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09/02/2011

Optima Holding opens an office in Spain

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Belgian group Optima Holding has for the first time opened an international rep office, and appointed Antonio Suárez, who is also CEO of Leo & Partners, as CEO for Spain at Optima Planificación Fiscal Patrimonial, Funds People reports.
09/02/2011

Popular and BBVA announce rebate for transfers into their funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In order to stem outflows of assets, BBVA and Banco Popular have announced that they will pay a bounty on fund share trades in favour of their products, Cinco Días reports. BBVA Asset Management will pay from 0.25% (short-term bonds) and 1% (guaranteed and equities funds) of the gross total transferred from other asset management firms. But clients will need to pledge to keep their money in the fund(s) until 27 March 2014.Banco Popular is offering between 0.35% for trades into its money market funds, and 1.25% for Spanish equities funds. The minimal period to remain invested in the funds is one year.
09/02/2011

Arrests in US insider trading investigation

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Federal prosecutors in Manhattan yesterday announced the arrest of two hedge fund managers, Agefi Switzerland reports. Samir Barai, head of Barai Capital Management, and Donald Longueuil, who in the past had worked for the titan SAC Capital Advisors. According to legal documents, Barai is accused of market fraud, conspiracy and obstructing law enforcement. Two other professionals – Noah freeman, former analyst at Sonar Capital and later portfolio manager at the Boston office of SAC Capital until January 2010, and Jason Pflaum, an analyst who worked with Barai – have chosen to plead guilty. Although the name SAC has come up frequently in investigations, the newspaper reports, the hedge fund is not directly implicated in the investigations.
09/02/2011

Consumer protection will be an area of focus for French G20 presidency

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French minister of the economy, Christine Lagarde, on 8 February announced at the convocation of the financial sector consulting committee (CSSF) that she would like to make consumer protection an area of focus for the French presidency of the G20. At the G20 Finance summit on 18 and 19 February, Lagarde will propose to her counterparts that the G20 Finance meeting in October 2011 should be a time to lay out common consumer protection principles for financial products. At the October meeting of G20 finance ministers, Lagarde will hold a high-level conference on consumer protection for financial products, in partnership with the OECD, to which she will invite G20 finance ministers. Lagarde stated in her address to the CSSF that the French G20 presidency represents “an opportunity not to be missed to protect consumers of financial products,” as, she said, “not to team up with consumers would be to forget that irresponsible sales practices for loans in the United States contributed to the sub-prime crisis.”
09/02/2011

CalPERS sues former Lehman executives

Calpers is suing former Lehman Brothers executives and investment banks that served as underwriters on the bond offerings of the bank, accusing them of misleading investors about the bank’s condition, according to the Financial Times. The US pension fund is seeking to recover losses it experienced on Lehman stocks and bonds that it had bought between June 2007 and September 2008.
09/02/2011

LBPAM releases an SRI credit fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } LBPAM Responsable Obli Crédit, which has been available since 10 November 2010, is an SRI (socially responsible investment) fund of pure credit, aimed at legal entities. Its investment universe is composed of bonds and securitisations traded on the private sector, denominated in euros and rated investment grade (fixed rate, variable rate, revisable rate, or inflation-linked). The portfolio of the fund, managed by Samir Bederr in close collaboration with the SRI team at Banque Postale Asset Management, is composed of 40 to 45 positions. In terms of the choice of securities, the average ESG (environmental, social and governance) risk for the portfolio must be lower than or equal to the ESG risk for the benchmark index, Barclays Capital Euro Aggregate 500MM corporate. The aerospace and defence sectors are excluded from the investment universe, as are issuers with an ESG rating of 5, the lowest rating. Characteristics ISIN: FR0010957878 Date of creation: 10 November 2010 Total assets as of 31 December 2010: EUR29.5m Real management fees: 0.70% TTC per year, 0.50% TTC until 1 March, during the fund’s launch period Results: Capitalisation Currency: euroMinimal initial subscription: EUR3m
09/02/2011

