The arrival of Denis Panel at Theam coincides with a new organisation which the asset management firm of the BNP Paribas IP group wanted to be more simple, legible and closer to its clients. This means that the firm's activities are now based only on three pillars, down from four previously. The director discusses the new strategy at Theam with Newsmanagers.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Schroders has set aside GBP15m to fund potential financial penalties that it may be asked to pay at the outcome of investigations in the United States into companies which are thought to have helped US citizens to evade taxes, Financial Times fund management reports. The asset management firm says that fines would be for its Swiss private bank. Schroders is voluntarily participating the US department of justice programme to encourage financial institutions to identify client accounts which may not comply with tax law.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A whistleblower in the United States has informed the US authorities of doubtful practices at Credit Suisse, the newspaper Tagesanzeiger reports in its 7 march issue. The person is reported to be Anthony DeChellis, CEO of Private Banking US at the large bank from 2006 until spring 2013. DeChellis’ statements raise doubts about a correction which resulted in several billions of dollars being written down as a net inflow. Citing Bloomberg, the newspaper states that the SEC has opened a case against Credit Suisse in the matter. The case concerns the assets of Hansjörg Wyss, founder of Synthes, which were written down by Credit Suisse as a net inflow in 2012, and were then transferred between the United States and Switzerland. For Credit Suisse, this meant a significant outflow in Switzerland became a net inflow to the United States. The information is reported to have been supplied by DeChellis, the newspaper states.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Anima SGR has reshuffled its fund product range, it has confirmed to Citywire Global. Among the major changes are the merger of the Euro Equity and European Equity funds into the Anima SICAV – European Equities fund, managed by Lars Schickentanz.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } AEW Europe on 7 March appointed Rob Wilkinson as its CEO, replacing Christian Delaire. Wilkinson joined the firm in 2009 as managing director, head of European fund management and separate accounts, and was then appointed as chief investment officer in 2011. Before joining AEW Europe, Wilkinson served in a variety of roles at Goodman Group, UBS Investment Banking and Eurohypo. Jean Laveille has also been appointed as deputy CEO at AE Europe SA until 31 January 2015, when he will become Senior Advisor. AEW Europe is a European leader in real estate investment advising for third parties. The European platform has over EUR18bn in assets under management in 16 countries, and has over 280 employees in 9 European countries.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlueMountain Capital, one of the New York asset management firms best known for its credit management, has set up shop in Tokyo in order to develop in Asia, Hedge Fund Intellidence reports. The office, which has 3 members, is led by Charles Kobayashi, partner and CLO portfolio manager. The flagship fund from the firm, BlueMountain Credit Alternatives, which invests primarily in North American and European credit, may extend its exposure to the Asian region. Assets under management at BlueMountain Capital total over USD18bn, invested in absolute return strategies and a CLO portfolio.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bill Gross, co-founder and co-chief investment officer at Pimco, has accused his former CEO, Mohamed El-Erian, of seeking to undermine him. He has told Reuters that he has “evidence” that his former right-hand man “wrote” an article published in the Wall Street Journal on 24 february, which describes the deterioration of the relationship between the two men, as performance fell. When Reuters asked if it was possible to access this “evidence,” Gross replied “You are on his side (...).” He added that he was monitoring El-Erian’s telephone conversations.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Legal & General is in the process of closing the Global Macro Themes fund, which has GBP222m in assets, as its current manager, Ben Gill, is leaving the firm, Investment Week reports. The absolute return fund will be closed on 25 April this year, as investors have selected either to be reimbursed or to transfer their assets to another Legal & General vehicle. The fund, most of whose GBP222m in assets come from internal sources, according to the website, reached GBP590m in assets at its peak.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nomura Asset Management is overhauling its management. Kunio Watanabe has been appointed as CEO of the Japanese asset management firm, effective from 1 April, replacing Toshihiro Iwasaki. The appointment comes as part of a more profound overhaul of the teams at the Nomura group. Watanabe is currently head of international clients, since April 2013. He will be replaced by Fumiki Kondo, currently CEO of Instinet, an affiliate of Nomura responsible for equity execution services, who from 1 April, will become head of international clients. As a result of this move, Nomura has appointed Jonathan Kellner, currently head of US activities at Instinet, at CEO of Instinet, replacing Kondo.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Vontobel group now counts UBS among its clients for its structured product issue platform deritrade. UBS now offers its structured products on deritrade, along with Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Société Générale, Vontobel announced in a statement on 7 March. The platform is developing as expected, to become a major market player, Vontobel states.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Allianz Global Investors has modified most of the sectoral bets of its BRIC Stars fund, following the departure of manager Michael Konstantinov, Citywire reports. The fund was taken over by the San Diego team, led by Kunal Ghosh, in October 2013. The fund, whose assets under mangement total about USD480m, has reduced its exposure to basic consumer products and financials, in preference to discretionary consumer products and IT.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Residential real estate prices in Germany are highly varied, as prices observed in the most sought-after west German cities are 60% higher than in cities in the east of the country, according to a study by the real estate research agency at the university of Ratisbonne (IREBS), in partnership with Deutsche Bank. According to the study, cities in west Germany fall into four categories. Firstly seven cities are in a top tier, with prices rising faster than average int eh apst few years. These include Munich, which is uncontestably the most expensive city in Germany. The second group is university cities, where a growing number of students are also driving prices up, such as Freiburg im Breisgau. These are followed by cities which have recently seen sharp price rises, such as Bremerhaven and Schweifurt. Lasty, the study identifies structurally weak cities, which are mostly located in the Ruhr and the north of Germany (Gelsenkirchen, Lübeck).
