La boutique luxembourgeoise VAM Funds vient d’annoncer le lancement d’un fonds d’actions amélioré à destination des investisseurs prudents qui souhaitent s’exposer au marché actions. La nouvelle stratégie donne la priorité à la protection contre les mouvements baissiers avec la possibilité de capter une part plus importante des mouvements haussiers.Le VAM Funds (Lux) Enhanced Equity Fund (LU0910230084), avec un capital de départ de 15,5 millions de dollars, sera géré par Jason Webster de Fleming Family and Partners.

Le segment des fonds Ucits alternatifs a enregistré une collecte nette de 3,2 milliards d’euros au troisième trimestre du côté des single managers, selon les statistiques communiquées par MondoAlternative. La collecte des fonds de fonds atteint de son côté 93 millions d’euros.Les actifs sous gestion de ces fonds totalisaient ainsi 109 milliards d’euros à fin septembre 2013, contre 103,7 milliards d’euros à fin juin 2013. Les stratégies actions long/short et Equity market neutral ont été les plus demandées, avec des collectes de respectivement 2,3 milliards d’euros et 986 millions d’euros. A fin septembre, les stratégies les plus importantes étaient le fixed income avec un encours de 30,3 milliards d’euros, le long/short equity avec 16,3 milliards d’euros et l’equity market neutral avec 9,6 milliards d’euros. Selon les données de MondoAlternative, on comptait fin août 2013 une douzaine de plateformes Ucits gérant plus de 11,4 milliards d’euros de fonds Ucits alternatifs. La plus structurée étant Universal Investment Platform qui gère 3,6 milliards d’euros, devant Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions Platform (1,9 milliard d’euros) et Schroder GAIA Platform (1,8 milliard d’euros). Les plateformes de fonds Ucits alternatifs ont enregistré sur les huit premiers mois de l’année une croissance de leurs actifs de 10,9%. La performance des single managers ressort à 0,94% au troisième trimestre, celle des fonds de fonds à 1,46%.

Les grands gestionnaires internationaux continuent de pousser leurs pions en Espagne et en Italie alors que les investisseurs souhaitent pouvoir accéder plus largement à des fonds externes, indique Cerulli dans la dernière livraison de «The Cerulli Edge-Europe Edition»."Les investisseurs n’ont jamais autant exigé de fonds externes», relève Barbara Wall, director chez Cerulli à propos du marché espagnol, pourtant plutôt étroit et qui n’a repris quelques couleurs que très récemment. «Des statistiques sur le secteur suggèrent que les fonds étrangers approchent la barre des 50 milliards d’euros, les investisseurs abandonnant les produits locaux pour s’intéresser aux marchés globaux et émergents, et aux fonds multi-classes d’actifs», indique Barbara Wall.Les gestionnaires non espagnols contrôlent environ 30% de l’ensemble du marché. Dans ce contexte, les groupes étrangers courtisent les conseillers financiers indépendants locaux. Avec des actifs conseillés de 15 milliards d’euros environ, les conseillers indépendants ont encore un peu de chemin à faire avant de pouvoir influencer dans des proportions significatives la distribution de fonds en Espagne, mais Cerulli estime que l’influence des conseillers est sous-estimée par le secteur et par les statistiques.Cerulli observe le même phénomène en Italie, avec l’ouverture de banques privées aux fonds externes et l’influence grandissante des conseillers indépendants. Les produits ainsi distribués en Italie sont surtout des produits d’allocation, de la performance absolue et plus récemment, des produits de rendement actions. Les véhicules alternatifs sont également recherchés, remarque Cerulli.

Vanguard Asset Management va réduire les totaux des frais sur encours (TFE ou TER en anglais) de 22 fonds domiciliés en Irlande. Ces changements vont affecter les classes de parts en euros, en dollars, en francs suisses et en yens d’une gamme de fonds actions et obligataires (liste disponible ici)En outre, le TFE de l’ETF Vanguard FTSE Emerging Market (coté à Londres, en Suisse, à Paris et à Amsterdam) sera ramené de 0,45 % à 0,29 %.Ces changements prendront effet le 3 décembre 2013.Au 31 octobre, Vanguard affichait un encours sous gestion de 67,7 milliards de dollars en Europe et récemment sa gamme d’ETF a déplassé les 3 milliards de dollars d’actifs.

