Les clients d’Assurancevie.com ont désormais la possibilité de confier la gestion de la partie en Unités de Compte de leur contrat Puissance Vie au gestionnaire Raiffeisen Capital Management par l’entremise du fonds Copernic Global Fund. Véritable gestion dédiée Copernic Global Fund est disponible exclusivement au sein du contrat assuré par ACMN VIE, Puissance Vie. Une solution de gestion innovante pour les UC... Assurancevie.com, dès son lancement, a fait le choix de ne pas proposer d’outils d’allocation d’actifs ou de gestion pilotée dans son contrat. Convaincu que la gestion d’un contrat d’assurance vie sur le long terme repose autant sur la gestion du risque que sur le choix et la répartition d’une sélection de fonds, Assurancevie.com entend aujourd’hui apporter une réponse à cet objectif au travers d’une nouvelle Unité de Compte, Copernic Global Fund. Copernic Global Fund est un fonds de fonds innovant visant à sélectionner en permanence la meilleure allocation d’actifs à partir des 487 supports référencés sur le contrat Puissance Vie. La gestion, la sélection et l’allocation sont assurées par les équipes autrichiennes de Raiffeisen Capital Management.Le fond Copernic Global Fund intègre de fait les instruments de gestion du risque propres à Raiffeisen Capital Management. Cette gestion est effectuée en toute indépendance, sans intervention d’Assurancevie.com, avec pour objectif de respecter une volatilité maximum de 10%. Assurancevie.com propose ainsi à ses clients une solution de gestion clé en main efficiente pour sa cible prioritaire, le mass market. Copernic Global Fund a pour objectif de réaliser une performance annuelle comprise entre 6 et 10% sur une période de long terme, à savoir entre 5 et 8 ans. L’objectif est également d’offrir un fonds avec une performance lissée dans le temps qui atténue les à-coups des marchés financiers. ...réalisée en exclusivité par des professionnels de la gestion collective 8 mois seulement après son lancement, Assurancevie.com poursuit son développement en enrichissant l’offre de son contrat Puissance Vie assuré par ACMN VIE. Après avoir référencé 86 nouveaux supports issus de 6 nouvelles sociétés de gestion en mars 2011, l’offre de fonds est désormais constituée de 434 OPVCM et de 53 trackers, soit 487 supports. Aujourd’hui, au-delà de cette offre enrichie, qui saura satisfaire les assurés souhaitant composer eux-mêmes leur allocation, Assurancevie.com innove « en proposant une solution de gestion en pilotage automatique de la part Unités de Compte du contrat d’assurance vie Puissance Vie. Le commandant de bord est un des meilleurs gérants européens, et l’avion est un contrat d’assurance vie sur internet, au meilleur standard du marché, avec un choix de fonds parmi les plus riches. » précise Edouard Michot, président d’Assurancevie.com.

Apicil a lancé une consultation restreinte auprès de sociétés de gestion pour la mise en place d’une nouvelle poche d’environ 40 millions d’euros, dédiée à la gestion obligataire crédit. Les résultats de cette audition ont été annoncés début mai et LBPAM est en charge de ce mandat. De même, nous sommes sorti des obligations convertibles ayant un profil taux en raison des contraintes réglementaires qui pèsent sur l’univers d’investissement ajoute Xavier Léron, le directeur de l’administration et des finances. A la place, le fonds AGIRA Matières Premières (30 millions d’euros) a été crée en prenant en compte des contraintes réglementaires draconiennes de l’AGIRC ARRCO. Il est opérationnel depuis le 13 mai, nous savons que la gestion de ce fonds sera délicate et nous avons choisi la Financière de la Cité pour son approche de long terme, institutionnelle que nous lui connaissons depuis sa création, affirme Xavier Léron.

On 18 May, the New York auction house Morrel & Company will auction off the contents of Bernard Madoff’s wine cellar, Das Investment reports, citing AFP. The collection includes only 58 bottles, with an estimated value of EUR11,000, including a Château Petrus 1976 and a case of Mouton Rothschild.

Morgan Stanley has announced the launch of a UCITS III fund, which will be domiciled in Ireland, and will be available on the firm’s local platform, FundLogic Alternatives. The San Francisco-based management firm Ascend Capital, which manages about USD3.2bn in assets, has been appointed as “investment manager” for the product, MS Ascend Ucits Fund, which will be promoted by Morgan Stanley. The fund is a long/short strategy focusing on US equities, which aims to “maximise gains and simultaneously to reduce volatility,” a statement from Morgan Stanley says.

