The largest German bank, Deutsche Bank, on 7 July announced that it is in exclusive negotiations with the Belgian financial services company RHJ International for a sale of its affiliate BHF Bank. Deutsche Bank, which acquired BHF Bank with its acquisition of Sal. Oppenheim in 2009, last year announced that it was no longer planning to sell off the entity, after efforts to sell the firm to Liechtenstein’s LGT failed.Deutsche Bank says in a statement that BHF Bank is “one of the best-known brands in German finance, with a long tradition in asset management, wealth management, financial markets, and business banking.”Deutsche Bank claims that the planned operation would allow the Belgian holding company to add to the offerings from its affiliate Kleinwort Benson. That business, which is active in Great Britain, has similar activities to those of BHF Bank.As of the end of 2010, BHF Bank had about EUR43bn in assets, and employed about 1,500 people worldwide. It is present in Germany especially, and also in Luxembourg and Switzerland. It also has offices in Abu Dhabi, Egypt, and Vietnam.

A few days after announcing the opening of branch offices in Frankfurt and Milan (see Newsmanagers of 27 June), the Swiss asset management firm Swisscanto (CHF57.6bn in assets as of the end of March) on 7 July announced that it has recruited Karsten Marzinzik from 1 August as senior account manager in Frankfurt. He will be in charge of maintaining relationships with and recruiting institutional clients (funds of funds, wealth managers, banks, etc.)Marzinzik had previously been senior sales manager at Fidelity Germany, in charge of maintaining relationships with and recruiting distribution partners.

Several foreign asset management firms have announced recently that they are recruiting for their sales teams in Germany. The distribution team at the British firm Schroders has become the next to announce recruitments, with the arrival of a director of distribution for retail clients, intermediaries and regional banks at the firm’s German centre. Alexander Wiss joins from the savings bank Südliche Weinstrasse, where he had been in charge of investment advising for high net worth clients. He will report to Melanie Stahl, head of distribution for Schroder Investment Management (Schroders Germany).

According to Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, director of the Swiss federal finance department, Switzerland and Germany are already close to reaching an agreement on the terms of an agreement to normalise wealth which German citizens have stashed in Swiss banks, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Almost all political issues are resolved. The legalisation will involve two components: a payment on taxes which were unpaid in the past, and an anonymous, flat withholding tax in the future. According to estimates, recuperation of back taxes could bring in EUR20bn for the German state’s coffers.

On 7 July, JPMorgan Chase & Co announced that it has reached a settlement with regulators (SEC, IRS, antitrust division of the Department of Justice, Comptroller of the Currency, the New York Fed and a group of attorneys general from several states), to end suits against several former employees of the municipal bond derivatives desk, an activity which the bank discontinued in September 2008.Under the agreement, the bank will pay a total of USD211.2m, and, according to reports in the press, a gross total of USD228m to settle the legal proceedings, which accused the bank of bid-rigging.

Dexia is reaping the rewards of its reorganisation, undertaken in 2009, and its client-centred approach. In first quarter 2011, net inflows totalled EUR400m, more than half of which went to alternative management, Naïm Abou-Jaoudé, chairman of the executive board at Dexia AM, announced at a press conference on 7 July.Assets under management held stable at EUR86.3bn, compared with EUR86.4bn as of the end of 2010. At the height of the financial crisis, assets under management fell to EUR73bn, and then rose back to EUR79bn at the end of 2009. For the year 2011 as a whole, inflow objectives have been set at about EUR5bn, of which about EUR4bn are to come from net inflows, and EUR1bn from market effects.According to Abou-Jaoudé, in addition to the benefits of diversification in terms of clients and asset classes, “our approach of creating alpha for clients, which we introduced nearly two years ago, is paying off. By being even closer to our clients and more responsive to their needs, we are continuing to generate added value by transposing our expertise and our convictions to high-performance, innovative solutions which create alpha.”From this point of view, the head of Dexia AM says he is “reasonably optimistic” about the future, and adds that he is planning to continue to develop Dexia primarily through organic growth. Dexia AM is planning to open an office in London by the end of the year, to accelerate its distribution in the United Kingdom, which is currently handled from Brussels. The firm is also considering opening a second branch office in the Middle East, in Dubai, to complement its office in Bahrain. Asia is also an area under consideration, but no decisions have been taken so far.As a part of Dexia AM’s autonomous development, Abou-Jaoudé says that he is planning to increase the percentage of non-captive assets, from 45% of the total currently to about 60% in the next three years.