SEB AM adds to sales staff

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 1 February, Kai-Uwe Pohl has joined the sales team at SEB Asset Management Germany as head of institutional distribution. He was most recently head of distribution at WestLB Mellon Asset Management KAG in Düsseldorf, and previously head of the institutional fund management division at Allianz Global Investors in Frankfurt. The recruitment of Pohl is part of a growth drive at SEB AM in the institutional area.
09/02/2011

Shedlin hires a director from Charlemagne

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Dennis Selinas, country manager and managing director for Germany at Charlemagne Capital, has been recruited by Shedlin Capital as head of property investments. He will be in charge of local investment teams and will share his time between the the Nuremberg, London and Bucharest offices.
09/02/2011

Berenberg and Universal launch a German value equities fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hamburg branch of Berenberg Lux Invest and Germany-based Universal-Investment are joining forces to launch the German-registered fund Berenberg Deutschland Dividenden PLUS-Universal, which aims for regular returns through investment in equities from German companies which pay high dividends and earning premiums on options, while limiting risk with a covered call strategy, relying on volatility data which make it possible to actively manage maturities for each option. Stock-picking relies on a quantitative process which identifies businesses with solid balance sheets, higher than average profits, and attractive dividends.CharacteristicsName: Berenberg Deutschland Dividenden PLUS-UniversalISIN: DE000A1C7DF9Front-end fee: 5.50% maximumManagement commission: currently 1.55%Performance commission: 10% of outperformance on the Dax, with high watermark
09/02/2011

ETFlab launches four French government bond products

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse has gained four ETFs based on French government bonds. They replicate four of the five indices of the new Eurogov France range from Deutsche Börse for French government bonds in euros. The bond issues must have residual assets of at least EUR4bn and zero coupon issues are excluded from the universe. The number of issues incuded in the index is limited to 15.ETFlab, an affiliate of DekaBank, has released the ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France, ISIN: DE000ETFL425, ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France 1-3, ISIN: DE000ETFL391, ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France 3-5, ISIN: DE000ETFL409 and ETFlab Deutsche Börse EUROGOV France 5-10, ISIN: DE000ETFL417, all of which charge fees of 0.15%. The new products bring the total number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 771.
09/02/2011

Ignis reshuffles UK equities team

In order to address the recent sub optimal performance of its UK Life Company funds and to build a stronger UK equity proposition for the future, Ignis has taken the decision to restructure the US equity team. Since his appointment as CIO equities in October 2010, Mark Lovett has conducted a detailed review of Ignis’ UK equity proposition. «Whilst the performance of our third party retail funds has improved substantially our Life Company funds have performed below expectations», Ignis said. As a result of Mark Lovett’s review, Ignis has taken the decision to restructure the team. Head of UK equities, Neil Richardson, and four other members of the UK equity team will be leaving their current posts (Gary McAleese, Finlay MacDonald and Jon Stewart). Stacey Cassidy will also be leaving the team but will be joining the Asia Pacific team. «We are currently consulting with former members of the team concerning opportunities that may exist in the new structure or elsewhere within the company», Ignis adds. Mark Lovett will become head of UK equities as well as CIO of equities and will be directly responsible for the management of the Life Co funds. Management of retail funds – which are performing well - remains unaffected. Ralph Brook-Fox, Martin Brown and David Clark will remain lead managers of their respective funds – UK Focus, Equity Income and Smaller Companies.
09/02/2011

Ignis AM redéploie sa gestion actions britanniques

Selon Money Marketing, Mark Lovett, CIO d’Ignis Asset Management, a passé les fonds d’actions britanniques au banc d’essai et a decide de se séparer de Neil Richardson, head of UK equities ainsi que de quatre analystes, dont un - Stacey Cassidy- a été réaffecté à l'équipe Asie. Les trois analystes restant et Neil Richardson sont toujours en attente d’autres mission au sein d’Ignis.
09/02/2011

