Rolf Stout prendra fin novembre sa retraite de CIO pour la stratégie Obam chez BNP Paribas, rapporte Das Investment. L’intéressé, qui deviendra membre du conseil de surveillance au 1er juillet 2011, sera remplacé à ce poste et comme gérant du fonds d’actions BNP Paribas L1 Obam Equity World par Peter Ranty qui est déjà senior portfolio manager et qui travaille dans l'équipe depuis 2003.Les gérants de portefeuille, Roeland Tso, Edwin Simon et Nurit Konijnendijk, de même que l’investment specialist Lilli Charlotte Bialluch, conservent leurs fonctions et une embauche est prévue pour les prochains mois.

Selon fundstrategy, BNY Mellon Asset Management a lancé un fonds d’actions internationales au format Ucits III, le BNY Mellon Global Equity Higher Income Fund, domicilié à Dublin.Le fonds, qui sera géré par Newton Investment Management, est en cours d’enregistrement dans plusieurs pays européens. La stratégie du fonds s’inspire de celle du Newton Global Higher Income Fund, un produit britannique lancé fin 2005.

Avenue Marnix, à Bruxelles, Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (Edram) a installé récemment sa nouvelle équipe commerciale dédiée au Benelux (lire notre dépêche du 7 septembre). Le gestionnaire français cherche par ce moyen "à renforcer ses liens sur des marchés-clés, essentiels à son développement à l’échelle européenne, et à mettre en place des partenariats solides et pérennes avec ses différents intervenants».Pour le nouveau bureau de Bruxelles, «nous avons prévu trois à quatre personnes. Ce seront tous des recrutements locaux, conformément à notre ligne de conduite habituelle et que nous continuerons d’appliquer sur tous les marchés où nous nous implanterons commercialement», explique à Newsmanagers Philippe Couvrecelle, président du directoire d’Edram. L'équipe bruxelloise est dirigée par Ludwig Caluwé, qui était le patron de la distribution chez Capital@Work, après avoir travaillé chez Fortis. «Nous commençons à Bruxelles par le segment distribution, les fonds de pension viendront plus tard. C’est le résultat de la structure chronologique de nos recrutements», précise Philippe Couvrecelle, qui ajoute : «nos fonds sont enregistrés en Belgique depuis juin 2010. Et nous venons de mettre en ligne un site internet dédié au marché belge, évidemment bilingue» avant de préciser : «nous ne nous interdisons pas de créer un jour un bureau à Amsterdam pour servir les fonds de pension, mais ce n’est pas encore d’actualité».Le président du directoire souligne que ce déploiement s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un développement plus large en Europe. «Ainsi, nous avons décidé de renforcer notre présence en Espagne en y installant prochainement un responsable sous la direction d’Eduardo Ruiz Moreno, head of Latin America and Spain. Nous comptons également ouvrir d’ici le premier trimestre 2011 une entité en Allemagne pour poursuivre cette expansion européenne».A ce sujet, Philippe Couvrecelle précise que «pour l’Espagne, Edram recrute une personne «très senior» qui sera sous la responsabilité d’'Eduardo Ruiz Moreno, qui est en poste au Chili depuis deux ans et qui couvre l’Amérique latine et l’Espagne ".D’autre part, ajoute-t-il, «en ce qui concerne notre projet en Allemagne, il s’agit d’une implantation à Francfort, avec cinq personnes. Mais le processus de recrutement n’est pas encore tout à fait finalisé. Nous commencerons en ciblant la clientèle institutionnelle».Philippe Couvrecelle explique que, désormais, Edram est résolu à «passer à une vitesse supérieure à l’international. Nous n’avons évidemment pas l’intention de négliger le marché français, qui est plus mature pour nous, mais nous voulons clairement faire monter en charge, parallèlement, nos flux en provenance d’autres pays"Illustrant son propos de données chiffrées, le président du directoire souligne que, «en stock, sur nos 13 milliards d’euros d’encours actuels, nous en sommes à 20-25 % de capitaux étrangers. Mais en flux, sur le 1,9 milliard d’euros de collecte nette de produits d’actions, convertibles et diversifiés en 2009, la part de l’international représentait 45 %». Depuis le début de l’année 2010, les flux nets sont de 540 millions d’euros avec une proportion de 85% provenant de l’international».Quant aux produits, Philippe Couvrecelle martèle : «Notre intention est de proposer partout où nous nous implantons des fonds dédiés, des mandats et des fonds de droit français, que les investisseurs locaux connaissent peut-être moins bien que ceux de droit luxembourgeois». Et il précise qu’Edram publie déjà des reportings en six langues : français, anglais, italien, espagnol, mandarin et flamand. D’autres idiomes pourraient venir s’y ajouter en cas de besoin.

