Financial Times FT.com

Resources

Principal content

Helping hands to manage change

Prime brokerage is relatively young compared with other mainstream business sectors and it is only now starting to show signs of maturity

Tough issues on the table, but outlook is bright for a vital service

Call it a reverse credit check. Hedge funds used to searching questions from prime brokers are turning the tables on them as bank creditworthiness questions arise

When monogamy isn't on the client's agenda

Dresdner Kleinwort came late to the prime brokerage game, launching in 2001, and soon recognised that its relationships with clients were unlikely to be monogamous

Rapid Asian growth has its dangers

Asia is a hot growth area for prime brokers at present as growth peters outs in Europe and the United States

As hedge funds swell so do demands on brokers

A big factor behind the rapid growth of hedge funds has been the fundamental change in who invests in them – institutions are increasingly replacing wealthy individuals

Growth of made-to-measure derivatives

Standardisation and automation are increasingly necessary in the swelling market for derivatives

A financial bridge between cultures

A swath of sharia-compliant financial products, from mortgages to investment funds, has been launched , driven by an explosion of wealth in the Middle East

Fewer cocktail parties, more marriage brokers

In the past six months the outlook for ‘cap intro’, along with other start-up services for hedge funds, has darkened as independent fund launches have plummeted

Small fry make a splash with niche operations

The lucrative and highly competitive prime brokerage business is dominated by fewer than 10 big investment banks, which focus on the largest 1,000 hedge funds.

Balancing priorities for investors within the Chinese walls

Clients of prime brokers are no longer so concerned about secrecy – funding issues have become paramount

Painful effects of a powerful force

Go single and eke out some extra leverage

An ongoing game of marketplace catch-up

A solution to the need for consolidating information