Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
06/03/2013

Falling interest rates aggravate shortfalls for major pension funds

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Since 2008, falling discount rates have, despite four years of good performance for investments, provoked a rise of about USD84bn in the coverage shortfalls for the 19 US pension funds with liabilities of over USD20bn, according to a study by Russell Investments. The funds taken by themselves represent nearly 40% of assets and liabilities for all US publicly-traded companies. They finished 2012 with a net shortfall of USD220bn, compared with USD182bn one year earlier.
06/03/2013

EU corners UK on bonus limits

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Finance ministers from the 27 EU countries meeting in Brussels on 5 March supported a compromise proposal advanced last week by the European Parliament for legislation to apply the rules of Basel III to Europe, including new bonus limits, Les Echos reports. No formal decision has been taken, but Ireland, which holds the EU presidency this half, observed at the conclusion of the meeting that a vast majority supported the compromise proposal. The United Kingdom is now completely isolated on the issue of limits for bonuses paid to bankers, with no way to prevent the equivalent of this legislation being passed elsewhere in the world. In the future, variable pay scales may not exceed those for the fixed portion of salary, except if shareholders decide to raise the limit to up to twice the annual salary.
06/03/2013

Assets up by EUR13bn at La Banque Postale AM

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Net inflows at La Banque Postale Asset Management last year totalled EUR3.5bn, up EUR2.8bn compared with 2011, according to statistics released on 5 March by La Banque Postale.The effect, associated with improved returns, have resulted in growth of EUR13bn in assets, to EUR137.5bn, largely in the bond (+EUR9.5bn) and money market (+EUR3.4bn) asset classes.Profits for the asset management unit have been maintained due to good cost-control. Net banking proceeds are stable at EUR120m. Operating costs for the sector are under control and are virtually stable compared with 2011, at EUR68m. The cost/income ratio for the asset management affiliates is identical to 2011, at 54.7%.Net profits for the part of the La Banque Postale group rose 39.3% last year to EUR574m, with net banking proceeds of EUR5.24bn (+2.5% excluding one-time elements).La Banque Postale has also announced that it will be continuing to develop its wealth management affiliate. Since October 2012, La Banque Postale has been in exclusive negotiations with Crédit Mutuel Arkéa to acquire all capital in the Banque Privée Européenne (BPE). Final agreements are expected to be signed on 2 April 2013, La Banque Postale states.La Banque Postale will then have a complete platform of the products, resources, tools and expertise necessary to offer a dedicated product range to its 500,000 wealth management clients, with the support of a dedicated network.
06/03/2013

OFI acquires 10% stake in BlueOrchard Finance

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The OFI Group, via its longstanding holding company Ofivalmo Partenaires, on 5 March announced that it has acquired a minority stake of 10% in the Swiss microfinance specialist BlueOrchard. The strategic planned investment was announced in January by OFI (see Newsmanagers of 25 January 2013).BlueOrchard Finance S.A., the European leader in the management of micro-credit, was founded in 2001. For eleven years, BlueOrchard Finance S.A. has been able to increase not only its assets under management, which now total USD620m, but also its product range, to meet demand from institutional and private investors seeking to combine financial returns and social impact.Following the acquisition of the minority stake in BlueOrchard Finance S.A., Ofivalmo Partenaires will be represented on the board of directors of the Geneva-based firm.Assets under management at the OFI group totalled EUR53.5bn as of the end of January 2013.
06/03/2013

SEI wins mandate from Sciens Alternative Investments

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SEI has been selected by Sciens Alternative Investments, an entity of the Sciens Capital Management group, to provide administration services for its managed account platform. SEI will also provide collateral management services to the Sciens middle office.
06/03/2013

