For third quarter 2011, the Credit Suisse Group has announced pre-tax profits of CHF1.036bn, compared with CHF1.08bn one quarter earlier, and CHF753m in third quarter 2010, and has also announced further cost and risk reduction measures, according to a statement published on 1 November. Pre-tax profits distributable to shareholders totalled CHF683m as of the end of September, compared with CHF768m in second quarter 2011, and CHF609m in third quarter 2010. The Swiss group has also announced further cost and risk reduction measures, which will result in the loss of about 1,500 jobs. Net inflows in third quarter totalled CHF7.1bn, compared with CHF14.3bn in second quarter 2011, and CHF14.6bn in third quarter 2010. Assets under management as of the end of September totalled CHF1.1968trn, compared with CHF1.233trn one quarter earlier, and CHF1.251trn in September 2010. The Asset Management (AM) unit of Credit Suisse earned pre-tax profits in third quarter of CHF92m, down by CHF110m (54%) compared with second quarter 2011, and CHF43m from second quarter 2010. Net inflows for the Asset Management unit totalled CHF0.2bn, of which CHF4.2bn were in alternative investments, with subscriptions to private equity, real estate, commodities and hedge funds, and net redemptions of CHF4.2bn from traditional investments, largely from Swiss advising activities and multi-asset class solutions, reflecting inherent difficulties in these markets. In the Private Banking division (global Wealth Management Clients and Corporate & Institutional Clients in Switzerland), Credit Suisse has earned pre-tax profits of CHF183m, including provisions for legal actions of CHF295m for a tax fraud case in the United States, and CHF183m (EUR150m) in relation to the tax scandal in Germany. Credit Suisse had reported pre-tax profits of CHF843m for second quarter 2011, and CHF836m for third quarter 2010. Wealth Management Clients posted a pre-tax loss of CHF34m in third quarter, due to provisions for the aforementioned legal actions, totalling CHF478m. The Private Banking unit earned net inflows of CHF7.4bn. The Wealth Management Clients unit attracted CHF6.6bn in net subscriptions, with strong contributions from the UHNWI and emerging markets sectors. Compared with third quarter 2010, assets under management in Private Banking are down 4.7%, with strong net inflows more than offset by unfavourable movements related to currencies, mostly due to a weakening US dollar and euro against the Swiss franc, and other negative market evolutions.

US Federal judge Colleen McMahon has turned down a request by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, seeking USD20bn from J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS, the La Tribune de Genève reports. The judge found that the trustee did not have the right to bring the two banking establishments before the courts in this case. Only investors who lost money in the fraud would have been entitled to do so.

As corporate salary costs overall increased by 4% in 2010-2011 compared with 2009-2010, pay scales in asset management increased by an average of 18% (with bonuses up by as much as 30%). The 2011 issue of the “Asset Management Reward Survey” from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) also finds that in asset management, remuneration (basic salary and bonuses) increased more rapidly for investment specialists than for distribution specialists. The average pay level for chief investment officers (CIO) also increased more rapidly than for all management positions, including chief investment officers (CEO).The survey also finds that pay scales are increasing at a faster pace in Asia, where asset management is a growing industry and inflation is high, and in some product niches such as ETFs, global emerging markets and international equities.PwC states that competition to win over the most talented managers, at a time when the subsequent evolution of bonuses depends particularly on the asset manager’s ability to deliver consitently high performance, has resulted in significant increases in pay scales.The study finds that although the third European Capital Requirements Directive (CRD III) is not as restrictive as initially thought, it does work to the disadvantage of European asset managers, particularly against their Asian counterparts, as 85% of respondents to the PwC study say that they are concerned about the new regulations, particularly due to practical difficulties in recruiting top talent when faced with competition from outside Europe.

In October, Spanish securities funds saw further net redemptions of EUR891m, following outflows of EUR681m in September, and EUR699m in August. It is the seventh consecutive month of net outflows from funds, according to the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms.However, total assets as of 31 October came to slightly over EUR129.48bn, stable compared with the initial Inverco estimates for the end of September (see Newsmanagers of 3 October), but an increase of EUR241m in one month compared with the revised total for 30 September.Of the twelve largest asset management firms by volume, ten saw net redemptions in October, with the heaviest outflows from Santander Asset Management (EUR239.6m), BBVA Asset Management (EUR183m) and CatalunyaCaixa Inversió (EUR127.6m).Of the leading firms, the two ones which posted net subscriptions are Ahorro Corporación, with nearly EUR1.5m, and Barclays Wealth Management, with EUR10.25m.

