La Grèce ne devrait pas dégager d’excédent primaire avant 2014, selon les experts de la troïka, et encore un modeste 1,5 milliard d’euros

L'une des explications tient à l’évolution de l’exposition divergente des banques européennes à la dette des pays dits «périphériques»

Les Etats-Unis dépasseraient en 2017 l'Arabie saoudite comme premier producteur, selon l'AIE

Les Etats-Unis dépasseraient en 2017 l'Arabie saoudite comme premier producteur, selon l'AIE

Alors que le Parti démocrate du Premier ministre Yoshihiko Noda n’est crédité que de 12% des intentions de vote, son niveau le plus faible depuis sa prise de fonctions l’an dernier, le gouvernement préparerait une dissolution de la Chambre basse avec de nouvelles élections dès le 16 décembre prochain, selon le journal. Une nouvelle tentative de conciliation avec l’opposition sur la baisse du déficit a échoué hier.

En marge du 18e congrès du parti communiste chinois, les autorités ont annoncé une augmentation du quota d'investissements étrangers autorisés

Depuis septembre, le Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) a un nouveau chargé de mission investissement responsable : Mickael Hellier. Il vient de CDC Climat, filiale du groupe Caisse des dépôts dédié au financement environnemental où il a été responsable commercial pendant deux ans. Il a fait auparavant de la gestion alternative chez Finaltis de 2007 à 2010, après avoir quitté Vigeo où il était en charge de la relation avec les clients. Ce recrutement est l’occasion de faire le point sur la stratégie ISR du FRR avec Yves Chevalier, membre du Directoire. « Nous voulons continuer à être innovant sur l’ISR mais en gérant de nouvelles contraintes liées aux moyens dont nous disposons et au contexte de décaissement programmé jusqu’en 2024. Nous avons choisi de placer ce poste au coeur du département de la gestion déléguée piloté par Jean-Philippe Olivier. Mickael Hellier a deux grandes missions. Il doit d’abord dialoguer avec nos gestionnaires afin de faire vivre un reporting ESG comprenant une quinzaine de critères. À travers la mise en place d’indicateurs, ce reporting permettra de mesurer les progrès réalisés par les entreprises de notre univers d’investissement. Mickaël a ensuite pour tâche de suivre les grandes problématiques ISR auxquelles sont confrontés les investisseurs institutionnels. Enfin, nous réaliserons, en 2013 un bilan de notre politique ISR 2008-2012 et lancerons un appel d’offres pour compléter le système d’alerte sur les controverses concernant les entreprises dont nous sommes actionnaires par une aide à l’engagement ». Le FRR a aujourd’hui un portefeuille actions d’environ 7 milliards d’euros. Il doit attribuer courant novembre jusqu'à trois mandats ISR en actions européennes petites et moyennes capitalisations pour un montant de 200 millions d’euros et trois autres début 2013 sur des thématiques développement durable.

John Ventre, head of multi-manager at Old Mutual Global Investors, will manage Generation, a new range to include four mluti-manager multi-asset income funds, Fundweb reports.The Generation 3:4, Generation 3:6, Generation 4:4 and Generation 4:6 funds will as a top priority aim to outperform the consumer price index, and as a second priority, will aim for targeted returns. The first figure is the CPI plus figure and the second figure is the yield.Minimal subscription is set at GBP1,000 and annual management commission is 1.25%.

In first quarter 2013, JP Morgan Asset Management will launch a range of funds of funds and a family of discretionary portfolios to meet demand from IFAs in the United Kingdom in an RDR environment, Investment Week reports.As part of the launch of the JPMorgan Advisor Solutions range in first quarter 2013, the six JPM Elite Potolios (0.6% management commission + 0.5% platform fee) will be “multi-fund” products, covering the whole of the market, which will be actively mnaged, risk-rated and managed on a discretionary basis.The JPM Fusion range will also include five funds of funds which will charge 0.75%, corresponding to specific risk levels. The Fusion products will rely on resources from JP Morgan Private Bank for asset allocation, fund selection and risk controls.