Jean-Pierre Mustier to join UniCredit

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Jean-Pierre Mustier, the former head of Société Générale’s corporate and investment bank, has been selected to head the corporate & investment banking division of UniCredit, replacing Sergio Ermotti, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports, confirming speculation in recent weeks. The choice of the Frenchman was announced on Tuesday by the appointments committee. It will become official on Thursday at an extraordinary ad-hoc board meeting.
09/02/2011

Italians pull out of money market and bond funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In January, funds on sale in Italy posted experienced net outflows of EUR3.7bn, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni (the Italian association of asset managers). Bond funds and money market funds both saw redemptions of EUR2.2bn. Hedge funds are also in the red, with outflows of EUR514m. Flexible funds, balanced funds and equities funds, however, had net inflows (of EUR745m, EUR304m and EUR171m, respectively). At the end of January, assets were down to EUR446bn, from EUR452bn as of the end of December, of which 23% were in equities funds, 4.8% in balanced funds, 40.9% in bond funds, 13.4% in money market funds, 15.1% in flexible funds, and 2.7% in hedge funds. Asset management firms with the largest inflows in January were Gruppo Generali (EUR169.6m) and JP Morgan Asset Management (EUR66.6m). The firms with the heaviest net outflows were Pioneer Investments (EUR732.9m) and Gruppo Intesa Sanpaolo (EUR680.2m).
09/02/2011

L'Efama pousse les feux de son standard FPP

L’Association européenne de la gestion d’actifs (Efama) a lancé le 8 février une nouvelle publication, le «FPP Portal Briefing», qui se propose de fournir toute les informations actualisées sur l’adoption de la norme FPP (Fund Processing Passport) en Europe.L’association professionnelle a lancé en juin 2010 son portail en ligne où les investisseurs pouvent trouver toutes les informations opérationnelles sur les fonds par le biais des FPP avec l’objectif de simplifier le processus dd’achat des fonds en Europe.L’Efama précise dans un communiqué que la norme FPP est désormais utilisée par 69 sociétés de gestion de toutes tailles qui ont produit 4.318 FPP pour des fonds domiciliés dans neuf pays. Le standard FPP a également été adopté par six fournisseurs qui proposent aux sociétés de gestion des outils pour produire et/ou distribuer des FPP pour leurs fonds.
09/02/2011

LaSalle IM opens an office in Dubai

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nick Brooks, regional director, who for eight years has been client services manager for the Middle East in London, will be the head of the new representative office which LaSalle Investment Management has opened in Dubai to serve the markets of the region.
09/02/2011

JPMorgan accepts gold as collateral

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } JP Morgan announced on 7 February that its affiliate JP Morgan Worldwide Securities Services would accept physical gold from counterparties as collateral in securities lending and repo operations.
09/02/2011

Asia specialist sets up shop in Europe

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Matthews International, an investment boutique based in San Francisco and specialised in Asia, which created a Luxembourg Sicav in 2010, has obtained approval to promote three of its funds on the Swiss and British markets, Citywire reports. The three vehicles are the Pacific Tiger (Asia ex Japan), the China fund, and the Asia Dividend fund. These products use the same investment strategies as in the United States, and will be managed by the same team, with a bottom-up process based on fundamental research. Assets under management at Matthews International total about USD19bn, making it the largest US investor specialised in Asian markets.
09/02/2011

