Investec Asset Management has launched a global equity fund whose target is to deliver high returns and low volatility, Citywire Global reports. The Investec GSF Global Endurance Fund will be managed by Christine Baalham and Nigel Hankin. It will focus on global equities which distribute the highest returns while avoiding the most volatile.
The Saudi wealth management firm NCB Capital has created a UCITS-compliant fund platform registered in Ireland. NCB Capital now offers two funds on the platform, the NCB Capital Saudi Arabian Equity Fund and the NCB Capital GCC Equity Fund, two Sharia-compliant vehicles which invest in companies listed in Saudi Arabia and other Golf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries. The two funds will be distributed internationally in partnership with Amundi, which signed a strategic alliance with NCB Capital in March.
California-based asset manager Summit Global Management (USD460m) is launching a German-registered equity fund with the Frankfurt-based Universal-Investment and the Swiss Green Shoots Capital (EUR50bn in assets advised), specialised in infrastructure in the area of water, entitled Summit Water Absolute Return UI.The long/short equity product replicates an American fund from Summit in a UCITS-compliant format, with sustainable development and respect for environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria. The fund is managed by John Dickerson.CharacteristicsName: Summit Water Absolute Return UIISIN code:DE000A1JZK84 (A shares, retail)DE000A1JZK92 (B shares, institutional)Front-end fee: Maximum 5% (A shares)Management commission:1.85% (A shares)1.25% (B shares)Performance commission: 10% of positive performance + 400 basis points (hurdle rate) with high watermark
The IQ Emerging Markets Mid Cap ETF (NYSE Arca ticker: EMER), launched in July 2011, has attracted only USD1.7m in assets. Now, Index Universe reports, the fund will be liquidated on 18 December, in line with a decision taken by the board on 3 December.Assets in the fund represent less than 0.5% of assets under management in ETFs monitored by IndexIQ, which total USD590.2bn.
The euro zone debt crisis has been a setback for John Paulson as it has caused significant losses for his former flagship fund, the Financial Times reports. The manager bet that the monetary union would collapse. But he has reduced his positions based on this supposition since the European central bank has announced that it will intervene in favour of the euro zone. The Advantage Plus strategy from Paulson showed losses of 18.4% since the beginning of the year as of the end of October. This is the second year of losses for the fund.
Schroders on 5 December announced the launch of the Schroder ISF RMB Fixed Income fund in France. The new, recently-created strategy (see Newsmanagers of 28 November), which is also on sale in Spain, offers investors an opportunity to access the Chinese bond market denominated in local currencies. The fund is actively-managed, and will be based on the RMB Investment Grade Bond Total Return Index as its benchmark. It is managed by the Asian fixed income management team at Schroders, which relies on the expertise of more than 30 credit analysts worldwide, led by Rajeev De Mello, head of Asian fixed income management, and Angus Hui, Asian bond portfolio manager. The fund aims to construct a diversified portfolio which best expressed the vision of the team for the orientation of the Chinese bond market in terms of selection of maturities on the interest rate curve, choice of sectors and issuers. The fund invests in Chinese government bonds as well as in local and foreign corporate bonds issued in renminbi. The Schroder ISF Fixed Income fund aims for long-term capital growth denominated in renminbi (RMB), and allowing investors to benefit from growth on the bond market supported by solid economic fundamentals.
Finews reports that Anna Tokaeva has quit her position as head of UBS Global Asset Management Russia in order to take charge of the Sherbank private bank. The Russian banking group has recently launched its activities dedicated to high net worth clients.
British asset management is the exception in European management, Agefi Weekly reports today. “The United Kingdom is the only European country to have posted positive inflows in the past decade,” says Ed Moisson, head of research at Lipper for the United Kingdom and cross-border markets, who has noted “a genuine dynamic for cross-border managers.” The movement was particularly beneficial for M&G (EUR2.674bn), whose net inflows in third quarter totalled EUR6.4bn. In the UK market, where the ten largest funds represent over 51% of sales, according to the Investment Management Association, mid-sized players are facing the most difficulties, “as they are more vulnerable to market declines.” Asset managers, whose business model is largely based on commissions to intermediaries, are also in danger, the weekly newspaper suggests. The industry is also preparing to face a genuine revolution in financial services distribution in the domstic market on 1 January. The Retail Distribution Review (RDR), first announced in 2006, will end commissions to financial advisers, who will now need to negotiate their added value directly with end clients.
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Schroder Investment Management’s ‘M1' Asset Manager rating. The rating covers the company’s London-based investment activities with the exception of the alternative asset management business. The rating affirmation reflects Schroders’ strength and overall stability during 2012, according to the agency. The main challenges facing Schroders are to accelerate growth in certain regions (Asia and US) and client segments (Sovereign Wealth Funds and private saving pools), expand its absolute return and income-oriented investment capabilities and adapt to regulatory changes. The forthcoming overhaul of the Front Office technological platform is a major project to support the longer term evolution of the business, including the increased use of derivatives.
David Dudding will be stepping down from the management of the Threadneedle European Smaller Companies fund next year, to manage the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Focus, succeeding Neil Robinson, Citywire Global reports. He will be replaced on the European small caps fund by Mark Heslop on 1 January, but will retain control of the Threadneedle European Select.
Analysts estimate that shares in Alcatel-Lucent may be removed from the CAC 40 index, Les Echos reports. The scientific index council, which decides on additions and removals of shares from the CAC 40 index, is expected to undertake its quarterly review at the end of this week. At that time, Gemalto may enter the flagship index. With a decline of 27% since the beginning of the year, its second-worst year ever, and a market capitalisation of only EUR2bn, Alcatel-Lucent is “by far” the smallest member of the CAC 40.
