UBS Global Asset Management a annoncé le 22 août une restructuration avec effet immédiat de sa plateforme de hedge funds. La plateforme dédiée aux investissements alternatifs et quantitatifs sera divisée en deux unités séparées, l’une dédiée aux activités de conseil multi-manager et hedge fund, dénommée Alternative Investment Solutions (AIS), l’autre comprenant les activités de single manager hedge fund sous l’appellation O’Connor.Le pôle AIS sera piloté par Bill Ferri, qui devrait étoffer l’offre existante dans la sphère alternative. L’autre pôle, O’Connor, sera dirigé par Dawn Fitzpatrick, qui assume déjà des fonctions de chief investment officer. Dawn Fitzpatrick rejoindra le comité exécutif de GAM et sera directement rattaché à John Fraser, président et directeur général d’UBS GAM.Les actifs sous gestion d’AIS, qui a des bureaux à Stamford aux Etats-Unis, à Londres, Zurich, Hong Kong et Tokyo, s'élèvent à 25,4 milliards de dollars. Les actifs sous gestion d’O’Connor, un pôle spécialisé dans la performance absolue qui a des antennes à Chicago, Londres, New York, Hong Kong et Singapour, s'élèvent à 5,2 milliards de dollars.

La Banque cantonale de Zurich (ZKB) a enregistré au premier semestre une collecte nette de 800 millions de francs suisses, a indiqué la banque dans un communiqué publié le 23 août. Les actifs sous gestion ont toutefois diminué de 900 millions de francs suisses à 190,9 milliards de francs en raison d’un effet marché négatif de 1,7 milliard de francs.Le bénéfice net de la banque a progressé de 0,4% par rapport aux six premiers mois de 2012 à 394 millions de francs.

UBS Global Asset Management on 22 August announced that it is restructuring its hedge fund platform with immediate effect. The platform dedicated to alternative and quantitative investments will be divided into two separate units, one of which will be dedicated to multi-manager hedge fund activities, entitled Alternative Investment Solutions (AIS), while the other will include single-manager hedge fund activities under the name O’Connor. The AIS unit will be led by Bill Ferri, who is expected to add to the existing range in the alternative universe. The other unit, O’Conner, will be led by Dawn Fitzpatrick, who already serves as chief investment officer. Fitzpatrick will join the executive board at GAM and will report directly to John Fraser, chairman and CEO of UBS GAM. Assets under management at AIS, which has offices in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, London, Zurich, Hong King and Tokyo, total USD25.4bn. Assets under management at O’Connor, a unit specialised in absolute returns, with offices in Chicago, London, New York and Singapore, total USD5.2bn.

The Cantonal Bank of Zurich (ZKB) has posted net inflows in first half of CHF800m, the bank has announced in a statement dated 23 August. Assets under management were down, however, from CHF900m to CHF190.9bn, due to a negative market effect of CHF1.7bn. Net profits at the bank were up by 0.4% compared with the first six months of 2012, to CHF394m.

Europe equity funds recorded another week of solid inflows as macroeconomic data continues to illustrate the rebound in that region’s economy during the week ending August 21, according to EPFR. Overall, equity funds attracted USD12.3 billion.But with the yield on 10-year US Treasuries making a run at the 3% level in anticipation of the beginning of the end for the Federal Reserve’s QE3 program, investors pulled nearly USD20 billion out of US equity and bond funds during the third week of August. US Equity Funds saw their biggest outflow since the second quarter of 2008.The third week of August also saw emerging markets equity funds turn in their worst weekly performance since mid-2Q12. Overall redemptions totaled USD1.72 billion with Asia ex-Japan and Latin America equity funds accounting for the bulk of the outflows.Redemptions from all bond funds during the week ending August 21 hit an eight week high of USD7.43 billion. At least some of the money that flowed out of equity and bond funds ended up in money market funds which absorbed a net USD22 billion.

Axa Framlington, the fundamental equity business within Axa Investment Managers, has announced that senior portfolio manager Mark Tinker will relocate to Hong Kong as head of Axa Framlington Asia.Mark Tinker will move to Hong Kong in September to support the expansion of the Axa Framlington franchise in Asia. He will be working closely with the distribution teams in Asia to develop business in the region and will support the development of Asian equity capability.As a result of the move, Mark Tinker will no longer manage the Axa Framlington Global Opportunities and its clone fund Axa WF Framlington Global Opportunities. The funds will be managed by the global sector team, led by Mark Hargraves and will be managed in line with the existing Axa WF Framlington Global. The deputy manager on all three funds will be Susan Sternglass Noble. The Axa WF Framlington Global High Income is now managed by William Howard.

