The UCITS Alternative Index Global gained 1.8% in October, but remains down 2.71% since the beginning of the year, according to data from the index provider Alix Capital. In the month under review, UCITS funds dedicated to emerging markets earned the best returns, while the Ucits Alternative Emerging Markets fund gained 6.12%. However, since the beginning of the year, this strategy has lost 6.2%' Event-driven equity strategies also earned good returns, with gains of 2.16% and 2.07%, respectively. Commodities, which earned a monthly gain of 0.75%, remain the only strategy in positive territory since the beginning of the year, with gains of 0.85%.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will soon propose sweeping reforms of money market funds, the Financial Times reports. The regulator is focusing on two options. One would require money market funds to hold capital as buffer against losses. The other would require that funds shift to a floating measure of their net asset value, the newspaper reports.

Credit Suisse on 8 November confirmed in a statement that the US tax authorities had submitted an application for administrative mutual assistance to the Swiss Federal finance administration. As a result of the procedure, the Swiss authority then requested Credit Suisse to share information. The request includes documents and information about client relationships concerning US citizens. Credit Suisse did not state how many individuals’ information was concerned.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has appointed Thomas Breitenmoser to the position of head of institutional clients for Switzerland. The asset management firm has also recruited Eduardo Illitsch to serve as senior sales manager for Swiss institutional clients. Patrick Beuret has been appointed senior sales manager for banks in German-speaking Switzerland. Breitenmoser will be responsible for relationship management for pension funds, insurers, trusts for retirement planning institutions, and businesses in Switzerland. He will report to Roland Vogel, country head Switzerland, and will begin in his new role from 1 July 2011, a statement says. Breitenmoser has already been a member of the Swiss team at J.P. Morgan Asset Management for nine years; he had previously been head for distribution activities via banks and family offices. Illitsch, for his part, will furtehr strengthen institutional client relationships in Switzerland. Since 2009, he had been head of Swiss institutional client relationships for State Street Global Advisory, a position which he had previously held for eleven years at Credit Suisse Asset Management. Illitsch will report to Thomas Breitenmeyer, head of institutional clients. Beuret had previously worked at Bellevue Asset Management, where he was a partner, and since 2009 had been in charge of international distribution. Beuret spent more than ten years in various sales positions, including as head of international clients at Julius Bär Asset Management. Beuret began in his new position on 1 November 2011, and report to Roland Vogel.

Assets under management at the Cantonal bank of Lucerne as of the end of September were down 1.6% compared with the end of June 2011, to CHF24.8bn, the bank announced in a statement on 8 November. Net inflows totalled CHF328m, compared with CHF87m as of 30 June. The bank reports that settlements related to the integration of the Adler private bank have already been integrated into the balance sheet. In the first nine months of the 2011 fiscal year, the bank earned net profits up 2.9%, to CHF115.9m, the statement says. The bank is hoping to post profits in 2011 equivalent to those it earned in 2010.

As the first step towards creating a fortified emerging markets hub in London, Pioneer Investments has announced the appointment of two senior investment professionals with extensive experience in emerging markets. The first of further hires that will be announced, Sean Taylor joins as head of global emerging markets equity and Fabiana Fedeli joins as senior portfolio manager, Asia equity. Sean Taylor, who will head the global emerging market equity team has over 18 years of experience managing emerging market equity funds and has worked in Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Previously, he was investment director at GAM, responsible for managing global emerging and frontier markets funds. Prior to GAM, he was head of global equity at Societe Generale Asset Management UK, where he also headed up the emerging market desk.Fabiana Fedeli, who will play a key role on the Asia equity team, joins from Occam Asset Management LLP, where she was partner and fund manager, co-managing Asia ex- Japan fund. She will report to Angelo Corbetta, Head of Asia Equity, Pioneer Investments. Pioneer Investments currently manages around EUR7 bln assets in this asset class. Over the coming months, the asset management company will continue to recruit talented and experienced individuals and develop new strategies, further boosting its emerging market capabilities. Mauro Ratto, formerly head of investments Europe and Asia, will now dedicate himself fully to leading this new franchise in London as head of emerging markets, responsible for both equity and bond strategies.

John Paulson is preparing to sell USD580m in shares in Delphi Automotive at the firm’s initial public offering, the Wall Street Journal reports. The manager holds a 22% stake in the firm via Paulson & Co. He will reduce his stake in the automotive group to 15%.

The French group Groupama has made informal contact with several investors, including foreign reinsurers, Les Echos reports. The investors may subscribe to hybrid securities with no voting rights issued by GroupamaSA. As counterparty, the securities would offer attractive remuneration. In this form, the operation would have the advantage of recapitalising the central organisation, without blunting the effectiveness of the regional banks, which have set Thierry Martel the task of maintaining the group’s independence above all else. Swiss Re, Munich Ré and the US firm Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company for the billionaire Warren Buffett, are some of the avenues that have been explored. Funds may also invest alongside an insurer. The investment under discussion would be about EUR200m for each investor. Meanwhile, the possibility of selling off assets has also been explored, but no decisions have been taken at this time. Groupama declined to comment to the newspaper yesterday.

