Citywire: The Selection Show: Recent Episodes

Citywire

We go on-the-ground to hear first-hand what top selectors and managers are focusing on.

The hunt for investment grade emerging market debt will tie investors’ fortunes in very closely with the Federal Reserve and mean this miss out on meaningful returns in the final months of the year.

That is the view of Raphael Kassin, who returned to the EM Insider hotseat to share his views on the current market conditions and where he thinks it makes sense to allocate given the current macroeconomic backdrop.

The Brazil-based bond buyer outline lists some of the markets that those with a sterner stomach may consider allocating to if they want to break away from the pack. Kassin also touched upon how the overarching approach to EMD has changed in a short space of time.

‘In the old days, asset allocators would just say: “I want to put 5% in EM, because I think it’s looking like it will give me another 5% return this year, based on spreads and treasuries. That was a nice idea; but these days, it is a little bit more complex.’

The former governor of the Bank of England shares his views on inflation, independent economic thought, and the case for a genuine salary cap in soccer.

‘A big reform is easier to implement than a sequence of small steps’. Mervyn King sat down with Citywire Selector to talk about the current state of economics, as well as his thoughts on the Bank of England’s failure to spot a crucial misstep in its attempt to curtail post-pandemic inflation.

Having earmarked this as an ‘intellectual mistake’, King outlines two ways in which the BoE – and any central bank – can change course, which he said entails accepting now is not the time to tighten.

Also in this interview, he was asked whether markets have become increasingly short-term and how he, as a former governor, would respond to such scrutiny. Here he offers an example of how former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet used to know when to add the word ‘extra’ to a statement to prompt a very different kind of response from markets and media commentators.

Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics for investors in 2023. But is this type of excitement over a revolutionary technology anything new?

Mike Coop, Morningstar’s CIO for Europe, Middle East and Africa, dropped into our studios to discuss this with Citywire Selector news editor Ian Heath. They talked about the history of game-changing ‘general purpose’ technologies, how AI-driven innovations might pan out and whether there are parallels with the dotcom bubble.

GIB Asset Management’s Kunal Desai joins Citywire Selector’s Krystle Higgins to discuss how after years of disappointing returns, and ‘balance sheet heartbreak’, India's moment has finally arrived, as well as his thoughts on the BJP’s internet shutdowns at a time when the country is experiencing a digital revolution.

Jacques-Aurélien Marcireau discusses how ‘super-aggressive’ marketing tactics, aped from the former US president, are permeating the corporate world and why this is muddying the waters for investors, including in the artificial intelligence space.

Marcireau, who is co-head of equities at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and manages its Big Data fund, also discussed which companies he thinks will be the winners as AI gains momentum and how tech companies might fare in the tougher macro environment.

Hakan Kaya, who runs the Neuberger Berman Commodities Fund, said earlier this year the demand on resources created by the green energy transition could drive a boom in commodity costs that could see prices of key minerals like copper increase eightfold.

He sat down with Selector news editor Ian Heath to discuss the emerging commodities super-cycle, which minerals are likely to be needed most for the energy transition and how investors should play the trend.

Guiness Global Investors’ Sharukh Malik spoke to Selector news editor Ian Heath about how he gets the inside story on the world’s second largest economy, including by learning Mandarin and following Chinese social media, which the Asia-focussed PM said is not as restricted as you might think.

Other topics discussed included whether China can re-stimulate its sluggish economy, the condition of its troubled property market and how China’s economy will continue to mature.

Citywire AAA-rated Kamil Dimmich explained to Selector’s news editor Ian Heath how he operates as a value investor in growth-dominated emerging markets and why his fund is 45% invested in Greater China.

The Pacific North of South portfolio manager, who oversees investments in more than 30 emerging markets, also discussed how you can make money with ‘value traps’ and where his favourite hunting grounds for investment have been over the years.

Ninety One’s Werner Guy van Pittius joins Citywire Selector’s Krystle Higgins to discuss his top plays, China’s slow rebound, and the impact increasingly hawkish US policy has on emerging market flows.

Francisco Garcia Parames led Spanish family office Bestinver to be a power player in value investing. However, Parames also serves as a perfect example of how the title of ‘star manager’ can come with both pros and cons. In this podcast, we take a deep dive into the power of Parames – his performance and personality. How he evaded both the dotcom bubble and the Great Financial Crash, as well as hearing from former colleagues, commentators and experts about his acrimonious exit, his boutique venture and where his career might go next.

