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Net sales of UCITS and AIFs totalled EUR47 billion in March 2018, up from EUR25 billion in February, according to the latest Investment Funds Industry Fact Sheet from the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA).
UCITS registered net sales of EUR38 billion, up from EUR11 billion in February.
Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) recorded net sales of EUR42 billion, down from EUR47 billion in February.
Net sales of equity funds totalled EUR14 billion, down from EUR25 billion in February, while net sales of bond funds totalled EUR3 billion, down from EUR4 billion in February, and net sales
Crypto Facilities, a cryptocurrency trading platform and index provider, has appointed Sui Chung (pictured), to lead its index and pricing products business.
Crypto Facilities offers individuals and institutions regulated, transparent and secure trading. The firm is also the provider of cryptocurrency indices, calculating the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate and Real Time Index that power the CME Group’s Bitcoin Futures, and the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate and Ether-Dollar Real Time Index. Financial institutions, trading firms and data providers globally use Crypto Facilities’ indices and underlying data to optimise their cryptocurrency trading activity.
Chung joins the firm from Euromoney
Public blockchain Hashgard, which is aiming to provide a one-stop solution for digital asset management, catering to both individual and institutional investors, has secured strategic investment from over 50 investment funds in the world, including Fenbushi Capital and BKFUND.
This broad ecosystem of investors and advisors is dedicated to establishing Hashgard as a leading blockchain in the digital asset management space.
Advisors include leading figures in the blockchain space – Bo Shen, founder of Fenbushi Capital; Shuo Bai, former chief engineer of Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Sunny Lu, co-founder of Vechain.
Hashgard is the first blockchain project initiated and managed by
Traders disagree over whether MiFID II has been successful, according to new research by SIX, with a combined 70 per cent of traders surveyed by the Swiss exchange believing that trading has become more transparent – a key goal of MiFID II.
Paradoxically, only 26 per cent believe that dark liquidity will shift to lit markets, highlighting the failure of a key aspect of the regulation. Traders indicate that they are also divided as to where dark liquidity on capped stocks will shift instead of lit markets, with a relatively even spread between: Block Trading/LIS dark pools – 31 per
Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Gilt futures achieved a record daily volume of 1.4 million contracts on 24 May, 2018, an increase of 30 per cent on the previous volume record of 1.1 million contracts set in August 2014.
Open interest for ICE Gilt futures also continues to rise and is 945,870 contracts as at 25 May, 2018.
Daily volume for Gilt futures has risen notably since the start of the year as market participants seek to hedge economic and political risk resulting from central bank monetary policy and Brexit. Average daily volume for ICE Gilt futures is 244,000 contracts year to
Widening deal spreads in March-April translated into an underperformance of Merger Arbitrage in early Q2, but the strategy recovered in May along with the tightening of deal spreads, according to the latest Weekly Brief from Lyxor’s Cross Asset Research team.
The reasons why deal spreads widened earlier in Q2 are mainly related to two exogeneous factors (there was no deal break for instance), which are now less of a concern.
Firstly, the rising probability that the U.S. and China would engage in a trade war raised concerns about potential retaliation measures from the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) which
The Swiss exchange has launched two new order types – Limit Plus and an enhanced Iceberg order, Iceberg Plus – which provide participants with even more flexibility and efficiency to trade successfully in today’s market.
Their introduction underlines the commitment of SIX to cater to the needs of its clients and to broaden its Exchange Services portfolio, as well as to increase the liquidity and quality of the home market for Swiss securities.
Both new Plus order types allow participants to simultaneously access the lit book and SwissAtMid, the non-displayed liquidity pool of the Swiss exchange. This dual representation offers
Guernsey’s funds industry is seeing a number of new inquiries so far this year and expects to see a rise in the value of the sector before the end of the year, following a decline in the first quarter’s statistics.
Latest figures from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) showed the net asset value of funds business in the island declined by 2.9 per cent (GBP8 billion) during the quarter, with total assets under management and administration amounting to GBP262.5 billion. But the underlying trend is positive, with GBP40 billion growth over the past three years.
The decline was led
Intensifying market competition in an increasingly crowded space is the top concern among credit fund managers, according to new research from global law firm Ropes & Gray.
The report, ‘Driving Success: Challenges and Opportunities in Credit Fund Platforms’, analyses the responses of 100 senior level executives within US and UK-based credit funds, in the first quarter of 2018. Key findings reveal that 71 per cent of respondents cited their biggest concern as competition, while 65 per cent stated they intend to launch funds focusing on distressed/stressed debt opportunities in the next 12 months. Although general credit opportunities are the flagship
Hedge funds focused on the Middle East and Russia/Eastern Europe led Emerging Markets (EM) hedge fund performance through early 2018, as the US Dollar strengthened and the US Federal Reserve continued increasing interest rates.
The HFRI Emerging Markets (Total) Index posted a narrow gain of 0.08 per cent YTD through April, paring the gain of 4.0 per cent in January and following the gain of 19.4 per cent for all of 2017, as reported today by HFR, the established global leader in the indexation, analysis and research of the global hedge fund industry. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index,
