Bill Gross, manager of the Total Return fund (USD251.1bn) at Pimco, suffered redemptions of USD7.7bn last month, the fourth consecutive month of outflows, according to Morningstar. In the same period, the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund by Gundlach (USD36.7bn) has seen outflows of USD1.1bn in August, the third consecutive month of outflows. Gross and Gundlach have rock-star status in the bond universe, due to the solid performance of their funds over the long term.

The alternative asset management firm Pine River Capital Management is expected to launch a fund dedicated to China in October, with initial capital of USD150bn, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg.Last year, the Pine River Fixed Income Fund earned returns of 35%, largely due to exposure to MBS. Since 1 August 2011, assets under management by Pine River have more than doubled, to a total of USD13.6bn.

The Wall Street Journal rapporte que vendredi, le Reserve Primary Fund, le premier fonds monétaire américain à valeur liquidative constante à «avoir cassé le dollar» (break the buck), est parvenu à un accord à l’amiable avec le Third Avenue Institutional International Value Fund et les autres plaignants d’une action de concert.Il accepte de verser les quelque 75 millions de dollars restant dans le fonds, dont 10 millions en numéraire seront versés aux trois co-gérants Bruce Bent Senior et ses fiols Bruce bent II et Arthur Bent III. De la sorte, les porteurs du Reserve Primay Fund auront recouvré le reste de leur argent, puisqu’ils en avaient jusqu’à présent récupéré 99 %.

UCITS recorded net inflows of only EUR 12 billion in the second quarter of 2013, down from the record net inflows of EUR 132 billion recorded in the first quarter of the year, according to the latest statistical release of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama).This drop can be attributable to a large increase in net outflows from money market funds and a reduction in net inflows into long-term funds, as investors’ expectations of increased interest rates rise.Long-term UCITS, i.e. UCITS excluding money market funds, continued to register strong net inflows (EUR 65 billion), albeit down from EUR 134 billion in the previous quarter. Money market funds recorded a large rise in net outflows to EUR 53 billion in the second quarter, up from EUR 2 billion recorded in the previous quarter. Equity funds experienced a turnaround in net flows to register outflows of EUR 8 billion, compared to net inflows in the first quarter of EU 44 billion. Bond funds attracted net inflows of EUR 30 billion during the quarter, down from EUR 44 billion. Balanced funds registered another quarter of strong net sales (EUR 28 billion), albeit down from EUR 36 billion in previous quarter.Combined assets of UCITS and non-UCITS decreased 1.7 percent in the second quarter to stand at EUR 9,232 billion at end June 2013. Nevertheless, since end 2012 total net assets of UCITS and non-UCITS have increased 3.2 percent.Overall in the first half of 2013, UCITS recorded net inflows of EUR 144 billion, driven by net sales of bond funds (EUR 74 billion), balanced funds (EUR 64 billion) and equity funds (EUR 36 billion).

The Bank of Italy has fined Amundi Sgr Spa EUR50,000, Bluerating reports. The surveillance authority noted an irregularity involving deficiencies in organisation and controls at the firm in the area of combatting money laundering.

Six of the largest insurers in the world will invest in a new USD400m private equity fund created to support businesses which sell financial services to individuals in developing countries, the Financial Times reports. MetLife, Prudential Financial and Swiss Re are among the companies who assist the fund launched by the microfinance specialist Leapfrog Investments.

Syria’s civil war, as well as questions about the China’s economy and US policy have led investors to wait and see in early September.Overall, investors pulled over USD9 billion out of US equity funds during the week ending September 4 and nearly USD6 billion out of emerging markets equity and bond funds. Despite a regain of interest in Europe, equity funds recorded outflows of USD11.4 billion, according to statistics released by EPFR Global.Bond funds posted net outflows of USD284 million as they extended a six week outflow streak. Money market funds saw USD7.43 billion flow out.

US investors have pumped more money into European equities than at any time since 1977, according to the Financial Times, which says that it is a big vote of confidence for the region. Pension funds and other big US groups invested USD65bn in European stocks in the first six months of 2013, the highest in 36 years over that time period, according to research by Goldman Sachs.

