Gianluca Grissini a été nommé directeur de la succursale de Lugano de la Banque Sarasin & Cie SA. Il est également responsable régional du marché italien pour les activités de private banking et rend directement compte à Eric G. Sarasin, responsable de la division banque privée.Mis à part le private banking, le site de Lugano offre également un partenariat professionnel aux gestionnaires de fortune externes. Ce secteur d’activité est placé sous la direction de Fabio Aragona, qui a été nommé adjoint de Gianluca Grissini.Gianluca Grissini a notamment créé la société Lancelot Capital Management en 2003, dont il était le directeur. En 2006, il a créé 4Ward Consulting à Milan, une société dont il était le directeur financier. Un an plus tard, il a fondé une autre société de conseil dénommée Compendium puis a rejoint la Banque Sarasin en 2008.

L’Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) a annoncé le 1er juin le recrutement d’Alain Mudie en qualité de chief investment officer (CIO).Alain Mudie «sera en charge du processus d’investissement global, de l’ensemble de la stratégie d’investissement et de l’allocation d’actifs pour la division Private Banking», précise la banque dans un communiqué. De nationalité britannique, Alain Mudie a exercé auparavant la fonction de CIO auprès de BNP Paribas International Private Bank et a également occupé des postes de haut niveau au sein d’United European Bank (UEB) et de Barclays Bank à Paris. Plus récemment, il a travaillé chez Syz & Co. en qualité de responsable d’Oyster Funds, avant de prendre la direction du service Fund Research.

Selon le Financial Times, la Société Générale a structuré un contrat de 1 milliard de dollars sur ses propres actions pour le compte du fonds souverain libyen, le LIA. Le fonds souverain avait noué cette transaction début mars 2008, un mois à peine après l’éclatement de l’affaire Kerviel. Cet investissement, le plus important du fonds souverain libyen sur une période de cinq ans, avait perdu 72% de sa valeur au milieu de l’année 2010. La Société Générale a indiqué qu’elle avait respecté toutes les règlementations en vigueur et ajouté qu’elle ne faisait pas de commentaire sur des transactions ou des clients spécifiques.

A l’occasion le 1er juin d’une réunion de plus de 300 porteurs de projets du secteur numérique, Eric Besson , ministre chargé de l’industrie, de l’énergie et de l’économie numérique, René Ricol, commissaire général à l’investissement et Augustin de Romanet, directeur général de la Caisse des Dépôts ont annoncé la mise en place d’un Fonds Commun de Placement à Risque (FCPR) « FSN PME », doté de 400 millions d’euros géré par les équipes de CDC Entreprises. Ce FCPR investira en fonds propres jusqu'à 30 %, et jusqu’à un plafond de 10 millions d’euros, dans le capital de PME du secteur numérique.« FSN PME » répond à une problématique bien connue dans le domaine du numérique, où de nombreuses startups ne parviennent pas à financer leur croissance et à accroître leurs fonds propres pour se développer. Il vient combler un vide entre les financements de création et d’amorçage et les investissements des grands institutionnels. Ce dispositif s’inscrit dans le cadre du Fonds national pour la Société Numérique (FSN), géré par la Caisse des Dépôts, doté de 4,25 milliards d’'euros dont 1,4 milliard est destiné à financer des projets d’investissement dans de nouveaux usages, services et contenus numériques innovants. Les secteurs d’intervention prioritaire du FSN sont : l’informatique en nuage (« cloud computing »), les industries de contenus (culturels scientifiques ou éducatifs), les technologies de base du numérique (notamment nanoélectronique et logiciel embarqué), l’e-Santé, l’e-Education, la sécurité et résilience des réseaux, les systèmes de transport intelligents et la ville numérique.L’économie numérique représente aujourd’hui plus de 1 150 000 emplois directs et indirects, majoritairement dans des PME. C’est une priorité du gouvernement d’investir dans les PME du secteur numérique afin d’accélérer leur croissance. « D’ici à la fin de l’année, je souhaite que plus de trente projets innovants puissent être instruits par ce FCPR à destination des PME. Cette intervention de l’Etat doit permettre de faire émerger en France les champions de l’internet du futur », a déclaré Eric Besson.

