CPR Asset Management, filiale d’Amundi, a converti mi-janvier son ancien fonds CPR Trésorerie en fonds monétaire socialement responsable. Renommé CPR Monétaire SR, ce fonds monétaire euro, qui vise une performance supérieure de 10 points de base à l’Eonia capitalisé, est géré en fonction de critères dits d’investissement socialement responsable. Ainsi, les Etats, pour être retenus dans le portefeuille, doivent respecter six critères sociaux, environnementaux et de gouvernance. En clair, ils doivent être signataires de la convention des droits de l’homme, de la convention de l’organisation internationale du travail (OIT) et du Protocole de Kyoto, être dotés de dispositifs législatifs de lutte contre la corruption et contre la discrimination du protocole de Kyoto, et enfin interdire le travail des enfants et le travail forcé. Côté entreprises, un processus « best in class » est mis en œuvre. Ainsi, on ne retrouve dans le portefeuille que les émetteurs bénéficiant des meilleures notes dans chaque secteur. Ce fonds de 123 millions d’euros au 31 mars 2011, dont l’horizon conseillé est supérieur à trois mois, fait partie de l’offre de trésorerie de CPR AM, toilettée à l’occasion des nouvelles réglementations. Ainsi, il s’insère, en termes d’horizon de placement et de risque, entre la sicav monétaire en euro court terme CPR Cash (4,5 milliards d’euros) et le fonds monétaire CPR Moné Carry (716 millions d’euros). Le premier, dont la priorité est la liquidité, vise une performance égale à celle de l’Eonia, tandis que le second, dont l’horizon est de six mois, vise l’Eonia capitalisé plus 20 points de base. Le dernier de la gamme est le CPR Oblig 12 mois, un fonds obligataire et autres titres de créances internationales, qui cible un Eonia capitalisé + 40 points de base et dont l’horizon conseillé est de 12 mois.

Le new-yorkais Van Eck Global a annoncé le 5 avril le lancement du Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap ETF (acronyme GERJ sur NYSE Arca) qui va répliquer la performance du Markets Vectors Germany Small-Cap Index composé au 8 mars d’actions de 95 petites capitalisations allemandes avec une capitalisation boursière moyenne de 1,2 milliard de dollars. Cet indice est la propriété exclusive de 4asset-management GmbH, qui a chargé Structured Solutions AG de calculer l’indice. Le nouvel ETF est chargé à 0,55 %.

BNY Mellon a nommé plusieurs responsables de son offre Derivatives360SM, un produit qui vise à aider les investisseurs à exécuter et gérer leurs transactions sur les dérivés. Jonathan Wowler a été nommé business manager pour la région Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique ainsi que pour l’Asie Pacifique. Chris Colemen occupera le même poste pour les régions Amérique du Nord et Amérique latine. Enfin, Laure Scala devient chief administrative officer.

Columbia Management (groupe Ameriprise Financial) a annoncé le lancement de deux fonds multi stratégies à performance absolue. Le Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Fund vise une performance équivalente à celle des obligations investment grade mais avec une volatilité moindre et une faible corrélation à l’indice Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond. Le Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Enhanced Fund a pour objectif de réaliser une performance égale à celle de la performance historique des actions, tout en réduisant la volatilité et la corrélation à l’indice S&P 500.

Eaton Vance annonce le recrutement de Rodrigo Soto en tant que vice président responsable de la clientèle institutionnelle. Il sera basé à Seattle et couvrira les régions Etats-Unis de l’ouest et Canada. Auparavant, l’intéressé était head of institutionnal sales Etats-Unis de l’ouest chez State Street Global Advisors.

Schroder Property a annoncé le 4 avril la nomination de Nick Scott, en qualité de responsable des transactions retail et de la gestion des actifs du Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust.Nick Scott travaillait précédemment chez NewRiver Retail. Les actifs sous gestion de Schroders dans l’immobilier s'élevaient à plus de 11 milliards d’euros à fin décembre 2010.

