Solutions
“Our history is that we’ve been very welcoming to start-up hedge funds. Even as the opportunities to service larger managers grow, we’re not just walking away from what has been a significant part of our business,” says Jack Seibald (pictured), managing member at Concept Capital Markets LLC, one of North America’s leading introducing brokers.
Introducing primes like Concept Capital face a unique situation: on the one hand, they are well placed to grow as the quality and size of managers coming through the door increases as tier one primes reduce the number of managers they serve directly. On the other
By James Williams – On 4 August 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that Goldman Sachs had commenced culling its hedge fund client roster, offloading managers who simply weren’t generating enough return on equity. Fast forward to 7 December 2014. Reuters reported that Credit Suisse was considering scaling down its prime brokerage business, as Switzerland contemplates imposing a tier one capital ratio of 4 per cent on its banks by 2019, 1 per cent higher than the Basel III ratio.
This is the start of a process of serious soul searching for tier one primes as they weigh up the
Scotiabank is one of a stable of Canadian banks that have decided to enter the prime services space as regulation begins to shake up the established order. Basel III and other regulations are providing new entrants with similar opportunities that arose following the ‘08 financial crisis as managers adopted a multi-prime approach.
“Regulatory issues impacting the established set of banks are providing opportunities for new players. We are a recipient of this dislocation that is causing a lot of re-pricing conversations between managers and banks,” says John Stracquadanio (pictured), Head of Prime Services, Scotiabank.
“Tier one banks are dealing with
“In 2011, we identified that larger prime brokers were pulling back on smaller hedge funds. We saw our opportunity at that point,” states Paul Kelly (pictured), CEO of London-based Linear Investments Limited; an FCA-approved full service mini prime broker (Linear Mini Prime) providing full prime brokerage, custody and execution services to small and mid-sized hedge funds.
Back then, Linear Investments carved a niche supporting managers with USD5m or less in AuM. Aside from prime brokerage services, Linear also set up an FCA-approved regulatory umbrella for managers in a bid to keep operating costs to a minimum.
“It was a
Japan attracted significant international interest following the launch of Abenomics – how should global hedge fund managers assess Japan, and the rest of Asia, as a long-term source of capital?
The first two pillars of Abenomics, fiscal stimulus and monetary easing, gave a significant boost to the Japanese economy. The effect of the “third arrow” – structural reforms to stimulate growth – will be more gradual. However, since Abe’s re-election, there have been signs that Japan is embracing change and that it will impact all areas of the economy.
For example, the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF), the
Today’s evolving regulatory landscape is playing to the strengths of ABN AMRO Clearing, certainly with respect to EMIR and AIFMD. Over the last 35 years, ABN AMRO Clearing has built a nexus to global market infrastructures to provide execution services and post-trading facilities across most markets and products.
“We saw EMIR as an opportunity to expand our capacity. We are one of the largest clearers in the world and we’ve used this capacity to extend our clearing expertise into OTC derivatives such as IRS. It’s an opportunity for us to step in, demonstrate that we are a leading clearer, and
Celebrating its 150th year anniversary in 2014, Societe Generale took the decision in May 2014 to buy out Credit Agricole’s 50 per cent stake in Newedge, a leading provider of clearing and execution services in OTC and listed derivatives. This gave Societe Generale full ownership of the agency broker.
“We have bolted on some significant businesses to become a fully functional global prime services business,” says James Shekerdemian (pictured), Global Head of Prime Brokerage Sales at Societe Generale Prime Services, formerly Newedge. “Alongside our clearing and custody, execution and financing platform of old, we now have the strength of Societe
By James Williams (pictured) – A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. (Chinese Proverb)
It’s a well-known fact that adversity breeds innovation. As tough as it has become to do business in today’s financial markets, there are always opportunities to evolve, to re-assess one’s priorities, to build strength through consolidation.
One particular segment of the industry in which this is being borne out is prime brokerage. Primes of all shapes and sizes face a new reality today: the need to become both operational and balance sheet-efficient, and to broaden out
Miura Consulting’s ARAN solution is now supporting Fund clients with an automated “plug-and-play” AIFMD submission service.
ARAN was designed to eliminate the complexity and resource intensity of completing a manual submission and to reduce the cost of implementing an automated solution.
The Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive (AIFMD) is the latest stringent regulatory reporting requirement, aimed to deliver transparency to the hedge fund and asset management industries. As many Hedge funds are completing their first fund submission this month, Miura has been working with the industry to provide a comprehensive but efficient solution, which quickly imports and maps fund administration
Insurers in Asia and Europe are being guided by the shadow of local regulations, as well as investment logic, in their allocating to alternative strategies.
While their plans are often to boost exposure to non-traditional asset classes, the degree of such increases will often hinge on regulations, according to the inaugural edition of The Cerulli Edge – International Institutional Edition.
In Europe, punitive capital charges on insurers' alternative investments under Solvency II, taking effect from 2016, threaten to limit insurers growing their allocations to non-traditional classes.
In Asia, by contrast, Chinese insurers have used the liberalisation of their investment options