The 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress has not done much in the way of easing the nerves of investors or the global financial markets, with Xi Jinping packing his leadership team with loyalists, as well as not giving a clear sign as to when the country’s zero-covid policy might end.

In this latest episode, Raphael Kassin shares his immediate takeaways from the congress, as well as his thoughts on the future of Chinese debt. As well as how the markets are reacting to the Brazilian elections, and why he believes the world needs to go back to logically living within its means.

The 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress has not done much in the way of easing the nerves of investors or the global financial markets, with Xi Jinping packing his leadership team with loyalists, as well as not giving a clear sign as to when the country’s zero-covid policy might end.

In this latest episode, Raphael Kassin shares his immediate takeaways from the congress, as well as his thoughts on the future of Chinese debt. As well as how the markets are reacting to the Brazilian elections, and why he believes the world needs to go back to logically living within its means.

Raphael Kassin and Citywire’s Krystle Higgins discuss what it would take for him to reinvest in Chinese debt, as well as why he will never back the Euro. ‘I would never put my money into Euros, because I struggle to understand how Europe functions’ In the latest episode of this series, Raphael Kassin and Citywire Selector’s Krystle Higgins discuss the latest moves by the Fed, along with what it would take for him to reinvest in China and why he will never invest in Euros.

Citywire's head of ESG and cross-border research Nisha Long and Mary Ann Sieghart, author of The Authority Gap: Why Women are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and what We Can Do about it, take a closer look at the main findings. The number of women managing active mutual funds has all but ground to a halt in the past year. In this episode, Dr Nisha Long shares the report's main findings with Mary Ann Sieghart who described this year’s results ‘retrograde and depressing’. Also discussed in the episode are the myriad of small changes asset management firms can make to lessen the authority gap in the sector. The report shows the proportion of female managers has increased by just 1.7 percentage points since 2016. While men dominate launches, with just 10% of new funds being assigned to female managers.

As regulation around sustainability becomes stricter, asset managers are increasingly looking to hire staff with specialised skills, such as climate risk modelling.

In this episode of the Let’s Talk About ESG podcast, Ian Povey-Hall, global head of sustainable finance and impact investing at Acre, explains why investment firms are seeking a different kind of professional when hiring portfolio managers to run dark-green Article 9 funds. He suggests firms are distinguishing these recruits from those running similar but broader light-green Article 8 strategies.

Also in this podcast, Povey-Hall talks about what’s behind the stewardship hiring boom, as well as the challenges asset managers are facing when bringing over investment teams from rivals.

‘I’ve changed my mind on China.’ Raphael Kassin explains why he feels cautious about a disruptive new global era, while maintaining it is time to pile into EM debt.

In this episode, Kassin talks to Krystle Higgins about the latest diametrically opposing views of JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as to whether now is the time to heavily invest in EM or take a more defensive approach. Kassin, also shares his views on how the markets would react to a Trump nomination, as well as China’s decision to restructure a portion of EM debt and what that could mean for the market at large.

Tensions between China and the US have escalated once more, as Beijing extends its military drills around Taiwan, adding more uncertainty to what has already been a rocky road for the EM markets this year. In the latest bonus EM Insider episode, EM veteran John Malloy from Redwheel talks through his position as a US based investor who is currently overweight in China, as well as his own predictions for when the fortunes of the embattled market might see better inflows. As well as where he has placed his bets, and which decisions he wished he had made faster.

Even those with a physical copy of the Swiss firm’s conflict of interest policy couldn’t believe what had happened.

‘If you lose the confidence of your clients, you lose everything’. The impact of the Tim Haywood scandal on GAM as a company was apparent, but what about investment professionals either invested with or closely monitoring the Swiss company?

In the second part of our special podcast, ‘Suspension of disbelief’, fund buyers reveal what they remember about the crisis as it unfolded, how it affected their interactions with the firm and what longer term lessons they have taken from the event.

We hear from Paul Gambles, co-founder of Thailand-based investment company MBMG Group, as well as portfolio manager and analyst Pierre Molinero of OFI Asset Management. For the first episode, which covered the lead-up and immediate aftermath of the crisis, click here.

Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency amid protests following the country's recent economic crisis, which saw the president flee the country. Many are now asking whether Sri Lanka is the 'canary in the EM coal mine'.

In the latest EM Insider episode, emerging market debt expert, Raphael Kassin, talks us through the lessons that investors can take from this crisis, the clues of the pending crisis which he spotted last year. As well as what he believes the long term EM winners will be this year, should rate hikes stabilise.

The suspension of Tim Haywood will go down as a landmark moment in the history of Swiss asset management firm GAM. But, what was the situation prior to the event and how have things changed in the four years since the head of its absolute return bond unit was dismissed.

In this two-part series, Citywire’s Chris Sloley and Niamh Doyle recount the lead-up to the shock announcement in July 2018, what happened to the company in the immediate aftermath and also hear from international fund buyers about their experience and understanding of how things unfolded.

In this first episode, we rewind the clock to uncover how GAM was functioning in the years leading up to the fateful market update, as well as casting an eye on how the Swiss group dove headlong into crisis management as its share price dropped.

PODCAST: Citywire Selector spoke at length with the GMO founder and value stalwart about his current market thinking.

‘Value tends to prosper’. As far as mantras to live by, Jeremy Grantham is very committed to the idea that buying discounted stocks and making money as they prove the doubters wrong is a way to earn a living.

In this extended interview, the GMO founder outlines why he believes the latest rotation in market styles is more meaningful than some that have gone before, while also explaining why the hot pocket of recent growth - technology - might now be sitting right in his wheelhouse.

Also in this discussion, we expand on previous points about alternative investing and fears over ‘super bubbles’ being driven by herd mentality, as well as his thoughts about income inequality and being one of the early proponents of climate-aware investing.

Alliance Bernstein’s Vinay Thapar talks about the incredible innovation of the medtech sector versus a slower advancement within the traditional pharmaceutical industry.

In the fifth episode of its MedTech podcast, Citywire Selectors meets Vinay Thapar, fund manager at Alliance Bernstein.

Thapar, who has been investing in the healthcare space for over two decades and oversees the AB International Health Care fund, talks about the long-term advantages of a thematic strategy and the two main factors that define a successful investable business. When selecting stocks, the fund manager looks at the company’s return on invested capital to determine its efficiency, while also considering the firm’s reinvestment rate. Thapar’s bottom-up investing strategy guarantees a risk-aware portfolio which benefits from the best available opportunities, which are not necessarily linked to a specific country or sub-sector.

But what are the main trends and opportunities that lay ahead within the healthcare space? Thapar highlights the current progress in diagnostics triggered by the advances in genome sequencing technology and new tests that will allow to detect cancer faster and more accurately than now. Also on the list are both minimally invasive technology with the rise of surgical robotics, and the implementation of catheter-based technologies.

This episode was recorded on February 25 (2022).

While stressing how digitalisation has been embedded within both the medtech and the general health care space over the last few years, Blum highlights his two strategies’ overarching themes, as well as the key differences between the Bellevue Medtech & Services fund and the Bellavue Digital Health fund he oversees.

American medical devices and health care producer Abbott Laboratories is one of the large caps the first fund invests in, to concurrently secure stability and growth. The Bellavue Digital Health fund, on the other hand, is mainly tilted towards exponential growth digital health companies like Shockwave Medical, which produces cardiovascular medical devices.

In this episode Blum also talks about forthcoming products which are expected to drive market growth and more specifically, he is eyeing names within robotic assisted surgery, structural heart disease treatment and diabetes care.

This episode was recorded on February 11 (2022).

There were two reasons Amundi’s Vincent Mortier said parts of the private markets resembled Ponzi schemes. The first is the idea of leverage is often miscommunicated and the second is that value is hard to properly ascertain.

That is the view of Cyril Demaria, independent consultant and private markets expert. In this special podcast, Demaria, who has more than 20 years industry experience and was formerly CIO of private markets at UBS Wealth Management, discusses the reality of the private markets landscape today.

Also in this discussion, Demaria discusses the challenge of ensuring proper outperformance in a market famed for its limited transparency and also offers his tips for being able to select a private equity fund to fit your portfolio.

During the third episode of its MedTech podcast, Citywire Selectors meets co-head of BMO GAM’s global equities team Jamie Jenkins. He talks about the challenges the MedTech sector has been facing over the last couple of years, and how those hurdles have added to long-term issues like diabetes and an ageing population.

