Brief : Carlyle Group Inc. and Warburg Pincus told employees they’ll require Covid-19 vaccinations to return to the office in September. Carlyle, a private-equity firm that oversees $260 billion of assets, and Warburg, with $60 billion, told U.S. employees of the policy in recent days, according to people familiar with the plans. They’re among the first financial-services companies to demand that employees get vaccinated in order to work in the office. A Carlyle spokeswoman confirmed the information, announced last week at a town hall meeting, and Warburg declined to comment. Warburg has told employees that accommodations can be made for those who don’t get the shots, said a person familiar with internal communications. Carlyle said at its town hall that getting the vaccine was not a condition for remaining employed. Employers may demand vaccines and request proof under federal law, according to guidance provided last week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Workers can ask for exceptions for religious or medical reasons. Most companies have opted to encourage rather than demand that staff get vaccines, offering to lift mask or testing requirements. About 20% of employers are mandating them in order to return to the office, according to a Morning Consult poll of 1,070 working adults conducted for Bloomberg News at the end of May.
Brief: The hedge fund and alternative investment sectors now have a vital role to play in boosting UK growth and innovation as the country recovers from the economic impact from Covid-19 and readjusts to life outside the EU, the Alternative Investment Management Association and Alternative Credit Council have said. AIMA, the global hedge fund industry trade body, and its private credit affiliate the ACC, have published a new policy paper setting out how, in practical terms, the industry can support the UK government’s goals in increasing economic growth, boosting productivity and levelling up across the UK. The policy objectives, which cover regulation, tax, pensions and real economy financing, are aimed at freeing up capital and creating new jobs, AIMA said. The industry trade group believes that maintaining the UK’s attractiveness for investment managers and their investors in a post-Brexit and Covid-19 landscape would support the UK’s economic prosperity.
Brief: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered an order granting the CFTC’s motion for default judgment against defendant James Frederick Walsh of Boca Raton, Florida. The order finds that Walsh failed to answer the CFTC’s complaint charging him with fraud and failure to register with the CFTC. Walsh’s fraudulent solicitations include falsely claiming to generate increased forex trading profits as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first enforcement action brought by the CFTC alleging misconduct tied directly to the COVID-19 pandemic. The order requires Walsh to pay a civil monetary penalty of $555,726 and permanently enjoins him from engaging in conduct that violates the Commodity Exchange Act, from registering with the CFTC, and from trading in any CFTC-regulated markets. The complaint alleged that from at least September 2019 to the July 2020, Walsh fraudulently solicited members of the public for the purported purpose of trading retail foreign currency (forex) on their behalves.
Brief: The Covid-19 pandemic brought digital health and wellness into the mainstream — and it’s made the retail health and wellness tech industry an increasingly attractive target for venture capitalists. Digitized health and wellness investment activity hit a peak in 2020, generating $7.3 billion in venture capital deal value across 449 deals, according to PitchBook. The industry started off the new year strong, as well: In the first quarter of 2021, industry deal value hit a quarterly record of $4.2 billion across 153 deals, PitchBook said in a first quarter report on emerging technology investments. PitchBook researchers attributed the strong 2020 dealmaking to the pandemic and the increased development and usage of telemedicine products. By 2025, the research firm expects the mobile and digital segment of the health and wellness tech market to reach between $350 billion and $400 billion, a meteoric projection from a less than $50 billion market size in 2019. “Virtual health companies benefited from the pandemic as rules hindering the use of telemedicine were repealed, payers increased telehealth coverage, and laws preventing ‘noncritical’ in-person appointments forced providers to conduct appointments remotely,” PitchBook said in the report.
Brief: Most advisers are positive about business prospects over the next 12 months with the majority (81%) predicting their level of net assets under management will increase over the coming year, according to a survey from Quilter Financial Planning. Almost two-thirds of those surveyed (62%) said they expected their gross turnover to increase during the next 12 months compared to the year just gone, and the research found 5% were fearful it would decrease "significantly". Advisers were also bullish on new client business with 63% predicting a rise in new fee-paying clients and a further quarter (23%) saying they expect client numbers to remain stable. In addition, advisers were fairly confident on the outlook for the British economy with a weighted average score of 7.0 out of 10, Quilter FP said, with those surveyed believing it would encourage clients to seek advice and make investments. Quilter FP managing director Gemma Harle said: "After a difficult year and a half the outlook is looking much brighter for the UK and the economy, so it's pleasing to see this now being reflected in advisers' predictions for the future. "Although the threat of variants still looms, the successful vaccine programme has revealed a future we had not dared to dream about just a few months ago."
Brief: As the global economy recovers from the pandemic, alternative asset managers are seeing strong growth across key metrics — including fundraising, assets, and fee-related earnings — with the trend expected to continue. According to Moody’s first quarter report on U.S. alternative asset managers, released this week, total fundraising for the four largest publicly traded managers — Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR — during the quarter rose to $67.3 billion, a 22 percent increase from the same time a year ago, while total assets under management climbed 36 percent over the same period. Of these, KKR had the strongest growth, more than doubling its capital raising to $14.6 billion, followed by Apollo, which saw a jump of 84 percent, raising $13.4 billion. It also added $73 billion in assets due to acquisitions by its insurance partners Athene and Athora. Net performance revenues increased by about 82 percent for the four firms, due to strong financial markets and improved economic conditions. A large part of the revenue growth is linked to the industry gravitating more toward a recurring fee structure, including partnerships with insurance companies, as opposed to realized performance fees, which are less predictable.