Hubert Challe, directeur de la gestion et recherche ISR, La Banque Postale AM

Avec son offre CrossWise, la banque met en avant une économie de coûts de l’ordre de 20 % à 30 % pour les gérants.

Banquiers, asset managers et entreprises, beaucoup d’opérateurs ont déjà anticipé la réglementation.

Cette norme comptable met sur « un pied d’égalité » la propriété et la location des locaux d’une entreprise. Sa mise en œuvre interviendra en janvier 2019.

L’avis de Rodolfo Crespo, responsable de la recherche Europe chez Platforum

... d’euros. C’est la différence de charges qui pèse sur les entreprises de l’industrie manufacturière française par rapport à leurs homologues allemandes, selon des calculs de COE Rexecode. Les prélèvements obligatoires sont de 66 milliards d’euros en France et de 115 milliards outre-Rhin. Mais rapporté à la taille des secteurs, à leur valeur ajoutée, et corrigé des crédits d’impôts, l’écart est défavorable aux entreprises françaises de 18,4 milliards ou de 7,8 points de valeur ajoutée.

Le fonds de l’investisseur américain Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Management, a rejoint un autre investisseur activiste dans le capital de Lowe’s en prenant une participation de 1 milliard de dollars (855 millions d’euros) dans la chaîne de magasins de bricolage et de jardinage. Bill Ackman a dévoilé cette participation hier, lors d’une conférence à New York. Lowe’s, dont la capitalisation boursière atteint près de 78 milliards de dollars, est, depuis l’automne dernier, sous la pression de l’investisseur activiste D.E.Shaw, qui détient 1% du capital et qui a obtenu, en début d’année, que le conseil d’administration nomme trois nouveaux administrateurs.

La croissance de l’activité du secteur privé en zone euro a ralenti en mai, pour atteindre son plus bas niveau depuis un an et demi, selon les données préliminaires publiées hier par IHS Markit. L’indice PMI composite de la zone euro s’est établi à 54,1 en mai, contre 55,1 le mois précédent. L’indice était attendu à 54,8 par le consensus. Dans le détail, l’indice PMI du secteur manufacturier est ressorti à 55,5 en mai, un point bas en quinze mois, contre 56,2 en avril, tandis que l’indice PMI du secteur des services s’est établi à 53,9, au plus bas depuis seize mois, contre 54,7 en avril. L’indice PMI manufacturier était attendu à 56 et celui des services à 54,5 en mai.

Chaque jeudi, L’Agefi livre ses indicateurs clés de crédit pour suivre l’évolution des marchés. Cette semaine : la dette souveraine.

Katia Coudray, la directrice générale de Syz Asset Management, a quitté le groupe suisse. L’information, qui a d’abord été dévoilée par Citywire Selector, a été confirmée par la suite.

Axa apparait comme le leader des assureurs mondiaux pour ses engagements climatiques, selon le classement mondial des assureurs d’Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) publié ce jeudi 24 mai. L’ONG britannique note les efforts en faveur de la limitation du réchauffement climatique des investisseurs institutionnels et s’appuie sur le cadre de reporting du groupe d’experts sur le climat, TCFD (Task Force on Climate Disclosure), émanation du G20. Axa bénéfice de la meilleure note « AAA » notamment grâce à ses annonces faites en décembre : investissements verts portés à 12 milliards d’ici à 2020 contre 3 milliards initialement, désinvestissement des entreprises qui tirent plus de 30% de leurs revenus ou de leur mix énergétique du charbon, fin des assurances des projets de construction de centrale à charbon ni des entreprises d’extraction de sables bitumineux et de pipelines associés. Trois assureurs français dans le top 10 Deux autres assureurs français apparaissent dans le top 10 : CNP Assurances, passé de 76eme à 6eme place, et Crédit Agricole Assurances qui arrive à la 8ème place. Ainsi, la France est le pays qui a le plus d’assureurs notés AAA-B, souligne le rapport. L’Europe est la région leader grâce aux trois meilleurs du classement Axa, Aviva, Allianz. Ce dernier est monté de trois rangs à la 3ème place. 13 des 14 sociétés notées au moins « B » sont européennes. Parmi les 80 assureurs mondiaux, Tokio Marine, Legal & General, Credit Agricole, Allianz SE, Generali, NN Group, et Swiss Re présentent les meilleures progressions sur l’année. Les États-Unis sont en mauvaise position avec 43% d’assureurs notés D ou X malgré les engagements de Hartford, Metlife et Travelers. Mais, même le « meilleur » américain arrive 22eme, The Hartford, noté « CC ». La zone Asie-Pacifique occupe le bas du classement (notes « D » et « X ») sauf le Japon avec 4 sociétés dans le top 20. Dans l’ensemble, le secteur est encore loin d’être aligné sur les objectifs de l’accord de Paris sur le climat, selon le rapport. TV

