Niall Gallagher, qui gérait des fonds d’actions européennes et d’Europe continentale chez T. Rowe Price après avoir quitté BlackRock fin octobre 2006, a été recruté par GAM (filiale de Julius Baer) pour remplacer John Bennett, parti chez Gartmore Asset Management en juin. Il rejoint en novembre, à Londres, et prendra en décembre la gestion des fonds GAM Star European Equity et GAM Star Continental European Equity, qui ont accusé de forts remboursements au départ de John Bennett, même si leur encours se situe encore à plus de 900 millions de dollars.

Baring Asset Management (Barings) a introduit un compartiment retail dans son fonds domicilié au Royaume-Uni Baring Emerging Markets, jusqu’ici accessible uniquement aux investisseurs institutionnels.Le fonds est piloté par James Syme, responsable des marchés émergents, et Paul Wimborne, investment manager. Ils gèrent également le fonds domicilié en Irlande Baring Global Emerging Markets (1,49 milliard de dollars d’encours).

Selon Investment Week, M&G a enregistré au troisième trimestre une collecte nette totale de 2,5 milliards de livres, dont une collecte nette retail de 1,7 milliard de livres. La collecte totale affiche ainsi un bond de 47% par rapport à la période correspondante de 2008.Sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année, la collecte nette s’inscrit à 11,1 milliards de livres, en hausse de 169% par rapport à la période correspondante de 2008. La collecte nette retail sur neuf mois a atteint 5,73 milliards de livres.Les fonds obligataires continuent de drainer l’essentiel de la collecte, représentant 77% des ventes nettes depuis le début de l’année. Mais les fonds actions tirent aussi leur épingle du jeu, notamment les fonds Recovery et Global Basics.

Pictet Funds a recruté Emma Stenzel au poste de sales manager pour le sud de l’Angleterre. Elle était auparavant advisory business team manager chez Schroders.

La dernière livraison de l’Institutional Market Sizing du cabinet de conseil Z-Ben fait ressortir que les investisseurs institutionnels chinois, qui ont déjà investi plus de 190 milliards de yuans à l'étranger devraient potentiellement augmenter ce montant de 62 % l’an prochain pour atteindre 308 milliards, un gonflement qui devrait être surtout attribuable aux assureurs ainsi qu’aux filiales financières des grands groupes, désireux comme les autres catégories d’investisseurs institutionnels de diversifier leur portefeuille.Dans son étude, Z-Ben analyse 260 de ces investisseurs dont l’encours dépasse les 7.380 milliards de yuans et fournit un portrait plus poussé des 18 plus actifs d’entre eux.Les compagnies d’assurances et leurs filiales de gestion d’actifs affichent ensemble un encours de l’ordre de 4.000 milliards de yuans, dont 1.840 milliards pour les premières et 2.130 milliards pour les secondes, constituent le groupe le plus important et le plus ouvert sur l’international. Ils recherchent aussi des partenaires de long terme pour les aider à gérer leurs actifs.Le deuxième groupe par importance est celui des sociétés financières de grands groupes d’Etat, avec 1.280 milliards de yuans, et cette catégorie d’investisseurs augmente très rapidement ses placements hors des frontières.Il ne faut pas oublier non plus les 54 sociétés survivantes du secteur de la fiducie (trust companies), qui disposent de 1.200 milliards de yuans et qui recherchent des investissements à l'étranger pour agrémenter leur portefeuille.Enfin, Z-Ben rapporte que les plans d'épargne retraite d’entreprise (enterprise annuities) gèrent 190 milliards de yuans et vont être les prochains à se lancer dans la gestion d’actifs étrangers. Quant aux fonds de pension du secteur public, ils affichent 749 milliards de yuans d’encours et devraient faire l’objet de toutes les attentions de la part des maisons de gestion étrangères, parce que les premiers mandats pourraient être attribués l’an prochain.