Union Bancaire Privée a recruté deux analystes pour renforcer son équipe dédiée aux actions turques. Ils travailleront en collaboration avec Eli Koen, gérant du fonds UBAM Turkey Equity, précise Citywire. Ozgur Goker rejoint UBP en provenance de la banque d’investissement Yapi Kredi Yatirim Menkul Degerler, où il était analyste. Mark Soryano était auparavant en poste chez JP Morgan, également en tant qu’analyste.

Renaissance Asset Managers a annoncé l’enregistrement de sa gamme de fonds luxembourgeois en Italie à l’occasion de la conférence InvestmentEurope’s Fund Selector à Milan, rapporte Investment Europe. La gamme inclut les fonds suivants : Global Emerging Market Yield, Sub-Saharan, Pan-Africa, Frontiers et Russia Equity Allocation. La gamme de fonds basés à Dublin devrait également être enregistrée sous peu.

Alors que la société de gestion italienne Anima s’apprête à faire son entrée en Bourse, Bluerating observe que la plupart des fonds commercialisés par la structure affichent des performances décevantes. Par exemple, depuis début 2013, Anima Fix Emergenti perd près de 8 % et Anima Obbligazionario Emergente a abandonné 7,3 %. De novembre 2012 à aujourd’hui, tous les fonds Anima investis sur les marchés émergents font perdre de l’argent à leurs clients. Sur trois ans, le constat est le même.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) vient de lancer le DB Platinum IV Equity Risk Premia Fund qui utilise à la fois des facteurs de risque et des contrôles systématiques des risques de portefeuille pour dégager de meilleurs rendements sur le long terme par rapport aux indices de référence.Le fonds propose une exposition à cinq facteurs de risque actions qui comportent des facteurs de risque de performance spécifiques tels que value, qualité et momentum. Chaque facteur de risque est ensuite confronté à une stratégie systématique qui conjugue des positions longues et courtes, ce qui permet à l’investisseur d’identifier le facteur de risque spécifique qu’il souhaite utiliser. Selon DeAWM, les facteurs retenus pour constituer le portefeuille ont été sélectionnés en raison de leur faible corrélation ou corrélation négative entre eux et ils sont pondérés sur la base d’une méthodologie d’allocation en risk parity. Le fonds comporte également un mécanisme de contrôle de la volatilité qui vise une volatilité de 6%. Ce fonds s’intègre dans la gamme Platinum, constituée de fonds systématiques. Le fonds est conforme au format Ucits et affiche un total des frais sur encours de 0,56% ou 0,66% selon le compartiment.

Les banquiers privés allemands gagnent en moyenne plus qu’en 2011. Selon l'étude 2013 de jobfinance.com, les banquiers privés reçoivent en moyenne une rémunération annuelle fixe de 102.000 euros, contre 95.000 l’an dernier. La part variable représente en 2013 en moyenne 18.000 euros, à comparer avec 21.000 euros en moyenne en 2011. En 2013, les actifs sous gestion des banquiers privés allemands représentent 95 millions d’euros, en hausse de 13 % comparé aux actifs gérés en 2011 par les professionnels du secteur. La collecte s’est pour sa part élevée à 12,9 millions d’euros en moyenne pour les banques privées actives en Allemagne, en hausse de 12 % sur deux ans.

La collecte des fonds allemands a totalisé 59,3 milliards d’euros sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année, dont 49,2 milliards d’euros pour les seuls fonds institutionnels, selon les dernières statistiques communiquées par l’association allemande des gestionnaires d’actifs (BVI).Les fonds institutionnels n’avaient pas réussi à attirer un tel montant depuis 1998 où la collecte sur neuf mois s'était élevée à 47,2 milliards d’euros. Les fonds ouverts au public ont de leur côté enregistré une collecte nette de 16,1 milliards d’euros alors que les mandats ont subi des rachats pour un montant net de 6 milliards d’euros. Du côté des fonds institutionnels, les compagnies d’assurances représentent 40% des encours (1.036 milliards d’euros). Sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année, la collecte émanant des assureurs s’est d’ailleurs élevée à 28,2 milliards d’euros, soit plus de la moitié du total des souscriptions. Les institutions de retraite ont attiré de leur côté 8,9 milliards d’euros. Au cours du seul mois de septembre, les fonds institutionnels ont enregistré une collecte de 4,2 milliards d’euros, dont 2,1 milliards d’euros pour les seuls assureurs. Dans le segment des fonds ouverts au public, les fonds diversifiés ont 9,4 milliards d’euros sur neuf mois, contre 9,2 milliards d’euros pour les fonds obligataires. En revanche, les fonds d’actions accusent une décollecte de 3,8 milliards d’euros sur neuf mois.

