La croissance de l’activité du secteur français des services a légèrement ralenti en mai mais reste proche du pic de près de 11 ans touché le mois précédent, montrent vendredi les résultats définitifs de l’enquête mensuelle Markit auprès des directeurs d’achats. L’indice PMI sectoriel est revenu à 62,5 après avoir atteint 62,9 en avril, son plus haut niveau depuis septembre 2000.

The Alken Absolute Return Europe (AARE), launched at the end of January 2011 by Alken Asset Management (see Newsmanagers of 17 January 2011) has topped EUR100m in assets. The psychologically significant threshold is welcome for the absolute return fund, which has posted gains of 3.7% since the end of January, with total volatility limited to between 5% and 6%.

HSBC ETFs has added its HSBC MSCI South Africa ETF fund (IE00B57S5Q22), which charges fees of 0.60%, to trading on Euronext Paris. The product dedicated to South African equities is the 87th product to be added to the European platforms of NYSE Euronext since the beginning of the year; the markets, including secondary listings, have grown by 113 funds, to a total of 654 (563 of them ETFs).

Russell Investments is launching an initial range of 10 US small and midcap ETFs which allow qualified investors to manage their exposure to five risk factors (high beta, low beta, high volatility, low volatility, and high momentum). The launch of the range follows the launch of a series of factoral long-only indices in partnership with Axioma (see Newsmanagers of 26 May 2011). The ETFs of the range include: • Russell 1000® High Beta ETF (NYSE:HBTA) • Russell 1000® Low Beta ETF (NYSE:LBTA) • Russell 1000® High Volatility ETF (NYSE:HVOL) • Russell 1000® Low Volatility ETF (NYSE:LVOL) • Russell 1000® High Momentum ETF (NYSE:HMTM) • Russell 2000® High Beta ETF (NYSE:SHBT) • Russell 2000® Low Beta ETF (NYSE:SLBT) • Russell 2000® High Volatility ETF (NYSE:SHVY) • Russell 2000® Low Volatility ETF (NYSE:SLVY) • Russell 2000® High Momentum ETF (NYSE:SHMO)

On 1 June, at a meeting of more than 300 digital pioneers, Eric Besson, minister for industry, energy and digital economy, René Ricol, general commissioner for investment, and Augustin de Romanet, CEO of the Caisse des Dépôts, announced the creation of a risk common investment vehicle (FCPR) entitled “FSN PME,” which will have EUR400m in assets managed by CDC Entreprises. The FCPR fund will invest up to 30% of its own equity, up to a limit of EUR10m, in the capital of digital sector SMBs. FSN PME is a response to a well-known problem in the digital domain, where many startups don’t manage to finance their growth and increase their owners’ equity in order to grow. It fills a void between seed capital and money to fund the creation of businesses, and investment from major institutional investors. The initiative is a part of the Fonds national pour la Société Numérique (FSN), managed by the Caisse des Dépôts, which has EUR4.25bn in capital, of which EUR1.4bn is aimed to finance investment projects in new and innovative digital uses, services and content. The sectors in which the FSN will act as a first priority are: cloud computing, content industries (cultural, scientific or educational), underlying digital technolgies (including nanotech and deployed technologies), health, education, network security and resilience, intelligent transportation systems, and urban digital technologies. The digital economy now represents over 1,150,000 jobs, directly or indirectly, most of them at SMBs. The government has made it a priority to invest in digital sector SMBs in order to accelerate their growth. “By the end of the year, I would like to see more than 30 innovative projects receive instructions from this FCPR for SMBs. This government intervention should make it possible for champions of the internet of the future to emerge in France,” Besson says.

The British management firm Source (USD8.7bn in assets) has announced that it has received certificates of compliance with Islamic Sharia law from Amanie Advisors for its Source Physical Gold P-ETC (SGLD LN) and Source Physical Silver P-ETC (SSLV LN) ETC products. The certificate is issued by a board of Ulama scholars, assembled by Amanie Islamic Finance Consultancy and Education LLC. The physical gold ETC fund (USD1.2bn) charges 0.29%, while the physical silver fund charges 0.39%.