Selon Hedge Week, Collins Stewart Fund Management vient de lancer un fonds de fonds de performance aboslue, le Collins Stewart Alternative Strategies Fund. Le fonds compatible avec la directive Ucits III a un objectif de rendement de l’ordre de 6 % à 10 % par an. Il sera domicilié à Dublin au sein de la plateforme de fonds existante. Le fonds ne comporte pas de période de lock-up et il n’impose pas non plus de pénalités de remboursement.

In third quarter, profits from asset management at Santander fell to EUR8m, compared with EUR19m in second quarter, and EUR21m in first quarter. Profits totalled EUR36m in the corresponding period of last year. Over the first nine months of the year, assets have increased from EUR101bn to EUR111bn, while costs for the division have fallen 17%, to EUR115m.

According to the “spot the dog” rankings from the Bestinvest platform, the worst British management firm is Jupiter, with GBP3bn in assets in underperforming funds, followed by Schroders, with GBP1.76bn, and Scottish Widows, with GBP1.68bn, Investment Week reports. Fourth and fifth place go to St James’s Place, with GBP945m in assets placing in the rankings of bad funds, and Henderson New Star, with GBP705m.

State Street has announced that it has been awarded a mandate by the Intermountain Equity Group (IEG) to provide fund administration services for a product specialised in privately-traded real estate funds. The fund has assets of USD400m.

For third quarter, Waddell & Reed Financial, the promoter of Ivy and W&R Advisor Funds, has posted net profits of USD33.4m, compared with USD23.4m in second quarter, and USD33.4m in the corresponding period of last year, excluding one-time expenses and payment of taxes related to the sale of Austin, Calvert & Flavin (ACF) on 15 July. As of the end of September, assets totalled USD64.49bn, compared with USD55.61bn as of the end of June, and USD59.78m one year previously. Since the beginning of the year, Waddell & Reed has posted net subscriptions of USD6.13bn, while assets under management have increased by USD17bn.

On 28 October in Mumbai, at the second annual international forum held by Paris Europlace, Arnaud de Bresson, deputy CEO of Paris Europlace, spoke of the strong presence of French banks, management firms and insurers in India, and the positive development of joint ventures between Indian and French financial actors, such as CAAM and SBI, who have recently announced the creation of a joint venture in asset management. De Bresson expressed a desire that Paris and Mumbai should develop further collaborations, particularly in the asset management sector. Among the technical panel discussions featured at the conference was “Asset management, partnership with leading distribution networks in India and France: common challenges?”

It appears that Deutsche Bank will acquire the entirety of the Luxembourg-registered holding company Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. S.C.A in first quarter 2010 for EUR1bn, while the families that currently own the firm will have an option to retain a stake of up to 20% in the private banking affiliate of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. KgaA in Cologne. Payment may also be made in the form of Deutsche Bank shares. Even after this operation, the tier 1 ratio at Deutsche Bank will remain at about 11%. The pricxe corresponds to only 0.74% of assets under management. Deutsche Bank will take control of the private bank, BHF-Bank, as well as the private equity fund of fund management firm Sal. Oppenheim Private Equity Partners S.A. (SOPEP). In addition, it will take control of BHF Asset Servicing GmbH (BAS), an independent holding company in which a majority stake is currently held by the families that own Sal. Oppenheim, which Deutsche Bank is planning to resell. Deutsche Bank is also planning to take part in negotiations over a sale of the Sal. Oppenheim investment banking operations. In an initial period, the acquisition of the various entities will total EUR1.3bn, but it has been agreed with the owners of Sal. Oppenheim jr. & cie. S.C.A. that the acquisition price may be increased depending on the evolution of cerrtain high-risk positions, and depending on the extent to which Sal. Oppenheim is able to retain the loyalty of its approximately 7,000 high net worth clients.

