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04/07/2012

Bund ETF from Pimco and Source licensed for sale in France

Pimco and Source on 3 July announced that the Pimco German Government Bond Index Source ETF (or “Bund”), which since 25 June has been available for trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra platform (see Newsmanagers of 26 June 2012), is now licensed for sale in the United Kingdom, Austria, France, Finland and Italy (only for institutional investors), the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. The Bund is the seventh fund to join the Pimco Source physically invested ETF range. The range, launched last year, includes MINT strategies – the first actively-managed bond ETFs in Europe – and the first bond ETFs to weight various countries by their GDP, in order to optimally reproduce the benchmark indices of emerging market government bonds denominated in local and European currencies.
04/07/2012

Pension funds to calculate discount rate over 25 years

Over the weekend, a hidden clause in a transportation bill, which will have a significant impact on pension funds, has come into force in the United States, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The discount rate will now be calculated on the basis of average returns over the past 25 years on good quality corporate bonds, and will no longer be based on the past two years. As rates have been much higher over the longer period than the shorter one (during the recent downturn), this accounting trick had given manoeuvring room to pension funds, whose coverage rate on liabilities will mechanically increase. This could lead funds to return to equity markets as investors. As contributions to pension funds by businesses are set to decline, profits will increase, and thus so will tax revenues.
04/07/2012

New unit and partner for max.xs

The German financial services provider max.xs has announced the creation of an advisory unit, “sales consultants,” which will aim primarily to offer asset managers a practical toolbox to help them elaborate the positioning of their products and their commercial strategy in German-speaking markets. Concretely, max.xs will provide information on distribution channels and assistance to establish marketing and communication strategy, as well as contacts with the major service providers. That may prove useful for asset managers seeking to develop an access strategy for German-speaking markets, and to establish a solid business plan. In addition, max.xs specialists may provide useful assistance in evaluating the effectiveness of commercial strategy and optimising sales service activities.max.xs has also announced that it has received an exclusive distribution mandate serving German institutional and wholesale investors for the Austrian asset management firm Kathrein Privatbank. The agreement extends to mutual funds as well as institutional products in the areas of European government bonds and overlay solutions.
04/07/2012

DWS appoints two directors of distribution

Mario Lenke, most recently head of relationships with major banking clients, has been appointed as head of IFA sales at DWS. He will be responsible for distribution to IFAs, IFA networks, platforms, and financial portfolio managers. His predecessor, Ivan Rancic, has become director of distribution for retirement products throughout Germany. The two newly-promoted men will report to Steffen Leipold, director of external sales for Germany.
04/07/2012

70 layoffs at L&G

The British insurer Legal & General (L&G) is planning to lay off 70 people as part of a restructuring of its distribution platform, whose personnel would be reduced from 160 to 90, Money Marketing reports. This restructuring is related to the entry into force of RDR legislation at the beginning of 2013.
04/07/2012

Pension funds managed by specialists perform better

In the United Kingdom, pension funds managed by specialists earn better results than those which are managed by diersified managers, according to a 20-year study which will soon be published in the Journal of Finance, the website IPE reports. The superior performance of specialists is particularly pronounced in UK equities, the most popular asset class with British pension funds, the study finds. According to professor David Blake, co-author of the report and head of the Pensions Institute at the Cass Business School in London, “specialists in UK equities have earned a average alpha after commissions of 35 basis points per year, while diversified managers earned a negative alpha of 54 basis points.” Another finding of the study is that putting managers in competition with each other produces a sharp increase in returns. “Pension funds which have abandoned the use of only one specialist in favour of several specialists have increased their performance by an average of 131 basis points,” says Blake. The same trend can be observed for diversified managers, where a transition from one to several managers improves performance by 63 basis points. In both cases, fees increased by only 3 basis points.
04/07/2012

Libor scandal: Barclays CEO is next to resign

The scandal over manipulations of the Libor interest rate by the British Barclays Bank claimed another victim on 3 July, in the person of the CEO of the bank, Bob Diamond, who became the shameful emblem of the crimes of the City. The chairman of the board of directors at Barclays, Marcus Agius, had announced his resignation the day before, in an effort to calm the scandal, which had ignited public opinion and British political decision-makers. “External pressure on Barclays has reached a level which risked damaging the venture, and I couldn’t let that happen,” the American director said in a statement to explain his shock immediate resignation. “I am very disappointed because the events of last week give an image of Barclays and its employees which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Diamond adds.
04/07/2012