The asset management affiliates of the two major Spanish banks were the worst affected by net redemptions in the first five months of 2011, Expansión reports: BBVA Asset Management saw net redmeptions of EUR1.164bn, while Santander Asset Management saw net outflows of EUR976m. Though the latter outflows reduced the damage for diversified products from Santander Select (high net worth retail clients) and Banif (private banking), the former saw outflows in all categories, including short-term bonds, which compete with savings accounts. The other victims of the outflows have been the savings banks, now in a restructuring process: Catalunya Caixa has seen outflows of EUR512m, and Ahorro Corporación has seen outflows of EUR516m. However, La Caixa has seen net inflows of EUR2.027bn, while Bestinver has taken on EUR199m.

The institutional investor confidence index published by State Street Global Markets has reached its highest level since December, with a gain of 6.8 points in May, to a total of 104.1, compared with a corrected level of 97.3 in April. The increase is largely due to an increase in investor confidence in North America, which for its part has increased by 7.7 points, from a corrected level of 98.6 to 106.3 points. Following the downturn in the past few months, European investor confidence has also increase 5.2 points, from 73.8 in April to 79.0 in May. However, the Asian investor confidence index has turned down by 2.7 points, from 99.4 (corrected level) last month to 96.7 this month. “Since the publication of the institutional investor confidence index in April, further signs of a slight weakening in macroeconomic conditions have appeared – and this fall is reflected in share and commodity prices,” says professor Ken Froot. “As we have often observed on numerous occasions in the past, institutional investors sometimes consider times like these an opportunity to acquire higher-risk positions, and this month is no exception.”

A preliminary enquiry was initiated in early march by the Paris prosecutor’s office, following the publication of a note by the prudential control authority (ACP), which oversees banks, on sales practices by the bank UBS in France, legal sources have stated. The investigation was opened after the ACP (the former banking commission) received an anonymous letter describing the methods used by UBS to help clients to evade taxes and launder money, says Charlie Hebdo, source of the information. The prudential control authority has increased controls at the bank, the newspaper adds. The national legal customs service (SNDJ) has been tasked with the investigation, the legal source reports. The bank has denied all allegations that it assisted with tax evasion, stating that it had no comment on ongoing legal procedures. The ACP has declined to comment.

On the basis of statistics published by the German BVI association of management firms, funds posted net subscriptions of EUR1.08bn in April, of which EUR531.8m were to open-ended funds (compared with outflows of EUR3.1bn in March), and EUR555.2m (compared with EUR2.42bn) to institutional funds. Mandates saw net outflows of EUR155.9m, compared with EUR771.6m in the previous month. In the first four months of the year, net inflows to funds and mandates totalled EUR10.18bn, compared with EUR33.62bn, in part because open-ended funds saw net outflows of EUR4.22bn, compared with net inflows of EUR11.2bn in January-April 2010. In this morose environment, large management firms such as Allianz Global Investors and Deka saw net outflows of EUR1.73bn and EUR3.46bn, respectively, from open-ended securities funds in January-April, while outflows were limited to EUR556m at Union Investment. However, the DWS/DB Advisors/DB Gruppe group (Deutsche Bank) has seen overall net subscriptions of EUR58.5m, which is attributable to EUR640m in net inflows to its ETF specialist affiliate, db x-trackers. Two other ETF specialist operators have posted net inflows: BlackRock (iShares funds), with EUR784m, and ComStage (commerzbank), with EUR140m. However, ETFlab (Deka) has seen net outflows of EUR146m. Results have also been good at Universal Investment, the white-label product specialist, which took on EUR741.5m in net subscriptions in the first four months of the year.

Following net subscriptions in February and March 2011, which were the first since October 2008, Spanish securities funds saw net redemptions again in May, of EUR973m, following EUR466m in April. This confirms recent estimates by VDOS Stochastics. Assets, for their part, have fallen to EUR137.813bn, or 0.69% in one month, compared with EUR139.017bn as of the end of April (see Newsmanagers of 2 May), the Spanish association of management firms Inverco reports. Among the top ten players in terms of asset volumes, only two, Gesmadrid and Ibercaja Gestión, posted net subscriptions in May, of EUR11.19m and EUR11.25m, respectively. The strongest outflows, as in April, were for the two largest management firms in the country, Santander Asset Management and BBVA Asset Management, where net redemptions totalled EUR270.1m and EUR219.8m, respectively.

