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The FTSE China A50 futures and Nikkei 225 options traded on Singapore Exchange (SGX) topped the global equity derivatives category between 2008 and 2013, according to the Futures Industry Association (FIA) Annual Volume Survey.
SGX China A50 futures’ volume grew 63894.2 per cent to 21.9 million while SGX Nikkei 225 options grew 4260.9 per cent to 10.2 million.
In 2013 alone, the SGX China A50 futures more than doubled its 2012 volumes, making it one of the fastest growing equity index contracts in the world. Similarly, the Nikkei Options also grew rapidly at 132 per cent YoY.
Overall,
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Jefferies with failing to supervise employees on its mortgage-backed securities desk who were lying to customers about pricing.
An SEC investigation found that Jefferies representatives including Jesse Litvak, who the SEC charged with securities fraud last year, lied to customers about the prices that the firm paid for certain mortgage-backed securities, thus misleading them about the true amount of profits being earned by the firm in its trading.
Jefferies’ policy required supervisors to review the electronic communications of traders and salespeople in order to flag any untrue or misleading information provided
Hedge funds started the year on a positive note, taking in USD4.4bn or 0.2 per cent of assets in January, according to figures released by BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research.
“The hedge fund industry took in USD56.6bn in the 12 months ended in January, a big reversal of the outflow of USD12.6bn in the previous 12-month span,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge.
Industry assets dipped to USD2.1trn in January from December’s five-year high of USD2.2trn, according to estimates based on data from 3,362 funds. Assets rose 14 per cent in the past 12 months but were
Alceda Asset Management has been granted a licence to act as Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).
The licence will enable Alceda to work with initiators of alternative investment funds (AIFs) covering both traditional open-end equity and bond funds as well as closed-end real asset funds.
AIFs, which market and distribute in Europe, will now have the option to outsource the AIFM responsibilities of their fund to Alceda.
Michael Sanders (pictured), managing director of Alceda Asset Management and chairman of the board of Alceda Fund Management, says: “This capability allows us
The European Commodity Clearing (ECC) has expanded its offering to include reporting services required under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
All market participants are obliged to forward data on concluded derivatives market transactions to a trade repository. ECC customers can now delegate this task to the clearing house.
“We have already connected six clearing members and 20 non-clearing members to our service,” says Dr Thomas Siegl, chief risk officer at ECC. “Just in time for the entry into force of this obligation, our participants were able to use this new service offered by ECC.”
The trade reporting
SEI has launched The Advisors’ Inner Circle Fund (AIC) III with an eye towards helping managers of private funds enter the retail space.
AIC III is the third series trust in the AIC platform that SEI first introduced over 20 years ago and was developed to provide managers with a turnkey solution for the operations of retail mutual funds.
This solution included an independent board of trustees, compliance programme, fund administration, accounting, investor servicing, and distribution services.
AIC III combines the size of SEI’s series trust platform and SEI’s background in alternative services with a new fund board experienced in the alternative investment market.
Options on futures markets are seeing rapid growth in trading volumes as investors expand their use of these instruments in hedging and volatility strategies.
This is especially so as investors have anticipated changes in the winding down of the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) programme, generating strong growth in interest rate derivatives markets.
According to new research from TABB, “Options on Futures: A Market Primed for Further Expansion,” options on futures trading volume is expected to remain strong in 2014, growing 15 per cent, as fiscal policy shifts and increased volatility drive market activity.
“Leveraging growing liquidity,
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management's (DeAWM) Aggregator Solutions fund has recently acquired a USD85m portfolio of illiquid hedge funds from a Swiss asset manager.
The fund closed in August 2013 with commitments from professional investors of USD1bn.
The Aggregator Solutions fund has now either acquired or had bids accepted on positions with a net asset value of more than USD400m from professional investors since it launched in October 2012. The fund was set up to invest in illiquid or lower-liquidity hedge funds, particularly in situations where market conditions make it difficult for investors to redeem their holdings.
Magnus
The Swiss banking group Syz & Co has launched Oyster Market Neutral Plus, a new sub-fund of Oyster, its Luxembourg UCITS SICAV.
The fund is an increased leverage version of the Oyster Market Neutral fund, whose neutral beta long/short strategy has proved itself since it was launched four years ago.
Managed by Syz Asset Management according to the same investment process and with the same diversification and non-correlation objectives as the original fund, Oyster Market Neutral Plus offers 2x leverage and targets a return of LIBOR +10 per cent.
With a target return of Libor +10 per cent
The CFTC has announced that Bloomberg SEF’s available-to-trade determinations (MAT determinations) for certain interest rate swap (IRS) and credit default swap (CDS) contracts are now self-certified.
This self-certification involves only certain IRS and CDS contracts made available to trade via earlier determinations that were self-certified on 16 January, 22 January and 27 January 2014, respectively.
These determinations became effective on 15 February, 21 February and 26 February 2014 meaning that the CDS contracts and IRS contracts in this MAT determination, whether listed or offered by Bloomberg or any other SEF or designated contract market (DCM), are subject to the
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