Jenkins shares details of his three-step approach which consists in avoiding companies with damaging or unsustainable business practices, while investing in names that make a positive contribution to the society, and/or the environment. Within this strategy, Jenkins and his team want to facilitate and promote best practice management of environmental, social and governance issues, through long-term ownership of companies.

The co-head is also lead portfolio manager of both the BMO Responsible Global Equity fund and the BMO SDG Engagement Global Equity fund, and these strategies’ healthcare holdings contribute towards ‘health and wellbeing’, which is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Both medical equipment provider Thermo Fisher Scientific and genetic variation equipment developer Illumina, are on the list.

During this episode Jenkins also explains the overwhelming exposure to US healthcare holdings within his funds, as well as the reason certain Asian countries have become the epicentre of telemedicine development.

This episode was recorded on February 11 (2022).

In the second episode of its MedTech podcast, Citywire Selectors meets Paul Loudon, investment manager at Walter Scott & Partners. Loudon, who oversees the BNY Mellon Long Term Global Equity fund, talks about his long-term, high conviction strategy and the best way to access medical technology products and companies with a long runway for growth.

At the core of his approach is the aim to invest in MedTech business solutions that benefit all three key stakeholders: the patient, the health system, and the investor.

Artificial heart valves & hemodynamic monitoring company Edwards Lifesciences, together with robotic surgery company Intuitive Surgical, sit at the top of the list of healthcare holdings within the fund. While the equipment produced by both companies is equally expensive and sophisticated, it provides safer and effective procedures, which make the investment worthwhile in the medium-long term.

This episode was recorded on February 4 (2022).

Kicking off the series is Zehrid Osmani, head of global long-term unconstrained at Martin Currie. With a fifth of his portfolio tilted towards healthcare, Osmani achieves structural growth by focusing on areas of attraction, without letting index exposure dictate his choices. Demographic changes, resource scarcity and an exponential growth of technology across all economy sectors, are the megatrends at the hearth of his strategy. But what new areas are consolidating within the healthcare space? Genomics, which is leading the way to tailor made therapies based on everybody's genetic profile, is certainly on the list. And guess what, the cost of sequencing a genome has decreased from $54m in 2003, to just $600 at present!

This episode was recorded on February 4 (2022).

If you’re making sustainability hires for marketing purposes, it will quickly become clear it’s not going to work or it won’t have a true impact on the business.

When selecting funds, Anne Ackerman, former head of impact fund selection at Credit Suisse, always paid attention to interactions between portfolio managers and ESG analysts to make sure that their approach to sustainability was robust enough.

‘It is not about the number of people, CVs of those people, but more about the commitment of the business and people running the business; how they actually support sustainability experts.’

In her view it is not just about integrating sustainability into the investment process but also about the role it plays for companies themselves, be it the wellbeing of employees or how a given firm sets environmental or climate targets.

'If this is not supported at the high level – at some point there probably will be struggles, but I think it is an important aspect to look at.’

Also in this podcast former fund buyer explains why she likes ESG approach of boutiques and what is the difference between impact and ESG fund selection.

Jeremie Banet once was a fund manager at Pimco. However, after a few years in finance, he decided that he needed to experience something more tangible.

After setting up a French food truck company, which didn’t succeed, he tried to mix both worlds, returning to the US firm as lead portfolio manager of global inflation-linked bond funds.

However, Banet again decided to leave asset management for good to become an academic on digital currencies and is currently a PhD student at the University of California Irvine.

For the last episode of this second series of Breaking and Entering, we uncover a ‘lost tape’ from our first season, which was helmed by former Citywire Selector reporter Victoire Barbin Perron.

Brokers in Wall Street still tell stories about the time 'Queen of the Court' Regina Borromeo remained undefeated for years during her years in Manhattan.

After all, to win various tennis and squash championships at university and share courts with some of the most renowned players in the world is something very few people get to do.

Nevertheless, while she managed to handle both her sports and educational careers during her teenage years, Borromeo decided that going professional wasn't for her. However, she kept her passion high up in her priorities list.

She competed with the Philippines team in the Asian Games in 2018 against rivals half her age, before becoming director of global macro fixed income at Robeco.

