Our latest report shows that hedge funds are transforming their operations to meet rising investor demands – and getting ready for a dramatic shift towards digital asset classes.
In April 2021, we surveyed 100 senior-level professionals at hedge funds from around the world, to explore how they expect their roles to change in the coming years.
The results reveal a growing demand from investors for more frequent reporting updates, with 42% of respondents anticipating a need for daily or even live reporting. This has huge implications for the day-to-day running of hedge funds, and CFOs know they need to assess their options.
Technology could be the game-changer. More than half of respondents (57%) believe analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) have the most potential to streamline operations. Data aggregation (52%) and robotic process automation (48%) also topped the list.
At the same time, hedge funds expect a dramatic uptick in crypto investments. An overwhelming majority (98%) expect their hedge fund to invest in cryptocurrencies in the next five years, which means time is of the essence to strengthen their operational controls in this space.
It’s clear that change lies ahead, as hedge funds continue to evolve to meet investor demand. Outsourcing these solutions can alleviate the burden during this transformation; more than a third of respondents (38%) say they plan to outsource certain functions to specialist service providers, including the investment function (43%), investor relations (42%) and tax (40%).