Niall Gallagher, who managed European and continental European equities funds at T. Rowe Price after leaving BlackRock in late October 2006, has been recruited by GAM (an affiliate of Julius Baer) to replace John Bennett, who left the firm to join Gartmore Asset Management in June. He will join the firm in November, in London, and in December will take over the management of the GAM Star European Equity and GAM Star Continental European Equity funds, which have seen heavy redemptions since the departure of Bennett, although their assets remain higher than USD900m.

According to the “spot the dog” rankings from the Bestinvest platform, the worst British management firm is Jupiter, with GBP3bn in assets in underperforming funds, followed by Schroders, with GBP1.76bn, and Scottish Widows, with GBP1.68bn, Investment Week reports. Fourth and fifth place go to St James’s Place, with GBP945m in assets placing in the rankings of bad funds, and Henderson New Star, with GBP705m.

According to Investment Week, M&G has posted total net inflows in third quarter of GBP2.5bn, of which retail inflows totalled GBP1.7bn. Total inflows have risen 47% compared with the corresponding period of 2008. In the first nine months of the year, net inflows totalled GBP11.1bn, a 169% increase compared with the corresponding period of last year. Retail inflows in the first nine months of the year totalled GBP5.73bn. Bond funds have continued to attract the majority of inflows, representing 77% of net sales since the beginning of the year. But equities funds have also done well, particularly the Recovery and Global Basics funds.

Pictet Funds has recruited Emma Stenzel as sales manager for southern Germany. She was previously an advisory business team manager at Schroders.

Prudential UK has posted a 22% decline in sales in third quarter, to GBP157m. For the first nine months of the year, sales have fallen 13% compared with the same period in 2008, to GBP531m.

“Due to a lack of investment opportunities,” CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has decided to redeem EUR20m to subscribers of its real estate fund Falcon III Real Estate, dedicated to Spain, which was created with EUR30m in assets, Cinco Días reports. In other words, the fund has been virtually liquidated. The fund made virtually no investments, meaning that volumes are not an issue, CBRE heads explain. Other funds form Falcon Real Estate Investment (founded in 2005) “are functioning well,” says the asset management firm.

According to Hedge Week, Collins Stewart Fund Management has launched an absolute returns fund of funds, entitled Collins Stewart Alternative Strategies Fund. The fund, which complies with the UCITS III directive, aims for returns of 6% to 10% per year. It will be domiciled in Dublin, on the existing fund platform. The fund has no lock-up period, and will not charge penalties for early withdrawal.

In July-September, pre-tax profits for the AWM (asset and wealth management) division of Deutsche Bank totalled EUR134m, compared with losses of EUR95m in the corresponding period of last year. However, for the first nine months of the year, the balance is still negative to the tune of EUR123m, compared with profits of EUR335m in the corresponding period of last year. The bank has also reported a EUR25bn increase in invested assets, to EUR657bn as of the end of September, thanks to net subscriptions totalling EUR10bn wit EUR5bn each for asset management and wealth management, while the remainder is due to positive market effects, which have been partially offset by negative currency effects. Revenues for the AWM division increased 8% in annualised terms to EUR772m, while performance commissions from retail management rose with the market rally, which partly compensated for a decline in management commissions based on volumes.

The Galleon hedge fund at the centre of an insider trading scandal paid hundreds of millions of dollars a year to its Wall Street banks and in return regularly received market information that would not have been disclosed to most investors, executives familiar with the matter say. It paid about USD250m to its banks last year.

Steven Michael Rubinstein, who was a client of UBS and who confessed in June that he was guilty of tax evasion, has been sentenced by a federal court in Miami to one year of house arrest and three years’ probation, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. He has also been fined USD40,000.

Les Echos reports that the first accounts published in New York on 28 October by the American liquidator Irving Picard, charged with unwinding the Madoff funds, show that the provisional net losses for half of the 4,900 active clients on the books total USD21.2bn, so far, compared with an initial estimate that the fraud totalled USD64.5bn, largely based on an assumption that fictive accounts submitted by the broker were genuine. To date, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), an entity that reimburses investors when a brokerage firm goes bankrupt, has disbursed USD534m, on total declared claims of USD4.43bn, from 2,860 direct clients.

