Le flux net de crédits débloqués dans le cadre du Funding for Lending Scheme de la BoE a reculé de 300 millions de livres au premier trimestre

Le dernier Baromètre Allocation Actions, réalisé par L’Agefi en partenariat avec Axa IM, montre un fort regain de confiance vis-à-vis de cette classe d’actifs

Le dernier rapport du FMI sur le pays souligne le besoin de réformes structurelles qui restent à accomplir. Une attente également mise en avant par les investisseurs internationaux dans le classement d’Ernst & Young, publié ce matin, sur l’attractivité des pays européens.

Interrogés dans le cadre du dernier Baromètre Allocation Actions, réalisé par L’Agefi en partenariat avec Axa IM, les investisseurs institutionnels français affichent très majoritairement leur volonté de renforcer leur exposition à cette classe d’actifs au cours des 12 prochains mois.

Banque PSA et BMW doivent mettre à prix prochainement deux transactions. Clydesdale Bank est attendue de son côté avec un RMBS britannique

La création de nouvelles sociétés masque mal la décollecte et la perte de parts de marché

La création de nouvelles sociétés masque mal la décollecte et la perte de parts de marché

Les retraités, les entreprises et les actifs, dont les fonctionnaires, sont appelés à jouer un rôle pour redresser les comptes à court terme

Le fonds alternatif londonien dédié au crédit, dont les actifs s’élèvent à 12 milliards de dollars, envisage de diversifier son offre en ouvrant un fonds actions. Un signe selon le quotidien du souhait des gestionnaires de tirer profit des flux de capitaux vers les hedge funds. Le fonds «CQS equity long/short» serait dirigé par un ancien gérant de SAC Capital Advisors, David Morant.

Le China Securities Journal assure que l’autorité chinoise des marchés, la CSRC, a approuvé depuis novembre la création par des gestionnaires d’actifs de 34 entités dédiées à l’investissement dans le capital ou la dette d’entreprises non cotées. Le montant des actifs de ces nouveaux fonds dépasserait 60 milliards de yuans, l’équivalent de plus de 7,5 milliards d’euros.

Après avoir relevé ses taux directeurs de 50 bp la semaine dernière, les autorités suppriment la taxe sur les entrées de capitaux étrangers

La marge de solvabilité, en forte progression, représente 4,84 fois la marge réglementaire et 5,54 fois celle-ci, en intégrant les provisions d'égalisation. Il s’agit du niveau de solvabilité le plus élevé atteint par la société. Des résultats financiers solides Les produits financiers de Thélem, qui s'élèvent à plus de 20 523 k€, ont augmenté 68% par rapport à 2011 (en 2011, 7,8 M€ de provisions pour dépréciations à caractère durable avaient été constituées). Ils représentent 7,2 % des cotisations. Pour mémoire, la politique financière se définit autour de trois axes principaux : la poursuite de l’augmentation du compartiment obligataire privé, la mise en place d’un programme d’achats et de valorisation du patrimoine immobilier, l’allègement du compartiment « actions ». Aujourd’hui, l’entreprise a reconstitué et même significativement dépassé les niveaux de plus-values latentes du portefeuille d’actifs financiers d’avant crise. Cette augmentation de valeur est un élément fort de la solvabilité de Thélem assurances et contribue à la porter aux niveaux les plus élevés du marché.

Si la dépréciation du real, la monnaie brésilienne, «est en ligne avec les autres devises, il n’y a rien que nous puissions faire», a souligné depuis Londres Aldo Mendes, directeur du comité de politique monétaire de la banque centrale brésilienne. Illustration récente de cette tendance, le real cédait 0,5% cette après-midi face au dollar.

Comme l'écrasante majorité des économistes, le FMI a dit ne pas s’attendre à une baisse du chômage en France fin 2013, un objectif pourtant régulièrement confirmé par François Hollande. Dans son rapport sur la France, le FMI a légèrement baissé ses prévisions de croissance et préconisé de donner la priorité à la baisse des dépenses pour la poursuite de la consolidation des finances publiques.

Le déficit commercial américain s’est creusé moins que prévu en avril, une facture pétrolière au plus bas depuis près de deux ans et demi ayant modéré une hausse des importations. Mais les exportations ont atteint leur montant le plus élevé depuis quatre mois. Le département du Commerce a fait état d’une hausse sur un an de 8,5% du déficit à 40,3 milliards de dollars.

