The California pension fund CalPERS on 10 April announced that it has been selected by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to become a member of the investor advising commission, newly created under Dodd-Frank legislation.Jow Dear, chief investment officer of CalPERS, will chair the 21-member commission, which will advise the SEC on regulatory questions and pricing issues, and which may also undertake initiatives to improve invetor protection and market confidence.

The Chinese securities regulatory commission (CSRC) has granted approval to a request from Huatia Securities to launch a private equity fund. The fund, Huatai Zijin (Jiangsu) Private Equity Investment Fund, will be managed by Huatai Ruitong Investment Management Company.Huatai is the second brokerage firm to have received such a license, after CICC, which launched its private equity fund in April 2011, with assets of CNY1.5bn, Z-Ben Advisors reports.

According to a study of 10 “sustainable development” equity funds undertaken by the economic journalist Jochen Bettzieche for the Green party’s representation in the German Parliament, nine out of 10 products were directly or indirectly invested in companies that produce weapons, and all ten were invested in firms that produce oil or gas, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.The Green party financial expert Gerhard Schick says the findings suggest that clear minimal legal advertising standards need to be established for funds which claim to invest sustainably.

After 14 years at AxaRosenberg in London as head of relationship management for institutional clients in Germany, continental Europe and the Middle East, Armin Gudat on 1 April joined the Hamburg-based Aquila Capital Institutional as senior fund manager in the quantitative team. As Roman Rosslenbroich, founder and CEO of Aquila Capital, states, the new recruit will assist in the development of quantitative investment strategies and products.

The college of the French prudential control authority (ACP) on 6 April announced that it has passed a recommendation to improve information and transparency in communications to retail lending clients about foreign currency risks. Credit establishments and intermediaries for banking operations are offering retail clients loans in currencies that carry forex risks, and promoting them on the grounds of the lower interest rates they charge than loans in euros, and limited variation of the exchange rate. An analysis of sales practices for loans of this type found that currency risks may be misunderstood by borrowers.As a result, the ACP is recommending that credit establishments and intermediaries in banking operations follow a code of best practices for advisers in contact with clients, advertising, explanations provided to the client before the loan is signed, and annual information to the borrower.

Although it welcomes the fact that the new ESMA consultation document issued in January 2012 extends its range to a more horizontal approach covering all UCITS-compliant funds, rather than focusing solely on UCITS-compliant ETF funds in a more vertical manner, the EDHEC-Risk Institute expresses regrets in its response to the consultation document that the text does not go further in several key areas.Specialists at EDHEC express regrets that the European regulator did not see fit to propose a definition of passive management which could be associated with an acceptable tracking error level. Meanwhile, they are critical of the fact that the ESMA proposal, although it recommends making information on the performance of indices available for free, does not require that all information on indices be published for free, particularly the composition history of the indices. Furthermore, EDHEC would like to see the quality of governance of indices and a way to audit the decisions of index committees receive more attention from the regulator.

In partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Deutsche Börse has placed climate change information concerning about 1,800 publicly-traded businesses online, free of charge, since the end of last week. The information makes it possible to compare the businesses in terms of their contribution to environmental protection and their transparency in terms of CO2 emissions.The data are available at http://www.boerse-frankfurt.com/.

In the Swiss financial sector, the number of job openings as of the end of March was 20.5% lower than its level twelve months previously, with a 35.2% decline for banks and a 4% decline at insurers, finews reports.On the websites of 1,400 banks, insurers and other Swiss financial sector businesses (auditors, IT, consultants, etc.), as of 31 March there were 3,430 jobs announced, compared with 4,312 as of the end of March 2011, according to the Finews-JobDirectory-Index, published in cooperation with the website JobDirectory.ch. Of this total, job openings at banks totalled 1,144, compared with 1,765 one year preivously.However, finews states that there has been some stability since the beginning of the year at the two major banks (UBS and Credit Suisse), but that the decline is more pronounced at cantonal and private banks.

The investment firm Aberdeen Development Capital is proposing to discontinue the activities of the company following a redemption of preferential shares to shareholders.Aberdeen Development has scheduled a general shareholders’ meeting for 30 April, in order to fulfil the firm’s final obligations. Shares in the company will be suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange from 30 April.

