Increasing competition in the institutional asset management industry has reached such a level that clients have begun to react to under-performing periods, asking for fee reductions, an article in Financial News reports. In many cases, they get them.

The index provider S&P Indices on 22 June announced the launch of an index dedicated to companies which respect Islamic Sharia law, the S&P/OIC COMEC 50 Shariah Index, designed to evaluate the performance of 50 major Sharia-compliant businesses based in member countries of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC).The index has been developed in partnership with the OIC, a statement from S&P Indices states, adding that all companies in the 19 countries and territories whose stock markets are members of the OIC stock markets, and which are monitored by S&P Indices, are eligible to be included in the index.The composition of the index must include at least one company, and up to 8 companies from each country, in order to ensure diversification. Major positions of the index Country Weight in index Number of shares Bahrain 0.1% 1 Bangladesh 0.3% 1 Ivory Coast 0.4% 1 Egypt 0.6% 1 Indonesia 19.7% 8 Jordan 0.1% 1 Kazakhstan 3.6% 2 Kuwait 9.0% 3 Lebanon 1.1% 1 Malaysia 20.4% 7 Morocco 2.4% 2 Nigeria 0.6% 1 Oman 0.6% 1 Pakistan 0.9% 1 Qatar 7.5% 3 Saudi Arabia 20.7% 8 Tunisia 0.1% 1 Turkey 11.7% 6 U.A.E. 0.3% 1 Total 100.0% 50 Counry Company Weight in index Indonesia Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk PT 5.3% Saudi Arabia Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp. 5.1% Kuwait Mobile Telecommunications Company 5.1% Saudi Arabia SAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP 5.1% Malaysia Sime Darby Bhd 4.5% Qatar Industries Qatar 4.2% Malaysia IOI Corp Bhd 3.5% Turkey BIM Birlesik Magazalar AS 3.3% Kuwait Kuwait Finance House 3.2% Malaysia Maxis Bhd 3.1% Total 42.4%

Sovereign funds invested 42% more tin 2011 than in 2010, according to a study by the Sovereign Investment Lab at the University of Bocconi in Milan, cited by the Financial Times. In 2011, there were 237 direct investments by these funds, totalling USD80.9bn. Most of this money went to developed countries, particularly businesses with exposure to emerging markets.

Le secteur de la gestion d’actifs peine à renouer avec son niveau de rentabilité d’avant crise. Si les actifs sont revenus à leur plus haut niveau (38.200 milliards d’euros en 2011, contre 38.100 milliards d’euros en 2007 au niveau mondial), les bénéfices enregistrés sont ainsi restés de 20 à 30% inférieurs au niveau de 2007 dans des zones telles que l’Amérique du Nord et l’Europe occidentale, selon une étude mondiale sur le secteur réalisée par McKinsey.

The Spanish toll motorway operator Abertis on 22 June announced that it is selling a further 7% of its stake in the satellite operator Eutelsat to the Chinese sovereign fund China Investment Corporation (CIC) for a total of EUR385.2m. The sale will generate gains of EUR237m, Abertis says in a statement, adding that its stake in Eutelsat now totals only 8.3% after the transaction.

BlackRock has announced that Susan L. Wagner, a founding partner of BlackRock, is retiring as a vice chairman of BlackRock and has been elected to BlackRock’s board of directors. She will retire at the end of this month and take her seat on the board at the October meeting. She also will continue to serve as a director of DSP BlackRock Investment Managers, the firm’s joint venture in India.In addition to serving as a vice chairman of BlackRock, Ms. Wagner serves as a member of BlackRock’s global executive committee and global operating committee.

La Banque Postale Asset Management is opening up to the new asset class of debt funds, and on Monday announced that it has recruited three specialist managers. The team is composed of René Kassis, who will serve as director of management for debt funds, and in this role, head of current infrastructure and real estate fund projects. He also becomes a member of the board of directors at LBPAM. In the unit, Kassis works with Pierre Saeli, a specialist manager of real estate debt, and Pierre Bonnet, a manager specialised in infrastructure debt. The members of the team, who will report to Vincent Cornet, chief investment officer and a board member at LBPAM, all hail from the banking industry. Kasss, 44, had been head of infrastructure financing at Dexia, and since 2009, had served as deputy director of project financing at Dexia Crédit Local, while Saeli, 38, was in 2005 director of real estate financing at Royal Bank of Scotland, and then in 2012 joined Deutsche Pfandbriefbank. Lastly, Bonnet, aged 33, had served since 2008 as director of projects and co-head of public-private partnerships for France for direction of project financing, the infrastructure sector, and Dexia Crédit Local.

