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07/02/2014

Lennart Benson a quitté Natixis GAM

Lennart Benson, qui était responsable commercial pour la région Europe du Nord de Natixis Global Asset Management, a quitté la société, rapporte Fondbranschen. L’intéressé travaillait chez Natixis depuis octobre 2010.
07/02/2014
Fonds

Les sociétés de gestion doivent rationaliser leurs gammes de fonds

Les sociétés de gestion européennes doivent accélérer la rationalisation de leurs gammes de fonds, estime Cerulli, dans sa dernière livraison de The Cerulli Edge-Global Edition. Le consultant a identifié en Europe 122 fonds (hors fonds monétaires), représentant des encours de 42 milliards d’euros, qui sont régulièrement « d’atroces performeurs».1.400 autres fonds, avec des encours de 24 milliards d’euros, ont une taille trop petite et sont délaissés. Ils ont été lancés il y a trois à cinq ans, mais n’ont pas réussi à attirer plus de 50 millions d’euros chacun.Cerulli note que la baisse des frais en Europe devrait pousser les sociétés de gestion à prêter attention à la viabilité des fonds.
Fonds
07/02/2014

BP2S renforce son équipe clients institutionnels outre-Manche

BNP Paribas Securities Services (BP2S) débauche à tour de bras. Le 6 février, la banque dépositaire a en effet annoncé plusieurs nominations à des postes nouvellement créés dans le cadre du renforcement de son équipe de développement dédiée aux investisseurs institutionnels au Royaume-Uni. Ainsi, Sid Newby, ancien de BNY Mellon, rejoint BP2S au poste de responsable des ventes auprès des fonds de pension. Felix Schachter, jusque-là responsable de la «practice» assurance européenne pour une société de conseil filiale du groupe Aon, est nommé responsable commercial auprès des compagnies d’assurance. Par ailleurs, Aïda Molineux, ex-EY (ex-Ernst & Young), est nommée responsable du service client couvrant entre autres les gérants d’actifs et les gérants alternatifs. Enfin, Ben William-Thomas est nommé «manager» des ventes pour les solutions d’information.Ces annonces font suite à la récente nomination d’Annalisa Winge Bicknell en tant que responsable commerciale et de la gestion des relations avec les investisseurs institutionnels.
07/02/2014
Fonds

Barings ferme un fonds croissance Chine

Baring Asset Management va fermer son fonds Baring China Growth dont les encours représentent 1,9 million de livres. Ce fonds est fermé après six années d’existence en raison de sa petite taille. William Fong, gérant du fonds, continuera à gérer le Baring China Select.
Fonds
07/02/2014

Richard Skelt quitte Fidelity

Richard Skelt a quitté fin janvier Fidelity Worldwide Investment après 23 ans passés dans la société, rapporte Fund Web. Il était stratégiste pour l’équipe multi-classes d’actifs Fidelity Solutions. Il co-gérait 10 fonds, représentant un encours de 6,4 milliards de dollars.
07/02/2014
Fonds

BlackRock liquide le New Energy trust

BlackRock va liquider son trust dédié à l'énergie, le Black New Energy trust, rapporte Money Marketing.Les actionnaires peuvent être remboursés en liquide mais ont aussi la possibilité de transférer leurs avoirs le 19 décembre prochain au fonds BGF Energy dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à 1,4 milliard de dollars. La cotation des actions sera suspendue le 14 février et les remboursements devraient intervenir le 17 février.
Fonds
07/02/2014

Azimut démarre bien l’année

La société de gestion italienne Azimut a enregistré en janvier 2014 des souscriptions nettes de 701 millions d’euros, dont plus de 400 millions se sont dirigés vers les compartiments luxembourgeois AZ Fund 1 et AZ Fund Multi Asset, rapporte Bluerating. Pietro Giuliani, l’administrateur délégué de la société, précise qu’il s’agit de la meilleure collecte mensuelle jamais enregistrée par Azimut.
07/02/2014

