What's Worrying Hedge Fund CFOs and COOs?

The results are in. Compliance and regulation top the list of concerns, along with the repercussions of unbundling research and trading.

In late June, ITG surveyed more than 40 US hedge fund executives about key issues that impact the way they do business.* As ITG expands our OMS/EMS/PMS hedge fund solution to new regions, these survey results and our continuing conversations with COOs and CFOs at hedge funds worldwide will help inform the future direction of our trading and CSA services.

Some key findings:

• 47% of respondents cited changing financial rules and regulations as their most pressing issue, followed by the need to streamline compliance processes (37%).
• Asked specifically about Europe’s moves to unbundle research payments from equity trading commissions, 49% of hedge fund CFOs report that they are very or somewhat concerned.
• If Europe moves towards a "hard unbundling" of research payments from commissions, 65% of CFOs surveyed said they would likely segregate the accounts of their European clients in order to continue using Commission Sharing Agreements (CSAs) for non-European clients. 35% said they would consider ending the use of CSAs altogether.
• Hedge fund CFOs rely on their peers to keep abreast of changes in the marketplace: 45% cited conversations with fellow finance and compliance professionals as their main source of industry news, followed by content from their brokers or vendors (31%) and business or trade publications (24%). 

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