Craig Aspinall a rejoint Standard Life Investments en qualité de directeur des investissements avec la mission de développer les activités de Standard Life en Australie. Il travaillait précédemment chez Macquarie Global Investments.Standard Life Investments a également recruté Diana Ryan, précédemment chez AMP Capital, en tant que chargée de clientèle avec la responsabilité de mettre en œuvre des stratégies de développement dans la région.

Dans une interview avec la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Eric Syz, directeur général de l'établissement helvétique éponyme, estime que les investisseurs allemands se montrent trop exigeants vis-à-vis des banques privées tout en renâclant à payer les commissions, ce qui ne permet pas d’exercer des activités de banque privée dans des conditions économiques raisonnables. En outre, ces particuliers sont difficiles à servir parce qu’ils font souvent preuve de panurgisme.En revanche Syz voit des chances de développement auprès de la clientèle institutionnelle, notamment les caisses de retraite et les assureurs. En matière de gestion d’actifs institutionnelle, l'établissement helvétique souhaite gagner du terrain en Allemagne, en France et en Italie.

Threadneedle et Deutsche Bank ont signé un accord pour la distribution de 34 fonds Threadneedle via les 271 agences bancaires de l’établissement allemand en Italie et par le biais de Finanza & Futuro Banca, le réseau de 1.250 conseillers financiers du groupe. Parmi les fonds Threadneedle qui seront désormais commercialisés en Italie par Deutsche Bank figurent les Pan European Fund, American Fund, American Select Fund et European High Yield Bond Fund.

A l’occasion de la présentation des résultats annuels d’UniCredit, Federico Ghizzoni, son CEO, a précisé qu’une décision serait prise dans deux à trois semaines au sujet de sa filiale de gestion d’actifs Pioneer, rapporte Il Sole – 24 Ore. A cet égard, le journal italien révèle que les représentants de Resolution, l’un des prétendants, ont rencontré à plusieurs reprises à Milan les dirigeants d’UniCredit, auxquels ils ont présenté les derniers détails de leur projet. Le groupe britannique prévoit de créer une plate-forme européenne de gestion d’actifs capable d’attirer d’autres acteurs du secteur. Dans ce cadre, Pioneer serait détenue par une société nouvellement créée détenue par les nouveaux et anciens actionnaires de la société de gestion, et donc potentiellement UniCredit. Cette entité serait cotée à Londres et Milan à hauteur d’au moins 51 % de son capital. Les autres prétendants sont Amundi et Natixis, déconcertés par la décision du gouvernement italien de bloquer les opérations hostiles sur les secteurs stratégiques du pays, note Il Sole. Federico Ghizzoni n’a pas exclu non plus de ne pas vendre Pioneer...

La nouvelle direction d’Unicredit emmenée par Federico Ghizzoni pourrait envisager de conserver Pioneer Global Asset Management, sa filiale de gestion d’actifs si les offres reçues se révélaient insuffisantes, rapporte L’Agefi. La banque italienne négocie actuellement avec trois candidats (Natixis, Amundi et le britannique Resolution) mais une rumeur parle aussi d’un rapprochement de Pioneer avec Eurizon, son concurrent chez Intesa Sanpaolo. «Une décision sera prise dans deux à trois semaines», a indiqué simplement le directeur général qui a déjà exclu toute vente de l’activité américaine de Pioneer, considérée comme «stratégique».

Russell Investments a annoncé le 23 mars la nomination de Trevor Persaud en qualité de responsable des activités de conseil dans l’Asean, en Inde, à Hong Kong et à Taiwan.Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Trevor Persaud sera responsable du développement des activités de conseil dans la région, entre autres, le conseil en investissement, l’allocation d’actifs, la gestion des risques et la construction de portefeuille. Trevor Persaud, qui travaillait précédemment chez Prudential Asset Management à Singapour, restera basé à Singapour et sera rattaché à Mahendran Nathan, chief executive pour l’Asean, Hong Kong, Taiwan et l’Inde.

