The singer Bob Geldof is not out seeking more donations for Africa: he is looking for investors for the “8 miles” fund, so named because Africa is only 8 miles away from Europe. He is being paid USD100,000 per year to bring in subscriptions for the fund, which is aiming for EUR1bn in assets, Die Welt reports. This amount will be sustainably invested in African businesses which pledge to respect European labour standards. The fund will prefer stakes in companies in the commercial and consumer goods sectors, the two sectors which are expected to drive development on the continent.

Citywire reports that Patrick Pittaway has left URAM to join another asset management firm based in Geneva. He co-founded the firm with Dominique Casaï in 2007.

La Tribune reports that the Japanese public pension fund GPIF (USD1.5trn in assets under management) will invest in emerging markets equities by the end of the year. The objective is to diversify the fund’s assets in order to achieve better returns to pay pensions, the newspaper explains.

The Belgian asset management firm Petercam Institutional Asset Management (about EUR15bn in assets), which has recently received an SRI label from Novethic for its two flagship SRI funds, Petercam Equities Europe Sustainable and Petercam L Bonds Government Sustainable, on 30 September announced that they have signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI).Hugo Lasat, partner and head of institutional asset management, has announced that in addition to its in-house screening system for government bonds, the Belgian asset management firm has also recently developed its exclusive best-in-class SRI/ESG selection process (see Newsmanagers of 17 June and 7 September). The model is based on exclusion and ratings of businesses on the basis of quantitative SRI and ESG (environmental, social and governance) data, with differentiation by sector.On the basis of ESG elements which are decisive in determining the ESG performance of a business in a given sector, Petercam has defined six key ESG performance indicators for each sector. The overall rating combines six general SRI indicators, four corporate governance indicators, and the six key ESG performance indicators. By defining key ESG and SRI indicators for each sector, Petercam has combined an Anglo-American approach which considers ESG data in order to detect advantages in risk/return profiles, with a best-in-class SRI approach which more closely monitors the social values of various stakeholders.

As of 30 September, assets in Spanish securities funds totalled slightly over EUR129.48bn, nearly EUR1.87bn, or 1.42% less than one month earlier.The Inverco association of asset management firms has calculated that September brought net outflows from funds of EUR681m, compared with EUR699m in August. It is the sixth consecutive month of net redemptions (see Newsmanagers of 2 September). Among the top ten asset management firms in the country by asset volumes, only Bankinter Gestión de Activos has posted net subscriptions, with a total of EUR0.38bn. The heaviest net outflows were from Invercaixa Gestión (EUR151.7m) and Santander Asset Management (EUR131.3m). Bansabadell Inversion and BBVA Asset Management, for their part, have seen net redemptions of EUR68.4m and EUR64.7m.Only three actors had assets of over EUR10bn as of the end of September. The leader remains Santander Asset Management, with nearly EUR21.6bn, followed by BBVA Asset Management (EUR20bn) and Invercaixa Gestión, with EUR15.69bn.

Absolute return funds, which are thought of as all-weather funds able to withstand falling markets, are undergoing an investor exodus, according to the most recent statistics from the British Investment Management Association (IMA). Net redemptions in August totalled GBP122m to retail clients. This is the worst month on record since April 2008. Equity funds, for their part, attracted net subscriptions of GBP515m in August, compared with net redemptions of GBP114m in July, but still below the GBP606m average over the past 12 months. In August, all asset classes combined saw subscriptions of GBP1.1bn overall, compared with GBP938m in July, the IMA notes.

According to reports in the Financial Times, the hedge fund firm Man Group is now planning to lay off one out of five employees, a total of about 400 people, by first quarter 2012, twice as many as initially projected. The news comes after a difficult week for the firm, which saw its share price fall by 30% since the announcement of a drop in asset levels.

The London division of Mirabaud Asset Management has confirmed that it has hired Paul Boughton from Neptune Investment Management and Andrew Blair from Skandia Investment Group to strengthen its UK team.Both will take up the role of joint sales and marketing director for the group, and the appointments form part of Mirabaud’s initiative to build a strong UK and Continental European business. The appointments are expected to begin in November.Paul Boughton and Andrew Blair will report directly to Mirabaud Partner and head of Asset Management Lionel Aeschlimann in Geneva; and they will be based in the company’s London office on Grosvenor Place.

