Le débouclage de ces instruments, censés protéger contre le défaut d'un émetteur, peut se révéler épineux

Quatre mois après sa défaite à l'élection présidentielle américaine face à Barack Obama, Mitt Romney a rejoint le fonds d’investissement créé par son fils, selon un conseiller de l’ancien candidat républicain. Ce dernier, fondateur de Bain Capital, est nommé président du comité exécutif de Solamere Capital, une société fondée en 2008 par Tagg Romney avec Eric Scheuermann et Spencer Zwick.

Reuters croit savoir que l’opérateur boursier a renoncé, faute d’appétit des investisseurs, à céder sa participation de 4,8% au capital de l’opérateur indien MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange of India) spécialisé sur les matières premières. Nyse Euronext attendait 46 millions de dollars de l’opération, lancée hier soir mais annulée.

Thierry Brevet, Directeur du fonds de dotation du Louvre dans un article publié par Les Echos : Dès la mise en place du portefeuille, nous avons investi sur les actions et nous n’en sommes jamais sortis. Cela s’explique par le fait que notre fonds de dotation, qui n’est pas « consomptible », a un horizon d’investissement quasi infini. Dès l’origine, il a démarré avec une allocation cible en actions de l’ordre de 35 %, relevée aujourd’hui à 40 %. Le fonds de dotation commencera sa distribution de produits financiers en 2016. D’ici là, il met en réserve son résultat pour constituer un amortisseur comptable et atteindre une taille qui lui permettra de stabiliser la distribution en 2016 et les années suivantes et de s’affranchir un peu de la volatilité à court terme des marchés financiers. Nous détenons environ 31 % d’actions monde (investies sur l’indice MSCI World), dont la moitié est couverte contre le risque de change, et 9 % d’actions investies sur les pays émergents. Ce que nous recherchons, c’est avant tout une gestion simple, transparente et peu coûteuse. Du coup nous avons privilégié la gestion indicielle par rapport à la gestion active, mais pas à travers des ETF. Au moment de constituer le portefeuille, j’ai comparé les fonds indiciels classiques et les ETF. Le problème des ETF, c’est que pour les acheter, il faut passer par un courtier qui affiche un cours vendeur et un cours acheteur. Cet écart de cours peut s’accroître significativement et constituer un coût supplémentaire pour un investisseur comme nous. Par ailleurs nous ne voulions pas investir dans des instruments financiers synthétiques comme c’est le cas de nombreux ETF. Enfin, ne faisant pas de gestion tactique active dans notre portefeuille, la possibilité offerte par les ETF de traiter tout au long de la journée n’avait pas d’intérêt. En conclusion, des fonds indiciels classiques, répliquant physiquement un indice de référence large et diversifié et publiant une valeur liquidative quotidienne officielle, nous ont paru être la solution la plus simple et la mieux adaptée à notre besoin. En revanche, pour un investisseur à court terme qui prend des positions dont il veut pouvoir sortir très rapidement et à tout moment, ou qui souhaite investir dans des stratégies étroites et « pointues », les ETF sont certainement bien mieux adaptés. Ce n’est vraiment pas notre cas : nous sommes investisseurs de long terme, notre portefeuille a un taux de rotation très bas et nous privilégions toujours la simplicité opérationnelle. Pour nos investissements sur le MSCI World, nous n’avons donc que des fonds indiciels, tandis que pour les pays émergents nous faisons moitié gestion passive et moitié gestion active, dans un souci de diversification par rapport à l’indice MSCI EM. Sur cette zone très particulière, le gestionnaire actif que nous avons retenu permet en effet de réduire un peu la volatilité globale du portefeuille à travers une gestion de conviction.

Le secteur privé américain a créé 198.000 emplois au mois de février, un chiffre supérieur aux attentes, montre l’enquête mensuelle du cabinet de conseil ADP. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters prévoyaient en moyenne 170.000 créations de postes dans le privé. Le chiffre de janvier a été revu en hausse à 215.000 contre 192.000 annoncé initialement.

