Asset Management

Blockchain and other business disruption technologies have created a buzz in the last few years and have become an inevitable discussions topic in the financial circles. It will have game-changing impact on businesses, particularly on the banking and financial services. Consortium or Enterprise Blockchain is the latest technological evolution allowing us to build hybrid blockchains (public and private) using features such as permission restriction and multiple controlling authorities. These hybrid features allow easy yet controlled information sharing between various stakeholders. After getting acceptance in areas such as remittance & supply chain financing, blockchain is now making inroads into sub-sectors such as asset and wealth management. This article demystifies blockchain concepts and demonstrates an implementation for the mutual fund (MF) industry. MF industry is plagued by slow processing. For example, it takes days together to onboarding a new investor, transactions take a date to appear on statements while NAV computations takes hours to compute and show up for registrars to process transactions. We explore how smart contracts can help cut the transaction processing but will blockchain provide high speed and latency necessary? Can investor statements be accessed dynamically? Will distributed information sharing and decentralization system save costs and time for the stakeholders, particularly in client onboarding, NAV dissemination? How can blockchain help in KYC and other compliance related activities? Can mf scheme portfolios and factsheets get constructed automatically and available with real time updates? How can regulators and auditors have easy access to information as and when they want? Finally, we will examine some of the challenges or hurdles that come in way towards the implementation.

O gerenciamento de ativos desempenha um papel cada vez mais importante no cenário econômico das organizações uma vez que seu principal objetivo é extrair valor dos ativos e garantir a competitividade da organização. O setor de logística de uma empresa tem sua importância na gestão de informações relevantes ao processo de planejamento, execução e controle do fluxo e armazenagem de produtos. Assim, o gerenciamento de ativos dentro do setor logístico é de extrema importância para garantir a otimização do processo através do uso de ferramentas, técnicas, normas e tecnologias que garantirão o sucesso e melhoria contínua das atividades. Este artigo tem como objetivo realizar comparativos entre o setor logístico e de telecomunicações, dentre estes, as tecnologias utilizadas e as maiores diferenças existentes entre eles. Os resultados mostram que é evidente a necessidade das organizações caminharem, cada vez mais, para um cenário onde o gerenciamento de ativos aliado à utilização da tecnologia tenha um papel mais participativo nos resultados e objetivos estratégicos.

Asset management plays an increasingly important role in the economic scenario of organizations since its main objective is to extract value from assets and ensure the organization's competitiveness. The logistics sector of a company has its importance in the management of information relevant to the process of planning, execution and control of the flow and storage of products. Thus, asset management within the logistics sector is extremely important to ensure the optimization of the process through the use of tools, techniques, standards and technologies that will ensure the success and continuous improvement of activities. This article aims to make comparisons between the logistics and telecommunications sector, among them, the technologies used and the biggest differences between them. The results show that the need for organizations to move more and more towards a scenario where asset management combined with the use of technology has a more participatory role in the results and strategic objectives is evident.

Financial statements are the main source of information for stock market participants and financial ratios are the primary tool for their analysis. The main goal pursued by this research includes two major questions; First, whether it is possible to gain “unexpected returns” (in excess of expected return, determined by the Capital Asset Pricing Model) using seven financial parameters, for publicly traded companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. Second, as suggested by the research hypothesis, are artificial neural networks superior to ordinary least square regression in forecasting such returns? Based on research findings, artificial neural networks can outperform ordinary least squares models even when the regression model prediction capacity is enhanced by using principal components analysis, in terms of one-step-ahead forecasting of unexpected returns.

In the past ten to twenty years, governments in various countries have introduced or reinforced market principles in their housing systems. As a consequence, social landlords should have increased opportunities to adopt a more market-oriented approach towards the management of their housing stock. Nevertheless, in many countries governments still have a substantial influence on the social rented housing sector. In this paper we analyse the influence of statutory regulations on the man- agement of the social rented housing stock in four European countries and in Australia, in order to assess to what extent these regulations help or impede the development of a market-oriented asset management. We carry out this analysis in four areas: rent setting, sale of dwellings, allocation of dwellings to tenants, and maintenance and renewal. After an explanation of the term 'market- oriented' in relation to asset management, we describe government restrictions to social housing managem...

The senior management of some major companies have recently begun to appreciate the importance of facility site locations, building design and infrastructure, space layout and contractual obligations (and opportunities) to maximize cash flow (Bell, 1991; Manning, 1991; IDRC, 1992; Joroff, ...

