La plateforme de gestion privée en ligne WeSave sera accessible dès 300 euros (au lieu de 10.000 euros) à compter de ce lundi 2 octobre et annonce un partenariat média avec la compagnie aérienne EasyJet pour promouvoir son offre d’épargne digitale auprès de plus de 500.000 voyageurs français. Le plan marketing va concerner tous les vols au départ et à destination des principales villes françaises desservies par la compagnie aérienne : Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Nantes, Biarritz, etc. Toutes les cartes d’embarquement des passagers seront habillées d’un visuel qui valorise la marque WeSave.

Mediobanca vient de recruter Emilio Franco en tant qu’administrateur délégué de sa société de gestion Mediobanca SGR. Cette entité est connue aujourd’hui sous le nom de Duemme SGR, dans l’attente de la finalisation de la fusion du groupe Banca Esperia dans Mediobanca.Emilio Franco vient d’UBI Pramerica où il a occupé diverses fonctions, dont dernièrement celles de « general manager » adjoint et directeur des investissements. Avant cela, il a travaillé chez Eurizon Capital.Cette nomination s’inscrit dans le cadre du renforcement du pôle gestion de fortune de Mediobanca, qui fait partie des points clés du plan 2016-2019.La création de Mediobanca SGR « contribuera à la valorisation et au développement des usines de produits qui existent au sein du groupe, avec des investissements sur les nouvelles compétences et sur les nouveaux produits ».

L’agence d'évaluation financière Fitch Ratings a revu à la hausse la note de crédit sur le long terme pour UBS Group à «A+" contre «A» et confirme la note «A-" pour Credit Suisse Group. Les deux appréciations de l’agence de notation s’accompagnent d’une perspective «stable», contre «positive» jusqu’alors, précise un communiqué.L’agence salue les progrès réalisés par UBS, en matière de réduction des risques notamment. Les filiales UBS AG et UBS Suisse voient leurs notes passer de «AA-" à «A+". Les filiales Credit Suisse AG et Credit Suisse Suisse conservent leurs notes «A».

Le gestionnaire d’actifs allemand Aquila Capital a annoncé le recrutement de Fabian Dori qui va intégrer l'équipe en charge des stratégies d’investissement quantitatives. Fabian Dori, qui sera basé à Zurich, devrait notamment développer le trading systématique. Fabian Dori travaillait précédemment à la banque privée Notenstein La Roche où il était responsable des investissements (CIO) jusqu’en mai dernier. Il va retrouver chez Aquila son ancien collègue Urs Schubiger, transfuge également de Notenstein La Roche qui a, lui, rejoint Aquila en début d’année.

La société de gestion britannique M&G devrait lancer la semaine prochaine un fonds d’infrastructures internationales cotées qui sera piloté par Alex Araujo, qui est déjà cogérant sur le fonds Global Dividend géré par Stuart Rhodes et dont les encours s'élèvent à environ 6,5 milliards de livres, rapporte le site spécialisé Investment Week. L’objectif du fonds sera de battre l’indice MSCI ACWI sur une période de cinq ans. Le fonds aura entre 40 et 50 lignes et les frais annuels ont été fixés à 0,75%.Au moment du lancement, le fonds sera constitué d’actifs américains pour plus de 50%, d’actifs britanniques et européens à hauteur de 30%, le reliquat étant dévolu aux marchés asiatiques et émergents.

Franklin Templeton Investments a recruté David Whitehair en tant que responsable de la contribution définie, rapporte IPE. Il vient de Fidelity International où il était DC business development manager.

