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International law firm Withers has hired Andrea Luciano as a partner and head of financial services and investment funds in its Milan office.
Luciano joins the firm from King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, where he headed the Italian financial markets group.
Luciano has extensive experience in capital markets/debt matters, securitisation transactions and private equity, venture capital and hedge fund formation. He also has extensive experience of financial market regulation, compliance and AML procedures.
“We are delighted to welcome Andrea to our rapidly growing Italian team," says Withers’ Italian practice managing partner Roberta Crivellaro. "Andrea's expertise in financial
The London Metal Exchange (LME) is introducing a new fee schedule, which provides an all-in transaction fee with trading and clearing components, all now charged in USD.
The new simplified tariff, which comes into effect on 1 January, 2015, aligns exchange fees with the currency of the contracts traded.
The average LME transaction fee (including trading and clearing) will increase by 34 per cent.
“Our new tariff is integral to our evolution into a truly commercial global exchange and underpins our continued investment and our next phase of expansion following the successful launch of LME Clear last week,” says Garry Jones,
F Mark Fucci and Anne-Marie Godfrey are to join law firm Akin Gump’s Hong Kong office.
Fucci joins as a partner in the financial restructuring practice, while Godfrey is as a partner in the investment management practice.
Both Fucci and Godfrey are joining Akin Gump from Bingham McCuthcheon bringing the total number of partners switching between the two firms to 28.
The firm announced the forthcoming arrival of 22 partners in London, Hong Kong and Frankfurt on 17 September and four additional partners in London and Hong Kong on 22 September.
All 28 partners are expected to
Euronext is reducing client trading fees for transactions in Dutch individual equity and index options.
Fees for all retail investor transactions will be reduced from EUR0.40 cents to EUR0.31 cents as of 1 October, a reduction of almost 25 per cent.
From 1 November, the fee for market orders (orders at the best available price) will be further reduced to EUR0.20 cents, a 50 per cent reduction compared to the current fee.
“By lowering fees for our individual equity and index options, our aim is to respond to retail clients’ needs and promote trading on the central market.
Michael John Lytle (pictured), Chief Development Officer at ETF provider Source, comments on Neil Woodford's view that too many fund managers are over-charging clients…
It is important for investors to choose the right solution for the right problem.
Active management can add value, but most investors only want to invest in the top quartile funds, leaving three quarters of the fund management industry as increasingly unattractive.
In most circumstances it is because the active fund manager has failed to consistently out perform their benchmark. Active managers charge for that alpha, so when you cannot find an active manager who can outperform,
Some 58 per cent of firms in Asia Pacific are not prepared for a shorter settlement cycle in Europe which will change from trade date plus three days (T+3) to trade date plus two days (T+2) in October.
That’s according to a study by Celent, which was commissioned by Omgeo. Of the firms surveyed, approximately one in six firms has not started to implement necessary process and technology changes to operate in a T+2 environment.
The study also revealed, just weeks before the 6 October implementation date in Europe, that 19 per cent of firms are not aware of the
In the last few years, operational due diligence on hedge fund managers has taken on the same level of forensic detail as the hit TV show CSI New York. Given that this has coincided with greater institutional allocations, it is entirely understandable; mom and pop’s pension is at risk.
To be sure, no institutional investor can take a punt on allocating to a hedge fund manager, no matter how stellar their track record, if the operational infrastructure in place simply doesn’t meet the required standard. In a report published by Castle Hall Alternatives earlier this year entitled Six Principles of
Cyber security has quickly become a headline risk for hedge fund managers. On 15 April 2014, the SEC issued its Cyber-Security Risk Alert, a detailed 26-point questionnaire that aims to address various elements of a hedge fund’s technical and operational infrastructure to determine how vulnerable it is to cyber attacks and data theft.
This initiative is being driven by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. It will assess 50 individual firms and based on its findings will draft a set of final guidelines for hedge funds to adhere to. This is essentially a way to address ‘technology risk’
New York-based Liquid Holdings Group has developed a real-time risk analytics solution for those who manage multiple accounts, traders or strategies, and as a result require an aggregate view of market and liquidity risks. The new solution, LiquidFIRM (Financial Intermediary Risk Management), is the latest addition to Liquid’s cloud solutions and services.
“LiquidFIRM is unique in that it allows intermediaries to manage both pre-trade compliance and post-trade risk across underlying mangers and strategies. It empowers the intermediary’s risk oversight desk to do things like limit the buying power of certain managers, put fat finger checks in place and so on,
Hedge fund investors are taking a more measured approach to their allocation process. They want to understand the alpha proposition and the risk-weighted return profile of a manager but, as important as market risk is, they want assurances that operational risk is being demonstrably managed.
This is a big challenge for start-up fund managers: how do they get a robust infrastructure in place in a cost-efficient way and remain viable?
“The reality is if you’re a manager launching with USD5-10m it’s very hard to get a demonstrable infrastructure in place that ticks the box,” says Phillip Chapple of KB
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