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In a joint partnership with the Cayman Islands Government’s Ministry for Financial Services, Cayman Finance will be co-sponsoring the thirrd annual Hedge Fund Brazil Forum, scheduled to take place on the 18 and 19 March in Rio de Janeiro.
There will be a strong contingent from the Cayman Islands attending the event, including The Hon Rolston Anglin, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Financial Services, Training & Employment; Dr Dax Basdeo, Chief Officer in the Ministry for Financial Services; Heather Smith, deputy head of investment and securities at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority; and Gonzalo Jalles (pictured), chief executive of
Geneva-based Alix Capital, provider of the UCITS Alternatives Index, this week published its latest UCITS Alternative Index Trends survey. The survey found that 38 per cent of respondent believe that investment consultants are “behind the curve” when it comes to advising their clients on UCITS-compliant hedge funds.
And in a sign that suggests improved risk appetite for 2013, the survey found that for the first time since the summer of 2011, respondents plan to increase their allocation to equity long/short strategies, and reduce their holdings in fixed income; some 48 per cent plan on increasing their equity long/short strategy exposure,
Hedge funds posted gains in February as broad US equity indexes approached record levels and the US dollar surged against most major currencies, weathering renewed investor concerns on the European banking and sovereign debt crisis following the results of the Italian elections.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index posted a gain of 0.14 per cent for the month, the eighth gain in the last nine months, led by relative value arbitrage and equity hedge strategies, according to data released by HFR.
Funds of hedge funds performed in line with the overall industry, as the HFRI Fund of Funds Index gained
William Mason will be appointed director general of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission on the retirement of Nik van Leuven.
Mason (pictured) will join the Commission from the position of Head of Risk at the Central Bank of Ireland, where he has led the development and implementation of its PRISM supervisory methodology.
Most recently he has been working with the European Central Bank helping it plan for the Eurozone’s proposed Banking Union.
Before that Mason worked for the UK Financial Services Authority, joining shortly before the financial crisis, and led teams supervising a range of credit institutions, insurers and investment
Institutional investors predict that total hedge fund industry assets will reach USD2.42trn at the end of 2013, according to a survey by Credit Suisse.
This would represent an industry growth rate of over 10 per cent or USD220bn, comprising of positive performance and new capital inflows. If correct, this would represent an all-time high for hedge fund industry assets under management by the end of this year.
Credit Suisse’s annual Global Hedge Fund Investor Survey analyses responses from close to 550 institutional investors, representing USD1.03trn of hedge fund investments, on a number of topics.
These include investors’ current views
The DE Shaw Group, an investment and technology development firm, has appointed Ángel Ubide and Brian Sack as senior vice presidents and co-directors of global economics in the group’s discretionary macro investing unit.
Max Stone, a managing director and member of the firm’s five-person executive committee, oversees that unit.
“We’re incredibly excited to welcome Ángel and Brian to our team,” says Stone. “Our macro team casts a wide net in terms of asset class and geography, and having these two talented individuals’ insights strengthens our capabilities in several dimensions as we source and analyse trades in global markets.”
The number of exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) worldwide decreased in 2012 for the first time since 2004, falling by 15 per cent to 21 billion, according to statistics compiled by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
The WFE, which annually conducts a survey on derivative markets, found that in 2012, 21 billion derivative contracts (11 billion futures and 10 billion options) were traded on exchanges worldwide – a decrease from the 25 billion traded in 2011.
The full WFE report on derivatives markets will be available following the annual IOMA conference held this year in Busan, South Korea, from 5 to
The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index was up 0.15 per cent in February, bringing year-to-date performance to +1.73 per cent. Eight Lyxor Strategy Indices out of 14 ended the month in positive territory, led by the Lyxor Fixed Income Arbitrage Index (+2.06 per cent), the Lyxor L/S Equity Market Neutral (+1.65 per cent) and the Lyxor L/S Equity Variable Bias Index (+1.59 per cent).
G3 dominance on world financial markets continued in February, this time raising investors’ risk aversion. Worries about the impact of fiscal restraint on the US economy and the disappointing results of the Italian elections that leave the
Hyundai’s financial services arm is set to seed a new Asia-focused hedge fund, its first-ever such venture outside of South Korea.
Hyundai Securities will provide the bulk of AQG Capital Management’s initial capital, expected to be USUSD100 million, the Economic Times reports. AQG will be led by ABN Amro and K3 Capital Management veteran Kim Hong-shik, and will also feature Minsoo Seo, formerly of South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund. Singapore-based AQG will employ a quantitative market-neutral strategy, focused on Asian stocks.
Hedge fund managers, traders and finance analysts are leaving Asia as poor returns left many of them unable to collect performance
NYSE Euronext has announced global derivatives average daily volume (ADV) of 8.8 million contracts in February 2013, an increase of 24.7 per cent compared to February 2012, but a decrease of 7.6 per cent month-over-month.
This increase was primarily driven by stronger European derivatives volume, specifically fixed income derivatives ADV which increased 71 per cent year-over-year.
European derivatives products ADV in February 2013 totalled 4.4 million contract, an increased of 54.4 per cent compared to February 2012, but a decrease of 10.0 per cent from January 2013 levels. Excluding Bclear, NYSE Liffe’s trade administration and clearing service for OTC products,
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