IWBank Private Investments, la banque du groupe UBI Banca spécialisée dans la gestion privée, vient de recruter Riccardo Andrea Clementi, pour son pôle Wealth Banker. L’intéressé vient de la banque privée d’Unicredit. Wealth Banker est le pôle d’excellence du réseau de conseillers financiers d’IWBank. Il s’organise en 6 wealth managers unit opérationnelles à Milan, Turin, Gènes, Rome, Florence et Pescara. Riccardo Andrea Clementi sera basé à Milan.

La société de gestion américaine VanEck élargit son offre en Italie avec le lancement de cinq ETF à la Bourse de Milan, rapporte Funds People Italia. Ces nouveaux fonds sont les suivants : VanEck Vectors Global Fallen Angel High Yield Bond UCITS ETF, VanEck Vectors Emerging Markets High Yield Bond UCITS ETF, VanEck Vectors Natural Resources UCITS ETF, VanEck Vectors Preferred US Equity UCITS ETF et VanEck Vectors Global Mining UCITS ETF.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs canadien RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) a annoncé, ce 22 mai, la nomination de Roland Schmidt au poste de directeur du développement de l’activité pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique (EMEA). Basé à Francfort, l’intéressé se concentrera sur la distribution des stratégies d’investissement de RBC GAM en Europe et devra également contribuer à renforcer la présence de la société de gestion dans le marché institutionnel allemand.Roland Schmidt, qui compte plus de 20 ans d’expérience, arrive en provenance de Carmignac où il officiait depuis 4 ans comme responsable des institutionnels et de l’activité « wholesale » pour l’Allemagne et l’Autriche. Précédemment, il est passé chez Fidelity Investments, Baring Asset Management et M&G Investments.

L’association allemande des investisseurs institutionnels a vu le jour le 18 mai à Francfort, rapporte Investment Europe. Les sept membres fondateurs sont : Aquila Capital, GSK Luxembourg, Hauck & Aufhäuser, Pensions-Akademie, Simmons & Simmons, Spudy Family Office et TH Real Estate/Nuveen. L’association, appelée bii, sera chargée de promouvoir la professionnalisation des investissements institutionnels en Allemagne par le biais d’échanges entre ses membres, ainsi qu’avec le législateur, les régulateurs et les autres associations professionnelles.

Vanguard has filed a preliminary registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for Vanguard Total World Bond ETF. The ETF will be the industry’s first U.S.-domiciled index product offering investors access to the entire global investment-grade bond universe in a single portfolio, claims the US asset manager. It is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year.The fund will be structured as an ETF of ETFs, investing directly in two existing low-cost ETFs: Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) and Vanguard Total International Bond ETF (BNDX). This structure enables the Vanguard Total World Bond ETF to achieve immediate scale by using existing exposure from the underlying ETFs and is expected to result in tighter bid/ask spreads and lower operating expenses than investing directly in the benchmark’s constituents. The approach is similar to Vanguard Total Corporate Bond ETF (VTC), which launched in November, 2017, and invests in Vanguard’s existing short-, intermediate-, and long-term corporate bond ETFs. The new ETF seeks to track the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Float Adjusted Composite Index and will have an estimated expense ratio of 0.09%.

