Le marché espagnol des Sicav a connu une année faste en 2013. Selon des données publiées par le cabinet VDOS Stochastics, les encours de ces véhicules ont progressé de 16,75 % l’an dernier pour atteindre 27,57 milliards d’euros.En termes d’actifs sous gestion, Santander arrive en tête du classement avec 4,029 milliards d’euros d’encours gérés dans les Sicav et une part de marché de 14,61 %. En revanche, en termes de collecte nette, la palme revient à Banco Madrid qui a enregistré l’an dernier 269 millions d’euros de souscriptions nettes, devant Gesalcala (197 millions d’euros de collecte nette).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Giordano Lombardo, current vice-chairman of Pioneer Investment Management and chief investment officer, was on Wednesday elected as chairman of Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers. Lombardo has been serving in the position in the interim since the resignation of Domenico Siniscalco due to conflicts of interest. “Individual savings plans, ELTIF (European Long-Term Investment Fund) and the relaunch of complementary retirement savings are three concrete occasions to promote long-term practices in asset management,” Lombardo said in his first presentation as chairman of Assogestioni. In order to seize the best opportunities, “we will need to respect two conditions,” he added. The first concerns engagements throughout Europe. The second concerns communication and financial education.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Allianz Global Investors has recruited Federico Domenichini for its Italian team as head of Direct Distribution Partners, Bluerating reports. He will report to Alberto D’Avenia, head of Italy at Allianz GI. Domenichini previously worked as a salesperson at Fidelity Invetsments International, Schroders, and Banca Fideuram.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mirae Asset, the largest Korean asset management firm by asset volume (USD60bn), is setting out to conquer the European market, Les Echos reports. Its star manger and co-chief investment officer, Rahul Chadha, has recently moved to Europe to seek to win over pension funds, insurers and other sovereign funds on the continent. The firm, founded in 1997, made its first incursion into Europe in 2007, opening an office in London responsible for selling a Luxembourg Sicav, which now has 13 equity sub-funds, and USD800m in assets, but the timing was complicated as the financial bubble burst. “We are now ready to restart the machine,” explains Chadha, who sees it as an opportunity to invest in emerging markets.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Two out of three CEOs and co-founders of the Geneva-based bank Syz & Co are leaving their positions. Alfredo Piacentini and Paolo Luban have decided to take a new direction in their careers, the bank announced on 26 March in a statement. The third co-founder, Eric Syz, will continue to direct the group as CEO. Syz will be assisted by a board of directors, which will include the heads of the group’s three activities: private banking, asset management and Oyster investment funds. As these heads have been in place for several years, the change will have no impact on activities, the bank says in its statement. The decision of Piacentini and Luban was taken jointly with the third co-founder, Eric Syz, the statement says.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The State Street Investor Confidence Index for the month of March 2014 stood at 120.2, down by 2.5 points. The downturn is largely imputable to European institutional investors, as the regional investor confidence index fell 1.5 points to 108.6 from a level of 110.1 (in corrected data) registered in February. The North American investor confidence index, meanwhile, has held steady, while in Asia, the index is up by 7.4 points to 114.3, compared with a corrected level of 106.9 points last year. “Geopolitical risks in Ukraine, Turkey and other emerging countries have not yet had a negative impact on the behaviour of institutional investors,” says Ken Froot, author of the index. “Institutionals have largely maintained their allocations to equities worldwide. No new major bad economic data has been recorded in the period, and nothing has disturbed investor sentiment,” he continues.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS Global Asset Management (UBS GAM) is scaling up its teams in Asia. The asset management firm has appointed Monita Chon as head of institutional activities for HondgKong and Taiwan as part of a move to centralise coverage of these two markets at a single site, Asian Investor reports. Chon joined UBS GAM from ING Investment Manager, where she was chief development officer for institutional activitis for Northern Aia, since May 2010. She had previously worked at Barclays Global Investors (2001-2009) and at Fidelity Investments. Her arrival follows the recruitment of Michael Chen in January this year, from Invesco.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Scandinavian bank Nordea will merge its Swedish equity fund Nordea Sverigefond into the Nordea Swedish Stars fund, which is also invested in Swedish equities, Privata Affärer reports. At the same time, the rules of the Swedish Stars fund will be modified in order to allow the manager to invest in countries of Northern Europe other than Sweden. The management process will also be revised. The merger comes as part of a larger overhaul of the Nordea fund range, whose active management has been criticised for its lack of tangible results compared with passive management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On Wednesday, 26 March, the Swiss federal council appointed Mark Branson as its new director of the Federal financial market surveillance authority (Finma). The British Branson had been serving in the position in the interim since February, following the departure of Patrick Raaflaub. Branson, who joined Finma in January 2010 as head of the banking division, will begin in his new role on 1 April. Cricitisms have been raised due to his status as a former head of the bank UBS.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US boutique JMC Asset Management is preparing to launch its first UCITS equity fund, whose objective is to offer investors access to the best stock-pickers in the United States, named JMCAM US Equity Fund, Citywire Global reports. The vehicle, which is awaiting approval from the regulatory authorities, is adopting a multi-manager strategy which will combine the best US stock-pickers, and will use the Russell 300 Index as a benchmark. Unlike traditional funds of funds, this vehicle will include the best stocks from a selection of the best managers of US equity funds, rather than putting them all into the portfoli. The fund will be registered on the Independent Ucits Platform, a platform domiciled in Luxembourg. Andbank Asset Management will act as a service provider, while Citibank International will act as custodian and depository. JMC Asset Management was founded in New York in 2012 by Grégoire Painvin, formerly of ABN Amro.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) and Sandell Investment Services on 26 March announced the launch of a UCITS format alternative strategy, the Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions – Castlerigg Equity Event and Arbitrage UCITS Fund. The strategy, which joins the Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions (MLIS) alternative UCITS platform, offers institutional investors access to several event-driven and arbitrage strategies on developed markets. The strategy, initially launched by Sandell in October 2010, joins the MLIS platform with assets under management of about USD200m. The new sub-fund, domiciled in Luxembourg, is largely available for sale in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

