The number private bank branches of UBS Germany will be reduced to ten, and as many as 35 employees will be laid off as a result of the cuts.In a note to German clients, the Swiss group has announced that at the end of 2012, the Wiesbaden branch will be closed, with clients now served from Frankfurt, and that in July 2013, the Dortmund and Essen branches will disappear, to be served from Düsseldorf, and the Rosenheim branch will be closed, with clients served from Munich.From July 2013, the private banking network at UBS in Germany will thus only include Berlin, Bielefeld, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

“In terms of integration of environmental, social and governance criteria, the Netherlands are the leading market at the moment,” says Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, CEO of Novethic, who on Tuesday presented the findings of a étude pan-Euorpean study of the ESG strategies of institutionals. She claims that the pension funds APG and PGGM are powerful drivers of this market. The annual study of the use of ESG criteria by European institutional investors was undertaken with the support of BNP Paribas Investment Partners. It covered 115 directors of major financial institutions in 11 countries with a total of EUR4.47trn in assets under management. 77% of institutional investors in the Netherlands have already formed a socially responsible investment policy, and 15% would like to do so soon, the study finds. Control of long-term risks represents the most important factor supporting integration of ESG criteria (46%). But a growing number of respondents want to protect their reputation, the study finds: 31%, compared with 10% in 2011. It must be said that Dutch institutionals are regularly attacked in the media over the nature of their investments, Novethic notes. In 2007, an article in the press drove the pension fund APG, with EUR300bn in assets, to adopt ESG criteria. Adeline Diab, senior expert on integration of and engagement with responsible investment strategies by Netherlands institutionals, explains that the fund is accountable to the Dutch Parliament, as it manages the money of public employees. In terms of practices, Dutch institutional investors “are at the crossroads of Scandinavian markets and the British market, with a strong reliance on normative exclusion and shareholder engagement,” says François Passant, CEO of Eurosif. The two approaches are cited by more than 85% of respondents. At APG, a team of 9 people is responsible for integration of ESG criteria in various asset classes. In terms of alternative invesments (hedge funds, private equity, real estate, etc.), extra-financial criteria come at the time of due diligence. For capital markets (equities, bonds, etc.), specific strategies are applied to each asset class with a risk-targeted approach. Lastly, APG has a broad engagement policy which falls into three parts: engagement by businesses to adhere to the United Nations Global Compact; engagements from selected businesses each year in each sector; and lastly, participation in collective action in partnership with other institutional investors. However, unlike the practices common in the Netherlands, Diab says APG does not practice exclusion. The only exclusions are Wal-Mart and PetroChina, two businesses for which engagement, which in general lasts three years, failed.

Nearly half of European institutional investors say that the financial crisis has had no impact on their integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into asset management, according to a Novethic study published on Tuesday. Even 10% consider it an obstacle. The annual study of the integration of ESG criteria by European institutional investors was undertaken with the support of BNP Paribas Investment Partners, and covered 115 directors of major financial institutions in 111 countries with a total of EUR4,470trn in assets under management.With more precise regard to ESG analysis of governments, three quarters of investors say that the euro zone crisis has had no decisive influence on the evolution of ESG ratings charts of countries. It has led only one quarter of investors to revise their analysis of sovereign issuers.ESG practices are changeing nonetheless. For three years, the notion of control of long-term risks with the objective of helping institutional investors to integrate ESG criteria has been gaining popularity. 30% now cite this factor as a reason to practice this type of management, compared with 19% in 2010, while the factor “contribution to sustainable development,” which remains the most popular with 43%, is trending down (46%).The study also finds that normative exclusions are the dominant practice, as 57% of institutional investors say they have defined lists which exclude businesses responsible for severe violations of human rights and damage to the environment. These are often associated with engagement policies, which are deployed by 54% of respondents. The best in class approach has gained popularity, and now stands at 37%.This is a sign of a considerable diversity of approaches, which can also be found across countries. “In terms of SRI, European countries don’t speak the same language,” says Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, CEO of Novethic, who presented the study on Tuesday.

