Solutions
Blockchain will become adopted in the financial post-trade area in three to five years, according to almost half (48 per cent) of the membership base of the Post-Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group.
In addition, just over a quarter (29 per cent) of members believe blockchain will become adopted in as little as the next one to two years, though 21 per cent forecast it will take in excess of five years.
The survey of PTDL’s global membership found that the top three benefits of distributed ledger technology will be operational cost savings (cited by 81 per cent), increased efficiency/ reduced
Alpine Global Master Fund, a long/short market-neutral hedge fund, has appointed Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) to provide hedge fund administration services and middle office outsourcing.
The fund has a fundamental based quantitative investment methodology and is managed by BOCOM International Asset Management Limited, with Huatai-PineBridge Fund Management Co, Ltd. as the investment advisor.
Managing Director of Alpine Global fund Liang Shi, says: “One of the main reasons we selected Northern Trust was its industry-leading robust technology and its experience in servicing complex offshore fund structures. Northern Trust provides the Fund with a unique solution that suits its needs, enabling the
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) full-service institutional straight-through-processing (STP) suite of products processed close to one billion trades for the first time in 2016, across equities, fixed income, equity swaps and repurchase agreements.
DTCC’s products automate trade lifecycle events between 3,800 investment managers, broker/dealers and custodian banks.
“As a user-owned and governed firm, DTCC takes very seriously its role in advancing solutions that help to secure and shape the future growth and development of the marketplace,” says Paula Arthus (pictured), managing director and head of Omgeo and Data Services at DTCC. “DTCC’s mission is to create market
Neptune Networks, an open-standard network for bond real-time AXE indications, has added Nomura and Jefferies to its network.
The Neptune network provides a venue for institutional investors to access sell-side pricing on the key bonds they are looking to buy and sell.
This makes it easier to execute orders, prove best execution, minimise information leakage and comply with regulation such as SEC Rule 22e-4, and its equivalent in EMEA, which expands on the existing framework for the oversight and management of liquidity risks.
Seventeen bond dealers are already live on the real-time network (the remaining four are expected
Proper fund governance has long been championed by leading offshore law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman, which for the last decade has encouraged its hedge fund clients to hold at least annual directors meetings. Initially this was met with some resistance according to Robert Briant (pictured), Partner and head of Conyers’ BVI office, who confirms that such resistance has softened over the last few years.
“Even though there is no requirement in the BVI for the directors to meet annually, they do meet and are happy to meet when we suggest it. So that is a positive change. Some funds
One of the reasons as to why the BVI introduced the Incubator and Approved Fund products in May 2015 was, partly, in response to the fact that fund launch numbers in the global hedge fund industry had started to steadily decline. Rising regulatory and compliance costs were hurting start-up managers and dissuading people from coming to market.
In that sense, the BVI was quite prescient and demonstrates the forward looking approach that its regulator, the BVI Financial Services Commission (the "Commission"), takes to ensure that the jurisdiction remains as accessible as possible to start-ups and emerging managers, as well as
Circle Partners is an independent fund administrator with offices in the BVI, Cayman Islands, and across the EU, the Americas and Hong Kong.
"We've seen a lot of growth in new BVI fund vehicles over the last 12 months – both the Incubator Fund and the more popular Approved Fund," reflects Peter Jakubicka (pictured), Business Development Manager at Circle Partners. "These vehicles have been the main driver of business for us in the BVI and we've seen continued interest in the first few weeks of January this year; this is partly due to the fact that Cayman has not introduced
"We see the funds industry as continuing to contribute to the overall offering of financial services. There remains good interest in the BVI product and we envisage that will continue," asserts Glenford Malone, Director, Investment Business Division, BVI Financial Services Commission, when asked to comment on the growth of the BVI's funds industry.
Like every fund jurisdiction, the estimated 40 per cent drop in new fund launches in the hedge fund industry last year negatively impacted the BVI. And as the costs of running a hedge fund business increase, some are choosing to call it a day and revert to
Hong Kong’s Value Partners Group is supporting business expansion beyond Asia by automating its front-and middle-office activities with the Charles River Investment Management Solution (Charles River IMS).
A client since 2015, Value Partners recently went live on Charles River’s Post-Trade solution across its equities, fixed income, FX and derivatives operations. The firm now has a single investment management platform with centralised confirmation, trade matching and settlement instruction capabilities.
“The implementation of Charles River has significantly increased our ability to monitor and control trading activity,” says Tim Bruce, managing director of information technology, Value Partners. “We are well positioned to
B Trading has launched a systematic order insurance service exclusive to the financial services sector in London.
Created by Oleg Bagrii (pictured) in 2008, after his first-hand experience as a trader on the forex market and tested over a nine-year period, B Trading’s product is aimed at providing accurate and emotionless prediction of the financial results of a trade while remaining sufficiently flexible to operate within the individual parameters of each client.
Bagrii says: “Even a well-designed trading strategy can fail, which is why I decided to think outside of the box to find out how best to minimise
