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10/02/2009

Royaume-Uni - La FSA propose d'élargir l'obligation de déclaration des "shorts"

Dans un document consultatif (discussion paper) publié vendredi sur son site Internet (http://www.fsa.gov.uk), la Financial Services Authority (FSA) propose d'élargir à l’ensemble des actions britanniques cotées l’obligation de déclaration des positions à découvert significatives. Le régulateur est d’avis que les ventes à découvert présentent des avantages comme l’efficacité de la formation des prix ainsi que la liquidité, qui normalement en surcompensent les inconvénients. Cependant, la FSA discerne des avantages dans une plus grande transparence.La consultation de place se terminera le 8 mai 2009, la FSA prévoyant de publier ensuite un #feedback statement# fixant ses conclusions sur une politique de plus long terme sur les ventes à découvert.
10/02/2009

France - Bonus : Paris hésite sur la conduite à tenir

Selon l’Agefi, la suppression des «bonus garantis» constituera l’un des points forts du rapport du groupe de travail, qui sera remis cette semaine à la ministre de l'économie Christine Lagarde. Toutefois, les décisions du groupe de travail installé à la demande du Haut comité de Place seront pondérées car une réforme trop restrictive sonnerait la mort de Paris en tant que place financière internationale.
10/02/2009

France - Le rôle du dépositaire en débat à Paris

Dans une affaire qui concerne quatre sociétés de gestion alternative qui avaient pour prime broker Lehman Brothers, les dépositaires RBC Dexia Investor et Société Générale Securities Services s’opposent à la réglementation française sur leur responsabilité en tant que conservateur des actifs, apprend La Tribune dans son édition du 9 février. «L’AMF a fait injonction à RDIS et SGSS sur le principe de responsabilité de restituer les titres et sur le montant des actifs gelés chez LB. Sans se démonter, ils ont fait appel de cette injonction qui sera jugée le 18 février 2009 devant la Cour d’appel de Paris», écrit le quotidien économique.
10/02/2009

Suisse - UBS se réorganise

Parallèlement à l’annonce de ses résultats de 2008, UBS a indiqué avoir créé deux nouvelles directions, wealth managment & Swiss bank, sous la direction de Franco Morra et Jürg Zeltner, et wealth management Americas, sous la responsabilité de Marten Hoekstra. Ces trois dirigeants font partie du directoire du groupe.
10/02/2009

Europe - Bruxelles lance un appel à contributions sur les systèmes d'indemnisation

La Commission européenne a lancé un appel à contributions sur l"application de la directive relative aux systèmes d"indemnisation des investisseurs (directive 97/9/CE). Cette directive vise à protéger les investisseurs des risques de pertes lorsqu"une entreprise d"investissementn"est pas en mesure de restituer des actifs détenus pour le compte d"un client ou de rembourser celui-ci. «Nous souhaitons réunir des informations sur la manière dont la directive relative aux systèmes d"indemnisation des investisseurs a été appliquée depuis son entrée en vigueur, il y a dix ans, notamment compte tenu de la crise financière actuelle. Nous pourrons ainsi déterminer plus facilement s"il y a lieu de modifier la directive et si oui, comment, afin de mieux protéger les investisseurs», indique dans un communiqué le commissaire européen chargé du marché intérieur, Charlie McCreevy. Le questionnaire de la Commission porte entre autres sur les services couverts, notamment compte tenu de la mise en ?uvre de la directive MiFID ; sur le montant des indemnisations et sur le financement des systèmes d’indemnisation. Il couvre agelemnt les questions relatives aux organismes de placement collectif monétaire. Toutes les parties intéressées, et notamment les entreprises, les investisseurs, les consommateurs et les autorités publiques, sont invitées à participer. Cet appel à contributions s"inscrit dans le contexte d"un ensemble d"initiatives qui, outre cette directive, porte sur la directive sur les systèmes de garantie des dépôts et les systèmes de garantie des assurances.
10/02/2009

Suisse - Partners Group propose un dividende inchangé

Le gestionnaire alternatif Partners Group propose à l’assemblée générale du 30 avril un dividende inchange de 4,25 francs suisses par action au titre de 2008. D’autre part, pour appliquer les principes de bonne gouvernance de la fondation Ethos, Robert Schenker ne peut plus être considéré comme indépendant. Il démissionnera de son poste d’administrateur et de président du comité des risques et d’audit lors de l’assemblée générale. Le candidat à sa succession sera Peter Wuffli, l’ancien CEO d’UBS.
10/02/2009

