Do you know? Employees Provident Fund (EPF)EPF’s 2025 performance outpaced 2024, driven by a volatile, equity-led return environment despite softer domestic market conditions. Total investment income rose 6.4% to RM79.2 billion (from RM74.5 billion in 2024), while distributable income climbed 9.5% to RM82.7 billion. Backed by portfolio returns and RM66.5 billion in net contributions, total…
Do you know? Hedge fundsBy end-2025, gross leverage in the hedge fund book reached record levels—driven largely by multi-strategy platform growth—while net leverage neared three-year highs. To manage this exposure under tight drawdown constraints, firms are embedding AI and machine learning into signal generation, dynamic risk controls, and automated execution. This makes 2026 pivotal for…
Do you know? Hedge fundsHedge funds typically charge a “2 and 20” style fee (management fee plus performance fee) and operate with limited regulatory disclosure compared to mutual funds. This opacity can hide concentration, leverage or liquidity mismatches. Historically, a large share of hedge fund failures stemmed from operational risk (fraud, controls and valuation issues)…
Digital assets promise freedom from governments and financial institutions. But they do not eliminate trust. They simply move it into places many investors do not understand. For many people, the appeal of digital assets begins with distrust. Distrust of governments that can change rules, impose restrictions, or misuse public money. Distrust of banks that charge…
Do you know? Hedge fundsHedge funds span multiple distinct strategy types, each with its own return drivers and risk profile: long / short equity for stock-picking with hedging; event-driven for M&A, restructurings and distressed debt; global macro for bets on interest rates, currencies and commodities; relative value / arbitrage for exploiting pricing mismatches; and multi-strategy…
In 2016, fintech looked like a payments problem. Ten years later, AI has challenged what I thought made investment banking uniquely human. In 2016, I worked in the investment-banking division of a Malaysian branch of a Singaporean bank. One morning, during our regular meeting, my boss asked a question that felt important at the time:…
Do you know? Hedge fundsThe hedge fund industry has expanded dramatically: over the last decade, gross assets roughly doubled to about USD12.1 trillion by end-2024, with net assets up to USD5.3 trillion. Performance has been strong recently—2025 marked the second consecutive year of double-digit returns (around +11.8% on average), and allocator sentiment is at record…
Do you know? Hedge fundsHedge funds are defined more by their flexible toolkit than by what they hold. They can go long and short, use leverage, trade derivatives, and arbitrage pricing dislocations across virtually any asset class—equities, credit, FX, commodities, even crypto. This flexibility lets them pursue “absolute return” objectives (positive returns in up or…
Sending employees home does not simply relocate the office. It changes the system through which work gets done. In 2020, organisations around the world made a remarkably large operational decision in a remarkably short time. Employees were told not to come to the office. They were given laptops, access to company systems, video-conferencing software, and—where…
Do you know? Venture capital in MalaysiaThe structural governance and long-term financial sustainability of the market are defined by its regulatory bodies and available exit pathways. The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) strictly regulates the ecosystem, ensuring market integrity by registering fund managers under specialised, business-friendly legal frameworks rather than rigid retail fund rules. For investors…