ETP provider Source and financial services group Nomura on 10 April announced the launch of anew ETF, the Nomura Voltage Short-Term Source ETF. The ETF aims tooffer reactive and tactical exposure to volatility, replicating theNomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USD TR index, which seeksto profit from volatility peaks, while reducing costs associated witha permanent long position on volatility.This is the second Source ETF of theNomura Voltage range. The Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF, whichreplicates the Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR, waslaunched in April 2011, and now has over USD540m in assets undermanagement. The two ETF funds are aimed at qualified investors, andoffers them various volatility investment options, in order to bettermanage their risk/return profile.Futures contracts on the CBOEVolatility index (“VIX”) are practical instruments for exposureto volatility. However, as curves in VIX futures may reach a state ofcontango, maintaining this exposure over the long term may be costly,a statement says. The Nomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USDTR offers an effective alternative for investors seeking to adopt along position on volatility. The index reproduces exposure tovolatility via the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures TR index, butmay modify its level of exposure from 0% to 100% according to theNomura Voltage allocation model. In this way, the fund seeks toprofit from peaks in volatility while limiting the cost of rollingover positions on VIX index futures contracts.Primary characteristics of NomuraVoltage Source productsName of productNomura Voltage Short-Term Source ETF Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF Bloomberg codeVOLS LN VOLT LN (LondonStock Exchange) NVLT GR (Xetra) Currency of the fundUSD USD Trading currencyUSD USD (London StockExchange) EUR (Xetra) Management fees0.30% per year 0.30% per yearListed onLondon Stock Exchange (LSE) London Stock Exchange / Xetra Name of indexNomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USDTR Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR Bloomberg ticker for index NMEDVSU3 NMEDVMU3 DomicileIreland Ireland

Lázaro de Lázaro, who had been head of financial institutions and insurance companies at Royal Bank of Scotland serving the Iberian peninsula, has joined Santander Asset Management (EUR35.5m in assets) as CEO, Funds People reports. He replaces Dolores Ybarra, who had served in the position since last October alongside her responsibilities as global CIO.

The head of the management and investment unit at Banco Madrid Gestión de Activos (EUR1bn in assets), Iratxe Oria, has been promoted to the position of CEO of the firm, replacing Rafael Valera, who has been appointed deputy CEO of the bank, Funds People reports.

According to reports in Citywire, Felix Freund, star manager at Union Investment (German co-operative banks), has been recruited as director of credit for Europe at Standard Life Investments (SLI).Investment Week reports, meanwhile, that SLI has recruited Mark Kedar as sterling credit investment director. Kedar had previously been fixed income investment manager at Kames.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners has appointed Guy Williams, CIO FFTW, as head of BNPP IP’s Global Emerging Fixed Income team after the departure at BlackRock of Sergio Trigo Paz with a six person team. He will assume responsibility for the management of its worldwide EMD strategies managed out of London.BNPP IP also says that «its priority is now to rapidly strengthen its emerging market fixed income resources with the required investment talent, a process that has already begun». BNP Paribas IP manages over EUR 4.5 billion of emerging market fixed income (EMD) assets.

Selon l‘observatoire de la dette des collectivités publié par Finance Active, la Caisse des dépôts et consignations se hisse au premier rang des prêteurs avec 22,1% du montant des prêts accordés aux collectivités en 2011. Devant BPCE, qui a totalisé 19,5% du flux. Les collectivités ont diversifié leurs sources de financement avec un peu plus d’un tiers des emprunts levés via des financements alternatifs. Les financements éligibles de la BEI et de la CDC représentant respectivement 5,9% et 22,1% des emprunts nouveaux, quand la proportion des émissions obligataires a atteint 7,7%.

Un troisième LTRO (opération de refinancement à long terme) ne s’impose pas pour le moment mais rien ne dit qu’il n’en ira pas autrement à l’avenir, selon Ewald Nowotny, membre du Conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE. «Je ne peux l’exclure mais je n’en vois pas la nécessité à présent». Ewald Nowotny a également dit qu’il n'était pas inquiet pour l’Espagne, le pays faisant ce qu’il faut pour remettre de l’ordre dans ses finances publiques.

La plus grosse société de gestion d’actifs alternative cotée a été placée sous revue en vue d’une possible dégradation de sa note par Moody’s qui évoque des pressions qui pèsent sur les résultats. La dette senior de Man Group est actuellement notée Baa2 par Moody’s, soit deux crans au-dessus de la catégorie spéculative. L’agence met également en avant la «sous-performance continue des principaux fonds ».

