Selon L’Agefi suisse, la société Berlin & Co., spécialisée dans les questions de «gestion de fortunes complexes», étend ses activités en venant s’installer en Suisse. Une nouvelle société nommée Berlin & Co. AG Schweiz et basée à Zurich a été fondée selon le droit suisse et est soumise aux autorités suisses de surveillance.

Au 31 décembre, les actifs gérés par Banque Sarasin ont dépassé l’objectif des 100 milliards de francs suisses fixé en 2006 pour se situer à 103,4 milliards de francs contre 93,7 milliards pour 2009 et 69,7 milliards pour 2008. La hausse est attribuable pour 13,4 milliards à des souscriptions nettes contre 12,5 milliards en 2009. Comme l’année précédente (lire notre article du 3 mars 2010), Sarasin a ainsi dépassé, avec 14 %, son objectif d’augmentation de la collecte qui avait été fixé pour 2010 à 10 %. La filiale suisse de Rabobank confirme par ailleurs l’objectif d’un encours de 150 milliards de francs suisses pour 2015.Au 31 décembre 2010, le montant des avoirs gérés selon une approche durable par le groupe Sarasin se montait à 13,4 milliards de francs. Leur part à la totalité des mandats de gestion gérés par le groupe Sarasin (y compris les fonds d’investissement internes) atteignait 30% à cette date.Cela posé, le coefficient d’exploitation s’est marginalement détérioré, à 77,6 % contre 77,1 %, ce qui n’a pas empêché le bénéfice net consolidé de progresser à 124,5 millions de francs contre 121,7 millions en ajusté (sans tenir compte de la dépréciation sur la participation dans NZB Holding) pour 2009 où le résultat déclaré était ressorti à 51,5 millions de francs.Le bénéfice d’exploitation de la division banque privée a bondi à 94,5 millions de francs contre 30,2 millions grâce à l’augmentation des encours, tandis que celui de la division asset management, products & sales augmentait de 20 % à 60 millions. En revanche, le résultat de la division trading & family offices a souffert de la baisse du bénéfice sur le négoce en compte propre et les opérations de trésorerie.Le résultat de la bank zweiplus ag n’est pas conforme aux attentes : des dommages causés par des actes frauduleux d’un partenaire de distribution en Allemagne ont exigé un correctif de valeur extraordinaire de 8 millions de francs qui a nettement réduit le bénéfice de la société.

Le groupe suisse Vontobel a poursuivi sa croissance l’an passé, malgré la volatilité des marchés et la lutte contre la fraude fiscale en Europe. Profitant néanmoins d’une forte collecte, la banque zurichoise a fait état pour 2010 d’un bénéfice net de 147,3 millions de francs, en progression de 7% par rapport à 2009, a indiqué le 23 février le groupe zurichois. Le bénéfice avant impôt s’est inscrit à 173,1 millions de francs, dont une contribution de 99,1 millions de francs de la banque privée et de la gestion d’actifs.La collecte nette s’est élevée à 5,5 milliards de francs (+7,3%), contre 2,1 milliards un an auparavant. Les actifs sous gestion ont progressé de 5% à 78,6 milliards de francs suisses. La clientèle privée a apporté 1,5 milliard de francs, tandis que la collecte auprès des clients institutionnels et des fonds de placement s’est élevée à 4 milliards de francs suisses nets, dont 2.8 milliards de francs proviennent des mandats de gestion. «La performance réalisée dans l’acquisition de nouveaux capitaux et les effets légèrement positifs du marché ont été contrebalancés par des taux de change défavorables à hauteur de 5,3 milliards de francs suisses au total», souligne le communiqué.Les nouveaux fonds ont pour l’essentiel été recueillis auprès de clients suisses, d’Europe centrale et de l’Est. En revanche, et contrairement à ses grands concurrents comme UBS, Credit Suisse ou Julius Baer, l'établissement n’a guère tiré profit des nouvelles fortunes asiatiques.Vontobel a par ailleurs annoncé des changements au sein du conseil d’administration et de la direction du groupe. Urs Widmer (70 ans), atteint par la limite d’âge, abandonnera la présidence du Conseil d’administration lors de la prochaine assemblée générale qui aura lieu le 3 mai 2011. Pour lui succéder, le Conseil d’administration propose aux actionnaires de nommer Herbert J. Scheidt (59). Le nouveau CEO du groupe Vontobel sera Zeno Staub (41), aujourd’hui responsable de l’unité d’affaires Asset Management et membre de la direction du groupe depuis 2003. Pour sa part, Wolfhard Graetz (65), membre du conseil d’administration depuis de longues années, ne se représente pas. Le conseil d’administration propose d’élire Clara Streit (42), depuis 2003 associée senior de McKinsey.

