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Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J Christopher Giancarlo and Chief Economist Bruce Tuckman have penned a letter in defence of derivatives in response to recent Vatican criticism.
In their response Giancarlo (pictured), and Tuckman address derivatives broadly, as well as the specific criticism of credit default swaps (CDS) contained within a Bollettino published by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on 17 May 2018, titled ‘Oeconomicae et Pecuniariae Quaestiones: Considerations for an Ethical Discernment Regarding Some Aspects of the Present Economic Financial System’.
“We write to you as
There was a pause in trade developments and solid corporate profits fuelled risk appetite last week pushing hedge funds strategies with the highest market beta higher, according to the latest Weekly Brief from Lyxor’s Cross Asset Research team.
CTAs outperformed thanks to their long positioning across most of asset classes. Last week, long equities and USD were the main contributor to their returns.
Market Neutral and L/S Equity were both supported by the recovery in Momentum stocks.
By contrast, Event-Driven underperformed, with both Merger Arbitrage and Special Situations in negative territory. In particular, spreads widened on several deals
The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator for hedge funds measured 2.40 per cent for July, down from 4.17 per cent in June.
“SS&C GlobeOp’s Forward Redemption Indicator for July 2018 was 2.40 per cent, reflecting improved levels of redemption notices compared to the 2.57 per cent reported for the same period a year ago in July 2017,” says Bill Stone (pictured), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies. “Through the first half of the year, redemption notices have continued to trend favourably, showing investors remain confident in their hedge fund allocations.”
The SS&C GlobeOp Forward Redemption Indicator represents the sum of forward
Investors withdrew an estimated USD7.88 billion from global hedge funds in June 2018, bringing overall Q2 2018 net flows for the industry to -USD5.43 billion, according to the eVestment June and Q2 2018 Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report.
Industry assets under management (AUM) stood at USD3.308 trillion at the end of the quarter and signs of industry consolidation continue to present themselves. Among investors, the new report shows a strong demand for funds that have performed well, with a preference for size, and clearly investors are willing to remove assets from those funds not meeting expectations.
Among primary strategies,
Adam Hewitson (pictured), has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UK accountancy and professional services provider Throgmorton, part of Link Asset Services.
The current Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Deputy CEO of the business, Hewitson replaces Andrew Rubio who will move to the newly created position of Chairman, both positions effective on 1 October 2018.
Rubio joined Throgmorton in 2002 to establish the accounting function at the business and was subsequently appointed CEO in 2009. Andrew has been instrumental in Throgmorton’s continuous growth, overseeing the business as it has grown from three to over 145
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (USA) Limited (SuMi TRUST USA) has become the first Japanese global custodian to go live on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) ALERT Global Custodian Direct (GC Direct) workflow.
With GC Direct, SuMi TRUST USA can maintain and provide standing settlement instruction (SSI) data to its clients through ALERT, the industry’s largest and most compliant online global database for the maintenance and communication of account information and SSIs.
“SuMi TRUST USA is enthusiastic about being the first Japanese global custodian utilising GC Direct,” says Douglas Shivers, Head of Global Custody Administration at SuMi TRUST
Fulcrum Asset Management has listened to the UK institutional marketplace and launched a fund that it believes will meet a series of key considerations.
Speaking with Hedgeweek at a coffee shop opposite Fulcrum’s office in Marble Arch, London, Matthew Roberts (pictured), Partner at Fulcrum, says that the Fulcrum Diversified Liquid Alternatives Fund (‘The Fund’) aims to give investors access to liquid alternatives in the “broadest possible sense”, in a single fund structure.
Roberts joined Fulcrum to oversee the new business division from Willis Towers Watson at the end of 2017.
The strategy covers listed real assets, alternative credit and diversifiers
FundRock Group has hired Paul Spendiff as the new Group Head of Business Development, based in the firm’s London office.
Spendiff (pictured), is an experienced managing director and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in financial markets and services. He has extensive knowledge of the European regulatory landscape and investor drivers for both the alternative and traditional fund management spheres.
Spendiff has worked with clients from around the world looking to establish European management and fund structures for both open and closed ended funds. He is a regular commentator in the financial press and speaks regularly at
Fintech company seriesOne has partnered with Securrency, a provider of financial and regulatory technology products for the tokenised issuance and trading of securities.
seriesOne will utilise Securrency’s platform and products to enable its customers to conduct securities token offerings (STOs) in a secure and regulatory-compliant fashion. In addition, the joint venture between seriesOne and Securrency will establish and secure regulatory approval for an alternative trading system (ATS) for the secondary market exchange of tokenised securities.
“We believe that Initial Coin Offerings and security tokens represent the next generation of capital formation for businesses,” says Michael Mildenberger (pictured), Founder
Qatar Reinsurance Company Limited (Qatar Re), a multi-line reinsurer authorised by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, is to cease writing new and renewal business from its branch office in Singapore, with effect from 20 July 2018.
The Company says it will work closely with its Singapore-based staff, its clients and broking partners and regulators to ensure the orderly administration of existing business written from the branch. This decision does not affect Qatar Re’s sister company, Antares Asia, which continues to participate on the Lloyd’s Asia Platform.
Gunther Saacke (pictured), Qatar Re’s CEO, says: “Like many of our peers, we have
