On Monday, the text of a modification to the 1/2009 circular from the Spanish securities commission (CNMV) concerning the various categories of funds was published in the Spanish official gazette, the Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE), Expansión reports. The new fund typology will come into force in two months’ time, and will transpose the standards of the CESR, now ESMA, into Spanish law, in order to better protect investors by providing clearer information, particularly in the area of money market funds (short-term money market funds on the one hand, and simple money market funds, which operate in a less restricted environment, on the other), and introducing several technical improvements.

Financial News reports that Knight Vinke, the activist investor based in Monaco, is planning to launch a hedge fund.

Eurizon Capital (EUR170bn in assets as of the end of first quarter) has opened 49% of its affiliate Epsilon to the investment bank Banca IMI, which like Eurizon is a directly-owned affiliate of the Intesa Sanpaolo group.The cooperation at the joint venture will result in the creation of a new range of Epsilon products, which adds to active initial quantitative asset management new forms of capital protected at maturity and volatility limitation. Nicola Doninelli, chairman at Epsilon, has hinted to the local press that the firm will restart the launch of ETF funds, a segment which Eurizon abandoned in 2009.

The replacement for Henry McVey as head of the global asset allocation team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) will be Cyril Moullé-Berteaux, who had been a founding member of the multi-strategy alternative management firm Traxis Partners in 2003 with Barton Biggs, former CEO of MSIM. Moullé-Berteaux had served in various roles at MSIM (USD284bn in assets as of the end of March) from 1995 to 2003, including head of the asset allocation team and head of asset allocation research. Moullé-Berteaux, who will be in charge of asset allocation in the long-only universe, will report to Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging market equity. Sharma will continue to head up the emerging markets equities team, and will supervise global macro strategy. MSIM states that the recruitment of Moullé-Berteaux is the second recruitment this year of a former employee of the firm. In February, the firm re-hires Ashutish Sinha as managing director and senior portfolio manager in the global emerging markets team. He will continue to be based in Singapore, where he had been one of the founders of the alternative management firm Amoeba Capital Partners. He announced eight months ago that he was planning to take a sabbatical (see Newsmanagers of 11 October 2010).

Le Conseil d’administration de l’ONG SOS Sahel International France a annoncé le 27 juin l'élection à la présidence de son bureau de Philippe Lecomte, directeur général de Schroders France. Philippe Lecomte succède à Marc Francioli, 67 ans, qui présidait l’ONG depuis 12 ans. Créée après les grandes sècheresses de 1973, SOS Sahel International France conduit depuis 35 ans des actions de développement en milieu rural avec ses partenaires sahéliens dans une stratégie intégrant aujourd’hui la production, la distribution et la commercialisation. Philippe Lecomte est impliqué depuis plusieurs années aux côtés de SOS Sahel, à la fois à titre personnel et en tant que Directeur général de Schroders France.

Robeco Gestions, which is now the sole representative of the Dutch group in France, following the sale of Banque Robeco to Oddo et Cie in late March, on 27 June announced that it has added to its board and its sales team, “in order to pursue its ambitious objectives.”In addition to Philippe Sabbah, who will join Robeco Gestions this summer as CEO and board member to contribute to commercial development at the management firm (Newsmanagers of 27 June), François Bertrand has been appointed as secretary general and board member in charge of support functions. Since 2007, Bertrand has participated in several transverse missions and strategic or organisational projects at Robeco France, including demutualisation of common services between the bank and the management firm in 2010-2011.While continuing to offer an innovative range of products in several asset classes, Robeco Gestions has ambitions to increase its market share and to make its range of areas of expertise better known to institutional investors, retirement planning institutions, financial institutions (insurers and banks), private banks, management firms, and corporate clients.The addition to the sales team will allow the firm to address these challenges. With the recent arrival of 3 sales team members, and the forthcoming arrival of Sabbah, Robeco Gestions is structured to respond in a personalised manner to French institutional investors.Robeco Gestions has 30 employees of whom 5 are managers, and nearly EUR5bn in assets under management and/or distribution.

