The COVID-19 pandemic is adding fuel to the fire of interest from some fund management firms in outsourcing the execution of their trade orders to third-party specialists. Over the past few years, fund managers have decided that outsourcing isn’t only for middle and back-office functions. It can also be used for trade execution with cost […]
FREE WEBINAR: Outsourced and Supplemental Trading: How the Buy Side is Benefitting Today
Sponsored by Tourmaline Partners Save the Date: Thursday, October 15, 2020 Time: 10AM EST Go to www.tourmalinepartnersllc.com/finops-report-webinar to register for the free dial-in details Join Tourmaline Partners and FinOps Report for a free webinar on how the buy-side is benefitting from outsourced and supplemental trading. Access to liquidity, cost rationalization, operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and […]
Coronavirus: Survival Tips for Middle Office Fund Ops
The coronavirus pandemic is frazzling even the best trained middle-office operations managers of US fund management shops who are working in the trenches of a battlezone. The war isn’t about setting up remote access to IT systems for employees having to work from home or deciding who should do which task and when. Following a […]
BNY Mellon Gives Fund Managers New NAV Agent
Fund managers no longer have to rely on their fund administrator’s backup plan or their own when striking or validating a net asset value. BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian bank, says it can save the day by doing all the operational work using Milestone Group’s pControl platform which also allows for accurate backup NAVs […]
Opportunity Zone Fund Admin: Can Blockchain Do the Trick?
Blockchain is finding a new opportunity in middle and back-office operations for opportunity zone (OZ) fund managers, but can it outperform the current alternative fund administrators? One Arizona entrepreneur certainly thinks so. Co-founded and part-owned by Nico Willis, chief executive of cost-basis technology provider Networth Services, new fund administrator Agora AltX uses Hyperledger Fabric’s permission-based […]
Hedge Funds: Proactive Operational Risk, Finally
Failed trade settlements, bad valuations, bad reconciliations, shoddy vendor management and simple forgetfulness. These glitches aren’t new for hedge fund managers. What is new is that they are turning to management and technology consultants for help. As regulators, such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, look under the hood during exams and investors become […]
Treasury Operations: From Basics to Optimal
Where are my cash and securities and am I achieving the best bang for the buck? Treasury management staffers at hedge fund management shops are belatedly realizing that the difference between either knowing or not knowing the answer to the interrelated questions could translate into the difference between average and higher investment performance. The savviest […]
Striking an NAV: Fund Managers’ Contingency Options
(Editor’s Update on December 5, 2018: US fund managers are getting serious about striking back-up NAVs on their own. Milestone Group tells FinOps Report that it has nabbed two top-tier US headuartered fund managers to use its pControl Oversight platform to monitor their fund administrators and to strike back-up NAVs in-house, instead of relying on […]
SEC to Fund Admins: No Proof, No NAV
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has just warned fund administrators they can’t take the word of a fund manager when calculating the net asset value (NAV) of an investment fund. When explaining its recent US$561,000 fine against Gemini Fund Services, the US regulatory agency says that when assigning an NAV to a mutual fund, […]
Cybersecurity: Asset Managers Face Ratings Threat
Regulatory fines aren’t the only thing asset managers need to worry about when it comes to ensuring they have a strong cybersecurity program in place. A new study just released by Moody’s Investors Services about the cybersecurity preparedness of US fund management firms suggests that asset managers could face a credit ratings downgrade if they can’t protect their critical data. That data could include anything […]