Technology Biggest Spending Area For Hedge Funds

According to a poll of over 100 top global hedge funds (and fund of funds) managers,
collectively managing some $900 billion in assets, shows that three quarters of respondents identified technology as the biggest spending area in the next two year, for 58% of funds, expenditure on risk management systems was anticipated to be the biggest proportion of that spend.

Only 13% of respondents expect to raise permanent capital in the next two years. The most popular route is deemed to be a partial sale to an external owner. The greatest interest in raising permanent capital comes, from managers in the Far East.

David Sung of Ernst & Young's Hong Kong office said: "Given that the managers in the Far East have yet to experience the maturity of businesses in the US and Europe, the idea of having more permanent capital could be appealing as a faster means of stabilizing their asset base."

Greater transparency around the valuation process is the foremost medium-to-high level regulatory challenge for 64% of respondents in the next two years; conflicts of interest (57%) and market abuse (55%) are the next key concerns. Valuation and pricing risks were also deemed the second greatest operational risk for managers.

The survey shows that the majority of funds (80%) expect incentive fees and management fees to decrease in the next two years. Almost two-thirds also identified increased operational costs as a significant future pressure on fees over the same period.

The survey was carried out by Ernst & Young in partnership with Ipsos MORI, an independent research company, across a number of leading global hedge funds, and fund of funds managers.