Funds
CTA performance on the whole was flat in May, remaining flat for the year 2017, according to the latest performance figures for the SG CTA indices released by Societe Generale Prime Services.
The Short Term Traders Index fared slightly better and posted a positive return +0.29 per cent, but all SG Managed Futures indices remain down year to date.
Trend-following had mixed fortunes in May, closing a challenging month down -0.35 per cent, despite positive returns from four of the ten constituents in the SG Trend Index.
The SG Trend Indicator illustrated that there were return opportunities for
Sun Hung Kai Financial (SHKF) announced it has closed on its acquisition of 100 per cent of UK specialist brokerage and research firm North Square Blue Oak Limited (NSBO), following strategic cooperation between the two parties that started in early 2016 and with approval from UK regulators.
Subsequently, NSBO has been renamed Sun Hung Kai Financial (UK) (SHKF (UK)). Through the acquisition, SHKF will now have the ability to conduct institutional brokerage, specialist research and corporate finance businesses in the UK.
Established in 2003 and headquartered in London with an office in Beijing, SHKF (UK) is a member of
Fiduciary and administration provider, Estera, has acquired the Heritage Financial Services Group (HFSG), an independent business providing third party fund administration, depositary, trust and corporate services in Guernsey, the UK and Malta.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, following which the business will be rebranded under the Estera name. HFSG employs approximately 100 people across three jurisdictions and all employees will remain with the business and become part of the Estera team.
Farah Ballands (pictured), CEO of Estera, says: ‘We are delighted to welcome HFSG to the Estera family; a team with an excellent reputation in client service,
Hedge fund performance has been disparate across strategies in May, with event driven funds extending their winning streak (+0.7 per cent), fuelled by Merger Arbitrage which tends to perform well when bond yields fall, according to Lyxor.
In parallel, Macro strategies underperformed (-1.3 per cent), on the back of long positions on the USD and on hard commodities. The remaining hedge fund strategies (L/S Equity, CTA, Fixed Income Arbitrage) ended the month in the black, despite the poor showing of market neutral L/S equity funds (-1.3 per cent).
In its latest Weekly Brief, Lyxor writes: “In terms of positioning
Bats Europe (Bats) is to expand its European index franchise with the planned launch of 18 new regional European benchmark indices, which include the Bats Eurozone 50, Bats Nordic 40 and Bats Europe All Companies.
The new indices, which are planned to launch on 19 June 2017, bring further choice to the index market in Europe, providing investors and market participants with a real-time, high-quality, low-cost alternative to existing benchmarks. The indices have performed closely in line with comparable benchmarks and are designed and managed under the same set of consistent Bats’ rules used to create all of Bats’ benchmark
The Alignment of Interests Association, (AOI) a non-profit investor-driven organisation, has released Hedge Fund Fees: Achieving Greater LP/GP Economic Alignment, a set of guidlines aimed at creating increased investor-manager alignment on the issue.
AOI’s Hedge Fund Fees guidance was developed by a committee comprised of leading institutional investors in hedge funds, including pensions, foundations and endowments, and consultants for investors in the space. The organisation said AOI’s members continue to see merit in investing in hedge funds, but not without more significant changes to the traditional fee model than simply a discounted rate.
The paper is a result of many
Steadfast Capital Markets Group has teamed up with Alcentra, a BNY Mellon investment boutique, to launch its latest alternative program, Steadfast Alcentra Global Credit Fund, an unlisted closed-end fund that seeks to capitalsze on the growing opportunity to provide direct lending to middle-market companies in the United States and Western Europe.
Steadfast is teaming with Alcentra as the fund’s investment sub-adviser. Alcentra will source and actively manage the fund’s direct lending investments, backed by its deep institutional expertise and experience in providing debt and equity financing to middle-market companies, both in the US and Europe. The fund’s objective is to provide qualified
The May 2017 average daily transaction value on the Euronext cash order book stood at EUR8,471 million, up 42.8 per cent compared to May 2016 and stable (+0.2 per cent) from the previous month.
The average daily transaction value on ETFs was EUR548 million, up 22.5 per cent compared to May 2016 and steady from the previous month. Our ETF offering remained stable this month with 809 listings at the end of May compared to 790 end of 2016.
The average daily volume on equity index derivatives reached 222,863 contracts in May 2017, up 14.1 per cent compared to
INTL FCStone’s Precious Metals Division’s web-based physical gold trading platform, PMXecute+ has traded nearly 10 tonnes of gold, representing close to USD400 million in value, since its launch in late February 2017.
Barry Canham, global head of the Precious Metals Division, says: “We are proud of the significant trading volumes that we have achieved with PMXecute+ in the short time since its launch earlier this year. I look forward to providing additional updates to the market in terms of our volumes over the coming months.”
The Company’s focus since launch has been to ensure wider liquidity on the platform,
Volumes for North American corporate bonds on International Continental Exchange’s (ICE) Credit Trade electronic trading platform increased to USD5.7 billion of traded notional in the first quarter of 2017, up 52 per cent compared to fourth quarter 2016 notional traded.
Launched in late 2015, the platform has achieved seven consecutive quarters of record notional value of bonds traded. The average trade size executed on the platform now exceeds USD1.1 million for US Investment Grade bonds and USD700,000 for US High Yield bonds.
Based on a unique session-based protocol known as Risk Matching Auctions (RMAs), ICE Credit Trade allows the
