prime brokerage

USA

Comprehensive financial services offered to hedge funds and other professional investors by broker-dealers. Prime brokers provide their clients with the opportunity to engage one provider for all of their trading needs, often ranging from equities and investment in indices to derivatives trading, including interest rate swaps, currency swaps, credit default swaps (CDS), futures, commodities and most other types of derivatives, as well as global custodial services, securities lending, access to certain global trading platforms and operational support.

For more on prime brokerage, see Article, Trends in Prime Brokerage (www.practicallaw.com/7-501-8652).

See also, Legal Updates, 11th Circuit Holds Prime Broker Does Not Owe Fiduciary Duty to Investor (www.practicallaw.com/7-501-7191), Hedge Funds Lose "Give-Up" Arrangements with Prime Brokers (www.practicallaw.com/2-385-3000) and Fund Collateral Issues in the Wake of Lehman (www.practicallaw.com/7-386-2064).

For information on recent US regulatory reforms affecting prime brokers, broker-dealers and hedge funds, see Road Map to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (www.practicallaw.com/3-502-8479).