Statistical Model Selection with `Big Data' by Sir David Hendry

The ICMA Centre at Henley Business school is pleased to announce that it will be host to the 2013 European Financial Management Association (EFMA) annual meeting from 26 – 29 June 2013.

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?

Jack's work was based on the impact of corporate ESG commitments.