The SEC and NASAA have waived two separate charges for Investment Advisors for the 2009 calendar year.  The first charge being waived is a systems charge for the Investment Advisor to access the IARD system.  This fee used to be $30.  The second charge is the fee to access the [...]

Generally speaking, offshore hedge funds utilize both domestic and offshore law firms when launching the hedge fund.  In a recent survey, offshore hedge fund law firms were ranked; please see press release below. Walkers named Top Offshore Law Firm in 2008 Alpha Awards 28-Oct-2008 Underlining its reputation as the offshore [...]

The following is a press release regarding the results from a prime brokerage survey. Alpha Magazine Survey Ranks Merlin Securities as the #1 Prime Broker for Small Hedge Funds in 2008 Merlin Securities Receives Top Honors for Second Year Running SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 28, 2008 — Merlin Securities, a leading [...]

The case below provides a great example of why registered investment advisors and hedge funds need to have competent legal counsel advising them on all aspects and arrangements of their business.  Basically a registered investment advisor (RIA) had a selling arrangement with a hedge fund where the RIA would receive [...]

This week we’ve seen a deluge of hedge fund press releases which indicate that the industry which supports hedge funds remains strong a growing.  The press release below provides details on a hedge fund due diligence firm which is expanding its operations.  In the coming months and years hedge fund [...]

There was a previous press release about a hedge fund prime broker expanding its services.  We can see from the press release below that hedge fund adminsitrators are also expanding their service offerings.  I believe the reason for the expansion in the service offerings of these firms indicates a belief [...]

Contrary to the spate of terrible news regarding the financial markets, the hedge fund industry, specifically, the hedge fund service provider industry is poised and ready for continued growth.  The following press release showcases a prime brokerage firm which is actually expanding its operations. Merlin Securities Expands Client Services Team [...]

The press release below discusses a report on investments in hedge funds by single family offices.  The report finds that single family offices are willing to invest in hedge funds and also lays out some of the major concerns about hedge fund investing.  The central issue for single family offices [...]

Last week Goldman and Merril announced that they were going to convert to bank holding companies.  A good article on  the conversion, including questions and answers, can be found here. An interesting consequence of the change is that the SEC’s Consolidated Supervised Entities (CSE) program is no longer necessary. The [...]

One of the major questions right now from both hedge fund investors and hedge fund managers is how safe are their assets.  I will be writing an article detailing the answer to this question over the next couple of days. In the interim, the SEC has released a statement and [...]