Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) du Portugal a bien été stable au deuxième trimestre 2011 par rapport au premier, a annoncé jeudi l’Institut national des statistiques (INE). Cette stabilité, confirmée en deuxième estimation, fait suite à deux trimestres de contraction. Sur un an, le PIB du Portugal accuse un recul de 0,9%.

L’agence Fitch a prévenu jeudi qu’une baisse de la note souveraine de la Chine était possible dans les deux ans en raison des lourdes créances du secteur bancaire chinois, qui a fortement intensifié le crédit depuis la crise financière de 2008. Tout comme l’Europe et les Etats-Unis, les deux premières économies asiatiques sont dans le collimateur des agences de notation en raison des fortes dettes contractées depuis la crise.

Michael Geister, who for four years had been head of marketing and distribution for the German-speaking countries for ETP (ETFs and ETCs) products at ETF Securities (ETFS) in London, has been recruited by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) for its Frankfurt office, specialised in ETF products under the SPDR brand name. He joins the team as Director Sales for Germany and Austria.

BlackRock has announced that Mark Taborsky has been appointed as managing director and senior manager in the multi-asset client solutions (BMACS) division, focusing on fiduciary solutions aimed at institutionals. Taborsky was previously executive vice president at Pimco. As of 30 June, the BMACS division of BlackRock managed USD126bn in assets, of which USD50bn were in fiduciary mandates.

András Szálkai joined at the beginning of August the Emerging Markets Equities team at Raiffeisen Capital Management. He will be applying his experience primarily to cover Central Europe on Angelika Millendorfer’s team. András Szálkai was a fund manager at Vontobel Asset Management in Vienna for several years, and then changed to the Portfolio Management Team at East Capital in Stockholm and Vienna in 2006.

iShares, the ETF arm of BlackRock, has a new global head, Mark Wiedman. He replaces Mike Latham, who becomes chairman of the entity, a newly-created position, according to reports in the US and UK press which have been confirmed by BlackRock.Latham will remain a member of the operational committee at BlackRock and co-head of its San Francisco office.Wiedman was previously head of strategy at BlackRock.According to the UK and US press, citing an internal memo, the change is a result of a desire on the part of Latham to reduce his day-to-day responsibilities, and the frequency with which he travels, in order to take on a more strategic role at iShares.

Three former managers from Thornburg Investment Management make up the third active equity management team at Pimco (Allianz group) to be recruited since the launch of its equities platform in April 2010. The team includes Brad Kinkelaar and Cliff Remily, who become executive vice presidents and global equity portfolio managers, and Matt Burdett, who is appointed vice president and research analyst. The three will all be based at Pimco’s headquarters in Newport Beach.The US asset manager on 7 September also announced the appointment of Neel Kashkari as Head of Global Equities. Kashkari, a managing director, joined Pimco in December 2009 and previously served as Head of New Investment Initiatives.Active strategies in the area of equities at Pimco account for more than USD4bn in assets. The unit employs five senior portfolio managers, nine research analysts, six traders and six product managers.

David Darnell, the new COO of Bank of America (BofA), has told the heads of the wealth management unit, which includes Merrill Lynch, that he intends to preserve the pay scales for financial advisers as they are, and to retain senior management in their current positions, the Wall Street Journal reports.The new right-hand man of CEO Brian Moynihan has said in several conference calls that advisers will continue to earn a percentage on the commissions they generate, and that they will continue to be rewarded for achieving certain asset-based goals.

The Wall Street Journal reports that JP Morgan Chase and BlackRock have told US regulators that copper production outstripped demand last year. In October last year, however, the firms submitted applications for licenses to launch the first physical ETFs trading the metal in the United States, claiming that a shortage in supply and growing demand would lead to rising prices.

Scottish Widow Investment Partnership (SWIP) has recruited Bindesh Savjani as chief risk officer. He will be based in Edinburgh, and will report to Dean Buckley, managing director of SWIP. Savjani previously worked as global chief risk officer at Aviva Investors.

