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By Tim Clipstone (pictured) & Jill Shaw, Maples & Calder – It has been almost a year since the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (“AIFMD”) was due to be implemented by the member states of the European Union (the “Member States”) on 22 July 2013 and a number of Member States have yet to enact legislation to transpose AIFMD while others, including the United Kingdom, Ireland and Luxembourg, enacted transitional provisions which gave managers of alternative investment funds one year, until 22 July 2014, to determine what steps, if any, need to be taken to ensure compliance with the provisions of
Global markets and financial advisory firm StormHarbour Securities is to acquire a 49 per cent stake in Japanese hedge fund manager Asuka Asset Management for an undisclosed fee.
StormHarbour, an investment bank founded in March 2009 by Antonio Cacorino and Fredrick Chapey, has branches in seven cities across the globe and comprises about 170 professional employees.
The deal will allow StormHarbour to diversify from its current financial products brokerage and portfolio advisory business into full scale Asian asset management. Asuka meanwhile, will be able to make use of StormHarbour’s global network and gain access to a wide range of
By Gary Kaminsky, ConceptONE – It seems almost daily that regulators on both sides of the pond remind the industry of the importance of compliance and their high expectations of the individuals charged with managing the risks associated with operating an asset management company in the current environment.
Article 61 of Level 2 of the AIFMD mandates that AIFMs “establish, implement and maintain adequate policies and procedures designed to detect any risk of failure by the AIFM to comply with its obligation under [the Directive]”, and that they designate a permanent compliance officer to oversee these. (Council Directive 2011/61/EU on
Last year there was considerable angst and uncertainty among hedge fund managers. Central to their concerns was the impact appointing an independent depositary under AIFMD would have on their existing prime brokerage relationships. Twelve months on, however, and much progress has been made to alleviate these fears, with Mike Hughes (pictured), Global Head of Fund Services at Deutsche Bank, referring to the period as a ‘game of two halves’ (in World Cup parlance).
“In the latter half of last year there was still a lot of uncertainty. Where would the depositary fit in terms of the overall client relationship? The
The publication of the Global Fund Media Guide to AIFMD 2014 is timed to coincide with the 22 July 2014 date by which AIFMs are required to submit their applications for authorisation to their relevant competent authorities in compliance with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.
The GFM Guide to AIMFD is the inaugural edition of this unique online publication being made available to the 50,000-strong audience of investment managers, institutional investors and fund service providers that read GFM’s family of investment management newswires daily.
The focus of the Guide is to help managers, promoters and their advisers navigate
Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) has launched a trade repository reporting offer for OTC derivatives, servicing multi-counterparties and multi-asset classes, under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
The new regulation requires that all EU counterparties report their derivative contracts, whether OTC or exchange-traded, to a trade repository in order to provide transparency in the derivatives markets.
As required by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), SGSS has designed its trade repository reporting service to support OTC derivatives users in the EU through the entire trading process. SGSS reports details for derivatives transactions to DTCC Derivatives Repository Ltd on
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted the first of a series of rules and guidance on cross-border security-based swap activities for market participants.
The new rules will be key to finalising the remaining proposals.
The rules and guidance explain when a cross-border transaction must be counted toward the requirement to register as a security-based swap dealer or major security-based swap participant. The rules also address the scope of the SEC’s cross-border anti-fraud authority.
The SEC also adopted a procedural rule regarding the submission of “substituted compliance” requests. This rule represents a first step in the SEC’s
Total assets in hedge funds surpassed USD3 trillion for the first time on record in May 2014, according to a report from eVestment.
The report reveals that after reaching a new all-time high in April, surpassing the Q2 2008 peak, new allocations and performance gains pushed the industry to a new milestone.
Investors continued to allocate heavily into hedge funds in May, the fourth consecutive month of elevated inflows. The USD22.0 billion of new capital added brings year-to-date flows to USD93.3 billion, the largest five month total to begin a year since 2007.
Performance gains added USD37.8 billion
Barclays has been charged with fraud over the marketing and operation of its dark pool and other aspects of its electronic trading division.
The complaint alleges Barclays has dramatically increased the market share of its dark pool through a series of false statements to clients and investors about how, and for whose benefit, Barclays operates its dark pool.
Contrary to Barclays’ representations that it has implemented special safeguards to protect clients from “aggressive” or predatory high-frequency traders, Barclays is accused of operating its dark pool to favour high-frequency traders.
“The facts alleged in our complaint show that Barclays
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) has issued a further extension of time-limited no-action relief to LCH.Clearnet Limited.
In the extension of CFTC Letter 13-52, DCR states that it will not recommend that the CFTC take enforcement action against (1) LCH for clearing certain swaps executed on, or subject to the rules of, designated contract markets (DCMs) or swap execution facilities (SEFs) or (2) clearing members of LCH for clearing DCM/SEF swaps through LCH.
The extension of no-action relief will expire at the earlier of 31 December 2014 or the date upon
