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The Warsaw Stock Exchange will reduce exchange members fees on transactions on the GPW Main Market and the NewConnect ATS as of 1 November 2016. The fee reductions for brokers include a reduction of the fixed fee on an order and a reduction of the monthly fee for displaying the best bid/ask prices for retail investors.   The fee reduction is a promotion with no set end date, applicable to all broker orders executed on the Electronic Order Book and as block trades in shares, rights to shares, and ETF units.   The most significant reduction concerns small orders, e.g.
Managed futures have become an alternative asset class that is widely used by investors seeking overall portfolio diversification and absolute returns independent of the direction of broad equity and bond markets, according to a study by alternative investment managers Steben & Company. In a new white paper examining the performance of managed futures funds, the firm writes: “The most common managed futures trading strategy is trend following, a strategy that attempts to exploit momentum in more than 200 global futures markets (including commodities, equities, fixed income, and currencies) by taking long positions in rising markets and short positions in falling markets.”   Steben writes
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has launched the CBOE S&P 500 Smile Index, a premium-capture strategy benchmark index based on the steepness of the curve of implied volatilities of S&P 500 Index (SPX) options. The CBOE Smile Index's strategy alternates between selling a strangle (sell put/sell call) when the options smile is steep, and selling a risk reversal (sell put/buy call) when the options smile is relatively flat.   Historically, a flatter smile has been associated with market bottoms and suggests a higher probability of a market upturn.   Constructed to perform in both bull and bear markets, the CBOE
Global law firm Ropes & Gray has named 11 attorneys as partners of the firm, effective 1 November, including Hong Kong-based Vincent Ip. Ip joined Ropes & Gray in 2006 in the private investment funds group.   Ip represents institutional and other investors in connection with investments in private equity funds, hedge funds and separate accounts, as well as co-investment and secondary transactions.    He also has extensive experience advising fund sponsors on all aspects of their business, including the formation and ongoing representation of Asia-focused private investment funds.   His clients include AlpInvest Partners, Bain Capital, Canada Pension Plan
Otterbourg has named Daniel Fiorillo as head of the firm’s restructuring practice group as of 1 January 2017. Jonathan Helfat, who led the group for more than 25 years, will be stepping down from the position but will continue to practice actively with the firm.   Fiorillo (pictured) has a broad practice representing secured and unsecured creditors, hedge funds, private equity groups, corporations, equity holders, investors and advisors that deal with financially distressed businesses both in bankruptcy and in various out of court workout and restructuring arrangements.   He has extensive experience working with creditors and professionals to maximise clients’
City Index has reduced its spreads across a wide range of FX pairs, with AUD/USD, EUR/USD and USD/JPY now to be priced from 0.5 pts and GBP/USD from 0.8 pts. The move signals a shift from fixed to variable spreads in a change that promises to offer traders better value than ever before.   "Our decision to tighten our spreads on major FX pairs highlights our continuing commitment to delivering the best possible value to our traders," says Samantha Roady, president of retail at Gain Capital, parent company of City Index. "Moving our FX spreads to variable allows us to
The pace of consolidation within the hedge fund administration space shows no let-up, with MUFJ Investor Services, the asset servicing arm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, having just announced its latest acquisition; Rydex Fund Services, a 1940-Act fund administration business formerly owned by Guggenheim Investments.  One of the reasons fuelling this trend is that hedge fund managers and their end investors are looking for a flight to quality, as well as security (from a size and scale perspective).  "They want administrators with a diverse book that can support a wide range of funds and support them as they continue to
In order for the alternative funds industry to evolve one point that needs to be addressed is that the term 'Hedge Fund Administration' is too narrow. Firstly, one cannot avoid a trend towards convergence within alternatives that has steadily gained traction in recent years as hedge fund managers develop more private equity-like fund strategies, and vice-versa; this has resulted in the term 'hybrid fund' being bandied about.  Secondly, as traditional asset managers and asset allocators move beyond the concept of hedge funds as a distinct asset class and move towards portfolio strategies such as risk factor analysis, engineered beta, and synthetic
Conifer Financial Services is one of the world's leading independent fund administrators. It has more than 200 clients representing more than USD110 billion of combined assets under administration (AuA) and has a strong footprint in both the US and Asia (Singapore) following its successful merger with Vastardis Capital in 2014.  Speaking with Hedgeweek, Jack McDonald (pictured), President and CEO of Conifer Financial Services, says he is not surprised by the recent acquisition activity in the industry. In his view, fund administration is, in many regards, a scale game and consolidation will continue over the near term.  "While bigger isn't necessarily
Athena Systems, provider of the Aura and Spark portfolio management, trading, risk, compliance and reporting platforms, is launching Athena Spark for Family Offices. The platform aims to better meet the needs and price-point of the family office community.   “At our beta test sites Athena Spark for Family Offices saved an office 40 to 60 hours per week for trade generation and entry, re-keying of data, updating spreadsheets, running reports, manual compliance testing, reconciliations of positions, trades and cash and report generation. That’s a very compelling time savings for offices that are typically only three to five people,” says Stefano

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