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 Swiss group UBS is taking over the Australian asset management activities of the Netherlands banking and insurance provider ING, Agefi Switzerland reports. Assets under management in the operation total EUR24.8bn.

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.

The power of branding is no sufficiently exploited by actors in wealth management to attract potential clients who remain outside the market, according to the findings of a study covering a sample of clients representing USD3.5trn in assets (about 30% of the market overall), recently published by the economic intelligence agency Scorpio Partnership. Sebastian Dovey, senior partner at Scorpio Partnership, says that brands represent an essential tool, which may contribute to the growth of assets invested by high net worth clients. The study points out that nearly 80% of assets in the market are managed by 20 major international actors, including UBS, Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Rockefeller. Each of these major brands has succeeded in creating a mega-brand. This essential dimension of a firm’s reputation is often overlooked, the study says, as the development of the brand is considered a low priority, even though it may contribute strongly to attracting new clients. With this in mind, the role of partners is a real challenge for the asset management sector. But in order for their interventions to be truly effective, the study finds, some obstacles need to be removed: for example, a lack of engagement on the part of directors with the brand, and poor familiarity with the client base, due to a lack of data as well as insufficiencies in segmentation and pricing.

According to a valuation by Barclays Capital, Agefi reports, investors withdrew USD7bn from commodities markets in May, the highest level of outflows observed since the onset of the financial crisis. Assets under management affected saw a decline of USD26bn, to USD425bn.

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.

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.

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.

Selon une évaluation de Barclays Capital, les investisseurs ont retiré 7 milliards de dollars en mai des marchés de matières premières, un niveau de décollecte jamais observé depuis la crise financière. Les actifs concernés sous gestion ont fondu de 26 milliards de dollars, à 425 milliards.

La commission des sanctions de l’AMF a tenu hier des auditions sur deux dossiers différents concernant Natixis et OFI AM. Il est reproché à Natixis Securities des lacunes dans le contrôle d’opérations de facilitation (vente et achat de bloc sur le marché). Une sanction de 690.000 euros au total a été requise contre la banque, qui se défend d’avoir violé les règles en vigueur. Dans le deuxième dossier, le représentant du collège de l’AMF a requis contre OFI AM une amende de 600.000 euros assortie d’un blâme pour plusieurs griefs, dont le principal est le manquement à la primauté de l’intérêt des clients. Il est reproché au gérant d’actifs d’avoir incité en 2008 les clients d’un de ses fonds à en sortir alors que quelques jours plus tard, il conseillait aux clients d’un autre fonds d’y investir. La représentante du collège de l’AMF a par ailleurs demandé au conseil de rendre publique sa décision. Dans les deux cas, ces dernières devraient être connues dans quelques semaines.

La profession dans son entier doit composer avec l'accumulation de réformes, et l'entrée en vigueur aujourd'hui de la directive

Le quotidien avance que l’Etat exigerait de la place de marché où se traitent les quotas de CO2 la TVA non remboursée par certains de ses membres. L’Etat réclamerait 350 millions d’euros. Ce qui va à l’encontre de la position de la justice, souligne le quotidien. Un débat contradictoire est en cours avec l’administration fiscale a confié le président de BlueNext, François-Xavier Saint-Macary.

Une proposition législative, accompagnée d'une étude d'impact détaillée, sera présentée après l'été. La taxe entrerait en vigueur d'ici à 2018

Le prélèvement sur les transactions financières devrait entrer en vigueur au plus tard en 2018, d’après la Commission européenne qui mise sur ce nouvel impôt pour financer en partie son budget. Une proposition législative détaillée sera publiée après cet été.

