Solutions
In 2011, ahead of the introduction of the AIFMD in Europe, an article entitled “A foot in both camps”, was written by Derek Delaney, Managing Director of DMS Offshore Investment Services (Europe) Limited. In it, Delaney (pictured) wrote: “There is an enduring perception that the established European domiciles such as Ireland and Luxembourg are in direct competition with the leading offshore domiciles such as Cayman. This perception has transcended reality to the extent that leading participants in both camps deem it necessary to fight their corner.”
With over 225 staff, DMS is the world’s largest provider of fund governance services
UBS Fund Services has had one of its strongest years in terms of winning new clients according to Monette Windsor (pictured), who heads up the Cayman Islands business.
“We’ve invested heavily in our business development team this year and we’ve had to beef up our client onboarding team. We have 165 staff now; we’re the largest administrator on the island,” says Windsor.
Not only has the firm seen client numbers rise, it has also seen a good number of existing managers launch new products. Interestingly, Windsor notes that many of them are not commingled funds but rather products for single
Derek Adler (pictured) ACSI is a director and founder member of International Financial Administration Group (‘Ifina’), which has now been around for 17 years providing fund administration services to small and emerging fund managers as well as large institutional clients. Over the last three years, Ifina has been successfully running a turnkey fund solution in Cayman for managers keen to avoid the cost and time to market to launch a standalone fund.
The umbrella fund structure, known as the Primary Development Fund, provides a segregated sub-fund arrangement and in Adler’s words, acts as a useful “stepping stone” for managers to
After signing Model 1 inter-governmental agreements (IGA) with both the US and the UK in November 2013, in July 2014 the Cayman Islands government passed the necessary regulations to provide legal obligations with respect to US and UK FATCA as a matter of Cayman Islands law. Also in July 2014, the Cayman Islands Tax Information Reporting Authority (‘TIA’) issued the first official version of the Cayman Islands FATCA guidance notes.
The next expected development comes early next year with the opening of an information exchange portal – which foreign financial institutions (FFIs) will use to file their FATCA reports to
By Giorgio Subiotto (pictured) & Shameer Jasani, Ogier – We have witnessed a clear evolution in how the composition of boards of directors on Cayman investment funds has been structured.
The concept of using independent directors is not new. Many US managers have used them on their boards of the feeder fund, in large part driven by US tax rules to do with investment fees and deferral rules. It was a pure tax planning device, where little thought was given to the selection of the directors so long as they weren’t related to the Investment Manager.
But this check the box approach,
By Nicholas Butcher, Maples and Calder – Cayman Islands exempted limited partnerships (“ELPs”) are currently riding the crest of a wave. Consistently a popular form of investment vehicle for hedge and especially private equity funds, 2013 saw a record 2,368 ELPs formed and registered in the Cayman Islands, and with the tally of new registrations in the calendar year to November 2014 already standing at 2,580, that record is set to be eclipsed this year.
In degree this popularity is explained by strong demand for Cayman Islands vehicles for use in offshore transactions as a result of a combination of Cayman’s
On 6 December 2013, after a period of consultation with industry practitioners, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) – the Islands’ financial regulator – released its Statement of Guidance for Regulated Mutual Funds (‘SoG-MF’). In essence, the SoG-MF codifies and sets guidance on the minimum corporate governance standards required by operators of regulated mutual funds (directors, general partners) and gives the operators a clear understanding of their primary duties.
CIMA expects the oversight, direction and management of a regulated mutual fund to be conducted in a fit and proper manner in accordance with the Mutual Funds Law. The Statement
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) has approved an amendment to and consolidation of LCH.Clearnet Ltd’s (LCH) orders of registration as a derivatives clearing organisation (DCO).
The amendment permits LCH to provide clearing services for “swaps,” as defined in the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Commission regulations, as well as all futures and options on futures, regardless of the underlying asset class.
LCH’s original order of registration, issued by the Commission on October 29, 2001, permitted LCH to clear over-the-counter derivatives contracts, agreements or transactions that were at the time excluded or exempt from the CEA. Due to the
Liquidnet has partnered with Torstone to consolidate its back office technology by replacing multiple systems within one modern, sophisticated, international platform.
By adopting Inferno, Liquidnet will benefit from improved control and efficiency through a flexible and scalable system that easily interfaces with front office applications and external vendors.
The improvements will allow, the more than 770 of the world’s leading asset managers which use Liquidnet, a more efficient way to optimally source diverse liquidity and satisfy best execution objectives.
“The partnership follows another year of record volumes in Japan. This market has long been a key focus for Liquidnet and
Huntington Asset Services is providing support for Spouting Rock Fund Management’s Spouting Rock/Convex Dynamic Global Macro Fund, which launched 21 November.
Huntington offers administration, accounting, custody, transfer agency services, distribution and tax services for the fund, which pursues positive absolute returns by investing on a global basis across a broad spectrum of asset classes, economic sectors and geographic markets, primarily through the use of ETFs.
“Spouting Rock is an innovative, client-centric firm with a proven track record evaluating alternative strategies,” says Joseph Rezabek, president of Huntington Asset Services. “The firm is a perfect partner for Huntington and demonstrates our commitment