Switzerland is one of the European countries in which the asset management group Henderson Global Investors is planning to develop. After opening a branch office in Zurich, Henderson GI is planning to set up shop in Geneva, Andrew Formica, CEO of Henderson GI, tells the news agency finews. The Australian head of Henderson adds that he would also like to develop in Germany and Italy, through independent financial advisers, as the firm has already done in the United Kingdom.

Bryan Collings has announced that he has resigned from his position as managing partner of the British asset management boutique Hexam, in order to concentrate on managing the range of onshore and offshore funds from the group, Investment Week reports. Collings, a founding partner of the group, had managed the Global Emerging Markets fund, whose assets under management totalled GBP13m, and which has lost more than 33% in the past three years, compared with average gains of 1.2% in the same period for the benchmark index. Hexam, which is 35% controlled by Ignis Asset Management, has not yet found a successor for Collings.

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund industry association, published on September 5 an enhanced statement of policy principles. The paper builds on the AIMA Policy Platform, the landmark 2009 document in which AIMA offered its support for improved transparency, unified global standards, manager authorisation and supervision, aggregated short position disclosure to regulators and new policies to reduce settlement failure. “Capital markets are crucial in the financing of the economy and the hedge fund industry plays an ever increasing role in the entire chain of investing and financial intermediation, contributing to market depth, sophistication, transparency and thus its ability to support growth. AIMA therefore wishes to participate actively in the elaboration of policies in the areas of asset management and financial markets regulation with the aim of improving investor protection, market transparency and financial stability overall,” Kathleen Casey, chair, AIMA, said.

One woman out of every two employed in asset management has been subjected to regular harassment or sexist behaviour at the office, according to the initial results of a survey carried out by FTfm, which surveyed 100 men and women employed in the sector. 54% of women say that they have faced “inappropriate” conduct in the workplace, while 28% say they have been sexually harrassed. One respondent explains that the asset management sector is highly masculine.

The British firm ETF Securities on Monday announced the launch of Canvas, a new service which will allow asset managers worldwide, both passive and active, to crate and sell ETFs under their own brands in Europe in a totally open architecture context.The white-label product factory offers multiple opportunities, including the possibility of issuing ETFs using all infrastructure from ETF Securities, the option of creating an advanced ETF platform, and of converting UCITS funds into ETFs, or to create an ETF share class in a UCITS fund.As Matt Johnson, head of distribution for Europe, the Middle East and Africa explains, Canvas supports all possible configurations, from the simple development of ETFs to total responsibility for management, with the primary objective of rapidly releasing products on the market in the context of efficiency in the use of capital and resources. The sustem allows for ETFs to be offered with both physical replication and synthetic replciation. For its part, ETF Securities will continue to offer its own range of UCITS-compliant ETFs to investors, with the service provided by the Canvas team.The creation of Canvas represents a smart diversification for ETF Secutities, which needs to reduce its dependency on gold ETPs, which represent about 75% of its assets of USD23bn, after a peak of USD31bn, when gold was valued at USD1,800 per ounce.Massimo Siano, director of sales for Italy, France and Monaco, has told Newsmanagers that Canvas will be aimed at the asset management firms industry acorss a variety of asset classes. The formula selected “provides a means to share costs, competence, and profits.”Meanwhile, ETF Securities is planning to add to its range in new segments such as intelligent beta and variable rate high yield, but these plas are still in the development stages.

Hopewell Wood, CEO, has announced that the London-based macro alternative management firm Comac Capital laid off 18 employees in August, equivalent to one third of its personnel, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move follows two years of losses, which also resulted in net redemptions. Assets have fallen to about USD2.2bn, compared with USD4.8bn as of September 2012, and more than USD5bn as of the end of 2010.Colm O’Shea, former proprietary trader at Citigroup, who founded Comac in 2005, has explained that the negative returns were due to bad bets, first against the euro in 2012, and then on interest rates in early 2013. However, the fund has made money by betting against some emerging maket currencies.

