Funds
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation on proposed Guidelines on sound remuneration policies under the UCITS V Directive and AIFMD.
The Directive includes rules that UCITS must comply with when establishing and applying a remuneration policy for certain staff categories and the proposed UCITS Remuneration Guidelines further clarify the Directive’s provisions.
The proposed Guidelines aim to ensure a convergent application of the remuneration provisions and will provide guidance on issues such as proportionality, governance of remuneration, requirements on risk alignment and disclosure. The final Guidelines will apply to UCITS management companies and national competent authorities.
Convergex has launched a new Buy-Write Algorithm, which leverages its advanced VWAP equity algorithm and Pulse options algorithm to allow clients to electronically employ a buy-write trading strategy.
Convergex’s Buy-Write Algorithm combines the power and reach of the firm’s equity trading capabilities with the cutting-edge technology of its options business, to purchase equities while simultaneously selling call options on the same stock. Using the Buy-Write Algo, clients can hedge their equities trades while also generating additional income from options premiums.
“Our diverse client base is always looking for new ways to extract more yield from the marketplace,” says Oliver
Backstop Solutions Group – a provider of cloud-based solutions designed to help the institutional investment industry save time, increase productivity and make better investment decisions – has partnered with Preqin Ltd.
With this partnership, Backstop users can now seamlessly integrate Preqin investor data into their Backstop CRM platform.
“Many of our clients are already using the Preqin database to source potential clients, so this partnership will further streamline their sales and marketing efforts and help them work more efficiently.” says Robert Goldbaum, Backstop’s Vice President of Product & Market Strategy. “With this integration, Backstop clients will have access to the
Murex, a provider of integrated trading, risk, collateral and processing solutions, has partnered with Omgeo, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
With real-time certified connectivity to Omgeo Central Trade ManagerSM (Omgeo CTM), the Murex MX.3 platform provides increased automation and straight through processing (STP).
Buy- and sell-side clients will benefit from a single platform to support their investment process, seamlessly integrated from the order management system (OMS) to post-trade operations and settlement, including exceptions management with brokers directly from a centralized end-user dashboard.
Simon Powell (pictured), Regional Manager of Global Partners at DTCC’s Omgeo,
Virtus Partners has launched a new hedge fund administration service focused on credit and fixed income managers. The offering is built on SunGard’s VPM portfolio accounting and reporting solution, part of SunGard’s Hedge360 suite.
Alternative investment fund managers looking to invest in credit products across the bank loan and corporate debt space are often faced with a bottleneck at their administrator, making it difficult to cope with the complexity of credit investment strategies. This also limits the fund’s range of potential strategies, impacting returns.
Virtus is overcoming these challenges by combining its expertise in credit and fixed income strategies and
The Managed Funds Association (MFA) inaugural European Conference, the Global Summit 2015, will be held on 27 October in London.
The conference aims to broaden awareness of the important role alternative investments play in the European Union and help fund managers navigate evolving US and EU regulatory frameworks.
“As the global voice for the alternative investment industry and its investors, MFA is excited to announce our upcoming Global Summit,” says MFA President and CEO Richard H Baker (pictured). “This conference will provide a focused day of content designed to help managers gain clarity on what they need to know
The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator for July 2015 measured 2.08 per cent, down from 4.72 per cent in June.
“July SS&C GlobeOp’s Forward Redemption Indicator fell sharply in July to 2.08 per cent from 4.72 per cent in June,” says Bill Stone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies. “While this reflects normal seasonality to an extent, the July reading is below last year’s 3.15 per cent for July and, in fact, matches the lowest July figure since the index’ inception in 2008. This is consistent with other recent SS&C GlobeOp data suggesting that investors are keeping their hedge
LME Clear, the clearing house for the London Metal Exchange market, has received approval from the Bank of England (BoE) to launch a trade-compression service, giving members the opportunity to reduce the notional value of their positions and simplify their portfolio management.
“In some cases, LME Clear’s new compression service could reduce the notional value of a member’s positions by as much as 90 per cent. At the same time, it will reduce the number of positions members manage, which increases operational efficiency and minimises risk,” says Trevor Spanner (pictured), CEO at LME Clear.
The new post-trade, risk-neutral system will
This article investigates the future plans of institutional investors in infrastructure, featuring the latest data from the Preqin Quarterly Update: Infrastructure, Q2 2015.
When investing in the infrastructure space, the majority of investors will target domestic opportunities in the next year (Fig 1). However, a large proportion of investors also seek geographical diversification when making investments, particularly North America-based institutions, with 57 per cent of these investors targeting global opportunities in the next 12 months.
As the infrastructure asset class matures and investors become more sophisticated, many establish separate infrastructure allocations, as opposed to targeting the asset class through
This extract from the Preqin Quarterly Update: Private Debt, Q2 2015 offers insight into the annualised contributions and distributions of direct lending and mezzanine funds, as well as examining the current record levels of dry powder in the asset class.
Fig 1 shows the relationship of annualised contributions and distributions, as well as the net cash flows, for an investor with a USD10 million commitment to a direct lending fund. This examination of the typical cash flows to and from an investor further highlights the relative illiquidity of the private debt asset class. Given the lower risk/return profile of direct
