Imagen de un antiguo anuncio. La HFA aplaude la decisión de la SEC de suprimir las trabas a la publicidad para hedge funds
The Securities and Exchange Commission has now adopted final rules in connection with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, lifting an 80 year old ban on general solicitation and allowing hedge fund managers to advertise. The Hedge Fund Association (HFA) and its members throughout the United States applaud the SEC’s decision as a necessary modernization of the securities laws.
Fundamentally, we believe that these new rules will: (i) increase public transparency regarding the alternative investment industry, including hedge funds; and (ii) facilitate capital formation and ultimately enhance the capital markets. Though the HFA views this development as generally positive, we await publication of the new rules to determine whether particular requirements impose an unnecessary burden on our members. We are in the process of reviewing the text of the final rules, as well as gathering feedback from our members, at which time we will provide a more comprehensive commentary on behalf of the hedge fund industry. The HFA previously provided valuable comments to and materially influenced relevant provisions of The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
The Hedge Fund Association is an international not-for-profit organization made up of hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, family offices, high-net-worth individuals and service providers. In the U.S., the HFA has chapters in the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and on the West Coast. Internationally, the HFA has chapters in Europe, Asia, Australia, Latin America and the Cayman Islands. HFA works on behalf of the entire hedge fund industry, including more than 9,500 hedge funds in the U.S. and abroad which collectively manage in excess of $2 trillion in assets, as well as sophisticated investors and industry service providers.
Foto: WPPilot. Pimco Total Return sufre reembolsos de 9.600 millones en junio
Morningstar reported today estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows for June 2013. Investors withdrew $43.8 billion from taxable-bond funds and $16.4 billion from municipal-bond funds, making June the worst month on record for bond funds in terms of total outflows. Long-term funds overall shed $47.3 billion, the largest monthly outflow since $105.6 billion in October 2008
Additional highlights from Morningstar’s report on mutual fund flows:
Intermediate-term bond funds lost $24.4 billion in June, dragged down by outflows of $9.6 billion from PIMCO Total Return. DoubleLine Total Return saw redemptions of $1.2 billion, its first monthly outflow. Other weak-performing bond categories included long government, emerging-markets bond, and inflation-protected bond.
Not all fixed-income categories suffered in June and the year-to-date period. Bank-loan funds have collected more assets than any other category in 2013, and nontraditional bond has come in third.
International-equity and alternative funds had net inflows in June. Among international-equity funds, Oakmark International, which has a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Gold, continued its string of strong inflows, collecting $753 million. The fund has doubled in size in the last year, absorbing nearly $5.0 billion and achieving a 35 percent return year to date.
At the firm level, PIMCO led outflows, with redemptions of $14.5 billion, followed by Fidelity with $5.1 billion. Vanguard saw its first firm-level outflows (including exchanged-traded and money market funds) in nearly 20 years. MFS topped all providers with inflows of $1.4 billion.
Wikimedia CommonsElisabeth A. Duke/Fed. Renuncia Elizabeth Duke a la Junta de Gobierno de la Fed
Elizabeth A. Duke submitted her resignation Thursday as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, effective August 31, 2013.
Duke, who has been a member of the Board since August 5, 2008, submitted her letter of resignation to President Obama. She has made no announcements about her future plans.
“Betsy has made invaluable contributions to the Federal Reserve and to the country during her five years at the Board,” said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. “She brought fresh ideas grounded in her deep knowledge of the banking industry and the real-world dynamic between borrowers and lenders. I wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Duke, 60, was appointed to the Board by President Bush to fill an unexpired term that ended January 31, 2012. During her time on the Board she served as Chairman of both the Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs and the Subcommittee on Supervision and Regulation of Community and Small Regional Banking Organizations.
Before joining the Board, Duke was Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of TowneBank, a Virginia-based community bank. Prior to that, she served as an Executive Vice President at Wachovia Bank and as an Executive Vice President at SouthTrust Bank. Earlier in her career, Ms. Duke was President and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Tidewater, based in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Andy Waddington
. Evercore contrata a dos ex UBS para montar una división de asesoría de private equity
Evercoreannounced that it intends to expand its global investment banking platform by establishing a Private Capital Advisory (“PCA”) business focused on secondary transactions for private funds interests. This initiative significantly expands the services that Evercore offers to leading institutional investors and Fund sponsors, and complements the capital raising advisory services provided by Evercore’s Private Funds Group and the strategic and merger advisory services offered by Evercore’s Advisory business generally, said the firm in a press release.
