L’Agence France Trésor annonce qu’elle a servi mercredi 798 millions d’euros de soumissions non compétitives à l’issue de son adjudication de bons du Trésor (BTF) du 10 avril. Le montant total des BTF émis dans le cadre de cette opération s'élève à 8,611 milliards d’euros. Ce volume se répartit en 4,123 milliards d’euros de bons à 12 semaines, 2,280 milliards d’euros à 25 semaines et 2,208 milliards d’euros à 51 semaines.

L’Allemagne a proposé aux investisseurs le rendement le plus faible jamais affiché lors d’une adjudication d’obligations à 10 ans, ce qui a eu pour effet de freiner la demande pour ce papier à faible risque, malgré les inquiétudes toujours vives pour la dette d’autres pays de la zone euro tels que l’Espagne ou l’Italie. Le Trésor, qui prévoyait initialement d'émettre jusqu'à cinq milliards d’euros de titres à 10 ans, n’en a émis que 3,87 milliards, soit 23% de moins qu’annoncé. Le rendement de 1,77% dégagé par cette adjudication, marque un plus bas record.

Le Trésor italien a adjugé pour huit milliards d’euros de bons à un an à un taux de rendement nettement plus élevé que lors de l’opération précédente, une hausse inédite depuis novembre et liée aux inquiétudes engendrées par la dette espagnole, qui se répercutent sur son homologue italienne. L’adjudication a fait ressortir un rendement de 2,84% contre 1,405% pour l’opération de la mi-mars dernier. Le Trésor italien a aussi adjugé pour trois milliards d’euros de bons à trois mois à un taux de rendement plus que doublé à 1,249% contre 0,492% un an auparavant et un ratio de couverture de 1,814.

La Commission européenne estime toujours que l’Espagne n’aurait pas besoin d’une aide financière de la part de la zone euro afin de recapitaliser ses banques, a déclaré mercredi un porte-parole. Olivier Bailly a également déclaré que la Commission ne serait en mesure d’avoir une vue d’ensemble des efforts déployés par l’Espagne pour consolider ses finances qu’une fois que le gouvernement espagnol aura fourni un aperçu complet de ses plans, gouvernements régionaux compris. Les craintes actuellement exprimées sur l'économie espagnole sont «excessives», a déclaré de son côté la porte-parole du gouvernement français, Valérie Pécresse. Les tensions liées à la crise de la dette ont été ravivées ces derniers jours par les inquiétudes suscitées par les finances publiques espagnoles, après la révision à la hausse des prévisions de déficit du gouvernement de Mariano Rajoy. Le ministère des Finances allemand a déploré mercredi que les marchés financiers ne tiennent aucun compte des «efforts immenses» déployés par l’Espagne pour réformer son économie.

Dédiée à la gestion d’allocation tactique, Swell Asset Management dont Newsmanagers annonçait la création le 11 janvier 2012 a fait part du lancement effectif de son activité le 27 mars dernier avec le transfert du FCP Swell Soft GTAA Fund (anciennement LFP Allocation 3). Ce fonds dont l’encours s'élève à 93 millions d’euros était géré depuis sa création en 2005, par Olivier Ramé et Jean-Philippe Collin, les deux fondateurs de Swell AM, alors responsable des gestions alternatives et gérant à La Française des Placements. L’AMF a également délivré un agrément pour la création de Swell Classic GTAA Fund, un second fonds également au format UCITS IV qui opère la même stratégie d’investissement mais dans un registre plus agressif.Swell Asset Management a obtenu son agrément de société de gestion de portefeuille auprès de l’AMF le 1er mars 2012. Olivier Ramé et Jean-Philippe Collin possèdent chacun 37,5 % du capital de la société, La Française AM détenant les 25 % restants. Outre le lien capitalistique, La Française AM met à la disposition de la jeune société de gestion une infrastructure opérationnelle (informatique, middle office, bureaux…).

S&P Capital IQ renforce son équipe de recherche, indique Mutual Fund Wire. La société vient de recruter Barbara Reguero au poste de managing director de son équipe «cross-asset-class research». L’intéressé était auparavant global chief administrative officer de la division de recherche fixed-income de Nomura Securities International.

Le courtier Newedge vient d’annoncer la nomination de Peter Ward au poste de Global Head of Marketing Communications basé dans ses bureaux de New York. Le nouvel arrivant sera responsable des activités marketing de Newedge au niveau mondial. Il rapportera directement à Kevin Russell, Global Head, Brand & Communications. Peter Ward était auparavant un consultant indépendant dans le domaine du marketing et de la communication. Il a également passé six ans chez Greenwich Capital Markets et Royal Bank of Scotland.

Lázaro de Lázaro, qui était responsable des institutions financières et compagnies d’assurances de Royal Bank of Scotland pour la Péninsule ibérique, a rejoint Santander Asset Management (35,5 milliards d’euros d’encours) en tant qu’administrateur délégué, rapporte Funds People. Il remplace Dolores Ybarra, qui exerçait cette fonction depuis octobre concurremment à celle de CIO mondial.

