Deutsche Bank to provide SuperX data to Rosenblatt and Tabb Group

Deutsche Bank’s Autobahn Equity business is to provide average volumes and trade sizes of SuperX, its US Alternative Trading System, to independent research firms Rosenblatt Securities, Inc and TABB Group, on a monthly basis. The SuperX data will be made available through TABB Group’s LiquidityMatrix and Rosenblatt's monthly liquidity reports.

SuperX may be accessed through SuperX Plus, Deutsche Bank’s dark pool aggregator algorithm which enables buyers and sellers of large orders to manage their access to dark liquidity with real-time analytics.

Kim and Liquid Capital Management, to pay more than USD12m in restitution and monetary sanctions for commodity pool fraud

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on April 15, 2011, obtained a federal court order imposing more than USD12 million in restitution and civil monetary penalties on defendants Brian Kim and his company, Liquid Capital Management, LLC (LCM), for fraud in connection with the operation of a commodity pool.

The default judgment order requires Kim and LCM jointly and severally to pay restitution of USD3,129,161 to defrauded customers and Kim’s Condominium Association and a USD9,387,483 civil monetary penalty. The order also permanently prohibits them from engaging in any commodity-related activity and from registering with the CFTC.

The order, entered by Judge Denise L. Cote of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, stems from a CFTC complaint filed on February 15, 2011, that charged the defendants with fraudulent solicitation, misappropriation and misrepresentation to investors and regulatory organizations (see CFTC press release 5984-11, February 15, 2011). The complaint also charged that the defendants concealed their fraud by issuing false account statements to pool participants regarding the profitability of their investments. Kim also was charged with stealing more than USD400,000 from his Condominium Association in 2008 to recoup futures trading losses and making false statements to the National Futures Association (NFA) regarding the solicitation and trading of customer funds.

The order finds Kim and LCM liable as to all violations alleged in the CFTC’s complaint.

A New York County Grand Jury indicted the defendants in February 2011.

Hedgeweek Special Report on Switzerland Hedge Funds 2011

The past couple of years have seen an increasing focus on the attractions of Switzerland as a base for hedge fund managers and parts of their operations. While the country’s flexible approach to taxation is an important factor, so are Switzerland’s twin sources of potential investors, institutions such as pension funds on one hand, and a vast pool of private assets under management at private banks and wealth managers on the other. While industry members don’t expect a flood of new arrivals, some big names have come to Geneva and Zurich, reinforcing an industry already known for its sizeable fund of hedge funds sector.

Meanwhile Switzerland is grappling with the issues raised for its fund industry by the European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Swiss managers with existing management companies within the EU, mostly in Luxembourg and Dublin, may gain access to the new single market for alternative investments as early as 2013, but uncertainty remains about the conditions under which Swiss-based managers can obtain an AIFMS ‘passport’ once this is extended to non-EU firms.to see full reports see the link.

Sherp Alternative Advisors Pte see Japan-focused fund gain 5 percent in march

Ex-Nomura derivatives trader Go Horiuchi was able to make five per cent returns in March, despite the catastrophic earthquake, reported Bloomberg this week. The Developed Asia Gamma Strategy Fund is managed by Singapore-based Sherp Alternative Advisors Pte and made the gains trading Nikkei 225 Stock Average options. Despite only launching last September with a few million dollars, Managing Director Ken Fukui hopes to grow the fund’s assets to around USD121million by year-end. Sherp are believed to be in talks with Japanese financial institutions to sell the fund locally although no concrete details are forthcoming at this stage, as talks remain private. “The investments to buy downside protections before the earthquake contributed to the return in March,” Fukui was quoted as saying. The five per cent gains are in stark contrast to the 10 per cent fall in the Nikkei for March. Sherp Alternative Advisors commenced business in Singapore in January 2010.

Japna sees launch of first blog-based hedge fund

Ex-Goldman’s banker Hideki Furusho has teamed up with a University of Tokyo professor to launch a hedge fund that trades Nikkei 225 futures using a computer model that analyzes Japanese blog traffic, reported Bloomberg this week. Pluga Capital Co hopes to raise USD61million for the unique Pluga AI Fund by targeting overseas investors from June onwards according to Furusho. The fund uses a web-mining model developed by Yutaka Matsuo, an associate professor at UOT. “Over the next 10 years the web universe is going to grow, which will allow us to become more accurate in making investment decisions,” Furusho was quoted as saying. Matsuo said that the fund aims to generate returns by tracking and analyzing roughly 20 million Japanese blogs with keywords that could potentially influence price moves in Nikkei futures. The fund aims to generate returns of 30 per cent. The strategy is highly liquid, with investment decisions made every day on whether to buy, sell or avoid investing in Nikkei 225 futures. Cashing in at the end of each day to maintain liquidity is likely to be an attractive proposition to investors. “In an environment like this, investors are looking for liquidity as well as redemption requirements,” Furusho said. Since the fund began trading in August it has returned 7.5 per cent.