Nigel Dawn and Nicolas Lanel have agreed to join Evercore to lead the business. Mr. Dawn will run PCA globally while Mr. Lanel will head up the European operation. Mr. Dawn, who was most recently Managing Director and Global Co-Head of the Private Funds Group at UBS, is a recognized leader in this business bringing more than twenty years of experience advising investors and fund sponsors. Mr. Lanel was most recently Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Secondary Advisory at UBS, where he led the expansion of the business into Europe. The PCA business will be majority owned by Evercore with key principals, including Mr. Dawn and Mr. Lanel, owning the minority stake. The Evercore PCA business is expected to launch during the second half of 2013 following the recruiting of additional professionals to support the business in North America and Europe.
“The PCA business fits perfectly into the Evercore model of providing independent advisory services to our clients based on our ideas, our intellectual capital and our relationships. We believe this business leverages the relationship network and market presence of our firm.” said Ralph Schlosstein, President and Chief Executive Officer of Evercore.
Nigel Dawn was a Managing Director and Global Co-Head of the Private Funds Group at UBS. Mr. Dawn was the founder and leader of the Secondary Market Advisory team within the Private Funds Group at UBS, having advised on over $25 billion of secondary transactions. Clients have included leading US public investors, university endowments, banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and leading private equity general partners. Previously, he was head of UBS Investment Bank’s Third-Party Private Equity Funds Team. Prior to joining UBS, Nigel worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton in New York, and in Asia with Standard Chartered Bank. Nigel graduated from Newcastle University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Politics and earned his MBA at Columbia Business School.
Nicolas Lanel was a Managing Director at UBS and was most recently Global Co-Head of its Secondary Markets Advisory group. He established the practice in Europe in 2007, having joined the funds placement team of UBS in 2004, where he initially focused on coverage of institutional investors in Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Lanel has led a number of notable secondary transactions in Europe for clients including financial institutions, pension funds, large family offices and fund sponsors. Mr. Lanel has 20 years of experience in private equity and corporate advisory, having worked previously with the principal investment team at Paribas and at Deutsche Bank in Toronto, London and New York. He will be joining Evercore in October this year. Mr. Lanel earned a Master’s degree in management at ESCP-Europe.
Wikimedia Commons. Universität Heidelberg and Santander Universitäten to Increase Their Cooperation
Heidelberg University and Banco Santander, though its Global Division Santander Universidades, are planning to intensify and expand their cooperation. To this end, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Eitel, Rector of Heidelberg University, and Emilio Botín, Chairman of Banco Santander, signed an agreement on the “TOP Programme Europe – Latin America” and the “ELITE Programme Latin America – Europe – Asia”. It is based on the long-term framework agreement concluded two years ago with Santander.
Santander Universities operates in Germany under the name of Santander Universitäten. With this step, the partner institutions want to support the geographical mobility of young scientists and scholars, develop top-class networks of strong research partners in Latin America, Asia and Europe, investigate innovative research topics on an international level and make the results of that research available to society.
Heidelberg University develops and coordinates European cooperation projects with leading universities in Latin America, especially Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico
Via its Centrer for Ibero-American Studies (IAZ), Heidelberg University develops and coordinates European cooperation projects with leading universities in Latin America, especially Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico. In the long term, the partner institutions hope to build a bridge of scientific collaboration between Europe and Latin America, for the benefit of junior researchers in particular. On another level, the partners in Europe and Latin America will work together to create networks of excellence with leading universities in South and East Asia, especially India, China and Japan. The IAZ, the South Asia Institute, the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, the Centre for East Asian Studies and the International Relations Office of Heidelberg University will all be involved in the coordination and development of this project. The research partners on the three continents will be selected by mutual agreement with Santander Universitäten.
Within the framework of the “TOP Programme Europe – Latin America” and “ELITE Programme Latin America – Europe – Asia” summer and winter schools dealing with innovative research questions and aimed at doctoral candidates and junior researchers are funded by the bank through Santander Universitäten. They are to be organised in cooperation with the Heidelberg Center South Asia in New Delhi, the Heidelberg Center for Latin America in Santiago de Chile and the International Academic Forum Heidelberg as well as Japanese partner universities, if applicable.
