Si un mouvement de décollecte a été enregistré au cours du premier semestre 2011, en phase avec la tendance du marché des OPCVM, la collecte de La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM) auprès des particuliers et des personnes morales est redevenue positive aux mois de juillet et août 2011, a indiqué la société le 8 septembre à l’occasion de la présentation de ses résultats semestriels.Au 30 juin 2011, LBPAM gérait près de 126 milliards d’euros, ce qui la place au cinquième rang des sociétés de gestion en France. A noter que le chiffre d’affaires global de la prévoyance (individuelle et collective) gérée par La Banque Postale Prévoyance, filiale détenue à parts égales par La Banque Postale et CNP Assurances qui porte la gamme des produits de prévoyance commercialisés par La Banque Postale, a atteint 209 millions d’euros à fin 2011 (+0,8% par rapport à 2010).

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) a annoncé le 8 septembre la nomination de Paloma Pedrola en qualité de responsable internationale pour la conservation et les services dépositaires. Basée à Paris et rattachée à Etienne Deniau, elle est en charge de la coordination de la conservation existante et des services dépositaires en Europe occidentale, (Allemagne, Irlande, Espagne, Royaume-Uni), Europe centrale et Europe de l’Est (Croatie, République tchèque, Grèce, Pologne, Roumanie, Russie, Serbie, Slovénie) et Afrique (Egypte, Maroc et Afrique du Sud). Elle est également responsable du développement de ces services dans de nouveaux pays, en particulier la Tunisie, la Côte d’Ivoire et la Bulgarie. Paloma Pedrola avait été nommée responsable de SGSS en Espagne en 2006.Nathan Derhy est nommé responsable pays pour Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) en Irlande. Il est responsable du développement des activités principales de SGSS dans le pays, en particulier pour la conservation et les services dépositaires, les services d’administration de fonds et les services de distribution. Précédemment responsable de SGSS en Inde, Nathan Derhy remplace Christian de Beaufort. Il est rattaché à Bruno Prigent, futur directeur de SGSS à compter du 1er octobre. Christian de Beaufort est nommé responsable des Services aux investisseurs pour SGSS en Espagne. Il reporte à Etienne Deniau, directeur de la Conservation et des Services dépositaires. Christian est en charge de développer les activités SGSS dans ce pays. Murali Narasimhan est nommé nouveau responsable pays et responsable de SGSS en Inde. Il est rattaché de ce fait à Philippe Huerre, directeur adjoint des marchés émergents de SGSS. Il devient aussi directeur général adjoint de SBI-SG Global Securities Services Pvt Ltd, la joint-venture de SGSS avec State Bank of India, la principale banque du secteur public du pays, qui fournit des services de conservation aux investisseurs locaux et étrangers en Inde.

Qosmos, (www.Qosmos.com ) leader de la technologie d’Intelligence Réseau, a annoncé le 8 septembre une levée de fonds de 19,8 millions d’euros au terme d’un tour de table réunissant le capital-risqueur européen DFJ Esprit, le Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI) et Alven Capital.L’opération renforce les fonds propres de Qosmos, à travers une augmentation de capital et l’émission d’obligations convertibles, et comprend également le rachat des parts de l’ancien investisseur Sofinnova par les trois sociétés précitées. Krishna Visvanathan, partenaire chez DFJ Esprit ainsi qu’un représentant du FSI intègreront le conseil de surveillance de Qosmos. Cette levée de fonds permettra particulièrement de financer l’expansion de Qosmos en Amérique du Nord et dans la région Asie-Pacifique, de soutenir le développement de nouveaux produits, les actions marketing à l’international et d’éventuelles acquisitions. Rentable depuis 2009, Qosmos affichait en 2010 un chiffre d’affaires en hausse de 40 %.