Le patron de la gestion de fortune chez Credit Suisse pour l’Amérique latine, Christian Wiesendanger, prendra au 1er octobre la direction de la gestion de fortune d’UBS pour la Suisse. Le 24 septembre, l’UBS a annoncé que l’intéressé sera directement subordonné à Lukas Gähwiler, CEO d’UBS Suisse (et qui a d’ailleurs lui aussi rejoint en provenance de Credit Suisse, en avril 2010).Christian Wiesendanger succède à Stefan Bodmer qui, au bout de 23 ans chez UBS, a décidé de donner un tour nouveau à sa carrière.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In July, Spanish banks paid an average of 2.94% on new deposits, according to the Bank of Spain, compared with an average of 2.31% in the Euro zone, according to the ECB. Expansión reports that this means savings returns in Spain are 25% higher than in the rest of Europe. This phenomenon has been observable since the beginning of the crisis in mid-2007. It is due both to the closure of capital markets, which has prevented banks from issuing debt under normal conditions, and the atomisation of the Spanish financial sector. As the ways to finance were not available to banks, they were obliged to bring in deposits with seductive interest rates far higher than the official price of money. Commercial networks are highly developed, which has intensified competition: in Spain, there is one bank branch for every 1,000 inhabitants, compared with 0.6 in France, 0.5 in Germany, and 0.2 in the United Kingdom.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } AsiaHedge reports that assets under management in Asian hedge funds increased only 3.9% in first half, to a total of USD137.75bn, compared with USD132.5bn as of the end of 2009. This development substantiates concerns which have been expressed about the development of alternative management activities in the region in a highly fragile economic environment. An aggravating factor is that Asian hedge funds have earned some of the worst returns of all hedge funds in first half, with losses of 0.17%.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch on 23 September announced the launch of a unit specialised in over-the-counter derivatives clearance, known as the “Futures and Derivatives Clearing Services (GFCDS) group.”The bank is hoping to meet increasing demand for clearing services on OTC derivative markets due to new regulations.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The board of directors at Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals, has appointed Guido Giubergia as liaison with the corporate governance committee. Giubergia, who is already a member of the board of directors at the firm, is deputy director of the Ersel group and chairman of Ersel Asset Management SGR. The corporate governance committee at Assogestioni, founded in 1994, includes representatives from management firms belonging to the association, and aims to encourage and stimulate the spread of corporate governance culture through the study and promotion of good corporate governance practices for the development of transparent and efficient financial markets.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the past few months, Spanish private banks are giving their clients an opportunity to invest in a product which offers higher returns, and which is longer-term than traditional savings accounts: bank branches, Expansión reports. The average profitability of branches with good locations is 6%, according to CB Richard Ellis, with average prices ranging from EUR0.6m to EUR1m. The investments are often offered as sale & lease-back deals for 10 or 20 years. For branches with the best locations, returns may be slightly under 5%, but for the less good, it may be 7.5% to 8%. So far, institutions which have offered investments of this type include Banesto, Caja Madrid, Barclays, Banco Popular and Banco Guipuzcoano.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } fundstrategy reports that Morningstar is planning to discontinue ratings of short and leveraged ETFs within its ratings system. The head of ETFs at Morningstar, Scott Burns, announced at a conference in Chicago that short ETFs are better suited to the needs of traders than long-term investors.

