Suite au départ de Paul Hoff, qui dirigeait depuis une dizaine d’années l’antenne japonaise, le fournisseur d’indices FTSE vient de recruter son successeur en la personne de Yuji Ogino, précédemment general manager chez Tokio Marine asset Management, rapporte Asian Investor.

Les 25 principales banques européennes devront trouver au moins 40 milliards d’euros d'économies pour retrouver d’ici à trois ans une rentabilité proche de 10 %, permettant au moins de compenser le coût moyen de leur capital, selon Roland Berger, rapporte Les Echos. En cas de dégradation des conditions économiques et fiscales, Roland Berger estime qu’elles devraient réduire de 68 milliards d’euros leurs coûts pour compenser une pression plus forte sur leurs revenus. C’est la traduction concrète de l’objectif qu’elles affichent de faire reculer de 61 % à 55 % en moyenne leur coefficient d’exploitation d’ici à 2016. Une telle baisse représente un triplement des gains de productivité annuels par rapport aux quinze dernières années. Aucun métier ne devrait être épargné, les efforts de réduction de coûts étant estimés entre 10% et 15% pour la gestion d’actifs.

Vontobel est capable de dégager 600 millions de francs de ses fonds propres pour une acquisition, a indiqué son CEO Zeno Staub dans un entretien accordé au magazine Handelszeitung. Zeno Staub indique par ailleurs que la banque progresse dans la gestion d’actifs.

La banque privée genevoise Reyl poursuit son développement à Zurich, où elle a pris possession de nouveaux locaux. Cette démarche traduit la volonté du groupe bancaire de s’établir à long terme sur le marché alémanique, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. L’objectif est de dépasser le milliard de francs d’actifs gérés d’ici fin 2013. La banque Reyl à Zurich regroupe les activités de Reyl & Cie AG, créée en 1973, et du gérant de fortune Solitaire Wealth Management AG. C’est dans ce contexte qu’a été lancée à Zurich Reyl Overseas Ltd, qui dispose d’un agrément de la Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). L’antenne zurichoise de la banque Reyl est dirigée par Thomas H. Dürmüller, président de la direction, et Sales Bischofberger, membre de la direction générale.

LGT Group a annoncé le 4 juillet l’ouverture d’une filiale à Dubaï. Positionnée dans le private banking, LGT (Middle East) Ltd gérera les clients de la région du Golfe, de la partie Est de la Méditerranée, de la Turquie, de l’Afrique et de l’Asie du Sud. C’est un ancien de Bank of America Merill Lynch, Tamer Rashed, qui a été nommé CEO de l’entité, a indiqué la banque du Liechtenstein dans un communiqué. Tamer Rashad est rattaché au CEO de LGT Private Banking, Thomas Piske, et sera basé à Dubaï. Sous réserve du feu vert des autorités de surveillance de Dubaï, LGT Middle East devrait être opérationnelle à partir du quatrième trimestre 2012. LGT Middle East gèrera également des clients de Bahreïn, de Genève et de Zurich, précise la banque.

Emergence, la sicav contractuelle à compartiments mise sur pied parla place de Paris et dédiée à l’incubation de jeunes pousses de la gestion d’actifs, comptera avant la fin du mois un troisième fonds dans son compartiment performance absolue dont la gestion est déléguée à NewAlpha Asset Management (lire Newsmanagers du 26 janvier), a indiqué mercredi Philippe Paquet dans le cadre des rencontres Paris Europlace.Le directeur général délégué de NewAlpha, «le seul pure player de l’incubation pour le compte de tiers», a précisé qu’avec les 120 millions d’euros mis à disposition par sept investisseurs institutionnels, il est possible d’amorcer quatre fonds. Le troisième, après un produit crédit d’Eiffel Investment Group et un fonds événementiel (arbitrage de fusions-acquisitions) de Bernheim-Dreyfus, sera un fonds de CTA. Il s’agit d’un produit géré en France, mais de droit luxembourgeois.Alain Leclair, président d’Emergence et ancien président de l’Association française de la gestion financière (AFG), a souligné qu’Emergence assure un parfait alignement d’intérêts entre d’une part les investisseurs institutionnels, qui ont leur mot à dire sur la sélection des gérants et qui peuvent escompter un surcroît de recettes grâce au partage des revenus avec les gérants incubés, et d’autre part ces gérants eux-mêmes, dans la mesure où Emergence leur apporte à la fois des encours et les moyens de s'éloigner «dans la bonne direction» de leur point mort.

