BNP Paribas on March, 8th announced it will sell 28.7% or 54.43m shares of Klépierre to Simon Property Group for EUR28 per share.This deal is part of BNP Paribas’ adaptation plan to increase its common equity Tier 1 ratio by 100bp to reach 9% on a fully-loaded Basel 3 basis by 1 January 2013. The disposal of 28.7% of Klépierre’s share capital will generate a capital gain of approximately EUR1.5bn for the group and will contribute 32bp to this target.BNP Paribas will retain 22.2% of Klépierre’s share capital. and plans to remain a «significant shareholder» in the company. Therefore, BNP Paribas has committed to keeping this entire stake for at least one year.

Societe Generale has appointed Jean-François Mazaud as head of Societe Generale Private Banking. He replaces Daniel Truchi, «who has decided to pursue new opportunities in the financial sector outside Societe Generale group», according to a press release. Jean-François Mazaud joins the executive committee of the Private Banking, Asset Management & Securities Services division and reports to Jacques Ripoll, Head of the division. He also becomes a member of the General Management Committee of Societe Generale group. Meanwhile, Patrick Folléa has been appointed deputy head of Societe Generale Private Banking. He retains his existing functions as CEO of Societe Generale Private Banking France and supervisor of the private bank’s activities in Belgium. Yves Thieffry, currently deputy head of Societe Generale Private Banking, will be taking up another position within the private bank. In the meantime, he and Patrick Folléa will work closely together during the hand-over period. These appointments will take effect on 10 March 2012. Jean-Francois Mazaud became deputy head of Global Finance for Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking in 2008 and a member of Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking’s executive committee in 2009. Yves Thieffry has been Deputy CEO of Societe Generale Private Banking since 2007. In 2011, he became a member of the private bank’s executive committee, with responsibility for supervising Luxembourg, Switzerland, Monaco and the Middle East.

Kathleen C. Joaquin, director of operations and distribution, has been promoted to chief industry operations officer at the Investment Company Institute (ICI), replacing Donald Boteler, who retired at the beginning of March.In her new role, Joaquin will be the director of operational personnel at the ICI, with responsibility for numerous tasks related to transfer agencies, shareholder services, clearing and settlement, custody, fund accounting, reporting, and technological questions. Joaquin will report directly to Paul Schott Stevena, chairman and CEO of the ICI.

The European association of investors in private real estate (INREV) on 7 March announced that Patrick Kanters, managing director Global Real Estate at the Netherlands-based APG Asset Management, will succeed Michael Morgenroth as its president on 24 April.Kanters was unanimously elected by the board at INREV, and his predecessor has to leave his position because he has recently been appointed to the board at the Austrian real estate fund management firm Signa Group (see Newsmanagers of 1 December 2011).

The European Commission proposed on March 7 to set up a European common regulatory framework for the institutions responsible for securities settlement, called Central Securities Depositories (CSDs). The proposal will bring more safety and efficiency to securities settlement in Europe. It also seeks to shorten the time it takes for securities settlement and to minimise settlement fails. The proposal now passes to the European Parliament and the Council (Member States) for negotiation and adoption.

A few months after his employer, FrontPoint Partners, closed down its boutique, Stphan Czech is seeking to raise USD1.5bn for a new hedge fund, the Wall Street Journal reports. The new firm will be known as Czech Asset Management, and will specialise in lending to mid-sized businesses (generally with USD20m to USD100m).

On 20 March, Pictet Asset Management (PAM) will officially launch its Luxembourg-registered Pictet-Global Flexible Allocation fund, which is the first transposition to the world of open-ended UCITS funds of its asset allocation expertise, which has been operating internally or on behalf of Swiss pension funds since 1967, and which already has assets of EUR6.2bn.The fund, which was registered in France on 17 February, reflects a completely discretionary management defined by a committee on the last Wednesday of each month, based on the opinions of 23 investment professionals in the PAM Strategy Unit, with flexibility of about one quarter for tactical overlay. The management team, led by Olivier Guinguené, CIO for asset allocation and quantitative management, and including Eric Rosset, head of the balanced management team and manager of the pension fund for Pictet employees, and Steve Donzé, macroeconomist, may invest without constraint in all asst classes allowed under the UCITS directive, largely via indices, but also via derivative instruments, and as a last resort, live shares (when there are no appropriate liquid instruments). In order to avoid being classified as a fund of funds, the Flexible Allocation fund will not invest in other funds or ETFs for more than 10% of its assets.In theory, the fund is managed with an absolute return objective of at least 10% returns if the stock markets are rising by more than 20%, with a minimum of % in normal markets, with protection for assets if markets fall by a proportion of less than 10%. The anticipated average volatility is 8%.CharacteristicsName: Pictet-Global Flexible AllocationISIN codes:LU0726358681 (I shares)LU0726358764 (P shares)LU0726358921 (Pdy shares)LU0726359069 (R shares)LU0726360075 (HI USD shares)LU0726360158 (HP USD shares)Management fees:0.45% (I and HI USD shares)0.90% (P, Pdy and HP USD shares)1.80% (R shares)Estimated TER:0.75% (I shares)0.80% (HI USD shares)1.20% (P and Pdy shares)1.25% (HP USD shares)2.10% (R shares)Performance commission: 10% with high watermarkHurdle rate: Citigroup 3 month in euros

