P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The most recent edition of the fund manager survey (FMS) from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, carried out on 5 to 11 July, covering 238 institutional managers with a total of USD643bn, has found record optimism with respect to the US dollar, while the increase in cash balances is sending a contrarian signal with respect to equity purchases. A net total of 83% of respondents predict that the US dollar will rise in the next 12 months. Equity investors are long on strong US dollar bets (US and Japanese equities), and short on weak US dollar bets (commodities and emerging market equities).The cash allocation has increased on average to 4.6%, while net exposure of hedge ufnds has fallen, at a time when asset allocators have increased their equity allocations and reduced their exposure to bonds to a two-year low. In addition, managers retain a net underexposure to commodities.As to equities, the favourite sector is tech, while utilities are the least popular. Investors have reduced their exposure to banks and staples, which have been the most extremely underweighted sectors over the past two years.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Shortly before the introduction of the alternative investment fund management directive (AIFMD), and following approval by the European securities markets authority (ESMA), the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GSFC) has signed co-operation agreements with the securities commissions of 27 member countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area on the supervision of hedge funds, private equity, and real estate funds.The co-operation agreement includes exchange of information, on-site visits and mutual assistance with compliance with respective surveillance laws. The co-operation will include managers of funds regisered in the Bailiwick of Guernsey which manage or sell hedge funds in the European Union as well as hedge fund managers in EU countries who manage or sell hedge funds in the Guernsey jurisdiction.The agreements also include co-opeation in the area of cross-border supervision of depositories and delegates. They will take the form of memorand of understanding (MoUs) between securities commissions in European member countries and the GSFC.Agreements are to be signed with the following authorities: Autoriteit Financiële Markten (The Netherlands) Autorité des marchés financiers (France) Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Germany) Central Bank of Ireland (Ireland) Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários (Portugal) Financial Services and Markets Authority (Belgium) Financial Supervisory Authority (Romania) Commission de Surveillance du Sector Financier (Luxembourg) Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Cyprus) Czech National Bank (Czech Republic) Finansinspektionen (Sweden) Finanssivalvonta (Finland) Finanstilsynet (Denmark) Finanšu un kapitāla tirgus komisija (Latvia) Finanzmarktaufsicht (Austria) Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (Estonia) Polish Financial Supervision Authority (Poland) Financial Conduct Authority (United Kingdom) Financial Supervision Commission (Bulgaria) Hellenic Capital Market Commission (Greece) Bank of Lithuania (Lithuania) Malta Financial Services Authority (Malta) Národná banka Slovenska (Slovak Republic) Pénzügyi Szervezetek Állami Felügyelete (Hungary) Fjármálaeftirlitiđ(Iceland) Finanstilsynet (Norway) Finanzmarktaufsicht (Liechtenstein)