Directrice du pôle gestion et investissement de Banco Madrid Gestión de Activos (1 milliard d’euros d’encours), Iratxe Oria a été promue directrice générale de la société en remplacement de Rafael Valera, qui a été nommé directeur général adjoint de la banque, rapporte Funds People.

Société Générale Securities Services en Italie (SGSS S.p.A.) a été mandaté par Financière de l’Echiquier pour devenir un de ses agents de transfert et fournir des services d’agent payeur et de gestion des relations investisseurs. Parmi les services fournis par SGSS en Italie figurent les services de compensation, de conservation et de banque dépositaire, d’administration de fonds, de gestion des liquidités et des services d’agent de transfert.

La société de gestion américaine Principal Global Investors veut prendre le contrôle d’une société de fonds de hedge funds afin de diversifier son réseau de 240 milliards de dollars, rapporte Financial News.

La DFCG–Association nationale de Directeurs Financiers et de Contrôle de Gestion a élu, à compter du 1er avril 2012, Sophie Macieira-Coelho, au poste de présidente de la DFCG Ile-de-France. Elle remplace à ce poste Clotilde Bouchet, précise un communiqué.

Total financial assets of euro zone insurance companies and pension funds in fourth quarter 2011 increased to EUR6.980trn from EUR6.919trn the previous quarter, according to statistics from the European Central Bank (ECB). In the same period, mandated insurance reserves, the major measure of liabilities for insurance companies and pension funds, have increased, from EUR6.113trn to EUR6.131trn. This increase is due in nearly equal proportions to positive transactions and valuation effects. In relation to ventilation of assets on the aggregate balance sheets of insurance companies and pension funds in the euro zone, assets in securities other than equities as of the end of December 2011 represented 39% of total financial assets in the sector. Shares in mutual funds represented the second largest exposure, with 23% of total financial assets. Lastly, equities and other participations represented 12% of the total.

In partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Deutsche Börse has placed climate change information concerning about 1,800 publicly-traded businesses online, free of charge, since the end of last week. The information makes it possible to compare the businesses in terms of their contribution to environmental protection and their transparency in terms of CO2 emissions.The data are available at http://www.boerse-frankfurt.com/.

According to reports in Citywire, Felix Freund, star manager at Union Investment (German co-operative banks), has been recruited as director of credit for Europe at Standard Life Investments (SLI).Investment Week reports, meanwhile, that SLI has recruited Mark Kedar as sterling credit investment director. Kedar had previously been fixed income investment manager at Kames.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners has appointed Guy Williams, CIO FFTW, as head of BNPP IP’s Global Emerging Fixed Income team after the departure at BlackRock of Sergio Trigo Paz with a six person team. He will assume responsibility for the management of its worldwide EMD strategies managed out of London.BNPP IP also says that «its priority is now to rapidly strengthen its emerging market fixed income resources with the required investment talent, a process that has already begun». BNP Paribas IP manages over EUR 4.5 billion of emerging market fixed income (EMD) assets.

ETP provider Source and financial services group Nomura on 10 April announced the launch of anew ETF, the Nomura Voltage Short-Term Source ETF. The ETF aims tooffer reactive and tactical exposure to volatility, replicating theNomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USD TR index, which seeksto profit from volatility peaks, while reducing costs associated witha permanent long position on volatility.This is the second Source ETF of theNomura Voltage range. The Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF, whichreplicates the Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR, waslaunched in April 2011, and now has over USD540m in assets undermanagement. The two ETF funds are aimed at qualified investors, andoffers them various volatility investment options, in order to bettermanage their risk/return profile.Futures contracts on the CBOEVolatility index (“VIX”) are practical instruments for exposureto volatility. However, as curves in VIX futures may reach a state ofcontango, maintaining this exposure over the long term may be costly,a statement says. The Nomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USDTR offers an effective alternative for investors seeking to adopt along position on volatility. The index reproduces exposure tovolatility via the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures TR index, butmay modify its level of exposure from 0% to 100% according to theNomura Voltage allocation model. In this way, the fund seeks toprofit from peaks in volatility while limiting the cost of rollingover positions on VIX index futures contracts.Primary characteristics of NomuraVoltage Source productsName of productNomura Voltage Short-Term Source ETF Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF Bloomberg codeVOLS LN VOLT LN (LondonStock Exchange) NVLT GR (Xetra) Currency of the fundUSD USD Trading currencyUSD USD (London StockExchange) EUR (Xetra) Management fees0.30% per year 0.30% per yearListed onLondon Stock Exchange (LSE) London Stock Exchange / Xetra Name of indexNomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USDTR Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR Bloomberg ticker for index NMEDVSU3 NMEDVMU3 DomicileIreland Ireland

The investment firm Aberdeen Development Capital is proposing to discontinue the activities of the company following a redemption of preferential shares to shareholders.Aberdeen Development has scheduled a general shareholders’ meeting for 30 April, in order to fulfil the firm’s final obligations. Shares in the company will be suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange from 30 April.

