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15/02/2012

Fund selectors like BlackRock, Carmignac and JPMorgan

In 2011, for the first time, brand has become a decisive element for fund selectors in Europe, who represent EUR2trn in assets. The Berlin-based publication Fund Buyer Focus (FBF) has published its pan-European Fund Brand 30 rankings (see attached document), which surveys the preferences of these intermediaries. BlackRock and Carmignac Gestion have both gained one place in the rankings compared with last year, taking first and second place, dethroning JPMorgan.FBF estimates that the size of BlackRock was the determining element, while Carmignac benefited from a rise in business from intermediaries and demand from final investors. BNP Paribas and Amundi lost 18 and 16 ranks respectively.More generally, the authors of the study estimate that in the next few years, cost efficiency will be an increasingly important factor. Fund selectors are also attaching growing important to knowledge of local markets and to ability to respond to developments in these marktets, which would work to the advantage of asset management boutiques.
15/02/2012

Investors return to equity markets

In an improving market environment, investors are showing renewed confidence in international equities, according to the most recent BofA Merrill Lynch survey, undertaken between 3 and 9 February, of a sample of 277 respondents with total assets of USD783bn.Equity allocations in February have been at monthly highs since the beginning of 2011, with 26% of respondents overwight in equities, compared with 12% the previous month. Appetite for cyclical sectors (industrials, materials) has been accompanied by a disaffection for defensive sectors (pharmaceuticals, telecommunications). Overweight positions on cash have fallen to 13%, from 27% in January. Emerging markets are by far the favourite global region, with all other regions underweight. European investors are returning strongly to banking sector shares.
15/02/2012

According to Lyxor, hedge funds gained 1.30% in January

The general hedge fund index from Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale) for January shows returns of 1.30% since the beginning of the year (and of 1.67% as of 7 February), at 952.Of the 15 strategies covered by the global index, only four show losses, including long/short equity short bias, with losses of 5.83%, and CTA short term, which has lost 1.02%.The most lucrative strategies have been long/short equity long bias (+4.76%) and special situations (+4.54%).
15/02/2012

Proxinvest seeks annual vote on management pay scales

The chairman of Proxinvest, Pierre-Henri Leroy, is calling for more transparency about management pay scales. France may once have been a leader in areas of governance, but it “still has a long way to go to catch up,” says Leroy, announcing the publication of the 13th Proxinvest annual report on management pay scales in the SPF 250, and the first ECGS report on European management pay scales.In order to restore trust between shareholders and management, Proxinvest proposes three priorities, and suggests that voting should be annual on management pay scales (so-call “say on pay”), or else a remuneration report at general shareholders’ meetings. This annual vote, whether it be informational or binding, has gradually become a legal requirements, in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. Proxinvest suggests that France should be inspired by the Dutch model, which has led to good elvels of dialogue between issuers and investors.Another priority would be to provide information on the pay tables about the individual cost of additional supplementary retirement schemes in addition to the complementary plan, in line with the transparency of major European firms. The quality of performance conditions also need to be improved, with the introduction of more long-term criteria, for example, looking over at least three years for option or equity plans, and quantifying the objectives in order to allow shareholders to verify performance.
15/02/2012

Victims put a price on the head of Florian Homm

The victims of Florian Homm, who lost USD200m in the fraud he orchestrated, have engaged the private detective Josef Resch to find the hedge fund manager, formerly of Absolute Capital Management (ACM), who has been on the run for 4 and a half years. To sweeten the pot, they are offering a reward of USD1.1m to anyone who can provide information leading to the apprehension of the fugitive, Capital reports.
15/02/2012

Banks want ETFs to be exempt from Volcker rule

US banks are pushing for their activities in the ETF sector not to be included in Volcker rule, the Financial Times reports. Many banks are acting as “authorised participants” for ETFs. But this activity may be threatened by the Volcker rule, which would limit speculative trading by US banks.
15/02/2012

Paulson calls anew for a breakup of Hartford

On Tuesday, in a notice to the SEC (13D filing), John Paulson refuted arguments by management at Hartford Financial Services Group, which is refusing to break up into two entities, and seeking to retain life insurance activities, on the one hand, and property and casualty insurance activities on the other, within a single business, the Wall Street Journal reports. The disagreement has swomewhat poisoned relations between the head of Paulson & Co (USD24bn in assets) and the company. Last week, the hedge fund manager asked the heads of Hartford to “do something drastic” to boost the firm’s share price.
15/02/2012

