Après Andreas Winterberg, qui fait partie de l'équipe de direction de la succursale de Cologne, et Wolfgang Sawazki, qui dirige l'équipe de gestion de portefeuille «clients stratégiques», Michael von Brauchitsch est le troisième ancien dirigeant de Sal. Oppenheim en quelques mois à revenir dans le groupe.La banque, qui est désormais passée sous le contrôle de la Deutsche Bank, a annoncé le 11 mai que Michael von Brauchitsch a pris au 1er mai les fonctions de membre de la direction générale de la société de gestion Oppenheim Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH (OKAG). Il est le numéro deux de la clientèle institutionnelle.Après avoir travaillé de 1994 à 2003 pour Sal. Oppenheim, en dernier lieu comme directeur de la gestion actions européennes, Michael von Brauchitsch avait rejoint l'équipe dirigeant de HSBC Guyerzeller Bank AG à Zurich, avant de créer en mai 2004 le multi-family office von Brauchitsch GmbH à Bonn. En janvier 2009, l’intéressé était devenu de surcroît associé-gérant du gestionnaire de fortune Salm-Salm & Partner GmbH, où il était responsable du suivi de la clientèle institutionnelle.

La Place de Paris a mieux résisté à la crise que Londres. «Entre 2007 et 2009, Paris a enregistré une perte de 5.000 emplois dans les métiers de la finance alors qu’entre 2008 et 2010, la Place de Londres a vu disparaître 94.000 emplois», a souligné Arnaud de Bresson, délégué général de Paris Europlace ce mercredi à Paris lors d’une conférence organisée par eFinancialCareers.fr. L’emploi sur le marché parisien se montrait dynamique avant la crise, en affichant une croissance de 10 % des effectifs entre 2003 et 2008, ce qui représente une augmentation de 30.000 emplois par an. Après le ralentissement dû à la crise, les perspectives sont à nouveau favorables, estime Paris Europlace, qui table entre 2011 et 2016 sur une augmentation de l’emploi financier de 6 % à 35 %. Parmi les secteurs les plus porteurs, l’association de promotion de Place cite la banque de financement et d’investissement (BFI), la gestion d’actifs (y compris la gestion alternative), le domaine des titres de créances négociables, des actions et des obligations ainsi que l’assurance. D’autres études se montrent également optimistes. Selon une étude du Centre for Economics and Business Research, 2010 a ainsi vu la création de 14.000 nouveaux emplois et s’attend à ce que la Place de Paris en créé 8.000 supplémentaires en 2011, notamment dans le contrôle du risque, la compliance, les fusions-acquisitions et la banque d’investissement.Toujours en concurrence avec Londres, qui reste «the place to be» grâce notamment "à un marché de l’emploi en finance bien plus profond que Paris, et possédant des perspectives d'évolution de carrière plus intéressantes», selon Jean-François Monteil du cabinet de recrutement Alexander Hughes, Paris dispose pourtant d’arguments solides pour attirer de futurs spécialistes. «Classée par le Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Center au cinquième rang mondial des places financières, les atouts de la place parisienne sont nombreux. C’est une place complète qui offre une main d'œuvre qualifiée et innovante et qui offre et un tissu dense de PME, de banques, de sociétés de gestion», souligne Arnaud de Bresson. Une autre spécificité de la France, note Arnaud Chrétien, fondateur de la société de gestion quantitative Aequam Capital, «c’est la force de ses marques comme Amundi et Carmignac Gestion». Avec sept autres sociétés de gestion, Arnaud Chrétien vient de créer QuantValley, une association qui souhaite faire de la finance quantitative à Paris une véritable marque de fabrique exportable, capable de faire briller l'étoile de la gestion quantitative française au-delà des frontières et de mettre en avant le grand savoir-faire français dans ce domaine.

