Assets in cross-border funds have risen 182% in real terms between December 2001 and December 2011, to EUR2.25trn, doubling their market share to 43%, according to statistics from Lipper cited by Financial Times Fund Management. However, combined assets in domestic funds in Europe have risen by only 2.5% in real terms, to EUR2.98trn, and fell in the second part of the decade in some countries including France, Italy and Spain.

The Dutch minister of social affairs, Henk Kamp, claims in a bill proposed to parliament that pension funds need to be able to set up boards of trustees composed exclusively of external professionals, the website IPE reports. However, every board of experts would be required to be approved by employers, employees and beneficiaries of the pension programme. Another model would have boards including social partners on the one hand, and beneficiaries of pension funds on the other, with the latter not allowed to occupy more than one quarter of the seats on the board.

BlackRock has announced that its affiliate iShares on 24 February launched two emerging markets ETFs relying on high yield strategies on NYSE Arca.The two products, both of which charge 0.49%, are the iShares Emerging Markets Dividend Index Fund (acronym: DVYE) and the iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend 30 Index Fund (DVYA).The two new products replicate the Dow Jones Emerging Market Select Dividend Index and the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index, respectively.

BBVA Asset Management has launched the BBVA Bonos España Largo Plazo, whose benchmark index is the BoA-ML 3-5y Spain Government Bond Index, a fund of bonds issued or guaranteed by the Kingdom of Spain, and by autonomous communities, Expansión reports. The securities will be rated at least A-, but the portfolio, whose average duration will be 2 to 5 years, will include up to 15% securities rated BBB-/BBB+.Management commission is 0.75%, and minimal subscription is set at EUR35,000.

China’s CITIC bank has recently launched a fund portfolio selection platform entitled Fund Portfolio N Plan in cooperation with Morningstar.According to Z-Ben Advisors, the online platform aims to provide retail investors with mutual fund portfolios that each offer exposure to four or five different products.The bank will offer portfolios for various risk profiles.

Oddo Asset Management has licensed two more sub-funds for sale in Italy: Oddo Convertibles Taux and Oddo Proactif Europe, Bluerating reports. The funds will be available to retail clients. Oddo Valeur Rendement, meanwhile, has been licensed for sale to Italian institutional investors. Nine months after the launch of its activities in Italy, Oddo AM has 11 funds in the country, says Jurgen Mahler, head of Oddo AM for Italy.

Pioneer Investments is planning to enter Korea and to build a dedicated sales team in Singapore to target the institutional market place in Asia, the CEO of the firm, Roger Yates, announced in London at a presentation of a five-year business plan for the asset management firm of the UniCredit group. Developing in Asia is one of the major areas for development at Pioneer, which has also recruited a former employee of Janus Capital, Jack Lin, as its head for Asia and the Middle East. The UniCredit affiliate, which manages a total of EUR162bn in assets as of the end of December, is also hoping to accelerate its growth in Taiwan, where it posted net subscriptions in 2011 of more than EUR700m. Pioneer is also planning to increase its presence in the United States, a market in which it has long been present, particularly serving institutional and retail channels. In Europe, the asset management firm is planning to set up management capabilities in Germany, where the firm manages EUR19bn, and is planning to launch a Sicav in the United Kingdom, in order to support activities dedicated to private banks. In terms of investments, in addition to the creation of an emerging market management platform in London, which has already been unveiled, Pioneer Investments is planning to construct a high dividend centre in Dublin. In the United States, the firm is recruiting professionals in parallel for bonds and US equities, and is planning to develop international equities, an asset class which is popular in North America. Pioneer has also announced that it has overhauled its pay scales in order to “promote our performance-oriented culture,” according to a statement. A long-term incentive plan for “key personnel” will be launched as a part of this initiative. The objective for the five-year plan is to “accelerate organic growth,” Pioneer says. This follows several months of uncertainty at the firm, which has undergone a strategic review which considered several options, including a sale of the firm. This phase was completed in April last year, when UniCredit decided that the asset management firm would concentrate on organic growth.

The index provider S&P Indices on 27 February announced the launch of two new indices, the S&P UK High Yield Dividend Aristocrats and the S&P Euro High Yield Dividend Aristocrats, which measure the performance of companies of the S&P Europe Broad Market high yield index in the United Kingdom and the euro zone. A statement says that businesses must have paid rising or stable dividends over a period of at least 10 years in order to be included in the indices. S&P has previously launched an index of this type based on the S&P 1500. State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) will offer SPDR ETFs based on these indices.

In the week ending on 22 February, equity funds underwent a net outflow of USD5.9bn, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Emerging market equity funds posted their lowest inflows in eight weeks, while US equity funds finished the period under review with outflows of nearly USD6bn, as investors took the occasion of a Dow Jones flirting with the 13,000 point threshold to take their profits. Investors turned to equity funds dedicated to frontier markets, however, which showed their highest inflows since July 2011. Bond funds have posted inflows of over USD5bn for the fifth consecutive week, while cumulative inflows since the beginning of the year totalled USD50.9bn. High-risk bond asset classes were favoured by investors, with net inflows of USD1.3bn for high yield bond funds, and USD701m for emerging market bond funds. Uncertainty about Greek debt weighed down European bond funds, which despite this, show net inflows of USD1.6bn since the beginning of the year. Money market funds attracted a net total of USD4.82bn, which brings outflows since the beginning of the year under the USD60bn level.