Sam Gratton spent a decade in the City working as a credit salesman selling bonds, credit derivatives and structured credit for companies such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Santander. However, he found himself one day in the need to escape the finance ‘vortex’ as he needed to do something more creative.

He then studied film in London, but this eventually led him to establish his own company in Madrid, Spain. He decided to become an English teacher, coach and mentor for high profile business professionals.

In the third episode of the Breaking & Entering new series, we deep dive into the world of classical music, and how an academic musician can easily move towards asset management.

Chris Ford now manages the Sanlam AI Artificial Intelligence fund, but there was a time when his job was about deciphering eco-musicology and why French music is still very much a world of its own.

A holder of bachelors and masters in music and now head of growth equities at Sanlam Investments, Ford talks about the ‘need for silence’ both in asset management decision-making and a string quarter performance.

In the second episode of the Breaking & Entering new series, we discover the story of Tom Hancock, who went from being a research scientist at IBM surrounded by punched cards and noisy computers, to work in asset management at GMO.

Hancock studied computer science at Harvard University and wasn’t particularly interested in finance, until he decided to give it a go after a few experiences in the science field.

Get ready to jump on the Citywire Selector Delorean and travel back to the days of (un)flat monitors and old-school coding, when receiving an email seemed like magic.

Even though many Article 8 funds under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation don’t have buzzwords like ‘ESG’ in the names, their inclusion sends a stronger signal to investors.

Speaking to Citywire Selector Hortense Bioy, head of ESG research at Morningstar, said if a fund’s name doesn’t include ‘ESG’ or sustainability terms, these issues are unlikely to play a central role in the strategy.

‘I’m not saying that these funds do not consider ESG factors, many are now doing it. But these factors are, more often than not, non-binding.’

Also in this podcast Bioy discusses Morningstar’s decision to reduce the number of funds it deems sustainable, and what the invasion of Ukraine means for sustainable investments.

Breaking & Entering is back, with ex figure skating athlete Alban Préaubert as the first guest in the second series of the podcast.

In this episode, the Sycomore AM fund manager tells Daniel Ruiz about his switch from competing for France in World Championships and GPs all around the globe, to asset management.

The Frenchman, who is now focused on overseeing several small and mid caps strategies, believes that professional competition and finance share many values and lessons, which he still applies on a daily basis.

In this episode of EM Insider, Raphael Kassin shares his thoughts on how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has hit specific markets and what investment decisions he has noticed both in the lead up and following the onset of the conflict.

Also in this episode, Kassin tells Citywire Selector reporter, Krystle Higgins his own investment strategy in the hours and days after the war began. Kassin also shares predictions on Russia’s future place within global markets in the months and years ahead, as well as what role China may play.

While the traditional ‘gentleman’s club’ ethos may not be as visible as it once was, female fund managers still face daily obstacles not experienced by male peers.

That’s according to Polar Capital’s Naomi Waistell, who spoke about her experience and ascent through the financial industry as part of a special podcast produced for International Women’s Day 2022.

Waistell said daily sexism still exists within the industry, which is perhaps most keenly felt at times when a group of men in a meeting might expect her to be there to make hot drinks for attendees rather than to present investment ideas.

The increasing importance of ESG and sustainability-focused roles is helping to boost the number of women working in finance.

This is according to Susanne Bolin Gärtner, head of fund and manager selection at Danske Bank, who has noticed this significant shift in the last couple of years.

Also in this podcast the fund buyer explains why she is sceptical about gender-focused funds and how remote working has changed her options when it comes to hiring specialists outside of the Nordic region for her team.

Stewardship is a powerful tool for investors to nudge companies towards better diversity practices, even though asset managers are still relatively timid at filing resolutions addressing the topic.

This is according to Deborah Gilshan, founder of the 100% Club, who talked about the highlights of the recently published FTSE Women Leaders, formerly known as Hampton-Alexander Review.

Also in this podcast she explains what a good company culture looks like and why it is important for firms to go beyond gender diversity.

It’s tempting to solve diversity issues through CEO compensation incentives, but investors need to understand the problem is more nuanced.

This is according to Anna Snider, head of due diligence for the wealth management division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who said there is not enough data to show this approach works.

‘It is also good to have economic incentives and disincentives. It is about what the knock-on effect of that is and what CEOs or organisations in general end up doing, in order to achieve that.’

