Digital Assets Report

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Service providers are becoming more of a strategic partner to their hedge fund clients as they look to provide a suite of services that go beyond a single solution proposition.  In the past, an administrator's primary function was to strike the fund's NAV and provide investor statements. Times, though, have changed. "Service providers are viewed by managers much more broadly today and we are really aimed at becoming a partner with our clients. Not only are we able to help managers overcome the myriad of regulatory filings they may face, but we want to help them evolve which has required
Continued fee compression, the need for institutional-quality systems and processes, and a desire to reduce the regulatory and compliance burden are just some of the drivers that are pushing hedge fund managers to embrace outsourcing. "Data management has become a critical task for us. When you take everything into consideration, it's about giving clients access to data coupled with a wide set of tools to help manage that data. It really is important to managers, especially as they increasingly move towards an outsourced model," says Christine Waldron, global head of the Alternative Investment Solutions team at U.S. Bancorp Fund Services. In her view, outsourcing is a
Marcum has expanded its hedge fund servicing operations in Europe with the launch of Marcum RBK (Ireland) in Dublin – a joint venture with Russell Brennan Keane (RBK), an independent accounting and business advisory firm in Ireland. The new venture was established as a service centre for current and future hedge fund and private equity fund clients of the Marcum Alternative Investment Group.   Beth M Wiener (pictured), partner-in-charge of Marcum’s Alternative Investment Group, says: “Marcum RBK (Ireland) is perfectly positioned to assist both mature funds and managers needing to navigate the process of establishing a new fund in Ireland,
The introduction of a “regulatory sandbox” to enable businesses that provide virtual currency exchange services to experiment and test new products and applications in Jersey under light-touch regulation have been welcomed by Ogier's intellectual property, tech and digital team. Changes to two key pieces of legislation that were approved unanimously in June are now in force – the coupled effect of the reforms and an exemption order means that amendments to the Proceeds of Crime and the Proceeds of Crime (Supervisory Bodies) laws establish a GBP150,000 turnover threshold for Exchangers to develop and test innovative products, services, business models and
The total value of trade in equities on the Main Market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) was PLN17.6 billion in September 2016, a decrease of 15 per cent year on year. The value of trade in equities on the Electronic Order Book decreased by 2.8 per cent year on year to PLN16.5 billion.   The value of trade in equities on NewConnect also decreased year on year. The total value of trade was PLN147.0 million in September 2016, a decrease of 24.7 per cent year on year.   The volume of trade in index futures was 514.8 thousand contracts
Global assets under management (AUM) linked to firms that have become signatories to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) rose 195 per cent to USD62 trillion in April 2016 from USD21 trillion in 2010. Investor expectations and regulations are driving demand for sustainable investing, says Moody’s Investors Service.   “Integrating ESG criteria into investment decisions should limit risks within portfolios and contribute to lower volatility and better performance in the long run. The effectiveness of these strategies however will have to manifest through the cycle, as well as across teams and strategies,” says Marina Cremonese, a vice president at Moody’s.
Latitude Investment Management (Latitude), an investment management firm recently founded by Freddie Lait (pictured), has launched it first fund, The Latitude Horizon Fund, which will spin out of Odey Asset Management in early November. The Latitude Horizon Fund (UCITS V) is a global long only Diversified Growth Fund targeting absolute returns, with lower volatility and lower fees.   The Latitude Horizon Fund will invest in a concentrated portfolio of stocks which have high-quality business characteristics and strong, or improving, industry dynamics. Alongside this, non-equity investments will be made to generate uncorrelated returns, reducing risk without compromising performance. The relative allocation
Abacus Group, a provider of hosted cloud IT solutions for alternative asset funds, has reported year-on-year growth of over 30 per cent up to the end of the third quarter of 2016. The company’s employee count also exceeded 100 as it expanded its footprint in the Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco markets.     “Year-over-year, Abacus has added 40 new clients, including firms in the United Kingdom and Sweden,” says CEO Chris Grandi (pictured), who founded Abacus in 2008. “We have also tripled our data centre capacity to meet the increasing demand for our services.”   Grandi adds that Abacus’s
RiverNorth Capital Management has launched the RiverNorth/DoubleLine Strategic Opportunity Fund, a closed-end fund that opportunistically invests in fixed income securities and tactically invests in closed-end funds. The fund debuted on 28 September on the NYSE under the symbol OPP.   RiverNorth serves as the fund’s investment adviser and DoubleLine Capital serves as sub-adviser to the fund.   “We are extremely excited to again partner with DoubleLine to add another unique multi-manager strategy to RiverNorth’s existing portfolio of closed-end fund offerings,” says Patrick Galley (pictured), RiverNorth’s chief investment officer. “The fund will leverage RiverNorth’s and DoubleLine’s long performance track records across
UK-based independent AIFMD depositary INDOS Financial has recorded a 160 per cent increase in assets under depositary from September 2015 to end-September 2016 of USD8 billion to a total of USD13 billion. In the same period, client relationships have grown 70 per cent to 45.  INDOS CEO Bill Prew believes that the growth has come as a result of an increasing recognition by investment managers and investors of the value offered by an independent depositary.   “The value of the depositary beyond meeting regulatory compliance obligations should not be discounted,” says Prew.  “Many managers initially viewed the appointment of a depositary as a

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