A former leader in the banking sector in the Netherlands, ABN Amro, may hold an IPO in early 2015, Les Echos reports. “We are asking ABN Amro to prepare for an initial public offering,” Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, announced before the weekend. The bank still needs at least one year to prepare for such an eventuality, the government says. Gerrit Zalm, CEO of ABN Amro claims that “the first chance for the market launch would be in the first half of 2015.” The Netherlands government spent nearly EUR30bn to bail out the emblematic bank, valued at EUR15bn.

Eaton Vance recorded inflows of USD8.8 billion into long-term funds and separate accounts in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 compared to net outflows of USD1.4 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2012 and net inflows of USD6.6 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2013. “The $8.8 billion in net inflows in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 rank as the second highest quarterly total in Eaton Vance history» said Thomas E. Faust Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. «Our leading positions in floating-rate bank loans and implementation services propelled the Company to an outstanding growth quarter."Consolidated assets under management were USD268.8 billion on July 31, 2013. This represents an increase of 39 percent over the USD192.9 billion of managed assets on July 31, 2012 and an increase of 3 percent from the USD260.3 billion of managed assets on April 30, 2013.

The head of alternative multi-management at Edmond de Rothschild, Laurent Minvielle, has left the firm he joined three years ago, Citywire reports. The departure, which comes in addition to a long list, follows that of Jacques Tebeka last month. The departures have increased since he announcement in July 20132 that the activities of EDRIM and EDRAM would be merged. In the wake of the departure of Tebeka, the Swiss group announced that it is planning a reshuffle of its specialised management units for its entire range of funds.

Credit Suisse has made Christopher Koslowski responsible for the management of two strategies based on inflation-linked bonds, Citywire reports. They are the Credit Suisse Bond (Lux) Inflation Linked and the SICAV II (Lux) Credit Suisse Inflation Linked. Koslowski joined Credit Suisse as part of the absorption of Clariden Leu, and previously worked for the Swiss national bank.

After the unprecedented three-hour closure of the Nasdaq market on Thursday, 22 August, Mar Jo White, chairwoman of the SEC since spring this year, has pledged to accelerate the introduction of new rules passed by the market watchdog in March, which market operators still oppose. The rules proposed by the SEC would require organisations which had hitherto been largely self-regulated, such as trading platforms, clearing houses and systems to broadcast listings, known as SIPs, to adopt outage prevention plans, sbuject their IT systems to stress tests, and notify regulators of data regarding bugs. The SEC claims that the cost of the new rules would be USD242m, distributed over the organisations concerned, for deployment, and USD191m per year thereafter to fulfil obligations.

Argentina was on 26 August sentenced in a New York appeals court to repay nearly USD1.5bn to NML Capital and Aurelius, two “vulture funds” which had refused a restructuring of the country’s debt following its bankruptcy in 2001, Agefi Switzerland reports. The decision may threaten future debt restructuring, and could trigger another payment default by Argentina, but the application of the verdict is suspended under a ruling by the US Supreme Court, which will consider the case.

A rise in banking regulations in Europe and the United States is shaking the economic model of tax havens, and making their financial stability more fragile, according to a study published by Standard & Poor’s. The financial ratings agency emphasizes that the exceptional wealth of these small countries or territories is partly a result of their high dependence on the financial services sector. For example, finance represents 14% of the GDP of San Marino, and 42% in Jersey, according to S&P, which states that its report concerns the Isle of Man, Andorra and Liechtenstein, whose ability to meet debt obligations the agency evaluates regularly. But the agency also considers Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey,Monaco and San Marino. Although this exceedingly high dependency on finance was not a handicap before the financial crisis of 2007-2009, it has become an inconvenience, since it has exposed them to changes in regulations. “The major attraction of these small countries is the advantageous and anonymous tax regime which they provide clients, says Benjamin Young, an analyst at S&P, cited in the study. “But the North American and European regulatory authorities have been since been putting pressure on countries to increase transparency in the banking sector and to toughen laws on tax evasion and fraud.” The activism of public authorities is increasing the uncertainty for the economies of tax havens. “It is not yet clear how far regulators will go to limit activities based in tax havens, or to what extent changes which have occurred as a result of regulations will affect the financial stability of these small countries,” he admits, but regulatory negotiations which are underway on both sides of the Atlantic may force tax havent to reorient their economies slightly less to the financial sector.

