Du 1er mars au 30 avril, le Banco Madrid versera une bonification de 1 % sur tous les montants qui seront transférés en provenance d’autres établissements financiers sur l’un ou plusieurs des 10.000 fonds de 50 gestionnaires espagnols et étrangers qu’il commercialise, rapporte Expansión. Pour bénéficier de l’abondement, il faut que le transfert porte sur au moins 6.000 euros et que le nouveau client s’engage à ne pas retirer cet argent avant un an.

Selon les statistiques de VDOS, l’encours des fonds d’investissement espagnols a diminué de 485 millions d’euros durant les trois premières semaines de février, à cause de remboursements nets de 736 millions d’euros compensés seulement en partie par les 250 millions de plus-values sur les portefeuilles, rapporte Expansión.La meilleure performance depuis le début de l’année a été enregistrée par le WM Mercados Globales (+ 12,2 %) suivi de trois fonds spécialistes de l’Amérique latine : Santander Acciones Latinoamericanas (+10,3 %), Madrid Bolsa Latinoamericana (+ 9,46 %) et Ahorro Corporación Iberoamericana (+ 8,95 %).

Avec effet au 19 février, Christian Eckert a été nommé membre du comité directeur d’Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH, où il aura la responsabilité à la fois de la gestion des fonds obligataires, de l’informatique et de l’organisation. De ce fait, Anja Mikus se trouve déchargée de la direction de la gestion obligataire et va pouvoir se concentrer sur la stratégie de gestion de portefeuille pour l’ensemble du groupe Union Investment.Avant de rejoindre le gestionnaire des banques populaires allemandes, Christian Eckert a été directeur central pour le développement, la gestion et le marketing de produits chez Cominvest Asset Management (absorbée par Allianz Global Investors) après avoir exercé les fonctions de CEO and country head UK d’ABN Amro.

BlackRock, fort de sa fusion avec Barclays Global Investors, mise sur l’Italie grâce aux ETF, rapporte Il Sole – 24 Ore. «Les ETF obtiennent un succès extraordinaire : notre part de marché est passée de 33 % à 40 % ces 18 derniers mois», a déclaré Emanuele Bellingeri, responsable de iShares pour l’Italie, durant la présentation du nouveau groupe à Milan. Rory Tobin, responsable de l’activité internationale de iShares, anticipe une croissance de 20 à 25 % du marché des ETF en 2010 et compte maintenir la part de marché du groupe à 39 %. Outre les ETF, BlackRock compte faire sentir le poids de ses plus de 3 milliards de dollars d’encours gérés en Italie en étant actif lors des assemblées générales.

M&G Investments is planning to launch a Ucits III version of its global macro fund, according to Citywire. The fund, known internally as Episode, was developed for its parent Prudential and has primarily been available to the insurer’s clients and pension funds.

The Carlyle group announced on 24 February that as part of a strategic partnership with the Chinese conglomerate Fosun, it has launched a fund denominated in Chinese Renminbi (RMB), which will initially have USD100m in assets. The two businesses are proposing to invest in high-growth companies, and to identify opportunities for co-investment worldwide, so long as the planned investments are related to China and its potential for growth. The two firms are already acquainted, as in September 2009 they invested together in the Chinese firm Guangdong Yashili Group.

Just one in 10 hedge fund managers expects to see the fees they charge investors fall, according to a Credit Suisse survey. But two-thirds of respondents said that they were willing to bargain on fees if investors consented to longer lock-up periods, says the Financial Times.

Nara Capital, a consultancy serving the hedge fund industry, on 23 February announced the launch of its range of indices, which will track the performance of hedge funds and funds of funds. The indices offered are the UCITS Alternative Index® Global, UCITS Alternative Index® Fund of Funds, UCITS Alternative Index® Long/Short Equity, UCITS Alternative Index® Equity Market Neutral, UCITS Alternative Index® Fixed Income, UCITS Alternative Index® CTA, UCITS Alternative Index® Macro, UCITS Alternative Index® Event Driven, UCITS Alternative Index® Commodities, UCITS Alternative Index® FX, UCITS Alternative Index® Multi-Strategy. Nara Capital has been tracking the progressive growth of UCITS III-compliant hedge funds for more than two years. Due to the growing interest of investors in more liquid alternative strategies, Nara has decided to make the performance of these indices available to the public. In February 2009, the UCITS Alternative Index included nearly 400 UCITS-compliant hedge funds and funds of hedge funds, which represented total assets of over EUR63bn.

