On 6 September, the CNMV registered a new Spanish-registered “free investment fund” (hedge fund), Arcano European Income Fund FIL, from UBS Gestión, which will invest in the two sub-funds of the Luxembourg-registered special investment funds (SIF) Arcano Fund – European Income Fund I and II, at levels of 50-75%, and 35-50%, respectively.Any potential remaining assets will be retained in cash management and invested in bonds with at most one year remaining duration. The fund has four share classes, with management commissions of 0.5% (A1 and D1 share classes) and 1% (A2 and D2 share classes). Performance commissions will be 10% of performance exceeding the Euribor 6-month by at least 100 basis points.

August was characterized by stock market turbulence and the outflows from investment funds sold in Sweden were larger than the inflows, according to the Swedish fund association. The total net outflow amounted to SEK 8.1 billion. Equity funds had a net outflow of 34.8 billion and balanced funds had a net outflow of 2.2 billion. Fixed-income funds on the other hand recorded large net inflows, money market funds and bond funds had net inflows of 22.5 and 6.1 billion respectively.So far in 2011, SEK 4.2 billion have been invested in funds and money market funds accounts for the largest part of the net inflows.In total, assets in the industry fell to SEK1.797trn, from SEK1.919trn as of the end of July, of which SEK92bn remained in equity funds.

Mark McCombe is joining BlackRock, where he will replace Rohit Bhagai as chairman for Asia-Pacific, the Wall Street Journal reports.McCombe, who had been CEO of HSBC Global Asset Management in London, was most recently CEO of HSBC Holdings in Hong Kong.In this position, he will be replaced on 12 September by Anita Fung, who is currently group general manager for the Asian unit at HSBC.

The Northern Trust group has announced that it will provide index-based asset management services to its institutional clients from its Hong Kong office. The development follows a license awarded to Northern Trust by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to develop services of this type. As part of the move, Northern Trust has appointed Patrick Dwyer as senior portfolio manager in the team dedicated to index-based asset management. Craig Annakin, who joined the firm as head of Asian trading, will be in charge of setting up the new trading desk.

The Primonial group and Apicil on 9 September announced that they are forming a strategic partnership alongside parallel acquisitions. Groupe Primonial will acquire W Finance, an investment business with a national network of 140 investment advisers, and Apicil Prévoyance will acquire Coparc, the life insurance company serving the W Finance network. Following the acquisition, Groupe Primonial will have a network of 250 client advisers, serving 50,000 client families with more than EUR3bn in assets under management or advised. The group created by the move will generated combined earnings of over EUR100m in the next fiscal year. It plans to bring in more than EUR800m for savings offerings in 2012. With the addition of Coparc, the Apicil group will take on more extensive proportions, with its life insurance activities, currently offered through its affiliate Apicil Assurances, with assets of EUR2.2bn, set to double in size. The firm plans to become a leader in life insurance, supplementary retirement and retirement planning via IFAs, with the sales support of Primonial in this segment, as the Primonial group already has relationships with over 700 IFAs nationwide. After life insurance and real estate, personal insurance will become the Primonial Group’s third major target area. The two joint operations, advised by the Lazard bank, have been the subject of exclusive talks with Allianz since late July. The talks resulted in the signature of a definitive agreement which is still pending approval by the antitrust authorities and the prudential control authority.

Julia Lemarchand is a market analyst at eFinancialCareers.fr, an employment and career management advising website specialised in banking, finance and insurance. At a time when asset management is facing highly uncertain markets, the financial job market specialist discusses the major trends in asset management with Newsmanagers. After a promising start to the year, the end of the year will likely bring a more hesitant environment on the job market.

JP Morgan on 8 September announced that it has been selected by First Trust to distribute 21 ETFs from Fist Trust Advisors, registered in the United States, on the Mexican Stock Exchange.The ETFs are the following:First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (FCG)First Trust ISE Chindia Index Fund (FNI)First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap IndexSM Fund (FDM)First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT)First Trust Morningstar Dividend LeadersSM Index Fund (FDL)First Trust Dow Jones Internet IndexSM Fund (FDN)First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX® Fund (FEX)First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX® Fund (FTA)First Trust Large Cap Growth AlphaDEX® Fund (FTC)First Trust Technology AlphaDEX® Fund (FXL)First Trust Mid Cap Core AlphaDEX® Fund (FNX)First Trust Materials AlphaDEX® Fund (FXZ)First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX® Fund (FXD)First Trust Financials AlphaDEX® Fund (FXO)First Trust Small Cap Core AlphaDEX® Fund (FYX)First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted IndexSM Fund (QQEW)First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX® Fund (FXG)First Trust Energy AlphaDEX® Fund (FXN)First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX® Fund (FXH)First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX® Fund (FXU)and First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX® Fund (FXR)

