The Times – THE most authoritative academic study into the burgeoning hedge fund industry has advised individual investors to shun them or minimise their exposure.
A group of American economists studied the industry, which they say consists of more than 8,000 funds now holding $1 trillion (£583 billion) in investments. They found high fees, inconsistent data and hard-to-understand risks.
The industry badly needs standard measures of performance and risk to allow investors to compare funds’ actual track records and the degree of risk that they are taking on, they said.