French asset management firm (EUR13bn in AUM) is aiming to “strengthen ties with key markets, which are essential to its European development, and to set up solid and lasting partnerships with the parties it does business with.” For the new Brussels office, “we are planning to hire three to four people. They will all be local recruitments, in line with our usual policies, which we apply in all markets where we open commercial locations,” Philippe Couvrecelle, chairman of the board at EDRAM, explains. The Brussels team is led by Ludwig Caluwé, who was the head of distribution for Capital@Work, after having worked for Fortis. “We are beginning with the distribution segment in Brussels, and pension funds will come later. This is the result of the chronological structure of our recruitments,” says Couvrecelle. The chairman says the deployment comes as part of a larger development campaign in Europe. “We have decided to strengthen our presence in Spain, and will soon set up a head who will report to Eduardo Ruiz Moreno, head of Latin America and Spain. We are also planning to set up an entity in Germany in first quarter 2011, to continue this European expansion. … In terms of our plans in Germany, it will be a location in Frankfurt, with five people. We will initially target institutional clients.”

The heads of BNP Paribas remain vigilant in hopes of acquiring Pioneer, the management firm of the UniCredit group, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. Georges Chodron de Courcel, COO of BNP Paribas, admits: “we are interested. Now, it is up to UniCredit to decide whether to sell, and if so, how. If there is an auction, we will make a bid. But in general, in this case, we will not win, since we are not offering a high price. We need to remain within certain objectives which we have set for ourselves internally: in particular, if we acquire a new entity, we need to be sure that it will be profitable in three years, and that’s not easy.” But, he says, it is “unlikely that UniCredit will find someone prepared to pay for the whole thing in cash, particularly in these uncertain times with Basel III. On the other hand, we see other types of partnerships and alliances for Pioneer.”

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Responsible Investor reports that the founder and former chief executive of RiskMetrics, Ethan Berman, is about to leave the MSCI group, which recently acquired RiskMetrics. Berman was initially supposed to leave at the end of fourth quarter, but the rapid integration of the two firms has made it possible for Berman to move forward his departure date.

Axa IM announced on 24 September that it has created a cell dedicated to total return management, “in a market context which remains volatile, so as to meet the growing needs of clients for capital preservation and stable returns.” A team will be assembled in the next few weeks, which will report to Serge Pizem, currently head of management teams at Axa Framlingon in Paris.The team will initially take over the Optimal Income range from AXA Framlington, whose characteristics are similar to total return type products which will subsequently be developed, which will be based on all possible sources of financial performance creation, including stock-picking. To do this, it will rely on all the shared expertise at AXA IM, including research, product management and distribution. The new structure will include the teams led by Thibaud de Vitry, head of Investment Solutions expertise at AXA Investment Managers. Pizem will be leaving Axa Framlington, and Mark Beveridge, global head of the expertise area, will now directly manage the Paris teams.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The head of wealth management for Latin America at Credit Suisse, Christian Wiesendanger, will take over on 1 October as head of wealth management for Switzerland at UBS. On 24 September, UBS announced that Wiesendanger will report directly to Lukas Gähwiler, CEO of UBS Switzerland. Wiesendanger succeeds Stefan Bodmer, who after 23 years at UBS has decided to take his career in a new direction.

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p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In line to succeed Stephen Green, group chairman of HSBC, Michael Geoghegan, the outgoing CEO of HSBC who has accepted a position as UK minister of commerce, will be handing off his mantle by the end of the year, Agefi reports. CFO Douglas Flint has been chosen to replace him as CEO from 3 December. The position he leaves vacant will be assumed by Iain Mackay, who previously served as CFO for the Asia-Pacific region, the newspaper states. Geoghegan will be replaced by the current head of investment banking at HSBC, Stuart Gulliver.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The 704th ETF to be admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform, on 24 September, is the first “intelligent” ETF to be released by the Austrian-German management firm C-Quadrat (see Newsmanagers of 26 March and 16 April). The Luxembourg-registered fund C-QUADRAT IQ European Equity ETF replicates a strategy index, the C-Quadrat European Equity Index, which is calculated by Stoxx. The index is composed of futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 traded on the Eurex market, with an exposure set every morning at 8 AM. The fund may operate with no leverage or with leverage of 1.5 or as much as 2. The level of exposure is determined with a model based on past data indicators. Characteristics Name: C-QUADRAT IQ European Equity ETF ISIN: LU0531943461 TER: 0.70%

fundstrategy reports that BNY Mellon Asset Management has launched a UCITS III-compliant international equities fund domiciled in Dublin, entitled BNY Mellon Global Equity Higher Income Fund. The fund, which will be managed by Newton Investment Mangaement, is in the process of being registered in several European countries. The strategy of the fund is inspired by that of the Newton Global Higher Income Fund, a British product launched in late 2005.

