Two staff gain academic promotions

Two of the ICMA Centres top performing MSc students were awarded with the Eurekahedge prize. First place was awarded to Vladimir Zdorovenin, MSc International Securities and Investment Banking, with Duncan Green, studying on the MSc Investment Management programme as the runner-up.

Fidelity, the asset manager with $2.4 trillion assets under management, recently announced the launch of two index mutual funds with a 0% fee! This announcement is interesting for several reasons. First, the asset management industry has been involved in an intense price war and this new fee level of 0% represents a very tough benchmark for the competition to beat. Not surprisingly, the share price of rival asset managers fell by a few percentage points shortly after the announcement. Second, the new fee level is unusual as it indicates that, for the first time, investors could get exposure to both US and international equities without incurring any fee. This is a curious business decision. How will Fidelity manage to pay for all its expenses? Will this product be a loss-making venture? Is there more to it than meets the eyes?

China’s prestigious Tsinghua University is offering 3x scholarships for ICMA Centre students to visit and study in China for two weeks as part of the university’s ‘Financial Leaders of Tomorrow’ 2017 Summer Program.