En fin d’année, LGT Bank (Österreich) va ouvrir une succursale à Salzbourg pour y offrir ses services de banque privée aux particuliers haut de gamme. La filiale du groupe liechtensteinois, qui dispose déjà d’une implantation à Vienne, bénéficiera dès la mi-juillet d’une équipe de conseillers clientèle à Salzbourg.Lorsque les locaux seront prêts, la nouvelle implantation comptera dix personnes, qui viendront s’ajouter aux 40 salariés de Vienne, a indiqué Meinhard Platze, CEO de LGT Bank (Österreich), précisant que la nouvelle succursale sera placée sous les ordres de Gernot Muster, qui a été ces trois dernières années managing director dans la division private wealth management Autriche de la Deutsche Bank.
Des travaux sont en cours au niveau de la Fédération française des sociétés d’assurance mutuelle (FFSAM), du Trésor et de l’Autorité de contrôle prudentiel en vue d’aboutir à la création de « certificats mutualistes », rapporte Les Echos qui rappelle que les groupes mutualistes d’assurance aimeraient pouvoir renforcer leurs fonds propres en levant du capital. Et ce d’autant qu’il faut tenir compte des futures normes prudentielles de Solvabilité II. Ces certificats mutualistes pourraient être proposés aux sociétaires mais aussi à des investisseurs institutionnels. Leur rémunération sera fixée chaque année en assemblée générale en fonction du résultat.
Sur le réseau social professionnel LinkedIn, Matteo Novelli, associé-gérant de Republic Asset Management, a mis en vente sa société de gestion il y a une semaine. En précisant que son activité comprenait à la fois de la gestion collective et sous mandat, pour un montant sous gestion de 21 millions d’euros, Matteo Novelli invite les personnes intéressées à lui laisser leurs coordonnées téléphoniques «pour les contacter avant la fin de la semaine et leur fournir plus d’informations». Quatre professionnels ont d’ores et déjà fait part de leur intérêt sur le réseau, dont Bénédicte Coste à la tête de la Financière Lamartine, ancienne présidente de l’AFER entre 2004 et 2007. Matteo Novelli est responsable de la société aux côtés de Pierre Krief, également associé-gérant. Le premier a été pendant huit ans analyste financier chez Exane BNP Paribas sur les secteurs TMT puis en 2006, a lancé et co-geré le fonds CFD Star Innovation avant de rejoindre Sapientia AM qui est devenue Republic Asset Management en mars 2010, après le changement d’actionnariat. Pour sa part, Pierre Krief, a passé les sept dernières années à la Deutsche Bank au sein de la division Global Market avant de devenir actionnaire en 2010 de Republic Asset Management. Avec eux, Franck Becker, qui a exercé des responsabilités d’investissements au sein de sociétés de gestion (Banque Indosuez, Crédit Lyonnais, Natexis, Robeco, Allianz GI), est membre du comité stratégique de Republic Asset Management depuis deux ans.
Le fonds d’investissement Agregator Capital SCA a annoncé mercredi qu’il reporte son processus d’introduction sur NYSE Euronext Paris en raison des conditions de marché récentes qui ne permettent pas de réaliser des levées de fonds significatives. La clôture des souscriptions était fixée à 17h le 11 juillet 2012. En conséquence, les ordres passés dans le cadre de l’offre sont annulés de façon rétroactive. La société d’investissement qui est gérée par une équipe associant des professionnels du private equity et des entrepreneurs dans l’univers des PME va poursuivre sa stratégie d’investissement dans des sociétés de qualité et en croissance, annonce un communiqué.
Roger Hartmann, CEO de la troisième banque du Liechtenstein, la Verwaltungs- und Privatbank (VP Bank) a annoncé sa démission pour convenance personnelle, indique le Handelsblatt. L’intéressé quittera l’établissement la semaine prochaine.La nouvelle a pris tout le monde de court et aucun successeur n’a encore été nommé. L’intérim est assuré par le directeur financier Siegbert Näscher et par le COO Juerg Sturzenegger.
