https://www.scmp.com/rss/324805/feed David Ogilvie is a risk management consultant and freelance writer with over 14 years of experience working in financial crime compliance, anti-money laundering, due diligence, and investigations throughout the Asia-Pacific region. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com While the numbers have yet to be finalised, 2019 seems to have been a particularly bleak year for active fund managers, with estimates by Bank of America that fewer than a third were able to beat their benchmarks. Even clearer is that the longer the time frame, the more prone fund managers are to underperforming. In the last 15 years, for example, 92 per cent of large-cap funds were outperformed by the S&P 500. Investors have voted with their feet: in the year up to June 2019, money was pulled... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3046057/fund-managers-had-tough-year-beating-market-year-unlikely-be-easier?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3046057/fund-managers-had-tough-year-beating-market-year-unlikely-be-easier?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Jan 2020 14:00:20 +0000 A few months ago, for the first time ever, half of all investors in the United States decided to give up on professional stock pickers to safeguard their investments. In May this year, index funds, which passively track stock market indices, caught up with actively managed funds in terms of total assets under management. By August, actively managed funds had been surpassed. The active investment industry, where fund managers pick stocks rather than track an index, is facing mounting pressure as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3037419/financial-recession-may-be-fund-managers-last-chance-win-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3037419/financial-recession-may-be-fund-managers-last-chance-win-back?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Nov 2019 19:00:12 +0000 The books are closed and the results are in. With a 6.6 per cent decline, this has been the second-worst May for the S&P 500 since 1962. The Hong Kong stock market, meanwhile, has become the biggest victim of the US-China trade war among the major indexes, falling around 10 per cent over the same period. Somewhat ironically, this turnabout in the markets comes just after many of the major indexes booked their best April gains in about 10 years.  So much for the stock market “melt-up” forecasts... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3014023/time-and-again-stock-markets-reward-investors-unfazed-their-wild?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3014023/time-and-again-stock-markets-reward-investors-unfazed-their-wild?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2019 07:00:18 +0000 A few months ago, Taiwan became the first jurisdiction in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, joining a list of more than 20 countries worldwide over the past 16 years that now permit this. Where might be next in the region? Hong Kong looks like a reasonable assumption. There are, of course, many reasons why same-sex marriage legislation is or is not passed in a particular jurisdiction, but essentially it comes down to three issues. First, religious tolerance. There are only a small number of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2111794/can-hong-kong-follow-taiwans-lead-same-sex-marriage-and-live?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2111794/can-hong-kong-follow-taiwans-lead-same-sex-marriage-and-live?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Sep 2017 02:50:51 +0000 A shocking report in March by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed that up to US$80 billion may have been funnelled out of Russia from 2010 to 2014, via amenable banks in Latvia and Moldova. Involved were all corners of the Russian elite, from oligarchs to shadowy figures linked to the FSB, Russia’s main security agency. A silence has since fallen over this scandal which has enveloped some of Hong Kong’s largest financial institutions. But this should not minimise what... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2103075/how-russian-money-launderers-boosted-clean-drive-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2103075/how-russian-money-launderers-boosted-clean-drive-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jul 2017 06:18:56 +0000