The members of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) will next week hold their annual conference in Paris, from 12 September. At the conference they will debate a series of recommendations for risk management, management fees, remuneration structures, integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria, voting rights, and commission issues, which may in the future be included in investment mandates. If the recommendations are ratified, they may lead members of the network, which represents total assets of about USD12trn, much of it in pension funds, to integrate at least a part of the recommendations into their investment contracts. In risk management, the recommendations would have managers disclose details of their portfolio and management risks. In response to the financial crisis, the ICGN suggests that managers should also deploy a “systemic responsibility” policy, with information about the impact of risks on the stability of the markets, and on particular asset classes. In the chapter on integration of ESG criteria, the ICGN claims that better organisation of remuneration programs, and deployment of integrity standards for the conduct of personnel and/or for financial information, may have a long-term influence on the performance of assets. The ICGN points out that these recommendations come as additions to existing recommendations, such as the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN-PRI), or other specific dispositions for certain asset classes (private equity, hedge funds).

Credit Suisse is launching a new growth initiative entitled “FuturePB” for its Private Banking division. According to a memo of which the AWP news agency obtained a copy, from the new head of the division, Hans-Ulrich Meister, to employees in the division, the bank has set three objectives: revise the commercial portfolio; evaluate new ways to improve potential profitability, and to further increase efficiency.Due to a market environment that remains difficult and a weak level of client activity, as well as low interest rates and unfavourable evolution of currency rates, the profitability of the division has suffered. Rising costs related to toughening regulations and other factors are further weighing on profits. In addition, the bank is facing the bottom of the cycle, and needs to operate on the assumption that the market environment will not improve in the near future. It is thus indispensable to orient business appropriately, the memo says.The bank will carefully examine what growth vectors the market currently offers, the memo continues. A more marked orientation to clients will be one of the most effective ways to increase growth and performance.

Switzerland will not transmit any confidential banking information to the United States, Micheline Caly-Rey confirmed on 7 September, in response to rumours of an ultimatum from Washington. Any potential exchange of information could take place only within a legal framework under the double taxation convention.The president of Switzerland sought to put an end to speculation about a potential disclosure of the names of US banking clients suspected of tax fraud with accounts in Switzerland, many of them at Credit Suisse.“There have been talks exclusively about statistical questions,” Calmy-Rey told the press on Wednesday, at a press conference to announce her decision to step down at the end of this year. The talks have not covered the issue of banking confidentiality, she announced, but would answer no further questions.

UFG-LFP has announced the launch of the LFP Grands Vignobles de France fund, which aims to create long-term value through two drivers of performance: expected appreciation in the value of vineyard real estate, the operation of the selected properties.The economic environment is highly favourable for wine makers, a statement says, due to the development of emerging economies and an increase in the more leisured social classes there, with, as a corollary, the development of new consumption habits that privilege high-end or luxury products. The fund’s investments will concentrate on French “premium” wine regions, including Bordeaux, the Rhône valley, Burgundy and the Loire valley.The product, a closed fund with an expected duration of 15 years, will be managed by UFG-REM, the real estate affiliate of the UFG-LFP group.The LFP Grands Vignobles the France fund is primarily aimed at institutional investors, but also at high net worth private investors.CharacteristicsLegal format: French-registered contractual SicavInvestors concerned: Authorised investors under article 413-25 of RGAMFClassification: Diversified OPCVMValuation frequency: monthly, until 31/12/2012, and quarterly thereafterRecommended investment duration: 15 yearsFund Manager: UFG REMDepository: BNP Paribas Securities ServicesSales outlet: UFG-LFP FranceMinimal initial subscription: EUR250,000Management fee: Maximum 1.20% net of taxes of net AUM in the fund

Amundi SGR, the Italian asset management firm of Amundi, has appointed Simone Facchinato as chief investment officer (CIO) and head of the investment team in Milan. He replaces Roberto Dopudi, who becomes deputy head international client in the Institutional Investment Solutions management team at the firm’s parent company, Amundi SA, in Paris. Facchinato joined CAAM SGR, a joint venture of Crédit Agricole and Banca Intesa, in 2006, as head of Financial Engineering. Since December 2007, he has served as head of marketing at Crédit Agricole Asset Management SGR, and then at Amundi SGR. In Italy, Amundi managed assets of EUR25bn as of the end of March.

