Les actifs sous conservation/administration de BNY Mellon ont atteint un montant record. A fin juin, ils s'élèvent à 27.100 de dollars, contre 26.600 milliards de dollars au 31 mars 2012, soit une hausse de 3 %.Les actifs sous gestion se sont de leur côté inscrits en baisse de 1 % entre fin mars et fin juin, à 1.300 milliards de dollars. Sur un an, les encours s'établissent en hausse de 2 %. La baisse entre le premier et le deuxième trimestre est due à un effet marché négatif sur les actions, partiellement compensé par les souscriptions nettes. La collecte d’actifs de long terme s’est élevée au deuxième trimestre à 26 milliards de dollars mais, parallèlement, les rachats sur des actifs de court terme ont totalisé 14 milliards de dollars.Les commissions liées aux services de conservation et d’administration ont totalisé 1,7 milliard de dollars, en recul de 5% sur un an. Les commissions de performance et de gestion ont représenté 797 millions de dollars, en hausse de 2 % par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2011 et en progression de 7 % par rapport eu dernier trimestre.Le bénéfice net du groupe s’est inscrit au deuxième trimestre 2012 à 466 millions de dollars (0,39 dollar par action), contre 619 millions de dollars au premier trimestre (0,52 dollar par action).
Le pôle Global Wealth and Investment Management de Bank of America a dégagé au deuxième trimestre un résultat net de 543 millions de dollars, contre 547 millions de dollars au premier trimestre. Les actifs sous gestion s’affichent à 682,2 milliards de dollars, en baisse de 10 milliards de dollars par rapport au trimestre précédent. Les commissions de gestion ont atteint un montant record de 1,6 milliard de dollars, grâce à des gains sur les marchés financiers et les souscriptions nettes.
Andrew Williamson-Jones, gérant senior actions mondiales chez BlackRock, quitte la société après neuf ans en poste, indique Investment Week. La gestion du fonds Global Equity (162 millions de livres d’encours) sera assurée par Richard Turnill, responsable des actions mondiales et actuellement co-gérant du produit.
Caroline Keen assure désormais la gestion du fonds BNY Mellon Asian Equity fund. Elle a échangé son poste avec celui de Jason Pidcock, ancien gérant qui prend la place de co-gérant en remplacement de Caroline Keen. Le fonds pèse 266 millions de livres, précise Investment Week.
L’enquête sur le scandale du Libor avance. Les régulateurs bancaires s’intéressent aux liens entre les traders de la banque britannique Barclays, notamment l’ancien trader Philippe Moryoussef, et ceux de quatre autres banques européennes, indique le site internet du Financial Times. Parmi ces banques se trouveraient deux françaises. Il s’agirait de salariés de Société Générale et Crédit Agricole. Les autres banques visées par l’enquête sont Deutsche Bank et HSBC, selon des sources proches du dossier.
La banque, critiquée sur son insuffisance en fonds propres par la Banque nationale suisse, va accroître ses capitaux de 15,3 milliards de francs suisses d’ici fin 2012 et entend réduire ses coûts d’un milliard de francs supplémentaires.
Le prix du blé a bondi de 30% en Europe et de 40% aux Etats-Unis depuis juin en raison de la sécheresse qui sévit outre-Atlantique, mais qui touche aussi la Russie et l’Ukraine. Les prix du maïs et du soja sont aussi portés par l’effet des mauvaises récoltes. Ces hausses pourraient se diffuser progressivement aux indices des prix à la consommation.
Le London Stock Exchange a publié un chiffre d’affaires trimestriel (+10% à 209,5 millions de livres) en ligne avec les attentes, certes grâce à son activité de fournisseur d’indices FTSE International acquise l’an dernier. Cette dernière a en effet compensé la baisse de 15% de l’activité de marchés et de 12% de celle de services post-négociations.
Le club de football britannique pourrait entamer formellement sa procédure d’introduction en Bourse de New York dès la semaine prochaine, selon Reuters qui cite de «multiples sources». Le prix des titres pourrait être dévoilé début août. Le club ne viserait plus que 300 millions de dollars de recettes de cette IPO, contre 500 millions précédemment.
Aqualine Capital Partners, fonds d’investissement new-yorkais orienté vers les services financiers, a annoncé l’acquisition d’une participation majoritaire au capital de la société française BI-SAM Technologies, spécialiste des solutions logicielles de données pour le secteur de la gestion d’actifs.
Le géant de la gestion d’actifs a publié un résultat net trimestriel en repli de 11% à 554 millions de dollars, dans la droite ligne de la frilosité des marchés, les produits les moins risqués prisés des investisseurs étant naturellement ceux générant le plus faible taux de commissions. iShares, filiale numéro un mondial des fonds indiciels cotés (ETF), a ainsi bénéficié d’une collecte nette de 6,1 milliards de dollars sur le trimestre écoulé.
Henderson Gartmore Fund is cleaning house at its fund range. According to Fondsweb, the asset management firm has recently merged and discontinued share classes. The Emerging Markets Fund R EUR dist. (LU0113993801), Pan European Fund R dist. (LU0201075453) and Latin America Fund (LU0200080918) have been merged. Shares in the Pan European Fund B EUR acc. (LU0135928025), Global Focus Fund B EUR acc. (LU0200076569) and Global Focus Fund I EUR acc. (LU0298310920), however, have been discontinued. The reason given by the asset management firm is insufficient assets to justify the independent existence of share classes, Fondsweb reports.