Métropole Gestion and University of Auvergne extend partnership

The asset management firm Métropole Gestion, which offers an SRI fund, Métropole Value SRI, in partnership with the University of Auvergne, has announced that it is extending the agreement in question, and has announced that two new developments will soon be unveiled in this area.The two actors have developed a ratings system which provides Métropole Gestion with internal extra-financial criteria, which managers apply before financial criteria. Ultimately, the portfolio has both best-in-class and best in effort management.Isabel Levy, CIO, says that the SRI fund has held up well in periods of crisis, as in 2011. Métropole Value SRI, which has assets of about EUR15m, had losses last year of 20.47%, compared with 22.45% for its non-SRI alter ego, Métropole Euro. Also as of 31 January 2012, in the past month, as for the past three and six-month periods, the SRI-labelled fund shows better results.
15/02/2012

Lombard Odier promotes risk parity approach

Of CHF5bn in assets under management in diversified products, Lombard Odier Investment Managers (LOIM) has CHF2.5bn in assets managed with a multi-asset class risk parity approach, and CHF400m in single asset class risk parity management. In 2011, LOIM took on a net total of CHF400m for the strategy, largely as part of a very large mandate from an Asian sovereign fund.The methodology, which complies with the UCITS directive and may use a short component, introduces genuine diversification in terms of the risk budget inherent in each asset class and sector, rather than setting an allocation and sticking to it.In addition, LOIM, which focuses exclusively on equally-weighted liquidity risks (2/5 equities, developped and EM, 2/5 govies, 1/5 commodities), is able to provide a tactical overlay in order to optimise the results of risk parity.The Swiss asset management firm is hoping to receive a license from the AMF in the near future, to allow it to release a Luxembourg-registered UCITS compliant fund in France which allies risk parity and tactical alpha.
15/02/2012

DWS builds presence in insurance

Christian Haake, who has been director of distribution via IFAs of retirement planning products in southern Germany since April 2006, has been promoted to the position of senior relationship manager in the team handling distribution to insurers at DWS led by Harald Salzgeber, Das Investment reports.
15/02/2012

KBC AM recruits for sales team in Germany

Philip Hinrichsen, who had previously been responsible for investor relationship management at Fundmatrix, is joining KBC as head of distribution for investment concepts specialised in the areas of equities and bonds. Hinrichsen will report to Nunzia Thiriot, head of asset management at KBC Bank Deutschland. He will be in charge of advising fund of fund managers, wealth managers and institutional investors in Germany.
15/02/2012

FSA publishes a guide to RDR legislation

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a guide aimed at financial advisors, to help them to comply with Retail Distribution Review (RDR) legislation by 31 December 2012.The FSA points out that the new rules will affect all actors, including significant changes and marginal adjustments. The guide recommends that advisers restructure their fees, so as to charge for advising without penalising clients, to whom the adviser is responsible for explaining what the various commissions are for.
15/02/2012

British investors unsatisfied with lack of fund transparency

According to a survey undertaken in December by SCM Private of 1,000 people, 63% of British respondents would be prepared to invest more in funds if their providers provided more information about fees, strategies and portfolios, Handelsblatt reports.89% would like to see managers publish explanations of all fees charged, while 83% would like to have more complete information about the way in which managers invest the capital entrusted to them.Only 19% know exactly what the management and administration commissions they pay are for.
15/02/2012
Gestion d'actifs

