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26/08/2010

Le stimulus monétaire est loin d'être retiré

Sur fond de dégradation rapide de la conjoncture, la Réserve Fédérale américaine a décidé de renforcer son soutien à l’économie. Elle réinvestira désormais son portefeuille de MBS qui arrive à échéance en obligations du Trésor américain. La Banque d’Angleterre a abaissé d’un point ses prévisions de croissance pour 2011 (à 2,5%), ce qui repousse la perspective d’une normalisation du taux de base. Alors que la relance fiscale touche ses limites, le premier ministre Kan souhaite consulter le gouverneur de la Banque du Japon pour explorer de nouvelles pistes de stimulation de l’économie.
25/08/2010

Lyxor aurait fait une grosse prise chez iShares

Mardi, pour cause de congés des personnes habilitées, Lyxor Asset Management n’a pas été en mesure de confirmer à Newsmanagers l’information évoquée dans certains médias britanniques selon laquelle le gestionnaire aurait recruté Nizam Hamid, head of sales strategy de iShares Europe depuis novembre 2008. L’impétrant reprendrait la responsabilité des ventes globales d’ETF que Dan Draper a quittées pour rejoindre Credit Suisse (lire notre article du 9 février) et qui avaient été provisoirement reprises par Isabelle Bourcier. Apparemment, cette dernière conserverait son rôle de responsable Monde ETF chez Lyxor AM, dans le cadre de ses fonctions de head of marketing & sales pour les produits cotés chez Société Générale.
25/08/2010

Rick Rieder devient CIO pour l'obligataire fondamental chez BlackRock

Comme l’avait annoncé le chairman & CEO Laurence Fink lors de la présentation des résultats du premier trimestre de BlackRock (lire notre article du 22 avril), Rick Rieder a été nommé chief investment officer of fixed income, fundamental portfolios. Il est subordonné à Peter Fisher, qui demeure head of fixed income de BlackRock et remplace Curtis Arledge, qui devient CEO de BNY Mellon Asset Management. Auparavant, Rick Rieder était president & CEO du gestionnaire alternatif R3 Capital Partners, dont BlackRock a pris le contrôle en avril 2009.
25/08/2010

Jim Davey devient patron des mutual funds chez The Hartford

Vice president and director of corporate retirement plans-Investment products division chez The Hartford, Jim Davey a été nommé head of the mutual funds business pour les Etats-Unis et le Canda. Il sera également responsable des activités de plans d'épargne 529. Il est subordonné à David Levenson qui a été nommé head of wealth Management en juillet, rapporte Mutual Fund Wire.
25/08/2010

Moody Aldrich and Wilshire lancent une plate-forme dédiée aux hedge funds

Selon Hedgeweek, la firme d’investissement de Boston Moody Aldrich Partners a passé un accord avec Wilshire Funds Management aux termes duquel Wilshire aidera Moody Aldrich à développer sa nouvelle plate-forme de financement des hedge funds, MAP Harverst Fund.Wilshire prendra notamment en charge la due diligence opérationnelle, la gestion des risques, et des services annexes. MAP Harvest Fund se propose d’accompagner financièrement des hedge funds indépendants prometteurs et de les assister dans le développement de leurs fonctions administratives clés et de leurs outils d’investissement.
25/08/2010

Rick Rieder becomes CIO for fixed income, fundamental portfolios at BlackRock

As chairman and CEO Laurence Fink announced at a presentation of first quarter results for BlackRock (see Newsmanagers of 22 April), Rick Rieder has been appointed as chief investment officer of fixed income, fundamental portfolios. He will report to Peter Fisher, who remains as head of fixed income at BlackRock, and replaces Curtis Arledge, who becomes CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Management. Previously, Rieder was opresident and CEO of the hedge fund R3 Capital partners, which BlackRock took over in April 2009.
25/08/2010

FSA hits ZFS with record fine

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced on 24 August that it has levelled a record fine of GBP2.27m against Zurich Insurance plc, an affiliate of Zurich Financial Services Group (ZFS), for losing data on 46,000 clients. It is the largest fine ever from the FSA for lost data.
25/08/2010

RBC Dexia Investor Services appoints a head of funds

RBC Dexia Investor Services has appointed David Dibben as head of global fund products. Based in London and reporting to Rob Wright, global head, product & client segments, he will be responsible for the strategic direction, planning and continued overall success of RBC Dexia’s Fund Products business. Prior to this role, David Dibben was most recently with HSBC Global Asset Management in London as chief operating officer of their global fund ranges where he oversaw the significant growth of their Luxembourg- and Dublin-domiciled funds. He has also held senior management roles with M&G (Prudential), Henderson Global Investors and Norwich Union, and provided consultancy services to a number of major players in the investment industry.
25/08/2010

