Alternative Asset Management
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When Hiring Quants and Analysts, Leave the Resume For Last
Read the rest of this entry »Alternative asset managers are judged on their performance. So why don't they do the same when it comes to judging job candidates?
That's the advice Sham Mustafa, co-founder of quantitative assessment specialist Correlation One, gave to a London quant conference last week. "Don’t look at the resume, look at the performance,” eFinancialCareers quoted him as telling his audience.
That might seem like a no-brainer, but Mustafa told the attendees ...
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Investor Pressure Is Forcing Down Management Fees
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Investor concerns and the lackluster performance of some types of asset funds have have been putting downward pressure on management fees for several years. Now, an analysis from investment consulting firm bfinance shows just how far fees have declined.
Investment Management Fees: Is Competition Working?, issued last week, says fees for funds of hedge funds, are down 28% in just three years, and now average .58%. That asset class may ...
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Will Machines Take Over Wall Street?
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"Machines are taking control of investing - not just the humdrum buying and selling of securities, but also the commanding heights of monitoring the economy and allocating capital."
That's how The Economist begins it's cover story on the increasingly important role of artificial intelligence in the world's financial markets. It's a sober examination of how machines have evolved from acting on orders set by traders to analyzing more social and ...
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Analysis Finds AI Funds Get Better Returns at Lower Risk
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Preqin has some bad news for the humans who manage hedge funds: AI-managed funds earned a higher return at lower risk than the overall industry.
The algorithm managed funds earned a three year return of 26.98%. The Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark (all hedge funds) returned 23.87%. Besides the three percentage point difference, Preqin reported that the AI funds had lower volatility and a higher Sharpe ratio. (The ...
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Robo-Advisors Have Yet to Break Even
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Robo-advisors, one of fintech's flashier trends, have yet to pay their way. Even at the typical 0.25% fee, most have yet to attract enough invested dollars to break even, let alone turn a profit.
A detailed discussion on International Banker of the robo-advisor phenomenon leans on an HSBC report on the wealth management industry, which included an analysis of the emerging sector that concluded almost none of the online ...
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VC Funds Expected to Set Second Consecutive Record
Read the rest of this entry »Venture capital funds had a strong first half of the year with $66 billion invested in some 4,900 deals. At the current pace, 2019 may turn out to be the second consecutive year VC investment has topped $100 billion.
Meanwhile, exits are setting a record. Propelled by Uber's IPO, the Q2 exits total of $138.38 -- more than double Q1's $50.2 billion -- pushed the first six months exit ...
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Alternatives Future Is In Digitalization and New Jobs
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New research from Willis Towers Watson suggests it will be technology that differentiates alternative assets fund managers in the future.
To be sure, there are other ingredients to asset manager success. A strong culture, the ability and the willingness to accept and deal with change and well-positioned business models are among the six attributes that the report -- The asset manager of tomorrow -- says are "critical requirements to asset manager success ...
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Quants, Researchers Are the Most Satisfied
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Smile if you're a quant or a researcher. They're the two most rewarding jobs in finance.
That's the somewhat surprising result of a still ongoing survey by eFinancialCareers. Some other jobs in banking may pay better -- M&A and finance, for instance. But the intellectual stimulation of research more than makes up for any paycheck differences.
According to the survey, satisfaction by quants and researchers reached 6.5 and 6.6 ...
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Fund Managers Forsee Growth In EU Market
Read the rest of this entry »A survey of fund managers from around the world found nearly 7 in 10 expect a greater assignment of assets to AIFMD (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive) in the next two years, despite concern over how the regulation is interpreted.
The AIFMD is a European Union (EU) regulation that applies to hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate and certain other funds. It governs their marketing, reporting and related activities ...
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Private Equity: The Only Place to Be In Alternatives?
Read the rest of this entry »Where is the economy headed and what is the outlook for investment funds? Every analyst and fund manager has an opinion, with, perhaps a majority taking a cautious position on the first, and a diversified view for the latter.
Andrew White, CFA, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Awaken Capital, tells EisnerAmper that the economy "will likely remain better than expected in the coming decade, with interim 'bumps.'"
As ...