BNY Mellon Asset Management a annoncé le 8 septembre le lancement du fonds BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity, le premier fonds de sa gamme, géré par Insight Investment Management Limited (Insight Investment), une des 18 filiales de gestion. Ce fonds appartient à la sicav BNY Mellon Global Funds, plc, domiciliée à Dublin et agréée UCITS III.Le nouveau fonds a pour objectif de délivrer un rendement absolu positif quelles que soient les conditions de marché, sur une période de 12 mois, en investissant à la fois sur des positions longues et courtes sur le marché paneuropéen, en utilisant une approche dite de « paired-trade ». A l’aide d’un processus de recherche spécialisé conduit par une équipe de professionnels hautement qualifiée, le fonds s’attache à identifier les anomalies de valorisation et à mettre à profit ces opportunités au travers de positions d’investissement soigneusement élaborées tandis que tout risque potentiel non souhaité est couvert. Anne-Laure Frischlander, directeur général de BNY Mellon AM France précise que « la période actuelle de grande incertitude économique et de volatilité sur l’ensemble des classes d’actifs nous oblige à repenser le risque et rechercher des sources de revenu peu directionnelles offrant ainsi une décorrélation. L’expérience démontrée d’Insight à gérer le risque de marché et dégager de l’alpha depuis 5 ans dans sa stratégie Absolute Insight UK Equity Market Neutral nous conforte sur l’opportunité d’un tel produit aujourd’hui auprès d’investisseurs sophistiqués en demande de plus en plus importante de solutions de performances dans toutes les conditions de marché.» Le processus d’investissement du fonds se base sur la stratégie long-short que l’équipe actions applique au sein de la stratégie Absolute Insight UK Equity Market Neutral depuis mai 2005. Le fonds sera aussi capable d’établir des positions plus grandes et d’adopter une exposition directionnelle au marché pour saisir les opportunités à la hausse. En plus d’une gestion dynamique de l’exposition nette et brute et de la liquidité quotidienne, les gérants utiliseront également des stratégies de stop-loss pour chaque position afin de contenir le risque baissier. Bien que le fonds n’ait aucune contrainte géographique, l’équipe de gestion se focalisera tout d’abord sur l’Europe, notamment sur le Royaume-Uni. Principales caractéristiques Code Isin : IE00B3T5WH77 (euro) Commission de souscription maximum : 5% Frais de gestion annuels : 1,50% Commission de performance : 15% Investissement minimal : 5.000 euros Devises disponibles : GBP, EUR, USD

Neil Hounslow, patron pour la zone Asie-Pacifique des services de prime brokerage chez Credit Suisse, ainsi que deux membres de son équipe, ont quitté la société, rapporte Asian Investor. Neil Hounslow est remplacé dans ses fonctions par Dereke Seeto, précédemment en poste à Sydney où il dirigeait les services de prime brokerage pour l’Australie. Pour sa part, Neil Hounslow pourrait rejoindre JP Morgan, précise Asian Investor.

Le fonds souverain de Singapour Temasek vient de recruter Tan Chong-Lee en qualité de co-CIO (chief investment officer), rapporte Asian Investor qui ajoute toutefois ne pas avoir pu se faire confirmer l’information.Tan Chong-Lee travaillait précédemment chez Bank of America Merrill Lynch où il avait la responsabilité des activités de banque d’investissement dans le Sud-Est asiatique.

With the Bonds EUR Investment Grade Aggregate, a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Petercam L Fund, Petercam is offering an all-terrain product in the area of investment grade bonds, from 15 September.The bond management teams (Johnny Debuysscher for govies and Peter de Coensel for corporates) will assist the manager, Sam Vereecke, to build a portfolio which will be optimised with active arbitrage between the various segments of the market, government and corporate bonds. All of the securities in the portfolio (60-80 positions) will be denominated in euros.A sales license for France has already been applied for from the AMF.CharacteristicsName: Petercam L Bonds Eur Investment Grade AggregateISIN codes: Income share – class A – ISIN LU0664123691Accumulation share - class B - ISIN LU0664123774Income share - class E - ISIN LU0664123857Accumulation share - class F - ISIN LU0664123931Front-end fee: maximum 3%Management commission: 0.60%Initial net asset value: EUR100 as of 15 September

Dario Carfizzi has left Eurizon Capital, the asset management firm of the Intesa Sanpaolo group, where he had been a fund selector and manager, to join Groupama Asset Management Sgr in Italy, Bluerating reports. He will be Institutional Business Development Executive for the Italian market.

Ignis Advisors, a multi-manager business unit established in November 2010 by Ignis AM, has recruited Aoifinn Devitt, principal and founder of Clontarf Capital, as head of client strategies. She was previouslya specialist consultant at Cambridge Associates in London and Boston, and at Goldman Sachs. Aoifinn Devitt will be joined by two of her associates at Clontarf Capital, Javier Herranz and Cian O’Sullivan,who will further strengthen the investment team. She will be working closely with Claude Chene, Ignis Asset Management’s recently appointed global head of distribution, to bring Ignis Advisors’ capabilities to a wider client base.Ignis Advisors has also hired a chief operating officer. Mark Long, who held roles as senior vice president operational due diligence, European general counsel and head of corporate development at FRM, has joined with responsibility for operational due diligence, product development and operations. Andreas Schroeder, formerly of ABP, has joined as head of quant analytics, responsible for risk modelling and quantitative asset allocation.

