Reuters – UBS has named Alastair Sclater to the new post of head of its Singapore prime brokerage, as the Swiss bank aims to build that business in Asia’s second-biggest centre for hedge funds.

Singapore, which competes with rival Asian financial centre Hong Kong, has attracted asset managers, private banks and hedge funds in recent years with tax incentives and strict secrecy rules.

The city-state also provides investors the opportunity to manage part of the more than $300 billion in assets held by its sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek.

Read Complete Article

Tags: asia, asset-managers, assets, gic, hedge funds, hong kong, investors, prime brokerage, private banks, reuters, sclater, secrecy rules, singapore, swiss bank, tax incentives, ubs

Financial Standard – Pension funds around the world are expected to pump up their $547 billion hedge fund allocation by more than $60 billion before December as they look to balance assets and liabilities, new research shows.

Hedge fund managers are expected to heap an extra $63 billion into their coffers from pension funds and family offices.

But insurance companies, private banks, endowments and foundations are all likely to decrease their allocations to the sector, according to Barclays Capital.

The report, which surveyed 300 investors and 100 hedge fund managers representing $873 million of hedge fund assets, noted investors were ready to aggressively allocate their cash balances but will demand liquidity in the process.

Read Complete Article

Tags: allocations, assets and liabilities, barclays, barclays capital, cash-balances, coffers, endowments, foundations, fund allocation, fund-assets, fund-managers, heap, hedge fund, insurance, insurance-companies, investors, liquidity, pension-funds, private banks