JP Morgan Asset Management has recruited Tai Hui to the newly-created position of chief strategist for the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports. Tai, who had previously worked at Standard Chartered, will be based in Hong Kong, where he will oversee the Global Market Insight Strategy team, in order to assist Asian clients with investment decisions. The Asian team, which includes five people, offers a quarterly guide, which follows a top-down approach covering equities, bonds, and to a lesser extent, commodities.

As of 30 September, there were 32,138 investment funds with a sales license for Europe. According to Lipper, this is the result of the 404 fund launches in third quarter (compared with 417 in April-June) and 712 fund delistings, including 471 liquidations (compared with 535) and 241 mergers (compared with 340).Compared with the second quarter 2012, the number of fund creations has fallen to 219, while liquidations are up by 39, and mergers are down by 39.By asset class, the largest category of funds as of the end of September was that of equity funds (37%), followed by mixeded funds (24%) and fixed income funds (18%). Money market funds represent 5% of the total, and miscellaneous funds represent the remaining 16%, distributed between real estate, commodities, guaranty and hedge funds.Lipper points out that equity funds were the most often closed, with 166 liquidations and 90 mergers, while fixed income funds saw the most creations (121).Luxembourg was the top domicile, with 8,562 funds, followed by France, with 4,856 products.

The private equity firm Dyal Capital Partners has announced the closure of a private equity fund dedicated to acquiring minority stakes in 12 to 15 hedge fund managers, reserved for institutional investors, with USD1.28bn in assets.Subscription commitments have come from 40 institutional investors worldwide, including sovereign wealth funds, public and private pension funds, multi-employer pensions, insurers, foundations, family offices and private banks.Dyal Capital Patners is managed by Neuberger Berman Group.

The US investment giant SEI Investments is looking to increase its presence on the British market, where it has already been present for 10 years via strategic alliances, Fund Web reports. SEI Investments has signed agreements with Ascentric and Cofunds. Devin Addison, previously of Swip, joined SEI In September to oversee an offensive on the British and continental European markets. He will be assisted from January by two salespeople. At a time when the market is going through upheavals due to the implementatino of RDR regulations in 2013, Addison hopes to sign agreements on the model of those recently signed with Standard Life and RBS with large distributors, private banks, wealth managers, and advising firms. Assets under management at SEI Investments total USD195bn. The group is present in 12 countries, with multi-management and fund administration service ranges.

Jess M. Ravich, managing director and head of capital markets at the investment bank Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin Inc, is joining TCW as group managing direcor and head of alternative products. He will be responsible for developing the alternative management platform, and will report directly to the chairman & CEO of TCW< David Lippman.Meanwhile, TCW has announced the creation of a joint venture with Scoggin Capital Management (which includes Scoggin LLC and Old Bellows Partners), which will be known as TCW Scoggin, and will be led by Ravich, to manage distressed and event-driven alternative strategies. Scoggin has assets of USD1.5bn.Lastly, TCW is acquiring the Special Situations Funds group (SSF) from Regiment Capital Advisors for an undisclosed amount; this will be led by Ravich. SSF has about USD2bn in assets. It is led by Rick Miller and includes six investment professionals based in Boston and New York. They will all join TCW and will remain at the two sites.

The French AXA group has signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), Laurent Clamagirand, chief investment officer for the AXA group, announced on 4 December at the annual Novethic conference. Clamagirand points out that this is a “progressive move” for the long term. The AXA group in June signed the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI).

Following the announcement by Dexia yesterday that it has entered exclusive talks with GCS Capital to sell its asset management affiliate Dexia Asset Management (Dexia AM), the Hong Kong investment firm announced in a statement “that it is pursuing a longer-term strategic initiative to present well-known European and Australian fund products to Asian and Middle Eastern investors, and to introduct innovative products from Asia and the Middle East to existing and new clients of the group in all regions.” To this end, Dexia AM has a range of products covering all asset classes, institutional and private investors in 25 countries. There is not expected to be any overlap between the two entities.Yesterday, Dexia announced that if talks are completed, GCS Capital is planning to maintain the current regional footprint of Dexia AM, with four major location in Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, and Sydney, Australia. It will also seek to deepen the already robust commercial relations which Dexia Asset Management has developed with its institutional and private clients, and particularly the well-established collaborations with Belfius and Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, according to a statement published on 4 December. For its part, GCS Capital, via Mike Powell, a principal at the firm, has pledged to maintain and improve the composition of the existing platform, including maintaining all employees and clients in the various geographical regions. Headquartered in Hong Kong with additional offices in London and Beijing, GCS Capital is «a strategic investor supported by institutions with strong financial resources and strategic capabilities. Dexia AM has about EUR80bn in assets under management (vs EUR78bn at the end of 2011), and over 550 employees worldwide.

Assets under management at Comgest as of the end of September totalled EUR15.5bn, compared with EUR13.5bn as of the end of December 2011, Vincent Strauss, head of Comgest, has said at a pres conference. Assets at the asset management firm have returned to their all-time highs of late 2010.But this rebound in assets is largely due to market appreciation, as inflows have remained at modest levels, Strauss says, adding that the past few weeks have been better.Investors are expected to continue to avoid equities, which in relative terms are expected to continue to have highly attractive valuations. In macroeconomic terms, many signs are turning positive, both in the United States and in China, meaning that there are real investment opportunities.Comgest finds, however, that in the next ten years, businesses in emerging markets will have more trouble capturing growth due to increases in labour costs, social benefits, real estate and infrastructure costs, at a time when sale prices are expected to stabilise or fall.However, businesses in developed markets with improving profits are expected to help them benefit from improved economic activity.Comgest is already much more exposed to developed countries than three years ago. Exposure to developed countries for Comgest Monde has increased from 66% to 84%, while exposure to emerging markets has fallen to 16% (of which a stable 10% is China) compared with 34% previously.

Dexia has entered into exclusive negotiations with GCS Capital, based in Hong Kong, for the sale of its asset management unit Dexia Asset Management, thus initiating one the last disposals of the Group’s main commercial franchises as presented within the framework of the orderly resolution plan announced in October 2011. Neither the Belgo-French financial group nor GCS Capital gave many details on the talks, but a deal for the European asset manager could be worth up to EUR500m, according to the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the transaction. If a deal is completed, GCS Capital which is run by two former senior investment bankers at HSBC, plans to maintain the current regional footprint revolving around competence centers in Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg and Sydney. It will also seek to deepen the already robust commercial relations which Dexia Asset Management has developed with its institutional and private clients, and particularly the well-established collaborations with Belfius and Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, according to a statement published on 4 December. Assets under management at Dexia AM total EUR78bn as of the end of 2011.Headquartered in Hong Kong with additional offices in London and Beijing, GCS Capital is «a strategic investor supported by institutions with strong financial resources and strategic capabilities. It will be able to implement a growth strategy for Dexia Asset Management focusing on targeted international development in the world’s fastest growing regions whilst continuing to invest in Dexia Asset Management’s excellent platform», according to the statement.

Federico Garcia Zamora, who had been co-manager of international and global bond funds as well as «inflation opportunities» funds at American Century Investments, has been recruited by Standish Mellon Asset Management Company LLC (USD104bn in assets), a Boston-based affiliate of BNY Mellon.He joins the firm as a senior portfolio manager for forex strategies, with responsibility for issuing investment recommendations for sectoral and multi-sectoral bond strategies. He will also be responsible for the management of absolute return currency strategies, which Standish will be launching soon.In this newly-created position, Zamora will report to David Leduc, CIO of Standish.

The Meeschaert group on 4 December announced the acquisition of EFG Assurances, a life insurance solution brokerage structure, The operation falls fully within the strategic developments planned by the group, and represents an opportunity for its four units of activity: private management, asset management, family office and private equity, according to a statement from the group. The acquisition coincides with the arrival of Maxime Vermesse as a member of the board and director of private management. After serving in several roles related to private management and asset management activities at the BNP Paribas group, Vermesse served as director of private management for Europe and Latin America at BNP Paribas Wealth Management Monaco from 2008. At the end of 2010, he became CEO of EFG Banque Privée France. In order to accelerate the development of the family office activity, created for the Meeschaert family in France in 2003, Charles Bienaimé, a board member, will now dedicate himself entirely to surveillance selection and wealth monitoring services dedicated to high net worth families.