La branche institutionnelle de Pictet & Cie, Pictet Asset Management (PAM, 57 milliards de francs suisses d’encours obligataires et monétaires au 31 décembre), a annoncé le 23 février avoir recruté Roman Gaiser comme head of high yield et Andres Sanchez Blacazar comme co-head de la global & regional bond team.Le Suisse Roman Gaiser a quitté fin janvier Threadneedle (lire notre article du 1er février), où il était gérant vedette d’obligations européennes à haut rendement. Il rejoindra en avril l'équipe obligataire de PAM composée de Alexander Baskov et Prashant Agarwal.Pour sa part, Andres Sanchez Blacazar, qui était l’un des gérants de portefeuille senior chez Western Asset Management (groupe Legg Mason), rejoint en mars l'équipe obligataire mondiale et régionale de PAM qui gère 6 milliards de francs suisses.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hamburg-based developer ECE in January appointed Bärbel Schomberg, founder of the consulting firm Schomberg & Co (see Newsmanagers of 25 June 2010) as a member of its sustainable development council.The Hamburg firm is the first German real estate company to set up a board composed of outside independent experts in this area.Schomberg resigned for “personal reasons” from her positions as chairman of the executive board at Aberdeen Immobilien KAG and head of Continental Europe at Aberdeen Property Investors (see Newsmanagers of 2 March 2010), which some people connected with the serious troubles encountered by the DEGI funds.ECE, with the Technical University (TU) of Karlsruhe, has published a guide to sustainable shopping centres developed by ECE, and has already received a certification from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen (DGNB), a German sustainable construction institute.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Thomas Rüschen, global head of asset finance & leasing (AFL) in the corporate & investment banking division of Deutsche Bank, will take over on 1 March as global director of key account management and director of distribution for Europe. In addition, given his experience in the area of assets with limited liquidity, he will also become head of DWS Access.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of 2010, assets under management at MLP totalled a record EUR19.8bn, compared with EUR19.3bn as of the end of September, EUR12.8bn as of the end of 2009, and EUR11.4bn as of the end of 2008.The financial services provider also announced on 23 February that for the year 2010, it earned net profits of EUR34.1m for ongoing activities, compared with EUR24.2m the previous year, and EUR24.6m for 2008.Operating revenues fell by 2%, to EUR522.6m from EUR532.1m, but revenues from asset and wealth management increased 10%, to EUR78.5m, This sector of activities now represents 17% of the firm’s EUR472.2m in commission revenues, largely due to the majority holding in Feri.The board is planning to offer a dividend for 2010 up 20%, to EUR30 cents per share (from 25 cents). If the general shareholders’ meeting approves the recommendation, the dividend payout will total EUR32.4m, up from EUR27m, equivalent to 95% of net profits from ongoing operations.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fate of Pioneer Investments, the asset management firm of the UniCredit group, has not yet been sealed, and all possibilities remain open, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. An Italian marriage with Eurizon (Intesa Sanpaolo) is still possible, but at the same time, the process to select an industrial partner from among the three foreign candidates (Amundi, Natixis and Resolution) is continuing. Federico Ghizzoni, CEO of UniCredit, has announced that final bids must be submitted by the end of March.