The Nairobi Securities Exchange is planning to offer ETFs in the near future. To start with, the exchange will offer a range of indices from next week, which will serve as underlyings for ETFs and other index-based products, in an effort to attract foreign capital, Handelsblatt reports.In June, the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority (CMA) had announced the opening of a derivatives market, which will trade futures on currencies and commodities.Ghana is also planning to launch ETFs, the newspaper notes.

On 17 October, iShares (BlackRock group) launched the ETF Barclays Capital Emerging Market Local Govt Bond fund, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 21 June, to trading on Borsa Italiana.The fund is the 43rd product of the bond range from iShares, which has total assets of USD30bn. It is a physical replication fund, which replicates the Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Currency Core Government index, which covers emerging market bonds in local currencies with a total initial duration of 2 to 30 years.

Fundweb reports that Invesco has announced to investors in the PowerShares EuroMTS Cash Three Months ETF that the fund may now invest more than 35% of its portfolio in government bonds and bonds from European local authorities.The fund had previously been required to invest in money market instruments and securities issued by the Italian government or by Italian local authorities.

The ABI association of British insurers is preparing a request to exclude newly-listed companies from indices such as the FTSE 100, for a period of three months. The rule would prevent ETFs from investing in these firms, the ABI claims, according to Money Marketing, which cites reports in the Mail on Sunday that ETFs have recently driven up the share prices of companies that have recently arrived on the market. These firms are said to include mining companies which joined the FTSE 100 as soon as they were admitted to trading in London.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 31 October launched a consultation on the calculation of regulatory commissions. The FSA is proposing to modify the way in which commissions are calculated, so as to be based not on the number of qualified personnel, but on the regulated earnings of the firm. The initiative is related to the MiFID directive, which introduces a different distribution system for authorised personnel. Regulated earnings are earnings resulting from advising, brokerage, commissions, and other revenues related to regulated activities of companies, the FSA says.

Henderson Global Investors’ property business, which manages around GBP12.4 billion of property assets, has hired Michael Samuel as an asset manager for its GBP1.3 billion North American Property Business. He will be based in Henderson’s Chicago office where he will be responsible for the ongoing management of operations, value enhancement and dispositions of a portfolio of North American fund and separate account assets, including industrial, multifamily and retail property types. Prior to joining Henderson, Michael Samuel was a senior associate and loan officer with Transwestern Investment Company (now Pearlmark Real Estate), where he was responsible for the origination and asset management of commercial real estate mezzanine loans on behalf of a series of institutional investment funds. He was also responsible for the workout and resolution of distressed loans and REO.

Assets under management at LG Investment Management as of the end of September totalled GBP347bn, compared with GBP342bn one year earlier, according to a statement from the firm published on 1 November.Net inflows at LG IM totalled GBP4.8bn, of which GBP3.6bn (compared with GBP8.2bn in third quarter 2010) were for the Investment Management unit, and EUR1.2bn in savings assets under management by the group.LG IM says that gross inflows represented GBP25.1bn, of which GBP4.7bn were in the LDI (Liability-Driven Investment) segment. Assets under management in the LDI segment, which totalled GBP39bn in third quarter 2010, as of the end of September 2011 totalled GBP52bn.

In keeping with a partnership agreement signed on 15 August, Threadneedle on 1 November took over management of 21 retail funds from LV= Asset Management, and appointed new managers for the funds. The funds have total assets of about GBP8bn, while at the time of the announcement (see Newsmanagers of 18 August), assets under management were estimated at GBP8.5bn.The names of all the funds have been changed to include the Threadneedle brand name, but there are no changes to fee levels, and Threadneedle has no immediate plans to change the objectives or investment policies of former LV= funds.The complete list of funds, and their new names and managers, can be found here.

Mark Dunn, head of strategic business development at LV= Asset Management (LVAM), is joining Carmignac Gestion as sales director for the United Kingdom, according to reports in the British press.Dunn will report to Matthew Wright, who has recently been appointed as head of country UK at Carmignac Gestion (see Newsmanagers of 11 October). Wright had previously been head of professional clients at LVAM.

Le conseil d’administration d’Investa Foundation Property Trust a décidé de mettre fin au mandat de gestion confié à Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), rapporte Fund Web.Le mandat a été confié à Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM) dont la commission annuelle de gestion devrait s'élever à 1,1%. Selon le Trust, ce changement devrait entraîner une économie de l’ordre de 1,8 million de livres par an.