Two partners at the hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp, Nigel Whittaker and John Macfarlane, have announced that they will be leaving the firm, and that they are planning to set up their own business, which will invest primarily in emerging markets, Bloomberg reports, citing a message to investors obtained by the agency.The new firm, Zafferano Capital LP, will be based in London, and will invest in equities and bonds from listed and unlisted businesses. The two departing managers will not burn their bridges with Tudor (USD11bn in assets), as their colleagues at the firm will participate in the investment activities of Zafferano, in which they will control a stake.Zafferano, whose asset commitments already total over USD100m, will begin its investment actiivities in early 2012, with two preferred targets, hedge funds and private equity.The new firm will be directed by John Macfarlane, vice chairman of Tudor since 2009, and two co-chief investment officers, Nigel Whittaker, who was a portfolio manager and head of emerging market corporate credit at Tudor, and Brent Do Jong, former CEO of Ashmore Energy International, who will join Zafferano Capital to focus on capital investment in particular.

Amundi is adding to its active global equity management team, with the recruitment of Jason Josefs as senior portfolio manager. He will co-manage the active global equity thematic fund from Amundi, under the direction of Paul-Georges Moucan, head of global equities in London. His appointment brings the active global equity team in London to a total of five investment professionals. Josefs joins from Aviva Investors, where he was head of research in 2007, and was appointed manager of global and diversified equities funds for Aviva in 2008.

The South African group Investec has signed an agreement to acquire the British firm Evolution for a total of GBP233m. The operation will allow Investec to develop both in wealth management activities, with William de Broe, and in investment banking (Evolution Securities). Last month, William de Broe acquired BNP Paribas Private Investment Management (formerly Fortis PIM) from BNP Paribas Wealth Management. Assets under management at BNP Paribas PIM total about GBP1.8bn, which brings assets at William de Broe to about GBP7.8bn (see Newsmanagers of 9 August 2011).

The former head of funds of funds at Henderson Global Investors, Mark Harris, has joined Eden Financial as co-manager of the multi-asset class fund CF Eden Global Multi-Strategy Fund, the firm announced in a statement on 9 September. Harris, who will begin in his new role on Monday, 12 September, will also be in charge of development for the firm’s multi-asset class product range.

According to Asset Servicing Times, UBS Fund Services, which has withdrawn from the UK market, has recruited Gavin Byrnes as its new head for the United Kingdom at its Dublin affiliate, which will be transformed into a transnational multi-product platform.Byrnes, who will be head of alternative asset administration and vehicles domiciled in Dublin from UBS Global Asset Management, will collaborate with the heads of development at the bank, and the client assistance teams in Dublin, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and the United States.Byrne joins from SEB Fund Services, where he was in charge of sales development in Luxembourg.

Andrew Blair has resigned from his position as head of business development at Skandia Investment Management, to join Mirabaud Investment Management in London as joint sales & marketing director, FundWeb reports. Other recruitments are planned by the Swiss group to build its presence in the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

The German analysis firm Absolut Research has studied the performance of 674 absolute return funds (EUR113bn in assets) in July-August, Handelsblatt reports.The results range from gains of 17% to losses of 35% overall, 172 of these products generated positive returns on the crisis period, and losses were higher than 10% for only 50 funds. By comparison, the Dax lost 18.2%, and the MSCI World index lost 7.4%.The winner was the AC Spectrum Fund from Aquila Capital, while the worst results were for equity products, which lost an average of 5.9% in the two months under review.

Martin Currie has announced that it will be releasing its Global Emerging Markets fund, a product with a portfolio of 40 to 60 equity positions representing the strongest convictions of the management team, on the Australian market.

Merrill Lynch has launched a UCITS-compliant version of its Merger Fund, which is managed by its affiliate Westchester Capital Management, via its Luxembourg Sicav Merrill Lynch Sicav.The Westchester Merger Arbitrage UCITS Fund, aimed at institutionals, invests in companies involved in takeover deals, mergers and publicly-announced restructuring operations.The portfolio includes 40 to 65 positions, and the manager is focusing on securities with a high level of liquidity.CharacteristicsName: Westchester Merger Arbitrage UCITS FundISIN code: LU0620299601Management commission: 1.90%Performance commission: 20%, with high watermarkMinimal subscription: EUR1m

In the week from 22 to 26 August, which was one of the most disastrous weeks ever on the Milan stock exchange, the short ETF Lyxor ETF Bear FTSE/MIB, from Société Générale, accounted for 22.4% of trades on the ETF market, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, citing statistics from Borsa Spa. The fund represented 10,582 transactions, out of a total of 47,182 on the market. In the month of August overall, trades on the Bear ETF amounted to EUR1.3bn in value.