On 24 May, the CNMV issued a license to Norfin Inversiones Immobiliaras, a management firm for real estate funds aimed at institutional or qualified investors. The Portuguese firm Norfin Investimentos SGPS SA (EUR1bn in assets) controls 55.42% of the entity, while Arbore Living Investments S.L. controls a 15% stake. Norfin II is directed by Pelayo Primo de Rivera (chairman and CEO) and Ignacio Pereda-Velasco Sagrado (CIO).

BNY Mellon has been selected by the Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-fonden (AP7) to provide derivative collateral services. The service will be provided by the dedicated BNY Mellon platform DM Edge.

The Californian pension fund CalPERS has announced the appointment of Réal Desrochers as senior investment officer for its private equity unit. Descrochers will be in charge of managing international investments in private equity totalling about USD49bn, of which USD33bn are invested in funds from alternative management partners. Desrochers, who previously worked at CalSTRS, will report directly to the CIO of CalPERS, Joseph Dear.

As part of a disengagement from the private equity sector, Bank of America will be spinning off its last major fund, which has over USD6bn in assets. A new firm, North Cove Partners, will independently manage the vehicle’s assets, La Tribune reports.

The international hedge fund association AIMA has published a guide intended for institutional investors and managers, assembled by the AIMA investor assistance committee, summing up the current preferences and priorities in institutional investment and investment allocation. The objective of the guide is to lay out the point of view of investors, their expectations and their preferences, on a series of operational and organisational issues, which are increasingly a central preoccupation for investors and managers. The authors of the document are Kurt Silberstein (CalPERS), Luke Dixon (USS), Michelle McGregor Smith (BA Pension Investment Management), Andrea Gentilini (UBP) and Adrian Sales (Albourne Parners).

On 1 June, Source UK Services Ltd announced that Northern Trust has become its partner as administrator and depository, following its acquisition of Bank of Ireland Securities Services (BoISS). As a part of the deal, all agreements concluded by the BoISS with source for asset custody have been transferred to Northern Trust, as a result of which Northern Trust Fiduciary Services (Ireland) Limited is now the official depository for Source. All operational activities, client reporting and regular contacts will continue and will not be affected.

Fondsprofessionell reports that the Berlin regional government’s environmental protection agency (Stiftung Naturschutz des Landes Berlin) lost EUR2m which it had invested in Primeo funds from the Bank of Austria. These Primero funds were among the products whose capital was negatively affected by the Madoff scandal. Now, the charity is participating in a lawsuit against Bank Austria, which is owned by the UniCredit group, and which itself claims to be a victim of the fraud.

By the end of this year, Carmignac Gestion is planning to open a branch office in Frankfurt with a staff of seven people. In addition, German retail clients will have access to the complete range of funds from the French management firm, once Carmignac Investissement Latitude receives a sales license from BaFin. Carmignac, which is also planning to open an office in London, had previously served the German market with a team based in Luxembourg, led by John Korter.

The US management firm Russell Investments is planning to open an office in Frankfurt to sell indices, its advising activity, a range of funds and services (transition management, forex overlay, portfolio insurance), Fondsprofessionell reports. The move comes in parallel with the construction of a team to be in charge of all of German-speaking Europe, says Johan Cras, CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Rothschild Private Banking & Trust, the wealth management unit of the international Rothschild group, has appointed Reinhard Krafft, founder and owner of Jupiter Group in Luxembourg, as the next director of Rothschild Vermögensverwaltungs in Frankfurt-am-Main, Agefi Switzerland reports. Krafft started at Rothschild on 1 June, and will initially direct the business in collaboration with Hayo Willms, before taking over sole direction of it from 1 September 2011. Rothschild has also engaged the services of professor Alexander Kolb for the new board at the German wealth management firm. The appointment of Krafft is pending the approval of the German federal financial services control authority (BaFin).

