Blackrock

• Headquarters: New York, USA 
• Type of Investor: Hedge Fund 
• AUM in Cryto Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Crypto Assets: Blackrock has formed a group to study the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets. They are investigating if investment into those markets will be worth it for the company. So far, they still don't see their company offering cryptocurrency until they prove its legitimacy.
• AUM in Digital Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Digital Assets: Although Blackrock formed a team to conduct an investigation into cryptocurrencies, Blackrock's CEO said there is not enough demand from their clients to get digital assets.

Vanguard Asset Management

• Headquarters: London, UK 
• Type of Investor: Hedge Fund 
• AUM in Crypto Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Crypto Assets: Vanguard is open and eager to learn more about the blockchain technology. However, the company is still hesitant to enter the cryptocurrency world because they believe that "if something’s too good to be true, it probably is".
• AUM in Digital Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Digital Assets: Vanguard is already using a similar technology to blockchain but investing into cryptocurrency is still not a priority. Vanguard is still optimistic about the advancement in technology like bitcoins and its potential to grow to a formal digital business transaction system but the company is convinced that the opportunity still carries too many risks.

State Street Global Advisors

• Headquarters: Massachusetts, USA 
• Type of Investor: Hedge Fund 
• AUM in Crypto Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Crypto Assets: The company is still in the process of weighing the pros and the cons for investing into cryptocurrency. However, they also want to be the first to offer digital currencies, like bitcoin, because of the growing demand from their clients.
• AUM in digital Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Digital Assets: The company continues to innovate their services through various digital strategies. However, the market infrastructure, the lack of appropriate trading, and post-trading arrangements are some of the reasons that are stopping the company from investing in the digital currency market.

BNY Mellon Investment Management EMEA Limited

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom 
• Type of Investor: Hedge Fund 
• AUM in Crypto Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Crypto Assets: While BNY Mellon has been reported to invest in the cryptocurrency market, it is also still evaluating the potential of cryptocurrency to determine if future investments would be beneficial to the company. The company was one of the first companies that brought blockchain to the financial industry. BNY is also leading the creation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
• AUM on Digital Assets: $5.06M 

Capital Group

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, USA 
• Type of Investor: Hedge Fund 
• AUM in Crypto Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Crypto Assets: The Capital Group is still trying to establish the benefits that cryptocurrency would bring to their business. As such, they are not yet ready to invest into the development of a new cryptocurrency technology.
• AUM in Digital Assets: n/a 
• Notes on Digital Assets: Capital Group have reported that they were in the initial stages of their investigation into the potential of digital assets and the cryptocurrency market. Unfortunately, preliminary studies have shown that digital assets are progressing slowly because of the uncertainty created by the cryptocurrency market volatility, leaving an impression that the whole system is a fraud.

Research Strategy:

trends in luxembourg following regulatory changes

• Specialized investment funds (SIF) and Reserved Alternate Investment Funds (RAIF) are high in demand. Consequently, asset managers, financial institutions, and insurance companies foresee making significant changes in their business models to meet this demand.

additional information

• The European Securities and Markets Authority suggests that after regulatory changes, all UCIT funds should be automatically considered 'complex'. However, the Association of Investment Companies does not agree with the agency’s suggestion. If the agency’s recommendation is implemented, it could impact the retail distribution of investment trust and other closed-ended, listed investment company shares.
• Private fund limited partnerships (PLFPs), which play a crucial role in asset management regulatory changes, will allow new and existing U.K. limited partnerships to be classified as private fund partnerships.

• PLFPs also have a "white list" of changes that impact limited partnerships but maintain their limited liability, such as removing the need for limited partnerships to make capital contributions to the partnership, disapplication of certain statutory duties (like not competing with the partnership), and removal of other administrative requirements.
• The asset management industry remains at risk from the unabated raft of EU and UK regulatory changes and the continued decline in profit margins partly coming from the greater competition due to cheaper providers and the high cost of complying with the new regulatory amendments.

Research Strategy

• The regulation change started after the Great Financial Crisis from 2008 till 2009.
• Asset management companies in Europe are experiencing a decline in fees because of lower investment due to the regulation changes.
• Since the initial regulatory requirements for European asset management companies are a few, it's very profitable and experiences rapid growth.
• Based on a recently published article in Banking Hub, February 2019, in Europe, "asset management is considered highly attractive as the (regulatory) capital requirements are negligible."
• Currently, asset management is "one of the most profitable markets." This has a high operating margin of 37% while banking has only 34% and insurance has 4% margin. So, asset management has the highest profitability in the financial services industry.
• Each year in Europe, the asset management industry is growing rapidly at a rate of stable 14% over the past half decade. However, there is a continuous increase in pressure on the "industry’s enviable profit levels."
• Due to "weak investment performance and greater transparency" there is increased downward pressure on fees. Additionally, due to the "need to keep up with new regulations, the process of digital transformation and the increasing demands" of future clients, "upward pressure on costs" can be seen.

Research Strategy:

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

•  Increased regulatory changes are named as one of the main factors of financial growth in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's 2018 annual statement. The company quoted "recognizing the greater reach of regulators and giving clients access to our leading international expertise on complex regulatory work" as the second-largest factor that contributed to their 5% revenue growth in 2018.
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's partner Thomas Janssens spoke at Financial Times' conference called "The Impact of EU Regulation on US Tech" which was focusing on how to deliver more revenue to legal firms by helping US firms deal with the increased regulations in the EU.
• Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has a podcast titled "The Freshfields Podcast". In episode 10 of the podcast, the opportunities of increased EU regulations are discussed.

Allen & Overy

• In an announcement about their business in Germany in 2018, Allen and Overy stated: "A strong regulatory practice in Germany is essential in order to meet the increasing demands of our clients for advisory services in the field of financial regulation. This is an area where we see significant further growth potential for our firm as financial institutions and corporates continue to grapple with the numerous regulatory developments that impact their businesses."
• Allen and Overy published a study in 2017 that showed that their clients are facing increased regulatory challenges based on the scrutiny from European authorities. This is linked to the firm increasing their share of regulatory business.

Jones Day

• In July 2018, Jones Day announced another partner joining their German business. In the statement, the firm's representative is quoted: "We assume that this growth will continue long-term since both the number and depth of regulations as well as the intensity of scrutiny by the regulatory authorities will continue to increase. Therefore, numerous clients have repeatedly expressed their desire for Jones Day to strengthen and expand these practice areas."
• In 2017, Jones Day announced a significant increase in the firm's focus on regulatory changes in France due to "the growth of the financing needs from local businesses, combined with the increase of the European regulatory constraints over the French banks, leading the French authorities to relax the banking monopoly in order to facilitate access to the local business lending market in France for alternative funding providers."

Kirkland & Ellis

•  Financial Times reported that big US law firms such as Kirkland & Ellis are hiring big in the UK due to increased regulations that are happening as a result of the pending Brexit in Europe.
• In 2016, Kirkland & Ellis went on a hiring spree in both Europe and the US. The hires were focused on bringing in lawyers and partners that can focus on working with global firms, specifically in Europe. In the statement, the firm is quoted explaining the hires as strong assets due to their "experience handling the most complex and wide-ranging litigation, regulatory and corporate governance issues that will be a tremendous asset to our Firm and to our clients facing complicated litigation and increasing compliance and regulatory obligations."

Sidley Austin

• Sidley Austin's 2018 annual statement quotes increased regulatory challenges globally but specifically in Europe to be one of the main reason's of the firm's increased grossed revenue.