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AKJ, an independent brokerage and software group serving the institutional and hedge fund industries, has appointed Tom Mackay as general counsel.
Mackay has provided legal consultancy to AKJ for more than 12 years, but with the formation of AKJ Accelerator in 2012, his role has now developed into a more senior position.
AKJ Accelerator is a hedge fund solution for fund managers, which takes care of all the necessary components involved with the set up and day-to-day operation of a fund. As AKJ’s general counsel, Mackay is responsible for the global regulatory framework within AKJ Accelerator and will
The Newedge CTA and Trend Indices decreased in August, finishing down 1.75 per cent and 2.53 per cent respectively.
Commodity strategies, as represented by the Newedge Commodity Index and its sub-indices, were positive in August, while the Newedge Macro Indices encountered a difficult trading environment.
The top year-to-date performer through August remains the Newedge Commodity Trading Index (Equity), which has returned 13.30 per cent over the eight-month period.
Performance of the Newedge Short-Term Traders Index remains positive on the year (+1.94 per cent) and continues to display differentiated returns from longer-term strategies.
Ryan Duncan, global co-head
Fund sponsors are upgrading to more sophisticated fund governance solutions by moving beyond the friction of limited service providers to more widely-adopted institutional protocols.
This growth is reflected in DMS Offshore Investment Services’ 54 per cent increase in assets under management of its client funds from the prior year – which jumped from USD214bn to USD330bn – and is based on significant demand for its institutional fund governance services, particularly regulated directors, fund governance transparency reports, and independent director reports.
The firm increased its talent to more than 200 professionals during the same period.
"DMS is a
SYZ Asset Management, the institutional asset management arm of the Swiss banking Group SYZ & Co, has appointed Ian Penrose as distribution director for the UK.
Penrose, who will be responsible for promoting SYZ Asset Management’s (SYZ AM) capabilities, including the SYZ AM and Oyster funds, joins from Barclays Capital Funds & Advisory, where he was responsible for leading fund distribution to UK professional clients.
Penrose will be in charge of promoting the full range of SYZ Asset Management’s capabilities to the UK domestic market, including segregated mandates as well as the SYZ AM and OYSTER funds. With
The European repo market stands at EUR6,076bn, according to a survey by the European Repo Council of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).
This represents an increase of 8.6 per cent in the size of the market since the last survey in December 2012.
This recovery in the European repo market is in marked contrast to the contraction in the US repo market which was widely reported in July. The revival in repo activity in Europe appears to be driven by banks in the eurozone returning to the market for funding as they start to repay the exceptional
Investors are leading the way in shaping the future of the alternative investment industry, according to a soon to be published global survey by State Street.
The survey canvassed the opinions of 400 alternative fund managers from hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate funds.
“The Next Alternative: Thriving in a New Fund Environment” finds that fund managers see investor demands for greater transparency, more favourable fees and greater liquidity at the fund level as three of the top five drivers of change over the next five years.
“Alternative asset managers that want to create a
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) division of market oversight has issued a letter advising the Hong Kong Futures Exchange that its CES China 120 Index futures contract and its HSI Volatility Index futures contract submitted for review on 2 August 2013 are deemed certified.
The contracts satisfy the requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commission’s Regulations and may be offered or sold to persons in the US beginning 17 September 2013.
Managed futures lost 0.68 per cent in August, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
The index is down 2.41 per cent year to date.
“Many CTAs were long equity indices and got hurt in August as fears of military intervention in Syria and uncertainty over Fed tapering had a negative impact on prices,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Six of Barclay’s eight CTA indices lost ground in August. The Diversified Traders Index was down 0.99 per cent, Systematic Traders gave up 0.82 per cent, Currency Traders lost 0.48 per cent, and
Carey Olsen has appointed Michael Makridakis as partner and head of litigation in the firm’s Cayman Islands office.
Makridakis will assume responsibility for developing the firm’s litigation practice in the jurisdiction and specialises in insolvency, restructuring and commercial litigation with an emphasis on litigation involving distressed funds.
Makridakis’ appointment brings the partner numbers for Carey Olsen in the Cayman Islands to five with five associates.
Makridakis says: “Carey Olsen prides itself on providing the highest level of legal advice to clients and, as a result, the firm enjoys an outstanding reputation for offshore legal services globally. I
Convergence, a provider of data, tools and models to asset managers, investors and service providers, has launched a new website – www.convergencellc.us.
Convergence was formed to work with alternative and traditional asset managers to achieve optimal performance across their infrastructure platform.
The firm’s management team has significant experience implementing highly efficient infrastructure at a number of leading asset managers. Convergence uses proprietary benchmark data, combined with analytical tools and models to identify opportunities to reduce management company and fund expenses, and also has an advisory and solutions practice which can develop, implement and manage flexible service models including
