Vers un label pour les covered bonds
La BCE s’est déclarée en faveur de ce projet vendredi dernier. Les professionnels travaillent aussi à une amélioration de la transparence sur les produits.
Les Etats-Unis devraient préserver leur AAA
Le billet vert servant d'actif de réserve, le pays se verra sûrement accorder plus de temps pour remettre de l’ordre dans ses finances publiques
Le CME tempère la spéculation sur l'argent
La Bourse des métaux de Chicago a relevé vendredi ses marges initiale et de maintenance de 13,16% pour les positions spéculatives. En réaction, les futures sur l’argent ont chuté hier un moment de 13%. La décision, la deuxième en une semaine, contraint les traders à mobiliser plus de cash.
L'enquête de Bruxelles sur les CDS rend la tâche d'ICE plus difficile
Même si elle n'a rien à voir avec la proposition de rachat de Nyse Euronext, elle remet au goût du jour le défi concurrentiel du groupe américain
Le CME met les bouchées doubles face à l'envolée du prix de l'argent
La Bourse des métaux de Chicago a relevé ses marges de 13,16% pour les positions spéculatives faisant chuter les futures
La Grèce s’attaque à l’évasion fiscale pour atteindre ses objectifs budgétaires
Athènes espère aussi obtenir un nouveau rééchelonnement des 110 milliards d'aide de l'Union européenne et du FMI
Une pépite alternative ouvre ses portes à Londres
Le hedge fund londonien Audley Capital, dirigé par l’activiste sud-africain Julian Treger, va selon le quotidien permettre à de nouveaux investisseurs d’entrer au sein de son fonds vedette European Opportunities, dont l’actif s’élève à 750 millions de dollars. Une initiative inspirée par le retrait de certains clients de long terme au cours des derniers mois. Le fonds a affiché des performances de 140% en 2009 et de 100% l’an passé.
Le Trésor américain tente d’éviter un plan drastique de réduction de la dette
Timothy Geithner a repoussé au 2 août la date à laquelle il estime être dans l'incapacité de rembourser les obligations arrivant à maturité
Le Royaume-Uni s’attaque à ses évadés fiscaux en Suisse
Les citoyens britanniques qui possèdent des milliards de livres dans des comptes non déclarés au fisc logés dans des banques suisses devront s’acquitter d’une taxe de 50% selon un accord qui aurait été passé, selon le quotidien, entre les autorités des deux pays et pourrait être annoncé au cours du mois. L’Etat britannique compte ainsi récolter quelque trois milliards de livres qui s’ajouteront au paiement d’une taxe rétroactive.
La société de gestion quantitative Aequam Capital se lance
Aequam Capital, une société de gestion quantitative indépendante, qui vient d’être créée par Arnaud Chrétien (ex-SGAM AI), propose une gamme de programmes d’investissement quantitatifs et systématiques, visant à tirer parti de tendances et d’opportunités d’investissement sur les principaux marchés à terme de taux, d’indices actions, de devises et de matières premières, selon un communiqué diffusé hier. L’équipe compte neuf collaborateurs.
Nasdaq et ICE à l'abordage
Nasdaq OMX Group et IntercontinentalExchange ont lancé officiellement hier le processus d’une offre hostile de 11,1 milliards de dollars sur Nyse Euronext. Les deux prétendants ont donc choisi de s’adresser directement aux actionnaires. Cette décision était attendue après que le conseil d’administration a rejeté par deux fois les avances des deux groupes pour privilégier une offre de l’opérateur allemand Deutsche Börse à 10,3 milliards. «Le lancement de cette offre devrait convaincre le conseil d’administration de Nyse que nos intentions sont sérieuses», selon Robert Greifeld, directeur général de Nasdaq OMX. Le président du conseil d’administration de Nyse Euronext Jan-Michiel Hessels avait qualifié jeudi l’offre de Nasdaq OMX d'«illusoire». «Nous pensons que (Nasdaq OMX et ICE) n’obtiendront pas l’approbation nécessaire et nous pensons que leur offre est une stratégie pour entraver (notre fusion)», avait-il alors déclaré.
