Chez Aviva France, nos investissements en infrastructures seront pour les deux prochaines années essentiellement dédiés à la dette, avec 300 millions alloués à un véhicule également ouvert à d’autres assureurs en complément, et principalement investis sur le marché secondaire, précise à l’Agefi, Philippe Taffin, directeur des investissements.

La hausse des prix des logements individuels s’est accélérée en décembre et 2012 aura vu une croissance de ces prix sans équivalent depuis plus de six ans, attestant d’une reprise du marché immobilier américain. L’indice S&P/Case Shiller dans 20 agglomérations a progressé de 0,9% CVS en décembre, alors que le consensus donnait une hausse à 0,5%. En outre, les ventes de logements neufs ont bondi de 15,6% en janvier, à 437.000 unités en rythme annualisé.

La prochaine crise bancaire viendra de la finance de l’ombre (shadow banking), a estimé mardi Philippe Wahl, président du directoire de la Banque postale, qui plaide pour davantage de régulation du système financier international. «Nous devons préparer l’avenir et voir de quelle manière nous pourrions prévenir cette prochaine crise qui sera systémique», a-t-il déclaré au cours d’une conférence consacrée à l’avenir des banques organisée par The Economist.

Le gouvernement n’entend pas supprimer l’avantage fiscal accordé aux parents d'étudiants de moins de 25 ans, a déclaré mardi le ministre du Budget, Jérôme Cahuzac. Le Figaro affirmait que la demi-part fiscale pour enfant à charge allait être supprimée au profit d’une «allocation d'études» soumise à condition de ressources.

La commission des Finances du Sénat américain a approuvé mardi la candidature de Jack Lew au département du Trésor, ouvrant la voie à une validation par le Sénat en assemblée plénière. La candidature a été approuvée par 19 voix contre 5, ce qui signifie que près de la moitié des républicains membres de la commission des Finances se sont prononcés contre.

La confiance du consommateur américain s’est améliorée bien plus que prévu en février, en dépit des inquiétudes budgétaires du moment et surtout des risques d’augmentation des impôts. L’indice du Conference Board la mesurant et publié mardi ressort à 69,6 contre 58,4 en janvier (58,6 en première estimation, un plus bas de plus d’un an). Il est au plus haut depuis novembre et dépasse largement le consensus qui le donnait à 61.

Le Fonds européen de Stabilité financière a lancé son nouvel emprunt de référence à trois ans, avec un spread de 5 points de base au-dessous de la courbe de swaps. Credit Suisse, JPMorgan et Morgan Stanley sont en charge de l’opération, qui sera la dernière sur un emprunt de référence du fonds de sauvetage européen au premier trimestre.

Le gouvernement égyptien va présenter au Parlement un nouveau plan de réformes économiques, a annoncé mardi le ministre des Finances qui espère convaincre le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) d’octroyer à l’Egypte un prêt de 4,8 milliards de dollars. Les grandes lignes du plan dévoilées lundi ne font aucune référence à une baisse des subventions ou à d’autres mesures d’austérité politiquement sensibles attendues par le FMI pour venir en aide au Caire.

Le président de la FED est entendu par le Sénat américain.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Swiss wealth managers would be diversely affected by a discontinuation of sales commissions in Switzerland, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. A total discontinuation of all commissions from all wealth management clients would reduce total income at Julius Baer by about 6%, as pre-tax profits would be reduced by 12%, according to estimates by Morgan Stanley. For UBS and Credit Suisse, the impact would be about 2% on income at both groups, and 6% and 7% respectively for pre-tax profits.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } China will allow brokerage firms, insurance companies and private fund managers to launch retail funds via their asset management affiliates, Financial Times Fund Management reports, citing an article in Ignites Asia. Previously, fund management firms had been the only actors allowed to operate in China, but from 1 June, that will change.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Deutsche Börse on 25 February announced that it has admitted a 1,024th ETF to trading on the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic trading platform, the db x-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR). It is a Luxembourg-registered, physical replication equity product, which tracks the Nikkei Stock Average Index.CharacteristicsName: db X-trackers Nikkei 225 UCITS ETF (DR)ISIN code: LU0839027447TER: 0.50%