BlackRock a trouvé un accord définitif pour reprendre Swiss Re Private Equity Partners (SRPEP), le fonds de fonds d’investissement dans le domaine private equity et infrastructure de Swiss Re qui gère des investissements d’une valeur de 7,5 mrd USD à la fin mai 2012. Le prix n’est pas dévoilé. BlackRock et Swiss Re ont aussi signé un accord stratégique d’investissement alternatif, centré sur BlackRock Alternative Investors (BAI), qui renforce les investissements en cours de Swiss Re dans les produits SRPEP et permet de fixer le cadre d’autres investissements futurs de Swiss Re sur cette plateforme BAI, selon un communiqué diffusé mardi. La plateforme BAI représente un engagement de la clientèle de 15 mrd USD. L'équipe en place s’occupe avant tout de fonds, de fonds de fonds et de programmes de co-investissements directs. SRPEP, qui est présent à Zurich et à Genève, sera intégré dans le fonds de Blackrock Private Equity Partners (BRPEP). Il lui permettra de renforcer sa présence en Europe et en Asie. David Blumer, Chief Investment Officer de Swiss Re, a indiqué dans le communiqué que l’expérience de BlackRock dans la gestion de fonds de private equity est très complémentaire à SRPEP. Le renforcement de la relation avec BlackRock offrira des bénéfices stratégiques significatifs et de grandes opportunités pour nos clients et nos employés. Russell Steenberg, Managing Director et Head de BRPEP continuera à diriger l’unité combinée. Christian Hinze, Chief Executive Officer de SRPEP, rejoindra BlackRock comme Deputy Head du business combiné. La stratégie d’investissement ne sera pas modifiée. Pour rappel, Philippe Hildebrand, ancien président démissionnaire du directoire de la Banque nationale suisse, deviendra dès octobre sera le numéro deux opérationnel de Blackrock, qui gère 3684 mrd USD.

In second quarter, assets under management by Chinese funds increased 11.6% compared with January-March, to a total of CNY2.4trn as of the end of June. According to Z-Ben Advisors, this all-time large increase may be partly attributed to the success of several funds launched in April-June, and partly to “organized” inflows to bond funds.

LGT Group on 4 July announced the opening of an affilaite in Dubai. LGT (Middle East) Ltd, positioned in private banking, will manage clients in the Gulf region, the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey, Africa and South Asia. Tamer Rashed, formerly of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has been appointed CEO of the entity, the Liechtenstein bank has announced in a statement. Rashad reports to the CEO of LGT Private Banking, Thomas Piske, and will be based in Dubai. Pending approval from the Dubai supervisory authorities, LGT Middle East will be operational from fourth quarter 2012. LGT Middle East will also manage clients in Bahrain, Geneva and Zurich, the bank states.

As part of Paris Europlace, NYSE Euronext and the US firm TradingScreen on Wednesday announced that they have signed a partnership to facilitate access for institutional investors to corporate bond trading platforms which meet criteria defined by the Cassiopée committee, which NYSE BondMatch belongs to.By the terms of the agreement, NYSE Euronext will bear the costs for three months of software to allow institutional investors to view the European Central Order Book (ECOB), which displays the liquidity of NYSE BondMatch, and in a few weeks will also display the liquidity of Galaxy, when it is launched. When institutional investors concerned are prepared to trade on ECOB the screens will be reconfigured by TradingScreen from “display” to “trading” mode, and the cost of the license will then be borne by the intermediaries/market participants who have decided to execute orders.The ECOB will consolidate virtually all orders from bond platforms compliant with the Cassiopée project. It was developed under the leadership of the NYSE BondMatch strategic committee.

