BaFin and the FMA have issued sales licenses for Germany and Austria, respectively, to the Templeton Africa Fund (LU0744128314), a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (FTIF). The fund is managed by Mark Mobius (see Newsmanagers of 24 April), with the assistance of Carlos von Hardenberg.The US asset management firm currently has assets of USD900m invested in 57 African companies.

Two analysts at Citigroup have been fired for releasing information to the media, Les Echos reports. Posts on Facebook were sent to journalists. Regulators are looking into communications with other banks.

The global leader in water, Veolia Environnement, on 29 October called on the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) to open an investigation into “dissemination of false information,” following a report in the press claiming that it was planning to increase its capital to at least EUR1bn. “Baseless information has been disseminated since 26 October suggesting that Veolia Environnement is planning to increase its capital by at least EUR1bn. In reaction, Veolia Environnement denies that it is planning a capital increase,” the group says in a statement. “Veolia Environnement has asked the Autorité des marchés financiers to open an investigation into this dissemination of false information,” it says.

The Philips pension fund, whose assets under mangement total EUR14.9bn, has earned returns of 5.2% in third quarter, meaning that in the first nine months of the year, the fund as earned returns of 9.5%, according to the specialist website IPE. The liability-driven management allocation (71% of the total) outperformed its benchmark by 1.7 percentage points, at 5.5%. The performance observed is thought to be largely due to French inflation-linked bonds. The performance allocation (29%), composed of equities, real estate and commodities, has earned returns of 4.4%, slightly below its benchmark index. The coverage rate has improved by 6 percentage points, to 105%

There is a mood of “satisfaction” at Carmignac Gestion. At a quarterly meeting to present macro-economic analysis and investment strategy in third quarter, Frédéric Leroux, global manager, noted that high-risk assets are expected to see a rebound in valuation, and the times are becoming favourable for stock-picking. The manager, however, insisted on continuing to reduce leverage in developed economies, which are weighing down economic growth rates and profit margins at businesses. The head of the firm, which since the beginning of the year has posted net inflows of EUR4bn, has also declared that it is more optimistic about Europe. “Mario Draghi has spoken,” the director says, “and systemic risks have fallen due to the role of the European Central Bank as a lender of last resort.” The executive also noted the potential for European markets to catch up to their peaks in 2007, from their current levels. In numbers, the Euro Stoxx 50 index is expected to gain 75%, to return to their peaks of five years ago, while the S&P 500 is expected to fall by 1.40%. “Although in Europe the financial crisis is in the process of being dealt with, the situation is no less complicated,” the manager warns, “since the recession is continuing.” Leroux had a tempered outlook for France, where he sees “no structural reforms.” As an example, he points to the unit price for labour hours, which has continued to rise since 2008 in France, at a time when it has been falling for three years in Spain and Ireland. Carmignac Gestion has also returned to indices of Europe, and has recently divested from Chinese banks, in favour of European establishments, including two French banks, Société Générale and BNP Paribas. For the flagship funs of the Carmignac Patrimoine range, this return of optimism and a desire on the part of the firm to profit from the rebound on the markets is the reason for an increase in exposure to equities of nearly three percentage points in third quarter (41.2% overall), while government bonds have been reduced in favour of private issues. In currencies, Carmignac Gestion is also more prudent: exposure to the euro has doubled over the quarter, while it has fallen from 56.22% to 33.77% for the US dollar. Lastly, within the portfolio, exposure to cash has been sharply reduced (to 13.7% from more than 20% as of the end of June).

Assets under management at F&C Asset Management fell by GBP1.4bn in third quarter, to GBP96.8bn, compared with GBP98.2bn as of 30 June 2012, according to figures released on 29 October. Over a nine-month period, F&C has posted outflows of GBP8.41bn.

The private equity group Blackstone is planning to scale up its presence in the Asian region, the head of the firm, Stephen Schwarzmann, has announced, Asian Investor reports. Blackstone would like to develop its activities in real estate and financing for new hedge funds, Schwarzmann says. Since the beginning of the year, staff at Blackstone in the region have risen 20% to 191 employees.

Sturgeon Capital has announced the launch of the Sturgeon Central Asia Equities Fund, a UCITS-compliant hedge fund which will invest in equities with a strong exposure to central Asia, Hedgeweek reports. Lemanik Asset Management will be responsible for managing portfolio risks.

