Les performances des grandes banques internationales pourraient être affectées dans les mois à venir par l'évolution de l'économie dont les perspectives demeurent moroses, notamment en Europe, et des litiges avec les autorités, selon une étude (1) publiée le 11 avril par l’agence de notation Fitch Ratings.L’ agence de notation souligne que le dernier trimestre 2012 a été bon pour ces institutions financières puisqu’elles ont renforcé leurs fonds propres, amélioré leurs comptes et réduit leur exposition au risque. Cette situation favorable devrait s'être prolongée au premier trimestre de l’année en cours, en raison de la bonne santé des marchés boursiers. Les activités de courtage de ces banques devront en être les premières bénéficiaires, relève Fitch. Cette séquence favorable devrait toutefois prendre fin prochainement, selon Fitch. La faute à une croissance anémique dans les prochains mois, notamment en Europe, toujours secouée par la crise de la dette. A cette crise viennent s’ajouter les différents litiges auxquels sont confrontés les établissements financiers: le scandale du taux interbancaire Libor dans lequel sont impliquées les banques britannique Barclays, suisse UBS, les accusations de blanchiment d’argent contre HSBC, de fraude et d'évasion fiscale contre Credit Suisse et UBS entre autres. Dans ce contexte, les établissements financiers vont continuer à se focaliser sur les réductions de coûts, les allègements d’effectifs et des changements dans leurs politiques de rémunération qui devraient permettre de contenir des dépenses opérationnelles, estime Fitch. D’autant que les provisions et les charges exceptionnelles liées aux enquêtes et différends en cours vont demeurer problématiques. Dans une autre étude publiée le 10 avril, McKinsey estime que les déficits de financement des banques européennes s'élèvent à 1.200 milliards d’euros, un montant qui pourrait encore augmenter de 200 milliards d’euros d’ici à 2018. La France et l’Italie sont confrontées aux plus gros déficits au sein de la zone euro (1)Les banques concernées par l'étude sont: Bank of America (BofA), Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale et UBS.

Les fonds commercialisés en Suède ont enregistré en mars des souscriptions nettes de 3,5 milliards de couronnes, selon les dernières statistiques de l’association suédoise des fonds d’investissement Fondbolagens Förening. Cette collecte a été dopée par les fonds diversifiés qui ont affiché des entrées nettes de 4,4 milliards de couronnes suédoises. Depuis le début de l’année, ils engrangent 15,5 milliards de couronnes, tandis que le secteur dans son ensemble est à +26,5 milliards de couronnes.Les fonds actions ont aussi dégagé un solde positif, avec +1,5 milliard de couronnes, grâce notamment aux fonds Amérique du Nord qui voient entrer un peu plus de deux milliards de couronnes. Depuis janvier, la collecte sur cette classe d’actifs se monte à 18,3 milliards de couronnes.Les fonds obligataires en revanche accusent des rachats nets de 3,1 milliards de couronnes en mars, et 12,8 milliards depuis le début de l’année.Fin mars, les encours dans les fonds commercialisés en Suède ressortaient à 2.180 milliards de couronnes, dont 54 % dans des fonds actions.

BlackRock vient de recruter Sabrina Gan en qualité de responsable de la distribution retail à Singapour, rapporte Asian Investor.Sabrina Gan, qui a pris ses fonctions en début de semaine, a travaillé jusqu’au 27 mars dernier chez Schroders en qualité de responsable des ventes et de la distribution.