Mirabaud is strengthening its asset management business in Switzerland with the creation of a new entity - Mirabaud Asset Management (Suisse) SA - in January 2014. This company will have independent directors but will be wholly-owned by the Group’s future holding company, Mirabaud SCA, which in turn will be supervised by the Mirabaud Group’s six current partners. It will provide asset management and collective investment services as well as serving institutional clients. «The creation of a separate structure to oversee the bank’s asset management activities in Switzerland is an important part of Mirabaud’s growth plans and marks a major step forward in its strategy of organising its activity into business lines. The governance structure will bring the Swiss entity into line with the rest of the Group, enabling it to better meet the increasingly complex demands of its private and institutional clients», according to a statement published on November 14. The new entity will house all of Mirabaud’s asset management and fund distribution activities in Switzerland. It will be run by Lionel Aeschlimann, a managing partner, who will head a team of 45 top professionals in Switzerland. Along with its entities in London, Paris, Madrid, Luxembourg and Montreal, the asset management business line boasts nearly 90 staff members. «This new structure reflects our commitment to pursuing the asset management growth strategy we have been implementing for the past three years. It is an important step forward, designed to ensure we can meet our clients’ increasingly high standards, in particular in terms of governance. Ultimately, by strengthening this business line, which is key to our Group’s growth, we will be able to consolidate the Mirabaud Asset Management brand and continue to attract talent to our bank,» explained Lionel Aeschlimann in a statement. Mirabaud also announced that its subsidiary Mirabaud Asset Management (Europe) SA is about to be awarded an AIFM licence by Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the CSSF. The AIFM authorisation was introduced under new European regulations drawn up in the wake of the recent financial crisis. It will facilitate the distribution of non-UCITS funds - mainly hedge funds - to professional investors in Europe. Mirabaud Asset Management (Europe) SA, which inherited the Mirabaud Group’s pioneering capabilities in alternative investment management, will be able to use its AIFM authorisation to offer its alternative investment products throughout the European Union.

At the end of October 2013, Julius Baer Group’s assets under management (AuM) amounted to CHF 249 billion, an increase of 31% from the CHF 189 billion at the end of 2012, according to a statement published this morning. This includes approximately CHF 48 billion from Merrill Lynch’s International Wealth Management (IWM) business outside the US, which Julius Baer is in the process of acquiring, of which CHF 29 billion were booked on the Julius Baer platforms and paid for. Total client assets grew by 23% to CHF 341 billion.Outside the acquisition impact, the increase in AuM in the first ten months of 2013 was driven by net new money and a positive market performance, partly offset by a negative currency impact due to the strengthening of the Swiss franc against most leading currencies, not including the euro. Net new money continued to be driven by net inflows from the growth markets and from the local business in Germany, while the inflows from the cross-border European business were balanced by outflows from tax regularisations of legacy assets.The Group’s gross margin in the first ten months of 2013 declined to 97 basis points (bps), compared to 102 bps in the first half year of 2013. The cost/income ratio for the first ten months of 2013 was just above the 71.7% achieved for the full year 2012, up from 69.3% in the first half of 2013.

Berkshire Hathaway, the company of Warren Buffett, has bought a USD3.7bn stake in ExxonMobil, in a vote of confidence in a company which has underperformed compared with its smaller rivals, the Financial Times reports. The acquisition was partly financed by the sale of USD500m in shares in ConocoPhillips, Exxon’s competitor. Buffett has also reduced his stake in GlaxoSmithKline and increased his stake in Davita Healthcare Partners.

Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) has signed an agreement in principle with the Russian sovereign fund RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund) to create a cross-border platform which would make co-investments in private equity, Asian Investor reports. Two two sovereign funds have engaged to finance the platform initially with up to USD250m each. Assets under management at KIC total about USD65bn, while the Russian fund has USD10bn.

Swiss Life Banque Privée on 14 November announced the appointment of Simon Elbaz, director of the Wealth Management department, as a member of the executive board at the private bank. Elbaz, 55, has been directing the Wealth Management department at Swiss Life Banque Privée since December 2008. He began his career in 1987 as Deputy Director of La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild. From 2006 to 2008, he joined Decia Paris as Head of Institutional Client Sales.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a Discussion Paper setting out its initial views on the implementing measures it will have to develop for the new Market Abuse Regulation (MAR).MAR aims to enhance market integrity and investor protection. It will achieve this by updating and strengthening the existing market abuse framework, by extending its scope to new markets and trading strategies, and by introducing new requirements.The closing date for responses is Monday 27 January 2014.