Jupiter posts net subscriptions in first half

In first half 2010, Jupiter, which made its initial public offering on 21 June, posted net subscriptions of GBP814m, due to inflows to its mutual funds (GBP873m). At the same time last year, the management firm had inflows of GBP917m. For the half, assets are up 2% to GBP19.8bn, compared with GBP19.5bn as of the end of 2009, and GBP15.5bn as of the end of June 2009. Earnings totalled GBP11.7bn, up 40% year on year, due to an increase of GBP29m in net management fees. Pre-tax profits totalled GBP14.6m, compared with a loss of GBP6.5m in the corresponding period of 2009. EBITDA is up 64%, to GBP59.1m.
25/08/2010

Gerald Saam leaves Threadneedle

Werner Kolitsch, head of Germany & Austria at Threadneedle, has told Fondsprofessionell that Gerald Saam is leaving the German affiliate of the British management firm, where he was director of institutional sales since last year, by mutual agreement. He joined Threadneedle in October 2007. Saam’s replacement will be appointed by the end of November at the latest.
25/08/2010

IMA makes no changes to absolute return sector

The British investment management association (IMA) announced at the beginning of this week that it has concluded its examination of the absolute return sector, and concluded that no modifications will be introduced at this time. The professional association says in a statement that debates over the sub-categorisation of absolute return funds was no longer ongoing, as the sector is not yet large or mature enough to make changes. The sector, introduced in 2008, was the first IMA category to accept offshore funds. The sector now includes 48 funds, with cumulative assets under management of GBP13.6bn. Of these 48 funds, 10 are offshore funds, with total assets under management of GBP1.2bn.
25/08/2010

Pictet offers new “green” product

Philippe de Weck, who is already manager of the Pictet Clean Energy fund, will be appointed as manager of the Environmental Megatrend Selection fund (see Newsmanagers of 29 July). The product will take advantage of the pooling scheme offered by Luxembourg law to invest in four “green” in-house funds: Water (EUR2.32bn), Clean Energy (EUR484m), Timber (EUR84m) and Agriculture (EUR122m). It will have 200 to 240 positions overall. The themes are the same as those of the fund which is already much more actively managed (60 positions) by Arnaud Bisschop (manager of the Pictet Water fund for the past 19 months), on behalf of Union Financière de France, and entitled UFF Capital Planète (see Newsmanagers of 27 July).
25/08/2010

Sarasin sets up shop in Bahrain

The central bank of the kingdom of Bahrain has issued a category 2 investment company license to Sarasin-Alpen (Bahrain) BSC. The license allows the new entity, an affiliate of Sarasin bank and Alpen-Capital, to offer advising services to high net worth private clients.
25/08/2010

Tax guidelines for Islamic finance published

Les Echos reports that fiscal instructions which aim to make Paris a hub for Islamic finance in continental Europe were published on 24 August by the French government. The instructions cover “sukuk” operations (issuing securities representing cooperative ownership of a tangible asset or the proceeds of the asset), “murabaha” (when the issuer acts as an intermediary: a vendor sells an assets to an Islamic financial actor, who resells them to an investor for a price payable at some time in the future), “ijara” (a type of rental, in which the investor buys equipment and rents it to a business), and “istisna’a” (a contract by which one party asks another party to build a project in exchange for payment, which is guaranteed when construction is complete).
25/08/2010

Leading real estate fund managers widen gap with rivals

In the twelve months to the end of June, German open-ended real estate funds have posted net subscriptions of EUR2.1bn, which makes it the third largest category for net inflows, after diversified and bond funds.The four largest real estate fund managers are Union Investment Real Estate (co-operative banks) with 18.4% of the market, Deka Immobilien (savings banks) with 15.6%, Commerz Real Investmentgessellschaft (CRI, Commerzbank group) with 12.8%, and SEB Investment (8%). On a closer inspection of the figures, however, the Kommalpha consultancy notes, it appears that net subscriptions to the top four actors in the sector totalled EUR4.4bn. The combined assets of the four leaders increased in the period by EUR4bn (to EUR48bn), to total 54.7% of total assets in the sector, compared with about 50% one year earlier. This means, in other words, that the other 14 actors must share 45.3% of the management market.In first half 2010, the gap widened between the top four and the rest of the pack: the top four posted combined net subscriptions of about EUR1.7bn, or about 80% of all net inflows. This result is all the more significant as CRI has posted net outflows.
25/08/2010

