Automatic gear shift

Supply and demand for technological solutions are both on the rise - and necessarily so

For the global hedge fund industry, 2005 was something of a rollercoaster year.

Heavy losses in the Spring and a torrid October saw a return of some of the old reputational and performance spectres that haunted the industry in days gone by, made all the more frightening by the skeletons unearthed at a number of well-known, high-profile firms.

The resulting market jitters saw several institutional investors rethinking their allocation to the sector, while an array of smaller funds had to close