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The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission have issued a joint report identifying areas where the agencies’ regulatory schemes differ and recommending actions to address those differences, where appropriate.
In June, the White House released a white paper on financial regulatory reform calling on the CFTC and SEC to “make recommendations to Congress for changes to statutes and regulations that would harmonize regulation of futures and securities.”
The report includes 20 recommendations to enhance enforcement powers, strengthen market and intermediary oversight and improve operational coordination.
“In this report, our agencies rose above the usual challenges and
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an enforcement action against Trader’s International Return Network (TIRN), a Panamanian corporation, and its president David Merrick of Apopka, Florida, charging them with solicitation fraud and misappropriation of customer funds involving at least USD16.4 million.
According to the CFTC complaint, filed on October 14, 2009, in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida, TIRN represented itself as a “private investment club” that provided various investment services, including foreign currency (forex) investing, through its purported Real Century forex trading program. As alleged, the defendants accepted at least USD16.4 million
Investment firms NDF Administration and Defined Returns Limited, which marketed products backed by the ill-fated Lehman Brothers, were placed into administration last week. NDFA and DRL specialise in structured products for the retail market, with concerns being raised by the UK’s FSA about the adequacy of their marketing literature for investors.
Andrew Wilkins (pictured), Executive Director of Catalyst Investment Group, which specialises in the design and distribution of investments backed by alternative assets, in particular life settlements, comments: "Lehmans has cast a long shadow over the sector and there will be lingering concern in the market that NDFA is the
Hedge funds are now competing for talent with endowments, foundations, traditional asset managers, and asset management and proprietary trading desks of banks, according to a report issued by Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.
The report, which details hedge fund search and recruiting trends, as well as compensation activity and salary and bonus ranges, for the first three quarters of 2009, also notes that the summer of 2009 was active in fund launches and hiring as pay and trading constraints have driven a number of senior traders from banks to launch their own funds.
Due to an asset-building frenzy, there is
Hedge funds added 3.25% in September according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is now up 20.05% in 2009.
“This month’s gain of 3.25 per cent is the strongest September return since 1997, when hedge funds rose 4.05 per cent,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “The rally in global equity prices continued to gain steam in October. Although the S&P 500 Index increased 3.73 per cent, it was eclipsed by the performance of the MSCI BRIC Index which gained 10.14 per cent.
“Further confirmation of increased investor willingness to take on more
Final performance for the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index is confirmed up 3.04% in September, according to Oliver Schupp, President of Credit Suisse Index Co, Inc.
"The Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index finished up 3.04% in September, bringing third quarter returns to 7.27%, marking the strongest third quarter performance for hedge funds in 12 years," said Schupp. "The Broad Index is up to 14.97% year-to-date. The Emerging Markets strategy led the performance among sectors, returning 4.94% in September and 24.67% year-to-date.
“Another notable sector for the month was Convertible Arbitrage, which extended its gains into September, finishing up 3.23%. Convertible
EDHEC has welcomed the European Commission’s consultation paper on the UCITS depositary function, but believes the EC timetable has been drawn up too hastily.
In a recent position paper by Noël Amenc, director of EDHEC-Risk Institute and professor of finance at EDHEC, and Samuel Sender, director of applied research at EDHEC-Risk, EDHEC expresses its approval of the consultation paper and stresses that an in-depth study of the regulations and practices of those who are part of the value chain (to which the consultation contributes) is necessary. To take into account only the liability of the depositary in the management of
Kleinwort Benson’s future is secure after RHJ International (RHJI) agreed to acquire the UK and Channel Islands private bank and wealth management group from Commerzbank AG, in a cash deal worth GBP225m.
Robert Taylor, CEO of Kleinwort Benson has welcomed the conclusion of the sale process and is delighted that the historic brand is ‘here to stay’.
“From the very outset of this process, the Kleinwort Benson management team sought to identify a parent committed to the private banking and wealth management arena for the longer term, so we were delighted in the potential RHJI saw for further growth in
Billionaire hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam and five other top US company executives have been charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the largest ever hedge fund insider-trading scheme.
Rajaratnam, founder of the USD7bn hedge fund Galleon Group, plus two executives from hedge fund New Castle and three other top executives from IBM, McKinsey & Co and the venture capital arm of Intel Corp were charged on Friday with illegal trading in a range of companies including Google, Akamai and Hilton Hotels over a period of nearly three years.
The USD20m scheme was exposed after SEC
US CDS markets continued to tighten throughout the course of the past month, pricing-in expectations of further improvements in economic data, according to GFI’s credit derivatives report for September.
Sentiment shifted towards the very end of the month, as weakness in some data points – notably employment statistics – weighed on the market.
Consistent with recent months, financial sectors remained the most heavily active in terms of volume – Financial Services, Insurance (full line) and Real Estate the most active sectors on the month, while at a corporate level, CIT Group saw a robust level of interest, as concerns over
