After a career at Skandia Investment Group, Aviva Investors and BNPP Paribas Asset Management, the Spanish citizen Natalia Santos has recently been appointed as head of channel marketing for Europe and vice president at Legg Mason Global Asset Management in London. Santos will be based in London, and will be in charge of coordinating marketing strategy for the US asset management firm in continental Europe and the United Kingdom.

EFG International on 4 July announced the appointment of Gerhard H. (Gary) Müller on 4 July as head of strategy for private banking activities in Europe, pending the approval of the regulatory authorities. Müller will also become a member of the board of directors at EFG Bank, a Swiss affiliate of EFG International.Müller will assist Alain Diriberry, CEO for private banking in Europe, in developing and rolling out strategy. Private banking activities in Europe, including Switzerland, Spain, France, Scandinavia, Luxembourg, Monaco, Liethtenstein and Gibraltar, represent a significant part of the mission which has been defined by John Williamson, the new CEO of the group, to review all of the operations of EFG International. This mission is ongoing, and hence the decision of EFG International to more effectively balance its desire to continue growth by adopting a more rigorous profit orientation.Before joining EFG International, Müller spent more than 16 years ato RBS Coutts, including periods as CEO of RBS Coutts Bank (since 2006) and RBS Wealth International (since 2009).

Tanja Engel, who spent seven years at American Express, most recently as director of taxation issues in Frankfurt, has been appointed as COO of Schroder Investment Management in Germany. She will report directly to Achim Küssner, CEO of Schroders Germany. She will be responsible for the compliance, legal, IT, planning and controlling sectors.

German-based Gothaer Asset Management, an affiliate of the insurer Gothaer, manages EUR25bn in assets. According to the Börsen-Zeitung, the firm is now planning to offer its six open-ended funds to retail investors; they had previously been distributed exclusively by the network of Gothaer travelling sales staff, in the frame of unit-linked policies. The plans to extend the sales will focus on the firm’s three multi-asset class funds, launched three years ago, which attracted EUR90m. They may invest in equities, bonds, commodities and real estate.

Internationale Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH (HSBC INKA) on 4 July announced that since 1 July, it has once again opened subscriptions and redemptions for the HSBC Trinkaus Genüsse International fund (ISIN: DE0009756569), which had been closed on 30 September 2008, due to a shortage of liquidity due to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.The product, managed by Kerstin Terhardt at HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) GmbH, had invested largely in dividend-right certificates (Genußscheine). Since then, the portfolio has been redeployed and invested in hybrid corporate bonds, and in tier 1 subordinate bank bonds.Inka reports that the indicative net asset value of the fund as of 30 June totalled EUR64.23, higher than the EUR63.43 recorded on 26 September 2008, just before redemptions and subscriptions were frozen.

The asset management firm Eden Financial on 4 July announced the recruitment of two former Gartmore managers, Dan Roberts and Leigh Himsworth, as part of its plans to develop its range of asset management activities. Both will begin in early July.Himsworth will manage the CF Eden UK Select Opportunities Fund, which is slated for launch in the near future. Roberts will be in charge of an income fund dedicated to international equities, whose launch is scheduled for slightly later in the year.

The British asset management firm Brooks Macdonald, a specialist in mandates, has launched an open-ended fund activity led by the former head of sales and marketing from SWIP (Scottish Widows Investment Partnership), Simon Wombwell, which offers funds acquired with Lawrence House in September 2009, and Braedmer Group in July 2010, Money Marketing reports.The activity, Brooks Macdonald Funds, includes three funds from Lawrence House and four specialised funds, three of which come from the Braemer group; it received clearance from the FSA in April this year.As of 31 March 2011, assets under management in mandates totalled GBP2.8bn.

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) from today, Tuesday, 5 July, has begun a process to harmonise the names of its funds. Initially, the funds will adopt the “Ednomd de Rotschild” prefix. Subsequently, the names will be simplified to the acronym “EdR.” The modifications to the names of funds in the range will have no effect on the technical characteristics of the funds.

Tim Attias, former co-head of investment at Rubicon Fund Management, one of the top-performing hedge funds of the past three years, will launch his own hedge fund firm, Financial News reports.Catherine Cripps is leaving her position as chief investment officer and head of research in the multi-management team at GAM to join Attias.

