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16/01/2014

Growth in high yield issues of 50% in 2013

High yield issues by European corporates last year reached a record USd103bn, up 50% compared with the previous year, according to the January edition of a Moody’s publication (“High Yield Interest – European Edition”). The average quality of credit has continued to stabilize, with a ratio of falling/rising scores of 1.4 over second half, Moody’s reports. “The failures at some European companies at the end of the year were not unexpected, and do not fundamentally change the trend towards a stabilisation of credit,” says Chetan Modi, managing director in the “European leveraged finance” team at Moody’s. Germany has remained the largest European issuer in the high yield segment, which is dominated by the automotive sector. Germany may lose its top spot, however, due to the potential for many German companies to be upgraded to investment grade.
16/01/2014

Santander AM recruits a head of credit research

Santander Asset Management is adding to its bond unit, with the appointment of Adam Harnetty as head of credit research, in charge of European bonds. He will report to Adam Cordery, who was recruited in April 2013 from Schroders, to become head of European bonds, and will lead a team of four analysts. Harnetty, who has been present in the asset management sector for 25 years, previously worked as a fund manager at Schroders, Invesco, BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Kleinwort Benson and Ernst & Young.
16/01/2014

Deutsche Bank suspends a trader for manipulation of currencies

Deutsche Bank has suspended “at least one” trader suspected of manipulations of the currency markets, the German newspaper “Die Welt” reports, citing sources close to the case. The employee named in the case was based in New York, and made currency trades on the Argentine peso, the newspaper writes, adding that other traders at the bank are also suspected of manipulation.
16/01/2014

March Gestión adds to its equity management teams

March Gestión, an asset management affiliate of the Spanish Banca March group, has recruited Antonio López Silvestre as equity manager and head of selection for Spanish and European businesses. He will also join the asset management team responsible for the flagship funds from the firm, such as March Valores, March Vini Catena and the Family Business Fund. Before joining March Gestión, Silvestre was an equity analyst and chief investment officer for mid-sized businesses at Exane BNP Paribas from 2010 to 2013.
16/01/2014

US long-term mutual funds post record asset levels in 2013

US mutual funds last year posted inflows of USD265.8bn, which propelled assets under management in long-term funds to a record USD10.9trn, according to statistics released by Morningstar. The data provider points out that the preference of investors for bond funds to the detriment of equity funds, which has been observed for several years, ended last year. Inflows to equity funds did total USD218.6bn, the highest level since 2000, but compared with total assets, the net growth was only 3%, far lower than the double-digit growth of the mid-1990s. Bond funds posted net inflows of only USD21bn last year, after USD268.1bn in 2012, meaning that for the first time since 2004, traditional bond funds and municipal bond funds have finished the year with outflows. Among the various categories of bond funds, intermediate maturity funds last year posted net outflows of USD78.9bn, the highest in any category. However, loand funds and international diversified bond funds, which have shorter durations, posted respective inflows of USD61,3bn and USD58.1bn. Among the major actors, Vanguard wins the prize for inflows, with a total of USD74.6bn, and gains a percentage point in terms of market share.
16/01/2014

QFS AM closes currency hedge fund

QFS Asset Management is closing its currency hedge fund, and has refunded nearly USD1bn to its clients, the Wall Street Journal reports. The strategy lost 8.7% in 2013, and 8.6% in 2012. This is the first time in 20 years that the QFS has lost money two years running.
16/01/2014

Inflows to UCITS-compliant funds remained stable in November

Net sales of UCITS remained relatively steady in November attracting EUR 20 billion of net new cash, compared to EUR 21 billion in October, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA).Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) registered net inflows of EUR 22 billion, compared to EUR 26 billion in October. Equity funds attracted net inflows of EUR 11 billion, down from EUR 15 billion in October, while bond funds registered net inflows of EUR 7 billion, compared to break-even point a month earlier. Net sales of balanced funds amounted to EUR 9 billion, compared to EUR 7 billion in October. Money market funds registered reduced net outflows in November of EUR 3 billion, down from EUR 5 billion in October. Total non-UCITS recorded net sales of EUR 12 billion in November, compared to EUR 19 billion in October. This decrease in net sales can be attributed to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which registered net inflows of EUR 8 billion, down from EUR 18 billion in October. Total net assets of UCITS stood at EUR 6,923 billion at end November 2013, representing a 0.9 percent increase during the month. Total net assets of non-UCITS increased by 0.4 percent to stand at EUR 2,789 billion at month end.
16/01/2014

