Global investors at risk from low quality assets, warns IIF

Tokyo

LAST October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned investors in unusually blunt terms against pouring money into global stock and bond markets under the "illusion of liquidity", and that financial markets could be headed for a bust. Now, another major financial institution has added its voice to the warnings.

Investors are confronted with a fundamental "asset-liability mismatch", owing to low interest rates and a shortage of high quality assets, according to the Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF) which speaks on behalf of some of the world's biggest banks and other financial institutions. "Risks could accumulate and render the (global) financial system more fragile as long players become more exposed to a severe market downturn," the IIF said in its latest Capital Markets Monitor published at the end of last week.