France - Role of depository debated in Paris

In the midst of a scandal which concerns four alternative management firms which had Lehman Brothers as their prime broker, the depositories RBC Dexia Investor and Société Générale Securities Services oppose French regulations governing their responsibilities as asset custodians, La Tribune reports in its 9 February edition. ?The AMF has issued an injunction against RDIS and SGSS stating their responsibility to restitute securities, and the amount of assets frozen at LB. Without denying this, they appealed the injunction, which will come before a Paris appeals court on 18 February 2009,? the financial newspaper says.
10/02/2009

United Kingdom - Preben Prebenson to become CEO of Close Brothers at the beginning of April

On Monday, Close Brothers Group plc announced the appointment, effective 1 April, of Prebin Prebenson as CEO, replacing Colin Keogh, who has been group chief executive since November 2002, and is retiring. Prebin Prebenson was previously group chief investment officer and a member of the executive board at the insurance firm Catalin Group plc, after the acquisition of the firm in 2006 by Wellington Underwriting, where Prebenson had been CEO since 2004.
10/02/2009

United Kingdom - Gartmore plans to launch absolute performance fund in UCITS III format

Gartmore is planning to launch the European Absolute Return Fund sub-fund of its Gartmore Sicav in March. The sub-fund will be a UCITS III-compliant fund managed by Robert Guy and Guillaume Rambourg, who already manage the AlphaGen Capella fund, Funds People reports. It is a long/short fund with daily net asset value reporting, which will be limited to a capacity of EUR200m. The portfolio will include 50 to 100 positions, and net exposure to the market will range, in principle, from 0% to 50%, says Victoria Huerta, head of Gartmore for southern Europe and Latin America.The AlphaGen Capella fund stodd out in 2008 with losses of only 2.8%, at a time when the HFRI Equity Hedge Index, which represents the performance of similar funds, lost 26.24%.
10/02/2009

France - CPR AM recruits CEO from Fidelity Gestion

Following the departure of Pierre Simonet from his position as CEO of CPR Asset Management, Jean-Eric Mercier will be joining CPR AM in this position on 4 March 2009. His appointment will be proposed at the next meeting of the board of directors at the management firm, an affiliate of Crédit Agricole specialised in quantitative management. Mercier previously held the position of president and CEO of Fidelity Investissements SAS and Fidelity Gestion in Paris. He was replaced in that position by Olivier Gourragne. Recently, alongside his responsibilities as chief executive, Gourragne was in charge of retail sales and also held the position of director of marketing and distribution via intermediaries.
10/02/2009

Switzerland - Reorganisation at UBS

In parallel with the announcement of its 2008 results, UBS has announced that it has created two new management positions for heads of wealth management and the Swiss bank, which will be occupied by Franco Morra and Jürg Zeltner, and one for wealth management Americas, which is given to Marten Hoekstra. The three new directors are board members at the group.
10/02/2009

Switzerland - Partners Group proposes unchanged dividend

The alternative management firm Partners Group will propose an unchanged dividend of CHF4.25 per share for 2008, at its general assembly on 30 April. In addition, the principles of good governance established by the Ethos foundation dictates that Robert Schenker can no longer be considered independent. He will resign from his position as director and chairman of the risk and audit committee at the general assembly. The candidate to succeed him is Peter Wuffli, the former CEO of UBS.
10/02/2009

United States - Partial settlement between Madoff and the SEC

The SEC reached a partial settlement in the civil case with Bernard Madoff, who is now banned from working in the financial sector again, the decision on what fine he will have to pay is left for later, The Wall Street Journal reports. Federal prosecutors in New York have until Wednesday to file a criminal indictment against Madoff, reach a plea deal or seek an extension to give them more time to build a case.
10/02/2009

Switzerland - Asset management profits at UBS down 8%

Pre-tax profits for the global asset management division of UBS have fallen 8% to CHF1.33bn. Excluding expenses related to the liquidation of Dillon Read Capital Management in 2007 and capital gains from the sale of a minority stake in Adams Street, losses would have been CHF501m, rather than CHF121m. In fourth quarter, pre-tax profits for the division fell 43% to CHF236m.UBS states that its global wealth management & business banking and global asset management divisions saw net outflows in fourth quarter of CHF58.2bn and CHF27.6bn, respectively. However, the trend has gradually improved, and the two divisions have posted net inflows for January.
10/02/2009

Europe - Burgundy on the starting blocks

Burgundy, a new alternative equities trading platform supported by Scandinavian banks and brokers, has appointed EMCF, which is owned by Fortis and Nasdaq OMX, as its settlement agent. The MTF platform is slated for launch in May.
10/02/2009

