BlackRock, State Street et Vanguard contrôlent plus de 80 % du marché des ETF aux Etats-Unis (soit 1.260 milliards de dollars), ce qui rend la tâche difficile pour les concurrents, rapporte Financial Times fund management, citant une étude de Morningstar.

CFA Institute, l’association internationale pour les professionnels de l’investissement qui définit les standards les plus élevés en matière d’éthique, de formation et d’excellence professionnelle, a indiqué hier que 49 % des 25 766 candidats au niveau III de juin 2013 ont réussi le troisième et dernier examen en vue de l’obtention de la certification CFA, la référence dans le monde de la finance. À l’échelle internationale, 43 % des 44 874 candidats ayant présenté le niveau II et 38 % des 47 502 candidats ayant présenté le niveau I ont réussi l’examen.Pour obtenir la certification CFA, les candidats doivent réussir successivement trois examens de six heures qui sont communément considérés comme les plus rigoureux dans le monde de l’investissement, indique un communiqué. Le programme CFA aborde les standards professionnels et éthiques, l’analyse et le reporting financiers, la finance d’entreprise, l’économie, les méthodes quantitatives, les investissements en actions, le marché de la dette et les investissements alternatifs, les produits dérivés, la gestion de portefeuille, et la gestion de patrimoine.

iShares a déposé le 22 août des dossiers auprès de la Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pour le lancement de deux nouveaux ETF, le iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF et le iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF. Les fonds seront conseillés par BlackRock Fund Advisors et pilotés par James Maure et Scott Radell.

Selon le site du magazine Le Point, Sébastien Bazin, le patron du fonds d’investissement Colony Capital, devient P-DG du groupe Accor, le numéro un de l’hôtellerie en Europe. La décision n’attend que l’aval du conseil d’administration d’Accor qui se réunit ce mardi matin, indique le site.Les fonds Colony Capital et Eurazeo possèdent 20 % du capital et 30 % des droits de vote d’Accor. Selon Le Point.fr, Colony Capital et Eurazeo n’ont cessé d’exiger la distribution de dividendes exceptionnels (2,4 à 2,8 milliards entre 2006 et 2009). Ce qu’ils souhaitent maintenant, c’est de voir redécoller l’action Accor pour maximiser leur investissement. Avec un management à leur main, indique le journal.

BATS Global Markets and its rival Direct Edge Holdings on 26 August announced that they would be merging in order to create the second-largest market operator in the United States. The financial terms of the operation have not been disclosed. The effective merger of the two groups will come during first half 2014, subject to approval from the regulatory authorities. BATS and Direct Edge currently operate two market platforms in the United States, which will be taken over by the new entity, whichw ill operate with BATS technologies. BATS also manages an equity options platform, as well as Chi-X Europe, the European alternative market launched in 2007. Direct Edge will continue its work to open a stock market in Brazil. The future business, whose headquarters will be located near Kansas City, will be the second-largest stock market operator in the United States, after NYSE Euronext, in terms of trades, and ahead of Nadsaq OMX Group.

The British firm Hargreave Hale has recruited Jean Roche as a portfolio manager who will be based in London. Roche had previously worked at Panmure Gordon as a senior equity analyst, specialised in the retail sector. Assets under management at Hargreave Hale total GBP2.5bn.

Investors had virtually no opportunity to provide input on major European financial reforms, as regulators let them out of consultation panels, the European Federation of Financial Services Users (EuroFinuse) regrets. The federation accuses regulators in particular of adding institutional representatives to user panels as “users of financial services,” such as Peter De Proft, the head of EFAMA, and Xavier Rolet, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, Financial Times Fund Management relates. More retail users had been expected. Overall, only three to four of the 30 members of each committee were real defenders of consumers, according to Guillaume Prache, head of EuroFinuse.

A majority of European Union member states have failed to implement the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive directive in time. According to a KPMG research, 16 countries out of 28 were not able to hit the July 22 deadline for the roll-out of the directive. The only states which succeeded in complying with the terms of the new directive in time were Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. However, Belgium, Finland, Spain and France missed the July 22 deadline. In France, the Alternative Investment Fund Management (AIFM) directive has recently been transposed into French law by an ordinance and a decree of the Council of State, passed by the Council of Ministers on 24 July 2013. However, the French market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), is continuing to update its general rules as part of the transposition of the AIFM directive. In Belgium, Finland and Spain, planned legislation has been submitted, according to KPMG, but it will take until January 2014 in Belgium and first quarter 2014 in Spain to pass the bills into law. In Finland, the proposed laws still leave some important questions unanswered, KPMG reports. However, the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) has advised that funds which comply with the AIFM directive can now be sold in all member states, regardless of the state of compliance of the country in question.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced at an electoral rally that she will push for stricter regulation of hedge funds at the next G20 summit in Saint Pertersburg on 5 and 6 September. “Regulating banks and not hedge funds and parallel financing is not enough, and I will fight for that,” said the Chancellor, who is standing as the conservative party (CDU) candidate in legislative elections on 22 September for a third term as the German head of state.

