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Laven Legal Services to continue alternative funds expansion Clients of Laven Legal Services, the law firm linked to Laven Partners, are to move to London-based law firm GRM Law’s expanding alternative funds and financial services team, led by partners Alper Deniz and David Egan.  In Luxembourg, GRM Law will partner with MMS Legal Services to provide a package of English law and Luxembourg Law advice within a single offering. Since its foundation in 2005, Laven Partners has expanded into providing a range of services including compliance consulting (amongst which UK regulatory hosting), and due diligence on compliance and operational risks.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued a Discussion Paper for public consultation on blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT).  ESMA is seeking feedback from stakeholders on the possible use of distributed ledgers in securities markets, potential benefits and the risks that such broader use may pose. ESMA’s Discussion Paper also provides a stock-take, with a particular focus on post-trading activities, of the key EU regulations which would be applicable to DLT. The regulations identified and discussed include the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the Securities Finality Directive (SFD), and the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR). ESMA stresses
The US CFTC has ordered Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange, BFXNA Inc (Bitfinex) to pay a USD75,000 civil penalty for offering illegal off-exchange financed retail commodity transactions in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The penalty also relates to Bitfinex’s failure to register as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) as required by the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).   Bitfinex operates an online platform for exchanging and trading cryptocurrencies, mainly bitcoins.  The CFTC order finds that from April 2013 to at least February 2016, Bitfinex permitted users to borrow funds from other users on the platform in order to trade bitcoins on a leveraged,
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has welcomed the European Commission consultation on reducing barriers to the cross-border marketing of investment funds. AIMA believes that barriers to the take-up of the so-called “passport” for investment funds have held back growth in the European economy and hurt savers and investors.   AIMA cited the imposition by many EU jurisdictions of registration and notification fees on funds, which can amount to hundreds of thousands of euros annually for individual firms, as a major obstacle to a better functioning single market for investment funds. These fee costs are often borne by the end
Sanne Group (SANNE) has completed the acquisition of IDS Fund Services (IDS), a leading independent South African based provider of outsourced investment administration services to the asset management industry, with a particular focus on hedge fund clients. IDS was established in 2002 and is based in Cape Town, South Africa with operations in Malta. IDS employs more than 140 staff, the majority of whom are based in its Cape Town headquarters, and administers structures and funds with assets in excess of R 80 billion (c. £.3.6 billion). Its services encompass middle office and back office functions, including NAV calculations, fund
SS&C Technologies Holdings has successfully transitioned Citi’s hedge fund customers to the latest version of the Geneva platform – SS&C’s real-time portfolio management, reporting and investor accounting solution.  The swift implementation of Geneva 15.2 for Citi Alternative Investor customers demonstrates the value of SS&C’s synergistic acquisition strategy – with technology experts from Advent combining with Citi’s expertise to benefit clients.   With the latest version of Geneva (15.2), SS&C has enhanced its services by streamlining accounting workflows for complex asset classes such as bank loans and swaps, as well as offering easy access to other SS&C applications such as GoRisk
EEX and Powernext have confirmed the launch date of the additional trading venues (non-MTFs) for German and French power derivatives as well as gas derivatives for all hubs and maturities available today through the regulated platform, in response to on-going MiFID II legislation.  The new products will be available as of 1 July 2016. The MiFID II legislation outlines a specific framework for power and gas contracts that must be physically settled and are traded on an “Organised Trading Facility” (OTF) which will be formalised in the course of 2016. Physically settled transactions concluded on an OTF are not considered
The latest Hedge Fund Exposure and Tail Risk report from eVestment seeks to quantify how major historical events, or current market shocks, might impact top hedge funds today across a variety of strategies and categories. To offer a broad look at the industry, the report looks at portfolios containing the following hedge funds reporting to eVestment: the 30 largest hedge funds by AUM, the top 10 long-short equity hedge funds, the top 10 fixed-income credit funds, the top 10 macro funds and the top 10 multi-strategy funds.  eVestment then tested those hedge fund groupings against a variety of disruptive events,
Private equity firm TA Associates has completed the acquisition of Frank Russell Company’s asset management business (Russell Investments) from London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in a transaction valued at USD1,150 million.  Reverence Capital Partners, a financial services-focused investment firm, partnered with TA Associates and has made a significant minority investment in Russell Investments. Russell Investments’ management invested alongside TA Associates and Reverence Capital to acquire a meaningful equity stake. The transaction closed on 1 June. Russell Investments is a global investment manager, with an 80-year heritage of delivering innovative solutions, strong investment results and high quality client service to institutional
Bedell Trust has announced the establishment of an operation in Cayman to further extend its international presence.  Bedell Trust, which has a network of offices in key locations and an acknowledged reputation in corporate, trust, fund administration, international finance, employee benefits, private wealth management and bespoke family office, will provide a comprehensive range of trust and corporate services to clients from its Cayman operation. Grant Barbour, a Director of Bedell Trust Cayman Limited, who will head up the Cayman business, commented: ‘The Cayman Islands are one of the leading Caribbean jurisdictions for locating investment structures and is popular with many

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