White Papers

Outsourcing as a Profitability Driver in the Asset Management Industry

The asset management industry has just passed through one of the most testing years in living memory. Investors and regulators are both likely to subject asset managers to much greater scrutiny than they have in the past. Managers cannot rely upon consistent price appreciation in asset markets as the key driver of profitability. It has become imperative for firms to simultaneously achieve improvements in their business models:

1. A cost-effective distribution model that can help grow AuM on a consistent basis

2. A state-of-the-art risk management platform and associated internal and external reporting

3. Active managers must do everything they can to sustain the majority of their funds in the upper two quartiles.....Download

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The Capital Market Depression of 2009: Radical Cost Cutting to the Fore

We set out to examine the outlook for our client base of asset managers, brokers and investment bankers in 2009-10. We conclude that the financial services industry is entering a depression in 2009. Market participants need to cut expenditure to match depressed 2009 revenue levels. Business recovery will likely be slow, so waiting out the downturn without rightsizing the business could prove to be very costly…… Download

Alpha in Turbulent Times

The unfolding financial crisis is generally accepted to be the worst market downturn except for the market crash that accompanied the Great Depression of the 1930s. Assuming that, armed with the lessons of history and the more effective policy tools and policy making institutions of today, we will avoid another depression, the turbulence we have witnessed to date has opened up several attractive entry points…..Download

Black September: 15 Emerging Trends in Capital Markets

US investment research and capital markets industries will become relatively more competitive, more cost-conscious and less dominant worldwide. Amba Research sees evolution, not revolution: the investment industry in five years time will still be recognizable to those of us in it today. Nevertheless, there are more changes ahead than any time in living memory……. Download

A Summer of Fat Tails

Not for the first time, quantitative, or rules-based, strategies have come under widespread scrutiny and debate over their future. The latest critical focus on quant funds follows the severe market dislocation and turbulence experienced across financial markets globally this past summer. The magnitude of the market volatility caught many participants by surprise, and now threatens to spoil the annual performance in a year that had started with so much promise….. Download

Investment Research Outsourcing for Asset Managers

Normal rules often break down in extreme circumstances. In science, many of the ordinary laws of physics go awry when scientists look at extremely small particles. Similarly, investment management firms, as well as consultants who are guiding the process, may need to modify their approach when evaluating outsourcing strategies for niche, high-end functions close to – or even within – the front office…… Download