BNP Paribas established its global prime services division in 2003 and, in more recent years the firm has made a concerted effort to build out the business. In 2008, BNP Paribas acquired the prime brokerage business of Bank of America, establishing a US footprint and client base. In 2011, the firm embarked on a technology upgrade and invested in a new global prime brokerage platform with a view to increasing its business in Europe and Asia. BNP Paribas now has 220 front office personnel spanning all three regions supporting a wide range of clients. BNP Paribas is a leading derivatives

“While new business momentum from start-up funds remains strong for our firm, the noticeable difference in our growth over the past couple of years has been the increasing traction we’ve had with more seasoned portfolio managers. Because these managers had successfully managed money at established hedge funds before, they are launching their own firms with materially larger initial capital than we had seen in previous years,” observes Jack Seibald (pictured), managing member at Concept Capital Markets LLC, one of North America’s leading introducing brokers. This activity is partly a result of the dislocation at larger fund complexes. Certain platforms and

Multiple award-winning hedge fund administrator Opus Fund Services was established in Bermuda in 2006, subsequently expanding its footprint into the US with offices in Chicago (2008), San Francisco (2009), New York (2013) and most recently Portland, OR (2014). Opus serves over 150 fund managers and 250 funds with a combined AuM of USD 8.3bn. With investors being increasingly forensic in how they assess fund managers, their respective administrators need to employ more sophisticated technology solutions to support middle and back-office operations. In that regard, Opus is no different. The ONE Dashboard provides clients with full transparency with a “you see

Helping clients access the widening spectrum of European hedge fund opportunities has culminated in Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services being voted ‘Best European Hedge Fund Administrator’. “This is an exciting time for Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services,” says Liam Butler (pictured), Head of Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services in EMEA. “Over the past twelve months we have built on our two decades of experience in Europe by greatly expanding our product depth, locations support and staff expertise.”   Key to these developments is its next generation platform which brings advanced middle-office capabilities in support of European clients. Advantages include:  

JP Fund Administration is part of the JP Funds Group with offices located in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Singapore and representation in Australia. The Group describes itself as a boutique service provider offering fund establishment, middle office support and fund administration. The in-house legal team project manage fund establishment in cooperation with investment managers and external law firms to deliver the fund structure that the asset manager and key investors seek. Dominic Lawton-Smith, Director of JP Funds Group says, “For us it’s all about taking the time to understand an investment manager’s strategy, helping to guide

Lyxor Asset Management continues to push the envelope when it comes to bringing innovation to its market-leading managed account platform. Lyxor currently supports approximately 100 managers and over USD12bn in AuM, of which 80 managers sit on the commingled platform with a further 20 managers offering dedicated funds to institutional investors. At the heart of Lyxor’s investment philosophy is ensuring that the best-in-class managers are made available to its investors with a strong focus on transparency and risk management. One initiative that Lyxor has recently launched involves identifying early stage managers. Last August Paris-based Melanion Capital became the first such

By Marianne Scordell (pictured), Bougeville Consulting – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness”, famously wrote Charles Dickens at the start of one of his novels, the title of which we borrowed last year1. While those words were seeking to describe another epoch, the sense of movement, upheaval and uncertainty they convey somehow echoes the array of changes currently impacting the hedge fund industry, in Europe especially. From regulation to redistribution of investment allocation and of returns between asset classes, at a time when better

UMB Fund Services administrates approximately USD190bn of assets across its mutual funds and alternative funds business. Its alternative investment division has been supporting hedge funds, private equity funds, fund-of-funds since 1991. It currently administers USD30bn of alternative assets and as Lonnie Macdonald, EVP of Alternative Investments at UMB Fund Services, comments: “We’ve had a great first quarter. We had a big win with a US private equity business with over USD3bn in AuM. Our pipeline looks great for 2014.”   With so much regulation for administrators to keep abreast of, the need to provide effective data management and data delivery

Event-driven, equity hedge and activism were strong themes in 2013 and will likely continue in 2014 according to Kenneth Heinz (pictured), President of Hedge Fund Research. Activism was certainly a great trade in 2013; the HFRX Activist Index posted gains of 19.22 per cent. Equally, the HFRX Event-Driven Index gained 13.87 per cent and is already up 2.72 per cent YTD. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained 2.0 percent in February; this after posting a gain of 9.2 per cent in 2013, the best figures since 2010.   “Overall, investors and managers were generally satisfied with performance. As you

Advance Emerging Capital Limited is a London-based investment management company with a dedicated focus on global emerging and frontier growth market equities. The firm was established in 1996 by former Bank of England executive Nigel Wilson. In the early years, Advance Emerging Capital focused exclusively on emerging market equities. This remit was extended to include frontier market equities when Dr Slim Feriani (piuctured) took over the reins as CEO and CIO in 2005. Currently, the firm runs six funds and one segregated mandate. Four of the six products are long-only fund of funds, the other two being direct equity investment mandates.