Selon nos informations, la CRPCEN a procédé à un appel d’offres de 45 millions d’euros sur la multigestion actions internationales, avec l’aide du consultant Insti 7. La CRPCEN a confirmé qu’ODDO AM avait été retenu à l’issue du processus de sélection.
Handelsblatt reports that a leak at Credit Suisse which compromised 7,000 clients in Germany (see Newsmanagers of 11 July) didn’t cost the German tax authorities a cent. The Swiss bank, which in September agreed to pay EUR150m to settle proceedings in Germany, had agreed to cooperate with the authorities. And when a German tax inspector asked a Credit Suisse employee how many clients were using “Bermuda” accounts (savings disguised as insurance policies), the employee misunderstood the question and sent the complete file.
FundWeb reports that Ignis Asset Mangement has recruited a new global head of product development, in the person of Jeremy Soutter, who until recently had been global head of products at Aviva Investors (see Newsmanagers of 3 April). Soutter will join the firm in August; he will report to Claude Chene, global distribution head at Ignis.
Following two internal transfers, Axa Investment Managers has redistributed the expertise at its bond desk, Fundweb reports.Julie Lamirel, a specialist in telecommunication and the financial sector, has been appointed as a senior portfolio manager in the European high yield team, led by Andrew Wilmont. She will become second manager of the Axa Pan European High Yield Bond Fund and the Axa IM FIIS Europe Short Duration High Yield fund.The transfer of Lamirel will result in the appointment of Nicolas Trindade as manager of the Axa Sterling Credit Short Duration Bonds fund; he had previously been assistant to Lamirel on the fund. He also becomes assistant manager of the Axa Sterling Corporate Bond fund.Sharmin Ahmad, who had for for years been an assistant portfolio manager in the investment quality team, joins the European high yield team as a junior portfolio manager.James Gledhill, global head of high yield and deputy head of global credit, becomes co-manager with Andrew Wilmont of the Axa Global High Income and Axa Global High Yield funds.
The London-based asset management firm Newton (GBP45.9bn in assets under management), which is part of BNY Mellon Investment Management, has announced that it has recruited the former director of the charity investment team at JPMorgan Asset Management, Jeremy Wells, as an addition to its charities unit, as senior client director.Wells will join the firm in September, and will report to Andrew Pitt, head of charities. He will be more particularly responsible for managing relationships with the largest clients of Newton in this sector.Assets under management by Newton on behalf of about 300 UK charities totals about GBP4.3bn.
As of the end of March, assets in foreign-registered funds on sale in Spain totalled EUR31.3851bn, EUR1.8656m, or 6.22% more than at the end of December, according to the quarterly report from the CNMV. But this total corresponds to a 15.4% decline compared with the level as of the end of March 2011 (EUR37.6391bn).By comparison, total assets in funds (excluding hedge funds) as of the end of March totalled EUR156.4603bn, compared with EUR155.9826bn as of the end of December.The securities commission as of the end of first half counted 765 foreign asset management firms, including 303 Luxembourg firms, 300 French firms, and 90 Irish firms.
The Asociación de Futbolistas Españoles (AFE) and the private banking unit of Banco Popular on 11 July signed an exclusive partnership which makes the financial institution the bank for footballers’ in Spain’s first, second and third divisions, as well as for retired players, from Spain and abroad.These individuals will have access to products and services from Popular Banca Privada, at the most advantageous conditions.
Insight Investment has closed its money market fund (EUR1.1bn in assets under management) to new subscribers. The decision was taken following a cut to the European Central Bank’s refinancing rate, from 1%. to 0.75%, Investment Europe reports. The site points out that JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs took similar decisions last week.
The Danish firm BankInvest will be discontinuing its commercial activities from Luxembourg, in order to focus more on Scandinavian markets, Citywire reports. The office in Luxembourg will be closed, and the local affiliate, BISA SA, responsible for sales of investment funds, will be transferred to Denmark as soon as possible. This will have no influence on the management of sub-funds of the Sicav.
