Laffitte Capital Management qui faisait part en début d’année de son ambition d’atteindre les 250 millions fin décembre (cf. Newsmanagers du 09/02/2011) est en passe de dépasser ses objectifs. Actuellement, la société va atteindre les 200 millions d’euros soit une progression proche de 60 % en l’espace de six mois, avec une collecte répartie sur le fonds phare, Laffitte Risk Arbitrage, dédié à l’arbitrage de fusions et acquisitions sur la zone euro et les Etats-Unis (165 millions d’euros) et le dernier né – Laffitte Equity Arbitrage, lancé il y a dix-huit mois – dont l’encours approche les 12,8 millions. Dans le détail, cette progression des actifs sous gestion «colle» avec les objectifs de la société de gestion qui consistait à rééquilibrer la provenance des fonds – franco-français essentiellement - au profit d’investisseurs européens. Dont acte. Avec un rapport France/ Europe de 100/0 il y a un an, ce dernier est désormais de 80/20 et doit tendre vers les 50/50, «avec», précise David Lenfant, associé fondateur de la structure, «une forte contribution d’investisseurs luxembourgeois et italiens». Quant au «mix clients » il est jugé équilibré dans la mesure où il est réparti équitablement entre une clientèle de gestion privée, d’investisseurs institutionnels et de multigérants. Reste les conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendants qui constituent clairement une piste à travailler. « Actuellement, ces professionnels ne représentent que 3 % à 4 % de nos encours », reconnait David Lenfant pour qui il s’agit d’un axe de développement futur fort de sa maison, à mettre en regard avec la baisse des rendements des fonds en euros qui sert les fonds comme ceux de Laffite CM. Toutes ces «bonnes nouvelles» entrainent également une évolution des ressources humaines de la société qui a recruté un gérant « situations spéciales » en début d’année et vient de recruter pour son fonds phare dédié à l’arbitrage de fusions et acquisitions un quatrième gérant. Les fonctions de support en marketing-commercial et en middle-office ont également été renforcées. Dernier évènement à signaler au niveau de la gestion cette fois : Laffitte Risk Arbitrage doit passer en liquidité quotidienne - alors qu’elle est actuellement hebdomadaire. Depuis sa création fin 2007, le fonds affiche une performance annualisée de 5,3 % avec une volatilité inférieure à 2% tandis que le second offre une performance de 4,75% depuis le début de l’année.

Axa Private Equity (Axa PE) a annoncé avoir acquis auprès de Barclays un portefeuille de fonds de private equity d’une valeur totale de 740 millions de dollars. «Cette seconde transaction majeure en moins d’un mois - elle fait suite à celle menée auprès de Citigroup concernant un portefeuille de 1,7 milliard de dollars d’actifs Ndlr - confirme AXA Private Equity comme partenaire privilégié des investisseurs institutionnels cherchant à céder des actifs de private equity et témoigne de son statut de leader mondial dans le secteur des fonds de fonds secondaires», précise un communiqué d’Axa PE daté du 30 juin. Le montant de la transaction avec la banque britannique n’a pas été révélé.

Avec le Baring Dynamic Emerging Markets Fund, Barings vient de lancer un produit multi-classes d’actifs sur les marchés émergents couvrant à la fois les actions, les obligations, les devises, les matières premières (indirectement), les dérivés, les instruments du marchés monétaires et/ ou le cash. L’objectif est de générer des performances similaires à celles des actions sur le long terme, mais avec moins de risque.Ce fonds est confié à l'équipe «multi-asset» (huit gérants de portefeuille et trois analystes), qui gère déjà 4 milliards de livres dans des produits d’allocation d’actifs dynamique, et plus spécifiquement au chef de cette dernière, Percival Stanion, assisté de Toby Nangle.Le nouveau produit est un compartiment de l’OEIC irlandais Baring Investment Funds plc. Le droit d’entrée et la commission de gestion, pour les investisseurs retail, seront de respectivement 5 % et 1,5 %, avec une souscription minimale de 2.500 livres, 5.000 dollars ou 3.500 euros.

