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23/08/2011

Credit Suisse cuts Indian wealth management staff

The Credit Suisse group has decided to reduce its personnel in India in its wealth management division by 20%, as part of a global cost reduction programme, the Reuters news agency reports. Following the announcement of a 4% decline in pre-tax profits in second quarter 2011, to CHF843m, the Swiss group announced plans to reduce staff by about 4% in all divisions, equivalent to about 2,000 jobs.
23/08/2011

Lloyds Banking Group signs an outsourcing contract with State Street

State Street Corporation has announced that its existing contract with the Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has been renewed. State Street becomes the preferred provider, responsible for all middle office, securities custody, accounting, depository, securities lending and investment administration services for life insurance, retirement and investment affiliates (Scottish Widows), and asset management activities (Scottish Widows Investment Partnership) of LBG. The consolidated portfolios include investment accounting for over GBP200bn in assets. Services currently provided by other providers will be transferred to State Street in the next 18 months, the statement adds.
23/08/2011

Goldman banker joins Man Group

Jonathan Sorrell, one of the top bankers at Goldman Sachs, and son of Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, will be joining Man Group as a member of the executive board. According to the Financial Times, Sorrell will become head of strategy at the hedge fund firm.
23/08/2011

Assekurata licensed as a European ratings agency

The German federal financial services surveillance authority (BaFin) has issued the Assekurata Assekuranz Rating-Agentur company, founded in 1996, a license as a European ratings agency. The business, based in Cologne, is focused particularly on ratings of primary insurance companies.Eight other firms so far have received the status of licensed European ratings agency, five of them German (Euler Hermes Rating, Feri EuroRating, Creditreform Rating, PSR Rating et GBB Rating), one Greek (ICAP), one Bulgarian (Bulgarian Credit Rating) and one Japanese (Japan Credit Rating).
23/08/2011

Asian investors favour funds

In the second quarter of this year, investors in Asia Pacific invested a net total of USD26.9bn in domestic funds, Lipper FMI reports, the highest level since fourth quarter 2009. The investment flows follow three consecutive quarters of net redemptions. Several major asset management firms, such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, have also seen a boom in demand for UCITS funds domiciled in Europe from Asian subscribers in first quarter 2011.
23/08/2011

DWS offers a way to secure unit-linked life insurance contracts

In order to protect unit-linked life insurance policyholders against market shocks in the final phase of their policies, DWS (Deutsche Bank group) on 22 August announced the launch of DWS Shift, a solution which is tied to a guarantee system, DWS Flexible Portfolio Insurance. The solution allowed funds managed with it to be virtually completely sheltered from the recent market turbulence, or even allowed them to earn positive returns, the asset management firm says.In addition, DWS Shift has a 90% guarantee from DWS Investments SA on peaks recorded, valid for the last year of the contract for funds. More funds with a longer maturity will be gradually released.Currently, DWS Shift is being used to cover three funds (registered in Luxembourg, with maturities of 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5 years). The degree of exposure is constantly adapted to the market situation in the light of an analysis of trends and market volatility.For the three funds, the front-end fee may be up to 5%, and the management commission is 1.4%. The distribution commission is a maximum of 0.75% for the DWS Shift 2015, 1% for the DWS Shift 2016, and 1.25% for the 2017 funds. Meanwhile, the penalty for early withdrawal will be a maximum of 0.75%, 1% and 1.25%, respectively.
23/08/2011

Inflows to closed funds up

According to the VGF (Verband Geschlossene Fonds e.V.) association of German closed fund managers, the 45 member companies of the association in second quarter 2011 posted subscriptions of EUR1.06bn, compared with EUR803.2m in January-March, and over EUR1.18bn in the corresponding period of last year.Institutional investors contributed EUR86.9m to total inflows, compared with EUR48.2m in the previous three-month period, and EUR226.5m in second quarter 2010.Most new subscriptions went to funds specialised in German real estate, which took on EUR531m, compared with EUR248.3m in first quarter, and EUR346.7m in April-June 2010.
23/08/2011