In the Swiss financial sector, the number of job openings as of the end of March was 20.5% lower than its level twelve months previously, with a 35.2% decline for banks and a 4% decline at insurers, finews reports.On the websites of 1,400 banks, insurers and other Swiss financial sector businesses (auditors, IT, consultants, etc.), as of 31 March there were 3,430 jobs announced, compared with 4,312 as of the end of March 2011, according to the Finews-JobDirectory-Index, published in cooperation with the website JobDirectory.ch. Of this total, job openings at banks totalled 1,144, compared with 1,765 one year preivously.However, finews states that there has been some stability since the beginning of the year at the two major banks (UBS and Credit Suisse), but that the decline is more pronounced at cantonal and private banks.

The California pension fund CalPERS on 10 April announced that it has been selected by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to become a member of the investor advising commission, newly created under Dodd-Frank legislation.Jow Dear, chief investment officer of CalPERS, will chair the 21-member commission, which will advise the SEC on regulatory questions and pricing issues, and which may also undertake initiatives to improve invetor protection and market confidence.

The US regulator, the SEC, has begun processing data from the major hedge fund firms in the country, provided to the regulator by a deadline of 30 March under Dodd-Frank legislation, the Wall Street Journal reports. The objective is to identify firms whose behaviour may pose potential risks ot investors. About 1,400 new companies, including Moore Capital Management and Tiger Global Management, have provided new information on funds, investors, brokers, and other areas, the WSJ reports.

The college of the French prudential control authority (ACP) on 6 April announced that it has passed a recommendation to improve information and transparency in communications to retail lending clients about foreign currency risks. Credit establishments and intermediaries for banking operations are offering retail clients loans in currencies that carry forex risks, and promoting them on the grounds of the lower interest rates they charge than loans in euros, and limited variation of the exchange rate. An analysis of sales practices for loans of this type found that currency risks may be misunderstood by borrowers.As a result, the ACP is recommending that credit establishments and intermediaries in banking operations follow a code of best practices for advisers in contact with clients, advertising, explanations provided to the client before the loan is signed, and annual information to the borrower.

The Chinese securities regulatory commission (CSRC) has granted approval to a request from Huatia Securities to launch a private equity fund. The fund, Huatai Zijin (Jiangsu) Private Equity Investment Fund, will be managed by Huatai Ruitong Investment Management Company.Huatai is the second brokerage firm to have received such a license, after CICC, which launched its private equity fund in April 2011, with assets of CNY1.5bn, Z-Ben Advisors reports.

Funds People reports that the Swiss firm Pictet has registered the Pictet-Global Flexible Allocation sub-fund with the CNMV for sale in Spain (see Newsmanagers of 8 March). The fund is a sub-fund of the firm’s Luxembourg Sicav.

Since 10 April, the Netherlands-registered emerging markets high yield bond fund BNP Paribas Fund III NV has been admitted to trading on Euronext Fund Services (EFS) from NYSE Euronext. It becomes the 186th investment fund to be listed on that platform.CharacteristicsName: BNP EM HIEF 5Unh)ISIN code: NL0010060604Benchmark: S&P Global Emerging Markets High Income Equity (Euro)TER : 1.6%

The Chinese regulator, the CSRC, has announced that it is opening a new CNY50bn allocation for “renminbi qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII)», who will have no investment restrictions, and will be able to invest their assets wholly in ETFs of equities listed in continental China (A-class shares), Z-Ben Advisors reports.For the first wave, investments by RQII funds in A-class shares had been limited to 20% of assets.

The broker Newedge has announced the appointment of Peter Ward as global head of marketing communications, based in the firm’s New York offices. In his new role, Ward will be responsible for Newedge’s marketing activities worldwide. He will report directly to Kevin Russell, global head, brand & communications. Ward had previously been an independent consultant in marketing and communications. He also spent six years at Greenwich Capital Markets and Royal Bank of Scotland.

After 14 years at AxaRosenberg in London as head of relationship management for institutional clients in Germany, continental Europe and the Middle East, Armin Gudat on 1 April joined the Hamburg-based Aquila Capital Institutional as senior fund manager in the quantitative team. As Roman Rosslenbroich, founder and CEO of Aquila Capital, states, the new recruit will assist in the development of quantitative investment strategies and products.

According to a study of 10 “sustainable development” equity funds undertaken by the economic journalist Jochen Bettzieche for the Green party’s representation in the German Parliament, nine out of 10 products were directly or indirectly invested in companies that produce weapons, and all ten were invested in firms that produce oil or gas, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.The Green party financial expert Gerhard Schick says the findings suggest that clear minimal legal advertising standards need to be established for funds which claim to invest sustainably.

Last month, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index posted returns of 0.59%, following gains of 1.68% in February and 2.25% in January, meaning that for first quarter, the average returns come out to 4.59%.Only three strategies saw losses in March: macro (-0.29%), short biased (-1.02%), and emerging markets (-1.28%). In January-March, only short bias shows losses (of 10.81%).