November marked the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index’s first negative month of performance since June. Many managers focused on preserving capital in the increasingly volatile market environment by constraining their losses with hedges, curtailing exposures and lowering leverage levels. Five out of ten strategies in the index posted positive performance for the month. Fixed income arbitrage (+0.74 per cent) was the best performing sector in November, and has the best year-to-date performance in the index at 11.82 per cent as of 30 November. The strategy has had only one month of negative performance in 2010 in May, and

KBC has finalised the sale of the US life settlement portfolio held by KBC Financial Products to certain funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, as announced on 10 November. KBC’s exit from the life settlements market follows its decision to refocus its merchant banking business, of which the life settlements activities were not deemed core. While reducing KBC’s risk profile and future volatility, the transaction has no impact on KBC’s Tier-1 ratio and is not material to KBC Group’s results. In recent months, KBC Financial Products has divested its Japanese equities business, its US reverse mortgage business, its

By Ross Youngs – In the current global environment, managers and regulators are focusing determinedly on the substance of activities in offshore financial jurisdictions, the quality of service providers and the ability to deliver increasingly complex business with the requisite regard to risk. Jersey and Guernsey are well placed to thrive, thanks to genuine intellectual capital, effective and flexible regulation, good technological infrastructure, robust operating models and experience built up over decades. The islands’ global reputation as international financial centres has been bolstered by the influx of global brand names alongside specialist industry providers. Both have demonstrated their commitment through

By Simon Gray – In a global environment where managers of classic alternative investment strategies are having to work harder than ever to attract capital from wary investors, members of the industry in the Channel Islands say the jurisdictions are benefiting from a burgeoning international reputation for broad-ranging expertise that is particularly attractive to promoters of innovative strategies and exotic asset classes. Alongside the islands’ established range of specialist fund experience, covering funds of hedge funds and hedge fund managed account platforms, private equity vehicles, property funds and certain types of retail product including exchange-traded funds, Jersey and Guernsey are

By Ed Devenport (pictured) and Gavin Farrell – The past couple of years have seen a striking change in the type of work carried out by fund lawyers in the Channel Islands. Up to 2008, around 80 per cent of our activity involved the establishment of new structures, and the rest was recurring business. The liquidity crisis caused a substantial slowdown in the number of new products, but at the same time a huge increase in restructuring and other work involving existing fund vehicles.  Paradoxically, there have been significant benefits from the change as far as the legal profession is

An interview with CISX chief executive Tamara Menteshvili – Over more than a decade, the Channel Islands Stock Exchange has provided essential supporting infrastructure for the financial sector in Guernsey and Jersey. In the investment fund industry, the exchange is central to the process of capital-raising from investors and to oversight of funds through the disclosure requirements of the listing regime. How has the financial crisis affected the stock exchange? The past two or three years have seen greater focus by investors on the transparency benefits of a listing. The exchange’s public disclosure regime is designed to provide information flows

By Simon Gray – The financial crisis and economic downturn of the past three years has fundamentally changed the rules of the game for the international financial services industry in general and the fund sector in particular. The laissez-faire philosophy that prevailed in many countries throughout the boom years of the mid-2000s has given way to a new focus on transparency and oversight at the insistence of governments, regulators and, not least, investors. It might be presumed that offshore financial centres and the investment managers and service providers that operate in those jurisdictions would be among the principal losers from

2010 has seen an improvement in markets and investor sentiment across most industries and the UK economy has crept out of recession.  A recent poll of investment company managers conducted by the Association of Investment Companies found confidence amongst fund managers was up 18 per cent on the previous year with an impressive 92 per cent predicting that markets will rise in 2011.  Over the past 12 months, the average investment company is up 17 per cent, compared to the FTSE 100 which is up ten per cent. For investment companies, 2010 saw a return to launch activity with 14