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05/01/2012

Layoffs at iShares

BlackRock is planning to lay off about 15 people from iShares in Europe, in response to difficult economic conditions, Citywire Wealth Manager reports. In the United States, BlackRock is also cutting back, with 59 layoffs in San Francisco, where iShares is headquartered, at the end of January, Bloomberg reports.
05/01/2012

Bradesco AM launches a fund dedicated to small and midcaps

The Brazilian firm Bradesco Asset Mangement has launched a fund dedicated to Brazilian small and midcaps, Citywire reports. The new fund, BGF Brazilian Equities Mid Small Caps, is a Sicav version of the Brazilian fund, managed for the past seven years by Milton Cabral and Jose Alberto Baltieri.
05/01/2012

Direxion recruits a former DWS director

Direxion, a US firm specialised in alternative investment solutions, has hired Angelo Pirri as regional director for the Northwestern United States. Pirri will be responsible for sales of Direxion products to independent financial advisers. Pirri joins Direxion from Deutsche Bank DWS US, where he had been senior regional vice president.
05/01/2012

Spanish asset management industry gradually transforming

Amidst the problems in the Spanish banking industry and the mergers they are provoking, asset management firms controlled by banking firms are also being obliged to merge. On the basis of the operations reported by Funds People since 28 December, the pace of these mergers appears to be picking up. Liberbank Gestión, heir to Cajastur Gestión merged with Caja Cantabria, and has now EUR874m in assets (as of the end of November), of which only EUR84m are from Caja Cantabria.Meanwhile, Caja España Fondos (EUR1.57bn) has already absorbed the 21 funds from Gesduero (EUR547m), but it will soon merge again, and will represent only 30% of the new ensemble it will form with Unicaja Gestión.For their part, the Basque savings banks on 1 January merged as Kuxtabank. The asset management unit of the new entity has EUR5.16bn in assets in 122 funds, of which EUR2.49bn come from BBK Gestión, EUR1.18bn from Kutxagest, EUR820m from Vitalgestión and EUR672m from GIIC Fineco.
05/01/2012

CAC 40 dividends hold up in crisis

The major businesses of the CAC 40 index are expected to pay as much as EUR37bn in dividends in 2012, for the 2011 fiscal year, according to analysts’ predictions, Les Echos reports. A majority of businesses will increase or maintain their dividend levels, in order to avoid sending negative signals to the markets. While a degradation in conjuncture occurred at the end of the year, 2011 profits are expected to hold up overall. Last year was also marked by share purchases on the SBF120 more than doubling as prices plummeted.
05/01/2012

Caceis controls in France comply with new standards

The consultancy Deloitte in November 2011 issued an unreserved approval of reports on controls of fund administration services and depository banking custody at Caceis in France, under SSAE 16 and ISAE 3402 type II standards, Caceis has announced in a statement. In December 2009, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) published a new standard, ISAE 3402, covering internal control of service companies. As a result, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) modified its SAS 70 standard to create the SSAE 16 standard. The two new standards have been applicable since 15 June 2011. Since the standards came into force, Caceis has adopted them for its efforts top bring its permanent controls into compliance. In Luxembourg and Germany, where Caceis services are also in compliance with SAS 70 type II standards, the next audits will apply the new standards. The reports are expected in January and July 2012, respectively.
05/01/2012

Nuveen completes acquisition of 60% stake in Greshman IM

Nuveen Investments, a global provider of investment services to institutions as well as individual investors, in November announced the completion of its acquisition of a 60% stake in New York-based Gresham Investment Management. The transaction, which was previously announced in November of 2011, was completed on December 31, 2011.
05/01/2012

Fed will not increase prime rate before 2014, survey predicts

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) will maintain its prime rate at near zero until 2014, a survey of specialists in government bonds published on 4 January predicts. According to the survey, undertaken by the Fed itself between 2 and 5 December, 60% of the establishments it relies on to deploy its monetary policy estimate that the next increase in interest rates in the United States will take place after 31 December 2013; 15% of respondents predict it will come in first quarter 2014, while 45% say it will come after 31 March that year. This result is drawn from a document summarizing the results of a questionnaire that the Fed sends before each meeting ot its monetary policy committee (last held on 13 December) to 21 banks and brokerage firms which it grants the status of Tresury bond specialist. This is the first time that the Fed has published the results of the survey, following a decision announced in early December, and realising a declared ambition to “increase transparency” in its actions.
05/01/2012

