Managers
A new foundation focused on using a blockchain protocol to track and measure impact investing has been created by Dr Shaun Conway, a medical doctor and former adviser to the World Health Organisation.
Impact investing is rapidly growing in popularity, with USD114 billion worth of impact investing assets under management according to a recent survey by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).
Conway explains that he has been working on the ixo foundation concept for the past 10 years, the protocol for the past five years and then he founded the ixo foundation just under a year ago.
The flash estimate for the Barclay CTA Index, compiled by BarclayHedge, indicates a 0.24 per cent loss in May. Year to date, the Index is down 1.76 per cent.
“Large system traders were the hardest hit by trend reversals in fixed income, energy, sugar and cocoa prices,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
The new MPI Barclay Elite Systematic Traders Index (MBEST) lost 1.85 per cent in May, Diversified Traders were down 0.64 per cent, Financials and Metals Traders lost 0.44 per cent, and Systematic Traders gave up 0.44 per cent.
“The larger funds are
Fintech specialist Broadridge Financial Solutions is to be added to the S&P 500 Index at the opening of trading on Monday 18 June 2018.
“We are honoured to join the important companies that comprise the S&P 500,” says Rich Daly, CEO of Broadridge. “This reflects the recognition by the investment community of the importance of the work we do to power investing, governance and communications through leading technology-driven solutions. It is also an enormous testament to the hard work and dedication of our associates, our focus on our clients and our commitment to the service-profit chain.”
Broadridge technology links
The gross return of the SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index for May 2018 measured 1.57 per cent, while hedge fund flows as measured by the SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index advanced 0.52 per cent in June.
“SS&C GlobeOp’s Capital Movement Index for June 2018 rose 0.52 per cent, reflecting positive net flows. While this increase was smaller than the 1.25 per cent gain seen for the same period a year ago in June 2017, it should be noted this comparison was against a very strong result, as the June 2017 gain was the largest single month’s flows since August 2013,” says Bill Stone (pictured),
Rational Funds, a family of funds rooted in the investment philosophy of applying a rational approach to investing, has launched the Rational Funds Income Opportunities Fund (RTFIX).
The Fund offers a Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) strategy, and will be sub-advised by Cicero Capital Partners, which has managed a similar strategy in hedge fund form since September 2011.
RTFIX offers an alternative, tactically managed, fixed income strategy focused on mitigating risk while generating stable monthly cash flow. To achieve this, the Fund invests primarily in commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and other commercial real estate structured securities such as
The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index, which provides a representative baseline for how the broad liquid alternative investment category performs, returned -0.27 per cent in May, underperforming the 0.26 per cent monthly return of the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index.
The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index family is a joint offering between Wilshire Funds Management, the global investment management business unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated, and Wilshire Analytics, creator of the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index.
“May experienced heightened volatility following political uncertainty in Europe and concerns related to global trade tensions,” says Jason Schwarz (pictured), President of Wilshire Funds Management
Hedge Funds were up 0.90 per cent in May according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, versus a 2.41 per cent increase in the S&P 500 Total Return Index. Year to date, the Barclay Index is up 1.16 per cent, while the S&P has gained 2.02 per cent.
“Biotech and information technology led stock markets higher in developed economies, while emerging market equities continued lower for another month,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
All but two of Barclay’s 17 hedge fund indices had gains in May. Healthcare & Biotechnology jumped 4.88 per cent, adding
Hedge fund managers ended May in the green, with the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index up 0.18 per cent over the month, trailing behind the 0.84 per cent gain posted by the MSCI AC World Index over the same period.
On a year-to-date basis, fund managers gained 0.32 per cent with 14 per cent of them posting returns in excess of 5 per cent.
North American fund managers topped the table among geographic mandates, gaining 1.14 per cent supported by the region’s equity markets which performed well during the month. The S&P 500 index gained 2.16 per cent in
Total assets under management for the alternative assets industry in Europe reached a record EUR1.48 trillion as of September 2017, according to a new report from Amundi and Preqin.
Growth has been driven by strong inflows of capital: Europe-focused private capital funds – including private equity, private debt, real estate and real assets – secured a record EUR184bn in 2017, having seen annual totals increase every year since 2011. At the same time, 52 per cent of Europe-based hedge fund managers saw net inflows in 2017 – the highest proportion of any region – as the industry recorded EUR27 billion
Exchange turnover in investment products and leverage products on Europe’s financial markets were up at the end of the first quarter of 2018, according to an analysis by Derivative Partners AG of the latest market data collected by the European Structured Investment Products Association (EUSIPA).
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, turnover rose by 12.0 per cent to EUR32.5 billion. This also represented a 14.0 per cent increase year on year.
The members of EUSIPA who provide the figures for the market report include: Zertifikate Forum Austria (ZFA), Belgian Structured Investment Products Association (BELSIPA), Association Française des Produits Dérivés
