Palaedino Asset Management, société de gestion d’actifs du multi-family office suisse Palaedino, propose les quatre compartiments de sa sicav luxembourgeoise coordonnée Axiom Fund libellés en devise-or, ce qui constitue une première mondiale. Pratiquement, tout montant investi sur ces produits le sera aussi sur des contrats à terme euro-or toutes les deux semaines. Si les fluctuations du cours du métal jaune sont positives, elles s’ajoutent à la performance du fonds, et inversement, note le quotidien.

Depuis le 10 décembre, le JPM Global Natural Resources Fund (SICAV), géré par Ian Henderson au sein de J.P. Morgan Asset Management, est fermé aux souscriptions de nouveaux investisseurs (soft closing). Les investisseurs existants de ce fonds investi dans les sociétés du secteur des ressources naturelles du monde entier, dont l’encours ressortait à 3,2 milliards d’euros au 15 décembre, peuvent néanmoins continuer à souscrire. «Le fonds a bien performé et a attiré un encours important. Bien que le fonds ne soit pas encore au stade où il ne peut plus poursuivre sa stratégie d’investissement, l’équipe de gestion du portefeuille a estimé que si le fonds continue de croître cela pourrait être le cas. Aussi, pour permettre au fonds de continuer à atteindre ses objectifs et pour protéger les intérêts des investisseurs actuels, nous avons pris la décision de «soft closer» le fonds», explique J.P. Morgan AM, qui ajoute qu’une telle mesure est souvent temporaire.

Les encours totaux du secteur de la gestion alternative ont baissé de 2,55 milliards de dollars en novembre, à 1.640 milliards de dollars, selon Eurekahedge. Cela s’explique par des retraits nets de 0,19 milliard de dollars et des pertes de 2,36 milliards. Eurekahedge note que les actifs des hedge funds asiatiques ont franchi la barre des 125 milliards de dollars pour la première fois depuis décembre 2008. Les hedge funds nord américains ont quant à eux enregistré dix mois consécutifs de collecte nette, attirant 56,22 milliards de dollars sur la période.

