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Aston Hill Asset Management has appointed Manitou Investment Management as exclusive sub-advisor to two closed end funds, the Aston Hill VIP Income Fund and the Aston Hill Advantage VIP Income Fund., effective 1 May, 2016,  “The appointment of Manitou to these additional mandates underlines the importance of the partnership and our confidence in their investment process. Their disciplined approach is a perfect fit for these two mandates." says Aston Hill CEO James Werry. "The Manitou investment team has an extremely strong track record built on behalf of their high net worth and institutional clients. Being able to bring this kind
CME Group is to collaborate with Crypto Facilities Ltd, a digital assets trading platform, to develop the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR), which will provide a final settlement price in US dollars at 4 pm London time on each trading day, and CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index (RTI), which will allow users real-time access to bitcoin prices. Both new products are expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2016. The BRR will aggregate the trade flow of major bitcoin spot exchanges during a specific calculation window into a once-a-day, transparent reference rate of the US dollar price
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued two Opinions proposing amendments to its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTSs) under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation (MiFIR).   ESMA proposes to revise the RTS on non-equity transparency – which includes requirements in respect of bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances and derivatives – and the RTS on the methodology for the calculation and application of position limits for commodity derivatives. The Opinions were produced in response to proposed amendments by the European Commission to these draft RTSs.   MiFID II will extend transparency requirements to
The pan-European gas trading platform PEGAS registered a total volume of 153.7 TWh in April 2016, which represents almost the double of the volume traded over the same period last year (April 2015: 77.0 TWh).  The increase was driven by a volume increase on the futures market with 104.2 TWh (April 2015: 30.5 TWh). Spot trading volumes in April reached 49.5 TWh. On the Dutch market area TTF, 13.6 TWh were traded which represents a growth of 9 per cent compared to last year. The German NCG hub registered a total volume of 18.2 TWh (+20 per cent), while GASPOOL
The US CFTC has approved a final rule to amend a requirement that swap dealers (SD) and major swap participants (MSP) exchange the terms of swaps with their counterparties for portfolio reconciliation so that SDs and MSPs need only exchange the “material terms” of swaps.  This requirement is found in CFTC Regulation 23.500(i). The final rule also amends the definition of “material terms” in CFTC Regulation 23.500(g).   The final rule benefits SDs, MSPs, and their counterparties by enabling them to focus on reconciling data fields that impact swap valuation and counterparty obligations, without impairing the CFTC’s ability to oversee
The number of regulatory ‘incubator’ or ‘umbrella’ firms in the City of London’s institutional financial sector has grown to 52, according to Sturgeon Ventures LLP, which claims to have been the first such firm to launch 18 years ago.  Sturgeon has also announced that it has opened an office in Hong Kong, where it will be a regulated investment manager and asset gatherer known as Sturgeon Hong Kong.   The firm writes that there is substantial market potential in Hong Kong because of growth in start-up managers in Asia, UK fund managers requiring more access to family offices and funds
UnaVista, London Stock Exchange Group’s global regulatory reporting platform, has partnered with regulatory reporting testing and compliance firm, Kaizen Reporting giving UnaVista clients access to Kaizen Reporting’s ReportShield service, which offers quality assurance testing of MiFID transaction reports at a field level, as well as governance training and consultancy. UnaVista’s market leading Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM) already provides clients with advanced validation checks to ensure submitted data is valid. Kaizen Reporting’s ReportShield testing service, combined with UnaVista’s Reconciliation service, will allow firms to test the quality of their source data for valid but incorrect information. Firms can then correct the
SS&C Technologies Holdings has been appointed by Nicola Wealth Management (NWM) to provide a range of fund administration services for nearly USD4 billion in assets under management (AUM). NWM has grown to be one of Canada’s leading independent wealth management firms with close to USD4 billion AUM and over 130 employees in four locations across Canada, including Vancouver and Toronto. SS&C will provide NWM with a full range of administration services including fund accounting and investor services. NWM will benefit from SS&C’s expertise and service, while its technology platform will support NWM’s 15 funds and 4 limited partnerships.   "Working
The European equities markets have been held hostage to pending MiFID II regulation, but are quickly starting to transform, despite the absence of clarity on the impending mandate.  The powerful combination of regulatory threat, economics and technical innovation is redefining the core of the European equities brokerage value proposition, including how institutional investors obtain research, capital and trading support. Although the changes are unfolding in incremental steps, institutional investors are already changing the way they are managing their businesses.  TABB Group expects the changes will have a dramatic impact on European equities markets. Compiling its annual review and forward look
Up to 50 per cent of remaining investor assets will likely leave US prime money market funds ahead of major regulatory reforms in October, says Moody's Investors Service. However, demand for euro prime funds is expected to be resilient despite record low yields. Total assets in the ten largest Moody's-rated offshore US Dollar prime funds fell 10 per cent in 1Q 2016 as investors sought out higher yielding opportunities for their cash following year-end. "We expect US prime fund managers to limit investments in securities with maturities past October as they proceed cautiously in anticipation of the switch to floating

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