Why Transfer Pricing Matters in Asset Management
1 January 2009
By Dr. Emmanuel Llinares et al.
The asset management industry has been experiencing a rough period due to recent turmoil in the financial markets. The press has reported a number of failures for hedge funds, with around 10 percent already liquidated. In fact, because the vast majority of the remunerations of asset managers are stipulated as a percentage of assets under management, to which a performance fee may be added, a very large number of asset managers have seen their remuneration decline significantly over recent months. This article from International Tax Review Intellectual Property provides an overview of intangible assets in the asset management industry. The authors examine three categories of intellectual property -- investment processes and related know-how, proprietary IT systems, and marketing intangibles -- and describe the key transfer pricing issues associated with each. Although identifying the nature of the IP can be difficult, IP (and intangible assets) can go a long way toward assisting asset management firms in the current dismal market environment.
