Head of Asia-Pacific chez BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, Chong Jin Leow a également été nommé country executive et general manager pour Singapour. Il continuera ainsi d'être subordonné à Tim Keaney, vice chairman de BNY Mellon et CEO de BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, mais sera aussi subordonné à Steve Lackey, chairman of Asia-Pacific.Dans ses nouvelles fonctions de patron de Singapour, Chong Jin Leow succède à Jai Arya, qui a été pour sa part promu head du global sovereign institutions group de BNY Mellon. Jai Arya sera chargé de coordonner les services du groupe aux fonds souverains, aux fonds de pension souverains, aux banques centrales et autorités monétaires ainsi qu’aux entités appartenant à des Etats.

Le capital investisseur britannique CVC Capital Partners compte tirer 2 milliards de dollars de la vente d’une participation de 20 % dans l’organisateur des compétitions automobiles de Formule 1 lors de l’introduction en Bourse de ce dernier, rapporte Cotiazalia. D’après Bloomberg, l’introduction se ferait à Singapour, comme celle du club de football Manchester United.

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.

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.

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%

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.

Thierry Brevet, directeur du Fonds de dotation du Louvre: Actuellement, nous étudions le remplacement d’une partie des fonds indiciels en actions émergentes par de la gestion active. En l'état actuel de nos réflexions, notre choix devrait se porter sur deux gérants satellites autour d’un c??ur qui demeurerait indiciel : un gérant français très spécialisé sur cette classe d’actifs et un gérant anglo-saxon avec un processus d’investissement original.

La Caisse d’assurance mutuelle des entreprises industrielles (Cameic) délègue l’intégralité de sa gestion financière à deux partenaires, soit 12 millions d’euros d’encours. Bruno Périssé, directeur du développement de la Cameic dans Option Finance numéro 1167: Notre préoccupation en tant qu’assureur n’est pas de dégager du rendement financier, mais de sécuriser nos placements. Notre métier est d’assurer nos clients, nous avons donc dès le départ fait le choix de confier notre gestion financière à des spécialistes en l’occurrence, la banque privée Saint Olive ainsi que plus marginalement à la société de gestion Darius Finance.

Chong Jin Leow, head of Asia-Pacific at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, has been appointed additionally as country executive and general manager for Singapore. He will continue to report to Tim Keaney, vice chairman of BNY Mellon and CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, but will also report to Steve Lackey, chairman of Asia-Pacific.In his new role as head for Singapore, Chong succeeds Jai Arya, who has been promoted to the position of head of the global sovereign institutions group at BNY Mellon. Arya will be in charge of coordinating services of the group to sovereign funds, sovereign pension funds, central banks and monetary authorities as well as government entities.

The British private equity investor CVC Capital Partners is hoping to make USD2bn for a sale of its 20% stake in the organiser of Formula 1 automotive races at its IPO, Cotizalia reports. According to Bloomberg, the IPO is to be held in Singapore, which could also be the case of the Manchester United football club.

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 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 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 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.

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%).

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.

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.

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.

Although it welcomes the fact that the new ESMA consultation document issued in January 2012 extends its range to a more horizontal approach covering all UCITS-compliant funds, rather than focusing solely on UCITS-compliant ETF funds in a more vertical manner, the EDHEC-Risk Institute expresses regrets in its response to the consultation document that the text does not go further in several key areas.Specialists at EDHEC express regrets that the European regulator did not see fit to propose a definition of passive management which could be associated with an acceptable tracking error level. Meanwhile, they are critical of the fact that the ESMA proposal, although it recommends making information on the performance of indices available for free, does not require that all information on indices be published for free, particularly the composition history of the indices. Furthermore, EDHEC would like to see the quality of governance of indices and a way to audit the decisions of index committees receive more attention from the regulator.

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

According to a study by Standard & Poor’s *S&P), only 16% of active fund managers in 2011 managed to beat the S&P Composite 1500 index, the poorest result since statistics began in 2002, Handelsblatt reports. In 2010 and 2009, the percentage of “outperformers” was 42% and 59%, respectively. This failure to outperform extends to large caps as well as small caps. The statistics will fuel current controversies about the added value that actively-managed funds offer compared to ETFs.

S&P Capital IQ is adding to its research team, Mutual Fund Wire reports. The firm has recruited Barbara Reguero has managing director of its cross-asset-class research team. Reguero had previously been global chief administrative officer in the fixed income research division at Nomura Securities International.

Swell Asset Management, dedicated to tactical asset allocation, whose foundation Newsmanagers announced on 11 January 2012, has announced that it began its activities on 27 March with the transfer of the Swell Soft GTAA Fund (formerly the LFP Allocation 3). The fund, whose assets total EUR93m, had since its inception in 2005 been managed by Olivier Ramé and Jean-Philippe Collin, the two founders of Swell AM, who were then head of alternative management and a manager, respectively, at La Française des Placements. The French regulator has also issued a license for the creation of the Swell Classic GTAA Fund, a second fund, also in UCITS IV format, which uses the same investment strategy but in a more aggressive mode. Swell Asset Management received its portfolio management firm license from the French regulator on 1 March 2012. Ramé and Collin each own 37.5% of capital in the firm, while La Française AM controls the remaining 25%. In addition to this capital relationship, La Française AM is also making operational infrastructure (IT, middle office, offices, etc.) available to the young asset management firm.

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.

Brett Langbert, who had been managing director at UBS in charge of the Americas prime brokerage unit, was on 10 April appointed president and chief operating officer (COO) of HedgeCo Networks, which acts as a consultant and operates a hedge fund database.Evan Rapoport, CEO of HedgeCo, says the recruitment comes at a time when US federal authorities are expected to repeal a rule forbidding hedge funds from applying for general subscriptions from the public. HedgeCo estimates that it will be able to offer a service to help investors find decorrelated returns through diversification of their portfolios, and that the repeal of the rule will primarily benefit newly-launched hedge funds.

Lazard Frères Gestion on 6 April announced the appointment of Gilles Trancart, former inspector at the Bank of France, as managing partner and chief operating officer. Trancart will be based in Paris, and will direct support and control functions. He joined Lazard Frères Gestion in late September 2011. Trancart previously worked at Newedge as chief risk officer and a member of the executive board.

The US asset management firm Principal Global Investors is hoping to take control of a fund of hedge fund management firm, in order to diversify its USD240bn network, Financial News reports.