Au premier trimestre 2011, le pôle Epargne de Natixis qui regroupe la gestion d’actifs, l’assurance, la banque privée et le capital investissement, a enregistré de bonnes performances dans tous ses métiers, notamment dans la gestion d’actifs, a annoncé le groupe le 12 mai dans un communiqué. Les revenus du pôle Epargne se sont établis à 472 millions d’euros, en hausse de 11% par rapport au premier trimestre 2010. En gestion d’actifs, la progression des revenus atteint 13% à 365 millions d’euros. Les encours de la gestion d’actifs s’élèvent à 530 milliards d’euros au 31 mars 2011, en progression de 1% à change constant par rapport au 31 décembre 2010. La collecte nette est légèrement positive (100 millions d’euros). Hors produits monétaires, elle ressort à 3,1 milliards d’euros, répartie sur les classes d’actifs les plus rentables : actions, performance absolue et gestion alternative.En Europe, les encours atteignent 315 milliards d’euros, en recul de 1,2% sur le trimestre. La décollecte nette (-3,5 milliards d’euros) est concentrée sur les supports monétaires. Hors fonds monétaires, la collecte nette est positive à 0,9 milliard d’euros. La société de gestion H2O Asset Management a connu un excellent démarrage avec une collecte nette de 0,7 milliard d’euros.Aux Etats-Unis, les encours s’établissent à 304 milliards de dollars, soit le niveau le plus élevé jamais atteint, en hausse de 4,3% par rapport au 31 décembre 2010. La collecte trimestrielle nette ressort à 5,1 milliards de dollars.Dans la banque privée, la collecte nette de la plate-forme de distribution Sélection 1818, dédiée aux CGPI et née récemment du rapprochement de Sélection R et de 1818 Partenaires, s’est élevée à 200 millions d’euros au premier trimestre. Les encours sous gestion augmentent de 29% par rapport au 31 mars 2010, à 19,4 milliards d’euros, du fait principalement du changement de périmètre (intégration de Sélection R).

Le gérant français de hedge funds, Jean-Philippe Blochet, a annoncé qu’il quittait son employeur, le fonds Moore Capital, pour se consacrer à sa fondation «Enfin», dédiée à l'éducation des jeunes femmes africaines, rapporte Les Echos. Ce Français de 47 ans été l’un des cofondateurs du hedge fund Brevan Howard en 2002. Il l’avait quitté en 2010 pour rejoindre Moore Capital.

Selon Financial News, RAB Capital, une société de hedge funds basée à Londres qui jouissait autrefois d’un fort succès, envisage de se retirer de la cote de l’Alternative Investment Market. La société subit des rachats. De plus, elle va perdre l’un de ses gérants, Gavin Wilson, explique le journal.

Stuart Gulliver, directeur général d’HBSC, a annoncé son intention d'économiser entre 2,5 et 3,5 milliards de dollars d’ici à la fin 2013 afin d’atteindre un objectif de ratio coûts/revenus pour l'établissement compris entre 48 et 52%, rapporte L’Agefi. Pour y parvenir, le groupe souhaite désormais concentrer sa gestion de patrimoine sur 18 marchés clés, comme le Royaume-Uni et Hong Kong. L’un des axes de travail sera aussi de se concentrer sur une clientèle susceptible d’investir entre 1 et 5 millions de dollars, afin de générer quelque 4 milliards de dollars de revenus supplémentaires sur le moyen terme. Sur le marché français, le groupe a l’intention d’accélérer sa stratégie dans la gestion du patrimoine en s’appuyant sur de nouveaux produits, tels des mandats de gestion discrétionnaires, lancés cette année et en 2012.

En juin, Aberdeen va lancer un trust coté sur le London Stock Exchange investi dans des petites capitalisations des marchés émergents, le Aberdeen Emerging Smaller Companies Trust PFC. Il sera géré par l’équipe marchés émergents de la société de gestion composée de 35 personnes dont Devan Kaloo et Mark Gordon-James.

Jonathan Armitage, le responsable des actions américaines de grande capitalisation (head of US large cap equities) de Schroders, quitte la société de gestion britannique après y avoir passé 19 ans. Il retourne en Australie pour raisons familiales, indique un communiqué. Joanna Shatney, gérante de portefeuilles actions US de grande capitalisation, va lui succéder, avec effet immédiat.Avec son équipe, elle gérera désormais le Schroder ISF US Large Cap Equity, le Schroder ISF US All Cap et le Schroder ISF US Equity Alpha, dont les objectifs et le style d’investissement restent les mêmes.Virginie Maisonneuve, responsable des actions globales et internationales (head of global and international equities), continuera d’avoir le dernier mot pour les décisions d’investissement pour tous les mandats globaux et internationaux, précise Schroders. Les fonds qu’elle gère avec son équipe gardent également les mêmes objectifs et le même style (Schroder ISF Global Equity, Schroder ISF Global Equity Alpha et du Schroder UTL Global Alpha Plus).

