Rule Financial has been recognised as a Certified Implementation Partner by Linedata Services, whose Beauchamp software suite offers hedge funds and alternative investment traders a highly configurable and scalable portfolio management system.

This recognition follows Rule’s successful implementation of Beauchamp systems in four European hedge funds, with several more currently in progress. Rule consultants’ roles have included defining clients’ requirements, managing development and installation, coordinating training needs and providing on-going support. Rule also oversees complex, large scale upgrades which require strong project management and operational support. The ‘Partner’ role also includes implementing customised electronic trading platforms and FIX connectivity.

Beauchamp CPP/Implementation partners are taken through an intense training course covering the intricacies of the hedge fund industry and detailed knowledge of Beauchamp’s functionality, installation and configuration. To date, seven Rule hedge fund consultants have successfully qualified.

Sebastian Kent, COO of Beauchamp, explained “Recent explosive growth in high volume electronic trading has led to our customers demanding ever greater levels of transaction speed and accuracy, with implications for subsequent reporting and archiving. Rule has been helping us meet those needs for our clients and make sure they’re getting the maximum possible benefit from our software.”

Steve Swindon, Head of Rule’s Hedge Fund practice confirmed that Beauchamp and Rule have a longstanding and successful relationship. “Our consultants offer the very highest standards of expertise and domain knowledge, and we feel very appreciative of Beauchamp’s patronage.” he said. “I look forward to working with them for many projects to come.”

To learn more about Linedata Services and the Beauchamp software suite please visit http://www.ldsam.com/global_product_list.html

Hong Kong’s securities watchdog has committed itself to simplifying the licensing requirements for overseas hedge fund managers looking to set up in the former British colony.

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said the changes include speeding up the licensing process for some U.S. and UK-registered hedge fund managers, and exempting some staff at hedge funds from having to take exams.
Hong Kong is home to more hedge fund assets than any other Asian city, but a growing number of hedge fund managers are choosing to set up in Singapore, where authorities have tried to attract newcomers with less stringent regulation.

The Hong Kong regulator said that firms already licensed or registered in the USA or Britain will “benefit from an expedited licensing process”, assuming they only serve professional investors and have good compliance records.

It added that staff nominated to be the “responsible officers” of hedge fund firms can also be exempted from the local regulatory examination if they fulfil the necessary criteria: a broad range of industry experience will be recognised as satisfying the competence requirements.

Source: Reuters

Blue Riband Rabobank, from left to right: Darren Smith, Dave Taylor, James Matthews, Sarah Bailey, Ella Kempster, Kerry Peacock, and Jason Millard.

A fiendishly talented team from Rule’s clients Rabobank are celebrating their greatly improved performance at this year’s Microsoft UK Challenge event.

Careful study of the photograph above shows that having a Rule Financial logo stitched to your trouser leg is just the thing when competing in gruelling mental and physical contests in the Yorkshire countryside. As “Challenge virgins” in 2006 they came 111th in a field of 114, but last month, in a frenzy of intellectual and physical excess, they cracked the Top 40, coming 39th out of 122.

Raising over £500,000 along the way for the NSPCC, more than 800 competitors from Britain’s leading companies and organisations competed in three days of challenges designed to push executives to the outer limits as they devised strategies, cracked codes, built structures and solved puzzles, all the while cycling, orienteering and generally careering their way around the magnificent but tough terrain of the Peak district.

As the Microsoft publicity puts it…

“Competitors emerge from the challenge jubilant and with the knowledge that they have learned vital skills for business including communication, advanced decision making and strategy.”

                                SHOCK AND AWE

The top seven teams, among them squads from Dell, Lloyds TSB and, reassuringly, Airbus, will be travelling to the South of France later in the year to compete in the international stages of the event.  Meanwhile,  the overall winner of the British leg was none other than the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston, which these days markets itself as AWE and hosts the largest and most advanced R&D centre in the UK, designing and manufacturing Britain’s nuclear warheads - obviously a useful training ground for moving extremely rapidly when the occasion demands.

Rumours that the victorious AWE team have atomic brains spark a series of protests

Rule Financial raced clear of the field in Securities Finance IT consultancy with the arrival last month of Alec Nelson.  Alec has been an authority on the development of Stock Borrow Loan systems since the earliest days of the securities finance sector. 

 After nearly two decades with investment bank Morgan Stanley,  most recently as a distinguished Head of International Securities Lending, his decision to join Rule delivers extra prestige to the SF practice, and brings its headcount into double figures for the first time.  Its head, David Little, commented:        

“I’m delighted. Many of our clients will benefit from Alec’s thorough understanding of this very complex area of the business. Rule has always had a strong securities finance offering, with the ability to advise clients independently, and to deliver large projects on time and on budget. Alec’s arrival underlines this.”

Alec Nelson is married with two children and lives near Rochester in Kent, where he’s a keen badminton player and rides a Yamaha YZ125 in competitive Motocross.

Rule consultants are currently working on SF projects for many of the leading investment banks, including RBS, ABN, HSBC and Dresdner Kleinwort.      

       Alec Nelson on his way to work. Not. Right bike, though.