La première banque de détail britannique, Lloyds Bank, qui va supprimer 15.000 emplois dans le monde d’ici 2014 et diviser par deux le nombre de ses implantations, a également annoncé une réorganisation de sa gestion de patrimoine, dont l’activité internationale sera pilotée depuis Genève par Russel Galley, rapporte L’Agefi suisse.Présent en Suisse depuis 1919, le groupe a fixé d’ambitieux objectifs pour son activité de gestion de patrimoine : tripler le nombre de clients et augmenter les revenus de 50% d’ici 2014. Elle sera désormais assurée sous deux marques – Lloyds TSB Private Banking et Bank of Scotland Private Banking – et à travers deux divisions. Comme son nom l’indique, UK Wealth sera focalisée sur le marché britannique, sous la houlette de Philip Grant, qui dirigeait précédemment le Private Banking UK. Le reste du monde sera couvert depuis Genève, où Russel Galley prend les commandes de l’entité International Wealth. Les actifs sous gestion du groupe s’élevaient fin 2010 à 192 milliards de livres.

Le 29 juin, Morgan Stanley a annoncé le lancement d’une exchange traded note (ETN) qui permet aux investisseurs de s’exposer à l’indice S&P 500® Total Return et à une combinaison équipondérée des contrats de futures à court terme sur le NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Light Sweet Crude et le ICE Brent (Brent) Crude Oil.Ce produit de salle de marché, une obligation senior non collatéralisée, la Morgan Stanley S&P 500® Crude Oil Linked ETN, complète la Morgan Stanley Cushing® MLP High Income Index ETN lancée en mars sur la plate-forme ETN de Morgan Stanley.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) a annoncé, jeudi 30 juin, qu’elle offre désormais à ses clients une plate-forme unique dédiée aux services d’agent de transfert pour les fonds d’investissement domiciliés au Luxembourg ou en Irlande."Cette plate-forme unique fournit aux gestionnaires d’actifs un outil simplifié de reporting et de suivi relatif aux fonds. Ce service associe les avantages traditionnels de la plateforme UCITS luxembourgeoise et les services SGSS dédiés aux hedge funds en Irlande, offrant ainsi une solution efficace destinée à un large éventail de fonds allant des fonds et OPCVM alternatifs aux produits UCITS conventionnels,» précise un communiqué qui détaille l’offre de services de distribution de fonds. Cette dernière est composée de la tenue de registres, la gestion des souscriptions et des rachats, la gestion des rétrocessions et leur paiement aux distributeurs, ainsi que des services de support à la distribution de fonds destinés aux gestionnaires d’actifs (fonctions d’agent payeur et de représentant).La plate-forme pourra relier les fonds domiciliés en Irlande à la plate-forme de distribution NSCC (the National Securities Clearing Corporation) aux États-Unis ou encore de pouvoir les gérer par l’antenne locale de SGSS en Asie au moyen de la même technologie. SGSS sera ainsi en mesure d’accompagner les gestionnaires d’actifs dans la distribution de fonds irlandais tant en Asie par l’intermédiaire de son bureau de Hong Kong relié à la plateforme irlandaise, qu’auprès des investisseurs américains, grâce à son lien avec la plateforme NSCC. Cette technologie permettra également de simplifier le processus relatif aux dispositions de la directive UCITS IV telles que les fusions transfrontalières et les structures maître-nourricier.»