According to Fondsprofessionell, the British firm ETF Securities has recruited Peter Lidblom as head of Nordic, to direct distribution of products from the group in Scandinavia. He had previously been head of distribution to institutional investors, banks and corporate treasurers in the same region for NSBO Ltd.

The carbon trading exchange BlueNext, co-founded by NYSE Euronext and the Caisse des Dépôts in 2007, is in its final days, Les Echos reports. BlueNext will finally close its doors on 5 December, as the operator has not received permission to manage auctions of carbon emission quotas in the European Union from next year.

BNP Paribas Securities Services will be launching a range of clearing, settlement and custody services in the United States for all major asset classes listed on NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX, Investment Europe reports.

The Edmond de Rothschild group will be laying off 66 people, out of a total of 1,000 Les Echos reports. This is the first time that a plan on this scale has been put in place by the group in France. “It will be accompanied by a job protection plan and voluntary departures, which began on 13 October, and are expected to conclude on 31 December,” a source close to the group says. Labour unions were consulted, and all offered a negative opinion. The restructuring is the result of a refocusing of activities at the gorup on the asset management and private banking professions. The firm on 13 July made the merger of its two major asset management affiliates, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers (EdRIM) official. The merger will be completed on 1 December.

The ETF provider WisdomTree Investments has announced net profits for third quarter of USD4.53m, compared with USD0.13 in April-June, and USD1.36m in the corresponding period of last year.As of 30 September, ETF assets at WisdomTree totalled USD16.783bn, compared with USD15.004bn as of the end of June, and USD11.184bn one year previously. Net subscriptions totalled USD1.036bn in July-September, compared with USD338m in second quarter.

A survey undertaken by Union Investment of 106 German institutional investors with more than EUR900m in assets finds that 83% of respondents say safety is the most important investment criterion. This is the highest level to say so since the beginning of the crisis in 2009. 92% of respondents say that avoiding losses is “important” or “very important.”Bonds remain the top asset class, with 46% of portfolios, compared with 74% last year, while money market instruments have gained ground, to 23%, compared with 11%, and exposure to equities has fallen to 7%, from 9% one year ago. Meanwhile, the need for safety appears to have been the reason for a tripling in exposure to real estate in one year, to 15%.

The Swiss Life Best Select brand name will soon substitute for that of the German financial services provider AWD, founded in 1998 by Carsten Maschmeyer, Der Spiegel reports. At Swiss Life, the reports have been dismissed as “pure speculation.“

German-based Allianz on 29 October published in advance partial results for third quarter. Its operating profits totalled EUR2.5bn in third quarter, compared with EUR1.9bn in July -September 2011. Its net profits have risen to EUR1.4bn from EUR258m. All business lines within the group contributed to this improvement in results, but particularly asset management, Alianz stresses.In these conditions, Allianz is revising its operating profit projections for 2012 upward, to EUR9bn, from a range of EUR7.7-8.7bn previously, compared with EUR7.86bn in 2011.Complete figures for the quarter will be published as scheduled on 9 November.

On 30 October, Deutsche Bank announced a pre-tax profit for third quarter of EUR64m for its Asset & Wealth Management (AWM) division, compared with EUR186m in the corresponding period of last year, largely due to a restructuring charge of EUR90m. Net inflows to wealth management more than offset net redemptions from asset management.Groupwide, profits in July-September totalled EUR755m, compared with EUR661m in second quarter, and EUR777m in the corresponding period of last year. In the first three quarters of 2012, net profits at Deutsche Bank are down to EUR2.818bn, compared with EUR4.140bn.

Paal Hagerud, CIO of the Norwegian finance ministry, has announced that the Government Pension Fund – Global (GPFG, the former Oil Fund) has changed its strategy, and that it will now be “swimming upstream” in the equity markets, Handelsblatt reports. The sovereign fund, with USD650bn in assets, “can afford to let itself buy equities only when they are falling,” since it doesn’t have short-term liabilities and has regular inflows of new assets.In favour of the new adjustment in its investment policy, the government has just authorised the fund to buy equities when the exposure to this asset class at the end of the month was 4 percentage points below the ordinary level of 60% of assets.The results for the GPFG in third quarter will be released on 2 November.

