Allianz Global Investors (AGI) a annoncé mercredi que sa filiale américaine Pimco commercialise depuis peu en Allemagne ses fonds d’actions value PIMCO EqS Pathfinder Fund™ et PIMCO EqS Pathfinder Europe Fund™ (lire nos articles du 21 juin et du 19 avril). Il s’agit de compartiments de la sicav coordonnée de droit irlandais Global Investor Series (GIS).

Pour les cinq premiers mois de l’année, les fonds de valeurs mobilières offerts au public, en Allemagne, ont capté presque 11,08 milliards d’euros. Sur ce total, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) en a drainé 6,09 milliards, dont 5,6 milliards grâce à Pimco Europe. La seconde meilleure collecte a été enregistrée par BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland avec les ETF de la marque iShares et un montant de 3,17 milliards d’euros.De fait, les promoteurs d’ETF ont affiché des rentrées nettes importantes, puisque ComStage (Commerzbank) a attiré 565,1 millions d’euros, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) enregistrant des rentrées nettes de 765,7 millions pendant qu’ETFlab (Deka) affichait des souscriptions nettes de 2,26 milliards d’euros.Parmi les grandes maisons, le complexe DWS/DB Advisors (Deutsche Bank) est le seul, en dehors d’AGI, à bénéficier de rentrées nettes, avec 810 millions. Deka (caisses d'épargne) et Union Investment (banques populaires) ont en effet subi des sorties nettes respectives de 3,37 milliards et 2,72 milliards.

Jürgen Rauhaus, directeur des investissements chez Pioneeer Investments Deutschland, a annoncé que cette filiale d’UniCredit lancera le 26 juillet son premier fonds diversifié écologique et de développement durable, le Pioneer Investments Balanced Ecology.Ce produit de droit allemand est géré par Johannes Sienknecht et Reinhard Stork. Il exclut par avance les titres de sociétés dans les domaines de l’alcool, de l'énergie nucléaire, des jeux de hasard, de la pornographique, de l’armement et du tabac ainsi que ceux de sociétés qui se rendent coupables d’atteintes à l’environnement, de falsification de bilans ou de corruption.En revanche, le portefeuille sera investi dans des valeurs de sociétés respectant des normes élevées en matière d'écologie et de développement durable. Pour les obligations, le fonds n’investira pas dans des titres émis par des Etats qui possèdent l’arme atomique ou qui ne respectent pas les droits de l’homme.L’allocation maximale aux actions sera de 50 %, tandis que l’exposition aux obligations peut monter à 100 %.La présélection des titres sera confiée à oekom research et le portefeuille comprendra entre 30 et 50 lignes actions et 20-30 lignes obligataires.CaractéristiquesDénomination : Pioneer Investments Balanced Ecology A EUR DAIsin : DE000A0RL2G4Droit d’entrée : 4 %Commission de gestion : 1,20 %

The Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) on 7 July announced in a statement that it is hostile to the planned creation of a mandatory Consolidated Tape (MCT) which would record market data for all of Europe, and that it would not like to see a limitation on prices. “From our point of view, these proposals will not serve the objective of improving transparency or reducing costs, but will instead represent a serious threat to the competitive environment which the MiFID directive has made it possible to create,” the European stock exchanges claim.= The federation is also making several pledges, among them, that it will make various market data publicly and freely available for final users one quarter of an hour after the trades are completed, by fourth quarter 2010, and that it will offer pre-trade and post-trade market data separately, at reasonable prices, by the end of the year.

Palatine Asset Management, the asset management entity from Banque Palatine, the business and wealth management bank of the BPCE group, in collaboration with C&M Finances, an independent management firm, on 7 July announced the launch of the FCP Export Europe Palatine, the first French-registered common investment fund (FCP) dedicated exclusively to European exporters. The objective is to profit from the performance of European, Euro zone businesses which are exposed to markets in which currencies are being revalued. The businesses the fund invests in export to the United States, Japan, China, and the major emerging markets. In the course of first half 2010, the currencies of these countries (dollar, yen, Yuan, Indian Rupee, Brazilian Real, Mexican Peso and others) have been revalued by an averge of 15%. Currently, the exposure of European publicly-traded groups to emerging markets alone, which are undergoing very strong economic growth, is 25%. Companies in the Exposure Europe Palatine fund will thus fully profit from the attractiveness of the Euro. The FCP Export Europe Palatine is currently concentrated on industrial shares and consumer goods, and excludes the following sectors completely: finance, banking, insurance, telecommunications, oil, and gas. Characteristics ISIN: FR0010915181 Legal format: French-registered FCP fund eligible for PEA AMF classification: Equities from within the European community Date of creation: July 2010 Benchmark index: Stoxx Europe 50 Valuation: Daily Management fees: 1.20% TTC max +10% outperformance of the benchmark index with dividends reinvested +3% Front-end fee: 2.00% maximum Exit fees: none Allocation of results: Capitalisation Minimal recommended investment duration: 5 years Subscriptiond and redemptions: Centralised daily before 11 am at Banque Palatine, and executed on the basis of the next daily net asset value

