Selon le Wall Street Journal, le déficit du pays dépasse de 30 milliards d’euros l'objectif initial et nécessiterait une rallonge des créanciers

François Hollande et Angela Merkel se sont rencontrés samedi. Au menu des discussions : le projet de fusion entre EADS et BAE et l'union bancaire

Le comportement agressif des banques centrales a redonné le goût du risque aux investisseurs, comme en témoigne les statistiques d’EPFR Global citées par le quotidien. La collecte nette des fonds actions au cours de la semaine s’achevant le 19 septembre aurait ainsi atteint un plus haut depuis quatre ans, à 17 milliards de dollars. Les fonds obligataires ont dans le même temps reçu 6,3 milliards.

Yasmina Barin, analyste, banque Syz & Co

Marjorie Sonigo et Florence Mosse, à la gestion privée de Credit Suisse France

Selon la dernière édition du Point sur les marchés des pensions publiée par l’OCDE vendredi dernier, les rendements moyens des placements fonds de pension dans les pays de l’OCDE ont été négatifs (- 1,7 %), un constat qui tient autant au manque de vigueur des marchés d’actions et par la faiblesse des taux d’intérêt. Derrière cette vue d’ensemble se cachent néanmoins des réalités sensiblement différentes d’un pays à l’autre. Ainsi, les fonds de pension au Danemark, aux Pays-Bas, en Australie et en Islande ont affiché les meilleures performances avec des rendements respectifs de 12,1 %, 8,2 %, 4,1 % et 2,3 %. A l’inverse, en Espagne, aux États-Unis, en Italie et au Japon, ils se sont échelonnés entre - 2,2 % et - 3,6 %, les fonds de pension de sept pays - dont la Finlande, la Grèce, l’Autriche et la Pologne - enregistrant même des rendements inférieurs à 4% en termes réels.Selon le rapport, la pondération en actions des portefeuilles a atteint un niveau historiquement bas en 2011. C’est en Australie, où elle ressort à 49,7 %, qu’elle reste la plus élevée. Les seuls autres pays où la part des actions est supérieure à celle des obligations sont les États‑Unis (26 % en obligations contre 48,1 % en actions) et la Finlande (35,4 % en obligations pour 41,3 % en actions), relève un communiqué.Beaucoup de fonds ont modifié leur répartition géographique pour réduire leur exposition aux pays réputés à risque, notamment le Chili, le Danemark, les Pays-Bas et la République slovaque. La crise a également conduit nombre d’entre eux à réexaminer leurs placements alternatifs, par exemple les fonds spéculatifs et les fonds de capital-investissement, et à renforcer leurs mécanismes de gouvernance et de contrôle des risques.Par ailleurs, les actifs des fonds de pension dans les pays de l’OCDE ont atteint le niveau record de 20 100 milliards de dollars en 2011. Selon le rapport, «les États-Unis, où les actifs représentent 10 600 milliards de dollars, possèdent le marché le plus important, mais leur part du marché total a reculé au fil du temps, passant de 67,3 % en 2001 à 53,2 % en 2011. Les autres pays représentant une grande part du marché sont le Royaume-Uni, où les actifs ressortent à 2 100 milliards de dollars pour une part de 10,7 %; le Japon, avec 1 500 milliards de dollars d’actifs et une part de 7,4 % et l’Australie, avec 1 300 milliards d’actifs et une part de 6,7 %».Le rapport est disponible en pièce jointe

Head of UK Academy Sales après avoir été head of marketing services/Europe, Stuart Podmore a été promu head of strategic alliances chez J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) qu’il a rejoint en juillet 2006. Il sera subordonné à Mike Parsons, head of fund sales.

Franck McGarry, qui était directeur commercial de L&G Investments, doit bientôt quitter la société, selon Investment Week.

Ce 24 septembre 2012, Swisscanto lance dans le fonds Swisscanto (LU) Bond Invest Global High Yield deux nouvelles catégories de parts à distribution en euros, retail et institutionnelles, avec couverture du risque de change*. Jusqu’à présent il n’existait que six classes de parts de capitalisation en euros, francs suisses et dollars.*Swisscanto (LU) Bond Invest Global High Yield H EUR A ; code Isin : LU0830970272 Swisscanto (LU) Bond Invest Global High Yield H EUR I; code Isin : LU0830970603

Face à une augmentation de la demande sur les marchés suisse et allemand, MFS Investment Management (293,4 milliards de dollars) a recruté Heiko Dahse et Karin Moritz.Heiko Dahse quitte Hermes Fund Managers pour devenir managing director et responsable, à Londres, des ventes institutionnelles en Suisse. Il sera subordonné à David Mace, senior managing directoir, EMEA institutional business, rapporte Investment Europe.Karin Moritz, qui sera basée à Francfort, vient de chez Vontobel et sera subordonnée à Lars Detlefs, managing director, Germany institutional sales. Elle sera responsable à la fois des ventes et du suivi de la clientèle.