Italy - Libya may become largest shareholder in UniCredit

The central bank of Libya has agreed to buy a further EUR250m in convertible bonds issued by UniCredit, which may potentially make it the largest shareholder in the Italian bank, with more than 7% of its capital, the Financial Times reports. These developments come as UniCredit has lost the support of the charity Cariverona, which owns 6% of the establishment, but has announced that it will not subscribe to the bank’s current EUR3bn bond issue.
10/02/2009

Spain - 27% of local hedge funds freeze or limit redemptions

Of the 70 hedge funds formerly registered in Spain, there are only 57 left, of which six have toughened redemption conditions, and four have seen net outflows of more than 20% of their assets, Cinco Días reports. Funds which have set up obstacles to redemptions include Cygnus Utilities, which has instituted a longer waiting period, CAAM Multistrategia Alternativa, which has limited the amount of redemptions, Accurate Global Assets, which is paying out only a part of the redemption requested if the amount is large, and Foncaixa Privada Estrategia Hedge, which is paying out only partial redemptions.
10/02/2009

United Kingdom - Strong increase in wealth management profits at Barclays

Barclays Wealth has posted pre-tax profits for 2008 of GBP671m, compared with GBP307m in 2007. Life insurance activities contributed GBP104m to these profits, before their sale in October 2008, in a deal which generated capital gains of GBP326m. Revenues, for their part, rose 3% to GBP1.32bn.Client assets, including deposits and investments, increased by 10% to GBP145.1bn, while net inflows of GBP3.2bn and the acquisition of the North American activities of Lehman Brothers compensate for negative market and currency effects, as well as the sale of life insurance activities.
10/02/2009

Germany - Universal Investment posts net subscriptions in 2008

Bernd Vorbeck, chairman of the board of directors, says in an interview with the Börsen-Zeitung that Universal Investment last year posted net subscriptions of more than EUR10bn, of which EUR3bn were in open-ended funds. This has allowed the management firm specialised in administrative services to maintain its assets at a level of EUR84bn.
10/02/2009

Switzerland - Average coverage rate for pension funds is less than 100%

According to a study by the Swiss association of retirement planning institutions (ASIP) covering 362 pension funds with total assets of CHF318bn, the average coverage rate for these funds currently stands at 96.5%, and 60% of funds are under-financed, IPE reports. The average level of financing totals 97.8% for private institutions and 84.5% for public institutions, with 57% and 85% of these funds under-financed, respectively. The reserves built up between 2003 and 2006 have disappeared, the ASIP reports.
10/02/2009

United Kingdom - New Star to liquidate Heart of Africa fund

After freezing all activities at the fund in December, New Star is planning to liquidate its Heart of Africa fund (GBP29m in assets) and reimburse subscribers on 31 March, This is Money reports. Redemptions have left the equities portfolio with poor liquidity levels. Since its launch in November 2007, the fund, specialised in sub-Saharan countries and managed by Jamie Allsopp, has posted losses of 24%.
10/02/2009

France - EDRAM appoints Philippe Cormon as head of distribution for France

Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) has announced the appointment of Philippe Cormon, whom it recruited in September 2004, as director of distribution, effective from Monday this week. He will be in charge of distribution in France, excluding institutional clients, and replaces Marie-Claire Marques, who has left the firm. Since September 2008, the distribution team for France, which has eight members, has been organised into four units, serving banks and management firms, multi-managers, corporate savings, and IFAs.On 31 December 2008, EDRAM had assets of EUR7.8bn.
10/02/2009

United States - Blackstone loses head of funds of hedge funds

According to the Deal Journal blog from the Wall Street Journal, Bruce Amlicke, managing director and CIO of the fund of hedge funds division (62 investment professionals) of Blackstone Alternative Investment Management (BAAM, USD30bn in assets), will be leaving the position for personal reasons. Amlicke was appointed to at the beginning of June 2004, having previously been global CIO for the alternative investment solutions group at UBS O’Connors. He will remain at the service of his employer for a few more months. Blackstone has no plans to replace Amlicke in this position.
10/02/2009

World - BNY Mellon adds two management firms to its multi-boutique network

BNY Mellon Asset Management has announced the addition of two new management firms to its multi-boutique network: the Australian Ankura Capital Pty Ltd (about AUD1bn in assets) and the British Blackfriars Asset Management (USD2.3bn). The first of these firms is specialised in Australian equities for local clients, and the second is focuses on emerging and international equities and bonds.Ankura Capital is planning to retain the entirety of its investment team, as well as its directors, who have been working together since 1995. Greg Vaughan will retain his position as CEO and director of investments. Blackfriars will continue to be directed by Hugh Hunter, its current CEO.
10/02/2009

