Private equity: Marching towards 2020

The domain of private equity is marked by increased competition, as spurred by growth of capital, the emergence of new markets, the rise in the number of players, as well as tightened regulation.

To be able to stay ahead in the game, private equity management firms need to be armed with the following sound strategies:

Devote more resources towards understanding new or reformed policies. New protocols or policy reforms are being implemented left and right, and it would do well for fund managers to try to understand their repercussions. Some firms make the mistake of treating compliance as an afterthought, in their bid not to allow it to change the way they do business. But the best and most sustainable way to go about it is to seamlessly integrate it in all stages of the company’s operations. Automation of reporting and audit processes is key, along with a step-by-step compliance monitoring. It’s also important to look closely at how tax reform is being discussed within and outside the industry, and contribute to voices that will promote the standing of private equity business in this aspect.

Consider asset servicing. Private equity management firms need to save every resource they have towards successful steering acquired companies to profitable operations – in levels that will mean high yields for the investors. Enlisting the services of outsourcing partners will greatly help them free up precious manpower and budget, while being able to access first-rate support. The best asset servicing firms possess advanced tools for accomplishing middle and back office functions, including portfolio management systems. They also maintain a pool of professionals who are experienced in these tasks.

Pay attention to cybersecurity. Promoting cybersecurity is no longer just an option to private equity these days. In the age of cyberattacks, it is crucial that asset managers guard themselves against efforts to cull sensitive information that may compromise their business operations at various fronts. Cloud-based data warehousing is fast becoming the way of the future for all fund management businesses, and it poses challenges as regards keeping data accessible only to the right parties. By making more investment towards cybersecurity, not only do firms protect their valuable business data. They also protect the company’s reputation, which in turn boosts the confidence of all prospective client-investors.

By keeping abreast of these pointers, private equity firms are set to generate optimum returns – a win for the client-investors, the fund manager, and the industry.

Fund administration and the role of third-party asset servicing firms

Fund administration is undoubtedly a very important task nowadays. And it pays for fund managers to have third-party administrators help manage their business. But what do these third party companies do anyway?

Calculating the values of net assets

Fund administrators are usually independent companies that offer a wide range of solutions and services that are mainly designed to assist hedge fund managers in verifying the values of assets, reconciling data, ensuring fair pricing for traded securities, preparing investor statements and other reports, and other tasks.

It is the first task that is arguably the most important, as many people who work for asset servicing firms would agree; accurately calculating net asset values and ensuring all transactions on record had actually happened is vital to the integrity of every hedge fund or similar vehicle.

Data reconciliation

The second of the aforementioned tasks, which is the reconciliation of data, is another key service offered by third-party asset servicing firms, and one that is closely related to asset value verification. Usually, toward the end of the month, broker statements and investment manager statements are checked and verified to make sure they are not inconsistent with one another. Administrators also have to consider different variables that could affect net asset values, such as the inflow and outflow of investor assets.

Fair pricing

Fund administrators also have to make sure that each traded security has been priced fairly. This could require a lot of mathematical grunt work, but thanks to the experienced staff that are now de rigueur for third-party asset servicing companies, this is easier to complete than what one may think. In fact, administrators typically use the averages of three quotations from brokers, and only use sophisticated math when a particular holding is a rather complex one.

The cloud plays a valuable role in administration

In today’s fund administration industry, more and more companies are leveraging higher-end technologies to ensure they take good care of their funds their clients manage, and deliver accurate information on time, all while being compliant with all laws, regulations, and statutes.

Cloud-based technology is a requisite for these firms, who offer a wide variety of middle- and back-office solutions, and handle the tasks mentioned above, among many others. Considering the repercussions of the Bernard Madoff scandal and the higher premium on transparency demanded by investors, hedge fund managers will certainly be better for dealing with third-party companies for their asset servicing needs.

What is PER in NBA?

The 2015-2016 NBA season has been a historic one to say the least.  It first started blowing up social media when Aaron Gordon and Zach Lavine had a dunk off for the ages culminating to be one of the most successful NBA all star weekends in recent memory.  Pair that flurry of excitement with oh just the most dominant single-regular season run in NBA history by the man, the myth, the legend Stephen Curry.  He led his team to a ridiculous 73-9 that shattered the GOAT Michael Jordan’s 95-96 Bulls for the best regular season record.

On top of that, Curry and the boys continually broke shooting and scoring records which propelled him(Curry) to his second Most Valuable Player award and the first unanimous in the history of the league!  Let the claim to fame sink in: THE FIRST UNANIMOUS MVP EVER.  We have been blessed with some great legends of the entire tenure of the National Basketball Association but Curry is the first to ever accomplish such a remarkable feat.