On 1 November, Frank Pörschke, who until 31 August had been chairman of the management board at Eurohypo, will join the Jones Lang LaSalle Germany group as international director. He will then become CEO from 1 January 2012, replacing Andreas Quint, who has directed the German operations of Jones Lang LaSalle for the past three years, and who has been promoted to head of the pan-European corporate finance unit, a position in which he will shuttle between London and Frankfurt.

The coverage rate for US pension funds in the month of August fell 5.6 percentage points, to 78%, according to monthly statistics from BNY Mellon Asset Management. The coverage rate, which is affected both by falling assets and by an increase in liabilities for the second consecutive month, is at its lowest level since September 2010.

BNY Mellon Asset Management on 8 September in Paris announced the launch of the BNY Absolute Return Equity fund, the first fund of its range to be managed by Insight Investment Management Limited (Insight Investment), one of its 18 management affiliates. The fund is a sub-fund of the BNY Mellon Global Funds plc Sicav, domiciled in Dublin and compliant with UCITS III. The new fund will aim to deliver positive absolute returns in all market conditions, over a 12-month period, investing both in long and short positions on the pan-European market, using paired-trade strategies. With the help of a specialised research process led by a team of highly-qualified professionals, the fund aims to identify valuation anomalies and to profit from those opportunities with the use of carefully developed investment positions, while undesired potential risk is hedged for. Anne-Laure Frischlander, CEO of BNY Mellon AM France, says that “the current period of major economic uncertainty and volatility on all asset classes demands that we rethink risk, and seek sources of revenue that are less directional and offer lower levels of correlation. The demonstrated experience of Insight in managing market risk and earning alpha in the past 5 years with its Absolute Insight UK Equity Market Neutral fund reassures us about the opportunities that such a product now represents for sophisticated investors who are increasingly demanding high-performance solutions in all market conditions.” The investment process for the fund is based on the long/short strategy that the equities team has been applying for the Absolute Insight UK Equity Market Neutral fund since May 2005. The fund will also be able to adopt larger positions and directional positions on the market, in order to seize opportunities for growth. In addition to dynamic management of net and gross exposure and daily liquidity, the managers will also use stop-loss strategies for each position in order to limit risk of losses. Though the fund has no geographical constraints, the management team will focus initially on Europe, and particularly the UK.

Neuberger Berman is launching two international equities funds, the Global Equity Fund (acronyms NGQAX, NGQCX, NGQIX) and the Global Thematic Opportunities Fund (NGHAX, NGHCX, NGHIX), as complements to the Global Allocation Fund, launched in June. The first of these funds, manage dby Benjamin Segal and Saurin Shah, invests primarily in large and midcaps in developed and emerging markets, in shares in companies likely to generate sustainable and high profits, but which are trading below their intrinsic value. The team also seeks to control volatility. The Global Thematic Opportunities Fund uses a strategy which has been available to institutional investors and high net worth private investors since 2003, with an unconstrained approach. The objective for Tony Gleason, Alexandra Pomeroy, Richard Levine and William Hunter is to identify significant and undervalued themes and trends on the basis of research by Neuberger Berman, in order to select equities in companies likely to profit from those themes. As of the end of June, Neuberger Berman managed USD198bn, of which USD96bn were in equities, USD85bn in bonds, and USD18bn in alternative assets.

Advantage Plus, le hedge fund que gère John Paulson, accuse depuis le début de cette année une perte de 34 %, en grande partie à cause d’un mois d’août «noir» où il a chuté de 15 %, contre 1,1 % pour la moyenne du secteur, rapporte Cinco Días. Le fonds a aussi été pénalisé par la chute de 44 % du cours de Bank of America, même si John Paulson avait anticipé les problèmes et réduit de moitié sa position en mars à 60,4 millions de titres.

Selon des proches du dossier, le capital-investisseur Blackstone aurait payé au total environ 220 millions d’euros pour acheter les 6.800 logements sociaux et les 73 magasins du groupe immobilier Level One en faillite, rapporte la Börsen-Zeitung. La plupart de ces actifs sont situés à Berlin. Blackstone apporte bien moins que la moitié de la somme en fonds propres, l’opération étant principalement financée par Corealcredit Bank et SEB.

