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Fiona Le Poidevin (pictured) of Guernsey Finance explains why Guernsey is an attractive place for Mena family offices to allocate their investments…
Writing in the October 2013 issue of Mena FM, I noted that a delegation from Guernsey was attending the SuperReturn Middle East conference in Abu Dhabi. Later last year a separate team also attended the Opal Middle Eastern Family Office Symposium in Dubai.
We found that both conferences were attended by a significant number of family offices (FOs) of wealthy Middle Eastern patriarchs looking for suitable investment opportunities and also fund managers who are seeking to raise
UBS Fund Services has launched its Depositary "Lite" platform to help managers of offshore funds fulfil the requirements of the Alternative Investment Funds Directive (AIFMD).
UBS will conduct the cash flow monitoring, safekeeping and general oversight requirements as required by the Directive which will be a change to the existing framework for offshore funds.
This new service is one of many new product offerings that UBS Fund Services will bring to market in 2014 to further support managers target European capital.
David Rochford, head of regulatory product development at UBS Fund Services, says: “We offer the full range
Average daily volume (ADV) in futures on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX Index) and total exchange-wide ADV at CFE reached record levels in February 2014.
Also during the month, the exchange launched trading of futures on the CBOE Short-Term Volatility Index (VXST).
Average daily volume in VIX futures reached a new record of 216,797 contracts during February, a 35 per cent increase from February 2013 and a three-percent increase from January.
February's ADV topped the previous ADV record of 210,674 contracts in June 2013. February trading volume in VIX futures totalled 4.12 million contracts, a 35 per cent
Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management (CFAM), a subsidiary of Cantor Fitzgerald, has acquired California-based Fintan Partners, a fixed income absolute return fund of hedge funds.
Fintan, led by founder Alexander Klikoff, will become part of Cantor Fitzgerald Asset Management (CFAM).
"This transaction is reflective of our objective to grow our asset management business and provide clients with exceptional investment opportunities under the Cantor umbrella," says Shawn P Matthews (pictured), chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. "As we expand our position in the asset management space by adding the Fintan team, our customers will benefit enormously from the exceptional breadth
DMS Offshore Investment Services, the world's largest fund governance firm, has been voted the Best Offshore Advisory Firm in the Hedgeweek Awards 2014.


DMS was selected through a poll of the magazine's readers and the firm had no part in soliciting the award. More than 2,600 persons took part in the voting.
Hedgeweek's readers are mainly hedge fund investors, managers and their advisers.


Matthew Brown (pictured), director for DMS Offshore Investment Services (Europe), accepted the award at a ceremony in London on 28 February.


"We are humbled at this vote of confidence from Hedgeweek's readership, and at
The international derivatives markets of Eurex Group recorded an average daily volume of 7.9 million contracts in February 2014, down from 8.7 million contracts in February 2013.
Of those, 5.4 million were Eurex Exchange contracts (Feb 2013: 6.3 million), and 2.6 million contracts were traded at the US-based International Securities Exchange (ISE) (Feb 2013: 2.7 million).
In total, 157.4 million contracts were traded, thereof 108.9 million at Eurex Exchange and 48.5 million at the ISE.
Eurex Exchange recorded in its equity index segment, the largest product segment, 50.7 million contracts compared with 56.9 million contracts in February 2013.
Order book turnover on Xetra, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Tradegate stood at EUR102.6bn in February 2014, up from EUR93bn in February 2013.
Of the EUR102.6bn, EUR93.4bn were attributable to Xetra (February 2013: EUR85.2bn) and EUR4.7bn were attributable to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (February 2013: EUR4.5bn).
Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange totalled approximately EUR4.6bn in February (February 2013: EUR3.3bn).
In equities, turnover reached EUR88.7bn on Deutsche Börse’s cash markets (Xetra: EUR82.4bn, Frankfurt Stock Exchange: EUR2.2bn, Tradegate Exchange: EUR4.2bn). Turnover in bonds was EUR1.1bn, and in structured products EUR1.4bn. Order book turnover in ETFs/ETCs/ETNs amounted to EUR11.2bn.


The annual re-weighting of Euronext’s AEX, AMX and AScX indices will take place after close of the markets on 21 March 2014.
The changes in the composition of these indices will be effective from 24 March 2014.
With regard to the AEX, Royal Boskalis Westminster, Delta Lloyd and OCI will be included, while Air France KLM, PostNL and Royal Imtech will be excluded.
For AMX, Accell Group, Air France KLM, Arseus, Exact Holding, PostNL, Royal Imtech and Sligro Food Group will be included, while AMG, Royal Boskalis Westminster, Delta Lloyd, Heijmans, OCI, Pharming Group and Unit4 will be
The Salus Alpha RN Special Situation fund delivered a good start to 2014, up 1.90 per cent in January.
According to the Exane report, Absolute Return UCITS Fund Performances – February 2014, the fund was the second best performing fund of 19 funds ranked under the event driven UCITS category.
Oliver Prock, chief executive and chief investment officer of Salus Alpha Capital, says: “Our fund seem to repeat the January stint in February and in the coming months because our approach is unique and able to generate positive returns in all environments, since it combines an opportunistic core portfolio
Mishcon de Reya has appointed two new partners to the firm's growing funds practice.
Tim Flood, who joins the firm at the beginning of March 2014 from Jones Day, focuses on securities regulation and investment funds.
His experience covers all aspects of investment funds law, and he regularly advises on the interpretation of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), as well as clients' rights and responsibilities under the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Flood has significant experience in money laundering issues; how overseas entities may conduct investment business and market their investment products and