Partners Group concludes an exceptional 2013

The Swiss private equity specialist Partners Group has reported a record year in 2013, both in terms of demand and investment. The group has raised EUR5.1bn, and meanwhile invested EUR7.7bn for its clients, according to a statement released on 15 January. The group states that it has invested throughout the spectrum of private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private debt. As of the end of December 2013, assets under management totalled EUR31.6bn. In the year 2014, Partners Group is planning to raise between EUR4.5bn and EUR6.5bn. In this context of strong growth, the group has announced several promotions on its teams. Juri Jenkner, co-head of private debt, has been promoted to partner. Gilbert de la Ferrière, head of investment solutions for France and head of the Paris office, has been promoted to managing director. Two other partners have been promoted at the same time: Gonzalo Fernandez Castro, head of private equity for Latin America and head of the Sao Paulo office, and Benjamin Haan, head of private infrastructure in Asia-Pacific, based in Sydney.
16/01/2014

Skandia recruits head of sales for United Kingdom

Skandia is adding to its teams in the United Kingdom. The affiliate of the Old Mutual group has recruited Scott Goodsir as head of distribution for the British market. He will join Skandia in March. Goodsir had previously been responsible for the wholesale division for the United Kingdom at BNY Mellon, a firm at which he spent 15 years.
16/01/2014

Hermes adds to its emerging markets team

The British asset management firm Hermes Fund Managers is adding to its team dedicated to emerging markets, with the appointment of Diego Mauro as director and senior analyst in charge of Asia. Mauro had previously worked in London at Legg Mason International Equities, in charge of analysis of emerging markets worldwide, but already specialised in Asia.
16/01/2014

Assets at Jupiter up 20% in 2013

It has been a good year in 2013 for Jupiter Fund Management. Last year, the British asset management firm, which will be preparing to sell its private asset management activity (see Newsmanagers of 14 January 2014), has posted growth of 20% in its assets under management, to GBP31.7bn in total assets, the group announced on 15 January. This performance was supported by a cumulative net inflow to mutual funds of GBP1.2bn in 2013, of which GBP458m are incoming flows in the final quarter of the year.
16/01/2014

iShares extends range of Swiss ETF bond funds

iShares, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) platform from BlackRock Inc., is adding to its range of bond ETFs domiciled in Switzerland, with the launch of the iShares CHF Corporate Bond (CH) ETF, according to a statement released on 15 January. The product becomes the most recent from the Swiss ETF platform at iShares, just six months after finalising its acquisition of the tracker fund activity of Credit Suisse. The fund, now listed on SIX Swiss Exchange, includes investment grade corporate bonds issued in Swiss francs by Swiss and international companies. It is a physical replication fund, whose management commission is 0.15%. According to Tom Fekete, head fo product development for the EMEA region at iShares, “this first bond ETF domiciled in Switzerland offers efficient and profitable exposure to this class of assets via a single transaction, and allows investors to profit from the difference in returns compared with bonds issued by the Swiss Confederation.” For his part, Christian Gast, director of iShares Switzerland, states that “demand for products denominated in Swiss francs remains strong, as our clients are seeking exposure in their national currency. At a time when Swiss investors previously had not had access to this asset class except through isolated bonds, this new fund allows them to acquire exposure to corporate bonds as part of a diversified, liquid portfolio.”
16/01/2014

NExT am to buy a 25% stake in Euryale AM

NExT AM, an affiliate dedicated to group stakes at La Française, will buy a minority stake of 25% in Euryale Asset Management. The two firms have formed a distribution partnership which reserves sales of the Pierval Santé fund to retail clients and IFAs exclusively at La Française.
16/01/2014

