Jump to content

Prime Broker


whistlerbumps

Recommended Posts

Does anyone have a recommendation of a good prime broker for smaller funds that has good international coverage?

 

Looking for someone who can handle Europe (Italy, Norway, Spain Portugal etc) and Asia (Japan, HK, Korea etc).  Also needs to be able to handle some of the secondary exchanges (ex AIM in the UK).  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does prime broker mean?

 

a prime broker is basically a more advanced version of a regular broker. while retail people use fidelity or td ameritrade, prop firms and hedge funds use goldman sachs, wedbush, or interactive brokers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my opinion, most firms/people overweight the importance of a prime broker.  Unless you are interested in capital raising/introduction, derivatives/leverage, name recognition, etc...There is no reason to go out and find a prime broker. 

 

In my opinion, Schwab, Interactive Broker, or many other "cheap" firms will provide everything you need to manage an investment partnership or RIA.

 

However, this is just my opinion, as I said at the beginning.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A related question, anyone has a recommendation for portfolio management software, that can help to reconcile, calculate returns, aggregate client accounts and generating client reports? Basically I am trying to find a cheaper version of InData IMS and Advent. thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A related question, anyone has a recommendation for portfolio management software, that can help to reconcile, calculate returns, aggregate client accounts and generating client reports? Basically I am trying to find a cheaper version of InData IMS and Advent. thanks

 

Ezesoft's Tradar PMS should be more than adequate for your needs.

Advent is the rolls royce of PMS providers, industry standard, used by all top Fund Admins, you will never outgrow this system but they are prohibitively expensive for the average start-up fund and we question how they justify some of their setup costs

cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks, will check out. Have you or anyone looked at Schwab's Portfolio Center?

 

 

 

Ezesoft's Tradar PMS should be more than adequate for your needs.

Advent is the rolls royce of PMS providers, industry standard, used by all top Fund Admins, you will never outgrow this system but they are prohibitively expensive for the average start-up fund and we question how they justify some of their setup costs

cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the thoughts.  Jefferies is certainly an option. I generally agree about people overrating the value of the prime, however for my fund specifically, I need someone with good international clearing abilities.  IB is very good but has some wholes in some overseas markets. 

 

Used to be that the solution was the mini-primes (Merlin, BTIG) where the assets would be custodied by JPM/GS etc... however with JPM shutting down that business it seems like there are far fewer options.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the thoughts.  Jefferies is certainly an option. I generally agree about people overrating the value of the prime, however for my fund specifically, I need someone with good international clearing abilities.  IB is very good but has some wholes in some overseas markets. 

 

Used to be that the solution was the mini-primes (Merlin, BTIG) where the assets would be custodied by JPM/GS etc... however with JPM shutting down that business it seems like there are far fewer options.

 

Could you tell me what concerns you have with IB for hedge fund trading?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

His original post mentioned Korea, which IB does not support...

 

Hmm.. Correct. Also Greece is not supported.

Do you think Fidelity is ok for a hedge fund? I know fairholme fund uses Fidelity.

 

I heard IB has an automated reporting sheets that makes hedge fund reporting to clients super easy. Not sure if it is true and not sure if Fidelity has that same thing.

 

Why use Prime brokers? They will be much more expensive than discount brokers like Fidelity and IB. What kind of advantage are you expecting from them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A related question, anyone has a recommendation for portfolio management software, that can help to reconcile, calculate returns, aggregate client accounts and generating client reports? Basically I am trying to find a cheaper version of InData IMS and Advent. thanks

 

Ezesoft's Tradar PMS should be more than adequate for your needs.

Advent is the rolls royce of PMS providers, industry standard, used by all top Fund Admins, you will never outgrow this system but they are prohibitively expensive for the average start-up fund and we question how they justify some of their setup costs

cheers

 

^^^What is the difference in prices between the two? How much roughly did you pay for each?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

His original post mentioned Korea, which IB does not support...

 

Hmm.. Correct. Also Greece is not supported.

Do you think Fidelity is ok for a hedge fund? I know fairholme fund uses Fidelity.

 

I heard IB has an automated reporting sheets that makes hedge fund reporting to clients super easy. Not sure if it is true and not sure if Fidelity has that same thing.

 

Why use Prime brokers? They will be much more expensive than discount brokers like Fidelity and IB. What kind of advantage are you expecting from them?

 

IB has great functionality. I think the major reason is once you get into raising money many people will simply not accept IB. They want to see a big name custodian (Goldman, Pershing, etc), period. If you have an investor base of individuals who don't mind it's the cheapest and possibly best route, though.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...