According to 400 investors surveyed in December 2011 by Deutsche Bank (who collectively have USD1.35trn in assets in hedge funds) for the 10th annual Alternative Investment Survey, hedge funds this year can expect net subscriptions of USD140bn, which would bring their assets at the end of 2012 to USD2.26trn.This growth is being driven by institutional investors, who currently represent about two thirds of assets in hedge funds, compared with less than 20% in 2003.Investors surveyed estimate that consolidation will continue, and that large funds which generate good results will grow further. About 44% of investors surveyed have already invested with managers that have over USD1bn in assets, compared with 25% in 2009, and nearly one third of respondents are planning to place further assets with managers that have over USD1bn in assets under management.Performance has remained the critical determining factor for selection of managers over the past ten years, and 80% of investors surveyed rank performance among the top five factors this year.

Peter Gabriele has been appointed as chief investment officer for private clients at J.P. Morgan in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Agefi Switzerland reports. He will report to James Walker, International Head of Investments and Capital Advisory for the group’s management bank. Gabriele has 25 years of experience at J.P. Morgan, in the investment bank and private management. He was previous based in Chicago, where he was chief investment officer for the south central United States.

David Chaves, head of one of the two teams in charge of tracking down white-collar criminals implicated in insider trading cases in New York, on Monday announced that his agency was investigating 240 people, 120 of whom are serious “targets,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Since 2009, the prosecutor’s office has filed insider trading charges against 66 employees of hedge funds and other firms, and has achieved gconvictions or guilty pleas from 57 of them.

David Becker, the former general counsel at the SEC, who resigned in February 2011, has agreed to pay USD550,000 to settle lawsuits filed against him by Irving Picard, the Wall Street Journal reports. The court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff had claimed that Becker and his brother inherited USD2m in illicit profits from Madoff’s activities from their mother.

In a 60-second spot on YouTube, Michael Douglas, who played Gordon Gekko in the two Wall Street films, calls on anyone who has information about insider trading to contact their nearest FBI office, Handelsblatt reports.

BlackRock is seeking a new head for iShares in Asia-Pacific, after appointing Nick Good, who had previously served in this role, to the newly-created position of head of strategy and development for the region, Asian Investor reports.

According to the most recent edition of the Observatorio Inverco, five out of ten Spanish asset management firms are expecting net subscriptions of less than EUR5bn for the profession in 2012, while three out of ten are hoping for net inflows of more than EUR5bn, Funds People reports.The survey took in asset management firms representing about 80% of total assets in Spanish funds.Meanwhile, 85% of asset management firms surveyed are planning to launch new products, and 78% are expecting the UCITS IV directive to have a positive effect or no effect on the Spanish fund sector.

Kepler Capital Markets is now offering the KCM Fund - RiskProtect III Plus fund (LU0702030577), a Luxembourg-registered product administered by Alceda Fund Management, to retail investors, who will thus have access to an absolute return fund that aims for total returns of 3.5% to 5%, and a distribution of 5%. The fund is a version of the bond fund KCM Riskprotect III, launched in 2009, for which exposure to options on European, Asian and American equity indices is raised to 150% from 100%, and which thus relies on leverage. Between January 2009 and December 2011, the strategy is said to have generated annual returns of 11.71%, with volatility of only 4.78%. The base price for sell options (puts) has been maintained at a level 15% below the initial price, so that the fund undergoes no losses even if the price falls 15% over four weeks during the duration of the option.

La Mutuelle Générale gère un actif côté d’environ 1,5 milliard d’euros. Afin de sécuriser cet actif, La Mutuelle Générale a lancé un appel à candidature afin de sélectionner les prestataires qui seront consultés dans le cadre d’un appel d’offres. Le prestataire retenu à l’issue de l’appel d’offres devra prendre en charge cette gestion dans le cadre d’un mandat unique. Le prestataire devra maîtriser Solvabilité II et ses implications. La mission portera sur les 6 thèmes suivants : la gestion proprement dite, l’allocation, la conservation, la valorisation, le reporting réglementaire, la comptabilité. Le candidat devra notamment: Être de droit français et exercer son activité à Paris Gérer un actif pour compte de tiers supérieur ou égal à 15 Mds € Exercer son activité depuis une durée minimum de 10 ans Gérer au moins un mandat diversifié pour le compte d’un institutionnel de l’assurance Démontrer une expertise sur toutes les classes d’actifs habituellement présentes dans une gestion de portefeuille d’assurance Démontrer une parfaite connaissance de Solvabilité II et de ses implications La candidature devra être accompagnée du questionnaire mis en place à cette fin par L’AFG et l’AF2I disponible sur le site de l’AFG http://www.afg.asso.fr/ et dénommé « Charte SGP - Investisseur / Questionnaire de référence AF2I/AFG». Voir le RFI en pièce jointe

