Solutions
Crestbridge: Best Regulatory Advisory & Compliance Firm – The advent of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) changed the landscape of the financial industry dramatically, ushering in a stronger focus on regulatory compliance and increased governance requirements. In light of these developments, service providers have witnessed a shift from unregulated structures to funds, generally managed by an AIFM to gain access to the European passport. Daniela Klasén-Martin, managing director, Crestbridge, shares her views: “We anticipate that the regulatory trend will continue and that with increased scrutiny from regulators, managers will have to invest in additional resources covering for independent control functions.
AlternativeSoft Analytical Investment Solutions: Best Risk Management Software – As the industry witnesses fading differentiations between long-only, private equity and hedge funds, investors are starting to purchase software and databases which combine all these investment types – long only, private equity and hedge funds. In this environment, the combination of quality client service, free training and customisable fact sheets coupled with ease of use and an attractive interface has seen AlternativeSoft go from strength to strength. The quantitative analytics software firm has seen its revenues increase organically by more than 30 per cent in last 2 years and has opened a New
Tradeweb: Best Execution Platform – During periods of high volatility or market stress, it’s vital that hedge fund managers continue to benefit from robust access to liquidity through efficient electronic markets. Electronic trading plays a significant role in promoting stability in financial markets, and multi-asset execution venues like Tradeweb, also help to keep them connected.
The firm, which builds and operates electronic marketplaces across rates, credit, equities and money markets, believes regulatory change can be a significant catalyst for change, potentially forcing a behavioural shift towards broader adoption of electronic trading workflows. Bhas Nalabothula, head of European interest rate derivatives at
Eversheds Sutherland: Best Law Firm – The persistent low rate environment has been pushing hedge fund managers to explore more creative options when looking to launch new funds. Increasing regulatory scrutiny is prompting greater urgency on the ESG front, while cyber-security threats, Brexit and other global events continue to influence the hedge fund industry.
RFA: Best Cyber-Security Service Provider – With the emergence of public cloud services from vendors like AWS and Azure, fund managers may be tempted to take a do-it-yourself approach to technology and cybersecurity systems. However, service providers warn against this tactic as managers may find themselves exposed to risk they would have neither intended nor foreseen.
George Ralph (pictured) managing director at RFA explains: “Everything is available at the click of a button. However, there are risks associated with deploying new services that haven’t been properly configured to ensure appropriate levels of security. I’d urge clients to engage a specialist to
SS&C Advent: Best Managed Accounts Software Provider – As investment in alternative assets continues to rise, asset managers’ needs for technology, hosting and services are also increasing. The alternative investment arena requires specialist skills, and as the regulatory pressure for transparency and accountability intensifies, asset managers are driven to evidence their value-add while also keeping a lid on cost.
These are some of the reasons which have driven alternative managers to reach out for support from third party partners. SS&C Advent is one such player. Roger Woolman, at SS&C Advent comments: “In the past year, we have seen significant adoption by
By A Paris – Last year was challenging for hedge fund managers. Although the market registered a dimension of recovery, regulation and fee pressure continued to ramp up while performance did not always to live up to expectations. However, hedge fund managers are resilient and are being pushed to innovate, finding ways to rise above these difficulties. This flexibility is bound to prove vital in the year ahead as the industry braces itself for the expected turbulence.
Shorter-term managed futures strategies are gearing up for further episodic spikes in volatility in the coming months, leading to more opportunities to capitalise on continued market unpredictability.
Trend followers largely withstood March’s market turmoil, notching up generally positive returns as other hedge fund strategies fell by the wayside amid growing Covid-19 pandemic fears.
But while CTA performance on the whole was somewhat mixed – the SocGen CTA Index closed the month at 0.09 per cent as medium-term managers’ gains in bonds and currencies was offset by equity losses – it was shorter-term strategies who soared amid the carnage.
Short-term CTAs
CME Group achieved record international average daily volume (ADV) of 7.2 million contracts in Q1 2020, up 57 per cent year on year, and surpassing the previous quarterly record of 5.3 million contracts traded during the second quarter of 2019. This record, reflecting all trading done outside North America, was driven largely by growth in Equity and Interest Rate products, up 152 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.
In Q1 2020, Europe, Middle East and Africa ADV hit a record 5.4 million contracts, up 54 per cent from Q1 2019. This was due to a strong performance in Equity and
BTON Financial, an independent outsourced dealing desk for asset managers and genesis, the Low Code Application Platform for Capital Markets, are partnering to automate trading workflows.Following a competitive due diligence process, covering both vendors and consultancies, BTON Financial selected genesis as its technology partner because of the company’s market expertise and Low Code Application Platform built specifically for capital markets. By using the genesis Low Code Application Platform, BTON says it is able to create solutions quickly without having to write substantial lines of code, making the development and deployment of these solutions much faster, simpler and easier to support.