The specialist in real estate services to the health sector, Primary Health Properties (PHP), has become the first REIT in the United Kingdom to offer retail bonds. The bonds on offer to retail investors will provide fixed returns of 5.375% twice per year, in January and July, with the last payment scheduled for 23 July 2019, and the first for 31 January 2013. The shares, which will then be listed on the London Stock Exchange, will be made available to wealth managers and brokers for a minimal subscription of GBP2,000, until 16 July.

As of the end of June, the European markets of NYSE Euronext listed 591 ETFs 686 times, compared with 590 and 686 listings one month earlier. In June, two ETFs from Lyxor (ERC and WLDR) were added to listing on Euronext Paris. The average daily trading volume (on-book) in June totalled EUR257.7m, compared with EUR267.3m in May, and EUR297.1m in April. The June total is down 39.9% compared with June 2011. Total on-book trading volumes were down to EUR5.4bn in June, compared with EUR5.8bn in May. Meanwhile, bloc trades in June totalled EUR733.4m, compared with EUR842.1m the previous month, representing 13.5% ot total trading volumes on regulated ETF markets, compared with 14.3% in May. The median spread has remained unchanged compared with the previous month, at 31.15 basis points.

While welcoming the advances which the most recent proposals by the European Commission for UCITS fund regulations, the Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI) on 4 July claimed in a statement that the level of liability of the depository needed to be clarified.Do depositories need to cover all categories of risk, including bankruptcy and fraud, for example? ALFI claims that although depositories are responsible for investment losses under all circumstances, they are becoming insurers for risks that they do not control. Such virtually total protection of the investor will have a cost, which will probably be borne by the final investor, according to the association, which cites moral hazard about conviction on the part of investors that their investment will be risk-free.Although responsibilities and duties are no longer shared by all participants in the mutual fund value chain, there may be a concentration of risk on a small number of depositories, and consequently a system with increased risk may develop.“Detailed talks are still necessary to ensure that the UCITS V directive strengthens the development of the UCITS brand, particularly in relation to terms governing the remuneration of managers and the sanctions regime,” says Camille Thommes, CEO of ALFI, in a statement.

The European investment fund Marguerite, focused on energy, climate change and infrastructure, on 4 July announced the acquisition of a 45% stake in Autovia del Arlanzón, the contractor responsible for constructing the A-1 motorway in Spain, for a total of EUR24.5m.The vendor, Sacyr Vallehermoso, retains a 50% stake in the project, while its Valoriza Conservación de Infraestructuras retains the remaining 5%. The transaction represents the first investment of the Marguerite fund in the transport sector. The fund has so far made over EUR100m in investments in four projects. The Marguerite fund was created in 2010 by the major European national financial institutions, along with the European Investment Bank (BEI) and the European Commission, to invest in new infrastructure and infrastructure extension projects in the transport, energy and renewable energy sectors in the 27 EU countries.

The 25 major European bakns need to find at least EUR40bn in savings in order to return to profitability of near 10% in the next three years, which would at least allow them to compensate the average cost of their capital, says Roland Berger, Les Echos reports. In case economic and fiscal conditions deteriorate, Berger estimates that the banks would need to reduce their costs by EUR68bn to compensate for increased pressure on their revenues. This is the concrete realisation of their declared objective of reducing their average operating ratio from 61% to 55% by 2016. Such a reduction would represent a tripling of annual productivity gains compared with the past 15 years. No profession will be spared, as cost reduction efforts are estimated at 10% to 15% in asset management.

Initial public offerings with a total value considerably higher than EUR8bn were postponed or cancelled on stock markets worldwide in first quarter, according to the “IPO Watch Europe” study from PwC. During this period, many businesses seeking a stock market debut ultimately abstained due to increasingly serious concerns about global economic growth, particularly in China, but also due to the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone. Volatility indices have reached their highest levels since November 2011. After an encouraging first quarter, activities slowed considerably in second quarter. The 80 operations completed raised only EUR0.7bn, while the number of launched and funds raised fell by 40% and 95%, respectively, year on year. In second quarter 2011, 134 operations generated EUR13.4bn (of which EUR6.9bn were due to the Glencore IPO). This slowdown is the result not only of difficult conjuncture, but also of the fact that many businesses have postponed their stock market debys for 6 to 12 months due to deteriorating market conditions in the second half of 2011. The European market was the most severely affected of the major markets, and risks remaining at a flatline for a good part of second half, until investor confidence in the markets returns. Only three IPOS were completed in Paris in the quarter, raising EUR42.8m, a 31% increase in value compared with second quarter 2011 with an equivalent volume, when 3 IPOS raised EUR29.7m.

