Performance book of record or PBOR for short. A white paper just released by Eagle Investment Systems has fueled talk among investment operations professionals on just what PBOR is and how seriously the concept should be taken. The two critical questions which top the discussion list: just how substantially it differs from the investment book of record (IBOR) and how it […]
Stock Connect: Will Fund Managers Hop on the HK-Shanghai Express?
Mainland China is trying to make it easier for foreign fund managers and other investors to access the local market, but so far teething pains are preventing a huge uptick for the so-called Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program launched last November. Although heavily hyped by China and the international financial press, legal and operational experts caution […]
Private Equity Funds: Coming Clean with Expenses, Fees
With the US Securities and Exchange Commission calling private equity fund managers to the carpet for their fees and expenses, managers had better start preparing to be a lot more forthcoming about their practices to investors. Regulatory exams are just around the corner, warn operations and legal experts. At issue is what expenses should be absorbed by private […]
Fund Managers: Turning Investor Relations Into Big Bucks
If we make money for them, investors will be beating down our doors. That conventional wisdom for fund managers is starting to look a little bit stodgy and a lot less wise. Welcome to the new new world of investor relations for institutional and alternative fund markets. The standard of communication considered de rigueur for public firms, vulnerable to […]
Shareholder Ballots: The Quest to Confirm a Vote
An investor receives information about a corporate agenda and casts its votes. It happens every day of the week and most frequently from February through June when most US firms hold their annual meetings. But just because a shareholder votes, doesn’t necessarily mean there’s any way to verify the vote made its way to the issuer, […]
New Criteria for US Accredited Investors: Looming Pain for Alt Funds?
The Securities and Exchange Commission might think it is protecting Americans from risky investments as it considers changing the criteria for defining accredited investors, but middle and back-office executives at hedge fund management shops are worried their livelihoods and client service levels are at risk. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act requires the SEC to […]
US Cost-Basis Reporting: Easing the Taxing Final Lap (Updated)
FinOps takeaway: You can’t second-guess the investor; be ready for everything. Although the third phase of the US Internal Revenue Service’s new rules on cost-basis reporting — those affecting accounts in debt instruments — technically became effective in January 1, 2014, broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries have plenty more operational blood, sweat and tears to spill […]
Institutional Investors: Sniff Testing a Hedge Fund Manager’s Operations
Due diligence. It’s the homework institutional investors do when selecting fund managers as part of their asset allocation process. The selection process often resembles a courtship, with one exception. The investors– typically pension plans, endowments, non-profits and insurance companies — have the upper hand. If they aren’t satisfied with what they hear– and feel — […]
Recordkeepers Seek New Rules for Unclaimed Securities Accounts
With billions of dollars in unclaimed US securities accounts at stake, stock transfer agents are now lobbying for changes — and some consistency — in outdated state rules. As if tracking down the holders of unclaimed securities accounts weren’t hard enough for shareholder record-keepers, they must also deal with a multitude of conflicting and often […]
Proxy Season: More Work For Less Money?
US broker-dealers and banks responsible for distributing proxy materials to beneficial shareholders might have reason to be unhappy this proxy season. Not counting all the overtime they will have to do to ensure their “street name” investors receive proxy materials, financial intermediaries might just get paid a lot less to do so. The Securities and […]