Edward DeMarco, responsable de la Federal Housing Finance agency a indiqué au Financial Times que Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pourraient économiser environ 1,7 milliard de dollars en abandonnant certaines créances plutôt que de repousser leur échéance. «Les pertes des entreprises seraient réduites et les prix des maisons se stabiliseraient plus rapidement, ce qui engendrerait des benéfices pour l’ensemble des participants du marché» a-t-il estimé.

La Banque nationale suisse a cherché à rassurer sur sa capacité à maintenir son cours plancher de 1,20 franc pour un euro, son directeur général par intérim soulignant que la banque centrale pouvait négocier des centaines de milliards d’euros par jour. Jeudi dernier, le franc s’est brièvement traité à 1,1990 pour un euro, sous la barre de 1,20 fixée en septembre. Thomas Jordan a précisé que le franc était ensuite très vite reparti à la baisse grâce aux activités d’arbitrage.

La croissance économique devrait être nulle en France au premier trimestre 2012, confirme la Banque de France dans sa troisième estimation fondée sur son enquête mensuelle de conjoncture publiée hier. L’indicateur du climat des affaires dans l’industrie est stable en mars à 95. Dans les services, l’indicateur est stable d’un mois sur l’autre à 93.

L’Agence France Trésor a annoncé avoir servi hier 444 millions d’euros de soumissions non compétitives supplémentaires à l’issue de son adjudication d’OAT du 5 avril. Le montant total des OAT émises dans le cadre de cette opération s'élève à 8,883 milliards d’euros. Ce volume se répartit en 1,310 milliard d’euros d’OAT 4,25% 2017, 4,669 milliards d’euros d’OAT 3,00% 2022, 1,669 milliard d’euros d’OAT 3,50% 2026 et 1,235 milliard d’euros d’OAT 4,50% 2041.

Tout comme le rally de début d’année, la correction se fait elle aussi dans des volumes limités. Les investisseurs restent prudents sur la classe d’actifs.

Malgré le rally du premier trimestre, les fonds actions européennes ont décollecté. La prudence domine chez les investisseurs

Les indices actions ont violemment reflué malgré la bonne résistance des entreprises de la zone euro à la dégradation de l’activité en Europe

«Parmi tous les produits que les conseillers financiers introduisent dans leur sac à malices, la croissance enregistrée par les ETF est la plus significative», a confié au quotidien John Meunier de Cogent Research. Ce dernier a mené une étude reflétant le succès grandissant des fonds indiciels cotés auprès des conseillers outre-Atlantique. Leur taux d’utilisation a progressé de 20 points de 2007 à 2011 à 66%.

Le gestionnaire du financement de la construction du parc Disney dans la ville de Shanghai aurait obtenu une garantie de prêt syndiqué de quelque 12,9 milliards de yuans (1,6 milliard d’euros), selon le Shanghai Securities News. La construction du parc devrait coûter environ 24,5 milliards de yuans, auxquels s’ajoutent 4,5 milliards d’aménagements et hôtels afférents au parc.

Le Tokyo Stock Exchange ainsi que Daiwa Securities auraient obtenu un accord préliminaire avec la Birmanie afin d’aider le pays à installer une Bourse d’ici 2015, selon le journal qui ne cite pas ses sources. Le président de la Bourse de Tokyo devrait se rendre en visite dans le pays dès le mois de mai afin de fixer les détails du développement des marchés financiers en Birmanie.

Malgré la morosité économique et une baisse des prix de l'immobilier ancien, les analystes n'attendent pas de hausse rapide des défauts

Le retour à un excédent extérieur de 5,4 milliards de dollars en mars après un déficit record en février s'explique par un ralentissement des importations

La Banque nationale suisse (BNS) a cherché à rassurer sur sa capacité à maintenir son cours plancher de 1,20 franc pour un euro, son directeur général par intérim soulignant que la banque centrale pouvait négocier des centaines de milliards d’euros par jour. Jeudi dernier, le franc s’est brièvement traité à 1,1990 pour un euro, sous la barre de 1,20 fixée en septembre. Le vice-président de la BNS Thomas Jordan, qui assure l’intérim, a précisé que le franc était ensuite très vite reparti à la baisse grâce aux activités d’arbitrage.