Ian McKinlay, formerly head of advising for asset management at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), has been appointed chief investment officer of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), Professional Pensions reports. McKinlay had already been acting in this role as an external consultant from April to October 2008. The PPF currently manages assets of over GBP3bn.

The Irish finance minister, Brian Lenihan, has announced that the lower chamber of Parliament (Dáil Éireann) will soon found an inter-ministerial commission to study the possibility of establishing ethical investment directives for the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF), IPE reports. When the national pension fund was founded in 2001, it was decided that an ethical investment policy would not be appropriate or practical since it would be restrictive. But opinions have changed since, and the MPRF commission has introduced several environmental, social and governance (ESG) guidelines into the management of the fund.

Due to market effects, assets at Fidelity International on the German market (retail and institutional clients) at the end of December totalled EUR6.97bn (of which EUR1.1bn were for institutional clients and EUR2.2bn for retail clients), compared with EUR12.4bn twelve months earlier. However, the manager declared that it is satisfied to have been able to post net subscriptions of EUR60m, while net redemptions began in November, and, in January-February 2009, they totalled EUR315m. During this latter period, Fidelity has taken on five well-known businesses as clients.

Cinco Días reports that Moody’s is considering lowering the outlook for its rating of JPMorgan from stable to negative, in recognition of the fact that the firm, led by Jamie Damon, will lose less money than others, but will be burdened by Washington Mutual. The ratings agency is also planning to lower its ratings of Wells Fargo and Bank of America. In the case of the latter bank, with S&P downgraded last week, Moody’s appreciates the solidity of capital, but is concerned about higher-than-expected provisions to cover losses on credit portfolios and exposure to international markets. Meanwhile, Citigroup is trading at less than USD1 per share, and ranks 184th worldwide in terms of market capitalisation, behind a Malaysian company.

Merrill Lynch has field a civil suit against Deutsche Bank in New York, for poaching its treasurer, Eric Heaton. Handelsblatt relays reports in Bloomberg that Heaton resigned from Merrill Lynch in February, and immediately joined Deutsche Bank, without respecting a non-competition clause which would have required him to observe a gardening leave of one year. On top of that, eleven experienced managers are said to have been recruited by Deutsche Bank over the course of several months; they left the same day as Heaton. Deutsche Bank admits that it recruited only six senior managers from Merrill Lynch, including Eric Heaton and his brother David, the former head of asset management.

Aviva Investors has posted operating profits by IFRS accounting standards for 2008 of GBP114m, or 6% less than in 2007, and assets as of 31 December were stable at GBP236bn, while assets under management for the group were up 6% to GBP381bn.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has announced the recruitment of James (Jamie) Kase as executive vice president, head of global sales and marketing. Kase was previously executive vice president of ING Investment Management in New York, and was in charge of distribution in the United States. In his new position, Kase will direct all aspects of sales and marketing in the United States, with a particular emphasis on institutional clients and intermediaries.

In 2008, foreign managers highly specialised in equities were affected particularly severely by the falling markets, Handelsblatt reports. Fidelity has seen a record fall of 44% in its German assets to a level close to EUR7bn. At Fidelity, more than 85% of assets are invested in equities; institutionals brought some improvement to results for the group, and net subscriptions represented EUR60m. The same is true at Franklin Templeton and Pioneer. The former suffered a decline of nearly half of its assets under management to EUR8bn, while net redemptions represented only EUR1.3bn. At Pioneer, assets fell 38% to EUR20.17bn, while market effects were responsible for nearly two thirds of this contraction.In total, assets under management at management firms belonging to the BVI association fell by about 14%.

To adapt to evolving demand on the part of investors, the independent alternative management firm Valórica has announced that it has received permission from the CNMV to modify the bi-monthly net asset value reporting in place for its Valórica Macro fund, launched in February 2008, and introduce daily net asset value reporting, Funds People reports. The product posted performance of 8.7% in 2008, with volatility of less than 5%. Since the beginning of the year, the Macro fund has gained 1.6%, with volatility of under 2%.

Thomas Sjoblom, the star defence lawyer for Stanford Financial Group, has notified the SEC that he will be withdrawing from the case, and has requested that he not be held responsible for statements he has made concerning Stanford Financial Group and its affiliates, the Wall Street Journal reports. The announcement of Sjoblom’s decision comes a few days after Stanford’s CFO, Laura Pendergast-Holt, came before a criminal court on charges of obstructing the course of justice and lying under oath. Sjoblom is thought to have been present at a meeting at Stanford, at which it emerged that the group had made investments which did not correspond to what had been disclosed to investors.