The Netherlands and London-based alternative management boutique Aethra Asset Management, founded in 2008 by two former ABN Amro managers, has had to close down its funds and return the money to investors, as inflows were not at expected levels, Financial News reports. The funds affected include a long-only European equity fund, an absolute return fund, and a global macro hedge fund.

The Alliance Trust group has recruited Jürgen Lanzer as a portfolio manager in its international equities team, led by Ilario Di Bon. He will begin in his new role in early October.Lanzer, who will be based in London, was previously at Schroders, where he had been since 2007. He had previously worked at UBS, with his new boss, Di Bon.

Frankfurt-based Schroders Investment Management is continuing to recruit in Germany. It has recently announced the recruitment of Bianca Eleonore Käs, educated as an economist, as a sales assistant in charge of wholesale clients (funds of funds and wealth managers) in Germany and Austria. She will report to Alexander Prawitz, director of distribution. Käs previously worked for a financial adviser.The recruitment follows those of Daniela Euchner as sales assistant for sales of open-ended funds in Germany (see Newsmanagers of 1 August), who joins the firm from Hartford Life; Alexander Wiss, as director of sales for retail, intermediaries, and regional banks in central Germany (see Newsmanagers of 8 July), and Tania Engel (ex American Express), who joined the firm as COO (see Newsmanagers of 5 July).

Helmut Knepel, the longstanding manager of the German ratings agency Feri EuroRating Services (MLP group), is leaving his position as chairman of the management board, to become chairman of the supervisory board. He will be replaced by Tobias Schmidt, who had already been a member of the management board since 2008, and who joined Feri more than 12 years ago.As has been planned for a long time, Eberhard Weiß, a very longstanding shareholder in Feri, will be leaving his role as a board member, but will remain as an adviser to the business. He will be replaced by Matthias Klöpper, who is also a management board member at the parent company, Feri Finance AG.Feri EuroRating Services (50 employees, about 1,000 clients), which has recently received a European ratings agency license from BaFin (see Newsmanagers of 9 May), is enlarging its board of directors (Geschäftsführung). Wolfgang Kubatzki, director of the real estate unit, will be joined on the board by Axel D. Angermann (economic research unit), and Daniel Burgmann (operations unit).

The Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek announced earlier this week in a document submitted to the Hong Kong stock exchange that it has acquired about one third of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s stake in China Construction Bank, valued at about USD2.8bn. The deal brings Temasek’s stake in the Chinese bank to 8.1%, up from 6.27% previously.

Carlos Rivero, who for two years has been head of the international fund platform at Ahorro Corporación, has been recruited by Inversis Bank Institutional, Funds People reports.Rivero joins Gustavo Montoya on the team in charge of the investment fund distribution platform, which is a part of Inversis Bank Institutional, a unit led by Salvador Martín.

Metzler Asset Management has announced that at the end of August it received a sales license from BaFin (Germany) and the FMA (Austria) for two Irish-registered funds specialised in equities, with concentrated portfolios of 30 positions. The products have no benchmark index, and are unconstrained in matter of portfolio construction.The first of the two, Metzler European Concentrated Growth (IE00B5T6MG33), invests primarily in high-quality large caps whose growth potential has been underestimated by the market, and which have limited exposure to the economic cycle.The second, Metzler European Small and Micro Cap (IE00B5M17487), focuses in European small and midcaps, mostly companies with capitalisation sizes of under EUR500m, with a maximum of EUR1bn.In both cases, the front-end fee and management commission are set at 5% and 1.8%, respectively.

According to the weekly newsletter from Deutsche Bank, ETPs (ETFs, ETCs and ETNs) in Asia last week posted net subscriptions of USD4bn, the highest level of the year. Inflows were particularly strong in Japan, South Korea and China, with demand focused on equity products, primarily those investing in the most developed countries of the continent.

The Austrian developer IC Projektentwicklung has sold the BIZ 2 office building (18,500 square metres) in Vienna to the German firm Deka Immobilien GmbH for an undisclosed sum. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended fund WestInvest ImmoValue, which is reserved for institutional investors.As of the end of July, Deka Immobilien Investment and its sister company WestInvest managed a atotal of EUR22bn in open-ended real estate funds.