Net inflows to open-ended funds and dedicated funds in July totalled EUR6.6bn, according to statistics from the German financial management association (BVI).In open-ended funds, which attracted a net total of EUR3.9bn, investors concentrated on traditional asset classes. Equity funds posted a net inflow of EUR4.1bn. Bond funds attracted EUR1.1bn, while open-ended real estate funds posted subscriptions totalling EUR200m. However, diversified funds saw an outflow of EUR200m.BVI observes in a statement that the new classification of money market funds which came into use on 1 July has brought more than two thirds of the funds previously classified as money market funds into the bond fund category. As of the end of July, assets in money market funds totalled EUR11.9bn, compared with EUR39bn the previous month, while assets in bond funds rose to EUR183.6bn, from EUR154.1bn previously.As of the end of July, assets in open-ended funds totalled over EUR697bn, of which EUR235bn were in equity funds, and EUR184bn in bond funds. Diversified funds represent 17% (EUR119bn) of the total, while open-ended real estate funds represent 12%, with about EUR85bn.Assets in dedicated, institutional, funds totalled EUR848bn as of the end of July.

The B2B distributor max.xs, an affiliate of the publicly-traded financial group cash.life AG, has recruited four people for its client assistance deparment, serving investors and its product partners, the asset managers First Private Investment Management, Gamax Management, Kleinwort Benson Investors, Rothschild & Cie Gestion and Veritas Investment Trust, and the broker Wölbern Invest KG.Thomas Dinges (ex FPM) and Thomas Gils (ex Franklin Templeton) have been recruited as senior sales managers, while Sybille Schrempp (ex Meta Communication, formerly of Threadneedle) joins client service. In October, Alexandre Flechsig (ex Silk Invest) will join the marketing team.The new recruits will report to Rainer Ottemann, Managing Director and Head of Distribution, and Oliver Roll, Managing Director and Head of Fund Selection & Institutional Business.

Now that the German savings banks are the sole proprietors of DekaBank (EUR96.75bn in assets in open-ended retail funds, over EUR20bn in real estate funds, and EUR50.8bn in institutional funds as of the end of July), the command structure for the central asset management firm for the savings bank network is set to evolve. Since Walter Groll’s term as head of capital market operations was not renewed in June (see Newsmanagers of 8 April), the board will now be composed of only five members. Development of derivative transactions was clearly not a priority for the savings banks, who also were loath to forgive Groll for tax-optimistation deals to the profit of certain clients, as procedure had not been respected in these cases, and they cost the firm more than EUR60m in profits in 2010.Oliver Behrens, in charge of securities asset management, will now be responsible for trading activities, and thus all capital market products from the group. Matthias Danne, CFO and head of the asset management/real estate division, takes charge of all credit activities. Hans-Jürgen Gutenberger, who had been in charge of retail distribution, is now also head of treasury.The responsibilities of Franz S. Waas, chairman of the board, and Friedrich Oelrich, chief risk officer, will remain unchanged.

The US banking group Wells Fargo has announced its acquisition of the administration services provider Lacrosse Global Fund Services from Cargill. The operation will bring the group and its specialised affiliate Wells Fargo Corporate Trust Services (CTS) a complete range of hedge fund administration services.

Fitch Ratings on 8 September announced that it is maintaining its asset manager rating of M2- for Sycomore Asset Management. In general, firms rated M2 are thought to be less vulnerable to operational and management errors.The ratings agency’s comments are full of praise, and highlight the stability of teams at Sycomore, which have recently been strengthened with the recruitment of four managers to assist in the development of new products.Fitch also emphasizes that the primary challenge for Sycomore remains international development and development of long/short and diversified fund management, and adapting processes and decision-making tools to a more extensive product range and to new market conditions. The “company and teams” and “investment administration” ratings have been improved slightly, to 2.75 from 3, and 2.25 from 2.50.

Citi Global Transaction Services (GTS) has won a mandate from the fund of fund specialist Sandalwood Securities, to provide administration and custody services.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on 8 September announced the appointment of Paloma Pedrola as international head for custody and depository services. Pedrola will be based in Paris and will report to Etienne Denau, and will be in charge of coordination of existing custody and depository services in Western Europe (Germany, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom), central and eastern Europe (Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Slovenia) and Africa (Egypt, Morocco and South Africa). She will also be responsible for development of services in new countries, particularly Tunisia, Ivory Coast and Bulgaria. Pedrola was appointed head of SGSS for Spain in 2006. Nathan Derhy has been appointed country head of Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) for Ireland. He is responsible for development of the main activities of SGSS in the country, particularly for custody and depository services, fund administration and distribution services. Derhy, reviously head of SGSS in India, replaces Christian de Beaufort. He will report to Bruno Prigent, who will become Director of SGSS from 1 October. De Beaufort has been appointed as head of investor services for SGSS in Spain. He will report to Etienne Denau, Director of custody and depository services. De Beaufort is in charge of developing the services of SGSS in that country. Murali Narasimhan has been appointed as the new country head and head for SGSS in India. He will report to Philippe Huerre, deputy director of emerging markets at SGSS. He also becomes deputy CEO at SBI-SG Global Securities Services Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of SGSS and State Bank of India, the largest public sector bank in the country; the joint venture provides custody services to local and foreign investors in India.

Qosmos (www.qosmos.com), a leader in intelligent network technologies, on 8 September announced that it has raised EUR19.8m from a group of investors including the European venture capital firm DFJ Esprit, the Fonds Stratégique d’Investissement (FSI) and Alven Capital. The operation will increase owners’ equity at Qosmos, via a capital increase and an issue of convertible bonds, and also includes the repurchase of shares from the former investor Sofinnova by the three firms cited above. Krishna Viavanathan, a partner at DFJ Esprit, and a representative of the FSI will join the supervisory board at Qosmos. The round of fundraising will provide financing for expansion at Qosmos in North America and Asia-Pacific, and to support the development of new products, international marketing activities, and potential acquisitions. Qosmos, which has been profitable since 2009, in 2010 posted earnings up 40%.

Although the firm showed a net outflow in first half 2011, in phase with a market trend for OPCVMs, inflows to La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM) from retail investors and entities turned positive again in July and August 2011, the firm announced on 8 September at a presentation of its quarterly results. As of 30 June 2011, LBPAM had nearly EUR126bn in assets under management, which puts it in fifth place among asset managers in France. Global earnings from retirement planning (individual and collective) managed by La Banque Postale Prévoyance, a joint venture owned 50/50 by La Banque Postale and CNP Assurances which provides the retirement planning product range from La Banque Postale, totalled Eur209bn as of the end of 2011 (+0.8% compared with 2010).

Sycomore Asset Management is beginning to offer its funds in Germany and Switzerland, Laurent Deltour, the firm’s president, announced on the occasion of the asset manager’s 10th birthday. In order to offer its products in Germany, the French boutique is working with an independent partner, Kerstin Fischer, managing director of Fischer Financial.Deltour also points out that Sycomore has recently added to its management team with the recruitments of Olivier Mollé, in charge of the Sycomore L/S Market Neutral fund, and Arnaud d’Aligny, an analyst and manager for European equities. In addition, the firm has recently launched an emerging markets fund and an SRI fund.

In an article on BlackRock, the Economist observes that the size of the world’s largest asset manager may already be a problem. According to analysts, the firm has seen about USD149bn in outflows since 2010, many pension funds feeling that they have too much money invested with BlackRock. Due to its size, the firm may be declared a “systemically important financial institution” by the US government in the next few months. Another source of concern is how BlackRock will grow. One of the answers is to develop more on the retail market. But the hardest challenge for the management giant, in these volatile markets, will be to maintain its performance.

The Singapore sovereign fund Temasek has recruited Tan Chong-Lee as co-CIO (chief investment officer), Asian Investor reports, adding that it was unable to confirm the information. Tan previously worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was responsible for investment banking activities for South-East Asia.

Neil Hounslow, head of prime brokerage services for Asia-Pacific at Credit Suisse, and two members of his team have left the firm, Asian Investor reports.Hounslow is replaced by Dereke Seeto, previously based in Sydney, where he had been director of prime brokerage services for Australia. Hounslow may join JP Morgan, Asian Investor states.

Hedge funds have been affected by a move by the Swiss National Bank (BNS) to fix the value of the franc against the euro, Agefi Switzerland reports. Global markets and quantitative funds have been among the largest victims of the exceptional measure taken on Tuesday. By introducing a limit of CHF1.30 to EUR1, the BNS cost operators who bet on the Swiss franc as a safe heaven asset.

La banque helvétique Credit Suisse étudierait, selon La Tribune, qui cite la presse suisse, la possibilité de retirer son activité de banque privée des États-Unis. Elle doit en effet y faire face à la pression des autorités américaines, décidées à lutter contre l'évasion fiscale.