Funds
Lanware, the rapidly growing cloud based outsourced technology service provider for investment management firms and financial institutions, has been awarded Cyber Essentials certification by CREST, the UK government approved accreditation body under the Cyber Essentials scheme.
The Cyber Essentials classification is a government-backed, industry supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber-attacks. Lanware is amongst the foremost cyber security firms to receive this new accreditation.
Cyber Essentials defines a set of controls which, when properly implemented, will provide organisations with protection from the most prevalent forms of Cyber threats. In particular, it focuses on threats which require
2015 will not be any easier for fund managers from an operational perspective. The raft of regulatory reporting under Annex IV and EMIR is set to increase, depending on the size of the manager, and the barriers to entry look set to remain high for new managers; both from a compliance perspective and investor expectations on operational infrastructure.
After a lukewarm performance in 2014, where the average hedge fund returned less than 4 per cent, and large institutional investors such as CalPERS and Dutch health care sector pension fund PFZW divested their holdings, 2015 is, in many ways, a year
Strong performance in Jersey’s funds sector in 2014 has seen the value of fund assets administered in the jurisdiction increase by almost one fifth year-on-year to reach the highest level in seven years.
The latest figures for Jersey’s finance industry, collated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) for the period ending December 2014, show that the net asset value (NAV) of funds under administration in Jersey grew by GBP23.5bn over the final quarter of last year to now stand at GBP228.9bn, representing an increase of 19% compared to December 2013 and the highest level since December 2008. In addition,
The Board of Directors of ALTIN AG has set the strike price of the put options to be issued as part of its share buyback programme at USD64.
The strike price is set at a 13.6% premium above the closing share price on SIX Swiss Exchange on 23 February 2015.
Each share will receive 1 put option and 10 put options will entitle the holder to sell 1 ALTIN share at the exercise price (strike price) of USD 64 to ALTIN.
The ex-date for the put options is 27 February 2015, the date when the put options will
“This is not another AIFMD regulation. It is much simpler, much cheaper and fairly easy to implement,” states Roman Pelka (pictured), founder of Montfort Funds, a specialist provider of Swiss fund representation services, when discussing the need to appoint a legal representative.
“The transition period provided to foreign funds to get compliant will end on the 1st of March. Thereafter there will be no way around it, except reverse solicitation but this is not really a viable option for most.”
The role of the representative is first to review the fund to ensure it is fit for distribution to qualified
Investors are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that global markets will, at some point, move towards a higher interest rate environment. This will happen at varying speeds depending on the region, with the US and the UK most likely to raise rates before continental Europe for example.
Over the last 30 years the yield on US 10-year Treasuries has declined by around 25 basis points annually. As Michaël Malquarti, co-head of alternative investments at Syz Asset Management points out, not only has this led to a massive boost in bond prices but at the same time equity prices have
Liquid alternatives are one of the fastest growing areas of the asset management industry. In Europe, assets grew from EUR36bn to EUR236bn between 2008 and 2014, according to a Deutsche Bank report released last September (entitled From Alternatives to Mainstream Part Two).
By definition, liquid alternatives are dynamic trading strategies that combine the sophisticated, goal-driven strategies of the hedge fund universe with the daily liquidity, transparency and regulatory oversight of mutual funds.
At Harcourt, the alternative investments boutique of Vontobel Asset Management, the Research-Driven Strategies (RDS) team, headed up by Dr Jan Viebig (pictured), Head of Alternative Investments, has developed
Overall, last year was a positive year for hedge funds in the sense that assets continued to grow, to the point where the industry reached USD2.8trn in total AuM. However, from a performance perspective it certainly wasn’t an easy one.
There are three aspects to explaining this. First, the beginning of 2014 saw quite strong market rotation. There were sector rotations in equity markets in March and April, leading to losses in long/short equity funds to the tune of -0.63 per cent and -0.89 per cent according to Barclayhedge.
Second, on the macro side, fundamental macro traders were positioned in
Interview with Steven Bulko, CIO, 1798 Fundamental Strategies, Lombard Odier Investment Managers…
Equity markets are close to or at their historic highs. How do you see the big picture for equity investors?
While developed economies have been recovering since the 2008 – 2009 global recession, the pace of that recovery has been varied. The US economy has improved but growth in Europe and Japan has stagnated, leading to a divergence in monetary policy – the Fed is progressively moving out of its accommodative monetary policy while the ECB and BOJ are embracing new strategies involving Quantitative Easing to provide stimulus.
Over the last few years the S&P 500 Index has gained approximately 65 per cent, while the Nikkei 225 has gained 113 per cent. The impact of quantitative easing has led to unparalleled growth in equity markets, to such an extent that hedge funds have largely lagged behind.
“In our opinion it’s not just “raw” underperformance but a combination of underperformance and fees. This is leading investors to ask, “Why do I pay so much to receive so little?” says Nicolas Rousselet (pictured), Managing Director and Head of Hedge Funds at Unigestion.
Put simply, today’s low rate environment has created