Le cabinet de conseil Alpha FMC, dédié aux acteurs de la gestion d’actifs et de la banque privée, a annoncé ce 29 septembre son intention de s’introduire en Bourse, en l’occurrence au London Stock Exchange. L’opération est programmée pour octobre 2017. Actuellement contrôlé par le fonds Dunedin Capital, il ambitionne de lever 115 millions de livres (130,5 millions d’euros), selon L’Agefi. «Cette introduction en Bourse est pour nous un symbole fort de la pertinence de notre positionnement . Le secteur est vraiment en train de changer, nous accompagnons cette mutation», a déclaré à NewsManagers Luc Baqué, CEO Europe d’Alpha FMC. Fondé en 2013 et implanté sur les principales places européennes, ainsi qu’aux Etats-Unis et en Asie, Alpha FMC compte parmi ses clients la majorité des plus grands acteurs du secteur. Le bureau de Paris a été créé en 2010."Alpha FMC est particulièrement bien positionné pour poursuivre son expansion sur un marché qui connaît un bon développement des actifs sous gestion, des changements réglementaires et technologiques majeurs, ainsi qu’une consolidation continue», indique un communiqué. Alpha FMC, qui compte désormais plus de 200 consultants spécialisés, a bénéficié d’une croissance soutenue et régulière, avec des revenus qui sont passés de 7,6 millions d’euros en 2011, à plus de 49,7 millions d’euros au cours de l’exercice clos au 31 mars 2017. «Le développement s’accélère notamment aux Etats-Unis où nous avons d’ores et déjà un effectif d’une trentaine de collaborateurs basés à Boston et New York. Il faut bien voir que le marché américain est dix fois plus important que le marché britannique qui est lui-même deux fois plus gros que le marché français», souligne Luc Baqué. En Asie, «nous avons ouvert un bureau à Singapour, la demande de conseil dans la région est encore modeste mais a vocation à se développer fortement», relève Luc Baqué. «En Europe, nous envisageons d’ouvrir un bureau à Zurich et un bureau à Francfort dans le courant de 2018", indique-t-il. «En France, nous avons dépassé la barre des 50 collaborateurs et nous devrions en compter une soixantaine au terme de notre exercice fiscal, c’est-à-dire à fin mars 2018", ajoute-t-il. Autant de projets que l’introduction en Bourse devrait favoriser. « Le road show se passe très bien et nous avons noté un intérêt très fort des investisseurs dès le départ», commente Luc Baqué. Autrement dit, il ne devrait pas être difficile de constituer un «book» assez rapidement.

Minesh Gajjar a démissionné de son poste de responsable de la recherche et de la sélection de fonds de Coutts, rapporte Citywire. Il était responsable d’environ 15 milliards d’euros d’actifs via des fonds tiers.

Stephen Lansdown a vendu pour 190 millions de livres d’actions dans Hargreaves Lansdown, le supermarché de fonds qu’il a co-fondé, ce qui a accentué la pression sur le cours de l’action de la société alors que les investisseurs parient déjà largement contre le titre, rapporte le Financial Times. La vente, qui ramène la participation de Stephen Lansdown de 15 % à 12,3 %, a eu lieu le 28 septembre au soir. Vendredi, le titre dans le principal vendeur de fonds en ligne au Royaume-Uni ouvrait en repli de 2,2 % à 14,65 livres. Hargreaves Lansdown est l’une des actions les plus vendues à découvert au Royaume-Uni, selon Markit.

Allianz Global Investors a recruté Sjoerd Angenent en tant que directeur du développement pour le marché institutionnel au Benelux, où la société de gestion souhaite se renforcer, rapporte IPE. Précédemment, Sjoerd Angenent a travaillé en tant que directeur commercial chez Robeco et Janus Henderson Investors.

Les petites sociétés d’investissement contrôlées par de grandes banques et opérant au sein de l’Union européenne ne devraient pas se voir imposer l’ensemble des réglementations applicables à leur maison mère, recommande l’Autorité bancaire européenne (EBA) dans un document publié vendredi, en réponse à un appel à consultation de la Commission européenne. Dans son avis, l’EBA préconise un nouveau système à deux vitesses avec des règles allégées et « équilibrées » pour les entreprises d’investissement les plus petites. Elle souhaite notamment une plus grande flexibilité sur la question des bonus dans ces établissements. Les grands établissements sont tenus d'étaler le versement d’une partie des bonus sur plusieurs années et de payer cette partie sous forme d’actions ou d’autres catégories de titres émis par la banque. Les dérogations envisagées devraient concerner les petites entreprises d’investissement et les collaborateurs qui ne sont pas les mieux rémunérés, précise l’EBA.

Les panélistes de l’Agefi ont relevé d'un point à 50% en moyenne la pondération en actions de leur portefeuille, niveau qui n’avait plus été atteint depuis mai 2017.

Ce bureau sera dirigé par Vuk Srdanovic, qui couvre déjà la France depuis 2011 à partir d'Amsterdam. Une deuxième personne est en cours de recrutement.

Déploiement de la réglementation européenne, regroupements, digitalisation, Benoist Lombard revient sur les enjeux majeurs de la profession de conseillers en gestion de patrimoine.