In February, OPCVM funds on sale in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR2.9bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals. This represents an improvement compared with the EUR4.9bn that flowed out of these funds in January.In February, money market funds returned to positive territory, with net inflows of EUR572m, though they suffered redemptions of EUR262m in January. But they were the only category to see a positive balance.Equities mutual funds saw outflows of EUR143m, while EUR1.7bn flowed out of bond funds. Hedge funds are also still in the red, with outflows of EUR611m, nonetheless a reduction in overall outflows compared with January. Since the beginning of the year, the category has seen redemptions of EUR1.8bn, bringing assets to EUR18.4bn.In total, assets under management in OPCVM funds on sale in Italy are down to EUR388bn, compared with EUR398bn. 50% of this amount is managed by four groups: Intesa Sanpaolo, Pioneer, Ubi and Arca.The two largest groups are also the ones which have suffered the largest redemptions, particularly Pioneer, which saw EUR1.9bn in outflows in February. Intesa Sanpaolo has undergone outflows of EUR770.6m.However, firms which show net subscriptions include Monte dei Paschi di Siena, BNP Paribas, Mediolanum, Generali, Azimut, Crédit Agricole Asset Management, Credito Emiliano, and Kairos.

Nearly one third of hedge funds (28%) disappeared from the HFR database between 1 January and November 2008, a new study by Olympia finds. ?This is a very significant increase compared with the aggregated estimate of 10% on the basis of statistics from the past 15 years,? says Corentin Christory, author of the study.This does not necessarily mean that fully 28% of all funds have closed. ?if a fund ceases to report information, it does not systematically imply that the fund has been put into liquidation. Some managers, for example, may cease to disclose their results if they deteriorate, and will wait until they return to an acceptable performance level before beginning to report again. Other managers may definitively cease reporting if they consider that they no longer need to give information about their performance,? Olympia explains.Historically, the liquidation rate is 40% to 50% below the attrition rate. ?It is, however, probable that in the current environment, the ratio will be small, and that most of the recent withdrawal of funds from the database is due to liquidations,? Christory remarks.Olympia states that the number of funds ceasing to report has increased strongly since September 2008, from an average of 66 funds per month to 138 funds per month on average since September.The most affected funds are those with the smallest volume of assets under management. The attrition rate falls to 22% and 10% for funds with assets of over USD50m and USD200m, respectively. The disappearance of funds also varies depending on their investment strategies. The most massacred category has been relative value, with 37% of funds disappearing, followed by credit (33%), long/short equity (26%), and global macro/CTAs (20%).

Skandia has announced that its sales of unit trusts and mutual funds in the United Kingdom and abroad fell by one quarter last year to GBP1.71bn, compared with GBP2.27bn the previous year, and that assets have fallen in twelve months by 17% to GBP34.9bn as of 31 December. At the firm’s parent company, Old Mutual, assets at the end of the year were down 5% to GBP264.8bn, after GBP1.2bn in net redemptions, compared with GBP23.4bn in net inflows the previous year.Old Mutual has announced plans to combine all its long-term savings activities currently at Skandia, OMSA, US Life and in the Asia-Pacific region as part of a single entity, which will be based in London and led by Paul Hanratty.

Legg Mason has announced that it has now removed all securities issued by structured investment vehicles (SIV) and other ?conduits? from the portfolios of its money market funds. Legg Mason and its funds have sold shares in five different SIVs for USD1.8bn in nominal value. This will result in net outflows of USD1.2bn for the management firm. Due to tax-related redemptions expected this summer, Legg Mason is expecting to have about USD1bn in cash, which will be used to pay off debt or other corporate projects. The transactions announced are expected to result in a net charge of USD367m in quarterly operating results.

In Italy, assets under management by the Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild have fallen to EUR700m due to redemptions of about 25%, according to Stefano Rossi, head of the Italian affiliate. But the private bank is growing. In the country, Michael Cicurel, head of the bank, is planning an acquisition: ?We are planning to buy something, maybe in asset management, but at the moment it is difficult to find an appropriate entity.?

Bank of New York Mellon Asset Servicing and the German firm BHF Asset Servicing GmbH (BHF-Bank, Sal. Oppenheim group) have announced a new agreement extending their cooperation to portfolio transition management, commission recapture, and futures compensation. The two partners will also extend their cooperation in global custody and subcustody, but each management firm will maintain its separate activities in the area of depository banking.

