ThinkAdvisor 
KPMG’s 2016 report on women in alternative investments finds that a majority of respondents still believe it is harder for women to succeed in the industry and to obtain capital than it is for their male peers. But that sentiment belies a significant increase in the percentage of mandates and programs owned and managed by women,…
Private equity managers and investors this year were focused on high entry prices for assets and how these could affect future returns, according the Preqin, the alternatives data provider. Forty-eight percent of fund managers polled at midyear said pricing was the biggest challenge they faced in the next 12 months, and two-thirds of investors said high…
U.S.-based Credit Suisse Securities LLC agreed Monday to pay $16.5 million to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for anti-money laundering violations involving microcap stock transactions. According to FINRA’s action, Credit Suisse’s suspicious activity monitoring program was deficient on two fronts. Credit Suisse primarily relied on its registered reps to identify and escalate potentially suspicious trading, including…
When Charles Ellis writes a book exhorting investors to buy index funds, it rattles those of us who have spent our careers in active management. Ellis, after all, wrote two glowing forewards for Yale University’s David Swensen in his book, “Pioneering Portfolio Management,” a bible of alternative investing. It was Swensen’s success investing in hedge funds,…
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”–Winston Churchill The American…
It’s almost impossible to open a copy of the Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg Businessweek these days without seeing evidence of how self-learning computers are upending various sectors of the economy. I have previously written about the effect that artificial intelligence is having on lawyers, including in some cases replacing lawyers wholesale. Yet, even for those…
“How iTunes Crushed Music Sales” (CNNMoney) “Five Ways That Amazon Is Shaking Up Retail” (Forbes) “Uber has pretty much destroyed regular taxis in San Francisco” (Time) “Extreme Moneyball: The Houston Astros Go All In On Data Analysis” (Bloomberg) The narrative is familiar: technology innovation disrupts legacy business models, creating opportunities for insurgent competitors and existential threats…
The combination of factor investing and new technology is dramatically changing active management, according to a new report from State Street Global Advisors. “We expect the advent of new data, tools and technology will give rise to a new species of active managers, increasingly looking at investment opportunities and risks through a factor lens,” says SSGA’s…
The most prestigious and exclusive American university just reported a $1.9 billion loss in its endowment. The 2% decline in the Harvard endowment for the fiscal year ended June 30 was its worst performance since 2009, when it lost $11 billion following the financial crisis. In its annual report, the endowment’s temporary President and CEO Robert…
Foundations and endowments have a lot of complaints about hedge funds, but most are not giving up on them, according to a new survey by NEPC, an investment consulting firm. Indeed, given their concerns about the U.S. economy and global growth prospects, many investors may be looking toward hedge funds to protect their portfolios. But a…