Asset managers

1. Janus assets recover from first quarter loss

   Assets under management at Janus Capital Group climbed by $4.2bn (€2.7bn) in the second quarter to recover from the losses of the previous quarter, as the investment manager's earnings exceeded expectations on the back of inflows and its funds' performance.

2. Japan funds outperform in second quarter

   Japanese equities funds outperformed all other asset classes in the second quarter after a long period of disappointing returns from the asset class, according to data published today.

3. Rathbone profits tumble 27% on trust disposals

   Rathbone Brothers, the 266 year-old asset manager, suffered a first-half profit slump of 27% after announcing it would sell its Singapore and Jersey-based units.

4. Credit Suisse cuts quarter of risky assets

   Credit Suisse's investment banking division returned to profit in the second quarter with a substantial reduction in writedowns and a 27% decline in its exposures to leverages loans, commercial mortgages and other risky assets.

5. Nippon Life takes stake in Russell Investments

   Nippon Life, Japan’s second-largest life insurance company, has acquired a 5% equity stake in Russell Investments, a multimanager specialist investment consultant that has been rocked by turnover at senior levels of the business.

6. Affiliated Managers invests in two investment managers

   Affiliated Managers Group, a $254bn (€161.9bn) asset management business, has taken stakes in two investment managers following a record first half for merger and acquisition deals in the sector powered by minority investments.

7. France ponders professional investment exams

   Asset managers and buyside analysts in France may soon face professional examinations and registration in the same way that their colleagues in the UK and US do, as the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, the country's market regulator, considers the introduction of such a regime.

8. Cuomo readies UBS civil suit

   New York state attorney general Andrew Cuomo is making preparations to file civil securities-fraud charges against UBS, possibly as early as this week - the first of several cases that could grow out of New York's investigations into the auction-rate-securities market and another blow for the industry and UBS.

9. Comment: The rich like Julius Baer

   Surely the best indication of the health of a private bank is whether or not the wealthy are giving the bank their money. Profits and cost/income ratios won’t stay positive for long if new money flows are falling, and no amount of cost cutting will improve the long-term health of the private bank if money isn’t flowing in.

10. BlackRock outlines terms of revised pact with Merrill

    BlackRock on Tuesday outlined details of its revised agreement with top shareholder Merrill Lynch that, among other things, seeks to protect the US asset manager’s interests in case of a drastic change in Merrill's stockholding, according to a Reuters report.