Oppenheimer recruits from Columbia

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 11 March, OppenheimerFunds has announced, Laton Spahr is becomgina portfolio manager for the Oppenheimer Value Fund, Oppenheimer Select Value Fund and Oppenheimer Small- & Mid- Cap Value Fund, as well as for all associated strategies. He will also be co-portfolio manager of the Oppenheimer Equity Fund.Spahr will be responsible for a team of three people, who like him are employed by Columbia Management Investment Advisors (an afiliate of Ameriprise Financial, like the British firm Threadneedle): Eric Hewitt, Kyle Bergacker and Daniel Hozan. At Columbia, Spahr was a senior portfolio manager for value and income strategies, for institutional and retail products.Since 28 February, John Damian and Mitchell Williams “are no longer the portfolio managers of their respective products,” while Levine is interim portfolio manager for the strategies concerned until 11 March.For its part, Columbia has announced that it has recruited Jeffrey L. Knight as head of global asset allocation. He had most recently been manager of several mutual funds and institutional strategies, also as head of global asset allocation, at Putnam Investments.
06/03/2013

UBS appoints head of wealth management for Gulf

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } To replace Rolf Schilde as head of wealth management for the Persian Gulf, based in Dubai, UBS has recruited Dominique Leimer, who most recently had been one of the directors of the private equity investor Black Pearl Capital in Geneva, finews reports. Leimer, who has already been in Dubai for seven years at Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, will report to Ali Janoudi, the new head of UBS for Wealth Management Dubai International Center (DIFC).
06/03/2013

Azimut launches advising unit

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Italian asset management firm Azimut has unveiled a new unit, Azimut Global Advisory, which will focus on paid financial advising, Bluerating reports. The project, based on open architecture, will be led by the brothers Alberto and Alessandro Parentini.
06/03/2013

Cazenove launches multi-asset class fund

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Cazenove Capital has launched a multi-asset class fund to meet demand from clients, Fundweb reports.The Cazenove Multi-Asset Fund was launched on 28 February. It provides access, via an offshore vehicle, to the strategy used in the Diversity Fund, whose assets under management total GBP1.1bn.According to a Cazenove spokesperson, “the new fund is not identical to the Diversity fund, but it is managed by the same people, and uses a multi-asset class approach.”
06/03/2013

Chinese family offices growing

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } With strong growth in their wealth, Chinese high net worth investors are increasingly considering setting up family offices, often in Hong Kong or Singapore, Asian Investor reports. The number of Chinese high net worth individuals whose investable assets exceed USD1m rose 5% in 2011 to 562,000, according to statistics from Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management in their Asia-Wealth Report 2012.
06/03/2013

UBS to launch ETF in Hong Kong

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } UBS is planning to list several ETFs in Hong Kong in the second half of this year, following the launch of an activity dedicated to ETFs in the region and the recruitment of a sales team in Hong Kong, Financial News reports. The products will be registered locally, and the bank is planning to list some of them in Singapore as well.
06/03/2013

FSA finds internal failings over Libor

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) on March 5th published its Internal Audit Report on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) covering the period January 2007 to May 2009. The report identifies that the FSA, at all levels of management, was aware of severe dislocation in the LIBOR market in the period. This report concludes that the FSA’s focus on dealing with the financial crisis, together with the fact that contributing to and administering LIBOR were not ‘regulated activities’ (which they will be from April 1st, 2013), led to the FSA being too narrowly focused in its handling of LIBOR related information. Second, taking the information cumulatively, the likelihood that lowballing was occurring should have been considered. And, third, the information received should have been better managed.The report identifies important areas where the FSA should have performed better, and makes valuable recommendations for the future, but does not suggest major regulatory failure on the scale identified in the Northern Rock (March 2008) or RBS (December 2011) reports. Finally, the internal audit draws out six lessons to be learnt for the future regulatory authorities, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), to consider. They refer to activities outside the regulatory perimeter, the clear division of responsibilities bertween the authorities, the appropriate embedment of the lessons of the report in the cultures of the regulatory authorities, the use and record of information and intelligence by these authorities, the way information circulates and escalates and, lastly the integration of the lessons from the report in the development of the record management policies.
06/03/2013

Speculation on soft commodities: Oxfam highlights Belgium

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Oxfam is studying KBC and Dexia, as well as French banks and investors with a presence in Belgium such as BNP Paribas, ING Bank and Axa, to examine the extent to which these institutions are speculating on food commodity markets, Financial Times Fund Management reports. Its objective is to discourage them from this practice, on the grounds that it drives up the prices of these food resources worldwide. The study is expected to conclude in April.
06/03/2013