Melissa Reagen will begin on 20 July as head of property research, Americas, at the UK based Aberdeen Asset Management. She will report to Andrew Allen, director of global research – property, who is head of a team that now includes 13 people in eight countries.Since 2005, Reagen had been at LaSalle Investment Management as lead strategist for the multifamily portfolio of LaSalle in the United States. She also advised the LaSalle US Property Fund (USD2bn).

Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers (EDRIM) announced on Thursday, 7 July that it is adding to its sales team, with the arrival of Audrey Walter. Walter, 29, will participate in the sale of structured products to French institutional investors, and will report to Jérôme Kelif, head of this activity.Walter began his career in 2003 at Dexia Asset Management, in the Risk department, and then joined Lyxor in 2005 as a product specialist, and then as a salesperson for structured products. In 2008, she joined Amundi, and dealt with sales of strucured products in the international sales team.

In first half, Financière de l’Echiquier has seen an increase in its assets of nearly EUR1bn, while the level of inflows in the same period have topped EUR700m, and EUR452m have been invested in funds from the management firm, putting it in second place, behind Rothschild 7 Cie Gestion, in the rankings of firms with the largest inflows this year.Between France and other countries, inflows are distributed relatively evenly, with France nonetheless still representing a majority (56% and 44%, respectively). Stéphane Toullieux, CEO of Financière de l’Echiquier, has focused particularly this year on institutional investor clients and key accounts (see Newsmanagers of 02/05/2011), and this strategy appears to be succeeding, as actors of this type were responsible for 60% of inflows, compared with 35% for distributors.In the product range, Agressor, the flagship fund from the management firm, has posted the largest net inflows (more than EUR270m). For its part, the ARTY fund has topped EUR100m in inflows. The Echiquier Major and Echiquier Patrimoine funds, for their part, have posted subscriptions of EUR40m each.Financière de l’Echiquier now manages EUR5.7bn in assets, of which 13% are from private management, 46% from distributors, and 41% form institutional investors and key accounts.

The French asset management firm DNCA Finance announced in Germany on 7 July that it has posted net subscriptions of EUR943m in the first six months of this year. As of 30 June, its assets totalled EUR5.9bn, or 21.5% more than as of the end of December (EUR4.9bn). About 60% of net inflows went to wealth management type diversified funds, such as DNCA Invest Eurose (ISIN: LU0284394235) and Evolutif (ISIN: LU0284394664), which alone attracted EUR566m. With the defensive fund Eurose, at EUR451m, these represent nearly three quarters of net inflows to diversified funds, while the flexible fund Evolutif attracted EUR115m, says Philippe Chamigneulle, manager of the Eurose fund.DNCA states that the funds are available in France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, and Switerland, and that they are particularly well-suited to wealth managers and private banks.

“Tobacco bonds” issued by US states are bonds guaranteed by revenues from penalties paid by tobacco companies under settlements reached in the late 1990s. The bonds thus fall into the “municipal bonds” category, which Standard & Poor’s started downgrading in November, the Wall Street Journal reports. That has meant that funds specialised in muni-bonds, which are not allowed to have securities in their portfolios of less than investment grade, have been required to sell off the bonds at heavy losses.Several hedge funds, including Brigade Capital, GoldenTree Asset Management, Venor Capital Management and Foxhill Capital Partners, appeared to buy up the securities at low prices, and tobacco bonds gained 10% in June, and some gained as much as 60% !

Pimco has announced the recruitment of two former managers at Western Asset management, to take advantage of “multiple opportunities” in the municipal bond sector.Joe Dane will become director of the team specialised in municipal bonds, while Julie Callahan is joining Pimco as an analyst specialised in municipal bonds.

Amy Lo, head of Asian operations at UBS, on Thursday announced that the Swiss group is aiming for growth in the next three to five years of 10-20% in assets under management in Asia for high net worth clients (those with over USD50m in assets), Handelsblatt reports.To achieve that goal, the bank will recruit client advisers to increase their total numbers by one third, to 1,200 advisers, at a time when staff reductions will be ongoing in other regions.As of the end of 2010, 22% of CHF768bn in assets in UBS’ wealth management division came from Asia.