The data provider Markit Boat announced on 25 February that its market data will now be available free of charge 15 minutes after their publication on Markit Boat, compared with 2 hours currently. The change will take effect on 1 June. Markit Boat provides information on European over-the-counter equities market trades totalling an average of about EUR20bn per day.

Fund Strategy reports that Investec Asset Management has announced the closure of its Investec Capital Accumulator Trust (ICAT) fund, which was managed by Alastair Mundy, due to a lack of interest on the part of shareholders. The trust was launched in October 2005, with the objective of exploiting potential demand for preference equities with zero dividend. The net asset value of ICAT lost 12.5% in the three years to 22 February, while zero-dividend equities lost 49% in the same period.

First State has announced that it is increasing management fees from 1.50% to 1.75% for A-class shares in its Global Emerging Markets fund, while the commission on B-class shares will be raised to 1% from 0.85%, Investment Week reports. The fund, with GBP546m in assets, has been closed to new investors since 2003, and Gary Withers, managing director, EMEA, says the increase in fees is justified both by the performance of the fund (142.8% in the 5 years to 15 February, compared with 113.1% for the peer group), and by a desire to control the capacity of the fund.

Schroders has announced the launch of the Schroder Global Alpha Plus Fund (subject to FSA approval). It is a high conviction global equity fund of approximately 30 stocks comprising the best investment ideas from the fund’s joint managers - Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global equities, and Jonathan Armitage, head of US equities. “We take a fundamentally-driven, bottom-up approach to identifying attractively-valued, quality growth stocks with strong sustainable competitive advantage. This approach is supplemented by a thematic assessment, which focuses on climate change, demographics and the growing significance of emerging market countries in the world economy,» says Virginie Maisonneuve. The Fund aims to provide long-term outperformance of the MSCI World Total Return index. It opens to investors in May 2010.

An agreement which would allow the major banks of Andorra, specialised in private banking, to enter the Spanish market will come into force on 1 January 2011, in the wake of the end of banking secrecy and the signature of a taxation agreement between Spain and Andorra, Expansión reports. The Principality of Andorra is no longer considered an offshore tax haven, meaning that local banks (Crèdit Andorrà, Andbanc, Banca Privada d’Andorra and Banca Mora) may hope for a positive end to their nogotiations. For the moment, the Bank of Spain has blocked an acquisition of BSI (the asset management affiliate of Generali in Spain) by Andbanc. But at the same time, Andorran parties are in talks to acquire Tressis and Banco Madrid as soon as possible.

For the quarter to the end of January, Eaton Vance has declared net profits of USD51.5m (37 cents per share), compared with USD25.3m, or 21 cents per share, in the corresponding period of 2008/2009. In the period under review, the management firm has posted net subscriptions of USD1.5bn, compared with USD500m the previous year. Assets as of 31 January totalled USD161.6bn.

The Government Employees Pension Service of Korea (GEPS), the South Korean public pension fund, has recruited Kwon Jae-woan as chief investment officer, following the surprise resignation in January of Chung Kyung-soo, who served in this position at GEPS for less than one year, Asian Investor reports. Assets under management at GEPS currently total about USD8bn. GEPS invests most of its assets in bonds and equities, and less than 1% in alternative assets.

The asset management firm TCW, an affiliate of the Société Générale group, has announced the finalization of its acquisition of Metropolitan West Asset Management (MetWest), with the integration of 115 partners from the business. Since the announcement of MetWest’s acquisition by TCW (see Newsmanagers of 7/12/09), the management firm has seen nearly EUR1bn in inflows, a statement from Société Générale observes. As of 31 January 2010, total combined assets of MetWest and TCW came to over USD15bn.