Le nombre de créations d’emplois a été plus élevé que prévu en février aux Etats-Unis. Le pays a gagné 175.000 emplois le mois dernier, après 129.000 en janvier, a annoncé le département du Travail vendredi. Toutefois, le taux de chômage a augmenté à 6,7% contre un plus bas de cinq ans de 6,6% en janvier.
Le gouvernement allemand prévoit de limiter les nouveaux emprunts nets de l’Etat fédéral à 6,5 milliards d’euros cette année et de les ramener à zéro en 2015 pour la première fois depuis 1969, a appris vendredi soir Reuters d’une source haut placée au ministère des Finances. L’objectif pour 2014 correspondrait à une situation d'équilibre budgétaire structurel, hors éléments exceptionnels.
Les prix à la consommation en Chine ont augmenté de 2% en février, à leur rythme le plus faible en 13 mois, tandis que les prix producteurs ont baissé pour le 24ème mois d’affilée, de 2%, à leur rythme le plus fort en sept mois, montrent des chiffres publiés hier par le Bureau national de la Statistique. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters anticipaient une hausse exactement au même rythme des prix à la consommation et une baisse de 1,9% des prix producteurs.
Le gouvernement français utilisera la réserve de précaution de 7 milliards d’euros pour tenir sa trajectoire de réduction du déficit budgétaire, a affirmé hier soir sur BFM TV le ministre de l’Economie et des Finances, Pierre Moscovici, au moment où des experts s’attendent à un dérapage par rapport à l’objectif d’un déficit public de 3,6% cette année, puis en-dessous de la limite de 3% à fin 2015.
La dette Saint-Maur-des-Fossés pourrait être réduite de 20% après la décision de justice rendue vendredi de condamner la banque Dexia à revoir les taux d’emprunts souscrits par la ville, a déclaré samedi le maire Henri Plagnol. La banque devra en effet substituer au taux variable, qui avait été fixé pour un emprunt de 5 millions d’euros contracté par la commune, le taux d’intérêt légal qui est inférieur. Selon Henri Plagnol, ce jugement entraînerait pour ce seul emprunt une «économie potentielle de 600.000 euros par an». La décision de justice pourrait «s’appliquer à tous les emprunts que la ville a souscrits avec Dexia, qui s'élèvent à 50 millions et représentent 20% de la dette de la commune». Celle-ci a contracté une quinzaine d’emprunts du même type auprès de Dexia. L'élu espère ainsi faire des «dizaines de millions d’euros d'économie» et il table sur un «assainissement définitif de la dette de la ville».
Le Fonds de Compensation (FDC), 12,3 milliards euros d’encours sous gestion, vient de remplacer un ses gérants actions monde. Le FDC a attribué le mandat de gestion du compartiment FDC SICAV Actions Monde - Actif 2 à Kleinwort Benson Investors. Invesco Asset Management a été écarté en raison de performance insatisfaisante, selon Marc Fries, le président du comité d’investissement. Pour l’institution luxembourgeoise, l’objectif de ce compartiment est de surperformer son indice de référence, à savoir le MSCI World Total Return (net) exprimé en USD et converti en EUR. Les actifs du Compartiment sont gérés de manière active afin de maximiser la performance pour le niveau de risque spécifié (tracking error) dans le mandat de gestion. La stratégie dinvestissement actuelle du Fonds de Compensation : Actions 32,5% (dont actions monde 25%, actions marchés émergents 5%, small cap 2,5%) Obligations 54% (dont obligations libellées en euro 26,5%, obligations monde couvertes 25%, obligations marchés émergents 2,5%) Immobilier 8% (biens immobiliers Luxembourg 5%, biens immobiliers monde 3,5%) Liquidités libellées en euros 5%
Selon le Shanghai Securities News qui cite le président de la Commission de régulation boursière chinoise Xiao Gang, Pékin étudie une réglementation plus favorable au marché concernant les retraits de cote et ces nouvelles règles pourraient être publiées d’ici à la fin de cette année. La réforme porterait également sur les procédures de transfert entre les différentes places boursières du pays.
Dans un entretien au magazine, le ministre fédéral allemand des transports Alexander Dobrindt a indiqué qu’il présenterait au cours du premier semestre 2014 un projet de loi instaurant des péages autoroutiers pour les voitures particulières étrangères. Il ajoute que près de 5 milliards d’euros seront consacrés durant la présente législature à l’amélioration du réseau routier et autoroutier du pays.
Selon le quotidien qui se réfère aux derniers travaux de la Direction générale du Trésor, l’écart s’est considérablement réduit depuis trois ans en matière d’impôts sur les sociétés (IS) selon la taille des entreprises. Alors qu’une étude datant de 2011 faisait ressortir un écart de 20 points dans le taux implicite de l’impôt payé par les grands groupes (19%) et celui des PME (39%), cet écart est désormais de 6 points (26% contre 32%). La réduction de la déductibilité des charges financières, la limitation du report en avant des déficits ou la surtaxe d’impôt sur les sociétés visant les grandes entreprises ont donc eu les effets escomptés, conclut le journal.