Friday, September 16, 2011

J.P. Morgan Selected by FFCM to Provide Fund Services and Prime Custody for the Launch of its Market-Neutral Equity ETFs

New York, September 16, 2011– J.P. Morgan announced today that it has been selected by investment management firm FFCM LLC to provide a suite of securities services, including fund administration, fund accounting and custody, along with prime custody services, for its newly launched family of equity ETFs, QuantShares. 

The QuantShares ETFs will be “market neutral,” holding both long and short positions in approximately equal dollar amounts. They are among the first ETFs that will engage in shorting physical securities. FFCM LLC has also chosen J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp. as prime broker for four of its seven new funds.

“We are pleased to be launching these funds that will leverage J.P. Morgan’s ETF servicing with its prime custody solutions,” said Bill DeRoche, founding member of FFCM LLC, the Boston-based investment adviser to QuantShares. “Our decision to partner with J.P. Morgan reflects our confidence in their ability to support us across this multi-faceted and diverse set of strategies.”

“J.P. Morgan has a history of innovation in the ETF space,” said Robert Caporale, head of new business development – Americas, J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services. “We look forward to delivering our market-leading offering of securities services solutions to FFCM for their newly launched ETFs.”  J.P. Morgan provides a full suite of services for the development, launch and servicing of ETFs. Industry-wide, J.P. Morgan currently services 200 ETFs with total assets of over $100 billion.

Devon George-Eghdami, head of Prime Custody Solutions for J.P. Morgan, said, “We are excited to be working with FFCM on the launch of their market-neutral equity ETFs which are among the first to utilize a combination of cash shorting and swaps.  With our integrated prime broker, custody, fund administration, fund accounting and ETF specialist capabilities, J.P. Morgan is uniquely positioned to service FFCM.”

The new QuantShares ETFs have been created to provide institutional and individual investors with access to several alternative innovative investment strategies, according to FFCM.  Offering diversification and risk management, the funds are designed to produce returns with low correlations to the overall equity market. These returns are driven by exposure to well-known factors such as beta, momentum, quality, value, and market cap.

About FFCM
FFCM offers the QuantShares series of market-neutral ETFs.  QuantShares are innovative risk-management and diversification tools for individual and institutional investors, including mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, endowment plans and wealth managers. FFCM executives are experts in quantitative analysis, portfolio management and trading. Member FINRA. More information is available at www.quant-shares.com.

About J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services
J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (WSS) is a premier securities servicing and fund administration provider that helps institutional investors, alternative asset managers, broker dealers and equity issuers optimize efficiency, mitigate risk and enhance revenue. A business of JP Morgan Chase & Co., WSS leverages the firm’s global scale, leading technology and deep industry expertise to service investments around the world.  It has $16.9 trillion in assets under custody and $7.5 trillion in funds under administration. 

About J.P. Morgan’s Prime Custody Solutions Group
J.P. Morgan offers unique and comprehensive solutions that enable funds to combine their prime services, global custody and other securities service needs in an integrated approach.  Custody services and interest rate derivatives are offered through JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., member FDIC; equity and FX prime brokerage services are offered through J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp., member SIPC, FINRA, and NYSE; securities products are offered through J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, member SIPC, FINRA, and NYSE.

About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
As used in this release, “J.P. Morgan” refers to the combined resources of JPMorgan Chase & Co and its affiliates.  JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.2 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management, and private equity. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.

None of the foregoing is intended to be, nor should it be considered a solicitation to purchase or an offer to sell any fund.  Descriptions of investment products or strategies offered by FFCM used in this release have been provided by FFCM and have not been independently validated by J.P. Morgan.  Statements of FFCM regarding their opinion of services provided by J.P. Morgan reflect FFCM’s opinion and might not be representative of the experience of other clients.

No comments:

Post a Comment