Rating agency Moody’s, which has maintained France’s AAA rating with a negative outlook, has set a period of a few months to evaluate the economic policies of the French government in a difficult economic environment in the euro zone, according to a statement published on 24 May.According to the agency, the new French president, François Hollande, has shown his determination to bring recovery to the economy, but the way to achieve that remains uncertain.

The French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), on 24 May announced the appointment of Julien Ruderman as deputy director of its European and international business division, in the regulation and international affairs director’s office, from 3 May 2012. Since 1999, Ruderman worked previously at the international law firm Clifford Clance in Paris, where he worked on the structuring of merger and acquisition operations, asset financing and structured finance. He was appointed as a partner at Clifford Chance in 2004, and created and led the Fund Creation practice at the firm, assisting asset manaegment teams, sponsors and institutional invetors in the structuring and raising of investment funds.

A survey undertaken by the German association BVI of asset management firms has found that Allianz Global Investors is the top actor in the management and administration of institutional funds (Spezialfonds) investing in securities, with assets of EUR1535m as of the end of 2011, or a market share of 18.9%. Universal-Investment is in second place, with EUR98.2bn, followed by HSBC Trinkhaus & Burkhardt with EUR78.3bn. The total market represents EUR812.8bn, compared with EUR782.4bn as of the end of 2010. In terms of porrtfolio management services alone, Allianz GI has a market share of 25.9%, with EUR147.2bn in assets, followed by Union Investment (co-operative banks), with EUR68.4bn, DekaBank (savings banks) with EUR49.1bn, and the Deutsche Bank family, with EUR44bn. Total assets come to EUR567.4bn.The BVI association states that in first quarter 2012, institutional securities funds had net inflows of EUR13.8bn, after inflows fo EUR42bn in all of 2011, and a peak at EUR69.4bn in 2010, and that assets as of the end of March totalled EUR852bn.Asset management firms as of the end of 2011 were responsible for EUR1.132trn in assets, of which EUR812.9bn were in Spezialfonds investing in securities, while the remainder was in mandates and institutional real estate funds.

The alternative asset management firm Millbrook Capital has decided to close an activist hedge fund, MMI Investments, which has earned solid performance in the past fifteen years by specialising in small and midcaps, Hedge FundAlert reports. The head of Millbrook Capital, John Dyson, took the decision in order to dedicate himself to personal investments, it is said.MMI Investments has earned average annual returns of 20% to 25%, with a peak at 80% in 2009. Assets in the fund peaked at about USD700m, before the onset of the financial crisis.

Selon L’Agefi, le projet de JPMorgan de lancer un ETF sur le marché du cuivre est vivement critiqué. Dans un courrier récemment adressé à la Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Southwire, l’un des plus grands consommateurs de métal rouge aux Etats-Unis, et le courtier Red Kite mettent en garde contre les dangers que pourrait faire naître ce produit. Selon eux, cet ETF à réplication physique risque de tendre un peu plus les stocks mondiaux de cuivre logés au London Metal Exchange et donc de tirer à la hausse les cours du métal.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners has launched a global promotion campaign to promote a new strategy which is presented as a second-generation investment approach to low volaitlity equities.In light of growing interest on the part of institutional investors in charge of equity strategies based on risk criteria, BNP Paribas Investment Partners has engaged in a reflection on the various existing approaches in an article which appeared in the Journal of Portfolio Management («Demystifying Equity-Based Strategies : A Simple Alpha plus Beta Description», by Pierre Moulin, Raul Leote de Carvalho and Xiao Lu, all of BNP Paribas Investment Partners).One of the main conclusions of the research is that strategies based on risk criteria can play a central role in portfolios. They also explain an anomaly of volatility, that shares with less risk generate better returns, which contradicts the model of financial asset valuations by which returns on an equity are proportional to the beta on the equity. The fund BNP LI Equity World Low Volatility, which has been in existence for one year, and which has total assets of about EUR35m, and mandates in addition, is a proprietary systematic strategy which aims to benefit from this anomaly in volatility, and which can be used to correct the problem of high tracking error observed for traditional minimum variance strategies.At a recent presentation, Pierre Moulin, head of financial engineering at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, and Denis Panel, head of investments at Theam, have defined principles, with supporting statistics, which support the major advantages of this strategy, which primarily invests in shares with low risk levels in all sectors, with an investment horizon of two to three years and monthly rebalancing.Structurally, the new fund provides a clear way to significantly reduce volatility in a controlled manner. Then, it brings spectacular improvement to the Sharpe ratio compared with the MSCI World index (0.45 compared with 0.12 for the benchmark index between January 1005-December 2011). It also earns a high information ratio (0.72), with tracking error risk of 5.5%. Lastly, the strategy outperforms in virtually all market situations, particularly phases of falling markets, though it tends to ouperform the benchmark index only in phases of very strong rebound.Since its launch in April 2011, the fund has earned returns of 11.87%, compared with 5.28% for the benchmark index, an outperformance of 6.59%.