Le président de la Fed de Philadelphie, connu pour être un «faucon», estime que la Réserve fédérale doit cesser d’assouplir continuellement sa politique et faire preuve d’une certaine patience en raison des risques associés au programme d’achat d’actifs. La Fed doit par ailleurs publier dans la journée la dernière édition de son Livre Beige.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) on 5 March announced inflows of EUR2.3bn in 2012, up 66% year on year. Inflows to bond funds represented 88% of this total, the asset management firm says in a statement. As of the end of December, assets under management at RLAM totalled GBP47.6bn, up 8% compared with the end of December 2011.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sir Paul Ruddock, head and co-founder of the alternative management firm Lansdowne Partners, will resign from his position in June next year. The British financier would like to leave the asset management sector in order to dedicate himself to philanthropic activities. Assets under management at Lansdowne, which is now seeking a successor for Sir Paul, total about GBP12.4bn, after peaking at GBP16.8bn about two years ago. Its flagship fund, the Developed Markets fund, last year earned returns of 18%, and has gained 7.6% since the beginning of this year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Investors in equities are much more confident about the outlooks for the markets in 2013 than their colleagues specialised in bond investments, according to an annual survey undertaken by Aviva Investors of a sample of asset managers with GBP2.5trn in assets under management based in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe.Nearly 70% of equity professionals have more confidence in the markets than a year ago, perhaps because returns on equities beat projections throughout the past year. For bond managers, only one in four professionals is more confident than at the same time last year. Pessimism about the euro zone remains high, but more so among bond investors, 90% of whom predict that uncertainty will persist, compared with only 71% of equity investors.Equity investors are predicting a rise in merger and acquisition deals in 2013, compared with only 17% one year ago. They are also highly optimistic about the financial sector, though 44% of them were underweight last year.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The hedge fund firm Marshall Wace and the Asian financial group GaveKal Holdings have decided to dissolve their joint venture, founded in June 2008, Financial News reports. The two parties found that there was a lack of synergy. Marshall Wace will absorb the long/short funds from the joint venture, and GaveKal will take over management of the long-only funds.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The 20 largest hedge funds in the world made USD32.4bn for their investiors last year, less than one fifth of the USD172bn the industry made overall, the Financial Times reports, citing figures from LCH Investments (Edmond de Rothschild group). In the past, the 20 largest hedge funds made nearly half of all the profits in the industry.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Morningstar hedge fund index, the Morningstar MSCI Composite Hedge Fund Index, gained 1.9% in the month of January, and has gained 6.3% in the past twelve months. Virtually all components of the index remained positively oriented in January, exepting short bias and systematic trading strategies. Among the notable results of the month, the Morningstar MSCI Small Cap Hedge Fund Index posted gains of 3.9%, and the Morningstar MSCI Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Index has gained 3%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Finance ministers from the 27 EU countries meeting in Brussels on 5 March supported a compromise proposal advanced last week by the European Parliament for legislation to apply the rules of Basel III to Europe, including new bonus limits, Les Echos reports. No formal decision has been taken, but Ireland, which holds the EU presidency this half, observed at the conclusion of the meeting that a vast majority supported the compromise proposal. The United Kingdom is now completely isolated on the issue of limits for bonuses paid to bankers, with no way to prevent the equivalent of this legislation being passed elsewhere in the world. In the future, variable pay scales may not exceed those for the fixed portion of salary, except if shareholders decide to raise the limit to up to twice the annual salary.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Since 2008, falling discount rates have, despite four years of good performance for investments, provoked a rise of about USD84bn in the coverage shortfalls for the 19 US pension funds with liabilities of over USD20bn, according to a study by Russell Investments. The funds taken by themselves represent nearly 40% of assets and liabilities for all US publicly-traded companies. They finished 2012 with a net shortfall of USD220bn, compared with USD182bn one year earlier.