Retrouvez en vidéo les meilleurs moments des Clubs Dates Invest qui se sont déroulés à Lille le 14 septembre dernier.

Le fonds de pension suédois Alecta a recruté Hans Sterte en tant que nouveau directeur des investissements. Ce poste était vacant depuis mai 2017, date à laquelle le précédent directeur des investissements, Per Frennberg, avait soudainement démissionné. Depuis, Tony Persson assurait l’intérim.Hans Sterte vient de Skandia où il occupait un poste similaire. Il rejoindra Alecta au premier trimestre 2018. Alecta gère l’équivalent de 83,5 milliards d’euros.

Jupiter Asset Management has announced the appointment of Jill Barber as global head of institutional clients. She will begin in the role on 16 October this year, and will report directly to Nick Ring, global head of distribution.Before joining Jupiter and over the past four years, Barber had been head of institutional clients at Franklin Templeton for the United Kingdom and Ireland. For the past 19 years, she has worked in the asset management sector, and has served in positions of international scale at Hermes Investment Management, Fidelity International and Capital International.“Barber will work to achieve the strategic objective at Jupiter of extending its institutional client base both in the United Kingdom and internationally», the statement explains.

Unigestion today announce the appointments of Paul Osborne as Director, UK Institutional Clients and Claire Harding as Co-Head of Consultant Relations. Previously Head of UK Business Development at PineBridge Investments, Paul Osborne has joined Unigestion to head up the firm’s UK institutional sales. He brings a wealth of asset management experience to the Unigestion team, having been in the industry for over 22 years in both direct investment and sales roles. Paul will lead the firm’s efforts in the institutional market, with a particular focus on UK corporate pension schemes and insurers. He will report directly to Tom Leavitt, Managing Director and Head of Institutional sales globally. Unigestion has also further bolstered its London based sales team with the appointment of Claire Harding as Co-Head of Consultant Relations. She joined the team at the end of June from Lombard Odier, where she was Head of Global Consultant Relations, and is now working alongside fellow Co-Head of Consultant Relations, Ken Harvie. Together they are responsible for building on the company’s existing strong relationships, developing broader relationships globally and working to ensure Unigestion continues to achieve its ambitious sales’ strategy.

Worldwide investment fund assets increased by 4.6 percent In U.S. dollar terms, to stand at USD 48.3 trillion at end of Q2 2017. In euros, investment fund assets worldwide decreased 2.0 percent in the second quarter of 2017, mainly due to the depreciation of the euro, The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) said in a press release .Worldwide net cash inflows decreased to EUR 574 billion, compared to EUR 611 billion in Q1 2017 and a quarterly average of EUR 295 billion in 2016. Long-term funds (all funds excluding money market funds) recorded net sales of EUR 460 billion, compared to EUR 583 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Money market funds registered net sales of EUR 114 billion in Q2 2017, up from EUR 28 billion in the previous quarter. Despite outflows in Europe and the Americas, worldwide money market funds experienced the highest inflows since Q4 2014, due to strong sales in Asia. Equity funds recorded net sales of EUR 113 billion, down from EUR 164 billion in the previous quarter. ond funds posted net sales of EUR 200 billion, down from EUR 254 billion in the first quarter of 2017. Balanced/mixed funds registered net sales of EUR 82 billion, up from EUR 102 billion in the previous quarter.At the end of the second quarter of the year, assets of equity funds represented 41 percent and bond funds represented 21 percent of all investment fund assets worldwide. Of the remaining assets, money market funds represented 11 percent and the asset share of balanced/mixed funds was 18 percent. The market share of the ten largest countries/regions in the world market were the United States (46.4%), Europe (34.2%), Australia (3.8%), Brazil (3.7%), Japan (3.3%), Canada (3.2%), China (2.9%), Rep. of Korea (0.9%), India (0.6%) and South Africa (0.4%).