Les analystes d'UBS voient l'opérateur boursier américain offrir, au maximum, 1.150 pence par action LSE, soit 11 % de prime par rapport au cours d'hier

Le gouvernement maintient les forfaits fiscaux mais durcit les critères de seuil. Ces aménagements pourraient doubler les recettes de la Confédération

Certains émetteurs corporates ont profité de l'amélioration des conditions pour placer de la dette et rouvrir le compartiment

Le prix moyen des dernières transactions a atteint en valeur d’entreprise 12,5 fois l'excédent brut d'exploitation contre 10,5 fois auparavant

S'il améliore les conditions pour les banques, il ne réduira pas en revanche la charge de la dette de la Grèce

Jean-Claude Trichet, président de la Banque centrale européenne (BCE), a estimé jeudi que la mise en place de taxes sur les transactions financières limitées à l’Europe se traduiraient par d’importantes pertes d’activité pour la région. S’exprimant devant la commission des affaires économiques et monétaires du Parlement européen, il a également déclaré que l’idée de mettre sur pied de nouvelles agences de notation était un chantier en cours.

Le produit intérieur brut de la Turquie a bondi de 11% en rythme annualisé au cours du premier trimestre, dépassant largement les anticipations des économistes, ce qui fait craindre une surchauffe. Les données publiées jeudi par Ankara mettent en outre en évidence l’une des faiblesses de l'économie turque : son déficit commercial de plus en plus marqué. En mai, ce dernier s’est accru de 104% pour atteindre 10,06 milliards de dollars, après une hausse de 42,6% des importations et de 11,7% des exportations.

Axa Private Equity, une filiale du groupe d’assurances Axa, a annoncé jeudi l’achat d’un portefeuille d’une valeur de 740 millions de dollars (environ 520 millions d’euros) d’actifs de fonds de private equity auprès du groupe britannique Barclays. Cette opération est la seconde transaction d’envergure réalisée récemment par Axa PE, après le rachat le 8 juin dernier d’un portefeuille de 1,7 milliard de dollars d’actifs à Citigroup. Le prix de la transaction n’a pas été dévoilé mais Barclays a précisé qu’elle dégagerait une petite plus-value sur cette opération. En 2010, l’activité fonds de fonds d’Axa Private Equity avait investi plus de trois milliards de dollars principalement par l’acquisition de deux portefeuilles importants de fonds de private equity et d’investissements directs, respectivement auprès de Bank of America (1,8 milliard de dollars) et de Natixis (900 millions de dollars).

La consommation des ménages français a de nouveau nettement diminué en mai, un recul qui confirme que ce poste clé risque d'être un frein à la croissance globale de l'économie au deuxième trimestre. Les achats de biens des consommateurs ont diminué de 0,8% le mois dernier après des replis de 1,4% en avril et de 0,9% en mars. Il faut remonter à l'été 2008, juste avant l'éclatement de la crise financière, pour retrouver trois mois consécutifs de baisse de la consommation en France.

Le nouveau gouvernement portugais va probablement accélérer l’adoption des mesures d’austérité convenues dans le plan de sauvetage accordé au pays et pourrait en présenter de nouvelles au parlement ce jeudi, rapporte la presse locale. De telles mesures pourraient consister en une taxe exceptionnelle qui reviendrait à supprimer les primes de fin d’année ou un impôt spécial sur les hauts revenus.

La dette publique de la France a augmenté de 54,9 milliards d’euros au premier trimestre pour atteindre fin mars 1.646,1 milliards, selon l’Insee. Elle représente 84,5% du PIB, soit une hausse de 2,2 points par rapport au trimestre précédent. La dette publique au sens de Maastricht comprend la dette de l’Etat (1.286,5 milliards en hausse de 41,5 milliards d’euros) et celles des administrations de sécurité sociale (191,2 milliards fin mars) des administrations publiques locales (156,5 milliards) et des organismes divers d’administrations centrales (11,9 milliards).

L’inflation sur un an dans la zone euro a atteint 2,7% en juin, selon une première estimation de l’organisme européen Eurostat. Ce chiffre est identique à la mesure définitive de l’inflation au mois de mai. Les analystes interrogés par Reuters attendaient en moyenne une légère accélération, à 2,8%.

JP Morgan, en l’occurrence son pôle Worldwide Securities Services, a annoncé le 28 juin avoir remporté un contrat d’administration auprès de la société de gestion spécialisée dans l’immobilier Tristan Capital Partners.Tristan Capital gère trois fonds immobiliers dont les actifs sous gestion totalisent 2,8 milliards de dollars.