Hedge funds posted net inflows in November

After net outflows of USD2.59bn in September and USD9bn in October, hedge funds posted net subscriptions in November of USD3.6bn, BarclayHedge reports.Assets increased to USD1.710trn as of 30 November, compared with USD1.670trn as of the end of October, the first increase after five months of decline. Sol Walksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge, says all strategies posted net inflows in November, except emerging markets, which saw net outflows of USD1.3bn, and long/short equity, which saw net redemptions of USD1bn.This is a considerable improvement compared with October, when only five strategies out of 14 posted net inflows, while others saw net outflows, according to Leon Mirochnik, an analyst at TrimTabs. The two most popular categories with investors in November were multi-strategy, which attracted USD1.5bn, or 5.75% of its assets, and macro, with USD981m, or 8.5% of assets under management.
05/01/2012

CBRE Clarion launches a long/short fund focused on real estate

On 3 January, CBRE Clarion Securities announced the launch of the CBRE Clarion Long/Short Fund, which will be managed by T. Ritson Ferguson, Steven D. Burton and Joseph P. Smith, who have managed long/short funds for the past 11 years, and long-only funds for 20 years.The product, whose portfolio will invest in shares in companies in the real estate sector, is aimed at investors seeking to improve the risk/return profile of their portfolios via increased diversification and controlled volatility. The objective is to generate attractive returns regardless of the direction of the markets.Initially, the fund will be available in two share classes: CLSWX for retail investors, and CLSIX for institutional investors.CBRE Clarion, which has USD19bn in assets under management, is an affiliate of CBRE Group.
05/01/2012

Groupama reprofiles and renames Alpha Euro Stock fund

Groupama Asset Management has announced to shareholders in the FCP fund Groupama Alpha Euro Stock that from 5 January 2012, the fund will become known as Groupama Statique 2. The change in strategy, due to disappointing returns, was approved on 28 December 2011 by the AMF. The FCP fund will now be permitted to invest all of its assets in mutual funds, up from 10% previously, and will no longer hold convertible bonds. Long/short strategies will no longer be applicable, and the fund will instead use “an investment strategy resulting from a double top-down and bottom-up approach.” “As the level of returns attained recently does not meet up to our fund development objectives, we have taken the decision to reposition our investment strategy and to replace the active management style based on the search for absolute returns previously adopted with a discretionary management style based on the evolution of various markets (equities, bonds). The impact of the decision is a total change in the investment strategy,” the management firm says.
05/01/2012

Alfredo Gysi appointed as chairman of the board at BSI

An extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting has appointed Alfredo Gysi as a new member of the board of directors at BSI (Assicurazioni Generali), BSI announced on 4 January. At the same time, the board of directors at BSI has appointed Gysi as its chairman from 1 January 2012. The appointment of Gysi as chairman was approved sooner than the previously planned date of April 2012, following the sudden decease of his predecessor, Giorgio Ghiringhelli. Also from 1 January 2012, as previously planned, Stefano Coduri has begun his term as CEO of the bank. “These two appointments provide a guarantee of continuity in the management of the BSI Group at a historic moment marked by major changes in the macroeconomic context and for the Private Banking sector,” the bank says in a statement. Gysi, who joined BSI in 1975, had been CEO since 1994. After 18 years, he left his operational responsibilities at the group at the end of 2011, having reached retirement age. In addition to his new role as chairman of BSI, Gysi will also have other major institutional responsibilities. He has been president of the Association of foreign banks in Switzerland (ABES) since 1999, and is a member of the Banking Council at the Swiss National Bank (BNS) and a member of the board of directors and the advising committee at the Swiss Bankers’ Association (ASB).
05/01/2012

Hong Kong authorises new products

The Hong Kong market authority, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has approved several products denominated in RMB as part of a program dedicated to qualified foreign institutional investors (RQFII). Affiliates of Chinese asset management firms with affiliates based in Hong Kong will be allowed to invest in the onshore market, Asian Investor reports. Unlike the QQFII program, which provides access to the relatively tight Chinese bond market with monthly liquidity, the RQFII programme allows investors to participate in the Chinese inter-bank bond market, and allows subscriptions and redemptions on a daily basis. The products concerned are the RMB Bondplus product from China Universal AM Hong Hong, the Shen Zhou RMB fund from CSOP Asset Management, the RMB fixed income fund from Da Cheng International AM, and the Great Dragon China Fixed Income fund from Guotai Junan Assets (Asia). As part of the RQFII investment quota programme, totalling RMB20bn, the Chinese administration has authorised new investment quotas totalling RMB10.7bn, or USD1.7bn, to 10 RQFII license holders. China AMC Hong Kong received the largest quota, totalling RMB1.2bn. Quotas of RMB1.1bn each went to Harvers Global Investors, Da Cheng International, China Universal AM, CSOP Asset Management, HFT Investment Management Hong Kong, Bosera International, and Hua An AM.
05/01/2012