Andrew Graham va rejoindre Jason McCay et Richard Evans à la tête de sa stratégie dédiée à la zone Asie-Pacifique hors Japon, le Martin Currie Asia Pacific Fund, a indiqué le 5 avril la société de gestion britannique.Précédemment chez Putnam Investments, Andrew Graham avait rejoint Martie Currie en mai 2010 pour s’occuper de la recherche et de la construction de portefeuille. Environ 50% des actifs sous gestion de Martin Currie sont investis dans des actions de la zone Asie-Pacifique, soit plus de 6 milliards d’euros.

According to the white-label fund management firm Minerva Investments, the principality of Liechtenstein will complete its transposition of the UCITS IV directive into local law by this summer. A bill presented to Parliament will permit the launch of all types of products laid out by the European directive in Liechtenstein, and will reduce time to market to only 10 days.The version of the bill presented to the legislative body allows fund promoters to abstain from holding general shareholders’ meetings for Sicav funds.In addition, local Sicavs and investment funds are already exempt from withholding tax on all capital gains.

After seven years at Pioneer Investments Germany, where he was most recently head of German and Luxembourg institutional client relationship management, Markus Rottler has joined Threadneedle Investments, as sales director for distribution via savings banks, and head of key accounts for wholesale distribution and institutional clients.Rottler will report directly to Werner Kolitsch, head of Germany and Austria.

In January-February, German open-ended securities funds overall saw net outflows of EUR1.5386bn (see Newsmanagers of 5 April). Among the major asset management firms, Allianz Global Investors saw net outflows of EUR2.1691bn, of which EUR581.5m for Pimco, while Deka (German savings banks) saw net outflows of EUR1.7196bn, and Union Investment (co-operative banks) had net redemptions of EUR220.6m.However, the DWS/DB Advisors/DB Guppe (Deutsche Bank) family saw net subscriptions of EUR645.9m, of which EUR43.8m went to ETFs from db x-trackers.Among the other ETF promoters, BlackRock saw net inflows of EUR573.1m for iShares products, and ComStage (Commerzbank) posted net subscriptions of EUR88.9m. But ETFs from ETFlab (Deka) naw net redemptions of EUR328.3m.

The financial product distributor DVAG, whose network includes over 37,000 independent financial advisers, in 2010 earned record profits of EUR150.1m, which represents an 8.1% increase over 2009, although earnings fell 2.8% to EUR1.07bn. The firm announced on 5 April that about 80% of its life insurance and retirement insurance policies intermediated by advisers are unit-linked. The volume intermediated in these areas in 2010 increased by 12% to EUR2.5bn, for a total up 13.7% to EUR15.5bn.

Eight foreign hedge funds have withdrawn their lawsuit seeking EUR17.35bn in damages from UniCredit and other entities, the Italian bank announced on Tuesday. The bank had not set any money aside for the claims, as it considered the lawsuit unfounded. The problem is that UniCredit is still named in other legal actions, Il Sole – 24 Ore remarks, and the EUR1.4bn set aside by the bank to cover potential costs may not be enough.

Deutsche Börse has introduced risk control indices which provide a way to manage risks related to the benchmark index for the German market, on the basis of a hypothetical portfolio including an allocation to shares of the Dax as well as a money market allocation to the Eonia. The indices may be revised on a daily basis. The stock market company is offering several configurations, associated with volatility levels of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%.

The New York fund manager Van Eck Global on 5 April announced the launch of the Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap ETF (acronym GERJ on NYSE Arca), which will replicate the performance of the Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap Index, which as of 8 March was composed of shares in 95 German small caps with an average market capitalisation of USD1.2bn. The index is the exclusive property of 4asset-management GmbH, which has retained Structured Solutions AG to calculate the index.The new ETF charges 0.55%.

The Spanish high net worth investor Alicia Koplowitz, whose wealth is estimated at over EUR1.6bn, may be pleased with the performance of her hedge fund management firm, Omega Capital, whose Irish hedge fund Cerrado Fund last year posted gains of 12.5%, Expansión reports.Omega Capital, led by Oscar Fanjul, former chairman of Repsol, and Alberto Ruiz, manages over EUR750m in seven hedge funds, and half of that total comes from Koplowitz. The returns from other major hedge funds from Omega Capital are 2.2% for Laredo, 3.6% for Fractal and 5.2% for Alphaville.