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Net inflows at La Banque Postale Asset Management last year totalled EUR3.5bn, up EUR2.8bn compared with 2011, according to statistics released on 5 March by La Banque Postale.The effect, associated with improved returns, have resulted in growth of EUR13bn in assets, to EUR137.5bn, largely in the bond (+EUR9.5bn) and money market (+EUR3.4bn) asset classes.Profits for the asset management unit have been maintained due to good cost-control. Net banking proceeds are stable at EUR120m. Operating costs for the sector are under control and are virtually stable compared with 2011, at EUR68m. The cost/income ratio for the asset management affiliates is identical to 2011, at 54.7%.Net profits for the part of the La Banque Postale group rose 39.3% last year to EUR574m, with net banking proceeds of EUR5.24bn (+2.5% excluding one-time elements).La Banque Postale has also announced that it will be continuing to develop its wealth management affiliate. Since October 2012, La Banque Postale has been in exclusive negotiations with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa to acquire all capital in the Banque Privée Européenne (BPE). Final agreements are expected to be signed on 2 April 2013, La Banque Postale states.La Banque Postale will then have a complete platform of the products, resources, tools and expertise necessary to offer a dedicated product range to its 500,000 wealth management clients, with the support of a dedicated network.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The OFI Group, via its longstanding holding company Ofivalmo Partenaires, on 5 March announced that it has acquired a minority stake of 10% in the Swiss microfinance specialist BlueOrchard. The strategic planned investment was announced in January by OFI (see Newsmanagers of 25 January 2013).BlueOrchard Finance S.A., the European leader in the management of micro-credit, was founded in 2001. For eleven years, BlueOrchard Finance S.A. has been able to increase not only its assets under management, which now total USD620m, but also its product range, to meet demand from institutional and private investors seeking to combine financial returns and social impact.Following the acquisition of the minority stake in BlueOrchard Finance S.A., Ofivalmo Partenaires will be represented on the board of directors of the Geneva-based firm.Assets under management at the OFI group totalled EUR53.5bn as of the end of January 2013.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SEI has been selected by Sciens Alternative Investments, an entity of the Sciens Capital Management group, to provide administration services for its managed account platform. SEI will also provide collateral management services to the Sciens middle office.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 11 March, OppenheimerFunds has announced, Laton Spahr is becomgina portfolio manager for the Oppenheimer Value Fund, Oppenheimer Select Value Fund and Oppenheimer Small- & Mid- Cap Value Fund, as well as for all associated strategies. He will also be co-portfolio manager of the Oppenheimer Equity Fund.Spahr will be responsible for a team of three people, who like him are employed by Columbia Management Investment Advisors (an afiliate of Ameriprise Financial, like the British firm Threadneedle): Eric Hewitt, Kyle Bergacker and Daniel Hozan. At Columbia, Spahr was a senior portfolio manager for value and income strategies, for institutional and retail products.Since 28 February, John Damian and Mitchell Williams “are no longer the portfolio managers of their respective products,” while Levine is interim portfolio manager for the strategies concerned until 11 March.For its part, Columbia has announced that it has recruited Jeffrey L. Knight as head of global asset allocation. He had most recently been manager of several mutual funds and institutional strategies, also as head of global asset allocation, at Putnam Investments.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Richard Semark is expected to become head of the UBS MTF platform, one of the largest dark pools in Europe, the Financial Times reports. Semark succeeds Robert Barnes, who is reported to be preparing to leave his position after more than 18 years at the group. UBS has declined to comment on the reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Assets under management at the Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild group (BPER group) last year rose 5.4% to CHF101.6bn. Net inflows totalled CHF2.5bn, a press release says.Net profits, however, rell to CHF66.4m, compared with CHF125.1m in 2011. This decline is largely due “to a decline in returns on savings, reduced client activity, an unfavourable evolution of the asset mix, and a reduced contribution from fund activities, which weighed heavily on our revenues.” The group was also obliged to bear one-time restructuring costs, as well as significant investment to establish a platform in Hong Kong and to modernise IT systems.The group emphasizes that it has pledged to deploy a strategic plan that will be focused on a number of priority actions, “such as capitalisation around a strong Edmond de Rotschild brand, and confirmation of engagement in the private banking and asset management professions, in Europe and internationally, voluntaristicly and pragmatically.”