Avec le renforcement de la réglementation entourant la vente de produits financiers, le secteur de la gestion d’actifs va connaître une séparation grandissante de l’activité de conseil de celle de la distribution, anticipent Caceis et PwC dans une étude présentée à l’occasion du Fund Forum International à Monaco.Mais cette évolution n’aura pas le même effet selon que l’on se trouve dans les pays anglo-saxons ou en Europe continentale, où deux modèles différents existent et vont d’ailleurs encore un peu plus s’éloigner. «Alors qu’en Europe continentale, les investisseurs vont rester captifs de leurs banques, les consommateurs dans les pays anglo-saxons vont connaître la fin de l’influence du produit et reconnaître la valeur intrinsèque du conseil», indique l’étude.Le modèle anglo-saxon va ainsi être caractérisé par une plus grande fragmentation du marché de la distribution. Afin de promouvoir leurs produits, les sociétés de gestion d’actifs vont devoir se doter d’équipes de marketing et de ventes afin de se rapprocher des distributeurs et des conseillers. Dans ce contexte, la gestion de la relation avec le client va devenir une fonction essentielle. La distinction entre gestion d’actifs, la distribution et le conseil va aussi pousser les sociétés de gestion à développer leur marque afin de se différencier des autres. La marque va ainsi devenir déterminante, ce qui explique d’ailleurs pourquoi des sociétés comme BlackRock comptent investir massivement dans ce domaine dans les prochaines années, comme l’a déclaré le président et CEO de la société, Laurence Fink, au cours du FFI (lire article du 30 juin). Caceis et PwC entrevoit également un développement des produits sur mesure, afin que les conseillers puissent justifier leurs honoraires.Côté Europe continentale, c’est une intégration plus verticale qui se dessine. Ainsi, les grands distributeurs type banques ou compagnies d’assurances vont exiger de leurs sociétés de gestion une gamme élargie afin de pouvoir satisfaire l’ensemble de leurs clients et faire face aux différentes phases de marché. Cela signifie, note l’étude, que les sociétés de gestion filiales de banques ou d’assureurs vont devoir conserver des fonds qui ne sont pas forcément commercialisés et donc peu rentables. Cette nécessité va laisser de la place aux sociétés de gestion indépendantes pour tester de nouvelles idées et stratégies d’investissement… que les grandes sociétés encourageront en investissant dans leurs fonds ou au capital afin de pouvoir en faire profiter leurs clients.Parallèlement, les distributeurs vont limiter le nombre de sociétés de gestion partenaires compte tenu de la responsabilité qui va leur incomber avec le renforcement de la réglementation entourant la vente. Ce surcroît de réglementation va aussi se traduire par un coût supplémentaire pour les distributeurs, qu’ils chercheront à répercuter sur les sociétés de gestion.

JPMorgan Asset Management vient d’annoncer le lancement d’un fonds de performance absolue dédié au Japon, le JP Morgan Asset Management Nippon Neutral Strategy.Ce fonds au format Ucits III sera domicilié au Luxembourg et aura un rendement équivalent à celui obtenu avec la stratégie sous-jacente market neutral qui affiche une performance annualisée de 7,4% sur cinq ans à fin 2010.

Pour développer sa distribution en Allemagne où il dispose de’une licence bancaire complète depuis 2008, le suisse Banque Sarasin, spécialiste de l’investissement durable, a annoncé le recrutement de trois personnes pour son département clientèle institutionnelle et «wholesale» à Francfort.Detlef Lau (ex Métropole Gestion), a rejoint début mai le secteur institutionnel, tandis que début juin Michael Baier (ex-DWS Investments) a été nommé directeur des coopérations stratégiques. Enfin, à partir 1er juillet, Monika Wackermann (ex-Axa Investment Managers) sera l’interlocutrice des clients institutionnels et pour les partenaires de distribution. Elle complète l'équipe de Christian Mosel, head of institutional clients & wholesale de Banque Sarasin Allemagne.… et en SuisseA partir du 1er juillet, la Banque Sarasin & Cie SA sera par ailleurs présente Schwanenplatz 4, à Lucerne. La succursale de Lucerne «offre un potentiel de marché intéressant» et constitue le sixième site suisse de la banque privée active au plan mondial, après Bâle, Berne, Genève, Lugano et Zurich, indique l'établissement bâlois.La banque renforce ainsi sa présence en Suisse centrale. La succursale sera placée sous la direction de Markus Koch. L’inauguration officielle aura lieu au mois de septembre.