Robeco Boston Partners already planning a soft closing fro US Premium Equities fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Duilio R. Ramallo, manager of the Luxembourg fund Robeco US Premium Equities I USD shares (LU02269543469), told Newsmanagers on 8 February that the US equities product with USD4bn in assets last year attracted about USD1.2bn in net subscriptions, in addition to over USD400m in positive market effects related to a return of about 14% (the strategy, initiated in October 2005, weighs in at USD7bn, of which USD200m are for the US mutual fund, launched in July 2002).The portfolio includes about 110 positions, of which the largest is JP Morgan (3.5%), out of a universe of 4,000 shares. Although the benchmark index is the Russell 3000 value, about 75% of the shares in the portfolio are not part of this index. Stock-picking is bottom-up, of equities which present the double advantage of having low valuations, healthy balance sheets with rising profits, and a catalysing factor in the judgement of the manager. In addition, active bets may involve not only overweight positions but the shares which are in the index and that the fund deliberately doesn’t own.When asked about the capacity limitations of the Luxembourg fund, Ramallo estimates that Robeco will need to soft close the fund when it nears USD8bn. This may take the form of a closure to new investors and a discontinuation of active marketing.
09/02/2011

Pension fund assets up 12% in 2010

As of the end of 2010, assets in pension funds in the 13 largest retirement markets in the world (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States) totalled USD26.496trn, an increase of 12% compared with the end of 2009. This is a record level, according to Towers Watson, the compiler of the data. However, this total represents only 76% of GDP, which is lower than the percentage in 2007 (78%). Growth is largely due to the good performance of financial markets.In 2010, retirement assets expressed in US dollars increased in all markets analysed by Towers Watson, except Ireland and France.The largest pension fund market remains the United States, at 58%, far ahead of Japan and the United Kingdom, at 13% and 9% respectively.But the country which showed the largest increase in assets in US dollars is South Africa, with 28%Pension fund allocations from the seven largest retirement markets (Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) remained relatively unchanged compared with 2009: 47% in equities, 33% in bonds, 1% in cash and 19% in other asset classes (real estate and other alternative investments). The United Kingdom, the United States and Australia had the highest exposure to equities compared with other markets.In France, Towers Watson estimates that pension fund assets total Usd133bn, or only 5% of GDP (the lowest percentage in any of the 13 countries). As of the end of 2000, this total was USD85bn.
09/02/2011

Hennessee hedge fund index up 0.65% in January

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The consulting firm Hennessee Group LLC on 9 February announced that its hedge fund benchmark index gained 0.65% in the month of January, while the S&P 500 index gained 2.26%.
09/02/2011

GAM launches a tech stock fund

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fundstrategy reports that GAM is launching a long-only fund dedicated to IT sector equities, the GAM Star Technology fund, to benefit from new trends in the sector and the “profound defiance” which it inspires. The manager of the fund, Mark Hawtin, will invest in IT sector shares worldwide, particularly in the United States, which will represent more than 70% of the portfolio. Hawlin says that research into IT shares has considerably diminished since the bubble of 2000, as a result of which the sector is misunderstood and there are many price aberrations. Management fees are set at 1.50% per year, and performance commissions are 10% of gains exceeding the benchmark index (MSCI World IT).
09/02/2011

LRI launches an absolute return fund for Swiss Rock

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Luxembourg firm LRI Invest has announced the launch of a new sub-fund of the Sicav Swiss Rock (Lux) for the Zurich-based wealth management firm Swiss Rock Asset Management, entitled Absolute Return Bond Fund Plus, which will be available in shares denominated in euros and Swiss francs, hedged for currency risks. The product will be managed by Roman von Ah, CEO of Swiss Rock AM and former CIO of Swissca.The diversified portfolio will be composed of government bonds, corporate bonds and securitisations, with a minimum of 50% investment grade papers, with a complement of high yield bonds and bonds from emerging markets. The objective is absolute returns higher than the euro money market rate.Active management of currency and rate risks will be complemented by active construction of the portfolio to manage exposure to securities, countries and sectors, while currency risks may be completely or partially hedged.The fund has recently received a sales license from BaFin for sale in Germany.CharacteristicsName: Swiss Rock (Lux) Sicav – Absolute Return Bond Fund PlusISIN codes: LU0558816855 (A shares in euros); LU0558817150 (C shares in Swiss francs hedged for currency risks)Front-end fee: maximum 3%Management commission: 0.93%Administrative commission: 0.11%Depository banking commission: 0.06%
09/02/2011