Skandia Deutschland on 24 May announced that as part of a reshuffle in Europe, the headquarters of Old Mutual Wealth Management Europe will be located in Luxembourg. In Germany, the group is opening a new location in Stuttgart, which will concentrate on the deployment of a new business model for the German market, positioning the firm as an investment specialist and to high net worth private clients.There are no plans to continue developing the retail market, which had previously been served from an office in Berlin, and talks are underway with the trade unions on the subject of “necessary organiational adjustments.”Administrative services to existing clients with about 360,000 life insurance policies and a volume of EUR12.4bn in assets will continue to be provided in Berlin.

Several major European asset management firms have confirmed to the Financial Times that they are unloading their euro assets, due to concerns over an exit from the single currency for Greece. Amundi and Threadneedle have reduced their exposure to the euro in recent days. The US specialist Merk Investments, a currencies specialist, has liquidated all positions on the euro for its flagship fund. The euro has lost 5% in the past few weeks, to EUR1.2544 as of Thursday.

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has announced the appointment of Tarak Achich as head of Procapital Securities Services, one of the five BtoB affiliates of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. At the same time, Frédéric Diverrez is appointed as CEO of Monext, one of the five BtoB affiliates of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa. Achich, aged 44, previously served as a manager at Oddo & Cie, where since 2008 he had been in charge of supervising operations, permanent control and financial direction. From 2002 to 2007, he had been deputy CEO of Euronext, and then executive director of NYSE Euronext, where he was responsible for systems and projects to harmonize trading platforms. Deverrez, for his part, had been chairman of the board at Procapital Securities Services. He is a member of the management board at Steria France, and has served in serveral positions, including a stint as director of the Testing Services Bunsiess Unit, and from 2006 to 2007, director of the Banking and Insurance Business Unit. The appointments come at the same time as a reorganisation led by the firm and its decision to set up a unit dedicated to BtoB – ARKEA Services – which is dedicated to sales of banking, securities and money market services by the group.

The Luxembourg-based firm La Mondiale Europartner, the international unit of the French insurer AG2R La Mondiale, is planning to offer wealth management services in the United Kingdom, Investment Europe reports.La Mondiale Europartner will create a range of international investment portfolios aimed at ultra-high net worth (UHNW) clients and compatible with RDR legislation.

Harvest and Nuatai PineBridge have published a list of the 10 largest investors in their new cross-border ETFs on the CSI 300. Portfolios 302 and 307 from the Chinese national social security fund (NCSSF), managed by Bovero and E-Fund, both appear on these lists, with CNY900m each for the Harvest fund and CNY750m each for Huatai-PineBridge, Z-Ben Advisors reports.According to sector specialists, the NCSSF is operating a wing maneuver, instructing managers to increase their exposure to cross-border tracker funds.

The Robeco group has had a very strong start to the year, with net subscriptions in first quarter of a record EUR15bn. Assets increased from EUR150bn as of the end of 2011 to EUR177bn as of the end of March 2012, in a sign of the “great interesst of investors in solutions related to retirement,” Robeco says in a statement. At the end of first quarter 2012, net subscriptions from institutional clients totalled a particularly high amount, and were well-distributed over a wide range of strawgies, bringing the proportion of assets managed on behalf of institutionals to 51% of total assets under management (compared with 41% in first quarter 2011). Net inflows in first quarter came to EUR15bn. The strategy to integrate ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria has continued to show itself highly effective, with total assets invested in businesses engaged in active dialogue with Robeco totalled EUR45.1bn, compared with EUR43.4bn in first quarter 2011. Robeco has achieved a total average return 1.67% higher than the benchmark for all strategies (gross of fees) in first quarter 2012, and 83% of funds have outperformed their index. Due to these positive retuls, total average perfoamnce over 3 years improved further as of the end of March 2012, to +1.72% gross of fees compared with the index, and 77% of funds have outperformed their index between April 2009 and March 2012. All asset classes made a positive contribution to these results.