Sarasin recruits in Asia

The Swiss bank Sarasin has made three internal promotions with the objective of strengthening its position on the Chinese and South-East Asian markets. Febby Avianto has been appointed to the newly-created position of vice-president in charge of advising South-East Asian clients (largely in Indonesia and Malaysia), Asian Investor reports. Avianto, recruited two years ago from UBS, had been nead for Indonesia. Karen Leung, who has been at Sarasin since 2007, has been appointed as vice-president in charge of advising for Northern Asian clients. Lastly, Polly Lam has been appointed as managing director in charge of China, a newly-created position. Sarasin is also planning to open a representative office in Shanghai this year.
05/01/2012

Financial transaction tax: France wants to pick up the pace

Encouraged by a rally in many countries in the euro zone and beyond, France is hoping to speed up the pace of negotiations over a financial transaction tax, with the help of Denmark, which holds the EU presidency from 1 January, and has decided to schedule additional meetings of experts, Les Echos reports. The French government says that the country is hoping to reach an agreement in first quarter this year. This French drive to speed up the process has been cautiously welcomed by the European Commission. “We are naturally open to all contributions by member states on this subject, but a deadline of the end of 2012 appears highly ambitious,” the Commission explains.
05/01/2012

Weltwoche accuses BNS president of insider trading

In its 5 January edition, the weekly newsmagazine Weltwoche reports that the account at Bank Sarasin from which currency transactions attributed to Kashya, the wife of Philipp Hildebrand, president of the Swiss National Bank (BNS) were conducted, in fact belonged to Philipp himself. The orders for the trades were made personally by the BNS president; they are reported to have included a purchase of USD504,000 on 15 August 2011 at CHF0.7929, three weeks before it was announced that the exchange rate with the euro would be tied down at CHF1.20. The dollars were resold at CHF0.902, for a gain of CHF75,000.The newspaper also reports that the IT department employee at Banque Sarasin who has admitted violating banking secrecy with the leaking of the information has filed charges against the BNS president for insider trading.
05/01/2012

Wegelin claims to have complied with Swiss law

Wegelin & Co on 4 January announced its position in response to charges filed against three of its bankers in New York on Tuesday for helping US taxpayers to evade taxes, picking up clients who were fleeing UBS out of fear of detection (see Newsmanagers of 4 January). “While US law has some room for manoeuvre concerning the possibility of legal action, Wegelin bank is convinced that it has acted in compliance with Swiss law,” according to a position statement by the private bank, relayed by Agefi Switzerland. The case will now be submitted to lawyers to prepare for dialogue with US prosecutors, Wegelin states.
05/01/2012

Former Vontobel executive sentenced to prison

A former executive at the Zurich-based Vontobel bank who has confessed to fraud totalling CHF5m has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, with a partial suspended sentence, Agefi Switzerland reports. The former director of the investment department will spend six months in prison, a Zurich district court decreed on 4 January. The defendant will also be required to repay the CHF5m he made on the fraud.
05/01/2012

Assets at euro zone insurers and pension funds fell in third quarter

Total financial assets at insurance companies and pension funds in the euro zone were EUR13bn lower at the end of September 2011 than at the end of June 2011, according to statistics from the European Central Bank (ECB). In the same period, legally mandated reserves for insurance were down to EUR5.973trn from EUR5.987trn due to valuation effects.In terma of ventilation of the aggregate balance sheet of insurance companies and pension funds in the euro zone, assets in securities other than equities as of the end of September 2011 represented 39% of total financial assets in the sector. Shares in mutual funds represented the second-largest category, with 22% of financial assets. Cash and savings represented 11% of the total.Transactions in the major areas of legally mandated reserves for insurance, net household claims to life insurance legally mandated reserves increased by EUR4bn in third quarter 2011. Net hosehold claims to pension funds increased by EUR13bn in the same period, while unearned premium reserves and unpaid loss liabilities were down by EUR13bn.In the area of contributions in the two sub-sectors, financial assets held by insurance companies totalled EUR5.495trn as of September 2011, 80% of the total balance sheet for the insurance and pension fund sector, while financial assets held by pension funds totalled EUR1.412trn.
05/01/2012

Major absolute return fund platforms have USD8bn in assets

Assets on the five major UCITS-compliant absolute return fund platforms as of the end of June 2011 totalled nearly USD8bn, according to statistics from HedgeFund Intelligence. Funds available on these platforms represented nearly 10% of total assets for UCITS-compliant absolute return funds.Within a total of USD7.82bn for the platforms, the largest platform is Merill Lynch Investment Services, with assets of USD2.3bn, followed by the Deutsche Bank Platinum platform (USd2.1bn), the Alceda platform from Aquila Capital (USD1.7bn), the GAIA platform from Schroders (USD977m), and Universal Investments (USD772m).
05/01/2012