AXA a annoncé le 23 mars la fin de la période de détermination du prix de la fusion d’AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH) avec AMP Limited (AMP) et de la vente des activités asiatiques d’AXA APH à AXA. La finalisation de l’acquisition des activités asiatiques d’AXA APH par AXA est prévue le 1er avril 2011.La transaction a préalablement reçu toutes les autorisations réglementaires nécessaires ainsi que l’approbation des actionnaires d’AXA APH.En retenant le prix moyen pondéré par les volumes (« VWAP ») des actions AMP sur la période de référence de 10 jours, qui s’élève à 5,32 dollars australiens, le prix final par action payé aux actionnaires minoritaires d’AXA APH comprendra 0,73 action AMP et 2,5464 dollars australiens en numéraire. AMP va acquérir 100% des actions existantes d’AXA APH pour 13,3 milliards de dollars australiens. AMP achètera les actions AXA APH détenues par AXA pour 7,2 milliards de dollars australiens en numéraire. Dans cette transaction, AXA achètera à AMP 100% des activités asiatiques d’AXA APH pour 9,8 milliards de dollars australiens en numéraire. Le prix des activités d’AXA APH en Australie et Nouvelle-Zélande sera de 3,5 milliards de dollars australiens.Le montant net payé par AXA en numéraire sera de 2,6 milliards de dollars australiens (ou environ 1,8 milliard d’euros).La transaction devrait être relutive sur le résultat opérationnel par action en 2011 et avoir les impacts estimés suivants au premier semestre 2011 :• Environ 0,7 milliard d’euros de plus-value exceptionnelle comptabilisée en résultat net, liée à la vente des activités en Australie et Nouvelle-Zélande• -1 point de ratio de solvabilité I, qui s’élevait à 182% au 31 décembre 2010• +4 points de ratio d’endettement, qui s’élevait à 28% au 31 décembre 2010. Cet impact est principalement dû au paiement net en numéraire et à la réduction des capitaux propres d’environ 1,6 milliard d’euros.

A la suite de la finalisation de la transaction AXA APH (lire par ailleurs), John Dacey, membre du comité exécutif de group Axa, deviendra avec effet immédiat vice-chairman de la région Asie-Pacifique et sera rattaché à Henri de Castries. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, il aura pour mission de poursuivre le développement des activités d’AXA dans la région. Il était précédemment directeur général de la région Japon & Asie-Pacifique, qui est réorganisée en deux entités : AXA Asie et AXA Japon.Michael Bishop, membre du comité exécutif du groupe AXA, est nommé directeur général d’AXA Asie, et sera rattaché à Henri de Castries. Il était précédemment directeur général d’AXA Asia Life, une entité d’AXA APH. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, il continuera de diriger les activités d’assurance vie, épargne, retraite d’AXA en Asie (en Chine, à Hong-Kong, en Inde, en Indonésie, en Malaisie, aux Philippines, à Singapour et en Thaïlande) et il supervisera également le développement des activités d’assurance dommages (en Chine, à Hong-Kong, en Inde, en Indonésie, en Malaisie, à Singapour, en Thaïlande et au Vietnam). Gaëlle Olivier, nouvellement nommée directeur général d’AXA Asia P&C, lui sera directement rattachée.Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, directeur général d’AXA Japon et membre du comité exécutif du groupe AXA, sera directement rattaché à Henri de Castries.

BNY Mellon a annoncé le 22 mars une hausse de 44 % de son dividende trimestriel, qui passe de 9 cents à 13 cents par action. Ce dividende sera versé le 1er mai aux actionnaires enregistrés au 29 avril. Le groupe a également annoncé que son comité de direction avait donné son accord pour renforcer encore le programme de rachat d’actions en cours. Le nouveau programme porte sur le rachat de 47 millions d’actions, d’une valeur pouvant atteindre 1,3 milliard de dollars.

Prudential Investments lance deux nouveaux fonds immobiliers. Le Prudential U.S. Real Estate Fund se qui concentre sur des investissements en sociétés immobilières aux Etats-Unis, et le Prudential International Real Estate Fund qui est investi en sociétés immobilières en dehors de l’Amérique du Nord, dans les pays développés et les marchés émergents.