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Vanguard has made five appointments, following transfers of employees from one region to another. Vangaurd traditionally rotates its management teams in order to give them more diverse experience. Joseph Brennan, previously CIO for the Asia-Pacific region since 2009, will return to the United States to direct Vanguard equity index group. Gregory Davis, head of bond index group, becomes CIO for Asia-Pacific. Josh Barrickman replaces him in his former position, after serving as a manager of tracker funds based on bonds with total assets of USD90bn. John Ameriks will be head of actively-managed equity products. He had previously been responsible for the research agency Vanguard Investment Counseling & Research Group. Catherine Gordon will again become head of the Vanguard Investment Counseling & Research Group, a unit which she helped to create in 2001.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Net inflows to hedge funds may more than triple this year, which would drive assets in the sector to new peaks, according to an annual survey by Deutsche Bank, the news agency Bloomberg reports. Assets in hedge funds worldwide may increase by 11% in 2013 to USD2.5trn, according to Deutsche Bank. Inflows may total USD123bn, and return on investments may give an added boost of UDS169bn. Last year, assets in the sector, totalling about USD2.3trn, posted average gains of 6%. net inflows totalled USD34.4bn, according to HFR. But performance at the end of 2012 and early 2013 is encouraging, Deutsche Bank remarks. The survey indicates that 62% of investors predict an increase in their assets in hedge funds in 2013, while only 42% observed an increase in their assets last year. Expeted returns range from 5% to 10% for investors surveyed, 79% of whom are institutionals. Pension funds seeking returns are continuing to increase their exposure to hedge funds, as 66% increased their exposure to hedge funds last year. The study also finds that 47% of respondents are planning to increase their allocations to hedge funds this year, by a total of at least USD100m. This trend is expected to continue, Deutsche Bank predicts, as other institutional investors follow the example of pension funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria have a growing influence over mergers and acquisitions, according to a new global study by the auditing and consulting firm PwC, undertaken in collaboration with PRI, the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment initiative. These criteria can be decisive in the process of selecting acquiring firms, and may even block a sale, lower a sale price, or help to better value a potential acquisition.According to the study, buyers are increasingly sensitive to the fact that ESG issues have a direct impact on the level of competitiveness of their business. Few businesses today measure their ESG performance, or translate these values into financial figures for investors. Although the increased level of attention to ESG factors varies from one sector of activity and geographical region to another, PwC notes a certain interest in ESG evaluation on the part of buyers as well as potential sellers.The study finds that the influence of ESG factors is continuing to increase: 63% of respondents say that they have already significantly increase their use of these criteria in the past three years, and 75% estimate that it will increase further in the next three years. In terms of environmental factors, PwC has found a rising desire on the part of businesses to control operational hazards associated with natural catastrophes, where previously, businesses had focuses predominantly on reputational risks. Now, 63% of businesses surveyed take environmental criteria into account systematically in due diligence processes of pre-transaction evaluation, while 44% use social criteria, and 38% use governance criteria.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Cantonal Bank of Geneva (BCGE) has posted record results for the year 2012, despite hesitant financial conjuncture. Assets under management and administration rose last year by 3.7% to CHF18.7bn, according to a statement released on 26 February. Net profits for the fiscal year total CHF67m, up 6.2%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Hedge funds specialised in emerging markets posted substantial gains in 2012, and started 2013 in the same way, as measures to stimulate economies in developed markets contributed to gains on emerging markets and emerging currencies, according to statistics from HFR. The HFRX Multi-Emerging Markets gained gained 13.1% last year, of which 4.8% were in fourth quarter, with positive contributions from all BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Capital invested in hedge funds dedicated to emerging markets increased by USD11.2bn in fourth quarter 2012 to a record of USD139bn, HFR reports. Net inflows in fourth quarter were over USD3bn, a level not seen since first quarter 2008. Emerging Asia alone attracted USD1.3bn in capital. The number of hedge funds investing in emerging markets also topped 1,100 at the end of 2012. HFR observes that emerging market hedge funds are increasingly exposed to currencies and commodities, as macro hedge funds now represent 14.4% of emerging market hedge funds, compared with 11% at the end of 2011.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Luxembourg-based firm Schroder Investment Management SA has announced that from 19 February, it has reopened sales of seven difference share classes denominated in US dollars and euros in the sub-fund US Small & Mid Cap Equity of the Sicav Schroder ISF, managed by Jenny Jones in New York. The fund had been hard closed since 2011, when it had USD4.5bn, and assets have gradually decreased since then.Schroders has also reopened the onshore US Mid Cap fund, whose assets total GBP847m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The fixed income specialist ECM Asset Management has launched an absolute return fund dedicated to the European credit market, Citywire reports. The primary objective for the hedge fund, ECM Absolute Return Credit Fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, will be to preserve capital, and to earn returns equivalent to the Euribor +4% per year after commissions. The fund will primarily invest in European credit markets. It will be co-managed by maanger Derek Hynes and Rose Pamphilon, co-CIO of the firm.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Julien Jacquet has left Fidelity Paris, as reported by Newsmanagers earlier this year (31 January 2013). The former director of sales to banks at the US firm in early February joined Oyster Funds, the fund division of the private bank Syz & Co, which sells the Oyster range. He now serves as co-head of commercial development for France and Monaco. Jacquet is based in Paris, and works alongside Aude Dhuivonroux. Jacquet replaces Denis Chasteauneuf, who has left the firm. Assets in the Oyster sicav total nearly EUR4bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The Swiss private bank Julius Baer is planning to open an office in Saudi Arabia, according to statements by the head of the bank, Boris Collardi, on the website Arabian Business. “We have developed almost exclusively in Saudi Arabia. In the next 24 months, one of our top priorities will be Saudi Arabia,” the Juluis Baer CEO says. The bank, which has about USD200m in assets under management, is hoping to profit from the ongoing growth of high net worth clients in the Middle East. The last World Wealth Report from RBC Wealth Management and Capgemini found that the level of wealth of high net worth clients worldwide had fallen 1.7% in 2011, with the notable exception of the Middle East.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } After losses of nearly CHF65m in 2011, Bellevue Group last year earned net profits of CHF6.53m, according to a statement released on 25 February. The cost/income ratio fell to 86.9%, from 106.3%. In the asset management unit, assets under management remained stable at about CHF3.6bn, as two thirds of strategies outperformed their benchmark indices.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The CNMV has issued a registration for the LFP Rendement Global 2018 fund from La Française Asset Management (LFAM), according to a statement from the French asset management firm, relayed by Funds People.Augusto Martín, MD of LFAM for the Iberian peninsula, says that net returns on commissions at maturity will total 5.7% ultimately, with a duration of 2.2, due to a large portion of the high yield bonds in the portfolio carrying coupons of over 8%, which provides a comfortable cushion in case of a market fall.