A compter du 1er juillet 2011, Allianz Global Investors Investments Europe va étendre ses activités de gestion de portefeuille aux Pays-Bas, a annoncé le 30 juin Allianz Global Investors. La société assurera la gestion des actifs d’Allianz Netherlands Asset Management (ANAM), soit 6 milliards d’euros investis en obligations, en actions et dans des portefeuilles diversifiés.L’équipe de gestion de portefeuille basée à Rotterdam sera intégrée à AllianzGI Investments Europe et contribuera ainsi au processus d’investissement paneuropéen de la plate-forme d’investissement. Mark Reinalda, gérant actions basé à Rotterdam bénéficiant de 27 ans d’expérience dans l’investissement, codirigera avec Hedwig Peters, responsable du Fiduciary Management, la filiale néerlandaise d’AllianzGI Europe et supervisera localement l’activité de gestion de portefeuille. Marc Strijbos, Chief Executive Officer d’ANAM, a fait part de sa confiance dans le choix qui a été fait en faveur d’AllianzGI Investments Europe et précisé qu’Allianz Netherlands Group se concentrerait sur l’allocation stratégique de l’activité d’investissement et les services bancaires. Comme le rappelle par ailleurs Giovanni Bagiotti, CEO d’ AllianzGI Investments Europe, « l’équipe de gestion néerlandaise est la troisième à rejoindre AllianzGI Investments Europe à partir d’une filiale du groupe Allianz depuis sa création. Notre travail a permis de gagner la confiance du groupe et notre activité ne cesse de croître en Europe grâce à notre historique de performance et la solidité de notre processus d’investissement.» Depuis le lancement de la plateforme d’investissement en mai 2010, les encours d’AllianzGI Investments Europe ont augmenté de 26 milliards d’euros et les équipes originelles de Paris et Milan se sont renforcées par l’intégration de celles de Zurich, Munich (Aequitas GmbH) et maintenant Rotterdam. AllianzGI Investments Europe compte désormais plus de 110 professionnels de l’investissement et les encours gérés et conseillés pour le compte des clients institutionnels et privés en Europe totalisent 134 milliards d’euros, dont plus de 10 milliards dans des stratégies ISR.

The day after the announcement of the forthcoming launch of the multi-asset class fund Sauren Emerging Markets Balanced (see Newsmanagers of 30 June) on 25 July, the German asset management firm Sauren Fund-Research announced that the front-end fee will be 5%, the management commission will be 0.55%, and the distribution commission will be 0.65%, for the new fund. In addition, there will be a 15% commission on performance exceeding 5% per year. Initially, the fund of funds will invest primarily in equity funds from emerging Asian countries, at 19.5%, and 13% in global emerging markets equities funds. Exposure to emerging markets bond funds will be 22%, while hedge funds will represent 15%.

The CNMV has issued a license for the BNY Mellon Absolute Return Equity Fund, an Irish-registered product which becomes the first Insight Investment fund to be registered for sale in Spain. The equities fund, a sub-fund of BNY Mellon Global Funds, was launched nearly five months ago (see Newsmanagers of 2 February).

JPMorgan Asset Management has announced the launch of an absolute return fund dedicated to Japan, the JP Morgan Asset Management Nippon Neutral Strategy. The UCITS III fund will be domiciled in Luxembourg, and will earn returns equivalent to those obtained with an underlying market neutral strategy, which earned annualised returns of 7.4% over the five years to the end of 2010.

With the Baring Dynamic Emerging Markets Fund, Barings has launched a multi-asset class product investing in emerging markets, which covers equities, bonds, currencies, commodities (indirectly), derivatives, money market instruments, and/or cash. The objective is to generate returns similar to those of the equities markets over the long term, but with less risk.The fund will be managed by the multi-asset team (eight portfolio managers and three analysts), which already manages GBP4bn in dynamic asset allocation products, and more specifically by the head of the team, Percival Stanion, assisted by Toby Nangle.The new product is a sub-fund of the Irish OEIC Baring Investment Funds plc. Front-end fee and management commission, for retail investors, will be 5% and 1.5%, respectively, with a minimal subscription of GBP2,500, USD5,000, or EUR3,500.

