Novum Statement on FSA Insider Trading and Hedge Fund Fraud Case

HedgeCo News - The Financial Services Authority (FSA) visited the offices of independent UK securities stockbroker, Novum Securities, on the 23 March in relation to an investigation into a single member of staff, who has been with the firm since July 2009.

Novum Securities said that they have, "been cooperating fully with the investigation and will continue to do so."

In what is being called the largest insider trading crackdown in Britain’s history, an operation was carried out this week by 143 FSA personnel together with officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

A junior trader for Moore Capital was arrested at the hedge fund's office in Mayfair and an employee in Deutsche Bank’s office was also taken for questioning. All together, 6 mix men were arrested on suspicion of being involved in a sophisticated and long-running insider dealing ring, the FSA said in a statement.

J.P. Morgan Funds Wins Five 2010 Lipper Awards

HedgeCo News - J.P. Morgan Funds, the mutual fund arm of J.P. Morgan Asset Management has been recognized by Lipper as a best performer in five categories.

5 Year Performance

JP Morgan Core Bond Fund, Select ranked 1st out of 57 funds in the U.S. Government Funds category. With $14.7 billion in assets, this fund is managed by Douglas Swanson.

JP Morgan Research Market Neutral Fund, Institutional ranked 1st out of 23 funds in the Equity Market Neutral category. With $818 million in assets, this fund is managed by Terance Chen.

3 Year Performance

JP Morgan Core Bond Fund, Ultra ranked 1st out of 63 funds in the Intermediate U.S. Government Funds. With $14.7 billion in assets, this fund is managed by Douglas Swanson.

JP Morgan SmartRetirement 2020 Fund, Institutional ranked 1st out of 109 funds in the Mixed-Asset Target 2020 Funds category. With $405 million in assets, this fund is managed by the J.P. Morgan Global Multi-Assets Group, with Anne Lester as senior portfolio manager.

JP Morgan SmartRetirement 2030 Fund, Institutional ranked 1st out of 106 funds in the Mixed-Asset Target 2030 category. With $358 million in assets, this fund is managed by the J.P. Morgan Global Multi-Assets Group, with Anne Lester as senior portfolio manager.

"These awards clearly demonstrate the strength of our investment capabilities across all asset classes during a very challenging market cycle and over the long-term," said George Gatch, President and CEO of J.P. Morgan Funds.

J.P. Morgan Funds had a very strong year in 2009, ranking 3rd in inflows for all U.S. mutual fund companies, and is the 4th largest mutual fund firm in the U.S., with $445 billion in assets under management (as of 12/31/2009). It offers over 100 mutual fund products across the full range of asset classes, as well as separately managed accounts and retirement products.

Cayman Islands on Transparency

The Cayman Islands is concluding a further 16 tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with several G-20 jurisdictions of economic significance to the country, in addition to the 14 TIEAs already in place.

The Cayman Islands has also advanced its work with the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) Global Forum Steering Group, particularly in reference to the recently announced peer review evaluation programme (link to OECD statement).

“The results of our negotiation programme along with the Negotiating Team’s deep involvement in helping shape international standards in tax transparency through active participation in key initiatives is commendable and has been recognised by the OECD and the global community,” said the Premier, the Honourable W. McKeeva Bush, OBE JP. “We look forward to continuing this engagement and doing our part in demonstrating the effectiveness of our transparency regimes and our expertise as a jurisdiction.”

A breakdown of the identified 16 pending TIEAs is as follows:

• An agreement with Australia will be signed in Washington, D.C. on 30 March.
• Agreements have been reached with 6 countries: Aruba, Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico and South Africa. These agreements, which have been finalised from the Cayman Islands, are with the signatory countries for their authorisation process and confirmation of a signing date.
• Negotiations are in various stages with 9 additional OECD/G-20 countries.

For the Steering Group, the Cayman Islands delegation was able to provide input, guidance and direction on the methodology and terms of reference for the peer review programme. The Cayman Islands will also be an assessor for the peer review programme and a representative from the Ministry of Finance recently participated in the assessor training, as organised by the OECD.

In addition to having input on OECD’s peer review process, the Cayman Islands has been identified in the first cohort of countries to undergo a peer review evaluation. The Financial Services Secretariat, Ministry of Finance, is leading the first phase of this process with supervisory oversight by the Negotiating Team.

This phase of the peer review involves providing comprehensive information on the implementation of Cayman’s tax transparency regimes to OECD assessors, including relevant laws, regulations and guidance notes.

The Cayman Islands is on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ‘white list’ of jurisdictions that substantially implement international tax standards and has 14 bilateral arrangements with the following countries for the provision of tax information: Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom.