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By Chris Humphries, Stuarts Walker Hersant Humphries – Blockchain technology offers an exciting, unprecedented and innovative opportunity for the Cayman Islands investment funds industry. Whilst cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin) have been around for a number of years, we are now seeing a surge of activity in this area. Funds are being established in the Cayman Islands which will focus entirely on blockchain and cryptocurrency strategies. In addition, funds are seeking to innovate by accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment mechanism for subscription proceeds.
We expect smart contracts (discussed below) to become more mainstream in connection with subscriptions into and redemption out
A number of regulatory developments have been introduced into the Cayman Islands over the last 12 months as it takes further steps to ensure the transparency and integrity of its financial funds industry stands up to global scrutiny.
Many of these regulatory changes do not necessarily impact fund managers directly, but more so their service providers, although the Data Protection Law, 2017, which was published in the Cayman Islands Gazette on June 2017, will impact all Cayman entities in respect of how they process and protect personal data.
Data Protection Law, 2017
The Data Protection Law is due to come
BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) has launched the Parvest Global Equity Absolute Return Strategy (Parvest GEARS), a sub-fund of the Parvest UCITS V SICAV registered under Luxembourg law.
With equity valuations considered expensive at current market levels on a range of measures, many investors are increasingly looking for absolute return strategies that have a low correlation with underlying markets and have the ability to generate alpha regardless of market direction.
Parvest GEARS is an absolute return equity strategy with daily liquidity that targets positive returns through the market cycle. It aims to deliver performance primarily by capturing stock
Mirabaud Securities has launched the Mirabaud Securities Global Thematic Group, a specialist team that assesses macro themes and fundamental stock ideas to identify interesting opportunities for investors.
The team is led by Global TMT Analyst Neil Campling and Head of Sales Toby Clothier, who previously worked together at Northern Trust Capital Markets (and prior to that at Aviate Global, which was then acquired by Northern Trust).
Neil Campling began his career at Prolific Asset Management and spent 13 years as a TMT Fund Manager at Aberdeen Asset Management and New Star before moving to the sell-side at Aviate
Ovata Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based Equity Multi Strategy hedge fund manager, has implemented Hazeltree Cash Manager, which is fully integrated with BNY Mellon’s Liquidity DIRECT, a multi-currency investment platform enabling clients to harness BNY Mellon’s full suite of cash, treasury, collateral, financing, trading and custody services.
The combined BNY Mellon-Hazeltree solution helps Ovata streamline cash management processes and reduce counterparty and operational risks while improving liquidity and yield.
Ovata Capital chose Hazeltree Cash Manager for its proven ability to easily aggregate and centralise cash balances across global counterparties; optimise cash usage and maximise yield while minimising currency exposure;
PremiaLab, a Fintech platform for Risk Premia Strategies, has launched its European offering with the opening of a new European headquarters in Paris.
The PremiaLab platform allows institutional investors and asset allocators to access data on systematic strategies from across a wide universe of providers in a quick and efficient manner. The platform is focused on reducing cost and improving access to the fast-growing market of risk premia and smart beta products.
The Hong Kong based Fintech company launched its Risk Premia platform in 2016, and its expansion into Europe follows its significant success in the Asian market. The
Many investors believe that the sustained post-financial crisis period of calm in fixed interest markets is coming to an end as central bank intervention is withdrawn, according to Invesco’s first Global Fixed Income Survey.
The report finds that the majority of investors are defining what comes next as a period of ‘new normalisation’ in fixed income investing, characterised by lower yields, low inflation and renewed central bank intervention. A significant minority have a contrary view of a deflationary storm caused by an end of cycle downturn in still fragile economies. Relatively few see an inflationary boom commonly associated with the
RFA (Richard Fleischman & Associates) has contributed to the AIMA GDPR Implementation Guide which summarises the GDPR framework, effective 25 May, in the context of alternative investment management firms and funds.
RFA was amongst a select group of AIMA member organisations that collaborated on the production of the implementation guide, adding advice and guidance in their areas of expertise. RFA UK Managing Director George NW Ralph (pictured), says: “I was delighted to be involved in the development of the AIMA GDPR Implementation Guide, having worked with clients in the alternative investment sector over the past few years, preparing them
By Richard D Fear (pictured), Conyers Dill & Pearman – This alert is intended to aid businesses that may have obligations to report information under the Tax Information Authority (International Tax Compliance) (Country-by-Country Reporting) Regulations, 2017 (“CbCR Regulations”), which were issued by the Cayman Islands on 15 December 2017 as part of its ongoing commitment to international tax transparency.
By Stuarts Walker Hersant Humphries – Initial Coin/Token Offerings (ICOs) are becoming an increasingly popular means of fundraising for new projects and utilise blockchain technology to do so. Over the past 9 months, we have seen a significant surge in interest in these projects with the Cayman Islands becoming the jurisdiction of choice for launching ICOs and other blockchain technology projects.
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