The Government Pension Fund - Norway lost EUR2.95bn in 2008, according to the most recent statistics from Folketrygfondet, cited by IPE.com. Assets have fallen to NOK87.8bn. The pension fund, heavily invested in equities, lost 25.1% in 2008.

Attaquée sur le secret bancaire, la Suisse a choisi selon Le Temps la voie d"un groupe stratégique, dont le mandat sera dévoilé ce vendredi. «Nous sommes prêts à dialoguer et allons proposer une plateforme de négociation», a indiqué le ministre des finances Hans-Rudolf Merz.

Selon l’Agefi, l’Organisation internationale des commissions de valeur (OICV) demande aux régulateurs nationaux d’améliorer leur compréhension des marchés de matières premières sans pour autant fixer de délai précis. Les autorités devront, par exemple, «pouvoir accéder aux positions d’un trader à la fois sur les marchés physiques et de futures, afin de leur permettre d’identifier «les concentrations de positions et la composition générale du marché»", indique notamment le quotidien numérique.

Dans un entretien à L"Agefi suisse, Jean-François Rime, conseiller national UDC (Union démocratique du centre), estime que «si certains veulent soudainement changer les règles du jeu, alors tout le monde devra s"y plier. Si le secret bancaire devait tomber, au moins que cela soit le cas partout. Je pense que la Suisse ne doit rien lâcher maintenant. Ce n"est pas le moment d"agir dans la précipitation et d"abandonner des avantages qu"on regrettera dans six mois». «Au lieu de paniquer», explique le conseiller national au quotidien, «il faut rappeler certains principes. Nous avons conclu, que ce soit avec l"Union européenne ou avec les Etats-Unis par exemple, des accords internationaux qui sont toujours en vigueur. Ces accords doivent être respectés par tout le monde. Certes, on peut trouver quelques lacunes à la taxation à la source prévue dans la directive sur la fiscalité de l"épargne. Mais ce système choisi, négocié et signé entre Bruxelles et Berne dure jusqu"en 2013. Il faudra, j"en conviens, le préciser sur certains points. Mais nous avons le temps de l"améliorer».

Selon La Tribune, Citigroup, qui fut la première banque mondiale en termes de capitalisation, a rejoint le clan des « penny stocks » avec une action passant sous 1 dollar (97 cents), lors de la séance du jeudi 5 mars. L’enseigne américaine a perdu #37,5 milliards de dollars de pertes nettes cumulées en cinq trimestres#, rappelle le quotidien.

La crise n’empêche pas l'émergence de nouvelles sociétés de gestion en France. Ainsi, Turgot Asset Management a obtenu son agrément en octobre dernier, en pleine débâcle boursière. «Le moment pourrait paraître mal choisi, mais nous pensons au contraire que c’est le meilleur environnement pour se lancer dans la gestion actions, car il nous permet de pleinement profiter du rebond futur», affirme Arnaud de Champvallier, associé fondateur et directeur général de Turgot AM, qui a débuté sa carrière au sein de l'équipe de gestion de la Financière de l’Echiquier avant de devenir responsable d’un FCP thématique chez Cogefi.Turgot AM se compose au total de 5 associés fondateurs. C’est la rencontre avec Alice Lhabouz, ancienne analyste financier chez Richelieu Finance, qui est à l’origine de la création de la société de gestion, les deux gérants partageant la même vision du marché. Le premier fonds, Turgot Multicaps Europe, a été lancé en janvier. Il s’agit d’un fonds «multi thématiques», selon ses concepteurs, «ce qui nous permet de pratiquer une gestion value plus pertinente», souligne Alice Lhabouz. Cette méthodologie consisite à associer les 14.000 valeurs européennes de l’univers d’investissement à une ou plusieurs thématiques. Chaque thématique est ensuite notée afin d'évaluer son potentiel de valorisation, ce qui permet d’en sélectionner quatre qui serviront de base à la construction du portefeuille. «Au sein de notre portefeuille, les thématiques ont une place bien définie, selon leur degré de maturité. Nous avons ainsi une thématique naissante, deux thématiques en phase de croissance et une thématique en phase de maturité», explique Alice Lhabouz. Parmi les thématiques retenues, l'équipe de gestion procède à une sélection de valeurs au cas par cas, selon une approche value. Les thèmes actuellement mis en avant au sein du portefeuille sont l’environnement, la sécurité, les plans de relance et les matières premières. Turgot Multicaps Europe totalise à fin février 2,5 millions d’euros d’encours, et Arnaud de Champvallier est confiant quant à la collecte à venir. «C’est un produit qui peut répondre à une réelle demande. On constate un changement de mentalité, les investisseurs reviennent petit à petit sur les actions. Mais ils cherchent des produits transparents, dont le concept est facilement appréhensible», explique-t-il. A horizon six mois, il pense que son fonds peut atteindre les 5 millions d’euros d’encours. Pour son premier fonds, Turgot AM vise en priorité une distribution auprès de la clientèle des conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants mais également les multigérants.