Jusqu’au 9 septembre 2011 inclus dans le cadre d’un contrat d’assurance vie et jusqu’au 16 septembre au sein d’un compte d’instruments financiers, BNP Paribas commercialise BNP Paribas Gestion Active, un fonds garantissant le capital à l'échéance fixée le 19 septembre 2017. A partir de la troisième année de vie du fonds, le niveau de la garantie pourra cependant être rehaussé, dans la limite de 5%, par un cliquet annuel. La performance est liée partiellement au comportement de marchés financiers, représentant des classes d’actifs différentes et des zones géographiques particulières. Il s’agit d’une composante dite «Actifs Diversifiés». En détail, pour les actions, le comportement des marchés européen, américain, japonais ,émergents est pris en compte. Pour les obligations, l'évolution des titres de la zone euro (7‐10 ans), des Etats-Unis (7‐10 ans), des titres de qualité dite « Investment Grade » entre également en ligne de compte. Enfin, pour les actifs dits de diversification, les matières premières, l’immobilier, les obligations à haut rendement et la volatilité sont aussi retenues pour le calcul du résultat du fonds. Outre cet ensemble diversifié, d’autres actifs interviennent ayant pour objectif de générer une performance positive et régulière, et ce que l’environnement de marché soit favorable ou défavorable. Il s’agit cette fois de la «Composante Performance Absolue», indique un communiqué. Dans le respect de la garantie offerte à l’échéance, le gérant a donc la possibilité d’investir de façon flexible sur les différents marchés financiers et de privilégier la Composante Actifs Diversifiés ou la Composante Performance Absolue, en fonction des conditions de marché. A noter qu'à partir de la troisième année de vie du fonds, le mécanisme de cliquet annuel permet à chaque date dite «date de constatation» fixée par l'établissement, de rehausser potentiellement la valeur liquidative garantie en fonction de la valeur liquidative atteinte par le fonds BNP Paribas Gestion Active à chacune de ces dates. Dès lors que la valeur liquidative du fonds est supérieure à la valeur liquidative garantie (correspondant au capital investi initialement) de :- 5% ou plus : la valeur liquidative garantie est alors rehaussée de 5%- 0% à 5% : la valeur liquidative garantie est rehaussée d’autant- Enfin, si à une date de constatation, la valeur liquidative du fonds est inférieure à la valeur liquidative garantie en vigueur, cette dernière reste inchangée Caractéristiques : Dénomination : BNP Paribas Gestion ActiveCode ISIN : FR0011034586

HSBC ETFs a fait admettre à la négociation sur Euronext Paris son ETF HSBC MSCI South Africa ETF (IE00B57S5Q22) qui est chargé à 0,60 %.Ce produit dédié aux actions sud-africaines est le 87ème à être introduit depuis le début de l’année sur les plates-formes européennes de NYSE Euronext, dont la cote, avec les cotations secondaires, s’est accrue de 113 unités, pour atteindre un total de 654 (pour 563 ETF).

Le britannique Source (8,7 milliards de dollars d’encours) a annoncé avoir obtenu d’Amanie le certificat de conformité de ses ETC Source Physical Gold P-ETC (SGLD LN) et Source Physical Silver P-ETC (SSLV LN) à la loi islamique (charia). Ce certificat a été délivré par un conseil d’oulémas constitué par Amanie Islamic Finance Consultancy and Education LLC. L’ETC sur l’or physique (1,2 milliard de dollars) est chargé à 0,29 % et celui sur l’argent physique à 0,39 %.

Sarasin Investment Funds is planning to launch a socially responsible product as a part of its EquiStar range, in parallel with a hedged version of the portfolio denominated in pounds Sterling, FundWeb reports, citing Trustnet. The new fund would naturally be an addition to the existing EquiStar range, which also includes the EquiStar Global Thematic, EquiStar IIID, and EquiStar UK Thematic.

BNY Mellon has been selected by the Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-fonden (AP7) to provide derivative collateral services. The service will be provided by the dedicated BNY Mellon platform DM Edge.

