Institutional Investor (August 12)
“Institutional investors have long called for better transparency and disclosure regarding fees, expenses, pass-through costs, and conflicts of interest,” but the SEC’s private fund adviser rules “were struck down in June after being challenged in court by a number of industry organizations largely representing managers.” The “regulatory saga” seemed to pit “investors and managers against one another…. But this picture is too simple, ignoring the industry’s own track record of collaboration to improve practices and address many of these challenges.” Going forward, “stakeholders must pick up where regulators left off.”
Tags: Collaboration, Conflicts of interest, Costs, Court, Disclosure, Expenses, Fees, Institutional investors, Managers, Regulators, SEC, Stakeholders, Transparency
Investment Week (April 26)
“Managers have expressed confidence in the performance of sterling and its future potential, but the uncertainty surrounding the UK and global economies, as well as the upcoming general election, could pose headwinds to the asset’s performance.”
Tags: Asset, Confidence, Future, General election, Global economies, Headwinds, Managers, Performance, Potential, Sterling, UK, Uncertainty
Institutional Investor (December 1)
“Competition to manage middle eastern sovereign wealth has become fierce.” Five of the top ten sovereign wealth funds (by assets under management} “are based in the Middle East” with “roughly $2.92 trillion in assets.” Given “bleak fundraising prospects in the U.S. and Europe, managers are tripping over themselves to reach sovereign wealth funds” in the Middle East.
Tags: $2.92 trillion, AUM, Competition, Europe, Fundraising, Managers, Middle East, Prospects, Sovereign wealth funds, Top ten, U.S.
Institutional Investor (August 29)
“Now that investors can get factor-based funds on the cheap, they’re pushing quants in new directions.” This presents new challenges. “One is a move away from a heavy reliance on decades of historical data and back tests to tying this in-depth research to the realities of the current economic and market environment.” Another challenge is “getting the right people” to do this. “Many quant managers historically hired people with expertise in data,” but “now it’s the background in economics and finance that’s become critical.”
Tags: Back tests, Challenges, Cheap, Data, Economic, Economics, Factor-based funds, Finance, Historical data, Investors, Managers, Market, Quants, Realities, Reliance, Research
Institutional Investor (May 25)
“Managers that want to run fixed-income funds with a focus on environmental, social, and governance factors face larger research challenges than those in stocks. But the massive opportunity in bonds may make the uphill battle worth it.” Compared to equities, the “patchwork of standards” increases the “risks of ESG fixed income funds.”
Tags: Bonds, Challenges, Equities, ESG, Fixed income, Funds, Managers, Opportunity, Patchwork, Research, Risks, Standards, Stocks, Uphill
Investment Week (February 10)
“Managers of China-exposed funds, which have seen heavy losses in recent weeks during the financial fallout of the coronavirus, are now eyeing buying opportunities in the belief the developing health crisis will not hinder the market beyond the short term.”
Tags: Buying opportunities, China, Coronavirus, Fallout, Funds, Health crisis, Losses, Managers
Institutional Investor (July 6)
“For private equity managers, it is a tale of two markets. Fundraising is going through the roof, but valuations are sky-high and exits are on the decline—a sign, market observers say, that the private equity market is nearing the end of its cycle, which could be bad news for managers looking to put new capital to work.”
Tags: Capital, Cycle, Exits, Fundraising, Managers, Markets, Private equity, Sky-high, Valuations
The Economist (May 3)
“After years in the doldrums, big mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are making a comeback. Optimists hope this is a sign of bosses daring to be bold because of improving economic prospects. Sceptics wonder if the managers are in fact doing deals to conceal a worrying lack of growth opportunities—or just cutting costs by merging with companies in kinder tax jurisdictions.”
Tags: Bold, Bosses, Comeback, Costs, Doldrums, Economic prospects, Growth, Jurisdictions, M&A, Managers, Opportunities, Tax
Financial Times (February 27)
Yahoo’s chief executive, Marissa Mayer, will require employees who previously worked from home to come to the office. “The lesson to draw from Ms Mayer’s whip-cracking – in Silicon Valley, of all places – is that this is an age of harder work. From intense teamwork at the top to monitoring and surveillance at the bottom, managers are squeezing more from employees than they previously would have dared.”
Tags: Employees, Home, Managers, Marissa Mayer, Monitoring, Office, Silicon Valley, Surveillance, Workplace, Yahoo
