Guest Contributor: Jason Scharfman,, Esq., CFE, CRISC, Managing Partner, Corgentum Consulting In the past, many hedge fund managers may have cringed at the mere thought of an investor inquiring about conducting a distinct operational due diligence review. Such reticence represents a missed opportunity. Hedge funds often work hard over many years to develop strong operations and
Guest Blog
Social Media Golden Rules
Guest Contributor: Andrew Carrier, Deputy Managing Director of Cognito EMEA While the likes of Citi and American Express have embraced social media with aplomb on the consumer side of their businesses, the B2B financial services sector has been much slower to adapt these new channels. That’s understandable; it can seem like a daunting task. Where to
Compliance
6 Steps to Implementing Operational Control
Guest Contributor: Patrick Murray, President & CEO, STP Investment Services Enron WorldCom Lehman Brothers AIG Madoff MF Global… Due to disastrous events at companies like those listed above, increased regulation and strict compliance requirements for financial firms are here to stay, and will continue to change and grow more complex for years to come. Firms
Derivatives
Rule Making Area I: Registration of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants
Guest Contribution: Chad Wekelo, Founder and Principal, Actualize Consutling On January 11, 2012 the CFTC approved the final regulations which establish the registration process for swap dealers and major swap participants. The commission has delegated to the National Futures Association the responsibility for the administration of swap entity registration. Because the rules that define the
Financial Technology
Euro Crisis: To prepare or hope it resolves itself?
Guest Contributor: Subbiah Subramanian, Head of Instrument Engineering, Eagle Investment Systems After weeks of suspense, Greece reached an agreement with the creditors to restructure its debt. Some groups within the global financial market such as the ISDA called it a default, as this restructuring resulted in financial losses for creditors. This triggered a credit event
Guest Blog
Hedge Fund Trends in 2012
Guest Contributor: Chris Grandi, Founding Principal, Abacus Group We are two months into 2012, and already our expectations, based on what we experienced in the prior calendar year, are being exceeded. Although this may have been a low bar to overcome, as returns were in large negative across the alternative asset class in 2011, the
Cloud
Simply, The Cloud
Guest Contributor: Dan Retzer, CTO, XSP A solution built around a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is the key to a solid and flexible architectural foundation. Without SOA, software providers like XSP could not inherently take advantage of THE most important disruptive technology since the advent of the Personal Computer: The Cloud. Peel away the marketing hype
Financial Technology
To RFP or not to RFP, that is the Question – Do a Proof of Concept Instead
Guest Contributor: Berl Kaufman, Principal, Afferent Consulting Services In some cases you are mandated to do RFPs for your product selections. Don’t do RFPs as a reflex action. The RFP is mostly a waste of time. Vendors always lie on RFPs to get high scores and qualify for your short list. The RFP is only
Guest Blog
Understanding Investor Due Diligence
Guest Contributor: Patrick J. McCurdy, partner and head of capital development at Merlin Securities The investor due diligence process has evolved with the institutionalization of the hedge fund industry. Investment allocations used to be made primarily on the basis of basic performance numbers and the qualitative aspects of a fund: people, process and philosophy. It
Guest Blog
The Mantra of Transparency: Unified Data and Systems for the BD
Guest Contributor: David Fetter, CEO of Quadron Data Solutions Another year is drawing to a close, and when reflecting upon 2011, it’s apparent to everyone that it has been a year of ups and downs. What has 2011 brought to the financial services industry – a mantra of transparency to be delivered through regulation and