A preliminary enquiry was initiated in early march by the Paris prosecutor’s office, following the publication of a note by the prudential control authority (ACP), which oversees banks, on sales practices by the bank UBS in France, legal sources have stated. The investigation was opened after the ACP (the former banking commission) received an anonymous letter describing the methods used by UBS to help clients to evade taxes and launder money, says Charlie Hebdo, source of the information. The prudential control authority has increased controls at the bank, the newspaper adds. The national legal customs service (SNDJ) has been tasked with the investigation, the legal source reports. The bank has denied all allegations that it assisted with tax evasion, stating that it had no comment on ongoing legal procedures. The ACP has declined to comment.

On 24 May, the CNMV issued a license to Norfin Inversiones Immobiliaras, a management firm for real estate funds aimed at institutional or qualified investors. The Portuguese firm Norfin Investimentos SGPS SA (EUR1bn in assets) controls 55.42% of the entity, while Arbore Living Investments S.L. controls a 15% stake. Norfin II is directed by Pelayo Primo de Rivera (chairman and CEO) and Ignacio Pereda-Velasco Sagrado (CIO).

Following net subscriptions in February and March 2011, which were the first since October 2008, Spanish securities funds saw net redemptions again in May, of EUR973m, following EUR466m in April. This confirms recent estimates by VDOS Stochastics. Assets, for their part, have fallen to EUR137.813bn, or 0.69% in one month, compared with EUR139.017bn as of the end of April (see Newsmanagers of 2 May), the Spanish association of management firms Inverco reports. Among the top ten players in terms of asset volumes, only two, Gesmadrid and Ibercaja Gestión, posted net subscriptions in May, of EUR11.19m and EUR11.25m, respectively. The strongest outflows, as in April, were for the two largest management firms in the country, Santander Asset Management and BBVA Asset Management, where net redemptions totalled EUR270.1m and EUR219.8m, respectively.

The Alken Absolute Return Europe (AARE), launched at the end of January 2011 by Alken Asset Management (see Newsmanagers of 17 January 2011) has topped EUR100m in assets. The psychologically significant threshold is welcome for the absolute return fund, which has posted gains of 3.7% since the end of January, with total volatility limited to between 5% and 6%.

HSBC ETFs has added its HSBC MSCI South Africa ETF fund (IE00B57S5Q22), which charges fees of 0.60%, to trading on Euronext Paris. The product dedicated to South African equities is the 87th product to be added to the European platforms of NYSE Euronext since the beginning of the year; the markets, including secondary listings, have grown by 113 funds, to a total of 654 (563 of them ETFs).

Russell Investments is launching an initial range of 10 US small and midcap ETFs which allow qualified investors to manage their exposure to five risk factors (high beta, low beta, high volatility, low volatility, and high momentum). The launch of the range follows the launch of a series of factoral long-only indices in partnership with Axioma (see Newsmanagers of 26 May 2011). The ETFs of the range include: • Russell 1000® High Beta ETF (NYSE:HBTA) • Russell 1000® Low Beta ETF (NYSE:LBTA) • Russell 1000® High Volatility ETF (NYSE:HVOL) • Russell 1000® Low Volatility ETF (NYSE:LVOL) • Russell 1000® High Momentum ETF (NYSE:HMTM) • Russell 2000® High Beta ETF (NYSE:SHBT) • Russell 2000® Low Beta ETF (NYSE:SLBT) • Russell 2000® High Volatility ETF (NYSE:SHVY) • Russell 2000® Low Volatility ETF (NYSE:SLVY) • Russell 2000® High Momentum ETF (NYSE:SHMO)