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Tyler Page, global head of business development at Guggenheim Fund Solutions, has been appointed as head of hedge fund solutions for Europe at Guggenheim Partners (USD180bn) in London.Ajay Chitkara, senior managing director at Guggenheim Fund Solutions, says that the appointment is related to a demand from European institutional investors who are interested in Guggenheim’s expertise in the area of overseeing, monitoring and reporting on hedge fund portfolios.Page had been head of marketing, and allowed the hedge fund managed account platform at Guggenheim to take in several billion dollars of commitments.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced that it has completed the final phase in the migration of a large number of Hendreson funds to its platform. Overall, the migration project affected 25 formerly Gartmore funds, totalling over EUR8bn in assets. BNP Paribas Securities Services will now offer settlement, custody and fund administration services to these funds in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Alexander Forschauer in early July joined Axa Investment Managers Deutschland GmbH as head of fixed income. He is responsible for all direct insurance investments in the area of bonds as well as the development of bond management for Germany and Austria.For the past five years, the new recruit had been a senior client portfolio manager fixed income at LGT Capital Management, after serving at Credit Suisse Asset Management and Bawag PSK.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Helaba Invest, launched 18 years ago with EUR1.3bn in assets and 11 employees, now has EUR118bn in assets under management and has 260 employees, Börsen-Zeitung reports. Since 2012, Helaba Invest has been operating as a German asset management firm with a full-service KAG license, operating in two main areas: quantitative management and Master-KAG (fund administration) services. These activities have been supplemented by a real estate asset management unit ant another unit dedicated to alternative asset classes.In 2012, the firm took on two major mandates totalling EUR30bn, which are outsourced to SV SparkassenVersicherung and VPV Vereinigte Postversicherung.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ING Investment Management (ING IM) yesterday announced several appointments to its Emerging Market Debt (EMD) team. Daniel Eustaquio joins the firm as lead manager of the ING (L) Renta Fund Emerging Markets Debt (Hard urrency) fund, and will be based in Atlanta in the United States from 22 July 2013.He had previously worked at Oppenheimer & Co, where he had been chief investment offices, EMD FI Sales. From 1998 to 2009, Eustaquio served on the EMD team at ING IM US.ING IM has also added 3 EMD (senior) analysts to its EMD team. Patricia Medina joins the Atlanta team, whlie Jasmine Lie and Shilpa Singhal have joined the Singapore entity. The team of analyst at EMD now includes 6 members, ING indicates.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 July, Manfred Florie joined the Norwegian firm Skagen (EUR15bn) as client relationship manager for the institutional market in the Netherlands, Fondsnieuws reports. Florie has spent the past four years as head of relationships with pension funds at F&C at Amsterdam.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barclays is continuing to overhaul its management. The British bank has appointed Tushar Morzaria as CFO, replacing Chris Lucas. Morzaria had previously been CFO of the JP Morgan investment bank. He will join Barclays this autumn, and will join the board of directors on 1 January 2014. Lucas, for his part, will chair the board of directors until 28 Feruary 2014, when he will be retiring.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a verdict declared on 5 July and published on 16 July, the high court of Liechtenstein has stipulated that administrative assistance which the United States may lay claim to in the area of taxation may not constitutionally be made retroactive.Requests for administrative assistance submitted by th US government dating back to the end of the 2001 fiscal year are not valid. However, those covering a period subsequent to the bilateral agreement between the United States and Liechtenstein on 4 December 2009 are valid.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a survey recently carried out by Cerulli Associates, ETF providers report that liquidity is the topic that advisers understand least well, along with the manner in which ETFs are traded, while the risks of using ETFs in portfolio construction are the best-understood points.Alec Papazian, associate director at Cerulli, reports that although the type of assistance that advisers expect from ETF promoters varies widely from one to the next, it is clear that for providers, liquidity is the major growth challenge this year, as 63% cite this as their top concern.Cerulli encourages ETF providers to focus on new entrants to the advisory market in order to promote the use of this type of fund.The findings of the survey are available as an attachment.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mutual Fund Wire cites Christian Charest, editor at Morningstar, who published a study which finds that Canadian-registered funds are much more expensive in terms of fees than US mutual funds. Canadian investors are charged 2% to 2.5% in management fees on average, while US investors pay under 1%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics published on 16 July by the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA), but established by the FSA, the number of financial advisers in the United Kingdom has fallen from 41,000 in 2011 to 31,000 as of 31 December 2012, when the new RDR regulations came into effect.Of the 41,000 client advisers identified in 2011, 26,000 were working for financial advising businesses. This number had fallen to slightly over 20,000 as of the end of 2012.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 12 July, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced plans to increase the total volume of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) quotas to USD150bn. It had increased the total to USD80bn from USD30bn in April 2012, Z-Ben Advisors reports. Currently, with USD72bn in liense issued since the beginning of 2013, there are 229 entities with QFII licenses, and the total quota amount adds up to USD43.4bn.In another sign of liberalisation, the CSRC has extended the possibility, previously restricted to Hong Kong businesses, to businesses based in Singapore and/or London, to obtain qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) licenses to allow them to invest in Chinese securities other than bonds on markets in continental China.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Myanmar has decided to attract foreign investors by modifying its legal framework. By October 2015, the creation of a stock exchange, the Yangon Stock Exchange, will allow for foreign companies to be listed and brokers and services companies to be established. Foreign banks may create joint ventures with local banks, and then open affiliates, Finance Asia reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Claire Fraser, global head of distribution marketing, has been promoted to head of marketing and communications at Baring Asset Management, replacing Ian Pascal, who will be leaving the business next month to join Hennes Funds Manger as head of marketing & communications.She will begin in her new role in London on 1 August, and will report directly to David Brennan, chairman & CEO. Before joining Barings in 2010 as head of EMEA marketing, Fraser had been associate director at Insight Investment.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CAD183bn in assets) will invest GBP179m in a 50% stake in a portfolio of eight office properties in the centre of London, which are owned by the BT Pension Scheme (GBP38.7bn) and managed by Hermes Real Estate Investment Management, Funds Europe reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Investment Week, Ed Moisson is leaving his position as head of UK and cross-border research at Lipper, to join another business in the sector. He spent 14 years directing the fund management division of Lipper for the United Kingdom and continental Europe. He had been head of communications at Fitzrovia before that firm was acquired by Thomson Reuters in October 2004.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fundweb reports that Janus Capital International has recruited Alan Glendon as UK financial institutions sales director for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. Glendon, based in London, will report directly to Nigel Austin, UK & EMEA COO. Glendon had previously been head of UK discretionary sales at Premier Asset Management, after serving as sales director at F&C Asset Management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The manager of the Telefónica pension fund, Fonditel Gestión, has crated a baby sibling for its absolute return funds Albatros, Velociraptor and Octopus, with the launch of the Fonditel Smart Beta, whose objective, with no guarantee, is to outperform the Eonia by 200 basis points, with ex ante volatility of 5-8%, Funds People reports.The product will invest in bonds via shares in investment funds, and Fonditel is not permitted to exceed 30% of its assets in non-UCITS funds.The fund is available in an A share class (from EUR50), with fees of 1.35%, a B share class (from EUR50) at 0.329%, and C shares (from EUR500,000 or EUR50 for employees of the group), at 1%.