Royal London AM inflows up 66% in 2012

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) on 5 March announced inflows of EUR2.3bn in 2012, up 66% year on year. Inflows to bond funds represented 88% of this total, the asset management firm says in a statement. As of the end of December, assets under management at RLAM totalled GBP47.6bn, up 8% compared with the end of December 2011.
06/03/2013

Lansdowne Partners head to leave

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sir Paul Ruddock, head and co-founder of the alternative management firm Lansdowne Partners, will resign from his position in June next year. The British financier would like to leave the asset management sector in order to dedicate himself to philanthropic activities. Assets under management at Lansdowne, which is now seeking a successor for Sir Paul, total about GBP12.4bn, after peaking at GBP16.8bn about two years ago. Its flagship fund, the Developed Markets fund, last year earned returns of 18%, and has gained 7.6% since the beginning of this year.
06/03/2013

Equity investors more confident than their FI counterparts

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Investors in equities are much more confident about the outlooks for the markets in 2013 than their colleagues specialised in bond investments, according to an annual survey undertaken by Aviva Investors of a sample of asset managers with GBP2.5trn in assets under management based in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe.Nearly 70% of equity professionals have more confidence in the markets than a year ago, perhaps because returns on equities beat projections throughout the past year. For bond managers, only one in four professionals is more confident than at the same time last year. Pessimism about the euro zone remains high, but more so among bond investors, 90% of whom predict that uncertainty will persist, compared with only 71% of equity investors.Equity investors are predicting a rise in merger and acquisition deals in 2013, compared with only 17% one year ago. They are also highly optimistic about the financial sector, though 44% of them were underweight last year.
06/03/2013

Un "sage" allemand conseille une baisse des taux de la BCE

Peter Bofinger, l’un des «sages» allemands, estime que la Banque centrale européenne doit réduire son taux de refinancement d’un demi-point. «Il faudrait que la BCE ramène son principal taux directeur de 0,75% à 0,25%», déclare ce conseiller économique du gouvernement allemand dans un entretien publié mercredi par le journal autrichien Kurier. «Lorsque les banques empruntent, la BCE perçoit un intérêt de 0,75%. Lorsque les banques déposent, elle ne verse aucun intérêt. A l’heure actuelle, la BCE tire de l’argent de banques affaiblies, ce qui n’a aucun sens.»
06/03/2013

Rendement en baisse pour l’émission à cinq ans allemande

L’Allemagne a placé mercredi 3,137 milliards d’euros d’obligations à cinq ans, attirant une demande identique à celle d’une précédente adjudication faite en février, mais entretemps le rendement a baissé. Le ratio de couverture est resté à 1,9 mais le rendement moyen est de 0,45% contre 0,68% pour l’adjudication du 6 février.
06/03/2013

France et Italie réfléchissent à un nouvel emprunt à 30 ans

La France réfléchit à l'émission d’un nouvel emprunt de référence (benchmark) à 30 ans, a déclaré Maya Atig, directrice adjointe de l’Agence France Trésor (AFT). L’AFT avait déjà indiqué en décembre qu’elle envisageait cette année la création d’une nouvelle obligation assimilable du Trésor (OAT) à 30 ans et d’une nouvelle OAT indexée sur l’inflation de la zone euro (OATei) à 10 ans. Maria Cannata, directrice générale de l’agence de gestion de la dette italienne, a également évoqué l'éventualité pour son pays d'émettre du papier à 30 ans.
06/03/2013

Le Dow Jones au plus haut

Le plus ancien des indices actions outre-Atlantique a battu hier ses records en séance et en clôture, sur fond d’espoir d’une amélioration de l’économie américaine. La progression s’est répandue à l’ensemble des secteurs de la cote. L’indice Dow Jones a clôturé en hausse de 0,89% à 14.253,77 points, dépassant le plus haut du 9 octobre 2007.
06/03/2013

Le doute plane sur le pétrole vénézuélien

Le décès du président vénézuélien Hugo Chavez la nuit dernière pourrait ouvrir une période relative instabilité politique dans le pays. «Ce qui n’est jamais une bonne chose pour les exportations pétrolières», comme le souligne l’universitaire spécialiste de l’énergie et de géopolitique Amy Myers Jaffe. Durant la présidence de quatorze années d’Hugo Chavez, la production nationale a chuté de 3,5 à 2,3 millions de barils par jour.
06/03/2013

