Perhaps the assumption that markets are still anchored by predictable economic policies needs to be challenged. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, political volatility – once background noise – is potentially reshaping investment risk at a structural level.
Despite authorities taking their foot off the environmental, social and governance pedal and recent volatility in equities and bonds, the benefits of Artificial Intelligence and improved investor transparency are just beginning.
A big week for ‘Gal’
Michael (‘Gal’) Gallagher produced a record-breaking AIMA Australia Forum last week – the annual conference for the hedge fund industry – and backed it up with a more personal victory, winning the ‘Contribution to the Australian Hedge Fund Industry Award’ the following evening.
Accepting the award, Gallagher, who is the general manager and a director of AIMA Australia, as well as deputy chairman of the charitable organisation which organises the awards, Hedge Funds Rock, seemed unusually lost for words. He had no knowledge of it before hand and was very surprised to belatedly discover that his wife Carmen, who had never been to one of these annual events before, was already there.
Kim Ivey, one of the organisers, said that they had secretly liaised with Carmen for her to not only attend but to present the award. “We had sequestered her down the back of the room out of sight until she was announced as presenter of the award.” Ivey said.
But the award was for doing much more than delivering the biggest hedge fund conference ever. It was in recognition of the work done in the professional development of smart university students to encourage them to enter that part of the investment industry. At AIMA he was behind the innovative decision to set up a program whereby university students could get involved with the hedge fund industry, actually running a fund of their own too. And he was behind the decision to set up a more formal structure around the industry’s charitable activities, the establishment of the Alternative Future Foundation, of which he is a trustee.
Accepting the award, Gallagher said: “AIMA is possibly the worst-paying job I’ve ever had. But it’s the most fun. It’s a privilege to work for the organisation and our members every day. AIMA is a global organisation, but you know I bet for you [the mainly Australian audience] every time.”
The AIMA Australia Forum last week had more than 450 attendees, many of whom had travelled from overseas, to be part of what is known as ‘Hedge Fund Week’. AIMA Australia and Hedge Funds Rock overlap considerably. Kim Ivey, for instance, who chairs the charitable organisation and the awards, is also one of the founders of AIMA Australia and a hedge fund manager himself.
See separate reports this edition on both the AIMA Australia Forum and the awards winners.
– G.B.