The Center for Ibero-American Studies was funded in March 2011 via the existing framework agreement between Heidelberg University and the bank, through its Santander Universidades Global Division. The IAZ initiates and maintains scientific exchange with the countries of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. One of the centre’s major concerns is to establish networks for young scientists, especially in the humanities, and to support them with the required infrastructure. For this purpose, the IAZ – supported by Santander Universitäten – offers scholarships in linguistics, translation and interpreting, and literature that allow doctoral students to spend several months doing research at an international partner university. Research stays of international junior researchers at Heidelberg University are funded as well.
By Diego Delso . 2,408 Candidates Receive First Claritas Investment Certificate
CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, announces today that 2,408 participants have successfully completed and passed the ClaritasInvestment Certificate. The Claritas certificate provides a thorough understanding of how the investment industry works, and the knowledge that candidates have acquired will help to shape a more trustworthy financial industry by setting a new international education and ethics standard.
Participants from 70 companies in 50 countries took part in the Claritas pilot program, with candidates sitting the examination in March and April 2013. Since then a full review and standard setting process has been undertaken to evaluate the results and set the passing score for the pilot and future sittings of the examination. From July onwards, candidates who sit the examination will now be able to leave the test center with a preliminary result and receive their official result within a few days after the examination.
The profile of candidates who took part in the pilot ranged across operations, administration, IT, HR, marketing, sales, compliance and customer service. Candidates worked within asset management firms, commercial and investment banks, insurance companies, data and media businesses and professional services organizations. (A list of some of the companies that participated in the pilot can be seen here.)
85% reported they would recommend the program to others
76% said they had benefitted by increasing their industry knowledge
64% said that the program helped them to better understand their ethical obligations within the financial services industry
John Rogers, CFA, president and CEO of CFA Institute, commented: “The industry’s enthusiastic response to the Claritas program is a true indicator of the need to provide accessible education for those experts who surround investment decision makers every day. The commitment and accomplishment of these 2,408 individuals confirms that raising educational excellence is essential in shaping the future of finance.”
John Bowman, managing director and co-lead of Education at CFA Institute, echoed Rogers’ congratulations: “CFA Institute developed the Claritas certificate in response to the financial crisis, and as part of a global call to action for industry participants to play their part in addressing the overall lack of trust in financial services. With the large majority of our pilot partners recommending deeper implementation of Claritas in their firms across a diversity of roles, businesses and geographical and cultural backgrounds, we are confident we’ve met that challenge. These candidates and their supporting pilot partner firms should be proud to stand as pioneers in their sector.”
Global registrations for the Claritas Investment Certificate launched on May 20, 2013.
Foto cedidaPhoto: Bob Geldof (www.bobgeldof.com). Sir Bob Geldof Provides Fresh Insight Into Investing in Africa
Fund Forum International, was honoured to have Sir Bob Geldof in attendance in 2013, where he provided fresh insights into investing in Africa. Why don’t investors turn more of their attention towards Africa? Hear what Sir Bob Geldof has to say in the exclusive interview with him at FundForum.
Foto: mattbuck . Global Asset Management Industry Recovery Begins
After four years of stalled growth, the global asset-management industry has finally entered a recovery, but it promises to be a bumpy one for traditional managers of the industry’s largest asset pools.
Worldwide money managers’ total assets under management reached a record $62.4 trillion in 2012, surpassing the $57.2 trillion set in 2007 before the 2008-2009 financial crisis, according to a Boston Consulting Group study released Tuesday.
Also, managers’ operating margins rose to an average 37% of net revenues and profit increased to $80 billion, although it remained roughly 15% below pre-crisis highs, according to the annual study, “Global Asset Management 2013: Capitalizing on the Recovery.”
The growth in AUM was largely market driven, due to higher global equity and fixed-income returns, with net new asset flows accounting for less of the increase.
Net new flows were a modest 1.2% of global AUM last year. Most flows went to solutions-based managers such as those offering LDI and target-date funds; into strategies other than traditional domestic large-cap equities and domestic fixed income; and into passive strategies. A quarter of traditional managers actually experienced significant outflows from their actively managed core strategies in 2012.
U.S. managers’ profits were above their European counterparts. While U.S. managers’ 2012 profits rose 10% above pre-crisis levels, European managers’ profits remained 31% below what they were before the crisis.
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Gregory Phillips
. Los diamantes brillan como activos de inversión para los multimillonarios, especialmente chinos e indios
When Hong Kong millionaire Tiffany Chen revealed last month she had paid US$11.15 million for what Christie’s auction house calls “the largest and most perfect briolette diamond ever sold at auction”, it signaled a trend among the world’s ultra net worth (UHNW) individuals: investing in diamonds makes more sense than stocks and gold.
