Funds
By Dominic Wheatley, Guernsey Finance – Guernsey’s 50 years as a funds centre makes it an ideal jurisdiction in which to nurture innovative open-ended funds, argues Dominic Wheatley from Guernsey Finance.
At a time of unprecedented change in the asset management community, investment houses will be glad to know that Guernsey is a jurisdiction which not only is a well-established international funds domicile but also provides innovative solutions, including for open-ended platforms.
Global client base
Guernsey’s open-ended funds sector includes approximately USD140bn of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds business as well as more traditional equity, bond and money
Global assets under management* of the private real estate industry have reached USD742bn, an all-time high for the industry, and up from USD697bn as of the end of 2013. Preqin’s Andrew Moylan takes a look at the latest stats on the industry.
Preqin’s latest research shows the private equity real estate industry continued to grow in 2014. The aggregate assets under management (AUM) of closed-end private real estate funds stands at USD742bn as of June 2014, an increase of USD45bn since December 2013. Total AUM has increased by 63% since December 2010, with a large proportion of this growth accounted
Hedge funds in Europe that are rushing to outsource their compliance to meet looming reporting deadlines under the AIFMD are largely failing to consider the risks of doing so, according to ViClarity.
ViClarity estimates around seven in 10 hedge fund firms in Europe are outsourcing their reporting. But it believes many of these have failed to realise that the AIFMD requires fundamental changes to business structure, conduct and processes – and are implementing quick fixes that will unravel in the medium term.
Ogie Sheehy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ViClarity, says: “AIFMD is not just about changing the activities of
Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, has launched Execution & Quantitative Services (EQS), a global group headed up by Rob Laible, who joined the company earlier this year.
Liquidnet is seizing on an opportunity to provide its network – which includes more than 770 of the world’s leading asset managers – with new and more efficient ways to optimally source diverse liquidity and satisfy best execution objectives. Through cutting-edge technology, a continued focus on block executions and an expanded offering that includes trade advisory and execution solutions, Liquidnet is helping to remove barriers to liquidity and more efficiently manage factors
ING Investment Management (ING IM) has hired the convertible bond team from Avoca Convertible Bond Partners, adding a strategy to its range that offers equity upside participation with downside capital protection.
Tarek Saber and Jasper van Ingen, managers of the Avoca Convertible Select Global Fund that went live in April 2012, joined ING IM at the end of November. Saber joins as Investment Team Manager Convertible Bonds and Van Ingen as Senior Portfolio Manager Convertible Bonds.
“In the current investment environment we expect investors to focus on yield, lower volatility and limited draw down risk. Convertible bonds fit very
Aggregate hedge fund performance was positive 1.08% in November, ending the industry’s two-month decline, according to eVestment’s latest monthly Hedge Fund performance report.
Year-to-date aggregate returns of 2.85% are well below 2013’s full-year increase of 10.20%.
Aided by rebounding US equity markets and strong moves in currency and interest rate markets, November’s biggest winners were managed futures strategies and activist funds. Credit and commodity-focused strategies posted aggregate declines, while funds focused on the energy sector and with Brazil exposure faced the industry’s largest losses during the month.
Managed futures’ current four-month run is this group’s best stretch in nearly four
The hedge fund industry took in USD250 million (0.01% of assets) in October, recovering from outflows of USD6.8 billion (0.2% of assets) in September, according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs.
“Hedge fund inflows have slowed dramatically in the second half of this year,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), president and founder of BarclayHedge. “Inflows since July have averaged USD2.9 billion monthly, down from USD13.8 billion monthly in the first half of 2014.”
Industry assets stood at USD2.37 trillion in October, down slightly from September’s six-year high of USD2.38 trillion, according to estimates based on data from 3,500 funds. Assets climbed 15.8% in
Trading in investment products and leverage products on European financial markets fell slightly in the third quarter of 2014. At EUR26.2 billion, the trading volume was down one per cent compared to the previous quarter.
However, exchange turnover was up 9 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2013. This is one of the findings of an analysis by Derivative Partners Research AG of the latest market data collected by the European Structured Investment Products Association (EUSIPA) from its members.
The members of EUSIPA include: Zertifikate Forum Austria (ZFA), Association Française des Produits Dérivés de Bourse (afpdb), Deutscher Derivate
FxPro Financial Services Ltd (FxPro) has launched FxPro Prime, a prime-of-prime offering that will leverage its exceptional pool of multiple stream tier one FX liquidity and open it up to institutional businesses.
FxPro’s retail clients already benefit from very deep FX liquidity, with low dealing costs and reliable trade execution on the MT4 and cTrader platforms. Now, with plans to add more liquidity providers (LPs) on top of the existing LPs, small to medium sized institutions will be able to benefit in the same way and make considerable cost savings on their FX trade execution.
“For small to medium sized
Asset managers have told TABB Group that they are focusing more attention on index derivatives as market structure changes in both OTC and cash markets are impacting their portfolio decisions.
As they change the way they manage cash flows and risk exposures, index derivatives are seeing greater growth as part of the evolution of existing strategies, already generating record level volumes on multiple days in October 2014.
According to Matt Simon, a TABB principal, head of futures research and author “US Equity Index Derivatives: The Next Phase of Institutional Discovery,” traditional drivers of equity-index based derivatives usage will persist, evolving
