for advising to the 200 largest business clients of the Allianz group for German corporate pensions. The objective is to provide custom solutions which make use of the range of asset management and life insurance tools.The two managing directors of ACPA are Jörg Braun (Allianz Lebensversicherung) and Michael Schütze (Allianz Global Investors). Braun was previously head of distribution via life and health insurance brokers, while Schütze was head of the pension investment advisory division of AGI.The two will report to an executive committee, composed of the heads of the three parent companies: Elizabteh Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors Europe Holding, James Dilworth, CEO of AGI Deutschland, Maximilian Zimmerer, chairman of the board at Allianz Lebensversicherung, Michael Hessling, board member at Allianz Lebensversicherung, and Oliver Wohlgemuth, COO Global Life at Allianz SE.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } JP Morgan on 14 January announced the introduction of currency activities in Saudi Arabia, trading on money markets and in Treasury bonds. With this in mind, the US bank has become a full-fledged bank in the Saudi kingdom, with counterparty functions on the local market.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The anointed markets for 2011 for the real estate division of Aberdeen (EUR26bn in assets) are clearly the “core” and “core+” categories, including Scandinavian countries, which have had fewer troubles than other markets, but which might pose problems of liquidity due to their smaller size, as well as France and the United Kingdom, Alessandro Bronda, head of global strategy, property, told Newsmanagers on 17 January. However, the British asset manager is underweight in eastern Europe, except for Poland, and in southern Europe. For France, Frédéric Lejeune, head of business development for France and Monaco at Aberdeen, says the year now beginning will be marked by a particular effort in real estate, which now represents EUR800m out of a total of EUR6bn, and which has 5 employees, out of a total of 25-strong staff. Very soon, the asset management firm will announce the recruitment of a sixth specialist. This effort will also result in the launch of an OPCI fund aimed at institutionals, since the release of a retail product is not on the agenda presently.