“We are hoping to soon top EUR50bn in SRI assets,” Pierre Schereck, director of employee savings and socially responsible investment at Amundi, said at a meeting organised by Novethic. The asset management firm of the Crédit Agricole group has recently topped EUR20bn in SRI assets, he says. This increase in assets will be a consequence of a transformation of mandates. “We are putting a lot of energy into motivating clients to apply SRI in their management,” Schereck explains. “That takes time, but we are on the way.” Beyond that, the director of employee savings and SRI says that Amundi is hoping to extend ESG criteria to all of its asset management.

The US-based State Street group, which has been present in France for 20 years, is continuing to add to the range of products and services offered by its two local entities, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and State Street Bank.At SSgA, which has recently recruited two sales staff for ETFs (Olivier Paquier and Erich Geoffroy, see Newsmanagers of 8 November), Marco Fusco, CEO for France and Italy, has confirmed that the asset management firm is planning to add to its range of products on sale in France (see Newsmanagers of 16 May) with the launch of new investment strategies, including alternative management, relying on the expertise of its specialised affiliate SAARIS, and in active fundamental management, based on the expertise of the management teams recently integrated following the acquisition of Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM).State Street Bank, which is headed in Paris by Raphaël Remond, calls itself a “pioneer in outsourcing of middle office services,” and is preparing to extend its custom reporting offerings to meet the needs of a vision of portfolios brought on by transparency requirements imposed by the Solvency II directive, and its range of post-market over-the-counter (OTC) currency and derivatives trading.

Mark Parry, managing director and head of fixed income at Close Asset Management after serving as head of inflation bonds at Schroders, is joining Aberdeen Asset Management as senior investment manager in the multi-asset class team (9 people, GBP6bn in assets). He will report to Mike Turner, head of global strategy and asset allocation.

Cliff Pattenden has left Tudor Investment Corporation, a USD11bn hedge fund, to join former colleagues at Zafferano Capital, Financial News reports. He will be COO and chief financial officer at Zafferano.

Following the departure of its chief investment officer for North American equities, Simon Laing, who has joined the teams at Invesco (see Newsmanagers of 25 November 2011), Newton Investment Management has decided no longer to provide investment advising to the Newton American Fund, which is available to British investors from BNY Mellon Fund Managers. Newton is not planning to replace Laing immediately. BNY Mellon will now entrust investment advising for the fund to one of its boutiques, Boston Company Asset Management. The product will be renamed as The BNY Mellon American Fund. All of these changes will take place in early 2012.

Nigel Legge, former CEO of Liontrust, who left that firm with a GBP665,000 severance pay (see Newsmanagers of 10 May and 25 November), will launch the IM Vinculum Global Equity Fund, the first sub-fund of an OEIC fund from Vinculum Fund Management LLP, its new FSA-regulated asset management firm, in January 2012, several British media sources are reporting.The portfolio will include 50 positions on equities worldwide, and will aim to outperform the MSCI World TR. Management commission will be limited to 0.25%, and Vinculum will charge a 20% commission on quarterly outperformance. Minimal subscription is set at GBP1,000.Vinculum was launched by four partners: in addition to Legge, these include Bjarne Jensen, CEO of StockRate Asset Management, Niels Jensen, managing partner at Absolute Return Partners, and Douglas Thursby-Pelham, a marketing and communications specialist.

Laura González, head of development for private banking in Germany, Benelux, the Iberian peninsula, France and Africa at Thomson Reuters, has been appointed as head of international accounts at Allfunds Bank, Funds People reports. She will report to Gianluca Renzini, global head of sales.Currently, Allfunds Bank has EUR55bn in assets intermediated for 320 institutional clients in 25 countries.

The French asset management firm La Financière de l’Echiquier has set itself an ambitious goal, the Börsen-Zeitung reports: “In the mid to long-term,” says Didier Le Menestrel, its founder and president, the firm is aiming for assets of EUR1bn in Germany, up from EUR100m currently. After all, he adds, it might be ambitious, but the firm will have needed 10 years to reach EUR200m in assets under management in France.

Goldman Sachs has priced the international asset management arm of Deutsche Bank at EUR2.5bn, Financial News reports. Among the potential buyers, the online news source cites BlackRock, State Street, Legg Mason and Franklin Resources.