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Harewood Solutions (BNP Paribas CIB) on 22 February launched an income fund aimed at British investors, the IFSL Harewood US Enhanced Income Fund, which is structured as an OEIC vehicle, Hedgeweek reports. The fund aims to earn annual returns of 8% with lower volatility than the S&P Total Return index. Front-end fee is set at a maximum of 1%, and management commission is 0.75% per year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } After a two year pause, Goldman Sachs AM is planning to increase its staff in India and to offer new products during the year, Asian Investor reports. GSAM (India) currently has a team of eight people in Mumbai, for research, deontology and administration. GSAM received an operating license for the Indian market in September 2008, and then built a team of 20 people, which has been subject to reductions since February 2009. Despite the decline in assets under management observed in the past 12 months, the head of Indian activities, Prashant Khemka, says the Indian market has considerable potential.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In 2010, Henderson saw an increase in its underlying pre-tax profits of 37%, to GBP100.7m, compared with GBP73.7m in 2009, on earnings up 35% to GBP485.9m. Assets increased over the year by 6%, to GBP61.6bn, due to positive market and currency effects of GBP5.1bn. However, the firm saw net redemptinos of GBP1.4bn. It says that it has nonetheless posted net subscriptions of GBP2bn to high-margin products. Henderson has a profit margin of 30%, up 9%, due to rising markets, subscriptions to high-margin profits, gains on the acquisition of New Star, and continued cost reduction measures. In its 2010 report, Henderson points to its ongoing acquisition of Gartmore, which has also recently published its results. Gartmore reports net redemptions of GBP7.2bn in 2010; it is having difficulty in stemming these outflows, as in January the firm saw net redemptions of GBP390m, and GBP402m to 18 February. Assets are down from GBP22.2bn in 2009 to GBP17.2bn in 2010.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of 31 December, assets under management at Banque Sarasin exceeded the objective of CHF100bn, set in 2006, with a total of CHF103.4bn, compared with CHF93.7bn in 2009, and CHF69.7bn in 2008. CHF13.4bn of the increase is due to net subscriptions, compared with CHF12.5bn in 2009. As in the previous year, (see Newsmanagers of 3 March 2010), Sarasin exceeded its goal for increase by net subscriptions, with a total of 14% over a goal of 10% for 2010. The Swiss affiliate of Rabobank also confirms that its goal for 2015 is assets under management of CHF150bn.As of 31 December 2010, total assets under management with a sustainable approach at the Sarasin group came to CHF13.4bn. The proportion these assets represent of total mandates managed by the Sarasin group (including internal investment funds) as of this date came to 30%.However, the cost-income ratio deteriorated slightly, to 77.6%, compared with 77.1%, which did not prevent consolidated net profits from increasing to CHF124.5m, from an adjusted level fo CHF121.7m (i.e. not including a depreciation for the firm’s stake in NZB Holding) in 2009, when declared profits totalled CHF51.5m.Net operating income for the private banking division rose to CHF94.5m from CHF31.2m, due to increases in assets, while operating income for the asset management, products & sales division increased 20%, to CHF60m. However, income for the trading & family offices division were penalised by declining profits from proprietary trading and cash transactions.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } André van den Heuvel, managing director of BlackRock, head of institutional activities in Benelux, will join ING Investment Management on 1 May as a member of the management board, in charge of sales and marketing activities for Europe. In this position he replaces Michel van Elk, who since November 2009 has been serving in this role in addition to his reponsibilities as CEO of ING IM Europe.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The 2010 fiscal year brought an operating profit in Germany for Vontobel, the firm’s CEO, Herbert Scheidt, has announced. Large agreed investments in the group’s “second domestic market” have, however, not yet entirely recuperated, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.In Germany, where the firm has recently opened branch offices in Frankfurt and Cologne, Vontobel manages over CHF1bn for retail clients.

