State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has published its 2009 panorama of the ETF market and outlooks for the development of the sector in 2010. The SSgA synthesis observes that 2009 was the third consecutive year in which net inflows to ETFs topped USD100bn, as investors pulled out of US large caps and global equities from developed markets to increase their exposure to ETFs which provide access to defensive asset classes such as gold, investment grade corporate bonds, and inflation-linked US Treasury bonds. In 2010, assets in ETFs may top USD1trn, compared with an estimated USD767bn in 2009. Some themes which emerged in 2009 are expected to continue to structure the industry in 2010, including, among others, tactical use of ETFs by investors, an end to growth for inverse and leveraged ETFs, continued development of fixed income ETFs, and the emergence of actively-managed ETFs.

The federal judge Louis Stanton on Tuesday dismissed a civil complaint by the US Securities and Exchange Commission against a New York broker -Cohmad Securities Corporation- it accused of wrongfully channelling investors into Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, says the Financial Times. The judge said that there was not sufficient evidence that the three top employees of the firm knew of Mr Madoff’s scheme.

Paulson & Co, a hedge fund that made billions of dollars betting against subprime mortgages via CDOs, has received a request for information from the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an investigation into complex securities at the heart of the financial crisis, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Financial Times. The people said they believed that Paulson & Co was not a target of any investigation.

The Serious Fraud Office will press no charges against the UK arm of Bernard Madoff’s business dealings or its directors, writes the Financial Times.

Lord Myners, the City minister, has written to fund managers urging them to re-examine the bonus payments they are planning to distribute to bankers, says the Financial Times. He asked the fund managers, such as Schroders and Fidelity, to specify what actions they had taken to “engage with the banks in relation to their bonus decisions”.

Jupiter Asset Management has announced the appointment of John Chatfeild-Roberts as chief investment officer. Since 2000, Edward Bonham Carter has combined the CIO role with his work as chief executive officer. John Chatfeild-Roberts, who joined Jupiter in 2001 as head of the Jupiter Merlin Fund of Funds Team, will take on the role from 3 February 2010. His position as head of the Jupiter Merlin Fund of Funds Team will remain unchanged. Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive of Jupiter Asset Management, said: «this will enable me to have a greater focus on developing Jupiter’s growing business and extending its international reach.”

Investment Week reports that a group of 17 managers at Artemis, which has recently been taken over by the American firm AMG (see Newsmanagers of 1 February) have agreed to a four-year lock-in period. They have agreed not to leave the firm or to sell their shares in the firm during this time, until 2014. AMG is rumoured to have paid USD150m to USD200m for its 51% stake in Artemis.

Macquarie Funds Group, the asset management division of the Macquarie group, has launched three funds. They are sub-funds of the Luxembourg Sicav Macquarie Funds Solutions. The Macquarie Emerging Markets Opportunities Fund, managed by David Dali, is invested in shares on the most promising emerging markets. Its benchmark is the MSCI Emerging Markets index. The Macquarie Emerging Markets Infrastructure Fund focuses on shares in businesses which are active in emerging market infrastructures. It is managed by David Ong, and its benchmark is the MSCI Emerging Markets Infrastructure Sector Capped Index. The Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Fund provides exposure to the evolution of the Macquarie and Rogers China Agriculture Index, which reproduces the prices of certain commodities in China.