The world over, investors are not showing much confidence in investment professionals, and a large majority of them feel tht much could be done to win back their trust, according to a study carried out between 7 and 25 June by the CFA Institute & Edelman Investor Trust, covering over 2,100 retail and institutional investors. The study finds that only 53% of investors in the United States, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia trust their managers in the conduct of their business. Retail investors are slightly more circumspect (51%) than institutional investors (61%), while investors in the United States (44%) and the United Kingdom (39%) are less confident than those in Hong Kong (68%). This scepticism with respect to investment professionals, however, does not not affect the point of view of investors with respect to capital markets. Three quarters of investors say they are optimistic about their ability to earn satisfactory returns. But the degree of this optimism is limited, as only 19% of investors say they are fully confident. “This study sends a clear message. Trust is an absolutely determining factor for the future of finance, and it is the responsibility of all actors to contribute to developing a financial system which is truly worthy of trust,” says John Rogers, chairman and CEO of the CFA Institute. Slightly over half of invetors (55%) say that the managers they work with have been the most effective in increasing their confidence in capital markets, compared with only 41% of investment companies, 38% of national regulators, and 35% of international regulators. The study also finds that it is essential to place the interests of investors at the top of the list of priorities for managers, in order to favour a return of confidence. With this in mind, performance is not crucial and should not be highlighted as in the past. “Investors in this study say that they want a change of culture, with renewed attention to ethical behaviour,” says Kurt Schacht, managing director, responsible for standards and integrity of financial markets at the CFA Institute.

The environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk data provider RepRisk has published a report on the most controversial projects in the world. The rankings are based on the Current RepRisk Index (RRI), released in June 2013, an indicator of potential reputation, financial and legal risks. The report includes projects in Asia, Africa and North America, including the mining, nuclear, manufacturing and pipeline industries. It is interesting to note that several projects featured have only recently received critical attention from the public, either due to a particular incident, or due to a sudden interest in their potential impact. A notable exception is the Fukushima power plant in Japan, which remains highly controversial to say the least, due to the calamitous management of the disaster, which does not appear to be fully under control. The ten most controversial projects according to RepRisk are: 1/Rana Plaza – Bangladesh 2/ Pegasus Pipeline –United States 3/.Big Gossan Mine – Indonesia 4/Four Rivers Refurbishment Project – Korea 5/Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant –Japan 6/Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park –China 7 ex aequo/ Gyama Polymetallic Mine –Japan 7 ex aequo/ Mtwara Dar es Salaam Pipeline- Tanzania 7ex aequo/ Rustenburg Chrome Mine –South Africa 7ex aequo/ San Jose del Progreso Gold and Silver – Mexico

Le regain d’intérêt pour la zone euro après la confirmation d’une sortie de récession pour plusieurs pays de la région a ménagé une nouvelle semaine de forte collecte pour les fonds d’actions européennes si bien que les fonds actions dans leur ensemble ont enregistré une collecte nette de 12,3 milliards de dollars durant la semaine au 21 août, selon les données communiquées par EPFR Global.Outre-Atlantique en revanche, l’anticipation par les investisseurs de la fin du programme d’assouplissement quantitatif QE3 s’est traduite par une remontée du taux de rendement sur les obligations du Trésor à 10 dix ans et les fonds d’obligations et d’actions américaines ont terminé la semaine au 21 août sur une décollecte de près de 20 milliards de dollars. Les fonds d’actions américaines ont subi leur plus forte décollecte depuis le deuxième trimestre 2008, souligne EPFR.L’Europe est d’ailleurs la seule région avoir attiré les investisseurs actions puisque les fonds d’actions émergentes ont terminé la semaine sur des sorties nettes de 1,72 milliard d’euros, les fonds d’actions asiatiques hors Japon et les fonds d’actions latino-américaines représentant l’essentiel des rachats.

Asset management firms with high levels of exposure to emerging markets have posted lower market performance than other asset management firms since the Federal Reserve bagan to announce that it would be slowing down its asset repurchasing programme, the Financial Times reports. Schroders, which has a vast range of assets worldwide, has seen its share price fall by only 6% since the end of May, in line with the FTSE 100. Shares in Aberdeen, which is heavily exposed to emerging markets, have fallen 26% in the period. Shares in Ashmore, a specialist in emerging markets, have lost 21%. The asset management firm which has seen the most impressive returns since May is no longer a specialist in emerging markets: F&C Asset Management, with gains of 16%.

BlackRock has recruited Geoffrey Shaw to manage its new UK Long Lease Property real estate fund, Financial News reports. Shaw joins from Aviva Investors, where he had been assistant manager of the Aviva Investors Lime Property Fund.

Ahead of its capital increase, the troubled German firm Thyssen Krupp has procured the support of several top hedge funds, the German magazine manager reports in its most recent edition. Among the hedge fund managers who may participate in the financial operation are David Einhorn, head of Greenlight, George Soros, and John Paulson. The volume of the capital increase may total EUR800m to EUR1.5bn, the magazine reports.

