Nordea has launched two actively-managed ETFs on the Stockholm and Helsinki stock exchanges: Nordea Global Emerging Market Equities UCITS ETF and Nordea Stable Equities UCITS ETF, realtid.se reports. They are the first actively-managed ETFs from these countries, according to the Swedish newspaper.
BrightScope, an independent provider of financial information and investment research, has published a list for the first time of the 20 ETFs that are most often included in the portfolios of 401(k) retirement plans and defined contribution pension funds.On the list below, the top three ETF promoters, iShares (BlackRock), Vanguard and SPD (State Street Global Advisors) account for 19 of the places on the list, with the only exception being a fund from iPath (Barclays).1. Vanguard Total Bond Market (ticker: BND)2. SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)3. iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)4. Vanguard Total International Stock (VXUS)5. iShares Russell 1000 Value Index (IWD)6. iShares Core Total US Bond Market (AGG)7. iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index (IWF)8. Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Index (VIOO)9. iShares S&P 500 Index (IVV)10. Vanguard Small Cap Growth (VBK)11. iShares MSCI EAFE Index (EFA)12. Vanguard Value (VTV)13. iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond (LQD)14. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)15. Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO)16. iShares Russell Midcap Value Index (IWS)17. iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (TIP)18. Vanguard REIT Index (VNQ)19. iPath Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return (DJP)20. iShares S&P MidCap 400 Index (IJH)
The US asset management firm Eaton Vance has signed a co-operation agreement with the Korean firm Daishin Secuities, which will help it to sell its products on the local market, particularly its floating interest rate loan strategies, Asian Investor reports.
The hedge fund from Steve Cohen, SAC Capital Advisors, whose assets under maangement total about USD14bn, has from the beginning of the year to 20 September posted returns of about 13%, the news agency Reuters reports. Despite its legal troubles, Cohen has done considerably better than the average hedge fund, which posts growth of only 4% for the year to the end of August, whle the S&P index is up by about 15%.
The “stable value” operation from Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) in the United States, with assets under administration of USD21.6bn as of 30 June, has been acquired by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) for an undisclosed total.The stable value activity is a special fixed income niche, which is used for 401(k) type retirement savings plans. GSAM in July announced plans to set up a collective trust for stable value.The stable value funds are capital preservation instruments which invest in diversified and high quality bond portfolios protected from the volatility of interest rates by way of wrap contracts with banks and insurers.
Paul Nobile, chief marketing officer at Eaton Vance, has been appointed as chief marketing officer of the investment management unit at BNY Mellon. He will be based in New York, and will report to PeterPaul Pardi, global head of distribution, and R. Jeep Bryant, executive vice president for marketing & corporate affairs.From 1997 to 2009, Nobile worked for Barclays Global Investors in San Francisco, most recently as managing director and head of brand marketing for the iShares ETF brand.
reconcept GmbH, a promoter of closed funds which invest in renewable energies, has selected Caceis in Germany as its depository, according to a statement released on 26 September. Since the beginning of July 2013, Caceis has been the depository controller for actively-managed funds from the firm which invest in wind energy. With the introduction of the AIFM directive and the German Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch, Caceis has extended the perimeter of the services it offers to reconcept and helped it to adhere to the deadline to comply with legislation. Caceis has EUR2.5vn in assets under custody, and EUR1.25bn in assets under administration.
Investable wealth of the world’s HNWIs rebounded in 2012, growing by 10% to reach a record high ofUSD$46.2 trillion after declining 1.7%in 2011, according to the new World Wealth Report 2013 from Cap Gemini and RBC Wealth Management. One million individuals joined the global HNWI population, which reached 12 million, reflecting an increase of 9.2%.
All regions experienced strong growth in HNWI population and wealth except Latin America, which led growth in 2011 but faltered in 2012 due to slow GDP growth and challenged equity markets.