AllianceBernstein en repli
Le gérant new-yorkais a fait état d’une baisse de 8% sur un an de son bénéfice au premier trimestre, à 43,92 millions de dollars. Les actifs sous gestion s’établissaient à 477,3 milliards de dollars à la fin du mois de mars, un niveau stable par rapport à celui observé à la fin de 2010.
Croissance accélérée dans l'industrie française en avril
Légèrement ralentie en mars, la croissance de l’activité dans le secteur manufacturier en France est repartie de l’avant en avril, montrent lundi les résultats définitifs de l’enquête mensuelle Markit auprès des directeurs d’achat. L’indice PMI industriel est remonté à 57,5 (son plus haut niveau depuis novembre) contre 55,4 en mars.
La Grèce évoque un possible rééchelonnement de sa dette
«Il n’est pas question de restructurer» la dette publique de la Grèce, qui suscite l’inquiétude d’une partie des investisseurs, déclare le ministre grec des Finances dans un entretien publié lundi par Libération. Pour Georges Papaconstantinou, «il vaut mieux que l’on allonge encore les délais de remboursement des 110 milliards d’euros que nous ont prêtés nos partenaires et que l’on baisse davantage le taux d’intérêt».
La crise de la dette freine l'intégration financière, indique la BCE
La crise de la dette souveraine a annulé certains progrès réalisés dans le processus d’intégration du secteur bancaire de la zone euro et dans le reste du secteur financier, selon un rapport de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE) publié lundi. Ce rapport annuel pointe également la détérioration du marché des dettes souveraines, des marchés monétaires et du secteur bancaire comme des éléments préoccupants. «Le creusement récent des écarts de rendement sur les obligations (…) indique en quelque sorte une surréaction des marchés, qui est potentiellement problématique pour l’intégration des marchés obligataires souverains», ajoute le rapport. L’attitude des gouvernements, qui ont choisi de soutenir les banques au cours de la crise financière, a réduit à néant un certain nombre de progrès qui avaient été réalisés depuis l’entrée en vigueur de l’euro, selon le même rapport. Il critique également la façon dont l’Europe a fait face à la crise financière et appelle à une approche mieux coordonnée dans le futur.
02/05/2011
Strong inflows to Pictet Clean Energy fund
Since the Fukushima disaster in Japan, the Clean Energy fund, which had a drab start to the year, has posted strong inflows, running into the tens of millions of dollars. As of the end of March, assets under management in the fund, launched nearly four years ago, were nearly USD700m. The manager of the fund, Luciano Diana, who has succeeded Philippe de Weck, who is now in charge of total return management at Pictet, estimated at a press conference on 29 April that the events in Japan and tensions in the Middle East probably helped bring a burst of speed to the energy transition process. The major beneficiaries in the situation are natural gas, renewable energies and energy efficiency. The portfolio’s allocations are to natural gas, which has increased from 15% to 20% currently, with the rising trend. “Allocation may be expected to be maintained at 20% to 30%, as the fund is now dedicated to clean technologies,” says Diana. Allocation to energy efficiency represents 30% of the portfolio, while wind energy represents 18%, and solar represents 17%.
02/05/2011
French real estate funds growth will come from winning over retail clients
In less than five years, French OPCI funds (real estate funds) have become a presence in the industry due to sales to institutional investors, La Tribune reports. As of the end of 2010, 107 OPCI funds were licensed by the French financial market authority, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), compared with 81 one year earlier. Assets now total about EUR10bn. According to the newspaper, the largest challenge now facing the profession is selling OPCI funds to the retail investors. Only 6 of those OPCI funds have been licensed for retail sale, and their assets remain modest (EUR173m as of the end of March).
02/05/2011
“We have ambitions to further strengthen our presence in the institutional segment”
Financière de l'Echiquier tends to live by the saying, “live hidden and live happily,” with EUR5.3bn in assets under management. This volume is due both to the management firm's presence in Europe for several years already, and to the diverse client base it has already attracted. In addition to IFAs, which are the backbone of its reputation, the asset management firm has also found success with institutional investors. It is planning to develop its presence serving these investors even further.
