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David M Nunn has been fined USD600,000 for entering into fictitious sales, engaging in illegal non-competitive and fictitious trades in coffee futures contracts over a two-year period, and making false statements to representatives of ICE Futures US.
Nunn is a Vermont resident and a former ICE floor broker.
The consent order of permanent injunction, entered on 18 December 2013, requires Nunn to pay a USD600,000 civil monetary penalty and, among other sanctions, permanently bans Nunn from trading on a registered entity, soliciting or receiving funds for trading on a registered entity, applying for registration or claiming exemption from registration
Important concessions by the UK Treasury in relation to the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) have been announced, according to specialist financial services regulatory consultancy Bovill.
Deadlines surrounding AIFMD will be relaxed, following concerns by the financial services sector that many fund managers would need to shut up shop if they did not file their AIFMD application by 22 January.
The concession announced today will mean that if an AIFM’s application for authorisation or registration is filed after 22 January they can still trade. However, the 22 July deadline for authorisation or registration still remains in place.
Hedge funds gained 0.71 per cent in November, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
The index is up 9.84 per cent year to date.
“A rate cut in Europe, far-reaching reforms announced in China, and generally positive economic data contributed to a third month of rising equity prices," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Sixteen of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had gains in November. The Barclay Healthcare & Biotechnology Index jumped 3.05 per cent, Distressed Securities gained 1.71 per cent, Global Macro added 1.68 per cent, Equity Long Bias was up
Two law firms in the Cayman Islands have agreed to merge early in the new year forming one of the strongest and most experienced practices in the Caribbean.
Travers Thorp Alberga and Paget-Brown will continue as Travers Thorp Alberga with Ian Paget-Brown QC assuming the role of counsel in the new company.
Paget-Brown says: “The growth of my practice over the last 40 years has been a source of immense pride to me but I feel the time is now right for my clients to benefit from the specialised legal expertise available at Travers Thorp Alberga.
“I would like
A New York federal judge has ruled in favour of S&P Dow Jones Indices (SPDJI) and dismissed an action brought by International Securities Exchange (ISE) that challenged SPDJI’s rights to license its indices for use.
The Court observed that ISE was trying “to litigate again the very issues that they lost in the Illinois courts,” and the Court ruled: “I hold that ISE cannot do so, that full faith and credit is to be given to the final judgment of the Illinois courts, and that ISE’s lawsuit in this court is barred.”
The ruling rejects a challenge to CBOE’s
SSARIS Advisors, an affiliate of State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), has appointed Paul Lucek as chief executive, effective 1 January 2014.
Lucek (pictured) succeeds Mark Rosenberg, who will relinquish his role as CEO at the end of this year.
In addition to the role of CEO, Lucek will maintain his current responsibilities as chief investment officer of SSARIS’ hedge fund group.
Rob Covino has been named president of SSARIS, in addition to his existing responsibilities as head of business development.
Along with Scott Powers, SSgA president and CEO, Rosenberg will stay on as co-chairman of the SSARIS board
After several years of pedestrian performance in Asia, hedge funds are starting to rally, and compensation is adjusting accordingly, says professional services firm Heidrick & Struggles.
According to the firm’s second annual Hedge Fund Compensation Survey (Asia 2013), base salaries for hedge fund staff are starting to be adjusted.
“In both 2012 and 2013, 40 per cent of respondents reported increases in base salaries, indicating an upward trend. The rises are skewed in favor of junior analysts and execution traders whose salaries have been worst affected over the past few years.”
Some 37 per cent of respondents reported increases
More investors than ever before feel that their hedge fund investments have exceeded expectations, according to a survey carried out by Preqin.
In November 2013, Preqin interviewed 148 institutional investors with a total of more than USD60bn invested in hedge funds to ascertain their outlook on the industry for 2014.
Of those interviewed, some 21% of investors stated hedge fund returns in 2013 had exceeded expectations, while a further 63% stated that returns expectations had been met.
Just 16% of investors felt returns expectations had not been met, a noticeable decrease from the 41% that stated the same for 2012 in
Managed futures strategies fared well in November, as evidenced by the performance of the Newedge CTA, trend and short-term traders indices.
The opportunity set seemed particularly favourable for trend-following strategies, as all 10 constituents of the Newedge Trend Index reported positive returns in November.
The top year-to-date performer of 2013, through November, remains the Newedge Commodity Trading Index (Equity), which has returned 15.48 per cent over the 11-month period.
Ridge Road Partners, a private investment partnership focused on long-run value creation, has appointed former Ward Ferry Management partner and fund manager Michael Mager as a partner of the firm.
In his new role, Mager will help develop Ridge Road’s public market efforts in addition to working on the firm’s existing private investments. He will be based in New York.
Mager joins Ridge Road’s managing partners – hedge fund veteran Adam Jiwan and entrepreneur Brian Norton – who formed the partnership in October 2012.
Ridge Road focuses on long-run value creation by acquiring and developing private companies and