State Street Global Advisors on 4 July announced that new index-based funds for its SPDR ETF platform, specialised in equities and fixed-income products listed on Deutsche Börse are now available to French investors.The launch is a sign of SSgA’s desire to develop its ETF product activities in Europe, and these new products are additions to the existing range of SPDR funds, which have been admitted to trading on Euronext Paris.The new SPDR ETF funds include funds specialised in equities from emerging markets and global equities, which are the first European ETF funds to reproduce the indices of the MSCI All Country World Index (ACWI) and the MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index (ACWI IMI) as well as the first fund specialised in fixed-income products which provides investors with access to emerging market debt denominated in local currencies.The new SPDR Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond ETF is a first on the European marke, and the SPDR Barclays Capital Sterling Aggregate Bond ETF is the first ETF fund in the world to provide access to the investment-grade bond market denominated in pounds Sterling, reproducing the Barclays Capital Sterling Aggregate Index.The new SPDR ETF funds are the following/Xetra symbol Fixed income products SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF SYBMSPDR Barclays Capital Euro Aggregate Bond ETF SYBASPDR Barclays Capital Euro Government Bond ETF SYBCSPDR Barclays Capital Euro Corporate Bond ETF SYBBSPDR Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond ETF SYBUSPDR Barclays Capital US Treasury Bond ETF SYBTSPDR Barclays Capital Sterling Aggregate Bond ETF SYBPGlobal equities Xetra symbolSPDR MSCI ACWI ETF SPYY SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI ETF SPYI Emerging markets equitiesSPDR MSCI Emerging MarketsSM ETF SPYMSPDR MSCI Emerging MarketsSM Small Cap ETF SPYXSPDR MSCI EMSM Asia ETF SPYASPDR MSCI EMSM Latin America ETF SPYLSPDR MSCI EMSM Europe ETF SPYB

BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNP Paribas) on 4 July announced the launch of the first master/feeder fund solution to comply with the UCITS IV directive. The solution, designed to assist asset management to reach more final investors more efficiently, also introduces the concept of the fee-free feeder fund, a revolution in fund distribution.Margaret Harwood-Jones, head of the asset management clients segment at BNP Paribas Securities Services says of the launch in a statement that “with the imminent entry into force of the UCITS IV directive, we are very pleased to be the first to offer this solution for master-feeder funds. Out integrated service takes into account all combinations of master and feeder funds, and is available in most European countries.”The BNP Paribas range is unique in that it includes fund administration services, global custody, depository and reporting, all of it available for free to some feeder funds. Through the BNP Paribas solution, managers get a global view of master funds with a consolidated view of each fund, while automated trading limits manual operations. The synchronisation fo operations, the single platform and the global operational model at BNP Paribas contribute to maximise investment opportunities for managers, and optimises the alignment of performances for master-feeder structures. In this way, final investors get easier access to their investments.