Le gestionnaire de fortune britannique Coutts, filiale de Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), a recruté Hussam Rinno comme responsable de la clientèle moyen-orientale. Il était auparavant responsable de la clientèle privée de Vontobel en Jordanie, au Liban, en Irak et en Arabie Saoudite, rapporte finews.Par ailleurs, Coutts a embauché trois cadres de la Deutsche Bank, Michael Dismorr, qui était chairman advisory board Middle East et head key-clients Middle-East & Africa, qui sera basé à Dubai, ainsi que Luc Voirol (à Dubai) et Martin Hungerbühler (à Genève).Enfin Nadim Khan, qui était responsible des particuliers très haut de gamme chez Emirates NBD, rejoint lui aussi Coutts à Dubai.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss firm Tiberius Asset Management (TAM), based in Zug, has announced that it has taken over the Luxembourg fund VCH Expert Natural Resources (LU0184391075) from the German firm VCH Vermögensverwaltung AG (Altira group). The fund comes as an addition to a commodity fund of the Tiberius range which already includes long-only, long/short and global macro products. The product, launched on 5 July, 2004, as of the end of March had assets of EUR41.94m.Meanwhile, Tiberius has recruited Torsten Dennin, co-manager of the fund since July 2010.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The US firm Guggenheim Funds has notified the SEC of license applications for four more ETFs of its BulletShares product range, specialised in investment grade corporate bonds, Index Universe reports. They are funds with maturity dates ranging from 2022 to 2025, which will each charge 0.24%, and will be listed on the NYSE Arca electronic platform.The ETFs are the following:•Guggenheim BulletShares 2022 Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca ticker: BSCM)•Guggenheim BulletShares 2023 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCN)•Guggenheim BulletShares 2024 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCP)•Guggenheim BulletShares 2025 Corporate Bond ETF (BSCQ)

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The US firm Third Point is launching a hedge fund dedicated to Greece, the Third Point Hellenic Recovery Fund, which will invest in event-driven corporate situations, the news agency Reuters reports. The firm, based in New York, is planning to invest less than 1.5% of assets available to its hedge funds in the new strategy, while collecting new capital from institutional investors. With this strategy dedicated to Greek assets, Third Point joins several other major US players, such as Oaktree Capital Group and Fortress Investment Group, in the search for opportunities after five years of recession and prospects of a better day.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Due to the success of its Japan Hedged Equity Fund ETF (ticker on NYSE Arca: DXJ), which has USD6bn in assets, of which USD4.76bn are subscriptions in the past six months, WisdomTree is planning to launch a small caps version of the product, Index Universe reports. The WisdomTree Japan Hedged SmallCap Equity Fund will replicate an exclusive index weighted by dividends at companies listed in Tokyo, whose market capitalisation is at least USD100m, and which have paid at least USD5m in dividends per year. The average trading volume also needs to be at least 250,000 shares per month. Each position is limited to 2%, and each sector to 25%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Horizons USA, an affiliate of the US firm Horizons ETF Management (USD7bn), itself an affiliate of the South Korean Mirae Asset Global Investments (USD58bn), has announced that it has applied to the SEC for a sales license in the United States for three ETFs of covered calls, which would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.Horizons USA has also announced the recruitment of Joe Cunningham as executive vice president and head of capital markets. He had most recently been director of institutional ETF order flow & national account manager at ProShares.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } On 11 April, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) listed five of its Luxembourg-registered ETFs of the db x-trackers brand on the Hong Kong stock exchange. For the first time, they offer local investors access to ETFs investing in the Singapore, Bangladesh and Pakistan markets. With the Philippines product, all of these funds replicate MSCI investable market (IM) indices.The fifth db x-trackers ETF newly listed in Hong Kong replicates an index of Asia ex-Japan equities that pay high dividends.The five funds are:db X-trackers MSCI Bangladesh IM Index UCITS ETF (LU0592216120)db X-trackers MSCI Pakistan IM Index UCITS ETF (LU0755277992)db X-trackers MSCI Philippines IM Index UCITS ETF (LU0592215668)db X-trackers MSCI Singapore IM Index UCITS ETF (LU0755279428)db X-trackers MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan High Dividend Yield Index (LU0592216120)DeAWM now has 35 ETFs listed in Hong Kong, making it the largest provider in this market.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Austrian asset management firm Raiffeisen Capital Management has signed a distribution agreement with the Italian group Banca Sella, Bluerating reports. The 39 funds from the Austrian firm will now be available via the network of financial advisers and private bankers of Banca Patrimoni Sella & C. and Banca Sella.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Funds on sale in Sweden in March recorded net inflows of SEK3.5bn, according to the most recent statistics from the Swedish investment fund association, Fondbolagens Förening. The largest net deposits were made in balanced funds, with SEK4.4bn. Equity funds had a total net inflow of SEK 1.5 billion. Mainly due to large net deposits in North American funds, Sweden funds, Global Funds and funds investing in Japan. Net withdrawals were, on the other hand, made from funds investing in emerging markets, mainly from Eastern European funds. Bond funds, on the other hand, recorded a net outflow of SEK 3.1 billion during the month. The total fund assets in Sweden amounted at the end of the month to record high SEK 2,180 billion.