Rolf Stout will be retiring at the end of November from his position as CIO for OBAM strategy at BNP Paribas, Das Investment reports. Stout, who will become a member of the supervisory board on 1 July 2011, will be replaced in this position and as fund manager for the equities fund BNP Paribas L1 Obam Equity World by Peter Ranty, who is already senior portfolio manager, and who has been a part of the team since 2003.The portfolio managers, Roeland Tso, Edwin Simon and Nurit Konijnendijk, and investment specialist Lilli Charlotte Bialluch will retain their positions, and a recruitment is planned in the next few months.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that MF Global has launched a CTA strategy in Taiwan, with the creation of a new vehicle, the MF Global Futures Trust, from which the first product is the MF Global Multi-Strategy Futures Trust Fund. The fund will invest in 110 markets and products, and will be offered to institutional and retail investors. MF Global is planning to subsequently launch a CTA product in continental China, where the firm is studying the possibilities of the new offering with two counterparties.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In the twelve months to the end of June, the Yale University endowment has posted returns of 8.9%, compared with losses of 25% for the year to 30 June 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. Assets in this period increased by USD400m, to a total of USD16.7bn. However, returns as of 30 June 2010 remain below the 13.3% average returns calculated by Wilshire Associates for the major endowments and pension funds, and the 11% returns reported by Harvard, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 18.9%. Losses for the year to the end of August 2009 were largely due to private equity investments.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Norwegian central bank has filed suit against Citigroup for misstatements on its financial condition before the crisis, which resulted in heavy losses for the Norwegian sovereign fund, the Financial Times reports. Norges Bank claims to have lost USD835m because the US bank did not completely disclose the financial risks it was facing, including its investments in subprime.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Agefi reports, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the governments of France and Germany may join forces to block the introduction of a European passport for hedge fund management firms based outside the European Union. The French minister of the economy, Christine Lagarde, who has been opposed from the beginning to the idea of creating a single point of entry for all American or Asian management firms to the European market, is said to have finally lined up the support of Germany to block a compromise proposed by Didier Reynders, the Belgian finance minister. The Belgian text under discussion, dated Friday and obtained by Agefi, would have the current national provate placement regime on the one hand existing alongside the European passport on the other hand. After an extensible period of five years, the national regimes would be discontinued. But this system remains unsatisfactory for France, which says that the US Treasury has been exerting external pressure for several months. The European Parliament, for its part, may be tempted ot agree to a compromise to bring a conclusion to the discussions. It will vote on 18 October, the newspaper notes.

RBC Wealth Management, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has announced that Michael Lagopoulos, formerly president and CEO of RBC Wealth Management’s international business, has been appointed deputy chairman, RBC Wealth Management, Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) - International. He will focus on developing RBC Wealth Management’s UHNW business by deepening existing relationships and acquiring new UHNW clients outside of Canada.Mr. Lagopoulos’ appointment comes as part of an organizational change by RBC Wealth Management to accelerate the growth of its international business, with a particular focus on serving emerging markets and UK clients in any of its key locations around the world. Mr. Lagopoulos will continue to sit on the boards of RBC Wealth Management’s main international subsidiaries and will also focus on international wealth management acquisitions and alliances. As part of this restructuring, RBC Wealth Management will move from three geographic businesses to four: Canada, United States, United Kingdom and Emerging Markets. The new structure will include three cross-border groups - Global Asset Management, Global Trust and Global Wealth Services - reflecting the business’s focus on continued international expansion of its core services. The new structure takes effect November 1, 2010.

Jean-Yves Dumont, responsable de l'allocation stratégique de Dexia AM

La France pourrait convaincre Berlin de s'opposer au dernier projet présenté vendredi

Hugues de Montbel, gérant chez Aberdeen Asset Management France

Jean-Luc Proutat, responsable des économies OCDE chez BNP Paribas

Henri Delessy, économiste à La Banque Postale