For second quarter, Credit Suisse has announced net profits of CHF788m. The Asset Management unit has earned pre-tax profits of CHF133m, down 48% compared with first quarter. The bank’s asset management firm benefited on paper from the sale of a part of its stake in Aberdeen asset Management, to the tune of CHF66m. Without this gain, pre-tax profts totalled CHF67m, compared with CHF202m in second quarter 2011. Gains related to investments suffered due to market conditions, and totalled CHF27m, compared with CHF101m in first quarter 2012, and CHF156m in second quarter 2011. Commission-based earnings totalled CHF407m, which represents a 3% increase compared with the first quarter of last year, with an increase in performance commissions. The Asset Management division has posted net subscriptions of CHF400m. These were largely for alternative investments in emerging markets, which attracted subscriptions, offset by redemptions from more traditional products.
Investors are expecting difficult months at businesses worldwide as well as a macroeconomic environment that remains highly tense. According to the most recent BofA Merrill Lynch survey, undertaken between 6 and 12 July of 190 investors representing an overall total of USD567bn in assets under management, 38% of allocators estimate that corporate profits will deteriorate in the next twelve months. Last month, 19% of the sample was expecting a deterioration in the micro-economic environment worldwide. In terms of the health of economies, a net total of 13% of allocators estimate that global conjuncture will deteriorate in the next 12 months, compared with 11% one month ago. In this context, liquidity reserves at allocators remain high. 33% are overweight in cash, compared with 39% in June. US equities have seen their popularity fall in the past month. Only 14% of allocators are overweight, compared with 31% previously. However, the percentage who are underweight on European equities has declined, from 36% to 26%. Emerging market equities have become, as the study says, “by default,” the strongest overweight position for respondents, with 19% overweight. 23% remain underweight on bonds, which remains unchanged since the last survey. Allocation to commodities in July were at their lowest since February 2009. 13% of allocators overweight this asset class.
To strengthen relations with investors from emerging markets, Pioneer Investments has appointed Neil Jenkins as head of development for the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Jenkins had previously been head of sales for the Middle East and Africa at Janus Capital Group Inc. “His experience and solid knowledge of institutional investors in these regions will be undeniable assets in the development of Pioneer Investments in these fast-growing areas,” a statement from the asset management firm says.
According to Reuters, State Street Corp on Tuesday announced that it will pay USD550m to acquire the hedge fund administration activity of Goldman Sachs Group. The acquisition would make State Street the top player worldwide in hedge fund administration. The group will have a total of USD877bn in assets under administration once the agreement is signed, Reuters reports.
The Investment Management unit of Goldman Sachs in second quarter 2012 had assets under management of USD836bn, up USD12bn compared with the previous quarter. This increase in assets under management is the result of net subscriptions of USD16bn, largely to bonds and money markets. Subscriptions were offset by a negative market effect of USD4bn, largely to equities. Net profits for the unit totalled USD1.33bn, up 5% year on year and 13% quarter on quarter.
Henderson Property has acquired the Horizon Investment Management France SAS company, specialised in the office real estate segment. Following the acquisition, all employees of Horizon France will join the team at Henderson Property. Peter Winstanley, head of Horizon Investment Management France, will be appointed as chairman of Henderson Property France. For his part, Thibault Ancely, country head – director of Horizon, will be appointed as head of Henderson Property France. The new structure resulting from the merger of the two firms will continue to manage existing assets, and will have strengthened competence and expertise to meet the needs of growth, a statement says.
Slightly over a year ago, Ossiam entered the ETF market. The asset management firm, an arm of Natixis GAM, initially listed six ETFs based on strategy indices (see Newsmanagers of 5 July, 2011) on Euronext Paris. A seventh product, Ossiam EM Minivar E, was added to the range in March 12. As of 29 June 2012, ETFs of the Ossiam strategy represented nearly EUR346m in assets under management.
Neuberger Berman has announced the launch of a global bond fund in its UCITS structure. The fund, which the US asset management firm is presenting as a core product, is starting up with USD68m in seed funding from an institutional investor. The senior managers of the fund are Andrew Johnson, Ugo Lancioni, Dave Brown and Thanos Bardas.
Selon Les Echos, la baisse du taux de dépôt de la Banque centrale européenne à 0 % ne modifiera pas la politique d’investissement de Swiss Life. « Elle n’a pas changé l’environnement économico-financier. Et notre trésorerie dont la rémunération dépend des taux courts ne représente qu’une fraction limitée de nos actifs, soit entre 0 et 3 % selon les moments », explique ainsi Philippe Richer, directeur de la gestion des mandats de Swiss Life France. Majoritairement investis en obligations, les assureurs ne conservent qu’une poche monétaire « résiduelle ». Ils restent un peu liquides pour être en mesure de régler facilement des sinistres.
The London office real estate market is attracting buyers. And mostly, they are foreign investors, according to the findings of a study undertaken by BNP Paribas Real Estate in first half 2012. Since the beginning of the year, more than EUR7.5bn hve been invested in office real estate in central London. BNP Paribas Real Estate finds that there has been a 41% increase in transactions in second quarter 2012, compared with the same period last year, while in first half 2012, 71% have been foreign investments (primarily from North America, the Middle East and Germany). Overall, in central London, nearly 625,000 square metres were leased in second quarter, compared with 700,000 square metres in first quarter. In terms of rental value, the markets of the West End, the City and Midtown are holding up, the study adds.
In the Libor scandal, all eyes were on the Bank of England yesterday, Les Echos reports. Documents provided to one of the members of the Treasury Commission in Westminster has shown that Bob Diamond, former head of Barclays, and Paul Tucker, second in command at the Bank of England, were close. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has announced that the New York Fed in 2008 realised that Libor was “structurally problematic” and shared its thoughts with the British Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England. But in London, Mervyn King announced that he did not act sooner because the Fed did not send him any documents proving that there had been manipulation.