Asset allocation trends followed the preservation tr
The cost of settling the multiple lawsuits opposing the bank JPMorgan Chase and US regulators may total USD11bn, several English-language newspapers estimate, citing sources close to the negotiations. The payment of such a fine, by far the largest ever paid by a business in the United States, would allow the New York bank to settle several civil and criminal charges. According to the Financial Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, JPMorgan may be fined USD7bn in case, and required to modify the terms of poorly-designed real estate loans subscribed to by troubled families to the tune of USD4bn. The US attorney general, eric Holder, refused to make an initial offer to JP Morgan of USD3bn, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the talks still remain highly uncertain, without a guarantee of success. The bank is primarily hoping to avoid a criminal case, which would complicate talks, and has been highly reticent to admit that its behaviour may have been at fault in the various cases. In addition to the attorney general, the talks involve the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the New York state prosecutor, as the bank is based in that state. JPMorgan, which has long appeared to be the US bank that best overcame the sub-prime crisis, has already paid USD5.3bn in penalties to settle various lawsuits related to its real estate credit sales policies, the Financial Times reports.
Paul Konigsberg, who was the accountant for Bernard Madoff for a long time, was indicted on Thursday for keeping false books, which allowed Madoff to cover up his fraud for decades, the Wall Street Journal reports. Konigsberg pleaded not guilty.
Of 9,928 funds launched n Germany from 1 January 2000 until the end of 2012, 14.7% did not make it to their third birthday, 21.8% were closed in four years, and 28.7% had to be liquidated without being able to complete their fith year. The main reason for these high attrition rates calculated by the Berlin-based ratings agency Scope is inadequate performance.The newly-created funds only very rarely offer results higher than those of already existing products, which is often due to a lack of genuine innovation in the concepts, and also to a high level of cost compared with the limited volume of assets in the new funds.The categories of funds most severely affected by liquidations are money markets and equities, with attrition rates of 38.1% and 29.8% after five years, respectively.
FinanceCom Asset Management has launched the FCOM Africa fund, managed under an outsourcing mndate to RMA Capital, a local player whose assets under managemen total USD5bn. The French-registered, UCITS IV fund is invested in shares in African companies and international businesses which operate primarily in Africa, and which cover a large part of the continent (Nigeria, Souuth Africa, Morocco, Kenya, Ghana, etc.). “With initial assets of EUR20m, the fund is expected to soon see its assets increase due to the rising interest of investors in this geographical region,” according to FinanceCom.
Franklin Templeton has launched an investment-grade bond fund,, which will be managed by Sonal Desai, portfolio manager and also director of research in the international bonds department, Citywire Global reports. The Templeton Constrained Bond Fund will be co-managed by Christine Zu. Desi will concentrate primarily on fixed or variable rate debt securities, including bonds from outside the investment grade category, as well as debt issued by government or semi-government agencies worldwide. Desai will also be able to invets in bonds issued by supra-national organisations such as the International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the European Investment Bank. Investment grade bonds will represent most of the portfolio, but up to 15% of assets may be invested in securities outside investment grade.
Prudential Investments, an affiliate of Prudential Financial, has announced the launch of the Prudential Jennison Global Infrastrucure Fund (NASDAQ ticker: PGJAX), a fund which invests primarily in global listed equity of companies active in infrastructure and associated sectors.The product is managed by Shaun Hong and Bobby Edmeka, portfolio managers at Jennison Associates, with the assistance of three analysts. The portfolio will include 70 to 90 positions, and the benchmark index is the S&P Global Infrastructure, but the managers use an absolute return strategy which allows them to include shares which are from outside this perimeter.The fund carries a front-end fee of 5.5%, and a total expense ratio capped to 1.50%.
Jack Hansen, CIO, and Thomas Lee, portfolio manager at The Clifton group, are the managers of the new Parametric Balanced Risk Fund (tickers, EAPBX, for investor shares, and EIPBX for institutional shares), a mutual fund from Eaton Vance, the parent company of Parametric (USD107.2bn), of which Clifton is an affiliate.The absolute return product uses a risk parity strategy to allocate to the main asset classes of global equities, global real estate, global credit spreads, commodities, global bonds, inflation-linked bonds, precious metals, and volatility.Allocation is steered according to the volatility anticipated over the long term for each asset class, with the management team working to preserve a level of contribution to portfolio risk which is measurably equal between the various asset classes.
