Hedge IT Blog

In the wake of the 2008 financial credit crisis, investment firms have recognized the need for more robust liquidity risk management tools and procedures. However, due to shifting regulations and detailed fund and investment structures, fund of funds, private equity firms, hedge funds, and institutional investors continue to grapple with liquidity management and reporting within their investment portfolios. The following is a high level overview of both the liquidity risk challenges facing firms today, and the ways in which some fund managers are overcoming these challenges.

What is liquidity risk, and how does it affect funds?
Liquidity is the extent to which an asset or security can be bought or sold in the market, while not impacting the asset’s price. The concept of liquidity is comprised of illiquid assets, which are the result of liquidity risk and cannot be instantly sold due to value uncertainty and lack of a market. Liquidity risk refers to the concept that an asset or security cannot be traded at the rate necessary to achieve returns and bypass losses. In the last several years, worldwide economic challenges including rising liquidity costs, a more uncertain market and lower levels of market assurance have contributed to the liquidity management challenges facing funds. Liquidity risk’s ability to negatively impact and compound other types of risk, such as credit risk, also has far reaching consequences for the financial markets. These consequences make it even more imperative for firms to get a handle on their liquidity risk management practices.

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In the wake of the horrible tragedy that unfolded at yesterday's Boston Marathon, we'd like to express our deepest sympathies to the victims and everyone who was affected. We're keeping the great city of Boston in our hearts and thoughts, and we stand with you during this difficult time.

To honor those who lost their lives, those who were injured and those who are mourning for loved ones, we have compiled a photo collage depicting just a few of the many instances of heroism, support and unity that were on display in Boston and around the world during and after the attacks.

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Yesterday, we hosted a webinar on business continuity best practices, featuring Eze Castle Integration’s own business continuity experts: Lisa Smith, a Certified Business Continuity Planner and Manager of Business Continuity and Data Privacy, and Katharine Washburn, Business Continuity and Data Privacy Coordinator. The presentation covered everything from developing business continuity best practices to ensuring that a company’s employees are personally prepared. Read on for a quick recap of everything covered during the event.

Business Continuity Planning

Although many companies recognize the importance of crafting an effective business continuity plan, few actually feel that they have prepared one adequately. According to Continuity Compliance, while 70% of businesses have created a robust business continuity and emergency response plan, only 25% have also accounted for human resiliency. Furthermore, a recent survey commissioned by the Ad Council found that only 17% of the 60% of Americans that feel preparation for natural or man-made disasters is essential consider themselves to be very prepared for an emergency situation.

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VMware, the original virtualization company, is continuing to evolve as virtualization technology heads towards the commodity department.  The company’s newest push is around the concept of End-User Computing. 

With its end-user computing products and strategy, VMware is aiming to give IT the tools and means to transform “siloed desktops, applications, and data into centrally managed IT services, delivered to end-users securely, on the device of their choice.”  This means allowing IT to centrally set policies, encrypt data, ensure corporate governance is followed and do much more on all devices a user may use.

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In honor of the mobile phone turning 40 years old this week, today’s post is on the BlackBerry Z10.  (BTW: did you know the first mobile phone weighed 2.5 pounds and took 10 hours to charge?!)
 
Back to the topic at hand.  In January, when the BlackBerry Z10 was just officially unveiled, we took a look at the bells and whistles available on the device (Read: BlackBerry’s Reinvention: A look at BlackBerry Z10).  And now that the BlackBerry Z10 is available in over 35 countries, by all accounts it is just what the company needs if they have any hope of taking back market share from iPhone and Android makers. 

As part of its promotional push, BlackBerry is even letting iPhone and Android users test drive the new operating system by pointing their mobile browsers to BlackBerry.com/glimpse.    

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Historically, financial services firms have not been the most active group in the social media sphere. In a 2011 survey of hedge fund managers conducted by MHP Communications, only 1% of firms were active participants on Twitter, and none of the managers surveyed were active on Facebook. More recently, however, the tides have begun to change. Following Goldman Sachs’ entrance into the Twitterverse in May 2012, investment management firms and their employees have started to increase their social media participation. With this growing trend comes the added layer of social media compliance with industry legislation.
 
The Legal Perspective
According to the SEC’s Rule 17a-4(b), registered investment advisers and broker-dealers should archive all business communications on social media for a minimum of three years. As the frequency of discovery audits continues to rise, firms should ensure these communications are easily searchable and can be recovered quickly in the event of an SEC inquiry.

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Cloud computing is becoming a standard IT deployment method for the investment management industry. In fact, our 2012 survey found that 8 in 10 investment management firms are either currently or planning to use a cloud service. So once a hedge fund or alternative decides to go cloud the next question is "why go Eze Private Cloud?"

Well, we have the perfect answer to that, and you can have it in just 60-seconds. Watch our quick video and learn why Eze Private Cloud is the investment industry standard for cloud services. 


 

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On 19^th March, the Eze Castle Integration team in London hosted their first-ever Hedge Fund Cloud Summit at the Prince Philip House. 

Eze Castle Integration along with leading experts in the financial services industry - INDOS Financial Limited, Morgan Stanley Prime Brokerage, Bloomberg, Credit Suisse Prime Services, Lucidus Capital Partners LLP, Portman Square, LLP, eSentire, Global Relay, and Simmons & Simmons - came together to provide a half day educational seminar featuring a wealth of information on the cloud to over 100 hedge fund and alternative investments firms.

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Last week, we hosted a webinar with eSentire on best practices for managing security risks. eSentire is the leading managed security service vendor protecting 25% of the global hedge fund market by AuM. During the webinar, the company's director of marketing, Mark Sangster, and our own vice president of client technology, Steve Schoener, explored topics including the scope of cyber threats, the anatomy of a cyber attack, continuous security monitoring and security policies and procedures for hedge funds to consider. Read on for a full recap of the information covered during the event.

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Today, we're excited be hosting the 2013 London Hedge Fund Cloud Summit at the Prince Philip House in London. The event features a variety of industry experts participating in thought-provoking panel disccussions focused on the cloud adoption trends shaping the investment industry. Conversations will touch on everything from the differences between public and private clouds to cloud security and application hosting.

In honor of this event and to provide a visual to help encapsulate the many benefits that come from leveraging a private cloud, we have published a new infographic entitled “You Might be a Private Cloud User If…” Check it out to see the top 10 signs that you are likely a private cloud user. For more information and details on the 2013 London Hedge Fund Cloud Summit please visit the event page. Also, be sure to look out for a recap of the event here on the Hedge IT blog next week!

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