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16/04/2012

SWIP supprime 23 postes

La société de gestion britannique Scottish Widows Investment Partnership va supprimer 23 postes dans son équipe dédiée aux actions dans le cadre d’une réorganisation de cette activité de 54 milliards de livres. Le pôle actions sera désormais recentré sur la gestion active et la gestion quantitative, et un certain nombre de stratégies deviendront passives. «On assiste dans le secteur de la gestion d’actifs à un écart grandissant entre les investisseurs actions en quête de solutions à alpha élevé et ceux préférant une stratégie à plus faible risque par le biais d’une approche quantitative», explique un communiqué.Andrew November, le directeur des actions de SWIP, a dans ce cadre nommé l’équipe qui pilotera cette nouvelle stratégie actions. Will Low continuera à occuper son rôle de responsable des actions mondiales, qui inclue désormais les petites capitalisations britanniques, l’immobilier coté et le rendement absolu. Tony Whalley continuera à diriger l’équipe equities dealing, et Anne Fraser restera responsable de la gouvernance. Sean Phayre sera toujours le dirigeant de l’équipe quantitative qui se trouve dans le pôle Investment Solutions. SWIP indique par ailleurs avoir entamé la transition d’un certain nombre de fonds à la nouvelle stratégie actions. Ce processus prendra quelques mois et se traduira par la fermeture d’un certain nombre de petits fonds actions régionaux et de fonds dont la petite taille ne les rend plus viable économiquement.
16/04/2012
Fonds

M&G ferme des fonds de Prudential

Le britannique M&G a indiqué vouloir fermer quatre unit trusts de la gamme proposée par Prudential dans le cadre de la rationalisation de son offre, rapporte fundWeb.Les fermetures proposées concernent le Prudential European Tracker trust, le Prudential Ethical trust, le Prudential (Invesco Perpetual) Managed trust et le Prudental Managed Funds Tracker trust. Les fermetures envisagées devraient être mises en œuvre le 8 juin prochain. Les clients sont invités à transférer leurs investissements dans des véhicules équivalents de M&G.
Fonds
16/04/2012

Ashmore augmente ses encours au troisième trimestre

La société de gestion britannique Ashmore spécialisée sur les marchés émergents a vu ses encours augmenter de 9,1 % au troisième trimestre de l’année à 65,9 milliards de dollars. La société a enregistré des souscriptions dans l’overlay, la dette externe, les devises locales, la dette d’entreprises et les thèmes multi-stratégies et des retraits sur les actions et les thèmes multi-dettes.
16/04/2012

BVI welcomes tax agreement with US

Thomas Richter, CEO of the German BVI association of asset management firms, on Friday welcomed the terms of a tax agreement between Germany and the United States which makes German institutional funds exempt from income tax withholding in the United States if the fund is held exclusively by one or more German pension funds or retirement entities.Under the new version of the double taxation treaty between Germany and the United States, pension funds and contractual trust arrangements domiciled in Germany are considered pension funds.This rule will benefit assets by about EUR20bn, according to BVI estimates.
16/04/2012

SIX Group hopes to bring together finance actors

SIX Group, which operates the Swiss stock exchange, is hoping to bring together actors in the Swiss financial market to present the requirements of the industry to the minister of finance, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, as a “master plan,” the SonntagsZeitung reports. The financial market urgently needs a coherent strategy, says Urs Rüegsegger, head of SIX Group. “Switzerland is too much on the deensive,” he says. Politicians and administrators have taken control, without actors in the industry having a say. Rüegsegger would like to change that situation, by uniting these actors behind SIX Group, a “neutral party,” to deliver their ideas to the Federal Council by this autumn.
16/04/2012

Swiss government signs taxation agreement with Austria

The Swiss government has signed a new taxation agreement, this time with Austria. The legislation, singed on 13 April in Bern, sets up a tax on Austrian funds on sale in Switzerland and imposes withholding tax for capital gains. Switzerland has also already signed similar treaties with Germany and the United Kingdom, and would like to continue with Greece. The agreements signed so far will come into force in January 2013. Their fate still depends on approval from the parliaments of the countries concerned, which may be complicated in Germany. By giving the priority to solutions of this kind, Switzerland hopes to wipe the slate clean without affecting banking confidentiality, and is hoping to avoid automatic exchange of information sought by the European Union (EU).
16/04/2012

Taxation: names of bank employees may be handed over to United States

The Swiss Federal Council has decided to allow the 11 banks targeted by the US tax authorities to hand over the names of their employees to the United States, Agefi Switzerland reports. So far, sales documents transmitted have been required to be encrypted. The banking establishments may now directly deliver unencrypted information to criminal investigation authorities, says Nadia Batzig, a spokesperson for the Swiss federal finance department (DFF), confirming reports in the Tages-Anzeiger and Bund newspapers. The government has recently decided to allow them to deliver unencrypted information concerning their employees and third partners, including external wealth managers. It has also allowed the banks exemption from article 271 of the Swiss criminal code, which punishes “acts undertaken without permission for a foreign government.” However, information on banking clients still may not be transmitted.
16/04/2012

Tax evasion: preliminary investigation of UBS opened in France

According to Les Echos, judges have recently decided to open an inquiry into UBS in France for “organised financial and banking services to unqualified individuals and money-laundering [tax fraud and funds obtained through illicit means].” These offences are punishable by a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of EUR750,000. In March 2011, the prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation following a notification from the prudential control authority (ACP) about internal actions and control procedures at the bank. The regulator will pay particular attention to the handling of clients in France by sales staff at the bank from Switzerland. The inquiry has been entrusted to Paris investigating judge Guillaume Daieff. Neither the bank nor its advisers had any comment on the reports when contacted.
16/04/2012

Assets in sovereign funds continue increase unabated

According to estimates from the Preqin consultancy, assets under management by sovereign funds as of the end of March totalled about USD4.62trn, compared with USD3.98trn one year earlier, USD3.59trn as of the end of March 2010, USD3.22trn as of the end of March 2009, and USD3.05trn as of the end of March 2008.The most recent Preqin newsletter finds that 57% of sovereign funds invest in private equity, 46% in the form of investment commitments to funds and 11% via direct investments.The study also finds that propensity to invest in private equity clearly increases with size: 83% of funds with assets of over USD250bn have already invested in private equity, while only 55% of those with total assets of USD10bn to USD49bn have done so, and 25% of those with under USD1bn.The five sovereign funds which invest most in private equity funds have total assets of over USD2.2trn. The largest of these is the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) with USD627bn, of which 2% to 8% are invested in private equity. The Kuwait Investment Authority (USD296bn) has an allocation to private equity of 10%.
16/04/2012

Improving economic outlooks bring a smile to managers' faces

Managers are highly optimistic due to signs of an improvement in conjuncture, according to a recent survey by SEI. The majority of managers responding to the survey (78%) are optimistic about their growth outlooks in the next three years, and show a level of confidence unprecedented since the financial crisis. The reasons for managers’ prevalent optimism include the strength of the brand they are defending (32%, up from 19%), positive market outlooks (24%), good levels of resources, and the strength of their development strategies (21%).
16/04/2012

KKR plans to buy and merge diamond operations of Rio Tinto and BHP

According to reports in the Sunday Times relayed by Handelsblatt, a spokesperson for KKR on Sunday declined to comment on reports that the private equity firm is planning to acquire and merge the diamond operations of Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, and that it has already retained a consultant in connection with the plans.
16/04/2012

Switzerland plans to toughen regulations for hedge funds

Switzerland is preparing to impose tougher regulations on its hedge fund sector, and may become one of the strictest countries in this area, the Financial Times reports. The rules would affect Swiss investors, who are major clients of the global hedge fund industry. Foreign asset management firms who do not comply with the new requirements could be required to refund billions of Swiss francs. The rules, which have been proposed by the Federal Council and must now be debated by the Swiss parliament, aim to bring Switzerland into compliance with European hedge fund regulations, and to go beyond those regulations in some areas.
16/04/2012

Assets in US ETFs up

According to State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), assets under management by ETFs domiciled in the United States as of the end of March totalled USD1.9trn, 14% more than as of the end of December, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bond ETFs have attracted one third of the USD52.1bn in net subscriptions.
16/04/2012

M&G closes down Prudential funds

The British firm M&G has announced that it would like to close four unit trusts from the range on offer from Prudential as part of a rationalisation of its product range, FundWeb reports. The closures proposed will affect the Prudential European Tracker trust, the Prudential Ethical trust, the Prudential (Invesco Perpetual) Managed trust and the Prudential Managed Funds Tracker trust. The planned closures will be put into effect form 8 June. Clients will be allowed to transfer their investments to equivalent vehicles from M&G.
16/04/2012

“We are very satisfied with our partnership with Alfi Partners”

The head of the independent asset management firm Jupiter Asset Management, Edward Bonham-Carter, discusses its strategy and development plans with Newsmanagers. With about GBP23bn in assets under management, Jupiter is looking to continue its development, but at its own pace. In addition to the British market, where the firm is hoping to attract investments from more high-end clients, the two major areas of growth for Jupiter are continental Europe and, more recently, Asia.
16/04/2012

Increase in assets at Ashmore in third quarter

The British asset management firm Ashmore, a specialist in emerging markets, has seen a 9.1% increase in its assets in the third quarter of its fiscal year, to USD65.9bn. The firm has posted subscriptions in overlay, external debt, local currencies, corporate debt and multi-strategy themes, and redemptions from equities and multi-debt themes.
16/04/2012

23 layoffs at SWIP

The British asset management firm Scottish Widows Investment Partnership will be laying off 23 staff from its team dedicated to equities, as part of a reorganisation of the GBP54bn activity.The equities unit will now be refocused on active and quantitative management, and some strategies will become passive. “In the asset management sector, we are seeing a widening gap between equity investors seeking high alpha solutions, and those who prefer a lower-risk strategy using a quantitative approach,” a statement explains.Andrew November, director of equities at SWIP, has appointed the team which will be in charge of this new equities strategy. Will Low will continue to serve as head of global equities, which now includes British small caps, publicly-traded real estate and absolute returns. Tony Whalley will continue to direct the equities dealing team, and Anne Fraser will be head of governance.Sean Phayre will remain as director of the quantitative equities team, which is part of the Investment Solutions unit.SWIP states that it has initiated the transition of some funds to the new equity strategy. This process will take a few months, and will result in the closure of some small regional equity funds and funds whose small size renders them economically unviable.
16/04/2012

Strong growth for UBS private banking in the United States

In March and early April, the Swiss group UBS has recruited 12 brokers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Finews reports. These brokers join the firm along with the assets of their clients, totalling about USD2bn. As of the end of 2011, the wealth management unit at UBS was the fourth-largest broker in the United States, with 7,000 advisers and assets under management totalling USD754bn.
16/04/2012

Asset levels at the four major firms diverge in March

As of the end of March, assets under management by Invesco and Legg Mason respectively totalled USD672.8bn and USD643.3bn, compared with USD667.6bn and USD638bn one month earlier, while assets at Franklin Templeton and AllianceBernstein were down to USD725.7bn from USD727.4bn, and to USD419bn from USD424 bn.However, all of the major asset management firms as of the end of first quarter posted a higher level of assets than as of 31 December 2011. The largest increase in absolute terms is USD55.4bn for Franklin Templeton, followed by Invesco (USD47.5bn), Legg Mason (USD16.3bn) and AllianceBernstein (USD13bn).
16/04/2012

Goldman Sachs fined USD22m

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday, 12 April announced that Goldman Sachs will be required to pay a fine of USD22m. The fine from the US regulator is for inadequately segregating analysts and traders from clients. USD11m will be payable to the SEC, while the other USD11m will go to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Hedgeweek reports.
16/04/2012

Outflows from JP Morgan in first quarter

The Asset Management unit at JP Morgan Chase has seen net redemptions in the first three months of this year of USD8bn, according to quarterly results from the US bank published on Friday. This is due to net outflows of USD25bn from money market products, which were not wholly offset by USD17bn in net subscriptions to long-term products (i.e. excluding money markets).In the past twelve moths, however, asset management at JP Morgan Chase has seen net inflows of USD45bn.As of the end of March, assets under management at the bank totalled USD1.4trn, an increase of 4% compared with the previous year. Assets under administration total USD2trn, an increase of 6%.Net earnings totalled USD2.4bn, a decline of USD36m, or 1%, compared with the previous year. Net profits are down 17% to USD386m.
16/04/2012