MoneyMarketing reports that Aviva Investors is planning to launch an income fund of US equities in the next few months. The fund will be managed by Henry Sanders, one of the founders of River Road Asset Management, which was acquired by Aviva early in 2010. The fund will replicate the Dividend All-Cap Value Strategy fund from River Road. The portfolio of the fund may include up to 50% large caps, and one third midcaps, while the remainder of the fund will be reserved for small caps.

On 16 May, DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank) has announced that it will be suspending subscriptions and redemptions for its open-ended real estate fund of funds db ImmoFlex (EUR259m) until further notice, since a large portion of its portfolio is invested in open-ended real estate funds from which redemptions have been frozen, and that freeze is likely to continue for some time to come.Liquidity in the db ImmoFlex fund is insufficient to meet all redemption demands; in order to satisfy those, the fund would need to sell assets at unjustifiable markdowns, which would result in a considerable deterioration in the quality of the portfolio (14 funds, invested in about 500 properties in more than 20 countries), as well as the risk structure of the fund.The fund, which has exclusively retail clients, is said to have undergone net outflows of EUR50m since the beginning of the year, and its liquidity levels are said to have fallen to 7% (while the legal minimum is 5%).

Andrea Benenati, head of the Hong Kong office and CEO for northern Asia at the Julius Baer group, will be leaving the firm next month in order to found his own management firm in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. Alexandre Floersheim, head of investment advising services in Hong Kong, will also be leaving Julius Baer in order to assist Benenati with his new projects.

The European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama) has published a report on the evolving investment strategies of UCITS. A working group was convened to examine the increasing sophistication of these products. Traditionally, UCITS funds have been regarded worldwide as plain vanilla investment funds which only employ traditional investment strategies. However, as allowed by the UCITS III Directive of 2001, there are nowadays more and more UCITS funds that use a wider range of techniques and instruments with the aim of managing the trade-off between risk and return. One of the main examples is using derivative techniques to generate “absolute” returns to the investors. The investor demand for these types of products has significantly increased since the financial markets crisis. In particular, there is clear investor desire to achieve yield uplift relative to the low returns on deposit accounts. At the same time there is a demand from investors for capital security. Commenting on the publication of the report Peter De Proft, director general of Efama, said: “The “Newcits” label was coined by the media and should not be adopted by the industry or regulators. We do not believe that it is necessary or beneficial to have a specific label for these funds. The universe of UCITS is evolving but this is encompassed by the UCITS regulatory framework. Moreover, the regulatory requirements and supervisory tools are being developed, especially under the UCITS IV framework, which enters into force on 1 July 2011”.

On 16 May, NYSE-Euronext announced that it has admitted the Irish ETF HSBC SP BRIC 40 ETF (IE00B5YLK706) from HSBC, which replicates the SP BRIC 40 index, and which charges fees of 0.60%, to trading on its Paris ETF platform.NYSE Euronext now lists 556 ETFs, replicating over 360 indices, 648 times. Since the beginning of the year, the stock market company added 107 listings of 81 ETFs on its European platforms.

Mutual Fund Wire reports that First Trust Advisors has launched its first ETF allowing investors access to the automotive industry. The First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund, which has been available on the Nasdaq since 10 May, tracks the performance of 30 companies active in the automotive sector.

As of the end of 2010, German clients had an average portfolio of about EUR8,650 each in investment funds, 8.9% more than the average of EUR7.946 recorded at the end of 2009 (see Newsmanagers of 29 June 2010). Between the end of 2000 and the end of 2010, the average portfolio of investment fund shares grew by 67.8%.However, German investors are far behind those in other countries. As of the end of December, the biggest investors were the Americans, with an average of EUR29.081, 5.4% more than as of 31 December 2010. The increase over the end of 2009 is 13.6%. French investors are in second place, with EUR19,427, down 4.4% compared with the end of 2010, and up 49.1% in ten years.Swedish, British and Austrian investors are also ahead of the Germans, with EUR17,657 (up 89.5% in ten years), EUR11,000 (+57.6%), and EUR10,197 (-0.7%).

The Swiss government is planning to announced proposed legislation this summer, which would bring Switzerland into line with the European directive on hedge fund management (AIFM) from 2013, thus toughening the regulations applicable to hedge funds and private equity funds in Switzerland, but allowing Swiss management firms continued access to EU markets, Handelsblatt reports.The move could be fatal for smaller hedge funds, due to the financial costs related to the license application process, auditing and personnel costs for recruitments to handle compliance and risk monitoring. Some experts claim that no hedge fund will be able to be profitable with less than CHF100m in assets, and that the regulatory changes will work to the advantage of London.In Switzerland there are now about 140 hedge fund management firms, with total assets of about CHF20bn.