On 29 June, Morgan Stanley announced the launch of an exchange-traded note (ETN) which will allow investors exposure to the S&P 500® Total Return index and an equally-weighted mix of short-term futures contracts on the NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Light Sweet Crude and the ICE Brent (Brent) Crude Oil.The trading-floor product, a senior non-collateralised bond, the Morgan Stanley S&P 500® Crude Oil Linked ETN, joins the Morgan Stanley Cushing® MLP High Income Index ETN, launched in March on the ETN platform from Morgan Stanley.

iShares, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) platform from BlackRock, on Thursday, 30 June 2011 announced that it is registering four new ETFs in France, with the objective of offering exposure to specific regions and to the theme of sustainable investments, via indices offered exclusively on the French market.In terms of regional ETFs, iShares is offering the iShares MSCI Poland, the first European physical replication ETF offering exposure to the Polish market. It will invest largely in the financial sector, and in the utilities, materials, energy, telecommunications and industrial sectors.In addition to this ETF, the firm is offering the iShares MSCI USA, which comes as a complement to the iShares ETF based on the S&P 500. In both cases, the fund will issue capitalisation shares. Dividends will be automatically reinvested, rather than being paid out to investors, as the latter approach is more administratively burdensome.For ETFs covering the theme of sustainable investment, iShares has registered the iShares Dow Jones Global Sustainability Screen and iShares Dow Jones Europe Sustainability Screened funds.The new iShares European and Global Sustainability Screened ETFs combine positive filtering and sectoral exclusion, in order to offer exposure to a wide range of shares.

At the international financial industry conference Paris Europlace, held on 5 and 6 July, Finance Innovation will present the Emergence incubation fund, which it is calling the first seed money fund to be offered on the Paris market.The fund will bring together the major investors in the Paris market to contribute seed money to young asset management firms and accelerate their development in their first few years of existence.The fund will offer investors the performance associated with incubated funds, and a participation in future revenues from the management firms. It will also allow them to identify the most promising management teams, and contribute to their growth by providing them with capital to manage. The project, which is pending AMF approval, is being led by the global competitiveness unit Finance Innovation, with the support of the AFG (the French asset management association) and Paris Europlace.

The German asset management association BVI on 30 June announced the opening of an office in Brussels, which begins operating on 1 July.“This presence in the political centre of the European Union gives us a way to more effectively employ the expertise of German asset management in the European legislative process,” the new director of the association, Thomas Richter, says in a statement.A series of new European regulations (AIMF, UCITS directive, MiFID directive) necessitate an increased level of attention on the part of professionals. “Ordinances and directives are formulated in Brussels, but the details of putting these directives into practice will now also be dictated more from Brussels in the future,” Richter says.With this in mind, the association considers it indispensable to instigate and maintain dialogue with political leaders, and to intensify cooperation with the European asset management association (EFAMA). “With locations in Frankfurt, Berlin and Brussels, we are now well-placed to maintain dialogue with politicians in the places where policy is decided,” Richter says.The Brussels office will be led by Ulrike Kohl, who is already familiar with the workings of Brussels, having worked with several members of European Parliament at the European federation of savings associations.

