Increasing competition in the institutional asset management industry has reached such a level that clients have begun to react to under-performing periods, asking for fee reductions, an article in Financial News reports. In many cases, they get them.

Le secteur de la gestion d’actifs peine à renouer avec son niveau de rentabilité d’avant crise. Si les actifs sont revenus à leur plus haut niveau (38.200 milliards d’euros en 2011, contre 38.100 milliards d’euros en 2007 au niveau mondial), les bénéfices enregistrés sont ainsi restés de 20 à 30% inférieurs au niveau de 2007 dans des zones telles que l’Amérique du Nord et l’Europe occidentale, selon une étude mondiale sur le secteur réalisée par McKinsey.

La Banque Postale Asset Management is opening up to the new asset class of debt funds, and on Monday announced that it has recruited three specialist managers. The team is composed of René Kassis, who will serve as director of management for debt funds, and in this role, head of current infrastructure and real estate fund projects. He also becomes a member of the board of directors at LBPAM. In the unit, Kassis works with Pierre Saeli, a specialist manager of real estate debt, and Pierre Bonnet, a manager specialised in infrastructure debt. The members of the team, who will report to Vincent Cornet, chief investment officer and a board member at LBPAM, all hail from the banking industry. Kasss, 44, had been head of infrastructure financing at Dexia, and since 2009, had served as deputy director of project financing at Dexia Crédit Local, while Saeli, 38, was in 2005 director of real estate financing at Royal Bank of Scotland, and then in 2012 joined Deutsche Pfandbriefbank. Lastly, Bonnet, aged 33, had served since 2008 as director of projects and co-head of public-private partnerships for France for direction of project financing, the infrastructure sector, and Dexia Crédit Local.

Stéphane Chossat has left Hixance Am to join Alexandre France. The asset management firm has confirmed reports on H24 Finance to Newsmanagers. He will manage the new “Patrimoine by Alexandre” fund, says Michel Peronne, chairman of Alexandre Finance. The new product “will invest 90% in euro zone bonds, and 10% in equities, but we will allow ourselves to increase the proportion of equities to 30% if the environment is right,” he adds. Alexandre Finance manages EUR150m, of which EUR65m are in private management. Jean-Noël Vieille will serve as fund manager at Hixance AM, for funds previously managed by Chossat.

BlackRock has announced that Susan L. Wagner, a founding partner of BlackRock, is retiring as a vice chairman of BlackRock and has been elected to BlackRock’s board of directors. She will retire at the end of this month and take her seat on the board at the October meeting. She also will continue to serve as a director of DSP BlackRock Investment Managers, the firm’s joint venture in India.In addition to serving as a vice chairman of BlackRock, Ms. Wagner serves as a member of BlackRock’s global executive committee and global operating committee.

JPMorgan Asset Management has announced that Chris Willcox will become global head of fixed income and currencies, Investment Week reports. He succeeds Seth Bernstein, who has been appointed by the asset management firm to direct its multi-asset class activities as part of a new group entitled asset management solutions.

Florent Combes, head of fixed income at Ecofi Investissements, has left the firm after nine years there, Citywire reports. He will be joining Crédit Mutuel as head of fixed income and currencies. Bernard Angéniol will be taking over his responsibilities at Ecofi. He is now chief investment officer at the asset management firm, Citywire reports. He had previously been chief risk officer.

The Ethos Foundation on 22 June announced the creation of a non-profit association to serve private shareholders. The aim of the Ethos Académie is to promote the principles of socially responnsible investment in civil society. With this initiatives, the Foundation, which represents institutional investors, “is seeking to provide private individuals with a way to contribute to the development of a healthy and sustainable economy,” the chairman of the Ethos foundation, Kaspar Müller, says, cited in a statement. The mission of the new entity is primarily to stabilise. Concretely, “its strong points will be holding public events, conferences and debates on current topics in corporate and investor social responsibility. Studies in the areas of expertise of Ethos will be undertaken,” says Ethos.

On Friday, the Swiss federal financial market authority (Finma) approved a proposed acqusition of a 46.07% stake in the capital, and a 68.63% stake in the voting rights of the Basel-based Banque Sarasin (see Newsmanagers of 28 November 2011) by the Safra group.Pending final approval by various international regulatory authorities, the transaction (CHF1.04bn) may be completed by July 2012.The board of directors at Banque Sarasin will be composed of Dagmar D. Wohrl, Pierre-Alain Bracher, Philippe Dupont, Hans-Rudolf Hufschmid, Sergio Penchas, Jacob J. Safra, Sipko N. Schat et Marcelo Szerman.