Assets Management Companies (AMCs) strive to channel and pool savings and invest these in well diversified portfolios in an optimal way. The size of these portfolios is closely related to their Assets under Management (AUM). This study in particular examined the effects of fund sizes—mainly the induction of new funds and the increase in existing funds, managed by AMCs on their AUM for the mutual fund industry of Pakistan. Furthermore, we assessed that whether Fund Family growth has any effect on individual fund. We examined a total of 180 open ended Mutual funds, managed by 18 AMCs over the period of July-2009 to most recent July-2016. The main findings suggests that both existing and new fund size are having positive and significant impact on AUM and also the growth of fund is strongly associated with Family growth. It was further observed that those AMCs who introduced new funds during this period, were managing relatively large assets as compared to those who introduced small amount of new funds or did not inducted any new fund at all during the period under consideration.

Seventh PRRES Conference, Canterbury, 21-23 January 2002 Measuring Corporate Real Estate Asset Management Performance John McDonagh, Senior Lecturer Property Group, Lincoln University, Canterbury. Key Words corporate, real estate, asset management, property, ...

The purpose of this study was to apply new methods of econometric models to the Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA) of physical assets, by integrating investments such as maintenance, technology,
sustainability, and technological upgrades, and to propose a means to evaluate the Life Cycle
Investment (LCI), with emphasis on sustainability. Sustainability is a recurrent theme of existing
studies and will be a concern in coming decades. As a result, equipment with a smaller environmental
footprint is being continually developed. This paper presents a method to evaluate asset depreciation
with an emphasis on the maintenance investment, technology depreciation, sustainability depreciation,
and technological upgrade investment. To demonstrate the value added of the proposed
model, it was compared with existing models that do not take the previously mentioned aspects into
consideration. The econometric model is consistent with asset life cycle plans as part of the Strategic
Asset Management Plan of the Asset Management System. It is clearly demonstrated that the proposed
approach is new and the results are conclusive, as demonstrated by the presented models and
their results. This research aims to introduce new methods that integrate the factors of technology
upgrades and sustainability for the evaluation of assets’ LCA and replacement time. Despite the
increase in investment in technology upgrades and sustainability, the results of the Integrated Life
Cycle Assessment First Method (ILCAM1), which represents an improved approach for the analyzed
data, show that the asset life is extended, thus increasing sustainability and promoting the circular
economy. By comparison, the Integrated Life Cycle Investment Assessment Method (ILCIAM) shows
improved results due to the investment in technology upgrades and sustainability. Therefore, this
study presents an integrated approach that may offer a valid tool for decision makers.

Although property markets represent a large proportion of total wealth in developed countries, the real-estate derivatives markets are still lagging behind in volume of trading and liquidity. Over the last few years there has been increased activity in developing derivative instruments that can be utilised by asset managers. In this paper, we discuss the problems encountered when using property derivatives for managing European real-estate risk. We also consider a special class of structured interest rate swaps that have embedded real-estate risk and propose a more efficient way to tailor these swaps.

Every year since 1991, the Central Government of India has been successfully disinvesting its PSEs from various sectors. The recent announcement to strategically disinvest some of the better performing PSEs like Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd., Air India and so on is indeed shocking. This seriously questions the intension of the government towards the declared objectives of the disinvestment strategy in 1991. There are severe apprehensions on selling-off the PSEs at a lower price and the utilization of disinvestment proceeds for filling the revenue deficits of the Central Government. This paper discusses the idea of disinvestment in India and the debates associated with it. The paper also critically analyses the disinvestment proceeds in India as a tool to tackle mounting fiscal deficits after the initiation of the New Economic Policies in 1991.

The provision of investment services (and the correlated ancillary services) and collective investment services forms part of the main functions carried out by the securities industry. From an industrial point of view, all the activities defining the securities industry represent subsequent stages of the production process of the industry. The financial exchange sensu stricto uses the orders originating from the investment decisions produced in the asset allocation stages as input for the production process and, in turn, is divided into the order capture, order execution and order processing stages. The presence of banking intermediaries characterizes all the stages of the production process of the securities industry. This, of course, has implications in terms of profitability of the banking groups and affects their competitive strategies.

This article reports the results of a survey of executives of companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange regarding their companies’ capital budgeting practices and the major factors influencing their practices. The results show that the majority of responding companies use formal techniques to evaluate proposed capital investments. Of these companies, the majority use a discounted cash flow technique as the primary measure for evaluating capital investment proposals. Sensitivity analysis and Decision tree analysis are the most commonly-used risk assessment techniques. Accounting return on equity and the CAPM are most popular used techniques in Calculating the Cost of Equity in Iran. The most important objectives in capital budgeting are increase future cash flow and Growth in market shares followed by growth in long term earnings.The results also show that chief financial officer educational background and size of annual capital investment (increase in Net Fixed Assets) influence capital budgeting analysis technique usage.