On Wednesday, Bank of America (BofA) agreed to pay USD8.5bn to investors (including BlackRock, Pimco, and MetLife), who had lost money on sub-prime mortgage products. Several months ago, the hedge fund manager John Paulson advised the management of BofA not to negotiate with the institutional investors, the Wall Street Journal reports. Paulson’s firm is the eighth-largest shareholder in BofA, in which it held 123 million shares as of the end of March.Paulson was of the opinion that the bank had enough arguments to defeat the plaintiffs’ suits, and that there were too many legal obstacles for the plaintiffs to have had any chance of winning the lawsuits.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners announced on Thursday, 30 June that it has appointed Helena Viñes Fiestas as co-head of SRI research, joining Jacky Proudhomme. Viñes Fiestas joins the research team, and will oversee all analysis and research dedicated to SRI themed funds, which privilege investments in companies which deliver solutions to environmental or social problems, a statement says.Viñes Fiestas, 39, served as Policy Adviser for the Private Sector team at Oxfam (Oxford Committee for Famine Relief), a non-governmental organisation that fights injustice and poverty, which she joined in 2005. There, Viñes Fiestas was in charge of development of the NGO’s institutional investor engagement strategy, and led the “Better Returns in a Better World” project.

Caceis on 30 June announced that it is merging its two Luxembourg entities, Caceis Bank Luxembourg and Fastnet Luxembourg, which the group fully controls, following its recent acquisition of the remaining 47.8% of capital in the firm.Fastnet Luxembourg will join Caceis Bank Luxembourg from 1 July 2011. The new entity will operate under the name Caceis Bank Luxembourg. Pierre Cimino, deputy director of Caceis Bank Luxembourg, says “with this merger, Caceis is taking a new step which will allow it to strengthen and reinforce its development in Luxembourg.”

The UCITS IV directive states that the requirement to provide key investor information documents (KIID) to investors in shares in investment funds must come into force by 1 July 2012 throughout Europe, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. Germany has made its move ahead of the required deadline, and is requiring “Beipackzettel” from 1 July 2011.

Lafitte Capital Management, which at the beginning of the year had announced ambitions to achieve EUR250m in assets by the end of December (see Newsmanagers of 09/02/2011), is on track to exceed these objectives. Currently, the firm is set to reach EUR200m, an increase of nearly 60% in the space of six months, with inflows shared by the flagship fund, Lafitte Risk Arbitrage, dedicated to mergers and acquisitions arbitrate in the Euro zone and the United States (EUR165m), and the firm’s newest fund, Lafitte Equity Arbitrage, launched 18 months ago, with assets of nearly EUR12.8m.This growth in assets under management is in line with the firm’s objectives, which are to rebalance the provenance of incoming investments, the vast majority of which come from inside France, to include more European investors. From a percentage of 100% France and 0% Europe one year ago, the ratio is now 80/20, and is set to move towards 50/50, says David Lefant, “with a major contribution from Luxembourg and Italian investors.” The client mix is considered balanced in that it is evenly distributed between private management clients, institutional investors, and multi-managers. In addition to this, there are independent wealth management advisers, who clearly represent an area that still needs to be worked on. “Currently, these professionals represent only 3% to 4% of our assets,” says Lenfant, who remarks that this is an are for strong future development for his firm, comparable to falling returns from funds in Euros, which is affecting funds such as those from Lafitte CM. All of this “good news” is also leading to some evolution in human resources at the firm, which recruited a “special situations” manager earlier this year, and has recruited a fourth manager for its flagship fund dedicated to mergers and acquisitions arbitrage earlier this year. Support functions for sales and marketing and middle office have also been scaled up. One other development, this time in management, is that the Lafitte Risk Arbitrage fund is moving to daily liquidity, from its current weekly liquidity format. The fund has earned annualised returns of 5.3% since its creation in late 2007, with volatility of under 2%, while the firm’s second fund has earned 4.75% since the beginning of the year.