Simon Wilson leaves Old Mutual AM

The director of sales and marketing at Old Mutual Asset Managers (OMAM), Simon Wilson, will be leaving the group, FundWeb reports. The decision follows the announcement in late April of a merger of OMAM and Skandia Investment Group to form an entity led by the head of OMAM, Julian Ide. Wilson joined OMAM in 2004.
04/07/2012

Man Group recruits a former pension fund CIO

The British alternative management group Man has recruited Judy Sanders as senior adviser in its British institutional unit, Investment Europe reports. Sanders previously spent seven years as chief investment officer for the public pension fund for the West Midlands, whose assets under management total GBP8.7bn. The recruitment is motivated, at least in part, by a growing interest on the part of institutional investors in alternative management. Between 2009 and 2011, allocations by British pension funds to hedge funds increased from 1.8% to 4.1%, according to statistics from the national pension fund association. And a recent survey by SEI found that 38% of institutionals were planning to increase their investments in hedge funds, more than twice as many as were planning to reduce their exposure. While employed at the West Midlands pension fund, Saunders developed an allocation dedicated to alternative investments, up to 35%, of which 10% was allocated to absolute return strategies.
04/07/2012

First State Investments strengthens presence in socially responsible investment

First State Investments has announced the appointments of Will Oulton as global head of socially responsible investment (in London), and Pablo Berrutti as global head of socially responsible investment (in Sydney). The appointments follow the arrival of Amanda McCluskey on the Asia-Pacific Equities and global emerging markets team at First State Stewart, which is based in Singapore. Oulton, vice president of the European socially responsible investment forum (EUROSIF) and director of the British socially responsible investment forum (UKSIF), previously worked at Mercer Investments London, as head of socially responsible invesment for the EMEA region. Berrutti previusly served as head of socially responsible investment at Perpetual in Sydney. He is currently president of the research group at the Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), and director of the Australasian socially responsible investment association.
04/07/2012

International Corporate Governance Network elects a new board

At its general meeting in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) has appointed four new members to its board:Philippe Zaouati, deputy CEO in charge of development and responsible investment at Natixis Asset ManagementPhilip Armstrong, director of the Global Corporate Governance ForumHeloisa Belotti Bedicks, CEO of the Brazilian Institute of Corproate GovernanceJon Feigelson, senior managing director and general counsel & head of Corporate Governance, TIAA-CREFThe four replace Arnaud de Bresson (Paris Europlace), Sandra Guerra (Better Governance), Dr. Nasser Saidi, (Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance in Dubai) and Christy Wood (ICGN).
04/07/2012

Credit Suisse sells a 7% stake in Aberdeen AM

Credit Suisse has sold another 7% of its stake in Aberdeen Asset Management, reducing its stake to 2.8%. The group sold 80.4 million shares, representing about GBP205m at current prices. The Swiss group has confirmed reports initially circulated by Bloomberg, and adds that the operation will have a positive influence on the group’s profits in third quarter, without specifying further. The reduction in the stake will also have an impact on owners’ equity at Credit Suisse. In first quarter 2012, the Swiss bank already reduced its stake in Amberdeen by 10 percentage points, to 9.8%. Tier 1 owners’ equity got a boost of CHF0.2bn, while the contribution to profits of the operation totalled CHF146m.
04/07/2012

Eric Helderlé and Jean-Louis Laurens appointed to AFG board

Eric Helderlé of Carmignac Gestion, Jean-Louis Laurens of Rothschild et Cie Gestion, and William Margoline of CM-CIC Management have joined the board of the French financial management association (AFG), as trustees, the association has announced in the most recent issue of Gestion Info (June 2012, no. 4). Also on the board are Pascale Guillier of Carmignac Gestion, Denis Faller of Rothschild et Cie Gestion and Luc Peyronel of CM-CIC Asset Management. The AFG states that it has two new members, LFPI Asset Management and Nature Gestion.
04/07/2012

Cube Capital opens hedge fund to external investors

The hedge fund firm Cube Capital has decided to open its Global Opportunities hedge fund to external investors, Pension & Investments reports. Assets under management in the event-driven fund from Cube Capital total about USD100m, from partners, funds of funds, and family offices.
04/07/2012

US investors remain loyal to cap-weighted indices

A survey by the Edhec-Risk Institute of 139 North American professionals specialised in index-based investment finds that this population is certainly aware of the biases that cap-size weighted indices involve, but that they do not want to replace them. Although nearly 100% of those surveyed consider that the size-related biases introduced by cap-size weighted indices are an important or very important question (compared with 71% in Europe), only 23% of professionals estimate that “alternative” indices could replace cap-size weighted indices.
04/07/2012

