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INDOS Financial, an independent Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) depositary business, has selected the accountancy and business advisory firm BDO to provide advisory and SOC1/ISAE 3402 (formerly SAS70) assurance services.
Bill Prew (pictured), chief executive of INDOS Financial, says: “We have already made a significant investment developing our AIFMD depositary oversight procedures and recognise the importance of ensuring they are robust and fit for purpose. We are committed to delivering independent SOC1/ISAE 3402 assurance reporting to our clients. We selected BDO because they have significant experience of both the AIFMD and working with the hedge fund industry including hedge
Liquidnet, the global institutional trading network, has expanded its commission management services (CMS) to members in Europe.
Since 2011, Liquidnet has offered a suite of commission management solutions designed to reduce the conflicts that stem from the simultaneous pursuit of best execution and the need to manage commission payments.
Liquidnet’s CMS services available to members across Europe will include:
• Liquidnet Commission Analyzer – Designed to help traders maximise every commission as they track against research targets. The Web-based interface provides buy-side institutions with the ability to gain immediate insight into their commission spend and balances on
Neil Williams (pictured), Chief Economist for Hermes’ Global Government & Inflation Bonds, on Bonk of England Governor Mark Carney’s forward guidance…
Governor Carney is right to be cautious about the ‘sugar-rush’ recovery so far, and keeping his stimulus options, such as QE, on the table. At first glance, though, marrying ‘forward guidance’ on rates with a 2% CPI target deferred another six-12 months to the end of 2015 will worry some he is further subordinating inflation-control to growth considerations. The MPC’s choice of unemployment as a policy-yardstick also seems as much as ‘puzzle’ as the puzzle it has posed them
NYSE Euronext has reported global derivatives average daily volume (ADV) of 6.4 million contracts, excluding Bclear, in July 2013, an increase of 3.2 per cent compared to July 2012 but a decrease of 27.1 per cent from June 2013.
NYSE Euronext European derivatives products ADV in July 2013 was 2.8 million contracts, excluding Bclear, an increase 5.4 per cent compared to July 2012, but a decrease of 33.1 per cent from June 2013 levels.
Including Bclear, NYSE Liffe’s trade administration and clearing service for OTC products, European derivatives ADV decreased 2.7 per cent compared to July 2012, and
Orb, a boutique employee benefits and workplace pensions consultancy that specialises in working with hedge funds and their suppliers, has appointed Brad Baker as a senior employee benefits consultant.
Joining Orb from Creative Benefit Solutions where he held the same position. Baker will advise clients on a wide range of employee benefits, including defined contribution pension schemes and auto-enrolment.
Baker has over 17 years’ experience in the industry, and previously spent many years with Friends Provident as a senior corporate pensions consultant.
Geraint Williams, Orb’s managing director, says: “Our business has grown very strongly over the past
Dexia Asset Management’s half year activity report shows that assets under management remained stable, standing at EUR72.7bn as of 30 June 2013, compared to EUR72.9bn at the start of the year.
Adjusted net new cash (NNC) was slightly negative at -EUR192m YTD, but turned strongly positive in Q2 at +EUR1.467 bn.
The European business performed particularly well over the year with a positive NNC of +EUR1.4bn YTD due to strong net inflows in retail and private banking products and several new institutional mandates won.
Dexia AM funds have demonstrated strong performances and generated strong returns for investors.
Perella Weinberg Partners is to launch the PWP Global Macro Strategy, a highly liquid global macro strategy investing in equity indices, currencies, sovereign debt, credit and commodities.
The new strategy will be led by Maria Vassalou, who has joined the firm as a partner and portfolio manager in its asset management business. Vassalou will be based in New York.
Vassalou joins Perella Weinberg Partners from MIO Partners, a subsidiary of McKinsey & Company, where as a portfolio manager she used a similar global macro investment strategy, and as head of asset allocation, provided counsel on allocation for liquid
The Hedge Fund Association (HFA) has appointed wealth consultant Hannah Shaw Grove to its high-net-worth advisory board.
Shaw Grove (pictured) is one of the leading authorities on the high-net-worth population and how they think. Her reputation has been built on more than 20 years of hands-on work and primary research with wealthy families and their trusted advisors. She is a founder and executive editor of Private Wealth, a publication for high-end service professionals with ultra-affluent clients. She is also the author of 10 books on topics including family offices, hedge funds and wealth management.
“The HFA is very
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) division of market oversight has issued an amendment to CFTC No-Action Letter No 13-48, which grants relief from the aggregation prohibition for certain commodity trading advisors (CTAs) and investment advisors (IAs) with respect to large notional off-facility swaps.
The no-action letter provides that until 1 October 2013 at 11:59 pm EST, the division will not recommend that the Commission take enforcement action against CTAs and IAs that aggregate orders for the purpose of executing large notional off-facility swaps, provided they meet specified conditions.
The letter also grants relief from the aggregation prohibition
Multiplicity Partners has been appointed exclusive advisor by a major European bank to manage the realisation of a EUR340 million portfolio of complex investments involving fund structures in multiple on- and offshore jurisdictions.
Roger Rüegg, partner at Multiplicity, says: “This mandate is the result of extended discussions with the bank on structural impairment and the complexities arising at the client, fund and investment level.”
In a first step, Multiplicity conducts extensive due diligence to cluster the positions and multitude of issues currently faced. This is then followed by designing effective realisation strategies addressing in particular divergent needs of different stakeholders
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