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Former hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam is to pay USD1.47 million to settle insider trading charges brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The SEC’s complaint, filed on 26 October, 2011, alleges that, among other things, Rajat K Gupta tipped his business associate Rajaratnam – Galleon Management’s founder and managing general partner – to confidential information Gupta learned in the course of his duties as a member of the Board of Directors of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. The complaint alleges that Gupta disclosed material non-public information concerning Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s USD5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs
Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking has become a clearing member of EurexOTC Clear for Interest Rate Swaps (IRS). By joining this new CCP for OTC derivatives, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking and its clients will thus be able to prepare for the start of the clearing obligation in Europe.
“As a leading Euro derivatives fixed income house, we are pleased to join the Eurex IRS Clearing platform. This move is part of the bank’s active preparation for new regulation under EMIR. Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking is committed to bringing liquidity and support to key IRS OTC
Fortress Investment Group Principal and Director Robert Kauffman has elected to retire from the company and its Board of Directors after a 15 year career at the firm.
With Co-Chairman and Director, Wesley Edens, and interim CEO and Director Randal Nardone, Kauffman co-founded Fortress in 1998. He has held a range of leadership roles at Fortress, including responsibility for the management of the firm’s European private equity investment operations and, most recently, board-level oversight of Logan Circle Partners, the company’s long-only fixed-income business. Kauffman’s retirement is effective immediately.
In conjunction with Kauffman’s announced retirement, Fortress will redeem or purchase all
A KPMG International survey of more than 70 alternative investment fund managers reveals that nearly half have not taken any concrete steps to analyse the impact the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) will have on their businesses, or to make changes to their operations.
The European Commission has adopted the implementing rules for the Directive, which will now be subject to a three- or six-month scrutiny period by the European Parliament and the Council, and will enter into force, provided that neither co-legislator objects, at the end of this period.
The Directive may have long-term implications for investment managers
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation on guidelines on key concepts of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
The Directive provides the legal framework for both alternative investment funds (AIFs) and their managers (AIFMs).
ESMA’s draft guidelines are aimed at clarifying the rules applicable to hedge funds, private equity and real estate funds. These proposals help to clarify what entities fall under the remit of the AIFMD, thereby providing for consistent application of the provisions throughout the EU. In order to achieve this, the guidelines set out the criteria for what is considered
LCH.Clearnet SA, the Paris-based clearing house of LCH.Clearnet Group, and NYSE Euronext have reached an agreement on the main terms and conditions of a six year clearing contract with respect to NYSE Euronext’s continental cash equities markets.
The parties are currently reviewing the technical elements and are in the process of finalising the agreement.
The agreement is expected to commence on 1 January 2013 and will run through 2018. The new contract would then replace the existing contract that was due to end on 31 December 2013 for cash equity transactions.
The contract, once signed, would enable LCH.Clearnet SA
Jersey is ideally placed to embrace the requirements of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), according to Jersey Finance and the Jersey Funds Association, following the publication of the European Commission’s Level II implementation rules this week.
Acknowledging publication of the long-awaited rules, both Nigel Strachan, chairman of the Jersey Funds Association, and Heather Bestwick (pictured), deputy chief executive, Jersey Finance, re-emphasised that it would be business as usual for funds business in Jersey throughout 2013 and beyond.
As it has previously stated, Jersey, as a non-EU “third-country” for the purposes of the Directive, will not need to comply
The Morningstar MSCI Composite Hedge Fund Index, an asset-weighted composite of nearly 1,000 hedge funds in the Morningstar Hedge Fund database, rose 0.5 per cent in November and was up 4.8 per cent year to date and 5.0 per cent over the last 12 months.
“International equities and high-yield bonds rallied in November, boosting long-short equity and long-short credit hedge fund strategies,” says Nadia Papagiannis, director of alternative fund research at Morningstar.
The Morningstar MSCI Asia Pacific Hedge Fund Index jumped 1.2 per cent in November, more than any other Morningstar hedge fund index. Japanese and Taiwanese equities climbed, as
Hedge funds, as measured by the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index, finished November up 0.64 per cent, with nine out of 10 strategies in positive territory.
In total, the industry saw estimated outflows of approximately USD1.3bn in November, bringing overall assets under management for the industry to approximately USD1.76trn.
The fixed income arbitrage and equity market neutral sectors experienced the largest asset inflows on a percentage basis, with inflows in November equal to 2.64 per cent and 1.06 per cent of the October 2012 levels, respectively.
Event driven funds generally sustained positive performance in November. Contributors for the
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved an exemptive order providing time-limited relief from certain cross-border applications of the swaps provisions of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Commission’s regulations.
The purpose of the order is to foster an orderly phase in to the new swaps regulatory regime and to provide market participants greater certainty regarding their obligations with respect to cross-border swap activities.
Under the exemptive order, a non-US person that registers with the Commission as a swap dealer (SD) or major swap participant (MSP) may delay compliance with certain entity-level
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