Phitrust Active Investors, a specialist in shareholder engagement, will be launching a Sicav in the next few months which encourages the development of social business strategies at major European businesses belonging to the Eurostoxx 50. Social business, also known as “bottom of the pyramid” strategy, is an activity which aims to improve a social or ecological issue. The most emblematic example is probably the case of Danone, which in Bangladesh is producing a low-price, vitamin-enriched yoghurt for children with dietary deficiencies. “To be a genuine social business, these activities need to design custom products for local markets, dedicated to disadvantaged clients at a low price. The question of whether the activities should be profitable is an open one, but in my opinion it is preferable to ensure the survival of the activity,” explains Luis Sanchez de Lozada, legal head of Phitrust. Of the businesses of the Euroztoxx 50, ten firms are seriously engaged in this type of activity, Sanchez de Lozada estimates. In the new Sicav, companies will be given an overweight position compared with their weight in the index, once they are identified. The Social Business Active Investors fund is a “tilted” index-based Sicav, like its elder sibling Proxy Active Investors. In other words, the portfolio is invested in all the shares of the index, and businesses are overweight or underweight depending on their activities in the area of social business. The Sicav will be launched once Phitrust Active Investors has collected EUR20m from institutional investors.

CPR Asset Management, an affiliate of Amundi, in mid-January converted its CPR Monétaire fund into a socially responsible money market fund. The fund, now known as CPR Monétaire SR, is a euro money market fund which aims for returns 10 basis points higher than the capitalised Eonia, and is managed according to socially responsible investment criteria. Governments, in order to be included in the portfolio, are required to respect six social, environmental and governance criteria. They must be signatories of the convention on human rights, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention, and the Kyoto Protocol; they must have legal frameworks for fighting corruption and discrimination, under the Kyoto protocol; and lastly, child labour and forced labour must be illegal. For businesses, a “best-in-class” process is used. The portfolio includes only issuers with the best ratings in each sector. The fund, with EUR123m in assets as of 31 March 2011, with a recommended investment horizon of over three months, is part of the money markets product range from CPR AM, which has been polished up to meet the requirements of new regulations. In terms of risk and investment horizon, the new product falls between the short-term euro money market fund CPR Cash (EUR4.5bn) and the money market fund CPR Moné Carry (EUR718m). The first of these, whose piority is liquidity, aims for performance equivalent to the Eonia, while the second, with a six-month horizon, aims for the capitalised Eonia plus 20 basis points. The last fund in the range is the CPR Oblig 12 mois, a fund of bonds and other international securities, which aims for the capitalised Eonia + 40 basis points, with a recommended horizon of 12 months.

Columbia Management (Ameriprise Financial group) has announced the launch of two absolute return multi-strategy funds. The Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Fund aimes for returns equivalent to those of investment grade bonds, but with lower volatility and lower correlation to the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond index. The Columbia Absolute Return MultiStrategy Enhanced Fund aims to earn returns equal to the track record for equities, while reducing volatility and correlation to the S&P 500 index.

BaFin has issued a sales license for Germany to the diversified fund Arty, an abbreviation for Absolute Return Total Yield (ISIN code: FR0010611293), launched in late May 2008 by Financière de l’Echiquier. The fund, with about EUR140m in assets, may invest in European equities and corporate bonds. It is managed by Olivier de Berranger.

The direct bank DAB Bank on 4 April announced that it is now offering ETF savings plans with no transaction fees for ComStage funds (Commerzbank), as it already does for ETF savings plans from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank). The number of available ComStage ETF savings plans has risen from 25 to 67.The DAB Bank range of ETF savings plans includes 207 products from 7 providers, of which 145 are plans with no transaction fees, says Gerhard Martin, director of private clients.

