French-Based Hedge Fund Specialist Expands Across English Channel

Tom Burroughes

16 January 2014

HedgeGuard, the France-based hedge fund and asset management technology firm, serving organisations including family offices, is setting up a UK business and office as part of international expansion.

Founded in 2006, HedgeGuard is also starting to roll out a cloud technology platform, designed to cut costs and provide front-to-back office intelligence for all clients using a variety of devices.

The London office will initially have around five staff; the firm’s founder and managing director, Imad Wardé, will devote at least half of his time to the UK, a spokesperson for the firm told this publication. Additionally, the firm is eyeing sectors such as the family office industry as part of its expansion ambitions, the spokesperson said.

The business has a total of 25 clients, two of which are family offices and is in the process of signing up two more family office clients, the spokesperson said.

“2014 is predicted to be a great year for the investment industry. We are already seeing strong interest here in our revolutionary software and cloud-based technology which will allow fund managers to do their trading from the beach - on their mobile phones - by the summer,” Wardé said in a statement.

HedgeGuard is an independent company and majority owned by its employees.

Its fouder previously created the technology platforms for the hedge fund businesses at ABN Amro and Rothschild Financial Services.