Santander launches a partially guaranteed fund

The CNMV on 29 June issued a sales license for Spain to the Santander 95 España 2 fund, a product which guarantees at least 95% of capital, which would represent a maximal loss of 1.6952% per year, at maturity on 31 July 2015. However, as a complement, Santander AM offers a maximal remuneration of 170% of the performance of the Ibex 35 index between 31 July 2012 and 17 July 2015, up to a limit of 20%, which would be equivalent to a maximal return of 29%, or 8.8587% per year.Until 31 July, the fund will invest at least 75% in repos and cash, while the remainder will be invested in corporate bonds. During the guarantee period, the portfolio will be invested in debt issued or guaranteed by European Union governments in cash, while the allocation to corporate bonds from companies domiciled in the EU is limited to 35%.CharacteristicsName: Santander 95 España 3, FIISIN code: ES017492005Maturity: 31 July 2015Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.3% until 31 July 2015, 1.3% thereafterEarly withdrawal penalty: 5% from 1 August 2012Minimal subscription: EUR30,000
04/07/2012

EdRAM registers Eastern Europe fund in Spain

On 29 June, the CNMV issued a sales license for Spain to the French-registered fund Edmond de Rothschild Eastern Europe, managed by Gegham Ananyan, with Thomas Gerhardt, head of emerging markets equity and commodity management (see Newsmanagers of 26 April 2012).
04/07/2012

Asian institutional assets under management up

The 300 largest institutional investors in Asia, Japan and Australia have posted cumulative assets of USD32.8trn, according to the July issue of AsianInvestor magazine. For the first time, the magazine has included Japan and Australia in its rankings, meaning that it is not possible to evaluate year-on-year developments. In the Asia ex Japan region, however, assets under management are up year on year, to USD18.1trn, from USD15.6trn. This development is due to growth in inflows as well as corrections, the magazine reports. The 50 institutional investors in Japan add USD13.1trn to this sum, while the 26 names selected for China represent cumulative assets of USD11trn, far higher than South Korea (USD2trn).
04/07/2012

Dymon recruits a director from Goldman

The Singapore-based hedge fund Dymon Asia Capital has recruited David Chan, who led macro trading in Asia at Goldman Sachs, the news agency Bloomberg reports. Chan will be teamed up with Dymon, which last year was the best-performing vehicle in Asia among major hedge funds. Assets under management at Dymon in February this year totalled USD2.85bn, of which USD2.5bn are in the firm’s flagship macro fund.
04/07/2012
Fonds

Axa PE acquiert onze fonds auprès du canadien OMERS

AXA Private Equity poursuit ses emplettes. La société d’investissement a annoncé mardi 3 juillet avoir signé avec OMERS, l’un des plus importants fonds de pension canadiens, un accord par lequel elle acquiert un portefeuille de onze fonds de capital investissement d’une valeur globale de 850 millions de dollars. Il s’agit essentiellement de fonds nord-américains et internationaux. En 2011, Axa avait déjà racheté un portefeuille de fonds de capital investissement de 1,7 milliard de dollars à Citigroup et un portefeuille de fonds de 740 millions de dollars auprès de Barclays.
Fonds
03/07/2012

Bruxelles dévoile son paquet sur les services financiers

Michel Barnier, le commissaire européen aux services financiers, a présenté mardi un paquet de trois propositions législatives. La première est un règlement sur les documents d’information clés concernant les produits d’investissement de détail (Prips), la deuxième une révision de la directive sur l’intermédiation en assurance (IMD) et la troisième une proposition visant à renforcer la protection des acheteurs de fonds d’investissement, OPCVM 5. S’agissant de Prips, La proposition prévoit l’obligation, pour chaque concepteur de produits d’investissement (gestionnaires de fonds d’investissement, assureurs, banques), de produire un document d’information clé (Kid) pour chaque produit.
michel barnier aux Rencontres Économiques Aix-en-Provence le 8-7-23
03/07/2012

La Société Générale lance une plate-forme sur les métaux

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) annonce le lancement d’Alpha Metals, une nouvelle plate-forme de trading électronique sur les contrats à terme échangés sur le London Metal Exchange (LME). Alpha Metals permet aux clients de la banque d’avoir un accès direct sur LMEselect et de bénéficier de ses capacités de teneur de marché sur les contrats à terme et les «spreads» de contrats à terme LME sur l’aluminium, le cuivre, le plomb, le zinc, le nickel et l’étain.
03/07/2012

