At the end of December, assets in Austrian investment funds represented EUR126.04bn, which amounted to a contraction of EUR37.7bn or 23% compared with their level one year previously.According to the VÖIG association of management firms, EUR2.9bn of this decline in assets is due to dividend payments, while EUR15.3bn is due to net redemptions, and EUR19.6bn to losses on the markets. In December, however, assets increased by EUR345.4m, thanks to EUR1.4bn in net subscriptions.In total, VÖIG recorded the launch od 223 funds in 2008, of which 106 were retail funds. The 24 management firms on its roster operated 2,300 securities funds, of which 1,168 were retail funds, 433 funds aimed at ?large investors,? and 699 institutional funds.The five real estate fund management firms had assets at the end of December of EUR1,713.88m, EUR112.8m less than twelve months previously. At the end of September, assets were still up by EUR120.3m, but net redemptions of EUR250.8m in fourth quarter led to the contraction in assets observed for the year.

Fitch Ratings has lowered its CDO Asset Manager rating for Société Générale Asset Management Alternative Investments (SGAM AI) from CAM2+ to CAM2.The downgrade largely reflects the negative impact which the credit crisis has had on SGAM AI’s activities, and changes in its management personnel, the ratings agency states. It also takes into account possible instabilities which may result from the repositioning and restructuring of SGAM AI when it merges with Lyxor, Fitch Ratings adds.

In fourth quarter, net profits for asset management activities at JP Morgan Chase fell 52% to USD272m, while revenues fell 31% to USD1.66bn. Revenues for the private bank fell 3% to USD630m, due to declining markets and performance commissions, while wealth management was down 4% to USD330m, and institutional management was down 57% to USD327m due to contractions in revenues from performance commissions and to falling markets. Retail revenues contracted 59% to USD365m due to falling markets and redemptions. Bear Stearns Brokerage contributed USD106m to revenues.The pre-tax profit margin was down to 25% from 35%.JP Morgan states that its assets under administration and management at the end of December represented USD1.5trn, or USD76bn or 5% less than at the end of 2007. Assets under management, at USD1.1trn, were also down 5% or USD60bn; of this total, money market products marked an increase of 53% to USD213bn, while the Bear Stearns acquisition brought in USD15bn. This has partly compensated for a decrease in assets under management due to falling markets and net redemptions from products in categories other than money markets.Net subscriptions, however, totalled USD61bn in fourth quarter, and USD151bn for 2008 as a whole.

Andreas Hilka, who joined Credit Suisse in January 2008, was appointed to the board of directors at Credit Suisse Asset Management KAG in Frankfurt on 1 January, replacing Stefan Keitel, who has become global CIO for Multi Asset Class Solutions (MACS) in Zurich. Hilka will retain his positions as head of MACS Germany, head insurance & pensions solutions EMEA, and director of the asset allocation advisory group in the MACS CIO-office.Before being recruited by Credit Suisse, Hilka served in several financial positions at the former Hoechst group; he was also a board member for the Continental pension fund.

Following reports in the press that clients at Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch (LODH) lost money in the Madoff fraud, the bank has issued a statement, claiming that it never recommended funds managed by Bernard Madoff’s company, nor feeder funds that supplied it. These vehicles were not on the list of recommended hedge funds managed by third parties, and the bank’s funds of hedge funds ?do not contain funds with ties to the Madoff universe? either.The bank states that its list of external funds of hedge funds includes 20 products, of which three were partially exposed to Madoff funds, for 15% (Lafayette Regular Growth), 7.6% (DGC Pendulum) and 3% (Gems Low Volatility), respectively. ?The impact of this indirect exposure on the portfolios concerned is marginal (largely below 1%).? The performance track records of these funds of funds are such that LODH is maintaining its recommendations, particularly for the Gems Low Volatility.Lastly, some accounts without management mandates, or managed by third parties, deposited at LODH, may contain shares in funds exposed to the Madoff universe. ?The responsibility of the bank is in no way involved, since these are accounts not managed by the group,? the statement concludes.