Marie-Pierre Peillon, current head of research at Groupama Asset Management (Groupama AM), has been appointed as head of ESG research and strategy. In her new role, Peillon will be responsible for ESG strategy at Groupama AM throughout its components. This comes in addition to her current responsibilities as head of research.Aurélie de Barochez is also appointed as head of ESG integration. De Barochez will report to Peillon, and will steer transversal integration of ESG analytical criteria throughout all management and design of resources and processes to permit deployment. De Barochez joined Groupama AM in 2015, as a financial and extra-financial analyst, responsible for the energy sector and the environment. She contributed to the development of the team of financial analysts into a global financial/extra-financial integration unit.“Groupama AM very soon, from 2003, cultivated recognised expertise in the market in extra-financial analysis. Our collective project as a business is to gradually deploy a global and transversal ESG approach to our range of solutions and services,” says Philippe Setbon, CEO of Groupama AM.

@page { margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115% }The private bank of Edmond de Rothschild (France) has appointed Maxime Agache as headof development of activities for the Nord region of France. He isalso a member of the board of directors for the private bank inFrance.Agache joined Edmondde Rothschild (France) as a private banker in 2014. He had previouslybeen director of a corporate business centre at Crédit Agricole Nordde France, after serving for four years as representative for largebusinesses.“Teams in Lille,reporting to … Agache, will help to accelerate development of theproduct range from Edmond de Rotschild in the Nord region, combiningexpertise in wealth management and assistance from family companyshareholder directors, for all family and corporate themes,” astatement says.

The venture capital firm BC Partners on 22 May announced that it is creating BC Partners Real Estate, a new real estate platform. To this end, Stéphane Theuriau, previously chairman and CEO of Altarea Cogedim, a French real estate investment company, has been appointed as managing partner in London, responsible for constructing and directing the new strategy. Theuriau joined BC Partners at the start of May, after a 25-year career in the pan-European real estate market. Before joining Altarea Cogedim in 2009, je launched the real estate investment platform at Morgan Stanley in France in 1998, and became head for Europe from 2003 to 2006.In his new role at BC Partners, Theuriau will work to create a new team, which will “continue its pan-European opportunistic strategy, covering all sectors in real estate, making direct and indirect investments in private equity as well as investments in controlling and minority stakes,” the private equity firm says in a statement. The platform from BC Partners Real Estate will be fully integrated into BC Partners, and “will be based on the profound knowledge and expertise of the company, and will use its infrastructure.” The new real estate platform comes in addition to the private equity investment activities of BC Partners, which have closed the flagship fund BC European Capital X with EUR7bn, and the opportunistic credit platform, BC Partners Crédit, launched in February 2017.

The SCPI Pierre 48 fund, managed by Paref Gestion, has acquired a group of 10 jointly-owned residential units in Levallois-Perret (92), the asset management firm announced on 22 May. The properties acquired, for a total of EUR5.2m in hand, are acquired at a discount of 40%, for a provisional internal rate of return of 3% per year over the life of the 14-year break-up, “excluding re-evaluation related to structural ad conjuncutral changes in the residential real estate market,” says Paref Gestion. The group of 10 apartments is located in the “Levallois Parc” residence.

Ekim, a French food tech start-up founded in late 2013, has announced its first institutional fundraising for EUR2.2m, with the investment funds Partech and Daphni. Jérôme Taf-ani, CEO of Quick and Burger King France, joins the strategy board at Ekim. Ekim, imagined by two young French engineers, Sébastien Roverso and Cyrill Hamon, and led by Philippe Goldman, formerly of L’Oréal, Ekim plans to revolutionise global food tech, and has announced the creation of the first 100% automated restaurant with robots preparing the pizzas in front of the client, a statement explains.

The CNMV, the Spanish financial regulator, has granted final approval to create the Muza Gestion de Activos company, owned by the Spanish Urquijo family, the website Cinco Dias reports. Since 1999, the family has allocated its investments via the Sicav Muza. Muza Gestion de Activos will now assure management of this Sicav, as well as managing an equity fund which will soon be constructed, which will replicate the portfolio of the Sicav. The Muza Sicav currently has EUR160m in assets under management, the Spanish news website says. The new Muza Gestion de Activos company will be directed by Luis Urquijo as CEO, and Estanislao Urquijo as chairman.