In November, the 4,746 ETPs worldwide posted net subscriptions of USD25bn, compared with USD11bn for the 4,721 products listed as of the end of October. Assets as of 30 November totalled USD1,871trn, compared with USD1,842trn one month earlier, the BlackRock Institute reports.In the first eleven months of the year, net inflows totalled USD218.9bn, a new record, and this amount is considerably higher than the USD173.4bn posted for 2011 overall. The previous record for January-November was in 2008, at USD208.5bn.In terms of flows, US ETPs, which represent 70% of total assets, received 73% of net subscriptions since the beginning of the year, and 82% in the month of November alone.
In January-November, a time when ETFs attracted a net total of USD201bn worldwide, iShares products rank at the top, with net inflows of USD65.85bn, followed by Vanguard, with USD54bn, and SPDR ETFs with USD4.68bn, ETFGI reports.The heaviest net outflows in the first eleven months of the year were from ComStage (Commerzbank) at USD1.45bn, Direxion (USD887m) and EasyETF (BNP Paribas) with USD831m. As of the end of November, overall assets in ETFs totalled USD1.688trn, 2% more than at the end of October (USD1.655bn), and 24.6% more than at the end of December 2011 (USD1.355trn). The top three ETF providers are iShares (USD707.24bn as of the end of November), SPDR ETFs (USD251.16bn), and Vanguard (USD242.76bn). For matter of record only, the fourth-largest player is Invesco PowerShares, with only USD60.91bn. In other words, the top three players alone account for 71.2% of total ETF assets.
Although overall, European ETFs have posted net inflows of USD21.18bn between 1 January and 30 November, ten of the 20 largest firms have seen net redemptions. The heaviest were from ComStage (USd1.45bn), EasyETF (USD831m) and db x-trackers (USD788m), according to statistics from ETFGI.However, the strongest net inflows were for iShares (USD14.7bn), Source (USD2.87bn), and SPDR ETFs (USD2.07bn).In terms of assets, iShares dominates the rankings by far, with USD132.06bn as of the end of November, followed by db x-trackers (USD44.38bn) and Lyxor (USD37.39bn).
La Banque d’Angleterre (BoE) n’a pas décidé jeudi de nouvelles mesures de soutien à l’activité et a maintenu son taux directeur à 0,5%, le niveau auquel il est fixé depuis mars 2009, malgré les signes d’essoufflement de la reprise économique britannique. La banque centrale a annoncé qu’elle maintenait également le montant total de ses rachats d’actifs à 375 milliards de livres. De son côté, la Banque centrale européenne a également laissé ses taux directeurs inchangés.
Dans le cas de plus en plus probable où le leader de l’opposition du Parti Libéral Démocrate, Shinzo Abe, sortirait vainqueur des élections législatives du 16 décembre, Toshiro Muto, président du Daiwa Institute of Research, pourrait, après son échec il y a cinq ans, succéder à Masaaki Shirakawa au poste de gouverneur de la Banque du Japon, selon le journal qui cite des sources proches.
L’opérateur américain spécialisé dans les contrats à terme a annoncé avoir augmenté ses lignes de crédit disponible de 68% à 1,75 milliard de dollars afin de se conformer aux normes plus strictes édictées dans le cadre de la loi Dodd-Frank. Les autorités fédérales ont désigné plus tôt dans l’année la chambre de compensation de CME comme étant d’une importance systémique.
En Bretagne, cinq congrégations font communauté commune, depuis que des religieuses de l’Ouest ont choisi d’installer à Rennes une communauté originale, formée de s??urs issues de congrégations différentes. Très discrètes sur leur gestion financière, ces congrégations bretonnes ont d’abord cherché à s’adjoindre les services d’un consultant en investissements, menant ainsi un appel d’offres restreint. Ensuite, les congrégations ont décidé de lancer un appel d’offres sur un FCP dédié de gestion diversifiée ISR portant sur un encours de 15 millions d’euros. Actuellement, en phase finale de sélection, les congrégations bretonnes ont terminé les oraux avec les banques et sociétés de gestion.
La productivité non agricole des Etats-Unis au troisième trimestre a été révisée en forte hausse, avec une hausse qui a atteint 2,9% en rythme annuel au lieu de celle de 1,9% annoncée en première estimation le 1er novembre. Il s’agit du chiffre le plus élevé depuis le troisième trimestre 2010, a souligné le département du Travail. Le coût unitaire du travail au troisième trimestre a baissé de 1,9%, un recul bien plus marqué que la diminution de 0,1% annoncée en première estimation.
La croissance dans le secteur des services aux Etats-Unis a légèrement accéléré au mois de novembre en raison d’une hausse des commandes nouvelles et d’une amélioration de l’activité, qui ont permis de compenser le ralentissement de l’emploi et des prix. L’indice ISM est ressorti à 54,7 le mois dernier, contre 54,2 en octobre et 53,5 attendu par les économistes. La composante des commandes nouvelles a progressé, à 58,1 après 54,8.
Le prochain président de l’Eurogroupe doit être un ministre des Finances en exercice, a déclaré une porte-parole du gouvernement allemand. L’actuel président du groupe des ministres des Finances de la zone euro, le Luxembourgeois Jean-Claude Juncker, a réaffirmé lundi son intention de quitter son poste à la fin de l’année mais ses partenaires sont loin de s'être mis d’accord sur le choix de son successeur.