On 24 May, the BBVA notified the CNMV that it has decided to study “strategic options for its mandatory retirement savings in Latin America.” Although this is a very attractive area, but has few synergies with the core profession of the group, universal banking, which has triggered a reconsideration of maintaining the activity.Among the options under consideration are a total or partial sale of pension fund administration firms in Chile, Colombia and Peru, and a retirement fund administration firm (Afore) in Mexico, though this will not necessarily mean a sale.The process will most likely take several quarters, and will not be completed before the end of the current fiscal year under any circumstances.Funds People understands that BBVA is already considering several proposals, with assets in question totalling over EUR30bn. Expansión estimates that BBVA could possibly make EUR3-4bn if it succeeds in selling the whole Latam pension fund business.

A growing number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) are focused on alternative management, a round table held last month by Opalesque dedicated to the Gulf region has claimed. SWFs are generally invested in bonds and equities, but the need to diversify and higher profits will be a draw, given the low level of interest rates.It is also notable that SWFs are increasingly attentive to the development of the asset management sector in the Gulf countries.Assets under management for SWFs overall total about USD4.6trn.

Macquarie Investment Management (MIM) has announced the appoitment of Axel Maier as head of distribution for Asia. At the head of a team of seven people, Maier, who will be based in Hong Kong, will be in charge of developing the activities of Macquarie serving Asian institutional clients in particular.Maier, who previously worked at Wellington Management, replaces Damon Hambly who left the position at the end of January and has since joined Natixis Global Asset Management as head of strategy and development for Asia.Assets under management at MIM total about USD220bn, slightly under 50% of which is from institutional investors.

The growth sourt proved short-lived: in April, open-ended funds in Italy saw net redemptions of EUR997m, after net inflows in March for the fist time in a long time, totalling EUR2.4bn. These outflows were largely driven by equity frunds, which saw outflows of EUR1.216bn. Bond funds, which took on EUR1.578bn in April and EUR6.766bn since the beginning of the year, did not manage to reverse this trend. As of the end of April, assets in funds on sale in Italy totalled EUR433.872bn. With the addition of closed ended funds, which had inflows of EUR316m in April, and mandated management (+EUR618m), assets in the asset management sector in Italy totalled EUR966.766bn. In terms of businesses, the firms with the largest inflows in April were the Banco Popolare group (+EUR734m), followed by Poste Italiane (+EUR414.5m) and Amundi (+EUR270.5m). At the other extreme, the groups which posted the heaviest redemptions were the three largest in terms of assets: Pioneer (-EUR918.1m), Generali (-EUR842.5m), and Intesa Sanpaolo (-EUR357.9m).

During Q1 2012, only 506 funds were launched in Europe, which showed a decrease of 36% compared to the same period in 2011, when 785 funds were launched, according to Lipper.The quantity of newly launched funds for Q1 2012 showed the lowest number for the first quarter results of the last five years. Compared with the peak in Q1 2008, the number of newly launched products for 2012 showed a decrease of around 50%.The number of liquidations went up approximately 11%, comparing Q1 2012 with Q1 2011, to 493 from 446. At the same time the number of fund mergers went down approximately 12%, from 233 in Q1 2011 to 205 in Q1 2012.As a result, the European market saw 192 funds disappear in first quarter. Lipper expects a further-shrinking market in terms of available products.As of the end of March 2012, there were 32,158 mutual funds registered for sale in Europe. Luxembourg continued to dominate the fund market in Europe, hosting 8,439 funds, followed by France, where 4,743 funds were domiciled.Equity funds still dominated the scene with 37% of the funds available for sale, followed by mixed-asset funds at 24%. Bond funds stood at 18%, while money market funds represented 5% of the market.

The Zurich-based firm Stoxx Ltd. on 24 May announced that it has signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI) as a service provider.Meanwhile, the firm has launched four regional indices of the largest caps ranked in terms of their quality from the points of view of environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, as an addition to the Stoxx Global ESG Leaders indices, developed with Sustainalytics. The new products are the STOXX Europe ESG Leaders 50, EURO STOXX ESG Leaders 50, STOXX Asia/Pacific ESG Leaders 50 and STOXX North America ESG Leaders 50.Unlike other indices in the Stoxx Global ESG Leaders range, which consist of three categories of indices for environmental, social and governance, respectively, regional indices also have three aspects under one roof.