GAREAT vient d'investir dans un produit structuré à capital garanti

GAREAT est une structure de marché, opérationnelle en France depuis le 1er janvier 2002, dont la vocation est de gérer la réassurance des risques attentats et actes de terrorisme au nom et pour le compte de ses Adhérents (sociétés d’assurance françaises ou étrangères), afin de leur permettre de faire face aux pertes causées par des sinistres dommages consécutifs à des attentats ou actes de terrorisme subis sur le territoire français, indépendamment du pays où a eu lieu l’acte de terrorisme. Les placements de GAREAT se décomposent en trois poches: trésorerie (produits monétaires), obligations court terme (CDN) et produit structuré. En 2011, à la suite d’un appel d’offres, GAREAT a sélectionné un partenaire bancaire dans le cadre d’un produit à capital garanti, pour une vingtaine de millions d’euros. L’objectif, selon Jacques Deparis, Président, est de capter plus de rendement (2 à 3%) en profitant qu’un horizon de placement plus long sur un tiers du dispositif assurantiel. Ce produit structuré vient tout juste d'être mis en place, sans l’aide d’un consultant. L’expérience pourra être reconduite, en fonction des résultats à venir.
Gestion d'actifs
15/02/2012

Le Canada se penche également sur le Libor

L’agence canadienne de la concurrence a fait savoir cette nuit qu’elle enquêtait auprès de certains établissements financiers concernant des soupçons de manipulations des taux interbancaires. L’autorité se joint ainsi au cortège déjà formé par ses homologues en Suisse, aux Etats-Unis ou au sein de l’union européenne.
15/02/2012

Les élus limitent la taxe boursière

Les députés de la Commission des finances proposent d’exempter les petites opérations et l'épargne salariale. Le texte doit encore être débattu en séance.
15/02/2012

Cantor Fitzgerald soutient les fonds alternatifs

Cantor Firtzgerald cherche à lever des fonds d’incubation destinés à fournir environ 20 à 25 gestionnaires d’actifs des marchés émergents une mise de départ de 25 à 50 millions de dollars, selon le quotidien. Ce dernier souligne que Cantor Fitzgerald a acquis il y a deux mois le gestionnaire de fonds de hedge funds Cadogan.
15/02/2012

Hermes Real Estate grandit dans l’immobilier commercial

Le directeur général d’Hermes Real Estate, Chris Taylor, souligne que le groupe vient d’acquérir auprès de l’australien Westfield sa participation à 50% dans un portefeuille de 400 millions de livres lui octroyant le contrôle notamment de deux centres commerciaux dans le Sud de l’Angleterre et à Belfast. «C’est le bon moment» de se consacrer à l’immobilier commercial selon le dirigeant.
14/02/2012

La Chine est-elle menacée par un atterrissage brutal ?

L'endettement vertigineux des municipalités et la montée des crédits non performants des entreprises exportatrices confrontées à une demande internationale en berne vont peser sur les bilans des banques. Celles-ci voient leur marge de manoeuvre réduite pour accorder de nouveaux prêts à l'économie au pire moment pour elle.
14/02/2012

La Belgique fait le plein de bons du Trésor

La Belgique a adjugé mardi 3,21 milliards d’euros de bons du Trésor, le rendement moyen des titres à 12 mois tombant à son plus bas niveau depuis septembre 2010, à 0,892%, contre 1,162% lors de la précédente adjudication comparable il y a un mois, selon l’agence de la dette. Le montant adjugé est très légèrement supérieur à la fourchette annoncée, entre 2,5 et 3,2 milliards d’euros.
14/02/2012

Rendement en recul pour l’émission grecque

La Grèce a émis 1,3 milliard d’euros de bons du Trésor à trois mois. Athènes a consenti un rendement de 4,61% contre 4,64% lors de l'émission du 17 janvier. Le ratio de couverture est ressorti à 2,7 contre 2,9 auparavant.
14/02/2012

Hausse moins forte que prévu des ventes au détail aux Etats-Unis

Les ventes au détail ont augmenté moins que prévu en janvier aux Etats-Unis, les achats d’automobiles ayant été moins nombreux, tout comme les dépenses sur internet. Les ventes ont augmenté de 0,4% au total, après n’avoir pas varié en décembre (+0,1% en première estimation), a annoncé le département du Commerce. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters anticipaient une hausse de 0,7%.
14/02/2012

Hausse des stocks des entreprises américaines en décembre

Les stocks des entreprises américaines ont augmenté de 0,4% en décembre, accréditant la thèse selon laquelle la reconstitution des inventaires des sociétés a nettement soutenu la croissance des Etats-Unis au dernier trimestre de 2011. Le département du Commerce a précisé mardi que les stocks avaient augmenté à 1.560 milliards de dollars.

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