Amundi a lancé une Sicav monétaire, Amundi Money Market Fund Short Term (EUR), rapporte Citywire. Son objectif est de surperformer l’Eonia. La société de gestion prévoit aussi de lancer un compartiment en dollar dans les prochains mois et pourrait aussi lancer un fonds en livres sterling.

Amundi has launched a money market Sicav, Amundi Money Market Fund Short Term (EUR), Citywire reports. Its objective is to outperform the Eonia. The management firm is also planning to launch a sub-fund in US dollars in the next few months, and may also launch a fund in pounds Sterling.

Threadneedle and Deutsche Bank have signed an agreement to distribute 34 Threadneedle funds via the 271 branches of the German bank in Italy, and via Finanza & Futuro Banca, the network of 1,250 financial advisers at the group. Among the Threadneedle funds which will now be sold in Italy by Deutsche Bank are the Pan European Fund, American Fund, American Select Fund and European High Yield Bond Fund.

The insurance firm Mapfre Vida on Wednesday launched the Fondmapfre Garantizado 1104, which will mature on 4 May 2015. The capital is 100% guaranteed, and returns will depend on the performance of the Euro Stoxx 50. There will be weekly liquidity windows beginning in the second year.

Three foreign management firms have recently received licenses to sell some of their products in Spain. They include the Axa IM Euro Moderato (E share class, FR0010950055, and I share class, FR0010950063) from Axa Ibercapital, and the Mirabaud Active Allocation (A share class, LU0562891944, and I share class, LU0562892165) from Mirabaud Finanzas. For its part, Pimco (Allianz Global Investors group) has registered the Pimco Emerging Asia Bond Fund, Pimco Emerging Markets and Infrastructure Bond Fund, and PIMCO Global Advantage Fund. The last of these replicates the fundamental index GLADI (Global Advantage Index), which was developed internally.

La nouvelle direction d’Unicrédit emmenée par Federico Ghizzoni pourrait envisager de conserver Pioneer Global Asset Management, sa filiale de gestion d’actifs si les offres reçues se révélaient insuffisantes, rapporte L’Agefi. La banque italienne négocie actuellement avec trois candidats (Natixis, Amundi et le britannique Resolution) mais une rumeur parle aussi d’un rapprochement de Pioneer avec Eurizon, son concurrent chez Intesa Sanpaolo. «Une décision sera prise dans deux à trois semaines», a indiqué simplement le directeur général qui a déjà exclu toute vente de l’activité américaine de Pioneer, considérée comme «stratégique».

At a presentation of its annual results, Federico Ghizzoni, CEO of UniCredit, announced that a decision would be made in two to three weeks on the sale of Pioneer, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The Italian newspaper reports that representatives of Resolution, one of the candidates, have met top management of UniCredit on several occasions in Milan to present the most recent details of their bid. The UK group is proposing to create a European asset management platform capable of attracting other players in the sector. Pioneer would then be owned by a newly-created firm owned by the new and former shareholders in the asset management firm, and thus potentially also UniCredit. The entity would be listed in London and Milan, with at least 51% of its capital public. The other candidates are Amundi and Natixis, though these have been made uneasy by the Italian government’s decision to block hostile operations in strategic sectors in the country, Il Sole notes. Ghizzoni did not rule out the possibility that Pioneer would not be sold.

Expansión reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has commenced the sale process for its non-strategic credit portfolio in Spain, to sell EUR286m in loans made at the peak of the market to real estate promoters, to the opportunistic Perella Weinberg Real Estate Fund, for an undisclosed amount, but probably at a steep markdown. RBS is still seeking buyers for about EUR700m in loans.

