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03/09/2009

Annual results up 20% for Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown has announced pre-tax profits for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2009 up 20%, to GBP73.1m. Revenues grew by 10% to GBP102.3m, compared with GBP132.8m previously. Assets under administration gained 7% to GBP11.8bn. The group is proposing to distribute a dividend of 10,101 pence per share, compared with 7,809 pence for the previous year, an increase of 29% year on year. Total dividends represent 65% of pre-tax profits.
03/09/2009

Russelll signs up for responsible investment principles

Russell Investments has become the next firm to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). The United States-based management firm has also created a sustainable development advisory committee to promote integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into the selection of managers and product development. In addition, the committee will promote the investment Principles in the world of asset management.Andrew Doman, President & CEO, says Russell joined the Principles as it was facing growing demand on the part of clients seeking advising and solutions which take ESG criteria into account.
03/09/2009

Michel Anastassiades becomes executive president of FFTW

Simultaneously with the announcement that Charlotte Dennery has been appointed as CEO of FundQuest, BNP Paribas Investment Partners has announced that Michel Anastassiades, who was previously head of FundQuest, will become executive president of the international fixed income affiliate FFTW in New York. He will be assisted by Debbie Hazell, CEO of FFTW.
03/09/2009

Ameriprise reportedly in talks to acquire Columbia Management

According to reports in MFWire, Ameriprise is planning to conclude an acquisition of Columbia Management from Bank of America (BofA) next week, but without the money market activities. The two questions which remain to be answered are the name of the future head of the entity and the future of fund distribution via US Trust, the private banking affiliate of BofA, and by Merrill Lynch.
03/09/2009

Penetrating the Chinese market takes three years, according to Z-Ben

“Setting up on the Chinese market with only bond funds makes no sense, given the extreme volatility of subscriptions and redemptions which prevails in this area», says Peter L. Alexander, principal of the Z-Ben Advisors agency. For western promoters, the best idea is to offer equities funds, which are often profitable for producers. However, the head of the independent advising agency (5 years in existence, 17 employees and approximately 70 clients) based in Shanghai warned representatives of French management firms at a meeting of the AFG on Monday that they will need to have someone on the ground in China to manage relations with clients, as Chinese banks will provide distribution, but not after-sales services. The best solution is to find an external distributor locally, who can handle this important function. In general, Alexander continues, one should “not expect to earn a return on investment in China for three years.” The best way to break into the Chinese market is to spend time to first develop relations with the authorities and local managers. From this point of view, the best plan to to set up a representative office in Shanghai or Beijing.
03/09/2009

British insurers resist Solvency II

Les Echos reports that British insurers are concerned about raising several tens of billions of pounds Sterling to meet the requirements of the European Solvency 2 regulations, passed in spring. The European committee of supervisors (CEIOPS) has adopted an extremely prudent position, and says that all calibrations will aim to determine owners’ equity requirements. The newspaper cites reports in the Financial Times, which has obtained a letter sounding the alarm which was sent to Alistair Darling by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
03/09/2009

Rothschild & Cie diversifies activities

Based on an observation that many families are seeking to sell their businesses, Rothschild & cie is currently raising a EUR500m fund to buy minority stakes in businesses valued between EUR100m and EUR500m, L’Agefi reports.The private equity unit is not likely to become a strategic activity for Rothschild & Cie, whose wealth management and mergers & acquisitions activities continue to be central. As part of the launch of this secondary activity, Alexandre de Rothschild, son of David, the director and founder of the bank, joined the firm a few months ago.
03/09/2009

Pimco takes inspiration from US university endowments

Mark Taborsky, executive vice president of Pimco, has announced that the affiliate of Allianz is changing its investment strategies, and taking a page out of the book of US university endowments, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The firm will now invest in asets which are not highly liquid (participations, real estate) to increase performance and reduce allocation to equities and bonds. But Pimco (USD840bn) will strive to avoid liquidity problems.
03/09/2009

Cerberus CM seeks three0year commitment for new funds

L’Agefi reports, citing an article in the Financial Times, that Cerberus Capital Management will partially prohibit redemptions of money from its new funds. A three-year commitment period will apply to all new hedge funds, at a time when redemption demands from several investors in Cerberus Partners LP and Cerberus Institutional LP recently totalled USD4.77bn.
03/09/2009

Head of asset management sells shares in Deutsche Bank

The head of asset management and a member of the group executive committee at Deutsche Bank, Kevin Parker, on 27 August sold 25,612 shares in the bank for more than USD1.77m, according to a regulated market filing. Deutsche Bank says that Seth Harrison, also a member of the group executive committee and CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, on the same day sold 24,390 shares in the firm for USD1.69m.
03/09/2009