Acropole Asset Management on 7 July announced the launch of its first themed fund, Acropole Euro Convert’i, which will aim to profit from rising equities markets, without exposing itself to risk of rising interest rates. Acropole will also offer the Acropole Mix Income fund for higher yields. Acropole Euro Convert’i and Acropole Mix Income will be launched on 8 and 13 July, respectively. The strategy adopted for Acropole Euro Convert’i will be to construct a European convertible bond portfolio, which will privilege shares and sectors which are particularly highly correlated to inflation, with currency risks hedged at launch (with sensitivity of 0 to 2). As part of its conviction-based management, Acropole Asset Management has chosen the following themes: minerals, commodities, agriculture, real estate and realty assets, and pricing power.

Last week, BlackRock lowered the management commission for its iShares Comex Gold Trust ETF (acronym IAU) be more than one third, to 0.25%. The fund has assets of only USD3.3bn, though it is nearly identical to the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fund from State Street, which has USD50.6bn, and charges a management commission of 0.40%, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to specialists, the new range from BlackRock is highly attractive, but those who make frequent trades and who already have shares in SPDR would probably do best, for tax reasons among others, to stay put. However, the new range from BlackRock is priced more attractively than the ETF Securities offering, with the ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL), with USD587m, which charges 0.39%.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Börse admitted four Luxembourg-registered ETFs from ComStage (Commerzbank) to trading, including three equities funds, the ComStage ETF DAX FR and the ComStage ETF EURO STOXX 50 FR, which charge fees of 0.15%, and the ComStage ETF FTSE 100 TR, with management commissions of 0.25%. The last product is a bond fund: the ComStage ETF iBoxx € Germany Covered Capped Overall TR, with management commission of 0.17%. With these four funds, the XTF segment now lists 678 ETFs.

Jürgen Rauhaus, head of investments at Pioneer Investments Deutschland, has announced that the affiliate of UniCredit will on 26 July launch its first ecological and sustainable development balanced fund, the Pioneer Investments Balanced Ecology. The German-registered product is managed by Johannes Sienknecht and Reinhard Stork. It excludes in advance any shares in companies in the areas of alcohol, nuclear energy, gambling, pornography, arms and tobacco, as well as companies which admit to environmental damage, falsification of the balance sheet, or corruption. However, the portfolio will invest in shares in companies which respect high ecological and sustainable development standards. For bonds, the fund will not invest in securities from governments which possess nuclear weapons or which breach human rights. Maximal allocation to equities will be 50%, while exposure to bonds may total 100%. Preselection of securities will be entrusted to oekom research, and the portfolio will include 30 to 50 equities and 20-30 bond positions.CharacteristicsName: Pioneer Investments Balanced Ecology A EUR DAISIN: DE000A0RL2G4Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.20%

In the first five months of the year, German fund management firms posted net subscriptions of EUR37.2757bn, compared with EUR15.6862bn in the corresponding period of 2009.In May, net subscriptions totalled over EUR3.86bn, compared with EUR2.37bn for Spezialfonds and EUR1.83bn for open-ended funds, despite net redemptions of EUR1.44bn for real estate funds, and EUR1.11bn for money market funds. Despite net subscriptions, total assets in funds and mandates fell by more than EUR4.8bn in one month, to EUR1.75717trn as of the end of May.

Allianz Global Investors (AGI) announced on Wednesday that its US affiliate Pimco has recently released its value equities funds PIMCO EqS Pathfinder Fund™ et PIMCO EqS Pathfinder Europe Fund™ (see Newsmanagers of 21 June and 19 April) in Germany. The products are sub-funds of the Irish-registered, UCITS-compliant Sicav Global Investor Series (GIS).

The alternative management firm Salus Alpha on Wednesday announced that its Austrian-registered UCITS-compliant fund Salus Alpha RN Special Situations (see Newsmanagers of 22 February) has been approved by BaFin for sales in Germany, and that it has attracted USD25m since its launch on 22 March, when it already had USD20m in assets. Its performance comes in at 2.85%.