Andrew Cuomo, attorney general of the state of New York, has issued subpoenas to three funds managed by Ezra Merkin, former chairman of GMAC, the Fiancial Times reports. The move is related to new investigations in the Madoff fraud case. The funds are Gabriel Capital, Ariel Fund, and Ascot Partners, which had invested with Madoff.

The Credit Suisse/Tremont index ultimately posted losses in December of 0.03%, compared with 4.15% in November, bringing total losses for the year as a whole to 19.07%. Futures funds and dedicated short bias posted positive performance, however, of 18.33% and 14.87%, respectively. All other strategies posted losses in 2008, including equity market neutral (40.32%) and convertible arbitrage (31.59%). The emerging markets segment posted a loss of 30.41%.The Dow Jones World Index, meanwhile, has lost 42.85%.

La Tribune reports that ?the Parisian law firm Lartigue-Tournois & Associés today served subpoenas on at least three French banks, including BNP Paribas, on behalf of twelve clients who had invested in the Luxembourg Sicav Luxalpha.?The plaintiffs are seeking to be recognised as shareholders in the Sicav, in order to be able to pursue UBS, the newspaper explains.

The European asset management sector calmed slightly in November, Lipper FMI indicates in its most recent publication. Funds registered net subscriptions of EUR10bn, after outflows of no less than EUR278bn in the two previous months.These outflows were largely due to money market funds, Lipper FMI observes. Equities funds also registered positive inflows of EUR589m, but investors largely went for ETF funds (+EUR4bn in net). However, the fixed income category continues to be cannibalised by an urgent need on the part of banks to boost savings deposits, Lipper FMI indicates. Net redemptions may have slowed, but they remain at EUR11bn.Despite this positive month, since the beginning of the year, the European management sector has seen net redemptions totalling EUR305bn. Assets had fallen as of the end of November to slightly over EUR4trn, a level not seen since mid-2005.In November, the firm which registered the strongest net subscriptions was Barclays, with EUR2.4bn (excluding money market funds and funds of funds). In the equities category, Société Générale stands out, probably thanks to ETF funds, with EUR855m in subscriptions.

According to a study by the United States Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the sovereign fund of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, saw a decline in its assets last year of USD125bn, to USD328bn, due to losses on declining equities markets, and investments in emerging markets and private equity, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.

According to hedgefund.net, as reported in Cinco Días, total assets under management worldwide in hedge funds contracted by 36% or USD1trn last year, to a total of USD1.84trn, or EUR1.45trn. The causes of the plunge were depreciation of portfolios, which wiped out USD512bn, and net redemptions of USD535bn.

At the end of December, global assets in ETF funds totalled USD711bn, which represents a contraction of only 10.8% for the year as a whole, while the MSCI World index was down 42.08%, Deborah Fuhr, managing director and global head of ETF research & implementation strategy at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) notes. The number of ETFs on offer increased by 35.8%, or 472, to a total of 1,590 products: there are currently plans to launch 604 new products. The number of providers increased by 13.3% to 85, while the number of stock exchanges listing ETFs increased by 2.4% (i.e. one) to 42. Average daily turnover increased last year by 32.5% to nearly USD80.39bn. According to statistics from Strategic Insight, ETFs posted net subscriptions of USD187.5bn in the first ten months of the year, while non-ETF funds saw net outflows of USD256.7bn.

Indexes which track the value of the vast quantities of ?distressed? assets that continue to pollute the balance sheets of banks have shown heavy losses this week, the Financial Times reports. The decline, a harbinger of a further wave of write-downs, suggests that banks will suffer again in first quarter of this year.

Joachim Reinke, a member of the managing board at Union Investment, announced on Thursday that the number of Riester-type retirement savings policies distributed by the management firm for the German co-operative banks totalled 1.72 million at the end of 2008. Union remains the leader by far in this market, at least for unit-linked accounts. It is also interesting to note that the number of new policies opened in September-December, which was a time of major turbulence on the markets, was as high as 100,000, which represents about 40% of all new UniProfiRente policies in only one third of the year.

