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The weather was perfect, clear blue skies and unbroken sunshine in what remains one of Europe’s most iconic locations: Monaco. Transfer that across to the overall mood at this year’s Gaim International conference, however, and it was more one of overcast skies with the threat of thunder.
With over 500 of the world’s leading hedge fund managers and investors in attendance it was another first-class event, and a good opportunity for US and European fund managers to compare notes and pick each other’s brains. But the mood was cautious, measured, a realisation that political risk infiltrating today’s global financial markets
Buy-side interest rate swap clearing volumes have grown rapidly during the first half of 2012 as hedge funds and other asset managers have raced to begin central clearing ahead of the imposition of Dodd-Frank. HedgeWeek looks at developments in store for the rates clearing space in the coming six months ahead of the anticipated go-live date for the Dodd-Frank clearing mandate in the US.
After years of false starts and disappointed expectations, buy-side central clearing of interest rate swaps has finally and quite suddenly roared into life.
Last month LCH Clearnet announced that its SwapClear platform has cleared more than
Castle Alternative Invest AG, a fund of hedge funds listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and on the London Stock Exchange, authorised the board to effect a share buyback programme at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 15 May 2012.
Under the programme a maximum of 10 per cent of the Company’s share capital (up to 1,635,281 shares) can be repurchased. The effective size of the programme remains at the discretion of the board in light of available portfolio liquidity, the number of shares already purchased and market conditions.
Dates for the share buyback programme have now been confirmed.
Hedge fund administrator Custom House Global Fund Services has achieved dual accreditation under both the new US auditing standard, SSAE16 (the replacement for SAS 70), and its international equivalent, ISAE3402 (collectively the ‘New Standards’).
The new accreditation covers the controls for all fund administration and shareholder services’ work carried out in the Chicago, Dublin, Luxembourg, Malta and Singapore offices, as well as the controls in place in the related IT platform. This means that all user auditors, as well as existing and new clients, are assured that the Group’s relevant control environment has been subjected to an extensive and
This week the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) announced that it had modified its rules on the provision of the key investor information document (KIID), required to
Interview with Sally Crane, managing director of Linedata Asia Pacific – Following the decision by Hong Kong’s financial regulator, the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC), to tighten its short-selling regime, fund managers trading short positions in Hong Kong-listed securities are required, as of 18 June 2012, to report to the SFC on a weekly basis.
For more information from Linedata, please click here
Linedata has responded to this regime change by developing a reporting solution in Linedata Beauchamp, the firm’s PMS product.
“The SFC started a pilot test at the beginning of May. A high proportion of clients are using
Interview with Nick Plowman – Given that a high percentage of Hong Kong hedge fund managers prefer the Cayman Islands as a domicile for their fund structure it’s perhaps unsurprising that the recent Weavering case has led to a sharper focus on corporate governance for Cayman Islands law firms such as Ogier.
The judge in the case simply emphasised well-established expectations relating to directors’ duties in the context of a Cayman investment fund. However, it does provide some useful benchmarks for directors to refer to, particularly around the delegation of powers to a fund’s service providers such as a fund
The Eurex Exchange Council has unanimously approved the planned introduction of a completely new trading architecture at its regular meeting. This approval meets a major legal requirement.
The introduction of the new trading system will, among other things, also require an amendment to the Exchange Rules to also be approved by the Exchange Council. The migration is scheduled to begin in December 2012, with products transferred from the current to the new system in four stages.
“The new trading system will give Eurex customers access to the latest technology. The change will ensure that the essential requirements of participants are
The National Futures Association (NFA) has permanently barred Arjent Capital Advisors LLC (ACA), a commodity pool operator, and Chicago Trading Managers LLC (CTM), a commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor, located in Boulder, Colorado.
NFA also barred Spencer K Montgomery, the firms’ principal, from NFA membership for three years. The Decision, issued by NFA’s Hearing Panel, is based on a Complaint filed on 12 March, 2012 and a settlement offer submitted by ACA, CTM and Montgomery.
The Panel found that ACA, CTM and Montgomery failed to observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade
The assets under management of Luxembourg-domiciled funds reached a historic high of EUR2,225 billion at the end of April 2012, according to the Association of the Luxembourg Funds Industry (ALFI).
Luxembourg remains the largest European fund centre, followed by France and Germany.
Marc Saluzzi (pictured), Chairman of ALFI, says: “Following a year of political uncertainty which has led to turmoil in financial markets, we believe that this growth in assets under management in Luxembourg marks a return of confidence in investment funds. “
According to ALFI’s 2011 Annual Report, released today, 2011 was characterised by strong caution on
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