Nicholas Rowe de Focus Capital Wealth Management a été condamné par le régulateur, la Finra, à rembourser 1,8 million de dollars de pertes subies par ses clients sur des ETF à effet de levier ou inversés, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Il est reproché au conseiller en investissement des négligences, une escroquerie et d’autres fautes.Dans cette affaire, les clients lésés percevront 1,3 million de dollars de dédommagement et 500.000 dollars pour les droits, les intérêts et les dépenses.

The markets are more attractive for investors when there is strong competition between traditional and alternative platforms, according to a study recently published by the CFA Institute.The study, “Dark Pools, Internalization, and Equity Market Quality,” evaluates the impact of dark trades, which take place often in dark pools and internationalization of brokers, on measures related to the quality of the market such as bid/offer spreads and the depth of the market. The study finds that although originally an increase in dark trading is synonymous with an improvement in the quality of the markets, they deteriorate when a majority of trades are conducted opaquely.The CFA Institute study proposes that regulatory measures be put in place to encourage healthy competition and protect investors who make trades on traditional markets. These recommendations include the following points: Internalisation of orders placed by retail investors should be required. It brings a real improvement in prices, which means significant savings for small shareholders, and protection for those who make their trades on traditional markets. Regulators should monitor and measure transactions in dark pools and take necessary measures if they increase excessively; Alternative platforms should voluntarily allow investors and regulators to take clearer decisions about their use.

In October, Luxembourg mutual funds had net inflows of EUR21.127bn, according to statistics from the financial regulator (CSSF). Due to negative market effects, asses increased by EUR15.201bn, to EUR2.326649trn. Over the past twelve months, net assets are up by 12.44%.

Citywire reports that Vontobel Asset Management has decided to absorb the Swiss Stars Equity sub-fund of its Luxembourg-registered Vontobel Fund, which had only CHF34bn in assets, into the Swiss Mid & Small Cap Equity sub-fund of the same Sicav (CHF82m), due to insufficient assets.

Le 30 novembre, la CNMV a enregistré le Patrimonio III (ES0130358007), la troisième édition des fonds obligataire à échéance, mais sans garantie, du BBVA Bonos Patrimonio. L’objectif consiste à verser au 11 octobre 2016 la valeur liquidative du 11 février 2013 assortie d’une rémunération de 3,15 % annuels (contre 4,4 % pour la première édition et 3,25 % pour la deuxième).La souscription minimale est fixée à 600 euros et la commission de gestion à 0,95 % à partir du 11 février 2013 (0,02 % d’ici là) avec un droit de souscription de 5 % jusqu’au 12 février 2013 ou jusqu’au moment où l’encours aura atteint les 20 millions d’euros. Des «fenêtres de liquidité» sont prévues trimestriellement à partir du 14 mai 2013.

The head of institutional operation at F&C Asset Management, Richard Wilson, has been appointed CEO, and will begin in the new role on 1 January 2013. He joins the board immediately as executive chairman, as Edward Bramson will become non-executive chairman following the presentation of provisional financial results for the group for 2012 (see Newsmanagers of 3 December).

Europeans failed to reach a compromise on the creation of a single supervisory authority for the 6,000 banks in the euro zone, Les Echos reports. Divisions remain significant, particularly between France and Germany. “We are going to get closer to Germany, we are working on it. We have not completely succeeded, but the spirit is there,” finance minister Pierre Moscovici said yesterday. The 27 finance ministers will meet again on 12 December.

Top directors in France are far from the salary highs of Europe, Les Echos reports. They are in fifth place in rankings for 2011 of 14 European countries by Expert Corporate Governance Service (ECGS), which collected information from more tan 400 companies belonging to the MSCI Europe index, of which about 70 are French. Top directors in France made an average of EUR3.48m last year (EUR4.2m counting only the CAC 40). They finished behind their British counterparts, who made an average of EUR5.34m, to place at the top of the rankings. They are followed by German, Swiss, and more surprisingly Spanish and Italian directors.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on December 4 published its final guidelines on repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements for UCITS funds. The guidelines state that UCITS should only enter into such agreements if they are able to recall at any time any assets or the full amount of cash. The guidelines will now be translated into all EU languages and will be incorporated into ESMA’s Guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues, published in July 2012. The full set of guidelines will enter into force two months after the publication of the translations. This will result in a comprehensive framework for UCITS that will increase transparency and investor protection and contributes to safeguarding the stability of financial markets.