Tobacco is no longer receiving money from Netherlands financial actors. After Robeco and the NN group, Aegon Asset Management (Aegon AM) has become the last to exclude tobacco from its investments, the asset management firm has announced in its report on socially responsible investments. “Aegon decided to exclude tobacco thi year becaus it didn’t fit with our focus on financial security and well-being,” explains Marc van Weede, head of strategy and sustainable development at the Aegon group, cited in the report. “We say we want our customers to enjoy long, healthy lives. Investing in tobacco just isn’t compatible with that.” In this context, over the next few years, the firm will run off existing fixed income investments related to tobacco in Aegon’s general account. The total divestment represents over EUR 500 million in assets.

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) appointed Domitille Dessertine as head of its FinTech, Innovation and Competitiveness division. Member of the Regulatory Policy and International Affairs Directorate (DRAI) for the past five years, Domitille Dessertine participated in the creation of the Fintech, Innovation and Competitiveness (FIC) division in May 2016. She has been appointed head of the division, succeeding Franck Guiader, who left the AMF after seven years dedicated to financial regulation, innovation and competitiveness. Domitille Dessertine joined the Autorité des Marchés Financiers in July 2013 as a policy officer at the DRAI in the Asset Management Division. She participated in European and international negotiations on subjects relating to asset management. In this capacity, she was particularly involved in the European money market fund reform project, which will enter into force on 21 July 2018. She was also a member of the working group initiated by the Financial Stability Board on shadow banking.From spring 2016, she contributed to the creation of the French Fintech, Innovation and Competitiveness team, in charge of supporting innovative companies and reflecting on potential changes to the regulatory framework to adapt to the increasing digitalisation of financial services. Domitille thus took part in the launch of the AMF’s consultation on the framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) and in the analysis of the responses received, as well as the rollout of the Unicorn programme, which resulted in some 50 meetings with ICO project holders. She also contributed to the AMF’s response to the European Commission’s public consultation on Fintechs.Domitille holds a degree from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and is finishing a PhD in finance from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. She started her career in July 2011 at the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) where she was involved in several post-crisis financial regulation initiatives, including the work carried out on the identification of systemic entities and on the regulation of over-the-counter traded derivatives.

The US assetmanagement firm VanEck is extending its offerings in Italy with thelaunch of five ETFs on the Milan stock exchange, Funds People Italiareports. The new funds are the following: VanEck Vectors GlobalFallen Angel High Yield Bond UCITS ETF, VanEck Vectors EmergingMarkets High Yield Bond UCITS ETF, VanEck Vectors Natural ResourcesUCITS ETF, VanEck Vectors Preferred US Equity UCITS ETF and VanEckVectors Global Mining UCITS ETF. @page { margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115% }

@page { margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115% }The digitaltransformation is not the only challenge which Guy de Picciotto, CEOof UBP, faces, Financial Times Fund Management writes. Brexit isrequiring the Swiss private bank to revise its plans. “WithoutBrexit, we would resolutely make London our European base, but thisproject must be postponed,” explains Guy de Picciotto, in aninterview with FTfm. Instead, UBP will place more resources inLuxembourg and in scaling up activities in Italy, Spain and France.“For all of us, access to the market is a determining factor.Unfortunately, Switzerland no longer has access to the Europeanbanking sector,” he continues. “There is a way to increase theclient base through acquisitions, we are certainly studying it,”adds de Picciotto. “If that is not in Switzerland, it willcertainly be in Asia, and we can expect to add to our bank in London,regardless of the outcome of Brexit.” Discussing the hedge fundcrisis, de Picciotto says that “the main changes after the burstingof the hedge fund bubble is that we have started a new activityserving institutionals, with long-only products.” He estiamtes thatthe sales of funds to insurance companies and other banks will be amore lucrative activity than sales to private clients.

Nordic Capital today announced the final close of Nordic Capital Fund IX, at just over EUR 4.3 bn. The oversubscribed Fund exceeded its EUR 3.5 bn target in 7 months, and due to strong demand closing 23% above target.The new Fund enjoyed a re-up rate of over 70% from investors in predecessor funds, while also attracting commitments from a number of new investors. LP commitments represented a well-diversified institutional mix with Fund IX investors including public and private pension funds (c. 35%), sovereign wealth funds (c. 20%), fund of funds (c. 15%), family offices (c.15%), financial institutions and endowments (c. 15%). The Fund benefited from broad geographic support, expanding its well established investor base in North America (c. 40%), Europe (c. 35%) and Asia (c. 15%), and attracting new investors in the Middle East and South America (c. 10%).Consistent with the strategy of its predecessor fund, a top quartile performer, Fund IX will focus on five core sectors: Healthcare; Financial Services; Technology and Payments; Consumer Retail and Industrial Goods and Services. The Nordic region, which continues to be a highly successful and stable incubator of high quality businesses, will be central to the deployment of the new Fund, as will investing selectively in European businesses and in global Healthcare. Moreover, Fund IX will also continue Nordic Capital’s active co-investment strategy.