The Hamburg-based sustainable investment specialist Pure Blue GmbH is launching its first fund specialised in forestry, the closed fund Pure Forest I, to mature in 15 years, and to serve its first dividend of about 8% in four years, fondsprofessionell reports. This visibility is due to the fact that the portfolio will be invested in teak forests which have already been planted (for 4 to 17 years) in the Panamanian province of Ciriqui. The objective is to promote the plantation of bio-diverse forests after the valuable wood is harvested. Minimal subscription is set at EUR5,000, and front-end fee at 5%.

On Thursday, the Austrian firm conwert Immobilien Invest SE announced that it has been selected to manage a third closed residential real estate fund for DWS (Deutsche Bank group), the DWS Access Wohnen III, which will invest exclusively in existing housing units in Germany, with a volume expected to total EUR120m. Subscribers can expect a dividend of 6% per year from 2014.The concept of the DWS Wohnen III is to hold 70% of assets for a period of 10 years, while the remaining 30% will be in the trading portfolio. So far, the fund has invested EUR24m in nine properties, mainly in Berlin, Potsdam and Leipzig.As for the DWS Access Wohnen I and II funds, conwert will be responsible for all duties from acquisition of the properties to sale of each apartment, including administration and development. It also provides the entire asset management of the portfolio.

Swisscanto at the end of last week announced that it is launching four passively-managed equity funds aimed at private and institutional investors. The funds, which are closer to the reality of the financial market than traditional ETFs or tracker funds, have better risk/return properties. Instead of basing investment selections on market capitalisation, they take into account the current ecnomic performance of businesses and fluctuations in their value. Additional risks are avoided by steering clear of derivative instruments and securities lending. Name of fund, fees for B/J share classes (B capitalisation share class for private investors, J capitalisation share class for institutional investors) Swisscanto SmartCore® Global Equity (ex CH) 0.65%/0.45% Swisscanto SmartCore® European Equity (ex CH) 0.60%/0.45% Swisscanto SmartCore® North American Equity 0.65%/0.45% Swisscanto SmartCore® Asia Pacific Equity 0.70%/0.50%

Aberdeen Asset Management established the presence of Fujitsu Technology Solutions SA in the building River Plaza in Asnières ( 92 ), through a green lease of 6 years. This building, property of the DEGI Europa Fund, is currently 92 % let to 4 prime tenants.

In the equity universe, midcaps in general, and US midcaps in particular, are not taken adequately into account, claims Steven Pollack, manager of the Robeco Boston Partners Mid Cap Value Equity fund at Robeco for more than 10 years. “A US pension fund will look at large caps as a first priority, or at small caps with an eye to diversification, but in few cases will they look specifically at midcaps,” Pollack opined last week on a visit to Paris. The Los Angeles-based manager, whose midcaps fund has nearly USD2bn in assets, and whose strategy has been available since September 2011 as a Luxembourg Sicav, U.S. Select Opportunities (USD50m in assets as of the end of May), claims that the US midcaps universe, made up of over 2,000 companies, and exploited in the United States by mutual funds, is too neglected by institutional investors, even though it offers real opportunities, and historically better returns than small or large caps. The fund managed by Pollack, which is highly diversified, with about 120 holdings, is primarily interested in companies which meet three requirements: attractive valuation, solid fundamentals, and growth outlooks. “If one of these three selection criteria deteriorates, we sell,” says Pollack. Currently, the fund’s largest position is CBS, at 2%, followed by Moody’s (1.6%) and Wesco (1.6%). Overweight sectors include consumer services, health and technologies. However, the fund is underweight in utilities, energy and transport. Since the beginning of the year, the fund has earned net performance after commissions of 5.21% compared with 3.98% for the Russell Midcap Value Index. It has earned annual returns of 19% over three years, compared with 18.57% for the benchmark index, and nearly 12% since its launch in May 1995, compared with 10.38% for the benchmark.

Exposure of US money market funds to European banks continued to fall in May, to a total of about 12% of assets in funds, the financial ratings agency Fitch Ratings reports in its latest study of money market funds (“U.S. Money Fund Exposure and European Banks: Disengagement Continues.”) The slight increase in the exposure of US money market funds to European banks in the first two months of the year was ultimatel a sop, quickly wiped out when investor concerns about the situation in the euro zone returned to the foreground. Since late November 2011, the exposure of US money market funds to European banks have remained at about 12%, after a steep fall in this exposure level in the first part of second half 2011. For the first time, Fitch Ratings is offering a temporal data series for the proportion of pension assets collateralised with US Treasury debt.

