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The International Financial Centres Forum has been formally launched in London with a formal discussion between key organisations and individuals who are recognised as thought leaders in the field of international finance.
The forum was established to provide authoritative and balanced information to contribute to the public conversation on the role of IFCs in the global economy.
The forum has launched a website (www.ifcforum.org) with a Key Issues section and Knowledge Centre as a publicly available resource. The IFC Forum will be constantly adding policy papers to these sections.
The forum will also publish a monthly newsletter
The US credit default swap market remained characterised by further widening throughout the course of last month, extending the gradual decline in creditworthiness that began in late summer 2009, according to a report by GFI Group.
Risk aversion trades appear to be gaining increasing traction among credit derivatives markets, with the predominant bias of the corporate market remaining to the upside.
Sovereign contracts sparked by a host of weaker-than-anticipated macro data in the US are also beginning to flag increasing concern, with the US sovereign five-year contract moving above 30bps towards the end of last month from the low-20bps region
List Group, the electronic trading provider behind 15 of Europe’s electronic markets, has launched its standard alone grid computing platform, FMR Grid.
The platform enables financial institutions to conduct complex risk analysis simultaneously across asset classes, improving risk management performance and effectiveness.
The grid-based software tool provides portfolio managers, asset management firms and market makers with the ability to price, stress test and evaluate the risks of large and complex portfolios in real-time.
Asset class coverage includes FX, MM, fixed income, equity derivatives, interest rate derivatives and credit derivatives for both over-the-counter and exchange-based markets.
Enrico Melchioni, chief executive of
Horacio Valeiras, Managing Director, Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management and CIO, Allianz Global Investors Management Partners, looks back at 2009 and outlines his views on 2010.
History will remember the first decade of 21st Century as when we saw the first signs of a shift in economic power, with the last year showing it most significantly, from West to East.
With regard to investment classes, we experienced a negative 10 year cycle for returns in equities with the S&P 500, Dow Jones and EuroStoxx 20 being down significantly
Review: 2009
The story of 2009 has been the massive and unprecedented amounts of
Volatility spikes at the end of October hit many hedge fund strategies, with the Credit Suisse/Tremont Broad Hedge Fund Index returning a modest 0.13 per cent for an eighth consecutive month of positive returns, according to a report by Lipper.
The Broad Hedge Fund Index returned a year-to-date performance of 15.11 per cent.
All hedge fund strategies except equity market-neutral, long/short equity, and managed futures posted positive performance for October.
Posting its first month in the black after February this year, the best performing hedge fund strategy was dedicated short-bias (returning a remarkable 4.79 per cent), while the worst performing
The S&P GSCI increased 1.52 per cent in November led by the precious metals sector which gained 13.53 per cent, according to figures from Standard & Poor’s.
Year-to-date through November, the S&P GSCI is up 12.51 per cent.
“Commodity strength in November coincided with a 1.97 per cent decline in the US Dollar Index and a 6.00 per cent increase in the S&P 500 Total Return Index,” says Michael McGlone, director of commodity indexing at S&P Indices. “Also helping dollar-based commodities in November was the continued decline in US interest rates. The yield on the US two-year note declined
Swing Media Technology Group has entered into a SGD10m equity line facility with YA Global Master SPV, a fund managed by Yorkville Advisors.
Swing Media, a manufacturer and supplier of data storage products and peripherals, plans to use the funds for the group’s general corporate and working capital purposes and to further expand its core business and explore new ventures, including expansion into China green energy sector.
Matthew Hui, chief executive officer of Swing Media, says: “We are extremely pleased to welcome Yorkville as a long-term strategic capital partner. The partnership is an endorsement by the US-based fund manager
With the Madoff and other scandals still fresh in the mind and investors demanding that managers provide increased transparency, the hunt is on for software tools that meet clients’ portfolio
Opus Fund Services has opened an office in Chicago to concentrate on sales and marketing, back and middle office accounting, and client relationship management.
Stephen Giannone has been appointed as the firm’s president and will head the office.
He has previously worked in senior management positions at Bear Stearns and Deutsche Bank and most recently at hedge fund administrators Spectrum and Omnium (formerly Citadel Solutions).
Further additions to the team will be unveiled in the coming weeks.
"We are thrilled to establish our US operations footprint in Chicago and to expand our global management team with proven industry veterans," says
Marc Romano will join NewFinance Capital, the specialist fund of hedge funds wholly-owned by Schroders, as chief executive officer from 18 January 2010.
Romano joins from Credit Agricole Asset Management Alternative Investment where he was chief executive and head of multi-management business for the CAAM Group.
He will report to Marc Hotimsky, who will become executive chairman of NewFinance in addition to his responsibilities as chairman of the investment committee.
The strengthened management team at NewFinance will also include Benjamin Moute and David Mooney who have been appointed co-heads of investment.
Hotimsky says: “I am delighted to welcome Marc to