BlackRock, State Streed and Vanguard control over 80% of the ETF market in the United States (USD1.260trn), which makes the job difficult for rivals, Financial Times Fund Management reports, citing a study by Morningstar.

iShares on 22 August submitted applications to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch two new ETFs, the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF and the iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF. The funds will be advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors and managed by James Maure and Scott Radell.

The Netherlands-based banking and insurance group ING on 26 August announced that it has sold its South Korean life insurance affiliate ING Life Korea to the investment fund MBK Partners, based in Seoul, for EUR1.24bn. “ING today announced that it has reached an agreement over the sale of ING Life Korea,” the group announced in a statement, adding that it will retain a 10% stake in its former affiliate. By the terms of the agreement, MBK Partners will continue to operate ING Life Korea under the brand ING for a duration of up to five years, and will receive technical support and advising from ING for one year. “This transaction is a major step in the process of selling our Asian life insurance and investment management activities,” says the executive director of ING, Jan Hommen, cited in a statement. ING points out that it has already sold off its affiliates in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America and Asia. The banking and insurance group has also begun its disengagement from its US insurance affiliate, with an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in May, and is preparing a similar operation for its European insurance activities in 2014.

The financial ratings agency Moody’s has noted progress in the peripheral countries of the euro zone (Greece, Spain, Italy,..), while also continuing to assert that these countries will not return to “sustainable” growth before 2016-2017, according to a report released on 26 August (“Update on Structural Reforms in the Euro Area Periphery.”) “The peripheral countries of the euro zone have achieved progress in confronting their internal and external imbalances and their loss of competitiveness,” the agency claims. This group of countries, in which Moody’s also includes Cyprus, Portugal and Ireland, has implemented drastic austerity policies to varying extends to confront massive debts in a context of economic recession. Four of these countries (Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Cyprus) have also had to rely on international financing from the IMF and the European Union to avoid defaulting on payments. Progress which is driven primarily by commercial trading “does not in itself represent a sufficient condition to return to sustainable growth,” the financial ratings agency points out, adding that it is maintaining a negative outlook for all of these countries. Moody’s adds that it may lower the solvency rating for these countries next month, depending on the way the situation develops. According to the agency, the economic outlooks in these countries remains “morose.” “Moody’s does not predict a return to pre-crisis growth levels in the periphery of the euro zone before 2016-2017,” the agency writes. According to the agency, the slow return to growth is largely related to the fact that the European currency is “preventing” member countries from devaluing their currencies in order to increase the competitiveness of their exports. The Euro zone returned to growth in second quarter, after six consecutive quarters of recession, but this improvement was driven by Germany and France.

The Norwegian asset management firm Skagen is seeking to recruit an “international business developer, as an addition to its international team, following growing acceptance in the European markets . The new recruit will be based in Stavanger in Norway. Skagen has recently registered three funds in Belgium. In addition to the Nordic countries, the Norwegian asset manager sells its products in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

The ETF activities of Credit Suisse have seen redemptions of over EUR1bn since BlackRock announced its acquisition of the structure earlier this year, Financial Times Fund Management reports, relaying an article in Ignites Europe. According to Detlef Glow, head of research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Lipper, “in terms of assets under management, the acquisition was not a success.” But he adds that assets were probably not the driver for this operation. The reason was more to prevent the competition from gaining market share and to acquire an operation registered in Switzerland.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published on August 26 the second progress report on the implementation of the FSB Principles for Sound Compensation Practices and their Implementation Standards (P&S) by FSB jurisdictions. The report finds that, while good progress continues to be made, more work needs to be done by national authorities and firms to ensure that implementation of the P&S is effectively leading to more prudent risk-taking behaviour. All FSB member jurisdictions except two have now completed the implementation of the P&S in national regulation or supervisory guidance: Argentina and Indonesia.

The Macroeconomic Assessment Group on Derivatives (MAGD) on August 26 published a report on the macroeconomic effects of OTC derivatives regulatory reforms. In this report, the MAGD focuses on the effects of mandatory central clearing of standardised OTC derivatives, margin requirements for non-centrally cleared OTC derivatives and bank capital requirements for derivatives-related exposures.In its preferred scenario, the group found economic benefits worth 0.16% of GDP per year from avoiding financial crises. It also found economic costs of 0.04% of GDP per year from institutions passing on the expense of holding more capital and collateral to the broader economy. This results in net benefits of 0.12% of GDP per year. The MAGD was set up by the OTC Derivatives Coordination Group (ODCG), comprised of the Chairs of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS), the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS), the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

The emerging countries of Europe, which have been boosted by the recovery in the euro zone, have avoided the troubles that have stricken developing economies, the Wall Street Journal considers. The stock markets of Central and Eastern Europe are up 1.2% in the past three months, compared with a fall of 7.5% for global emerging markets, according to MSCI. Excluding Russia, these markets have gained 2.3%. “Central and Eastern Europe have become a relatively safe haven in the emerging region.” says Javier Corominas, head of research and forex strategies at Record Currency Management.