Last month, ETPs worldwide attracted a net total of USD18.4bn, compared with USD34.1bn in January, and USD10.9bn in the corresponding month of last year, the BlackRock Institute reports.Assets as of 29 February, for their part, totalled USD1.720trn, compared with USD1.651trn one month previously. Since the beginning of the year, assets under management increased by USD195.8bn, or 12.8%. For ETFs alone, assets totalled USD1.5245trn, compared with USD1.4604trn as of the end of January, in 3,145 products, compared with 3,063.The general slowdown in inflows has affected nine out of the ten largest players in February. ProShares has seen net subscriptions of USD0.4bn, compared with net outflows of USD0.7bn the previous month.Vanguard takes the top spot, with net inflows of USD5.7bn, compared with USD6.9bn in January, putting it ahead of iShares (BlackRock) with USD4.8bn, compared with USD11bn, and PowerShares/Deutsche Bank, with USD1.5bn compared with USD3.8bn. Net subscriptions to db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) fell to USD0.1bn, from USD1.1bn.For their part, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) saw net outflows of USD0.2bn and USD0.4bn, respectively, in February, compared with net inflows of USD5.1bn and USD0.5bn the previous month.

Asset management firms are increasingly seeking opportunities in niche activities, which means that in 2012, merger and acquisition operations may increase in the alternative management sector, the research agency Cerulli Associates predicts.Despite an encouraging year, activities in the asset management sector have remained moderate in 2011, due to a volatile and uncertain environment. The total value of all transactions last year represented USD17.3bn, down about 5% compared with the previous year.M&A deals in the alternative management sector may rise again this year for several reasons. First of all, major banks are divesting, in order to trim back their balance sheets to comply with new prudential regulations. Secondly, there has been an increase in interest in acquisitions in alternative management due to an increase in allocations to this asset class, largely from institutional investors.Another reason to bet on alternative management is that possibilities for distribution have been multiplying in Europe an Asia via UCITS vehicles. Lastly, ETF providers, whose popularity is set to increase, may also become attractive targets. So far, few transactions have been completed despite the interest expressed by some parties for independent firms which don’t have the means to develop their activities themselves.

Loomis Sayles, an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management which actively sells six UCITS funds, on 7 March opened its office in London, under the name Loomis Sayles Investments. The new location will be led by Christine Kenny and Jeffrey Seaver as managing directors and co-heads. Loomis Sayles manages about USD20bn in assets for institutional investors in Europe and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region.Kenny, who had most recently been head of investment grade trading, becomes chief compliance officer and senior fixed income strategist. She will be in charge of the development and management of relations with British and European sell-side clients.Jeff Seaver, a member of the institutional sales team in the United States, for his part, will be in charge of the development and management of relationships with institutional clients in the United Kingdom, continental Europe and the MENA region.Two bond analysts, Chris Keller and Heather Kearney, have been transferred to London, where the team will have seven full-time members, including a head of relations with the main consultants, who will be recruited locally.Loomis Sayles has also opened an office in Singapore, under the direction of Paul Ong, who had been lead portfolio manager, external fund management at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He joined the firm in October 2011. Loomis Sayles manages about USD20bn for clients based in Asia.

Nikko Asset Management, the Asian asset manager, has announced that Timothy F. McCarthy, chairman and CEO of Nikko Asset Management, has decided to retire at the end of this fiscal year. Effective April 1st Charles Beazley will take over as chairman and CEO.Beazley joined the firm in London in 2006 as president of its international offices before moving to Tokyo full time in 2010 to manage the firm’s rapidly expanding Asian operations and the domestic Japanese institutional business.The switch, part of the firm’s long agreed succession plan, comes after Nikko AM in December postponed its IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It says in the press release announcing the change of CEO that «Nikko AM remains committed to its intention for listing as the largest independent asset management company in Asia in the future, with the full endorsement of its majority share holder Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings».Established in 1959, the Nikko Asset Management Group has grown to be a large regional asset management company headquartered in Asia, with total AUM over USD153.8 billion.

The former chief investment offiver at Huatai Asset Management, Yang Yang, has teamed up with a derivatives specialist, Yiming Liang, to launch the Goldstream Absolute Return Fund, an Asian macro hedge fund, dedicated to greater China, Asian Investor reports.The fund, which aims for annualised returns of 15% to 20%, will have over USD50m in assets at its launch in April. Capital has been raised from family offices, high net worth clients, and funds of funds.

The Swiss wealth management firm Semper has announced the recruitment of Jean-Evrard Dominicé as chief investment officer of the structure. He has also been appointed as a partner at the firm. Dominicé will aim to enlarge the range of investment products and services on offer to high net worth clients of Semper. Dominicé remains a managing partner at Dominicé & Co, an asset management firm founded by his cousin Michael Dominicé, which he joined in 2004. He will also continue to sit on the board of directors at Anaconda, another Geneva-based alternative management firm.