Following the acquisition of the bond and currency markets specialist Augustus Asset Managers by GAM, the management of the GAM Star Pharo Emerging Market Debt & FX fund will be brought back in-house, and will be given to Paul McNamara, investment director at GAM. The fund will become known as the GAM Star Emerging Markets Total Return. The fund had previously been managed by Pharo Global Advisors Limited. The outsourcing contract for the management of the fund will conclude on 1 June. McNamara and his team joined GAM following its acquisition of Augustus Asset Managers in 2009. The asset management firm invests in emerging markets debt, and as of 30 April 2011, McNamara managed about USD7.6bn in assets. The fund will continue to aim for total returns 3% to 5% higher than the JP Morgan EMBI Global Diversified Composite index, and will continue to be managed with a top-down macroeconomic style which prioritises active risk management.

Kerstin Behnke, managing director and head of Northern Europe, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg at Gartmore Investment Services GmbH, will join Fidelity Investment Services GmbH on 20 June as head of distribution for Fidelity International for Germany. She will be responsible for banking clients, savings banks, IFAs, insurers and wealth managers.Christian Wrede, CEO of Fidelity International for Germany and managing director for Central Europe, points out that for Fidelity, Germany is a core market with major potential.

WestLB Mellon Asset Management (WMAM, EUR25.5bn in assets) has announced that since the beginning of May, Holger Sandte has become chief economist for the asset management boutique, which is a 50/50 joint venture of WestLB and BNY Mellon. It is a newly-created position.Since 2006, Sandte had been head of the economic research department at WestLB.

The largest German pension fund, Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), which manages about EUR54bn in assets, claims that there can be no such thing as a general approach to SRI investment, Citywire Global reports.Each asset class has distinctive traits, and responsible investment strategies need to be adapted to each of them. In April this year, the pension fund announced plans to roll out SRI strategies for its entire portfolio, and also signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI).The head of asset management for the pension fund, André Heimrich, has announced that the group has opted for an engagement strategy, and adds that it is not possible to have a one-size-fits-all approach in this area. “It is impossible to have a general SRI approach for all asset classes,” says Heimrich. “A differentiated approach is necessary, since asset classes are very different from one another. For example, in fixed income, it is not possible to have direct engagement. You are required to take a different approach. We have therefore defined our own vision of the best possible approach for each asset class,” Heimrich says.This goes for bond investments as well, which represent about 65% of the total portfolio, and for which the pension fund uses SRI ratings from the oekom research agency to analyse each of its bond investments on the basis of criteria such as transparency.

A spokesperson for LGT Bank has confirmed to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the collapse of its proposed acquisition of BHF-Bank from Deutsche Bank (see Newsmanagers of 19 April) will prevent it from achieving its strategic objectives for private banking in Germany. The firm will therefore sell off wealth management in the country (135 employees in seven locations), but will retain its institutional asset management activities there.

Rumours that the Banca Leonardo group may soon be abandoning its asset management business in France, selling off a part of its stake in DNCA Finance to a US investment fund, may die out this week. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the asset management firm based in the rue de la Paix in Paris must decide by 20 May whether or not to sign an agreement for an entry into its capital by one of the oldest private equity funds, TA Associates. The private equity fund already holds 16 stakes in asset management firms. If the two parties reach an agreement, TA Associates would become the largest shareholder in the firm, with a larger stake than Jean-Charles Mériau, chief investment officer (see Newsmanagers of 7 April 2011) and Jacques Chatel, chairman.

La Banque Postale announced on Monday, 16 May that from 1 June 2011, Daniel Roy has joined the executive board at the bank. He will serve as advisor to the board, in charge of development of wealth management. Roy, 54, had been chairman of the board at HSBC Banque Privée France since 2007 (see Newsmanagers of 16 May 2011), after joining HSBC in 2006. For the previous five years, he had been director of the Asset Management unit at CDC Ixis.

In first quarter, the hedge fund managed by George Soros sold off 4.7 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, in which as of the end of March he held only 49,400 shares, worth USD6.9m, the Wall Street Journal reports. The fund has also unloaded 9.4 million shares in NovaGold Resources, and has considerably reduced its allocation to shares in Bank of America (BofA) and JP Morgan.However, it has tripled its exposure to Citigroup to 29.4 million shares, and scaled up its exposure to Wells Fargo by a factor of six, to 3.5 million shares.

The French Caceis group, specialised in financial services for institutional investors, on 16 May announced that it has set up a range of middle-office services with the management firm Tobam, entitled Prime MO®, in order to assist clients in their international development. The Prime MO® range operates in open architecture, and connects all clients who have selected Tobam worldwide, including recent additions in the United States, on a single middle-office platform.Caceis, which is depository, custodian and fund valuation provider for Tobam’s French-registered funds, says in a statement that it has been the asset servicing partner for Tobam since its creation.As of the end of 2010, assets under custody at Caceis totalled EUR2.379trn, while assets under administration totalled EUR1.150trn.