Also in this podcast, Snider explains how her team interacts with asset managers on diversity data and where companies can still do better.

Which EM countries were the biggest winners and losers in 2021, and where should investors look to in 2022? Emerging market debt expert Raphael Kassin shares his thoughts on the year ahead, as well as what a Russian invasion of Ukraine would look like for the market.

There are a number of experienced female professionals in the fund industry, but many lack the confidence to speak up, which diminishes their chances of being seen.

Speaking to Citywire Selector, Manuela Froehlich, co-founder of the Fondsfrauen network, said media training is key in promoting talented female voices in the industry and can help them deal with imposter syndrome.

‘If more female fund managers are visible, this means other female fund managers are watching and thinking: “She is out there, I can do this”.’

Also in this video Froehlich talks about her experience of judging Citywire Gender Diversity awards and what asset managers can do better on gender diversity.

When analysing strategies, fund selectors often consider financial metrics and whether a fund lives up to its stated return profile or investment strategy.

However, softer aspects, such as the diversity of the portfolio management team, are often overlooked even though they can lead to better decision making.

In this episode of Citywire Selector’s podcast we talk to Nick Samuels, head of manager research at Redington, and Nisha Long, our head of ESG and cross-border research, about their experience of judging the Citywire Gender Diversity awards and how they think fund groups could improve.

Samuels also talks about Redington’s internal diversity research and why alternative managers often lag their traditional equity and fixed income peers on these issues.

The Covid-19 pandemic is often painted as solely a healthcare story but other areas stand to benefit and, by extension, investors may soon face an intriguing array of new thematic strategies to capitalise on the most prominent themes.

That’s the view of Aanand Venkatramanan, head of ETF investment strategies and index funds at Legal & General Investment Management.

In the final episode of this series of Future Thinking, Venkatramanan delves into the themes that came to the fore and what the next wave of innovation could potential involve.

Investors want to go green more than ever before but concerns rage over how to accurately measure what they are doing and whether they are running very quickly in the wrong direction.

So, what can they do about it? In this latest episode of Future Thinking, Tatjana Puhan, deputy chief investment officer of systematic boutique Tobam Asset Management, looks at the nuances around ‘raw’ data, the realities of biases creeping in regardless and how processing power will eventually turn the tide.

Also in this episode, Puhan talks about her efforts to have more of an impact on the way ESG is discussed by pushing for a role within the UN’s investor network, PRI.

Gary Moglione likes music but he likes royalty revenues more. The specialist investor, who works for Momentum Investment Management, has amassed a portfolio of pop picks that produce a steady stream of returns for his clients.

In this latest episode of Future Thinking, the UK-based portfolio manager looks at how CDs were always ripe for disruption, how streaming platforms can stay one step ahead and what that means for the future of how artists get paid.

The outlook for independent asset managers has come under increased scrutiny following a wave of mega-mergers, but Dominic Johnson believes boutiques still have a huge amount to offer even if the challenges are becoming more and more apparent.

In this podcast, Johnson, who is CEO and co-founder of Somerset Capital, talked about ‘excessive regulation’, the role of Brexit on London’s boutique culture and why investors would be foolish to focus their attentions solely at the giant fund houses.

Also in this episode, Johnson, who is also the former chair of the boutique lobby group IIMI (Independent Investment Management Initiative), said changes to fund structures could also favour companies at the smaller end of the industry.

The term greenwashing is used a lot these days, but it’s not much use for investors in the absence of commonly-agreed definitions of sustainability.

This is according to Hortense Bioy, global director of sustainability research at Morningstar, who said greenwashing sometimes results from different perceptions of what is and isn’t green.

‘There are different approaches that meet different investor needs and preferences, and investors shouldn't rely on the label or a name, they should ensure they thoroughly understand a fuzzy ESG objective and investment process.

‘They should also look at the portfolio to check the holdings are in line with the expectations,’ she added.

Also in this podcast, Bioy explains why asset managers need sustainability experts and how investors can deal with climate transition challenges.

The ‘emerging middle class’ may be among the most touted topics when it comes to areas of investment potential, but what is the reality of opportunities when it comes to investing with a demographics mindset?

In this latest episode of Future Thinking, Henk Grootveld, head of trends investing, Lombard Odier Investment Managers, said there needs to be a keen focused on all aspects of the story, not just what younger generations can bring.

