Managers
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc (CME) and the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) have self-certified new contracts for bitcoin futures products, and the Cantor Exchange (Cantor) has self-certified a new contract for bitcoin binary options.
“Bitcoin, a virtual currency, is a commodity unlike any the Commission has dealt with in the past,” says CFTC Chairman J Christopher Giancarlo (pictured). “As a result, we have had extensive discussions with the exchanges regarding the proposed contracts, and CME, CFE and Cantor have agreed to significant enhancements to protect customers and maintain orderly markets. In working with the Commission, CME, CFE and Cantor have
The days of thinking about single jurisdictions are long gone. When structuring a large private equity fund, for example, it is likely going to contain international investors (the US, Europe, Asia) and is, in effect, a commercial deal between all interested parties to draw down the money. The reality is, different investors have different preferences.
As James Bermingham (pictured), counsel at Ogier (Luxembourg) explains: “Sovereign wealth funds want the most efficient funds possible and are prepared to have no tax leakage. When you start talking to European investors, say German insurance groups who are subject to Solvency II, they want
The contribution made by offshore finance centres to the global economy should not be underestimated, writes Paul Smith (pictured), Chairman of the Guernsey Investment Fund Association.
Offshore funds provide a way of facilitating the flow of capital around the world in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible and Guernsey has been at the forefront of the development and administration of them for more than 50 years.
These investment structures are (and have been) vitally important in supporting the global economy, facilitating complex global transactions and enabling investment in both established and emerging markets. With over half a century
It’s fair to say that Optima Fund Management has seen a lot of change in the hedge fund industry, given that it is preparing to celebrate its 30th anniversary; an achievement few hedge fund firms can lay claim to.
Since Dixon Boardman founded the New York-based firm in 1988, it has steered a steady course. It has continued to evolve in line with market trends so as to unearth the best hedge fund talent, which feature in a range of multi-manager funds, the first of which, a long/short equity FoFs, has been running since the year of Optima’s inception.
“Despite all
Euronext has expanded its ‘Federal model’ with the acquisition of 100 per cent of the shares and voting rights of The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) for EUR137 million.
The acquisition is in line with Euronext’s long term strategy, and sees Ireland become its sixth core European country. Euronext intends to position ISE as centre of excellence for the Group in the listing of debt, funds and ETFs.
Stéphane Boujnah (pictured), Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext, says: “The Irish Stock Exchange joining Euronext represents a major milestone in the expansion of Euronext’s federal model since its IPO.
The Boston Partners Global Long/Short Strategy, a diversified equity fund that seeks long-term growth of capital while minimising exposure to general equity market risk, has now been added to Goldman Sachs’ Serviced Platform SICAV (UCITS).
The Fund takes long positions in undervalued stocks and short positions in names identified as being overvalued.
The fund is managed by Senior Portfolio Manager Christopher Hart and Portfolio Manager Joshua Jones. Hart oversees all of Boston Partners’ Global Equity and International Equity products, while Jones leads the Boston Partners investment team operating from the firm’s London office.
“Boston Partners has nearly two
The State Street Investor Confidence Index (ICI) for November 2017 decreased to 97.1, down 1.0 point from October’s revised reading of 98.1.
The minor decline in global sentiment was driven largely by a 12.0 point drop in the European ICI to 81.0. By contrast, the North American ICI rose by 3.7 points to 102.6 and the Asian ICI increased by 1.0 point to 97.5.
The Investor Confidence Index was developed by Kenneth Froot (pictured), and Paul O’Connell at State Street Associates, State Street Global Exchange’s research and advisory services business. It measures investor confidence or risk appetite quantitatively by
Pricing volatility in currency and energy markets has created a challenging performance environment for CTAs in 2017 so far, according to data released by Preqin.
As at the end of September, the Preqin All-Strategies CTA benchmark has recorded year-to-date losses of 0.04 per cent, compared to gains of 8.04 per cent for the All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark. Trend followers, which represent the largest group of CTAs, have lost 1.62 per cent YTD .
In contrast, option writing CTAs, which represent one in 10 active funds, have gained 7.63 per cent through the year so far. Similarly, systematic CTAs have
Harvest Capital Strategies, the asset management subsidiary of investment banking and alternative asset management firm JMP Group, has made a minority investment in Astor Investment Management, a Chicago-based registered investment advisor with USD1.9 billion of assets under management.
Astor’s approach to asset allocation is driven by macroeconomic theory, utilising a broad range of asset classes with low correlation to the broader market. The firm offers its products through a variety of channels, including mutual funds, separately managed accounts and universal managed accounts.
“We are very optimistic about our long-term partnership with the team at Astor,” says KC Lynch, president
Key findings from Swiss exchange SIX’s survey of Traders include the fact that 88 per cent of traders have seen a shift from active towards passive investing and 72 per cent expect the level of passive investing to rise further next year.
The exchange says that cost pressures and increased regulation continue to fuel the rise of passive investing. More than 85 per cent of traders expect a rise in passive investing could provoke change in global markets, but only 40 per cent see this development as positive for their companies.
Regulation, such as MiFID II, will be by far