UHNW investors and gem collectors are investing in diamonds as a secure and lucrative asset in the current low-interest, uncertain financial climate, according to Wealth-X, the UHNW business development solution for private banks, luxury brands, educational institutions and non-profits, which has released a list of the world’s most avid billionaire collectors based on net worth.
“Based on our data, we expect the UHNW population, particularly in countries such as diamond-hungry China and India, to accelerate,” Wealth-X CEO Mykolas D. Rambus said. “This can only mean one thing for diamonds as an investment of choice among UHNW individuals: They have a sparkling future.”
Rough diamond prices have increased by nearly a third since 2005 and are likely to rise a further 20 percent between 2013 and 2017, bolstered by demand from China and India.
Hong Kong billionaire Yu Tung Cheng, honorary chairman of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, is the wealthiest billionaire diamond collector with a net worth of US$19.6 billion. In 2010, he paid US$35.3 million for a 507-carat diamond, a record sum for a rough diamond. Since Cheng made his fortune through diamonds and other gems, he has named his racing horses “King of Diamond” and “God of Diamond”.
Others in the list include Nicky Oppenheimer, who owns Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa’s largest private game reserve. He ranks at number 2 with a net worth of US$6 billion. British billionaire Laurence Graff comes in at 5thplace with a net worth of US$2.1 billion. Graff, who founded high-end jeweller Graff Diamonds in 1960, has seen his business empire expand with at least 32 stores worldwide.
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Giuseppe Castiglione. ¿Puede el fin del QE desacelerar los retornos asiáticos? Parte II
The monetary tightening is indeed happening. And it is happening in the two biggest economies in the world, the U.S. and China, simultaneously. Let’s remember that the monetary stimulus introduced by the Fed and China was in response to a financial crisis. And, the question was never if, but when, the Fed and China would taper.
In the last few weeks, we have seen clear evidence from both the U.S. and China that the time has come. The Fed was clear yesterday in noting that the U.S. economy is getting stronger and that it is planning to taper off quantitative easing. There is also clear evidence that the Chinese resolve to tighten is finally happening. Shanghai interbank offer rates, also known as Shibor, have shot up, indicating a short-term liquidity squeeze. The significance of this increase is not the magnitude of the rise in interbank rates, but the duration of the rise. Why? Because the People’s Bank of China (“PBOC”) has had days, indeed weeks now, to inject liquidity in the interbank market. The prolonged rate increase indicates not a lack of ability, but lack of willingness to do so. This to me is a telltale sign that the PBOC is finally serious in its resolve to tighten.
So what does this all mean to Asia’s credit, currency and interest rates?
First, while yields have come off their historical lows in the U.S. and Asia, there is substantially more room for rates to continue to rise.
Second, in terms of credit spreads, we have seen investment grade and high yield spreads widen. We believe that spreads will have some room to widen given a repricing of risk across the globe. However, credit spreads are unlikely to spike as long as default rates stay low. Global high yield rates are still hovering around 3%, with recovery rates better than average. As the availability of capital falls, increasing the cost of capital, this would be negative. However, if U.S. growth is indeed solid, this should eventually have a positive spillover into higher cashflows for global companies.
Finally, rising yields and a solid U.S. recovery bodes well for the U.S. dollar. As such, we expect local Asian currencies will underperform the U.S. dollar in the near term. This is especially true for fiscal and current account deficit countries. However, the silver lining is that it is also precisely tough times like these that push governments to take on tough reforms. Indonesia comes to mind. This week, the country’s parliament passed a controversial fuel price hike. While this will likely increase inflation and inflation expectations in the near term, the long-term positive effects far outweigh the negative. Removal of the subsidies frees up much needed funds for other sectors more critical for future growth such as infrastructure and education. This serves as a reminder that crisis begets change, and it is precisely these seeds for positive change that we hope will blossom in the long term.
Teresa Kong, CFA, Portfolio Manager Matthews Asia
The views and information discussed represent opinion and an assessment of market conditions at a specific point in time that are subject to change. It should not be relied upon as a recommendation to buy and sell particular securities or markets in general. The subject matter contained herein has been derived from several sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation. Matthews International Capital Management, LLC does not accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information. Investing in international and emerging markets may involve additional risks, such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. In addition, single-country funds may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific geographic location. Investing in small- and mid-size companies is more risky than investing in large companies, as they may be more volatile and less liquid than large companies. This document has not been reviewed or approved by any regulatory body.
