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The FSA’s significant fine and banning for life of hedge fund manager Michiel Visser highlights the age old need for independence between key functions at firms of all sizes, says Peter Moore (picture), head of regulations at The IMS Group… 


The news that the FSA has struck off and fined Michiel Weiger Visser, CEO of failed Mercurius Capital Management, highlights how potential investors should consider the quality of all the components of an asset management firm and not simply the experience and track record of the front office (investment) staff. Potential investors should seek assurance (and supporting evidence) of the independence of
The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) has directed the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to fine Michiel Weiger Visser GBP2 million and Oluwole Modupe Fagbulu GBP100,000 and ban them both from performing any role in regulated financial services for breaching Principle 1 of the FSA’s Statements of Principle for Approved Persons and for engaging in market abuse.
The Tribunal determined that Fagbulu’s behaviour merited a fine of GBP350,000 but reduced the amount payable because this level of fine would cause serious financial hardship. Visser has applied to have the Tribunal’s decision set aside.
Visser was the CEO and Fagbulu CFO
The implementation of OTC derivatives market reform will cause data levels to surge by as much as 400% above current levels, says TABB Group in new research published this week. Electronic trading, clearing, reporting, risk management and other Dodd-Frank Act and European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) reform-mandated processes will produce and consume massive amounts of data never seen before by the swaps market.
Readying technology platforms to meet these reforms will not be an exercise in compliance but one of survival, says Kevin McPartland (pictured), a principal at TABB, director of the firm’s new fixed-income practice and author of “Technology
Union Bancaire Privée, UBP SA and ABN AMRO Bank NV have entered into an agreement whereby UBP will acquire ABN AMRO Bank (Switzerland) AG. The cash transaction, which is subject to the usual completion conditions and the approval of the relevant regulatory bodies, is expected to be finalised during the fourth quarter of 2011.
ABN AMRO Bank (Switzerland) AG is a pure Swiss private bank which held EUR11 billion in client assets under management as at the end of the first quarter of 2011. It employs over 350 staff and has operations in Zurich, Geneva, Lugano, and Basle. With this
Last week was a real rollercoaster for the fund management community. Following comments made by President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, in which he said that falling confidence in the bonds of Italy and Spain reflected that the eurozone was no longer “just in the euro-area periphery”, European stock markets collapsed: the FTSE 100 Index closed at 5007 on 10 August having fallen 13 per cent since 1 August, wiping GBP200billion from the balance sheets of Britain’s leading companies.
Factor in continuing fears over the US economic recovery (despite labour figures coming in stronger than expected), and the
The RBC Hedge 250 Index had a net return of 0.29 per cent for July 2011. This brings the year-to-date return of the Index to 0.93 per cent.
These returns are estimated and will be finalised by the middle of next month. The return for June 2011 has been finalised at -1.16 per cent.
The RBC Hedge 250 Index is a non-investable benchmark of the performance of the hedge fund industry. The Index operates in accordance with a unique construction methodology. The Universe on which the Index is based currently consists of 4,138 hedge funds (excludes funds of hedge funds)
JP Morgan’s global custody business, which operates in more than 100 markets, has improved over 2,100 traduce instruction deadlines for global custody clients in more than 80 markets, providing market-leading cut-off times in the majority of those markets.
As a result of ongoing significant investment in its technology and operational centres, JP Morgan clients now have greater flexibility in instructing trades. Bringing trade instruction deadlines closer to market deadlines allows more time for pre-matching and identification of potential settlement issues.
The vast majority of enhancements are to instructions transmitted electronically as clients’ electronic trade instructions can move freely between
In the current quarter, all Salus Alpha Funds outperformed global equity markets in what has been a difficult environment. Salus Alpha Managed Futures led the way with a gain of 4.89% in the current quarter, while the US S&P 500 Index lost 2.15%, and the German DAX30 index declined 2.95% in the same period.
The 24 month rolling alpha of Salus Alpha Managed Futures compared to the S&P500 is 5% p.a, while the 24 month rolling beta is currently 0.2. This implies that in the past 24 months, the fund had a return of approximately 5% due to active management
In one whiplash inducing week on Wall Street, markets have experienced some of the most extreme consecutive pricing swings on record, ultimately resulting in a 13.6% loss for the Dow Jones Global Index month-to-date (to 10 August). But according to results from the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index, hedge funds have more or less held their own, despite the turmoil.
"Despite challenging conditions, hedge funds appear to have so far been effective in their attempt to provide a level of capital preservation, and overall have limited losses relative to perceived riskier asset classes such as equities," says Oliver
Castlstone Management CEO Angus Murray (pictured) argues that in a highly volatile world, real assets and the N11 emerging economies will continue to outperform all other asset classes…
The European debt crisis and the raising of the US debt ceiling indicates that the Western World has not got its finances under control. These Governments need short term funding to keep unemployment under control and the only solution is to create more money. In Europe this is being used to bail out ailing economies such as Portugal, Greece and Spain and in the US to move towards QE3. The upshot of
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