Threadneedle Investments has appointed Neil Robson as fund manager in its global equities team, reporting to Jeremy Podger, head of global equities. He will join in November 2011 and will be lead manager on the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Focus Fund. Neil Robson joins from Martin Currie Investment Management where he was global portfolio manager. Prior to this he was head of global equities at Pioneer Asset Management, having joined the company in 2003. Neil Robson’s appointment brings Threadneedle’s global equity team to a total of eight. The team manages EUR2.0bn.

The Hamburg-based alternative management firm Aquila Capital (EUR3bn in assets) on 31 October announced that it is opening a representative office in Singapore.The new location (Aquila Capital had already been present in seven other international locations) is led by Cumyong Quah, who in the past two years has been head of private banking & South East Asia development at Fidelity.

A spokesperson for Union Investment has confirmed to Das Investment that Christian Eckert, CIO for fixed income at the firm since February 2010, has decided to leave the business at the end of January. Anja Mikus, head of portfolio management, will hold the position in the interim. Before being promoted to her current position, Mikus served as head of FI management, until the arrival of Eckert.

In the first few days of October, investors opted for high yield bonds, according to the most recent estimates from EPFR Global. Net inflows to these funds totalled USD4.7bn in the week to 26 October, bringing total inflows in the past two weeks to nearly USD8bn.This rebound in investor appetite for risk has also benefited emerging market bond funds. Since the beginning of this year, inflows to these funds have once again topped USd900m, 102% of total inflows in the year 2010. Bond funds as a whole have posted net inflows of USD1.69bn.Equity funds, for their part, have seen a net inflow of USD2.8bn, as subscriptions to ETFs more than offset redemptions from actively-managed funds. Investor sentiment in relation to emerging markets appears to be improving, although investors are still hesitant to increase their exposure to specific regions or countries. In the first ten months of the year, net outflows from all funds dedicated to emerging market equities totalled USD40.2bn, while in the corresponding period of 2010, net outflows totalled over USD52bn.

Anthony Zammar has become director of one of the two desks dedicated to Saudi Arabia at UBS Geneva, Agefi Switzerland reports. He will report to Ali Janoudi, who oversees wealth management for Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa. With more than 20 years of experience in the Saudi market, Zammar joins UBS from J.P. Morgan, where he had been managing director and senior client advisor for the Middle East, and previously Head of Sales Management for the region.

Clients of John Paulson have chosen to remain invested in his hedge fund, in a sign of their confidence in the manager’s ability to cancel out his recent losses, the Financial Times reports. In a letter to investors, Paulson says that gross redemptions are estimated to represent less than 8% of the firm’s total assets under management. Subscribers had until 31 October to apply for redemption before the end of the year.

Sur les vingt dernières années, elles combinent surperformance et moindre volatilité

Alors que les économistes anticipaient une croissance de 0,3%, le PIB britannique a progressé de 0,5% de juillet à septembre

Les économistes estiment que les ventes massives de yen par Tokyo ne sont pas de nature à inverser la tendance à l'appréciation de la devise

Une réunion de crise aura lieu aujourd’hui à Cannes avec les représentants européens et le FMI

Le rendement du papier à 2 ans a touché 5,75% hier, du jamais vu depuis 1997, malgré l'intervention de la Banque centrale européenne

Une réunion de crise aura lieu aujourd’hui à Cannes avec les représentants européens et le FMI

Chahutés hier après l’annonce du référendum grec, les établissements hexagonaux devraient publier dans les prochains jours des résultats en recul.

Les marchés n'escomptent pas de baisse des taux de la BCE. Ils espèrent que la Fed évoquera d'autres outils de soutien à la reprise

Le 21st Century Business Herald indique que Pékin a durci les conditions d’investissement pour les gestionnaires d’actifs dans l’immobilier et la gestion de fortune. Les professionnels sont appelés à un «nettoyage». En parallèle, Pékin envisage d’assouplir les règles applicables aux assureurs pour les investissements en actions, selon Financial News qui cite le vice-président du régulateur de l’assurance, Chen Wenhui.

Reuters croit savoir que le gestionnaire alternatif a informé ses clients que les demandes brutes de rachat pour la fin de l’année, qui devaient être formulées avec le 1er novembre, ont été limitées à moins de 8% des actifs sous gestion s’élevant à 30 milliards de dollars. Paulson & Co avaient nourri les pires craintes après avoir indiqué que 20 à 25% des actifs étaient potentiellement éligibles.