LBO France arrête la pomme de terre

La coopérative Cap Seine a notifié à l’Autorité de la concurrence son intention de racheter à LBO France sa part dans le distributeur de pommes de terre Pom’Alliance. Le fonds d’investissement avait pris le contrôle en 2008 de la société, qui réalisait à l’époque un chiffre d’affaires de 116 millions d’euros.
06/03/2013

Jeffrey Lacker juge la sortie difficile

Le stimulus monétaire agressif de la Réserve fédérale rendra plus difficile pour la banque centrale américaine la mise en œuvre d’un retrait sans heurt des politiques non conventionnelles, a estimé le président de la Fed de Richmond Jeffrey Lacker. « Je crains que de petites erreurs puissent avoir de grandes conséquences», a-t-il déclaré.
06/03/2013

Des financiers américains soutiennent la réforme du FMI

Dix-neuf personnalités américaines, dont d’anciens secrétaires au Trésor, ont exhorté mardi le Congrès à ratifier la réforme de la gouvernance du Fonds monétaire international (FMI) pour lever ainsi le dernier obstacle à son entrée en vigueur. «Nous (...) exhortons le Congrès à continuer d’apporter son soutien bi-partisan et ancien au Fonds monétaire international au nom de nos propres intérêts et du système mondial», écrivent ces personnalités dans un courrier adressé aux leaders républicain et démocrate du Congrès et publiée par le groupe de réflexion The Bretton Woods Committee.
06/03/2013

L’Isda prépare une refonte des dérivés de crédit

L’International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) s’attelle à la plus grande réforme du marché des dérivés de crédit depuis 2003. L’association new yorkaise interroge les acteurs du marché sur une série de modifications pouvant être apportées aux standards régissant les CDS. L’une des options consisterait à permettre le dénouement des CDS sur les souverains avec d’autres actifs lors d’un échange obligataire.
06/03/2013

Koen Geens, nouveau ministre des Finances belge

A la suite de la démission surprise de Steven Vanackere, pointé du doigt pour son rôle supposé dans une transaction impliquant Belfius, Koen Geens a été nommé hier soir au poste de ministre des Finances. Avocat et directeur au sein de BNP Paribas Fortis, ce dernier a également été conseiller économique du leader flamand Kris Peeters. Il est diplômé d’Harvard et de l’université de Louvain.
06/03/2013

Eurazeo cède ses 10,2% dans Edenred

La société d’investissement Eurazeo a démarré hier la cession de sa participation de 10,2% au capital d’Edenred, connu pour ses titres restaurants. Cela via un placement privé, a déclaré un porte-parole. Eurazeo détenait 15% des droits de vote dans l’ex-filiale d’Accor introduite en Bourse en 2010. Colony Capital, avec qui Eurazeo avait constitué un concert d’actionnaires, a réaffirmé de son côté qu’il restait engagé à demeurer à moyen terme au capital du spécialiste des services prépayés. L’actionnaire, qui détenait au 28 février 11,29% du capital d’Edenred et 14,08% des droits de vote, a précisé rester «confiant dans les perspectives de croissance future d’Edenred et dans son potentiel de création de valeur».
06/03/2013

GBL à l’affût

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert propose d’augmenter son dividende annuel de 2% à 2,65 euros par action, après que son bénéfice a plus que triplé en 2012 à la suite de plusieurs cessions. Le groupe, contrôlé en partie par l’homme d’affaires belge Albert Frère, a notamment cédé 10% du capital du chimiste Arkema et 2,3% de Pernod Ricard au cours de l’année. Le bénéfice net de GBL est ainsi ressorti à 276 millions d’euros en 2012, contre 75 millions d’euros l’année précédente. Dans un entretien au quotidien Les Echos, l’administrateur délégué Gérard Lamarche, qui souligne la «stratégie active de portefeuille» poursuivie l’an dernier, se déclare prêt à faire de nouvelles acquisitions en Europe, fort d’un trésor de guerre de 3,3 milliards d’euros. «Nous sommes en chasse, mais nous ne sommes pas pressés. Il faut que l’opération se fasse au juste prix», avance le dirigeant.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets