Brian Bollen's Blog

Mint – Blain’s Morning Porridge

Westering home and a song on the air, light in the eye and it's goodbye to care..

Institutional investors boosting alternatives

Institutional investors are seeking to allocate more of their capital to alternative strategies in a quest for strong returns in the low-interest-rate environment, according to a new study from BNY Mellon.

The report, Split Decisions: Institutional investment in alternative assets, produced by BNY Mellon in association with FT Remark, found that among the various alternative asset classes, private equity is most favoured by institutional clients, accounting for 37% of their exposure, followed by infrastructure (25%), real estate (24%), and hedge funds (14%).

According to the study nearly two-thirds of investor respondents said that alternatives had delivered returns of at least 12% last year, while more than a quarter said the strategies had earned 15% or more.

BNP Paribas Securities Services launches locally in Peru

BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced the launch of local clearing and custody services in Peru, bringing the bank’s local custody proprietary network to 26 markets.

Kames: linkers on the radar

Kames Capital says its fixed income team is increasing its focus on index-linked bonds on its view that headline inflation rates will rise faster than the market expects.

State Street PE index shows modest rebound

State Street Corporation says its GX Private Equity IndexSM saw an overall return of 1.11 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

A glorious week in prospect

Mint – Blain’s Morning Porridge

A glorious week in prospect – June is bursting out all over. If you haven’t been getting the Porridge recently, we’ve been having some email problems which may have made “batch emails” sporadic. Apologies – and let me know.

To stay or not to stay

Mint – Blain’s Morning Porridge

To stay, or not to stay: that is the question.

Markit strengthens KY3P

Markit, a global provider of financial information services, has established a partnership with BitSight Technologies, the standard in Security Ratings, to enhance its Know Your Third Party (KY3P) platform.

Data feed not chicken feed

 

The financial services industry spends more than $1.2bn annually on consolidated market data feed products, according to a new report from Greenwich Associates.

Brazil recovery needs time and luck

Following yesterday's Brazilian GDP announcement Craig Botham, emerging markets economist at Schroders, comments that economic growth in Brazil should improve further if reform progress is made, although it is likely to plateau at a low level next year.

The nature of Monkey was irrepressible.

Mint – Blain’s Morning Porridge

A weighty investment-outlook-strategy tome entitled “Stable but not Secure” has thumped onto my desk.

When did Raheem Sterling become a midfielder?

Just thought I'd ask after hearing him listed as such in Radio Five Live's reading of the England Euro 2016 squad yesterday...

There seems to be something wrong with our ships

Mint – Blain’s Morning Porridge

Apologies for the somewhat random daily delivery of recent Porridges - I've been travelling, visiting strange interesting foreign places to meet clients, borrowers, bankers and lenders.