Les Echos reports that EU draft legislation relating to rating agencies unveiled in mid-November may give rise to heated debate in the European Parliament. In the preliminary statements submitted yesterday, the reporter on the bill, Jean-Paul Gauzès, welcomes Brussels’ initiative, but argues that the procedure the Commission proposes for registration and supervision of rating agencies by national regulatory authorities would be ?complicated.? He suggests that ?responsibility for registration and supervision should be entrusted to a single European body,? and calls for the CESR to be ?the turning-point in a regulatory deployment.?

Sources close to the Austrian finance ministry have told Il Sole - 24 Ore that Bank Medici (in which UniCredit owns a 25% stake) may be closed. The Austrian bank lost USD2.1bn on investments in Bernard Madoff.

Pimco slowed its acquisitions of MBS last month, and increased its allocation to government bonds, after 11 months of reducing its exposure to them, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Total Return Fund from the management firm (USD132.267bn) reduced its allocation to MBS to 62% last month, from 81% in November, while allocation to US debt was raised to 9%.

The Swiss federal financial market surveillance authority (FINMA) has published a circular (*), which the Swiss Fund Association (SFA) calls a ?minimal standard for minimal standards? in wealth management. The document describes Finma ?guidelines? for minimal standards at professional organisations in terms of rules of conduct, particularly in areas such as obligations of loyalty to clients, due diligence, and information, as well as in relation to pay scales for wealth managers. It also calls for the establishment of a control process for rules of conduct at professional organisations.The publication is necessary since in Switzerland, wealth managers have several professional organisations, which have different approaches in terms of self-regulation. With this circular, FINMA has established a basis which may be recognised by the various governing bodies as minimal standards, so that a common minimal level may be assured.* http://www.finma.ch/f/regulierung/Documents/finma-rs-2009-01-f.pdf

According to Barclays Global Investors (BGI), assets in its 632 European ETF funds at the end of December totalled USD142.82bn, which represents an increase of 11.2% for the year 2008 as a whole. According to Lipper Feri, ETFs registered net inflows in January-October of USD61.6bn, while all other categories of mutual funds showed net outflows, totalling USD505.7bn. BGI counted 219 newly launched funds last year. Daily trading volumes totalled USD2.03bn last year, which represents an increase of 21.6% over 2007 levels.

Swiss private banks cannot fight alone against the transparency demands from the US tax authorities (IRS), and they are seeking the support of banks in other countries, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. In addition, many Swiss private bankers are planning to withdraw completely from activities serving US clients.

Après la baisse de 50 pb d'hier, à 2%, le taux du refi pourrait tomber à un plancher de 1,5%

Le graphique ci-contre représente l’erreur de suivi (ou tracking error) moyenne et la surperformance moyenne annualisée de l’univers des fonds actions françaises sur un historique de quatre ans. L’erreur de suivi moyenne mesure l’écart type de la performance relative des fonds, c’est-à-dire la volatilité sur un an de l'écart entre la moyenne des performances hebdomadaires des fonds et la performance de l’indice de référence. Plus la tracking error d’un fonds est faible, plus le fonds à un profil proche de son indice de référence.

Après la baisse de 50 pb d'hier, à 2%, le taux du refi pourrait tomber à un plancher de 1,5%

Les tableaux ci-contre présentent les meilleures et plus mauvaises performances des fonds sur le marché des fonds actions américaines et le marché des fonds actions françaises au cours du mois de décembre 2008. Ces performances sont mises en perspective par le calcul de la volatilité et du ratio de Sharpe des fonds sur trois ans d’historique ainsi que du rendement depuis un an.

Dans une interview au Financial Times, Jamie Dimon, directeur général de JPMorgan, estime que la crise financière et économique aux Etats-Unis va s"aggraver cette année. «Le pire n"est pas encore derrière nous. (?). Dans notre secteur, la situation sur les prêts à la consommation et les cartes de crédit va continuer à empirer». Pour le patron de JPMorgan, le secteur bancaire va revenir aux fondamentaux : servir les individus et les entreprises le mieux possible.