Agefi Switzerland reports that the Geneva-based private bank Mirabaud is extending its range of services for onshore clients, developing its advising activities and consolidating its team dedicated to financial planning. Mirabaud is planning to extend its base of clients invited to make use of these services, which had previously been limited to ultra high net worth individuals. “We are currently adding to our team of financial planning advisers, so as to offer services to a wider range of clients and meet the needs of onshore clients in Switzerland, as well as in France and Spain,” Cédric Anker, head of domestic clients, explains.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 7 July published its conclusions about the application by various regulatory authorities in member states of the union of the Transparency directive (which includes dispositions regarding the publication of financial balance sheets, language of communication, information storage, publication of sanctions, and other areas). Overall, it appears that a vast majority of member states have integrated the added requirements into their respective legislation.

The opposition party Partido Popular has obtained support from all other groups in the Senate to propose that the Senate economy and finance commission pass a motion calling on the Spanish government to introduce a limit on commissions charged by banks to retirement savings plans, and to set up a variable commission which would depend on performance, Cinco Días reports. The argument is that banks run no risks with these savings plans.

A survey in second quarter by Forsa on behalf of Union Investment, covering financial decision-makers aged 20 to 59 in 500 German households has found that now 45%, up from 42% in January-March, estimate that the ecological impact of financial investments is the most important criterion. Meanwhile, 49%, compared with 54%, feel that the social aspect is determinant for a sustainable investment.This development may be attributed to an increase in environmental awareness following the Fukushima disaster, says Daniel Günnewig, CEO of Union Investment Privatfonds. Meanwhile, 31% of respondents estimate that the sustainable development aspect of their investments is important (comppared with 32% in first quarter). The percentage who are not interested in these issues has fallen to 23%, from 27% in January-March.

In June, open-ended funds underwent net outflows of EUR3.1bn, compared with EUR1.74bn in May. These outflows affected Italian-registered funds to the tune of EUR1.83bn, and foreign funds for EUR1.27bn, Assogestioni reports. In the first five months of the year, net redemptions have totalled «only» EUR10.17bn, largely thanks to very strong net inflows to foreign-registered funds (EUR5.49bn) in first quarter.By fund category, the segments which saw the heaviest outflows were bond products, with net redemptions of EUR4.07bn in first half, and money market funds, with net outflows of UER6.31bn. Hedge funds also suffered, with outflows of nearly EUR1.29bn, from assets of only EUR11.34bn.Equities and diversified funds attracted only EUR16m and EUR370m, respectively, in six months, while flexible funds attracted EUR1.11bn.Total assets, meanwhile, continued to decline; as of 30 June, they totalled EUR441.21bn, compared with EUR447.98bn as of the end of May, EUR453.45bn as of the end of March, and EUR460.05bn as of the end of December 2010. Of total assets as of the end of June, foreign-registered funds represent 59.6%.

La première banque allemande Deutsche Bank a annoncé le 7 juillet être en négociations exclusives avec la société de services financiers belge RHJ International pour lui céder sa filiale BHF Bank. Deutsche Bank, qui avait acquis BHF Bank dans le cadre de l’acquisition du groupe Sal. Oppenheim en 2009, avait pourtant assuré en avril dernier qu’elle renonçait à se séparer de cette entité, après avoir tenté en vain de la vendre à l'établissement liechtensteinois LGT.La Deutsche Bank rappelle dans un communiqué que BHF Bank est «l’une des marques les plus connues de la finance allemande, dotée d’une longue tradition dans la gestion d’actifs, la gestion de fortune, les marchés financiers et la banque d’entreprises».Deutsche Bank estime que l’opération envisagée permettrait à la holding belge de compléter l’offre de sa filiale Kleinwort Benson. Cette dernière, active dans les îles britanniques, a des activités similaires à celles de BHF Bank. Fin 2010, BHF Bank gérait quelque 43 milliards d’euros d’actifs. Elle employait environ 1.500 salariés dans le monde. Elle est surtout présente en Allemagne, mais aussi au Luxembourg et en Suisse. Elle dispose par ailleurs de représentations à Abou Dhabi, en Egypte et au Vietnam.