Record commissions and profits for BofA in fourth quarter 2013

Asset management and wealth management (GWIM) at Bank of America earned exceptional profits in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. Net profits for the GWIM division rose 35% year on year, to USD777m, while earnings rose 7%, to USD4.5bn. Commission earnings alone rose 15%, to USD1.8bn. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled USD821.4bn, compared with USD698.1bn as of the end of December 2012. Long-term inflows rose USD9.4bn in the quarter to the end of December. For the year as a whole, inflows from long-term assets total a record USD47.8bn, up by USD21.4bn, or 81%, compared with the previous year. Profits for the group in fourth quarter totalled USD3.18bn, or 29 cents per share, compared with USD367m, or 3 cents, one year earlier, while pre-tax profits were affected by USD5bn in charges related to real estate credit.
16/01/2014

Assets in wealth and retirement at Wells Fargo up

The wealth management, brokerage and retirement unit of Wells Fargo in fourth quarter 2013 at the end of December had earned a net profit og USD490m, up 9% compared with third quarter 2013, and 40% up compared with fourth quarter 2012. Asstes of wealth management clients increased 4% to USD218bn, while assets in institutional retirement plans were up 3%, to USD298bn. Assets in individual retirement accounts (IRA), for their part, have posted a 5% increased, to USD341bn.
16/01/2014

Paamco appoints four partners

The hedge fund firm Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company (PAAMCO), which has USD15.6bn in assets under management, has promoted Ronan Cosgrave, Putri Pascualy, Anne-Gaelle Pouille and Jeffrey Williardson as partners, Hedge Week reports.
16/01/2014

East Capital launches a Chinese A equities fund

East Capital, the Swedish asset manager specialised in emerging and frontier markets, has launched the East Capital China A-Shares Fund. The East Capital China A-Shares Fund, which invests in Renminbi-denominated A-shares listed on China’s mainland stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, is registered in Luxembourg and already fully subscribed.East Capital is the first fund management firm domiciled in the Nordic region to receive a quota approval from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) programme, according to a press statement.
16/01/2014

Singapore money market authority recruits from Manulife

Desmond Lee, who had previously worked at the Canadian Manulife group, has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as head portfolio manager, Citywire Asia reports. Lee, who had been head of research at Manulife Asia Wealth Management, will join a team of 10 people in the external fund management division, in the department responsible for the management of Singapore’s currency reserves. As of the end of November 2013, Singapore’s currency reserved totalled about USD271bn.
16/01/2014

Aberdeen AM est en décollecte nette au quatrième trimestre

Le gérant écossais a enregistré une décollecte nette de 4,4 milliards de livres au quatrième trimestre, alors que ses clients ont retiré leurs fonds des marchés émergents. Les actifs sous gestion ont reculé de 3,4% en glissement trimestriel pour s'établir à 193,6 milliards de livres à fin décembre. «Les flux d’activité ont reflété la poursuite d’un sentiment négatif vis-à-vis de l’Asie et des marchés émergents», a commenté Martin Gilbert, directeur général d’Aberdeen AM. «Compte tenu de l’environnement, nous surveillons éttroitement les coûts. Nous disposons d’un solide pipeline qui devrait générer environ 2 milliards de livres d’actifs supplémentaires début 2014», a-t-il toutefois ajouté.
16/01/2014

La BCE évoque une plus grande volatilité des taux monétaires

«Toute période de transition, correspondant à une normalisation de la fourniture de liquidité, entraînerait une volatilité accrue, ce qui se traduirait par un ancrage plus faible des taux à court terme au taux de la facilité de dépôt de la BCE», note la BCE dans son bulletin mensuel. «Cette évolution rendrait les anticipations relatives aux taux futurs du marché monétaire plus difficiles à interpréter, dans la mesure où plusieurs facteurs, comme les évolutions à venir de la liquidité et l’incertitude, seraient intégrés dans le prix des swaps de taux au jour le jour et viendraient s’ajouter aux anticipations quant au profil d'évolution futur des taux directeurs», ajoute-t-elle.
16/01/2014

Les IDE ont progressé de 5% en Chine l'an dernier

Les investissements directs étrangers ont atteint un montant record de 117,6 milliards de dollars (86,4 milliards d’euros) en Chine en 2013. Le ministère du Commerce a précisé jeudi que ces investissements avaient augmenté de 5% par rapport à 2012. La Chine n’a cessé d’attirer l’investissement étranger depuis son adhésion à l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) en 2001.
16/01/2014

