ActionsXchange Appoints Laura Pollard As Company Head

Hedge fund Provider, Fidelity ActionsXchange, has appointed Laura J. Pollard as executive vice president and head of the company. Pollard will report to Larry C. Renfro, president of Fidelity Developing Businesses, a new division that comprises a number of growing businesses and strategic initiatives for Fidelity.

“Working in partnership with ActionsXchange’s management team, Laura has done an outstanding job of leading the company over the past several months, and I am confident that her industry experience, proven strengths as a leader and ability to build strong relationships with clients will position her for success in her new role,” said Renfro. “Laura will lead a talented and experienced management team that will continue its focus on providing the most accurate, timely, and comprehensive global corporate actions information to our clients.”

Pollard, a 19-year Fidelity veteran, will lead all aspects of ActionsXchange’s day-to-day operations. Prior to her new role, Pollard spent the past two years as ActionsXchange’s senior vice president of client services, product development and implementation. Before joining ActionsXchange, Pollard spent four years at Fidelity Charitable Services and 13 years in a variety of leadership roles in Fidelity’s 401(k) retirement services and benefits outsourcing divisions.

ActionsXchange was formed in 1997 to offer corporate actions processing software and outsourcing solutions to financial institutions. Operating as an independent company, ActionsXchange partners with more than 50 major global financial institutions such as banks, asset managers, hedge funds and broker-dealers.

Partner Files Hedge fund Management Complaint

The Manager of the K Squared Funds, a New York-based group of hedge funds, was named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by his ex-partner. The suit brings claims for fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and bad faith dealing in connection with the hedge funds.

Filed in the Commercial Division of New York Supreme Court, New York County, the complaint details how Kane and the hedge funds benefited by false attribution of income to Kane's ex-partner by profiting from the interest income while saddling the ex-partner with the tax bill, and how Kane failed to comply with his contractual obligations, keeping his ex-partner in the dark about the value of the hedge funds.

The complaint further alleges that Kane belatedly provided incomplete information purporting to show that the Funds were valued at less than $100 million. At the same time, the complaint cites a circular to investors in which Kane boasted that assets under management during the period in question actually exceeded $150 million -- well over the threshold at which he was obligated to pay his ex-partner management and incentive fees. Thus, the complaint alleges, Kane kept the fees that were rightfully due to his ex-partner. A conservative calculation of those fees puts them well into the six figures.

The defendant, Chris Kane of New Canaan, Connecticut, parted ways with his partner in 2006.