Solutions
Dominic Wheatley (pictured), Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance, explains how the Island provides Latin American fund managers and investors with a unique offering.
Colleagues who visited Brazil, Chile and Colombia earlier this year were struck by the way in which Latin American institutional investors are shifting their allocations away from simply the traditional domestic market to incorporate wider asset classes, such as private equity and with global exposure, including Europe.
These factors, coupled with a desire to access European capital, are driving Latin American fund managers to establish European-based platforms subject to European regulation, such as the Undertakings for
SunGard has launched an independent, real-time transaction cost analysis (TCA) solution for foreign exchange (FX) trading to help traders, corporate treasurers and portfolio managers understand the quality of their executions.
SunGard’s FX TCA solution helps firms gain transparency over their FX trading by providing real-time FX pricing and transaction data on a customisable data analysis toolkit delivered in a software-as-a-service (SaaS) environment.
The absence of a central or regulated pricing venue is driving the need for FX pricing transparency for managing exposure and costs. As FX execution unbundles from custody arrangements, and trading continues to move from manual to electronic
Eurex Exchange has launched a new initiative – including a four-month fee holiday for EURIBOR futures – designed to further enhance the appeal of its short-term interest rate derivatives suite.
The zero fees period on trading and clearing of EURIBOR futures will be available from 10 December 2014 until 31 March 2015.
In addition, a range of new functionalities have been introduced with the latest update of the T7 trading system. The new release, introduced this week, provides market participants with the full range of functionalities required for money market derivatives trading, including packs, bundles and strips.
Eurex is the
Eurex is to license Global Markets Exchange Group’s (GMEX) Euro-denominated Constant Maturity Future (CMF) for trading via Eurex’s Multilateral Trade Registration (MTR) service and clearing on Eurex Clearing.
The CMF is based on the Interest Rate Swap Index Average (IRSIA) and accurately tracks the interest rate exposure at each point on the yield curve by removing the expiry date and marking the contract to market against an IRSIA Constant Maturity Index on a daily basis. Thereby the contract facilitates the management of interest rate exposure without a constant need to re-adjust and maintains the liquidity of a given maturity from
ICSA, the Institute for professionals working in governance and compliance, is launching four new Level 4 (the equivalent of first year undergraduate) qualifications for offshore finance professionals.
The new International Finance and Administration qualifications replace ICSA’s Certificate in Offshore Finance and Administration (COFA) and will offer much greater choice and flexibility than before.
The existing COFA qualification has been updated and reorganised into smaller, more manageable modules. Students who successfully complete all available modules will earn themselves a CertICSA post nominal, but can also gain recognition of their achievement if they decide to study fewer modules.
The new
New capital and leverage ratios being mandated by the Basel III rules will penalise prime brokers whose securities financing operations will be incrementally included as risk exposure that requires a capital buffer.
TABB Group says that the rules, treatment of collateral and divergent cost of financing in prime brokerages are forcing a reassessment of internal benchmarking at a time when hedge funds and long-only funds are using fewer prime brokers since the financial crisis, a trend that continues downward, says Radi Khasawneh, a London-based TABB research analyst who wrote “Equity Prime Brokerage: Exploring Uncharted Territory.”
As brokers are focusing
Intercontinental Exchange is to sell approximately 4.2 million shares in Euronext NV, representing approximately 6% of Euronext’s share capital, by way of an accelerated book-building to institutional investors.
Following the sale, assuming all shares are sold, ICE will no longer hold any of Euronext’s share capital and voting rights. This transaction marks the final exit from Euronext by ICE, in line with its previously announced strategy. ICE received a waiver of the lock-up agreement entered into at the time of the Euronext initial public offering in June 2014, which was due to expire on 21 December, 2014.
The shares
By Louise Guillemette (pictured, above) and Poseidon Retsinas (pictured, left), both Legal Counsel at Innocap Investment Management – The managed account space is evolving from the traditional standardised and commingled offering toward customisation for single investors. Innocap offers its investors dedicated investment vehicles of multiple types, across multiple jurisdictions, featuring multiple fund administrators and service providers.
As part of this customisation, Innocap focuses on matching the brokers, clearers and counterparties (“BCCs”) used by the hedge fund manager (“Trading Customisation”). The goal is to create a trading environment that allows the manager to effectively implement its strategy. Meanwhile, agreements with BCCs (“Trading Agreements”) are negotiated by Innocap’s
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund industry association, has published an updated guide for hedge fund managers to use when selecting a prime broker.
AIMA’s Guide to Sound Practices for Selecting a Prime Broker incorporates changes to the regulatory framework that affects the relationship between managers and prime brokers, including reporting requirements and other new measures introduced under the Dodd-Frank Act in the US and Europe’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
The Guide, which was drafted by a working group of AIMA members, also reflects the greater
The Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) has added of five institutional members – Bloomberg Tradebook Services, Cürex, FastMatch, Nasdaq and Singapore Exchange (SGX).
All have joined FXPA’s Founders’ Council and become members of the initial Board of Directors.
With the five new additions, FXPA’s membership has grown to 15 member firms, including the 10 initial founders: The Bank of New York Mellon, CalPERS, Campbell & Company, Citadel LLC, CME Group, GFI Group, LCH.Clearnet, LMAX Exchange, Traiana and Virtu Financial.
FXPA, which launched on 25 September, 2014, is a trade body uniquely comprised of a cross-section of FX industry participants. Based