As Newsmanagers announced last week, Ossiam, the asset management firm of the Natixis GAM group specialised in strategy ETFs, on Monday 4 July released its first six equities ETFs for sale on NYSE Euronext in Paris. Five of the funds, sub-funds of the firm’s Luxembourg-registered Sicav, have been listed since 27 June for trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform from Deutsche Börse, while the French market is the exclusive outlet for the Ossiam ETF CAC 40 Equal Weight NR.The latter fund belongs to the range of equally weighted index-based funds with net dividends reinvested which attributes equal weight to each share at rebalancing, regardless fothe cap size of the companies, unlike the classic index, in which market capitalisation determines the weight of companies. In practice, at each quarterly rebalancing, all businesses weigh 2.5%. With the other funds of the equally-weighted index strategies, the principle is identical. For the Ossiam ETF EURO STOXX 50® Equal Weight NR, each share weighs 2%; for the Ossiam ETF STOXX® EUROPE 600 Equal weight NR, shares represent 0.1667% each at each rebalancing – quarterly in both cases.The other family includes ETFs which follow the Minimum Variance strategy. The objective is to offer investors average volatility of lower by more than 30% than the benchmark universe, which is a de facto limit on drawdowns. The non-discretionary quantitative approach of the management firm has led it to develop the strategy index iStoxx Europe Minimum Variance (dividends reinvested) on the basis of the Stoxx Europe 600 index, which represents a “dynamic sample of the 300 most liquid equities, weighted in such a way as to minimise the volatility of the portfolio». For Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance NR, the benchmark index is based on a dynamic sample of the 250 most liquid equities of the S&P 500 index. The strategy index is adjusted each month on a fixed date, the third Friday of the month. Characteristics of the fundsOssiam ETF CAC 40 Equal Weight (LU0599612768, TER : 0.30%)Ossiam ETF STOXX® EUROPE 600 Equal weight NR (LU0599613147, TER (*) : 0.35%) Ossiam ETF EURO STOXX 50® Equal weight NR (LU0599613063, TER: 0.30%)Ossiam ETF Europe Minimum Variance NR (LU0599612842, TER : 0.65%)Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance NR (parts en euros : LU0599612685, TER: 0.65%) Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance NR (parts en dollars : LU0599612412, TER: 0.65%).All of the funds are eligible for life insurance and PEA investment, except the Ossiam ETF US Minimum Variance NR, which is not eligible for equities savings plans.TER stands for Total Expense Ratio.

La Banque Postale on 4 July announced the appointment of Pierre-Manuel Srocynski as CEO and a member of the board at La Banque Postale Asset Management.Srocyznski replaces Anne-Laure Bourn, who on 1 June 2011 was appointed as chief operating officer at La Banque Postale.Since 1 January 2006, Srocyznski was chief financial operations officer at La Banque Postale, and from 16 November 2009 he was chairman of the board of directors at Tocqueville Finance.

BNP Paribas Banque Privée this Tuesday, 5 July, is officially opening its wealth management office in Marseille, Les Echos reports. Following Bordeaux and Lille, the new location is part of a larger strategy of reorganising the wealth management network in France, with proximity as a level to win over new clients. Local offices will also be opened by the end of the year in Toulouse and Lyon.

Until recently, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) had been the custodian for mutual funds from Pioneer Investments (UniCredit group). Since June, Mutual Fund Wire states, BBH is also in charge of fund accounting, and the transition has already begun; it is slated for completion by the end of first quarter 2012. About half of the 41 employees in fund accounting services at Pioneer in Boston will be moved to similar positions at BBH.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the inflation team at Pimco (Allianz Global Investors), led by Mihir Worah, has earned capital gains of about USD50m, through an investment in TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities) through first half, particularly as of the most recent auction on 23 June. Morgan Stanley, however, has seen major losses due to short-selling its TIPS, although the initial bet on the securities by Edward Glenn Hadden, head of the fixed income division, reportedly has made money.

The Danish real estate fund Aberdeen Property Fund Denmark P/S on 4 July announced that on 1 July it acquired a portfolio of comercial properties for EUR90m from the pension fund TDC. Half of the purchase price will be paid in cash, and the other half in shares in Aberdeen funds.The portfolio is composed of 22 properties, mostly office properties, which come in addition to 490,000 share metres already managed by Aberdeen. The purchase price corresponds to direct net returns of 7.4% in the long term.At the conclusion of the transaction, the Aberdeen Property Fund Denmark will have assets of EUR855m.

Notre stratégie financière est assez conservatrice. Nous souhaitons d’abord qu’en haut de cycle l’entreprise n’ait pas de dette. Au 31 mars 2011, les fonds propres sont de 4.1 milliards d’euros pour 1.3 milliards de dette nette. Cette approche peut paraître très prudente mais nos métiers ont comme particularité que la plupart des contrats sont en partie financés par les clients. Nous leur fournissons des équipements et des services, et ils trouvent le financement. Bien que nous soyons dans l’industrie lourde, notre intensité capitalistique est faible par rapport à notre chiffre d’affaires. Par ailleurs, nous tenons à disposer d’un matelas de liquidités, quitte à payer un certain coût de portage, puisque le cash dont nous disposons grâce à nos emprunts obligataires est à un taux faible mais supérieur au taux sans risque auquel nos liquidités sont rémunérées. Mais c’est précisément grâce à notre niveau de liquidité que Moody’s a amélioré notre notation en nous retirant notre outlook négatif pour le passer à stable. Source: Option Finance