Asset management firms needs to rationalise their fund ranges

The pace of rationalization through closures of poor funds or via merger into stronger vehicles needs speeding up, according to The Cerulli Edge-Global Edition.Across Europe, Cerulli has identified 122 funds (excluding money market funds), controlling assets worth EUR42 billion that have been consistently «atrocious performers».A further 1,440 funds, with AUM of EUR24 billion, are undersized and unloved, launched between three to five years ago but still having failed to attract assets of more than EUR50 million. Looking at the longer-term picture, poor performance and low AUM overlap considerably.Fund fees are falling in Europe and this is putting pressure on profitability. Thus Cerulli would expect managers to pay particular attention to the viability of subscale funds.
07/02/2014

Amundi ETF adds to its US equity range on NYSE Euronext

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Amundi EtF is offering a new exposure on NYSE Euronext Paris aimed at investors seeking to position themselves on the segment of small cap companies on the US equity market. Amundi ETF Russell 2000 UCITS ETF (ISIN code: EUR shares: FR0011636190; USD shares: FR0011636208) aims to replicate as closely as possible the evolution in both rising and falling markets of the Russell 2000 Net Total Return index, composed of the 2000 smallest caps, representing the last 10% of the US market, a statement released on 6 February states. The ETF offers diversified exposure to the domestic US economy, and is offered with a TER of only 0.35%, the least costly exposure to this market available. In a context of US economic growth, investors will have several solutions in the Amundi ETF range, depending on their expectations and preferences in terms of cap size, sectoral exposure, and hedging for currency risks. According to Valérie Baudson, head of the ETF and tracker profession at Amundi, “this launch once again illustrates our desire to launch products at competitive prices, and offers our clients another allocation brick in the US equity range.”
07/02/2014

Series of promotions at SEB AM

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Laurent Misonne, who had previously been head of western Europe at SEB Asset Management, has been appointed as head of international sales. He succeeds Moritz Wendt, who six months ago became head of the institutional client department at SEB Wealth Management At the same time, Laurent Farcy-Briant, who had been head of sales for France and French-speaking Switzerland at SEB AM, has been promoted to head of sales for the French-speaking countries, including France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg.
07/02/2014

Former SAC manager found guilty of insider trading

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «Droid Sans Fallback"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; } Matthew Martoma, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital, has been found guilty of insider trading by a jury in New York, the Financial Times reports, adding that it represents one of the largest victories of the US authorities against Wall Street corruption. The case, which lasted three weeks, demonstrated that certain doctors were sharing information on confidential clinical trials with hedge fund traders in exchange for thousands of dollars in fees. The charges were conspiracy and market fraud (two counts). For each one, Martoma can be sentenced 20 years in prison.
07/02/2014

AllianceBernstein renames a Chinese equity fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US asset management firm AllianceBernstein has decided to rename its AllianceBernstein Greater China fund to AllianceBernstein China Opportunity Portfolio, Citywire reveals. The name change, effective since January, marks a desire on the part of the company to change its investment strategy for Chinese equities, which will now seek to concentrate more on the market overall than on specific domains. In the future, the vehicle will invest at least 80% of its total assets in businesses which are domiciled in and operate in China or Hong Kong. As of the end of December, the fund was primarily invested in Hong Kong (38%), China (31%), Singapore (10%) and Taiwan (9.8%), with 31 positions, nearly half of which were on financial institutions.
07/02/2014

S&P consults on ratings methodologies for banking hybrids

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on 6 February announed a call for comments on proposed modifications to the ratings methodology for hybrid banking securities. Standard & Poor’s points out that these proposals concern exclusively hybrid shares issued by financial establishments. The method for ratings for banks is no longer covered by this consultation, and ratings for banks themselves are therefore not concerned. Hybrid shares issued by businesses will also fall outside the field of this consultation.
07/02/2014