Au premier trimestre, la société de gestion britannique Rathbones a vu ses encours augmenter de 2,6 %, de 15,63 milliards de livres à 16,04 milliards. Cela représente une hausse de 14,1 % sur un an. La société a dégagé une bénéfice d’exploitation de 33,9 millions de livres, soit une amélioration de 12,3 % par rapport au premier trimestre de 2010.

“All the alpha with less beta” is the slogan chosen by AllianceBernstein for the AllianceBernstein European Flexible Equity Portfolio, a sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav launched on 31 January.The team, led by Michele Petri, will seek to generate equity-type returns by using an active and concentrated portfolio of 40-60 positions, with the exposure of the portfolio to equities markets adjusted dynamically. Its net long allocation will tend to rise when AllianceBernstein research suggests that outlooks for returns are increasing and risk is falling. Conversely, the manager will adopt a more defensive attitude when outlooks for returns are weaker and risks are rising.The market environment will determine the degree of exposure for the portfolio, steer sectoral allocation, and complement research which will also inform stock-picking from three major sectors: cyclical, financial and defensive shares.The portfolio of the absolute return fund will, however, have a net positive exposure to the equities markets, with dynamic adjustments undertaken via derivatives. Assets will be largely placed in European equities, but the manager is authorised to invest up to 20% of the portfolio opportunistically in other equities markets.CharacteristicsName: AB European Flexible Equity PortfolioISIN code: LU0590155247 (A share class, denominated in euros)Management commission: 1.5%Performance commission: 10%, with high watermark

Janus Capital Group has announced the appointment of Christopher H. Diaz as global head of rates, and John Kerschner as head of securitized products, two newly-created positions. Diaz had previously served as director of the global rates group at ING Investment Management, while Kerschner had been a mortgage analyst at Janus since December 2010.

In a filing to the SEC dated 9 May, to supplement the prospectuses of all BlackRock funds (but not iShares funds), as well as the Franklin Templeton Total Return, Marsico Growth, MFS Research International and Van Kampen Value funds from the FDC range, BlackRock has announced that due to the high cost of administering small accounts, it has introduced a fund minimum, a kind of floor balance, of USD00.The management firm has also announced that it will charge USD20 per year to accounts which fall below that limit. If the account falls below USD250 for any reason (even if it is due to market fluctuations), and no subscriptions correct the situation for a 90 day period, despite warnings, BlackRock will proceed with an “involuntary redemption.”This forced redemption will be subject to only a few exceptions, particularly for some retirement savings plans.

BNY Mellon Asset Management has announced the recruitment of Rumi Masih as senior investment strategist in its Investment Strategy & Solutions Group division. Masih, who had previously been global head of the Strategic Investment Advisory Group at JP Morgan Asset Management, will be based in New York.

BNY Mellon has appointed Arthur Certosimo as CEO of its Global Markets division. He is currently Chief Executive Officer for alternative investment services (AIS) at BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services. In his new position, he will replace Richard Mahoney, who is retiring. Brian Ruane will direct AIS, following the promotion of Certosimo.

As of 30 April, assets under management by Legg Mason and its affiliates represented USD672bn, compared with USD677.6bn one month earlier. The decline is due exclusively to money market funds, which fell to USD115.8bn from USD131.4bn. However, assets in equities and bond funds rose, to USD191.3bn and USD364.9bn, respectively, from USD189.6bn and USD356.6bn previously.At Invesco, total assets increased to USD668.5bn, from USD641.9bn, of which USD97.2bn, compared with USD91.7bn, were for ETF funds, unit investment trusts and passive products.Franklin Templeton Investments, meanwhile, has announced total assets under management of USD733.1bn as of the end of April, compared with USD703.5bn one month previously. Equities funds accounted for USD321.3bn, compared with USD308.9bn, while bond products accounted for USD288.5bn, compared with USD275.2bn, and hybrid funds stood at USD116.7bn, compared with USD113.4bn.