Lyxor integrates SGAM trackers

The reorganisation of the asset management professions at Société Générale group have meant that Lyxor Asset Management and Lyxor International Asset Management are taking over the alternative management, index-based management and quantitative structured management activities of SGAM AI and SGAM Index from 1 September 2009. Assets at Lyxor now total EUR78.7bn (as of 30 June 2009).In detail, index-based management activities, the ETF range from SGAM, will be transferred to Lyxor International Asset Mangaement, while trackers of SGAM ETF strategies will join the Lyxor ETF range. These will also change names, though the modification will have no impact on funds and mandates transferred in terms of their management objectives, investment strategy, mnemonic code or ISIN, or on fees charged by the funds.
03/09/2009

Credit Suisse gearing up for external growth in private banking

Walter Berchtold, CEO of private banking activities at Credit Suisse, has announced that his group is “clearly ready” to make acquisitions in the area of private banking. According to sources familiar with the matter, Credit Suisse has pulled out of the running to acquire the private banking affiliates of ING Groep in Asia and Switzerland, the Wall Street Journal reports.Berchtold says that Asia will be the main area of growth for the private bank in the years to come, and that Credit Suisse is “aggressively” pursuing recruitments to manage its expansion in this region, focusing on high net worth clients. The other two privileged regions will be the European Union and the Americas, particularly Latin America. Growth in activities in the Middle East, for their part, will depend on the evolution of commodity prices.
03/09/2009

NYSE Euronext creates a corporate governance commission

Les Echos reports that the American branch of NYSE Euronext as announced plans to create an advisory committee in charge of studying corporate governance, and to vote on the creation at the next AGM. The US authorities, with whom the commission will cooperate, are planning to scale up tools for shareholders to put pressure on boards of directors.
03/09/2009

DWS offers a money market fund with floating NAV

One year after the Reserve Primary Fund became the first to “break the buck,” DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank) has announced plans to launch the DWS Variable NAV Money Fund, a money market fund whose net asset value (NAV) will be allowed to fluctuate without having to remain stable at USD1, the Wall Street Journal reports. The minimal subscription will be USD1m.
03/09/2009

Deka Immobilien acquires an office building in Washington

The German asset management firm Deka Immobilien has bought the Landmark Building (23,000 square metres) in Washington D.C. for its open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienGlobal from Vornado Realty Trust. The purchase price of the property is about USD208m.
03/09/2009

French multi-management to grow in next four years

Assets under management in funds of funds in France are expected to total about EUR90bn in 2013, according to estimates by Cerulli Associates. They are they expected t begin rising again from 2010, following the declines which have come since 2008 in a context of financial crisis, but they are expected to remain below their 2007 record levels (EUR102.7bn). In 2008, net redemptions from multi-management totalled EUR7.9bn, and assets fell to EUR73.5bn. Despite this, in this unpromising context, some firms have succeeded in posting inflows. Two such are Groupama (EUR1.7bn) and La Poste (EUR281m), which has allowed them to gain market share against the three banks which dominate the market : Société Générale, Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas. This leading trio has, however, lost ground over three years, though they continue to control more than 35% of the market.
03/09/2009

Deutsche Bank closes down an oil ETN

Due to increasing pressure from US regulators on investors in commodities, and particularly to limits on positions on the NYMEX market, Deutsche Bank has decided to close down its ETN PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Since the beginning of the year, the performance of the USD426m product has been 72%, while contracts on crude oil on the NYMEX gained only 53%.
03/09/2009

Madoff: Report points to failures at SEC

According to an internal study by the Securities and Exchange Commission made public on Wednesday, 2 September, edited by inspector David Kotz, the US market regulatory authority could have uncovered the fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff much sooner, the Financial Times reports. Though eight complaints had been lodged against the financier since 1992, a lack of experience on the part of personnel at the SEC prevented the agency from noticing the warning signs, the report states.
03/09/2009

Roger Gray leaves Hermes for USS

Roger Gray, former CIO of Hermes Investment Management, has been appointed CIO of the British Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). He succeeds Peter Moon, who is retiring. Before Hermes, Gray worked at UBS Brinson and Rothschild Asset Management.
03/09/2009

