Hedge fund assets hit another record, but see outflows
July 20, 2018--The hedge fund industry hit a record high for the eighth consecutive quarter with $3.326 trillion of assets under management as of June 30, data released Thursday by Hedge Fund Research showed.
Assets in the second quarter were up 0.7% from the quarter ended March 31 and up 4.4% from a year earlier.
Source: Pensions & Investments
World Economic Forum-Report: AI Creating Big Winners in Finance but Others Stand to Lose as Risks Emerge
August 15, 2018--Artificial intelligence (AI) is silently transforming the back office working of banks and insurers, leading to a few big winners but putting banks that try to excel at everything in the firing line, a new report finds
Early big movers offer their AI applications as a "service" to their competitors; attracting users to accelerate their system's learning, and turning cost centres into profit centres
Artificial intelligence is changing the finance industry, with some early big movers monetizing their investments in back-office AI applications. But as this trend widens, new systemic and security risks may be introduced in the financial system. These are some of the findings of a new World Economic Forum report, The New Physics of Financial Services-How artificial intelligence is transforming the financial ecosystem, prepared in collaboration with Deloitte.
Source: World Economic Forum (WEF)
ETF growth limited by current trading practices, study finds
August 14, 2018--Greenwich Associates research urges firms to distinguish ETFs from other asset classes when trading to avoid suboptimal execution.
Buy-side and sell-side trading practices currently used to trade exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are limiting growth in the industry, according to a new study.
Greenwich Associates found that many institutional investors, equity broker-dealers and market makers currently deploy the same methods for trading ETFs as for equities, but this often leads to suboptimal executions.
Source: thetradenews.com
Private Equity Spending Pace Slows to 10-Year Low
August 13, 2018--Buyout groups are spending money at their slowest pace since the financial crash a decade ago, despite having raised record amounts of cash, new data show.
Private equity firms have gone from using more than 5 per cent of their capital, quarter on quarter, at the height of the boom years in 2006, to utilising about 1 per cent in the last three months of 2017, an analysis of figures from 1,000 institutional Investors reveals.
Source: Albourne Village Newsletter
Fallout from the Turkish lira's meltdown is starting to spread to markets around the world
August 13, 2018--Global markets are under pressure following the plunge in the Turkish lira late last week.
The lira's fall continued in Asian trade on Monday-it plunged as much as 10% when markets opened.
The weakness is starting to spread to other emerging market currencies, with the South African rand crashing by as much as 10% against the greenback.
Stock markets around Asia are lower, US stock futures are down, and high quality bonds are rallying.
Source: businessinsider.fr
Companies with strong ESG scores outperform, study finds
August 12, 2018-Portfolios in large and medium-sized groups in developed markets, excluding the US, record best results.
Companies with better environmental, social and governance standards typically record stronger financial performance and beat their benchmarks, according to research from Axioma.
Source: FT.com
Crypto Fund Launches Are on Pace for a Record Year
August 10, 2018--The pace of new fund launches is surprising given depressed prices and regulatory scrutiny, a research firm says.
Crypto investment funds-also known as blockchain funds and digital asset funds-are rolling out at a rapid pace, according to an analysis from Crypto Fund Research.
Through July 31, 96 crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds had been launched this year, an annual pace of 165, which would surpass the record 156 launches in 2017.
Source: thinkadvisor.com/
ETFGI reports assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed globally reached a new high of $5.12 trillion at the end of July 2018
August 10, 2018--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed globally reached a new high of US$5.12 trillion, following net inflows of US$41.13 billion in July.
This marks the largest monthly net inflows since January, when the global ETF/ETP industry experienced net inflows of US$105.73 Bn, according to ETFGI's July 2018 Global ETF and ETP industry landscape insights report, an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Total Assets in ETFs and ETPs listed globally reached a record $5.12 Tn at the end of July
Net new assets gathered by ETFs/ETPs listed globally were $41.1 Bn in July
4 ½ years or 54 consecutive months of net inflows into ETFs/ETPs listed globally .
Source: ETFGI
BIS Study highlights continued central clearing interdependencies
August 9, 2018--The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), theInternational Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) today published the second report that maps interdependencies between central counterparties (CCPs) and their clearing members and other financial service providers.
The international standard-setters published thefirst report on central clearing interdependencies in July 2017.
CCPs are an increasingly important part of the financial system, particularly following the post-crisis reforms that mandated central clearing of standardised over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives. CCPs should be subject to strong regulatory, supervisory and oversight requirements to fully realise the financial stability benefits they offer. Analysing the network of relationships is a useful starting point for understanding potential sources of systemic risk in central clearing.
Source: BIS
New Crypto Funds Launching at Record Pace
August 10, 2018--August 8, 2018--Crypto funds continue to launch at record rate amidst bear market in cryptocurrencies
Falling prices for cryptocurrencies, and an uncertain regulatory environment, in 2018 haven't deterred new crypto investment funds from opening, according to a new analysis from Crypto Fund Research. In fact, 2018 is on pace to surpass the previous year for the most new crypto fund launches.
Through July 31, there were 96 new crypto hedge funds and venture capital funds, an annual pace of 165. This would surpass the record 156 crypto funds launched in 2017. More than half of all crypto funds currently in existence have launched in just the last 18 months.
There are now 466 crypto funds across the globe.
Source: cryptofundresearch.com