A joint survey by KPMG and the international AIMA association of alternative managers (“The Evolution of an Industry») has found that 150 respondents feel that the most remarkable phenomenon since the beginning of the financial crisis is the increasing importance of institutional investors.The time when hedge funds were aimed exclusively at high net worth private investors or family offices has long changed. These two categories now represent only 24% and 19% of total assets, respectively, while pension funds and funds of hedge funds account for 17% each, and other institutionals represent another 23% of the total. Thus, overall, these three categories account for 57% of hedge fund assets.With toughening regulations, this institutionalisation phenomenon has certainly contributed both to an increasing focus on due diligence, and has also led fund managers to make increased efforts at transparency.

The Geneva-based private bank Reyl is continuing its development in Zurich, where it has moved into new facilities. The move is a sign of the bank group’s desire to set up on the German market for the long term, Agefi Switzerland reports. The objective is to reach over CHF1bn in assets under management by the end of 2013. The Reyl bank in Zurich includes the activities of Reyl 7 Cie AG, founded in 1973, and the wealth management firm Solitaire Wealth Management AG. In this environment, Zurich Reyl Overseas Ltd, which has a license from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been created. The Zurich office of Reyl bank is led by Thomas H. Dürmüller, chairman of the board, and Sales Bischofberger, a board member.

The day following the signature of a term sheet to acquire the British firm BCM, which has EUR800m in assets (see Newsmanagers of 3 July), the Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat has filed an ad-hoc statement that it has also signed an agreement in principle to acquire 100% of the Viennese firm Absolute Portfolio Management GmbH (APM), whose assets total EUR430m.At the current stage of negotiations, the sale price would be about EUR1.6m, and the transaction would be completed in equity; it would be signed by the end of July, so long as the Austrian securities commission, the FMA, does not bar the deal.APM is focused on absolute return funds, micro-finance and commodity funds.

The countries of the European Union on 4 July passed a bill to regulate derivative products, the Council of the European Union has announced in a statement. The text will increase the transparency of derivative products, while reducing risk on over-the-counter derivative markets.EU countries, the Commission and the European Parliament in February reached agreement on the question. It was passed on Tuesday in a plenary session of Parliament in Strasbourg, and its passage by member states will mean the law will be applied by the end of 2012, the Council states.From this date, all information about transactions involving derivative products traded in Europe will be collected by central data registries, under the oversight of the European securities markets authority (ESMA).All derivative products, including over-the-counter products (which represent 80% of trades), are required to pass through clearing houses, which ensure that operations proceed correctly and act as a guarantee fund.The new European legislation reflects the gradual application of decisions taken in September 2009k one year afte the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, US.

Following the departure of Paul Hoff, who for a decade had led the Japanese office, the index provider FTSE has recruited his successor, in the person of Yuji Ogino, previously general manager at Tokio Marine Asset Management, Asian Investor reports.

After a three-month mission at Aviva Investors as a bond management consultant, Tim Jagger is joining the British group in Singapore as senior vice president, portfolio manager for Asian bonds, with a specialty in high yield credit. Jagger previously worked at Royal Bank of Scotland as a credit specialist.