Leonhard Fischer, le directeur général du capital-investisseur RHJ International (groupe Kleinwort Benson), indique dans une interview avec le Handelsblatt qu’il souhaite sans ambiguïté conserver l’équipe de direction actuelle de la BHF-Bank qui vient d’être rachetée à la Deutsche Bank. Il se refuse aussi à envisager un démantèlement de la banque.Selon le manager, la BHF-Bank n’aura aucune difficulté à se conformer aux ratios prudentiels de Bâle III. Et Leonhard Fischer se félicite du soutien apporté à RHJ dans cette acquisition par Stefan Quandt, BlackRock et Fosun.

Le 21 septembre, HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) a annoncé que le compartiment China Consumer Opportunities (ISIN: LU0708054993) de sa sicav luxembourgeoise HSBC GIF a obtenu l’agrément de commercialisation en Allemagne.Selon Ann Hall, la gérante, le portefeuille de ce produit actions (lire Newsmanagers du 7 septembre 2011) est composé de 40 à 60 lignes, entre autres des titres de marques de luxe occidentales comme de firmes chinoises.Au 30 juin, HSBC GAM gérait environ 134 milliards de dollars en titres émergents, sur un encours total de 409 milliards.

Selon nos informations, le Ravgdt (régime d’allocations viagères des gérants de débits de tabac) a déjà étudié 4 dossiers sur les 9 restant depuis cet été. Une réunion de la commission financière se tiendra le 15 octobre prochain pour déterminer le nom des deux lauréats. La procédure sera simplifiée par rapport à l’appel d’offres Ircantec où une commission technique devait d’abord donner un premier avis avant validation par le conseil d’administration. Dans le cas du Ravgdt, seul le représentant des douanes devra approuver la décision de la direction financière de CDC Retraites. Pour rappel, le Ravgdt a lancé un appel d’offres public européen de l’ordre de 350 millions d’euros, sur 2 FCP dédiés, de droit français de gestion diversifiée le 6 février 2012.

Le FCPR UFF Actifs Non Cotés n°1 sera investi en priorité dans les PME européennes non cotées matures ayant une valeur située entre 50 millions d’euros et 1 milliard d’euros. Le produit aura une maturité plus courte qu’un FCPR traditionnel, à 6 ans prorogeables deux fois 1 an au lieu de 10 à 12 ans. Commercialisé exclusivement par l’Union Financière de France (UFF), la gestion du fonds sera assurée par Sigma Gestion, conseillé par la société ACG Private Equity. Sigma Gestion ne percevra d’intéressement à la performance qu’une fois constatée une plus-value d’au moins 25% pour les investisseurs, souligne le communiqué. Au-delà de cette performance, Sigma Gestion est intéressée à hauteur de 20% de la surperformance. Caractéristiques: Part A (code ISIN : FR0011266634) : 100 euros, hors commissions de souscription Frais d’entrée : 4% Souscription minimale : 100 € (hors commissions de souscription, soit 1 part) Période de souscription : Le fonds cessera d'émettre de nouvelles parts à compter du 30 octobre 2014 Frais récurrents de gestion et de fonctionnement : 2,19% TTC

The Swedish asset management firm Norron has recruited Peter Werleus as head of investments for Norron Premium, a fund investing in Scandinavian corporate bonds. He joins from Carnegie, where he had been manager of the Carnegie Corporate Bond fund. Norron has a total of SEK1.6bn in assets under management.

On 24 September 2012, Swisscanto is launching two new categories of shares in the Swisscanto (LU) Bond Invest Global High Yield fund, with retail and institutional distribution shares in euros, with hedging for currency risks. These are the Swisscanto (LU) Bond Invest Global High Yield H EUR A, ISIN code: LU0830970272, and the Swisscanto (LU) Bond Invest Global High Yield H EUR I; ISIN code: LU0830970603. There had previously been only six capitalisation share classes in euros, Swiss francs and US dollars.