As of the end of November, the online B2B bank ebase GmbH has taken over account and service management for over 30,000 clients and EUR1bn in assets from the real estate fund management firm KanAm Grund. It will also be responsible for new accounts to be opened in future.The agreement allows KanAm to focus on its core profession, management, distribution and administration of open-ended real estate funds, says Heiko Hartwig, CEO of KanAm Grund.ebase, for its part, says that the range of products and services KanAm clients are offered will be extended with a wide range of ways to interact with the firm. Opening hours will be extended for the telephone service, and clients will receive “comfortable” online account access, says Rudolf Geyer, CEO of ebase.

OppenheimerFunds has announced the recruitment of Kamal Bhatia, who becomes vice president, and joins the fixed income and alternative investments team as director of products. Bhatia worked previously for TIAA-CREF, where he was managing director in charge of real asset and socially responsible products.

Hedge fund managers expect global growth to slow next year, in a context of probable sovereign defaults in the euro zone and a slowdown in China, the Financial Times reports, citing a survey of hedge fund managers with USD800bn in assets under management. Many of them predict that the European Central Bank will have to ease its monetary policy, and slightly under 80% predict that the Federal Reserve will need to do the same.

One year after being granted a license by the SEC for its new actively-managed ETF activity (see Newsmanagers of 23 11 2010), Neuberger Berman is preparing the first product in its new range. According to Mutual Fund Wire, the New York-based asset management firm has submitted an application for a license for an ETF to be entitled Neuberger Berman Real Return Active ETF. It would invest in the US and international markets, in equities and bonds. Neuberger Berman has not stated what management fees the ETF will charge, Mutual Fund Wire reports.

The asset management firm Cosmo Asset Management, based in Seoul, is preparing to launch a mutual fund aimed at retail clients, Asian Investor reports. CosmoAM is also working on products for its Japanese parent company, Sparx, aimed at institutional clients. Cosmo is planning to offer a long-only equity strategy dedicated to the Korean market, which may be launched in January or February 2012. The alternative asset management firm Sparx, which controls 70% of Cosmo, manages about USD6.8bn in assets. Cosmo AM, for its part, manages slightly over USD3bn.

The net number of funds available for sale in Europe decreased by 390 funds between January and September 2011, a consequence of a significant increase in the number of merged funds rather than a fall in newly launched funds, explains Dunny P Moonesawmy, head of Europe and Middle East research at Lipper, which has published the statistics. 1,260 funds were merged in the period, compared with 1,142 in the year 2010 overall, and 1,662 in 2009. The mergers were primarily of equity funds (423). Meanwhile, 1523 funds were closed between January and September, while 2,383 funds were launched. As of the end of September, the number of funds on sale in Europe totalled 35,017. A trend for fund mergers is expected to continue, says Lipper, as the process of rationalising product ranges at asset management firms continues and with the UCITS 4 directive. Lipper also notes that Luxembourg continues to dominate the fund industry in Europe, with 9,183 funds out of 35,017 domiciled in the grand duchy as of the end of September, followed by France, with 5,425 products.

The Hong Kong-based asset management firm Myriad Asset Management, created by a former Highbridge manager, Carl Huttenlocher, is to launch a multi-strategy fund in December, Asian Investor reports. The fund, Myriad Oppiortunities Master Fund, whose launch has been delayed by valuation problems, will start with about USD300m in funds. The multi-strategy approach from Myriad has an Asian bias, and includes long/short equity, convertible, capital structure arbitrage, event driven, and credit strategies. The capacity of the new fund is USD2bn. If this level is reached by the end of second quarter 2012, the fund will be closed.

On 25 November, the CNMV registered the Foncaixa Garantia Eurobolsa fund, whose depository is CaixaBank. The product is a variable return fund which guarantees 104% of the initial net asset value (as of 17 February 2012), or alternatively the initial net asset value plus a 60% participation in the revaluation of the EuroStoxx 50 (PriceEuro) index between February 2012 and January 2016, at maturity (1 February 2016).The portfolio will be invested in cash, Spanish government debt repos, and money market funds, with an average maturity of less than 3 months and a minimal rating of A.CharacteristicsName: Foncaixa Garantia Eurobolsa 6 FIISIN code: ES0137665008Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.77%Early withdrawal penalty: 4%

The Zurich-based firm Swiss Investment Managers GmbH (SIM) in September launched a long/short fund entitled Directors Dealing Fund, which aims to outperform the equity markets through an analysis of legal insider trading, directors’ delaings, which is declared to the authorities. This approach identifies financial institutions which are the most exposed to heavy losses due to their exposure to the European debt crisis, AR Absolute Return + Alpha reports.The president and CEO of SIM and manager of the fund, Athanasios Ladopoulos, says that the portfolio is currently net short on European banks.The objective for SIM is to raise about EUR50m for the fund in one year, and EUR200m in two years.

