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By Nick Bayley (pictured), Duff & Phelps – In the good old days (any time before MiFID came along in 2007) the structure of European capital markets was relatively simple. There were really only two types of markets: highly transparent, exchange-operated markets and relatively opaque, over the counter (OTC) markets.
This was an era when the European markets were almost entirely free of statutory regulation and the exchanges were de facto monopolies in their particular asset class and jurisdiction. In order to trade equity, equity derivatives, commodity futures or whatever, you had to be a member of the relevant
The US CFTC has filed a civil enforcement action against Monex Deposit Company, Monex Credit Company, and Newport Services Corporation (collectively, Monex), and Monex’s principals Louis Carabini and Michael Carabini, in connection with a fraudulent precious metals scheme.
The CFTC complaint charges the Defendants, among other claims, with defrauding thousands of retail customers nationwide out of hundreds of millions of dollars, while executing thousands of illegal, off-exchange leveraged commodity transactions.
James McDonald, the CFTC’s Director of Enforcement: says: “Today, we announce the filing of one of the largest precious metals fraud cases in the history of the Commission. As alleged,
Following a challenging first half of the year, CTAs continued their upwards trajectory in August, with their second positive month, up 2.07 per cent. The developments in H2 are taking CTAs almost back into positive territory.
The SG CTA Mutual Index was also up 0.83 per cent in August and back to flat year to date.
The returns were primarily driven by trend following, the SG Trend Index was the biggest winner, up 2.61 per cent, although some individual CTA returns were higher. Short term trading strategies had a very mixed month, as the individual constituent CTA returns ranged
Having managed a successful UK High Alpha strategy for Institutional Clients for over 13 years, Mirabaud Asset Management has decided to reposition its existing UK Equity High Income Fund into a High Alpha Strategy from 1 October.
The fund will be managed by Jeremy Hewlett, who is in the UK Equity Team headed by David Kneale.
The Mirabaud – Equities UK High Alpha fund will be an unconstrained, actively managed, high conviction, concentrated portfolio of best ideas. The team look for quality businesses with strong barriers to entry and which are cash flow generative over multiple years.
“Mirabaud
Intralinks, in partnership with Global Fund Media, has conducted a global survey of Limited Partners (LPs) to examine how investors view the General Partners (GPs) they currently allocate to.
The survey provides statistics and trend analysis on a number of themes including how alternative investment remains a key component of investors’ portfolios, the rise of direct investing and co-investment interest, the importance of the level of transparency LPs receive from their fund managers, regulatory pressures facing the market today, and the impact GDPR will have not only on European fund managers, but on any global fund manager with European investors.
Muzinich & Co has hired Simon Males as Managing Director, Head of Institutional Business, effective this winter.
In this newly-created role, Males will be responsible for the growth and development of the firm’s UK institutional client base and consultant relationships and will report directly to George Muzinich, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“I am delighted to be joining such a well-established and respected corporate credit specialist,” says Males. “Public and private debt will remain integral to institutional client portfolios. Pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional clients will continue to seek out solutions-oriented providers offering fixed income diversification and
Cobalt, the FX post-trade processing network based on distributed ledger technology, has joined the BT Radianz Cloud, meaning organisations can now access Cobalt’s private peer-to-peer and blockchain services via their highly secure and resilient Radianz Cloud connections.
Cobalt uses distributed ledger technology to remove cost and complexity from post-trade processing. It leverages blockchain-derived concepts of encryption, digital signatures and consensus to deliver a single, immutable record for each trade, replacing traditional systems which often involve duplicated processes. By creating a shared view of trade data, Cobalt frees up back and middle office resources from multiple layers of reconciliation, speeding up
The alternative assets industry reached a record size as of the end of 2016, according to the latest performance analysis data released by Preqin examining assets under management, horizon returns, public market equivalents and top performing funds.
Hedge funds saw their assets hit a record USD3.25 trillion, despite net investor outflows through the year. Private capital funds, meanwhile, increased their assets by over 7 per cent, from USD4.27 trillion as of the end of 2015 to USD4.59 trillion 12 months later. Private equity funds represent the largest proportion at USD2.58 trillion, followed by real estate (USD785 billion), private debt (USD605
Torstone Technology, a provider of post-trade securities and derivatives processing, has appointed Mack Gill as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and member of the Board of Directors, based at the firm’s London headquarters.
Gill (pictured), has a wealth of experience in capital markets technology, having worked with the world’s leading exchanges, clearing houses, depositories, banks and brokers; most recently in his role as CEO of MillenniumIT, a leading trading technology company and subsidiary of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
At MillenniumIT Mack significantly grew the business, establishing new client partnerships with exchanges and clearing houses in regions around the world.
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Investment Company Institute (ICI) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), on behalf of the T+2 Industry Steering Committee (T+2 ISC), have supervised the transition to a standard settlement timeframe of trade date plus two days (T+2) for in-scope securities, including US equity, corporate and municipal bond, and unit investment trust (UIT) trades, reducing operational and systemic risks to the US marketplace.
Trades in the affected securities will now settle in two business days instead of the previous three-day cycle, providing significant benefits, including reduced market and counterparty risk, increased financial
