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Schonfeld Strategic Advisors has expanded its exposure to quantitative trading with its commitment to Masa Capital, a newly-established investment adviser, run by quant portfolio manager Eric Tavel. Tavel’s expertise lies in the development of quantitative trading strategies within a diverse set of asset classes, including futures and currencies. Schonfeld will support Masa Capital by investing capital as well as assisting with infrastructure and recruitment of personnel. Tavel spent the last five years as the Head of Quantitative Trading for RBC’s proprietary trading division, known as GAT. Prior to RBC, he worked for 14 years at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as
Franklin Templeton Investments has launched Franklin K2 Global Macro Opportunities Fund for US investors, a multi-manager fund that invests in a variety of global macro strategies sub-advised by institutional-quality hedge strategy managers.  Global macro hedge strategies generally have the widest mandate of all hedge strategies, as managers may take positions across the asset classes of global equities, interest rates, currencies or commodities. "Against the backdrop of increased global macroeconomic and political uncertainty, many US investors are potentially taking on more equity risk than their goals would dictate, and may be open to looking for new ways to diversify their investment
Investors redeemed a net USD20.70 billion from hedge funds in June, bringing Q2 net flows to negative USD10.68 billion and H1 2016 net flows to negative USD27.95 billion, according to eVestment’s latest  Hedge Fund Industry Asset Flow Report. As a result of the redemptions, the largest June since eVestment began tracking monthly flows in 2009, global hedge fund assets dropped below USD3 trillion. eVestments says: “while there are exceptions, investors are clearly dissatisfied not only with 2015 returns, but also with performance from portions of the industry in 2016. The result of the Brexit vote, and its impact on returns
Preston Hollow Capital (PHC), an independent specialty finance company, has hired municipal finance industry professionals Curtis Erickson, Peter Bianchini and Richard Akulich to form PHC’s Capital Markets Group. “This is an exciting milestone in establishing Preston Hollow Capital as a leading solution provider in municipal finance,” says Jim Thompson (pictured), PHC’s Chairman and CEO. “Curtis is one of the most respected professionals in the municipal capital markets, and he brings an accomplished and well-known team in Peter and Richard. When coupled with PHC’s recent increase in its permanent equity capital to USD625 million, our new Capital Markets Group will enable
Corporate credit specialist Muzinich & Co has added to its UK private debt team with the recruitment of Grant Davidson (pictured) as Director. Davidson joins the firm from Investec where he was Senior Origination Director for growth and acquisition finance, responsible for the sourcing and execution of deals for UK mid-market businesses with EBITDAs of up to GBP15 million. Davidson has also spent time in the industry as a divisional CFO for a private equity backed company and worked for eight years at Lyceum Capital leading equity investments in the UK lower mid-market. Muzinich Co-Head of UK Private Debt Marc Shirman says: “Our private
Sterling and euro prime money market fund (MMF) assets will increase in the coming months amid post-Brexit uncertainty despite record low yields, says Moody's Investors Service.  In parallel, US prime funds are experiencing a spike in outflows ahead of October's regulatory changes. "Uncertainties around Brexit and the lack of comparable investment alternatives have kept investors in money market funds. Lower investor confidence and higher risk aversion could cause corporate investments to be postponed, leading to inflows into low-risk, highly liquid assets such as MMFs," says Vanessa Robert, Senior Credit Officer at Moody's. Despite the drop in MMF yields, Moody's says
FlexTradeSystems, a specialist in multi-asset execution management systems, has recently opened an office in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.  Frankfurt is the heart of the German financial sector and is right at the centre of Europe. Based in the same building as the Frankfurt stock exchange, FlexTrade’s German office has been opened in order to offer local sales and service to the company’s growing German- speaking client base.  Boris Komljenovic (pictured), sales director for central Europe, says: “The initial driver to open the office in Frankfurt was to serve our fast-growing client base in the German-speaking countries. Our clients clearly communicated
Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic and LexisNexis Risk Solutions have formed a strategic alliance that integrates LexisNexis Risk Solutions extensive anti-money laundering risk management data into Elliptic’s Bitcoin transaction monitoring and compliance products. The two firms have built a proof-of-concept that leverages financial intelligence data from LexisNexis Risk Solutions and presents it alongside Elliptic’s proprietary risk scoring – providing financial services firms and other companies the ability for the first time to have bank-grade risk management on Bitcoin transactions.   Elliptic will now use LexisNexis Bridger Insight XG platform that includes its WorldCompliance database to identify whether Bitcoin transactions are linked to identities that are considered heightened-risk individuals
Average daily transaction value on the Euronext cash order book in July stood at EUR6,193 million in July, a fall of 21.7 per cent compared to July 2015.  Activity on ETFs continued to show strong resilience despite the general downturn in European cash volumes with an average daily transaction value of EUR478 million, down by 6.9 per cent compared to July 2015. Furthermore Euronext’s ETF offering continued its expansion with 11 new listings during the month. The average daily volume on equity index derivatives was down at 178,900 contracts in July 2016 (-14.3 per cent compared to July 2015), and
Northern Trust has appointed Marco Siero (pictured) as senior sales representative, Luxembourg to spearhead the company’s growth in the region. Assets under administration in Northern Trust’s Luxembourg office have increased by 100 per cent over the past five years. In this newly created role, Siero will be responsible for further accelerating the growth of the client base and expanding the delivery of Northern Trust’s specialist fund servicing capabilities to global investors who look to leverage the benefits of Luxembourg as a fund jurisdiction. Siero joins from RBC Investor Services in Luxembourg where he was managing director client service and solutions

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