As the necessary licenses were issued at the end of May, Didier Pruvost, former CEO of Oddo AM, and Xavier Fauquet, former chairman and CEO of NSM Art and director of Neuflize bank, have founded their own management firm, DDF Exclusive, and their first investment fund.The two heads are already planning to make themselves stand out in management with a different approach. They are not planning to make a name for themselves with stock-picking from a universe of French of European small and midcaps: many have already done that. “That window is closed now,” the executives say, and they prefer to focus on a less overpopulated niche: absolute returns. Pruvost says that this is in fact a gigantic niche, given the fall in returns from life insurance, from which his fund is likely to profit. Hence the fact that the DDF Opportunités fund is expected to be the firm’s only product.The mutual fund is based on diversified management, with a total annual performance objective of 5% to 8%, over an investment horizon of three years, all with volatility of 5/6. Our experience allows us to say today that, although investors agree not to profit from the entirety of increases on the market, they are in less danger of losing,” says Fauquet. The priorities of the management team, which is composed of a former hedge fund manager, Laurent Denize, and a macro manager, Eric Debry, are transparency, liquidity, and risk control; these also form the foundations of the fund. The fund also carries a UCITS 3 label, and offers daily liquidity. This is also the reason that the firm has refused to make use of leverage. The fund will be available in two share classes, one reserved for institutional investors, with management fees of 0.5% pr year, and the other aimed at retail clients, with management fees of 1.5% Success fees will total 20% on performance exceeding the Eonia with high watermark. For institutionals, the minimal subscription is EUR150,000, and for retail clients, EUR50,000 (minimum of 50 shares).

To develop its sales in Germany, where it has had a complete banking license since 2008, the Swiss Banque Sarasin, a specialist in sustainable investment, has announced the recruitment of three people for its institutional and wholesale client department in Frankfurt. Detlef Lau (formerly of Métropole Gestion) in early May joined the institutional section, while in early June, Michael Baier (formerly of DWS Investments) was appointed as director of strategic cooperations. From 1 July, Monika Wackermann (formerly of Axa Investment Managers) will handle relationships with institutional clients and distribution partners. She joins the team led by Christian Mosel, head of institutional and wholesale clients at Banque Sarasin Germany. In Switzerland, meanwhile, from 1 July, Banque Sarasin SA will be opening a new office at Schwanenplatz 4 in Lucerne. The Lucerne office “opens an attractive potential market,” and becomes the sixth Swiss location of the private bank which is active worldwide, following Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lugano, and Zurich, the Basel-based business says. The bank is also scaling up its presence in central Switzerland. The branch office will be directed by Markus Koch. The official opening will be held in September.

From 1 July 2011, Allianz Global Investors Investments Europe will be extending its portfolio management activities in the Netherlands, Allianz Global Investors announced on 30 June. AllianzGI Investments Europe will provide management for the assets of Allianz Netherlands Asset Management (ANAM): EUR6bn invested in bonds, equities and diversified portfolios. The portfolio management team based in Rotterdam will join AllianzGI Investments Europe, and will contribute to a pan-European investment process on the investment platform. Mark Reinalds, an equities manager based in Rotterdam with 27 years of experience in investment, will be co-director of the firm with Hedwig Peters, head of Fiduciary Management, the Netherlands affiliate of AllianzGI Europe, and will locally supervise the portfolio management activity. Marc Strijbos, Chief Executive Officer at ANAM, has announced that he is confident in the choice he has made in favour of AllianzGI Investments Europe, and says that Allianz Netherlands Group will concentrate on strategic allocation for the investment activity and banking services. As Giovanni Bagiotti, CEO of AllianzGi Investments Europe, points out, “the Netherlands management team is the third to join AllianzGI Investments Europe from an affiliate of the Allianz group since its creation. Our work has allowed us to win the trust of the group, and our activities are continuing to grow in Europe due to our track record and the solidity of our investment process.” Since the launch of the investment platform in May 2010, assets at AllianzGI Investments Europe have risen by EUR26bn, and the original teams in Paris and Milan have been strengthened by the addition of the teams in Zurich, Munich (Aequitas GmbH), and now Rotterdam. AllianzGI Investments Europe now has over 110 investment professionals, and assets under management and advised for institutional and private clients in Europe total EUR134bn, of which more than EUR10bn are in SRI strategies.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on Thursday, 30 June announced that it is now offering its clients a single platform dedicated to settlement and transfer for investment funds domiciled in Luxembourg and Ireland. “This single platform provides asset managers with a simplified reporting and monitoring tool for funds. The service brings together the traditional advantages of the Luxembourg UCITS platform and SGSS services dedicated to hedge funds in Ireland,to provide an effective solution for a wide range of funds, from OPCVM hedge funds to conventional UCITS products,” a statement says. The statement also details of the range of fund distribution services on offer, which will include registry maintenance, subscription and redemption management, management of kickbacks and their payment to distributors, and fund distribution support services asset managers (including payer agent and representative services). “The platform can bring funds domiciled in Ireland to the NSCC (National Securities Clearing Corporation) distribution platform in the United States, and can also manage them via the local SGSS agencies in Asia, with the same technology. SGSS will thus be able to assist asset managers with distribution of Irish funds, both in Asia, via its Hong Kong office, which is connected to the Irish platform and to American investors, through its ties to the NSCC platform. This technology also makes it possible to simplify the process to meet the requirements of the UCITS directive, as well as cross-border mergers and master-feeder structures,” the statement continues.

