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Experience, expertise, ‘fast track’ regulatory routes, listing capabilities and a dual regime for AIFMD are just some of the reasons why leading global private equity houses, such as HarbourVest, are continuing to choose Guernsey as their fund domicile, reports Fiona Le Poidevin (pictured), Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance.
An exit poll of the 400-plus delegates attending May’s Guernsey Funds Forum 2013 held in London revealed that they believed the future landscape of the investment funds industry will be affected by ‘external factors’, just as much as regulation.
The half-day conference and exhibition, titled ‘Back to the Future’, included two panel
By James Williams – Recent figures released last month by Geneva-based Alix Capital, which runs the UCITS Alternative Index Global, show that in Q1 this year total assets in the alternative UCITS space advanced by 11.6 per cent to EUR155billion. Year-on-year, that’s a 29 per cent increase (EUR139billion in 2012).
As more managers come to market the competition to support them and distribute their products to investors intensifies. Right now, Morgan Stanley’s FundLogic Alternatives platform leads the way with 18 individual funds. But the likes of Deutsche Bank’s DB Platinum platform are proving equally successful; indeed this is now the
There remains a common misperception among some investors that UCITS fund structures are more costly than offshore funds due to additional reporting requirements, frequent NAV calculations and use of derivatives. But as Jason Funk (pictured), a member of the alternative investments business development team at Lyxor Asset Management is quick to point out, alternative UCITS funds are actually quite cost efficient.
“Hedge fund managers are responding to fee compression in the market. We see them launching UCITS funds to reach a completely different investor base. Although they are not always pari passu versions of their offshore strategies, they are being
By James Williams – Over the past 12 months, total AuM in alternative UCITS funds has risen from EUR139billion to EUR155billion. In 2008, that figure stood at EUR28billion.
Given that the majority of money coming into these products is mostly retail money, invested through private banks and FoHFs, the size of allocation is not substantial. As Amy Bensted, Head of Hedge Fund Products at Preqin, comments: “There’s still less than EUR200billion invested so the industry is not growing as much as people expected a few years ago. However, we think alternative UCITS funds will remain a good option for investors
The key to offering a robust UCITS platform to support hedge fund strategies is making sure that what is being offered is suitable for the specific clients being targeted, according to Ian Swallow (pictured), Head of UCITS Management at Man.
Over the last 10 years there has been a huge shift in market regulation. As hedge fund managers have moved into the UCITS space, so European regulators have been quick to increase the level of scrutiny on new launches. Put simply, the barriers to entry for launching an alternative UCITS fund are high. If you lack the ability to demonstrate
By Daniel Häfele, ACOLIN – “I’d like to distribute my hedge fund in Switzerland – is that still possible?” “We are a specialist in offshore funds. Will you take us on as a legal representation client?”
At ACOLIN, we get questions like these almost every day. The answer to both is: yes, it is still possible to distribute hedge funds in Switzerland, but under certain conditions. And yes, we are open for business.
The laws now cover the distribution of all collective investments (CIS) in Switzerland, including AIFs such as hedge funds, as well as UCITS and other retail products.
The Cayman Islands has now signed memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with 25 European countries, which will enable the continued marketing of Cayman Islands hedge funds throughout the European Union.
Cindy Scotland, managing director of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), has signed the MOUs on behalf of the Authority. On 22 May 2013, her counterparts from the following financial authorities – members if the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) – signed the MOUs:
Autoriteit Financiële Markten (The Netherlands);
Autorité des marchés financiers (France);
Financial Services and Markets Authority (Belgium);
Central Bank of Ireland (Ireland);
Comissão do Mercado de
Dr Markus Stricker has joined Twelve Capital, the specialist insurance investment manager, as a partner responsible for risk management.
Stricker will further drive the development of Twelve Capital’s proprietary analytical tools.
He studied mathematics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) where he obtained his PhD. He also attended courses in risk and credit management in the Executive MBA Programme at Stanford Business School, as well as other numerous courses in risk management and finance.
Stricker’s experience in risk and capital management stems from previous positions at SwissRe, Aon ReSolution, as well as consulting experience for
Man Group and Nomura have launched the Nomura Man Systematic Fixed Income UCITS Fund, it was announced this week. The underlying strategy, which has been accessible via a number of different investible formats since summer 2012, is run by Man Systematic Strategies (MSS). It merged with AHL, Man’s flagship managed futures manager, earlier this year to form a joint quantitative investment unit.
The strategy seeks to capture largely directional opportunities in emerging and developed market swap, futures and FX markets. Around 50 markets are targeted, based on approximately 300 systematic trading signals.
Andre Rzym and Stefan Sluke co-manage the strategy.
Hedge funds took in a net USD18.5bn (1.0 per cent of assets) in May, more than a 40-fold increase from April’s USD430m inflow, according to figures released by TrimTabs and BarclayHedge.
The results are based on data from 3,368 funds.
“In May, the hedge fund industry saw its strongest net inflows in more than two years,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “In the first five months of this year, the industry took in USD35.7bn, compared with just USD484m in the same period last year."
The TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that equity long