Paris-based asset management firm fined by AMF

The reporter for the AMF College has fined the GSD Gestion company EUR500,000, its chairman and CEO, Jacques Gautier EUR100,000, and its CEO, Thierry Gautier, EUR50,000, Agefi reports. The fine also carries a reprimand. The parties are accused of failing to respect their professional obligations in the sale of EMTN, whose value collapsed when the Icelandic bank Landsbanki went bankrupt in 2008.
16/04/2012

Over USD100bn in inflows to long-term products in first quarter

Long-term funds in the United States in first quarter attracted a net total of USD106.3bn, according to the most recent mutual fund statistics from Morningstar.US equity funds continued to lose ground, with net outflows in the quarter of USD20.9bn for large cap funds.However, mid-term bond funds and high yield bond funds in first quarter posted total net inflows of USD304.4bn.Money market funds, for their part, have posted net redemptions totalling USD114bn in first quarter, a level not seen since second quarter 2010.
16/04/2012

Hausse des actifs sous gestion de Franklin Templeton

Les actifs sous gestion de Franklin Templeton s’inscrivaient fin mars 2012 à 725,7 milliards de dollars contre 727,4 milliards de dollars au 29 février 2012 et 670, 3 milliards de dollars à fin décembre 2011, selon un communiqué publié par la société. A fin mars 2011, les actifs sous gestion atteignaient 703,5 milliards de dollars.Les actifs sous gestion des fonds actions s’élevaient fin mars à 299,9 milliards de dollars contre 270, 2 milliards de dollars fin décembre mais 308,9 milliards de dollars à fin mars 2011.Du côté obligataire, les actifs sous gestion s’établissaient fin mars à 316,5 milliards de dollars contre 297,7 milliards de dollars fin décembre et 275,2 milliards de dollars un an plus tôt.
16/04/2012

Tiger Management supports former head of Norwegian sovereign fund

Julian Robertson of Tiger Management will support the new hedge fund managed by Knut Kjær former head of the Norwegian sovereign fund, the Financial Times reports. Last year, the hedge fund acquired Trient, an asset management firm, with Dag Løtveit, former head of strategic allocation for Norges Bank Investment Management. Tiger has invested in the capital of the new Trient fund in exchange for a share in the revenues.
16/04/2012

Bundesbank sells off Lehman's Excalibur ABS portfolio

The Bundesbank on 13 April announced that it has sold the Exaclibur portfolio of securitisations, which it inherited from Lehman Brothers and had an initial value of EUR2.16bn (senior debt), to the private equity invetor Lone Star. The residual nominal value of the portfolio was EUR1.4bn, and the German central bank has declined to provide other financial details about the transaction.The Bundesbank claims that it is now realistic to suppose that all of the securities taken on board by the Eurosystem in 2008 following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers may now be liquidated by the end of this year. Due to a gradual sale policy, the corresponding reserves have been reduced already, from EUR5.7bn as of the end of 2008 to EUR2.2bn as of the end of 2010, and EUR0.95bn as of the end of 2011.
16/04/2012

Deutsche Bank planning to redeploy its asset management activities

According to sources familiar with the matter cited by Financial Times Deutschland, Anshu Jain, future co-chairman of the board at Deutsche Bank from May, is planning to reshuffle the bank, merging the remaining asset management unit into the investment bank. Asset management last year missed its pre-tax profit target of EUR1bn by EUR233m. Once non-DWS activities in Germany and Europe have been sold off, assets will drop to EUR165bn, from EUR540bn. The premise of the investment banking/asset management merger is the appointment of the investment banker Michele Faissola as head of asset management, and the transfer of db x-trackers (ETFs) from investment banking to asset management.
16/04/2012

Investec drops Williams de Broë brand

Following the acquisition by Investec Group of Evolution Securities, which owned the Williams de Broë brand, the wealth management firm founded in 1869 will be changing names. Williams de Broë will be known as Investec Wealth and Investment from August, Investment Europe reports.
16/04/2012

Lazard recruits a big name from Sabadell

Sergio Miguez, chief investment officer for absolute returns at BanSabadell Inversión, is joining the Spanish team of the British firm Lazard, led by Manuel Sas Salvador (formerly CEO of Banco Urquijo), as director of wealth management, Funds People reports.This is the third recruitment of a high-level employee since the beginning of 2012 at Lazard, following those of Borja Fernández-Galiano (formerly director of third-part fund sales at N+1 Syz) and Francisco Quintano (former head of equities at BNP Paribas Spain).

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