Après les mots, les actes. L’Union européenne va imposer des droits de douane sur les panneaux solaires importés de Chine, a annoncé mardi le commissaire au Commerce Karel De Gucht, confirmant la volonté de Bruxelles de mettre à exécution sa menace de sanctions contre les fabricants chinois qu’elle soupçonne de dumping. Les droits de douane seront fixés à 11,8% dès jeudi mais ils pourront être portés à 47,6% en moyenne le 6 août, et pour quatre mois supplémentaires, si aucun accord n’est conclu d’ici-là avec Pékin, a précisé Karel De Gucht. L’enquête des services de Bruxelles se poursuit en parallèle. Toute mesure définitive devrait être prise d’ici le 5 décembre prochain, terme formel des quinze mois d’investigation.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian online fund supermarket Fundstore, in partnership with Morningstar, has launched the Investimeglio platform, aimed at independent financial advisers, Bluerating reports. The objective is to help advisers to manage the requirements of clients globally, from defining profiles to constructing profiles.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Commissions collected by asset management firms represent a growing part of the returns they earn for pension fund administrators, the Financial Times reports, citing a study by Lane Clark & Peacock. Commissions have remained stable while returns have fallen in recent years. As returns have continued to be lower than before, Mark Nicoll, a partner at LCP, predicts that administrators will need to call for a price cut. The study also finds that there is a considerable difference between the commissions charged by asset management firms. A pension fund with a GBP100m high-performance global equity mandate is liable to pay between GBP598,000 and GBP672,000 for management services.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Troy Asset Management has launched an offshore version of its Trojan Income fund, managed by Francis Brooke and Hugo Ure, but whose onshore strategy last month saw its access by investors limited, Investment Week reports. The fund, entitled Trojan Income Feeder, has no front-end fees. It invests at least 85% of its assets in onshore funds, exposed to British and international equities as well as bonds and OPCs. Last month, Troy sought to limit access to its onshore funds, whose assets under management total about GBP1.2bn, by imposing a front-end fee of 5%. In the past 12 months, assets under management by the fund have increased by over GBP500m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Baring Multi-Manager Properties Companies fund, domiciled in Dublin, will formally be closed on 30 August, due to a lack of interest from investors. As of the end of April 2013, assets under management in the fund, which was launched in January 2008, totalled GBP217,000. The fund has lost 33.64% since its launch, compared with 46.4% for its benchmark, the FTSE 350/Real Estate CR.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Henderson Global Investors has reopened its UK Absolute Return strategy, managed by a former duo from Gartmore, Luke Newman and Ben Wallace, Investment Week reveals. The strategy, which includes an OEIC and a Luxembourg Sicav, were closed to new investors in November 2011, when assets were at a peak of USD1.8bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } ING IM on Monday, 3 June announced two senior appointments to its emerging market debt (EMD) team. Jerry Brewin joins as head of emerging market debt strategy, while Marcelo Assalin becomes lead portfolio manager of emerging market debt strategies in local currency. Three credit analysts will also join the corporate emerging market debt team. Since 2001, Brewin had been head of emerging market debt at Aviva in London. He will be based in the Hague, and will report to the chief investment officer of ING IM, Hans Stoter. He will be responsible for the overall management, the investment process, and the investment results of all EMD portfolios and strategies globally, as well as providing leadership to his team, a statement says. After Brewin’s arrival, Sylvain de Ruijter, interim head of emerging market debt since January 2013, will return to his position as head of Core Fixed Income, ING IM states. For his part, Marcelo Assalin had previously served as senior vice president and head of EMD Sovereign Debt at the affiliate ING US Investment Management. He will join ING IM International Atlanta, and will serve as senior manager for emerging market debt strategy in local currency, and will report to Brewin. The EMD team at ING IM, whose assets under management total USD12bn, now includes 24 specialists. The asset management firm states, however, that it plans to make further recruitments in order to bring the total number of members in its team to 28. Hans Stoter, CIO of ING Investment Management International, states that “the recruitments of Brewin and Assalin confirm that emerging market bonds are and will remain an important asset class for ING Investment Management. We aim to offer a complete range of EMD strategies … and continue to develop our vast range of products in order to meet the changing needs of our clients,” he added. The appointments come at a time when Rob Drijkoningen and Gorky Urquieta, who were co-heads of the emerging market debt team at ING IM as well as managers Bartvan der Made, Raoul Luttik and Prashant Singh left the firm earlier this year to join Neuberger Berman (USD205bn, of which USD96bn are in bonds).