From 1 August, professor Frank J. Fabozzi will join the EDHEC-Risk Institute, where he will work with professor Lionel Martellini, scientific director of the institute, to develop the EDHEC-Risk Institute North America. Professor Fabozzi will supervise dissertations of candidates to the EDHEC-Risk Institute PhD in finance, an educational opportunity open to practitioners in the sector.

Neuflize OBC Investissements has recruited Vincent Rennella as manager of the NOBC Europe Long / Short fund. Rennella, who joined the absolute return management team at the firm on 10 June 2011, will take over management of the NOBC Europe Long / Short fund from 1 July. In addition to direct management of mutual funds, he will contribute his exertise in the area of financial analysis for equities markets and market risk analysis to the team, a statement says. Rennella, 38, in 2005 was a portfolio manager at the London-based hedge fund Odey Asset Management, with Michelel Ragazzi and Crispin Odey. In 2008, he joined the prop-trading division of Exane S.A. In 2009, Rennella participated in the creation of Orchidee Finance, with Daniel Larroutrou, who he met in 2004 at ING France.

The US group State Street on 27 June announced that it has been appointed by F&C Asset Management (F&C) to provide middle office outsourcing services, on about GBP106bn in assets. State Street will provide services for the global operations of F&C and its affiliate Thames River Capital, including services for investment operations, securities custody, fund accounting, administrative services, securities lending, and clearance services, the latter of which will be provided by IFDS, a joint venture of State Street and DST Systems. Under the agreement, 102 employees of F&C in London and Edinburgh will be transferred to State Street. State Street provides middle office services on over USD7.1trn in assets for clients worldwide.

EFG International on 27 June announced the appointment of John Williamson, 49, previously CEO of its affilaite EFG Private Bank in the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands, as its CEO. He succeeds Lonnie Howell, co-founder of the firm, who is retiring after 16 years in the position, who will be a candidate for a seat on the board of directors.EFG International explains in a statement that in the past few months it has been reviewing its strategic options, in the light of arduous market conditions and ongoing appreciation of the Swiss franc. With this in mind, it has decided to more effectively balance its desire to continue growth by adopting a more irgorous approach to profitability, and to undertake parallel changes which it estimates are “opportune” in terms of management responsibilities.Howell was co-founder of EFG International in 1995 with Jean-Pierre Cuoni. He played an essential role in the development of the business, which has gone from a start-up to an international private banking player with assets under management of CHF85bn as of the end of 2010.Williamson joined EFG Private Bank in 2002 as CEO. Lukas Ruflin will remain as deputy CEO of EFG International. Anthony Cooke-Yarborough, previously director general of EFG Private Bank in the UK, will replace Williamson as CEO this summer. All other members of the management team will retain their current positions.Williamson is planning to completely review the activities of EFG International with a view to preserving its many strong points, and to draw strength from the best of them, while addressing questions related to the rapid growth of the organisation and changes in market conditions.On the basis of performance since the beginning of the year, EFG International is planning to earn net profits this year of CHF140m to CHF160m, compared with an objective of CHF200m defined before the recent steep rise in the value of the Swiss currency.

Mark Röder, who had previously been head of product & sales managemenet at Vontobel Asset Management, has been promoted to global head of product sales. He will report directly to Axel Schwarzer, CEO of asset management at Vontobel. In his new role, Röder will be in charge of all client relationship management, with expertise in the area of investment, and competence in products and investor services activities within a multi-boutique environment. Meanwhile, Vontobel has also announced that Hansjörg Herzog, who had been head of relationship management EMEA, “has decided to pursue other professional challenges outside” the Swiss group.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on 27 June announced that it is now offering production of Key Investor Information Documents (KIID) in all European languages for management firms. SGSS thus extends its range of KIID services, launched in November 2010, which allow management firms to meet the requirements of the UCITS IV directive, which requires them to replace the simplified prospectus with the KIID by 1 July 2011. The modular range from SGSS is centred around the services described below, and allows asset management business clients to select from among the services on offer, from partial responsibility to complete outsourcing of production and distribution of KIID documents. The KIID range from SGSS, which has already been adopted by major asset management business clients, includes the following services: content creation, such as presentation of the investment policy in updated language, calculation of various indicators, such as the risk indicator, presentation of past performance, and calculation of current management fees. The offer also includes management, formatting and distribution of KIID documents in all European languages: these documents are produced by experienced teams such as asset servicing, legal, graphic design, translation, quality control and distribution, via a robust technical platform, which is designed to handle large volumes.

