Managers
UMB Fund Services (UMBFS) has launched a mobile app for its proprietary alternative investment fund accounting and investor servicing technology called UMB Fund Services FastPro.
The app, which is live on Android and Apple iOS operating systems, allows clients to view historical data and reports, investor demographics and fund performance information at anytime, anywhere an internet connection is available. The FastPro platform had previously only been available via web browser.
“Technology is changing the way our clients operate, and in response, we’ve taken our award-winning reporting solution and given it mobile capabilities,” said Chad Allen, managing director of alternative investments
Private investment firm Enhanced Capital and FocusPoint Private Capital Group (FocusPoint), a FINRA member focused on private capital raising, have formed Enhanced FocusPoint (EFP), a partnership to source, seed and launch a series of private investment funds.
EFP will identify talented management teams with investment strategies suitable for institutional investors allocating capital to private funds. This partnership will expand the reach and capabilities of each firm, providing experienced limited partners with new investment strategies.
Four sectors of focus have been identified for the platform: Equity, Credit/Income-Generating, Real Assets, and Special Opportunities. Enhanced and FocusPoint have a long history of backing
Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, has launched a fixed income dark pool that facilitates direct, peer-to-peer trading of corporate bonds among asset managers in the US, Canada and Europe.
Liquidnet has enrolled more than 120 asset managers, representing a critical mass of liquidity and a sizeable portion of assets under management for high yield and investment grade bonds in the US. At launch, the platform will enable trading for US and European corporate bonds (high yield and investment grade), emerging market corporate bonds, and European convertible bonds.
The Fixed Income dark pool has been designed to provide a
Industry veteran Marjorie Kaufman (pictured) has joined Activist hedge fund manager Barington Capital Group as a partner in charge of marketing and investor relations.
Kaufman’s mandate is to bring Barington’s impressive 15-year record as an activist investor to the family office and institutional markets.
Kaufman brings extensive capital raising and relationship management experience to Barington. Most recently, she was Managing Director and Head of Marketing at Guggenheim Global Trading, a multi-strategy hedge fund. Previously, she served as a Managing Director with Golden Seeds, helping emerging companies secure financing. From 2003 through 2010, Kaufman was Managing Director and Head of
Dublin-based asset manager Mediolanum Asset Management has chosen private financial cloud provider Options as its new managed application and hosting provider.
The deal sees Options deliver FusionInvest, Misys’ fully integrated portfolio and risk management solution, as a fully managed service for Mediolanum in partnership with the technology consultancy firm, Cronos Consultants Group. The announcement follows Mediolanum’s recent decision to overhaul its entire IT platform to implement a new front-to-back data management solution in conjunction with Misys.
Mediolanum will leverage Options managed application solution, Momentum. Momentum combines a global platform, for hosting dozens of customer proprietary applications, with a standardised platform for
The Managed Funds Association (MFA) has updated its equity market structure recommendations with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other regulators.
MFA’s recommendations would help improve critical market infrastructure, reduce operational risk, improve the overall quality of the US equity markets and strengthen investor confidence through greater disclosure and transparency.
MFA also urged regulators to consider conducting regular data-driven reviews of parameters for market volatility controls; to develop and implement contingency plans and interim processes with respect to closing auctions and other technical outages; and to enhance order handling and trading data transparency and accuracy so that investors
Figures from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have underlined the strong relationship between Guernsey’s fund industry and the European marketplace.
Data contained within ESMA’s advice on the granting of third country passports under the Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive (AIFMD), reveal that Guernsey was the third largest non-EU fund domicile, behind only the US and Cayman Islands, for the number of non-EU AIFs and non-EU AIFMs marketing into the EU Member States of the UK, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark and Belgium for the nine-month period up to March 2015*.
The UK remains a key
The FOMC meeting on 17 September caused market jitters as market participants were probably expecting the Fed to clarify its policy intentions. The stance of the FOMC was merely interpreted as a delay in the rate hike, with a first move still likely to take place later this year as confirmed by J Yellen in a speech on 24 September.
Euronext has launched the Euronext BeNe 40 Equal Weight index, an index reflecting the 40 most traded companies included in the BEL 20 and AEX indices.
The index is composed of the 40 most traded companies included in the BEL 20 and the AEX and will be rebalanced to equal weight at each quarterly review. The Euronext BeNe 40 Equal Weight index will be calculated as a price index, net return index, gross return index and an excess return index. The index is calculated and published every 15 seconds.
The index is designed to act as an underlying for
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) are partnering to provide clients with a connection to UnaVista’s Approved Reporting Mechanism (ARM).
The service will allow DTCC clients to comply with the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) utilising their current connection from DTCC’s Global Trade Repository (GTR). The MiFIR reporting requirements will supplement the existing EMIR post-trade reporting requirements for derivatives trading activities. UnaVista and DTCC currently jointly process around 20 billion regulatory reports annually, across all asset classes and global markets.
Through this joint offering, GTR users will be able to submit