In the first five months of the year, open-ended securities funds in Germany attracted nearly EUR11.08bn. Of this total, Allianz Global Investors (AGI) took in EUR6.09bn, of which EUR5.6bn went to Pimco Europe. The second-largest inflow went to BlackRock Asset Management Deutschland, whose iShares brand ETF funds drew in EUR3.17bn. ETF promoters have seen significant net inflows, as ComStage (Commerzbank) has attracted EUR565.1m, db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) has posted net inflows of EUR756.7m, and ETFlab (Deka) has posted net subscriptions of EUR2.26bn. Among the major management firms, the DWS/FB Advisors family (Deutsche Bank) is the only one, aside from AGI, to post net inflows, with EUR810m. Deka (savings banks) and Union Investment (co-operative banks) saw respective net outflows of EUR3.37bn and EUR2.72bn.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management on 7 July announced its decision to develop its organisation, bringing together all private management actors within a single professional unit, Wealth Management, which will be led by Jacques d/Estais, who will also retain his responsibilities as head of the Investment Solutions unit. The firm has also decided ot create a new governance format, to accentuate the transversality of geographical regions and support functions. 5 geographical regions have been defined: Asia-Pacific, Euro Domestic Markets and New Domestic Markets, International Europe (including the Middle East and Latin America), and Luxembourg. These regions will be led by Mignonne Cheng, Marie-Claire Capobianco for all domestic markets, Pascal Boris and Patrice Crochet. 3 transversal functions will aim to develop these regions: Products & Services, led by Olivier Maugarny; an UGNWI )ultra high net worth individuals) expert unit, which has recently been created, and whose organisation will be announced subsequently; and a COO unit, which will include the professional functions overseen by Vincent Lecomte. Cheng, Capobianco, Boris, Crochet, Maugarny and Lecomte will join d’Estais as members of the Executive Board of BNP Paribas Wealth Management.

Following the completion of the acquisition of PNC Global Investment Servicing, BNY Mellon has announced the creation of a new GFI (global financial institutions) group, which will concentrate on banking, mutual fund and insurance clients. The unit will be directed by Nadine Chakar, previously head for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Steve Wynne, previously CEO of PNC Global Investment Servicing, becomes CEO of US fund services (mutual funds, closed funds, ETFs).

Agefi reports that an annual study by the Scorpio Partnership agency (Global Private Banking KPI Benchmark 2010) has found that the ten largest actors in wealth management now account for nearly two thirds of the market. The volume of assets worldwide increased last year by 17%, to USD16.5trn. Bank of America retains its place at the top of the list, with assets of USD1.74trn, followed by UBS and Morgan Stanley.

Henderson Global Investors and Aviva Investors on 7 July announced that Aviva Investors will become the manager and “Authorised Corporate Director” of the Henderson International Property Fund, from 2 August 2010. Aviva Investors is planning to merge the assets of the Henderson International Property Fund (GBP183m as of 30 June) with the GBP223m (also as of 30 June) in its European and Asia-Pacific real estate funds. The larger size will allow for more diversification and reliance on the expertise of regional teams.

BNY Mellon Asset Management announced on Wednesday that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has authorised BNY Mellon and Western Securities to create a fund management joint venture in China, BNY Mellon Western Fund Management Company Limited. The joint venture will be 49% controlled by BNY Mellon, and 51% by Western Securities. BNY Mellon FM will start out managing Chinese “domestic” securities in several funds aimed at retail investors. It will later develop new products, relying on the expertise of the BNY Mellon group. Distribution will focus on banking and brokerage networks in China. The CEO of the new firm is Bin Hu.

Since the beginning of the month, Alexander van den Berg has become sales manager Germany at Henderson, where he will be in charge of wealth manager, fund of fund, and IFA clients. He will report to Lars Albert, head of sales, Germany. Van den Berg was previously head of wholesale distribution for Germany and Luxembourg at the German fund management firm SEB Asset Management.

According to a survey of 60 German institutional investors, of whom 17% have assets of over EUR10bn, the Kommalpha agency has found that professionals are clearly intending to increase their exposure to the health sector. 68% of them say this taste is due to a megatrend which profits the sector, while 50% are attracted by the potential for growth, and only 29% cite an attractive return/risk ratio as a motive in their investment decision, while 15% explain it as related to the low correlation of the sector with other asset classes. The three best-known funds in the sector are the BB Biotech Lux from Bellevue Asset Management (cited by 56% of those surveyed), the PF (Lux) Biotech I from Pictet Funds, and the DWS Biotech-Aktien from DWS, cited by 50% and 46%, respectively.