Agefi relays reports by Bloomberg that Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the private equity firm, is one of the candidates to acquire the mutual fund activities of the Hartford Financial Services Group. The identity of the winning bidder will not be known for several weeks for the deal, which is expected to total about USD1.5bn, the newspaper reports.

The hedge fund management firm First Trust Advisors, based in Wheaton, Illinois, has announced that on 6 July it will launch the First Trust ISE Cloud Computing Index Fund (acronym SKYY on NASDAQ), its 60th ETF, which received notification of its registration with the SEC on 20 April. The fund, which replicates the ISE Cloud Computing Index, is managed by a committee of six managers, led by Robert Casey, vice president & CEO. Management commission is set at 0.60%.

L’opérateur boursier reprend les actifs de la société de conseil Kingsbury International, dont le célèbre baromètre économique mensuel PMI de Chicago développé en lien avec l’Institute for Supply Management. L’opération a été conclue pour un montant en millions de dollar à un chiffre. Elle comprend également un versement lié à la performance.

Des problèmes techniques ont à nouveau perturbé hier les cotations de la Bourse de Paris. L’indice CAC 40 a été suspendu pendant trois quarts d’heure à la mi-journée et le service d’internalisation des ordres a été désactivé temporairement. Certains ordres passés via ce service sur des titres L’Oréal, LVMH, Total et Unilever ont été annulés.

Le gouvernement devrait détailler jeudi un nouveau plan de rigueur de 43 à 45 milliards d’euros visant à rétablir l’équilibre budgétaire en 2014

Le retour de l’aversion pour le risque plombe les obligations notées au mieux BB+. La semaine dernière, les investisseurs ont demandé des remboursements pour 3,5 milliards de dollars, un record. Mais la classe d’actifs présente encore l’avantage d’offrir un rendement relativement élevé.

Les indices ont chuté et les fonds spécialisés ont essuyé des sorties sans précédent. Mais le high yield offre encore un rendement attractif

La collecte a faiblement contribué à la hausse des 7 % des actifs gérés par l'industrie en 2010, d'après l'enquête annuelle de McKinsey

Le renouvellement de 70 % des positions à travers un véhicule ad hoc serait incitatif

Le renouvellement de 70 % des positions à travers un véhicule ad hoc serait incitatif

La croissance inévitable des salaires en Chine laisse attendre une forte progression de la demande de services

Il s’agirait selon le quotidien d’un des plus importants projets de l’année dans le domaine du lancement de hedge funds. L’une des plus riches familles chinoises serait sur le point de mettre la main sur le fonds spécialisé dans l’énergie mis en vente par RAB Capital. Le gestionnaire alternatif londonien a fait part la semaine dernière de son projet de renoncer à la cotation sur le marché alternatif du LSE, l’AIM, sur fond de retraits massifs. La famille Choi, d’origine de Hong Kong et à la tête du conglomérat Sunwah, souhaiterait bâtir ainsi un important pôle de gestion alternative en visant 1,5 milliard de dollars sous gestion fin 2011 contre 300 millions dans le fonds aujourd’hui.

Le déficit budgétaire allemand pourrait tomber sous les 30 milliards d’euros l’année prochaine, contre 31,4 milliards prévus par le gouvernement, dans la mesure où les rentrées fiscales devraient être plus importantes qu’initialement prévu, indique le journal qui cite des sources proches du ministère des finances. BNP Paribas prévoit une croissance de 2% en 2012 et un déficit en baisse à 1,8% du PIB.