Assets in pension funds worldwide (1) recovered by 15% last year to a total of over USD23trn, according to a study published on 2 February by Towers Watson. The development, which was not enough to offset losses of more than 21% in 2008, is largely due to positive market effects and pension funds’ strong exposure to equities. Assets at pension funds rose by an average of more than 16% in 2009, after a decline of 11% in 2008, bringing the ten-year growth rate to nearly 7%. Despite losses of market share in the past ten years for the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, these countries remained the largest markets on the planet, representing 57%, 14% and 8% of global assets, respectively. The United States and Japan together account for more than 70% of assets in pension funds. The smallest markets are, in order, Brazil (USD392bn), South Africa (USD201bn), France (USD178bn), Ireland (USD102bn), and Hong Kong (USD23bn). Assets in pension funds now total 70% of average global GNP, compared with 76% ten years ago, a strong increase over the figure of 58% for 2008. The Netherlands have the largest assets in pension funds as a proportion of GNP, with a ratio of 120%, compared with 113% for Switzerland and 93% for Australia. Bond allocations for seven countries included in the study (Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, which represent more than 94% of total assets), rose from 25% in 2005 to 32% in 2008, then fell back to 27% in 2009. Meanwhile, allocations to equities hit 54% in 2009. In the past five years, other asset classes, such as real estate, and to a lesser extent hedge funds and private equity, have increased from 12% to 17%. In detail, allocations to equities last year varied from 27% (Switzerland) to 72% (Brazil), with levels of 33% in France and 61% in the United States, while for bonds, the figures range from 13% (Australia) to 62% (Germany), with 46% in France, 55% in Japan, and 48% in the Netherlands. The study also finds that in the ten years from 1999 to 2009, actuarial rates for defined benefit funds totalled 6%, compared with a rate of 2% for defined contribution assets. Defined-contribution assets now represent 42% of assets in pension funds, compared with 32% ten years ago. Australia has the highest percentage of defined-contribution assets (82%, compared with 78% in 1999). The countries with higher proportions of defined-contribution assets includ the United States, Australia and Switzerland, while Japan and Canada are nearly 100% in defined-benefit schemes. France has 75% of its assets in defined-benefit schemes. (1) The thirteen largest markets are Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, south Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In 2009, assets in open-ended mutual funds which adhere to a socially responsible investment (SRI) approach on sale in France rose 68%, to a total of nearly EUR34bn, according to the most recent statistics from Novethic. This growth was largely driven by SRI money market funds, whose assets increased by 132.2% over the course of the year to EUR14.6bn, and which now have more assets than equities funds (EUR13.9bn). The number of money market funsd has increased form 16 to 23, out of a total of 268, though these funds were largely created through conversions of existing funds. In total, conversions of traditional products into SRI funds represented EUR8.6bn in 2009, meaning that they accounted for most of the increase in assets, though subscriptions totalled EUR2.2bn. The remainder of asset growth (EUR3bn) is due to positive market effects. Novethic notes that “best in class” type selection remains the norm in France, though there is now increased interest in thematic and normative exclusionary approaches.

Sapin’s Santander has created a position for a director of development for asset management in Hong Kong, and appointed Alexander de Laiglesia, who has been present in Hong Kong for several months, Asian Investor reports. De Laiglesia will be in charge of sales to local fund managers and distributors in Asia of funds from Santander Asset Management (EUR120bn), produced in Latin America and Europe.

Mariano Rabadán, president of the Inverco association of asset management firms, has stated that the savings rate for Spanish households increased to 20% in 2009 from 11% in 2008, but that the increase profited bank savings, which increased by EUR38bn, despite a fall in returns (1.79% for the two years deposit at the end of December, compared with 5.15% in October 2008), Cinco Días reports. In contrast, securities funds saw net redemptions of EUR11.64bn, though in the past ten years these funds earned average returns of 4.93%. Inverco is predicting an increase of 10.1% in assets this year, to EUR179bn, while the increase for the asset management sector as a whole (including foreign asset management firms and Sicav funds) may total 9.3% compared with their levels at the end of 2009, to EUR246.25bn. Net subscriptions may total EUR12bn, the association hopes. Rabadán also welcomes government proposals to raise the retirement age to 67 from 65, and claims it is the most important and sensible proposal of the past 15 years.

The Committee for Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on 2 February announced that they have launched a complete examination of existing standards for market infrastructures, such as payment and settlement systems. Three sets of standards will form particular focus points: basic principles for payment systems (2001), recommendations for payment systems (2001/2), and recommendations for central chambers of compensation (2004). Market infrastructures have generally withstood the financial turbulence with success, but in light of hte time which has passed since the publication of these standards, the committees considered it useful to look over them and to modify them if necessary with the aim of strengthening them. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank will also participate in the process, which is a part of a larger effort by the Financial Stability Committee to reduce risk in the global financial system. A draft of the revised standards will be released for consultation in early 2011. A statement adds that the two committees have already made considerable progress in the revision of the 2004 standards for central chambers of compensation, and that a consultation document will be released in the next few months. The accelerated pace of the examination is related to the recent opening of chambers of compensation for OTC derivatives and of trade repositories.

The Swiss Vontobel group announced on 1 February that last month it signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). The move emphasizes the increasingly central place that the group devotes to sustainable development issues in its investment process. The Principles for Responsible Investment were established by an international group of institutional investors in response to the growing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues at businesses for investment processes.

In third quarter of its fiscal year ending 31 March, net earnings from asset management at Nomura totalled JPY17.2bn, for pre-tax profits of JPY4.1bn. The group points out in a statement that it has seen a “significant” increase in assets under management in Asia, as well as on Islamic markets and in Europe. In the first nine months of the fiscal year, pre-tax profits are up 99.6% to JPY13.7bn (about EUR110m), while assets under management have risen JPY2.8trn since the end of March, to JPY23.1trn (EUR183.92bn).