Société Générale Private Banking (SGPB) on Wednesday, 23 March announced four appointments to its wealth engineering, fiduciary services and life insurance divison, led by Laurent Joly. Jon Needham, who is based in Jersey, is appointed as global director of fiduciary services for the international banking network. He is also in charge of wealth engineering and fiduciary services for Société Générale Private Banking Hambros. Vittorio Castellani, who is based in Geneva, is appointed head of wealth engineering for Latin American clients of SGPB. He reports to Alberto Valenzuela, deputy CEO of Société Générale Private Banking (Switzerland) SA, and director of the Latin American client segment. Cécile Decomps, who is based in Paris, is appointed head of life insurance for Société Générale Private Banking, in charge of developing and promoting the life insurance product range in the international network of the private bank. Marco Cameroni, who is based in Luxembourg, is appointed head of wealth engineering and fiduciary services for private banking activities at Société Générale Bank & Trust (SGBT). He replaces Claudio Bacceli, who has recently been appointed CEO in charge of private banking at Société Générale Bank & Trust.

BNY Mellon on 22 March announced an increase of 44% to its quarterly dividends, from 8 cents to 13 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on 1 May to shareholders registered on 29 April. The group has also announced that its board of directors has granted approval for a further extension to the share buyback program now underway. The new program will increase the buyback total to 47 million shares, with a value of up to USD1.3bn.

Ossiam, the affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management specialised in ETFs (exchange-traded funds), announced on Wednesday, 23 March that it has appointed Paul-Marc Lachaud as head of compliance and internal control at the firm. Lachaud, 32, is an addition to the organisation at the management firm, which is planning to launch its first products in May 2011, a statement says. In September 2007, Lachaud joined the inspector general’s office at the BPCE group, as inspector, and was in charge of evaluation of the risk control framework at the bank and its affiliates, and of improving the organization and effectiveness of the group’s various risk management entities.

In its diversified portfolios, Amundi Asset Management “has been overweight in equities by several percentage points for the past six months,” and is planning to continue to prefer higher-risk assets. The management firm “is gradually reducing its overweight position on high-yield bonds,” Philippe Thurbide, head of research, strategy and analysis, stated on 23 March, adding that the firm has already been underweight in investment-grade corporate bonds for some time. In government bonds in particular, the French management firm is short on duration, due to continuing, yet evanescent prospects of a rise in inflation in western Europe, and more concrete dangers of rising prices in eastern Europe. Pascal Blanqué, deputy CEO and CIO of Amundi Group, adds that the management firm “is moving from credit to equities, particularly Euorpean equities, where valuations are currently attractive.” This slant towards European equities is leading symetrically to a reduction in the overweight exposure to emerging markets. In terms of Amundi’s product plans, Eric Turjeman, head of equities management in Paris, states clearly that the range is nearly complete in “all terrain,” and thus capable of satisfying any fluctuations in demand due to market evolution. But there might be additions to the range of minimum variance (minvar) products to control volatility, and «return» products.

In the third week of the Galleon trial, the president and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, took a stand against the former head of McKinsey, Rajat Gupta, defending the confidentiality of the deliberations of the bank’s board, to which he had belonged, Les Echos reports. Gupta is accused of feeding confidential information to the founder of Galleon, Rajat Rajaratnam.

NewAlpha Asset management has completed a first round of fundraising at EUR105m for the NewAlpha Genesis 4 fund, from 10 institutional investors. The fund, whose final asset target is set at EUR150m, will be able to accept further subscriptions until the end of July 2011. The fund will aim to invest in diversified alternative strategies from asset management firms in a launch or development phase. The analysis and research team at NewAlpha Asset Management, which considered more than 300 candidates for incubation in 2010, has already identified, selected and begun negotiations with several managers that show attractive characteristics, both in terms of future performance and growth in activities. NewAlpha Genesis 4 will make its first investments by the end of first half 2011. NewAlpha Genesis 4 aims to offer total annualised performance of 8% to 12%, on an investment horizon of at least 3 years.

Prudential Investments is launching two new real estate funds. The Prudential U.S. Real Estate Fund concentrates on investments in real estate companies in the United States, while the Prudential International Real Estate Fund invests in real estate companies outside North America, in developed countries and emerging markets.

Olivier Cornuot, 43, is joining the volatility and convertibles unit at CCR Asset Management, as a senior manager in charge of quantitative strategies. Cornuot was previously head of absolute return and manager of volatility arbitrage funds at Lyxor.

