Buy-Side Technology/Feature
Multiple choices – Not all prime brokers are created equal: Joel Clark investigates the criteria employed by hedge funds to differentiate one prime broker from another, and concludes that the multi-broker model is the most feasible and flexible approach f
The relationship between hedge funds and prime brokers has always been complex, but as alpha remains the objective for fund managers and as markets remain volatile, that relationship is changing. Joel Clark investigates the criteria funds employ to…
Laws of attraction – Institutional capital flowing into the hedge fund industry comes at a price – investors expect operational transparency and industry accepted best practices when it comes to risk management. Victor Anderson outlines how funds in the F
Risk management disciplines across the buy side have traditionally ranged from relatively sophisticated - relative that is compared with sell-side organisations - to downright rudimentary. But that is set to change, especially in the Far East where funds…
Sticking point – Feature. Joel Clark looks at the state of play regarding the post-trade processing of credit derivatives on the buy side, and concludes that, although significant recent efforts have been made by vendors and consortiums in this space, tru
Even though straight-through processing (STP) has been a reality for equities and fixed-income trading for some time, automating the back-office processing of credit derivatives remains as elusive as ever. Joel Clark reports on the success of recent back…
Marked to mayhem. Stewart Eisenhart takes a fresh look at the perennially challenging issues of pricing and valuations on the buy side, arguing that these functions have become all the more crucial to fund managers in the wake of the US sub-prime mortgage
Hitting bottom is never pleasant. Credit market participants – buy side and otherwise – are finding that out as the US sub-prime mortgage sector continues its wholly predictable but no less dramatic collapse. Volatility has skyrocketed, liquidity is…
Time with the traders – Joel Clark and photographer Robert Aberman spend the morning with the trading team at AXA Investment Management in London.
For the small group of traders at AXA Investment Managers in London the expectation to perform is intense, but as Joel Clark discovers, the quiet times can be just as demanding as the pressure that goes with the territory. Photos by Robert Aberman
More lip service to oversight
Readers are no doubt becoming tired of my editorialising of hedge fund regulation in the US, but so long as government officials and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provide more fodder for the keyboard, I'm not really in a position to resist.
Corporate firefighters – Joel Clark looks at enterprise data management initiatives on the buy side and concludes that firms’ approaches to managing data is more reactive than proactive due to spiralling costs and debilitating time frames.
As buy-side firms trade increasingly complex instruments and new regulations demand stronger evidence of best execution, it seems a natural time to streamline the processes governing the management of data across the organisation. But as Joel Clark…
Hammer Time – Joel Clark plots the rise in popularity of internet-based auction platforms for the securities lending industry and explains the transparency and competition benefits offered by such systems.
Securities lending represents a growing part of the over-the-counter market, allowing investors to make short-term loans of their securities to generate revenues from their portfolios. Automation is a strong trend in the market, with several technology…
Rise of the replicants – Duncan Wood scrutinises the recent emergence of bank-launched indexes and their attempts to replicate certain hedge fund strategies through quantitative, rules-based products.
Investment banks are upping their efforts to mimc hedge fund strategies through quantitative, rules-based products. A variety of indexes have emerged that claim to replicate the major hedge fund strategies, although some fund managers are sceptical of…
Lessons to be learned
What appears to be the first major demonstration of how problematic pension fund managers' inclination to increase allocations to hedge funds are proving to be, is unfolding in the wake of last year's Amaranth Advisors collapse. By Stewart Eisenhart
Tapping technology – Joel Clark addresses the perennially topical issue of the ASP (application service provider) model across the buy side, and finds that it is not only end-user firms opting for the ASP route – Credit Suisse’s prime brokerage is already
Vendor-hosted technology, or 'apps-on-tap', is not a new phenomenon but it is a changing one. Gone are the days when ASP was confined to back-office technologies at funds on tight IT budgets; ASPs have permeated every facet of the buy side, so that only…
The scheming of the green
How do you know when an environmentalist is exaggerating about the dangers of climate change? Easy: their lips are moving. By Phil Albinus
BlueBay implements new bond module
BlueBay Asset Management, the London-based fixed-income credit hedge fund with approximately $11 billion under management, has implemented a recently released bond module of CMA's QuoteVision service.
For the love of grid – Joel Clark investigates the rise in popularity of computer grids supporting a variety of compute-intensive processes on the sell side and looks at how buy-side firms might benefit by deploying such technologies.
Computer grids have been around for quite some time on the sell side, allowing banks to maximise latent computing power on their networks for a range of processes. But what about the buy side; will hedge funds' and asset managers' more modest…
Is DMA on the rocks? – Stewart Eisenhart’s feature focuses on the benefits to buy-side players of accessing the markets directly, and the primary stumbling block of integrating DMA technologies with other front-office applications, currently inhibiting mo
Since direct market access (DMA) tools began gaining traction with buy-side firms, the benefits of managers taking more control over their trading operations in terms of best execution and greater efficiency have been tempered by significant challenges…
You couldn't make this up
Heard the one about the hedge fund doing its Monte Carlo simulations on 300 PlayStation 2s bolted together? No? That's not surprising – they closed their doors for business last week and handed back whatever was left of their investors' capital. Actually…
Transaction cost analysis – Joel Clark reports that currently only equities are meaningfully supported by the handful of technology vendors active in this space, although TCA support for fixed-income instruments is just around the corner.
Buy-side traders are increasingly asking their employers to make new investments in applications designed to measure transaction cost analysis (TCA). The technology has made big advances in recent years, driven by the global demand for proof of best…
Taming the lion - a panel discussion focussing on the business drivers and technology trends as firms gear up for Mifid compliance
The November deadline for complying with the European Commission's Mifid regulation is fast approaching, although you wouldn't know it gauging from the general apathy shown by UK-based buy- and sell-side organisations surrounding the directive. Not all…