Alicia Frank rejoint BNPP IP

Gestionnaire de portefeuille et analyste d’une équipe de Fidelity responsable de 6 milliards de dollars d’encours en actions de pays émergents, Alicia Frank rejoint BNP Paribas Investment Partners comme gérant de portefeuille senior dans l'équipe «global emerging equity assets», qui gérait 3 milliards de dollars fin décembre avec un biais «croissance».Basée à Boston, elle est subordonnée à Gabriel Wallach, CIO global emerging markets equities. Au total, BNPP IP gère plus de 60 milliards de dollars en actifs émergents.
09/02/2011

Les activités américaines de Centro Properties très convoitées

Trois groupes resteraient encore en lice pour le rachat des centres commerciaux américains du groupe immobilier australien Centro Properties d’une valeur estimée de 9,5 milliards de dollars, selon des sources Reuters. A savoir Blackstone, Morgan Stanley Real Estate, associé pour l’occasion à Starwood Capital, et un consortium dirigé par NRDC Equity.
EB
09/02/2011

Assouplissement à l’étude pour les CDS souverains

Selon un projet de la présidence hongroise de l’Union européenne obtenu par Bloomberg, les Etats membres pourraient adoucir les règles destinées à limiter les positions non couvertes sur les CDS souverains en retirant l’obligation de posséder l’emprunt d’Etat sous-jacent. Une position qui vient amender les propositions faites en septembre par la Commission européenne.
JLC
09/02/2011

Pékin réagit de nouveau face à l’inflation

La banque centrale chinoise a relevé mardi ses taux directeurs de 25 points de base, son deuxième resserrement monétaire en un peu plus d’un mois. Cette annonce a pris les investisseurs de court même s’ils anticipaient une poursuite de la politique de lutte contre l’envolée des prix et la bulle immobilière. Le taux sur les dépôts à un an est relevé dès aujourd’hui de 25 points de base à 3%, tandis que le taux des prêts à un an augmentera également de 25 points de base à 6,06%. Même si l’inflation en rythme annuel a ralenti à 4,6% en décembre en Chine, elle est attendue en rebond en janvier avec la progression des prix alimentaires. «C’est la première hausse des taux d’intérêt de l’année du Lapin, mais ce ne sera pas la dernière», a estimé Xu Biao, économiste de la China Merchants Bank, faisant allusion à la nouvelle année commencée la semaine dernière selon le calendrier chinois.
PdC
09/02/2011

La Fed consulte sur le « too big to fail »

La Fed a soumis à consultation publique un projet de règlement lié à la catégorisation des établissements financiers non bancaires d’importance systémique. Il établit notamment les critères pour déterminer si une société est «engagée de manière prédominante dans des activités financières» et définit les dénominations «société financière non bancaire importante» et «holding bancaire importante». Une société serait jugée «importante» si elle détient notamment au moins 50 milliards de dollars d’actifs.
CH
09/02/2011

Les taux du crédit immobilier poursuivent leur remontée

Selon l’Observatoire du financement des marchés résidentiels, les taux des prêts immobiliers du secteur concurrentiel, hors assurance, ont atteint 3,47% en janvier, soit 22 points de base de plus qu’en novembre. Les taux remontent mécaniquement au-delà de la progression attendue au vu de l'évolution des marchés obligataires et monétaires et de la nécessité pour les banques d’augmenter leurs marges face aux nouvelles règles prudentielles.
AG
09/02/2011

Le Portugal confiant sur la vigueur de ses exportations

Le gouvernement portugais pense que la croissance des exportations sera en mesure de compenser l’impact récessif des mesures d’austérité prises pour réduire le déficit budgétaire, selon le Premier ministre. Jose Socrates a réaffirmé les priorités du gouvernement : ramener le déficit public à 4,6% du PIB cette année, contre environ 7% en 2010, remettre de l’ordre dans les comptes publics et soutenir la croissance.
OH

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