D’après Bernard Descreux, directeur de la division gestion d’actifs d’EDF, l'électricien a l’intention de « monter en puissance dans le non coté ». Après avoir misé 60 millions d’euros en mai dernier dans le FCPR Electranova Capital via son département recherche et développement, EDF examine actuellement la possibilité de placer une partie plus importante de ses actifs dédiés (26,7 milliards d’euros sous gestion fin 2011) dans le non coté. Alors qu’un appel d’offres limité pour sélectionner un gérant « toutes catégories confondues » serait en cours, un second appel d’offres sur invitation pourrait être lancé d’ici fin novembre. Le directeur de la division gestion d’actifs d’EDF n’a pas souhaité indiquer les montants en jeu.

La Réserve fédérale de New York a déclaré lundi qu’une opération de rachat de Treasuries prévue mardi était annulée en raison «des fermetures du marché financier et des conditions de marché présumées accompagner l’ouragan Sandy». Le calendrier des opérations sera mis à jour «dans les jours qui viennent avec des précisions sur les opérations déplacées». La Fed aurait dû racheter mardi pour 1,75 à 2,25 milliards de dollars de Treasuries d'échéances variant de février 2036 à août 2042.

Les dépenses des ménages américains ont nettement augmenté en septembre, montrent des données officielles publiées par le département du Commerce. Les dépenses des ménages ont progressé de 0,8% contre un une hausse de 0,5% en août (chiffre non révisé). Les revenus des ménages ont par ailleurs progressé de 0,4% en septembre, comme attendu par le consensus.

Le président du gouvernement espagnol, Mariano Rajoy, a déclaré lundi être opposé à titre personnel à l’octroi de pouvoir élargis à un «commissaire aux Affaires monétaires», idée soutenue dimanche par Mario Draghi, le président de la Banque centrale européenne. «C’est une idée, qu’en soi, je n’aime pas. Dans le cadre d’un ensemble de mesures visant à renforcer l’union budgétaire, elle pourrait être envisagée», a-t-il estimé.

Les sénateurs français ont engagé lundi l’examen du projet de loi organique qui met en œuvre le traité budgétaire européen et notamment la «règle d’or» interdisant les déficits publics. Le vote de la haute assemblée, qui devrait avoir lieu mardi, ne fait pas plus de doute qu'à l’Assemblée, où ce texte a obtenu une large majorité : sénateurs de gauche, du centre et de droite devraient se prononcer en faveur de cette loi organique, seuls les élus du Front de gauche y étant hostiles.

Le produit intérieur brut de l’Italie a subi au troisième trimestre une contraction un peu moindre que celle de 0,8% du deuxième trimestre, conforme avec la prévision officielle d’une baisse de 2,4% sur l’ensemble de l’année, a déclaré lundi une source gouvernementale citée par Reuters. Le chiffre préliminaire sera publié le 15 novembre. «C’est un chiffre conforme à l’estimation gouvernementale d’une contraction de 2,4% en 2012. Si ce n’est pas 2,4%, ce sera 2,3% ou 2,5%», a-t-il ajouté.

Le taux d’inflation en Allemagne est probablement resté stable à 2% en octobre, au vu des données publiées lundi par six Länder et qui servent de base de calcul pour la statistique à l'échelon national. Le taux est resté stable dans trois des six Länder, mais l’inflation a accéléré à 1,9% en Rhénanie du Nord-Westphalie, contre 1,6% en septembre

La devise niponne revenait ce matin à 79,65 contre dollar, après avoir chuté à 80,38 vendredi sur fond de fortes attentes d'assouplissement

Le fonds texan s’est trouvé en concurrence lors du premier tour d’enchères avec des investisseurs comme la banque australienne Macquarie, avance le quotidien de sources proches. BAA et l’actionnaire de contrôle Ferrovial pourrait fixer à cette semaine la date limite de présentation des offres pour le second tour visant le rachat de l’aéroport britannique.

Le quotidien croit savoir que CNP Assurances et Humanis «étudient actuellement un rapprochement de leurs activités d’épargne salariale». Ensemble, Fongepar et Inter Expansion se hisseraient au cinquième rang du marché, loin toujours derrière les géants Amundi et Natixis Asset Management. Au-delà des enjeux de taille critique, souligne le quotidien, cette opération «apparaîtrait comme relativement logique» au regard des liens unissant déjà les deux sociétés au travers d’un groupement d’intérêt économique portant sur la gestion administrative de comptes. Le quotidien rappelle que CNP Assurance avait précédemment des projets en épargne salariale avec Malakoff Médéric.

Pour financer le coût généré par un recul du programme, le pays pourrait émettre davantage de billets de trésorerie

Alors que le Parlement a voté vendredi sa version de MIF2, le sujet ne reviendra qu'en janvier ou février sur la table des ministres