Le gestionnaire du fonds de pension de Telefónica, Fonditel Gestión, a donné un «petit frère» aux fonds de performance absolue Albatros, Velociraptor et Octopus avec le lancement du fonditel Smart Beta dont l’objectif non garanti est de surperformer l’Eonia de 200 points de base avec une volatilité ex ante de 5-8 %, indique Funds People.Ce produit sera investi en obligations au travers de parts de fonds d’investissement, Fonditel n’étant pas autorisé à dépasser les 30 % des encours en fonds non coordonnés.Le fonds est disponible en parts A (à partir de 50 euros) chargées à 1,35 %, en parts B (à partir de 50 euros) chargées à 0,329 % et en parts C (à partir de 500.000 euros ou de 50 euros pour les salariés du groupe) chargées à 1 %.

Les fonds investis en obligations de duration de moyen terme ont subi des demandes de rachat de 24,4 milliards de dollars (18,8 milliards d’euros) en juin, selon les chiffres de Morningstar publiés par Funds Europe. Le fonds Pimco Total Return a été le plus durement touché, il représente à lui seul 9,6 milliards de dollars de rachats.Pour l’ensemble de sa gamme, Pimco a enregistré des sorties de 14,5 milliards de dollars en juin, ce qui fait de lui la société de gestion le plus touchée par les rachats, suivi de Fidelity, qui voit 5,1 milliards sortir de ses fonds en juin. MFS Investment Management a battu tous ses concurrents en publiant des souscriptions nettes de 1,4 milliard de dollars.

Société Générale a dressé hier le bilan de l’augmentation de capital réservée à ses collaborateurs. Réalisée entre le 14 et le 28 mai, la souscription au Plan Mondial d’Actionnariat Salarié 2013 a été proposé à un prix de 21,33 euros par action, soit une décote du cours de référence de 20 %.Le Plan a été ouvert aux salariés et retraités dans 59 implantations géographiques, indique un communiqué qui précise que cette année, près de 40 000 personnes ont souscrit pour un montant total de 184,5 millions d’euros. En France, près d’un bénéficiaire sur deux a participé à l’opération et à l’international près d’un salarié sur sept. Le taux de souscription global à 30,5 % et est en augmentation de 7 points par rapport à 2012.

Blackstone a annoncé le lancement d’un mutual fund, à savoir un fonds ouvert aux particuliers, au sein de sa division Blackstone Alternative Asset Management dédiée aux hedge funds, rapporte L’Agefi. Le fonds Blackstone Alternative Multi-Manager sera conseillé par une dizaine de gestionnaires spécialisés Two Sigma Advisers et Good Hill Partners.

