L’Agefi rapporte que deux administrateurs de premier plan de la banque JPMorgan, Lee Raymond et William Weldon, ont rendu publique une lettre aux actionnaires leur demandant de rejeter lors de la prochaine assemblée générale les résolutions visant à séparer le mandat de directeur général de celui de président, en affirmant leur soutien au PDG Jamie Dimon.

La société de gestion Ashburton, basée à Jersey, est sur le point de lancer un fonds d’actions africaines au format Ucits qui sera le premier d’une série de fonds coordonnés proposés par le gestionnaire, rapporte Citywire.Le fonds Ashburton Africa Equity Opportunities, qui devrait être lancé d’ici à la fin du mois, sera le premier fonds de la société domicilié au Luxembourg. La société, jusqu’ici spécialisée dans les produits offshore, souhaite mettre en place une nouvelle plate-forme, sous la forme d’un fonds à compartiments domicilié au Luxembourg, à destination d’une clientèle internationale, y compris hors d’Europe.

Brevan Howard Asset Management vient de recruter Peter Blandford, l’ancien patron du négoce des gilts chez Jefferies, selon plusieurs sources anglo-saxonnes.Peter Blandford, qui a quitté la banque américaine en février dernier après y être resté pendant deux ans, a rejoint Brevan Howard la semaine dernière en tant qu’associé. Brevan Howard, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à quelque 37 milliards de dollars, serait par ailleurs nostalgique de la City et à la recherche de locaux dans le quartier des hedge funds, après avoir quitté la capitale britannique pour s’installer à Genève.

Les actifs externes gérés par le groupe Generali, qui constituent l’essentiel de l’activité du pôle financier du groupe, s'élevaient au 31 mars 2013 à 100,83 milliards d’euros, en progression de 4,4% par rapport à fin décembre 2012, selon un communiqué publié le 10 mai par le groupe d’assurances italien.Le résultat d’exploitation du pôle s’est inscrit en baisse de 6,1% à 119 millions d’euros pour les trois premiers mois de 2013, contre 126 millions pour le premier trimestre 2012. Le coefficient d’exploitation s’est détérioré à 66,6% au premier trimestre contre 64,5% un an plus tôt en raison d’une légère baisse de la marge d’intermédiation.Les actifs sous gestion totaux ont progressé au premier trimestre de 1,7% à 498,21 milliards d’euros.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head of wholesale activities in the United Kingdom for Martin Currie, Alan Burnett, will soon be leaving the firm to join Lyxor Asset Management, Money Marketing reports. Burnett, who will be leaving his position at the beginning of June, is replaced with immediate effect by David Townsend, who is promoted to managing director for sales and services to UK clients, and who will also retain his responsibilities as head of relations with UK consultants and institutionals.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Brevan Howard Asset Management has recruited Peter Blandford, former head of gilt trading at Jefferies. According to several English-language sources, Blandford, who left the US bank in February this year after two years, joined Brevan Howard last week as a partner.Brevan Howard, whose assets under management total about USD37bn, is said to be nostalgic for the City, and to be seeking premises in the hedge fund district, after leaving the British capital for Geneva.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Norwegian sovereign fund has decided to significantly reduce its exposure to inflation-linked bonds, due to the restricted nature of the market, the Financial Times reports. The fund, which had inflation-linked bond assets of NOK95.7bn in June 2012, reduced this to slightly over NOK42bn as of the end of 2012, and to NOK26.1bn at the end of first quarter. Inflationary outlooks in the United States and Europe have fallen, as concerns about deflation have taken the fore.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Lyxor hedge fund index gained 0.80% in the month of April, bringing gains since the beginning of the year to 3.2%, according to the most recent Lyxor Flash report, dated 8 May.Twelve strategies out of the 14 which compose the index finished the month with gains, including the Lyxor L/S Equity Market Neutral index, which gained 3.92% for the month, the Lyxor CTA Long Term (+2.98%), and the Lyxor Merger Arbitrage (+1.52%).The best strategy since the beginning of the year is the Lyxor L/S Equity Market Neutral, with gains of 11.39%, followed by the Lyxor L/S Equity Long Bias (+6.83%).