Composition of DJSI indexes updated

SAM, Dow Jones and Stoxx Ltd on Thursday morning published results of the annual revision of the Dow Jones Sustainability and Dow Jones Stoxx Sustainability indexes, which will take effect from the opening of the markets on 21 September. In total, 33 firms will be removed from the DJSI World index, including Natinoal Grid, Mitsubishi Estate and SABMiller, while 33 will be added, including Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola and Samsung Electronics. The total number of businesses will remain unchanged at 317. The committee has also decided to add 14 new shares to the pan-European DJ Stoxx Sustainability index, and to remove 20 others. For the DJ Sustainability North America index, 8 firms will be removed and 26 will be added, while the DJ Sustainability Asia-Pacific fund will gain 21 new firms, and 13 will be removed. SAM has also selected the companies for each of its 19 supersectors, which include 58 sectors. In 2009-2010, the supersectors leaders are Adidas (Personal & Household Goods), Aracruz Cellulose (Basic Resources), ANZ Banking Group (Banks), BMW (Automobiles), CEMIG (Utilities), DSM (Chemicals), GPT Group (Real Estate), Investimentos Itau (Financial Services), Kingfisher (Retail), Nokia (Technology), Panasonic Electric Works (Construction & Materials), Pearson (Media), Roche (Health Care), Sodexo (Travel & Leisure), Swiss Re (Insurance), Telefónica (Telecommunications), TNT (Industrial Goods & Services), Total (Oil & Gas) et enfin Unilever (Food & Beverage).
03/09/2009

Growth of sukuk market slows in first seven months of year

In the first seven months of the year, the amount of new issues on the sukuk market totalled USD9.3bn, compared with USD11.1bn in the same period of 2008, according to a study by Standard & Poor’s from 2 September (The Sukuk Market Has Continued to Progress in 2009 Despite Some Roadblocks,” RatingsDirect). Malaysia alone has issued about 45% of new sukuk issues in 2009, compared with 22% for Saudi Arabia, 16% for Indonesia, and 9.79% for Bahrain. The number of issues has remained stable in the seven-month period at about 70, but there has been significant concentration, with the ten largest issues representing 78.7% of the total, compared with 58.8% between January and July 2008. The decline of new issues of about 20% is not merely a result of current market conditions and a drying up of liquidity. It also reflects a less favourable economic environment in the Gulf countries, particularly the United Arab Emirates. The agency estimates that outlooks in the mid-term remain favourable for the sukuk market, with planned issues estimated at about USD50bn. Standard & Poor’s points out that the major evolution in the period has been that Islamic establishments, which have previously been more resistant to the financial turbulence in the sector as they were not exposed to structured products, have seen some setbacks. In Kuwait, the Investment Dar Company has defaulted on a sukuk issue.
03/09/2009

Pay scales at largest American banks in top form

La Tribune cites a study of pay scales for directors of US banks which received aid during the crisis. According to the survey, the combined value of stock options awarded to the five top-paid directors of tack bank at the beginning of this year were up by nearly USD90m. The presidents of the 20 largest American banks earned an average of 85 times more than regulators, the newspaper reports.
03/09/2009

US mid-sized banks threatened by real estate crisis

Les Echos reports that US regulators are concerned about the future of banks which may be too small to survive the commercial real estate crisis. Following the liquidation of 84 regional banks since the beginning of the year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is not concealing that mid-sized banks may have to pay a high price for the crisis.
03/09/2009

24 weeks of net subscriptions to long-term mutual funds

According to statistics from the Mutual Company Institute, long-term mutual funds have posted net inflows in the week to 26 August of USD10.37bn, the Wall Street Journal reports. This is the 24th consecutive week of net subscriptions, bringing total inflows during this period to about USD250bn.
03/09/2009

Net inflows of more than EUR41bn in one year for European ETPs

Over the past twelve months, net inflows to European ETPs have totalled EUR41.2bn, bringing assets under management to EUR137bn, according to statistics from iShares published by Hedge Week.The most active segment has been regional ETFs, with EUR11.4bn in new assets, or nearly 27.6% of total inflows. On one year, regional ETFs have brought in a net inflwo of EUR3.2bn.Country ETFs, for their part, have registered EUR6.6bn in new inflows, representing nearly 16% of the total.iShares, meanwhile, has posted significant outflows from money market ETFs, including more than EUR1bn in the first month. Money market ETFs represent only 21% of bond assets under management, compared with 24.2% one month earlier.
03/09/2009

Skandia Property Fund buys office properties

The Skandia Property Fund, managed by ING Real Estate Investment Management (ING REIM), has taken GBP75m from its war chest to acquire undervalued properties on a British commercial real estate market in the process of stabilising. The properties include Lakeside 5000, an office complex located in the Cheadle Royal Business Park in Manchester.
03/09/2009

Intech launches its first European equities institutional fund

Intech Investment Management, an affiliate of Janus Capital Group, has announced the launch of its first European equities fund, aimed at institutional investors and denominated in Euros. The fund will be available in Europe and Europe ex UK versions; it will use the MSCI Europe as its benchmark, and will be managed applying the Intech mathematical process, which aims to outperform the index, while managing relative risk. This is the first regional launch from the asset management firm, says Robert A. Garvy, chairman and CEO, adding that performance objectives are 2.75-3.75 percentage points above the index in a period of 3-5 years.

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