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After four years of record volume trading, London Metal Exchange activity remained relatively flat in 2009 with total volumes of 111.9 million lots traded, down a modest one per cent on 2008’s 113.2 million total.
Aluminium, copper and zinc were again the three largest contracts by volume, trading 49.7million, 26.5million and 16.6 million lots respectively.
Steel Mediterranean billet futures showed strong growth, ending 2009 with a total of over 30,000 contracts traded, up 133 per cent on 2008.
Martin Abbott, LME chief executive, says: “2009 was a difficult year in the broader market as the recession affected both production and
Northern Trust has expanded its securities exposure reporting for clients to include counterparties for over-the-counter derivatives contracts, in addition to more traditional investments such as equity and fixed income holdings.
The incorporation of OTC derivative counterparties on the Security Exposure Analysis available on Passport, Northern Trust’s web portal, makes it easier for clients to gather and aggregate information across multiple investments and accounts.
"Market volatility and shocks to the financial system have prompted institutional investors to take a broader, deeper view of exposures for their risk management and compliance oversight programs,” says Lenora Kelley, product manager for Northern Trust’s compliance
Risk management solution provider Portfolio Science has extended the reach of its RiskAPI distributed risk engine through an agreement to integrate the product into FixQ, an enterprise investment management system from specialist software provider PortfolioShop.
RiskAPI uses an application programming interface that allows users to access exposure calculations through standard operating environments such as the Excel spreadsheet application, offering risk management capabilities to a broad spectrum of investment industry players, not just the largest and best-capitalised institutions.
APIs normally allow users to customise software by developing code that can access and manipulate the software’s features, says Portfolio Science president Ittai
The global hedge fund industry will have USD1.86trn of assets at the end of December 2010, according to a report on 2010 hedge fund themes by Lipper.
Global hedge fund assets were estimated at USD1.55trn at the end of September 2009, rising to USD1.60trn at the end of December.
Lipper believes the global hedge fund industry will be at about USD1.86trn at the end of December 2010, slightly above June 2008’s reading, for a growth rate of 16.24 per cent year on year under the assumption of an average ten per cent annual performance in 2010 and USD100bn net inflows.
Thames River Capital has launched a Ucits III absolute return fund of funds with GBP47m already raised.
The Thames River Absolute Return Fund will be managed by alternatives specialist Ken Kinsey-Quick and assistant fund manager James Rous.
The fund will invest on a global basis, across multiple asset classes with a bias towards more liquid asset classes and the developed world.
Initially the portfolio will be biased toward market neutral equity and macro funds reflecting the team’s outlook for equities which, they believe, will struggle to break their 2007 highs, and that volatile financial markets will suit macro managers.
The
3 Degrees Asset Management, an investment management firm based in Singapore, has launched the 3 Degrees Credit Opportunities Fund with assets of USD27.3m.
3DCO will invest in the performing debt obligations of Asian borrowers, focusing principally on senior secured bank loans, as well as receivables, private placements, high yield and convertible bonds.
3DCO does not intend to use leverage and aims to provide a high level of transparency to investors.
“3DCO will capitalise on the systemic inefficiencies endemic to Asian credit markets,” says Moe Ibrahim, founder of 3 Degrees and portfolio manager of 3DCO. “With over USD20trn of debt
Investment banking firm Duff & Phelps has appointed Alan Swersky as a director in the portfolio valuation service line and head of the firm’s operational and risk due diligence group, based in the New York office.
Duff & Phelps’ operational and risk due diligence practice provides investors with a third party assessment of their hedge fund managers’ operating policies and procedures.
Swersky has spent a majority of his career in the alternative asset management community.
Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, he was global head of operational due diligence at Olympia Capital Management, a Paris-based fund of funds with USD3bn
Edhec-Risk Institute is offering an Executive MSc in Risk and Investment Management for experienced practitioners.
Its curriculum builds on the results of a survey of 229 financial institutions, which identified major inefficiencies in the organisation of risk and investment management as well as at each step of the investment process.
It delves into advanced asset allocation and risk management techniques and develops a dynamic risk budgeting framework allowing for the respect of hard downside risk constraints.
While the programme is technically challenging, the goal is the application of the right technique to satisfy clients’ needs.
Practical examples include reconciling short-term
The Newedge Volatility Trading Index fell by an estimated 1.28 per cent in December, following an estimated drop of 0.47 per cent the previous month.
The index has returned 9.52 per cent since inception.
From 1 November 2009, the MM Capital Select Fund has been included in the Newedge VTI calculation, bringing the number of constituent funds to 11.
The other ten funds are: Acorn Derivatives – Absolute Return Offshore; AM Investment Partners V Fund; BAM Opportunity Fund; Bay Hill Capital Fund; CAAM Funds Volatility World Equities; JD Capital – Tempo Volatility Fund; Lyxor G-Multi USD; KBD Capital Partners LP,
Hedge funds rebounded from 2008 losses with a 24.14 per cent gain in 2009, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
Close to 55 per cent of single manager hedge funds now have a profit for the period 1 June 2008 to 31 December 2009.
Of those funds that are still in negative territory, the average loss is currently at 17 per cent.
June 2008 marked the beginning of the financial meltdown triggered by the demise of several Bear Sterns mortgage backed hedge funds.
The Barclay Convertible Arbitrage Index led the way up in 2009 with a