Sur la base de son «reputational risk radar», RepRisk a publié le 16 décembre la liste des dix sociétés les plus décriées dans les médias, les organismes gouvernementaux et les organisations non-gouvernementales. Cela peut concerner des problèmes comme des infractions aux droits de l’homme, des violations environnementales majeures et des entorses aux normes en vigueur dans les domaines de la législation du travail, de la santé et/ou de la sécurité. Le «bide-parade» est établi en fonction du Reputation Risk Index (RRI) pour 2010 qui a été lui-même dérivé de l’exploitation des articles de presse négatifs. Dès lors, le RRI ne mesure pas la réputation globale d’une entreprise mais il capture les critiques et fournit une indication sur l’exposition au risque réputationnel.Les entreprises les plus affectées sont dans l’ordre Transocean et BP (à cause de la plate-forme Deepwater Horizon dans le Golfe du Mexique), le britannique Vedanta Resources pour les dégâts environnementaux en Inde, l’américain ExxonMobil pour son exposition au pétrole et la pollution au Nigeria ainsi que pour l’exploitation des schistes bitumineux, le taiwanais Foxconn Electronics pour les nombreux suicides de salariés en Chine populaire. L’américain Chevron a été mis en cause dans des procès pour pollution en Equateur et le britannique BG Gas pour les dégâts environnementaux sur le gisement Karachaganak, les problèmes fiscaux avec le Kazakhstan et la controverse sur le projet de gaz naturel liquéfié dans le Queensland australien. Royal Dutch Shell a été mis en cause pour des affaires d'évasion fiscale et de corruption aux Etats-Unis, au Nigeria et aux Philippines, ainsi que pour de la maltraitance au Brésil, au Nicaragua, au Nigeria et en Irlande.L’indonésien Sinar Mas Group a subi des critiques pour s'être rendu coupable de déforestation afin de faire place à des plantations pour la production d’huile de palme tandis que le hongrois Magyar Aluminium Termelp es Kereskedelmi (MAL) a subi le contrecoup de la rupture de digues de son réservoir de boues toxiques en octobre.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Les Echos reports that more than 100,000 tons of cocoa, equivalent to 3% of global production, were delivered on Tuesday, 14 December, the deadline for December contracts on Nyse Liffe. Operators are convinced that the British hedge fund Armajaro, led by Anthony Ward, which met with much criticism this summer for buying USD1bn of cocoa (240,100 tonnes, equivalent to about 6% to 7% of the market), is unloading stock. Since the context is less good than it was in June – since then, cocoa prices have fallen 19% from peaks of GBP2,348 per tonne – the operation is not considered an unmitigated success.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Sherborne, the investment vehicle for the activist investor Edward Bramson, which has achieved a 17.5% stake in F&C, has called for an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to be held, the Financial Times reports. The goal is to replace Nick McAndrew as chairman of F&C. Sherborne would also like to replace Brian Larcombe, non-executive director, with Ian Brindle.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The ratings agency Fitch Ratings on 16 December announced that it has raised the Asset Manager rating for Schroder Investment Management from “M2+” to “M1.” The rating covers all investment activities at the firm, except alternative management activities. The Fitch rating reflects the firm’s long history, its independence and its solidity in difficult market conditions. The profitability and liquidity of the firm ensure it a strong financial basis, as shown by the recruitmentss made in 2010, including a chief investment officer for fixed income. Fitch has also announced that it has rebuilt its institutional activities in the past two years, and assets under management have increased 64% since the end of 2008. As of the end of September 2010, assets under management totalled GBP181.5bn (59% institutional, 41% retail, excluding private banking), of which 45% is invested in equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Fonds professionell reports that a spokesperson for the Bochum public prosecutor’s office on 16 December confirmed reports in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that LGT and LGT Treuhand will pay EUR46.35m to settle legal actions against them by the German tax authorities over information stored on a DVD which was stolen from LGT Treuhand in 2002, and sold in 2009 for EUR4.5m to the German intelligence service BND. LGT employees implicated in the affair will pay EUR3.65m. Neither LGT nor its employees have admitted any wrongdoing in the matter.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Basel Committee on 16 December published the final text of Basel III, including all rules governing owners’ equity at banks, which will be required to be trebled in order to prevent potential financial shocks in the future. The final text confirms the planned ratios and deadlines. Basel III requires banks to establish a minimal Tier I ratio of over 7%, which includes a “safety cushion” of 2.5%. Some changes have been made in other areas, such as the new set of international liquidity standards, which will give countries such as Denmark and Australia more flexibility. These countries and some others have a small government and corporate debt market, which could make it more difficult for them to adhere to Basel III criteria that expect most of the new safety cushion to be constituted from high-rated government bond issues. By the new rules, Denmark and Australia will be allowed to incorporate government debt from other countries and increase the proportion of secured bonds, which are subject to larger discounts. The Basel Committee has also published the results of a Basel III impact study covering 263 establishments worldwide. One of the main points in Basel III requires that by January 2019, establishments will be required to achieve a “hard” owners’ equity ratio (including social capital and profits which are not redistributed) of 7% of liabilities. Previously, the required percentage was 2%. If this measure had been applied at the end of 2009, the 94 largest banks on the planet (with owners’ equity of over EUR3bn) would have been short by EUR577bn in owners’ equity. A second group of 169 banks would have needed EUR25bn. “The transitional period (until 2019) gives banks all the time they need to deploy the new standards in a way that is in keeping with a healthy economic recovery, while consolidating protections in the system against economic and financial shocks,” the chairman of the Basel Committee, Nout Wellink, says in a statement.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Ingenico group announced on 16 December that it has obtained ISO 14001 certification for all of its corporate activities. The international certification “illustrates Ingenico’s desire to control the impact of its activities and products on the environment, and to continue the deployment of its Management System,” the group says in a statement. Ingenico’s major engagements are to be exemplary in its observation of the applicable environmental prescriptions, the taking into account of the environmental dimension in its product design, the deployment of a responsible purchasing policy which integrates environmental criteria, and increasing the awareness of employees.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The San Francisco financial services firm Stone & Youngberg LLC has been sentenced by an arbitration panel of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) to reimburse USD750,000 to the Kay Family Revocable Trust of Lenore and Charles Bleadon, the Wall Street Journal reports.The regulator finds that Stone & Youngberg advised the family trust to invest in a feeder fund for Madoff Securities, but did not engage in any meaningful due diligence, in complete disregard to its fiduciary duty to its clients.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French financial asset management association (AFG) on 16 December announced the appointment of Bernard Descreux (La Banque Postale Asset Management) as chairman of the AFG management techniques commission. He succeeds Jean-François Boulier (CEO, Aviva Investors Europe).Descreux has been a board member at La Banque Postale AM (LBPAM) since 1999. Since 2001, he is in charge of bond management, diversified equities, and engineering and intermediation services. He is also chairman of La Banque Postale Structured Asset Management and AMlab, an incubator for innovative management firms, both of which are affiliates of LBPAM.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nearly 25% of new hedge funds launched in third quarter were UCITS III-compliant, according to statistics from Hedge Fund Research. The most sought-after strategies were equity hedge and macro. However, Hedge Fund Research has observed few launches of event-driven strategies or funds of hedge funds. In the quarter as a whole, 260 new hedge funds were launched, compared with 201 in the previous quarter. Over 12 months, there were 945 new hedge funds launched. Liquidations totalled 168 in third quarter, compared with 177 the previous quarter.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } From 3 January 2011, Florence Lombard, founding member of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) Association, will succeed E. Craig Asche as CEO of the association, a statement dated 16 December announced.Lombard was also a founding member and president of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) until the end of 2008.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fund of funds DWS Vorsorge Dachfonds, specialised in retirement planning, now has over EUR1bn in asets. The product invests contributions to Riester and Rürup retirement savings plans in DWS funds, and also up to 30% in third-party funds.

