All Features articles – Page 8
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FeaturesDiscerning investor sentiment: this year’s proxy season
Every annual general meeting (AGM) season has traditionally brought with it a few symbolic moments – events that serve as broader indicators of the market’s mood when it comes to environmental and social issues.
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FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch – June 2023
*Data as of 28 April 2023. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator: June 2023
Continued loud bickering between the Wagner Group and the Russian army is protecting Putin from both, worsening the outlook for peace, while there are multiple signs that military supplies are approaching exhaustion. The coalition supporting Ukraine is stronger than ever, showing increasing willingness to provide military aircraft. Yet the offensive expected in February has not started. In the US, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is damaging his position with an unproductive row with Disney, while Trump has moved closer to a prison term. Gas consumption in the EU is falling faster than expected, due to efficiencies like heat pumps, changeover to electricity and solar panels. Macron scored nicely by sponsoring the participation of Zelensky at the Hiroshima G7; Sunak failed to centre political attention on China.
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FeaturesAccounting: the road to global applicability for sustainability standards
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has long been a vanguard of sustainability-related financial disclosure standards. But the global applicability of the standards has remained a focal point for discussion. In response, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has launched a project called International Applicability of the SASB Standards to take on the challenge.
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FeaturesAhead of the curve: The rise of multi-manager models for alternative investing
Fifteen years after the ‘global financial crisis’, multi-manager strategies for alternative investing have not only shaken off their tarnished reputation but have evolved
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FeaturesBlackRock executive pegs inequality with new opportunity index
“Inequality is both a risk and an opportunity that should be measured,” says Gavin Lewis in a conversation about his book ‘The Opportunity Index: A solution-based framework to dismantle the racial wealth gap’. Growing up in a single parent household without a father in Tottenham, a predominantly black area of London with high poverty levels, Lewis is well qualified to have a view on inequality. But as a managing director at BlackRock, is he also an example of the exception that proves the rule?
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FeaturesResearch: ESG investing: not just a bull market luxury
The bear market of 2022 brought a halt to outperformance by ESG portfolios, leading Sebastian Schiele and Amin Rajan to consider whether this is a blip or turnaround
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FeaturesPrivate equity firms vie for scarce institutional capital
Private equity needs to prove its ability to adapt to a vastly changed investment landscape to remain an attractive asset class for limited partners (LPs) such as pension funds and insurance groups.
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FeaturesCareer development: Reaching to the next generation in pensions
Pensions can be seen as a dry industry, but an array of initiatives is seeking to support younger professionals
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FeaturesESG comes to money market funds
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has permeated every corner of the asset management universe, and money market funds (MMFs) are no exception. European funds are under much greater scrutiny than their US and UK peers thanks to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which came into effect two years ago. The result is that many MMFs are busy changing their classification to meet the higher standards.
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FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: Strong labour markets surprise
Global purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data, which measures the state of the US economy, has been mostly strong, although manufacturing indices have been considerably weaker than services, perhaps reflecting their greater sensitivity to higher interest rates.
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FeaturesAhead of the curve: What happened to equity volatility in 2022 and what next?
Something strange happened last year. Expectations about the future level of volatility in US equities – implied volatility – behaved in a very unusual way. In a falling market, the price of implied volatility normally rises because equity falls are associated with a worsening macroeconomic outlook, implying more market risk. Expectations of future volatility therefore increase.
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FeaturesIPE Quest Expectations Indicator May 2023
Russian air superiority over Ukraine is coming to an end due to lack of equipment. Destroying civilian targets is counterproductive and consumes ammunition. Bakhmut is eating into Russian resources, while Ukraine is being re-armed. History teaches that better technology, rather than numerical superiority, wins wars. But even a lopsided Ukrainian win would not automatically mean peace.
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FeaturesQontigo Riskwatch – May 2023
*Data as of 31 March 2023. Forecast risk estimate for each index measured by the respective US, World and Emerging Markets Qontigo model variants
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FeaturesGreenwashing: Teasing out the intentional from the accidental
Greenwashing is increasingly under the spotlight as investors and rulemakers try to figure out whether the chief concern is untruthfulness or the unintentional misleading of clients with environmental claims
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FeaturesAccounting: Connectivity between ISSB and IASB on accounting standards
If you think we all agreed on what connectivity is, you are probably wrong. At least that is what the International Accounting Standards Board’s vice-chair Linda Mezon-Hutter seemed to imply at a recent meeting of the IFRS Foundation’s Accounting Standards Advisory Forum (ASAF).
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FeaturesFixed income, rates & currency: Chill winds prompt caution
Although 2022 was a remarkably bad year for bonds and equities, any hopes that 2023 might illuminate a brighter path have already been dispelled as rapidly changing narratives – from recession to boom to fears of a banking crisis – all tossed and turned stock and rates markets. The result was a remarkably turbulent first quarter.
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FeaturesTackling the sustainability conundrum
With climate change and the loss of biodiversity seen as potential existential risks for humanity, it has become imperative to create and implement a sustainable form of capitalism
