Réunie en séance plénière dans une composition légèrement modifiée suite à de nouvelles nominations de membres décidées par le commissaire général de France Stratégie, la Plateforme nationale RSE a élu un nouveau bureau, un nouveau président et deux vice-présidents. Le bureau, dont chaque membre est élu par l’assemblée générale sur proposition du «pôle» dont il fait partie, connaît trois changements par rapport à sa composition précédente : 1. L’entrée de Gilles Berhault (Comité 21) à la faveur du doublement du nombre de sièges du pôle des experts en RSE (passant de 4 à 8 membres dans l’assemblée plénière, de 1 à 2 représentants au bureau). 2. La substitution de Marilyse Léon à Patrick Pierron dont le mandat avait expiré en juin avec la fin de son mandat national à la CFDT mais avait été prolongé jusqu'à fin novembre par décision unanime de la Plateforme. 3. Le remplacement d’Alexandre Grillat (CFE-CGC) par Geoffroy de Vienne (CFTC). Il est donc composé de Gilles Berhault (Comité 21), Sylvain Boucherand (Humanité et Biodiversité), Michel Capron (FCRSE), Pierre-Yves Chanu (CGT), Guillaume de Bodard (CGPME), Mathilde Dupré (CCFD), Michel Laviale (MEDEF), Daniel Lebègue (ORSE), Marilyse Léon (CFDT), Philippe Noguès (Assemblée Nationale), Jean-Marie Paugam (Etat), Odile Uzan (Aderse), Hélène Valade (C3D) et Geoffroy de Vienne (CFTC). Pierre-Yves Chanu est élu président et prend ainsi la succession de Patrick Pierron, avec Hélène Valade et Michel Capron comme vice-présidents pour une durée d’un an. Succèdera en 2015 à ce trio un nouveau trio élu pour deux ans dont Hélène Valade sera la présidente, le choix des vice-présidents étant laissé au bureau qui aura été élu précédemment. L’assemblée plénière est elle-même partiellement recomposée avec, l’entrée de nouvelles organisations, l’accès de certaines, jusques là suppléantes, à des postes de titulaires, et le glissement de quelques-unes d’un pôle vers un autre.

Le fonds souverain de Norvège, le plus important au monde avec 870 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion, va investir près de 3 milliards de dollars dans des valeurs du secteur des technologies vertes, a annoncé son directeur général Yngve Slyngstad, rapporte Bloomberg. A compter du 1er janvier 2015, l’institution entend en effet accélérer ses investissements dans les entreprises évoluant dans les secteurs des énergies renouvelables, de la gestion des déchets et du stockage d’énergie, entre autres, a précisé le dirigeant à l’issue d’un discours tenu à Genève. «Peu importe que vous pensiez qu’il s’agisse d’un bon investissement ou pas, c’est très simple: nous allons investir dans ce domaine», a ainsi déclaré Yngve Slyngstad. «Nous sommes convaincus que nous trouverons des opportunités d’investissement rentables et nous sommes convaincus que cette partie de notre portefeuille sera très performante sur le long terme». Le fonds souverain investira l’équivalent de 1% du total de ses encours dans les technologies environnementales, a souligné le directeur général.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Pimco and Source are launching the first ETFs in Europe that provide actively managed exposure to the short-dated segment of the investment grade corporate bond market. The PIMCO Low Duration US Corporate Bond Source UCITS ETF will invest in corporate bonds that are issued in US dollars, while the PIMCO Low Duration Euro Corporate Bond Source UCITS ETF will invest in Euro denominated corporate bonds. The funds will actively invest in investment grade corporate bonds with a focus on corporate bonds with maturities of less than five years, with the average duration of the portfolio limited to between zero and four years.“We teamed up with Pimco in 2011 to launch the first actively managed fixed income ETFs in Europe,” says Source chief development officer Michael John Lytle. “Since then, we have amassed USD 5.3 billion of assets in actively managed ETFs, proving that investors appreciate the advantage of combining PIMCO’s investment expertise with the efficiency and transparency provided by our ETF structure.”The PIMCO Low Duration US Corporate Bond Source UCITS ETF and the PIMCO Low Duration Euro Corporate Bond Source UCITS ETF both have an annual management fee of 0.49%, but this is being reduced to 0.39% per annum by a one year fee waiver of 0.10%. The ETFs will trade on the London Stock Exchange and Xetra under the respective tickers of LDCU LN and LDCE GY.