Fidelity Worldwide Investments (FWI), which covers the British market, and which is in the process of cutting its ties with its research unit based in Boston, will be recruiting an in-house team of 17 analysts in the United States in the next few months, Investment Week reports.The development is related to a decision by FWI to become a completely independent arm of Fidelity Management and Research (FMR). The two groups had already cut their ties in 1979, when Fidelity International Liited (FIL), now known as FWI, became a legally independent entity from FMR.According to Investment Week, the two entities would now like to end their remaining business relationships. As a result, managers at FWI will not have access to research by the team based in Boston.

48% of British pension funds are planning to invest in green energies, social real estate, microfinance or infrastructure in the next 12 to 24 months, according to a survey of 47 pension funds wth GBP143bn in assets under management cited by Financial Times Fund Management. This would double the 23% currently placed in such investments, according to Social Finance and Finethic.

As of the end of September, asset management firms belonging to the German BVI association posted inflows of EUR1.97134trn, due to net inflows of EUR53.36bn, of which EUR4.46bn were in September.Of these total net inflows in the first three quarters of 2012, open-ended funds attracted EUR12.04bn, compared with net outflows of EUR6.38bn in January-September 2011, while institutional funds have posted EUR43.09bn in inflows, compared with EUR21.31bn in the first three quarters of last year. However, mandates managed outside funds have posted net outflows of EUR1.77bn, compared with EUR1.79bn, for assets as of the end of September to EUR315.27bn, which compares with EUR712.26bn for open-ended funds and EUR943.82bn for institutional funds.Net inflows of EUR9.275bn for securities funds in January-September largely contributed to net inflows of EUR17.8bn for Allianz Global Investors (including EUR14.4bn for Pimco), and EUR2.68bn for Union Investment (co-operative banks). Howeve, Deka and the Deutsche Bank group have seen net outflows of EUR4.76bn and EUR2.43bn, respectively.It is also of note that in the first three quarters of 2012, ETF providers have seen net outflows, with the exception fo ETFlab investment (Deka), which attracted EUR277m. However, BlackRock and its iShares brand ETFs have seen net outflows of EUR1.18bn, while ComStage (Commerzbank) has seen outflows of EUR787m. For its part, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) has seen net redemptions of EUR587m.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reeports that debt issuers have discovered due to a controversy over a shortage of 220,000 places in crèches throughout Germany that these entities (known as Kitas) could be a theme for investment. Consequently, Aviarent Capital Management has raised GBP50m from institutional investors for the Kita Fonds Kinderwelten I. Habona Invest has also set up a specialised fund, but it has not yet received a license from BaFin.

The alternative management specialist in emerging markets Dromeus Capital Group has launched a hedge fund dedicated to Greece, Hedge Week reports. The fund, entitled Greek Advantage Fund, will concentrate on opportunities related to a massive sale of assets in Greece since the onset of the financial crisis. The size of the fund will be limited to EUR200m, until a significant improvement in the liquidity of Greek debt and the equity markets in the country is observed.The first investors in the fund are European funds of funds, private banks, fund managers and family offices.

Shortly after Fidelity Worldwide Investments unveiled its SAM portfolio management software (see Newsmanagers of 9 November), its affiliate FFB (FIL Fondsbank) has announced the launch of an online resource on which SAM is based, the Modellportfolio-Tool. The tool offers an integrated solution available on the website of FFB, which allows IFAs and wealth managers to easily and automatically deploy their own management strategies. With the tool, the portfolios of several clients whose expectations are similar could be administered in a centralised manner.

David L. Albrycht, who had been CIO, multi-sector strategies since June 2011, has been promoted to the position of president & CIO of Newfleet Asset Management (formerly SCM Advisors), an affiliate of Virtus Investment Partners. He will continue to report to George R. Aylward, president & CEO of Virtus Investment Partners. Albrycht had previously been managing director and senior portfolio manager at Goodwin Capital Advisers, a former management firm of the Virtus group.Assets at Newfleet have practically doubled in one year, to USD10bn, while assets under management at the Virtus group as of the end of September totalled USD41.8bn.

Inflows to the largest ETF from Vanguard evaporated in the wake of the decision in early October to drop MSCI as an index provider in favour of the less costly FTSE, Financial Times Fund Management reports. In October, the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF posted net inflows of USD1m in October, compared with a monthly average of USD1.3bn from January to September, the ETF Industry Association says. The decline is not due to a sudden loss of interest in emerging market ETFs. It would appear that some investors were upset by the change of indices.