The generosity of central banks on both sides of the Atlantic has eased the apprehensions of investors, who have been investing largely in equity funds. In the week to 19 September, equity funds have posted net inflows of USD17bn, of which USD4.3bn have gone to emerging market equity funds, according to statistics from EPFR Global. US, European and international equity funds, which have also benefited from this regain in interest in the asset class, finished the week with net subscriptions totalling USD10.8bn. However, on the US side, net inflows total slightly over USD7.5bn, once again due to institutional investors. US retail investors have continued to steer clear of equities, and finished the week with redemptions totalling a net USD1.9bn. Bond funds attracted a further net USD6.3bn, with net subscriptions of USD3.6bn for high yield funds. Money market funds saw net outflows of USd17bn in the week to 19 September; US funds represent two thirds of this total.

Due to a lack of profits, hedge funds are now turning to long-only management, the Financial Times reports. Among the alternative management firms which have developed traditional management are Winton Capital Management, Lansdowne Partners, Egerton, Odey, Renaissance Technologies, CQS, Citadel, Two Sigma and GLG Partners.

As Julio Seguro is retiring, the Spanish Cabinet on Friday appointed Elvira Rodriguer Herrer, of the Partido Popular (PP) party, to replace him. She is an MP representative for the district of Jaén and as chair of the economy and competitiveness committee of Congress.The Cabinet has also approved the appointment of Lourdes Ceteno Huerta as vice-president of the CNMV. Since January 2012, she had been technical secretary general of the Ministry of the economy and competitiveness.

Franck McGarry, who had been head of sales at L&G Investments, will soon be leaving the firm, Investment Week reports.

Stuart Podmore, head of UK Academy Sales, and previously head of marketing services/Europe, has been promoted to head of strategic alliances at J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM), where he started in July 2006. He will report to Mike Parsons, head of fund sales.

The Micado France 2018 fund of midcap bonds, unveiled in February, is now operational. It has raised EUR62m from 10 institutional investors, including l’Auxiliaire, UMR, BNP, CCR, and CGPA. These assets will be invested in 15 mid-sized businesses, which will issue bonds with a 6-year maturity in the next few days. These businesses include Lafuma, Affine, Aurea and others. The contractual fund, which will mature in late 2018, will remain open until the end of the year. The asset management firm hopes to ultimately bring in EUR100m. The returns are expected to be 5.36%. Micado France 2018, which is promoted by Accola, Investeam and MiddleNext, and managed by Portzamparc Gestion, has been designed to allow 20 publicly-traded French mid-sized businesses to issue bonds which will be bought by the FCP fund, foe which shares will be subscribed to by professional investors. The two investment businesses CM-CIC Securities and Portzamparc société de Bourse approached the issuing businesses, and with the legal counsel of CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre and Vidal, have laid out a joint methodology for the bond issue with a 6-year set maturity and set rate, simultaneously by several mid-sized publicly-traded businesses, which will for the first time allow them access to bond markets. The bonds will be issued by firms whose market capitalisation totals EUR30m to EUR1bn, and whose earnings do not exceed EUR2bn.

In a SEC filing dated 20 September, Schwab Strategic Trust (Charles Schwab group) has announced that it is lowering its management commissions for seven US equity ETFs. This is clearly the latest blow in a price war kicked off by Vanguard.Name/Former rate/New rate:Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF 0.06 % 0.04 %Schwab U.S. Large-Cap ETF 0.08 % 0.04 %Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF 0.13 % 0.07 %Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value ETF 0.13 % 0.07 %Schwab U.S. Mid-Cap ETF 0.13 % 0.07 %Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF 0.13 % 0.10 %Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF 0.17 % 0.07 %

Henderson Global Investors, which has had a presence in France since the early years of the 21st century, has recently taken a further step in its development in France, with the acquisition of the office real estate specialist Horizon Investment Management France SAS. Patricia Kaveh explains the firm's strategy in France to Newsmanagers, and its development prospects in an environment in which product offerings will be likely to develop.