Quelques jours après l’annonce de l’ouverture de succursales à Francfort et Milan (lire notre article du 27 juin), le gestionnaire helvétique Swisscanto (57,6 milliards de francs suisses d’actifs sous gestion fin mars) a indiqué le 7 juillet avoir recruté à compter du 1er août Karsten Marzinzik comme senior account manager. Il sera chargé du suivi et du recrutement des clients institutionnels (fonds de fonds, gestionnaires de fortune, banques…)Jusqu'à présent, Karsten Marzinzik était senior sales managers chez Fidelity Allemagne, en charge du suivi et du recrutement de partenaires de distribution.

La Deutsche Börse a annoncé le 7 juillet avoir admis à la négociation sur le segment XTF de sa plate-forme électronique Xetra quatre nouveaux ETF de droit irlandais d’UBS Global Asset Management. En réalité, il s’agit de deux fois deux fonds d’actions utilisant par paires le même indice, mais en classe de part A (retail) et I (institutionnels).Pour le UBS ETFs plc – MSCI Emerging Markets TRN INDEX SF – (USD) A-acc (IE00B3Z3FS74) et pour le UBS ETFs plc – MSCI Emerging Markets TRN INDEX SF – (USD) I-acc (IE00B3P9PD09), les commissions se situent respectivement à 0,62 % et 0,45 %De leur côté, le fonds UBS ETFs plc – MSCI EMU TRN INDEX SF – (EUR) A-acc (IE00B5B1MZ58) est chargé à 0,17 % tandis qu’UBS Globam AM ne facture pas de commission pour le fonds UBS ETFs plc – MSCI EMU TRN INDEX SF – (EUR) I-acc (IE00B5M9BT58).Ces produits portent à 823 le nombre des ETF cotés sur Xetra.

Plusieurs gestionnaires étrangers ont annoncé ces jours derniers des recrutements pour leur force de vente en Allemagne. L'équipe de distribution du britannique Schroders reçoit à son tour un renfort avec l’arrivée d’un directeur de la distribution pour les particuliers, les intermédiaires et les banques régionales du centre de l’Allemagne. Alexander Wiss vient de la caisse d'épargne Südliche Weinstrasse, où il était chargé du conseil en placements pour la clientèle haut de gamme. Il est placé sous l’autorité de Melanie Stahl, qui dirige toute la distribution de Schroder Investment Management (Schroders Allemagne).

Le suisse Clariden Leu (groupe Credit Suisse) a obtenu pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche de la BaFin et de la FMA l’agrément de commercialisation du fonds luxembourgeois non benchmarké Clariden Leu Global High Yield Bond lancé le 29 avril et géré par l’américain Oaktree Capital Management.Il s’agit comme son nom l’indique d’un fonds d’obligations à haut rendement avec une sensibilité plus faible aux variations de taux d’intérêt que des émissions mieux notées. Le fonds est disponible en parts B USD (LU0614322484), H EUR B (LU0614322641) et H CHF B (LU0614322997). La commission de gestion est fixée à 1,2 % et l’encours se situe actuellement pour l’ensemble des classes de parts à 267,8 millions de dollars.

Les actifs sous gestion de Man Group s’inscrivaient au 30 juin 2011 à 71 milliards de dollars contre 69,1 milliards de dollars au 31 mars 2011, a annoncé le groupe le 7 juillet dans un communiqué.La collecte brute s’est élevée au deuxième trimestre au niveau record de 9 milliards de dollars. Les rachats ont totalisé 5,3 milliards de dollars, un montant historiquement moyen, observe Man Group, si bien que la collecte nette a atteint 3,7 milliards de dollars. La collecte nette des fonds alternatifs s’inscrit à 4,1 milliards de dollars, les fonds long/only ayant subi une décollecte de 400 millions de dollars (1,5 milliard de souscriptions et 1,9 milliard de rachats). Les produits garantis ont enregistré leur plus forte collecte depuis deux ans, à 500 millions de dollars, grâce au lancement de ManIP 220 GLG, le premier véhicule garanti commun combinant les stratégies AHL et GLG. Les rachats sur les produits garantis se sont inscrits à 600 millions de dollars. En termes de performances, les conditions difficiles de marché ont contribué à un effet négatif de 1,1 milliard de dollars au deuxième trimestre. Au sein de la gamme de GLG, les performances négatives l’ont emporté sur les résultats positifs, avec des gains pour les stratégies European long short et European distressed mais des pertes pour la stratégie global macro et d’autres stratégies long/short.