The Euorpean hedge fund manager Brevan Howard Asset Management is currently seeking to get USD20m together for a debt fund, Bloomberg reports. The fund, Brevan Howard Credit Value Master Fund, will invest in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), CDOs backed by real estate, and illiquid shares which are trading below their intrinsic value, Brevan Howard says in sales documentation obtained by the news agency.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday charged that a former broker in Orlando defrauded investors in an astrology-based Ponzi scheme.The SEC alleges that Gurudeo “Buddy” Persaud lured family, friends, and others into investing in his firm, White Elephant Trading Company LLC, by falsely guaranteeing their money would be safe and yield lofty returns ranging from 6 to 18 percent. Persaud told investors he would invest in the debt, stock, futures, and real estate markets, but did not reveal that his trading strategy was based on his belief that markets are affected by gravitational forces.According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Persaud used investors’ money to make payments to other investors, the hallmark of a Ponzi scheme. Persaud also lost USD400,000 of investor funds through his trading and diverted at least USD415,000 to pay for his personal expenses, the SEC alleged. The same month Persaud began receiving investor money, he started using some of that money for his personal expenses. The SEC said that Persaud created phony account statements to hide his trading losses and give investors a false sense of security.The SEC alleges that in making trading decisions, Persaud chiefly relied on an Internet service that provided directional market forecasts based on lunar cycles and gravitational pull. Persaud’s strategy was premised on the idea that gravitational forces affect mass human behavior, and in turn, the stock market. For example, Persaud believed that when the moon exerts greater gravitational pull on the Earth, people feel dejected and are more inclined to sell securities.In all, Persaud raised more than USD1 million from at least 14 investors between July 2007 and January 2010.

BaFin has issued a sales license for Germany to the equity fund Axa WF Framlington LatAm, created on 14 May, and managed by Julian Thompson, global head of emerging markets at Axa Framlington (see Newsmanagers of 15 June).The Luxembourg-registered fund, distributed by Axa Investment Managers (LU0746602159), charges fees of 1.5% to retail investors (no minimal subscription), and 0.75% for institutional investors (from EUR0.5m).Axa IM states that it is planning to apply for a sales license in other European countries.

The first payment to shareholders in the German open-ended real estate fund CS Euroreal (EUR6bn in assets as of the end of April), which Credit Suisse has decided to liquidate (see Newsmanagers of 22 May) will be made on 3 July. It will be EUR4.50 for each share in euros (DE0009805002) and CHF6.70 for each share in Swiss francs (DE0009751404). Overall, Credit Suisse will distribute EUR446.9m, or 7.7% of total assets in the fund.The next payment will come with the fund’s annual distribution in December 2012. Its total amount will depend on the volume of properties sold off, on the one hand, and on the results of negotiations over potential early repayment of bank loans, on the other. As for all credit, lenders must be paid off before shareholders.

On Thursday, Deutsche Börse admitted the iShares DJ Emerging Markets Select Dividend ETF to trading on the Xetra electronic trading platform. On Friday, the German-registered product was followed by two Luxembourg-registered products from UBS Global Asset Management.The new additions bring the number of ETFs listed in Frankfurt to 984. This represents some recent stagnation, as the number of products was 983 on 18 June, and 986 on 10 June.CharacteristicsName: iShares Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select DividendISIN code: DE000A1JXDN6Benchmark index: Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select DividendTER: 0.65%Name: UBS-ETF MSCI Pacific (ex Japan) IISIN code: LU0446734799Benchmark index: MSCI Pacific ex JapanTER: 0.30%Name: UBS-ETF FTSE 100 IISIN code: LU0446735176Benchmark index: FTSE 100TER: 0.23%

According to a survey by RBC Dexia undertaken on 31 May, thus after the presidential election, of 55 French asset managers, 78% said they have little or no confidence in the present government to bring about an economic recovery (see sttachment).A majority of 62% do not feel that governments worldwide are able to resolve the crisis either, and the majority of participants (60%) estimate that it will take another four to five years for the crisis to end, although 55% are of the opinion that outlooks in the current crisis are too pessimistic. French asset managers also believe the government estimate that austerity alone will not be enough to resolve the crisis in the euro zone: 65% do not feel that this strategy will be effective.Lastly, about 42% of those surveyed feel that the French equity market will rise by the end of 2013, compared with only 29% who think that it will fall, and 27% who predict that it will remain at current levels.

