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Strong investment returns at the start of the quarter faltered after the Federal Reserve signalled that it may slow down its asset purchase programme amid improving economic data, a statement that reverberated through global markets.
Fixed income products felt the full force of market uncertainty, losing the most ground over the second quarter of the year, according to Camradata’s Q2 Investment Products Report (IQ Scores for Pension Fund Universes). Against this backdrop, Scout Investments displayed genuine skill to top the global fixed income universe.
Equities did not escape unscathed as market contortions hit performance. Despite the FTSE All Share
Preliminary figures released by London-based consultancy firm ETFGI in its Global ETF and ETP industry insights report show that global ETF and ETP assets attracted near record net inflows of USD44.08billion through July this year. Coupled with strong market performance, total net assets have risen to USD2.16trillion as at end-July, 2013.
Equity ETFs/ETPs attracted the lions’ share of net inflows, gathering USD41.62billion, of which US funds accounted for USD32.99billion of that figure. Fixed income products attracted more modest inflows of USD5.1billion, suggesting that investors have a more risk-on appetite right now. Within fixed income, the report found that inflation-linked products
Simple Alternatives, an alternative mutual fund company focused on providing investors better access to hedge fund managers, has reported an increase in assets under management of 25 per cent in the first half of 2013.
The S1 Fund is a multi-manager, long/short equity mutual fund.
"Institutional and retail investors have come to embrace ‘liquid alternatives’ recognising the important role in terms of diversification, liquidity, and other desirable characteristics the strategies can serve in a portfolio," says James K Dilworth, Simple Alternatives founder and chief executive. "Growth in liquid alternatives has been driven in a large part by institutional
Kinetic Partners, the professional services firm, has supported Piquant Technologies, a new UK-based quantitative fund manager, to become the first hedge fund authorised according to the Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive (AIFMD).
The directive, which came into force on the 22 July 2013, will change the way EU fund managers manage their alternative investments.
Andrew Shrimpton (pictured), global head of regulatory compliance at Kinetic Partners, says: “It’s extremely rewarding for us to know that we have helped Piquant Technologies become the first hedge fund to be authorised by the FCA according to the EU AIFMD. To this end,
Commodities were higher in July as fundamentals improved for some commodities, supported by positive macroeconomic data.
Nelson Louie, global head of commodities in Credit Suisse’s asset management business, says: "Based on the July Purchasing Managers Index reports, global growth momentum may expand a bit faster in the second half of the year than the first. China may be able to maintain a reasonable pace of growth in the near term, supported by improving external demand, still resilient domestic consumption, a steadily expanding service sector, and incremental growth-friendly policy initiatives. However, caution remains as the Chinese government has been reticent to
Global commodities and financial markets brokerage Marex Spectron Group has completed the arrangement of a term deal for Australian 5500NAR high ash thermal coal, intended for delivery throughout 2014.
The transaction was concluded between an Australian producer and an Asian utility.
The deal was the first brokered term deal executed with price reference to Argus / McCloskey’s API5 Index, which has been credited with providing market participants with a more precise reflection of the market for mid-CV high ash thermal coal in the Asia Pacific region.
“This transaction is further testament to the growing confidence in, and use
UBS has agreed to pay nearly USD50m to settle SEC charges that it violated securities laws while structuring and marketing a collateralised debt obligation (CDO) by failing to disclose that it retained millions of dollars in upfront cash it received in the course of acquiring collateral for the CDO.
The SEC’s investigation found that UBS received USD23.6m in upfront payments in the process of acquiring credit default swaps (CDS) as collateral. Rather than transferring this cash to the CDO when the collateral was transferred, UBS retained the full amount of upfront payments in addition to its disclosed fee of
Gaurang Chadha is to join Deutsche Bank as a managing director within its foreign exchange investor sales team in North America.
Chadha joins from Goldman Sachs, where he spent five years in the New York and London offices, most recently as co-head of foreign exchange hedge fund sales for the Americas.
Before that, he spent two years in foreign exchange derivatives sales at Citigroup in London. Chadha also previously traded foreign exchange options at ABN Amro, AIG and JP Morgan.
“We are delighted to welcome Gaurang to our team, as his deep experience reinforces our client centric
Hedge funds posted gains across equity hedge, event driven and relative value arbitrage strategies in July, as most strategies reversed losses from the prior month on strong earnings, acceleration of M&A activity, moderating concerns of a sharp rise in interest rates and receding macro risks.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite gained 1.4 per cent for the month, the highest monthly performance since January, according to data released by HFR.
The HFRI Equity Hedge Index led strategy performance in July with a gain of +2.5 per cent; equity hedge gains were broad based across sub-strategies, sparked by strong earnings
Alceda has applied for a licence as an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) with Alceda Asset Management GmbH in Germany and Alceda Fund Management SA in Luxembourg.
The company’s international growth has been driven in part by the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which entered into force on 22 July 2013, and the growing demand for funds in a globally recognised format.
The AIFMD takes a “one size fits all” approach and encompasses AIFMs of all alternative investment funds (AIF) which are not covered by the UCITS Directive. The intention behind the directive is to create harmonised