The strong recovery of the equity markets in June led to losses for all funds from the Paulson group, the Financial Times reports. The Advantage Plus fund lost 7.9% last month, bringing total losses in first half to 16%, while the Gold Fund lost 0.7% for the month, and 23% in January-June.The Credit Opportunties and Recovery funds lost 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively, in June, but remain in positive territory for first half, with gains of 2.2% and 4.4%.
According to estimates from BarclayHedge and TrimTabs, hedge funds in May posted net subscriptions of USD82m, following net redemptions of USD3.2bn in April.On the basis of data provided by 3,001 funds, total assets in the hedge fund sector as of the end of May came to USD1.72trn, down 2% compared with USD1.76trn as of the end of April. This total is also a 29% decline compared with an all-time record of USD2.4trn as of the end of June 2008.In the twelve months to the end of May, hedge funds have posted net outflows of USD18.8bn.In terms of results, BarclayHedge has observed that the hedge fund sector has outperformed the S&P 500 index for the second consecutive month, with losses in May of only 3.05%, compared with 6.27% for the index. In the first five months of 2012, however, the performance of hedge funds was limited to 1.8%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.2%.
According to the different index providers, and the various information sources which their calculations are based on, hedge funds posted positive returns in June, but at different orders of magnitude. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index from Hedge Fund Research shows growth in June of 0.05% and gains since the beginning of the year of 1.70%.The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index, for its part, has gained 0.06% in June and 2.10% in first half overall.Lastly, the Barclay Hedge Fund Index from BarclayHedge, with 1,074 funds, shows gains of 0.65%, bringing total gains since the beginning of the year to 2.39%.
At the end of this year, LGT Bank (Österreich) will be opening a branch office in Salzburg to offer private banking services to high net worth private clients. The affiliate of the Liechtenstein group, which already has a location in Vienna, will from mid-July have a team of client advisors in Salzburg.When the location is ready, the new office will include 10 staff, who will come in addition to the 40 employees in Vienna, says Meinhard Platze, CEO of LGT Bank (Österreich), stating that the new office will be led by Gernot Muster, who for the past thee years has been managing director of the private wealth management Austria division of Deutsche Bank.
Agefi reports that the broker-dealer Louis Capital Markets, which is developing its activities in London, New York, Paris and Hong Kong, has closed its Geneva office and transferred the operations which were based there to the United Kingdom and France, according to CEO Michael Benhamou. “The Geneva office was just a sales office,” he says.
20 asset management firms, among them Allianz, Axa, BlackRock and Fidelity, have sent a letter to Michel Barnier. In the letter, of which a copy was obtained by the Financial Times, the asset management firms, which represent over USD3trn in assets under management, warn the European Commissioner for the internal market and financial services that the rules proposed as part of the Commission’s hedge fund directive could drive up costs for investors and damage the single European market.