On paper, Curry’s single season stats are impressive but not as Godly as you think.  You would have been giddy as all hell if you had Curry on your fantasy NBA team as he averaged for the season: 30 points per game, 6 rebounds per game, and nearly seven assists per game.  Comparatively Jordan during his legendary run in the ‘95-96 season he averaged nearly identical numbers: 31 points per game, 7 rebounds per game, and nearly five assists per game.  Although both of these men led their storied franchises to unbelievable seasons and great overall stat lines they still remain inferior in possibly one of the most overlooked yet important stats.

This stat is PER or Player Efficiency Rating and has been dominated by one man for almost the entire tenure of the NBA.  Wilt “The stilt” not only holds the coveted number one spot on the best PER for a single season in NBA history, he actually holds the top two!  If Wilt was available for NBA daily fantasy he would have been locked in to everyone’s lineups on a nightly basis.  The man was a freak on the court and ultimately reigns supreme.  The stat is a measure of based on a player’s playing time, ball touches, shot attempts, and multitude of other factors meaning the more this guy touched the ball the deadlier he was.

For those looking for daily NBA fantasy sleepers, consider veying for low minute players that have excellent PER.  Granted if players don’t hit minute floors they undoubtedly won’t be able to produce to a sufficient level, but if the extra opportunities present themself your guy could be in for a huge night.

The value of adopting a state-of-the-art portfolio management system

Portfolio management is a complex business. Aside from requiring thorough and regular monitoring of asset performance, managers need to deal with growing demands for transparency and oversight in and outside of the investments and securities industry. Thankfully, these challenges can now be addressed with the adoption of a good portfolio management system.

Below is a discussion of some of the benefits of investing in the best version of this tool.

Keeping up to date with industry developments. With the help of a portfolio management system, client-investors can be provided with reporting tools that are always available online. This allows asset managers to look at upcoming trends, assess their impact on the fund’s performance, and accordingly prepare measures that address emerging risks.

It offers a comprehensive view of all factors needed in making investment decisions. Portfolio management is about dealing with a lot of metrics, and using the insight derived from them to guide future actions. The best of breed portfolio management systems offer a consolidated view of past transactions, the assets under management, and cash flow, allowing for quick and sound decision-making.

Complying with all pertinent regulations becomes much easier. The past financial crises and major investment scandals truly rocked the industry, and spurred a number of government regulations designed to protect the interest especially of the client-investors. But dealing with all of these tight regulations is a huge and time-consuming chore for most firms. When they fail to comply, they are subject to penalties and legal action, on top of seeing their reputation crumble. By adopting a portfolio management technology, most of the procedures related to compliance can be automated, such that the entire process need not take up so much of the company’s resources.

It enables strategizing towards the achievement of financial goals. With a cloud-based portfolio management system, asset managers are able to gather all the data they need in one hub. This in turn allows them to provide all the relevant stakeholders easy access to files, enabling collaboration. When portfolio managers, fund administrators, and other third party service providers can effectively and quickly exchange information, the experience of asset management becomes a seamless process that fosters quick return on investment (ROI).

Firms may invest towards the set-up of in-house portfolio management systems, or access these through top asset servicing firms. These firms can develop proprietary tools, on top of handling a full range of back and middle-office functions.

How technology impacts the fund administration business

Market conditions are driving the sustained growth of the fund administration sector. Indeed, more and more business and investors are getting enticed by the benefits of using a third party administrator. At the same time, as the market grows, competition also becomes stiffer. Performance is key to gaining competitive advantage among peers. Of course, performance is affected by how effective the tools used by the administrators are.

Technology and analytics play a big role in setting the operational conditions. Through technology, administrators are given the tools to establish the most efficient and least costly operating model. With the growing clamor for transparency and reporting, the role of data analytics in fund administration becomes more pronounced. Investing in innovative technologies that help establish best practices and consolidate information has become an integral strategy to remain competitive.

However, this increased dependency on technology has also exposed the industry to cyber attacks. Cyber criminals have also become more and more sophisticated with their technologies and approach that cyber risk management can no longer be relegated to the periphery but must be included in the core competencies to ensure security. Funds are associated with a great deal of personal information that must be protected and kept private. An administrator’s policy on how this set of information is protected is a key factor for clients. Now it is fundamental to put in place a robust cyber risk assessment process that tries to strike a balance between accessibility and protection.

