Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Morning Line-Up: JP Morgan/Madoff, Axa unit fined, Britain’s NEST
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
JP Morgan Chase overlooked Madoff-alarm bells – WSJ
Morning Line-Up: Ikos divorce, Madoff clawback considered
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere:
Mexico pension funds eye $600 million private equity stakes - Reuters
Divorce tearing apart Ikos fund - New York Post
Knight Capital Group to buy Astor Asset Management - Hedge Funds Review
Madoff trustee could sue 1,000 investors - Reuters
TR European Growth ditches discount control mechanism - Fund Strategy
Looking ‘Bleak’ for Madoff investors
In Charles Dickens’ novel, Bleak House, a long-running dispute over a legacy only ends when the estate’s assets have been completely devoured to pay the army of lawyers involved in the litigation. Delighted, the lawyers move on to the next case, while one heir of the estate ends up a nervous wreck, his assets all gone.
Madoff investors may feel they are in a similar predicament, watching on helplessly as the scant assets so far recovered dwindle while liquidators and trustees wrangle over how to apportion them.
Madoff Junkies
One of the more striking aspects about the Madoff affair is the large number of people who appear to have been ‘hooked’ on Madoff products.
Money managers were drawn by Madoff’s air of mystique, his stellar reputation as a market timer, the apparently steady returns with rock bottom volatility and the absence of fees, which some collected from clients anyway.
Shadow of Madoff
It’s hard enough for fund firms to get investors to put money into markets when stocks are so volatile, but it seems they’re also still having to wrestle with the bad publicity from U.S. financier Bernard Madoff’s giant fraud.
Ashraf Mohamed, portfolio manager and head of Islamic funds at investment firm Stanlib in South Africa, told the London leg of the Reuters Islamic Banking and Finance Summit that investors are still nervous of another Madoff.