La CPJU, Caisse de Pensions de la République et Canton du Jura (950 millions de francs suisses d’actifs sous gestion) est actuellement en train de choisir un gérant d’actions suisses qui sera en charge d’un mandat d'à peu près 80/100 millions de francs suisses. La décision devrait être prise avant fin mars. La Caisse n’a pas été épaulée par un consultant dans cette recherche. C’est un mandat qui est actuellement géré en interne et qui était 2 % en dessous de l’indice. C’est pour cette raison que le Fonds fait appel à un gérant externe. L’idée est d’avoir une tracking error de 1-2 %. De plus, le mandat est géré de manière passive. Le gérant sélectionné devra délivrer de la sur performance avec un mode de gestion active. Au second semestre, la CPJU remplacera certains fonds pour investir dans les actions internationales. Mais aucune décision n’a pour l’instant, été prise. La Caisse souhaite un c??ur sur des produits indiciels et du satellite qui ne soient pas corrélés au MSCI World. La CPJU attend aussi les résultats d’une étude ALM menée l’an dernier pour modifier son allocation stratégique. L’allocation d’actifs intègre : 11 % en obligations suisses, 14 % en obligations en autres devises, 15 % en actions suisses, 18 % en actions internationales, 4 % en actions pays émergents, 22 % en immobilier local, 3 % en immobilier international, 6 % en hedge funds, 7 % en matières premières (passif). DE Planification à Neuchâtel et CBR (La Compagnie Benjamin de Rothschild) à Genève sont les deux gestionnaires de couverture de change mandatés par la Caisse.

L’institut d'émission européenne n’a racheté aucune obligation d’Etat au cours de la semaine au 24 février, rééditant la situation de la semaine précédente. La BCE précise que le montant total de ses rachats d’obligations souveraines reste donc stable à 219,5 milliards d’euros.

La plupart des banques centrales des pays émergents sont encore sous-investies en or, montrent les données du FMI. La Biélorussie a accru ses réserves de 5 tonnes en janvier à 42,6 tonnes, tandis que le Kazakhstan les a relevées de 7,6 tonnes à 89,6 tonnes. La Turquie a suivi une voie similaire en augmentant ses réserves de 4,1 tonnes à 199,4 tonnes. En revanche, la Suède les a maintenues inchangées à 125,7 tonnes, contrairement à ce qui était indiqué dans un premier temps sur le site du FMI.

La devise japonaise reprenait cette nuit 0,4% au dollar, à 80,24 après un plus bas de 81,66 atteint hier. Le ministre des finances, Jun Azumi, a indiqué ce matin avoir prévenu ses homologues durant le sommet du G20 ce week-end que le Japon restait prêt à une intervention sur les changes dans le cas d’une appréciation trop forte du yen.

D’après des sources citées par Bloomberg, l’Union Européenne émet 3 milliards d’euros d’obligations à 20 ans via le Mécanisme européen de stabilité (MES). Le rendement ressort à 78 points de base au-dessus du taux mid-swap.

Le ministre du budget espagnol, Cristobal Montoro, a annoncé hier que le deficit public espagnol s’était réduit à 8,5% du PIB en 2011, après 9,3% en 2010. Un chiffre néanmoins supérieur à l’objectif initial du gouvernement qui s'était fixé 8%, alors que l’Union européenne attendait 6%. «Nous sommes en récession et cela doit être reconnu» a insisté Cristobal Montoro.

Le Fonds monétaire international a annoncé hier le versement à l’Irlande de 4,3 milliards de dollars (3,2 milliards d’euros) correspondant à la dernière tranche du programme d’aide de 30,2 milliards de dollars approuvé en décembre 2010. Le premier directeur général adjoint du Fonds David Lipton a souligné «la mise en œuvre efficace» du programme d’assainissement du pays.

Selon les données publiées par la Fed de New York, la dette des ménages américains a reculé de 1,1% au quatrième trimestre pour s’établir à 11.530 milliards de dollars. Ce déclin traduit une baisse des emprunts liés à l’immobilier.

Selon l’Association nationale des agents immobiliers (NAR), les promesses de ventes de logements anciens ont progressé de 2% en janvier, soit deux fois plus que prévu, nouveau signe d’une possible reprise du marché immobilier américain. L’indice de la NAR a grimpé le mois dernier à 97, son plus haut niveau depuis avril 2010.

Le ministère des Finances japonais envisagerait de relancer les émissions d'obligations indexées sur l'inflation, en sommeil depuis juin 2008

L'Efama, lobby de la gestion d'actifs, assure que les fonds pâtiraient de la rotation de leur portefeuille et perdraient un point de performance

La performance de la classe d'actifs ressort à près de 10% depuis début janvier. Les fonds ont fortement collecté