BNY Mellon has appointed several heads for its Derivatives360Sm product range, which aims to help investors to execute and manage their currency trades. Jonathan Wowler has been appointed as business manager for the European, Middle East and Africa region, as well as for Asia Pacific. Chris Coleman will serve in the same role for the North America and Latin America regions. Laure Scala becomes chief administrative officer.

At Raymond James Asset Management International (RJ AMI), the newest addition to the product range, RJ Déploiement Durable, is making news for several reasons. In addition to the fact that the product, launched eight months ago, is structured in the new fund of fund format from the asset management firm, it is not a pure equities fund, setting it apart from all the other products in the range. It falls into the category of diversified products, and invests preponderantly in the bond asset class (at least 60%), with the remainder dedicated to equities. In practice, exposure to equities and fixed income risk for the RJ Déploiement Durable fund are controlled by futures contracts dependingon scenarios determined by the management firm. The new bond offering from RJ AMI may also soon be extended, as the heads of the firm are considering launching other funds which invest in fixed income. The asset management firm, founded in Paris in 1995, with assets currently over EUR360m, 40% from institutional clients, 40% from private clients and the remainder from employee savings, is undergoing a cultural change with the move into bond management. Before the RJ Déploiement Durable fund, management was based on a house process entitled Gestion Thématique Transversale, which aimed to identify and exploit three or four major transversal investment themes. There are two major families of themes, in practice: one includes structural themes which focus on current niches, such as “new champions,” or companies engaged in increased efforts in innovation, or “good captains,” or companies which have an investment strategy focused on a longer cycle, in order to position themselves better in the future. The second family of products is focused on conjunctural themes, integrating “hot” topics such as a rising US dollar, M&A, pricing power, and others. “Logically, the determination of themes is carried out by a steering committee, which uses a macroeconomic approach before the manager’s stock-picking stage,” explains Françoise Devaux, head of institutional clients. “Due to the imbrecation of the markets,” she says, “the committee has recently been extended with the addition of fixed income professionals.” On the committee, Raymond James Asset Manaagement has for over a year included Jack Lequertier, manager of the RJ Déploiement Durable fund and a specialist in fixed-income products (OAT, inflation-linked OAT, etc) – except for corporate bonds, which are outsourced. For this new activity in bonds, which has gained traction in the RJ AMI product range, the heads of the management firm are considering launching other OPCVM products investing in fixed income. The heads of Raymond James Asset Management, convinced that the new fund, which has earned 3.59% since its launch on 9 June 2010 (compared with 0.44% for the Eonia) will interest clients, are also aware that the fund will be likely to grow. Assets under management totalling EUR14m at present, are expected to increase, along with leverage ratios. “The asset management firm is also planning to step up marketing of the fund, firstly to family offices and private banks, and then more openly to institutionals,” Devaux says.Aside from this fund, Raymond James Asset Management International, with Isabelle Delattre as deputy CEO and director of management, has a range of equities funds in which RJ Europe Plus is the flagship product, with assets fo EUR85m (15.61% in 2010, compared with 8.63% for the Stoxx Europe 600). In addition to this, the Raymond James MicroCaps fund, has just celebrated its third birthday, with assets of EUR5.5m and returns of 17.27%, compared with 19.33% for its benchmark (CAC Small 90) The third European fund from the management firm is an SRI product. In practice, without claiming to have a best-in-class approach, the management firm initially factors in biases introduced by pressures on actors from governments or countries, cap sizes, sectoral authorities and minority stakeholders, in order to work exclusively with the “good will” of businesses in terms of sustainable development. Once this data is taken into account and biases corrected, the management team, with the help of a global rating, selects 40 shares to be included in the portfolio, “with more interest in businesses that go beyond what is required of them,” says Devaux. The head also admits that SRI should be used as a supplement to fundamental analysis in order to better apprehend risks. The fund gained 7.99% in 2010 (A shares), a result very close to that of its benchmark index (STX Sustain Eur, which gained 7.48%). Despite its specialisation in European management, the range from RJ AMI also includes a fund which invests in the American market entitled Vecteur Amérique, which comes in shares classes denominated in euros or US dollars. The former gained 20.74% in 2010 (21.59% for the S&P 500), while the latter gained 2.39%, compared with 5.53% for the US stock market benchmark index.

