Posts Tagged ‘Trillion’

JPMorgan ranked top of hedge fund list

JPMorgan was the richest hedge fund manager working in the industry at the close of 2009, a new report has shown.

Figures from Pensions & Investment revealed that the financial services provider managed a total of $53.5 billion of hedge fund assets.

By the end of 2009, JPMorgan Asset Management had $32.5 billion in assets while Highbridge Capital Management looked after $21 billion worth of funds.

The total was 18.9 per cent higher than the figure in its portfolio at the end of 2007, the survey revealed.

Bridgewate Associates was ranked second in the list with $43.6 billion while third placed Paulson & Co managed $32 billion.

Further findings from the study revealed that the total assets managed by the 11 companies quizzed stood at $316.2 billion, almost the same as the $316 billion in assets seen across portfolios at the end of 2007.

Alex Ehrlich, head of Morgan Stanley’s prime brokerage business, recently told the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit in New York that the number of hedge funds being launched is on the rise.

“We are seeing very, very strong hedge fund formation right now. The number of launches we are seeing are five times stronger than what we saw last year.”

Meanwhile, a survey by Hedge Fund Intelligence revealed that global assets for the industry reached $1.82 trillion during the second half of 2009.

Fed Generates $46.1 Billion Profit in 2009

The Federal Reserve had its biggest bottom line ever in 2009, generating record profits as its holdings of Treasury, mortgaged-backed securities and agency debt grew.

The Fed last year generated a net income of $52.1 billion, of which it paid $46.1 billion to the U.S. Treasury, the Fed said Tuesday.

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Japan launches $81bn economic stimulus package

The Japanese government has announced it is pumping $81 billion (7.2 trillion yen) to help boost the country’s flagging economic recovery.

Despite the Japanese economy reporting growth in the last two quarters, analysts believe it may be vulnerable to another downturn if the yen remains strong, making the country’s exports less competitive in foreign markets.

The stimulus package has been agreed upon by Japan’s coalition government, which is made up of three different parties.

But with the country’s public debt approaching 200 per cent of its gross domestic product, economists believe the money will not provide long-term security for the Japanese economy.

Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities, said: “This may help the economy somewhat.

“But it doesn’t even begin to address the more fundamental issues facing Japan, such as weaknesses in the global economy and deflation.”

Last month, Japan’s cabinet office warned that the country had returned to deflation for the first time since 2006.

Schwab reports $8.6B in new client assets in October; decline in trading volume

The Charles Schwab Corp. brought in $8.6 billion in net new assets last month, a 48% increase over September, according to a monthly market report the company released today.
The new assets for October register as Schwab’s second-highest monthly total for 2009 — it brought in $12.1 billion in January — according to the report.

Despite the strong month, however, the net new assets were offset by larger market losses: the company reported a $22 billion drop in assets due to appreciation.

That brought Schwab’s total client assets to $1.35 trillion at the end of October, a 1% decline from September, but a 16% increase from October 2008.

The brokerage company also reported 335,300 average daily client trades for October — a 33% drop from one year ago, and a 1% increase from September.

International Monetary Fund now estimates global bank losses at $3.4 trillion

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reduced its estimate of global bank losses by $600 billion – but warned the new figure of $3.4 trillion could rise further due to high unemployment rates across the world pushing up loan losses.

Rising security values combined with a new way of calculating losses are to thank for the improvement on the original $4 trillion deficit calculated in April.

But the IMF says that around another $1.5 trillion worth of loan writedowns will hit banks by the end of 2010.

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CME sees launch of CDS clearing in December

(Reuters) — CME Group expects to launch its clearing house for the $26 trillion credit default swap market in mid-December, as a deadline for dealers to offer clients access to clearing for the contracts comes due, CME chief executive Craig Donohue said on Wednesday.

The exchange has been testing its clearing house with seven or eight CDS dealers and around 10 buyside firms, to prepare for the launch, Donohue said in an interview with Reuters.

The group is “going through all of the different issues that we have to have them operationally ready to begin clearing trades with us by mid-December,” Donohue said. “We’re making a lot of progress.”

A group including 14 of the largest CDS dealers in June told regulators including the New York Federal Reserve that they would offer buyside market participants access to all viable clearing CDS solutions by December 15.

Central clearing, in which the exchange stands between the two counterparties on the contract and assumes the risk of the failure of a trading partner, is viewed as key to removing systemic risks posed by derivative contracts.

American International Group needed a government bailout in September of last year after it sold hundreds of billions of dollars of protection on risky assets using CDS, and did not have adequate capital to back up its commitments.

Credit default swaps are used to protect against a borrower defaulting on their debt or to speculate on their credit quality.

CME downplays reliance on OTC for growth

(Reuters) – CME Group Inc.’s overall growth is “absolutely not” dependent on its over-the-counter clearing venture, the head of the world’s biggest derivatives exchange operator said on Thursday.

Chicago-based CME has for nearly a year planned to clear OTC-traded credit default swaps.

OTC clearing is a “very compelling and significant growth opportunity for us, but I think it’s additive to the growth that I think we can achieve through these other things,” CEO Craig Donohue told investors.

He said there is a “global expanding pie in derivatives,” adding that markets in North America and Europe are fairly mature while those in emerging markets are relatively immature.

Kim Taylor, a CME managing director, added at the investor meeting that the company expects its European clearinghouse for CDS and other products to get British Financial Services Authority approval by about year’s end.

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Assets under management have dropped substantially worldwide

A study has found that wealth has dropped 11.7 percent to $92.4 trillion over the period of the financial crisis.

The study by a Boston consulting group found wealth would not return to 2007 levels for another six years.

The United States, was the hardest hit region, primarily due to the decline in US equity investments in 2008.

Also hit hard were off-shore wealth centres, where many companies and individuals had gone to avoid tax.

In Switzerland and the Caribbean, assets declined to $6.7 trillion in 2008 from $7.3 trillion in 2007.

Millionaires who made risky investments during the economic boom were especially hard hit, with the number of millionaires worldwide shrinking 17.8 percent to 9 million.

33% of household assets held in retirement accounts, ICI reports

The accounts held $13.4 trillion, with $2.3 trillion in 401(k) plans
Americans held $13.4 trillion in retirement assets at the end of the first quarter, accounting for 33% of all household assets in the United States, the Investment Company Institute reported today.

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Geithner presses Congress for rules on derivatives market

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is seeking laws for the $592 trillion derivatives market. Geithner is set to testify before a joint hearing of the House Agriculture and Financial Services committees to call for requiring all “standardized” contracts to be traded on exchanges or other regulated platforms. Disclosure rules also would apply to the derivatives contracts, Geithner said.


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