Nicolas Sarkozy a confirmé les modalités d’un plan français pour la participation des banques et des assurances européennes à la résolution de la crise grecque. Cette confirmation intervient alors que des discussions sur le plan de sauvetage de la Grèce sont en cours à Rome avec des représentants du lobby bancaire Institute of International Finance (IFF) et du Comité économique et financier de la zone euro. Ce plan français de «rollover» sur la dette grecque serait au menu de ces discussions, indique Reuters. Le président français a confirmé que les créanciers privés pourraient échanger leurs titres de dette grecque contre des titres à 30 ans à des taux équivalents à ceux des prêts de soutien européens, plus une indexation sur la croissance économique de la Grèce. Il a dit espérer que les partenaires européens de la France accepteraient ce plan mais qu’il était prêt à le modifier pour obtenir leur accord.

La Chine aura du mal à atteindre son objectif prévoyant de ramener l’inflation sous la barre des 4% cette année, a implicitement admis, pour la première fois, le Premier ministre Wen Jiabao.«La situation économique de la Chine restera cette année parmi les meilleures du monde, avec une croissance économique au-delà de 8-9% et un indice des prix à la consommation contrôlé à moins de 5%», a dit Wen Jiabao.

Dans le cadre d’un contrat d’entreprise, intégré dans l’accord collectif d’entreprise du 5.7.1994, l’OPAC 38 a mis en place un régime de retraite surcomplémentaire à prestations définies (art. 39 du code général des impôts) confié en gestion à un assureur. Suite aux perspectives financièrement excessives de cet engagement, l’OPAC 38 a décidé, à partir de l’année 2004, de fermer progressivement ce régime, à échéance de 2013, et de mettre en place un régime à cotisations définies (art. 83 du CGI) destiné à assurer un régime de retraite surcomplémentaire plus maîtrisable dans le temps et dont les droits resteront attachés au salarié. En pratique, la prochaine disparition du régime à prestations définies sera très pénalisante pour les salariés disposant d’une ancienneté significative, et partant à la retraite dans les prochaines années, du fait de la montée en puissance très progressive du régime à cotisations définies. Afin d’atténuer cet effet de baisse du niveau global de rente, entre la fin des prestations du régime en cours de fermeture, et un niveau de complément significatif assuré par le régime à cotisations définies, il a été décidé de mettre en place un complément de retraite additif aux régimes existants. Ce complément s’applique à tous les salariés faisant valoir leur droit à la retraite, et disposant du régime général à taux plein. Il est à noter que le suivi de ce contrat sera assuré par adding pour le compte de l’OPAC 38. Ce suivi intégrera notamment, le calcul des rentes à chaque départ, la validation des capitaux constitutifs, la valorisation annuelle des engagements actuariels, le suivi de la gestion financière et de la revalorisation. Pour lire l’avis complet: cliquez ici

Rothschild Private Banking & Trust a annoncé le 24 juin les nominations de Marco Schaller en qualité de responsable «Service Management & Offering Development» à compter du 1er décembre 2011, et d’Andreas A. Bickel en tant que responsable de l’allocation stratégique et du conseil en Suisse au 1 septembre. Tous deux seront basés à Zurich pour exercer ces fonctions nouvellement créées.Andreas A. Bickel, qui travaillait précédemment chez Goldman Sachs, s’occupera entre autres de la clientèle très fortunée («ultra high net worth») et du fonds de pension de Rothschild Bank AG. Marco Schaller travaillait précédemment chez UBS. Les actifs sous gestion de Rothschild Private Banking s’élèvent à 12 milliards d’euros.

Lesley-Ann Morgan, qui a passé 18 ans chez le consultant Towers Watson, en dernier lieu comme senior investment consultant et head of the client delivery group, a été recrutée par Schroders pour occuper le poste nouvellement créé de senior strategist au sein de l'équipe global strategic solutions.