All articles by Joseph Mariathasan – Page 2
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Opinion Pieces
A thematic focus on sustainability
The evidence for global temperatures rises caused by human emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) has become overwhelming. That means there will have to be a huge adaptation by human societies across the globe to the reality of significant climate changes in the next few decades.
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Analysis
Democracy: a missing ingredient in ESG?
Nearly half the world’s population is facing elections to change governments in 2024, yet democracy appears to be in decline across the globe. How should investors respond?
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Asset Class Reports
Legal systems key in emerging market private credit
In the legally complex world of emerging markets, private credit investors naturally favour those with cleaner legal systems
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Analysis
Interview: Elizabeth Fernando on NEST’s new thematic strategy
Sustainability focus underlines NEST’s growing importance as a UK institutional investor
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Opinion Pieces
UK equities: stop tinkering and focus on the long term
As the UK heads for a general election this year, both major parties (Labour and Conservative) will be proclaiming their solutions to the UK’s perennial problems of chronically low levels of investment, a dearth of new innovative companies and disappointing growth.
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Asset Class Reports
UK equities fail to regain their shine
UK pension funds are abandoning domestic equities, and the country’s global weighting in indices has also declined significantly
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Analysis
Mansion House reforms: UK government should embrace long-term thinking to boost the economy
Other countries have been far better than the UK at creating long-term strategies that have been maintained way beyond the five-year or shorter electoral timescales on which UK politicians focus
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Analysis
Labour market evolution: the macro trend that investors cannot ignore
Macroeconomic factors can overwhelm micro ones for investors. The impact of COVID is a good example. But the short-term impact of COVID on labour markets can mask structural trends in the evolution of labour markets that have much more profound long-term impacts, according to a paper by PGIM
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Asset Class Reports
Debt investors face European uncertainty
High interest rates and inflation are the biggest concerns as recession looms
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Interviews
London’s new Lord Mayor sets out his stall for the City as a centre for global problem solving
The newly elected Lord Mayor of the City of London Michael Mainelli is keen to position the City as a global problem solving hub and not just a financial services centre
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Asset Class Reports
AI: Moving from innovation to early adoption
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) capable of generating text, images and even music has stepped into the limelight after decades in the making. It will eventually have an impact across most industries, comparable to the impact of the internet. But while the world may have reached an inflection point in the usage of generative AI, a lot needs to happen before companies are positioned to take full advantage of the developments in large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT.
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Analysis
Trade finance – a sustainable asset class for institutional investors?
Trade financing, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in an analysis from September* “is critical for enabling international commerce and driving international development and poverty reduction”.
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Asset Class Reports
Private equity managers reflect on AI’s power to transform healthcare
There are plenty of opportunities for investors, but the regulatory obstacles must be understood
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Asset Class Reports
Corporate borrowers in emerging markets put to the test
Many emerging market companies have healthy balance sheets and weathered the COVID crisis well. How will they fare if global growth slows?
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Special Report
AI special report: Could investment management be transformed?
While many foresee a variety of roles for artificial intelligence, critics believe it has a limited role in crucial asset management activities
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Analysis
Sustainable agriculture is a growing necessity and institutional investors play a key role
Investment manager PGIM stated in a research note in May: “From farm to fork, our global food system is vast, complex, inefficient and increasingly unfit for purpose.”
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Analysis
London’s Lord Mayor Nicholas Lyons outlines his plan to raise £50bn from pension funds for UK growth assets
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This aphorism can perhaps well describe the current state of the UK’s investment ecosystem. Despite Europe’s largest pension market at £2.5trn (€2.9trn), the UK economy has been starved of risk capital through a series of legislative and regulatory decisions.
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Features
Pancakes for lunch with Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz
Harry Markowitz, Nobel Laureate and founder of Modern Portfolio Theory, passed away in June this year. Much has been written about his contribution to the development of modern finance theory. Less, though, on Harry as a person.
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Features
Digital health revolution ramps up
The world is at the beginning of a digital health revolution. This has been accelerated by the COVID pandemic that forced radical shifts in doctor/patient interactions, and supercharged by the emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT that brought generative artificial intelligence (AI) to the forefront and pulled the potential of AI in healthcare into the limelight.
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Features
UK venture capital: spinning out for success
Academic research produces excellent technology and medical firms, but the funding is not always available to take things further