Solutions
The London Metal Exchange (LME) saw encouraging volumes in LMEswaps trading since launching the contracts on 23 January 2012. A total of 2,400 lots traded, of which 2,368 were in aluminium, 30 in copper and two in nickel.
LMEswaps introduce a new kind of contract to the market, which responds to the needs of the physical industry. For the first time, LMEswap users can benefit from a regulated market with the same counterparty default risk protection offered by other LME contracts.
Tradable on LMEselect and the 24-hour telephone market, LMEswaps enable market participants to enter into a fixed
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, and Oman Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman, are to increase their investments in the Dubai Mercantile Exchange to enable it to continue growing its business.
As part of the restructuring of the DME’s equity shareholding, a recapitalization arrangement will increase the stake in DME held by CME Group’s NYMEX division from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. Oman Investment Fund will increase its holding to 29 per cent; a subsidiary of Dubai Holding will retain 9 per cent; and 12 per cent will
The international derivatives market Eurex Exchange is further expanding its successful dividend derivatives segment by launching a total of ten new dividend futures on 2 March 2012.
These new futures are based on dividends from selected sector indices; out of the EURO STOXX sector and STOXX Europe 600 sector indices the sectors banking, insurance, oil & gas, telecommunications and utilities will be covered. Consultation revealed the greatest demand among market participants for these dividend sector indices.
The product specifications of the new futures are similar to the products already listed. The contracts are settled in cash and denominated in euro,
State Street Corporation has expanded its end-to-end derivatives solution to include an execution platform for the trading of derivatives products.
The launch of this swap execution facility (SEF), SwapEx, coincides with the 2012 implementation of significant regulatory changes in the United States and Europe.
State Street’s comprehensive derivatives solution already includes clearing, servicing, custody and accounting, collateral management, valuation, and risk and analytics.
As the Dodd-Frank Act and similar measures under European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) are adopted, the large majority of swap contracts currently traded over the counter (OTC) directly between two
Eurex Exchange is to introduce futures and options contracts on the RDX USD equity index on 19 March 2012. The new RDX USD derivatives will be based on the Vienna Stock Exchange’s RDX USD Index, which tracks the price performance of the most liquid depositary receipts (DRs) on Russian shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. The RDX USD Index currently comprises 15 securities.
Eurex Exchange has concluded a license agreement with the Vienna Stock Exchange for the introduction of the new derivatives. The RDX USD is one of the best known Russian indices in the world and has been
Macquarie Group will begin offering hedge fund capital-raising services to external hedge funds through its Alternative Investment Strategies (AIS) division.
The initiative will initially seek to represent three to five hedge fund managers on an exclusive basis. Target managers will ideally have at least USD500 million of assets with an ultimate target of at least USD1.5 billion and at least a three-year track record.
"Our reputation and track record, coupled with our global reach and institutional infrastructure, makes our approach an attractive alternative to any top hedge fund manager looking to outsource fund raising," says Jonathan Hall, Managing Director,
2012 starts on a robust footing for the hedge fund industry. January monthly returns have been one of the strongest in over a decade. After a lacklustre 2011 – in fact, the second worst year out of the last twenty – hedge fund performance is now set to benefit from a normalising trading environment.
For markets, 2011 again was one of the most volatile years in history. But for hedge funds, volatility per se has not been the real issue. The main driver of sub-par performance was to be found in the abnormally high level of correlation. Correlations across assets
HazelTree, a leading provider of Treasury management services, and Treasury Curve, a firm that provides access to institutional money market funds from multiple providers on a single platform, are teaming up to provide hedge fund and asset management executives with true end-to-end service.
"This is all about empowering our clients and giving them the tools they need to maximise growth," says Stephen Casner (pictured), CEO of HazelTree. "Our partnership with Treasury Curve is a natural extension of HazelTree’s efforts to provide our clients with a fully encompassing Treasury solution that not only aggregates long/short positions, cash and rates across all
The majority of investors in hedge funds, commodity trading advisors and private equity funds expect to increase their allocations to those private investments in 2012, according to a survey by AlphaMetrix.
A total of 65 per cent of investment managers and investors surveyed said they intend to increase their allocations to private investments by some degree this year, with 25 per cent of participants planning to raise their allocations significantly. Further, 35 per cent intend to leave their existing allocations unchanged.
Respondents answered a range of questions during the AlphaMetrix 2012 Miami Summit, a leading networking conference for the private
Schulte Roth & Zabel (SRZ) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its London office. Formed in New York in 1969, SRZ is a legal service provider to the global hedge fund industry.
SRZ opened its doors in London in September 2002, a natural extension into the UK of its successful US investment management practice. In the past decade, SRZ’s London practice has advised some of the most celebrated names in the European hedge fund industry and has gained an impressive share of the European investment management legal market.
“We are grateful to our clients and pleased that we are
