Managers
First Derivatives (FD), a provider of software and consulting services, has acquired the entire issued share capital of QuantumKDB in a deal worth up to up to GBP2.2 million.
The acquisition provides the Group with complementary consultancy expertise to support the growth of its Kx business and is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year following acquisition.
Quantum was founded in 2011 by its CEO Kieran Lucid and provides Kx consulting in the UK, US and Hong Kong. The majority of its clients operate in capital markets and the acquisition will strengthen the Group’s relationship with
Societe Generale Prime Services has created the new SG CTA Mutual Fund Index, a performance benchmark for 1940 Act US registered mutual funds that pursue managed futures strategies.
The new CTA Mutual Fund Index is the fourth daily index designed and calculated by Societe Generale, joining the SG CTA Index, the SG Trend Index, and the SG Short-Term Traders Index in teh company’s offering. The Prime Services daily indices are an industry leading suite of performance benchmarks, based on the largest CTA programs. The indices calculate the daily rate of return for an equally weighted group of the largest CTAs
Markit is to acquire the position reconciliation technology assets of DTCC Loan/SERV (Loan/SERV), a subsidiary of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
Nearly 400 asset managers representing approximately 6,000 funds in the global syndicated loan market use the Loan/SERV Loan Position Reconcilement Service to reconcile over one million positions with the records maintained by administrative agent banks.
Scott Kostyra (pictured), managing director and head of Loan Settlement in Markit’s Processing division, says: “Adding position reconciliation is an important step for our loan franchise as we integrate Loan/SERV's position reconciliation service into our Markit Clear loan inventory platform and
Athena Systems has launched Spark, a new cloud-based platform to help new hedge fund launches meet current and emerging DDQ requirements necessary to compete for assets with more established funds.
The pricing model of the platform is tied to a fund’s AUM and is designed to make implementing Spark an affordable an realistic option for funds at launch.
Standard features of the new platform include: pricing and security data; position, P&L, trade, compliance, risk, cash, recon, accounting (limited), etc; electronic trading with precertified broker/EMS connections; coverage of global equity, CFDs, options, FX, forwards, futures and vanilla FI; and SSAE16
Neuberger Berman has acquired an investment team that manages collateralised index-based options portfolios that seek to capture global volatility premiums, from Horizon Kinetics.
The team’s investment track records, proprietary research and client assets have also transferred to Neuberger Berman.
Neuberger Berman’s new options investment team is overseen by Doug Kramer, who joined the firm in November 2015 as Co-Head of Quantitative & Multi-Asset Class Investments (working alongside current Multi-Asset Class Chief Investment Officer Erik Knutzen). Derek Devens also joins Neuberger Berman from Horizon Kinetics as a Managing Director and senior portfolio manager along with research analysts, Rory Ewing and
We enter 2016 with the same slow and fragile conditions as experienced at the end of 2015. Contradictory macro policies, such as tighter regulations vs. accommodative monetary policies, competitive easing and devaluations, has resulted in conflicting impacts on the markets. Those supporting volatility and dispersion should prevail – though unevenly across assets. The trading backdrop would remain similar to last year, with frequent rotations, hovering liquidity risk, erratic flows with rich valuations, and markets overshooting fundamental changes.
Vista Fund Services (Vista) has selected Linedata Admin Edge to run all its fund administration services in Gibraltar as demand for its specialist services grows.
With business expanding, Vista decided to move away from its in-house system to one designed and supported by investment software specialists. This move was prompted by a growing fund and investor base and the need to adapt to new regulatory regimes, particularly AIFMD.
Craig Wilson (pictured), Finance Director at Vista, says: “We are a specialist administrator offering a range of services; from assisting start-up managers wanting to launch a new fund to the administration
New York-based hedge fund company Signal Capital Management is prepping the launch of VX Alpha, a new long/short strategy that focuses on systematic volatility management.
The initial launch of the product is based around a Separately Managed Account platform, although Signal plans to introduce a fund structure as well, after at least a year of audited performance. Signal expects to begin trading with the new product by the second quarter of 2016, with at least USD20 million under management from a small number of high net worth investors.
VX Alpha is based in New York and will be managed
Hedge funds posted declines in December, led by Energy and Quantitative CTA strategies, to conclude a volatile, turbulent year in financial markets, according to data released today by HFR.
The year began with major dislocations in currency markets, included steep declines for oil and energy commodities, as well as Emerging Markets, and concluded with rising geopolitical and terrorism threats as well as the first US interest rate increase in nearly a decade. Oscillating between positive and negative performance throughout the year, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index® posted a decline of -0.85 per cent in December, ending the year down
Multiple and powerful pressures are impacting the hedge fund industry, but two are particularly prominent: a dramatically increased regulatory burden, and investor demands for greater transparency and lower fees.
Far-reaching and complex new rules continue to reshape the environment, from Dodd-Frank and EMIR to FATCA and AIFMD. To meet these stringent regulatory responsibilities, and keep pace with evolving investor best practices, hedge funds will need to adopt a firm-wide “culture of compliance.”
Non-compliance not an option
Satisfying regulatory rules and investor demands may seem like a costly headache, but compliance is simply good business. Poor or non-compliance risks:
More frequent