On Tuesday, 8 November, Société Générale announced its results for the third quarter of the year. The Private Banking, Asset Management and Investor services unit “has shown resilience in unfavourable market conditions,” the bank notes. In asset management, the US affiliate TCW has posted net inflows of EUR0.2m, bringing net inflows since the beginning of the year to EUR1.6bn. Asset management has earned net profits for the part of the group of EUR16m, compared with EUR26m in the same period one year previously. Amundi contributed EUR19m in the quarter. In the first nine months of the year, this contribution brings net profits for the part of the group to EUR81m (compared with EUR65m in 2010). For the private banking activity, assets, totalling EUR83.6bn, are up 2% compared with last year. Compared with second quarter, assets are nonetheless down by EUR2.5bn due to negative market effects (-EUR3.3bn), outflows (-EUR0.6bn) and positive forex effects (+EUR1.5bn). Since the beginning of the year, inflows total EUR3.3bn. Net banking profits for the private bank totalled EUR190m, down 6.4% compared with last year, with management fees up 5.3%, at EUR158m, compared with the same period in 2010. Overall, over nine months year on year, earnings for the division total EUR604m (+14.4%).

The Texas state teachers’ pension fund has pledged USD3bn each to Apollo Global Management and KKR & Co, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is the largest amount ever invested by a public pension fund in private equity.

State Street Global Advisors has announced the appointment of two new sales staff dedicated to ETFs in Paris. Olivier Paquier will now be head of sales for SPDR ETF in France, Spain and Portugal. He joined State Street from Amundi ETF, where he was a product specialist for four years. Eric Geffory, who began his career as head of ETF products at Invesco PowerShare, has been recruited as a salesman for SPDR ETF. State Street currently offers 29 SPDR ETF funds on various European stock markets, including Deutsche Börse, NYSE Euronext, London Stock Exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange and Borsa Italiana.

Alain Zeitouni, former head of multi-management at Barclays Wealth Management in France, who moved to Russell Investments in October, will not be replaced, a spokesperson for the firm has announced. The French team will now report directly to Jaime Arguello, who is director of multi-management and fund selection at Barclays Wealth in London. Overall, between Paris and London, the multi-management team includes 11 people, and manages about 25% of the total assets of Barclays Wealth IM, which total EUR38bn. In Paris, assets were about EUR500m as of the end of June. The London-based team manages a range of funds and mandates which will soon be launched on the French market.

The coverage rate for US pension funds gained 4.7 percentage points in October, to return to 74.8%, according to BNY Mellon Asset Management. This development is largely due to the good performance of the equity markets and the stability of liabilities. BNY Mellon AM reports, nonetheless, that since the beginning of the year, the coverage rate has fallen by 10.3 percentage points.

In the first nine months of 2011, the Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat has posted net proficts of EUR2.52m, compared with EUR9.34m in the corresponding period of last year. However, management commission revenues increased to EUR33.04m, compared with EUR25.14mn, while performance commissions fell to EUR0.3m from EUR10.29m. As of 30 September, assets under management or administration totalled EUR2.82bn, comapred with EUR3.33bn at the end of December 2010.

In the seven countries that the German firm Feri maintains rankings of asset management firms with more than 25 funds rated that have the highest percentage of funds rated A or B as of 30 September, Threadneedle leads in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Austria, with respective scores of 57.4%, 61.7%, 63.2%, 69%, and 46.7% (see attached table). Fidelity is in second place in three countries: France (51.9%), Italy (57.8%), and Austria (45.5%). Among the management firms with 8 to 24 funds rated, the winner is Janus Group, which does well in virtually all countries. Janus is: first in Sweden (81.3%) and Italy (84.6%), second in the United Kingdom (76.5%) after Royal London (87.5%) and in Austria, after Banque de Luxembourg (73.3%), third in Switzerland (70.6%), after JO Hambro (75%) and Baldifor (73.3%) and in France (64.7%), after Carmignac Gestion (70%) and Financière de l’Echiquier (69.2%), fourth in Germany (70.6%), after First State (87.5%), dje (76.9%), and JO Hambro (75%). Carmignac Gestion, first in France (70%), is in second place in Italy (77.8%), fifth in Germany (66.7%), and sixth in Switzerland (62.5%).

Total assets in Luxembourg funds as of 30 September came to EUR2.032077trn, compared with EUR2.085941trn as of 31 August 2011, a decline of 2.58% in one month. Over twelve months, net asset volumes have fallen by 2.48%. The negative variation in the month of September, which totalled EUR53.864bn, is the result of EUR42.521bn of negative market effects, and EUR11.43bn (-0.54%) of outflows. All equity markets show losses, with funds investing in eastern Europe and Latin America seeing the most unfavourable negative market effects (-11.82% and -11.31%, respectively), and outflows (-2.12% and -2.79%). There is one exception: The OPC category of Japanese equities gained 3.10% due to appreciation of the Japanese currency against the euro of more than 6%. This category also saw a net inflow of 0.64%. For bond funds, products investing internationally saw a negative market effect of 1.22% and outflows of 0.38%. However, bond funds denominated in US dollars saw positive market effects of 3.08% and net inflows of 1.55%.

