Asian investors are significantly more confident about their economies compared to their peers in Europe.  More than 50% of Asians who completed the survey said they favoured Asia-Pacific investments. This is compared to investors in Europe and the Middle East, where just 12% said there were good investment prospects in Europe.

The survey showed that there is a bias towards stocks over bonds: over two thirds of those surveyed planned to invest in equities in 2013, with only a quarter planning to invest in fixed income.

SOURCE: funds Europe 05/2013

Schroders reported its profits before tax for its asset management business at £105 million (€124 million) which has increased £86.6 million from the same quarter last year. AUM inflows were £5.8billion in the first quarter this year, compared to £1.7billion in the same quarter last year.

Legal & General Investment Management also reported higher AUM, with a 21% jump to £441 billion.

London-listed Aberdeen Asset Management also reported higher AUM, a 25% increase to £212.3billion.

SOURCE: funds Europe May 2013

The Global ICI has risen 5.5 points from March’s reading of 88.1 to April’s reading of 93.6. This gain was due to an increase in confidence among North American institutions, whose confidence gained 10.2 points from March’s reading of 85.6 to April’s reading of 105.8. North America is now at its strongest level since May 2011. In contrast however confidence among Asian and European institutions have slightly declined, Europe falling 3.9 points from 87.8, while the Asian index fell 2.1 points to 85.2.

The index measures investor confidence or risk appetite quantitatively, through analysis of the actual buying and selling of patterns of institutional investors. It was developed by Paul O’Connell of State Street Associates and Harvard University professor Kenneth Froot.

A reading of 100 is neutral; at this level investors are neither increasing nor decreasing their long-term allocations to risky assets. The index differs to others because it measures actual trades rather than being based on the opinions of institutional investors.

SOURCE: Chronicle.lu 01/05/13

A profit of £222.8 million before tax had been made in the six months before the end of March 2013. This is an increase of 37% compared to the same period that ended in March 2012.

Aberdeen currently has £212.3 billion assets under management.

SOURCE: Funds Europe April 2013

SEDCO Capital is a Shariah compliant wealth and asset management firm. The platform comprises of sub-funds managed in compliance, and is target at professional and institutional investors.

SEDCO Capital has a current AUM of near $1.2billion, and 7 funds under management. They are aiming to launch 6-8 more funds by the end of 2013, and to increase AUM to near $1.6billion.

There are other firms advising on the project. Hoss and Prussen and Elvinger as local Luxembourg law counsel, Deloitte as auditor and Luxembourg tax adviser.

SOURCE: AMEinfo 25/04/13

BlackRock the world’s largest asset manager, saw its AUM rise 7% by the end of March 2013, now looking after €3trillion. Although this was largely due to stock market gains, the firm had a net inflow $39.4 billion into long-term products in Q1.

State Street Global Advisors saw its AUM rise nearly 10% in the same period, which leaves them looking after €1.7 trillion. Again this was an outcome of market movements, although the firm said they made $5 billion in the first quarter.

A number of other big managers are yet to release their earnings data.

SOURCE: Funds-Europe April 2013

Chief Executive Mason says Eastspring Investments has received regulatory approval for the creation of Eastspring Investments (Luxembourg).

Eastspring Capital currently has about €14 billion in assets under management on its Luxembourg platform, and also sells funds in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE.

SOURCE: Funds Europe 17/04/13

In 2000 Singapore has $50 billion of assets under management. This figure had risen to $550 billion by the end of 2011. Wealth Insight predicts therefore that in the next couple of years Singapore will overtake Switzerland as the largest offshore private banking market.

Switzerland is at the top of the list of offshore domiciles, as more than 80% of funds held in Switzerland are for foreign clients. The UK and Channel Islands remain at number 2 for now with $1,800 billion of assets under management at the end of 2011.

SOURCE: FUNDS EUROPE 10/04/13

Silverfleet was a client of Ipes for more than a decade, before the sale was agreed. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.

Founded in Guernsey in 1998, Ipes currently employs 130 staff members, on that island and in Jersey, Luxembourg and London. It administers 230 funds and has over 90 clients.

Silverfleet was founded over 25 years ago and originally operated under the name PPM Capital.The company manages near €1bn and has offices in Paris, Chicago, London and Munich.

SOURCE: Europe 10/04/13

The bank is even thinking of moving staff from Australia to the faster growing parts of Asia. The activity in Asia is a contrast to UBS’ worldwide activity, where over 10,000 jobs will be cut in order to focus on money management.

According to its website, UBS employed 7,426 people in the Asia-Pacific region at the end of last year. This accounts for about 12% of its global workforce. Some investment banks are still continuing to cut jobs in Asia.

SOURCE: Bloomberg 10/04/13