Inflows down at GAM Holding in first half

The wealth management firm GAM Holding has reported a net profit for first half 2011 of CHF100.4m, a 6% decline year on year, but a 5% increase compared with second half 2010. Net inflows totalled CHF600m, GAM Holding says in a statement released on 23 August. In first half 2010, net inflows totalled CHF5.6bn. Assets under management as of the end of June totalled CHF113.5bn, down CHF4.3bn, or 4% from the end of December 2010. This development is exclusively due to appreciation of the Swiss franc against the main currencies in the portfolio (US dollars, euros, and to a lesser extent, pounds Sterling).
23/08/2011

UBS cuts 3,500 jobs, more than half of them in asset management

UBS on 23 August provided an update on its plans to eliminate expenses of a total of approximately CHF 2 billion from annual costs by the end of 2013, consistent with its announcement on July 26, 2011. “These plans include savings associated with headcount reductions of approximately 3,500, which will be achieved through redundancies as well as natural attrition, and further real estate rationalization,” the bank says in a statement. UBS expects to recognize restructuring charges of approximately CHF 550 million in connection with its cost reduction plans, approximately CHF 450 million of which will be booked in the second half of 2011. The substantial majority of the expected CHF 450 million charge will be recognized in the third quarter of 2011. Of the expected CHF 550 million in restructuring charges, approximately 55% is expected to be incurred in the Investment Bank, 30% in Wealth Management & Swiss Bank, 10% in Global Asset Management, and 5% in Wealth Management Americas. Of the expected 3,500 staff reductions, approximately 45% will come from the Investment Bank, 35% from Wealth Management & Swiss Bank, 10% from Global Asset Management, and 10% from Wealth Management Americas.
23/08/2011

UBP appoints a new head of multi-management

Citywire reports that Reto Gehring is leaving UBP, only three months after being appointed as head of multi-management. He will be replaced by Didier Chan-Voc-Chun, former CIO of fund selection at Fortis Investments.
23/08/2011

US money market funds reduce European exposure

US money market funds (MMF) have reduced their exposure to European banks, according to a research released on 22 August by Fitch Ratings. As of 31 July, exposure to European banks from the ten largest money market funds was down 9% compared with 30 June, and down 20.4% compared with the end of May. Exposure to European banks represents 47% of assets in money market funds in the Fitch sample (43% of total assets in US money market funds), compared with 48.7% as of the end of June.
23/08/2011

SPDR Gold Shares becomes world's largest ETF

The SPDR Gold Shares fund from State Street Global Advisors has become the world’s largest ETF by market value, the Financial Times reports. Assets in the gold fund have risen to USD76.7bn, putting it ahead of the SPDR S&P 500, with USD74.4bn, for the first time.
23/08/2011

Vanguard recruits a new manager

Vanguard has announced the recruitment of Gemma Wright-Casparius as a senior manager in its Fixed Income team. Wright-Caspariuus previously served as fixed income manager and deputy head of the macro-economic team for a sovereign fund affiliate in Singapore.
23/08/2011

Three former HDF heads move to Theam

According to information received by Newsmanagers, the three employees who left the French multi-management firm HDF Finance earlier this year (see Newsmangers of 7 February 2011) have joined Theam, the structure created from a merger of Harewood Asset Managmeent and the Sigma team from BNP Paribas Asset Management, and which is now a wholly-owned unit of BNP Paribas Investment Partners (see Newsmanagers of 16 March 2011). Eric Debonnet, the former head of research and risk management at HDF Finance, becomes head of alternative management at Theam. David Gilleron, who was co-CIO for equities at the French boutique, has been appointed co-CIO alternative multi-management at the BNP Paribas IP unit. Thierry de Rycke, previously co-CIO for fixed income, currencies and relative value at HDF Finance, has also joined Theam. The three HDF veterans rejoin Gilles Guérin, CEO of Theam, who spent a few months at HDF as CEO and vice-chairman of the board. Theam’s activities are structured around four specialties, including alternative management, which represents EUR5.4bn in assets, according to figures from March 2011. The other areas are guaranteed and protected funds (EUR25.1bn), ETF and index-based management (EUR15.9bn), and systematic active management (EUR2.4bn).
23/08/2011

