| Funny how it works that way ..... |
The Bank of England has pumped £375bn of money into the economy since the start of its QE programme in 2009. Much of the high-rolling industry bet that quantitative easing (QE) would boost global markets and those that stuck to the strategy made record profits.
Hedge fund expert Philippe Bonnefoy said: "The masters of equity and credit trading strategies have done their homework in 2012 and reaped benefits turbocharged by an ocean of government-sponsored liquidity."
The industry's success will sit uneasily with savers and pensioners who have been condemned to rock bottom interest rates and reduced annuity payments caused by QE-induced low gilt yields.
Saga, the pensioner lobby group, has claimed that QE has contributed to a 9% drop in real incomes among the over-50s since early 2008. And the Bank has conceded that the beneficiaries of QE have been the investor classes while those relying on income have suffered.
Last year saw a resurgence of some of the biggest and best-known hedge funds in the world, according to the latest figures collected by HSBC.