On 1 June, at a meeting of more than 300 digital pioneers, Eric Besson, minister for industry, energy and digital economy, René Ricol, general commissioner for investment, and Augustin de Romanet, CEO of the Caisse des Dépôts, announced the creation of a risk common investment vehicle (FCPR) entitled “FSN PME,” which will have EUR400m in assets managed by CDC Entreprises. The FCPR fund will invest up to 30% of its own equity, up to a limit of EUR10m, in the capital of digital sector SMBs. FSN PME is a response to a well-known problem in the digital domain, where many startups don’t manage to finance their growth and increase their owners’ equity in order to grow. It fills a void between seed capital and money to fund the creation of businesses, and investment from major institutional investors. The initiative is a part of the Fonds national pour la Société Numérique (FSN), managed by the Caisse des Dépôts, which has EUR4.25bn in capital, of which EUR1.4bn is aimed to finance investment projects in new and innovative digital uses, services and content. The sectors in which the FSN will act as a first priority are: cloud computing, content industries (cultural, scientific or educational), underlying digital technolgies (including nanotech and deployed technologies), health, education, network security and resilience, intelligent transportation systems, and urban digital technologies. The digital economy now represents over 1,150,000 jobs, directly or indirectly, most of them at SMBs. The government has made it a priority to invest in digital sector SMBs in order to accelerate their growth. “By the end of the year, I would like to see more than 30 innovative projects receive instructions from this FCPR for SMBs. This government intervention should make it possible for champions of the internet of the future to emerge in France,” Besson says.

The British management firm Source (USD8.7bn in assets) has announced that it has received certificates of compliance with Islamic Sharia law from Amanie Advisors for its Source Physical Gold P-ETC (SGLD LN) and Source Physical Silver P-ETC (SSLV LN) ETC products. The certificate is issued by a board of Ulama scholars, assembled by Amanie Islamic Finance Consultancy and Education LLC. The physical gold ETC fund (USD1.2bn) charges 0.29%, while the physical silver fund charges 0.39%.

The asset management affiliates of the two major Spanish banks were the worst affected by net redemptions in the first five months of 2011, Expansión reports: BBVA Asset Management saw net redmeptions of EUR1.164bn, while Santander Asset Management saw net outflows of EUR976m. Though the latter outflows reduced the damage for diversified products from Santander Select (high net worth retail clients) and Banif (private banking), the former saw outflows in all categories, including short-term bonds, which compete with savings accounts. The other victims of the outflows have been the savings banks, now in a restructuring process: Catalunya Caixa has seen outflows of EUR512m, and Ahorro Corporación has seen outflows of EUR516m. However, La Caixa has seen net inflows of EUR2.027bn, while Bestinver has taken on EUR199m.

The institutional investor confidence index published by State Street Global Markets has reached its highest level since December, with a gain of 6.8 points in May, to a total of 104.1, compared with a corrected level of 97.3 in April. The increase is largely due to an increase in investor confidence in North America, which for its part has increased by 7.7 points, from a corrected level of 98.6 to 106.3 points. Following the downturn in the past few months, European investor confidence has also increase 5.2 points, from 73.8 in April to 79.0 in May. However, the Asian investor confidence index has turned down by 2.7 points, from 99.4 (corrected level) last month to 96.7 this month. “Since the publication of the institutional investor confidence index in April, further signs of a slight weakening in macroeconomic conditions have appeared – and this fall is reflected in share and commodity prices,” says professor Ken Froot. “As we have often observed on numerous occasions in the past, institutional investors sometimes consider times like these an opportunity to acquire higher-risk positions, and this month is no exception.”

On the basis of statistics published by the German BVI association of management firms, funds posted net subscriptions of EUR1.08bn in April, of which EUR531.8m were to open-ended funds (compared with outflows of EUR3.1bn in March), and EUR555.2m (compared with EUR2.42bn) to institutional funds. Mandates saw net outflows of EUR155.9m, compared with EUR771.6m in the previous month. In the first four months of the year, net inflows to funds and mandates totalled EUR10.18bn, compared with EUR33.62bn, in part because open-ended funds saw net outflows of EUR4.22bn, compared with net inflows of EUR11.2bn in January-April 2010. In this morose environment, large management firms such as Allianz Global Investors and Deka saw net outflows of EUR1.73bn and EUR3.46bn, respectively, from open-ended securities funds in January-April, while outflows were limited to EUR556m at Union Investment. However, the DWS/DB Advisors/DB Gruppe group (Deutsche Bank) has seen overall net subscriptions of EUR58.5m, which is attributable to EUR640m in net inflows to its ETF specialist affiliate, db x-trackers. Two other ETF specialist operators have posted net inflows: BlackRock (iShares funds), with EUR784m, and ComStage (commerzbank), with EUR140m. However, ETFlab (Deka) has seen net outflows of EUR146m. Results have also been good at Universal Investment, the white-label product specialist, which took on EUR741.5m in net subscriptions in the first four months of the year.