From 1 January 2013, Philipp Waldstein Wartenberg will become MD and a member of the managing board at the asset management firm Munich Ergo Asset Management (MEAG, an affiliate of Munich Re and Ergo), in charge of management of securities portfolios, liquidity and currencies. He replaces Dieter Wolf, who will be retiring next year. For the past 17 years, Waldstein Wartenberg has served in several management roles at the UniCredit group. Since 2006, he had been head of group strategic funding & portfolio in Milan.MEAG has assets of EUR222bn, mostly for the Munich Re group, which Ergo belongs to.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Fletcher International Ltd last week asked a Manhattan court for Chapter 11 protection under US bankruptcy law for one of its hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands. The fund’s administrators are seeking to retain control of assets and manage the liquidation, rather than allowing liquidators at Ernst & Young appointed by a Cayman Islands court, which found that the fund was insolvent on the basis of its cash flow, to complete it. The situation has emerged since the fund was not able to satisfy redemption demands from three Louisiana public pension funds.

After raising EUR130m in owners’ equity for its first two closed residential real estate funds, DWS Access Wohnen 1 and 2, the asset management firm for the Deutsche Bank group is launching a third product in the range, the DWS Access Wohnen 3, whose objective has been set at a minimum of EUR60m. 16 properties in nine German cities have been reserved for the new portfolio, for which subscriptions will close on 30 September. The management of the properties concerned will be outsourced to alt+kelber.Minimal subscription is set at EUR10,000, and front-end fee is set at 5%. DWS is planning to pay a coupon of 3% before taxes from 2013, and distributions are then intended to gradually increase to 6.25% per year by 2021.

The German private equity firm Deutsche Beteilungs AG (DBAG), on 29 June, after barely two months, managed to collect investment commitment of EUR451m for its private equity fund DBAG Fund VI, focused on “Mittelstand” or German small and mid-sized enterprises. 80% of these commitments are from primarily international institutional investors. The remaining 20% will be contributed by DBAG, which is planning to invest in businesses in the portfolio in parallel.The objective is to reach EUR650m for a second closing in a few weeks, and DBAG expects strong subscriptions.The DBAG Fund VI will specialise in production and industrial services businesses in the engineering, mechanical and automotive subcontracting sectors in particular.DBAG also states that at this time, the DBAG Fund V, specialised in MBO operations, is in its investment phase. With the allocation of owners’ equity from DBAG, it has EUR539m, of which 80% have been called in.

The hedge fund manager David Einhorn has announced that his flagship fund, Greenlight Capital, finished the month of June with returns of 0.3%, the news agency Reuters reports. It has earned 3.7% in the first six months of the year. Daniel Loeb, for his part, has announced that his largest fund, Third Point Offshore Fund, with assets under management totalling about USD4.5bn, has posted returns of 3.9% since the beginning of the year. Hedge funds have earned an average of 1.22% in first half.

Ampere Equity Fund, Antin, Cube, Eiser, Hg Capital, Infrared, KGAL, KKR, MEAG, RREEF and Riverstone Holdings, eleven infrastructure fund management firms which have announced investments of EUR9bn in Spain, on 3 July sent a letter to the president of the Spanish government, warning that if energy reforms now under preparation by the Spanish ministry of energy and industry are passed in their present form, they will reduce their investments in the country, and will take legal action, Expansión reports. It is the second letter they have sent to the prime minister to seek legal protection for their assets in Spain. This time, they have toughened the tone of their missive, as they are concerned that the reforms will compromise the profitability of their investments in renewable energies, with a “retroactive and discriminatory” reduction of earnings.

Le conseil des ministres a examiné un décret sur le relèvement du traitement des 1,1 million de fonctionnaires français, dans le sillage de la hausse du smic au 1er juillet. Dans la fonction publique, le relèvement du traitement conduit à une rémunération mensuelle brute de 1.426,13 euros. Cette hausse représente pour l’ensemble des employeurs publics un coût de 546,9 millions d’euros en année pleine et de 273 millions d’euros pour la seule année 2012.

Selon Reuters, l’Espagne met la dernière main à un plan qui devrait lui rapporter jusqu'à 30 milliards d’euros. Il impliquerait, au niveau de la hausse des recettes, une augmentation du principal taux de TVA, la création d’un prélèvement sur l'énergie et de nouveaux péages autoroutiers. La baisse des dépenses serait obtenue par une réforme du système de retraites, une baisse des traitements dans la fonction publique et une nouvelle réduction importante des budgets des ministères et des régions.