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By Simon Gray – Last year may have been a relatively quiet year for Ireland’s alternative fund services sector, and 2012 appears to promise more of the same, but “reports of the death of the administration industry are exaggerated”, says Dermot Butler, chairman of Custom House Global Fund Services. And Butler ought to know, as the founder of the Custom House group in 1989, right at the start of the country’s dizzying ascent to become a financial centre of international stature and a hub in particular of the global hedge fund industry.
A little over two decades later, Irish-based administration
By Simon Gray – The increase in global regulation of the alternative investment sector, notably the Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act in the United States and the European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, have raised the hackles of many members of the fund industry, but the ongoing success of Ireland as a domicile and servicing centre for hedge funds and other alternative vehicles demonstrates that it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
With the institutional investors that account for an every-increasing share of the industry’s assets broadly welcoming of more effective oversight of alternative funds and
Lombard Risk Management has addressed Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act with its Dodd-Frank Act Engine solution.
The Lombard Risk Dodd-Frank Act Engine solution is designed to address Title VII “Wall Street transparency and accountability – regulation of the OTC swaps markets” issue. This requires reporting swap data throughout the lifecycle of the trade providing real-time public dissemination (for price and volume transparency) and confidential regulatory use (to help conduct market oversight, enforce position limits and track systemic risk). The deadline for the first set of financial products covering CDS/IRS is July 2012, with other asset classes (e.g. Equities, Commodities and FX) to follow later in
The international derivatives market Eurex Exchange is further expanding its successful dividend derivatives segment by launching a total of ten new dividend futures on 2 March 2012.
These new futures are based on dividends from selected sector indices; out of the EURO STOXX sector and STOXX Europe 600 sector indices the sectors banking, insurance, oil & gas, telecommunications and utilities will be covered. Consultation revealed the greatest demand among market participants for these dividend sector indices.
The product specifications of the new futures are similar to the products already listed. The contracts are settled in cash and denominated in euro,
Macro Currency Group, the specialist currency investment boutique of global asset management firm Principal Global Investors, has launched the Principal Global Investors Funds Multi Strategy Currency Fund, (the Fund), a Dublin-registered, UCITS-compliant vehicle.
Managed by Mark Farrington (pictured) and Dr Ivan Petej, the Fund is available to a broader cross section of investors given its UCITS wrapper and is a sign of the growing acceptance amongst investors as to the benefits of currency as a primary portfolio component.
The Fund marks the first time a currency vehicle has combined independent alpha and beta income streams in one product offering. Designed
Appleby, the world’s largest provider of offshore legal, fiduciary and administration services, is set to expand into mainland China with the opening of a new representative office in Shanghai.
The new office, due to open on 2nd April 2012, will deliver fully integrated fiduciary and administration services and operate in tandem with the firm’s Hong Kong office, which has serviced Appleby’s local and international clients in Asia for over 20 years.
Appleby’s Global Group Managing Partner, Michael O’Connell, says: “As a business we feel that mainland China presents significant opportunities for us and for our clients. We already have a
International law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is to open an office in Hong Kong, PRC, further expanding its international footprint in Asia.
Gregory D Puff, who joins the firm from Shearman & Sterling, will lead the Hong Kong office and the firm’s Asia practice. He will be joined by Andrew Abernethy from Norton Rose.
The arrival of Puff and Abernethy significantly enhances Akin Gump’s corporate, capital markets, private equity and funds experience in Asia and will complement the established trade and funds practices the firm operates in Beijing.
Akin Gump Chairman R Bruce McLean, saysL “The
United States District Judge Robert W Sweet of the Southern District of New York has issued an Opinion in favour of the US Securities and Exchange Commission finding that United Kingdom-based hedge fund adviser Pentagon Capital Management PLC (PCM) and Lewis Chester, PCM’s Chief Executive Officer, engaged in securities fraud in violation of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Specifically, Judge Sweet found that Defendants PCM and Chester orchestrated a scheme to defraud mutual funds in the United States through late trading from February 2001 through September 2003. Late trading refers to the practice of placing
Equity-focused strategies in the EDHEC-Risk Alternative Indices, having increased their net market exposure – as shown by dynamic betas significantly higher than their long-term counterparts – exhibited strong performance last month and reached a five-month high: Long/Short Equity (3.36%), Event Driven (2.95%) and even Equity Market Neutral (1.01%).
In contrast, unsurprisingly enough, the Short Selling strategy (-6.85%) recorded a massive loss.
While emerging markets scored an impressive 11.32%, the corresponding hedge fund strategy only managed less than half of it (4.55%), in line with its measured dynamic exposure.
All segments in the fixed-income space showed significant gains, with high-grade bonds
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has obtained federal court consent orders resolving its remaining claims against defendants Robert D Watson and Daniel J Petroski, both of Houston, Texas, PrivateFX Global One Ltd, SA, and 36 Holdings Ltd. Global One, a corporation formed in Panama, and 36 Holdings are under the control of a court-appointed receiver, Thomas L Taylor III.
The consent orders, both entered on February 2, 2012, by the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, stem from a CFTC complaint filed in the same court on 21 May, 2009, charging the defendants with operating a multi-million dollar fraudulent
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