Pictet Asset Management, the institutional asset management arm of the Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie, has announced the appointment of Roman Gaiser as head of high yield and Andres Sanchez Balcazar as co-head of the global and regional bond team.Roman Gaiser was previously at Threadneedle Asset Management where he was senior portfolio manager and co-managed the EUR 3 billion Threadneedle European High Yield Bond franchise. He will join existing portfolio managers Alexander Baskov and Prashant Agarwal in the PAM Fixed Income team in April 2011.Andres Sanchez Balcazar joins from Western Asset Management (Legg Mason) where he was one of the senior portfolio managers responsible for global macro, asset and currency allocation. He will join in March 2011 as co-head of the global and regional bond team. The global and regional bond team currently manage CHF6bn of assets.PAM currently manages some CHF57bn of fixed income and money market assets.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss Vontobel group continued to grow last year, despite volatile markets and the war on tax evasion in Europe. The Zurich bank nonetheless saw strong inflows, and reports a net profit for 2010 of GBP147.3m, up 7% from 2009, the group announced in a statement on 23 February. Pre-tax profits totalled CHF173.1m, including a contribution of CHF99.1m from private banking and asset management.Net inflows totalled CHF5.5bn (+7.3%), compared with CHF2.1bn one year previously. Assets under management are up 5% to CHF78.6bn. Private clients brought in CHF1.5bn, while inflows from institutional clients and investment funds totalled a net CHF4bn, of which CHF2.8bn were from management mandates. “Returns earned from the acquisition of new capital and slightly positive market effects were offset by unfavourable currency rate movements totalling CHF5.3bn,” the group says.New inflows came largely from Swiss and central and eastern European clients. However, unlike at its major rivals such as UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer, the firm did not receive large inflows from new high net worth clients in Asia.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } SwissLife Banque Privée has announced the recruitment of three private bankers, Igor Boisson de Chazournes, Olivier de La Clergerie and Sabine Gressier, who will be responsible for assisting banking clients with the optimisation of their private and professional assets. They will report to Daniel Resta, director for private clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Legg Mason has signed a distribution agreement with Allfunds, by which three of its funds will be made available on the Italian market, Bluerating reports. The funds are the Legg Mason Permal Global Absolute Fund, the Legg Mason Western Asset Global Multi Strategy Fund, and the Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity Fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Euro securities department of Natixis has become the first client to use the new hedge fund services available on the FundSettle platform from Euroclear Bank, Hedgeweek reports. FundSettle offers order routing, settlement and clearance, and custody for about 300 fund administrators active in hedge funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } François Pérol, chairman of Natixis SA, on 23 February confirmed at a press conference that the group is interested in acquiring Pioneer, the asset management affiliate of UniCredit SpA, but declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations with the Italian bank.At a press conference in Milan, UniCredit announced that final bids for the affiliate should be submitted by the end of March.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business activities of Bernard Madoff, has accused David Becker, the top lawyer at the SEC, of making money off of “fictive profits” and “other people’s money,” Expansión reports. He is seeking USD1.54bn of the over USD2bn left by his mother, Dorothy Becker, who died in 2008. The Wall Street Journal reports that Becker surprised observers with his decision to resign from his position at the SEC in early February, but that the regulator is at pains to counter the impression that the two facts may be related.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets under management at Dexia AM totalled EUR86.4bn as of the end of December 2010, up 4.8% compared with December 2009, Dexia announced on 23 February. This increase of EUR4bn is due to large volumes of inflows to institutional and private mandates (EUR4.9bn), and to positive market effects (EUR4bn).These flows were partly offset by outflows from retail funds (-EUR2.2bn) and institutional funds (-EUR2.7bn). Private and retail clients continued to show a marked preference for low-cost products in an uncertain economic and financial environment.The French-Belgian banking group also announced a profit of EUR723m for 2010, down 28.4% year on year. This decline is due to alterations to the bank’s financial structure.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As of the end of January, assets at Eaton Vance totalled USD191.74bn, compared with USD185.24bn as of the end of October, and USD161.85bn one year previously, of which USD114.72bn, compared with USD107.5bn and USD98.46bn, respectively, were for equities products.USD15.84bn of a year-on-year increase of USD30.18bn in assets under management is due to positive market performance.Net profits for the quarter ending on 31 January totalled USD59.28m, compared with USD60.22m in August-November, and USD51.54m in the corresponding period of 2009/2010.

