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The European Life Settlement Association has launched a retail market consultation into the practices and issues surrounding life settlements.
The consultation will help inform the content relating to retail investors in Elsa’s impending code of practice for the life settlement industry, which will be published later this summer.
While the code of practice will cover all areas of life settlement investing – across both the institutional and retail markets – Elsa has decided to engage specifically with the IFA community following the questions raised by the Financial Services Authority about the asset class earlier this year.
The Association
Institutional investors are reasonably comfortable with leveraged investing today, though investor opinion about hedge funds and leveraged investing remains mixed, according to a study by Pershing, a BNY Mellon company.
The study, Lending and Leverage: The New Securities Finance Model for Hedge Funds, examines the changing business model of securities financing for hedge funds in 2010 and beyond.
In a recent Finadium study of 92 US public pension plans, including 25 focused interviews, 56 per cent of pension funds reported having at least some investments in hedge funds or 130/30 vehicles.
This does not represent, however, a wholehearted acceptance of
Activity in UK financial services grew in the last three months at the fastest rate since September 2007.
But this growth was much lower than expected and firms still consider levels of business to be well below normal, the latest CBI/PwC Financial Services Survey shows.
The financial services sector saw its fourth consecutive quarter of improving profitability, though the survey shows firms expect this to level off in the coming three months.
Concern about the impact of regulation and legislation on future business remains high, with a large proportion of firms expecting to spend more on compliance in the
Symphony Asset Management has named Anne B. Popkin as president, effective 12 July.
Popkin brings nearly 20 years of institutional experience to the firm.
She will assume responsibility for all non-investment activities at the firm, including business development, client service, operations, trade support, technology and compliance, and will report directly to Symphony’s chief investment officer and chief executive Gunther Stein.
"We are excited to welcome Anne as president of Symphony. She is a proven leader with a strong track record of success in the hedge fund industry. In addition to overseeing all operational and marketing activities, Anne will be responsible
Cosmo founder to leave firm
Cosmo Investment Management, the South Korean arm of SPARX Group Co., Ltd., has confirmed that its founder, Kevin Choi, is to leave the firm. Choi has carved out a reputation as a leading Korea equity long/short specialist, turning Cosmo into one of South Korea’s largest independent advisory firms. Choi was unavailable to comment.
Boyer Allan launches UCITS Asian L/S fund
Boyer Allan, the London and Hong Kong-based Asian equity shop with USD800 million in assets, has rolled out its first UCITS-compliant fund on the Merrill Lynch platform. Hot on the heels of a long-only China-focused
Law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman has promoted five lawyers across its British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Singapore offices and corporate, litigation and insurance practices to partner status.
Richard Evans (pictured) of Conyers’ BVI litigation department has over 15 years’ experience in commercial litigation and all contentious aspects of commercial and insolvency law. He has appeared as lead counsel in a number of leading decisions in BVI.
Evans specialises in obtaining and securing the enforcement of all forms of urgent interim relief, shareholders’ and connected disputes, and disputed debt/distressed funds matters.
Jeffrey Elkinson JP of Conyers’ Bermuda litigation
Odyssey Investment Management, an investment adviser based in New York City, has appointed Mikhail Filimonov as chief investment officer.
Odyssey will manage several funds specialising in global credit strategies, including a fund that focuses on special situations in the credit markets globally and another that specifically focuses on Indian convertible bonds.
“We are delighted to have Mikhail join us and we welcome his vast industry expertise,” says founding partner Jayavardhan Diwan.
Key members of the Odyssey team have worked together previously, including Diwan and Filimonov, as well as Christian Picot who is chief operating officer and Diana Imperatore
Investor demands for more clearly-defined, transparent and lower-risk products combined with regulators’ desire to exercise more control over the industry may result in the unwanted consequences of lower returns and constraint on innovation.
This is according to KPMG’s recent survey, “Keeping Ahead of the Curve: Investment Management in the New Regulatory Landscape”.
While regulatory constraints, including limits on short selling and leverage, higher capital requirements and restrictions on the use of certain instruments, may lead to greater investor and regulator comfort and confidence, they will also impact the ability for firms to generate alpha and, therefore, returns.
Tom
GlobeOp Financial Services has launched the GlobeOp NAV Transparency Report to help fund managers provide investors with greater visibility into the monthly calculation of a portfolio’s net asset value.
The report independently confirms pricing sources, position reconciliations, fund assets and liabilities, counterparty risk concentration, portfolio liquidity and where assets are held in custody.
"Fund managers recognise that good governance attracts further investment," says Tony Glickman, global head of risk services at GlobeOp. "Pension funds and other institutional investors, guided by the ‘Trust but Verify’ principle, have made independent confirmation of assets, positions and valuations a priority. In 2009, GlobeOp saw
Mount Lucas Management, a global macro investment manager, has hired Wall Street economist Robert J. Barbera as chief economist.
Barbera is accompanied by his long-time associate Jackie Kadre, who has been named economist at the firm.
Barbera has spent the last 28 years as a y respected Wall Street economist, and has gained a wide institutional following.
He is a frequent guest on CNBC, and is regularly quoted in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Barbera is former managing director and chief economist at Investment Technology Group, a brokerage and investment technology firm, where he was responsible
