MF Global, an intermediary offering solutions in global cash and derivatives markets, has launched its alternative investment strategies division.

MF Global, an intermediary offering solutions in global cash and derivatives markets, has launched its alternative investment strategies division.

The AIS group provides qualified retail and institutional investors with access to the managed futures sector through a direct asset placement programme of managed accounts. In addition to the direct access placement programme, the AIS division will enter the fund management business in the US.

'Through this natural extension of our core business, we are leveraging our US distribution network and decades of leadership in futures to broaden the services and products we offer our clients,' says Bernard W. Dan, chief executive officer, MF Global. 'This initiative is a perfect example of how we continue to expand our offering to better serve our client needs while at the same time diversifying our revenue streams by introducing a new, fee-based income source.'

MF Global's professional brokers have already begun introducing clients to a pre-screened, select set of CTAs and global macro traders. A key focus of the asset placement group is to provide clients with a diversified investment strategy.

'I think most sophisticated investors would agree that a properly diversified portfolio has exposure to managed futures, which have the potential to provide superior, risk-adjusted returns that are, in most cases, uncorrelated with traditional equity markets,' says Adam T. Rochlin, senior vice president and head of MF Global's AIS division. 'We're in a unique position to educate our clients and introduce them to professional managers who are otherwise very difficult to identify and access on their own.'