The Superior Court of California in Los Angeles has found that Jeffrey Gundlach, who has since founded DoubleLine, misappropriated trade secrets and violated his fiduciary duty to his former employer, TCW (USD120bn, Société Générale group). However, as it could not be established that Gundlach acted maliciously to damage TCW, no damages and interest were awarded to the plaintiff, the Wall Street Journal reports.Meanwhile, the jury has awarded USD66.7m in back salary to Gundlach and to the dozens of TCW employees who left the firm to found DoubleLine. They had been seeking USD496m.A judge will subsequently determine whether Gundlach made illicit use of business secrets which may be subject to reparations, for which TCW is seeking USD89m.Both parties claimed to have won the case after the verdict was announced.

The crisis of 2008 has not led to a boom in socially responsible investment, Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, CEO of Novethic (a unit of the French group Caisse des Dépôts), regrets to say. She explains the reasons for this disappointing outcome, and says that she is confident in the future of an approach that combines best-in-class selection, normative exclusion, and shareholder engagement.

Two and a half years after the merger between UFG and La Française des Placements, the French UFG-LFP group is changing its name, and will now be known as La Française AM.The firm has chosen the French version of “investing together” as its new slogan.

The European fund and asset management association (EFAMA) on 16 September unveiled a project for a central European registry (European Consolidated Tape), which, under the revised MiFID directive, would offer investors much more consistent data about prices, valuations, and performance indicators, in order to foster improved execution and contribute to further reductions in direct and indirect transaction costs.The trade body says in a statement that the liberalisation of trading venue regulation under MiFID has brought many benefits for market participants. However that proliferation of trading venues has exposed weaknesses in the regulation of data quality and aggregation. This in turn has led to great difficulties in determining with certainty market prices and volumes. «All market participants have a keen interest in good quality trading data and efficient mechanisms for data consolidation. However, investment managers not only need good data to ensure they are receiving best execution for their clients, but also in order to correctly value portfolios and funds they manage», according to the EFAMA. The inability of the market to offer efficient solutions has been frustrating, especially as the costs for data feeds have continued to increase. Data providers and aggregators have divergent commercial interests and data ownership is diffused, leading to less than satisfactory, expensive data consolidation offers. Whilst it might be expected that market users would support a competitive commercial solution, this Blueprint is addressing a single official ECT. In part this reflects the absence to date of a comprehensive and enforceable solution. Commercial solutions may address many of these issues ahead of any imposed ECT but EFAMA expects that standards will still need to be set and supervised by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Commenting on the publication of these reports Peter De Proft, director general of EFAMA, said: «MiFID II must improve data quality and aggregation provisions, imposing binding minimum quality standards for trade reporting and vigorously fostering data aggregation. EFAMA proposes a Blueprint for a European Consolidated Tape to contribute to the public debate on this crucial issue, and to provide buy-side input to the European Commission for the upcoming legislative measures».

The Börsen-Zeitung reports that Simon Klein, director of ETF activities at Lyxor Asset Management for Europe, on Friday announced that the asset management firm will from next week (beginning on 19 September) be reducing the counteryparty risks for its synthetic replication ETFs, by reducing swaps to zero every night.

GLG Partners, which is now an affiliate of Man Investments, has announced the launch of a UCITS-compliant version of another of its offshore hedge funds at the end of July. It is an Irish-registered product, the GLG European Equity Alternative, whose management team uses a long/short market neutral strategy for European equities.CharacteristicsName: GLG European Equity AlternativeISIN code: IE00B5429P46Management commission: 2%Performance commission: 20%

In Europe, Fitch Ratings has counted 100 credit UCITS funds, which have an absolute return objective and employ hedge fund strategies, representing assets of about EUR20bn, in a report entitled “Credit ‘Newcits': Widely Available, Not Always Suitable.” These credit Newcits funds have seen 5% growth since the end of 2010, and 36% growth since the end of 2009. According to Fitch Ratings, 10 new funds have been launched in 2011. Five asset management firms account for about 70% of the sector in terms of assets. The leader is GAM, followed far behind by Amundi, Threadneedle, Henderson and Insight. Fitch Ratings warns that due to liquidity and leverage limitations, the UCITS framework is not suitable for all alternative credit strategies. As of the end of August 2011, credit UCITS funds using hedge fund strategies had earned positive returns since the beginning of the year. About one quarter of funds had earned a return uncorrelated with credit markets. Less than 6% have achieved returns above 5%.

