Singapore, a strong private banking market in Asia, appears to have lost its allure for Société Générale Private Banking. According to Agefi, citing reports by Reuters, the Société Générale branch in the city-state, which had EUR10bn to EUR12bn in assets under management according to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, may be sold for a price which is estimated at about USD600m (EUR450m). This reversal comes only a few weeks after the sale of the firm’s Japanese activities to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking for an undisclosed amount. The French bank, which also has a private banking arm in China, did not wish to comment on the reports.

Pimco and BlackRock have together acquired about USD13bn in bonds from Verizon Communications, more than one quarters of the bonds issued by the telephone operator, which total USD49bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. Pimco has acquired USD8bn in bonds, while BlackRock has acquired USD5bn. Acquisitions in such large amounts are unusual.

The hedge fund management firm Gottex Fund Management has continued to show losses for first half 2013, but has reduced its net losses of USD3.4m, compared with USD5.5m in the first six months of 2012, according to a statement released on 12 September. Gottex has reduced its operating losses, however, to USD3.5m from USD2.6m as of the end of June 2012. As of the end of June, assets under management total USD5.94bn, down 6.5% year on year. The decline reflects an outflow of about USD179m and the impact of negative currency effects totalling USD120m.

The financial ratings agency Moody’s this Friday published a revised methodology for ratings of sovereign issuers, in order to increase transparency and the forward-looking characteristics of the current approach. The agency notes that the introduction of these revisions has so far not resulted in any modifications to sovereign ratings.

The Novethic SRI Label 2013 has been awarded to 104 funds. The label, which is so far unique in Europe, guarantees that the SRI management process (for Socially Resopnsible Investment) is transparent and educational for subscribers, and that the analysis of businesses on the basis of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria has a significant impact on the selection of portfolios.The 38 asset management firms who were candidates for the SRI Label this year submitted 106 applications (140 in 2012). Only two funds did not obtain the SRI Label in 2013. The quality of the applications and the choice of managers to present only the strongest candidates in terms of SRI are the two major reasons for this low rejection rate. The 2013 edition of the Label is also a sign of the good rate of renewal among candidates: 20% of those who received a label did so for the first time this year.Novethic points out that European funds which are not on sale in France are now eligible for the Novethic SRI label. 13% of funds which received the label are now available from asset management firms which are not French. This is an important sign for a market in need of points of reference, since growth in socially responsible investment is accompanied by a high level of heterogeneity in SRI management practices. The possibility of offering the end investor a measure of Sri quality and transparency of investments thus serves some purpose in improving the legibility and visibility of SRI in Europe.Novethic has also unveiled an innovation with the first French green label, for environmental funds. It notes that these thematic funds are really invested in businesses whose activities bring benefits to the environment. This experimental label has been awarded to 6 funds. Nearly 200 funds are sold with a green label in Euorpe. However, analysis of these portfolios shows a risk of divergence between the environmenal marketing and the companies invested in. The Green Fund Label offered by Novethic attests to the environmental benefits of these investments, and guarantees a clear explanation of their environmental objective. The Novethic Green Label, the first initiative of its type in France, was awarded to 6 out of 8 candidates.

3i on 12 September announced the closing of its collateral debt obligation (CLO) fund, Harvest VII. The fund, with a total of USD310m, is the first of its type raised by 3i Debt Management in Europe since its inception in 2011. The fund has EUR268m in investment grade debt, and EUR42m in subordinate debt. Harvest VII will invest as its first priority in senior guaranteed loans supporting buyout operations in Europe.

According to Fundweb, Lyxor Asset Management is launching 17 emerging market ETFs, which will be listed on the London Stock Exchange, bringing the total number of ETFs from the provider to 64.They are synthetic replication products, 11 of which are based on country indices, and four of which offer broader exposure to the asset class.

Investment advisers registered with the SEC (RIA) are divided on their allocation plans for client portfolios to international equities and bonds in the next 12 months, according to a survey carried out by Aberdeen Asset Management. For equities, six advisers out of ten are planning to increase their exposure to international equities in the next year. For bonds, opinions are even more divided, as 51% of advisers are aiming for an increase in exposure, and 49% are planning to maintain the status quo. The survey also indicates that when they invest internationally on behalf of their clients, a large majority of advisers rely on actively-managed funds. More than three quarters (76%) would like to use actively-managed funds, compared with 17% who prefer ETFs, and 4% for passive tracker funds.

After topping EUR4bn in assets in February, M&G is expected to announce soon that the French arm of the British frm M&G Investments now has over EUR5bn.Meantime, net sales in first half have topped EUR1bn, Brice Anger, country head for France, told Newsmanagers, adding that M&G in France is in its 20th consecutive month of net inflows, including at the beginning of this summer, a fact which is sufficiently rare to be highlighted.

