On Tuesday Swan Street Capital said it controlled 4.9 per cent of Gartmore – making it the asset manager’s fourth-largest shareholder, writes the Financial Times. Swan Street Capital is an investment group linked to John Zwaanstra, founder of the hedge fund Penta Investment Advisors and protégé of George Soros, adds the FT.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } As Charlie Wilson left his position as head of third-party distribution at Lazard Asset Management in July to become director of retail distribution at Investec Asset Management, he will be replaced by Tony Maddock, head of wholesale at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), Investment Week reports. At SWIP, his position will be occupied in the interim by John Brett, head of sales and marketing.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Hector Sants, CEO of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), on 23 November told members of the special Treasury committee that the new retail distribution review (RDR) regulations may trigger a decline of 10% to 20% in the number of IFAs, Fund Strategy reports. The head of the FSA claims that this compression in capacity represents an acceptable cost in comparison to the specific improvements RDR is expected to deliver. If the percentage would have been higher, the regulator would not have decided to pursue that outcome.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In December, Christina Sinclair will be appointed as interim director of conduct risk at the Financial Services Authority (FSA). She will replace Dan Waters, director of conduct risk and asset management sector leader, who is resigning to take up another job in the United Kingdom, and to spend time with his family in the United States, a statement from the British regulator stated on 23 November. Waters is currently also the FSA’s representative of the CESR’s group of experts in investment management, as well as on the IOSCO permanent 5 asset management committee.

Barton Biggs is understood to be in the process of launching a Ucits version of his Traxis Partners hedge fund, according to Ucits Hedge which cites sources within the UK hedge funds industry. The fund will be rolled on the Deutsche platform.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to a Funds People study based on data from Allfunds Alternative and KdK AM, the number of UCITS-compliant funds of hedge funds available in Spain now totals over 50. According to KdK AM, the most commen fee structure includes a management commission of 1.5% and a performance commission of 10%. About 80% of funds are absolute return products, while less than 20% use the Libor +. More than 70% of these funds are available in several countries.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Barclays on 23 November announced the launch of the Barclays Equity Euro Market Neutral fund, a Luxembourg-domiciled fund registered in France. The objective of the fund is to generate returns of about 7%, with volatility limited to 5%, through a market neutral strategy.To adhere to a neutral strategy, the fund will invest in European equities through a process of acquisition in pairs. For every share selected for a long position the manager will select another share from the same sector for a short position. The two shares will have identical weight in the portfolio.The investment process will rely on three engines to identify market opportunities. They form an initial filter to identify a number of opportunities.A first engine studies the valuations of the Price Earning Ratio compared with a market average, and determines which are likely to show a pertinent buy or sell signal. The second engine studies upward and downward revisions to corporate results over one-week, one-month and three-month intervals, to evaluate the shares selected. The third, qualitative engine, applies fundamental analysis by the research team, on the basis of more traditional criteria. The three engines create a list of 40 to 50 investment pairs. In a second stage, the management team evaluates the resulting list, and verifies that the pairs selected correspond to genuine investment opportunities, and are not due to structural movements. This results in a list of 20 to 25 pairs. Last of all, the investment team intervenes to undertake a StockRatio calculation. This ratio synthesizes the valuations of each of the pairs selected, taking into account the valuation levels of the two shares from a historical point of view to determine the timing of the investment. The highly selective process results in a final portfolio of 10 pairs with good diversification. The entry of a share into the portfolio triggers the setting up of a stop loss, as well as a stop gain, which are alarms that would lead to the removal of a share from the portfolio if it exceeds the set limits. Major characteristics of the fund Legal format: Luxembourg SICAV (UCITS III) AMF category: Diversified fund ISIN Code: Retail LU0450749949 Launch: 1 October 2010 Investment horizon: 5 years Management fee: Retail 1.20% Institutional 0.8%

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Swiss Life on 23 November announced that Tanguy Polet has been appointed CEO of Swiss Life Banque Privée, and a member of the executive board of Swiss Life France. Tanguy Polet, a lawyer by training, joined Swiss Life Belgium in 2005, and then took over as CEO of Swiss Life Luxembourg in 2008.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management has recruited Laurent Le Grin as convertible bond manager. The management firm thus makes an addition to the team dedicated to this asset class, which, headed by Kris Deblander, managed EUR1.2bn as of 31 October 2010, representing 9.1% of the French market share. Le Grin, 37, joined the convertible bond team at Fortis Investments in 2006, and then moved to BNP Paribas Asset Management as a senior European convertible bond fund manager.

BNP Paribas Real Estate on 23 November announced the appointment of David Aubin as CEO for the international Investment Management operation (REIM), from 1 November 2010. He will report to François Benfeghoul, deputy CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate He was previously director of FIG Europe (Financial Institutions Group, a team of senior bankers in charge of banks and insurers) at BNP Paribas.Aubin, a member of the executive board of BNP Paribas Real Estate, aims in particular to carry out the assets under management growth objectives of BNP Paribas REIM, via ambitious equity inflows, and international development (BNP Paribas REIM now operates via seven affiliates in Western Europe).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Frédéric Lauprêtre, director and head of investment solutions and development at Edmond de Rothshild Investment Managers, has been appointed to the newly-created position of director of sustainable development at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (LCF Rothschild).In his new position, Lauprêtre will propose and deploy a general sustainable development policy, and orient and coordinate the initiatives of the bank and its affiliates.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The European organisation for the promotion of socially responsible investment (SRI) has welcomed two new members, AG2R La Mondiale and Hermes Equity Ownership Services (EOS). Eurosif now has over 80 members.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Eaton Vance Corp (USD185.2bn in assets as of the end of October) has acquired the assets of the Managed ETFs LLC company, which develops intellectual property in the ETF domain, for an undisclosed amount. Managed ETFs controls intellectual property, including patents, which may be used for more effective ETF trading and facilitate the creation of “non-transparent,” actively-managed ETFs.The sale of the technologies acquired by Eaton Vance at this time would require a license from the SEC.The co-founders of Managed ETFs are Gary L. Gastineau, former managing director for ETF product development at Nuveen Investments, who is also the principal of ETF Consultants LLC, and Todd J. Broms, who is CEO of Broms & Company LLC.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Robin Edme has announced that he is leaving the French Forum for Responsible Investment, of which he was one of the founders in 2001, and has been president since 2003. He has decided to hand over power to a new management, stating that the job which was set out for him, to make the FRI a tool for socially responsible investment for its members, has been completed, a statement says. He will present his resignation to the board of directors on 15 December, and the FRI office will propose Bertrand Fournier, vice president of the FRI and chairman of the board at LFP-Sarasin AM, as its new president at that meeting.Edme will continue to work at the FRI; he will handle the international portion of the representation on the French forum, where he will continue to represent the board of directors of Eurosif, on which he is vice-chairman, and will continue the work begun with European bodies (he is coordinator of the ECRA initiative, which includes 10 European investor organisations and promotes the integration of extra-financial reporting into financial reporting). “The next few years will see an increase of my involvement with these European bodies, to strengthen our relations with our international counterparts, make the voice of our organisation heard, and promote the principles of a modern and pioneering French approach to SRI, in a market environment in which these approaches often remain dominated by a highly anglo-saxon philosophy,” says Edme.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In third quarter 2010, Franklin Templeton posted net subscriptions in Italy of EUR1.676bn, and had assets under management as of the end of September of over EUR12.3bn, Bluerating reports, citing figures from Assogestioni. Sergio Albarelli, senior director of Franklin Templeton for Italy, Spain and France, would like to make the business one of the top 10 Italian management firms in 2011. As the firm now ranks 11th behind Azimut, which has EUR13.9bn in assets, Bluerating estimates that the task may not be altogether impossible.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BlackRock on 23 November announced the promotion of David Gardner, head of Northern Europe sales for iShares, as head of EMEA sales for the iShares ETF platform, which he joined in 2000. He will be based in London, and will report directly to Joe Linhares, managing director and head of EMEA at iShares.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the Mythos Family Offices 2010 survey, undertaken by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and others, of 64 family offices, most of them in Switzerland and Germany, 40.6% of these structures have assets of EUR300m and EUR1bn, while 23.4% manage between EUR1bn and EUR3bn, and 9.4% manage over EUR3bn, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. As about 15% of assets are in liquid form (compared with 4% for the endowments of US universities), family offices have survived the turbulence on the financial markets without having to sell assets at a markdown in order to procure the necessary liquidity. The study finds that 23% of assets were allocated to bonds (13% for US university endowments), 26% to equities, 8% to private equity and 7% to hedge funds. Exposure to real assets such as real estate and commodities, or exotic investments such as art total 21%. The main objective of 78% of the family offices is preservation of capital, while 53% atim to avoid excessive concentrations of investment, and 40% follow the preferences of the families. Expectations in terms of performance are moderate, with an objective of 5-10% for the next five years. In the next few months, family offices are planning to reduce their allocation to cash in order to increase their exposure to emerging markets and alternative assets.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Ben Funnell, CIO, fixed income, at GLG Partners, estimates that the European financial stabilisation fund will not have enough resources to save Spain if need be, and that the authorities need to start coming up with a plan B, Expansión reports. The solution would consist of a restructuring of sovereign debt from peripheral EU countries. It would lead to losses for banks, largely those in the heart of Europe including French and German banks, and to cover this impact, the ECB would need toprint and inject money into these banks. Michael Saunders of Citi says that German, French, Italian and British banks have a total exposure of EUR789.13bn to Spanish, Greek, Irish and Portuguese government debt, of which EUR374.32bn are in Spain alone. Christian Tegllund, a market strategist at Saxo Bank, for his part, estimates that France and Germany will be obliged to lend money to Spain in a bilateral arrangement next year.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In its special supplement dedicated to the Feri EuroRating Awards 2010, the Börsen-Zeitung highlights the fact that Fidelity Investment Managers won the prizes for best fund in two categories, and the prize for best asset management firm in the generalist provider category. Second in the rankings is Aberdeen Asset Management, with first place in emerging market equities and the equities fund manager category. Allianz Global Investors (AGI), which was not nominated in 2009, was crowned as best bond fund manager. The best management firm in the absolute return special category went to Swiss & Global Asset Management, while DJE Kapital won the prize for best manager for specialist products.