F&C Investments has announced the appointment of Vicki Bakhshi as head of governance and sustainable investment (GSI). Her appointment comes almost a year after the departure of Karina Litvack who had this position.Vicki Bakhshi joined F&C in 2006 and has been a senior member of the GSI team for a number of years, including most recently as head of engagement. Prior to joining F&C, she spent five years in the UK government. She has also worked as a writer at the Financial Times, and as an economist at the Bank of England.
In its half year trading update, Liontrust Asset Management plc reports that as of 24 Septemer, its assets totalled GBP3.413bn, compared with GBP3.265bn as of 1 July, and GBP3.039bn as of 1 April. One year previously, Liontrust had GBP2.364bn in assets under management.In the first half of its fiscal year, net subscriptions totalled GBP312m, of which GBP10m were in July-September, while market effects were positive to the tune of GBP62m (they were GBP138m in July-September). In April-September 2012, net subscriptions totalled GBP151m.Figures released by Liontrust reveal that net subscriptions in the first half of the fiscal year to the end of March 2014 came from offshore funds (GBP178m0 and retail funds (GBP146m), while institutional funds had outflows of GBP12m.As of 24 September, institutional funds had assets of GBP513m, while retail products had GBP2.487bn, and offshore funds had GBP413m.
Investment Week reports that JPMorgan Asset Management has recruited the economic editorialist Sophie Flanders from the BBC as its chief market strategist for the United Kingdom and Europe. She will be based in London, and will report to David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds.
ING Investment Managers has seen the departure of Gus Robertson, who will be returning to South Africa for family reasons, and has consequently had to overhaul its emerging markets equity team, Citywire Global reports. Nathan Griffiths becomes principal manager of the ING Global Emerging Markets and ING (L) Invest Emerging Europe funds. Ivo Luiten will assist with the fund, while ING IM is in the process of recruiting a full-time co-manager for the Emerging Europe fund.
Expansión rapporte que Lazard Frères Gestion a lancé le fonds Objectif Recovery Eurozone investissant dans les entreprises de plus de 100 millions d’euros de capitalisation qui affichent le potentiel le plus élevé de revalorisation en cas de sortie de crise de la zone euro. Au 30 août, il était investi à 27 % dans 13 valeurs espagnoles comme Atresmedia et Iberdrola. Parmi les autres lignes figurent Unicredito, Enel et Peugeot.
Neuberger Berman a confié au gérant Jon Jonsson un fonds obligataire mondial à rendement absolu, Neuberger Berman Global Bond Absolute Return, rapporte Citywire Global. L’intéressé, qui a rejoint la société à Londres en provenance de JP Morgan fin août, gérera le nouveau fonds avec Andy Johnson. Le fonds bénéficiera d’un capital d’amorçage de 42 millions de dollars.
En novembre, la plate-forme Schroder GAIA (Global Alternative Investor Access, 1,8 milliard d’euros d’encours) s’enrichira d’un sixième fonds alternatif coordonné, le Schroder GAIA Avoca Credit d’Avoca Capital Management LLP (6 milliards d’euros) géré par Simon Thorp et James Sclater, qui sont responsables de cette stratégie depuis 13 ans. Le fonds coordonné Avoca Credit Absolute Return Fund sera à cette occasion absorbé par le nouveau Schroder GAIA Avoca Credit.L’objectif de rendement se situe à 7-10 % par an, net de frais. Ce fonds sans indice de référence se focalisera sur les obligations d’entreprises et de financières du monde entier, y compris des pays émergents. L'équipe long/short crédit d’Avoca utilisera en fait la même stratégie que celle mise en œuvre pour le fonds Avoca, dont la performance nette depuis 2002 se situe à 9,8 % annuels. Autrement dit, l'équipe de gestion investira en obligations d’entreprises, en CDS, en indices de crédit, en options sur indices catégorie investissement et haut rendement ainsi qu’en dette souveraine.