By GAAP accounting standards, the Blackstone Group has reported net losses of USD715.3m for 2009, compared with losses of USD1.16bn in 2008, on positive earnings of USD1.77bn, compared with a negative total of USD349.4m the previous year. Revenues from management and consulting commissions increased slightly, to USD1.4822bn, compared with USD1.4763bn, but 2008 was marked by unrealised losses on investments of USD606.4m, while these losses were limited last year to only USD3.7m.

Fidelity Investments has posted an increase in its operating profits of 5.2% in 2009, to USD2.51bn, despite an 11% contraction in its revenues to USD11.48bn, In 2008, operating profits fell 18%. As of 31 December, assets under management were up by 21% year on year to USD1.5trn, while assets under administration were up 20% to USD3.2trn. Assets under management were down by 22% or USD351bn in 2008. Net subscriptions contracted by 43% to USD31.4bn, due to massive outflows from money market funds, but equities funds saw their first net inflows since 2004, totalling USD3.8bn.

Fortis Haitong (BNP Paribas IP group) on Wednesday announced that it has received permission from the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) for an added USD1bn on its QFII (Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor) quota. The initial quota granted to Fortis Bank on 29 September 2004 was for USD500m. Z-Ben Advisors reports that Fortis Haitong has received permission to increase its QDII (Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor) quota to USD1bn, though the asset management firm does not state whether the added quota will be used for existing QDII funds or QDII mandates which it is in the process of developing.

The Swiss Vontobel group last year earned profits of CHF138.3m, a 22% increase compared with 2008. Assets under management at the group increased 21% to CHF75.2bn. These results were driven by market effects and performance totalling CHF6.6bn, by the acquisition of Commerzbank (Schweiz) for a total of CHF4.1bn, and by net inflows of CHF2.1bn. Taxable profits were down 58% to CHF21.2m for private banking activities, and down 59% to CHF31.5m for the asset management division. The board of directors will propose a dividend of CHF1.40 per share for the 2009 fiscal year, a 17% increase year on year.

Daniel Bonventre, a former director of operations for Bernard Madoff’s investment firm, has been arrested and charged with conspiracy and securites fraud. He is the sixth person to be criminally charged over the December 2008 case.

Christian Eckert has been appointed as a member of the managing board at Union Investment Privatfonds GmbH, effective 19 February. He will be responsible for management of bond funds, IT, and organization. Anja Mikus thus gives up responsibility for bond management, and will now concentrate on portfolio management strategy for the Union Investment group as a whole. Before joining the management firm of the German co-operative banks, Eckert was MD for development, management and product marketing at Cominvest Asset Management (which has since been absorbed by Allianz Global Investors), after previously serving as CEO and country head UK at ABN Amro.

The technical committee of IOSCO (the International Organisation of Securities Commissions) on 25 February published its requirements for the information which hedge funds must supply to regulators to evaluate systemic risk. IOSCO proposes eleven categories of information that may be of interest to regulators, which include information on the size of businesses, performance, assets under management, exposures, and liquidity, among others. IOSCO recommends that the first collection of information by these standards take place in September 2010, in light of regulatory changes now underway.

According to statistics from VDOS, assets in Spanish investment funds fell by USD485m in the first three weeks of February, due to net redemptions of USD736m which were only partly offset by USD250m in gains on portfolios, Expansión reports. The best performance since the beginning of the year was for the WM Mercados Globales fund (+12.2%), followed by three funds specialised in Latin America: Santander Acciones Latinoamericanas (+10.3%), Madrid Bolsa Latinoamericana (+9.46%), and Ahorro Corporación Iberoamericana (+8.95%).

In an interview with Les Echos, the president and CEO of Barrick Gold, Aaron Regent, says that teh price of gold still has potential to rise, as the exposure of central banks to the US dollar is considered excessive and in need of rebalancing. “The sovereign debt crisis is an added incitement to diversify assets, and in so doing to invest sustainably in gold,” says Regent.