Axa Investment Managers on Monday announced the reorganisation of its fixed income and structured finance teams and the creation of a new fixed income and structured finance department. The new arrangement will report into John Porter, global head of fixed income & structured finance. The fixed income & structured finance division is now structured into five broad investment streams: Active Fixed Income – encompassing all actively managed strategies – including traditional benchmarked, total return and strategic, Buy and Maintain Fixed Income, encompassing all long-term low-turnover solutions for third party pension scheme and insurance clients – including SmartBeta Credit and accounting constrained, Solutions – a new team under the leadership of Jean-Louis Laforge which brings portfolio engineering and credit research together with a Solutions Strategy team responsible for designing solutions across the credit continuum, AXA Group – a dedicated team led by Gilles Dauphine focused on our work with AXA Group, and Structured Finance – organised around two platforms: Loans & Private Debt and Securitised & Structured Assets and led by Deborah Shire. Chris Iggo, CIO and head of fixed income Europe & Asia, leads the European, Asian and global teams within buy and maintain fixed income and active fixed income, with the US teams reporting into Carl Whitbeck, head of fixed income US. Structured Finance will be organised around two platforms: Loans & Private Debt and Securitised & Structured Assets, with each one split between a traded assets part and an illiquid assets part. Alexandre Martin Min will co-head Securitised & Structured Assets, with responsibility for traded assets. He will also lead the transversal strategy dedicated to integrating structured finance assets into fixed income blended products along the credit continuum. Within Alexandre’s team, Gaelle Philippe will be responsible for ABS Europe and existing ABS products.Christophe Fritsch will co-head Securitised & Structured Assets, responsible for illiquid assets and the business development of this platform. He will continue to lead the ILS team that he started in 2007 and today has an AuM of USD506 million, but Francois Divet will take on the direct responsibility for the ILS team.Jean Philippe Levilain will co-head the Loans & Private Debt platform for traded assets and will be responsible for delivering our leveraged loan expertise in funds, mandates and CLOs, with a team split between Europe and US. He launched our first CLO post crisis in the US in 2014.Renaud Tourmente will co-head the Loans & Private Debt platform, with a direct responsibility for the illiquid assets, including the mid cap platform that he launched over 2 years ago.Finally, Laurent Cezard will head the business development team for the Loans and Private Debt Platform. Commenting on the changes, John Porter, global head of fixed income & structured finance at AXA IM said: «The reorganisation of these teams and the closer collaboration between Structured Finance and Fixed Income will enable us to provide clients with solutions across the entire credit continuum. This set up will enable us to diversify our product suite creating assets that clients would not normally be able to access on their own and enabling them to trade off liquidity or complexity for yield, which appears very attractive proposition in today’s low yield environment. Our agility, experience and specialist expertise across the credit continuum mean that we should be incredibly well placed to respond to the changed market environment and meet evolving client needs.»