For 2010, Amundi had net inflows of EUR1.2bn (including asset management activities at BFT), the Crédit Agricole group announced in its annual results. This level is due to net outflows of EUR13.1bn from money market products. Excluding money markets, net inflows totalled EUR14.3bn, driven largely by bond and guaranteed funds. «This resilience in inflows was aided by strengthened positions in the institutional investor segment, especially abroad, and the build-up of ETFs, with 5.3 billion euros of funds under management at 31 December 2010", the bank says. Total assets under management advanced by 3.2% over the year to 710.3 billion euros at 31 December 2010. On a like-for-like basis, net banking income in asset management rose by 6.3% over the year to 1,517 million euros (including 356 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2010). Excluding restructuring costs and on a like-for-like basis, expenses contracted by 1.5% and gross operating income rose by 17.4% over the year to 691 million euros, including 157 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2010. Excluding restructuring costs, the cost/income ratio improved by 4.3 points between 2009 and 2010, falling to 54.4%. After restructuring costs of 81 million euros in 2010, including 10 million euros in the fourth quarter, net income for asset management amounted to 406 million euros. Net income, Group share rose to nearly 299 million euros (up 3.2% over the year on a like-for-like basis), including 73 million euros in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Apple shareowners have supported a proposal by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) that advises the company to adopt a majority vote standard for board candidates in uncontested elections.

 Proposal 6 at the computer company’s annual shareowners’ meeting in Cupertino, California asked Apple to require a majority of shares to replace the current plurality vote standard for election of unopposed board candidates. The company confirmed that the proposal passed.

“As a company that thrives on innovation, Apple should have the best governance practices possible,” said Anne Simpson, the senior portfolio manager who heads the CalPERS corporate governance program. The current plurality vote rule allows shareowners who oppose candidates only to withhold votes, making it possible for election of an unopposed candidate by a single “for” vote.

CalPERS owns 2.6 million Apple shares and is the nation’s largest public pension fund with approximately USD230 billion in assets.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }a:link { } GFM has launched Globalfunddata, a free platform offering quantitative data on over 34,000 funds (hedge funds, long-only funds, ETFs, and others). The platform, at www.globalfunddata.com, includes information on the strategy, manager, ISIN code, date of launch, fees, and more for each fund.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Swiss financial services provider Ceros Holding AG, of Lucerne, has acquired a majority stake in the Turkish brokerage firm Pozitif Menkul Degerler AS of Istanbul from Bank Pozitif AS, as of 22 February 2011. Pozitif Menkul Degerler offers securities services such as brokerage, asset management and research, Fonds Professionell reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British commodities specialist ETF Securities is hoping to develop its activities in Asia this year, Asian Investor reports. The new head of Asian activities at ETF Securities, Nigel Phelan, would like to offer ETCs in Singapore and Hong Kong initially, followed by Shanghai. Phelan, currently based in Sydney, is planning to move to Hong Kong in second half 2011.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Assets in investment funds increased 13.7% last year in Europe, to total EUR8.025trn, compared with EUR7.061trn in 2009, according to statistics from the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA). Assets fell from a peak of EUR8.2trn in 2007, to about EUR6trn in early 2009, and have since recovered.Net inflows to UCITS funds totalled EUR166bn, compared with EUR150bn the previous year. This development came despite net outflows of EUR126bn from money market funds. Dedicated funds attracted a record EUR149bn, while real estate funds brought in EUR5bn. In total, net inflows to UCITS and non-UCITS funds totalled EUR335bn in 2010, compared with EUR190bn in 2009.Net inflows to long-term UCITS funds (not including money market funds) last year totalled EUR292bn, compared with EUR192bn in 2009.Net inflows to funds domiciled in Luxembourg and Ireland last year totalled EUR215bn, EUR50bn more than net inflows to UCITS funds overall. The market share for Luxembourg and Ireland in UCITS funds increased to 44.1%. Luxembourg and Ireland also captured 46% of net inflows to dedicated funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nearly two years after closing the real estate fund BBVA Propriedad, BBVA has begun the process of liquidating the vehicle, which will be undertaken gradually, so as not to impinge on the value of the properties in the portfolio, and to avoid dragging down the market more generally, Cotizalia reports. To this end, BBVA has set the value of the value of the portfolio at EUR1.4bn, which is 20% lower than the amount paid by the bank to the fund in irder to compensate for outgoing shareholders in October 2008.