BUY-SIDE NEWS
TECH
The Financial Conduct Authority has called
out the buy-side for enjoying high profits as
investors pay high charges that are often not
justified by returns, according to a market
study. The study found fund objectives are
not always clear and performance not always
reported against an appropriate benchmark.
Buy-side institutions have agreed market
makers will play an increasingly important role
in accessing liquidity, according to a survey
conducted by State Street. A poll of 300 global
asset managers found 49% of respondents
agree the role of non-bank institutions as
providers of liquidity will continue to grow.
Pioneer Investments has suspended two senior
executives over claims they had been involved in
plans to establish another asset management
firm. Tanguy Le Saout, head of European fixed
income and Ali Chabaane, head of portfolio con-
struction, were suspended over the allegations.
Aberdeen Asset Management’s decline in
revenues this year has been ‘cushioned’ by a
10% increase in assets under management,
according to its newly appointed chairman
Simon Troughton. The UK asset manager
saw revenues decrease 14% for the year-
end September to £1 billion, compared to
just over £1.1 billion in September 2015.
Asset management firms are currently lead-
ing the way in strategic regulatory data man-
agement, according to a report by Thomson
Reuters. The report explained buy-side firms
“lead the pack” as the type of institutions
most likely to have a strategic regulato-
ry data management approach in place.
10
TheTrade
Winter 2016
JP Morgan, Barclays and
ICAP invest $30m in cloud
technology firm
Cloud9 Technologies sees $30 million
in funding which will be used to expand
operations into new markets.
C
loud9 Technologies has secured $30 million in
funding from the likes of JP Morgan, Barclays,
ICAP and Point 72 Ventures.
The cloud communications provider will use the
funding to accelerate the development of products and
expand its services into new markets.
Recently, Cloud9 opened an office in Singapore to
meet the growing demand for cloud technology in the
region, and it has plans to expand into other markets
as early as next year.
Other investors included buy-side firm Hudson
Ridge Asset Management, which Cloud9 has said was
one of its first customers.
Sanoke Viswanathan, chief administrative officer
at JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank, said
Cloud9 will “empower our traders through its ease of
use and management.”
Cloud9 currently has over 2,700 users in 29 coun-
tries. CEO at Cloud9 Technologies, Gerald Starr,
explained the firm will “continue to build a technology
that acts as a catalyst in terms of changing the commu-
nication and process around trading.”