No new ETFs have been admitted to trading in August on the European markets of NYSE Euronext, the daily average trading volume has fallen 15.7% compared with July, to EUR183.3m. That also represents a decline of 4% compared with the corresponding month of last year. On-book trading volumes totalled EUR4bn, or 19.4% less than in the previous moth, and 8.6% less than in August 2012.Block trading in August was EUR377.9m, 3.7% more than in July, and 27.5% less than in the corresponding month of last year.The average spread, for its part, totalled 27.3 basis points.

According to the BlackRock Institute, European ETPs have posted net subscriptions of USD0.7bn for August, but four out of the ten major issuers have seen net outflows, starting with the market leader, iShares, whose redemptions totalled USD0.2bn, as at UBS. For their part, ETF Securities and the Cantonal Bank of Zurich (ZKB) have posted net outflows of USD0.1bn, while state Street has seen inflows of USD1.4bn, and DeAWM USD0.3bn, as at Source, while Lyxor has seen inflows of USD0.1bn.In January-August, European ETPs posted net inflows of USD7.8bn, while iShares alone took in USD11.6bn, and State Street posted inflows of USD2.7bn.For their part, DeAWM and Lyxor have experienced net ouflows of USD0.3bn and USD2.3bn, respectively, while the highest net redemptinos were for ETF Securities, with USD3.3bn.

Mark Chan, vice president for Greater China at JPMorgan Asset Management Asia, after serving as relationship manager at Allianz Global Invstors in Hong Kong, has been recruited by Threadneedle Investments as director, institutional, North Asia. He will be based in Hong Kong and will be a member of the Asia-Pacific team led by Raymundo Yu.Chan will cooperate closely with June Wong, vice-chairman of Asia-Pacific and CEO Hong Kong, to develop a strategic plan at Threadneedle for the region. He will aim in particular to develop relations with institutional investors in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea.

The Brazilian asset management firm Azimut will acquire a 50% stake in Legan Administração de Recursos, a Brazilian boutique which had the equivalent of EUR141m in assets under management as of 31 August, via AZ International Holdings. This will allow the Italian firm, which is already present in many countries, to enter Brazil. A joint venture will be created. Concretely AZ International Holdings will acquire a 50% stake in the holding company which controls all capital in Legan, through a purchase of shares from the founding partners for EUR3m, and through subscrption to a capital increase of EUR2.5m. Legan, founded in 2008 by 5 partners, now has 14 employees. It manages the Legan Low Vol, a low-volatility arbitrage fund invested in various financial instruments including fixed income, derivatives and government bonds, with an objective of exceeding the CDI, the Brazilian interst rate, and the Legan Special, an arbitrage fund which invests in various financial instrument, and which pursues a long/short directional equity strategy.

Christophe Gloser, who became head of Fidelity in France in 2011, has succeeded to change the image of the asset management firm, which was too much equities and not enough bonds. This has given him the means to add to sales teams and to highlight the good results from asset management in France. This is a characteristic which Fidelity in London is able to appreciate.

Pressure exerted by disappointed investors has obliged hedge fund managers to reduce the commissions they charge, which places the traditional 2%/20% structure (2% management commissions, 20% performance commissions) on the list of threatened species, the Wall Street Journal reports. The average now stands at 1.6% for management commissions, and about 18% for performance commissions.

HSBC has offered USD250m to shareholders in the Thema fund to settle a lawsuit filed on 30 April this year in Dublin, Agefi Switzerland reports. The fund, which had been sold in Switzerland by Geneva-based staff at Genevalor, was seeking USD1.5bn from its depository bank, which it had accused of negligence in the surveillance of assets.The first settlement of a Madoff-related lawsuit corresponds to 43% of capital lost by the fund according to the shareholder register, HSBC states. It may represent a precedent for the next cases of this type.

La Banque de France a relevé lundi sa prévision de croissance de l'économie française au troisième trimestre à 0,2%. L’enquête mensuelle de l’institution pour le mois d’août fait par ailleurs apparaître des hausses de deux points des indicateurs du climat des affaires dans l’industrie (97) et dans les services (93). Si ces indicateurs restent inférieurs à leur moyenne de long terme (100), un niveau qu’ils n’ont pas atteint depuis mai 2011 pour l’industrie et juin 2011 pour les services, les chiffres d’août sont les meilleurs enregistrés depuis septembre 2011 pour l’industrie et mai 2012 pour les services. Cette embellie intervient après la publication de plusieurs indicateurs positifs pour l'économie française, dont l’annonce d’une croissance de 0,5% du PIB au deuxième trimestre par l’Insee.

A fin août 2013, le bureau français de Fidelity enregistre des encours sous gestion pour le compte de ses clients de plus de 5,5 milliards d’euros, contre 4,5 milliards à fin 2012. «Cette croissance des encours est due à un environnement plus porteur sur les marchés, mais également à une tendance très positive et régulière de collecte auprès des clients français», signale la société de gestion, qui a anoncé par ailleurs deux recrutements de commerciaux, Isabelle Foy (ex-Montpensier Finance) et Vincent Chabriel (ex-Edram).

Benoît Coeuré, membre du comité exécutif de la Banque centrale européenne, a été élu lundi président du Comité des système de paiements et de règlement-livraison (CPSS, Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems). Il remplace Paul Tucker pour un mandat de trois ans.

L’Agence France Trésor annonce qu’elle a servi, lundi, 1,51 milliard d’euros de soumissions non compétitives à l’issue de son adjudication d’OAT du 5 septembre. Le montant total des OAT émis dans le cadre de cette opération s'élève à 9,895 milliards d’euros. Ce volume se répartit en 2,537 milliards d’OAT 3,25% 2021, 5,208 milliards d’OAT 1,75% 2023 et 2,15 milliards d’OAT 3,25% 2045.

Monceau Assurances est plus positif sur les actions. « Nous avons renforcé nos investissements dans les actions européennes en début d’année, indique à la rédaction de www.institinvest.com, le patron de l’institution, Gilles Dupin (lire son portrait). Nous sommes entrés sur quelques nouveaux fonds. En revanche, nous continuons de sous-pondérer les actions américaines ». Au total, Monceau Assurances a en portefeuille une trentaine de fonds (ouverts ou dédiés) sur les actions et les convertibles. L’institution a notamment investi dans deux fonds spécialisés dans le domaine de la Santé, BSO Bio Santé (Banque Saint Olive) et Trecento Global Healthcare (Trecento AM), à hauteur de 4 millions d’euros environ dans chaque cas. Par ailleurs, Monceau Assurances reste acheteur dans l’immobilier en ciblant en priorité Paris. L’institution qui avait déjà effectué plusieurs acquisitions en 2012, a acheté cette année un immeuble de bureaux dans la capitale, situé rue de Mogador. Elle a également acquis un nouvel immeuble (en construction) à Villeneuve d’Ascq dans une ZAC très attractive. Retrouver la fiche Monceau Assurances dans le Guide

Reuters rapporte de sources proches que le distributeur américain détenu par TPG Capital, Warburg Pincus et Leonard Green Partners pourrait renoncer à son introduction en Bourse au profit d’une vente au bénéfice d’un consortium composé d’Ares Management et du Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. La transaction pourrait valoriser Neiman Marcus à environ 6 milliards de dollars.

Faute de réponses assez nombreuses, le régulateur a prolongé d’une semaine, jusqu’au 13 septembre, la consultation sur les grandes orientations de sa stratégie, bâtie autour de trois axes: s’investir pour des marchés européens sûrs et transparents, rétablir la confiance des épargnants, et agir pour le financement de l’économie.

Eric Bourguignon, directeur de la gestion taux et crédit de Swiss Life Asset Managers et DGD SL Asset Management

Le pays veut obtenir un filet de sécurité pour retourner sur les marchés en toute quiétude après la fin de son plan de sauvetage en décembre