Standard & Poor's to replace head

The president of Standard & Poor’s, Deven Sharma, will be leaving the business. He will be replaced by a director from the Citigroup bank, McGraw-Hill, the parent company of the ratings agency which recently lowered its rating of the United States, announced on 22 August. Douglas Peterson, 53, director of operations at Citibank, the umbrella entity for banking activities for the US Citigroup, will take over as head of Standard & Poor’s on 12 September, a statement says. Sharma, 55, will concentrate on overhauling the McGraw-Hill group’s strategy by the end of this year, and then will leave the business. “As we announced at the end of last year, Standard & Poor’s has been divided into two distinct organisations: S&P, which includes our credit ratings services, and McGraw-Hill Financial,” which includes analysis, financial data and market index activities, Harol McGraw, president and CEO of the group which bears his name, explained. “Deven helped us to create two high-growth segments, and was ready for new challenges after that. We have thus begun the search for a new director for S&P,” he added.
23/08/2011

FTC Capital recruits two big names in quantitative management

After its recent recruitment of one of the directors of Superfund, Helmut Spitzer (see Newsmanagers of 18 August) as its head of development, the Austrian management firm FTC Capital has announced the recruitment of economics professor Bernd Scherer as its CIO. Scherer, a former managing director of Morgan Stanley in London and holder of a chair from Edhec, is a specialist in quantitative management, as is the Romanian Stefanel Radu, who was head of research at Kaiser Trading Group in Melbourne, and has joined FTC Capital as head of research.
23/08/2011

Columbia launches an emerging markets fund and a Europe fund

Columbia Management (USD362bn in assets as of the end of June), an affiliate of Ameriprise Financial (like Threadneedle), has announced the launch of two international equities mutual funds. The two products, targeting firms with capitalisations of under USD5bn, will be managed by Columbia Wanger Asset Management (USD35.7bn), which already manages two other products of the Columbia Acorn range.The first of the new funds is the Columbia Acorn Emerging Markets Fund (acronym CAGAX), whose lead managers are Fritz Kaegi and Stephen Kusmierczak, and co-managers Zach Egan and Louis Mendes. The fund will invest at least 80% of their assets in companies headquartered in Brazil, China, India, or other emerging and frontier markets, or in businesses which export primarily to these countries. The objective is to identify small and innovative businesses which serve local consumers and have good long-term growth outlooks.The Columbia Acorn European Fund (CAEAX) will invest at least 70% of its assets in countries of western Europe. It may also have an exposure of up to 30% to central and eastern Europe, of which up to 10% may be to Russia and Ukraine. The lead manager is Andreas Waldburg-Wolfegg, with Stephen Kusmierczak as co-manager.
23/08/2011

HSBC may sell its Canadian asset management unit

Agefi reports, citing a source familiar with the matter, that HSBC has commenced negotiations to sell its Canadian asset management affiliate as part of a global restructuring. Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper estimates the assets under management by the affiliate at about CAD30bn, Agefi states.
23/08/2011

Boom in real estate investment in Germany

According to statistics from CB Richard Ellis, relayed by Fondsprofessionell, investments in real estate in Germany in first half totalled EUR11.1bn, 28% more than in January-June 2010. EUR4.2bn of this total comes from foreign investors.As some transactions are beginning to reach large volumes, asset and fund managers were the largest category of investors, with nearly EUR2.6bn, or 23% of total volume, followed by open-ended real estate funds and institutional funds (Spezialfonds), with EUR2.3bn, or 21% of total volume.
23/08/2011
Gestion d'actifs

L'Adie choisit le " sans risque " pour les placements de son fonds de dotation

Créé début 2009, le fonds de dotation de l’Adie fait parti des 10 premiers fonds créés en France. « Notre dotation s'élève aujourd’hui, à un peu plus de 2,5 millions d’euros et nous faisons parti des rares fonds de dotation créés avec une dotation initiale émanant d’un don de particulier ce qui nous a permis dès le départ, d’avoir un capital », observe Catherine Monnier, déléguée générale du fonds de dotation de l’Adie. L’objectif ouvert de l’association était de trouver de nouvelles ressources pour financer ses actions autour du microcrédit. De sorte que les placements inhérents au fonds de dotation sont très sécuritaires. « Jusqu'à présent, nous avions des placements en contrats de capitalisation desquels nous sommes sortis car ils n’offraient pas suffisamment de transparence et de visibilité, explique Catherine Monnier. « Compte tenu des rendements que l’on peut attendre aujourd’hui des contrats de capitalisation, mon comité d’investissement a conseillé d’aller vers des comptes à termes beaucoup plus prévisible ». Ainsi, l’association est en attente de nouveaux placements qui se feront sans doute, sur des comptes à termes de banques ayant de bonnes signatures. Côté rendement, l’an dernier, l’Adie a obtenu un peu plus de 3% sur l’ensemble de ses placements mais escompte cette année, un rendement inférieur an raison de sa sortie en cours d’année du contrat de capitalisation. « Nous sommes sur des échéances à long terme et nous estimons que ce rendement est le meilleur que l’on puisse obtenir sans prendre de risques, précise Catherine Monnier. Mais notre choix consiste à sécuriser notre dotation car nous sommes en phase de constitution de cette dotation ».
Gestion d'actifs
23/08/2011