BNP Paribas IP lâche sa coentreprise à Taïwan

La filiale de gestion d’actifs de BNP Paribas a cédé à son partenaire Taiwan Cooperative Financial les 49% du capital qu’il détenait dans sa coentreprise dans le pays. L’opération est soumise à l’obtention de l’aval des autorités réglementaires. La société commune, dénommée BNP Paribas TCB Asset Management, avait été mise sur pied en janvier 2010.
16/01/2014

La Place de Paris plaide pour une fiscalité moins pénalisante

La Place de Paris avance ses pions. Alors que le gouvernement a annoncé la tenue prochaine d’une commission «Place de Paris 2020», l’association Paris Europlace a présenté ses pistes pour améliorer la compétitivité des intermédiaires financiers et des investisseurs de l’Hexagone. Sans surprise, elle demande l’abandon du projet européen de taxe sur les transactions financières. Elle plaide aussi pour une mise en extinction progressive de la taxe sur les salaires et sur l’affectation du produit de la taxe systémique au futur fonds de résolution européen pour que les banques ne soient pas davantage imposées avec l’union bancaire.
Photo: PHB
16/01/2014

BlackRock fait des étincelles au quatrième trimestre

Le gérant américain a vu son bénéfice net progresser de 24% au quatrième trimestre pour atteindre 841 millions de dollars ou 4,86 dollars par action. BlackRock évoque la croissance des marchés, des afflux nets de long terme et de solides commissions de performance.
16/01/2014

L'Allemagne a encore réduit ses emprunts en 2013

L’Allemagne a emprunté en 2013 un solde net de 22,1 milliards d’euros, moins que l’objectif qui avait été fixé à 25,1 milliards, a annoncé mercredi le ministère des Finances. Les dépenses de l’Etat fédéral se sont montées à 307,8 milliards d’euros et les recettes à 285,7 milliards. Le déficit budgétaire est ressorti à 0,1% du produit intérieur brut.
16/01/2014

L'Espagne veut diminuer l'impôt sur les sociétés

Luis de Guindos, le ministre de l’Economie espagnol, a dévoilé une réforme fiscale destinée à diminuer l’impôt sur les sociétés tout en réduisant les niches fiscales. «L’idée est de rendre le système plus favorable à la croissance», a-t-il indiqué, sans plus de précisions. Un groupe d’experts doit présenter d’ici à fin mars ses pistes de réforme.
16/01/2014

La force de l'euro étonne la Banque de France

«Aujourd’hui, l’euro a atteint un niveau surprenant étant donné, par exemple, que les prévisions de croissance sont meilleures pour les Etats-Unis que pour l’Europe», a déclaré mercredi Anne Le Lorier, premier sous-gouverneur de la Banque de France, lors d’un débat organisé par la Bundesbank à Sarrebruck. Elle a toutefois ajouté que la balance commerciale de la zone euro était plus équilibrée que celle des Etats-Unis.
16/01/2014

Olivier Brousse va prendre la tête de John Laing

La société de gestion et d’investissement spécialisée dans les infrastructures a désigné Olivier Brousse pour succéder à Adrian Ewer au poste de directeur général. Cette nomination sera effective à compter du 1er mars 2014. Olivier Brousse, qui sera basé à Londres, arrive de la Saur dont il était jusqu'à la semaine dernière le président exécutif.
16/01/2014

La Fed souligne une embellie sur le marché du travail

L'économie américaine a continué à croître à un rythme modéré de fin novembre jusqu'à fin 2013, rapporte la Réserve fédérale dans son nouvel état des lieux de la conjoncture. Dans son «Livre beige», la Fed a ajouté que les deux tiers des douze districts ont vu augmenter le rythme des embauches. Cette progression soutient la thèse selon laquelle la forte baisse des créations d’emplois annoncée en décembre est due au froid glacial qui a paralysé une partie du pays pendant un mois. «Les perspectives économiques sont positives dans la plupart des districts, certains d’entre eux s’attendant à ce que la croissance se poursuive au même rythme et certains tablant sur une accélération de la croissance», signale la banque centrale. Ces résultats, tirés de données collectées jusqu’au 6 janvier inclus, sont globalement conformes aux récentes statistiques qui ont montré un raffermissement de l'économie à la fin de l’an dernier.

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