The global hedge fund industry continues to grow in terms of the number of funds and total assets under management (AuM), according to new data from IOSCO’s fifth market survey.
The latest International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) biennial survey provides an overview of the hedge fund industry based on data as of 30 September 2018.
For the latest report, the number of qualifying hedge funds captured increased by 8.5 percent to 2,139 making it the most comprehensive survey IOSCO has conducted since it began monitoring hedge funds in 2010.
IOSCO said this is largely due to better reporting from funds to national regulators.
In the two years since the previous survey, the value of AuM it captures has increased 19.5 percent to $3.85 trillion, which is another consequence of the greater number of funds involved, IOSCO said.
For the first time, the survey includes data on the domicile of respondents and a breakdown of prefered strategies.
The vast majority of hedge funds captured in the survey are domiciled primarily in the Cayman Islands (49 percent) and the US (30 percent).
In contrast, European jurisdictions represent just a fraction of qualifying hedge funds, with only Ireland and Luxembourg registering a notable number of the demographic in the region with 6 percent of hedge funds each.
These results are largely unchanged from the previous IOSCO surveys.
IOSCO noted that the strategies most employed by hedge funds globally are multi-strategy funds and equity long/short funds.
The exposures of hedge funds confirm this result, with equities exposures (both cash securities and derivatives) being the largest positions held.
Meanwhile, leverage, as measured on a gross notional basis, stands at 7.8 times net asset value, the data showed.
The full report can be viewed here.