Russell Investments on 23 March announced that it has appointed Trevor Persaud as head of advising activities for Asean countries, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In his new role, Persaud will be responsible for developing advising activities in the region, including investment advising, asset allocation, risk management and portfolio construction. Persaud, who previously worked at Prudential Asset Management in Singapore, will continue to be based in Singapore, and will report to Mahendran Nathan, chief executive for Asean, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India.

In the United States, there are 7,5000 funds, with assets under management of EUR6trn. This comes out to an average of EUR806m per fund, according to statistics from Lipper. In Europe, no less than 26,000 funds have total assets of EUR3.6trn, meaning that a European fund weighs only EUR137m.This trend is showing no signs of change. In 2009, the number of new funds launched in Europe is larger each year than the number of funds closed or merged. “The UCITS directive has not led to a rationalisation of product ranges,” says Dunny Moonesawmy, head of research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, at a conference held in Paris on Wednesday by FitchRatings. Mooesawmy says Europe remains a highly fragmented market compared with the United States, and it remains difficult to sell a French fund in other countries. In addition, the needs of investors are divergent depending on their country of origin.Innovation continues to be very strong in terms of asset management, with niche products that aim to respond to constantly-changing demand. The proliferation of products is also a result of the fact that the barrier to entry for new asset management firms is very low, Moonesawmy notes.Of a total of 26,000 funds, very few bring in inflows. For example, in 2010, 70% of the 5,000 equities funds on sale in Europe attracted only 10% of inflows. However, 50 funds captured EUR50bn, a sign of real concentration in inflows on a few funds, asset classes, and management firms.However, Moonesawmy says, due to the growing number of managers finding themselves out of work and setting out to launch their own management firms, the rationalisation of the fund sector, which has been discussed for a decade or more, is not going to happen tomorrow.

AXA on 23 March announced the end of the period to determine theprice for the Axa Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH) merger with AMPLimited (AMP), and the sale of the Asian activities of AXA APH toAXA. The finalisation of the acquisition of the Asian activities ofAXA APH by AXA is slated for 1 April 2011.The transaction has provisionally received all the necessaryregulatory approvals and the permission of shareholders in AXA APH.On the basis of the average price weighted by VWAP volumes of AMPshares over a reference period of 10 days, which comes to AUD5.32,the final price per share to be paid to minority shareholders in AXAAPH will be 0.73 AMP shares and AUD2.5464 in cash.AMP will acquire 100% of the existing shares in AXA APH forAUD13.3bn. AMP will buy the shares in AXA APH held by AXA forAUD7.2bn in cash. As a part of the transaction, AXA will buy 100% ofthe Asian activities of AXA APH from AMP for AUD9.8bn in cash. Theprice for the activities of AXA APH in Australia and New Zealand willbe AUD3.5bn.The total paid by AXA in cash will be AUD2.6bn (or aboutEUR1.8bn).The transaction will depend on operating profits per share in2011, and will have the following estimated impact on first half2011:About EUR0.7bn in one-time capital gains included in netresults, due to the sale of activities in Australia and New Zealand-1 point for the Solvency 1 ratio, which stood at 182% as of31 December 2010+4 points for the debt ratio, which stood at 28% as of 31December 2010. This impact is primarily due to the net cash paymentand the reduction in owners’ equity by about EUR1.6bn.

Following the finalisation of the AXA APH transaction (see full article in today’s edition), John Dacey, a member of the executive board at the Axa group, will become vice-chairman of the Asia=Pacific region, effective immediately, and will report to Henri de Castries. In his new role, Dacey will continue AXA’s development in the region. He was previously CEO of the Japan and Asia-Pacific region, which has been reorganised into two entities: AXA Asia and AXA Japan.Michael Bishop, a member of the executive board at the AXA Group, has been appointed as CEO of AXA Asia, and will report to de Castries. He was previously CEO of AXA Asia Life, an entity of AXA APH. In his new role, he will continue to direct life insurance, savings, and retirement activities of AXA in Asia (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand), and will also supervise the development of damage insurance activities (in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).Gaëlle Olivier, who has recently been appointed as CEO of AXA Asia P&C, will report directly to him.Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, CEO of AXA Japan and a member of the executive committee at the AXA group, will report directly to de Castries.