Most of the assets of the Private Funds Placement Group at Neuberger Berman have been acquired by the British management firm Evercore Partners, for an amount which will depend on results for the unit sold. Neuberger Berman will receive earnout payments which will provide them with an economic interest in the success of the group for a period of time. During the transitional period, the activities acquired by Evercore will operate under the name Evercore Private Funds Group, with eight people. The objective is to develop the Private Funds Placement Group in the United States, continental Europe, and the Middle East.

Un hedge fund sur 10 seulement anticipe une baisse des frais qu’ils font payer aux investisseurs, indique le Financial Times, citant une étude de Credit Suisse. Mais deux tiers des répondants sont prêts à négocier les frais si les investisseurs acceptent de plus longues périodes de lock-up.

Selon l’Agefi qui cite une note interne consultée par Bloomberg, UBS a relevé à 200.000 francs le plafond de prime que pourront percevoir l’an prochain ses banquiers privés à Hong Kong et à Singapour en fonction de la collecte nette réalisée cette année.

Selon Les Echos, le deuxième assureur européen, qui a renoncé aux objectifs chiffrés d’Ambition 2012 il y a un peu plus d’un an, planche désormais sur un nouveau plan stratégique. Ce projet, qui pourrait être opérationnel à la fin de l’année, devrait consacrer une large place au renforcement sur les pays émergents.

Transfuge de Natixis Multimanager où il occupait en 2009 le poste de responsable de la sélection des fonds alternatifs, Stanislas de Bailliencourt est arrivé fin décembre chez Sycomore AM en tant que gérant responsable d’un fonds d’allocation d’actifs lancé pour l’occasion, Sycomore Allocation Patrimoine. Objectif affiché pour la société de gestion essentiellement tournée vers les investisseurs institutionnels - elle dispose de 2,3 milliards d’euros sous gestion et a réalisé une collecte de 350 millions d’euros en 2009 : profiter des réallocations en cours réalisées par les investisseurs et répondre aux attentes des Conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants (CGPI) soucieux de disposer d’un fonds «tout en un» plutôt que d’avoir à réaliser leur propre allocation.C’est donc avec ce cahier des charges que Sycomore Allocation Patrimoine se présente avec la mise en place d’un processus de gestion spécifique. Dans sa structure le fonds peut être considéré comme un fonds flexible avec une poche actions pouvant représenter 0 à 60 % du portefeuille et des obligations pouvant, le cas échéant, occuper 100 % de l’ensemble. Dans le détail, la poche actions est tout d’abord composée de lignes de titres de la zone euro détenus en direct – représentant jusqu'à 35 % de ladite poche. «L’objectif de ces lignes est clairement de profiter du savoir-faire de la société de gestion sur la zone euro», justifie Stanislas de Bailliencourt qui a également recours à des futures – très liquides par nature - pour s’exposer à des marchés tels que le Nasdaq, le S&P 500 ou le DJ Euro Stoxx et marquer ainsi ses convictions, y compris sectorielles comme c’est également le cas actuellement dans le domaine de la santé, des télécoms et de l'énergie. A cela s’ajoutent des ETF pour prendre position sur des marchés émergents – exemple : le Brésil - ou participer également à l'évolution des devises. De son côté, la partie obligataire fonctionne peu ou prou de la même façon en étant composée de titres d’Etat et de produits monétaires. Elle peut également accorder jusqu’ à 80 % de la «poche» à des OPCVM – dédiés en grande partie au crédit. Dans ce cadre, Stanislas de Bailliencourt réalise l’allocation d’actifs du fonds en procédant à une révision de l’allocation sur une base mensuelle «avec une vision néanmoins flexible de la situation», explique-t-il, lui permettant d’adapter son allocation en cours de mois si nécessaire. Reste au fonds à passer l'épreuve du feu auprès de la clientèle privée et des CGPI. En affichant un biais prudent, celui-ci devrait facilement trouver sa place dans l'échiquier des OPCVM labelisés «Patrimoine» chers aux conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants depuis le début de la crise.