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Jonathan Denton, partner in law firm Mishcon de Reya’s Finance and Banking Group, examines the implications of the UK Chancellor’s proposed “bank payroll tax”.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling announced in the Pre-Budget Report that the Government would introduce a temporary "bank payroll tax" payable by banks on the value of any bonuses paid or awarded in the period from 9 December 2009 until 5 April 2010 which exceed GBP 25,000.
Bonuses in respect of which a contractual obligation to pay arose before the announcement are excluded but other than that, most payments will be caught, including deferred payments and
The hedge fund industry will grow in 2010 with risk management continuing to be the key to success and macro, long/short equity and long/short credit will be the best performing hedge fund strategies in 2010, according to Morten Spenner (pictured), CEO at fund of hedge funds manager International Asset Management (IAM), and Andrew Gibson, Head of Asset Allocation.
Stabilisation of the industry: Outflows have subsided greatly, inflows have returned and a large core set of managers have demonstrated their ability to remain successful. Allocations to hedge funds will continue to grow in 2010 in response to the uncertain macro-economic environment.
In under a year the db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF has reached more than USD1bn in assets under management.
As of 8 December the fund’s assets are USD1.05bn or EUR715m.
In January 2009 the db Hedge Fund ETF became the world’s first ETF to directly invest in hedge funds via the db Hedge Fund Index.
The db Hedge Fund Index is asset weighted to the hedge fund industry and linked to the range of hedge funds available on Deutsche Bank’s X-markets Hedge Fund Platform.
Stephane Farouze, global head of hedge fund derivatives, Deutsche Bank, says: “The
Russell Investments has selected Nasdaq OMX as the primary source of real-time index values for Russell’s global and ex-US indexes.
Nasdaq OMX will begin disseminating real-time values for the Russell Global Indexes on 11 January 2010 via its index service, the Global Index Data Service.
GIDS is designed to facilitate performance and portfolio valuation due to its frequent dissemination of index data.
It supports a diverse array of Nasdaq OMX-branded indexes that cover equities, bonds, commodities and exchange-traded funds, as well as third party partnered indexes.
"Russell and Nasdaq OMX clients worldwide will have instant access to our comprehensive global
Cube Capital, a London-based global alternative investment and advisory firm, has appointed Louise van der Vegt as director of marketing and business development.
Van der Vegt joins Cube from Sturgeon Investments, where she was head of investor relations.
Prior to Sturgeon, she was an emerging market debt and high yield specialist at ABN AMRO Asset Management in London. She started her career as an analyst for Roland Berger Consultants in London and later joined Capgemini.
At Cube, van der Vegt will be responsible for all aspects of the firm’s marketing and business development.
The appointment comes as Cube Capital, which
Iveagh Private Investment House, the Guinness family office, is to launch a new share class for the Iveagh Wealth Fund to enable charities to invest in the fund at a reduced charge.
As part of a long-term partnership with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the share class will be branded the “NCVO share class” and will be aimed primarily at UK charities.
In addition to the reduced charge, a portion of the fees generated by investment in the NCVO share class will be used to create The Iveagh Bursary, a new educational fund that is being established to help
SmartPool, the European dark liquidity pool created by NYSE Euronext in partnership with HSBC, J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas, has expanded its pan-European mid cap service.
From January 2010 the SmartPool product universe will be expanded to include the constituents of the following European indices: FTSE All Share Index (UK); CDAX Index (Germany); AEX All Share (Dutch); and CAC All Share (French).
As a result of this expansion, the total number of securities traded on SmartPool will increase by 110 per cent.
Launched in February 2009, SmartPool offers trading in the leading indices of the 15 European equity markets traded
Sprott Asset Management has appointed Peter Loach as executive vice president of product development.
Sprott Asset Management is a business unit of Sprott Inc and manager of the Sprott family of mutual funds, hedge funds and discretionary managed accounts.
"We are very excited to have Peter join our team. He brings with him a wealth of experience and a tremendous perspective on the investment industry," says James Fox, president of Sprott Asset Management. "We believe Peter’s addition will provide significant value to our firm as we continue to seek the best investment talent and expand and diversify our product line
Gartmore Group, a traditional equity and alternative asset management firm, has priced its initial public offering of ordinary shares at 220 pence per share.
Based upon the offer price, the market capitalisation of Gartmore at the commencement of conditional dealings will be approximately GBP676m.
The offer consists of 127.3 million new ordinary shares and 27.3 million existing ordinary shares (prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option), in total representing in aggregate 50.3 per cent of 307.3 million ordinary shares in issue.
As stabilising manager, UBS has been granted an over-allotment option by certain selling shareholders of up
BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services has launched a service that independently validates a hedge fund’s position records to third parties and verifies the pricing of that fund’s securities.
The new service provides fund managers and their investors with greater transparency and additional assurance that fund assets are independently priced and validated.
The service, with pricing and validation coverage across 50 asset classes, is enabled by BNY Mellon’s relationships with more than 150 prime brokers and counterparties.
It can be used to supplement client interface with accountants and independent auditors and can also be customised to meet specific requirements, including