Stéphane Chossat has left Hixance Am to join Alexandre France. The asset management firm has confirmed reports on H24 Finance to Newsmanagers. He will manage the new “Patrimoine by Alexandre” fund, says Michel Peronne, chairman of Alexandre Finance. The new product “will invest 90% in euro zone bonds, and 10% in equities, but we will allow ourselves to increase the proportion of equities to 30% if the environment is right,” he adds. Alexandre Finance manages EUR150m, of which EUR65m are in private management. Jean-Noël Vieille will serve as fund manager at Hixance AM, for funds previously managed by Chossat.

JPMorgan Asset Management has announced that Chris Willcox will become global head of fixed income and currencies, Investment Week reports. He succeeds Seth Bernstein, who has been appointed by the asset management firm to direct its multi-asset class activities as part of a new group entitled asset management solutions.

Florent Combes, head of fixed income at Ecofi Investissements, has left the firm after nine years there, Citywire reports. He will be joining Crédit Mutuel as head of fixed income and currencies. Bernard Angéniol will be taking over his responsibilities at Ecofi. He is now chief investment officer at the asset management firm, Citywire reports. He had previously been chief risk officer.

The Ethos Foundation on 22 June announced the creation of a non-profit association to serve private shareholders. The aim of the Ethos Académie is to promote the principles of socially responnsible investment in civil society. With this initiatives, the Foundation, which represents institutional investors, “is seeking to provide private individuals with a way to contribute to the development of a healthy and sustainable economy,” the chairman of the Ethos foundation, Kaspar Müller, says, cited in a statement. The mission of the new entity is primarily to stabilise. Concretely, “its strong points will be holding public events, conferences and debates on current topics in corporate and investor social responsibility. Studies in the areas of expertise of Ethos will be undertaken,” says Ethos.

On Friday, the Swiss federal financial market authority (Finma) approved a proposed acqusition of a 46.07% stake in the capital, and a 68.63% stake in the voting rights of the Basel-based Banque Sarasin (see Newsmanagers of 28 November 2011) by the Safra group.Pending final approval by various international regulatory authorities, the transaction (CHF1.04bn) may be completed by July 2012.The board of directors at Banque Sarasin will be composed of Dagmar D. Wohrl, Pierre-Alain Bracher, Philippe Dupont, Hans-Rudolf Hufschmid, Sergio Penchas, Jacob J. Safra, Sipko N. Schat et Marcelo Szerman.

The board of directors at the Italian Banca Generali has approved a proposed merger via incorporation of its asset management affiliate, BG SGR, which was first proposed in December, a press statement announced on 21 June. The operation has also been approved by the Bank of Italy and the shareholders of BG SGR. The integration comes as part of a planned rationalisation of management activities at Banca Generali, begun in September last year with the sale of BG SGR’s funds to Generali Investments Italy. The merger, which is the second stage in the project, will allow Banca Generali to reintegrate the remaining activities of BG SGR into the perimeter of Banca Generali, including mandated management, which represents EUR3.1bn. These activities will become an independent division within the bank, specialised in mandated management.

In an effort to reinforce its sales teams, re-edit its domestic products, and eventually release them throughout Europe, the British asset management firm M&G Investment (EUR243m in assets) has now adapted most of its teams and product range to the changes in demand observed since the onset of the last crisis, as Johnathan Willcocks, head of sales, explained in London on Friday.Concretely, sales staff in Paris and Milan has been doubled. “We are going to actively release our Global Macro Bond Fund, which will add a ‘portfolio diversification’ element to a product range which we had voluntarily limited to three products in France, starting in second half,” Willcocks tells Newsmanagers.M&G, which has recently opened offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, has also in the space of only two years concluded nine global distribution partnerships, largely with major banks, in order to promote partnership relations over vendor-client relationships. The asset management firm is also studying the possibility of opening an office in Dubai and a location directly in Latin America.On the subject of changes to the product range, Willcocks emphasizes multi-asset class products, which are “less volatile than single strategy funds, and which meet the requirements of clients who are now in search of both revenues and solutions.” M&G is in the process of revising a series of four Episode products in the United Kingdom which comply with the UCITS directive, and which will subsequently be released for sale in continental Europe. M&G will also be releasing a global real estate fund which was launched as a British product (NURS) in April 2008 as a UCITS product. The M&G Global Real Estate Securities Fund, which will receive a sales license for the United Kingdom in the next few days, and which can then be sold in continental Europe, has EUR75m in assets. Managed by Gillian Tiltman, the fund will invest 70-80% of its assets in REITs, and the remainder directly in real estate.