UK’s Standard Life on March 26 announced that its global investment management business, Standard Life Investments, has entered into an agreement with Phoenix Group to acquire its asset management business, Ignis Asset Management. The transaction is anticipated to complete on or before 30 June 2014 and is conditional upon approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.Standard Life Investments will pay GBP390 million for Ignis, including regulatory capital.As part of the transaction, Standard Life Investments will enter into a strategic alliance with Phoenix through which it will provide asset management services to Phoenix’s Life Company subsidiaries, including the potential to manage future books of assets that Phoenix may acquire. «This acquisition is entirely complementary, deepening our investment capabilities, broadening our third party client base and strengthening our strategic position from which to develop a business in the rapidly developing liability aware market,» said Keith Skeoch, chief executive of Standard Life Investments.As a matter of fact, Standard Life Investments, with assets under management of GBP184.1bn, changes size and strengthens its strategic positioning on the asset management market. Ignis is a top 15 asset manager in the UK with GBP59 billion of assets under management as at 31 December 2013 and revenues of GBP150 million. After the deal is completed, SLI will have assets under management of about GBP250bn, getting close or topping competitors like Aviva Investors or M&G. The deal also enables SLI to broaden its third-party client base, increasing third party assets under management to 64% of total and revenues to 81% of total.On the financial side, the transaction will help accelerate Standard Life Investments towards a new target EBITDA margin of 45%. It will enhance earnings per share from the first full year post acquisition (pre-amortisation and exceptional items). At the same time, Standard Life Investments has also identified material cost savings from the integration of Ignis with Standard Life Investments’ operating platform, exceeding GBP50 million by the third full year of ownership. Keith Skeoch has nevertheless declared that there will be no job cuts.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } James Tomlinson has joined Muzinich & Co as sales manager in London, Fund Web reports. Tomlinson joins from Schroders, where he had spent 10 years in development.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } At a time when its parent company Phoenix Group has announced its sale to Standard Life Investments (see elsewhere), Ignis Asset Management on 26 March reported growth in its operating profits of 14% in 2013. Its operating profits totalled GBP49m as of the end of 2013, compared with GBP43m as of the end of 2012. At the same time, these earnings were up to GBP150m as of the end of 2013, compared with GBP143m in 2012, a rise of 4.9%. This growth is to be credited to growth in its activities for third parties. In this segment, Ignis AM has posted net subscriptions of GBP1.9bn last year, compared with GBP1.6bn in 2012. As a result, assets managed for third parties represent 22% of the total as of 31 December 2013, compared with only 11% in 2010 and 19% in 2012. As of the end of 2013, assets under management for third parties now total GBP15bn, compared with GBP11.9bn as of the end of 2012. The only difficuilty is that assets under management at Ignis AM have held stable year on year. They stood at GBP59.1bn as of the end of 2013, compared with GBP59bn as of the end of 2012. Including supervised and advised assets, these assets totalled GBP65.9bn as of the end of 2013, compared with GBP66bn as of the end of 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management has hired Greg Clerkson as head of global consultant relations. Based in London, he will report to Florence Dard, head of institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds in Europe. Clerkson had previously been principal and head of global consultant relations for BlueCrest Capital Management. He joined in 2012 from Russell Investments, where he had been director and head of Alternative Investment Consulting (EMEA).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Insight Investment Fund Management Limited and BNY Mellon Global Funds on 26 March announced that both the Absolute Insight Equity Market Neutral Fund and the BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity Fund are restricting subscriptions from new investors as of 27 March 2014.Both funds are managed by Insight’s specialist equity team, led by Andy Cawker. The decision to limit inflows and control the capacity of the funds has been taken to protect existing investors’ interests. This proactive step aims to retain the investment team’s flexibility to meet the funds’ investment objectives and performance aims. As of 26th March 2014, the team is managing assets totalling GBP2.6bn.

