Solutions
LaSalle Investment Management has partnered with BGC Partners to establish a property derivatives capability for clients. The new offering is expected to be fully operational by spring 2011. Together with BGC, LaSalle will embed the end-to-end systems and processes to empower LaSalle’s fund managers to identify value and execute and monitor trades.
The announcement comes as interest in property derivatives continues to grow with figures showing that trading doubled between Q2 and Q3 2010 to GBP756 million, bringing the year-to-date trading levels to GBP1.5 billion. According to the IPD, the majority of trading activity came in the more mature UK
Apex Fund Services is to create 50 jobs in Ireland over the next 18 months with the opening of a new office in Dublin. The new office opening is in response to Apex Fund Services rapidly growing client base internationally.
With 21 offices internationally, Apex Fund Services located in Cork 4 years ago, and successfully recruited the highly skilled financial services staff required to grow and scale the business in Ireland. Now having reached its optimum size and with an increasing amount of funds business going through the Irish office, establishing a presence in Dublin was the obvious next
In March, the stock market could not maintain the fast pace that began last summer. The S&P 500 index remained stable (+0.04%) despite continuously decreasing implied volatility (17.7%) over the past three months. For the first quarter of 2011, the S&P 500 Index registered a positive return (+5.92%) that was about half the level of its two previous double-digit quarterly returns.
On the fixed-income market, convertible bonds (+0.63%) managed a positive but conservative performance, whereas regular bonds (-0.36%) registered their fifth consecutive negative return. Similarly, the Lehman Global Bond Index failed to reach positive territory. After six months of substantial
Citi’s Global Transaction Services business has launched a comprehensive OTC Derivatives Service that consolidates and simplifies the entire post-trade execution process. The offering provides clients with access to a full range of middle- and back-office services on a single platform, including confirmation, settlement, valuation services, collateral management, margin management, and access to Citi’s global clearing network.
New regulations and oversight are transforming the OTC derivatives market, adding levels of operational complexity and reporting requirements across the contract lifecycle. The proposed offering addresses the need for a comprehensive OTC derivatives solution clients can use to navigate a rapidly changing regulatory and
A poll of investment professionals ranging from investors to analysts has seen Capricorn FX voted as the "Best Managed Futures/CTA" in the Hedgeweek 2011 awards. Capricorn was recognised as a premium currency manager that has consistently produced risk-adjusted returns that is uncorrelated to other asset classes.
An increase in AUM has elevated strategy assets to a peak of USD88m and total advisory assets to slightly under USD300m. Over seventy five per cent of the firm strategy assets are from institutional investors, the majority being from bank and fund of fund allocations, with the remainder of assets coming from high net
Level E Ltd, the Edinburgh-based provider of advanced financial market trading analytics, has launched a managed accounts platform, providing those wishing to harness the company’s leading artificial intelligence-based trading systems with a cost-effective, flexible entry point.
The managed account platform lets investors track the performance of Level E Ltd’s artificial intelligence-driven, quantitative trading strategies while retaining control and access to their funds. The platform has already attracted capital commitments of USD25 million from a US-based alternative investment group, with further investment expected in the near future. Level E Ltd’s quantitative trading methodology underpins the groundbreaking Level E Capital SICAV, an
A recent survey conducted by Thesis Fund Management, a New York based registered investment advisor and manager of The Flexible Fund (TFLEX), has revealed that many Americans are in the dark when it comes to hedge funds. When asked if they know what a hedge fund is, 65 percent of the 1,000 survey participants with varying income levels responded that they do not.
Though hedge funds are typically reserved for wealthier consumers, mutual funds have begun adopting their strategies to make them available to the average investor, making it increasingly important to educate consumers about hedge fund strategies.
"Hedge
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has launched two RBS Market Access Currency Hedged ETFs on NYSE Euronext’s Amsterdam market. These new currency hedged ETFs enable investors to invest internationally and hedge currency exposure in one trade, without having to monitor and maintain a currency hedge.
The new ETFs, which were created by RBS to provide Euro hedged exposure to the major benchmark indices S&P 500 and TOPIX, are the RBS Market Access S&P 500 EUR Hedged Index ETF, and the RBS Market Access TOPIX EUR Hedged Index ETF.
Each currency hedged index has been designed to replicate
NYSE Euronext’s Board of Directors, consistent with its fiduciary duties and advised by its independent financial and legal advisors, has unanimously reaffirmed the previously announced combination agreement with Deutsche Boerse AG (XETRA:DB1) and rejected the unsolicited and highly conditional proposal by NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc (Nasdaq: NDAQ) and InterContinental Exchange, Inc (NYSE: ICE) to break up NYSE Euronext.
The NYSE Euronext/Deutsche Boerse combination is consistent with the long-term strategy adopted by the NYSE Euronext Board of Directors in 2009, a strategy that the company has regularly reaffirmed and been successfully executing. The combination with Deutsche Boerse will position the combined company
Quintillion has been chosen to provide administration services to the Investment Funds managed by Insparo Asset Management Limited (Insparo).
Based in London, Insparo’s flagship Africa and Middle East Fund has returned 33% since launching in June 08. A second fund, focusing on African equities, was launched to investors in February. Insparo’s investment philosophy seeks to identify deep value opportunities through an emphasis on in-depth analysis at both the macro and micro levels, and aims to provide investors with superior returns and limited volatility.
Quintillion now provides both Insparo funds with a complete range of administration services, including NAV calculation,