Refusant de rejoindre le ch?ur des Cassandre, Lazard Gestion Frères adopte pour 2009 une position plutôt optimiste. #Nous anticipons un retournement de cycle cette année#, prévoit en effet François-Marc Durand, associé-gérant de Lazard Frères Gestion.Les classes d"actifs à privilégier cette année sont clairement les actifs risqués, comme le crédit bancaire, les actions, les convertibles, les obligations corporate et l"alternatif. #Les actifs risqués sont complètement bradés#, affirme Matthieu Grouès, responsable de la stratégie et de l"allocation d"actifs et directeur des gestions de Lazard Frères Gestion. #Le crédit bancaire européen et les actions pourraient en 2009 offrir des performances pouvant aller jusqu"à 30 %#, anticipe-t-il. #Les valorisations des actions sont à des niveaux extrêmement bas qui ne justifient pas un scénario de dépression, qui nous semble peu probable#, explique Matthieu Grouès, qui rappelle que les PE sont à des niveaux jamais vus depuis la deuxième guerre mondiale. Il favorise particulièrement la zone euro, #bénéficiant d"un important bêta et d"une bonne visibilité# et les actions américaines. Il considère également qu"il faudra revenir sur les actions japonaises à moyen terme. Lazard Frères Gestion évite en revanche d"investir dans les pays émergents. #Il y aura largement assez à gagner sur les pays développés, pas besoin d"aller voir plus loin#, insiste François-Marc Durand. Dans les portefeuilles type, les secteurs surpondérés sont l"industrie, les biens de consommation et la santé. Les matériaux de base sont en revanche toujours souspondérés, tout comme les financières. Si l"optimisme prime, notamment sur les actions, il s"agit de ne pas perde trop de temps, les marchés étant toujours en avance sur la reprise économique. #Le risque, c"est de passer à côté d"une grande partie de la performance en investissant une fois que la reprise est amorcée#, conclut Matthieu Grouès.

Afin de faire revenir les particuliers, Putnam Investments a lancé au 1er janvier quatre mutual funds de performance absolue promettant des rendements supérieurs de 1, 3, 5 et 7 points de pourcentage à celui des Treasury bills mesuré par un indice Merrill Lynch. Le résultat est mesuré sur une période de trois ans, de sorte que la baisse d’une année peut être compensée par la performance d’une autre, souligne The Wall Street Journal. Putnam affichait fin 2008 un encours de 106 milliards de dollars, dont 54 milliards en mutual funds et 52 milliards pour le compte de clients institutionnels.

La souscription minimale pour le nouvel OEIC (Open-Ended Investment Company) de droit britannique Baring Global Agriculture Fund se situe à 2.000 livres, indique mercredi Baring Asset management, précisant que la commission de gestion s'établit à 1 % par an. Ce fonds, annoncé dès l’an dernier (lire notre dépêche du 20 mai 2008), sera investi dans des entreprises dont la plus grande partie des recettes proviennent d’activités liées à l’agriculture ou qui devraient profiter de ce thème. Le produit est géré par Jonathan Blake, également responsable du Baring Global Resources Fund.Durant une période initiale de quatre mois, le fonds sera distribué en exclusivité aux IFAs (CGPI) par le biais de la plate-forme de Standard Life, a précisé Rod Alridge, head of UK retail distribution de de Barings.

Dans le sillage de la plupart des places financières, perturbées par les piètres ventes de détail aux USA, Tokyo a cédé 5% le jeudi 15 janvier avec un nikkei en recul de 428,32 points à 8.010,13 points.

Selon Standard & Poor’s, les emissions de sukuks ont plongé l’an dernier de plus de 56 % à 14,9 milliards de dollars. Cette diminution est imputable aux turbulences sur les marchés financiers, au tarissement des liquidités, à l'élargissement des spreads de crédit et à l’attitude attentiste des investisseurs. La taille moyenne des émissions a également diminué fortement, compte tenu de la moindre appétence des investisseurs. Enfin, le dollar américain a perdu son rôle de monnaie de prédilection pour les sukuks, seuls 10 % des émissions s’effectuant dans cette devise.