Sweden’s AP3 has appointed Kerim Kaskal as chief investment officer (CIO). He joins AP3 from Brummer & Partners, where he was deputy CIO of the Nektar fund and deputy chairman of Nektar Asset Management AB. He has worked in financial services for 27 years. Kerim Kaskal will have overall responsibility for risk allocation and will join the pension fund’s executive management group, reporting directly to the chief executive officer. He takes up his position on 1 October.

In second quarter 2013, the Italian asset management industry recorded net inflows of EUR20.6bn, a result attributable to open-ended funds, which attracted over EUR19bn. This brings inflows in first half to EUR41bn. As of the end of June, assets totalled EUR1.243trn, of which 45% are in collective management.

Legg Mason Global Asset Management has laucnhed two funds from its affiliate Brandywine Global in Italy: Legg Mason Brandywine Global Fixed Income Absolute Return Fund, and Legg Mason Brandywine Global Income Optimiser Fund, Bluerating reports. The US asset management firm has registered three more funds: Legg Mason Western Asset Emerging Markets Corporate Fund, Legg Mason ClearBridge US Equity Income Fund and Legg Mason ClearBridge Tactical Dividend Income Fund.

Union Bancaire Privée has launched the EM High Yield Short Duration Corporate Bond fund, Investment Europe reports. The fund, which invests in the high yield emerging market debt market with a duration ranging from 1.5 to 3 years, comes as an addition to the bond range managed by Deni Girault.

Peter Dalderop, managing director at RBS for actively-managed pension fund portfolios, insurers and charities, was recruited on 1 September by Schroders as head of institutional activities in the Netherlands Belgium and Luxembourg, Fonds Nieuws reports. He replaced Hein Kuijpers, who has been appointed as head of intermediaries for the Netherlands, and will report to Michel Vermeulen, CEO for Benelux.

The Golden Age sub-fund of the Sicav LO-Funds, managed since March 2012 by the Swede Johan Utterman, with the assistance of Meret Gaugler as an analyst, launched in November 2009, now has USD330m in assets, compared with USD210m as of the end of 2012. Net subscriptions since the beginning of the year total USD70m. The fund already had USD247m three and a half years ago (see Newsmanagers of 24 March 2010).Since the change of managers, the fund from Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) has posted returns of nearly 30%, compared with 19% for the MSCI World index. Its Sharpe ratio is 1.54.Since March 2012, allocations have changed significantly, with a strong reduction in the proportion dedicated to health care sector equities, which now repsent only 45%, while exposure to discrectionary consumer products increased significantly, to about 30%.The fund, with 60 positions dedicated to companies likely to profit from an ageing population, and the spending that this phenomenon will lead to, is now based in six major areas. In addition to health care and discretionary consumer products, it invests in consumer staples, financials, materials and industrials.

The Berlin-based ratings agency Scope Ratings on 12 September announced three appointments of senior specialists, as additions to the units dedicate dto financial sector institutions and structured finance. Jacques-Henri Gaulard, executive director, and Pauline Lambert, director, join the Financial Institutions team in London, while Guillaume Jolivet, executive analyst, joins the team specialised in structured finance in Berlin. Gaulard and Lambert will help to strengthen coverage of ratings in Europe and worldwide. They will both report to Sam Theodore, managing director, Financial Institutions. Gaulard has spent 20 years following Euorpean banks at the major firms (Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, HSBC Securities). He has more recently worked as a strategic adviser for private banking at AFG International. Lambert has nearly 20 years of experience in credit and debt markets. She previously worked as a credit analyst at Credit Suisse and Pictet Asset Management. Jolivet, who worked at Moody’s for 20 years, will assist in the development of Scope’s activities in structured finance, and will support the growth of the agency on the French capital markets.

On 24 September, eight new volatility target indices for levels of 10, 12, 15, and 18% based on the Ibex 35 index began to be calculated and released in real time, Funds People reports.The indices were developed by BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking, in cooperation with Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME).For each volatility objective, there is a “standard” (estándar) version, which dynamically combines equities and bonds, and a “financed” version (financiada), which covers only equities.

Anja Schlick, director of sales for distribution of asset servicing services to German institutional clients at Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS), on 1 September joined the private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (H&A), as head of business development. She will be responsible for setting up and developing an institutional client base in the area of asset servicing, and will report to Michael O. Bentlage, a partner at Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers.

iShares, the ETF platform from BlackRock, has assigned Brett Olson to the newly-created position of head of fixed income for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, Bluerating reports. Olson joins from Nomura, where he had been managing director and head for the EMEA region, responsible for sales of ABS and distribution of illiquid debt instruments.iShares has created the position of head of fixed income for EMEA to meet significant demand in this area.

High yield debt issues by non-financial sector businesses rated speculative grade totalled USD12bn in July-August 2013, bringing total issued in the past 12 months to USD104bn, the financial ratings agency Moody’s reports in its most recent “High Yield Interest – European Edition.” Issues since the beginning of the year already total USD75bn, which exceeds all issues in the entire year 2012 (USD70bn). For the year as a whole, total high yield issues are expected to exceed USD100bn, and the rolling 12-month total is already over this line, Moody’s reports.