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A proposed financial transaction tax (FTT) is continuing to come in for criticism from all sides, both on the continent and in the United Kingdom, where before the weekend prime minister David Cameron again raised a red flag over the proposals, claiming that they are a bad idea and cannot work unless applied through the world.Similar noises came from the eleven European countries participating in the project. The FTT is not a priority question, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, claimed on 9 May. “We are just starting talks. This is not a major concern, to be very honest,” Schäuble said in response to a question on the subject of the financial transaction tax.“This year, next year … it’s not a major problem,” he claimed. Germany and ten other countries in January agreed to create a financial transaction tax which could be introduced from January 2014.The statement comes at a time when the German business leadership has stepped into the breach to denounce the proposed FTT at the publication of a study by the Deutsches Aktieninstitut (DAI). According to the organisation, representing publicly-traded companies and investors, the estimated cost of the FTT for 24 major German companies would range from EUR600m to EUR1.5bn. “Politicians are clearly now aware of the damage which the FTT Would cause to businesses in the real economy,” the president of DAI, Christine Bortenlänger, says.Last week, directors at Dexia also discussed the FTT at a general shareholders’ meeting for the group. The French-Belgian bank, which lost another EUR300m in first quarter, pointed out that its future results would depend on external events, including the government debt crisis and the introduction of the FTT. If the tax were introduced, it would have cost Dexia EUR574m last year. “We can’t absorb that. And if Dexia were more active on financial markets, that would have an impact of EUR700m, or more,” said Robert de Metz, chairman of the board of directors at Dexia, at the general shareholders’ meeting. He claims that the tax should not be introduced in its current form, which is the minimal position of many professionals.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management firm F&C has seen outflows of GBP1.5bn in the first three months of the year, as subscriptions in the retail segment were offset by redemptions from several strategic partners. Outflows due to redemptions by strategic partners in first quarter totalled GBP1.3bn, while F&C warns that the life insurer Achmea is planning to withdrawGBP10.3bn when its exclusive contract expires in October 2013. Despite redemptions for the quarter, assets under management at F&C rose 3.8%, to a total of GBP98.8bn as of the end of March, due to positive market and currency effects.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Morningstar has announced that Daniel Needham has been appointed global chief investment officer for Morningstar Investment Management and managing director for Morningstar Investment Management Europe. Needham previously served as managing director and chief investment officer for Morningstar Investment Management’s Asia-Pacific operations, including Ibbotson Associates Australia. He will continue to lead this area until the company appoints a new chief investment officer, Asia-Pacific. Needham will relocate to the United Kingdom from Australia later this year and will divide his time among London, Chicago, and Sydney. As of the end of March 2012, Morningstar Investment Management had approximately $157 billion in assets under advisement and management.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The bond specialist Bill Gross has reduced the cash positions of his flagship portfolio, the Pimco GIS Total Return Bond fund, whose assets under management total USD292bn, to 3%, from 8% as of the end of March, Citywire reports. The manager has also reduced his exposure to investment grade credit from 9% at the end of March to 7%.Gross has increased his exposure to Treasuries, from 28% in February to 33% as of the end of March, and 39% as of the end of April. Gross has also redeployed liquidity from MBS and emerging market debt. Exposure to MBS now totals 34%, compared with 1% as of the end of March, while emerging market debt accounts for 8%, compared with 1% at the end of March.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } iShares has launched the iShares Barclays Euro Corporate Bond Financials UCITS ETF, which offers exposure to investment grade bonds denominated in euros, issued by financial sector firms. The fund, which comes in addition to the ETF range from iShares dedicated to corporate bonds, replicates the Barclays Euro-Aggregate: Financial Index. The fund charges fees of 0.20%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management firm Ashburton, based in Jersey, will soon be launching an African equity fund in UCITS format, which will be the first in a series of UCITS-compliant funds offered by the asset management firm, Citywire reports.The Ashburton Africa Equity Opportunities fund, which will be launched by the end of the month, will be the first fund from the firm to be domiciled in Luxembourg.The firm, which had previously been specialised in offshore products, would like to set up a new platform, in the form of an umbrella fund domiciled in Luxembourg, aimed at international clients, including clients outside Europe.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The hedge fund Lucidus Capital Partners has recruited Anatoly Nakun as a manager specialised in corporate debt, the news agency Bloomberg reports. The former co-head of debt trading for the North American region at UBS has taken charge of a long/short credit strategy, with William Baberlavage. Assets under management at Lucidus, which is owned by Caxton Associates, total a notional USD1.5bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US-based asset management boutique Big Sur Partners has recruited Gabriel Politzer, former managing director of JP Morgan, as head of asset management. He will also be chief strategy officer and will oversee risk management and investment process for the investment platform. Big Sur Partners, founded in 2007 by two former JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank employees, Ignaci Pakciarz and Rafael Iribarren, is based in Miami, Florida, USA.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Despite the very good performance of the major equity markets, investors continued to favour bonds in early May. The two asset classes posted weekly inflows of over USD10bn. Overall flows into Bond Funds totaled USD13.07 billion in the week ending on 8 May, according to statistics from EPFR Global.The research firm states that bond funds associated with higher risk-taking were more popular. High yield, Europe, emerging markets local currency, floating rate and total return bond funds all took in over USD1 billion during the week.Equity funds, supported for the first time in three weeks by retail investors, finished the week ending on 8 May with net inflows of USD10.49bn. EPFR Global states that funds dedicated to the United States represented over 50% of all flows to bond funds, and over 70% of all flows to equity funds.Money market funds posted inflows of USD21.67bn, a level not seen since the beginning of January.