For 2009, BHF-Bank has declared net profits of EUR13m, compared with EUR198m, and a cost-income ratio up to 95% from 52.4%. At the end of last year, the private bank had assets of EUR43bn, and profits of EUR18m, compared with EUR21m. Assets under management at the affiliates Frankfurt Trust Investment Gesellschaft (Allemagne) and Frankfurt Trust Invest Luxembourg as of the end of December represented EUR17.1bn, of which EUR7.7bn were in open-ended funds, and EUR9.4bn in institutional funds and mandates. The total represents an increase of about 8% over their levels at the end of 2008. Profits for asset management are down to EUR12m from EUR14m. In 2010, BHF, which was taken over by Deutsche Bank at the time of its acquisition of Sal. Oppenheim, is planning to open a private banking affiliate in Singapore. In asset management, Frankfurt Trust will continue to develop quantitative and asset allocation products.

According to a study by the British association of investment companies (AIC), the average TER of investment companies, including performance commissions, came to 1,83% in 2009, compared with 1.56% in October 2008, and 1.74% in June 2007. In January 2010, 54% of companies charged a performance commission, compared with 51% in October 2008. Excluding performance commissions, 60% of investment companies had TERs of less than 1%, and 58% had a TER under 1.5%.

On Wednesday, BNY Mellon and the International Derivatives Clearing Group (ICDG) announced that the BNY affiliate BNY Mellon Clearing LLC will become a clearing member of the International Derivatives Clearinghouse LLC, a derivatives clearing structure regulated by the US Commodity Futures trading Commission (CFTC). BNY Mellon says that joining the body will allow it to offer clients central counterparty clearing for fixed income derivatives, which are an important tool in the management of financial risk for businesses, investors, and municipalities.

On Wednesday, State Street announced that in second quarter it recorded a second quarter 2010 after-tax charge of USD251m or USD0.50 per share, including a related cash contribution to certain common and collective trust funds managed by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) that engage in securities lending (the SSgA lending funds). The USD330m transfer will allow SSgA to raise restrictions on redemptions from its lending funds from August 2010. State Street has also announced that in second quarter it had a revenue of USD2.3bn, and profits per share of USD0.87, taking into account the one-time charge of USD251m mentioned above, and a tax expense of USD180m for restructuring of assets in non-US conduits.

Nielsen has found that Franklin Resources was the US mutual fund manager which spent most on advertising in first quarter, with USD3.7m, compared with nearly USD0.51m in the corresponding period of last year, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Franklin Resources was followed by T. Rowe Price (USD2.97m), Vanguard (USD2.13m), Fidelity (USD2.05m), and Power Corp of Canada (the owner of Putnam Investments) with USD2.03m.

Fabrice Cuchet, head of alternative management at Dexia Asset Management, says UCITS III hedge funds, known as newcits, “do not aim to replace hedge funds, but to bring a complementary range of products, more liquid and more regulated.” But there are many pitfalls, and one should not assume that newcits create liquidity. “Newcits are not miracle products which will deliver the same performance as hedge funds while offering more liquidity and less risk,” he says. It is likely, in fact, that the average performance of UCITS hedge funds will be lower than those of the hedge fund industry, partly due to a more restrictive UCITS environment for managers, and partly since not all strategies and assets are eligible for UCITS, which reduces the potential sources of performance. Dexia AM offers 22 UCITS III funds, covering 15 different alternative strategies in all asset classes.

The head of emerging markets at Axa Framlington, William Calvert, is leaving the group, along with two of his managers, Ming Kemp and Neil Denman. Calvert is lead manager of the Framlington Emerging Markets fund (GBP241.4m). The team will continue to provide management of the product for three months, and will then be replaced by Mark Beveridge and Irina Topa-Serry until successors for the trio can be found.

Fund Strategy reports that Charles Wilson, managing director at Lazard Asset Management, is leaving the firm to join Investec. Wilson worked at Lazard AM for 13 years. Fund Strategy reports that Bill Smith, CEO for the UK, will take over Wilson’s responsibilities until a successor can be found.

The Scottish management firm Martin Currie on 6 July announced that it has added to its sales team with the arrival of John Long as sales manager. He will aim to develop intermediated activities of the firm in London. Long will join Martin Currie on 2 August, and will report to Alan Burnett, head of intermediated distribution for the United Kingdom. Long previously worked at Stenham Group.

Selon L’Agefi, l’étude annuelle du cabinet Scorpio Partnership (Global Private Banking KPI Benchmark 2010) montre que les dix acteurs les plus importants de la gestion de fortune concentrent désormais près des deux tiers du marché. Le montant des encours mondiaux a progressé l’an dernier de 17% pour atteindre les 16.500milliards de dollars. Bank of America reste en tête du classement avec des encours de 1.740 milliards de dollars, devant UBS et Morgan Stanley.