Nelson Peltz, chief executive officer and a founding partner of Trian Fund Management, is resigning from Legg Mason’s board of directors, effective immediately. He was chairman of the asset manager’s nominating & corporate governance committee.Nelson Peltz has served on Legg Mason’s board since October 2009, «and made significant contributions to the company’s ongoing successful turnaround», Legg Mason reminds in a press statement. «During that time period, Legg Mason has made senior management and board changes and has significantly reduced overhead, increased cash flow and returned more than USD2 billion of capital to shareholders». «Investment funds managed by Trian continue to be a large shareholder of Legg Mason and we currently expect to remain an engaged shareholder for the foreseeable future.» said Nelson Peltz. Trian Fund Management currently beneficially owns approximately 11.3% of Legg Mason’s outstanding shares.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Aberdeen Asset Management announced at a conference in Paris on Monday that it has founded a new asset management firm in Indonesia. The launch as a sign of Aberdeen AM’s drive in the region. The asset management firm has already founded firms in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The opening of the new firm follows the acquisition earlier this year of 80% of capital in the Indonesian company PT NISP Asset Management from NISP Sekuritas. At launch the firm was renamed at PT Aberdeen Asset Management. The head of the Indonesian structure is Bharat Joshi, previously head of Malaysian equities at Aberdeen AM. PT Aberdeen Asset Management will target both wholesale and retail institutional investor clients. The structure currently has USD300m in assets under management.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } The Swiss private bank Vontobel on 1 December announced the appointment of Michel Roserens as head of investor relations, from 1 December. He will be assisted in his new role by Susanne Borer. Roserens has worked at Vontobel since 2008, and was most recently head of the controlling unit.

Baring Asset Management has been awarded a Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) licence by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. «RQFII status means Barings has another direct access channel to Renminbi-denominated securities, in addition to the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) license and provides much greater flexibility in terms of asset allocation compared to the QFII programme,» says a press statement. The RQFII licence will support Barings’ existing offshore product set. Advantages of the RQFII programme include fully flexible allocations to both equities and bonds, and daily liquidity for open-ended funds. In particular, the greater access to fixed income investments – the licence allows for the full RQFII quota to be allocated to just bonds for example – will be very positive for foreign institutional and retail investors attracted to China’s USD5 trillion (RMB30 trillion) onshore bond market, believes Barings. “Barings has been a major player in Hong Kong and mainland China for many years and has extensive experience of the market. The RQFII programme is further evidence of China’s integration into mainstream global financial markets, and there are clear benefits for investors looking for onshore opportunities in the world’s second-largest economy. This is a natural evolution for Barings’ business in China and will support the significant on-going developments we have in the region,” David Stevenson, head of business development at Baring Asset Management, said.

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) welcomes the political agreement on European Long-term Investment Funds (ELTIFs) reached in trialogue on 26th November 2014 and views this as a concrete step forward in the long-term investment debate. The ELTIF regulation aims at directing investments into projects and companies in need of long term financing that have difficulties raising funds on stock markets or securing loans from banks. Funds that want to use the ELTIF label will have to meet a number of requirements under the regulation.Once they meet these requirements, funds will be able to market the ELTIFs across all EU Member States.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Azimut will have to pay the Italian tax authority EUR117.8m, including EUR105.9m in taxes, and sanctions and interest totalling EUR11.9m, Milano Finanza reports. The Italian asset management group founded by Pietro Guiliani has reached an agreement with the Italian tax authority, which had reached findings in relation to the criteria used by the firm to determine the prices for transfers of intra-group relationships in the years 2001 to 2013. The verdict may have a domino effect for all asset management firms which have funds in Ireland and Luxembourg, where taxes are more accommodating than in Italy.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has announced the appointment of Rory Tobin to the newly-created position of head of distribution for Europe, based in London. He will report to Mike Karpik, head of SSGA for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Tobin will primarily be responsible for directing and developing distribution to institutional investor clients and intermediaries. Before joining SSGA, Tobin served as executive director of Barclays Asset Management, global head of the investments and solutions group at Barclays Wealth & Investment Management. Before that, he was head of the international iShares activity at BlackRock, where he began in the position of head of index-based and global markets activities, and later became CEO of iShares EMEA and co-CEO of Global iShares. “We created the position to meet the needs of investors and regulatory changes in European distribution,” says Karpik. “Rory brings with him vast experience and profound expertise in strategy and investment solutions. His appointment reflects our desire to develop our distribution activity to better serve our clients, and to continue our objective of expanding our presence on institutional investor and intermediary markets in Europe.”

Hermes Investment Management has announced that Oliver Leyland is joining its London-based emerging markets investment team as head of Latin America and senior analyst. Oliver Leyland joins from Mirae Asset Global Investments, where he was a senior equity analyst based in New York covering Latin America and CEEMEA, as well as a member of the fund management team for GEM and global long-only equity products. Reporting into Gary Greenberg, head of Hermes emerging markets and lead portfolio manager, the addition of Oliver Leyland brings the emerging markets team to nine.