Total assets in the 300 largest pension funds in the world last year rose by 11%, to a total of USD12.5trn, up by about USD1.2trn since 2009, according to a study by Pensions & Investments and Towers Watson. Assets increased by 8% the previous year. The rankings show, however, that despite an increase in total assets last year, annualised growth for funds as a whole were down to slightly over 6% over the past five years.By region, Europe has the highest five-year growth rate, at 11%, compared with Asia at 9%, and North America at 1%, while the combined growth rate for Latin America and Africa was 15% in the same period, although assets started from a lower level. The study also finds that the 3,000 largest pension funds in the world now represent over 47% of assets in pension funds worldwide. The survey shows that defined-benefit funds (DB) represent 70% of assets. DB assets rose by 8% in 2010, compared with 13% for defined-contribution funds (DC), and 21% for retirement planning funds.According to Thierry de la Noue, head of the Investment department at Towers Watson Paris, “the largest pension funds in the world have given the composition of their assets a more defensive bias in the past five years, in order to contront persistent volatility, and an unpredictable growth environment, so that the 20 largest funds now hold equal proportions of equities and bonds (40% each), while the remainder is in alternative investments and cash. Meanwhile, funds in Asia-Pacific, and particularly Japan, have retained high exposures to bonds, in keeping with the prevailing investment convictions in these regions, which explain an allocation of 50% of assets to bonds from the largest funds.”The study also finds that at 34%, the United States remains the country with the largest volume of pension fund assets, although that percentage has been falling steadily for five years. The study finds that 54 new funds joined the rankings in the past five years, from Australia (11), Denmark (5), Mexico (4), Germany (4), and Finland (4). The study may be found at the following address: http://www.towerswatson.com/united-kingdom/research/5351

J.P. Morgan Asset management announced on Wednesday, 7 September that it has launched, and registered in Sweden, the JPMorgan Funds – Global Mining Fund1, which invests in mining sector equities.The global portfolio of the fund, which is composed of about 50 to 100 positions on businesses of various cap sizes, is invested in companies of the mining sector or other associated areas of activity worldwide. The fund is focusing on mining companies that produce various metals, steel, gold, precious metals, minerals, and aluminum, and which have low production costs, promising plans, and excellent management.CharacteristicsISIN code A (acc) EUR: LU0362757584Date of inception: 08/02/2011Benchmark index: HSBC Global Mining Index (Total Return Net)Net assets in the fund: EUR2.9bn

Assets under management at Swisscanto throughout the group were down by CHF3.4bn to CHF54.7bn as of the end of its fiscal year on 30 June, of which a decline of CHF3.9bn were due to the strength of the Swiss franc alone, Swisscanto announced in a statement released on 7 September.Following withdrawals of capital from money market funds due to interest rates, and to reorganisations at institutional clients, the group has posted a net outflow of CHF1.9bn, the statement says.According to market statistics from SFA/Lipper, which is using a new database, Swisscanto has retained fourth place in the period under review, after UBS, Credit Suisse and Pictet, with a market share of 7.3%.

HSBC has launched a physical replication ETF dedicated to emerging markets on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).The HSBC MSCI Emerging Markets ETF replicates the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets index, which includes the largest caps in emerging markets including Brazil, Russia, China and India.

La banque va supprimer 3.000 emplois à Hong Kong sur les trois prochaines années, a rapporté L’Agefi qui reprend une information diffusée sur Radio Television Hong Kong. Les suppressions toucheront notamment des postes d’encadrement dans les opérations de back-office, selon une note interne envoyée aux salariés citée par la radio.

Le fonds souverain de Singapour Temasek a indiqué en début de semaine dans un document remis à la Bourse de Hong Kong avoir acquis un tiers environ de la participation de Bank of America Merrill Lynch dans China Construction Bank, soit environ 2,8 milliards de dollars.Cette opération porte la participation de Temasek dans la banque chinoise à 8,1% contre 6,27% précédemment.