Sarasin Investment Funds is planning to launch a socially responsible product as a part of its EquiStar range, in parallel with a hedged version of the portfolio denominated in pounds Sterling, FundWeb reports, citing Trustnet. The new fund would naturally be an addition to the existing EquiStar range, which also includes the EquiStar Global Thematic, EquiStar IIID, and EquiStar UK Thematic.

Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) on 1 June announced the recruitment of Alain Mudie as chief investment officer (CIO). Mudie “will be in charge of the global investment process, all investment strategy and asset allocation for the Private Banking division,” the bank says in a statement. The Briton Mudie previously served as CIO at BNP Paribas International Private Bank and has also held high-level positions at United European Bank (UEB) and Barclays Bank in Paris. More recently, he worked at Syz & Co. as head of Oyster Funds, before becoming director of Fund Research.

Gianluca Grissini has been appointed as director of the Lugano branch of Banque Sarasin & Cie SA. He is also regional head for the Italian market for private banking activities, and reports directly to Eric G. Sarasin, head of the Italian private banking division. Aside from private banking, the Lugano office also offers professional partnerships for external wealth managers. This sector of activity is directed by Fabio Aragona, who has been appointed as Grissini’s deputy.

The private bank Wegelin & Co on 1 June opened its first branch office in Switzerland, in Winterthur. The new location, which has 9 employees, will be led by Daniel Zürcher, who has been at Wegelin since 2009.

Le gestionnaire américain Russell Investments a l’intention d’ouvrir un bureau à Francfort pour y commercialiser ses indices, son activité de conseil, une gamme de fonds et de services (gestion de transition, forex overlay, assurance de portefeuille), rapporte Fondsprofessionell. Cela ira de pair avec la mise sur pied d’une équipe qui sera responsable pour l’ensemble de la partie germanophone de l’Europe, a indiqué Johan Cras, CEO Europe Middle-Est and Africa (EMEA).

Avant la fin de cette année, Carmignac Gestion a l’intention d’ouvrir une succursale à Francfort avec un effectif de sept personnes. De plus, les particuliers allemands auront accès à la totalité de la gamme de fonds du gestionnaire français une fois que le Carmignac Investissement Latitude aura obtenu l’agrément de commercialisation de la part de la BaFin. Carmignac Gestion, qui prévoit également d’ouvrir une succursale à Londres, desservait jusqu'à présent le marché allemand avec une équipe basée à Luxembourg et placée sous la direction de John Korter.

Rothschild Private Banking & Trust, le pôle de gestion de fortune du groupe international Rothschild, a nommé Reinhard Krafft, fondateur et propriétaire de Jupiter Group à Luxembourg, en tant que futur directeur de Rothschild Vermögensverwaltung à Francfort-sur-le-Main, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Reinhard Krafft est entré en fonction chez Rothschild le 1er juin et dirigera d’abord l’entreprise en collaboration avec Hayo Willms avant de reprendre seul la direction au 1er septembre 2011. Par ailleurs, Rothschild s’est attaché les services du professeur Alexander Kolb pour le nouveau comité de la société de gestion de fortune allemande. La nomination de Reinhard Krafft est valable sous réserve de l’approbation de l’Autorité fédérale de contrôle des services financiers (BaFin).

BNY Mellon a été choisi par le fonds de pension suédois Sjunde AP-fonden (AP7) pour lui fournir un service de gestion du collatéral sur les dérivés. Ce service sera fourni par la plateforme dédiée de BNY Mellon, DM Edge.

Le 1er juin, Source UK Services Ltd a indiqué que Northern Trust devient son partenaire en tant qu’administrateur et dépositaire du fait de l’acquisition de Bank of Ireland Securities Services (BoISS).Dans le cadre de la transaction, tous les accords de Source relatifs à la conservation d’actifs conclus avec BoISS ont été reconduits avec Northern Trust, en conséquence de quoi Northern Trust Fiduciary Services (Irlande) Limited est à compter de maintenant le dépositaire officiel de Source. L’ensemble des activités opérationnelles, des reportings aux clients et des contacts réguliers vont se poursuivre sans en être affectés.