The asset management affiliate of the Hamburg-based private bank M. M. Warburg, Warburg Invest, has announced that in October it recruited Matthias Mansel as director of equity funds. Mansel had previously been a member of the executive committee at LBBW Asset Management, in charge of risk management.Warburg Invest also recruited Christoph Gebert in June as senior fund manager for small and mid-sized German businesses. He had previously been director and senior portfolio manager at Oppenheim ACA, an investment boutique specialised in SMBs.

Assets under management at Pictet & Cie as of the end of September totalled CHF365bn, Nicolas Pictet, partner at the Geneva-based bank and chairman of the Swiss private bankers’ association, announced on 12 January, Agefi Switzerland reports. Net inflows rose 4% between January and the end of September 2011, which did not prevent assets under management from declining by CHF17bn in the period, from CHF382bn as of the end of March. “This evolution is due solely to market and currency effects,” says Pictet. In the past year, the group has recruited 90 employees, most of whom are based in Switzerland in the banking professions. Pictet & Cie currently has over 3,100 employees, including about 2,000 in Switzerland.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Graham Seaton to the newly-created position of head of prime brokerage for the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports. Seaton, who has worked at BofA Merrill Lynch since 1999 and who had most recently been based in Sydney, will be moving to Hong Kong in first quarter 2012.

Between the end of 2007 and September 2011, assets in Italian-registered funds were almost halved, from EUR303bn to EUR159bn, a Cerulli study of the Italian asset management market funds. In the same period, assets in foreign-registered funds increased by EUR231bn, to EUR254bn, Recent tax reforms projects intended to favour Italian asset management may come a little too late to save Italian funds, Cerulli notes. In total, assets in funds on sale in Italy declined from EUR534bn as of the end of 2007 to EUR414bn in September 2011. After a decline in 2008, assets rose again in 2009 and 2010. But 2011 brought another change in direction. Falling markets were not unconnected with this decline. But funds were primarily penalised by redemptions since September 2010. They should have begun to increase only in July, with a peak in September at EUR4.6bn. Cerulli finds that nothing indicates that the trend will reverse in the next few months. In terms of asset management firms, the 10 largest players in terms of assets managed to increase their market share from 31.4% to 33.8%, despite a fall in assets. Among them is BNP Paribas, in tenth place. The top three are Intesa SanPaolo, UniCredit and UBI. But except for Mediolanum, the companies which posted the strongest net subscriptions between 2009 and 2011 are not in the top 10.

As reported on Tuesday, Quilvest Gestion is launching the Saint Germain Euro Yield fund, a bond fund whose investment universe includes securities rated BB- to BBB+, in order to deliver consistent returns for securities in the portfolio. Geographically, the portfolio is centred on Germany, France, and the countries of northern Europe, which are considered the most solid European issuers. Target bonds are from issues of EUR300m or more. With a Buy and Hold Strategy and a target maturity of 2017, the management team is aiming for average gross annual returns, in light of present market conditions (as of 6 January 2012) of 6% over the recommended investment duration. The fund is managed by Thibault Prebay and Rémi Lelu de Brach, chief investment officer for fixed income and manager at Quilvest Gestion, respectively. Characteristics ISIN codes: I share class: FR0011167394/ P share class: FR0011142306 Front-end fee: 25% maximum TTC Management fees: 0.60% maximum TTC (I share class) / 1.20% maximum TTC (P share class) Net asset value of shares at launch: EUR10,000 (I share class) / EUR1,000 (P share class) Benchmark index (informational purposes only): 50% Iboxx euro corporate + 50% Markit iBoxx EUR High Yield Main Cum Crossover LC Recommended investment duration: maximum 5 years

According to the most recent statistics from the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms, securities funds show average losses for last year as a whole of 0.52%, and returns of 1.48% per year over three years, 0.22% over five years, and 1.33% over ten years.Total assets in securities funds, Sicavs, real estate funds and funds from foreign asset management firms as of the end of December totalled EUR203.41bn, down 6.41% compared with EUR217.49bn recorded one year previously.Assets under management in securities funds last year were down 7.4% to EUR127.77bn, while real estate funds were down 26.6% to slightly under EUR4.5bn. Funds from foreign asset management firms lost only 2.1% of asstes, at EUR47bn. Assets in Sicavs were down 4.8% to EUR24.14bn.Inverco states that net redemptions from securities funds totalled EUR8.42bn for 2011 as a whole, compared with EUR23.89bn in 2010. By category, the heaviest net outflows were from short-term euro bond funds, at EUR6.23bn, while the largest net subscriptions went to guaranteed funds investing primarily in bonds, at EUR6.72bn.

Anima Asset Management, which has recently merged with Prima Sgr, would like to achieve EUR30bn in assets under management in 2013, up from EUR27bn presently, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. Currently, 75% of assets are related to the distribution of products via the networks of shareholding banks (MPS and Popolare di Milano), but the directors of Anima are hoping to alter this balance. The objective is to bring on board 15-20 operators with at least 200-300 agencies. Anima is also hoping to make acquisitions of companies with over EUR1bn in assets under management.