The British asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management has recruited Christophe Palumbo as business development manager in Luxembourg, where he will be in charge of development for financial institutions (insurers, banks and independent asset management firms) for Benelux. He was most recently sales executive Belgium at Carmignac Gestion in Luxembourg.In April 2010, Aberdeen recruited Menno de Vreeze, head of Netherlands at Carmignac Luxembourg, as senior business development manager for Benelux.In the meantime between the two hires, according to the press releases, assets under management at Aberdeen for clients in Benelux have increased from EUR8bn to EUR12bn.

Dans un entretien accordé à Option Finance, Philippe Goubeault, directeur financier de l’AGIRC ARRCO revient sur les aménagements en cours de réflexion au sein des fédérations Agirc et Arrco: Concernant la construction des portefeuilles, les instances ont demandé à la direction financière de poursuivre différentes études. Une question portera notamment sur l’intérêt d’une déclinaison de l’allocation stratégique d’actifs en incorporant dans un indice composite de référence des composantes de diversification (par exemple, un niveau de duration, un poids donné à la diversification internationale, etc.). Les dispositions du règlement financier seront réexaminées, en vue d’une mise à jour, notamment celles relatives à la diversification (notation minimale des titres, accès aux dettes des pays émergents...). Une institution ne peut pas aujourd’hui investir plus de 5% en titres notés BBB, et ne doit détenir aucun titre en dessous de cette note. Les critères de notation pour la partie taux ne seront vraisemblablement pas desserrés, mais il pourrait être envisagé une reclassification des investissements de crédit dans la partie des placements actions et assimilés, comme cela existe déjà dans certaines réglementations. La question se pose aussi pour les obligations convertibles qui sont affectées selon notre réglementation dans la partie taux. La contrainte d’une noté égale ou supérieure à BBB a pour conséquence de priver les institutions de près de 90% du marché des convertibles. Une étude sera également menée sur les indices de référence susceptibles d'être retenus par classes d’actifs, notamment une réflexion sur les principes de construction, par exemple, les avantages et inconvénients des indices construits en fonction de critères fondamentaux par rapport aux indices fondés sur l’importance des capitalisations ou émissions.

Global Logistic Properties (GLP), filiale du fonds souverain de Singapour (GIC), prépare la cotation de ses actifs japonais, une opération qui lui permettrait de lever au moins 100 milliards de yens (950 millions d’euros), a rapporté Reuters de sources proches du dossier. GLP a mandaté Citigroup, Goldman Sachs et Nomura comme souscripteurs principaux.

Directeur général d’HSBC à Hong Kong, Mark McCombe va prendre la responsabilité des activités de BlackRock sur le continent asiatique. Le gestionnaire d’actifs pourra compter sur son expérience, puisqu’il a dirigé HSBC Asset Management pendant plusieurs années. Il a notamment été en charge d’HSBC AM Europe à Paris, au début des années 2000 après le rachat du CCF.

Les autorités américaines disposent désormais de données statistiques en provenance de dix banques suisses soupçonnées par la justice d’avoir aidé leurs clients basés aux Etats-Unis à frauder le fisc, a rapporté samedi le Neue Zürcher Zeitung. TagesAnzeiger, un autre journal suisse, a écrit de son côté que les banques suisses ont maintenant jusqu’au 23 septembre pour fournir des informations plus spécifiques sur leurs clients.

Yves Maillot, directeur investissements et actions chez Robeco Gestions

Maryannick Plomion, gérante diversifiée chez AllianzGI Investments Europe

Christophe Besson, directeur des gestions chez CM-CIC Asset Management

Anne Velot, responsable de l’équipe crédit Europe chez Axa IM

Vincent Guenzi, directeur de la stratégie chez Cholet-Dupont

Le PIB de l’Archipel s’est finalement contracté de 0,5 % au deuxième trimestre, pénalisé par la force du yen et le ralentissement de l’économie mondiale

Leur avant-projet vient d'être adressé à Bruxelles. Différentes assiettes et taux sont évoqués, sur le spectre le plus large possible de transactions

Avec une limite à 1.765 points, l’indice est probablement entré dans la dernière phase de la correction baissière engagée en février