Eaton Vance has announced the recruitment of Rodrigo Soto as vice president in charge of institutional clients. He will be based in Seattle, and will cover the western United States and Canada. Soto was previously head of institutional sales for the western United States at State Street Global Advisors.

As we announced in November last year, Petercam is launching a sub-fund focused on the mining and minerals sector, entitled Petercam Equities Metals & Mining. The fund is an addition to the product range from the Belgian asset management firm dedicated to the theme of commodities, which already includes Petercam Equities Energy and Petercam Equities Agrivalue. The range will be known as EMMA. The new sub-fund of the Belgian Petercam B Fund Sicav will invest in equities from companies worldwide which are directly or indirectly active in the value chain for metal mining in the broader sense, as well as in related sectors. This will include businesses which are active in the operation of mines, and the production and sale of finished products; the metals in question include precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum, and industrial metals such as copper and aluminium, and other industrial minerals such as carbon and potassium. Businesses which are active in recycling of metals, and makers of machines and tools, as well as transporters and services to the mining and metallurgical industries may also be included in the portfolio. However, the Petercam Equities Metals & Mining fund may not invest directly in metals, nor in futures or derivatives based on these metals. Petercam Equities Metals & Mining will be actively managed, with the same philosophy as the other two sub-funds of the commodities range. The portfolio will be concentrated on 50 to 100 positions, with a focus on small and midcaps, although there is no restriction in terms of cap size. Petercam Equities Metals & Mining will be managed by Alexandre Weinberg, a licensed CFA analyst, who from 2006 to mid-2010 was active as a sell-side analyst at Petercam, in the EMMA team. The co-manager will be Guy Lerminiaux, CIO Equities and deputy director of Petercam.

Saxo Bank A/S has announced that it has acquired nearly 5.13 million shares in the financial portal Euroinvestor.com from JCA Holding ApS and Soeren Almine Holding ApS, for DEK15 per share. Saxo Bank now owns 69% of Euroinvestor.com, and is planning to submit an offer to minority shareholders to buy their shares at the same conditions within the next four weeks.Euroinvestor.com will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq OMX stock exchange in Copenhagen.

Andrew Graham will join Jason McCay and Richard Evans as head of the strategy dedicated to Asia-Pacific ex Japan, the Martin Currie Asia Pacific Fund, the UK fund management firm announced on 5 April. Graham, who was previously at Putnam Investments, joined Martin Currie in May 2010, to handle research and portfolio construction. About 50% of assets under management at Martin Currie, or about EUR6bn, are invested in equities from the Asia-Pacific region.

Schroder Property on 4 April announced the appointment of Nick Scott as head of retail and asset management transactions at Schroder Exempt Property Unit Trust. Scott had previously worked at NewRiver Retail. Assets under management at Schroders in real estate totalled over EUR11bn as of the end of December 2010.

According to the latest quarterly bulletin from the CNMV, aggregate profits at Spanish fund management firms, which fell by 50% in 2009, rose 24.5% in 2010, to a total of EUR294m, although the number of firms showing a loss as of 31 December rose by 34 compared with 31 December 2009, and total assets contracted by 13%, to EUR178bn.

L’indice ISM des services aux Etats-Unis s’est replié nettement plus que prévu en mars, tout comme sa composante d’activité. L’indice ISM est ressorti à 57,3 en mars, après 59,7 en février. Les analystes attendaient en moyenne un recul modéré à 59,5, contre 59,5 en février. La composante de l’activité tertiaire passe quant à elle de 66,9 en février à 59,7 en mars, contre un consensus de 65,5.

L’agence a abaissé d’un cran la notation obligataire du Portugal, estimant que le nouveau gouvernement au pouvoir devra demander une aide financière d’urgence à l’Union européenne. Moody’s a ramené la note souveraine portugaise à long terme à Baa1, contre A3 auparavant, et a maintenu une perspective négative. «Moody’s estime que les coûts de financement actuels atteignent des niveaux insoutenables, même à court terme», précise le communiqué.