Credit Suisse Group a annoncé le 1er juillet la nomination de Joachim Oechslin au poste de Chief Risk Officer. Il succèdera à Tobias Guldimann le 1er janvier 2014. Joachim Oechslin est actuellement Chief Risk Officer chez Munich Re. Il sera également membre de l’Executive Board.Début 2014, Tobias Guldimann prendra la fonction de Head of Reputational Risk, Corporate Responsibility and Regulatory Policy, précise un communiqué.
L’un des plus importants hedge funds londoniens, Lansdowne Partners, vient de nommer Alex Snow en qualité de CEO, selon un communiqué publié le 27 juin. Alex Snow va prendre en septembre la succession du co-fondateur de la société, Paul Ruddock, qui part en retraite fin juin. Alex Snow dirigeait précédemment les activités de banque d’investissement d’Investec au Royaume-Uni.La stratégie phare de Lansdowne Partners, Developed Markets Strategy, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à environ 10 milliards de dollars, a dégagé un rendement annuel moyen de 13,6% depuis 2001. Le fonds a progressé l’an dernier de 18% après avoir perdu 20% l’année précédente.
Butterfield Bank (UK) a nommé Jo Hill au poste nouvellement créé de responsable marketing, rapporte wealthadviser. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions Jo Hill travaillera en étroite collaboration avec les bureaux internationaux de la société pour promouvoir ses services de gestion de fortune et de banque privée. Jo Hill a plus de dix ans d’expérience dans le secteur financier.
La banque privée britannique Coutts a lancé un service de gestion de portefeuille discrétionnaire (DPS) à destination d’une clientèle disposant d’un investissement minimum de 1 million de livres, rapporte wealthadviser.Ce service donne accès à l’expertise d’investissement de Coutts. Le service DPS est piloté par Simon Pinckney qui a plus de 25 ans d’expérience dans les services financiers.
Jan Tore Sanner, le vainqueur probable des prochaines élections en Norvège interrogé par le Financial Times, a lancé l’idée d’une séparation en deux du fonds souverain norvégien dont la taille - 720 milliards de dollars - commence à représenter un défi. Il confie au journal que si son parti (conservateurs) reprend le pouvoir en septembre, il aimerait créer un groupe d’experts pour étudier une telle option. Il ajoute que l’une des possibilités pourrait être d’avoir un fonds pour les actions et un autre pour les obligations ou deux fonds qui se concurrenceraient.
Finalement, le conseil d’administration d’Inversis Banco a choisi comme repreneur Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA), qui va payer 215 millions d’euros (soit le double de la valeur comptable d’Inversis) plus un montant qui sera fonction du volume d’affaires transféré, rapporte Funds People. Avec cette acquisition l’encours de BPA en Espagne atteindra 7,4 milliards d’euros, contre 3,3 milliards. BPA est représentée en Espagne par Banco Madrid et a acheté ces dernières années Interdin, Nordkapp et Liberbank Gestión.
Les marges d’exploitation avant impôts dans le secteur mondial de la gestion d’actifs ont augmenté à 32 %, soit leur plus haut niveau depuis 2007, selon un sondage du consultant Casey, Quirk and Associates cité par Financial News.Les marges avaient atteint 34 % en 2007 avant de tomber à 25 % en 2009. La croissance la plus rapide a été enregistrée par les sociétés gérant entre 50 milliards de dollars et 200 milliards de dollars.
Vontobel ferme le 1er juillet sa banque privée en Italie, selon des informations de Bluerating. La banque suisse gérera désormais cette activité depuis Zurich. Cette décision s’explique par le fait que les services de private banking en Italie n’étaient plus en mesure de dégager des volumes nécessaires pour faire face à la réglementation et à l’augmentation des coûts.
Franklin Templeton a recruté trois personnes en Italie qui prendront la responsabilité des nouveaux bureaux de Rome, Florence et Padoue, rapporte Bluerating. Marco Magi, qui sera basé à Rome, travaillait précédemment chez Monte Paschi di Siena. Alessio Pagni, qui prend la tête du bureau de Florence, vient de la Deutsche Bank. Enfin, pour Padoue, c’est Alessandro Gibelli qui est nommé. Il était avant chez Eurobroker Italia. En outre, l’équipe institutionnelle de Franklin Templeton a été renforcée avec l’arrivée de Laura Belotti, qui a travaillé précédemment chez Fineco Investimenti, Capitalia AM et Axa IM.