02/05/2011
How some TIPS funds generate magical returns
For the month to the end of March, «SEC yields» declared by the 173 mutual funds of inflation-linked US treasury bonds (known as TIPS, for treasury inflation-protected securities) varied from -0.77% to +5.58%. Four out of the seven ETF funds specialised in TIPS earned returns of over 5%, with 6,07% for the Pimco 15+ Year US TIPS Index. Schwab and American Century have published similar results.The Wall Street Journal reports that TIPS offer no return of over 1.75%. The explanation is simple: the SEC has not set a particular formula for calculating the returns of TIPS funds, meaning that fund managers use the method that has been in place since 1988 for ordinary mutual funds, which limited returns to dividends and interest income. For TIPS, returns come not only from interest income, but also from adjustments in value when inflation increases. For a month like April, in which inflation was easily 0.5%, after annualisation, SEC yields easily come out to 6%. This effect will be even more marked in May, when inflation is expected to near 1%.Asset management firms such as Vanguard and iShares, which publish the “real yield” of their funds, are at a disadvantage, since their returns are lower, but these figures are less likely to mislead investors.
02/05/2011
Japanese blogs inspire creation of a hedge fund
A former Goldman Sachs banker, Hideki Furusho, has teamed up with a professor at Tokyo university, Yutaka Matsuo, to launch a hedge fund which will trade futures on the Nikkei 225, using a model that analyses posts on Japanese blogs, Bloomberg reports. The fund hopes to generate 20% returns by tracking and analysing about 20 million Japanese blogs, looking for keywords that could have a potential influence on price movements on Nikkei futures.
02/05/2011
Altin earns returns of 12.47% in 2010
The Swiss alternative management firm Altin, which is managed by Alternative Asset Advisors (Syz group) has announced that in 2010 it earned returns of 12.47%, while the HFR index of funds of funds earned 5.67%. Assets total about CHF280m. The best contributors to performance were long/short equity and macro strategies, with an emphasis on commodities, followed by event-driven managers and multi-strategy funds. Leverage has remained stable at about 120% over the past year. The firm also announced following its general shareholders’ meeting that Peter Altorfer has been elected as chairman of the board of directors, succeeding Peter Beglinger, who “wanted to retire after 15 years of good and loyal service.”
02/05/2011
LGIM recruits a former Gartmore manager
The equities manager Sacha Sedan, who left Gartmore when the management firm was acquired by Henderson Global Investors, will join Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) in June, as director of corporate governance, and will report directly to the CEO, who is currently Kevin Gregory for an interim period.
02/05/2011
Allianz RCM converts a fund into an absolute return product
Subscribers to the Allianz RCM UK Growth fund (Allianz Global Investors) have been advised that they will be invited to an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting to authorise the transfer of GBP58m in assets to the new Allianz RCM UK Absolute Return fund, which will result in the conversion of the original fund into an absolute return product. The manager will be Jeremy Thomas, CIO for UK equities at RCM, with the objective of earning higher returns than those from money markets and bonds, with lower volatility than equities, and to outperform the FTSE All Share index over the long term. The fund will be constructed around a strategic long-only portfolio and a tactical long/short market neutral portfolio.
02/05/2011
Hong Kong monetary authority enters alternative investment
In its 2010 annual report, the Hong Kong monetary authority has announced that it has invested HKD2.2bn in alternative strategies (real estate, private equity and equities, and emerging markets fixed income), via dedicated affiliates, in order to diversify the portfolio of the structure in charge of managing the territory’s currency reserves, the HKMA Exchange Fund, with a total of about HKD300bn.Last year, the Exchange Fund earned returns of 3.6%, compared with an average of 1.2% over the past three years.
