Published on Hedgeweek (http://www.hedgeweek.com)
Thu, 10/09/2015
Convergence has released the Q2 update of the State of the Union of the Alternative Asset Management Industry. The report focuses on business trends among alternative asset managers, related assessments of changes in operating complexity and risk, and changes in operating productivity.
The data is sourced from SEC filings and enriched to provide a unique view into the infrastructure of over 15,000 RIA’s. There were over 5,600 individual Advisor filings in Q2 2015.
According to the report:
- Advisor complexity increased given the 31 factors tracked
- The Complexity Index increased 7 per cent driven by a variety of factors
- Industry growth – the manager universe advising alternatives grew 23 per cent
- Total headcount surpassed 75k, or a 5.7 per cent increase from Q2 2014 – with the biggest increase being in non-investment professional headcount
- The Regulatory environment continues to grow and intensify with the number of Regulators by Advisor growing 23 per cent
- Administration consolidation continues at both ends of the market
- Operating productivity declined modestly at Advisors suggesting a greater usage of technology and outsourcing.
“The key to our data set is the completeness and structure as well as the independent sourcing and the time series element,” says John Phinney, Co-President of Convergence. “Convergence will continue to monitor this ever changing industry providing empirical data, fuelled research, and observations,” adds George Evans (pictured), Co-President of Convergence.
Convergence’s State of the Union report and insight allows managers and advisors to put increased focus on defining their current operating metrics, establish clear operations-related objectives, and see a clearer path to a company’s growth plans.