By the end of this year, Carmignac Gestion is planning to open a branch office in Frankfurt with a staff of seven people. In addition, German retail clients will have access to the complete range of funds from the French management firm, once Carmignac Investissement Latitude receives a sales license from BaFin. Carmignac, which is also planning to open an office in London, had previously served the German market with a team based in Luxembourg, led by John Korter.

The US management firm Russell Investments is planning to open an office in Frankfurt to sell indices, its advising activity, a range of funds and services (transition management, forex overlay, portfolio insurance), Fondsprofessionell reports. The move comes in parallel with the construction of a team to be in charge of all of German-speaking Europe, says Johan Cras, CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Rothschild Private Banking & Trust, the wealth management unit of the international Rothschild group, has appointed Reinhard Krafft, founder and owner of Jupiter Group in Luxembourg, as the next director of Rothschild Vermögensverwaltungs in Frankfurt-am-Main, Agefi Switzerland reports. Krafft started at Rothschild on 1 June, and will initially direct the business in collaboration with Hayo Willms, before taking over sole direction of it from 1 September 2011. Rothschild has also engaged the services of professor Alexander Kolb for the new board at the German wealth management firm. The appointment of Krafft is pending the approval of the German federal financial services control authority (BaFin).

The Californian pension fund CalPERS has announced the appointment of Réal Desrochers as senior investment officer for its private equity unit. Descrochers will be in charge of managing international investments in private equity totalling about USD49bn, of which USD33bn are invested in funds from alternative management partners. Desrochers, who previously worked at CalSTRS, will report directly to the CIO of CalPERS, Joseph Dear.

As part of a disengagement from the private equity sector, Bank of America will be spinning off its last major fund, which has over USD6bn in assets. A new firm, North Cove Partners, will independently manage the vehicle’s assets, La Tribune reports.

The international hedge fund association AIMA has published a guide intended for institutional investors and managers, assembled by the AIMA investor assistance committee, summing up the current preferences and priorities in institutional investment and investment allocation. The objective of the guide is to lay out the point of view of investors, their expectations and their preferences, on a series of operational and organisational issues, which are increasingly a central preoccupation for investors and managers. The authors of the document are Kurt Silberstein (CalPERS), Luke Dixon (USS), Michelle McGregor Smith (BA Pension Investment Management), Andrea Gentilini (UBP) and Adrian Sales (Albourne Parners).

On 1 June, Source UK Services Ltd announced that Northern Trust has become its partner as administrator and depository, following its acquisition of Bank of Ireland Securities Services (BoISS). As a part of the deal, all agreements concluded by the BoISS with source for asset custody have been transferred to Northern Trust, as a result of which Northern Trust Fiduciary Services (Ireland) Limited is now the official depository for Source. All operational activities, client reporting and regular contacts will continue and will not be affected.

Fondsprofessionell reports that the Berlin regional government’s environmental protection agency (Stiftung Naturschutz des Landes Berlin) lost EUR2m which it had invested in Primeo funds from the Bank of Austria. These Primero funds were among the products whose capital was negatively affected by the Madoff scandal. Now, the charity is participating in a lawsuit against Bank Austria, which is owned by the UniCredit group, and which itself claims to be a victim of the fraud.

Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) on 1 June announced the recruitment of Alain Mudie as chief investment officer (CIO). Mudie “will be in charge of the global investment process, all investment strategy and asset allocation for the Private Banking division,” the bank says in a statement. The Briton Mudie previously served as CIO at BNP Paribas International Private Bank and has also held high-level positions at United European Bank (UEB) and Barclays Bank in Paris. More recently, he worked at Syz & Co. as head of Oyster Funds, before becoming director of Fund Research.

Gianluca Grissini has been appointed as director of the Lugano branch of Banque Sarasin & Cie SA. He is also regional head for the Italian market for private banking activities, and reports directly to Eric G. Sarasin, head of the Italian private banking division. Aside from private banking, the Lugano office also offers professional partnerships for external wealth managers. This sector of activity is directed by Fabio Aragona, who has been appointed as Grissini’s deputy.