Data management and analytics also plays a big role in the struggle of administrators to institute reliable customer identification.  Administrators must ensure that clients are protected from identity theft. It must also do its part in securing its own yard from perpetrators of fraud and money laundering. Regulatory requirements that compel administrators to perform the above obligations are enforced more strictly now that threats are more imminent.

In the United States, because of the regulatory requirements that have become stricter, transparency in fund administration has become ever more important. Existing standards and reporting methods are now put under pressure. The requirements compel administrators to gather data from different sources, aggregate it, and submit to the regulating body. To minimize its impact on resources, administrators turned to modern software solutions.

The environment continues to be challenging for fund administrators. Being able to adapt operational model to these changes and investing in technologies, as well as seeking the help of more experienced third party providers can help the firm become more agile.

Technology a Must for Hedge Fund Compliance

Years ago, incorporating cutting-edge technologies to investment operations was considered as mere luxury for only the biggest firms. But with the complexity of regulatory requirement and a rising demand for transparency from bodies like the SEC and CFTC, as well as the investors, technology is now a necessity for hedge fund compliance — regardless of the firm’s size.

According to Forbes, many hedge fund managers utilize technology for record-keeping requirements, as most solutions provide record retention features and electronic compliance certification features. Some also offer compliance calendars that automatically remind managers of compliance dates and regulatory deadlines.

While these solutions are primarily used for compliance management, here are other crucial and time-consuming areas that can be simplified through technology:

Database management and security. With an advanced data management platform, investors can easily transform details into meaningful insights for improved decision making.  Competitive tools now offer automated display and comparison of multiple and dynamic portfolios for faster data analysis. Additionally, with the help of technology, security of all confidential data is ensured through encryption, change privileges, audit trail and control access features.

Portfolio optimization. More than providing a dashboard that keeps all the big data, advanced tools now have the ability to evaluate and optimize multi-year plans and scenarios, perform business-case cash-flow analysis and even quantify project risks. These features further help streamline operations by computing and displaying an efficient frontier of portfolios and providing “sandbox analysis.”

Project management and resource management. As tools can now generate updated financial budget predictions though correlation of all data, technology is also utilized to ensure that assets are properly allocated to specific channels where they have great potential, and that investment strategies are executed at the right time.

Business continuity and disaster recovery. With the help of advanced portfolio management solutions, asset managers are considered more equipped when it comes to formulating disaster recovery plans, hence ensuring business continuity even during the most crucial times. In addition, corporate researchers Aberdeen Group found out that solutions help administrators to fix issues in an average of 2.1 hours, as compared to the traditional 8 hours.

In the end, hedge fund compliance is more than just about meeting regulatory requirements on time; it is a process that concerns the overall efficiency of an investment operation. Choosing a technology partner that can offer an efficient and complete solution can greatly help fund managers achieve thier clients’ goals, and attract even more investors.

Social Media Marketing: Tweeting 101

Nowadays, social media marketing through such platforms as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest has provided companies with a relatively cheaper way to market their product and service offerings.

Twitter in particular, has gathered millions of users across the globe, and remains a formidable platform and is often referred to as the ideal platform for interacting with one’s target market, potential business parters, and the public in general. Much of this can be attributed to its unique requirement: Brands should be able deliver their message in 140-characters.

The question is, how can a Twitter community manager post compelling content in this very little space available? Here are some tips.

Observe proper grammar and spelling. Social media has made a lot of things acceptable, as far as shortening and spelling words are concerned. But the smart community manager knows that not everything is to be toyed with. Don’t shorten proper names and compromise the spelling, for example. And there should still be proper syntax, and punctuation should still be used especially to facilitate reading (in fact, because of the brevity of each tweet, commas and hyphens have become all the more indispensable!).

Quote authoritative websites. The most read and shared tweets come from reputable news organizations. Know whom to retweet: Check out the most followed news accounts, and find a way to summarize their material and relate it with the company’s products. These links should be shortened (bit.ly is the most recommended), to keep the word count low, and make room for retweeting, mentions, and some comments. Some experts suggest leaving as many as 20 characters as “retweet space.”

Choose buzzwords. In the perfect tweet, there should be buzzwords – words that can be hashtagged to add to an ongoing conversation. These buzzwords should be based on trending topics of the day, or words that can be easily associated with the brand. But the content creator should limit hashtags to two per tweet, so that it will not be considered spam.

Put a call to action. Finally, include a call to action. After releasing the information, make the followers know exactly what to do with it. Encourage them to like, retweet, to share, or visit the company website through the tweet. Ask thought-provoking questions to promote engagement, and even tag some users in the post.

Partner with an expert in digital marketing to learn more about navigating Twitter and other social media marketing platforms.