Santander UK Plc has been fined GBP12,377,800 by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after the regulator uncovered «serious failings in the way it offered financial advice from its bank», according to a statement.In particular, there was a significant risk of Santander UK giving unsuitable advice to its customers, its approach to considering investors’ risk appetites was inadequate, and for some people it failed to regularly check that investments continued to meet their needs - despite promising to do so.In agreement with the FCA, Santander will now contact all affected customers and, for any sales that were sub-standard, redress will be paid where due.Santander UK agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation so its fine was reduced by 30%. Were it not for this discount it would have been fined GBP17,682,730.

L’Organisation mondiale du commerce a donné raison à l’Union européenne, au Japon et aux Etats-Unis contre Pékin dans le dossier des terres rares. En 2010, la Chine, qui produit plus de 90% des terres rares, avait imposé des quotas à l’exportation draconiens sur ces matières premières, officiellement pour des raisons de protection de l’environnement. La décision avait provoqué une flambée des cours.

Le nombre de demandeurs d’emploi de catégorie A, sans la moindre activité, a nettement augmenté en février en France (+0,9%) en raison d’une poursuite de la progression du chômage chez les seniors et d’un coup d’arrêt à sa baisse chez les moins de 25 ans, selon les chiffres diffusés hier par le ministère du Travail. 3.347.700 demandeurs d’emplois de catégorie A - un nouveau record - étaient recensés fin février en France métropolitaine, soit 31.500 de plus en un mois.

Le Sénat italien, 160 voix pour contre 133, a accordé sa confiance mercredi au président du Conseil, Matteo Renzi, qui avait engagé sa responsabilité sur son projet de réforme des administrations provinciales dans le cadre de la réduction des dépenses publiques. Le projet de loi doit maintenant retourner à la Chambre des députés.

Le prêteur international devait valider hier un plan d’aide de 15 milliards de dollars, passant par une envolée des prix du gaz aux particuliers

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Le Brésil, le Mexique, la France et le prix Nobel d’économie Joseph Stiglitz ont adressé lundi un «amicus curiae» à la Cour Suprême des Etats-Unis

BNP Paribas IP et Amundi veulent profiter du renouveau des flux de collecte dans la péninsule

BNP Paribas IP et Amundi veulent profiter du renouveau des flux de collecte dans la Péninsule

Un quota d'investissement de 80 milliards de renminbi a été obtenu. Paris et Londres élaborent en parallèle un système de compensation-règlement

Paris a signé un accord avec Pékin pour un quota d’investissement de 80 milliards de renminbis qui permettra aux acteurs français d’investir en RMB en actions et en obligations chinoises. La Place travaille à l'élaboration d’un système de compensation-règlement en RMB dans l’Hexagone.

De nombreux membres du conseil de la BCE se sont exprimés ces derniers jours, rappelant aux marchés que toutes les options de politique monétaire - du QE aux taux négatifs - restent possibles. Cette multiplication des interventions verbales est justifiée par un contexte où le cours de l’euro est au plus haut depuis deux ans et où les taux Euribor avaient sensiblement augmenté la semaine dernière. Faut-il voir dans ces interventions répétées de la BCE les prémices d’un changement de la politique monétaire la semaine prochaine ?

La panique des épargnants engendrée par la seule rumeur d'un défaut imminent d'une petite banque rurale a nécessité l'intervention des autorités

Selon nos informations, la caisse de retraite IP Valmy aurait lancé un appel d’offres avec le soutien du consultant Fixage pour investir 50 millions d’euros en fonds ouvert sur les small caps américaines afin de diversifier son portefeuille d’actifs.