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } M&G Investments, which has been present on the Swiss market for seven years, has opened an office in Geneva, and is adding to its local team with the recruitment of a new employee, Agefi Switzerland reports. M&G Investments is hoping to meet growing demand on the part of its clients in French-speaking Switzerland. Valentine Bugeja has been appointed as head of sales for development of the family office and independent financial adviser segments in French-speaking Switzerland. She began in her new role in February 2013.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The average amount paid in bonuses in the finance sector in the United Kingdom fell 2% last year compared with the previous year, the most recent eFinancialCareers survey has revealed, at a time when the City is preparing to fight limits on bonuses for bankers planned by the European Union in court. The decline, which remains moderate, compared with a 36% decline on Wall Street, is due more to staff cuts than to cuts to bonuses, the finance job offer website remarks. The 2% figure conceals significant disparities, however. Front office employees still receive bonuses nearly four times larger than their back-office colleagues, and their bonuses rose by 15% this year. Middle office saw the largest reduction to their bonuses: -25% compared with the previous year. Buy side professionals, meanwhile, do better than their sell-side colleagues: their average bonuses in 2012 rose 13% compared with the previous year. The number who received no bonus rose from 10% in 2011 to 13% in 2012. While average bonuses paid in 2012 fell, satisfaction with bonuses increased slightly: of 606 finance professionals surveyed, 4 out of 10 (40%) say they are satisfied with their bonsues, compared with 36% in 2011. A slightly larger number of respondents has declared that the bonuses they received “met their expectations” in 2012, more than in 2011 (38% compared with 36%). However, a significant percentage remain disssatisfied: nearly half (45%) are disappointed, and a similar percentage (44%) say that their bonuses to not meet their expectations.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Singapore sovereign fund GIC, whose assets under management total about USD230bn, has announced the appointment of Jeffrey Jaensubjakij as head of asset management activities at GIC Asset Management. He succeeds Lim Chow Kiat, who last month was appointed as chief investment officer for the group. Jaensubhakij will leave his current position in Europe, and will transfer from London to Singapore. He will begin in his new role on 1 April.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } To replace Rolf Schilde as head of wealth management for the Persian Gulf, based in Dubai, UBS has recruited Dominique Leimer, who most recently had been one of the directors of the private equity investor Black Pearl Capital in Geneva, finews reports. Leimer, who has already been in Dubai for seven years at Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, will report to Ali Janoudi, the new head of UBS for Wealth Management Dubai International Center (DIFC).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Azimut has unveiled a new unit, Azimut Global Advisory, which will focus on paid financial advising, Bluerating reports. The project, based on open architecture, will be led by the brothers Alberto and Alessandro Parentini.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics from the Swiss firm Alix Capital, UCITS-compliant hedge funds in February posted average returns of 0.14%, compared with 1.03% in January, or 1.17% since the beginning of the year. UCITS-compliant funds of hedge funds had 0.23%, compared with 1.31% the previous month, for a total of 1.54% for the first two months.Three strategies showed losses in February: CTA (-0.80%), commodities (-0.40%), and event-driven (-0.04%). The strongest gains were for FX (+0.56%) and long/short equity (+0.40%)As of the end of February, total assets in UCITS-compliant hedge funds totalled EUR143bn, for the 870 funds of the UCITS Alternative Index, compared with EUR141bn for 880 products as of the end of January.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The CNMV on 4 March published a notification from the oil firm Repsol stating that the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek (EUR115bn in assets) has acquired the remainder of the Spanish group’s holding in its own shares, equivalent to 5.04% of capital, for EUR1.036bn (64.7 million shares, at EUR16.01 each). Temasek now has a 6.3% stake in Repsol.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Elizabeth Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors, is pessimistic about equities and bonds, Financial Times Fund Management reports this week. The affiliate of the German firm is encouraging invetors to focus on other aset classes, such as convertible bonds, index products, commodities and infrastructure. AGI has also created a renewables team, and is planning to launch a fund dedicated to this theme covering Europe, and potentially other developed countries. Corley also thinks that Asian high yield bonds denominated in local currencies offer “real opportunities.”

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) on March 5th published its Internal Audit Report on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) covering the period January 2007 to May 2009. The report identifies that the FSA, at all levels of management, was aware of severe dislocation in the LIBOR market in the period. This report concludes that the FSA’s focus on dealing with the financial crisis, together with the fact that contributing to and administering LIBOR were not ‘regulated activities’ (which they will be from April 1st, 2013), led to the FSA being too narrowly focused in its handling of LIBOR related information. Second, taking the information cumulatively, the likelihood that lowballing was occurring should have been considered. And, third, the information received should have been better managed.The report identifies important areas where the FSA should have performed better, and makes valuable recommendations for the future, but does not suggest major regulatory failure on the scale identified in the Northern Rock (March 2008) or RBS (December 2011) reports. Finally, the internal audit draws out six lessons to be learnt for the future regulatory authorities, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), to consider. They refer to activities outside the regulatory perimeter, the clear division of responsibilities bertween the authorities, the appropriate embedment of the lessons of the report in the cultures of the regulatory authorities, the use and record of information and intelligence by these authorities, the way information circulates and escalates and, lastly the integration of the lessons from the report in the development of the record management policies.