Crisis is over for fund of fund market

As of the end of 2009, assets in funds of funds licensed for sale in Germany were up 15% year on year, to EUR52.6bn (compared with EUR44.9bn as of 31/12/2008), bringing asset levels back to virtually their levels at the end of 2007 (EUR53bn), according to a survey by Fidelity International in cooperation with Morningstar. The trend towards open architecture is continuing, as funds which also invest in external funds of funds represent 63% of total assets, compared with 62% as of the end of 2008, and 56% at the end of 2007. The increase in assets in these “open” funds totalled 17%, compared with 12% for house funds. The top three actors on the German fund of fund market remain Deka (EUR15.8bn, compared with EUR13.93bn as of the end of 2008, for a market share of 28.9%, compared with 30.5%), followed by DWS, with more than EUR5.14bn, compared with EUR4.26bn, and Union Investment, with EUR3.26bn, compared with EUR2.92bn. DWS has seen an increase in its market share to 9.8% from 9.2%, as has Union, whose market share is up to 8.2%, from 7.9%. Axa (EUR1.24bn) is up to 2.4% market share from 2.3%. The study also finds that Deka remains the top provider of target funds, with EUR8.5bn, which is largely explained by the fact that the management firm for the German savings banks largely invests in its own funds. The second largest is BlackRock, with EUR4bn, due to its acquisition of Barclays Global Investors (and of the ETF funds of the iShares brand). Fidelity notes that db x-trackers, the ETF specialist from Deutsche Bank, posted a 31% increase last year in assets used by its funds of funds, to EUR1.5bn, putting it in sixth place.
25/08/2010

Skandia replaces manager of its health fund

Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has selected OrbiMed Capital to manage the Skandia Healthcare Fund. It replaces Carnegie Asset Management, which has been managing the fund since inception in April 2006.As part of the mandate, OrbiMed will manage the Skandia Healthcare Fund on an exclusive basis subject to certain conditions for at least the next three years. OrbiMed is a specialist healthcare and life sciences investment boutique with over USD4bn of assets under management. The firm’s 40-person investment team, one of the largest in the sector, includes over a dozen former medical doctors and scientists.
25/08/2010

Russell makes big inroads with specialised OpenWorld platform in Asia

Asian Investor reports that Russell Investments has a growing presence on the Asian high net worth client services market. Since first quarter 2010, Russell has been offering its dedicated fund platform OpenWorld to private banks in the region, as well as to family offices and high net worth private clients. The platform, launched on the European market in autumn 2008, offers 18 major investment strategies, each of them managed by a single manager. It currently manages USD450m worldwide.
25/08/2010

Threadneedle builds presence in Asia

The British management firm Threadneedle is scaling up its teams in South-East Asia and Taiwan, Asian Investor reports. The group is currently seeking a head of institutional clients for North Asia, and is planning to set up a research team in Singapore in early 2011. In the short term, Sandra Cheng, previously of Deutsche Bank, joins Threadneedle in September as head of institutions for South-East Asia. Sheila Tan, previously based in Hong Kong, will take over as head of activities in Taiwan, where Threadneedle is planning to develop its presence in the institutional client segment. Threadneedle is also in talks with various financial partners in South Korea. Threadneedle is also working to develop new products, including funds denominated in Chinese renminbi.
25/08/2010

Hyposwiss launches its first advertising campaign

Agefi Switzerland reports that the private bank Hyposwiss yesterday kicked off its first advertising campaign, which appears to mock UBS’ slogan “You & Us.” Its message, “It will never be about you and us. It will always be about your money,” the newspaper suggests, may be interpreted as a frontal attack on UBS and on its former advertising slogan. “It could be read that way, but it is not an attack on UBS,” says Declan McAdams, CEO of Hyposwiss, in Geneva. “This campaign is the result of a deep analysis of our clients and our partners internally,” he says. “We want to stand out from the major banks, and our objective is to foreground what is important for clients directly and simply. It is time to insist a little more on management of the client’s money, and less on the relationship aspect.”
25/08/2010