Le britannique Charles Stanley Group a fait état d’encours sous gestion de 16,36 milliards de livres à fin 2012. Au cours du trimestre se terminant le 31 décembre 2012, les encours ont progressé de 4,6% comparé aux 15,64 milliards de livres à fin septembre. Les fonds à gestion discrétionnaire ont vu leurs encours augmenter de 7,1 %, de 5,35 à 7,73 milliards. Le bénéfice sur le trimestre sous revu s’est élevé à 31,1 millions de livres, contre 27,4 millions au trimestre précédent.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Man Group on 11 April announced that a change to its regulatory status, which will result in a limitation of its licensed field of action, will allow it to free up about EUR550m in owners’ equity.The reduction in regulatory owners’ equity reflects a change in the activities of Man Group, to require less owners’ equity than in previous years, such as for seed capital activities or for guaranteed products.Man Group states, however, that the new legal status has yet to be approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), probably in third quarter.Pending confirmation of the figures advanced, excess owners’ equity at Man Group may total about USD920m as of 1 January 2014, an increase in the cushion of about USD550m.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Money Marketing reports that Scottish Widows has recruited Ronnie Taylor, workplace managing director and CEO of Vebnet, from Standard Life. He will be in charge of development for investment and corporate retirement units, and will report directly to Toby Strauss, CEO.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to sources familiar with the matter, Santander may be planning to sell a part of its asset management division (EUR140bn in assets as of the end of September) in order to comply with stricter European prudential requirements, but a spokesperson for the Spanish group declined to comment, The Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper says, without giving names, that the bank has recently been in talks regarding the matter with a private equity investor or another financial group.