Après des mois de spéculation, Lloyds Banking Group a indiqué qu’il garderait sa participation majoritaire de 60% dans la société de gestion St James’s Place, rapporte Money Marketing.Les actifs sous gestion de st James’s Place s'élevaient au 31 mars à 28 milliards de livres, contre 27 milliards de livres fin 2010 et 21,4 milliards de livres fin mars 2010.

Le britannique Ignis Asset Management a annoncé un certain nombre de changements au sein de son équipe dédiée aux actions britanniques. Ignis a notamment recruté Mark Holden en qualité de gérant du fonds Ignis UK Focus dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 112 millions de livres. Mark Holden, qui était précédemment associé de Vestra Wealth, sera rattaché à Mark Lovett, le chief investment officer d’Ignis pour le pôle actions qui a rejoint la société en octobre 2010 en provenance de Allianz RCM. Ralph Brook-Fox, l’actuel gérant du UK Focus, prendra la responsabilité de Ignis Balanced Growth fund (173 millions de livres) avec effet immédiat. Il travaillera également sur les mandats institutionnels en collaboration avec Mark Lovett. En outre, Ignis a recruté un analyste, Bilal Raja, pour l'équipe actions britanniques. D’autres analystes devraient prochainement rejoindre l'équipe.

Selon Money Marketing, HSBC envisage de lancer un fonds low cost géré activement dans le sillage des produits de ce type proposés par Schroders et JP Morgan. Selon le responsable de la distribution externe au Royaume-Uni, Phil Reid, les investisseurs surveillent de très près le couple coût/rendement et il est donc essentiel de pouvoir leur proposer des options intermédiaires viables entre gestion active et gestion passive.

Temasek, l’un des deux fonds souverains de Singapour a annoncé le 7 juillet un bénéfice net de 13 milliards de Singapour, soit quelque 7,4 milliards de dollars, pour l’exercice clos au 31 mars 2011, contre 5 milliards de dollars de Singapour un an plus tôt. Le portefeuille d’actifs a atteint le montant record de 193 milliards de dollars de Singapour contre 186 milliards à fin mars 2010. L’Asie va rester la région prioritaire pour les investissements de la holding, présente dans le capital de très nombreuses entreprises des secteurs du transport (Singapore Airlines), des télécoms, de la finance ou de l’immobilier. L’Asie représente 77% du portefeuille du fonds, dont 32% pour Singapour, suivie par l’Amérique du Nord, l’Europe et l’Australie (autour de 20%). Temasek souligne dans un communiqué que les investissements réalisés après mars 2002 ont dégagé un rendement annualisé sur neuf ans de 21%. Sur dix ans, le portefeuille global affiche un rendement annualisé de 9%.

L’information parue sur le site H24 Finance annonçant, selon ses sources, le départ de Bruno Vanier de chez Edmond de Rotschild AM où il occupe actuellement la fonction de co-directeur de la gestion dans les prochaines semaines, a été confirmé à Newsmanagers. La société de gestion n’a toutefois pas souhaité faire de commentaires.

Au cours du premier semestre, Financière de l’Echiquier a vu ses encours progresser de près d’un milliard d’euros, avec une collecte qui a franchi le cap des 700 millions dont 452 millions ont été investis dans les fonds de la société de gestion. Ces résultats place l'établissement parmi les premiers au classement de ceux ayant le plus collecté cette année. Entre France et étranger, l’origine de la collecte se répartit de façon plutôt équilibrée, l’Hexagone conservant néanmoins un avantage : 56% et 44% respectivement. Plus précisément, la volonté de Stéphane Toullieux, directeur général de Financière de l’Echiquier de porter cette année un effort particulier auprès de la clientèle des investisseurs institutionnels et grands comptes (cf Newsmanagers du 02/05/2011) est en passe de réussir, ce type d’acteurs ayant drainé 60 % de la collecte contre 35 % pour les distributeurs. Au sein de la gamme, c’est Agressor, le fonds phare de la maison, qui a également enregistré les souscriptions les plus fortes (plus de 270 millions d’euros) tandis que le fonds ARTY a franchi, de son côté, la barre des 100 millions d’euros de collecte. Quant aux fonds Echiquier Major et Echiquier Patrimoine, ils ont enregistré chacun des souscriptions de 40 millions d’euros.Au final, Financière de l’Echiquier gère aujourd’hui 5.7 milliards d’euros dont 13 % sont issus de la gestion privée, 46% des distributeurs et 41 % des investisseurs institutionnels et grands comptes.