REUTERS SUMMIT-Man Group says bitcoin futures would draw it toward cryptocurrencies

* For other news from Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit:

* http://www.reuters.com/summit/Investment18

* Investors may be missing individual credit opportunities

* MiFID II to increase companies trading at incorrect valuations

By Maiya Keidan and Simon Jessop

LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - British hedge fund firm Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) will add cryptocurrencies to its investment universe if the Chicago Mercantile Exchange launches a bitcoin futures contract as planned, CEO Luke Ellis told Reuters on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit in London, Ellis said there are a number of challenges with cryptocurrencies but that doesn't mean they're not investable.

"Conceptually digital currencies are an interesting thing," he said. "It’s not part of our investment universe today – it could be. If there is a CME future on bitcoin, it would be."

Futures market operator CME Group (Kuala Lumpur: 7018.KL - news) announced on Oct (Shenzhen: 000069.SZ - news) . 31 it would launch bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter.

"There is a big difference between a digital currency and a traditional currency...Traditional ones are supported by governments who have armies and tax men that can make people follow their rules, and digital ones don't," said Ellis. "But that doesn’t invalidate digital currencies at all."

Turning to emerging markets debt, Ellis said there appeared to be a mispricing across the sovereign credits, where investors were overly focused on broad indices.

"You’ve got a few countries where there is a real problem about getting paid your money back - like Venezuela and Lebanon. There are high yields but not if you're not going to get your money back, and (then) there's a whole bunch of countries that trade with sort of no premium," he said.

Extreme pricing was best highlighted during the summer when Russian government debt yields were trading below U.S. Treasuries, he added.

On other potential market mispricings, Ellis said upcoming European financial markets regulation, called MiFID II, will increase the number of companies trading at "significantly incorrect" valuations.

"Is transparency about what's going on in small and mid-cap stocks going to get materially worse? Yes. Is it going to create some what are inherently false markets which will hurt some inexperienced investors? Yes."

He said big stocks have far too many people covering them, a lot of whom don't add value, while small stocks don't have many analysts covering them, leading to a worse situation overall.

Other views:

* Stability of Eurozone was underestimated 12 months ago and is probably overestimated today

* At some point, government regulators are going to take a "real run" at Google and Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB - news) for buying up competitors

* Gilts to continue to be supported by British pensions and insurers who are forced to buy them in size

* Weaker governments create a lot of political noise but are arguably very good from an economic growth point of view

* Lower fees do not always lead to better outcomes for investors (Reporting by Maiya Keidan and Simon Jessop; editing by Mark Heinrich)