Les commandes à l'industrie progressent plus que prévu en mai aux Etats-Unis

Les nouvelles commandes à l’industrie aux Etats-Unis ont progressé plus que prévu en mai, un signal encourageant pour le secteur industriel qui était apparu plus vulnérable à la crise de la dette en Europe. Les commandes à l’industrie ont progressé de 0,7% au mois de mai, selon les chiffres publiés mardi par le département du Commerce.
03/07/2012

Le budget 2013 prévoira 1,2% de croissance

Le gouvernement français prévoit une croissance économique plus faible qu’escompté, à 0,3% en 2012 et 1,2% en 2013 contre 0,5% et 1,7% prévu dans le programme de François Hollande, a annoncé mardi le Premier ministre, Jean-Marc Ayrault. «Nous avions anticipé pendant la campagne la faiblesse de la croissance en 2012 : estimée à 0,7% par le gouvernement précédent, elle sera en réalité de 0,3%. Pour 2013, la prudence et la sincérité nous conduisent à anticiper une croissance de l’ordre de 1,2%», a-t-il dit dans son discours de politique générale.
03/07/2012

Pierre Moscovici confirme les objectifs de déficit de la France

Le gouvernement va prendre les mesures nécessaires pour ramener le déficit public à 4,5% du PIB fin 2012, alors qu’il atteindrait 5% sans mesure correctrice, a déclaré mardi le ministre français des Finances, Pierre Moscovici, à la veille de la présentation du projet de loi de finances rectificative. Lors d’un forum Paris Europlace, la place financière de Paris, il a confirmé l’objectif d’un déficit à 3% du PIB fin 2013 et d’un retour à l'équilibre fin 2017, ce qui serait une première pour un gouvernement français depuis 1974. Le déficit public était équivalent à 5,2% du PIB fin 2011.
Pierre Moscovici. Photo: Hamilton/REA
03/07/2012

Baisse plus forte que prévu des prix à la production dans la zone euro

Les prix à la production ont baissé un peu plus rapidement que prévu en mai dans la zone euro, avec la chute des prix de l'énergie, ce qui renforce le scénario d’une baisse des taux directeurs en Europe, a annoncé Eurostat mardi.Ces prix ont baissé de 0,5% en mai, soit une hausse de 2,3% annuellement, alors que les économistes interrogés par Reuters anticipaient -0,3% et +2,5% respectivement.
03/07/2012

L'Irlande va faire son retour sur les marchés de capitaux

L’Irlande va revenir jeudi sur le marché de la dette à court terme pour la première fois depuis septembre 2010, tâchant de tirer parti d’une vive hausse de la confiance des investisseurs à l'égard du pays pour lancer un processus de retour de plain-pied sur le marché des capitaux. A la suite de cette décision, le rendement des obligations irlandaises à 10 ans a vivement baissé sur le marché secondaire, évoluant à 6,358%, soit à peu près au même niveau que le rendement espagnol (6,348%).
03/07/2012

La banque centrale d’Australie laisse les taux inchangés

La Banque de Réserve d’Australie a laissé mardi son taux d’intervention à 3,5%, préférant voir si les détentes monétaires déjà opérées suffiront à préserver l'économie locale du marasme économique mondial. «La conséquence des décisions prises antérieurement est qu’il y a eu un assouplissement notable de la politique monétaire ces six derniers mois», explique le gouverneur Glenn Stevens.
03/07/2012

L’indice PMI des services à un plus haut de trois mois en Chine

Le secteur des services chinois a connu en juin sa croissance la plus marquée en trois mois, l’indice calculé après enquête auprès des directeurs d’achat ressortant à 56,7 contre 55,2 en mai. Le sous-indice des contrats nouveaux s’inscrit à 53,7, son meilleur niveau de l’année. Le secteur des services chinois résiste bien mieux que son homologue industriel à la crise mondiale jusqu'à présent.
03/07/2012

Alerte sur les retraites aux Etats-Unis

Les Etats et municipalités des Etats-Unis ont plus de 2.000 milliards de dollars de déficit dans le financement des retraites, selon une enquête réalisée par Moody’s. Selon les estimations de l’agence, le montant total des engagements en versements de retraite pour l’année fiscale 2010 était de plus de trois fois supérieur à celui annoncé par les gouvernements.

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