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HighWater has appointed Darren Stainrod, former managing director of UBS Cayman and global head of alternatives, to its corporate governance team.
Stainrod (pictured) has more than 25 years of experience in the alternative investment fund industry, working with the world’s largest asset managers and institutional investors. Prior to his 17 years at UBS, he was an auditor at both Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Mark Fagan has also been promoted to director. Fagan is a Chartered Accountant and CFA Charter holder. Prior to joining Highwater, he was an investment adviser with RBC Dominion Securities; portfolio manager and performance analyst at
The final block rule for swaps is critical to promoting transparency in this once opaque market, says US Commodity and Futures Commission Chairman, Gary Gensler…
With this rule, the public will benefit from seeing the price and volume of the majority of swaps transactions in real time – as soon as technologically practicable – after a trade is executed. Further, with this rule the public will benefit from the competition that will arise as buyers and sellers must transact on transparent trading platforms.
The methodology for determining block sizes is appropriately tailored to vary by asset class and by underlying
The supervisory board of Deutsche Börse has re-appointed Andreas Preuss, the company’s deputy chief executive, as member of the executive board for a further three years with effect from 1 April 2014.
Preuss (pictured) has been a member of the executive board since April 2006 when he re-joined Deutsche Börse Group. In June 2008, he was appointed deputy CEO. He is in charge of the cash and derivatives markets division with responsibility for Eurex Group and Xetra.
His current appointment will end on 31 March 2014.
Since October 2012, Preuss has also been chairman of the World
Eight of Newedge’s 11 hedge fund indices showed positive performance during the month of April.
The Newedge Trend Index increased 3.85 per cent in April, followed by the Newedge CTA Index, which gained 1.45 per cent. The Newedge Trend Index and Newedge CTA Index have risen 7.67 per cent and 4.36 per cent, respectively, for the year.
The Newedge Short-Term Trading Index was up 1.29 per cent in April and 4.86 per cent for 2013.
The Newedge Commodity Index (Trading) had the worst performance during the month and was down 1.38 per cent.
The Newedge
ML Capital Group has appointed Dermot F Smurfit as chairman, effective 23 April 2013.
Cyril Delamare, chief executive, says: "Dr Dermot F Smurfit’s appointment will further strengthen and help ML Capital build on the foundations put in place by the existing management team. He will be a highly valuable member of the board and will take an active role in developing the business. Dr Smurfit brings to the company a formidable reputation of resolute leadership and entrepreneurial spirit, which we believe will serve the company well as we strive to become the leading independent provider of European regulated fund structuring and distribution
Global demand for retail focused, liquid alternative investment products will reach USD939bn by 2017, more than three times the current level, according to a survey from Citi Prime Finance.
The growth forecast comes amid new flexibility for mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) providers, unprecedented levels of transparency among hedge funds, and new demands from wealth managers and broker-dealers who want to add alternatives to more mainstream portfolios.
The outlook and analysis is contained in the fourth edition of Citi Prime Finance’s annual survey of hedge fund industry trends, this year titled The Rise of Liquid Alternatives & the
The Central Bank of Ireland has issued the necessary application forms and accompanying rules to allow alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) and alternative investment funds (AIFs) to apply for authorisation under the new Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
The Central Bank is ready to receive applications for authorisation under this new non-UCITS regulatory regime. This is particularly important for those firms aiming to have AIFMD-compliant structures on 22 July 2013, when the AIFMD comes into effect.
In addition to the application forms, the Central Bank has published a new format AIF Rulebook which sets out text for
India-focused hedge funds should be avoided, shows the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index of 2,404 funds and their performance for the first 4 months of 2013.
These funds have posted a loss of 0.2 per cent for the January-April, 2013 period, whereas the BSE benchmark S&P Sensex gave a moderate return of 1.5 per cent, indicating that the hedging strategy has missed the mark.
In contrast, hedge funds targeted at Asia on average earned returns of 9 per cent. Funds targeted at India’s emerging market peers China (up 6.9 per cent) and Brazil (up 3.2 per cent) were also able
Horizon Cash Management has named Michael Markowitz as president, effective 24 April, replacing Pauline Modjeski, who has served in the role since 2008.
Markowitz will also continue in his current role of chief investment officer.
Markowitz joined Horizon in April 2012 as chief investment officer, executive vice president and partner. Over the past year, he has been responsible for the development and implementation of the overall strategies for the firm and management of all investment functions including trading, credit research and the operational aspects of the trading desk. As president, his main focus is on portfolio management and oversight
Managed futures gained 1.11 per cent in April, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
The index is up 2.11 per cent year to date.
“Rising prices for equities and debt securities were fuelled by central bank easing, and coupled with falling commodity prices driven by weak economic data out of China, served as the backdrop for CTA performance in April,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Overall performance was mixed in April, with five of Barclay’s eight CTA indices making gains, while three indices lost ground. The Financial & Metal Traders Index