The team led by Jennifer Pedigo, managing director and head of institutional sales at BMO Global Asset Management (USD105bn as of 31 July), has been strengthened with the recruitment of four people.They are:Lisa Doi - Relationship Manager, Institutional SalesHolly Garteiz - Relationship Manager, Consultant Relations, Central and Western RegionsMark Osterkamp - Relationship Manager, Institutional Sales, Western RegionDavid Preiner - Relationship Manager, Institutional Sales

As the complexity of investment products increase and new requirements affect sales supports, distributors of mutual funds and other asset managers are increasingly turning to product specialists to fill gaps in expertise, according to a report published by Cerulli, MutualFundWire reports.A survey by Cerulli finds that half of managers surveyed will recruit a specialist in the next twelve months.

Natixis Asset Management has announced the appointment of Yves Maillot at director of the European equity expertise unit. The former head of equity allocation and management and chief investment officer at Robeco Gestions will report to Emmanuel Bourdeix, co-chief investment officer (volatility and structured product management, European equity management, global emerging market management, investment and client solutions). Bourdeix had previously been responsible for European equity expertise.Maillot began his career in 1986 at Crédit Commercial de France as a manager of equities, derivative products and diversified portfolios. In 1992, he joined Barclays France as a manager of institutional funds and employee savings (equity and diversified portfolio management).

La Banque Postale AM has announced the arrival of Arnaud Colombel, a credit manager in its fixed income, euro & credit management unit, on 3 September.Colombel joins the credit & convertibles team, led by Samir Bederr, and is responsible for contributing to the development of activities for this unit, and for participating in the issuer analysis framework, a statement says.Colombel, 30, began his career at CPR Asset Management as a Quant Credit Research engineer. In 2007, he was appointed as a Fixed Income/Credit portfolio manager, and was responsible for the management of fixed income/credit mandates dedicated to an insurer in particular, as well as the design, launch and management of three dedicated and two open indexed Credit funds.

Bruce Bent, the founder of the Reserve Primary money market fund that «broke the buck» during the financial crisis, was cleared of charges of fraud, which claimed that he misled investors about the financial health of the fund in order to avoid a wave of redemptions, the Financial Times reports. The jury found that Bent’s son, also named Bruce, was liable of negligence for misleading investors about the family’s plans to cover losses from the fund triggered by the Lehman bankruptcy. The Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed the case, is seeking fines for Bent Jr. and the firm, Reserve Management, which was also found liable.

Italian banks have rededicated themsleves to sales of funds, particularly bond funds, according to Plus, the Il Sole – 24 Ore supplement, which adds that bank branches represent the major distribution channel for funds in Italy (67% of assets). This partly goes to explain why funds on sale in Italy have seen a positive balance between subscriptions and redemptions in third quarter (EUR2.4bn), after months of outflows. Since the beginning of the year, inflows to bond funds have totalled EUR15.3bn, of which EUR8.4bn were sold by banks. The asset management firms which benefited most in third quarter are: Banco Popolare (EUR1.1bn), Ubi Banca (EUR816m), and Invesco (EUR554m). Pioneer, after months of redemptions, has returned to positive inflows. The other foreign firms which have posted strong inflows are Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Franklin Templeton.

In the past two years, money market funds have adjusted their geographical allocations by 20%, which represents a total of about EUR100bn, according to a study which has recently been published by the financial ratings agency Fitch Ratings. Money market funds have steered clear of peripheral countries of Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom, in favour of Europe, Scandinavia, and to a lesser extent, Asian and Middle Eastern issuers. Money market funds are, however, maintaining significant exposure to European issuers, with the average portfolio 75% exposed to Europe.