In a filing dated 12 September, Cambria Investment Management Inc (CIME) and Cambria ETF Trust applied to the SEC for an exemption under the 1940 Act, to allow them to launch several actively-managed ETFs. The products would be allowed to invest in open-ended or closed funds or in other ETFs, and thus could also be ETF funds.The Cambria Domestic Equity Strategy ETF will be the first fund in the new series. It will use a proprietary quantitative approach based largely on an algorhythm.

The ETF provider iShares has made modifications to the benchmark indices for several of its products, in order to reduce tracking error, FundWeb reports. The changes will be accompanied by name changes, in order to represent the index changes. The iShares MSCI EM Latin America ETF is now based on the MSCI EM Latin America 10/40 index, which replaces the MSCI EM Latin America Index. The fund will now be known as the iShares MSCI EM Latin America 10/40. There are also plans for several real estate funds to change their benchmark indices: iShares FTSE/EPRA European Property Index, FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Asia Property Yield, FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Markets Property Yield Fund, FTSE EPRA/NAREIT UK Property Fund and FTSE EPRA/NAREIT US Property Yield funds.

The 869th ETF to be listed on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse on 15 September became the RBS Market Access CTA Index Fund, which as its name indicates replicates the evolution of the RFS CTA index. The index is composed 50/50 of the sub-indices RBS Systematic CTA and RBS Discretionary CTA, which cover a diversified portfolio of hedge funds which use the CTA (Commodity Trading Advisor) strategy.The fund is a Luxembourg-registered (LU0653608454), swap-based product, which charges fees of 0.75%.

The guaranteed fund range form Deka International (a Luxembourg affiliate of the German firm DekaBank) on 30 September will grow by one fund, with the launch of the Deka EuroGarant Strategie, for which initial subscriptions will remain open until 29 September.The fund will allow investors to participate in the evolution of the EuroStoxx 50 Risk Control 12 Excess Return index. According to the level of volatility anticipated by the Euro Stoxx Volatility Index (Vstoxx), the management team may vary the exposure to equities from 0% to 150%.After the first six-year investment period (29 September 2017), shares will be redeemed at at least 103.5% of their initial price. In the following periods, at least 100% of the price of the shares at the beginning of the period will be guaranteed at its end. A restructuring commission of 3.% may be charged at the start of each new investment period (the first of which will be on 2 October 2017).CharacteristicsName: Deka EuroGarant StrategieISIN code: LU0656616918Front-end fee: 3.50%Management commission: 1.02%

Alan Miller, former chief investment officer (CIO) at New Star, has launched a consulting unit, SCM Financial Planning, as part of the wealth management operation SCM Private, FundWeb reports.

Amra Balic, director of the credit ratings division of Standard & Poor’s for Europe, is joining BlackRock in London as head of corporate governance and responsible investment (CGIR) for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She will report to Michelle Edkins, Managing Director and Head of the Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment team, based in New York. The team has 20 specialists based in five major global regions.

The executive director of Williams de Broe, Colin Lewis, has suggested that the firm may change its name, following the acquisitin by Investec Group of Evolution Securities, which had been the owner of Williams de Broe, Money Marketing reports. A spokesperson for Investec says that no decision has yet been taken at this stage. However, in March 2010, Investec acquired Rensburg Sheppards, which has since been renamed as Investec Wealth & Management.

The British asset management firm Pershing Limited (BNY Mellon group) has announced that it is planning to launch a custody platform aimed at independent financial advisers (IFA) and financial planning entities in the United Kingdom in October.The solution has been successfully tested for 18 months on the US market for Registered Investment Advisors (RIA). It uses open architecture, and is a customisable solution which offers IFAs a single point for custody and asset administration in all asset classes.It also uses the global trading capacities and IT solutions of Pershing, including an advanced workstation with integrated portfolio management and an investor portal.

Dans un portrait paru dans l’Agefi Hebdo, Vincent Cornet, directeur des investissements de Malakoff Médéric déclare que Solvabilité II nous oblige à réfléchir en permanence à tous les curseurs: nous sommes passés d’une approche statique, avec de simples pourcentages d’allocation, à une approche dynamique, où tout changement a un impact direct sur la duration optimale et sur l’allocation en capital. Vincent Cornet travaille aussi à l'élaboration de modèles internes, définis à partir du modèle standard d’allocation des fonds propres (QIS 5). Finalement, avoir sa propre société de gestion, quand on en a les moyens, permet de faciliter la transparisation sur les actifs que nous impose Solvabilité II et d’accélérer la transmission d’informations, qui serait forcément plus longue avec plusieurs prestataires extérieurs, estime Vincent Cornet. Le lien avec les clients que constituent les différentes entités du groupe décisionnaires s’en trouve aussi simplifié: Quand nous avons repensé notre benchmark en intégrant des actions émergentes, nous avons souhaité que nos administrateurs comprennent tout, et nous avons pu être plus précis et transparents dans un souci de pédagogie. Cette approche nécessite une flexibilité certaine des équipes de FGA (Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs) pour être réactifs face aux marchés: Avec la nouvelle régulation, les autorités ont rendu les investissements procycliques. Tout le monde bouge dans le même sens et en même temps. Avec une marge de man??uvre limitée, qui pousse à une analyse plus fine et à l’usage de produits plus sophistiqués.

