Matt Levine points out how politics works US style.\u00a0 Particularly in New York, the traditional home of US finance:<\/p>\n
Remember how New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was shocked to find out that New York’s pension funds pay investment management fees to “Wall Street”? Which includes paying a few basis points to traditional stock and bond managers, and one or two hundred basis points to “alternatives” (private equity, real estate, etc.) managers?<\/p>\n
Stringer was pushing Albany lawmakers to pass a bill that would have allowed an additional 10 percent of the city’s $160 billion pension system — or $16 billion — to be invested in alternatives. Assuming the industry standard 2 percent management fee on such investments, that shift could have generated more than $300 million in new Wall Street fees every year.<\/p>\n
Stringer championed the bill following a 2013 election campaign that saw him benefit from an influx of campaign contributions from financial executives after former Wall Street prosecutor (and former governor) Eliot Spitzer jumped into the race for comptroller. During the campaign, Stringer declared that he wanted the city to consider moving more pension money out of low-risk bonds and into Wall Street firms. Upon taking office in 2014, he argued that the existing law prohibiting more than a quarter of the city’s pension fund from being invested in alternatives was too restrictive.<\/p>\n
Matt Levine points out how politics works US style.\u00a0 Particularly in New York, the traditional home of US finance: Remember how New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer was shocked to find out that New York’s pension funds pay investment management … Continue reading ![\"Wall](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wall-Street-Fees.jpg\")
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