A COMPARISON OF SOUTH AFRICAN HEDGE FUND RISK MEASURES

Although hedge funds have enjoyed unrivalled dominance after years of stellar returns, a combination of low interest rates, sustained economic growth and diminished arbitrage opportunities now threaten them. Distinguishing between funds – an onerous task with notoriously opaque investment strategies – has become paramount in the search for optimal returns. Simple risk and return performance measures cannot cope with the demands of an increasingly complex financial milieu. Interest has thus focused on more effective discriminatory performance measures. The innovative Omega ratio is calculated for South African hedge funds and compared with both Sharpe and Sortino ratios. Omega emerges as the superior measure.