In November, total assets under management registered a slight decline of USD2.55 billion, bringing the total size of the industry to USD1.64 trillion, according to Eurekahedge. Asset flows for the month were marginal to slightly negative, with net outflows of US$0.19 billion while performance-based declines accounted for losses of USD2.36 billion.Assets in Asian hedge funds crossed USD125 billion for the first time since December 2008. North American hedge funds witnessed 10 consecutive months of net positive asset flows, attracting USD56.22 billion over this period.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Nils Bolmstrand has resigned from his position as chief executive officer of Skandia Investment Group (SIG), and will be temporarily replaced from the end of the year by Marc Bulstrode, the current chief operating officer, until a successor can be found. Bolmstrand will remain at the Skandia group, in the insurance division, and will become head of products for Scandinavian activities. The move will allow him to be permanently based in Sweden, rather than commuting between Southampton in the UK and Stockholm.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the past few days, there has been a resurgence of rumours of a sale of the Chi-X platform by its shareholders, La Tribute reports, citing Bloomberg. Shareholders are said to have recently received offers from Nyse-Euronext, Nasdaq OMX, Bats and DirectEdge. An acquisition of Chi-X, which is currently the numbe rtwo or three player in European markets, would strongly alter the rankings, and would give its acquirer more commission-pricing power, the newspaper reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Cantonal Bank of Valais (BCVs) has reaffirmed that the development of the private banking sector will be among its top strategic priorities, Agefi Switzerland reports. The BCVs prefers the open architecture model and has no funds of its own. It prefers management mandates and high added value products. “The evolution of the international context in wealth management is transforming the fact that BCVs has no international ties into an advantage, as it means the firm is free from any foreign pressures,” says Nicolas Debons, the new head of the activity.

Outre les limites fixées aux positions spéculatives sur les matières premières (lire page 20), le régulateur américain des marchés à terme a dévoilé hier des propositions visant à permettre aux «Swap Execution Facilities» (SEF) de disposer de systèmes électroniques de trading similaires aux livres d’ordres des marchés actions.

En augmentant son capital de 5 milliards d'euros, la banque centrale rappelle aux gouvernements qu'ils ne doivent pas se reposer seulement sur elle

L’institution, dont les achats de dettes souveraines culminent désormais à 72 milliards d’euros, augmentera de 5 milliards d’euros son capital souscrit à 10,76 milliards le 29 décembre. Une décision qui peut être vue comme une mise en garde adressée aux politiques européens.

Les Vingt-Sept se disent « prêts à faire tout ce qui était nécessaire pour assurer la stabilité de la zone euro »

Les tableaux ci-contre présentent les meilleures et plus mauvaises performances sur le marché des fonds actions américaines et le marché des fonds actions françaises au cours du mois de novembre 2010. Ces performances sont mises en perspective par le calcul de la volatilité et du ratio de Sharpe sur trois ans d’historique ainsi que du rendement depuis un an.

Le régulateur américain, qui cherche à déterminer des limites aux positions spéculatives, a toutefois reporté le vote sur ses mesures

Les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement des Vingt-Sept ont entériné hier le principe d’une solidarité entre membres de la zone euro en tant qu’argument ultime face aux marchés en cas de déstabilisation de la monnaie unique. La ratification de l’amendement devra être achevée au 1er janvier 2013.

Le graphique ci-contre montre l’évolution de l’Expected Shortfall ou Value at Risk conditionnelle quotidienne à 95% des rendements du MSCI Europe. Cette mesure de perte extrême décrit la moyenne des pertes une fois la VaR franchie. Rappelons que la VaR mesure la perte potentielle maximale pour un horizon et un niveau de confiance donnés. La VaR conditionnelle permet de capturer les queues de distribution épaisses et donc les risques les plus extrêmes.

Quatre personnes ont été arrêtées hier sur des soupçons de divulgation de secrets technologiques au bénéfice de fonds alternatifs

Dans son rapport de stabilité financière, la BoE s’inquiète de l’exposition de son système financier aux ménages, entreprises et banques de la zone euro

Le groupe indien IFDE (Infrastructure Development Finance Co) pourrait vendre une part de 25% au capital de son activité de gestion d’actifs à Natixis. Le quotidien, qui cite une source anonyme, évoque pour cette transaction un montant de 2,75 milliards de roupies, l’équivalent de 45,6 millions d’euros.