London – 12 August 2015: The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund industry association, and S3 Partners, the leading provider of financial analytics and services for asset managers, hedge funds and banks, today announced a new survey that explores how Basel III bank capital rules impact money managers and their financing relationships.
AIMA and S3 Partners said the joint survey, the first of its kind, would cast light on a complex aspect of the new Basel III rules – their impact on hedge funds and money managers. The survey is open to all hedge fund managers globally and accessible here.
The survey will measure and assess how rules stemming from Basel III are affecting cost and capacity in the prime brokerage industry. The survey also aims to establish standard definitions for fundamental concepts such as “optimization”, “collateral management” and “reconciliation”, which are key to how hedge fund and asset management clients assess their commercial relationships with banks. This will make it easier for hedge funds and asset managers to manage their relationships with their bank counterparties.
AIMA CEO Jack Inglis said: “While the impact of Basel III on banks may be well understood, it is clear that many hedge fund management firms are struggling to see how these capital requirements will affect the cost of doing businesses. With this survey, we are hoping to cut through some of the noise and better understand what managers have seen so far and how they expect their relationships with their prime brokers and other financing counterparties to change.”
Mr Inglis added: “We are delighted to be partnering with S3 Partners on this important industry project. As this project will inform the position that we take on Basel III on behalf of the global hedge fund industry, we would encourage as many hedge fund managers globally as possible to complete the survey, to ensure their views and experiences are taken into account.”
S3 Partners CEO Bob Sloan said: “Hedge funds and asset managers should be used to hearing their counterparties speaking about return on assets, optimization and collateral management, but the surprising thing is that there’s still no industry-wide understanding of what exactly these concepts mean. One goal of the survey is to make life easier for the fund managers by standardizing definitions for the many ‘buzzwords’ that exist in the new environment of Basel III.”
The results of the survey will be presented in a research paper to be published later this year. AIMA and S3 believe that the results of the survey will set out in practical terms how hedge funds and asset managers might go about navigating the impacts arising from Basel III to ensure that the prime brokerage relationship remains a mutually beneficial one.
Prime brokerage offerings by banks and securities firms to hedge funds and other buy-side participants typically include securities lending, cash management, trade execution and capital introduction, among other services.