Fabien Madar, head for western Europe at Pioneer Investments, has had his responsibilities extended to include the Netherlands and Northern Europe. He replaces Jillert Bloom, the former head for Nothern Europe, who left the asset management firm of the Italian UniCredit group at the end of April. Madar is based in Paris, and will continue to cover France, Switzerland and Luxembourg. For the Netherlands and Northern Europe, he will work closely with Sander van de Giesen, head of sales. A country head will also be recruited. “We have begun the search for a new ‘Country Manager’ for the Netherlands and Scandinavia, and strong candidates have already expressed interest,” says Madar.

Jupiter Asset Managemetn has announced the arrival of Amanda Sillars and David Lewis at Merlin, its team dedicated to funds of funds. Sillars, who will become a fund selection specialist from 18 May, was previously investment director and executive director at JP Morgan Asset Management. Lewis, for his part, joins the team as assistant manager from 18 May. He previously held the same position in the Private Clients & Charities division of Jupiter. The Merlin team manages more than GBP6bn in six portfolios, a statement says.

Schroders has announced the appointment of Kate Jones as head of investment services, taking investment responsibility for developing the next generation global investment operating platform. She joins from BlackRock where she was head of structured solutions portfolio management for Europe. In this capacity, she was responsible for portfolio management of liability driven investment, asset allocation mandates and synthetic overlays. With the rapid growth in its multi-asset, fixed income and LDI businesses, Schroders is further enhancing its global investment management and research platform embracing all asset classes. Kate Jones will report to Alan Brown, group chief investment officer,

Société Générale Private Banking (Switzerland) suffered due to the strong Swiss franc in 2010. The entity has announced an 8.7% decline in its net banking income, to CHF233.6m, and net profits of CHF40.7m, down from CHF55.4m in 2009. Assets under management were also negatively affected by the strength of the Swiss currency. As of the end of December 2010, assets totalled CHF25bn, compared with CHF27bn one year earlier. The decline of the US dollar and the euro against the franc led to a mechanical decline of CHF2.9bn, while the performance of the markets brought in gains of CHF1.3bn, the bank has told Le Temps. Subscriptions were positive to the tune of CHF360m.

The Spanish financial services firm Renta 4, which in February decided to acquire the Banco Alicantino de Comercio (see Newsmanagers of 9 February), on 31 March had record assets under custody and management of EUR5.7bn, 13.1% more than one year previously. Pre-tax profits were up 5.8% in first quarter compared with January-March 2010, at EUR2.9m.The firm has also announced the appointment of Antonio Fernández Vera, who remains president of Renta 4 Pensiones, a position he has held since March 2007, as president of the asset management affiliate Renta 4 Gestora.

The Spanish affiliate of RBC Dexia Investor Services, RBC Dexia Activos, has won an automated fund administration mandate for 46 investment funds from Amundi Iberia (EUR750m). Under the contract, Amundi will outsource administration of its products, while retaining complete control of the process. By the terms of the agreement, RBC Dexia has taken a transfer of three employees from Amundi Iberia.

The US State Street group on 16 May announced the appointment of Maria Cantillon as global head of sales for the Alternative Investment Solutions unit, dedicated to alternative investments. Cantillon will be based in London, and will report to Scott Fitzgerald, head of sales for the Global Services America unit at State Street. Cantillon was previously head of service activities dedicated to alternative investment managers and a member of the executive board at BNP Paribas Securities Services in London. Cantillon will oversee a team of 15 people, serving North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. She replaces Scott Fitzgerald, who has assumed new responsibilities since the end of last year. As of 31 March 2011, alternative assets under administration in the Alternative Investment Solutions arm of State Street totalled nearly USD770bn.

The British management firm Apollo Multi Asset Management will launch two new funds in early June, the IFDS Apollo Multi Asset Defensive and the IFDS Apollo Multi Asset Adventurous, Investment Week reports. The two funds will be structured as Non-UCITS Retail Schemes (NURS), which will be able to invest in ETFs, structured products, real estate, and directly, as well as in hedge funds.

Andrea Benenati, patron du bureau de Hong Kong et CEO pour l’Asie du nord au sein du groupe Julius Baer, devrait quitter la société le mois prochain pour créer sa propre firme de gestion à Hong Kong, rapporte Asian Investor. Alexandre Floersheim, responsable des services de conseil en investissement à Hong Kong, devrait également quitter Julius Baer pour accompagner Andrea Benenati dans ses nouveaux projets.