Renaissance Asset Managers (RAM) has soft-closed its Sub-Saharan Fund at USD150 million of client assets to preserve liquidity and help protect stakeholders’ interests. The fund has attracted USD40 million of inflows since the start of 2013, largely from UK and European investors, and more than doubled in size last year. Existing clients, including fund provider platforms, will be able to add to their holdings until the fund reaches capacity, around USD200 million.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The asset management firm Financière de l’Echiquier has announced the creation of a philanthropic share class in its Agressor fund. The “P” share class charges fees corresponding to 2% management fees and 20% performance commissions. Beyond 1.5%, set fees will be donated to the Fondation Financière de l’Echiquier as part of the Fondation de France, as will all variable fees. The new financing tool comes in addition to fee sharing for the Exchiquier Excelsior fund, which the Fondation’s budget had previously been based on, a statement says.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) on Monday, 25 February announced the launch of a SmartBeta equity strategy. The asset management firm is making the addition to a product range which it unveiled on 21 May last year, covering corporate bonds, and aiming to provide better optimisation of the risk/return ratio than passive tracker management.The objective is to offer a strategy designed to capture beta from equity markets, while escaping from the limitations of cap-weighted indices and other weighted criteria, a statement says.AXA IM relies on the same three pillars on which the SmartBeta bond strategy from the group is based, with systematic filtering with four filters applied jointly, with the objective of reducing exposure to risks that pay no returns, optimal diversification to avoid the risk of concentration while managing liquidity, and a rebalancing of the portfolio with management of transactions to maintain a low cost level.In order to develop the strategy, AXA IM has relied on the expertise of AXA Rosenberg in the design and management of quantitative equity strategies. The product will be managed by AXA Rosenberg, whose construction and management of portfolios is not based on market capitalisation, but on fundamental criteria.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } From 4 PM Eastern Standard Time in the United States on 1 March, Fidelity Investments will close the Fidelity Small Cap Value Fund (retail and advisor share classes) to sale to new investors, while it will continue to offer shares to existing clients.The product, co-managed by Chuck Myers and Derek Janssen, as of 31 January had assets of USD3.5bn. The soft closing is intended to protect existing clients and to allow the managers to maintain high performance.