After acquisition of Source, Invesco announced yesterday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Guggenheim Investments’ exchange-traded funds (ETF) business, which includes USD36.7 billion of assets under management (as of Aug. 31, 2017). Under the terms of the agreement, Invesco would acquire Guggenheim Investments’ ETF business for USD1.2 billion in cash. The transaction will be funded using a combination of cash and debt. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter, pending necessary third-party approvals, including certain regulatory matters and requisite ETF board and ETF shareholder approvals.With the addition, Invesco’s ETF assets under management would total more than USD196 billion globally (as of Aug. 31, 2017)."With today’s announcement, Guggenheim Investments takes an important step in its growth strategy by sharpening its focus on core strengths, including active portfolio management, across both our institutional strategies and other retail businesses. We are confident that Guggenheim ETF shareholders will find in Invesco the right partner and platform for our suite of distinctive and innovative ETF products, including one of the industry’s leading equal-weight ETF offerings», said Jerry W. Miller, president of Guggenheim Investments.

The Swedish pension fund Alecta has recruited Hans Sterte as its new chief investment officer. The position had been vacant since May 2017, when the previous chief investment officer, Per Frennberg, resigned suddenly. Since then, Tony Persson served in the interim. Sterte joins from Skandia, where he had served in a similar position. He will join Alecta in first quarter 2018. Alecta manages the equivalent of EUR83.5bn.

SEB has initiated a project with Nasdaq to test a new fund trading platform based on blockchain technology. The aim is to increase efficiency in the processing of purchases and sales of fund units – an area which today is largely characterised by manual routines, long lead times and orders (still) via fax.SEB and Nasdaq have developed a prototype for a new fund platform. The basic idea is that,the various market actors, fund companies, distributors and others will be able to share a distributed database on which all transactions and changes are immediately registered and known by all participants.Unlike the equity market, the fund market lacks a Central Securities Depository (CSD). Consequently administration of purchases and sales of fund units is handled manually between the various parties.“This is a first prototype and it will benefit the market and, in the end, also fund investors, among other things through faster feedback from purchases and sales.” says Moritz Wendt, Head of Asset Management Sales.

Novaxia Asset Management is launching Immo Club 4, an investment solution to allow retail investors to participate in real estate transformation operations in Paris, Greater Paris and the larger French cities. The fund, available from EUR5,000, offers a way to benefit from a tax break on income and capital gains when securities subscribed are placed in a PEA or PEA-PME vehicle.

Raise, a firm founded by Clara Gaymard and Gonzague de Blignières, on 28 September announced the launch of a venture capital fund dedicated to innovative startups in France and Europe. Raise Ventures will aim to raise EUR100m to invest in France, as well as Europe, with total investments ranging from EUR500,000 to EUR7m. “Raise Ventures aims to support entrepreneurs in operating disruptive technologies and business models and assisting in their development, particularly internationally,” a statement explains. Raise Ventures will be led by a dedicated team: Pierre-Edouard Berion and Matthieu Dordolo who will dedicated 50% of their commissions on capital gains to the Raise endowment fund. This is a charitable organisation which works to assist, finance and improve the visibility of young, growing businesses, in order to help them to build lasting operations, the company says. Berion was chief investment officer at Idinvest Partners, where he made 15 investments in the digital sector, in France and Europe (including Zenly, Azalead software, Frichti, Dayuse, and Famoco). Berion previously participated in the development of several startups, some for private equity players. He previously participated in several rounds of Internet foundraising at Global Equities Corporate Finance. Dordolo was part of the founding circle at Raise in 2013, as a member of the investment team; he has also been involved in the creation of the RAISE endowment fund. He previously served in various roles in the digital industry, and participated in the creation of several startups: he is the founder of ROCK8, a digital publishing and online media strategy consulting firm. Dordolo began his career as an Evangelist at Microsoft, where he participated in areas surrounding innovation for tomorrow. He has taught at various establishments including the Université Paris-Dauphine.

Lyxor has announced the launch of the Lyxor SG Japan Quality Income UCITS ETF, which it says is the first ETF in Europe for Japanese high yield equities (shares which offer higher dividends compared with the average for the over 1,000 largest Japanese stocks). With a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.45%, the new Lyxor ETF aims to offer both rising and falling exposure to high-quality Japanese firms (according to ratings criteria established by the index provider), which are able to maintain their dividend levels over time. The fund replicates the benchmark indicator SG Japan Quality Income, denominated in yen, both up and down. A statement says that the index was designed by Andrew Lapthorne, a global quantitative research strategist at Société Générale, and adopts a process similar to the SG Global Quality Income, launched in 2012. From a universe of 1,000 Japanese stocks representing the largest capitalisations listed in Japan, excluding financial sector firms, the benchmark indicator SG Japan Equity Income selects 60 stocks on the basis of a ratings process established on the basis of criteria to evaluate the quality of fundamentals at companies, and their dividend levels. The Quality Income equity range from Lyxor ETF currently includes global exposures and exposures to, Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. With EUR1.2bn in assets under management and EUR270m in new net assets since the beginning of the year, the Lyxor SG Global Quality Income ETF is one of the largest Smart Beta funds in Europe by assets, and one of the fastest-growing.

