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Pragma, a multi-asset quantitative trading technology provider, has committed to adopting the principles of the foreign exchange (FX) Global Code as a Market Participant.
The FX Global Code was launched in partnership with policymakers and market participants, and provides a common set of guidelines to promote the integrity and effective functioning of the market. By signing a statement of commitment, Pragma affirms that the principles outlined in the Code represent a series of best practices to promote a robust, fair, liquid and transparent FX market.
David Mechner, CEO and co-founder of Pragma, says: “Our philosophy of giving our customers
BarclayHedge’s newest index, the Barclay Cryptocurrency Traders Index, dropped 29.2 per cent in March. Year to date, the Index is down 43.1 per cent after three consecutive monthly losses.
“Within days of the launch of Bitcoin futures, Bitcoin rose to its all-time high of just under USD20,000 on December 18 last year. Today’s prices are just over USD8,000. Folks have their opinions, but no one really knows if it’s a bubble or a correction,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), president and founder of BarclayHedge.
The Barclay Cryptocurrency Traders Index is an equal-weighted index of the monthly returns of a representative
Hedge Funds lost 0.64 per cent in March according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, versus a 2.54 per cent decline in the S&P 500 Total Return Index. Year to date, the Barclay Index is down 0.07 per cent, while the S&P has lost 0.76 per cent.
“Driven by trade war fears, equity prices declined for a second month as the U.S. announced tariffs on steel and aluminium, which were quickly reciprocated by the release of China’s tariff hit list,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
All but three of Barclay’s 17 hedge fund indices
In line with the broader hedge fund market, the average Alternative UCITS fund showed negative performance in Q1. The LuxHedge Global Alternative UCITS index declined by 0.56 per cent in March, bringing 2018 YTD to -0.69 per cent.
Most Alternative UCITS funds went down because of a small long equity bias. To put things in perspective, the MSCI Europe Index stood at -4.17 per cent YTD by the end of March.
In view of increased market volatility and declines in equities globally, portfolio allocations to Alternative UCITS funds grew considerably. Assets under Management for the total universe advanced with
The Beacon Group is an independent group of companies providing management, consulting, administration, accounting and other related services to offshore and domestic hedge funds and other international entities. It is licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority to provide corporate secretarial services, part of which involves offering advice to promoters and fund managers on corporate governance best practices.
That Beacon is also licensed to offer fund administration services can be beneficial.
As Nitin Aggarwal (pictured), Chairman of Beacon, explains: “Our many years of knowledge and experience as fund administrators with different investment strategies and asset classes allows us to leverage that
A Q&A with Greg Wojciechowski, President and CEO at Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX)…
How would you summarise 2017 from a business growth perspective for BSX?
Strong global market conditions contributed to positive listing activity across most sectors of the BSX’s business. Listing activity was particularly strong in international debt and insurance linked securities (ILS), both of which reached record levels.
International debt listings grew to 167 securities, up 44 per cent from 116 the previous year with their nominal value growing from USD2.0 billion to USD4.6 billion.
New ILS listings totalled 103 securities for the year with a nominal value
That Bermuda continues to strengthen its regulatory regime is very much a selling point for those thinking of doing business on the island. This year, the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) is assessing Bermuda, with a possible onsite in September. This follows its assessment of the Cayman Islands in December 2017.
On the back of these visitations, offshore regulators, broadly speaking, have really ramped up their focus on compliance, and AML in particular, to make sure there is a robust and rigorous set of regulations in place.
“What we’ve seen over the last 18 months is that as regulators are
Incu Global operates a Segregated Account Company (SAC) umbrella structure in Bermuda, offering fund managers a cost-efficient route to launching a fund. Each manager has his own cell structure – effectively a sub-fund – whose assets and liabilities are ring fenced from all other cells operating on the platform.
“Each cell can issue its own shares and even though it doesn’t have Ltd, Limited or LP at the end of the name, that is in essence what each cell is; it’s its own legal entity,” explains Anthony D’Silva, owner and director of Incu Global and a former managing director and
Within the capital markets, there remain a large number of institutional investors seeking out unique opportunities in alternative investments. One such area is insurance-linked securities (ILS), which have built significant traction since the 2008 financial crash.
Estera has been providing corporate, trust, fund and accounting services for over 25 years and has carved out a leading position in the support of ILS products. Analysis of its book of business over the last 10 years shows that the market capitalisation of ILS products it supports has grown from approximately USD2 billion in 2011 to USD10.8 billion at the end of 2016. Last
There is a sense of optimism in Bermuda that the success it has enjoyed over the years in respect of the ILS industry can, over the coming years, be replicated in the cryptocurrency and blockchain arena.
ILS fund managers like the fact that Bermuda has a lot of professionals working on the ground, from legal to administration and auditing. This is particularly important under Solvency II, which places a big focus on substance and physical presence.
“This has been fantastic for the funds industry,” says Dawn Griffiths, Director and Head of Bermuda Funds Practice at Conyers Dill & Pearman, one
