Foreign Exchange traders reported flat trading desk budgets over the past 12 months.

Almost 90% of firms responded that they had hired or expect to hire a new manager.

While the high level of e-trading is no shock to mortgage traders, the electronification of the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market has been overshadowed by changes in other cash and derivatives markets.

Public pension funds increased their equities holdings, especially wth passive domestic equities.

The combination of continued rapid growth of intra-Asian trade and rock-bottom pricing on trade finance is driving a boom in the use of trade finance among large corporates in Asia.

Institutional investors are split, with almost 50% now using an investment consultant or expecting to hire in the near future.

Looking at larger corporate pension funds with over ¥100 billion in assets, over 80% of funds use investment consultants, indicating the importance of consultant coverage by managers.

Many firms indicated that no further actions were needed over the next 12 months and were not as concerned about the need to reduce investment risk than they had been in 2012.

Real assets are playing an increasingly important role in the investment strategies of U.S. institutions as they look to diversify their portfolios and secure new sources of hard-to-achieve returns.

In this fast-changing environment, Barclays continues to lead the European fixed- income market with a market share of 11.9% of institutional trading volume.