Funds
The European Parliament and Council have backed plans by the European Commission to strengthen consumer protection in the UCITS market. As reported by out-law.com, which provides legal news and opinion from Pinsent Masons, consumers will have the right to take action against depositories charged with the safekeeping of assets should any of those assets go missing.
This is the same provision that will be applied to onshore European AIFs under the AIFMD and forms part of the next generation of UCITS regulation; namely UCITS V.
Tighter remuneration controls on managers of UCITS-compliant investment funds will also be applied to
Iconic is launching a turnkey Malta authorised, EU-compliant hosted-funds platform enabling EU and non EU based fund managers to run their own fully supported and administered funds.
In addition, for those larger intermediaries which have an asset management capability Iconic can support this new asset management area of their business through this platform.
The platform provides EU-compliant substance infrastructure and can establish either hosted feeder funds or host-flexible non-UCITS fund structures. Later in 2014, Iconic will launch a AIFMD & UCITS IV funds capability and services menu.
“Not all hosted-fund platforms are created equal,” says David Barclay-Miller, co-founder
Cordium has acquired Zodiac Advisory Services, a provider of compliance, risk, accounting and governance services for the investment management industry in Malta. 


The acquisition is Cordium’s third in as many months, following the purchases of The Sigma Partnership and HedgeStart in December 2013 and January 2014 respectively.
The deal gives Cordium a presence in Malta, which is rapidly becoming a prime jurisdiction for asset managers across the globe for setting up both funds and fund management companies. 


An EU member since 2004, Malta is an attractive base from a cost and tax efficiency point of view. It provides
BNY Mellon has signed an agreement to acquire the remaining 65 per cent interest of HedgeMark International, a current affiliate and a provider of hedge fund managed account and risk analytic services.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter, subject to regulatory approval. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
BNY Mellon has held a 35 per cent ownership stake in HedgeMark since 2011.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered New York, HedgeMark assists in the structuring, oversight and risk monitoring of hedge funds, specifically dedicated managed accounts.
"As institutional clients continue their shift
Franklin Templeton Investments this week announced the launch of the Luxembourg-registered Franklin Euro Short Duration Bond Fund. London-based David Zahn, head of European Fixed Income and lead portfolio manager, and Rod MacPhee, research analyst and portfolio manager, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group, will manage the fund.
The new fund will seek to preserve capital and liquidity while pursuing the best opportunities across a variety of European high-quality-short duration sectors. It will invest primarily in short-dated fixed and floating-rate debt securities and debt obligations of corporate and sovereign issuers located within the Eurozone that are rated investment grade or, if unrated,
Alternative investment manager Aurora Investment Management has provided early-stage capital to investment funds managed by energy-focused long/short equity fund manager Brenham Capital Management.
Brenham Capital Management was founded by John Labanowski in January 2012.
Before launching Brenham, Labanowski spent five years at Walker Smith Capital, most recently as head of energy investments. Prior to that he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the natural resources group and at Deutsche Bank in the energy group.
Brenham employs an opportunistic, fundamental approach to the publicly-traded energy sector, with the objective of delivering superior absolute returns to investors while
JTC Group has formed alliance partnerships with two firms within the EU to widen its geographical reach.
The alliances are with Trust Company Amsterdam in the Netherlands, which has a strong focus on corporate structuring work, and Aspen Trust Group in Cyprus, which provides a range of services to both private and corporate clients, including structuring cross-border solutions.
JTC Group chairman and chief executive Nigel Le Quesne (pictured) says: “Our ‘Alliance Partner’ strategy is to extend our international reach and provide additional services to our worldwide client base. There is a growing trend for clients to seek flexible, multi-jurisdictional
ETF flows are surging in credit, according to the latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch “Follow the Flow” global research report. So far this year, there has been USD4billion of inflows into investment grade credit compared to USD2.4billion for high-yield.
Investors seem to be reverting out of emerging market debt, with USD1.4billion of outflows recorded last week. The report notes that since last May, the cumulative outflow for EM debt funds has been almost USD44.5billion. Last week, high-grade funds attracted USD603million marking the eighth consecutive week of inflows. High-yield funds attracted USD291million last week. The report noted: “Credit flows were
JTC Group’s funds arm has invested in an IT platform, FrontInvest, to bolster its capabilities in the funds sector.
The platform, provided by eFront, follows best practice processes and systems and helps to ensure that JTC Group can fulfil regulatory, financial and tax reporting requirements for its growing roster of fund clients.
JTC Group’s international funds team administers both closed- and open-ended funds established in Guernsey, Jersey and Luxembourg, as well as other non-domiciled fund structures in financial centres, such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
Its expertise and scope has been enhanced by the
Deutsche Börse has acquired a stake in Bondcube, the new fixed income trading system, for a low sum in the single digit millions (GBP).


Bondcube is a London and Boston based electronic bond platform which links dealers and customers in a single marketplace in order to boost the liquidity of the global bond markets.
The firm uses tried and tested trading protocols from other markets, such as equities, to optimise liquidity discovery.
Bondcube is ideal for large, market sensitive bond orders that have now reverted to execution via telephone.


“The perception of a lack of liquidity in