BlackRock has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Claymore Canada. Based in Toronto, Claymore is an independent Canadian subsidiary of Guggenheim Funds Services Group, a subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners. The transaction will allow BlackRock to strengthen its presence in Canada, and to add to the complementary iShares ETF range, a statement says. As of 31 December 2011, BlackRock offered 48 ETF funds in Canadian under the iShares brand, totalling CAD29bn in assets. Claymore Canada has 34 ETF funds in its range, and two closed-end funds, totalling CAD7bn.

From the end of December 2010 to the end of December 2011, assets under management at AllianceBernstein fell by USD80bn, to USD406bn, while assets at Legg Mason contracted by USD44.8bn, to USD627bn.In the same period, assets at Franklin Templeton held stable, as a decline of USD25.9bn in equities was offset by an increase of USD35.7bn in fixed income, which also offset a decline of USD9.7bn in hybrid products. Overall, counting a USD0.5bn fall in money market funds, the group had total assets of USD670.3bn as of the end of December, compared with USD670.7bn twelve months earlier.Invesco has posted an increase of USD9.3bn compared with the end of 2010, to finish last year with USD625.3bn.

Agefi reports that Dexia will next week begin the process to sell its asset management unit, Dexia AM. It has mandated Barclays to conduct the sale, after receiving 30 expressions of interest.

The insurer Groupama has begun the process of selling GAN Eurocourtage , and its insurance and brokerage activities in the United Kingdom, according to an announcement to employees made yesterday and reported by AFP, Les Echos reports. The newspaper states that the firm has placed only damage insurance activities up for sale (EUR819m in earnings in 2010) at GAN Eurocourtage, but not the life insurance portion of the business (EUR768m in earnings). There will be no shortage of candidates to buy the activity, as GAN Eurocourtage now has a profit margin of over 350%, thanks to EUR300m from the CDC.

Thomas A. Nelson and Tony Coffey will manage the fund portion of the new Franklin Templeton Multi-Asset Real Return Fund, which invests primarily in other mutual funds from the Franklin Templeton group, while Warren Keyser, at Franklin Templeton Institutional, will manage the portion of the fund investing in US Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). The new product will aim for performance higher than inflation in the United States over a complete 5-year cycle. For A-class shares, the front-end fee is 5.75%, and management commission is 1.30%, a SEC filing dated 15 December states.

The Swiss private bankers’ association (ABPS) is continuing to campaign for recognition of its members’ special characteristics, Agefi Switzerland reports. It is now aiming to bring about a revision of the law on capital adequacy and distribution of risks, which is under consultation until 16 January. Under its application of the Basel III accords, the law states that assets of partners are considered Core Equity Tier 1 (CET1) only if an agreement determines that all partners sustain equal losses in case of severe problems. The clause would not be relevant in cases where all partners are infinitely liable, the ABPS claims, adding that the Basel III rules do not consider the particular qualities of private banks.

As the sales documentation for the Primeo funds it sold was considered incomplete, Bank Austria has been sentenced by the commercial court in Vienna to pay EUR350,000 in damages and interest to two investors who filed suit against the Madoff products, Fonds Professionell reports. The losses are reported to have totalled EUR700m.The verdict has not yet been pronounced for execution, and Bank Austria has announced that it plans to appeal the decision, claiming that it was merely an “editor” of the prospectus, not the “author” of the document.

The British investment advisory group Ingenious has announced the launch of the Vindemia 2 EIS Fund (Vindemia 2), which will succeed the Vindemia EIS Fund, which was closed in July 2011.Vindemia 2, which hopes to raise about GBP10m, will be closed to new investors on 2 April. The fund will aim for average annual returns after taxes of 22.7%.The minimal investment is GBP10,000, with a 30% tax break.

As of the end of December, assets in individual pension funds in Spain totalled EUR49.14bn, according to VDOS, relayed by Funds People. It fell by EUR1.495bn in 2011, due to a negative market effect of EUR1.1bn, and net outflows of EUR844m.

Negotiations over private sector involvement (PSI) are getting heated in Athens, Agefi reports. The Greek government is alarmed at the prospect of its potential collapse. Several sources cited by the Reuters and Bloomberg agencies say that the case is potentially explosive due to positions built up by some hedge funds. York Capital, Och Ziff and Marathon Asset Management are part of a group of investors who may derail an agreement. The funds are hoping to pull the agreement off track and gain a full repayment. But the strategy is risky, the newspaper states. Greece may force the hedge funds, which are dragging their feet in the hope of making fat profits, to agree to the new deal, a European source tells Reuters. The mechanism is not very coherent with the theoretically “voluntary” nature of PSI.