AG2R La Mondiale has signed a partnership with the Carbone 4 company to extend measurement of carbon footprints to private and government bonds in its asset portfolio. The insurance and social and wealth protection group has assets under management of EUR100bn, in addition to which EUR21bn are outsourced. Of this EUR100bn, 23% are managed in non-financial, private bonds, 23% in private financial bonds, and 27% in public bonds. “A large part of the securities held by AG2r La Mondiale concern sectors whose environmental impact is poorly measured today. Consequently, the partnership aims to develop a methodology to measure the carbon footprint,” a press statement explains. AG2R La Mondiale Gestion d’Actifs has a team of three analysts and five SRI managers who manage a range of financial products totalling EUR9bn. The objective is to gradually extend these responsible investment priciples to all of the EUR100bn in assets managed by the investment team at AG2R La Mondiale, which includes EUR73bn in bonds. Philippe Brossard, direcror of economic research, SRI and development at AG2R La Mondiale, explained at a press conference that the group probably would not be extending its best-in-class approach as practices for its remaining EUR100bn. “We work more by risk budget, In other words, the company will not prohibit itself from investing in a less virtuous issuerr so long as this is compensated by others which are better. AG2R La Mondiale has published its first reports in application of article 173-VI of the Law on energy transition for green growth. The five reports (one by entity) lay out the general procedure at the firm with respect to ESG and climate issues, and its decision as part of the investment policy of the group.

Philippe Duterte will become a compliance officer at the Groupe AG2R La Mondiale from 1 December 2017, NewsManagers has learnt. In this role, Brossard in second quarter became head of the SRI team in the financial directorate. He is now director of economic research, SRI and development at AG2r La Mondiale. Duterte will continue to be involved in relations with market bodies and other players in SRI, a spokesperson for the group says.

The British financial sector regulator, accused of holding down the growth of asset management firms by imposing barriers to entry to the sector by way of excessive regulation, has replied. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will create a hub dedicated to asset management in its offices, to accelerate processing of licensing requests it receives. The announcement was made by Megan Butler, responsible for investment, wholesale and specialist supervision at the FCA. At a presentation at a forum held by the Financial Times, Butler stated that the FCA contact centre would process 1,200 pre- and post-application license requests each month from asset management firms, ranging from permission to operate to questions concerning regulation and reporting. “I must say that this is not necessarily a large surprice since it is clarly difficult to describe this complex issue simply,” she explained. “But we think it is imperative for the best managers not to feel prevented from operating in the United Kingdom due to obstacles to entry which can be avoided.” The first phase of the hub will be launched next month. It will offer new businesses pre-application meetings, dedicated representatives and access to the FCA website. The second phase will be next year, with additional support. The FCA states that this will not represent a reduction in the quality of standards for entry into the sector.

Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu, former chairman of the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA) and former Ceo of Invesco Europe, is joining the board of directors at Kneip, a company which provides data managements and reporting solutions to the asset management sector. De Franssu is also director at the Groupe La Française, Banque Degroof Petercam and Acofi SCA, and is also chairman of Incipit and chairman of the board at the Istituto per le Opere di Religione. Kneip has also announced the arrival of Michael Jackson, former chief operating officer at Skype.

Jean-Baptiste Douville de Franssu, l’ancien président de l’Efama (l’association européenne des fonds d’investissement) et l’ancien directeur général d’Invesco Europe, rejoint le conseil d’administration de Kneip, société qui fournit de la gestion de données et des solutions de reporting au secteur de la gestion d’actifs. L’intéressé est également administrateur du Groupe La Française, de Banque Degroof Petercam et d’Acofi SCA, ainsi que président d’Incipit et président du conseil de l’Istituto per le Opere di Religione au Vatican. Parallèlement, Kneip annonce également l’arrivée de Michael Jackson, l’ancien directeur des opérations de Skype, au conseil d’administration.