Growth of 1.24% in the assets in French-registered funds observed by Europerformance-SIX Company in the month of August is not due to the performance of the various fund categories, nor to the effect of inflows to equity or bond funds. Virtually all of the net subscriptions, totalling EUR12.3bn, went to money market funds. In numbers, these funds overall gained EUR13.35bn, of which EUR13.33bn went to regular treasury funds. For their part, bond funds posted redemptions of EUR158.95m (-0.48% for the month), while equity funds overall posted EUR504m (-1.49%). Convertibles were an exception, with positive inflows of EUR132.96m (+1.04%).

The Swiss private bank Rothscild is building a new team dedicated to wealth management. Christian Müller and Thomas Kunz will join the bank from UBS. They will concentrate on clients residing in Switzerland with international assets. Aleksandra Molanovic has also been recruited for the team dedicated to Russian clients. She joins from UBS Wealth Management International, finews reports.

The TPM Alfi Partners on 12 September announced that it has recruited Mikaël Safrana as Marketing & Relationship Manager to support the commercial development of the firm in Europe. Safrana will concentrate on the deployment of the third-party marketing efforts of the firm via the promotion of funds and solutions currently represented by Alfi Partners. Safrana has worked in Paris, Montreal and Geneva, and has recently been active as a broker of alternative investment funds on the secondary market. “Our activity has historically been concentrated in French-speaking continental Europe, with a strong presence in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. It was natural to increase our capacity for intervention, particularly in order to cover other regions where our presence had been more limited, notes Eric Bonneville, founder of Alfi Partners.

The J. Safra Sarasin bank in first half 2013 has earned net profits of CHF74.7m, compared with CHF57.6m for the first six months of 2012. Net results in fist half 2013 were penalised by one-time charges of CHF82m, a first half report in the Swiss official commercial journal (FOSC) notes. Gross profits totalled CHF205.5m, compaed with CHF62m in first half 2012. In addition to the one-time charges mentioned, amortisations of properties totalling CHF30.5m, and addition of valuations, provisions and losses of CHF8.5m also penalised results.

The British Association of Private Client Investment Management and Stockbrokers (APCIMS), which represents over 180 wealth management and brokerage firms, has decided to change its name in order to better take into account the services offered by its members, according to a statement released on 12 September. The APCIMS now intends to become the Wealth Management Association, pending approval of the change at the annual general assemby which will be held on 1 October. According to a recent study by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, it is now more likely that professional associations will be defined on the basis of the services which their members offer rather than the institutions they represent.

Les prix de l’immobilier en Espagne se sont contractés de 12% sur un an à fin juin, selon les statistiques officielles publiées ce vendredi. Ce chifffre marque un ralentissement dans la correction puisque à fin mars, le rythme de recul atteignait 14,3%. D’un trimestre à l’autre, les prix ont baissé de 0,8% seulement, indique l’INE, l’Institut national des statistiques espagnol. Depuis le pic de la bulle en 2007, la correction de l’indice atteint 37%.

La dette publique espagnole s'élevait à 92,2% du PIB à fin juin, selon la Banque d’Espagne, marquant une nouvelle progression. Le ratio de dette dépasse déjà en six mois l’objectif de 91,4% que le gouvernement de Mariano Rajoy s'était fixé pour la fin de l’année 2013.

L’Agence France Trésor prévoit d'émettre jeudi 19 septembre entre 1,3 et 1,7 milliard d’euros d’obligations indexées sur l’inflation française (OATi) et européenne (OATei). Trois lignes sont concernées: une OATi 8 ans (juillet 2021) et deux OATei à 10 et 15 ans (juillet 2024 et 2027). L’AFT compte aussi adjuger entre 6,5 et 7,5 milliards d’euros de dette classique avec une OAT novembre 2015, un BTAN février 2016 et une OAT novembre 2018.

Lyxor a collecté 225 millions d’euros auprès de grands groupes d’assurance européens dans son nouveau fonds investi en prêts senior garantis, dont le lancement avait été dévoilé en mai. Géré sur la base d’un horizon de placement de 6 à 8 ans, Lyxor European Senior Debt Fund investira essentiellement dans des prêts garantis senior à taux variables libellés en euros et émis par des sociétés pour financer leurs acquisitions ou leur croissance. Ce nouveau fonds fait suite à l’intégration du gestionnaire de CLO Egret par Lyxor en début d’année 2013. La filiale de la Société Générale gère un encours de plus de 800 millions d’euros en CLO, fonds et mandats de conseil investis sur la dette.

Les dirigeants des Bourses américaines et la Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) qui les supervise se sont mis d’accord sur un ensemble de réformes dont l’introduction de coupe-circuits automatiques après la panne sur le Nasdaq du mois dernier. Les modalités concrètes de mise en place et de déclenchement de ces coupe-circuits en cas d’urgence doivent encore être précisées.