In an effort to reinforce its sales teams, re-edit its domestic products, and eventually release them throughout Europe, the British asset management firm M&G Investment (EUR243m in assets) has now adapted most of its teams and product range to the changes in demand observed since the onset of the last crisis, as Johnathan Willcocks, head of sales, explained in London on Friday.Concretely, sales staff in Paris and Milan has been doubled. “We are going to actively release our Global Macro Bond Fund, which will add a ‘portfolio diversification’ element to a product range which we had voluntarily limited to three products in France, starting in second half,” Willcocks tells Newsmanagers.M&G, which has recently opened offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, has also in the space of only two years concluded nine global distribution partnerships, largely with major banks, in order to promote partnership relations over vendor-client relationships. The asset management firm is also studying the possibility of opening an office in Dubai and a location directly in Latin America.On the subject of changes to the product range, Willcocks emphasizes multi-asset class products, which are “less volatile than single strategy funds, and which meet the requirements of clients who are now in search of both revenues and solutions.” M&G is in the process of revising a series of four Episode products in the United Kingdom which comply with the UCITS directive, and which will subsequently be released for sale in continental Europe. M&G will also be releasing a global real estate fund which was launched as a British product (NURS) in April 2008 as a UCITS product. The M&G Global Real Estate Securities Fund, which will receive a sales license for the United Kingdom in the next few days, and which can then be sold in continental Europe, has EUR75m in assets. Managed by Gillian Tiltman, the fund will invest 70-80% of its assets in REITs, and the remainder directly in real estate.

Neuberger Berman is in talks with several major financial adviser networks to distribute its funds in Italy, Marco Avanzi Barbieri, executive director of the firm, has announced to the Italian website Bluerating. Behind the name Neuberger Berman is concealed the former asset management activities of Lehman Brothers, the website points out. The new structure, based in New York, is seeking to grow in Europe. An office was opened in Italy in November 2011, and other offices may soon be opened in Europe.

La chute des marchés financiers en 2008 a conduit la CARMF à actualiser ses comptes sur les valeurs de ses actifs financiers par dépréciation de son portefeuille titres, ce qui a pesé sur l’affichage des résultats financiers 2008 (- 670 M€). En 2009, suite au redressement des indices boursiers, la CARMF a dégagé un résultat net financier excédentaire de 521 M€. La poursuite du redressement de l’activité financière a permis à la CARMF de dégager un résultat financier excédentaire de 336 M€ en 2010. Ce phénomène de rattrapage a été stoppé en 2011, notamment à cause de la baisse des marchés actions sur le deuxième semestre 2011, l’exercice 2011 dégage donc des charges financières nettes de 93 M€. Le rendement annuel global, après fiscalité, du portefeuille de la CARMF est de - 7,64 % pour l’année 2011. Les performances des valeurs mobilières de la CARMF, taux de rendement interne du portefeuille initial et des investissements de la période (TRI) au 31 décembre 2011, se répartissent comme suit : + 2,79 % pour la gestion diversifiée, - 10,23 % pour les actions, - 10,29 % pour les obligations convertibles, - 0,45 % pour les obligations et la trésorerie dynamique, - 5,10 % pour la gestion alternative. Rendement global par année (après fiscalité) : 2011 : - 7,64 % 2010 : + 8,60 % 2009 : + 21,64 % 2008 : - 28,83 % 2007 : + 4,62 % 2006 : + 11,76 % 2005 : + 17,41 % 2004 : + 7,08 % 2003 : + 12,79 % Rendement annuel global au 31 décembre 2011 (après fiscalité) : 1 an : - 7,64 % 3 ans : + 6,76 % 5 ans : - 1,83 % 10 ans : + 1,98 % 15 ans : + 2,70 % 20 ans : + 3,11 %

Pour la première fois en 2011, les investisseurs institutionnels ont apporté en Suisse une contribution équivalente voire légèrement supérieure à celle des investisseurs privés (retail ou private banking) dans le secteur de l’investissement dit durable, ou socialement responsable (ISR), selon le rapport 2011 du pôle suisse du Forum sur les placements financiers durables FNG. Cette contribution légèrement supérieure des institutionnels rapproche ainsi la Suisse des pays limitrophes France et Allemagne, où le poids des investisseurs institutionnels était déjà plus important dans ce domaine. Une différence qui s’explique par le caractère plus fragmenté du marché institutionnel suisse d’une part et par le poids supérieur des grandes institutions de prévoyance dans les autres pays.

