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25/10/2010

Institutionals adopt Stewardship Code

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which monitors and promotes governance standards in the UK, has published a list of institutional investors who have signed up to the Stewardship Code, launched at the beginning of summer by the FRC. In total, 68 institutional investors have announced plans to sign the governance code, including 48 management firms. Among the signatories are BlackRock, Fidelity IM, M&G IM, Threadneedle AM and CalPERS.
25/10/2010

BlackRock considers development of trusts

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Money Marketing reports that BlackRock has organised a series of meetings with investment trusts to listen to the points of view of independent financial advisers (IFAs) and possibly add to its offerings for this sector. The regain of interest in these vehicles – BlackRock has six of them – is related to the introduction of the RDR (Retail Distribution Review), which will have consequences for the transparency of commissions.
25/10/2010

Financière de Champlain will always operate independently

The management firm Ecofi Investissements, an affiliate of the Crédit Coopératif group, has acquired a 58% stake in Financière de Champlain, a firm specialised in the sustainable development universe. Jean-François Descaves talks about the challenges and consequences of the merger.
25/10/2010

Financière de Champlain aura toujours un fonctionnement indépendant

La société de gestion Ecofi Investissements, filiale du groupe Crédit Coopératif, vient de prendre une participation de 58 % au capital de la Financière de Champlain, société spécialisée dans l’univers du développement durable. Jean-François Descaves revient sur l'enjeu et les suites de ce rapprochement.
25/10/2010

Citi adds to Shanghai staff

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that the US banking group Citi has made three recruitments for tis Shanghai offices. Rance Lan has been recruited at vice president in charge of institutional clients for Eastern and Southern China, while Wendy Wang Wenjun and Hou Yang become assistant vice presidents, in charge of bond sales and trading desks, respectively. Citi has also announced that inflows from institutional investors has increased 50% in one year, and that the trend is set to continue.
25/10/2010

GAM plans to develop UCITS III funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Le Temps reports that a major initiative of GAM in 2010 has been to move some of its offshore hedge fund expertise into European UCITS III-compliant format products. Now, half of UCITS funds are managed internally. They are equity long/short and global macro products. External funds are the “pearls” in which GAM has full confidence. “This distribution is satisfactory to all parties: to the client, due to the liquidity of UCITS funds; to GAM because it brings knowledge and performance of new products, and to managers for the access to new clients and diversification of its client portfolio,” says Daniel Durrer, director of distribution for GAM funds in continental Europe. The newspaper notes that in November, GAM launched its first four UCITS products, a combination of internal and external managers. There are now 10 products.
25/10/2010

Standish recruits two well-known specialists

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Standish Mellon Asset Management (USD79bn in assets), a bond specialist affiliate of BNY Mellon Asset Management, has announced the recruitment of Tom Higgins as global macro strategist, and Rebecca Braeu as macroeconomic analyst and portfolio manager in the global bonds team. Higgins, who will report to David Ledue, CIO of Standish, joins from Payden & Rygel, where he was chief economist, while Braeu was an economist and emerging markets strategist at MFC Global Investment Management. Desmond MacIntyre president and CEO of Standish, says that assets at the management firm have increased 27% in the twelve months to 30 September. He says there has been strong demand for products specialised in emerging market debt denominated in local currency and liability-driven investment (LDI) strategy, from US establishments and high yield products from US issuers.
25/10/2010

FRR seeking a new overlay manager

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The French national pension fund, the FRR, on 22 October issued a request for proposals (RFP) to select a new overlay manager. The procedure has become necessary as a current mandate in course, the result of a previous selection process in 2007, will soon mature. The FRR says in a statement that “the mission of the provider will be on the one hand to inform and advise the FRR, and on the other to provide management of exposure to currency risks, and to execute exposure decisions made by the FRR directorate.” Candidates should apply to the FRR by Monday, 22 November 2010, at 12 noon in France.
25/10/2010

Gaëtan Obert takes over as head of SRI unit at BNPP IP

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } BNP Paribas Investments Partners (BNPP IP) has appointed Gaëtan Obert, a sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) equities manager, as head of its SRI investments. The decision follows the departure of Stewart Armer, who joined BNP Paribas last year when it merged with Fortis Investments. Armer was head of sustainable investment at BNPP IP, and recently left the business.
25/10/2010

Amundi seeks to outsource non-publicly traded portions of FIP and FCPI funds

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Amundi, the joint venture asset management firm from Crédit Agricole and Société Générale, is planning to put in place open architecture for tis range of FIP ISF (proximity investment funds) and FCPI (innovation common investment funds), Agefi reports. The range will be managed by other management firms from 2011, for new capital collected. A request for proposals was issued last week to a number of management firms in the Paris industry, the newspaper notes, citing a source familiar with the matter. Of 30 management firms currently consulted, Amundi will retain 4 to 6, which would each manage EUR15m to EUR30m per year. Only the management of the portions dedicated to innovative SMBs would be outsourced.
25/10/2010