With the creation of the Luxembourg-registered Dexia Bonds Global Sovereign Quality fund, managed by Nicolas Forest, on 3 September, Dexia Asset Management (Dexia AM, EUR78.7bn in assets as of the end of June) is “perfecting its approach to the management of government bonds,” offering invetors a solution which is intended to avoid distortion of the risk exposure generated by traditional benchmark indices.The new model at Dexia AM, which is also used for the Dexia Bonds Global Sovereign Quality fund (which complies with UCITS IV), uses financial analysis and detailed SRI analysis of the capacity and will of a country to repay its debts, as well as its vulnerability to shocks.Unlike the limited perimeter of traditional indices, Dexia AM is starting with a large universe of 216 countries (based on figures from the World Bank), and applies three filters: a credit quality filter, an interest rate filter, and a currency filter, to construct an optimal portfolio of high quality government bonds.“Our approach has created a much more diversified portfolio, less focused on Europe, including countries which had been virtually ignored by traditional benchmark indices, such as South Korea, Chile, Singapore, Norway and Luxembourg,” the management firm says.CharacteristicsName: Dexia Bonds Global Sovereign QualityShare class/ISIN code/management fee:C Cap: LU0514558518 0.60%C Dis : LU0514558609 0.60%C – EUR – Hedged Cap : LU0809464497 0.60% C – EUR – Hedged Dis : LU0809465031 0.60%I Cap : LU0514558864 0.30%I – EUR – Hedged : LU0809465460 0.30%V Cap : LU0514558948 0.15%N Cap : LU0514558781 1%

On 21 September, HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) announced that the China Consumer Opportunities fund (ISIN: LU0708054993), a sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav HSBC GIF has been granted a sales license for Germany.Ann Hall, the manager of the fund, says that the portfolio of the equity product (see Newsmanagers of 7 September 2011) is composed of 40 to 60 holdings, including shares in the makers of Western and Chinese luxury brands.As of 30 June, HSBC GAM had about USD134bn in assets under management in emerging market equities, out of total assets of USD409bn.

Due to increasing demand on the Swiss and German markets, MFS Investment Management (USD293.4bn) has recruited Heiko Dahse and Karin Moritz.Dahse is leaving Hermes Fund Managers to become managing director and head of institutional sales in Switzerland, based in London. He will report to David Mace, senior managing director, EMEA institutional business, Investment Europe reports.Karin Moritz, who will be based in Frankfurt, joins from Vontobel, and will report to Lars Detlefs, managing director, Germany institutional sales. She will be responsible both for sales and customer relationships.

The British firm F&C Investments has reduced its annual management fees from 0.6% to 0.5% for the range of Lifestyle funds, in order to comply with RDR regulations, Investment Week reports. The reduction applies to all funds of the range, including the F&C Lifestyle Balanced fund, with assets under management of GBP106m, F&C Lifestyle Cautious (GBP126m), F&C Lifestyle Defensive (GBP107m) and F&C Lifestyle Growth (GBP46m).

Edward C. Bernard, vice chairman of T. Rowe Price group, has announced that Cynthia Egan, head of retirement plan services (RPS), is retiring on 31 December. This will be an occasion to reorganise distribution at the asset management firm (USD541.7bn in assets as of the end of June).T. Rowe Price will be creating a new division, US Investment Services, which will be led by Scott David, and which will include the RPS unit, third-party distribution in the United Sttaes, and direct sales to retail clients. David will report to Edward Bernard.In his role as director of the RPS Unit, David will be responsible for Kevin Collins and Aimee DeCamillo, who become co-lead officers of the RPS Unit. Collins will be in charge of sales and client services, while DeCamillo will be in charge of products and marketing.

Groupama Asset Management this morning announced that its Sigma asset management unit (which develops an absolute return, Total Return and flexible management product range) is joining the Investment Solutions division at the firm. Henri Chabadel is taking over as head of the new unit, which includes 40 specialists, while Claire Bourgeois becomes deputy director, while retaining her position as head of management for ALM Taux et Actions. In addition to the Sigma management teams, the Investment Solutions division includes the active/liability management (ALM) management team, dynamic allocation, financial engineering, and responsibility for Corporate Group & Savings Solutions. The new organisation will allow the firm to benefit from synergies between the various management units of the business, a statement says. Before joining the teams at Groupama AM in February 2008 as head of Directional Multi-management and Allocation, and in 2001 becoming head of the Sigma management unit, Henri Chabadel had been head of the risk control and quantitative analysts unit at the Banque du Louvre, and the multi-management manager at Louvre Gestion. Claire Bourgeois becomes deputy director of the Investment Solutions division, while retaining her position as head of management for ALM Taux et Actions. Before joining Groupama AM in 2007 to become head of the ALM and Credit unit and fixed income, she worked at BNP Paribas AM from 2005 to 2007 as a bond manager specialised in credit. At the end of August, Groupama Asset Management had EUR88.8bn in assets under management.