«Notre stratégie est aujourd’hui fondée sur une approche Solvency 2 et à partir de la SCR de marché qui constitue pour nous une limite à ne pas dépasser, nous cherchons à optimiser notre portefeuille», explique Daniel Fruchart, directeur financier du groupe Macif. En réalité les configurations de la mutuelle sont relativement stables car son portefeuille est déjà très purifié. La Macif a, en effet, déjà moins d’actions que l’ensemble de la profession. Ainsi, au niveau groupe, le portefeuille est composé d’obligations entre 75 et 80%, d’actions entre 7 à 8%, d’immobilier entre 4 à 5% et les titres de participations représentent, enfin, 10 à 13%. «Nous constatons aujourd’hui que le SCR au niveau du groupe Macif est inférieur aux besoins de marges de Solvency 1 et nous ferons, en fait, dans le cadre de Solvency 2 mieux que dans Solvency 1», poursuit Daniel Fruchart. Le groupe constate cependant, un certain alourdissement en matière d’assurance dommage, par contre sa filiale assurance vie a un profil de risques extrêmement réduit. «La mise en place de Solvency 2 ne bouleversera pas notre allocation d’actifs car notre profil était déjà très prudent», souligne Daniel Fruchart. Pourtant, le groupe entend bien ne pas se limiter aux coûts en fonds propres des actifs mais compte aussi sur leur rentabilité. Ainsi, chaque classe d’actifs possède une espérance de rentabilité et un chargement en fonds propres. Le groupe entend optimiser l’espérance de rentabilité du portefeuille par rapport au coût global en fonds propres. «Cela ne conduit pas nécessairement à arbitrer au détriment des actifs qui sont le plus chargés, conclut Daniel Fruchart. Nous pouvons être amenés à conserver des actions aux espérances de rentabilité très élevées malgré un chargement en fonds propres à priori pénalisant».

Le quotidien croit savoir de source proche que le hedge fund londien lancé en 2009 Tyrus Capital entend ouvrir un bureau à Monaco. Une partie de l’équipe actuelle rejoindra cette nouvelle implantation, nouveau témoignage clair des craintes grandissantes des fonds alternatifs face au déploiement de nouvelles taxes et réglementations au Royaume-Uni. Les deux cofondateurs de Tyrus resteront à Londres.

En vue de tenir tête dans un contexte mondial de concentration des opérateurs boursiers, les Bourses d’Osaka et de Tokyo poursuivent leurs négociations en vue d’un rapprochement.Le Tokyo Stock Exchange, numéro quatre mondial en termes de volumes de transactions, aurait selon le quotidien nippon formulé une offre d’achat. Une offre qui devrait être rejetée.

L'agence prévient que la reconduction des créances privées se traduirait par un défaut sélectif

L'agence prévient que la reconduction des créances privées se traduirait par un défaut sélectif

Dans un entretien au quotidien, Michael Spencer, directeur général d’Icap, le principal courtier interbancaire au monde, se dresse contre le projet de rapprochement entre Nyse Euronext et Deutsche Börse. Une opération qui serait «fondamentalement mauvaise pour les marchés» du fait de la situation de monopole à laquelle elle donnerait naissance.

Deux prêts structurés souscrits en 2006 et 2007 auprès de Dexia et indexés sur le change font grimper le coût de la dette de la ville au 1er juillet.

Le plan de 47 milliards d'euros adopté la semaine dernière prévoit une hausse d'impôt de 0,75 % imposée aux établissements financiers

Deux emprunts indexés sur des taux de change, d'un encours de 28 millions, voient leur taux passer de 4,4 % et 4,8 % à plus de 7 % et 10 %

Deutsche Bank et BNP Paribas conservent leurs places d'arrangeurs les plus actifs pour les émissions corporates

Les financières, très chahutées, les services aux collectivités, l'énergie et les télécoms pèsent 84 % de la capitalisation du MIB et de l'Ibex

En plein débat sur la complexité croissante de ces produits, la filiale de Natixis se lance sur le segment avec cinq fonds