The Canadian asset management firm AGF has increased its debt facility with an eye to acquiring an institutional asset management firm in Europe or the United States, Financial News reports. The announcement comes one year after the acquisition of Acuity, an asset management firm based in Toronto.

Savings have high expectations of financial intermediaries, with higher requirements for clarity of information, listening and the quality of advice, transparency on fees, and these expectations apply at every step of the relationship, according to an annual study by Fidelity about European and French investor confidence.In the current context of low returns and high volatility, fees are often a catalyst for debate. They are at the core of transparency demands on the part of savings investors, while transparency on fees is an essential deciding criterion for 37%, and a majority (72%) would like to know more.A significant percentage of savings investors (56%) would not yet countenance the charging of advising fees, a practice which has hitherto remained marginal. The top reason for this cited by savings investors (59% of European and 71% of French investors) is a sense that financial advisers are already paid by the company that employs them. The 44% who say they would be open to being billed for advising say that they would require a certain level of personalised advising and transparency about fees.However, the quality of information received from advisers is perceived as excellent or good by 64% of European and 66% of French investors. One quarter (26% of Europeans and 22% of French investors) consider it mediocre or poor. In terms of comprehension of an investment, the major reasons cited by Europeans is the investment horizon (30%), the notion of the liquidity of a product (27%) and the level of risk (26%).French clients mention a way to get their investment back without a withdrawal fee (26%), tax advantages (22%) and an equivalent level of expected risk and returns (20%). Among those who say they do not understand well, difficulty in comparing information (26%) and use of technical vocabulary (18%) are the most-cited reasons.As to advising, seven out of 10 savings investors say they are satisfied overall with the quality of advising they receive, while 10% say they are “fully” satisfied. In France, the situation is slightly more delicate, with 6 out of 10 savigns investors satisfied overall, and 7% fully satisfied. A more alarming finding is that 1 European client out of every 5 feels that their financial adviser puts his or her interests above their own. In Italy and France, the percentages of respondents who say this are highest, at 32% and 31% of respondents, respectively, with respondents also questioning the morals of advisers.

Chi-X Europe, la plate-forme de négociation alternative aux Bourses traditionnelles, doit selon La Tribune dévoiler ce lundi 3 octobre une nouvelle gamme de benchmarks boursiers paneuropéens, en collaboration avec Russell Indexes. Un premier indice permettra réunira les 216 valeurs parmi les plus liquides en Europe, en provenance de 14 pays, sous le nom « Cheri PanEurope ». L'étape suivante sera le lancement de produits dérivés sur la plate-forme ayant pour sous-jacents les indices. «Les premiers seront probablement des fonds cotés sur indices», précise Belinda Keheyan, responsable du marketing de Chi-X.

The former head of retail distribution for Germany and Austria at Axa IM, Bernhard Klocke, who left the firm one year ago (see Newsmanagers of 14 October 2010), with three members of the high yield credit team who left Axa Investment Managers at the end of June (see Newsmanagers of 28 June), Hannah Strasser, Anne Yobage and Thomas Kelleher, have founded the investment boutique Sky Harbor Capital Management, in Greenwich, Connecticut, Fonds Professionell reports. Stone Point Capital is the strategic partner of the new entity.

Romain Bournand, who with Patrice Courty is co-director of Moneta Asset Management, is not planning to alter his approach to strategy. Moneta is an independent boutique which plans to remain independent and which hopes to avoid growing at any price. The management of equities mutual funds is the only profession at Moneta, and its major challenge is to “continue to manage existing funds well.”

Olivier Gourragne has revealed the name of his new employer. It is the French bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, a firm which the former chairman of Fidelity International France has joined as director of financial markets. Gourragne will be based in Brest, in the Support and Development unit at the bank, a statement says. Gourragne, 47, spent 15 years at Fidelity.

The European agency Vigeo, a specialist in the analysis of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks, on 30 September announced that it has opened an office in London.“The United Kingdom is a highly dynamic market which has a leading position in the area of responsible investment. With this local office, we will be better able to strengthen our relationships with local clients, and to bring added value to our research in the various areas of responsible investment,” the chairman of Vigeo, Nicole Notat, says in a statement.Along with the opening of this office, Vigeo has also announced the recruitment of Lindsay Smart as head of development for Vigeo on the British market. Smart, who will be based in London, was previously head of communication and sustainable development initiatives at Citi Global Transaction Services. She was also in charge of marketing for SRI and environmental investment products for the asset management firm RCM (Allianz Global Investors).