Helmut Dörrbecker has been appointed as head of fund sales at Alceda Fund Management, an affiliate of Aquila Capital, effective from 15 May 2012, Fondsprofessionell reports. He will be head of sales for the German-speaking countries, particularly for UCITS funds from Alceda.

Skandia Deutschland a indiqué le 24 mai que dans le cadre de la réorganisation en Europe, le siède d’Old Mutual Wealth Management Europe sera implanté à l’avenir à Luxembourg. En ce qui concerne l’Allemagne, le groupe ouvre une nouvelle implantation à Stuttgart qui va se concentrer sur la mise en oeuvre du nouveau business model pour le marché allemand, avec un positionnement de spécialiste de l’investissement et de la clientèle de particuliers haut de gamme.Il n’est pas prévu de continuer à développer le marché retail qui était suivi jusqu'à présent par l’implantation à Berlin et des négociations sont en cours avec le comité d’entreprise au sujet «des nécessaires ajustements organisationnels».En ce qui concerne les services et l’administration des clients existants avec environ 360.000 contrats d’assurances et un volume de 12,4 milliards d’euros, ils continueront d'être assurés à partir de Berlin.

Le groupe Robeco, qui pourrait être vendu par sa maison mère, a très bien démarré l’année avec des souscriptions nettes qui ont atteint au premier trimestre le niveau record de 15 milliards d’euros. Les actifs sous ainsi passés de 150 milliards d’euros à fin 2011 à 177 milliards d’euros à fin mars 2012, démontrant notamment «le grand intérêt des investisseurs pour les solutions liées à la retraite», souligne la société dans un communiqué.A la fin du premier trimestre 2012, les souscriptions nettes des clients institutionnels ont atteint un montant particulièrement élevé et ont été bien réparties sur une grande diversité de stratégies, portant la proportion d’actifs gérés pour le compte d’institutionnels à 51 % du total des actifs gérés (contre 41% au premier trimestre 2011). La stratégie d’intégration des critères ESG (environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance) continue de prouver son efficacité, indique Robeco, le total des actifs investis dans des sociétés engagées dans un dialogue actif avec Robeco représentant 45,1 milliards d’euros contre 43,4 milliards d’euros au premier trimestre 2011.Enfin, Robeco a obtenu une surperformance totale moyenne par rapport à l’indice de 1,67% pour l’ensemble de ses stratégies (brut de frais) sur le premier trimestre 2012 et 83% des fonds ont surperformé leur indice. La surperformance totale moyenne à 3 ans s’est encore améliorée à fin mars 2012, à +1,73% brut de frais par rapport à l’indice, et 77% des fonds ont surperformé leur indice entre avril 2009 et mars 2012. Toutes les classes d’actifs ont contribué positivement à ces résultats.

Le 24 mai, le BBVA a notifié à la CNMV avoir décidé d'étudier «les choix stratégiques pour son activité de prévoyance obligatoire en Amérique latine». Bien qu’il s’agisse d’un domaine présentant un grand intérêt, il affiche peu de synergies avec le coeur de métier du groupe, la banque universelle, ce qui incite à reconsidérer le maintien de cette activité.Parmi les options envisagées figurent une vente totale ou partielle des sociétés d’administration de fonds de pension au Chili, en Colombie et au Pérou ainsi que la société d’administration de fonds pour la retraite (Afore) au Mexique, sans toutefois que cela signifie nécessairement que cela débouchera sur une vente.Le processus prendra vraisemblablement plusieurs trimestres et ne sera pas bouclé en tout état de cause avant la fin de l’exercice en cours.Funds People croit savoir que le BBVA examine déjà plusieurs propositions ; les encours concernés représenteraient un total de plus de 30 milliards d’euros. Pour Expansión, le BBVA pourrait encaisser entre 3 milliards et 4 milliards d’euros s’il arrivait à vendre la totalité de ses fonds de pension latino-américains.

