Offering meant to address bank's hedge-fund risk and transparency concerns. Third-party investment platform provider GlobalBridge and asset manager Topos are targeting trust banks and wealth managers with an alternative-investment vehicle that they say offers uncorrelated returns with low volatility.

A way to compete

"Two-thirds of endowments invest an average of 18 percent of their assets in hedge funds and alternatives," says Kelly Thomas Coughlin, chairman and CEO of Mineapolis-based GlobalBridge. "We wanted to put our trust bank customers in a position to compete for these assets, but do so on terms that suit the requirements of our customers, including full transparency, complete custody and daily liquidity."

The GlobalBridge-Topos alternative strategy lets "trust banks and wealth-management advisors have a superior alternative-investment product that will allow them to effectively compete for the asset allocations going to hedge funds from institutions and sophisticated investors," according to Coughlin.

The strategy uses Topos' quantitative approach to long-short U.S. equities so that investors can diversify into alternative investments without the shortcomings of traditional hedge fund models.

Marc Groz, founder and CIO of Stamford, Conn.-based Topos says his firm's collaboration with GlobalBridge has resulted in an approach to alternatives that "effectively raises the bar for the entire hedge-fund industry." -FWR

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