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Azad Zangana (pictured), European Economist, Schroders comments on the latest quarterly Inflation Report from the Bank of England…
As part of its quarterly Inflation Report, the Bank of England (BoE) has decided to expand its use of macroeconomic variables in its presentation of forward guidance. The previous 7% unemployment rate threshold would have been breached in the coming months, which has prompted the Bank to re-assess its communications strategy.
Rather than focusing on the unemployment rate, the Bank will now focus on estimates of spare capacity, which is largely measured through the labour market. This is very similar to the
Concept Capital Markets has published a new guide to launching an alternative investment fund.
The report provides a roadmap for investment managers as they tackle the key issues involved in getting their new business off the ground.
Concept Capital has been involved in new fund launches for many years and has played a key role in getting a large number of managers started as well as helping them navigate their various growth phases.
The firm’s experience suggests that when investment managers make the right decisions early on, it enhances their success rate.
A sound business plan will
European asset manager La Française and Tages Capital, an alternative multi-management solutions provider, have entered into a strategic partnership.
Under the terms of the partnership, La Française will acquire a 40 per cent stake in Tages Capital and delegate the management of its existing range of funds of hedge funds and UCITS funds with approximately USD1bn of AUM to Tages Capital.
Pascale Auclair, chief executive officer of La Française des Placements, and two other La Française executives will be appointed to the management committee of Tages Capital. The transaction is subject to the customary regulatory approval processes.
As
Stephens International, an executive search consultancy focused on the global (re)insurance and financial markets, has appointed Jeremy Kemp as a director.
Kemp will lead the company’s coverage of the asset management, capital markets, derivatives and insurance-linked securities/alternatives space.
Mark Stephens, who established the business in 2009, has linked with Kemp to enable the specialist search and consultancy firm to serve the changing needs of its (re)insurance and financial markets clients.
Kemp will lead the business coverage for asset management, capital markets, derivatives and alternatives and ILS, having served these markets since 1997.
“Jeremy and I have already
eVestment has launched eVestment Quantum Analytics, a web-based solution that adds multi-asset class portfolio analysis and portfolio construction capabilities to the firm’s existing data and analytics offerings.
Quantum is part of eVestment’s revamped suite of solutions designed to analyse and report on both traditional and alternative investment strategies while offering flexibility through tiered offerings for diverse client types.
“For members of the institutional investment world who need to construct and analyse strategies at a portfolio level, Quantum provides both the data across asset classes and the types of statistical and industry standard calculations necessary to guide portfolio level decisions,”
Hedge funds had their biggest outflow of 2013 in December, redeeming USD10.4bn or 0.5 per cent of assets, according to the latest TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report.
“The hedge fund industry took in a three-year high of USD56.5bn in 2013, a strong turnaround from 2012, when the industry shed USD28.9bn,” said Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge.
“Industry assets climbed to a five-year high of USD2.2trn in December from USD2.1trn in November, according to estimates based on data from 3,372 funds. Assets rose 19.9 per cent last year but were down 11.6 per cent from the all-time high
With just five months until the deadline for complying with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), hedge fund administrators are reporting that up to a fifth of fund managers are still not prepared.
A strong regulatory environment in each EU member state and guidelines from regulators are critical to providing fund managers with the necessary framework to ensure that the requirements of AIFMD are met by the looming deadline, says Nicola Smith, CEO of Gibraltar-based fund administrator, Helvetic Fund Administration.
Smith believes that full compliance with AIFMD is unavoidable and active steps should be and can still be taken during this final period to achieve compliance, or face penalties.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is introducing measures to promote trading on swap execution facilities (SEFs).
The Commission wants to support an orderly transition to mandatory trading of swaps, which begins for certain interest rate swaps on 15 February, 2014.
“As a result of the trade execution mandate, next week many swaps for the first time will trade on regulated platforms and benefit from market-wide, pre-trade transparency,” says acting chairman Mark Wetjen. “These measures, in conjunction with the Commission’s implementation of the trade execution mandate, will maximise the level of trading on these regulated platforms and support the transition to
The value of assets under custody held by Clearstream on behalf of customers registered an increase of six per cent to EUR12.0trn in January 2014 from EUR11.3trn in January 2013.
Securities held under custody in Clearstream’s international business as international central securities depository (ICSD) increased by seven per cent from EUR5.9trn in January 2013 to EUR6.3trn in January 2014, while domestic German securities held under custody in the German central securities depository (CSD) increased by five per cent from EUR5.3trn in January 2013 to EUR5.6trn in January 2014.
In January 2014, 3.90 million international settlement transactions were processed, an
The Central Bank of Ireland has confirmed that it will, with immediate effect, recognise the ability of authorised alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) to passport the services described in Article 6(4) of the alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
Under the AIFMD, Member States are permitted to authorise AIFMs to provide certain investment services in addition to the collective management of alternative investment funds (AIFs), including management of portfolios of investments, investment advice, safekeeping and administration in relation to the shares or units of collective investment undertakings and reception and transmission of orders in relation to financial instruments.
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