Growth in assets under management (AUM) should be higher in the years to come in emerging Asia (China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) than in mature markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, Fitch Ratings expects. The Asian region has a large and growing middle class population with a low penetration of managed products at 5% of total financial assets on average compared with 15% in western countries.During the past few years, growth has been higher in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and in the institutional segment compared with Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Unlike other countries in emerging Asia, China has suffered from its equity focus in a five-year bear market and an under-developed debt market until recently. Nevertheless, Fitch believes that a stabilisation/rise in equity markets and recent regulatory initiatives to expand Chinese capital markets will allow the gap to be closed in the next few years. «East Asia represents a growth opportunity for international asset managers but distribution in the region is not straightforward,» says Aymeric Poizot, Managing Director in Fitch’s Fund and Asset Manager Rating Group. «The cross-border wealth management and institutional segments are very competitive, while in retail, large consumer banks dominate distribution in most countries -making distribution agreements critical.»

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Thomas Richter, CEO of the German BVI association of asset management firms, claims that compliance with EMIR derivatives regulation will cost businesses in the industry tens of millions of euros, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.At Universal-Investment, where 20 people, or 5% of personnel, have been mobilised to prepare compliance with EMIR, it is estimated that 45% of funds in the range (700 institutional funds and 400 open-ended funds) will be affected. At DWS (Deutsche Bank), EMIR will affect about 70 funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Information provided to investors in the United Kingdom by asset management firms are sometimes partial and inaccurate, according to the British firm Chelsea Financial Services. The head of research at the discount broker, Juliet Schooling Latter, says that the effort required to find appropriate information about some funds can be a quest, Fund Web reports. “Some information documents are three or six months old, the identity of the manager isn’t right, the level of assets under management isn’t right, etc.,” the head says. Latter also says that Scottish Widows presents “more misleading” information documents, but also observes that NatWest and Santander Asset Management tend to leave their clients in the lurch and do not facilitate access to their information documents. Scottish Widows says it has repositioned its equity activities in the past few months, which has involved “significant changes” to information documents. Integrating these modifications is underway. A spokesperson for Santander, meanwhile, denied the claims of Chelsea, stating that the comments of its partner advisers do not at all correspond to the criticisms formulated by Chelsea. NatWest, for its part, declined to comment on Chelsea’s criciticisms, as it does not know the process used by Chelsea or the time spent on the research. The British investment management association (IMA) has said that the key investor information document (KIID) required by the British Financial Services Authority (FSA) for UCITS products includes all information necessary for an investor to take an informed decision. The association adds tht the publication of additional documents, for example, information files, is not a legal requirement. This additional range is often related to interest expressed by investors.