ETFs are increasingly occupying independent investors in Germany, according to a survey conducted in October by V-Bank in partnership with manager magazin. Nearly half of respondents to the survey say they have a maximum of 15% ETFs in their portfolios. But for about 40% of professionals surveyed, the proportion of ETFs represents 20% or more of their assets. The survey fins that the proportion of ETFs in the portfolio depends largely on the size of the companies: the larger the company is, the smaller the proportion of ETFs. The survey also finds that nearly 40% of participants are planning to increase the proportion of ETFs in their allocation in the next six months. About 86% of asset managers say that ETFs are a part of their allocation.

The alternative UCITS fund sector has posted net inflows of EUR3.2bn in third quarter from single managers, according to statistics from MondoAlternative. Inflows to funds of funds, for their part, have totalled EUR93m. Assets under management in these funds totalled EUR109bn as of the end of September 2013, compared with EUR103.7bn as of the end of June 2013. Long/short equity and equity market neutral strategies were in most demand, with inflows of EUR2.3bn and EUR986m, respectively. As of the end of September, the most important strategies were fixed income, with assets of EUR30.3bn, long/short equity, with EUR16.3bn, and equity market neutral with EUR9.6bn. According to statistics from MondoAlternative, as of the end of August 2013 there were 12 UCITS platforms which managed more than EUR11.4bn in UCITS hedge funds. The most popular structure is Universal Investment Platform, which has EUR3.6bn, followed by Merrill Lynch Investment Solutions Platform (EUR1.9bn) and Schroder GAIA Platform (EUR1.8bn). Alternative UCITS platforms in the first eight months of the year have posted growth in assets of 10.9%. The performance of single managers has totalled 0.94% in third quarter, while funds of funds totalled 1.46%.

Inflows to German funds have totalled EUR59.3bn in the first nine months of the year, including EUR49.2bn for institutional funds alone, according to the most recent statistics from the German asset management association (BVI). Institutional funds had not succeeded in attracting such a sum since 1998, when inflows over nine months totalled EUR47.2bn. Open-ended funds, for their part, posted net inflows of EUR16.1bn, while mandates saw redemptions totalling a net EUR6bn. For institutional funds, insurance companies represent 40% of assets (EUR1.036trn). In the first nine months of the year, inflows from insurers totalled EUR28.2bn, more than half of total subscriptions. Retirement institutions, for their part, have attracted EUR8.9bn. In the month of September alone, institutional funds have posted inflows of EUR4.2bn, of which EUR2.1bn were for insurers alone. In the open-ended fund segment alone, diversified funds attracted EUR9.4bn over nine months, compared with EUR9.2bn for bond funds. However, equity funds have posted outflows of EUR3.8bn over nine months.

Bill Sung has resigned from his positoin as chief investment officer at Absolute Asia Asset Management, and will be leaving the firm at the end of the year, Citywire Global reports. Sung has already been replaced as CIO by François Théret, former head of global emerging market equities at Natixis Global Asset Management in Paris.

The independent asset management firm Unigestion, whose assets under management total EUR10.4bn, on 14 November announced the most recent investment by the Unigestion-Ethos Enviromental Sustainability fund, its fund of funds dedicated to sustainable development. The engagement of the Armstrong South East Asia Clean Energy Fund, which invests in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in South-East Asia, will allow investors to access opportunities in the clean energy sector on emerging markets in the region. The investment, the seventh by the Unigestion-Ethos Environmental Sustainability fund, is a sign of Unigestion’s ongoing care to idenitfy and invest in the most promising segments in the sustainable development sector, and reflects its conviction that this sector will outperform the other sectors of the global economy over the long term.

Union Bancaire Privée has recruited two analysts as additions to its team dedicated to Turkish equities. They will work in collaboration with Eli Koen, manager of the UBAM Turkey equity fund, Citywire reports. Ozgur Goker is joining UBP from the investment bank Yapi Kredi Yatirim Menkul Degerler, where he was an analyst. Mark Soryano had previously served at JP Morgan, also as an analyst.