According to a survey by RBC Dexia undertaken on 31 May, thus after the presidential election, of 55 French asset managers, 78% said they have little or no confidence in the present government to bring about an economic recovery (see sttachment).A majority of 62% do not feel that governments worldwide are able to resolve the crisis either, and the majority of participants (60%) estimate that it will take another four to five years for the crisis to end, although 55% are of the opinion that outlooks in the current crisis are too pessimistic. French asset managers also believe the government estimate that austerity alone will not be enough to resolve the crisis in the euro zone: 65% do not feel that this strategy will be effective.Lastly, about 42% of those surveyed feel that the French equity market will rise by the end of 2013, compared with only 29% who think that it will fall, and 27% who predict that it will remain at current levels.

It is still a little early to measure the effects of the UCITS IV directive, but “I can tell you at this stage that it’s not a revolution,” says the re-elected president of the French financial management association (AFG), Paul-Henri de La Porte du Theil, in an interview with Les Echos. “One year on, the passport for asset management firms is not widely-used. The product passport, an innovation of the previous directive, works better. However, the master/feeder framework, which was created to promote the recovery of certain financial management industries in France, has left us cold. Exports of French ‘feeder’ funds are now possible, but creations of master funds, unfortunately, are now happening more in Luxembourg than Paris. That’s where regulations face considerable competition: asset management is strategic for Luxembourg, and its regulator, the financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF),” the AFG president explains.

The money manager J. Exra Merkin has agreed to pay about USD410m to settle claims that he transferred billions of US dollars of investors’ money to Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street Journal reports. The agreement will be announced on Monday.

After managing not only to stabilize its high net worth client base, but also to enlarge it a bit, Lazard Frères Gestion (LFG) is resolutely moving into “conquering” mode and is now also targeting its rivals' customer base, with the choice of a dedicated management approach for each of its clients.

Neuberger Berman is in talks with several major financial adviser networks to distribute its funds in Italy, Marco Avanzi Barbieri, executive director of the firm, has announced to the Italian website Bluerating. Behind the name Neuberger Berman is concealed the former asset management activities of Lehman Brothers, the website points out. The new structure, based in New York, is seeking to grow in Europe. An office was opened in Italy in November 2011, and other offices may soon be opened in Europe.

La chute des marchés financiers en 2008 a conduit la CARMF à actualiser ses comptes sur les valeurs de ses actifs financiers par dépréciation de son portefeuille titres, ce qui a pesé sur l’affichage des résultats financiers 2008 (- 670 M€). En 2009, suite au redressement des indices boursiers, la CARMF a dégagé un résultat net financier excédentaire de 521 M€. La poursuite du redressement de l’activité financière a permis à la CARMF de dégager un résultat financier excédentaire de 336 M€ en 2010. Ce phénomène de rattrapage a été stoppé en 2011, notamment à cause de la baisse des marchés actions sur le deuxième semestre 2011, l’exercice 2011 dégage donc des charges financières nettes de 93 M€. Le rendement annuel global, après fiscalité, du portefeuille de la CARMF est de - 7,64 % pour l’année 2011. Les performances des valeurs mobilières de la CARMF, taux de rendement interne du portefeuille initial et des investissements de la période (TRI) au 31 décembre 2011, se répartissent comme suit : + 2,79 % pour la gestion diversifiée, - 10,23 % pour les actions, - 10,29 % pour les obligations convertibles, - 0,45 % pour les obligations et la trésorerie dynamique, - 5,10 % pour la gestion alternative. Rendement global par année (après fiscalité) : 2011 : - 7,64 % 2010 : + 8,60 % 2009 : + 21,64 % 2008 : - 28,83 % 2007 : + 4,62 % 2006 : + 11,76 % 2005 : + 17,41 % 2004 : + 7,08 % 2003 : + 12,79 % Rendement annuel global au 31 décembre 2011 (après fiscalité) : 1 an : - 7,64 % 3 ans : + 6,76 % 5 ans : - 1,83 % 10 ans : + 1,98 % 15 ans : + 2,70 % 20 ans : + 3,11 %

Les ministres des Finances de l’Union européenne réunis à Luxembourg ont pris acte de leur incapacité à trouver l’unanimité pour mettre en place, au sein de l’Union européenne, une taxe sur les transactions financières dans les 27 pays membres. Plusieurs pays comme le Royaume-Uni, les Pays-Bas ou la Suède, s’y opposaient. Alors que les quatre pays réunis cet après-midi à Rome (France, Allemagne, Espagne, Italie), les ministres des Finances ont ouvert la voie à une «coopération renforcée», une mesure prévue par les traités et qui doit concerne au moins neuf Etats membres. De sources diplomatiques, cette taxe financière à neuf, si elle était mise en place, prendrait la forme d’une stamp duty et ne concernerait pas les produits dérivés.