The investor is at the centre of the vision of the new president of the European investment fund association EFAMA, Claude Kremer, elected for a two-year term a few days ago. “All the measures I have proposed have the investor as their leitmotif, and they continue the work undertaken by my predecessor, Jaen-Baptiste de Franssu,” he says in an interview with Newsmanagers at the Fond Forum International, now being held in Monaco.Kremer’s five priorities have now been approved by members, and will now be formulated in a concrete action plan. The new EFAMA president tells Newsmanagers about each of them in detail.The first is to favour long-term savings. In order to promote this type of savings, investor education will have an important role to play, and that is the second priority for the EFAMA president. “We would like to work with other associations in this area, particularly with consumer groups.” More concretely, Kremer advances the idea of a day when journalists and distributors would be shown all the initiatives which exist in various countries for investor education.The third area of priority is not least important: supporting measures which favour the asset management industry. This will mean making the voice of the industry heard in the elaboration of various regulations that concern it: UCITS 4, UCITS 5, the AIFM directive, PRIPS, FATCA, and others. The fourth priority for Kremer is to promote the UCITS brand in Europe and beyond, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Kremer points to the importance of assisting and educating regulators in Asia to ensure that they better understand the new European regulations. Kremer’s final priority, which cuts across borders, is to increase the legitimacy of the association, as well as its visibility and credibility. In three years, the association’s budget has increased 40%. The idea, of course, is to continue to increase the number of members and to increase its financial resources.

The largest British retail bank, Lloyds Bank, which will lay off 15,000 employees worldwide by 2014, and is set to reduce the number of branches by half, has also announced a reshuffle of its wealth management, with international operations now to be led from Geneva by Russel Galley, Agefi Switzerland reports. The group, which has been present in Switzerland since 1919, has set two objectives for its wealth management activities: to triple the number of clients, and to increase revenues by 50% by 2014. The firm will now operate two brands, Lloyds TSB Private Banking, and Bank of Scotland Private Banking, which will operate in two divisions. As its name indicates, UK Wealth will be focused on the British market, and will be led by Philip Grant, who was previously head of Private Banking UK. The rest of the world will be served from Geneva, where Galley takes over as head of the International Wealth entity. Assets under management by the group as of the end of 2010 totalled GBP192bn.

According to a study published on 30 June by the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, the contribution of finance and investment banks (FIBs) to profits at major banking groups will fall significantly in the years to come, largely due to regulatory constraints.The various trades at the major universal banks are in the process of rebalancing, in favour of less cyclical activities such as retail and commercial banking, asset management, wealth management, and securities services.The study finds that revenues from investment banking activities at the 13 largest groups in the sample in 2008 totalled USD96bn, compared with USD232bn in 2006, before the crisis. Since 2008, a reduced dependency on FIBs appears to be taking hold. In 2010, the major banks made USD365bn from retail and commercial banking, compared with only USD270bn from investment banking.