Fidelity International has announced that its variable fee model is now available for five equity funds of its Luxembourg SICAV. Since yesterday, investors are able to invest in a “clean share class” with no commissions, applying the management fee-free model of its Fidelity Funds America Fund, Fidelity Funds Emerging Markets Focus Fund, Fidelity Funds European Growth Fund, Fidelity Funds European Larger Companies Fund and Fidelity Funds World Fund.The new share classes will make it possible to invest with reduced annual management fees of 0.10%, for a total of 0.70%. The variable part of the fees will then symmetrically adjust up or down depending on the performance of the fund compared to its benchmark index. This value will be determined on a three-year annualised basis, exempt of all fees and charges. This scale will go up to a maximum of +0.2% over the annual management fees, and a minimum of -0.2% below, which will mean that the maximal and minimal fees charged would be 0.90% and 0.50%, respectively.“We have listened and responded to the growing debate about the value of active fund management. Our model of variable management fees clearly aligns our interests with those of our clients, and, contrary to the practice common in the market, our fees will be affected in case of under-performance. This is a major step to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to offer the best possible value to our clients. We are convinced that this is an important step in the future of active management, and we hope that it will incite client to remain invested for the long term,” says Paras Anand, director of equity investments for Europe, in a statement.Clients investing via dedicated portfolios, particularly institutional investors, will have access to an appropriate version of the cost model they desire. The value of investments and income resulting can rise or fall, and clients may not recover all of the amount initially invested, the statement warns.

@page { margin: 0.79in }p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115% }Italian PIRindividual savings plans completed first quarter 2018 with netinflows of EUR2bn, less than the EUR3.4bn posted in the last threemonths of 2017, according to the most recent statistics fromAssogestioni, the Italian association of asset managementprofessionals. Overall, the Italian asset management sector completedfirst quarter with inflows of EUR13.9bn, also down compared withEUR17bn as of the end of December last year.The decline in PIRinflows has affected all product categories, but has beenparticularly significant for equity products, with inflows down fromEUR876m to EUR193m.Assets in PIR fundshave increased, however, to EUR17.5bn, with 41.9% in diversifiedproducts, 31.2% in e1uity products, 25.7% in flexible products, andthe rest in bond products.

Martin Currie, the active equity specialist, continues to drive its global growth ambitions, with the appointment of Zehrid Osmani to lead its Global Long-Term Unconstrained (GLTU) team. Zehrid’s appointment builds on Martin Currie’s equity capability, as it looks to further extend its presence in the institutional and wholesale markets.Based in Edinburgh, Zehrid, who joined the business on 14th May reports into John Pickard, head of investment. Zehrid has taken over from industry veteran, Tom Walker, who has stepped down as team head as part of a considered succession plan. Tom and Zehrid will work together during a transitional period, which will involve the gradual handover of Tom’s key responsibilities. With over 20 years’ experience, Zehrid joins from BlackRock where, during his ten years at the company, he played a key part in building their successful European equity franchise. He held a number of senior roles there, including head of European research, with responsibility for a 23-strong team of analysts. In this role, he developed and implemented a fundamental research platform. Zehrid was also responsible for managing a number of pan-European equity funds at BlackRock, with a specific focus on managing the team’s unconstrained, high conviction, long term portfolios, driven by fundamental research.Prior to this, Zehrid managed equity portfolios at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), and was a specialist sector analyst at Commerzbank Securities, UBS Warburg and Credit Lyonnais. Martin Currie manages over USD500 million in its GLTU strategies and oversees a total of USD19 billion in assets under management as at end March 2018 across its four key investment strategies: Market Aware; Long-Term Unconstrained; Sustainable Income and Growth; and Absolute Returns.