Dans l’optique d’améliorer la performance de ses actifs, la Caisse de Retraite des Sénateurs belges a lancé en août 2011, un appel d’offres pour désigner plusieurs « specialty managers ». Pour rappel, il s’agit de mandats de gestion discrétionnaire sur plusieurs thèmes d’investissement spécialisés: énergie (lot 1), agri-food (lot 2), real assets (lot 3), actions européennes large cap (lot 4), actions à haut dividende (lot 5). Un gestionnaire sera mandaté pour chaque lot, à l’exception des actions à haut dividende et actions large cap, où il y aura deux gérants retenus. Au total, la Caisse de Retraite des Sénateurs de Belgique prévoit de sélectionner 7 gérants, dont certains pourront assurer la gestion de plusieurs lots. Avec une exigence de performance située à 2% au-dessus de l’inflation et une allocation stratégique qui se porte davantage sur l’obligataire (60/40 contre 50/50 aujourd’hui), Lode Vanhaverbeke, en charge du dossier au sein de la caisse de retraite des sénateurs ASBL, s’est dit « déçu » devant le faible nombre de sociétés, 8 au total, qui ont répondu. « Nous voulons investir entre 5 et 10 millions d’euros pour chacun des 5 lots, uniquement au travers de mandats de gestion discrétionnaire. Or, beaucoup de sociétés de gestion ont souhaité nous imposer d’investir dans leurs fonds ouverts phares ajoute-t-il. La société de conseil Econopolis Strategy va rendre dans les prochains jours un rapport à partir duquel les dirigeants de la caisse de retraite désigneront fin décembre au plus tôt les sociétés mandatées. Il s’agit uniquement de gestions actions puisque les obligations sont gérées en direct grâce au soutien du manager fiduciaire (Econopolis pour le moment en attendant les résultats d’un autre appel d’offres en cours dans ce domaine). La Caisse de Retraites des Sénateurs de Belgique a souhaité ajouter une composante ISR aux gestions des specialty managers, en reprenant les principes éthiques du principal fonds de pension norvégien.

La société de gestion remportant l’appel d’offres de l’IRCANTEC concernant un OPCI de 100 millions d’euros (d’après les projections) va être sélectionnée à l’occasion du prochain conseil d’administration de la caisse de retraite au mois de décembre. Comme indiqué dans l’appel d’offres, seules quatre candidats ont été pré-sélectionnées lors de la seconde phase qui a débuté en septembre. A noter que l’un des acteurs majeurs de la gestion d’OPCI intégrant une composante ISR, La Française AM, ne s’est pas porté candidat.

Peu attractives, les opérations de BNP Paribas et Société Générale apportent cependant de la liquidité sur un marché quasiment gelé

La composante optionnelle de ces titres est devenue quasiment gratuite sur certains marchés, notamment en Asie

Pour se recapitaliser, Santander, BNP Paribas et Société Générale ont lancé des offres d'échange ou de rachat de dettes hybrides, très décotées. Les termes sont donc peu attractifs mais ces offres constituent pour les investisseurs une porte de sortie dans un marché peu liquide.

L'OCDE, qui exhorte l'Europe à une action rapide et efficace, prévoit une phase de légère récession dans l'union monétaire

Le commissaire européen au Marché intérieur Michel Barnier, qui dévoilera sa proposition demain, rend l’audit conjoint optionnel mais insiste sur la rotation des cabinets.

Malgré la mise sous perspective du « AAA » américain par Fitch cette nuit, le rendement des obligations d’Etat à 10 ans restait stable à 1,99%

Il s'agit du deuxième échec consécutif pour Julius Baer qui a déjà tenté d'acquérir ABN Amro cette année

Des voix s'élèvent pour qu'elle renforce encore le programme d'achat de dette afin de maintenir les taux en dessous d'un certain seuil

La banque japonaise a indiqué avoir réduit de 83% sa détention d’actifs liés à l’Italie entre fin septembre et le 24 novembre, à 467 millions de dollars. Celle liée à l’Espagne a été réduite de 62% à 175 millions et celle liée à la Grèce de 43% à 27 millions.

L’agence estime dans un rapport que l’exposition aux CDS souverains a progressé de 1.500 milliards de dollars depuis fin 2008, avec l’Europe représentant environ les deux tiers de la hausse totale. Alors que le notionnel brut a fortement augmenté au cours des dernières années pour certains pays, l’exposition finale nette apparaît faible, à moins de 2% de la dette totale.