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IS Prime, the new foreign exchange brokerage service launched in late 2014, has hired two former Sucden Financial employees, Andrew Biggs and Jean Claude Francois.
An Biggs’ role will focus on delivering tailor-made solutions for IS Prime’s institutional client base, with responsibility for electronic trading solutions, client coverage and analytics; while Francois will be the lead contact for client on-boarding, reporting and front-to-back MT4 set-ups.
Biggs’ career has focused on e-FX and CFD sales and execution. His introduction to the industry was at a successful retail brokerage where he swiftly rose to head the European sales and coverage team
Global Prime Partners, a provider of prime brokerage and trading services to hedge funds, asset managers, family offices and professional traders, has appointed Andrew Bole as Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Bole joins Global Prime Partners from IG Group Holdings where he was Chief Risk Officer and a key member of their senior management team. He brings more than 15 years of management experience in the industry.
Julian Parker CEO at Global Prime Partners, says: “The Board recognises the increasing emphasis on regulation and risk management across the financial sector. Andrew will be instrumental in managing business processes and improvements
During the last two weeks of December, hedge funds erased the bulk of the losses recorded earlier in December, when risk aversion was elevated. CTAs were again the best performers, in a remake of the patterns observed throughout the year (+4.7%from 16 December to 30 December). The good news came from Event Driven managers, up +3.1% during the same period. Yet, December was overall a mixed month, the Lyxor Hedge Fund Index being down 0.2% on the back of the underperformance of Fixed Income strategies (-3.1%). Their poor showing was related to the sharp high yield spread widening recorded earlier in the month, when liquidity issues emerged
One of the inherent risks to investing in hedge funds is the inherent volatility of performance. A top fund today might be the worst tomorrow. In Preqin’s latest November Hedge Fund Spotlight report, which looks at this year’s top 100 performing hedge funds, only three funds feature on the list from 2013.
To qualify, only those funds with USD100m or more in AuM were considered. The sample period was October 2013 through September 2014.
What is clear from the list is that the top performing funds over the past 12 months are more volatile. Whereas year-on-year only three funds made
Turnover at the cash markets of Deutsche Börse stood at EUR1.28 trillion (2013: EUR1.16 trillion), in 2014.
Order book turnover on Xetra, Börse Frankfurt and Tradegate stood at EUR108.9 billion in December (December 2013: EUR85.4 billion). Of the EUR108.9 billion, EUR100.7 billion were attributable to Xetra (December 2013: EUR77.2 billion). EUR4.0 billion were attributable to Börse Frankfurt (December 2013: EUR4.2 billion). Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange totalled approximately EUR4.3 billion in December (December 2013: EUR4.0 billion).
In equities, turnover reached about EUR91.4 billion on Deutsche Börse’s cash markets (Xetra: EUR85.6 billion, Börse Frankfurt: EUR1.9 billion, Tradegate Exchange: EUR3.9 billion).
Hedge fund founder Thomas Gilbert has been found dead following a shooting at his apartment in Manhattan. According to police reports, the 70-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene having been shot once in the head.
Gilbert founded Wainscott Partners in 2011 and the fund, which focuses on investments in the biotech and healthcare industries, currently has assets of around USD200 million.
According to US newspaper reports, Gilbert was killed following an argument with his 30-year-old son who is said to have fled the scene afterwards on foot.
The international derivatives markets of Eurex Group ended 2014 with a turnover of approximately 2.1 billion contracts (2013: 2.2 billion contracts).
The total volume for 2014 splits into 1.5 billion contracts traded at Eurex Exchange (2013: 1.6 billion) and 607.4 million contracts traded at the International Securities Exchange (ISE) (2013: 638.8 million). This corresponds to a daily average trading volume of 8.3 million contracts, thereof 5.9 million contracts at Eurex Exchange and 2.4 million contracts at ISE.
In 2014 the equity index derivatives segment was the largest at Eurex Exchange with a total annual volume of 708.4 million contracts (2013:
Three of Market Vectors Index Solutions (MVIS) six investable Long/Short Equity Indices, recorded positive performance in December.
Each index is constructed using transparent, liquid ETFs and US Treasury securities to produce hedge fund-style returns without hedge fund pricing, opaqueness and redemption restrictions.
The Market Vectors North America Long/Short Equity Index led the way with a return of 0.36%, followed by Market Vectors Global Long/Short Equity Index (0.10%) and Market Vectors Asia (Developed) Long/Short Equity Index (0.09%).
The Market Vectors Western Europe Long/Short Equity Index recorded the biggest loss with a return of -1.57%, while the Market Vectors Emerging Markets Long/Short
From the launch date of 15 May 2014 to 17 December 2014, the total trading volume of Eurex listed Daily Futures on TAIEX Futures (TX) and TAIEX Options (TXO) totalled 201,610 contracts.
Along with an increasing uncertainty in world financial markets recently, the Eurex/TAIFEX Link has become the best choice to manage position risks in an after-hour trading session in Taiwan futures market. The trading volume continued to mark an uptrend force, hitting a record high of 4,374 contracts on 16 December.
When Eurex/TAIFEX Link was first introduced, the average daily trading volume (ADV) in May is merely 599
Singapore Exchange will upgrade its derivatives trading and clearing platforms to further strengthen Singapore’s market infrastructure and to support the strong volume growth in SGX’s derivatives business.
The upgraded platforms, SGX TITAN, will ensure continued agility and innovation in terms of new products and services offered by SGX. It is designed to increase efficiency and lower trading and clearing costs for market participants. Industry standard access protocols, extensive self-help functionality and improved straight-through-processing will be the significant benefits from the upgraded infrastructure. SGX already offers the longest trading hours of any Asian exchange, and SGX TITAN will strengthen its risk