The year 2012 will be a hard one for non-financial sector businesses of the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa), according to a study published on 12 January by Moody’s Investors Service. The agency explains that its predictions are largely due to the European debt crisis, the weakness of the macroeconomic context, a downturn in consumer confidence and a degration of financing conditions.“This year, we are expecting far more ratings downgrades than upgrades, both for investment grade category and speculative grade category businesses,” says Jean-Michel Carayon, senior vice president in the Credit Policy group, and co-author of the study. “This trend is part of an ongoing degradation observed in late 2011: in the first three quarters, ratings upgrades outnumbered downgrades by 2:1, but in fourth quarter, there were nine times more downgrades than upgrades.”The turbulence on financial markets, efforts to clean up public finances and reduction in debt in the banking sector would continue to slow growth in 2012, Moody’s predicts. The ratings agency predictions include a high level of uncertainty, particularly for the euro zone, about the risk of significant downgrades which might affect the credit quality of businesses.Moody’s points out that issuers in the speculative category have significant financing needs, and their liquidity profile, currently solid, will give them only short-term flexibility. Restricted access to credit markets over a longer term may put the ability of many busineses in the speculative category to retain their liquidity profile to the test, which would be enough to call their rating into question. In regard to the current macroeconomic scenarios, Moody’s predicts a slight increase in default rates in 2012 in the speculative category from its low level of under 3% in 2011. In the case of a more pessimistic macroeconomic scenario and recession in the euro zone, the default rate might rise to the high end of the single-digit range.Public issuers and businesses whose activities are geographically concentrated in economically poorly-performing countries are more exposed to negative sources of tension in difficult economic conjuncture. According to Moody’s austerity measures are more directly damaging to companies whose earnings depend strongly on public spending.

A l’instar de l’année 2011, la caisse régionale du Crédit Agricole Centre-Est continue sa stratégie axée sur le rendement obligataire en attendant d'élargir son horizon de placement, a indiqué Jean-Claude Viotti, son trésorier. En attente des décisions politiques qu’elle espère claires, notamment sur le plan européen, la caisse a placé 90 % de ses encours (1,6 milliard d’euros d’actifs) dans l’obligataire, privilégiant des titres d’Etat allemands, français et supranationaux. Face à un marché difficile à anticiper, le rendement de l’année 2011 s’est situé aux alentours de 3,5 % pour une performance attendue de 5%. Prudente, la structure a repoussé ses intentions d’investissement dans de nouvelles classes d’actifs, notamment les CTA. Nous avons également suspendu les investissements sur le high yield et les obligations financières précise le trésorier. La caisse régionale garde toute confiance envers la dizaine de partenaires externes au groupe avec lesquels elle travaille, dont Rothschild&Cie Gestion, Rivoli et GLG, s’attachant à évaluer très précisément l’alpha de chaque fonds pour doper le rendement de ses actifs. De façon inchangée, l’exigence de fonds supérieurs à 100 millions d’euros d’actifs constitue le second critère de choix des partenaires du Crédit Agricole Centre-Est.

Une taxe sur les transactions financières mal calibrée et limitée à la France serait catastrophique pour l’industrie de la gestion d’actifs et fortement pénalisante pour l'économie française, a prévenu hier l’AFG. Une telle taxe diminuerait de plus de 1% le rendement des OPCVM monétaires et d’au moins 0,5% le rendement des OPCVM actions et obligations.

La société américaine de private equity serait disposée selon Reuters à investir environ un milliard de dollars au capital du groupe japonais d’électronique en quête de fonds afin de soutenir le projet d’un partenaire industriel. TPG a fait part de son projet à Sony, Canon, Fujifilm et Panasonic, sans recevoir pour l’heure de réponse.

La banque centrale du Chili a pris les marchés par surprise en baissant son taux directeur de 25 pb à 5%, pour la premières fois depuis juillet 2009

La banque japonaise aurait selon le quotidien mis entre parenthèses le projet de création d’un fonds dédié aux infrastructures qui devait être doté de quelque 500 millions de dollars. Un contretemps du fait d’un environnement macroéconomique mondial incertain, selon deux responsables non identifiés. Les discussions avec les investisseurs potentiels n’ont pas débuté.

En vigueur au plus tôt le 1er janvier 2013, il devra être ratifié au préalable par douze pays

La tension monte alors que l'IIF, le lobby des banques, évoque des points clés non résolus et que des hedge funds font planer une menace

En vigueur au plus tôt le 1er janvier 2013, il devra être ratifié au préalable par douze pays

Mario Draghi a maintenu le refi à 1% hier, le constat macroéconomique étant inchangé. Il s'est félicité des effets de la LTRO à trois ans

Les adjudications espagnoles et italiennes ont remporté un franc succès, ce qui a entraîné une nette détente des rendements. Les liquidités à trois ans prêtées par la BCE avaient déjà provoqué une forte détente de la partie courte des courbes. Le refi pourrait rester inchangé jusqu’en mars.

Le nombre de procédures a chuté de 34% l’an passé, un repli en grande partie dû au scandale sur le traitement des dossiers par les prêteurs

L’Italie a servi un rendement divisé par plus de deux par rapport au mois dernier pour vendre 8,5 milliards d’euros d’emprunts à un an, ce qui illustre l’appétit renouvelé du marché pour la dette à court terme après une injection massive de fonds de la part de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE). Le rendement moyen de ces bons à douze mois a chuté à 2,735%, contre près de 6% lors d’une précédente émission à la mi-décembre, soit son plus bas niveau depuis juin 2011.