Henderson has hired Ian Dyble as head of product development. He will replace James Bowers, who has been promoted to the broader role of global head of product and distribution services reporting to Phil Wagstaff, Henderson’s global head of distribution.Previously Ian held the role of head of product development and chief operating officer at Cazenove Capital Management. At Henderson, he will report to James Bowers.

The Aberdeen group has reported a net outflow of GBP20.4bn for the year to 30 September, according to annual results released on 1 December. Of this total, Aberdeen has seen outflows totalling GBP16bn, in addition to which GBP4.4bn have come from SWIP, a business acquired in March this year from Lloyds.Aberdeen states that of GBP16bn in outflows, GBP4bn were related to the loss of a single client, who withdrew relatively poorly-performing assets, while redemptions from bond products represented GBP3.6bn. SWIP may yet see redemptions from less well-performing products.Pre-tax profits nonetheless rose 2% to GBP490m, while assets under management rose 62% to GBP324bn due to the acquisition of SWIP.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Old Mutual Wealth on 1 December announced that it has completed its acquisition of a 50% stake in Intrinsic Cirilium Investment Company Limited from Henderson Global Investors. “Old Mutual Wealth now oversees 100% of the GBP2bn in the Cirilium fund range, which will be managed by the multi-asset class team of John Ventre at Old Mutual Global Investors,” the firm says in a statement. Following the operation, Paul Craig will join Old Mutual Global Investors as manager of the Cirilium multi-asset class fund range. Craig, who has more than 25 years of experience in the asset management sector, had managed the Cirilium fund since March 2009. Craig joins the multi-asset class team at Old Mutual Global Investors, composed of 12 professionals, which has GBP8bn in assets.

p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120%; } Laurent Seyer, who left Axa Investment Managers (Axa IM) in midsummer (see Newsmanagers of 18 August 2014) has returned. The former CEO of Lyxor Asset Management has joined MSCI, a provider of investment decision support tools, as managing director and Global Head of Client Coverage. Seyer will be based in London, and will report to Henry Fernandez, chairman and CEO of MSCI, and will also join the executive board at the firm. Before joining MSCI, Seyer was the global head of the client group department at Axa IM, after serving as global head of multi-asset class solutions. Before that, he worked at Société Générale for 24 years, and served in a variety of roles, including CEO of Lyxor AM from 2006 to 2012.

Emergence, le fonds de Place pour l’incubation et le développement de sociétés de gestion entrepreneuriales géré par NewAlpha Asset Management, a annoncé le deuxième investissement de son compartiment actions en signant un partenariat avec Financière Arbevel. Créée en 2009, la société a accru ses actifs sous gestion de 25 à plus de 250 millions d’euros et bâti une équipe de 12 professionnels.

Laurent Seyer vient de rejoindre le fournisseur d’indices MSCI à Londres en tant que «managing director» et responsable mondial de la couverture client, a annoncé la société dans un communiqué. L’ex-directeur général de Lyxor Asset Management, qui avait quitté Axa Investment Managers cet été, retrouve

La banque centrale australienne a annoncé mardi le maintien de son principal taux d’intérêt à son plus bas niveau historique de 2,5% pour le 16ème mois d’affilée. Au vu d’une croissance économique en demi-teinte, la Reserve Bank of Australia répète qu’elle est disposée à observer le statu quo pour une période prolongée. Elle a également réaffirmé que le dollar australien était surévalué au vu de la chute du cours de nombre de matières premières, dont le pays est un exportateur de premier plan.

La Bourse paneuropéenne a annoncé mardi le lancement, le 9 décembre, d’Euronext Expert Market, une plate-forme de trading électronique pour les titres non listés. Basée à Bruxelles, elle se substituera à l’actuel Marché des ventes publiques du groupe en Belgique, où ces opérations étaient traitées à la voix. Euronext Expert Market tiendra des enchères électroniques tous les jeudis pour les actions, obligations et autres produits de taux émis par des sociétés non cotées, ainsi que pour les bons de caisses des banques, où il fait référence en Belgique.