On 2 July, AmpegaGerling Investment launched a German-registered diversified fund, the D3RS Welt AMI fund, which may invest in cash, bonds, equity ETFs, and commodities denominated in local currencies, with a limit of 59% for the equities asset class, and up to 100% for cash and bonds. It is the fourth fund from AmpegaGerling, whose adviser is the wealth management firm Neue Vermögen AG. The portfolio will invest in markets of the G20, i.e. the most liquid currencies from the major developed and emerging markets, which account for 93% of global market capitalisation.CharacteristicsName: D3RS Welt AMIISIN code: DE000A1C4DR1Front-end fee: 3%Management commission: 1.35%
The Munich-based wealth management firm Novethos has assigned the Frankfurt-based firm Universal-Investment the task of launching a multi-asset class fund, SRM Systematic Growth UI, a German-registered product which invests primarily in other investment funds, ETFs and certificates worldwide. Novethos advisers use a quantitative and “dispassionate” system for selection of instruments and allocation of assets, and management of investments and risk, developed by Ulrich Kniehase, a partner at Novethos. Since November 2008, this strategy has earned average annual returns of 9.17%. the portfolio includes 36 positions.CharacteristicsName: SRM Systematic Growth UIISIN code: DE000A1JBY78Front-end fee: maximum 5%Management commission: Currently 1.725%Performance commission: maximum 15% of performance exceeding a hurdle rate of 4%, with high watermark
On Wednesday, Philip Falcone, who is facing a civil suit filed by the SEC for fraud, and who is owner of the hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, announced plans to trade Harbinger Capital’s stakes in the Vietnamese casino developer Asian Coast Development Ltd and the Brazilian iron mining firm Ferrous Resources Ltd for a majority stake in the Australian special-purpose acquisition company Australia Acquisition Corp (AAC), a publicly-traded firm at which Falcone will become the executive chairman, the Wall Street Journal reports. The two stakes are valued at USD350m in total, and Falcone plans to use AAC, now known as Harbinger Global Corp, to channel his investments in emerging markets.Peter Ziegler, the founder of AAC, will be the CEO of Harbinger Global.
The Chinese firm ICBC Credit Suisse has selected Wellington Management as sub-advisor to its QDII China Opportunity Global Equity Fund, launched in February 2008. The role was initially entrusted to Credit Suisse, but the contract was cancelled in 2009, Z-Ben Advisors reports.
Vittorio Grilli a été nommé mercredi ministre de l’Economie et des Finances en Italie, un poste que Mario Monti cumulait jusqu’ici avec ses fonctions de président du Conseil. Ancien directeur général du Trésor, Vittorio Grilli occupait le poste de vice-ministre de l’Economie au sein du cabinet Monti, formé en novembre 2011.
Les gouvernements de l’Union européenne se sont entendus mercredi pour s’opposer aux projets de forte augmentation du budget de l’UE l’an prochain, en limitant la hausse à 2,8% pour éviter d’alourdir le fardeau des pays les plus affectés par la crise de la dette. La Commission a défendu sa proposition présentée en avril en expliquant que l’augmentation de 6,8% est nécessaire pour financer les grands projets d’infrastructures et d’autres engagements de financement déjà pris.
A en croire iShares, le leader mondial des fournisseurs d’ETF, l’encours des fonds indiciels obligataires cotés, qui connaissent une progression spectaculaire depuis le début de la crise en 2008, devrait atteindre 2.000 milliards de dollars dans les dix prochaines années, contre 302 milliards de dollars aujourd’hui. IShares prévoit que l’encours de 2.000 milliards de dollars d’ETF obligataires serait réparti aux Etats-Unis pour 1.400 milliards et dans le reste du monde pour 600 milliards.
Conformément aux prévisions, le déficit commercial américain a poursuivi son recul en mai. Il a baissé de 3,8% à 48,68 milliards de dollars, contre 50,60 milliards en avril (révisé de 50,10 milliards). Le consensus Reuters anticipait une baisse à 48,5 milliards de dollars. Les exportations américaines ont augmenté de 0,2% en mai, une hausse qui a touché pratiquement toutes les catégories, tandis que les importations ont reculé de 0,7%.
Les stocks des grossistes américains ont progressé au mois de mai, malgré le fort repli des stocks de pétrole, montrent les statistiques publiées par le département du Commerce. Les stocks dans leur ensemble ont augmenté de 0,3%, conformément aux attentes des analystes, à 484,1 milliards de dollars. En avril, les stocks des grossistes ont progressé de 0,5%.
Le gouvernement français pourrait renoncer à des projets de construction ou de prolongation de lignes ferroviaires à grande vitesse afin de tenir ses engagements de réduction du déficit public, comme l’a préconisé la Cour des comptes. Le volet transports du Grenelle de l’environnement, qui prévoit la construction de 14 lignes de trains à grande vitesse sur 2.000 km d’ici 2020, aurait un coût total de 260 milliards d’euros, dont 166 milliards de développement, d’après la Cour des comptes.