Opalesque Exclusive: Hedge funds may have to increase technology budgets in order to meet investor-reporting demands

Alternative Market Briefing

Opalesque Exclusive: Hedge funds may have to increase technology budgets in order to meet investor-reporting demands

Thursday, October 01, 2009

From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York:

In January 2009 hedge funds were cutting technology budgets across the board, as costs were slashed to meet with the declining assets of the industry. According to Greenwich Associates research 22% was the expected budget decrease for technology departments.

But it looks as though many of these budgets will have to be reconsidered if firms want to secure the attention and allocations of investors who are demanding much more for their assets. For firms which have held on through 2009 whether by strong performance or by sheer will, January 2010 will likely see a different approach to technology offerings as managers hope to secure additional allocations from more demanding investors.

“We have seen a renewed interest from funds of hedge funds, which are receiving more reporting data from underlying managers and looking for more in depth ways to consolidate this data into reports,” Jayesh Punater, President & CEO of Gravitas Technology told Opalesque. “Just as hedge funds are growing more operationally robust, the remaining funds of hedge funds are also looking at growing their operating platforms.”

New York-based Gravitas will host its annual, invite-only Tech Trends event – which is made up of a hedge fund panel – on October 7th to take a closer look at the expected technology demands that hedge funds will have to meet in 2010. Transparency......................

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