02/05/2011
State Street makes an appointment in Asia
State Street has appointed the current CFO of the Singapore stock exchange, Wai Kwong Seck, as a potential successor to Peter O’Neill as head of international markets and services for State Street in Asia-Pacific, Asian Investor reports. Wai Kwong Seck will join State Street on 1 September this year, as executive vice president and general manager of global services and global markets activities in the region. However, he will not take over O’Neill’s responsibilities until the end of 2012. Meanwhile, he will be familiarising himself with the culture and strategy of State Street, including a four-month residence in Boston and a four-month stint in Europe, probably in London.
02/05/2011
Decline in asset management operating profits at Nordea
On 29 April, Nordea announced net profits of EUR742m for first quarter 2011, compared with EUR770m in October-December, and EUR643m in the corresponding period of last year. The cost/income ratio has improved to 50% from 51% in the earlier of the two quarters under comparison.Assets under management, at EUR192bn as of the end of March, have increased 1% compared with the end of December (EUR191bn), and 13% compared with the end of March 2010 (EUR169.3bn).In first quarter, net subscriptions totalled EUR2.5bn, largely due to net inflows of EUR2.1bn from institutional clients (to EUR34.7bn as of the end of March). Operating revenues from asset management, at EUR197m, fell 5% in January-March compared with fourth quarter 2010 (EUR208m), but increased 33.1% compared with January-March last year (EUR148m). The decline observed in first quarter 2011 is due to revenues from performance commissions, which come only in fourth quarter.Operating profits for asset management activities totalled EUR123m, compared with EUR135m in fourth quarter 2010, and EUR89m in January-March last year.
02/05/2011
Pioneer may hold IPO
At a general shareholders’ meeting for UniCredit, the CEO, Federico Ghizzoni, announced that he is not ruling out an IPO for Pioneer, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. “But so far, we have not talked about doing that,” he added.
02/05/2011
Disappointing returns for pension funds
As of the end of March, assets in Spanish pension funds totalled EUR84.99bn, an increase of EUR178m, or 0.2% over their levels at the end of December, Inverco, the Spanish association of management firms, reports. Contributions in the past twelve months totalled EUR5.51bn, and benefits came to EUR4.25bn, although cumulative net inflows totalled EUR1.26bn. The number of accounts, for its part, has increased by 1% in one year, to a total of 10,729,811. Since one person may have shares in several funds, the number of policyholders is estimated at about 8 million. On one year, the average performance for all funds as of the end of March totalled 0.06%, due to the fact that indivudual funds saw losses of 0.25%, while enterprise and mixed funds showed returns of 1.56% and 1.65%, respectively. Over three and six years, the bottom line is hardly more flattering, as average annual returns totalled 0.72% and 0.70%. Over ten years, the average is 1.67%, and over 15 years, 3.76%.
02/05/2011
Foreign management firms took in EUR500m in January-March
According to estimates by Inverco, the Spanish association of asset management firms, assets under management by foreign fund managers in Spain as of the end of March totalled EUR50bn, compared with EUR48bn one year earlier.This result is extrapolated from data provided by the 20 foreign asset management firms which disclose information about their assets under management to Inverco, whose assets totalled EUR36.32bn as of the end of first half. These 20 fund managers represent about 66% of total assets at foreign asset management firms in Spain.For the 20 fund managers that publish results, net subscriptions in January-March totalled EUR492.43m. The top 13 had assets of over EUR1bn; the largest of them is JP Morgan Asset Management, with EUR6.13bn as of 31 March, followed by Amundi Iberia (EUR3.68bn), and BlackRock Investment (EUR3.33bn).BNP Paribas is in sixth place, with EUR2.56bn, and Axa IM is in 15th place with EUR778.2m.
02/05/2011
Inverco confirms Spanish funds had net outflows in March
In April, Spanish securities funds underwent net redemptions of EUR466m, following two consecutive months of net subscriptions (EUR712m in March, and EUR72m in February). The February inflows were the first after sixteen months of uninterrupted net outflows. Of the ten largest asset management firms in the country, only two have posted net subscriptions in April: Ibercaja Gestión (EUR17.5m) and Bansabadell Inversión (EUR347m). The largest net outflows were from Santander Asset Management (EUR360.6m) and BBVA Asset Management (EUR110.3m).