Luxembourg - Regulator asks UBS to declare position in writing

In a statement published on Friday, the Luxembourg financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF) has announced that it ?has delivered the results of its enquiry into the various responsibilities, arising from an application of legal and regulatory texts, incumbent on the bank UBS (Luxembourg) S.A. in its role as depository for the fund LUXALPHA SICAV.? It adds that it ?has asked the bank to take a position in writing.? In another statement published the same day, the CSSF indicates that it met with UBS on 5 February ?to discuss the situation with Luxalpha SICAV ? American Selection and Luxembourg Investment Fund ? Equity Plus, two Luxembourg SICAV funds which were affected by the Madoff scandal. After these discussions, UBS and the CSSF agreed to cooperate to establish the relevant facts and to determine the course of action in this case jointly with all third parties affected by the events, in order to find a solution as soon as possible.?
10/02/2009

World - Hedge funds gained ground in January, according to indexes

Barclay Hedge reports that the 611 hedge funds which had announced results as of 9 February had an average performance of 0.14% in January, with two strategies in particular in the red: equity short bias, which has lost 3.70%, but is represented by only 3 funds, and emerging markets, which has lost 2.19% (112 funds). The best performance was in the convertible arbitrage category, with gains of 5.81% for 14 funds.For its part, Hedge Fund Research (HFR) estimates that hedge funds gained 0.39% in January, after losses of 18.73% for all of last year. The emerging markets strategy has lost 1.72%, but short bias shows positive performance of 1.74%.
10/02/2009

United Kingdom - FSA proposal to extend requirement to declare short positions

In a discussion paper published on Friday on its website (http://www.fsa.gov.uk), the Financial Services Authority (FSA) proposes an extension of the requirement to declare significant short positions to include all publisly traded British shares. The regulator is of the opinion that short-selling has some advantages, such as improving the efficiency of price formation on the markets and liquidity, which in normal conditions adequately compensates for its inconveniences. However, the FSA also sees advantages in increased transparency.The market consultation on the document will end on 8 March 2009, when the FSA is planning to publish a feedback statement setting out its conclusions for longer-term policy with regard to short-selling.
10/02/2009

Germany - db x-trackers lists five new ETFs

Deutsche Börse on Monday announced that listings on the XTF segment of its electronic trading platform Xetra now include 405 ETF funds. Deutsche Bank has added six new Luxembourg-registered x-trackers, of which one, the x-trackers II Global Sovereign EUR Hedged Index ETF, was in fact listed for trading on 21 January. The underlying index reproduces the evolution of government bonds denominated in local currency from 21 industrialised countries worldwide; the fund is hedged for currency risks between the Euro and the currencies concerned. The five new products are db x-trackers. They are the DJ STOXX 600 ETF (0,20% management commission), MSCI AC Asia ex Japan TRN Index ETF and MSCI Pacific ex Japan TRN index ETF (0.65% and 0.45%, respectively), and the CAC 40 ETF and CAC 40 Short ETF, whose management commissions are 0.20% and 0.40%, respectively.
10/02/2009

United Kingdom - Profits at BGI down 19% in 2008

For 2008, Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has posted pre-tax profits down GBP139m compared with 2007 to GBP595m, due in part to GBP263m in ?selective support? for money market funds (up from GBP80m in 2007), on earnings down 4% to GBP1.84bn. Revenues from commissions fell 1% to GBP1.92bn.At the end of December, assets were down GBP4bn, to GBP1.040trn, with net subscriptions of GBP61bn (or GBP19bn more than in 2007), GBP234bn of positive currency effects, and GBP299bn in negative market effects. Assets managed by iShares (the ETF specialist of the group) at the end of the year totalled GBP226bn, compared with GBP205bn twelve months earlier, while assets in index-based products totalled GBP653bn, up from GBP615bn.
09/02/2009

Etats-Unis - L'US Oil Fund est devenu trop gros

L’ETF US Oil Fund (USO), qui représente environ 22 % des contrats sur le pétrole au Nymex, a roulé toutes ses positions vendredi, ce qui provoqué une baisse du prix de l’or noir sous les 40 dollars en cours de journée, indique The Wall Street Journal. Le volume de transactions a atteint presque le double de la moyenne enregistrée depuis le début de l’année. Ces derniers mois, l’USO a triplé de taille, avec des souscriptions nettes de 3,46 milliards de dollars en décembre et janvier, de sorte que ses décisions d’investissement ont une influence visible sur le marché.

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