La BCE s’apprête à accepter une gamme bien plus large de collatéraux dans le cadre de ses opérations de refinancements. Dans un communiqué, la banque centrale dit qu’elle a abaissé le niveau de notation requis sur les ABS, obligations adossées à des actifs, qu’elle accepte comme collatéraux. Avec cette modification, la BCE accepte désormais de recevoir des actifs adossés à des crédits immobiliers, à des crédits accordés à des petites et moyennes entreprises, à des crédits automobile, à du crédit à la consommation et à des crédits d’immobilier commercial, avec comme exigence qu’ils soient notés au moins «triple B». Les décotes ont été fixées à 16% pour des actifs notés A et 32% pour des actifs moins bien notés. Pour les observateurs, cette mesure doit surtout faciliter le refinancement des banques espagnoles.

Fitch a annoncé maintenir à son niveau maximum la note de crédit de la dette souveraine finlandaise, AAA, avec une perspective stable. Le maintien de cette note s’explique par une «gouvernance extrêmement forte et par la stabilité politique et sociale», dit l’agence dans un communiqué.

L’Espagne formulera officiellement lundi sa demande d’aide auprès de ses partenaires européens pour la recapitalisation de ses banques, a déclaré vendredi le ministre espagnol de l’Economie, Luis de Guindos. Cette demande ne sera pas chiffrée, a précisé le ministre. Le montant exact de l’aide demandée par Madrid figurera dans le protocole d’accord qui sera prêt d’ici au 9 juillet, a-t-il ajouté. L’audit indépendant a révélé un besoin de 51 à 62 milliards d’euros de capitaux supplémentaires.

France, Allemagne, Italie et Espagne sont tombés d’accord lors de la réunion de Rome pour proposer la semaine prochaine au Conseil européen un plan de croissance à hauteur de 1% du PIB de l’Union européenne, a annoncé vendredi le président du Conseil italien Mario Monti. Ce plan devrait par conséquent être d’une valeur de 130 milliards d’euros pour relancer la croissance et l’emploi. «Nous nous sommes retrouvés sur une vision commune de l’union économique et monétaire, sur une feuille de route qui supposera à chaque étape de l’union - union monétaire, union bancaire - des instruments qui correspondent à cette volonté de travailler ensemble» a par ailleurs indiqué le président français François Hollande.

Les inspecteurs de la troïka chargés d'évaluer l'évolution des réformes en Grèce n’auront sans doute pas terminé leur examen avant la réunion des dirigeants européens prévue les 28 et 29 juin, a déclaré Jörg Asmussen, l’un des membres du directoire de la BCE au Financial Times Deutschland. «Nous allons analyser la situation économique et nous évaluerons l'état de la mise en place du programme sur lequel nous nous sommes mis d’accord. Mais il est peu probable qu’un rapport de la troïka intervienne avant le sommet», a-t-il déclaré.

L’Agence France Trésor annonce l’adjudication, le lundi 25 juin, d’un montant global compris entre 7,1 et 8,4 milliards d’euros de bons du Trésor (BTF). Cette opération portera sur des montants compris entre 4,3 et 4,7 milliards d’euros de bons à 13 semaines qui arriveront à échéance le 27 septembre, entre 1 et 1,5 milliard d’euros de bons à 22 semaines à échéance du 29 novembre et entre 1,8 milliard et 2,2 milliards d’euros de bons à 52 semaines à échéance du 27 juin 2013.

L’indice Ifo du climat des affaires allemand a enregistré une deuxième baisse consécutive en juin, tombant à son plus bas niveau depuis plus de deux ans, une évolution qui semble indiquer que la crise de la dette de la zone euro ne laisse plus l’Allemagne indemne. Cet indice qui mesure la confiance des investisseurs dans 7.000 sociétés est ressorti à 105,3 contre 106,9 en mai et un niveau de 105,9 attendu par les économistes. Il s’agit de son plus bas niveau depuis mars 2010.

Les coûts d’emprunt de l’Italie et ceux pour s’assurer contre un risque de défaut du pays sont en hausse vendredi, les investisseurs se positionnant avant une série d’adjudications programmées par Rome la semaine prochaine. Le rendement des obligations italiennes à dix ans augmentait de 13 points de base, à 5,89%.

Les magistrats de la Cour des comptes italienne examinent les déclassements décidés l’année dernière par les agences de notation Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s et Fitch pour évaluer si ces décisions ont eu un impact sur les finances publiques du pays, a déclaré vendredi à Reuters le président de la Cour des comptes à Rome. Angelo de Dominicis a précisé que l’enquête administrative avait commencé en début d’année et qu’elle en était toujours à un stage préliminaire.