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 […]
Fund Managers: On the Hunt for New Cybersecurity Officer
With the Securities and Exchange Commission now requiring registered investment advisors to prove they are doing their best to reduce the risk of data and other security breaches, hedge fund managers are quickly waking up to the need to assign a dedicated chief security information officer (CISO) to the task. Although the SEC’ s guidelines […]
Fund Managers: Picking the Best Clearinghouse, Intricate Juggling Act
Fund managers can no longer afford to view clearinghouses as stodgy infrastructures which just exist for the sake of servicing mega broker-dealers and banks. With regulators now requiring far more transactions — particularly in the over-the-counter derivatives market — to be processed through clearinghouses, asset managers must realize they have some choices to make and […]
AIFMD’s Depositary Lite: Handy Option With Limited Lifespan?
It’s lite, but is it right? That’s the question, some fund managers should be asking themselves about which business model they use when selecting a depositary to perform critical post-trade services under the new European Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), a regulatory initiative which enables cross-border marketing of alternative funds in EU countries. Given […]
Hedge Fund Managers: The Big Headache of Healthcare Reform
FinOps takeaway: Your count of “full-time employees” may not be what the IRS says it is. Mainstream attention on the controversial US healthcare legislation has focused on how difficult or financially affordable access to health insurance may be for individual people. For employers, there is a far larger and only slowly emerging story in the huge difficulty and cost they […]
Alt Mutual Funds: Seeking Alpha under SEC Scrutiny
If it looks like a duck, but honks like a goose, is it a duck or is it a goose? As far as the US Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned, the duck can honk all it wants, it still has to live by duck rules. The regulatory agency is making certain that mutual funds that act like […]
Fund Managers: Addressing the Regulatory Data Quagmire (Updated)
Dodd-Frank. EMIR. FATCA. AIFMD. Solvency II. The reporting obligations of fund managers just keep growing. The snowballing burden — with new regulations and reporting rules popping up at an alarming pace — is forcing many to step back from their usual resigned willingness to learn and follow one regulatory rule after another. The emerging alternative: looking at the bigger picture of […]
Countdown to AIFMD: Addressing the New Risk Management Landscape
With the deadline for fund managers to apply for regulatory recognition as alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) less than a week away, one would think they have already crossed their T’s and dotted their I’s when it comes to being prepared. But that’s not the case for many, according to industry research. Surprisingly, most small […]
Outsourcing: Three Steps to Preparing for a Possible Exit
If the experience of outsourcing operations or IT infrastructure is something like being married to the third-party service provider, ending that relationship can be just as painful and messy as a divorce. Fund management executives shouldn’t assume their outsourcing relationships are going to last forever or even to the end of the agreed upon timetable […]
AIFMD: No Pain, No Gain for Fund Managers
Alternative fund managers who might have been initially hot to take advantage of the new European Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) to more easily market their investment funds cross-border are quickly waking up to a cold reality: they might be ill-prepared to comply. With so little time left, they will need to warm up […]