Alexander Gebauer is the new CEO of Allianz Suisse Immobilien AG. He succeeds Stefan Brendgen, who is switching to the company’s Supervisory Board. Alexander Gebauer has been COO of the Allianz Real Estate Group since 2009 and will continue to perform this role. In his new role, Gebauer will continue to expand the company’s operations while focusing on quality in terms of both investment and asset management. The real estate portfolio of Allianz Suisse Immobilien is valued at about CHF3.5bn. It currently comprises about 60% residential and 40% commercial property, chiefly in Zurich, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and Basel.

The index provider FTSE Group on 7 March announced that from the opening of the trading day on 19 March, the asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management, which will have left the FTSE 250, will be one of the new components in the FTSE 100 index.

The Swedish investment fund association is opposed to proposals by the chairman of the taxation committee of Parliament which would require asset management firms to charge fund fees separately, rather than taking them out of assets, in order to promote transparency. In a statement released on Tuesday, Thomas Eriksson and Pia Nilsson, charman and CEO, respectively, of the Fondbolagens Förening association, explain why they find the proposals of Henrik von Sydow inappropriate. “In our opinion, that would have a negative impact on the capacity of investors to compare funds, without taking into account the bureaucracy which it would imply. Management fees are charged every day at 1/365. How often would invoices need to be sent?” they ask. They also point out that the Swedish market includes 5,000 funds, but there are only 800 Swedish-registered funds which would be affected by the proposed legislation. “Can we have different rules for Swedish and foreign funds?” they ask.

Les nouvelles règles présentées hier par la Commission prévoient une séparation plus stricte entre activités bancaires et de règlement. Bruxelles veut aussi faciliter l’intervention des dépositaires nationaux sur des marchés tiers. Le délai de livraison sera enfin raccourci à deux jours.

Les nouvelles règles présentées mercredi prévoient une séparation plus stricte entre activités bancaires et de règlement

Le ministre allemand de l'économie juge décevante l’incapacité de la Grèce à accepter l’aide offerte par Berlin afin de réduire le poids de sa bureaucratie et relancer l’investissement privé en attirant les investisseurs étrangers. «L’aide a à peine été acceptée, beaucoup a été accompli en vain pour l’instant, cela est très décevant», explique Philipp Rösler dans un entretien accordé au quotidien.

China Development Bank (CDB), qui assure majoritairement ses financements à l’étranger en dollars, devrait signer un protocole d’accord à New Delhi avec ses partenaires brésilien, russe, indien et sud-africain le 29 mars prochain destiné à assurer des prêts multilatéraux libellés dans leurs monnaies locales respectives plutôt qu’en billet vert, selon le quotidien qui cite des sources proches du dossier. Moins de 13% des échanges chinois avec ses partenaires asiatiques se font en yuan, selon Helen Qiao, chef économiste Asie chez Morgan Stanley, citée par le journal. Une proportion qui pourrait grimper à 50% d’ici 2015, selon HSBC.

La banque centrale a souhaité frapper fort en annonçant cette nuit une baisse du taux directeur Selic de 75 points de base, à 9,75%

La Chine devrait investir de 18 à 20 milliards de dollars provenant de ses réserves de change dans les trois compagnies aériennes du pays, réclame dans le quotidien Liu Shaoyong, président de China Eastern Airlines. Un investissement qui ajouterait de la valeur aux réserves et permettrait aux compagnies d’investir pour faire face aux pressions inflationnistes.

La banque centrale publie un rapport d'audit qui disculpe ses autres dirigeants de toutes les transactions discutables. Elle durcira son règlement

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Le scénario d'un déclenchement des clauses d'action collective et des CDS prend corps

Le scénario d'un déclenchement des clauses d'action collective et des CDS prend corps

Ils recommandent aux acteurs du marché des dérivés échangés de gré à gré et non compensés de procéder à des appels de marges initiaux

Le Monde rapporte que la société de gestion CFCI lancera mi-avril au plus tard une sicav basée sur les principes de la finance islamique. Dirigée par Anouar Hassoune, ancien vice-président de Moody’s, elle sera la première de ce type à être commercialisée en France auprès des particuliers.

La balance des comptes courants japonais a enregistré un déficit record au mois de janvier de 437,3 milliards de yens. Un déficit qui pourrait n’être que temporaire selon les économistes. «Couplés avec les récentes cessions de yens, ces chiffres ont conduit à se demander si la flambée des rendements d’Etat que beaucoup prévoient va réellement se produire» s’interroge Barclays Capital. Par ailleurs, la contraction du PIB au quatrième trimestre 2011 a finalement été de 0,7%, contre 2,3% initialement estimé.

La Pologne devrait opposer vendredi son veto à la feuille de route 2050, élaborée par l’Union européenne et fixant des objectifs de réduction des émissions au-delà de 2020, ainsi qu'à un autre document communautaire détaillant la position des Vingt-Sept sur les négociations climatiques internationales, ont confié mercredi à Reuters deux sources gouvernementales.