ING Investment Management (ING IM) a annoncé hier plusieurs nominations au sein de son équipe de dette émergente ou Emerging Market Debt (EMD). Daniel Eustaquio rejoint la société en tant que gérant senior du fonds ING (L) Renta Fund Emerging Markets Debt (Hard Currency) et sera basé à Atlanta aux États-Unis à partir du 22 juillet 2013.Il travaillait auparavant chez Oppenheimer & Co, où il était directeur des Investissements, EMD FI Sales. De 1998 à 2009, Daniel Eustaquio travaillait dans l’équipe EMD d’ING IM US. Par ailleurs, ING IM a également enrichi son équipe EMD de 3 analystes EMD (senior). Patricia Medina a rejoint l’entité d’Atlanta et Jasmine Li et Shilpa Singhal ont rejoint l’entité de Singapour. L’équipe d’analystes EMD compte désormais 6 membres, indique ING.

Depuis le 1er juillet, Manfred Florie a rejoint le gestionnaire norvégien Skagen (15 milliards d’euros) en tant que client relations managers pour le marché institutionnel aux Pays-Bas, rapporte Fondsnieuws. L’intéressé a passé les quatre dernières années comme responsable des relations avec les fonds de pension chez F&C à Amsterdam.

Le gestionnaire australien AMP Capital et l’assureur chinois China Life prévoient la création d’une joint venture, baptisée China Life AMP Fund Company. Soumise à autorisation réglementaire, cette dernière devrait voir le jour avant la fin de l’année, selon Asian Investor. Elle permettra à AMP d’offrir ses produits aux clients de l’assureur, qui bénéfice d’un réseau dense et différents de celui des banques chinoises.

Le 1er octobre, Markus Gähwiler rejoindra Rothschild Wealth Management à Zurich comme conseiller clientèle spécialiste de la Suisse orientale. L’intéressé viendra de la Banque cantonale de Saint-Gall, où il était chargé de la clientèle très haut de gamme.Auparavant, le 12 août, Rothschild Wealth Management accueillera Martin Troxler, également à Zurich et comme conseiller clientèle spécialiste des petites et moyennes entreprises et de la région de Berne. Il quitte le poste directeur adjoint des family office services chez VP Bank à Zurich. Avant ce dernier poste, il a été senior adviser et investment consultant chez Julius Baer.

UBP vient de lancer UBAM - Unconstrained Bond, un fonds en obligations sans contraintes («unconstrained») proposant une stratégie décorrélée et flexible, adaptée à toutes les conditions de marché. Plus particulièrement, le fonds a été conçu pour profiter d’un environnement de hausse des taux : «La capacité du fonds à réduire son exposition aux taux à un niveau compris entre 0 et -2 ans permet de limiter le régime de volatilité accrue inhérent aux environnements moins accommodants.L’objectif d’investissement est d’offrir aux investisseurs des performances analogues à celles des obligations, avec en plus une contribution positive générée par les hausses de taux. «Ainsi, les solutions d’investissement «sans contraintes», en tant que classe d’actifs – soit tactique soit stratégique –, contribuent à améliorer les performances ajustées au risque pour des portefeuilles plus larges»".Le fonds, qui s’appuie sur un processus d’allocation «"op-down» couvrant les marchés globaux du crédit et des taux d’intérêt, n’a aucune contrainte en termes d’indice de référence. En outre, le fonds présente une grande flexibilité en matière d’exposition obligataire, avec notamment une allocation proactive aux segments les plus attrayants. Caractéristiques : Code isin : I - Capitalisation : LU0940721409I - Distribution : LU0940721581Retail share classesA - Capitalisation : LU0940720344 A - Distribution : LU0940720427 Frais de gestion : 0.25% (part I) / 0.50% (part A)Commission de surperformance : 20% au delà de l’Eonia +1% (I-share and A-share) Libellés en dollars, livres, francs suisses, couronnes suédoises

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Shares in Charles Schwab Corp lost 3.3% on Tuesday, to USD21, on an announcement that profits in second quarter had fallen to USD256m, compared with USD275m one year earlier, although profits in April-June 2012 included a one-time receipt of USD70m related to the resolution of a vendor dispute. However, even at USD21 each, shares in Schwab are still up 46% compared with the beginning of the year, The Wall Street Journal points out.Excluding one-time items, net profits increased by 11%, but the market was focused on profits per share (USD0.18), which was one cent below average projections. In addition, Charles Schwab did not make savings on costs, particularly salary, and costs remain above the objective set for 2013.