Le ministre des Finances Brian Lenihan a annoncé à la chambre basse du Parlement (Dáil Éireann) la création prochaine d’une commission interministérielle qui étudiera la possibilité de fixer des directives d’investissement éthique au National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF), rapporte IPE. Lors de la création de ce fonds de réserve des retraites en 2001, il avait été décidé qu’une politique d’investissement éthique ne serait pas appropriée ou praticable dans la mesure où elle représenterait une contrainte. Mais l’opinion a évolué depuis lors, et la commission du NPRF a introduit plusieurs éléments environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) dans la gestion du fonds.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) a annoncé avoir recruté comme executive vice president, head of global sales and marketing James (Jamie) Kase), qui était executive vice president d’ING Investment Management à New York et avait la responsabilité de la distribution aux Etats-Unis. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, il coiffera tous les aspects de la direction commerciale et du marketing en Amérique du Nord, avec un accent particulier sur la clientèle institutionnelle et les intermédiaires.

Le Government Pension Fund ? Norway a perdu 2,95 milliards d"euros en 2008, selon les derniers chiffres de Folketrygdfondet cités par IPE.com. Ses encours ont ainsi chuté à 87,8 milliards de couronnes norvégiennes. Le fonds de pension, fortement investi en actions, a perdu 25,1 % en 2008.

La Réserve fédérale américaine (Fed) a donné hier son feu vert à l’IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) pour qu"il puisse proposer des services de compensation et de contrepartie centrale sur le marché des CDS par le biais de sa filiale ICE Trust, qui devrait dans les prochains jours acquérir The Clearing Corporation ou TCC.L» ICE, ainsi que le CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), envisage aussi d"investir le marché européen où ses principaux concurrents seront LCH.Clearnet, Liffe and Eurex. Ce dernier, qui avait envisagé un enregistrement sur le marché américain, a finalement décidé de concentrer ses efforts sur le marché européen, probablement en raison de l"insistance de la Commission européenne pour que soit mis en place en Europe une architecture plus centralisée.

Selon L"Echo, UBS Luxembourg a été condamnée par un tribunal à fournir les copies de certains contrats confidentiels avec les sociétés de Bernard Madoff. Les juges ont demandé à la banque de présenter sous huit jours à un groupe d’investisseurs qui avaient souscrit des parts du fonds LuxAlpha, dont UBS était la banque dépositaire, les contrats et autorisation de commercialisation entre UBS et les sociétés Madoff. Le quotidien relève que la décision a été saluée par Deminor car elle «reconnaît explicitement les clients de Deminor comme les propriétaires d’actions Luxalpha».

Selon L"Agefi suisse, Gérard Haeberli, un ancien du Credit Suisse spécialiste de la gestion privée, prendra le 1er juillet prochain les rênes de la nouvelle division de gestion de fortune de la Banque cantonale vaudoise. La création de cette nouvelle division, baptisée pour l"heure «Private Banking», découle de la réorganisation de la banque annoncé en novembre dernier.

Selon le site Boursorama, relayant Reuters, Fortis Bank, - qui ne fait plus partie de la société cotée en Bourse Fortis holding - devrait annoncer une perte nette d’environ 6 milliards d’euros au titre du T 4 2008, soit un milliard de plus que ce qui était initialement prévu mais son Tier 1 camperait aux environs de 10%. #La date limite des discussions entre la Belgique, BNP Paribas et Fortis Holding autour du démantèlement du groupe a été prolongée jusqu'à ce vendredi#, rappelle par ailleurs Boursorama.

Selon le Financial Times, Commerzbank vient de mettre en vente sa société de fonds de hedge funds de 900 millions de dollars, Comas. La banque allemande négocie déjà avec plusieurs groupes, dont des gestionnaires de fonds de hedge funds et des entités de gestion privée de familles fortunées. Le prix de Comas serait estimé à une dizaine de millions d"euros.