The Irish Competition Authority has cleared the proposed acquisition by BlackRock of the exchange traded fund business of Credit Suisse Group. The transaction was notified under the Competition Act 2002 on 8 February 2013. The transaction was cleared on 9 May 2013. «The Authority has formed the view that the proposed transaction will not substantially lessen competition in any market for goods or services in the State,» according to a statement.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On Friday, the Fund for the orderly reorganisation of the banking system (FROB) gave final approval for Banco CEISS, the firm born of the merger of Caja España and Caja Duero, to be acquired by Unicaja. Caja España Fondos, which absorbed Gesduero, an affiliate of Caja Duero, and which had assets of EUR2.157bn as of the end of April, will merge with Unigest, the affiliate of Unicaja, with EUR1.918bn, Funds People reports. Overall, the new entity will thus have EUR4.057bn in assets, displacing Bestinver (EUR3.917bn) from tenth place in the rankings of Spanish asset management firms.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Some of the world’s largest hedge funds are betting on the Greek banking sector, the Financial Times reports. Farallon Capital, York Capital Management, QVT Financial and Dromeus will participate in recapitalising banks in the country. They are expected to participate in a capital increase of EUR550m planned for next month by Alph Bank, the second-largest lender in the country.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The family offices Oppenheim Vermögenstreuhand and Wilhelm von Finck Deutsche Family Office, both affiliates of Deutsche Bank, have decided to merge to form a single entity entitled Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office, the website Das Investment reports.The new firm of the Deutsche Bank group will continue to be positioned on the activities of the two merged entities, namely traditional wealth management for the unit succeeding Wilhelm von Finck, and management of illiquid assets at Oppenheim Vermögenstreuhand.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Long-term inflows, meaning inflows not including money market funds, have totalled EUR30.4bn in Europe, topping EUR20bn for the eighth consecutive month, according to the most recent monthly statistics from Lipper. Bond funds posted inflows of EUR17.3bn, compared with about EUR11bn in the previous month, largely due to a continued strong appetite for global, emerging market and flexible products. Equity funds posted inflows of EUR5.6bn, nearly EUR4bn less than the previous month. Japanese equity funds attracted a net EUR1.6bn in March, a level higher than that recorded for emerging market equity funds, which finished the month with net inflows of EUR1.3bn. Equity ETFs saw outflows of EUR130m, largely due to redemptions from funds investing in the euro zone totalling EUR1.2bn. Money market funds finished the month of March with outflows of EUR4.2bn, due to redemptions to investors in funds denominated in euros and US dollars. Lipper points out that absolute return funds, which posted net inflows of EUR6.3bn in March, also for the first time topped EUR200bn in assets under management. JP Morgan tops the rankings for inflows in March, with EUR3.2bn, followed by Pimco (EUR2.8bn) and Franklin Templeton (EUR2.6bn), but in the first three months of the year, Pimco wins out with net inflows of EUR9bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The independent asset management firm EMEA Capital has recruited Can Uran as managing partner and chief investment officer. He joins EMEA Capital from UBS, where he had been global co-head of emerging markets trading. He will be based in London.