Railways are becoming the main transportation mode in Thailand. Thus, maintaining the optimal service level to passengers is one of the significant issues that need to be addressed. This makes the way to manage railway assets extremely important, especially with the essential assets on a railway network such as switches and crossings (S&C). This study presents how the risk of switch and crossing failures could be assessed and managed. The process of the risk management is based on ISO 31000, and the method used to analyse the risk is the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA). In detail, the switches and crossings on the Airport Rail Link city line (ARL), Thailand, are considered as a case study. The interview data from six experts, engineers and technicians who are responsible for the maintenance of S&C were used to determine the risk of each S&C component. The results show that the point machines, check and wing rails are the most critical components of S&C in the case study, and the least critical components are heel blocks, slide chairs and closure rails. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the current S&C maintenance program of the ARL may need to be improved. The priority of the inspection and maintenance activities of each S&C component could be adjusted according to the risk evaluation results presented in this study.

To understand the performance implications of corporate strategies as conditioned by business group affiliations, we analyze the relation between corporate diversification and performance for 889 Indian firms. We find that diversified firms perform significantly worse than focused firms and that there exists a significant negative relation between the degree of diversification and firm performance. A comparative analysis of firms affiliated with Indian business groups and those affiliated with MNCs indicates that the sources of negative impact of diversification on performance are conditioned by the nature of a firm's affiliation. For multinational affiliates, diversification is associated with poor asset quality and asset management, which is an indicator of possible agency conflict. For domestic business group affiliates, diversification is associated with cost inefficiencies and poor performance.

This paper discusses the concept of a virtual digital forensic laboratory, which incorporates networked examination and storage machines, secure communications, multi-factor authentication, role-based access control, and case management and digital asset management systems. Laboratory activities such as the examination, storage and presentation of digital evidence can be geographically distributed and accessed over a network by users with the appropriate credentials. The advantages of such a facility include reduced costs through shared resources and the availability of advanced expertise for specialized cases.

Nowadays construction projects are more and more delivered by Building Information Models instead of traditional 2D drawings. This allows for information rich projects but this information is, in many cases, accessible only for those who are able to use a BIM authoring software. In the current market, both the top levels (CEO and executives) and the low levels (on site and off site operators) of an asset or a facility management company are not able to use a BIM authoring tool, thus to use the valuable information stored in the model. Moreover, BIM models that work fine for the design stage will be of no use during the operational stage if not correctly created. A research has been carried on to cope with these problems and the preliminary results are shown in this paper. Asset managers’ work procedures and needs have been analyzed to identify what information is needed and when in the operational stage and then an IFC compliant standard has been adopted to store data. Once useful d...

Metro systems play a crucial role in the movement of millions of passengers worldwide as commuters rely on a fast, reliable, and convenient underground railway for their daily transportation. However, in many cases, the quality of the service that can be delivered, including performance, attractiveness, and customer satisfaction, are constrained by poorly maintained infrastructure. Meanwhile, effective planning to maintain, rehabilitate, replace and expand existing systems must respect technical, social, political, financial, and management constraints. There is a lack of a comprehensive framework for managing metro assets. This is mainly due to the multiplicity of components; the complexity of their interdependencies; common lack of historical data and performance indicators; and unavailability of a unified framework that integrates forecasts of future demand with decision-making systems. The main objective of this research is to review available studies and models for underground rail systems, identify the main strategic-operational planning gaps, and propose critical tasks for a comprehensive asset management framework. The platform developed in this research is suitable for further studies in urban railways such as Rail Rapid Transit (underground and surface), Light Rail Transit, and suburban trains as well as other modes of transport (e.g. traditional buses, Bus-Rapid-Transit).

This paper presents a framework for assessing the impact of the data collection process on the validity of key measures in reliability. The quality of data is affected by many organisational and behavioural factors. The aims of developing this framework are to (1) identify inputs/steps that have the most significant impact on the quality of key performance indicators such as MTTF (mean time to failure) and MTTR (mean time to repair), (2) identify ‘weak’ links in the data collection process, and (3) identify potential remedial actions. Development of this framework will assist the understanding of assumptions used in reliability calculations and improve the quality of underlying data and the data collection process. Consequently, this is a vital step in the continued development and use of data based decision-making models for reliability assessment.