Les taux actuels de la dette souveraine irlandaise dépassent nettement ceux utilisés dans les tests de résistance publiés en juillet dernier

L’AMF a approuvé un éventail de dispositions communes à l’AGF, à l’Afic et à l’Aspim. Ces règles visent à éviter les facteurs de risque

Les membres du FOMC ont débattu de plusieurs options pour la politique monétaire. Les bénéfices éventuels du «QE2» ont été diversement commentés.

Le collège de l’AMF a approuvé un ensemble de règles professionnelles destinées à mieux encadrer les politiques de rémunérations dans le secteur de la gestion. L’Afic, l’AFG et l’ASPIM ont œuvré à l'élaboration de ces normes de place qui entrent en vigueur le 1er janvier.

Une première depuis la chute de Lehman. Un émetteur français, Banque PSA Finance, a émis la semaine dernière une tranche de 500 millions d’euros notée AAA du Fonds Commun de Titrisation (FCT) Auto ABS Compartiment 2010- 1, adossé à des contrats de location 100% allemands.

Banque PSA Finance vient d'émettre une tranche AAA de 500 millions d’euros du Fonds commun de titrisation (FCT) Auto ABS Compartiment 2010- 1

Tandis que les banques allemandes ont réduit leurs émissions, des établissements de tous horizons se financent à présent sur ce marché

L'Espagne a dû payer hier le prix fort pour ses émissions de bons du Trésor

L'Espagne a dû payer hier le prix fort pour ses émissions de bons du Trésor

Alors que le nouveau round d'assouplissement quantitatif a été diversement perçu, les membres du FOMC ont évoqué des options plus radicales

NYSE Euronext prévoit de créer quelque 40 nouveaux centres de données dans le monde dans des villes telles que Sao Paulo, Tokyo ou Francfort afin de développer les capacités des systèmes existants ainsi que le système de maintenance des réseaux, indique le quotidien qui cite Stanley Young, directeur général de NYSE Technologies.