A new Edhec-Risk Institute publication, “Hedging versus Insurance: Long-Horizon Investing with Short-Term Constraints,” produced as part of the BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) research chair on “Asset-Liability Management and Institutional Investment Management,” demonstrates that failing to separate long-term risk-aversion and short-term loss-aversion may lead to poor investment decisions. As an illustration, the research points to a 32% opportunity cost when managing maximum drawdown constraints inefficiently through an excessive level of hedging.This survey mainly shows that:• relatively simple solutions exist that can be implemented as dynamic asset allocation strategies in order to control short-term risk levels while maintaining access to long-term sources of performance. and that • these solutions are a substantial improvement over traditional strategies without dynamic risk control, which inevitably lead to under-spending of investors’ risk budgets in normal market conditions, with a strong associated opportunity cost, and over-spending of investors’ risk budget in extreme market conditions.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Quantitative funds control nearly one third of all assets in the hedge fund sector, according to statistics from Hedge Fund Research, the news agency Reuters reports. These strategies have total assets of USD677bn, our of total assets of USD2.3trn. Last year, quantitative fund attracted nine tenths of net inflows to hedge funds, which brought their percentage of assets to about 30%, compared with 25% four years ago. More precisely, out of net inflows to hedge funds in 2012 of USD34.4bn, quantitative funds captured USD33.1bn. At the time of the market crisis and turbulence of 2008, systematic funds posted average growth of 18%. Since 2009, assets in quantitative funds have risen by more than 66%, at a time when assets in the hedge fund sector overall have risen by about 40%.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock has recruited Sabrina Gan as head of retail distribution in Singapore, Asian Investor reports. Gan, who began in her new role late last week, worked at Schroders until 27 March this year, as head of sales and distribution.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The British wealth management firm Coutts, an affiliate of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has recruited Hussam Rinno as head of Middle Eastern clients. He had previously been head of private clients at Vontobel for Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, finews reports.Coutts has also recruited three executives from Deutsche Bank, Michael Dismorr, who had been chairman advisory board Middle East and head key clients Middle East & Africa, who joins the firm in Dubai, and Luc Voirol (in Dubai) and Martin Hungerbühler (in Geneva).Lastly, Nadim Khan, who had been responsible for ultra-high net worth retail clients at Emirates NBD, is also joining Coutts in Dubai.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } The former head of credit and fixed income at Swisscanto, Mirko Santucci, has been recruited by Suva, one of the largest insurers in Switzerland, to develop its emerging market debt capacities, Citywire reports.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss Lombard Odier Investment Managers group has recruited the fixed income specialist Grant Peterkin, who had previously worked at Ignis Asset Management, Citywire Global reports. Peterkin will join the new team which unites the global bond and emerging market units, and takes responsibility for government bonds for the Total Return fund, managed by Gregor McIntosh, the head of fixed income and asset allocation.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Russell Investments has announced the appointment of Andrew Scherer as director of defined contributions and intermediary distribution to financial advisers. He will be based in Chicago, and will report to Michael Winnick, managing director sales and partnerships.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The US firm First Trust Advisors has listed three ETFs of its AlphaDex range for trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Dublin Stock Exchange (ISE), Index Universe reports. They include the First Trust United Kingdom AlphaDEX UCITS ETF, which replicates the FTSE 100, the First Trust US Large Cap Core AlphaDEX UCITS ETF (S&P 500), and the First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDEX Ucits ETF (MSCI Emerging Markets).First Trust is planning to launch other products as demand increases.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } According to a survey of 11,000 people in 11 countries of the European Union undertaken at the initiative of the German asset management firms, 79% of respondents feel that investment funds are an adequate vehicle for long-term savings, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. But nearly three quarters of respondents are convinced that funds are speculative and complex.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; direction: ltr; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); }P.western { font-family: «Times New Roman»,serif; font-size: 12pt; }P.cjk { font-family: «WenQuanYi Micro Hei"; font-size: 12pt; }P.ctl { font-family: «Lohit Hindi"; font-size: 12pt; }A:link { } The Wall Street Journal reports that Citigoup, Credit Suisse and Société Générale have recently released “synthetic” securitisations by which investors accept in exchange for a return to absorb the future losses of a portfolio of assets. The deals are intended to restore the prudential reserves of banks, by reducing the risk on their balance sheets. Citigroup is seeking to limit its exposure to shipping loans, Credit Suisse is seeking to reduce its credit default risks on Swiss SMBs, and Société Générale is seeking to reduce the risks on its derivatives portfolio.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } With the Sarasin IE Emerging Markets – Systematic Fund, Sarasin & Partners has launched an Irish-registered investment trust vehicle which replicates the Sarasin EmergingStar – Global Fund sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav, with management fees of only 0.65% for the platform share class.The portfolio will be invested in an equally-weighted manner to equities from all of the 19 countries of the MSCI Emerging Markets index. The weighting of positions will be adjusted once per month.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 10 April. Mary Jo White was sworn in as the 31st chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a position to which she was appointed by president Barack Obama on 7 February. She was confirmed by the Senate on 8 April.

La société de private equity autrefois dans le giron de Bank of America a bouclé son premier fonds avec 735 millions de dollars au compteur. Les investisseurs sont des institutionnels en Asie, aux Etats-Unis et en Europe. Selon Preqin, seuls 28 fonds ont finalisé une levée au premier trimestre, le chiffre le plus bas pour n’importe quel trimestre entre 2008 et 2013.

Le Nasdaq a indiqué que le bonus de son directeur général a subi une chute de 62% au titre de 2012, à 1,35 million de dollars. L’opérateur boursier précise que son comité des rémunérations et son conseil d’administration ont «explicitement tenu compte» pour prendre cette décision des déboires subis lors de la colossale introduction en Bourse de Facebook en mai dernier. Des soucis techniques avaient alors écorné l’image du Nasdaq en suscitant de vives protestations d’investisseurs s’estimant maltraités. Les régulateurs ont approuvé un plan de dommages de 62 millions de dollars à verser par l’opérateur. La vice-présidente exécutive de Global Technology Solutions, Anna Ewing, subit elle aussi une baisse de son bonus, selon le Nasdaq. La rémunération totale de Robert Greifeld pour 2012 affiche tout de même une progression de 18% à 8,9 millions de dollars.