La dette publique de la France a augmenté de 41,9 milliards d’euros au deuxième trimestre pour atteindre 1.912,2 milliards fin juin, soit 93,4% du PIB, selon les statistiques publiées vendredi par l’Insee. Le ratio de dette sur PIB a ainsi augmenté de 1,6 point sur l’ensemble du deuxième trimestre (91,8% à fin mars) et de 3,2 points sur le premier semestre (90,2% fin 2012).
Un an après avoir dégradé Oddo, Fitch Ratings confirme sa note long terme BBB- mais relève sa perspective de négative à stable. «Cette révision reflète l’orientation croissante du modèle d’affaires de la banque vers les métiers de gestion, qui génèrent actuellement l’essentiel du résultat opérationnel», écrivent les analystes de l’agence de notation. Ceux-ci évoquent une collecte nette positive dans les trois pôles gestion d’actifs, banque privée et services titres à fin juin. Fitch souligne également le retour à l’équilibre des activités de BFI en 2012 et leur rentabilité opérationnelle satisfaisante au premier semestre 2013. Oddo a notamment restructuré son département de cash actions et s’est retiré du marché des options.
Le taux de chômage du Brésil, qui reste près de ses plus bas records, a été ramené contre toute attente à 5,3% le mois dernier, contre 5,6% en juillet, rapporte l’agence officielle IBGE. Alors que les salaires ont augmenté d’un mois sur l’autre, cette baisse inattendue indique que le ralentissement économique du pays au troisième trimestre ne sera peut-être pas aussi brutal que prévu.
La Cour constitutionnelle portugaise a rejeté hier une loi destinée à accroître la flexibilité du marché du travail comme l’exigent les créanciers internationaux dans le cadre d’un plan d’aide financière au pays. Elle a notamment censuré la possibilité accordée aux patrons de déterminer eux-mêmes le motif d’un licenciement. Elle doit maintenant se prononcer sur le passage de la semaine de travail de 35 à 40 heures dans la fonction publique.
L’Association française de la gestion financière (AFG) se félicite que le projet de loi de Finances 2014 (contrairement au budget 2013 qui apparaissait plus restrictif) n’empêche pas ces créateurs de bénéficier de l’abattement renforcé au régime de taxation des plus-values mobilières. En vertu de celui-ci, l’imposition au barème de l’impôt sur le revenu interviendra après un abattement de 50% pour une durée de détention de un an à moins de quatre ans, 65% pour une durée de détention de quatre ans à moins de huit ans, puis 85 % à partir de huit ans.
La Réserve fédérale confesse avoir eu une communication confuse sur sa stratégie de sortie de son programme d’assouplissement quantitatif (QE3). Jeremy Stein, gouverneur de la Fed, a notamment expliqué hier que la décision annoncée le 18 septembre de maintenir les rachats d’actifs au rythme de 85 milliards de dollars par mois avait été «serrée», en notant pour sa part qu’il était favorable à un début de retrait du QE3.
L’indice PCE des prix à la consommation a cédé 0,1% au deuxième trimestre, première baisse depuis le premier trimestre 2009 alors que la statistique préliminaire le donnait inchangé. Les données officielles confirment tout de même une croissance annualisée de 2,5% du PIB au deuxième trimestre.
Le gouvernement italien envisage de modifier la législation pour permettre aux entreprises d’abaisser leur seuil de déclenchement des offres publiques d’achat (OPA), actuellement à 30% du capital, a indiqué hier devant le Parlement Alberto Giorgetti, sous-secrétaire d’Etat au ministère de l’Economie. Le projet vise à répondre aux critiques soulevées par la montée de Telefonica au capital de Telecom Italia. L’opérateur espagnol a en effet conclu un accord qui lui assure à terme 100% du capital de Telco, holding qui contrôle Telecom Italia via une participation de 22,4% de son capital, sans avoir à lancer une OPA en bonne et due forme.