Agefi reports that the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holdings has invested USD1bn (EUR747m) in the mining group European Goldfields, including EUR600m to finance gold mining activities in Greece. It is the second business investment by the Gulf state in Greece in the past two months; in August, it participated in the merger of EFG EuroBank and Alpha Bank. According to the fund’s CEO, Qatar is “studying various opportunities in the country.”

Une partie de la trésorerie du CEA est affectée aux fonds de démantèlement civil et défense et dédiée aux dépenses futures de démantèlement des installations et de gestion des déchets et combustibles usés. Composé à partir de l'échéancier des dépenses, qui s'étale pour une grande part sur une période allant jusqu'à 2040 et au-delà, ce portefeuille est géré dans une optique long terme en cohérence avec la chronique de décaissement des passifs. Cependant, compte tenu de la non réalisation des dotations en cash escomptées et d’un horizon d’assèchement à court terme qui en découle, la désensibilistion aux actifs risqués entamée en 2009 en ce qui concerne le risque actions, a été poursuivie en 2010 et 2011 par une désensibilisation au risque de taux, avec en contrepartie un renforcement du monétaire. Ce portefeuille est investi via des fonds communs de placement (FCP) dont la gestion est externalisée. Il est constitué de 96 % de FCP à référence monétaire (dont 49 % d’obligations à maturité, 16 % de fonds à faible volatilité, 31 % de monétaire régulier) et de 4 % de FCPR (capital investissement). La composition de ce portefeuille et son évolution dans le temps s’inscrivent dans le cadre d'études d’allocation stratégique cible d’actifs présentées aux Comités de suivi des Fonds civil et défense. Le CEA s’appuie sur un conseil externe pour superviser la cohérence d’ensemble et contrôler les performances de la gestion dédiée sur le long terme. La performance globale de ce portefeuille s’apprécie dorénavant par rapport à un indice stratégique réparti entre le Lehman Brothers Euro aggrégate pour sa composante taux, le Private Equity pour sa composante actions et l’Eonia capitalisé pour sa composante monétaire. FCP d’obligations à maturité Les échéances des obligations sont en adéquation avec les appels de fonds. Les notations minimales lors de la conclusion des opérations sont P1 (Moody’s), A1 (Standard & Poor’s), F1 (FITCH). FCPR de capital investissement Compte tenu de la désensibilisation du portefeuille aux actions, seules subsistent les souscriptions dans les FCPR de capital investissement dont l’absence de liquidité nécessite une détention pendant la durée de création des fonds qui est généralement de l’ordre de dix ans.

L’expert européen de l’analyse des risques environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance (ESG) a décidé d’accélérer son développement sur le marché britannique en ouvrant un bureau à Londres. Lindsay Smart est nommée responsable du développement de Vigeo sur le marché britannique.

Le cours de la devise chinoise est venu tester deux jours de suite la bande de fluctuation journalière de plus ou moins 0,5 % fixée par Pékin

Les panélistes tablent sur une stabilité des spreads en octobre après les fortes tensions des deux derniers mois

Malgré une première hausse des volumes depuis quatre ans, selon l'enquête annuelle de la BCE, l'accent est mis sur les maturités courtes

Les gestions se renforcent d’un point en actions et en obligations. Mais la poche de cash se maintient à un niveau élevé

Le déficit a atteint 9,8 % du PIB en 2010 au lieu des 9,1 % annoncés, et s'élevait à 8,8 % fin juin. Mais le Portugal vise toujours 5,9 % fin 2011

Depuis début septembre, les gestions ont abaissé de 6 à 7 % leurs prévisions à six mois sur le CAC 40 et sur l’Euro Stoxx 50

Contrairement au projet bruxellois, le Royaume-Uni tient à ce que la Financial Services Authority supervise les chambres de compensation pour dérivés.

Près de la moitié des panélistes prévoient désormais une baisse du refi dans les 3 mois

Près de la moitié des panélistes prévoient désormais une baisse du refi dans les 3 mois

L’amorce d’un retournement durable à la hausse demande toutefois à être confirmée

L'accord du Royaume-Uni, qui concentre l'essentiel du marché, n'est pas indispensable, seule la majorité qualifiée étant requise

La SEC mentionne dans un rapport des faiblesses dans les contrôles internes et dans les procédures de gestion des conflits d'intérêts