Union Investment launches a sustainable bond fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Union Investment is adding to its range of products. The German asset management firm announced on 6 February that it is launching a convertible bond fund which will target sustainable investments, solely for institutional investors. The fund, UniInstitutional Global Convertibles Sustainable, managed by Sven Hölzer, will be domiciled in Luxembourg, and will target businesses which respect sustainable development criteria, such as those of the international labour organisation, and which do not infringe human rights. Its investment universe includes international convertibles as well as derivatives, money market instruments and fixed or variable rate papers.
07/02/2014

Head economist at Russell Investments deceased

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head economist at Russell Investments, Mike Dueker, has been found dead in what appears to be a suicide, Business Insider reports. He is understood to have jumped from a ramp near the Tacoma Narrows bridge in Washington state in the United States. Dueker, 50, had worked at Russell for five years.
07/02/2014

Assets under management up 5% at Prudential Financial

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asset management at the US insurer Prudential Financial is continuing to grow. After its fourth quarter, assets under management totalled USD869.9bn, up 5% compared with fourth quarter. In the last three months of the past year, this activity has posted net subscriptions from institutionals and retail clients, excluding money markets, of USD6.8bn, “the 20th consecutive quarter of positive net inflows,” the company says in a statement of its results. In fourth quarter 2013, asset management earned operating profits of USD209bn, up by nearly 13% compared with USD185bn in fourth quarter 2012. For 2013 overall, operating profits total USD723bn, compared with USD584bn in 2012, up by 23.8% in one year.
07/02/2014

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa and Primonial group in exclusive talks

French groups Crédit Mutuel Arkéa and Primonial have released a joint statement announcing that they have entered exclusive negotiations regarding a recomposition of the shareholder structure of Primonial. The plans would result in a minority stake by Crédit Mutuel Arkéa in Primonial and the opening of the capital to an investment fund, a statement released on 6 February said.Crédit Mutuel Arkéa and the Primonial group already collaborate via a partnership that unites Suravenir, the life insurance affiliate of Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, and the group, to sell the Sérénipierre policy. That policy collected over EUR400m in new inflows in 2013.Primonial was created in 2010 by Patrick Petitjean, who died in July 2013, with the management and Nexicap Partners. As of the end of December, it managed more than EUR7bn.
07/02/2014

Lennart Benson has left Natixis GAM

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Lennart Benson, who was head of sales for the Northern European region at Natixis Global Asset Management, has let the firm, Fondbranschen reports. Benson had worked at Natixis since October 2010.
07/02/2014

Hermes wants to develop in Asia

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British firm Hermes has decided to accelerate its development in Asia. The firm has transferred Jakob Nilsson to Singapore as head of development for Hermes in the region, Asian Investor reports. Nilsson joined Hermes in September 2012 as head of development for the Scandinavian countries. Hermes, whose assets under management total about USD42bn, would also like to sign distribution agreements in Taiwan, and is planning to develop in the Japanese market. Currently, assets under management coming from clients represent slightly over USD1bn.
07/02/2014

Vontobel posts inflows of over CHF9bn

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «Droid Sans Fallback"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; } The Swiss group Vontobel last year posted record net inflows of CHF9.1bn, according to a statement released on 7 February. Assets under management as of the end of December totalled CHF163.1bn, up 9% year on year. Consolidated profits for the 2013 fiscal year totalled CHF122.3m, stable compared with the previous year. Asset Management and Private Banking contributed 74% of profits. These results were, however, affected by one-time costs of about CHF20.7m largely related to the payment of withholding tax in the United Kingdom concerning its participation in the US tax programme. The board of directors will propose to a general shareholders’ meeting of Vontobel Holding AG to raise the dividend by 8%, to CHF1.30.
07/02/2014

Solution Providers sets up shop in New York

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss financial sector service provider Solutions Providers on 6 February announced its arrival on the US market, with the opening of an office in New York. Konrad Niggli, currently a partner at Solution Providers Switzerland, will be responsible for the development of activities in the United States.
07/02/2014