The French hedge fund manager Jean-Philippe Blochet has announced that he will be leaving his employer, the fund Moore Capital, to dedicate himself entirely to the charity “Enfin,” which works to educate young African women, Les Echos reports. The 47-year-old Frenchman was one of the co-founders of the hedge fund Brevan Howard in 2002. In 2010, he left the firm to join Moore Capital.

In first quarter 2011, the savings unit at Natixis, which includes asset management, insurance, private banking and private equity, showed good returns in all sectors, particularly asset management, the group announced on 12 May in a statement. Earnings for the savings unit totalled EUR472m, up 11% over first quarter 2010. In asset management, the increase in earnings was 13%, to EUR365m. Assets in the asset management division totalled EUR530bn as of 31 March 2011, up 1% at constant currency rates, compared with 31 December 2010. Net inflows were slightly positive (EUR100m). Excluding money market products, they total EUR3.1bn, spread over the most lucrative asset classes: equities, absolute returns and alternative management. In Europe, assets totalled EUR315bn, down 1.2% for the quarter. Net outflows (-EUR3.5bn) were concentrated on money markets. Excluding money markets, net inflows were positive by EUR0.9bn, with an excellent start for H2O Asset Management, where net inflows totalled EUR0.7bn. In the United States, assets totalled USD304bn, the highest level ever recorded, up 4.3% compared with 31 December 2010. Quarterly net inflows totalled USD5.1bn.

Under an agreement reached on 11 May between the Chinese and US financial supervisory authorities as part of the Beijing Strategic and Economic Dialogue, foreign banks will be permitted to sell shares in Chinese investment funds in China. They will also be authorised to become custodians, Z-Ben Advisors reports. The measures should be put into regulatory texts by the end of the year, and will be applicable to all foreign firms, regardless of their country of origin, so long as they meet the stipulated conditions.So far, this is a general announcement without more precision as to the varieties of funds which will be allowed for sale, the public to which they will be destined, and the date on which the change will come into force. It is, however, apparent that the funds which will be authorised for sale will be products denominated in Chinese yuan, and registered for sale in China, from Chinese or joint venture asset management firms. However, branches of foreign banks will probably not be permitted to sell shares in funds “manufactured” abroad, even if they are denominated in yuan.

As of the end of April, assets under management at Julius Baer have increased 2% compared with the end of December 2010, at CHF173bn, the group has announced in a statement published on 12 May. Growth in net inflows was within the mid-term objective of 4% to 6% set by the group, with very good results in Germany. The operating ratio has improved slightly, compared with its level in the second half of 2010 (67.6%). The group says in a statement that a share buyback programme for up to CHF500m will be launched on 23 May.

Inflation has a “good chance” of reaching 5% in the UK in 2011, the Bank of England says. Le Temps reports that this level has been called “uncomfortably high” by the governor of the bank, Mervyn King. In its quarterly report, published on Wednesday, the central bank predicts that inflation will reach its 2% target only in 2013.

Financial News reports that RAB Capital, a hedge fund firm based in London, which had once been highly successful, is considering delisting from the Alternative Investment Market. The firm has undergone redemptions, and in addition, it will be losing one of its managers, Gavin Wilson, the newspaper explains.

In first quarter, the British management firm Rathbones has seen an increase of 2.6% to its assets, from GBP15.63bn to GBP16.04bn. This represents a 14.1% increase year on year. The firm earned operating profits of GBP33.9m, which represents a 12.3% improvement over first quarter 2010.

Jonathan Armitage, head of US large cap equities, is leaving Schroders after 19 years. He is returning to Australia for family reasons, according to a press release.Schroders has announced that Joanna Shatney, portfolio manager US large cap equities, will become head of US large cap equities with immediate effect. The team-based investment approach of the global and international equities team will remain unchanged. Virginie Maisonneuve, head of global and international equities, will continue to be the final decision maker on investment decisions for all global and international mandates.

Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of the hedge fund Galleon Group, has been found guilty of insider trading, the Financial Times reports. The jury found that he had made USD63m through the use of confidential information related to corporate results and acquisitions. Rajaratnam may receive up to 19 years in prison; he will be sentenced on 29 July. Meanwhile, Rajaratnam has been released from custody, with an electronic bracelet, on bail of USD100m. The Galleon founder’s lawyer says that the decision will be appealed.

The news of Raj Rajaratnam’s conviction came at a time when 1,700 professionals in the alternative management industry were meeting in Las Vegas for a conference known as SALT, the Wall Street Journal reports. “It’s bad for business,” admitted Donald Lucardi, a director in the Citigroup unit which sells hedge funds. Some think that the verdict will lead to stricter controls, particularly of long/short funds. Others see the verdict in a more positive light, noting that it could help clean up the industry.

Claudio Brocado, a manager at Batterymarch, an affiliate of Legg Mason, estimates that now is the time for investors already exposed to emerging markets to increase their allocation and to take advantage of any downward fluctuations on the markets to increase their positions. At least 13-14% of a portfolio should be invested in emerging markets, but 15% to 20% would be even better, Cinco Días reports.Brocado is not the only one recommending increasing exposure to emerging markets: Simon Pickard, at Carmignac Gestion, thinks that recent decreases on the markets will not last more than three to six months more. The fact that stock markets in emerging countries saw net outflows of USD25bn in first quarter is a positive factor, because excessive inflows of capital were one of the factors creating inflationary pressure.

The GAIA SRI index, launched in October 2009 by IDMidCaps and EthiFinance, with the support of SFAF and MiddleNext, in its first 17 months in existence has shown outperformance of 5 points over the CAC Mid & Small CMS 190, and 18 points over the CAC 40, with gains of 26%.The index is composed of 70 shares which received top ratings for their ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance, selected from over 233 midcaps from the industrial, services and retail sectors, representing 75% of the shares of the CMS 190.The results of the 2010 edition showed that the extension of the ratings to social and environmental aspects allowed small and midcaps which are the most advanced in their corporate social responsibility policies to share the top end of the rankings with larger caps.

On the basis of a TNS Infratest telephone survey of a representative sample of 1,000 people on behalf of Axa Investment Managers Deutschland, the typical subscriber to a German investment fund has been found to be a man, who lives in the western part of the country, uses the internet, and has an average income (EUR1,500 to EUR3,000 per month).The study has also found that 95% of shareholders in investment funds consider advising highly important. For this they turn to advisers at banks or insurance companies, or to financial advisers. Their choice of fund goes to a provider with a good reputation.

On 11 May, DWS Investments announced that at the end of April, it had over 1 million Riester state-subsidized retirement savings policies on its books. The Deutsche Bank affiliate is the German management firm which has seen the largest growth in the number of Riester contracts, particularly for the DWS RiesterRente Premium and DWS TopRente Dynamik and Balance products.However, Union Investment (co-operative banks) remains the clear leader for Riester unit-linked policies, with 1.85 million accounts as of the end of April, and an estimated market share of 65% as of the end of March.

The European platforms of NYSE Euronext in April registered 19 cross-listings of Lyxor ETFs in Brussels, and 8 introductions of new ETFs, including 2 from RBS Market Aaccess, one from EasyETF, and 4 from ThinkCapital on Euronext Amsterdam, and one Lyxor product on Euronext Paris.At the end of April, the European stock markets of NYSE Euronext thus listed 546 ETFs from 17 issuers 642 times. Since the beginning of the year, 101 new listings were registered, of which 75 were primary and 26 were cross-listings.NYSE Euronext also states that the number of trrades and average daily trading volume had fallen, respectively, to 7,937 trades from 11,224 in March, and to EUR348.7m, from EUR509.9m (see Newsmanagers of 18 April). Year on year, April was down 12.8% in terms of the number of transactions, and 16% in volume.The average spread stood at 26.5 basis points, compared with 28.97 basis points in March. It was 28.15 at the end of February, and 28.5 in January.Total assets in all ETFs listed on the European markets of NYSE Euronext as of the end of April totalled EUR142.3bn, which represents an 18.6% increase over their level twelve months earlier.