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The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) has signed bilateral cooperation agreements with 27 securities regulators from the European Union and the wider European Economic Area, including the UK, France and Germany.
The cooperation agreements provide a set of arrangements for the on-going supervision of alternative investment funds, including hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds. They are applicable from 22 July 2013, which is the deadline for EU countries to transpose the provisions of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) into national law.
AIFMD seeks to regulate EU-based Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs), managers of EU-established
Japanese equities have been in the spotlight since Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the government would spend an additional JPY10.3trn (around USD106bn) to get the economy on a higher growth path.
Carlo Capaul, co-fund manager of the JB Japan Stock Fund at Swiss & Global Asset Management, says: “The performance of Japanese equities is to a large extent correlated to the global equity market. From mid-May to mid-June nearly all equity markets dropped as a result of Mr. Bernanke’s speech anticipating a tapering of Quantitative Easing (QE). Additionally, weak economic data from China impacted global equities, especially
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has now adopted final rules in connection with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, lifting an 80 year old ban on general solicitation and allowing hedge fund managers to advertise.
The Hedge Fund Association (HFA) and its members throughout the US have welcomed the SEC’s decision as a necessary modernisation of the securities laws.
An HFA statement says: “Fundamentally, we believe that these new rules will: (i) increase public transparency regarding the alternative investment industry, including hedge funds; and (ii) facilitate capital formation and ultimately enhance the capital markets. Though the
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a Discussion Paper to prepare the regulatory technical standards (RTS) which will implement provisions of the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) regarding the obligation to centrally clear OTC derivatives.
The consultation is aimed at assisting ESMA in developing its approach to determining which classes of OTC derivatives need to be centrally cleared and the phase-in periods for the counterparties concerned.
EMIR introduced provisions to improve transparency, establish common rules for central counterparties (CCPs) and for trade repositories (TRs) and to reduce the risks associated with the OTC derivatives market.
Walker Crips, the wealth and investment manager, has set the launch date of 1 August for the TB Walker Crips Income from Short Term Lending Fund for its newly created alternative investments division.
This is the first regulated bridging finance investment fund to be launched in the UK.
The fund is designed to create a target annual income of 8.4 per cent by providing credit to short term lending companies that offer residential property bridging finance loans. It will be managed by James Allen (pictured), who joined Walker Crips specifically to establish and manage this fund.
Marex Spectron Group, a commodities and financial markets brokerage, has facilitated the first brokered NBP Calendar Spread Option (CSO).
The CSO, a Sep/Oct -3.0 put option, giving the owner the right to sell Sep/Oct NBP at 3.0 p, traded at a premium of 0.9 p/th.
The two counterparties to the trade were EDF Trading and RWE Supply & Trading.
“We are delighted to have been involved in such a landmark trade and hope we can continue to contribute to the development of interest and liquidity in this exciting new type of option,” says Chris Dougan, head of
Kinetic Partners, an adviser to the financial services industry, has appointed Gary Ashford as a member within the firm’s global tax team.
This new appointment further enhances Kinetic Partners’ capabilities across the alternative investment tax spectrum, while also creating a new area of expertise within the practice.
As an expert in offshore tax risk and investigation matters, Ashford (pictured) will assist clients, financial institutions and fiduciary companies in relation to the various FATCA intergovernmental agreements, global transparency and voluntary tax disclosure facility industry, the Liechtenstein Disclosure Facility, the Swiss/UK tax agreement and general asset preservation.
Ashford joins
The Swiss banking group Syz & Co is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Oyster European Corporate Bonds, the sub-fund of its Luxembourg UCITS Sicav Oyster, investing in European corporate bonds.
The fund, which has been advised by Andrea Garbelotto since it was launched, ranks in the ninth percentile over ten years. These good performances are also confirmed over three years and the current year, with a ranking in the first quartile.
The results are attributable to active and opportunistic management that makes the difference by having several sources of performance such as macro-economic forecasts, bond picking and duration
Addepar, a provider of smart technology platforms for wealth and investment management, has appointed Eric Poirier as chief executive officer and Karen White as president and chief operating officer.
Addepar co-founder Joe Lonsdale continues to serve in his current role as executive chairman of the board, and co-founder Jason Mirra continues as chief technical officer. Mike Paulus, who was among Addepar’s first employees and served as president, is now the company’s chief strategy officer.
Poirier (pictured) and White have both been appointed to the company’s board of directors.
“Addepar’s success over the last few years has positioned
Alter Domus is launching two new initiates in Luxembourg following the ratification of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) in the Grand Duchy.
As previously announced, the firm is launching new depositary services and has already submitted its application to the CSSF.
It is also bringing international knowledge to the Luxembourg marketplace with the launch of a dedicated team of experts for Sociétés en Commandite Spéciale, the new limited partnership comparable to US/UK style limited partnerships.
Those two initiatives have been prepared in the view of the Bill of Law N°6471 which was adopted by the