In October, funds on sale in Sweden reached record assets of SEK1.97trn (EUR230bn), the highest level ever recorded by the Swedish fund association (Fondbolagens Förening), which nonetheless states that this record level was reached once previously, in May 2011. In October, funds posted net subscriptions of SEK6.6bn. Inflows were driven by balanced funds (SEK2.9bn), bond funds (SEK3.4bn) and money market funds (SEK3.4bn). However, equity funds have seen outflows of SEK2.9bn. Funds invested in Swedish equities have primarily suffered from these outflows (SEK3bn). Since the beginning of this year, funds on sale in Sweden have posted net inflows of SEK17.7bn, largely driven by bond funds (SEK16.1bn), and to a lesser extent by balanced funds (SEK8.9bn).

La Caisse Autonome de Retraite des Médecins de France (CARMF) affiche une poche immobilière de 1 milliard d’euros, représentant 20% de ses 5 milliards d’euros de réserves gérées. Une poche investie à 90% dans l’immobilier direct. Avec un positionnement très précis. Exclusivement sur Paris QCA autour de l’Etoile en bureaux. La caisse de retraite continue même à arbitrer ses logements dans les beaux quartiers parisiens. Elle s’appuie sur un patrimoine d’une trentaine d’immeubles, de 200 locataires de 100 000 mètres carrés et des flux de loyers de 47 millions d’euros annuels. Nous avons bâti une stratégie globale de placement avec un horizon très long terme pour des besoins en 2020. Fort de cette logique, la CARMF est très averse au risque et ne se positionne que sur du core justifie Marie Aymard-Lefaure, chef de service immobilier de la CARMF à la tribune d’un Matin de Business Immo. La CARMF qui a vocation à se renforcer sur l’immobilier au détriment du marché actions, consent bien ne légère diversification en se positionnant sur de l’indirect. Cette politique est motivée par une volonté de diversification sur le plan géographique, en Europe et pas seulement la zone euro, et selon le secteur d’activité, en ciblant principalement le bureau, le commerce et la logistique explique Marie Aymard-Lefaure. Elle se traduit aussi par des participations dans plusieurs véhicules d’investissement pilotés par les grands gestionnaires d’actifs de la place.

Le dernier fonds d’investissement d’Advent International vient de dépasser son objectif initial et de lever 8,5 milliards d’euros contre sept milliards prévus initialement, rapporte L’Agefi. Elément notable, le processus de levée de ce véhicule de septième génération n’aura duré que huit mois, soit une période bien inférieure à la moyenne du secteur. Le fonds investit des tickets compris entre 100 et 500 millions d’euros, principalement en Europe et aux Etats-Unis et de façon sélective sur les autres continents.

En octobre, les fonds commercialisés en Suède ont atteint un encours de 1.970 milliards de couronnes (230 milliards d’euros), soit le montant le plus élevé enregistré par l’association suédoise des fonds (Fondbolagens Förening) qui précise toutefois que ce niveau record avait déjà été atteint en mai 2011.En octobre, les fonds ont enregistré des souscriptions nettes de 6,6 milliards de couronnes. La collecte a été tirée par les fonds diversifiés (2,9 milliards de couronnes), les fonds obligataires (3,4 milliards) et les fonds monétaires (3,4 milliards).En revanche, les fonds actions voient sortir 2,9 milliards de couronnes. Ce sont surtout les fonds investis dans les actions suédoises qui ont souffert de la décollecte (3 milliards de couronnes). Depuis le début de l’année, les fonds commercialisés en Suède affichent une collecte nette de 17,7 milliards de couronnes, principalement alimentée par les fonds obligataires (16,1 milliards de couronnes) et dans une moindre mesure par les fonds diversifiés (8,9 milliards de couronnes).

Le groupe Generali a confirmé pour la première fois officiellement son intention de vendre sa filiale de banque privée suisse BSI, rapporte finews.ch. Alberto Minali, directeur financier du groupe italien, a confirmé que le processus de vente est engagé, même si les acquéreurs potentiels ne sont pas encore connus.

Le capital-investisseur Advent vient de boucler la plus importante levée de fonds depuis la crise financière de 2008, à 8,5 milliards d’euros, soit près de 2 milliards de plus que son fonds précédent. Le fonds, lancé en mars dernier, a été bouclé en un peu plus de huit mois.Le fonds Advent GPE VII investira principalement en Europe et en Amérique du Nord et de façon sélective sur les autres continents, précise Advent dans un communiqué publié le 12 novembre.