Amundi Sgr, l’entité italienne de la société de gestion française, a recruté Stefano Acquati comme nouveau senior relationship manager dans l’équipe distribution tierce partie, rapporte Bluerating. Il était précédemment senior relationship manager côté clientèle de particuliers chez ING Investment Management.
Stefaon Acquati, qui a travailler chez ING IM, antonveneta et Scorttish Equitable, rejoint Amundi SGR comme senior relationship manager for third party distribution, rapporte Investment Europe. Il sera subordonné à Paolo Proli, directeur de la distribution externe.Amundi SGR gère actuellement environ 6 milliards d’euros.
La société de gestion britannique M&G Investments a entamé la conquête du marché européen dès 2001 par un quadrillage géographique important. L'international pèse aujourd'hui 25 % de la part retail des encours (72 milliards) de la société. Mais à terme, elle devrait atteindre 50 %, indique Jonathan Willcocks, directeur des ventes retail à Newsmanagers. Pour parvenir à cet objectif ambitieux, il compte sur la force de ses liens avec ses partenaires de distribution locaux et la mise en avant de produits multi classes d'actifs.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In its study entitled “Target-Date Series Research Paper: 2013 Industry Survey,” Morningstar reports that at the end of first quarter of 2013, assets in target-date funds in the United States topped USD500bn.The agency also states that management commissions are continuing to fall, to 0.91% of assets from 0.99% in 2011.The three leaders, Vanguard Fidelity and T. Rowe Price, retain a market share of about 75%, despite the rapid rise of some small players. Meanwhile, four firms have closed their target-date fund activities: American Independence, Columbia, Oppenheimer and Goldman Sachs.Morningstar also reports that managers of ranges of target-date funds have considerably increased the exposure of their products to non-US equities: allocation to international equities has increased from 24% on average for funds maturing in 2040 as of 2005 to 36% as of 31 December 2012.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Seven high net worth investors out of ten estimate that financial markets are currently too complicated not to rely on the assistance of an advisor, according to a survey by Charles Schwab. One third of respondents to the survey say that their demand for financial advising increased in the past twelve months, and three quarters say that they are much more confident when they take an investment decision with the help of a professional. Trust and transparency are at the heart of relationships between high net worth clients and advisers. But the survey finds that 72% of respondents trust individual finance specialists, while only 42% put their trust in financial services companies.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The French financial market authority (AMF) on Friday demanded a fine of at least EUR300,000 against Société Générale Gestion (S2G) for shortfalls in the management of a fund (FCP) in 2010, Agefi reports. The regulator accuses it of a conflict of interest, as S2G was both manager of the fund and collateral manager of USD10bn in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) in FCP funds, and was paid in these two capacities. S2G is also claimed not to have precisely and independently evaluated the indexed CDOs and performance swaps. That led to an increase in the net asset value of the fund, which was the reason for the AMF control, and which represents a loss for which shareholders require compensation if they sold their investments before December 2010. The asset management firm is also accused of failing in its duty to inform clients.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to Citywire, John Longhurst is leaving his position as head of emerging markets at Pimco, which he joined in October 2011 from Capital International, Citywire reports.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Schroders Investment Management Ltd. is joining the amLeague competition, and is launching its first portfolio no the Europe Equities mandate from 28 June.The announcement is all the more significant as amLeague is aimed at institutional investors at a time whe Nuno Teixeira, CEO of Schroders France, recently announced that the UK asset management firm is planning to build a presence on the French independent financial adviser market (see Newsmanagers of 17 June).
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to Geneva’s La Tribune, Lloyds Banking Group Switzerland, whose assets were acquired by UBP at the end of May, may lay off several hundred employees out of the 380 it has in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud. According to an internal source, the layoffs may affect more than 50% of personnel.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 1 July 2013, the B-Source company, an affiliate of Avaloq will take over responsibility for the operation of the Operations back office at Deutsche Bank (Switzerland) SA for Wealth Management, according to a statement released on 28 june. B-Source, a provider of back-office services belonging to the Avaloq group, will be responsible for the operation of the Operations back office as well as the 80 employees at the Geneva site. The replacement of the central banking platform with the integrated Avaloq Banking Suite will take place in summer 2014. “B-Source thus supports the bank’s objective, which is now to concentrate on its core profession,” a statement says. Markus Gröninger, CEO of B-Source SA, says “the ongoing reinforcement of our community is a clear sign of our growth strategy, which is based in providing highly industrialised services which allow banks to concentrate on their core profession and on generating future growth.”