Macquarie Investment Management (MIM) a annoncé la nomination d’Axel Maier au poste de responsable de la distribution pour l’Asie. A la tête d’une équipe de sept personnes, Axel Maier, qui sera basé à Hong Kong, aura notamment pour mission de développer les activités de Macquarie auprès de la clientèle institutionnelle asiatique.Axel Maier, qui travaillait précédemment chez Wellington Management, remplace à ce poste Damon Hambly, qui a quitté ses fonctions fin janvier et qui a depuis rejoint Natixis Global Asset Management en qualité de responsable de la stratégie et du développement pour l’Asie.Les actifs sous gestion de MIM s'élèvent à environ 220 milliards de dollars, dont un peu moins de 50% émanant des institutionnels.

Le fournisseur de solutions SEI Global Wealth Services a nommé Anita Juneja en qualité de directrice de clientèle du pôle global wealth services, rapporte Investment Europe.Anita Juneja, qui travaillait précédemment chez Close Brothers Asset Management, sera responsable du suivi et du développement des partenariats stratégiques.

A partir du premier juillet, les backoffices de la gestion de fortune et de la banque d’investissement d’UBS seront fusionnés en un seul, afin de réduire les dépenses, rapporte Finews. La nouvelle unité administrative sera dirigée par Ulrich Hoffmann, jusqu’alors directeur operations Wealth Management/Swiss Bank.

Helmut Dörrbecker a été nommé au 15 mai 2012 au poste de director of fund sales d’Alceda Fund Management, filiale d’Aquila Capital, rapporte Fondsprofessionell. Il sera responsable commercial pour la région germanophone, tout particulièrement pour la plateforme de fonds Ucits d’Alceda.

Le montant des cotisations collectées par les sociétés d’assurances pour l’assurance vie en 2012 à fin avril est de 40,8 milliards d’euros, contre 47,2 milliards sur les quatre premiers mois de 2011, selon les derniers chiffres de l’ Association Française de l’Assurance.Les rachats nets (cotisations-prestations) s'établissent à 2,1 milliards d’euros pour la période, avec une décollecte de 0,1 milliard d’euros pour le mois d’avril.Les prestations versées par les sociétés d’assurances des quatre premiers mois s'élèvent à 42,9 milliards d’euros, contre 35,2 milliards d’euros sur la même période de l’an dernier. A fin avril, l’encours des contrats d’assurance vie (provisions mathématiques + provisions pour participation aux bénéfices) s’élève à 1.375,6 milliards d’euros.

La société basée au Luxembourg, La Mondiale Europartner, le pôle international de l’assureur français AG2R La Mondiale, envisage de proposer des services de gestion de fortune au Royaume-Uni, rapporte Investment Europe.La Mondiale Europartner va ainsi mettre en place une gamme de portefeuilles d’investissement internationaux à destination d’une clientèle haut de gamme UHNW (ultra high net worth) compatibles avec la réglementation RDR.

Au premier trimestre, seulement 506 fonds ont vu le jour en Europe, soit une contraction de 36 % par rapport à la période correspondante de 2011 où 785 fonds ont été lancés, selon Lipper. Il s’agit du nombre de lancements le plus faible depuis cinq ans. Et comparé au pic de 2008, où 994 fonds avaient été créés au premier trimestre 2008, la chute est de 50 %.Dans le même temps, 493 fonds ont été liquidés sur les trois premiers mois de l’année, soit une hausse de 11 % par rapport à l’année précédente. 205 fonds ont été fusionnés, soit une baisse de 12 % annuelle.Au total, le marché européen des fonds a vu disparaître, en net, 192 fonds au premier trimestre. Une tendance à la concentration du marché, déjà amorcée le trimestre précédente, qui pourrait se poursuivre, selon Lipper. Fin mars, l’Europe comptait 32.158 fonds enregistrés à la vente, dont 8.439 au Luxembourg, le plus gros marché devant la France, avec 4.743 fonds.Les fonds actions continuent de représenter la part du lion, avec 37 % des produits, devant les fonds diversifiés (24 %) et les fonds obligataires (18 %).

La société de gestion alternative Millbrook Capital a décidé de fermer un hedge fund activiste, MMI Investments, qui a pourtant dégagé de solides performances sur quinze ans en se spécialisant sur les petites et moyennes capitalisations, rapporte Hedge FundAlert. Le patron de Millbrook Capital, John Dyson, a pris cette décision pour se consacrer à ses investissements personnels, indique-t-on.MMI Investments affiche une performance annuelle moyenne de 20% à 25%, avec un pic à 80% en 2009. Les actifs du fonds avaient culminé à environ 700 millions de dollars avant l'éclatement de la crise financière.