Tudor Investment Corporation has integrated the managed accounts platform of Lyxor and has crearted Lyxor / Tudor Momentum Limited, a hedge fund whose strategy replicates the fund Tudor Momentum Portfolio Ltd., part of the Tensor program from Tudor. “The systems used rely on a precise methodology to identify market trends on the basis of more than 70 criteria,” a statement says. “The duration for which positions will be held varies from several weeks to several months, giving the fund a mid- to long-term horizon. Investment decisions taken by the systems used are based on several algorythms which analyse historical price data and other elements to identify trends and to predict the future direction of prices. Positions taken, both long and short, are on futures on all types of underlying assets, including commodity futures, interest rates, currencies, major stock market indexes, US government bonds, foreign government bonds, and spot positions on currency rates.”

AGEFI Switzerland reports that four Credit Suisse Group managers have sold off significant numbers of shares in the bank on stock markets in the past two days. In total, 500,000 shares have been sold in four transactions, for a total of nearly CHF27.8m, according to the website SIX. Based on 2008 activities, it appears that only one person is likely to have made a single transaction, concerning 300,000 shares. He is Paul Calello, Chief Executive Officer Investment Banking at Credit Suisse. As of the end of 2008, he held 411,856 shares in CS. On the board at the firm, the CEO, Brady Dougan, held the second-largest number of Credit Suisse shares, with 296,000, after Calello, and he therefore could not have been responsible for the 300,000-share transaction, but could have been responsible for selling off one of the other three batches of shares.

Baring Asset Management (Barings) has launched a retail sub-fund of its UK-domiciled fund Baring Emerging Markets, which has previously been available only to institutional investors. The fund is managed by James Syme, head of emerging markets, and Paul Wimborne, investment manager. They also manage the Irish-domiciled fun Baring Global Emerging Markets (USD1.49bn in assets).

In the first three quarters of this year, net subscriptions to British-registered retail funds in the United Kingdom totalled GBP18.7bn, of which GBP2.7bn were in September, topping a record set by the year 2000 as a whole, the Investment Management Association (IMA) reports. In August, net subscriptions totalled GBP2.2bn, while in September 2008, British-domiciled retail funds saw net redemptions of GBP29.4bn. Net subscriptions to retail funds domiciled abroad totalled GBP249.8m, compared with GBP150.9m in August, and net outflows of GBP167m in September last year. Assets in funds domiciled in the United Kingdom as of the end of September totalled GBP463.4bn, compared with GBP439.6bn one month earlier, and GBP380.2bn as of 30 September 2008. Assets under management in funds domiciled overseas totalled GBP21.2bn, compared with GBP20.3bn as of the end of August and GBP16.7bn one year previously.

The Wurzburg prosecutor’s office has confirmed that it has launched an investigation of the founder of the hedge fund K1, Helmut Kiener, who is suspected of abuse of confidence and fraud, Handelsblatt reports. The fund is registered in the British Virgin islands, and claims to have about USD1bn in assets under management. Kiener and his fund are suspected of having defrauded several banks, including Barclays, JP Morgan Chase, and BNP Paribas, of about USD400m.

Certains s’émeuvent du caractère trop expansionniste de la politique monétaire. Ils l’estiment responsable d’une nouvelle bulle financière, les taux bas gonflant artificiellement le rendement des actifs. Selon leur calcul, un financement nominal à trois mois de l’ordre de 0,3% pour 1,6% d’inflation et 1,5% de croissance anticipées à deux ans porte la différence entre croissance et taux d’intérêt réels à près de 3%. Une aubaine ! Vu comme ça, évidemment, réclamer des hausses de taux pourrait avoir du sens. Mais un tel raisonnement n’est pas exempt de fausses notes.

Une nouvelle détente de la volatilité réalisée déclencherait le phénomène. La publication du PIB américain aujourd'hui sera éclairante