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Pre-tax operating profits in the global asset management industry increased to 32%, their highest level since 2007, according to a survey by the consultant Casey, Quirk and Associates, cited by Financial News. Profits reached 34% in 2007, and then fell to 25% in 2009. The most rapid growth was for firms managing USD50m to USD200m.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } For an undisclosed amount, Commerz Real (Commerzbank group) is selling its affiliate Commerz Real Spezialfondsgesellschaft (CRS), which includes institutional funds (Spezialfonds) with assets totalling EUR1.6bn to the institutional asset management firm Internos.The sale of this operation, which is “less profitable than others,” explicitly does not mean that Commerz Real (EUR35bn) is completely withdrawing from institutional real estate management.The transaction does not include the firm’s stake in Amprion (the former high voltage network from RWE), which was acquired in 2011 as part of a club deal.The Internos group has about EUR1.9bn in assets under management, the majority of which are on the German market.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } In July 2012, the Munich-based KanAm announced plans to liquidate the open-ended real estate fund grundinvest (DE0006791809), which at the time had assets totalling EUR6bn. Since then, the asset management firm has managed to sell off ten properties, with a total value of EUR2.2bn, and has paid off debts totalling EUR1.3bn, more than half of total debt.Fondprofessionell.de also reports that the distribution received by shareholders totalled EUR516m.Meanwhile, the fund’s debt level has been reduced to EUR1.3bn, more than half of all credit contracted.Nonetheless, the net asset value of shares in the fund was on 25 June reduced by EUR1.44, to EUR43.66, due to a reduction of EUR65m in the valuation of the portfolio by a group of independent experts.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 1 to 27 June, ETFs listed in the United States saw net redemptions which lowered total assets by 5%, to USD1.424trn, according to statistics from IndexUniverse. As a result, net subscriptions since the beginning of the year totalled slightly under USD71bn, compared with USD76bn in the first half of 2012.The heaviest outflows in June affected international equities ETFs, which totalled nearly USD9bn, with USD4.9bn from the iShares MSCI Emerging Market Index Fund alone. Bond ETFs saw net outflows of over USD8bn of which more than USD7bn were from US bond funds.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } NYSE Euronext has announced that on 28 June it admitted a new equity ETF from Lyxor Asset Management to trading on the Paris market. The product becomes the 583rd to be listed on the European markets of NYSE Euronext, which has a total of 672 ETF listings, including secondary listings.CharacteristicsName: Lyxor ETF SXXT DR DBenchmark index: Euro StoxxTotal expense ratio: 0.3%
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } For an undisclosed amount, the Régime Social des Indépendants (RSI) has purchased the office property located at 100 avenue de Suffren in Paris (10,000 square metres) from the German KanAm grundinvest fund.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to several local media sources, the new chairman of the Chinese sovereign fund, China Investment Corp (CIC), has been appointed, Les Echos reports. The name of Ding Xuedong, former vice minister of finance, aged 53, is said already to have been announced to CIC employees during the day on Friday. The position has been vacant since Lu Juwei, former head of the CIC, became Chinese finance minister in March. Although, according to one Beijing financial sector source, “teams are working normally,” the situation was beginning to become intriguing: all other major positions in the Chinese financial superstructure had been filled.
The British asset management firm M&G Investments set out to conquer the European market in 2011, with a major geographical coverage.International assets now represent 25% of the EUR 72bn in retail assets under management at the firm. But eventually, it may reach 50%, Jonathan Willcocks, head of retail sales, tells Newsmanagers. To achieve this ambitious objective, it is relying on the strength of its relationships with its local distribution partners and its emphasis on multi-asset class products.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } One of the largest hedge funds in London, Lansdowne Partners, has appointed Alex Snow as its CEO, according to a statement released on 27 June. Snow will in September succeed the co-founder of the firm, Paul Ruddock, who is retiring at the end of June. Snow previously led the investment banking activities of Investec in the United Kingdom. The flagship strategy from Lansdowne Partners, Developed Markets Strategy, whose assets under management total about USD10bn, has earned average annual returns of 13.6% since 2001. The fund last year earned 18%, after losses of 20% the previous year.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The British private bank Coutts has launched discretionary portfolio management service aimed at clients from an investment of GBP1m, wealthadviser reports. The service provides access to the investment expertise at Coutts, the DPS service is led by Simon Pinckney, who has over 25 years of experience in financial services.
P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Butterfield Bank (UK) has appointed Jo Hill to the newly-created position of head of marketing, wealthadviser reports. In her new role, Hill will work in close collaboration with the international offices of the company, to promote its wealth management and private banking services. Hill has over 10 years of experience in the financial sector.