Le versement de septembre de l’aide à la Grèce ne sera pas retardé

Le ministre des Finances grec a déclaré qu’il n’y aurait aucun retard dans le versement de la tranche d’aide de septembre à la Grèce et il a ajouté que les discussions en vue d’un échange volontaire d’obligations impliquant le secteur privé avançaient bien. «Les besoins de financement de septembre seront couverts d’une manière ou d’une autre; il peut y avoir un dispositif provisoire dans la mesure où il y a des fonds disponibles. Je vous rappelle qu’il y a 45 milliards d’euros de disponibles dans le cadre du premier programme de renflouement», a indiqué Evangelos Venizelos lors d’une conférence de presse. Concernant l’évolution du PIB du pays, il estime que la récession cette année «sera de l’ordre de 4,5 à 5,3%», a-t-il par ailleurs indiqué en se référant aux propos du ministre Ilias Iliopoulos, secrétaire général du syndicat ADEDY du secteur public, qui participait à une réunion des partenaires sociaux.
23/08/2011

Le parquet new-yorkais doute de la culpabilité de DSK

La déposition de l’accusatrice de Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Nafissatou Diallo, n’a pas dissipé les «doutes raisonnables» quant à la culpabilité de l’ex-directeur général du FMI, indique le parquet de New York dans le document où il réclame le classement de l’affaire. Il juge en outre improbable que des éléments de la plainte déposée en France par la journaliste Tristane Banon, qui accuse Dominique Strauss-Kahn d’une tentative de viol en 2003, puissent être exploités aux Etats-Unis.
23/08/2011

L’Amérique latine verra aussi son économie ralentir

Estimant que l’Amérique latine «ne sera pas épargnée» par le ralentissement économique mondial, les analystes de Morgan Stanley ont abaissé pour l’an prochain d’un point à 3,6% leurs perspectives de croissance du PIB pour la région. Les faibles croissances américaine et européenne devraient notamment peser sur la demande de matières premières produites dans cette partie du monde.
23/08/2011

Nette hausse des CDS des pays fragilisés de la zone euro

Le coût de l’assurance contre un risque de défaut des pays les plus en difficulté de la zone euro est en hausse lundi, alors que l’Allemagne a réaffirmé dimanche son opposition à la création d’obligations communes aux 17 pays utilisant la monnaie unique. Les credit default swaps (CDS) sur les emprunts portugais à cinq ans ont été portés à 935 points de base (pb), en hausse de 39 pb sur la séance, selon Markit. Les CDS sur les obligations grecques de mêmes échéances ont atteint 2.000 pb (+71 pb sur la séance). De leur côté, les CDS sur les obligations espagnoles et italiennes à cinq ans ont grimpé respectivement de 9 et 10 pb, à 373 et 368 pb.
23/08/2011

Chypre travaille à un nouveau plan d'austérité

Le gouvernement chypriote prépare un nouveau plan d’austérité afin d’obtenir le soutien du Parlement, dominé par l’opposition, aux mesures de réduction des dépenses déjà décidées, a déclaré le secrétaire permanent aux Finances Costas Patsalides. Les coûts de financement de Chypre ont fortement augmenté après les abaissements successifs des notes de la dette souveraine de l'île, confrontée à des difficultés budgétaires et à une exposition accrue à la Grèce. Les autorités ont dû accepter lundi un rendement de 7% pour une obligation à 10 ans contre 6,52% lors d’une adjudication similaire en juin.
23/08/2011

Des prévisions de croissance en berne

Plusieurs économistes ont nettement réduit leurs anticipations de croissance pour la zone euro en 2012, les nouvelles mesures d’austérité prises par les Etats devant peser sur l’activité. Aux Etats-Unis, la prudence est également de mise.

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