Profits at GAM up 36% in first half

GAM Holding SA on 24 August announced an increase of 36% in its profits for first half, to CHF106.3m, from CHF78.1m one year earlier on a pro forma basis. Last year’s results are given on a pro forma basis and corrected for the IPO of the firm’s US affiliate Artio, its takeover of Augustus Asset Managers, and other one-time elements. The group has posted a net inflow of CHF5.6bn, compared with outflows of CHF1.6bn one year earlier. Inflows of new money totalled CHF3.6bn for the GAM division, compared with -CHF5bn previously, and CHF7.4bn for Swiss & Global, compared with CHF3.7bn previously. Assets under management totalled CHF116.6bn as of the end of June, up 11% year on year, and up 3% compared with the end of December 2009. GAM has also announced the launch of a new share buyback program, which will extend to up to 10% of capital in two years. The program fulfils GAM’s intentions in terms of dividends, as the group is planning to give back 50% of profits to shareholders in the form of dividends, says Johannes de Gier, chairman of the board of directors and CEO, cited in a statement.
25/08/2010

Jim Davey becomes head of mutual funds at The Hartford

Jim Davey, Vice President and director of corporate retirement plans-Investment products division at The Hartford, has been appointed head of the mutual funds business for the United States and Canada. He will also be responsible for 529 savings plan activities. He will report to David Levenson, who was appointed head of wealth management in July, Mutual Fund Wire reports.
25/08/2010

Moody Aldrich and Wilshire launch a hedge fund platform

Hedgeweek reports that the Boston investment firm Moody Aldrich Partners has signed an agreement with Wilshire Funds Management, by which Wilshire will help Moody Aldrich to develop its new hedge fudn financing platform, MAP Harvest Fund. Wilshire will be resopnsible for operational due diligence, risk management, and annex services. MAP Harvest Fund will financially assist promising independent hedge funds, and assist them in the development of their key administrative functions and investment tools.
25/08/2010

Strategic Investments Group selects State Street

State Street Corporation has announced that it has been selected by the Strategic Investments Group (SIG) to provide investment and fund administration services to its new UCITS product, Strategic Active Trading Funds, launched last May, which has a total of USD250m in assets.
25/08/2010

Lyxor reported to have poached a top head from iShares

On Tuesday, due to the relevant authorized persons being on holiday, Lyxor Asset Management was not able to confirm to Newsmanagers reports in several British media sources that the asset manager has recruited Nizam Hamid, head of sales strategy at iShares Europe since November 2008. Hamid would take over responsibility for global ETF sales, which Dan Draper left behind to join Credit Suisse (see Newsmanagers of 9 February), and which were taken over for the interim by Isabelle Bourcier. Apparently, Bourcier will retain her role as global head of ETFs at Lyxor AM, as part of her responsibilities as head of marketing & sales for listed products at Société Générale.
25/08/2010

Oaktree opens Spanish office

Though with 24%, it is already the largest individual shareholder in Campofrío since its merger with Smithfield, and also the largest lender to Panrico, of whose debt it controls 20%, the U.S. hedge fund firm Oaktree Capital did not yet have a stable presence in Spain. Now, Expansión reports, the firm is setting up shop there, and has recently recruited Carlos Gila, head of the consulting firm Gila & Co and former vice president of La Seda de Barcelona.
25/08/2010

BlackRock controls over 3% of Repsol

Expansión reports that the US management firm BlackRock has topped 3% of capital in Repsol, with a total stake of 3.023%, according to statistics from the CNMV. BlackRock thus owns more than 36.9 million shares in the Spanish oil company, which represents an investment at current share prices of EUR658m. In early June, BlackRock’s stake in Repsol was 2.979%.
25/08/2010

High net worth clients seek refuge in savings accounts

According to statistics from the CNMV, the Sicav funds of the fifteen most wealthy Spanish families (Amancio Ortega, Alicia Koplowitz, Rosalía Mera, the Polanco family, the Del Pino family, Ram Bhavnani, and others) were 16.11% invested as of the end of June in bank savings accounts, compared with 6.3% as of the end of 2009, and only 0.98% in 2001, Expansión reports. The high net worth investors see these passive products as a means to obtain good returns without being exposed to the turbulence of the markets. Morinvest (Alicia Koplowitz) had EUR124.93m in investments in bank savings accounts as of the end of June, equivalent to 28.36% of its assets. Keblar (Amancio Ortega) had EUR39.59m in bank savings accounts, equivalent to 26.84% of its total assets. In terms of products, the favourites of the high net worth segment are Banesto and La Caixa.

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