Funds
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved a final rule adding an alternative for foreign natural persons to the requirement to provide fingerprints when applying for CFTC registration.
The final rule will allow any such person’s registered firm to complete a criminal history background check in lieu of submitting fingerprints.
The final rule generally codifies CFTC Staff Letters 12-49 and 13-29, and supersedes those letters. It will become effective 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
The Managed Funds Association (MFA) and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) have submitted a joint comment letter to the US SEC on the it's proposed rule on the use of derivatives by mutual funds and other registered investment companies.
While generally supporting several aspects of the SEC’s proposal, including asset segregation requirements and an activities-based approach to regulation, the Associations have concerns with the adverse effects of the rule’s imposition of a new notional-based leverage limit on registered funds.
The letter also questions the SEC’s attempt to redefine and regulate derivatives as “senior securities” under Section 18 of
By Philipp Neumann (pictured), Counsel Campbells, BVI, Team BVI Member – Starting a regulated investment fund can easily become a vicious circle for many start-up fund managers: The lack of track record will make it difficult to raise investor capital regardless of how creative or extraordinary the ideas of the start-up managers may be and, in turn, the lack of investor capital will often make it difficult to bear the upfront costs for the establishment of a regulated fund.
In the past, start-up managers would find themselves in the situation where they had to start with unregulated vehicles in order
Jersey’s funds industry will need to embrace FinTech, assert its long-standing expertise and focus on innovation in order to remain at the forefront of a constantly evolving global funds landscape, according to the chairman of the Jersey Funds Association (JFA).
Speaking at this year’s annual JFA Dinner (18 March), Ben Robins (pictured) told an audience of over 450 funds professionals, senior politicians and regulatory representatives that the recent performance of Jersey’s funds industry painted an extremely positive picture and positioned the jurisdiction well as a centre for alternative funds business.
Highlighting that the total value of funds business grew at
Although forecast to grow by 6.4 per cent in 2016, there are fears over the health of China's economy and the impact this could have on the global economy. Coupled with the lack of real growth that developed market economies are experiencing, the threat of slipping back into a global recession is growing. This is despite central bank intervention, with its commitment to low interest rates, which has pumped money into the banking system and created a five-year bull market in equities yet at the same time has failed to generate meaningful inflation.
"I think the actions of central banks
Emerging Market corporates have feasted on cheap US dollar debt over the last few years. According to a PwC report (Global Economy Watch – May 2015, "Will dollar denominated debt become an emerging economy epidemic?") since the US Federal Reserve introduced the first round of quantitative easing in 2008, dollar denominated debt rose from USD6 trillion to USD9 trillion in 2014.
In October that year, the Fed's decision to stop QE helped the greenback to strengthen, which it has been doing ever since. Some fear that with global instability, as investors rush to the USD as a safe haven asset in
The actions of central banks over the past few years have been particularly hard for hedge funds, especially fundamental stock pickers, and whilst global macro and CTAs have been able to make some solid returns (the latter more in 2H14), there's been precious little to celebrate in hedge fund land.
According to Preqin's latest global hedge fund survey, 33 per cent of investors felt that hedge funds had fallen short of expectations in 2015. Fund managers shared this sentiment, with 40 per cent saying that they too felt performance had lagged; the average hedge fund returned just +2.02 per cent.
Central
Jabre Capital Partners is one of the industry's best-known hedge funds. Established by Philippe Jabre (pictured) in 2006, the Geneva-based hedge fund runs a variety of strategies that include: Multi-strategy, Equity Long/Short, Convertible Bonds, Emerging Markets and Event Driven.
With respect to its Emerging Markets strategy, Jabre Capital combines a top down global macro view with bottom up fundamental stock selection to build positions in a diversified portfolio.
Such has been the level of volatility coming out of emerging market economies, principally China, that finding the right investment opportunities and trying to time the right entry and exit points has been
Mergers and acquisitions and energy-focused equity long/short are two of the most attractive fund strategies for 2016 at Unigestion, according to the group's Managing Director and Head of Hedge Funds, Nicolas Rousselet (pictured).
Identifying the best strategies for investors has been no easy task in recent times, thanks in large part to the excessive interference of central banks. In a bid to boost inflation by weakening their currencies, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan have both resorted to negative interest rates. The ECB now has a -0.4 per cent deposit rate for banks wishing to park their
Envestnet | Tamarac has teamed up with CAIS to provide independent advisors with access to third-party hedge funds and private equity funds, as well as research on the alternative investment space, through its portfolio and client management platform, Advisor Xi.
More than 800 independent RIA firms rely on Advisor Xi, Tamarac's web-based, custodian-agnostic portfolio and client management technology platform, to collectively manage more than $500 billion in assets and over 1 million client accounts. The first phase of the integration between Tamarac's Advisor Xi and CAIS is now available to advisors.
"Our integration with CAIS will deliver efficient, reliable access