Azimut starts the year well

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management firm Azimut in January 2014 recorded net inflows of EUR701m, of which more than EUR400m went to the Luxembourg sub-funds AZ Fund 1 and AZ Fund Multi Asset, Bluerating reports. Pietro Giuliani, deputy director of the firm, says that it is the best monthly inflow ever recorded at Azimut.
07/02/2014

Italian postal service to create a network of financial advisers

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Poste Italiane, the Italian postal service, will be able to launch its own network of financial advisers, Bluerating reports. Employees of Poste will now be able to approach clients directly to offer them funds and insurance policies.
07/02/2014

Pictet & Cie adds to its team in Italy

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Pictet & Cie has recruited two people in Verona, near Venice, from Banca Aletti. They are Andrea Constantini and Laura Polato.
07/02/2014

Swiss asset manager charged by US authorities

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «Droid Sans Fallback"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; } Several US attorneys general on 6 February announced that they are charging a Swiss asset manager. They accuse him of assisting clients from the United States to conceal millions from the US tax authorities at at least five Swiss banks, between the late 1990s and 2012, the news agency AWP reports. Some offshore accounts of these US clients were registered in the name of fictive companies based in Liechtenstein, US prosecutors allege, though they have not revealed the name of the company at which the asset manager worked, and state that he has not been arrested. They accuse him of collaborating in the matter with Edgar Palzer, a lawyer based in Zurich. Paltzer has pleaded guilty before a US federal court in Manhattan of helping US clients to evade taxes. He then agreed to cooperate with US authorities. The accused, who risks up to five years in prison, first worked as an adviser at a bank, and then became an asset manager at a company based in Zurich, according to prosecutors. He continued to help US citizens to find banks to conceal their fortunes, even as the US authorities expressed a clear desire to crack down.
07/02/2014

ETPs post outflows in January

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Unlike the past two years, the first month of 2014 will be marked by massive redemptions related to concerns on emerging markets. ETPs dedicated to emerging markets have seen outflows never before seen in a single month, totalling USD10bn. The month of January finished with global outflows of USD9.7bn, largely related to redemptions from equity strategies, totalling USD10.8bn, according to initial estimates from BlackRock. Equities on developed markets outside the United States, however, have sustained lively interest, in the wake of a trend observed in the second half of 2013. Pan-European equities posted inflows of USD4bn, their best result since 2011. Equities from developed markets (global and global ex-US) represented USD3.7bn, while exposure to Japanese equities represented a further USD4bn. Outflows from US equities, which totalled USD12bn, have largely affected large caps, with redemptions totalling USD15.9bn, partly offset by subscriptions to sectoral strategies totalling USD2.9bn.
07/02/2014

ABP retains Israeli banks in portfolio

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ABP, one of the largets pension funds in the world, with EUR300bn in asstes, will remain invested in three Israeli banks – Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank – after concluding that they did not violate international laws on human rights, the Financial Times reports. The Netherlands-based pension fund had been in negotiations with the banks for more than one year, over concerns that they were financing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The decision of ABP contradicts the position of PGGM, the second-largest pension fund in the Netherlands, which has ruled out investment in five Israeli banks due to problems associated with these settlements.
07/02/2014

Assets at Investec suffer from falling rand

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The South African asset management group Investec has reported a decline of 2% in external assets under management in the first nine months of the year, to GBP108bn. The rand has slid against the pound since 2012, from 13.8 rand at the end of 2012, to 17.4 at the end of December 2013, which has penalised assets collected on the South African market expressed in pounds sterling. The group has also indicated that it is planning to sell its mortgage lending activity in the United Kingdom, Kensington. It has retained Fenchurch Advisory to initiate a procedure to that end. Despite expressions of interest, the group says, it is not absolutely certain that the procedure will result in a sale.
07/02/2014

BlackRock liquidates New Energy trust

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock will liquidate its trust dedicated to energy, the Black New Energy trust, Money Marketing reports. Shareholders may be reimbursed in cash, but may also transfer their assets on 19 December this year to the BGF Energy fund, whose assets under management total USD1.4bn. The listing of shares will be suspended on 14 February, and redemptions will come on 17 February.

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