TD P { margin-bottom: 0in; }P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Russell Investments has announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Distribution Technology to provide independent analysis of risk profiles for 16 of its benchmark funds and portfolios. The analysis of risk profiles will take into account factors such as volatility, performance, and tactical and strategic allocations in order to evaluate the level of risk to investors for various strategies. The risk profiles will be reviewed on a quarterly basis. The strategies included in the analysis will be the following: Russell Defensive Assets Fund Secure Model Portfolio Cautious Model Portfolio Conservative Model Portfolio Russell Multi Asset Income Fund Moderate Model Portfolio Balanced Model Portfolio Russell Multi Asset Growth Fund Russell Real Assets Fund Progressive Model Portfolio Adventurous Model Portfolio Growth Model Portfolio Aggressive Model Portfolio Aggressive Plus Model Portfolio Russell International Growth Assets Fund Russell UK Growth Assets Fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Bruce Karpati has been named chief compliance officer for US Prudential Investments, the mutual fund manufacturing and distribution business of Prudential Financial. Karpati spent more than a decade at the Securities and Exchange Commission, most recently as national chief enforcement officer for its asset management unit. His appointment at Prudential is effective Monday, May 13, 2013.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The private equity group Warburg Pincus on 10 May announced that it has completed a round of fundraising with USD11.2n for its eleventh fund, Warburg Pincus Private Equity XI. This is a record amount, slightly below its initial objective of USD12bn.Among the investors in the new fund are pension funds, sovereign funds, insurance companies and high net worth clients, a “significant number” of whom are not based in the United States, a statement says.In 2012, the group, whose assets under management total over USD40bn, invested USD2.3bn in 28 companies, while also returning USD6.2bn to investors. In first quarter 2013, Warburg Pincus returned a further USD3bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } External assets under management by the Generali group, which represent most of the group’s financial activities, as of 31 March 2013 totalled EUR100.83bn, up 4.4% compared with the end of December 2012, according to a statement released on 10 May by the Italian insurance group. Operating profits for the unit were down 6.1% to EUR119m for the first three months of 2013, compared with EUR126m in the first quarter of 2012. The cost/income ratio deteriorated to 66.6% in first quarter, compared with 64.5% one year previously, due to a slight decline in the margin for intermediation. Total assets under management in first quarter rose 1.7% to EUR498.21bn.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British tax authorities on 9 May launched a vast international investigation with their Australian and US counterparts, after receiving confidential information on offshore companies created by businesses or individuals to avoid taxes. The government has 400 gigabytes of data, which will help them to track parties who have concealed assets offshore. “The message is simple: if you engage in tax evasion, we will come after you,” the British finance minister, George Osborne, warns in a statement. The British government has invested hundreds of millions of pounds into combatting tax evasion, at home and abroad. These data represent a new weapon in the arsenal of the British financial regulators. According to the Guardian newspaper, the data provided to the authorities may in part be the same as those which were recently unveiled at an inernational press conference by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), inclulding confidential information on thousands of offshore companies. The 400 gigabytes of data are probably the largest leak of its kind ever to the British financial authorities, the press notes. They reveal the extensive use by rich individuals and businesses of complex offshore structures in order to conceal assets in various countries, including Singapore, the Virgin, Cayman and Cook Islands, the British Treasury says in its statement. The data are still being analysed, but the British tax authorities have already discovered that at least 100 people have benefited from these structures. Some have already been identified and are being investigated, according to the same source. The British tax authorities will also focus on the names of more than 200 accountants, lawyers and tax advisers who helped to set up these structures. British citizens who have used them will have to regularize their situation themselves, in default of which, the tax authorities warn, they will be exposed to legal action or very high financial penalties. Their identities may also be made public. The joint investigation by the British, Australian and US tax authorities may be the beginning of one of the largest tax investigations in history, the ICIJ notes on its website.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } By 2020, the number of Chinese millionaires will double, putting the country just behind the United States, according to projection by WealthInside published by Asian Investor. Their number will increase from 1.3 million in 2012 to 3.3 million. Indian millionaires will number over one million by 2020. According to a survey by HSBC of continental Chinese clients, 70% are planning to entrust the management of their financial assets to a professional in the future, and to invest outside China.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Gottex Fund Management Sarl, an affiliate of the Lausanne-based firm Gottex, and Astmax Asset Management, a firm based in Tokyo, have pooled their offerings in the area of Sub-Advisory services for institutional and other clients in Japan. The two partners are offering bespoke multi-asset class products and investment services for hedge funds, Gottex says in a statement. The two businesses have also decided to sell a selection of products from the two firms on their respective networks.