With EUR8bn in assets, Amundi Asset Management, the management firm birthed by the marriage of Crédit Agricole Asset Management and Société Générale Asset Management, has taken its place as the top manager of socially responsible investment (SRI) products in France, Novethic reports. The new entity far outstrips the second-largest manager of these products, Natixis Asset Management, and the third-largest, Allianz GI France, whose assets total over EUR3bn each. Dexia AM is in fourth place, with slightly under EUR3bn, followed by BNP Paribas IP, which has about EUR2bn in assets. Novethic also notes that Macif Gestion, Axa IM and OFI AM have entered the top 10. Four new French firms have also arrived on this market (CCR AM, Edmond de Rothschild AM, IT Asset Management and Mandarine Gestion), while two foreign asset managers have begun offering their funds in France (F&C Investments and First State Investments). In rankings of firms by strongest growth in assets, excluding conversions of existing funds to SRI, Macif Gestion takes first place, followed by Robeco SAM, Allianz GI, Natixis AM and Dexia AM. The market is expected to grow further: as Novethic observes, “the impact on SRI of several mergers now underway -- Fortis IM with BNP Paribas IP; UFG with LFP; Prado Epargne Gestion and Agicam -- is not yet known.”

Assets under management at the South African investment firm Investec Asset Management as of 31 December 2009 totalled a record GBP41bn, thanks to record inflows of GBP3.7bn in the first nine months of the year. Since their low point in March last year, assets under management at Investec have risen 43%, Investment Week reports.

Antonia Saiz, who was head of mixed fund management at BBVA Asset Management, has been recruited by Bansabadell Inversión as director of investment strategy. Meanwhile, Xavier Blanquet, who was head of a team of six equities analysts, has been appointed as director of client and investment product strategy. Funds People relays reports in Expansión that Cirus Andreu, deputy CEO of Sabadell and director of investment, savings products and research, says the bank is no longer planning to sell off its asset management affiliate, but will instead seek opportunities for an acquisition in this area.

According to a study by Pablo Fernández, professor of finance at the ESE business school, based on Inverco statistics, Bestinver (an affiliate of Acciona) is the top Spanish management firm for returns in the past 15 years, with average performance of 12%, followed by Metagestión, with 9.9%, and Mutua Madrileña with 4%, Cinco Días reports. The worst-performing investment firms lost money; for example, Acapital Finanzas (-3.6%).

Managing direcor et head de l’activité private label cash management chez BlackRock, Barry F. X. Smith a été recruté par State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) comme global head cash business. Il aura à ce poste nouvellement créé la responsabilité de quelque 500 milliards de dollars, avec la distribution, le pricing, le développement de produits et le service à la clientèle. Son poste lui permettra de coiffer les fonds monétaires de SSgA, gestionnaire dont l’encours total représente 1.900 milliards de dollars.L’intéressé, qui a rejoint le 1er février, est subordonné à James Kase, head of global sales & marketing. Il travaillera en étroite coopération avec Steve Meier executive vice president et global cash CIO.

Managing direcor et head de l’activité private label cash management chez BlackRock, Barry F. X. Smith a été recruté par State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) comme global head cash business. Il aura à ce poste nouvellement créé la responsabilité de quelque 500 milliards de dollars, avec la distribution, le pricing, le développement de produits et le service à la clientèle. Son poste lui permettra de coiffer les fonds monétaires de SSgA, gestionnaire dont l’encours total représente 1.900 milliards de dollars.L’intéressé, qui a rejoint le 1er février, est subordonné à James Kase, head of global sales & marketing. Il travaillera en étroite coopération avec Steve Meier executive vice president et global cash CIO.

Managing direcor et head de l’activité private label cash management chez BlackRock, Barry F. X. Smith a été recruté par State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) comme global head cash business. Il aura à ce poste nouvellement créé la responsabilité de quelque 500 milliards de dollars, avec la distribution, le pricing, le développement de produits et le service à la clientèle. Son poste lui permettra de coiffer les fonds monétaires de SSgA, gestionnaire dont l’encours total représente 1.900 milliards de dollars.L’intéressé, qui a rejoint le 1er février, est subordonné à James Kase, head of global sales & marketing. Il travaillera en étroite coopération avec Steve Meier executive vice president et global cash CIO.