L’association Finansol a pour mission d’assurer la promotion d’une autre finance. Avec succès : l’encours de l'épargne solidaire s'élève à 3,1 milliards d’euros au début 2011. Lors de la Semaine de la finance solidaire organisée par l’association du 3 au 10 novembre 2011, soixante-dix manifestations - débats, conférences, salons, etc. - se tiennent partout en France. Entre autres initiatives, Finansol et Le Monde remettront les Grands Prix de la finance solidaire à quatre entreprises ou associations ayant développé des projets remarquables par leur utilité sociale (insertion par l’emploi, logement social, etc.). Le choix pour investir Comment prendre part à cette autre finance ? Les produits qui permettent d’investir dans l'économie solidaire sont peu ou prou identiques à ceux de l'économie classique : livrets d'épargne, FCP (fonds communs de placement), épargne salariale, etc. Ces placements présentent des caractéristiques variables en termes de solidarité, de performance financière et de fiscalité. Parmi eux, le FCP Crédit Agricole Solidarité Habitat et Humanisme proposé par Amundi, filiale de gestion d’actifs du Crédit Agricole, se démarque. Solidarité et partage «Il s’agit d’un placement de partage, c’est-à-dire que la moitié des revenus générés par le fonds est reversée à Habitat et Humanisme *, association qui ??uvre en faveur du logement des plus démunis », explique Isabelle Coquelle-Ricq, responsable de l’investissement socialement responsable (ISR) à Amundi. En plus d'être un fonds de partage, ce FCP est aussi solidaire, puisque 10 % des actifs sont investis dans des titres d’entreprises qui privilégient l’insertion et le développement local. En outre, les 90 % restant, qui sont répartis selon un profil prudent - 75% obligations, 15 % actions -, respectent les critères de l’ISR. Trois caractéristiques que l’on retrouve rarement dans un seul et même fonds d’investissement. Habitat et Humanisme bénéficie également du mécénat du Crédit Agricole dans le cadre de son programme Solidarité Logement. source: creditagricole.info / novembre 2011

L’immobilier est touché par la hausse du taux de TVA, la suppression du Scellier et le recentrage du «prêt à taux zéro +»

Le quotidien croit savoir que l’autorité britannique des marchés, la Financial Services Authority, pourrait annoncer aujourd’hui une sanction majeure, de l’ordre de six millions de livres, à l’encontre de Coutts & Co. La branche de banque privée de Royal Bank of Scotland est accusée de n’avoir pas respecté les intérêts de ses clients dans le cadre de la vente de produits d’épargne liés à l’assureur américain AIG.

Les responsables de la BNS ont été obligés de durcir le ton pour faire refluer le franc suisse au-dessus de sa borne haute de 1,24 contre euro

Alors que l’eurozone attend des gages d’Athènes et de Rome, elle avance sur la démultiplication de sa capacité d’intervention sur le marché des souverains

Olli Rehn a adressé un «questionnaire» à Silvio Berlusconi concernant la crédibilité de son plan budgétaire et attend une réponse «cette semaine»

Le Fonds a émis au bénéfice de l'Irlande 3 milliards d’euros d’obligations à dix ans au taux mid-swap plus 104 points de base

Selon le responsable de l’institut de recherche du ministère du commerce chinois, Huo Jianguo, cité par l’agence, les exportations pourraient connaître une croissance de 18% sur l’année en cours. Huo Jianguo prévient néanmoins que ce niveau ne permettrait pas au niveau de l’excédent commercial en 2011 de dépasser celui de l’année précédente.

Le gouvernement limite à 6 milliards la rédution de l'impôt sur le revenu, en dépit du violent trou d'air conjoncturel

Le programme de rachat, qui doit commencer ce mois-ci, ciblera plus de titres que celui lancé en 2009

Pour tenir ses engagements de rigueur, il veut récupérer 18,6 milliards d’euros d'ici 2013

Les achats en hausse de la BCE n'ont pas réussi à calmer le stress sur la dette souveraine italienne

Pour tenir ses engagements de rigueur, il veut récupérer 18,6 milliards d’euros d'ici 2013

La plate-forme londonienne spécialisée dans les dérivés lancera dans moins d’un moins, le 5 décembre, de nouveaux contrats futures et options sur le Brent. Baptisés «New Expiry» ou «NX Brent», ils font suite à une consultation menée auprès des acteurs du marché. Le premier contrat de trading aura une échéance à décembre 2012 plutôt que février 2013, comme cela avait été initialement proposé.