International fund groups are making further inroads into Spain and Italy as investors lobby for access to third-party funds, according to the fourth quarter issue of The Cerulli Edge-Europe Edition. «Investors are demanding third-party funds like never before,» commented Barbara Wall, a Cerulli director. «Industry figures suggest that foreign funds are approaching EUR50 billion as investors switch from domestic products to global, emerging markets, and multi-asset funds."In Spain, non-domestic managers currently have around 30% of the whole market. Independent financial advisors (EAFI) are keen to play up their non-tied status and are certainly attracting high-net-worth clients. That has been enough to tempt foreign groups to woo them directly. With advised assets of around EUR15 billion, the independent channel has some way to go before it can significantly influence fund distribution in Spain, but Cerulli believes the clout of the EAFI sector is understated by industry and regulatory assets under advice figures.Like Spain, Italy’s independent intermediary channel is attracting the attentions of international fund groups. Products that are selling in Italy include asset allocation, absolute return, and, most recently, equity income products. Alternatives are also doing well.

At a time when the Italian asset management firm Anima is preparing to hold its IPO, Bluerating observes that most funds on sale from the structure show disappointing returns. For example, since the beginning of 2013, Anima Fix Emergenti has lost nearly 8%, and Anima Obbligazionario Emergente has lost 7.3%. From November 2012 to the present, all Anima funds invested in emerging markets have lost money for their clients. Over three years, the results are the same.

Renaissance Asset Managers has announced that it has registered its Luxembourg fund range in Italy at InvestmentEurope’s Fund Selector conference in Milan, Investment Europe reports. The range includes the following funds: Global Emerging Market Yield, Sub-Saharan, Pan-Africa, Frontiers et Russia Equity Allocation. The range of funds based in Dublin is also expected to be registered soon.

Vanguard Asset Management on November 14 announced reductions to the Total Expense Ratios (TERs) on 22 Irish-domiciled mutual funds. These changes will affect the EUR, USD, CHF and JPY share classes across a range of equity and fixed income mutual funds (see here). In addition, the TER for the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Market ETF, (which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange and NYSE Euronext Paris and Amsterdam) will be reduced from 0.45% to 0.29%.The changes for the mutual fund range and Vanguard FTSE Emerging Market ETF will take effect from the 3 December, 2013.As of 31 October, 2013 Vanguard held USD67.7 billion in total European assets under management (AUM) and recently its ETF range surpassed USD3.0 billion in assets.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published on November 14 its third annual Global Shadow Banking Monitoring Report. The report includes data from 25 jurisdictions and the euro area as a whole; these jurisdictions represent about 80% of global GDP and 90% of global financial system assets. For the first time the report also incorporates estimates from a hedge fund survey by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).The report finds that, on a broad estimate, the assets of non-bank financial intermediaries (excluding those of insurance companies, pension funds and public financial institutions) grew by USD5 trillion in 2012 to reach USD71 trillion. Non-bank financial intermediaries represent on average about 24% of total financial assets, and are equivalent to about half of banking system assets and 117% of GDP. These patterns have been relatively stable since the crisis.

M&G has reported steady inflows for the three months to the end of September 2013. Total net inflows for the quarter were GBP5.1 billion, taking the cumulative total since the start of the year to GBP8.9 billion.In retail, M&G’s European businesses continue to be the main engine of growth. During the first nine months of the year, net fund flows from Europe reached GBP6.4 billion, an 82 per cent increase over the same period in 2012. Total net retail inflows for the quarter were GBP1.1 billion and for the year-to-date amount to GBP5.9 billion, being 4 per cent lower than at the same stage in 2012, which was itself a record year. Retail funds under management (FUM) increased by 24 per cent year-on-year to GBP64.5 billion at 30 September 2013. Of this, FUM from European clients total GBP22.1 billion, up from GBP12.3 billion at 30 September 2012 and now account for over a third of total retail FUM.M&G Optimal Income and M&G Global Dividend remain the best sellers.The institutional business posted net inflows of GBP4.0 billion during the third quarter, resulting in total net inflows for the year of GBP3.0 billion. Total FUM have risen to GBP242.2 billion at the end of September 2013, up 12 per cent year on year. Over the same period, external client assets increased by 19 per cent to GBP124.3 billion; net inflows contributed 14 percentage points of this growth with the remaining 5 percentage points attributable to market movements. Prudential’s Asia asset management business, Eastspring Investments ended the quarter with funds under management (FUM) of GBP59.7 billion, up 7 per cent over the same time last year. FUM from external parties rose by 12 per cent to GBP18.5 billion, benefiting from third party net inflows of GBP2.0 billion (2012: GBP1.0 billion) in the first nine months.

Rothschild Wealth Management (UK) Limited has recruited the private bankers Paolo Lenzi and Francesca Speroni, Bluerating reports, citing Magstat. The two previously worked at Morgan Stanley.