French institutional management rebounded in 2009

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to the France 2010 institutional panorama, undertaken by Seeds Finance (Morningstar) on behalf of The French institutional investor association (AF2I), the total volume of assets managed by institutional actors last year rose 14.4% to EUR2.8931trn, following a decline of over 9% last year. For insurers, which represent over 56% of the total, unit-linked accounts rose 17.1% to EUR216.5bn, but now represent only 7.5% of the total. In life insurance, inflows rose, but there was a parallel decline in returns, to 3.3% for 2011 and 3.5% in 2010, compared with 3.7% last year. Meanwhile, the fifth edition of the annual AF2I study does not show any major changes in the terrain of the sector. Bonds represent over 70% of overall allocations, compared with 13% for equities, with a more marked preference for the Euro zone (83% of equities, 93% of bonds). Institutionals are continuing to avoid emerging markets, though these are often described as a major investment theme.
25/10/2010

Profits up at T. Rowe Price

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For third quarter 2010, T. Rowe Price Group has announced net profits of USD169.1m, on earnings of USD586.1m, compared with USD132.9m and USD498.1m in the corresponding period of last year. For the first nine months of the year, net profits total USD480.6m, compared with USD281.1m for January-September 2009. Assets as of 30 September totalled USD439.7bn, compared with USD391.1bn as of 30 June, with net subscriptions in the first nine months of the year totalled USD23.4bn (of which USD8bn were in first quarter) while market effects totalled USD25bn. Of total overall assets as of the end of September, USD258.7bn were for mutual funds on sale in the United States.
25/10/2010

SSgA acquires Bank of Ireland AM

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the investment management business of State Street Corporation, announced on Friday that it has agreed to acquire Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) for consideration of approximately EUR57 million inclusive of estimated net assets of the business of EUR14 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011 or earlier. State Street expects the transaction to be slightly accretive to 2011 earnings, excluding one-time costs. “This acquisition enables SSgA to expand its range of investment capabilities to include active fundamental management,” said Scott Powers, president and chief executive officer of State Street Global Advisors, in a press release. BIAM manages approximately EUR26 billion in assets for more than 500 clients as of September 30, 2010. It covers global fundamental equities, fixed income, cash, asset allocation, property and balanced funds. Chris Johns, currently the interim chief executive officer and chief investment officer of BIAM will be named SSgA chief investment officer for fundamental active equity and will report to Rick Lacaille, SSgA’s global chief investment officer. Upon closing of the transaction, more than 120 employees of BIAM are expected to join SSgA in Dublin. State Street has had a presence in Ireland since 1996 and currently has approximately 2,000 employees.
25/10/2010

Mediolanum awards a custody mandate to State Street

State Street Corporation has been appointed to provide custody services for Banca Mediolanum’s Italian assets. State Street will also serve as the sole global custodian for the Italian entity of the Mediolanum Group. Banca Mediolanum has more than EUR43 billion in assets and services more than 1.1 million customers in Italy. State Street will provide an integrated post-trading solution to support Mediolanum’s global needs and streamline settlements with its preferred providers. First announced in December of 2009, State Street acquired Intesa Sanpaolo’s Securities Services business (ISPSS) in May of 2010, enhancing its position to be the largest investment service provider in Italy. State Street now has more than 440 employees in Italy providing a wide range of investment and asset management services to institutional investors.
25/10/2010

UBS: Case dropped in United States

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi Switzerland reports that the US justice department has announced that it will be dropping its legal action against UBS. It had charged the bank with aiding its clients to commit tax evasion. The prosecutor for fiscal affairs, John DiCicco, wrote to the Miami judge overseeing the case on 22 October that he considered UBS to have “fully satisfied all of its obligations.” As a result, “the United States considers that a dismissal of the charges is appropriate in the circumstances.” The decision is the logical consequence of two agreements signed between the US government and the Swiss bank in February and August 2009, by the terms of which UBS was to reveal the names of 4,450 US clients which it had allowed to conceal funds from the US tax authorities. UBS also six months previously was acquitted of a USD780m fine, including a charge with interest and fiscal restitution.
25/10/2010

Singapore debut for Deka Immobilien

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For about EUR300m, the German firm Deka Immobilien has acquired the office building Chevron House (24,400 square metres) in Singapore from the Goldman Sachs group. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal. It is Deka Immobilien’s first investment in Singapore.
25/10/2010

La Malaisie tient la corde pour un « super-fonds » islamique

Selon son ministre des finances Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, la Malaisie pourrait prendre la tête d’un fonds souverain multinational regroupant des pays de la Conférence islamique, afin d’investir en Afrique, au Proche-Orient et en Asie centrale.
25/10/2010

Amundi délègue la gestion de ses FIP et FCPI

La société a lancé un appel d’offres auprès d’un grand nombre de gestionnaires. Quatre à six d’entre eux devraient être retenus d’ici début 2011, selon une source proche du dossier. Amundi prévoit par ailleurs de collecter auprès de ses réseaux entre 150 et 200 millions d’euros par an.
25/10/2010

Le G20 Finance s’attaque à la question sensible des déséquilibres des comptes courants

Les appels répétés et bruyants en faveur d’une réévaluation du yuan ayant rencontré un écho relatif, les Etats-Unis ont choisi ce biais du déséquilibres des comptes courants - une composante des taux de change - pour élargir le débat. Pour Washington, de nouvelles stratégies de croissance doivent émerger, moins dépendantes des exportations et davantage tournées vers un renforcement de la demande domestique. Une orientation que la Chine a récemment indiqué vouloir suivre.
Banderole accompagnant le G20 en Corée du Sud. Photographe: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

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