Le département de la Justice américain enquête sur le rôle joué par la Société Générale dans le scandale Stanford, du nom de ce financier soupçonné d’une fraude à 7 milliards de dollars. La justice se demande si la banque privée du groupe en Suisse, où l’une des sociétés d’Allen Stanford avait un compte, a manqué à ses devoirs de vigilance en matière de transactions suspectes. SG Private Banking «coopère avec le département de la Justice», s’est bornée à indiquer la banque. Dans une toute autre affaire, la filiale de gestion américaine de la Société Générale, TCW, a en partie perdu le procès qui l’opposait à son ancien gérant star, Jeffrey Gundlach. Licencié fin 2009 car il préparait le lancement de sa propre structure, DoubleLine AM, le financier a certes été reconnu coupable d’avoir trahi la confiance de son employeur. Mais la banque n’a obtenu aucune indemnité et a même été condamnée à lui payer ainsi qu'à trois de ses collègues 66,7 millions de dollars d’arriérés de salaires.

En conflit depuis août 2009 au sujet d’un contrat de liquidité concernant le véhicule Havenrock II, IKB, Crédit Agricole CIB et le rehausseur de crédit américain Financial Guaranty Insurance Company (FGIC) ont conclu un accord à l’amiable, dont les termes sont tenus confidentiels. CA CIB (à l’époque dénommée Calyon) réclamait près de 1,7 milliard de dollars dans le cadre d’une plainte déposée devant la Haute Cour de justice de Londres pour fraude. «L’accord prévoit l’abandon des procédures, chacune des parties n’admettant aucune responsabilité», a expliqué IKB dans un communiqué. En octobre 2010, IKB contre-attaquait via quatre de ses véhicules en déposant plainte auprès de la Cour suprême de New York contre Crédit Agricole Securities et CA CIB. Ces véhicules les accusaient de leur avoir vendu des titres de mauvaises qualité issus de trois CDO tout en autorisant secrètement le hedge fund Magnetar Capital à en sélectionner les sous-jacents.

La banque centrale de l’Inde a relevé ses taux d’intérêt pour la douzième fois en un an et demi et entend poursuivre sa lutte contre l’inflation malgré les signes de ralentissement de la troisième économie asiatique. Le taux directeur a été relevé d’un quart de point de pourcentage à 8,25%, comme l’attendaient les marchés.

La montée des tensions fait des trois semaines à venir une période semée d'embûches

La correction engagée en février à 4.170 points pourrait ne pas être terminée mais le potentiel de baisse supplémentaire semble faible

Le calendrier du déblocage de la nouvelle aide du FMI et de l’Europe et de la participation du secteur privé est encore incertain. Heureusement, la Grèce n’a plus qu’une tombée de titres longs à financer d’ici la fin de l’année. Elle devra rembourser 5,8 milliards en décembre.

Selon une étude McKinsey, les établissement ne bénéficiant pas suffisamment d'effets d'échelle vont devenir plus vulnérables

La montée des tensions fait des trois semaines à venir une période semée d'embûches

Les dommages pour la City risquent d'être importants si la BCE parvient à imposer une localisation des chambres de compensation en zone euro

Jean-Marie Mercadal, directeur des gestions d’OFI AM

Une solution inspirée du Talf américain se heurterait à la contrainte du AAA. Deutsche Bank préconise un refinancement du Fonds à la banque centrale

Le calendrier de la nouvelle aide et de la participation du secteur privé est encore incertain. La Grèce n'a qu'une tombée à financer, en décembre

Dans son rapport trimestriel, la banque estime que le plan de 200 milliards de livres a permis d’accroître le niveau réel du PIB de 1,5 à 2%

Le président américain devrait proposer aujourd’hui un programme de réduction du déficit budgétaire de 3.000 milliards de dollars sur 10 ans