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Consultant
USA
22+ years of experience
Specifically, he helps clients understand how they can gain a competitive edge by using EPFR data to expose market conditions with tools such as the “Bear Detector,” designed to predict bear markets two to three weeks before they arrive.
Additionally, Vikram built the quantitative capabilities of the EPFR research infrastructure, allowing him to revamp all its fund flow models. He demonstrates the efficacy of EPFR data in peer-reviewed journals, educates clients on new research, and uses client feedback to drive further research.
Previously, Vikram worked as a portfolio manager for LMCG Investments, LLC, managing over $1 billion in emerging markets assets as part of the quantitative equity investment management group. He also served on the buy-side quantitative team at Evergreen Investments.
Outside the office, Vikram, a native of India, spends time training his terrier mix, Koko, and playing bridge competitively.
“I build the tools that help people outperform the markets. We know our tools help people outperform the markets because we have the data to show it. With our fund flows and country allocations, we can isolate FX trends and understand what’s driving them. And with a clear view, we have predictive power.”
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 10 Jan 2023
In late February of 2022, Russian troops poured into Ukraine, initiating a conflict that continues to this day. As the Ukrainians fought back, a cycle of Western sanctions and cuts in Russia’s energy exports to Europe posed multiple questions for policymakers and financial markets.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 21 Sep 2022
Four months after the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the world, China imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 29 Jul 2022
For several years EPFR has, periodically, published an internally developed indicator to detect whether or not current conditions are consistent with previous bear markets.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 24 May 2022
MSCI developed the classification of country equity stock markets based not only on how advanced, economically, the country is, but also how easy it is for global investors to access its domestic stock market.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 20 Apr 2022
Balanced Funds, also known as hybrid or multi-asset funds, are a class of funds that contain both a debt and equity within a single portfolio.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 05 Apr 2022
I have always been at a loss to understand why the phrase “old wine in new bottles” is pejorative.
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 19 Oct 2021
In late October the mind – at least in the US – turns to brews, potions and mixtures as Halloween looms and faux witches cauldrons dot suburban lawns. Read more...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 16 Sep 2021
EPFR’s data can be filtered in dozens of ways, including sifting through lists of individual funds to create bespoke groups. A recent example is the selection of utility sector funds with water mandates into a custom group. As it happens, these funds are in focus and in demand. With water getting scarcer in many parts of the world, governments boosting budgets for “green” infrastructure and water’s key role in next generation industries – by some estimates the average semiconductor plant requires over 3 million gallons of clean water a day – investors see both need and opportunity. Read more...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 03 Aug 2021
In early June hundreds of Venetians gathered to protest the return of giant cruise ships to their famous city on Italy’s Adriatic coast. Waving flags and signs bearing the words “No Big Ships,” they reiterated their opposition to the passage of vessels often weighing over 100,000 tons through canals originally engineered for sailing ships and galleys. Read more...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 30 Jun 2021
Historically, it has been hard to extract signals from aggregated hedge fund data that can (a) be integrated into existing investment processes or (b) used as the foundation for a new process. A desire to protect proprietary information, and greater discretion compared to so-called 40 Act funds regarding how much and when to report, makes the flow of data from the hedge fund universe inconsistent and heterogeneous. Read more...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 01 Jun 2021
It’s amazing how much money one fund can gather when it hits a sweet spot. Last month, money poured into the Mexican ESG category, continuing a strong run that started in August last year, according to EPFR data. But all these flows were driven by just one exchange-traded fund (ETF) - iShares ESG MSCI Mexico...
Topic Industry News ESG
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 28 Apr 2021
The US Federal Reserve believes the recent gains made by inflation will be temporary, and that the headline rate will be at or around its 2% level going into 2022. Investors are not so sure. Since the beginning of 3Q20, EPFR-tracked Inflation Protected Bond Funds have recorded inflows 40 of the 43 weeks through mid-April of this year. US Bank Loan Funds, meanwhile, have taken in fresh money all but one week year-to-date. During 2020 this fund group, traditionally viewed as a way to play rising short-term interest rates, posted outflows 41 of the year’s 52 weeks. Since inflation has – at least officially – been largely absent for over a decade, many of the investment strategies for dealing with it, such as focusing on precious metals, real estate, or other tangible assets, have a fair amount of dust on them. In this blog, we will look at this issue from the industry level, aiming to identify those that will fare best of the inflation’s recent gains prove not to be transitory. Read more...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 28 Apr 2021
ESG funds soaked up inflows again in March, and the Swiss bond market was the biggest sponge. Swiss environmental, social and governance (ESG) bond funds attracted a whopping $1.3 billion new investments, 9.1% of its total assets under management. This took total Swiss-based ESG bond assets to over $15 billion, according to fund flow data from EPFR. Swiss ESG bonds have received positive inflows in each of the last 12 months except one. But this momentum accelerated in February, when the Swiss stock exchange (SIX) launched 20 new ESG bond indices, all based on the Swiss Bond Index. SIX also introduced a filter system allowing investors to search for green, sustainability or sustainability-linked bonds...
Topic Industry News ESG
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 14 Apr 2021
EPFR currently tracks over 133,400 shares classes offered by mutual, ETF, hedge funds and other vehicles that encompass over $46 trillion worth of assets. A small but rapidly growing part of this universe is occupied by Collective Investment Trusts, better known by the acronym CIT. Like ETFs and mutual funds, CITs are pooled investment vehicles. Unlike ETFs and mutual funds, CITs are not regulated by the SEC and not open to retail investors (though they can get access through qualified retirement plans). For providers, this lighter regulatory touch means that CITs are easier to open, have smaller compliance burdens and – often – charge lower fees. One of those providers describe CITs as “combining the cost savings of a separately managed institutional account with the convenience of a mutual fund.” Read more...
Topic Industry News
EPFR - fund flow & allocations data
By Vik Srimurthy 31 Mar 2021
The massive flows of money into environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments over 2020 continued into January and February, according to EPFR data. But, without better ESG reporting standards, this wave of money will fall short of the desired impact. Sustainable investing has long been hampered by patchy or confusing measurement and reporting, leaving the door open for some asset managers to make overly positive claims about the impact of their activities. As sustainable investing becomes more mainstream, investors will demand better, more standardized and comparable information. Asset managers, and those that guide and regulate them, will have to respond. But one major obstacle is the bewildering plethora of ESG standards and metrics that already exist. Turning these into a simple, cohesive set of standards could be like turning round a huge old tanker in a hurricane...
Topic Industry News ESG