Purpose – Despite the flourishing literature on intellectual capital, few studies explored its features in the perspective of family firms, and even fewer focused on small family firms (SFFs). This multiple case study analyses how managers and senior employees in SFFs perceive the benefits and costs of intellectual capital assets (ICAs) and provides many insights for future researches. Design/methodology/approach – Taking the lead from the constructivist epistemology, this instrumental study describes the implementation of a framework for the assessment of ICAs into four SFFs in order to develop general theoretical principles. Findings – Among the findings, it stands out that most SFFs in the sample especially rely on their internal processes and on their human resources' knowledge and competences. Furthermore, we found much internal disagreement with respect to the expected costs of investing on ICAs, especially within firms operating in more turbulent markets. Research limitations/implications – Being referred to a multiple case study, the results may not be generalized to other organizations. Nevertheless, they are useful to build theory, either by verification of falsification, and to encourage their future testing in empirical papers. Practical implications – The implementation of the framework allows identifying internal disagreement with respect to the ICAs' costs and benefits and exploring their causes. Furthermore, it suggests which should be the ICAs deserving primary attention in order to have the best impact on value creation. Originality/value – The paper investigates intellectual capital in SFFs, thus contributing to fill a remarkable gap in intellectual capital literature.

La mia attività di stage presso l’azienda Siram ha riguardato il mantenimento e lo sviluppo dei siti intranet e internet che vengono quotidianamente utilizzati come strumenti di marketing interno, verso i dipendenti Siram, ed esterno, verso gli stakeholder. Negli ultimi decenni le reti internet ed intranet sono diventate sempre più importanti, non solo come mezzo di comunicazione ed informazione tra l’azienda ed i potenziali acquirenti, ma anche tra coloro che lavorano all’interno dell’Azienda. Siram tratta settori e fornisce servizi rivolti al mercato BtoB. Diventa quindi necessario (per quanto riguarda il sito internet) fornire degli approfondimenti sui temi appartenenti al core business dell’azienda (di cui si parlerà nel capitolo 2), e un glossario di tutte le parole chiave, sia per fornire informazioni a chi si approccia per la prima volta a questo ambiente, (che egli sia un potenziale acquirente o anche un potenziale candidato a lavorare con l’Azienda), sia per come comunicare le linee di pensiero dell’Azienda sui temi energia e FM. Serviva quindi all’Azienda una persona in grado, date le conoscenze acquisite tramite la formazione di architetto al Politecnico di Milano, di integrare e approfondire questi temi al fine di aggiornare continuativamente i siti intranet e internet. Nel mio lavoro di ricerca sulle tematiche sulle quali avrei dovuto scrivere del materiale per la pubblicazione online, ho avuto modo di consultare documentazione interna all’azienda, riviste di settore italiane e straniere, le newsletter interne all’azienda e delle aziende partner.

This study analyses, evaluates and compares the performance of 19 equity mutual funds in Ghana and Nigeria, during a five-year period from 2013 to 2017. The performance was analysed using Sharpe’s Ratio, Treynor’s Ratio and Jensen’s Alpha. The findings indicated that Nigeria’s stock market had an unusual and an inversely insignificant relationship with the performance of their Equity Mutual Fund market, although generally, all the markets outperformed their stock markets with relative sensitivity to the stock market’s volatility. The study also shows that interest rate in Nigeria has a significant positive impact on the performance of the market, unlike Ghana’s market. This is as a result of the extremely volatile market of Nigeria, thus, fund managers, peg returns at the Treasury bill rate, in order to hedge against the risk of the fund value depreciating. Based on these findings, policymakers of both countries should include MFs in the economic development framework by ensuring the stabilization of the interest rate through proper fiscal policy implementation, development of the capital market and encouraging the investment of MFs through extensive sensitization, in order to boost the performance of equity mutual funds. Further study into the style, structure and selection of the assets in the portfolio of the funds is also recommended to better understand the overall performance and the allocation of assets by fund managers.

How do you ensure spare parts and standby equipment are in a service ready condition? Just-In-Time is a tempting spares holding methodology but only if your supplier can meet your spares holding and response times and your local infrastructure is capable of supporting those aspirations. There are many instances where this is not possible, particularly in the developing world, or where legislation or insurance underwriters require spares or standby equipment to be held. Here we discuss the types of failures seen in stored parts and equipment when put into service and propose countermeasures to prevent these. We will also discuss the types of failure seen in standby equipment when put into service and propose countermeasures to prevent these. This will also serve as a reminder as we have known of these failure mechanisms for nearly 90 years, yet they still occur.