Ethos Académie a pour objectif de promouvoir un environnement socio-économique stable et prospère, au bénéfice de la société civile dans son ensemble et qui préserve les intérêts des générations futures. Tant les personnes privées que les institutions peuvent devenir membres d’Ethos Académie. Dick Marty préside Ethos Académie Dick Marty, ancien Conseiller aux Etats du canton du Tessin, préside le comité d’Ethos Académie. Dans le cadre de la création de l’association, il déclare: «Sensibiliser tous les acteurs économiques à une économie durable est urgent et important. Toutes les initiatives menant à un développement durable doivent être encouragées, afin de préserver les intérêts des générations futures.» Ethos s’ouvre aux personnes privées La prospérité commune dépend d’une politique économique globale inspirée du concept de développement durable. Pour atteindre ce but, l’engagement des personnes privées est absolument nécessaire. Kaspar Müller, Président de la Fondation Ethos, précise: «En fondant Ethos Académie, Ethos veut donner aux personnes privées la possibilité de contribuer à une économie saine et durable.» Economie durable au service de tous les participants Les cotisations des membres et les dons récoltés seront notamment utilisés pour des projets de sensibilisation de la société civile. Les points forts seront l’organisation de manifestations publiques, de conférences et débats sur des thèmes d’actualité en matière de responsabilité de l’entreprise et des investisseurs. Des études dans les domaines de compétence d’Ethos seront réalisées. Finalement, différentes activités d’Ethos, tel le soutien à l’exercice des droits de vote d’actionnaires seront également à disposition des personnes privées. La fondation Ethos contribue au lancement d’Ethos Académie par un financement de départ de 50???000 francs. En outre, Dominique Biedermann, Directeur de la fondation Ethos, versera à Ethos Académie la somme de 50'000 francs reçue dans le cadre du prix 2012, attribué par la Fondation Landis & Gyr. Cette distinction honore son rôle personnel de pionnier dans la mise en pratique des régles de gouvernement d’entreprise et des principes du développement durable dans la gestion de fortune.

Les ministres des Finances de l’Union européenne réunis à Luxembourg ont pris acte de leur incapacité à trouver l’unanimité pour mettre en place, au sein de l’Union européenne, une taxe sur les transactions financières dans les 27 pays membres. Plusieurs pays comme le Royaume-Uni, les Pays-Bas ou la Suède, s’y opposaient. Alors que les quatre pays réunis cet après-midi à Rome (France, Allemagne, Espagne, Italie), les ministres des Finances ont ouvert la voie à une «coopération renforcée», une mesure prévue par les traités et qui doit concerne au moins neuf Etats membres. De sources diplomatiques, cette taxe financière à neuf, si elle était mise en place, prendrait la forme d’une stamp duty et ne concernerait pas les produits dérivés.

La BCE s’apprête à accepter une gamme bien plus large de collatéraux dans le cadre de ses opérations de refinancements. Dans un communiqué, la banque centrale dit qu’elle a abaissé le niveau de notation requis sur les ABS, obligations adossées à des actifs, qu’elle accepte comme collatéraux. Avec cette modification, la BCE accepte désormais de recevoir des actifs adossés à des crédits immobiliers, à des crédits accordés à des petites et moyennes entreprises, à des crédits automobile, à du crédit à la consommation et à des crédits d’immobilier commercial, avec comme exigence qu’ils soient notés au moins «triple B». Les décotes ont été fixées à 16% pour des actifs notés A et 32% pour des actifs moins bien notés. Pour les observateurs, cette mesure doit surtout faciliter le refinancement des banques espagnoles.

Fitch a annoncé maintenir à son niveau maximum la note de crédit de la dette souveraine finlandaise, AAA, avec une perspective stable. Le maintien de cette note s’explique par une «gouvernance extrêmement forte et par la stabilité politique et sociale», dit l’agence dans un communiqué.

L’Espagne formulera officiellement lundi sa demande d’aide auprès de ses partenaires européens pour la recapitalisation de ses banques, a déclaré vendredi le ministre espagnol de l’Economie, Luis de Guindos. Cette demande ne sera pas chiffrée, a précisé le ministre. Le montant exact de l’aide demandée par Madrid figurera dans le protocole d’accord qui sera prêt d’ici au 9 juillet, a-t-il ajouté. L’audit indépendant a révélé un besoin de 51 à 62 milliards d’euros de capitaux supplémentaires.