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HM Treasury’s latest Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) consultation paper goes significantly beyond the minimum rules contained in the Directive for small hedge fund managers, according to Brian Forrester, investment partner at Deloitte.
While the Treasury does not propose to apply the full Directive to managers of unregulated collective investment schemes, it does propose to apply similar rules to those that are currently applicable to operators of retail investment funds.
This will include requiring those firms to appoint a depositary, says Forrester (pictured).
A Deloitte survey indicated that small hedge fund managers would be hit hardest by the Directive,
Interview with Peter Todd (pictured) – “The BVI is still performing strongly. Despite fund numbers being down this year they’re starting to tail off now that the regulatory outlook here is clearer,” says Peter Todd, director, Drake Fund Advisors, an independent fund administrator that focuses on emerging markets.
Since 2009, fund numbers in the BVI have been declining. Professional funds are down from 1885 to around 1621, while private funds are down from 816 to 160 which, according to Todd, is more a reflection of the turmoil that followed the financial crisis as opposed to the BVI suffering any sort
By James Williams – “The majority of work we’ve had to do has been largely regulatory, dealing with all the worries surrounding FATCA. It’s been a slow year funds-wise and I would imagine that most other BVI administrators would say the same,” comments Calum McKenzie (pictured), Director, Folio Group, whose fund administration arm has been operating there since 2001.
“In terms of new funds we are way down on where we’d like to be. The significant money going into offshore funds at the moment seems to be going to Cayman because that’s where more of the big institutional funds are
By Mara Spencer – Despite fund numbers remaining suppressed in the BVI, 2012 was actually a strong year for us. Not that there was an influx of new funds coming through the door, but rather that a number of our existing clients, who have been in business for a number of years and developed good track records, expanded their fund offering(s).
Looking ahead for 2013, there is good reason for the BVI to be optimistic. With the adoption of the new Approved Managers Regime there is now a simple fast track process enabling a fund manager’s licence to be obtained
By Simon Schilder – The BVI has recently introduced two regulatory changes which will enhance the appeal of the jurisdiction to investment managers, through the introduction of the Investment Business (Approved Managers) Regulations, 2012 (the Approved Managers Regulations) and also from amendments to the provisions in the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004, dealing with segregated portfolio companies.
The Approved Managers Regulations will appeal to non-institutional investment managers and investment advisors and represents an alternative regulatory regime to complement the more regulated regime available under Part I of the Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010 (SIBA).
Salient features of the new
By James Williams – On the 10 December 2012, the BVI took a step forward in enhancing its competitive image with the introduction of a lighter touch regulation for smaller BVI-domiciled fund managers. Entitled the Investment Business (Approved Managers) Regulations (“Approved Managers Regulations”), the regime complements the existing Securities and Investment Business Act, 2010 (SIBA), and whilst not going as far as Cayman with its exempt manager regime, it is hoped that the new regulations will entice more managers to the BVI.
“So far the feedback has been quite positive,” says Marianne Rajic, partner, Walkers (BVI). “It is anticipated that
Hedge funds gained 1.63 per cent in December, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
The index had positive returns in 10 out of 12 months in 2012, and was up 8.27 per cent at year-end.
“Buoyant equity markets at the beginning of the month collided with fiscal cliff fears at mid-month, only to explode higher on 31 December,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
The Barclay Pacific Rim Equities Index was up 3.17 per cent in December, emerging markets gained 2.87 per cent, European equities were up 2.24 per cent, equity long bias gained
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index finished up 1.48 per cent for the month of December.
Nine of the 10 sub-strategies finished the month in positive territory with emerging markets (2.38 per cent) and event driven (1.98 per cent) leading the way.
Dedicated short bias was the only sub-strategy to see negative returns at -2.95 per cent over the month.
The following funds were dropped from the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index in December: Alphabet Fund, AlphaGen RhoCas Fund, Clarium Capital, Kapstream Absolute Return Income Fund, and Martin Currie China Hedge Fund.
There were no funds
Phillip Futures, the Chicago-based futures clearing entity of Singapore’s Phillip Capital, and Trading Technologies International (TT), a provider of professional derivatives trading software and solutions, have begun offering TT’s high-speed derivatives execution solutions to Phillip Futures’ customers in the US.
The new initiative between Phillip Futures and TT builds on the success of the firms’ existing Asia-centric distribution agreement and coincides with the launch of Phillip Futures’ US-based trading network, which offers co-location access to CME Group’s data centre in Aurora, Illinois.
The network will provide the firms’ mutual customers with ultra-high-speed, low-latency access to the TT-supported markets traded through
2013 will be about rebuilding trust in markets, firms and infrastructure through regulation, risk management and strong client support, according to Object Trading, an independent provider of global direct market access.
Based on interactions with buy- and sell- side clients around the world, the firm predicts that regulation, risk management, managed products and capital efficiency will be the trends shaping the financial services landscape in 2013.
The anti-globalisation effect
With the implementation of Dodd Frank and the ESMA directives, amongst other long awaited regulations, firms are facing a number of new, and sometimes conflicting, guidelines for different geographies
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