Nedgroup Investments recruits a former Schroders exec

According to reports in Money Marketing, Nedgroup Investments, an affiliate of Old Mutual based on the Isle of Man, has recruited Andrew Yeadon, who had been fired from his previous position as head of multi-manager at Schroders last year following the merger of the multi-asset class and multi-management teams, as its CIO. Currently, Nedgroup Investments offers nine funds, including three multi-management products and six funds outsourced to external managers.
05/01/2012

Investors buy record amounts of gilts

International investors bought up GBP28.87bn in British government bonds in October and November, the highest level since 1982, when data was first collected, the Financial Times reports. Demand has been supported by a quantitative easing program at the Bank of England and the status of the United Kingdom as a haven from the troubled euro zone.
05/01/2012

Sesame Bankhall Group to develop wealth management activities

The Sesame Ban khall group on 4 January announced the appointment of Pan Andreas as head of the new team specialised in wealth management. Andreas previously worked at Axa Wealth. Andreas will be primarily in charge of developing portfolio analysis and risk management tools, managing relations with the provider of Iress wealth management technologies and with Optimum Investment Management, a joint venture with Henderson Global Investors. Sesame is planning to launch a new management system for clients in 2012 in partnership with Iress. The joint venture with Henderson will allow advisers to create custom investment solutions for clients.
05/01/2012

Fidelity FundsNetwork opens to third-party managers

The British platform Fidelity FundsNetwork has admitted Hawksmoor Investment Management as the first regional discretionary manager for its discretionary management service, Fundweb reports.FundsNetwork has also included Ingenious and VestraWealth in its proposition.
05/01/2012

Aberdeen strenghtens multi-manager team

Sonja Tilly, who had been responsible for fixed income manager research and selection at Broadstone Pensions & Investments, has joined the multi-manager team at Aberdeen Asset Management as an analyst. She will report to Graham Duce, co-head multi-manager funds. In her new role, she will assist in managing the team’s range of pooled funds, specifically focusing on fixed income funds. The multi-manager team at Aberdeen now includes 10 people, and manages over GBP8bn in assets.
05/01/2012

M&G appoints a deputy manager for two funds

M&G Investments has appointed Colm D’Olier as deputy fund manager on the M&G Global Emerging Markets Fund and the M&G Asian Fund. Both funds, worth GBP548 million and GBP419 million respectively, will continue to be co-managed by Michael Godfrey and Matthew Vaight.The move is a natural progression for Colm D’Olier who has been closely supporting Michael Godfrey and Matthew Vaight since joining M&G in 2007.
05/01/2012

Creation of 0-35% Shares fund sector put off by IMA

The British Investment Management Association (IMA) has announced that it will be delaying the launch of the 0-35% Shares flexible funds sector, due to the limited number of funds in this category, FundWeb reports. The sector currently has less than ten funds. The IMA will create the sector only when there is a quorum of at least 10 funds. The other three sectors of flexible funds have already been created: IMA Mixed Investment 20-60% Shares, IMA Mixed Investment 40-85% Shares, and IMA Flexible Investment.
05/01/2012

Hong Kong affiliate of HFT preparing a Chinese yuan fund

On 21 December, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued HFT HK, the Kong Kong-based affiliate of HFT Investment Management (formerly Fortis Haitong) with an RQFII (RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor) license. Following the rules laid out by the CSRC, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on 16 December, funds denominated in yuan raised in Hong Kong will be required to invest at least 80% of their assets in bond vehicles, and cannot allocate more than 20% to equities.HFT IM is a joint venture controlled 51% by Haitong Securities Co and 49% by BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP). HFT HK, which was founded on 25 November 2010, is now planning to apply to SAFE for a quota corresponding to its RQFII license.
05/01/2012

China encourages short-selling

China will from this quarter create a new entity known as the Centralised Securities Lending Exchange, to facilitate short-selling activities, the Financial Times reports. The market regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, will be the major shareholder in the structure. The initiative should encourage the development of the hedge fund industry in China.
05/01/2012

Assets under management in Scotland up

In 2011, assets under management in Scotland increased to GBP750m from GBP650m the previous year, according to the Scottish Financial Enterprise, cited by the Financial Times, which has published an article about the resilience of the Scottish financial industry. The fund services industry has also prospered. Barclays has announced the creation of 600 jobs, while BlackRock will base its European service hub in Edinburgh, which will lead to the creation of 250 jobs. State Street has also named the city as its European centre of excellence, and is adding to its activities there, where it has 840 employees.

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