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Morgan Stanley has been selected by BlackRock to serve as one of its primary clearing brokers for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives transactions. Morgan Stanley acted as BlackRock’s clearing broker for its first live production transactions.
“We believe that OTC clearing can help to reduce systemic risk and serve as an important mechanism to manage and reduce counterparty exposure for our clients,” says Supurna VedBrat, Managing Director and Co-Head of Market Structure and Electronic Trading at BlackRock. “We will gradually increase volumes as we move to initiate clearing across our client base, and we have been very pleased with Morgan Stanley’s partnership
A total of USD110 trillion in notional volume in EUR, JPY, GBP and USD interest rate swaps has been terminated by 21 SwapClear members using TriOptima’s triReduce service since the first cycle in 2008.
In 2012 alone, USD20.4 trillion has been eliminated, accelerating a trend to larger and more frequent termination cycles.
Compression of cleared trades fulfils existing commitments to international banking regulators and also anticipates a final CFTC Core Principle Risk Management rule requiring a clearing organisation to offer compression to swap dealers and major swap participants.
Terminating risk-neutral trades in SwapClear contributes to reducing systemic risk and facilitates
The LME Board is making a number of amendments to its Exchange User Fee on the back of points raised by members.
The new fee will now not apply to short-dated carries (anything from Tom to 15 days inclusive), which will remain unchanged. Implementation of the Exchange User Fee has also been delayed until 2 July 2012 to allow for systems compliance.
The Exchange User Fee for client contracts will be denominated in US dollars rather than in GBP and will therefore be USD$0.79 per lot.
The impact on the Exchange of the introduction of the Exchange User Fee
Emerging Markets hedge funds led broad-based performance gains across the global hedge fund industry to start 2012, with the HFRI Emerging Markets (Total) Index gaining +4.4 per cent for the month of January, as reported by HFR.
Prior to January gains, Emerging Market hedge funds concluded a challenging year in 2011, posting an average decline of -13.8 per cent, the 3rd worst calendar year since 1990.
January gains nearly matched similar gains to start 4Q11, when the HFRI EM Index gained +4.7 per cent in October, and marked the 9th time since the conclusion of the Financial Crisis of
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Steven L Hamilton and Verde Retirement LLC, Verde FX Nevada, LLC, Covenant Capital Partners with securities fraud for defrauding at least 23 investors out of USD1.6 million in a series of Ponzi schemes.
The SEC alleges from 2007 through February 2011, Hamilton solicited investors through the internet and via direct solicitation. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Hamilton told Covenant Capital investors they were investing in real estate loans secured by deeds of trust, told Verde Retirement investors they were investing in either real estate loans secured by deeds of trust, certificates of
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has released for consultation draft regulatory guidance with new disclosure benchmarks and principles for hedge funds to improve investor awareness of the risks associated with these products.
The guidance, contained in Consultation Paper 174 Hedge funds: Improving disclosure — Further consultation (CP 174), sets out the specific features and risks of hedge funds that should be addressed in a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for these products.
ASIC Chairman Greg Medcraft (pictured) says it was necessary to ensure that disclosure gives investors the information they need to make an informed investment decision, which may include a decision not to
BI-SAM Inc has appointed Scott Okupski as North America Head of Client Services, responsible for product implementations, client relationships and local support.
Okupski’s appointment will reinforce BI-SAM’s North American management team, which has already been strengthened through a heavy recruitment drive. Growing from 5 to 15 employees, the US subsidiary has benefited from a large success in the market, and has seen client numbers doubled.
Current market requirements combined with the impressive reputation of B-One & BI-SAM’s team of experts are the group’s main success factors in the region.
With more than 15 years’ experience in financial platforms
New York-based hedge fund consultant Atrato Advisors has added to its team, recently hiring Jinah Jang as an analyst.
Jang, a quantitative specialist, had previously worked as an analyst at fund-of-funds Argus Advisors and at Schafer Cullen Capital Management. Her appointment comes just as the hedge fund advisory firm, led by partners Brian Reich and Janna Sobolev, has completed its third year in business. Atrato has also promoted Mike Boensch to Director of Research.
The continued growth at Atrato Advisors comes on the heels of firm’s first few institutional mandates, which include a national non-profit organisation and a global financial
William Bollinger (pictured), a pioneer of London’s hedge fund industry and one of the co-fo
International law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has announced plans to open an office in Hong Kong and further expand its international footprint.