Les banquiers suisses ont très vivement réagi à la publication récente par l’Autorité fédérale de surveillance des marchés financiers (Finma) de nouvelles et très strictes exigences concernant le traitement des rétrocessions, pour adapter sa pratique à un récent arrêt du Tribunal fédéral (Newsmanagers du 4 décembre), rapporte L’Agefi suisse.En obligeant les banques à contacter tous les clients potentiellement concernés par cet arrêt, le régulateur s’immisce dans leurs relations privées avec leurs clients et cela, sans consultation préalable, estime l’Association suisse des banquiers (ASB). Doublement impensable pour l’Association suisse des banquiers, qui demande le «réexamen» de ces mesures.

Le Comité de politique financière (FPC), une nouvelle autorité issue de la refonte complète de la réglementation outre-Manche et dépendant de la Banque d’Angleterre, estime que les banques britanniques devraient afficher des ratios de fonds propres reflétant une « valorisation appropriée » de leurs actifs et des « estimations réalistes » du coût des scandales dans lesquels elles sont impliquées, rapporte Les Echos. Ce forum chargé de veiller aux risques systémiques enjoint donc certaines banques à se restructurer ou à renforcer leurs fonds propres. S’il n’a pas précisé le montant, les analystes ont déduit de ses publications qu’entre 20 et 50 milliards au total pourraient être nécessaires.

The German firm Deka Immobilien has acquired the International Business Center in Warsaw, an office and commercial property, from the Munich-based GLL Real Estate Partners GmbH, for about EUR148m.The property, which is wholly leased, will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, whose exposure to Poland increases from 4.3% to 5.6%. The eight Polish properties owned by the group have a market value of EUR590m.

The asset management firm TwentyFour Asset Management is launching an ABS bond fund, the TwentyFour Income Fund, which will allow it to collect up to GBP200m, Fund Web reports. The fund, domiciled in Guernsey, aims for total returns of 7% to 10% per year. The portfolio of the fund will include 30 to 50 positions, acquired on the secondary market. The fund charges fees of 0.75%.

The Dublin-based asset management firm Quilter has added a prudent euro strategy to its Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) aimed at financial advisers whose clients have a limited appetite for risk, Investment Europe reports. The strategy comes as a complement to the euro range from Quilter, which now includes the three approaches “prudent, diversified, and growth.” Quilter also offers eight strategies denominated in pounds sterling, managed in London. The new prudent strategy includes 32.5% equities, 57.5% bonds/cash, 7.5% hedge and alternative strategies, and 2.5% real estate.

Stolen data concerning clients of UBS which was obtained by the tax authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia were photographed by an employee of the bank, the Tages Anzeiger newspaper reports in its 4 December issue, citing a German lawyer. The attorney general of Bochum is continuing his investigations.“The data were photographed with a screen, and assembled piece by piece,” Jörg Schauf, a tax lawyer representing a client of the Swiss bank, says. “It was the work of an internal source,” the lawyer adds, claiming that the data which the tax authorities of the German region are of “remarkable” quality.“Everything is listed: structures, comparison before and after the financial crisis, basic data, the structure of foundations, a complete view of the wealth of clients, and the names of advisers,” he told the newspaper.The CD purchased by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have contained information on 750 foundations and investments totalling CHR3.5bn overall. The most recent data is from March 2010. The Bochum attorney general has so far examined 115 cases out of a total of 1,300. The cases of fraud discovered total EUR204m.

L’Autorité des marchés britannique a lancé une consultation pour réformer le Libor, qui fait suite au rapport de l’un de ses membres, Martin Wheatley, et aux propositions d’amendements législatifs faits par le Trésor. Le Libor sera dans un premier temps le seul benchmark régulé en Grande-Bretagne, mai le cadre proposé pourra être étendu à d’autres indices de référence.