New York (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund prime brokers, Northern Trust and Merlin Securities, have set up an agreement which enhances Merlin’s existing broker-dealer custody relationships with Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing and J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp. Merlin’s clients now have easy access to all three providers through Merlin’s award-winning multi-prime reporting platform.

“In today’s market, managers and investors are seeking custodial solutions that reduce their counterparty risk and provide fully integrated, multi-custodian reporting analytics and risk data,” said Stephan Vermut, Founder and Managing Partner of Merlin. “Our agreement with Northern Trust addresses this need for our clients and grants seamless access to a bank custody provider with an unparalleled reputation for quality, safety and stability.”

“Northern Trust is delighted to add Merlin and its clients to our growing hedge fund custody and administration business – which now provides asset servicing for more than $90 billion in assets worldwide,” said Peter Cherecwich , Chief Operating Officer for Corporate and Institutional Services at Northern Trust. “Merlin’s technology, risk analytics, and multi-custody reporting capabilities are a strong complement to Northern Trust’s hedge fund services.”

As of June 30, 2009 , Northern Trust had assets under custody of $3.2 trillion, and assets under investment management of $558.9 billion.

Merlin Securities has offices in New York and San Francisco and is a member of FINRA and SIPC. Recognized as the #1 prime broker for funds less than $1 billion by Alpha magazine’s 2008 hedge fund service provider survey for the second year running Merlin was the top-ranked non-algorithmic-driven firm and second overall among brokerages trading NYSE stocks as measured by arrival price, according to the 2008 Elkins/McSherry annual transaction cost survey.

Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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Tags: hedge-fund-services, market managers, prime broker, prime brokerage, prime-brokers, risk analytics

West palm Beach (HedgeCo.Net) – Leading risk analytics provider Measurisk, LLC, an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (WSS), today announced that it has crossed an important industry milestone in modeling the full positions of over 1,000 hedge funds – making it the largest position-based hedge fund analytical platform in the industry.

Measurisk acts as an independent intermediary facilitating the flow of risk information between hedge funds and investors. Measurisk receives the full positions from the hedge funds, but only provides summary risk and exposure statistics to investors. In this way, investors receive the risk transparency they need, while hedge fund managers maintain the confidentiality of their individual positions.

Measurisk also announced that the platform now includes managers that collectively make up more than 50% of the total $1.3 trillion* hedge fund industry assets.

“We are excited that the industry has chosen Measurisk as the preferred outlet to bridge the needs of both the investor and the manager" said Andrew Lapkin, President of Measurisk. "In today’s markets, transparency and risk management are paramount. Position-based risk information provides investors with a higher level of information necessary to make the best investment decisions – especially when having to navigate these difficult market environments.”

Measurisk’s independent, third party risk solutions are designed to address the needs of pension plans, endowments and foundations, family offices, insurance companies, hedge funds and funds of hedge funds. Measurisk compliments the full breadth of J.P. Morgan WSS services including: fund administration; custody; performance analytics and securities lending.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.1 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management, and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan, Chase, and Washington Mutual brands. 

J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (WSS) is a premier securities servicing provider that helps institutional investors, alternative asset managers, broker dealers and equity issuers optimize efficiency, mitigate risk and enhance revenue. A division of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (NYSE: JPM), WSS leverages the firm’s unparalleled scale, leading technology and deep industry expertise to service investments around the world. It has $13.5 trillion in assets under custody and $3.7 trillion in assets under administration. 

Tags: exposure statistics, fund administration, funds of hedge funds, global financial services, hedge-fund-managers, hedgeco, industry milestone, investment decisions, j-p-morgan, jpmorgan chase, market environments, measurisk, party risk, risk analytics, risk solutions, securities services, today-announced-that, trillion, west palm beach, wss