Fidelity Worldwide Investments has launched a high yield version of its bond fund MoneyBuilder Reduced Duration, which will be launched this year at the earliest, and which, as its name indicates, offers investors a shorter duration than the MoneyBuilder Income fund, managed by Ian Spreadbury, Investment Week reports. The reduced-duration fund, however, only offers accumulation shares. The new fund offers retursn of 3.09%, compared with returns of 3.7% for the MoneyBuilder Income fund, whose assets under management total about GBP3.3bn.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management is preparing a global multi-asset class range, which will come in addition to its range aimed at retail and smaller institutional investors, Asian Investor reports. The new range will probably not be available before the end of the year, Asian Investor estimates. Goldman Sachs AM will probably centralise its multi-asset class management capacities in London, where most of its macro expertise is located, and where the group has a team of 10 experts dedicated to multi-asset class solutions for European and Asian clients.

Louis Péponnet, directeur de la Caisse de Retraite des Notaires à la rédaction de www.institinvest.com : Avant 2002, notre poche immobilier pouvait représenter jusqu'à 30 % de nos actifs. La réglementation a été modifiée et ce pourcentage ramené à 20 %. Ceci est étrange au moins à deux titres. D’une part, les assureurs peuvent toujours détenir 30 % d’immobilier, et je ne vois pas ce qui justifie cette différence de traitement. D’autre part, il n’est indiqué nulle part de quelle manière doivent être évalués ces actifs : valeur comptable, valeur brute d’acquisition, valeur de marché ? Dans la mesure où nos immeubles ont été acquis il y a de nombreuses années, leur valeur comptable ne représente environ que le tiers de leur valeur vénale d’aujourd’hui ! Pour externaliser ces plus-values, nous sommes en train, petit à petit, de faire entrer les immeubles dans des sociétés civiles immobilières (SCI). Le pourcentage d’immeubles dans nos actifs a été très critiqué par nos autorités de tutelle avant 2008. Dans la crise, ces biens se sont avérés un matelas de sécurité extraordinaire. Entre 2008 et jusqu'à la fin 2012, leur valeur a continué de progresser de près de 10 % par an. Il s’agit de beaux immeubles haussmanniens qui constituent un capital sûr.

La taxe sur les transactions financières, censée être mise en place au 1er janvier 2014 dans 11 pays européens, sera repoussée à une date ultérieure, croit savoir le Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung de sources bien informées. Il ajoute que ce décalage provient des divergences sur les détails du projet entre les Etats membres qui se sont engagés à l’adopter.

Alors que la remontée des taux inquiète, le mois d’août a été particulièrement calme sur le marché mondial du crédit des entreprises. Selon Dealogic, à 63 milliards de dollars, le volume des émissions classées dans la catégorie d’investissement est au plus bas depuis cinq ans.

Les deux groupes américains vont fusionner pour former un champion sur les actions américaines, à même de concurrencer la bourse historique, Nyse Euronext.

Le nouvel opérateur boursier détiendrait une part de marché sur les actions américaines proche de celle de la bourse historique

A l’issue de la rencontre avec les partenaires sociaux, le gouvernement va s’atteler à une nouvelle baisse du coût du travail dès 2014, indique le quotidien. Il explique que la hausse des cotisations sociales destinée à combler le déficit des retraites serait plus que compensée par la baisse des cotisations de la branche famille.

Selon le quotidien britannique, qui rapporte les propos d’un dirigeant pétrolier, le gouvernement égyptien devrait au moins 5 milliards de dollars à des groupes d’hydrocarbures étrangers, ce qui pourrait conduire certains d’entre eux à repousser ou à annuler des investissements cruciaux pour la sécurité de l’approvisionnement énergétique du pays.

Le dispositif, plafonné à 75.000 euros, bénéficiera des avantages fiscaux du PEA actuel

La devise au plus bas, la banque centrale turque est de nouveau intervenue sur le marché hier. Mais ses réserves ne sont pas illimitées

Le fournisseur de systèmes de communications satellitaires fait l’objet d’une offre de rachat de la société d’investissement Wasserstein pour environ 340 millions de dollars. A 14,15 dollar par action, l’offre en numéraire implique une modeste prime de 1,73% sur le cours de clôture de Globecomm vendredi.