Managing direcor et head de l’activité private label cash management chez BlackRock, Barry F. X. Smith a été recruté par State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) comme global head cash business. Il aura à ce poste nouvellement créé la responsabilité de quelque 500 milliards de dollars, avec la distribution, le pricing, le développement de produits et le service à la clientèle. Son poste lui permettra de coiffer les fonds monétaires de SSgA, gestionnaire dont l’encours total représente 1.900 milliards de dollars.L’intéressé, qui a rejoint le 1er février, est subordonné à James Kase, head of global sales & marketing. Il travaillera en étroite coopération avec Steve Meier executive vice president et global cash CIO.

In January, Philippe Berthelot (CFA) joined Natixis Asset Management as director of corporate and structured credit management. Berthelot joined Axa Investment Managers (Paris) in 1998, and was appointed director of European credit management in January 2009. In his new role, Berthelot will be responsible for the corporate management (cash and CDO), ABS, and structured credit units.

Managing director et head de l’activité private label cash management chez BlackRock, Barry F. X. Smith a été recruté par State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) comme global head cash business. Il aura à ce poste nouvellement créé la responsabilité de quelque 500 milliards de dollars, avec la distribution, le pricing, le développement de produits et le service à la clientèle. Son poste lui permettra de coiffer les fonds monétaires de SSgA, gestionnaire dont l’encours total représente 1.900 milliards de dollars.L’intéressé, qui a rejoint le 1er février, est subordonné à James Kase, head of global sales & marketing. Il travaillera en étroite coopération avec Steve Meier executive vice president et global cash CIO.

L’ancien patron (jusqu'à fin octobre) de l’agence munichoise de Sal. Oppenheim, Joachim, comte von Arnim, a rejoint la société de gestion de fortune Hartz, Regehr & Partner (HR-P) de Munich comme associé.

En 2009, Munich Ré a enregistré une diminution des revenus générés par les ventes d’actifs (1,6 milliard d’euros contre 2,2 milliards). Ces sommes ont généré un rendement en baisse parce qu’elles ont été réinvesties en période de taux faibles et dans une optique de réduction du risque. Cependant, les charges exceptionnelles liées aux amortissements sur le portefeuille principalement d’actions ont fortement diminué (à 2,5 milliards d’euros contre 7,2 milliards), ce qui a fortement contribué à l’amélioration du résultat. Le rendement des investissements (RoI) s’est amélioré à 4,3 % contre 3,4 % pour 2008 et l’excédent tiré du portefeuille (qui représentait 182,2 milliards d’euros fin décembre contre 174,9 milliards un an plus tôt) est ressorti à 7,9 milliards d’euros contre 5,9 milliards, soit un gonflement de 33 %.Pour sa part, le bénéfice net du groupe a gonflé à 2,56 milliards d’euros contre 1,58 milliard et Munich Ré proposera à l’assemblée générale le versement d’un dividende majoré à 5,75 euros par action contre 5,50 euros au titre de 2008.

Les actifs sous gestion de la société sud-africaine Investec Asset Management ont atteint au 31 décembre 2009 le niveau record de 41 milliards de livres, grâce à une collecte nette record de 3,7 milliards de livres sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année.Depuis les plus bas niveaux touchés en mars dernier, les actifs d’Investec ont fait un bond de 43%, souligne Investment Week.

Mardi, la Deutsche Bank a présenté son «Mittelstandsfonds für Deutschland», un fonds destiné à canaliser des fonds propres par tranches de 2 millions à 10 millions d’euros vers les PME (jusqu'à 100 millions d’euros de chiffre d’affaires) sous forme de droits de jouissance sur sept ans, à des conditions avantageuses. Ce fonds est doté initialement de 300 millions d’euros et devrait entamer son activité avant la fin du premier trimestre.La gestion en est confiée à M Cap Finance, un spécialiste du capital mezzanine. Il est prévu que d’autres investisseurs fassent grossir le fonds jusqu'à 500 millions d’euros. L’accès aux financements par ce fonds sera également ouvert aux entreprises qui ne sont pas clientes de la Deutsche Bank.

Selon la Börsen-Zeitung, la société de portefeuille de la famille Wendel a acheté en dehors de ses actions de fondateur, 1,6 million de titres destinés au public de la special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Helikos, à la faveur de ce qui a été la première OPV couronnée de succès depuis octobre. Cependant, Helikos n’a drainé que 200 millions d’euros au lieu des 250 millions prévus.Pour sa part, le Handelsblatt indique qu’Helikos a reporté à vendredi au plus tard son introduction en Bourse qui était initialement prévue pour ce mardi.