The Swiss private bank Julius Baer and Milan-based Kairos Investment Management SpA, with approximately EUR 4.5 billion of assets under management, on June 3 announced that they have reached a major milestone with the completion of the transaction on 31 May 2013. The combined business in Italy operates under the name ‘Kairos Julius Baer SIM SpA’ as of 1 June 2013.Julius Baer has acquired a stake of 19.9% in Kairos to which it contributed its Italian asset management company Julius Baer SIM in line with the announcement on 12 November 2012. During the integration phase the combined business will apply for a banking licence to the Bank of Italy in order to set up a new private bank in Italy. Both parties together will decide on a future increase of Julius Baer’s strategic participation «after a few years,» accprding to a press statement. Boris F.J. Collardi, CEO of Julius Baer, commented: “Since November both partners have closely and successfully collaborated to reach this important milestone. Now we look forward to jointly developing a truly dedicated wealth management business which will significantly strengthen our long-term position in Italy.”Paolo Basilico, founding partner of Kairos, added: “I am excited to shape the future of ‘Kairos Julius Baer SIM’, with the clear goal to become a major force in the Italian wealth management market. The vast combined expertise and experience of both partners will result in a powerful offering and outstanding service for our clients.”

French giant Amundi on June 3 announced the signing of an agreement to acquire U.S. based Smith Breeden Associates, an institutional asset management firm specializing in the major U.S. fixed income sectors with an AUM of USD6.4 billion. The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed.For the French asset manager with close to EUR750 bn in assets, the acquisition of the U.S. boutique has three key objectives: offering an asset management expertise in U.S. dollar products to its institutional and corporate clients in Europe, Asia and the Middle East; strengthening the U.S. component of its global fixed income expertise; and enhancing the development of Amundi’s expertise in the U.S. Founded in 1982, Durham, NC-based Smith Breeden Associates provides full discretion fixed income asset management services to pension funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, and central and supranational banks. Focusing primarily on the major U.S. fixed income sectors (MBS, ABS, CMBS, corporate bonds, Treasurys) its product line includes a variety of long-only and absolute return strategies. Upon the closing of this transaction, Smith Breeden will be renamed Amundi Smith Breeden, and be a fully-owned and controlled subsidiary within the Amundi group. Patrick Pagni, currently Amundi’s senior regional officer for North America, will serve as executive chairman of Amundi Smith Breeden, and Mike Giarla will continue to manage the company as chief executive officer. “All key people within Smith Breeden expressed their support of the transaction,” according to a press release. The company will be part of Amundi’s fixed income organization; there will be no change in Smith Breeden’s investment process or personnel.“The integration of Smith Breeden constitutes a new step in Amundi’s development. It will enhance the range and the quality of our fixed income offerings for our clients, thanks to the expertise of the Smith Breeden team, which shares with Amundi common values based on a long term commitment to the clients and the delivery of sustainable performance through a disciplined research-driven investment process,” stated Yves Perrier, chief executive officer of Amundi.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Mandarine Gestion will recruit Thomas Vlieghe from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (Edram), Citywire Global reports. There, he will rejoin his former colleagues Françoise Rochette and Ludovic Dufour, who already joined the French boutique earlier this year. He will assist with the Mandarine Reflex fund.

In response to a European Commission request, the European Securities and Markets Authority has published on June 3 its Technical Advice evaluating the impact of regulation on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps on European financial markets.Notwithstanding the review’s limitations in terms of data and timespan, the Esma has found that there were mixed effects on liquidity of EU stocks, with a slight decline in volatily, a decrease in bid-ask spreads and no significant impact on traded volumes. No compelling impact on the liquidity of EU single name CDS and on the related sovereign bonds markets could be noticed. The liquidity in European sovereign CDS indices has been somewhat reduced.The technical advice key recommendations include : some technical improvements in the method for calculating net short positions in shares and a change of the method of calculation of net short positions in sovereign debt; an alternative approach to draw up this list of shares exempted from the regulation on the basis of turnover calculations. The Esma also suggests emergency measures in case of a significant fall in price.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments is launching the Multi-Asset Growth Strategy fund, a multi-managed, multi-asset class fund, in Italy, Bluerating reports. The product allows access to 55 managers specialised in 20 different investment strategies. It aims for capital growth in line with the equity market, but with lower volatility.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock will become the first asset management firm to launch an ETF in bonds denominated in renminbi in Hong Kong on 18 June, Asian Investor reports. The group on Friday received approval from the local financial market authority for the iShares RMB Bond Index ETF. It will be exposed to bonds denominated in renminbi issued by Chinese businesses and government agencies listed outside China (dim sum bonds).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } All categories of bond funds in the United States lost money in May, at a time when interest rates are increasing, the Financial Times reports. US funds invested in top-rated bonds with average maturities of at least 10 years lost an average of 1.8% in May, their worst performance since October 2008, according to Lipper. The famous Pimco Total Return fund lost 2.2% in May, one of the worst results.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The recent volatility observed on some of the major global bond markets may call into question the mathematical value at risk (VaR) model, the Financial Times reports. A major international investment bank is reported already to have reached the risk threshold set for it by the model, after the Bank of Japan announced that it is deploying an expansionist monetary policy.