The British asset management boutique Pactum AM at the end of June officially launched its first bond fund, the Pactum Bond Fund, in order to play on market trends, Citywire reports. The Luxembourg-domiciled fund aims to profit from short- and mid-term market trends by investing in sovereign and corporate bonds, primarily in Europe. The fund is also able to invest in shares in companies of G10 countries. Currently, the portfolio includes 77% cash, 16% bonds and 7% equities.

HSBC Private Bank has appointed Benjamin Pedley as regional head of investment strategy in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. Other recruitments are imminent in order to construct a team. Pedley had previously worked as a strategist for Northern Asia at HSBC Private Bank, before leaving in December for personal reasons. He replaces Arjuna Mahendran.

BNY Mellon has recruited Eugene Bang as country head for Korea, Citywire reports, and aims to develop the presence of the US group on the Korean market. Bang had previously worked at Deutsche Asset Management Korea, and then served as country head for activities dedicated to mutual funds at DWS.

L’opérateur boursier allemand Deutsche Börse a interrompu toutes les transactions sur sa plateforme de produits dérivés Eurex pendant une heure environ lundi en raison d’un problème de synchronisation. Les transactions ont été interrompues à 8h20 et n’ont repris que vers 9h30. L’impact sur le marché semble être resté limité; la journée est fériée au Royaume-Uni, premier marché financier d’Europe, et les volumes de transactions sont inférieurs à la normale.

Le ministre de l’Economie et des Finances, Pierre Moscovici, a appelé lundi les établissements financiers à se mobiliser pour diffuser le futur PEA-PME, le nouveau plan d'épargne en actions destiné au financement des PME et des entreprises de taille intermédiaire (ETI). Il a confirmé que le plafond de ce nouveau produit financier destiné aux particuliers serait de 75.000 euros. Parallèlement, celui des PEA ordinaires sera relevé de 132.000 à 150.000 euros comme l’avait annoncé le président François Hollande en clôture des assises de l’entrepreneuriat fin avril. Pierre Moscovici a qualifié le PEA-PME de «choc positif, choc de financement, choc d’attractivité pour les PME et les ETI» et souhaité que «tous les établissements financiers s’en emparent». Le PEA-PME sera créé dans le cadre du projet de loi de finances 2014. Il bénéficiera des mêmes avantages fiscaux que le PEA, à savoir une exonération du produit des titres détenus (dividendes et plus-values) après cinq ans de détention même s’il est soumis à prélèvements sociaux.

La MACSF a acquis, auprès de Lazard Group, un ensemble immobilier (ArMor II) de plus de 5 700 m² à Saint Herblain, près de Nantes. Cet immeuble neuf de bureaux, qui présente un profil énergétique BBC est entièrement loué à Steria pour une durée ferme de 9 ans. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été communiqué. Dans cette opération, la SCP Begon Herbert Bougeard Brulon Bonneau (Maître Bonneau) agissait comme notaire de MACSF. Maître Claudine Lotz intervenait pour le compte de Lazard Group.

Les recettes fiscales du Portugal ont augmenté de 7,6% au cours des sept premiers mois de l’année, une progression plus soutenue qu’attendu, ce qui permet à Lisbonne d’espérer atteindre sans difficulté les objectifs prévus par le plan de sauvetage international. Le déficit du secteur public a été ramené à 5,5 milliards d’euros sur la période janvier-juillet. En excluant les recettes exceptionnelles issues des fonds de pension des banques transférés à l’Etat en 2012, ce déficit est en baisse de 8% sur un an.

L’ex-dirigeant chinois a reconnu avoir eu connaissance du détournement d’une somme de 5 millions de yuans (plus de 600.000 euros) qui a fini sur le compte en banque de sa femme, arguant d’un manque d’attention, selon un témoignage lu samedi, au troisième jour de son procès pour corruption.

L’opérateur de marché est en discussions avancées en vue d’une fusion avec son concurrent Direct Edge, selon le Wall Street Journal qui se référait vendredi à des sources proches du dossier. Le quotidien précise que l’opération, qui pourrait être annoncée d’ici à quelques jours, créerait le deuxième opérateur de marché des Etats-Unis, derrière NYSE Euronext, en termes de volumes d'échanges.

Après une progression du PIB de seulement 1,8% attendue cette année au Mexique, le ministre des Finances du pays, Luis Videgaray, table sur un rythme de croissance atteignant 4% en 2014, en particulier grâce à la reprise enregistrée aux Etats-Unis, son principal partenaire commercial.

Dans un entretien au quotidien allemand Handelsblatt, Jens Weidmann, l’un des membres du Conseil des gouverneurs de la Banque centrale européenne, a déclaré hier improbable un changement prochain de la politique monétaire de la BCE. Il a ainsi démenti les spéculations d’une remontée des taux consécutive à des signes d’amélioration de la situation économique dans la région.