La Banque centrale européenne (BCE) a acheté la semaine dernière pour 368 millions d’euros de titres adossés à des actifs (ABS), des débuts modestes pour ce programme censé contribuer à la relance de l’activité et au redressement de l’inflation dans la zone euro. Les achats d’ABS, qui ont débuté le 21 novembre, les achats d’obligations sécurisées et les nouveaux prêts proposés aux banques doivent permettre à la BCE d’augmenter la taille de son bilan d’environ 1.000 milliards d’euros.

Le groupe russe Gazprom a renoncé au projet de gazoduc South Stream, d’un coût de 40 milliards de dollars, apparemment victime de la crise ukrainienne qui a avivé les tensions entre Moscou et les Occidentaux. South Stream devait relier la Russie à l’Europe du Sud via la Bulgarie en contournant le territoire ukrainien. «Le projet est abandonné, c’est comme cela», a déclaré hier à des journalistes le directeur général de Gazprom, Alexeï Miller. En juin dernier, sur fond de crise ukrainienne, la Russie avait accusé l’Union européenne de faire pression sur certains de ses Etats membres, notamment la Bulgarie, pour qu’ils suspendent leur participation au projet. En visite hier à Ankara, le président Vladimir Poutine avait bien indiqué lors d’une conférence de presse dans l’après-midi que son pays pourrait renoncer au projet de gazoduc si l’Union européenne y était opposée.

L’agence a abaissé hier la note souveraine du Japon d’un cran, de Aa3 à A1. «Les déficits et la dette du Japon restent très élevés et la consolidation budgétaire va devenir de plus en plus difficile à réaliser avec le temps au vu de la hausse des dépenses publiques, particulièrement celles des programmes sociaux liés au vieillissement rapide de la population», explique l’agence de notation. La perspective de la nouvelle note A1 est stable.

Le groupe de conseil a conclu, sous réserve des autorisations réglementaires, un accord définitif pour l’acquisition de SCM Strategic Capital Management, spécialiste du non coté basé en Suisse qui fournit du conseil et des solutions de gestion déléguée. «Cette acquisition renforcera encore les moyens de Mercer dans les investissements alternatifs», souligne Mercer, qui dit gérer 13 milliards de dollars en alternatif sur un total de 108 milliards à fin septembre.

Un accord relatif à une taxe sur les transactions financières (TTF) dans onze Etats de l’Union européenne est peu probable avant la fin de l’année, révèle un document européen cité hier par Reuters. Le document énumère les désaccords au sein du groupe des onze et ne fait aucune mention de propositions en vue d’un compromis. «Des travaux supplémentaires seront nécessaires», lit-on dans le texte.

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) a fait part hier de la nomination de Rory Tobin au poste nouvellement créé de directeur de la distribution en Europe, sous la direction de Mike Karpik, responsable pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique. Ex-responsable mondial du groupe investissements et solutions chez Barclays AM, Rory Tobin aura pour mission de diriger et de développer à partir de Londres l’activité de distribution auprès des investisseurs institutionnels et des intermédiaires.

Les autorités devraient introduire un système de garantie des dépôts des entreprises et des ménages limité à 500.000 yuans (65.000 euros).

Le cours du métal était en hausse de plus de 4% hier soir même si les Suisses ont renoncé à obliger leur banque centrale à détenir plus d'or.

Le groupe italien de gestion d’actifs a trouvé un accord avec l’autorité fiscale italienne qui contestait, sur les années entre 2001 et 2013, les critères utilisés par la société pour la détermination des prix de transfert des relations intragroupe. Azimut devra payer 117,8 millions d’euros se répartissant entre 105,9 millions d’euros d’impôts et de pénalités et des intérêts pour 11,9 millions.

Rabobank prévoit d'émettre des obligations «Tier 2» répondant aux critères de Bâle 3 libellées en yens. Les premières pour une signature européenne.