Grootveld believes there are sizeable shifts going on in both the developed and emerging worlds. But, with an aging economy and millennial ‘job hoppers’, how can you best harness these switches and will the asset management industry remain a ‘sexy’ career path for future generations?

The plethora of green taxonomies will pose a challenge for global asset managers and could unwittingly lead to greenwashing.

Speaking to Citywire Selector Gill Lofts, global sustainable leader at EY, said the sheer number of frameworks defining green businesses in different countries will cause headaches for investment firms.

Lofts said fund groups could throw a lot of money and technology at the problem, but juggling different taxonomies is still likely to lead to mistakes.

‘You might have potential greenwashing just through clients misunderstanding what it is they're investing in,’ Lofts said.

Also in this podcast, Lofts spoke about the inflation of salaries for sustainability experts and why asset managers still need head of sustainability.

The pandemic has pushed more and more of us online, but who is making the best use of these new technological tools? Citywire AA-rated Rayna Lesser Hannaway of Polen Capital believes small-caps are at the forefront of this change.

On this latest episode of Future Thinking, Hannaway outlines how the internet has ‘democratised’ previously uneven parts of the playing field, with smaller firms now able to contend with companies which have existed for hundreds of years.

Hannaway, who runs three small-cap funds, looked at the digitalisation of different industries and how the pandemic has led to leaner, more efficiency-focused companies than ever before.

Auditors have an important part to play in the fight against climate change and need to adjust their reporting requirements to reflect that.

This is according to Natasha Landell-Mills, head of stewardship and partner at Sarasin & Partners, who said this is one of the reasons why the asset manager decided to write an open letter to the four big audit firms asking them to put more effort into climate disclosures.

Also in this podcast Landell-Mills explains how the firm engaged with Shell and what she thought were the biggest wins and misses of COP26.

‘The US is bloody good at tech, and Europe’s bloody good at ESG’. Strong words from arch contrarian James Sym, who was the latest guest on Citywire Selector’s Future Thinking podcast.

Sym, who swapped Schroders for River & Mercantile at the start of 2021, operates with a Europe ex-UK mindset and here he outlined how he has found opportunities in continental Europe with his new unconstrained approach.

In this discussion, Sym outlined what lingering affect Brexit has had on investors in the region, as well as looking at the pervasive nature of ESG with regards to the majority of future asset allocation calls.

A number of firms have reclassified their Article 8 funds into Article 9 strategies this year, but such transitions shouldn’t always be a red flag for investors.

That’s according to Neill Blanks, research director at advisory firm MainStreet Partners, who said some companies with long-standing ESG expertise originally made assumptions that were too conservative.

What can investors do to both limit food waste and benefit from the companies at the forefront of this particular fight? Jeneiv Shah is among those at the forefront of the battle to keep healthy produce out of our bins.

In the latest episode of Future Thinking, Shah, who co-runs the Sarasin Food and Agriculture Opportunities fund, outlines where he sees opportunities around consumption and production of food resources.

Has the time finally come for emerging markets’ sovereign debt to outshine its corporate equivalent? Raphael Kassin thinks so, but he is unsure many market participants have properly picked up on such a pivotal moment.

Kassin, who is now head of emerging markets hard currency debt at Itaú Asset Management, said November 5 – or Fireworks Night in the UK - marked a crossover point for the asset class, with government-issued debt outperforming the corporate market for the first time in 2021.

While this doesn’t make the EMD complex any less challenging, Kassin said it opens up the potential for developing world debt to deliver a return of flat to 5% for the year as a whole.

[Chris Sloley is the editor of Citywire Selector]

Greenpeace Germany has filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen for not meeting 1.5 degrees warming scenario, however the firm’s electrification efforts might be more important than its misalignment with net-zero targets.

This is according to Henrik Pontzen, head of ESG at Union Investment, who said they are still backing the company based on the progress made within its electric car business. ‘I don’t think it is a good idea to sue a relatively good car company, with a good transition pathway, when there are plenty of other car manufacturers that are worse [in that regard],’ Ponzen said.

Also in this podcast, Ponzen discusses what were the biggest achievements of COP26, why the Union Investment team focuses on variable compensation of CEOs and why asset managers have to improve the way they exclude companies.

Alex Gunz has made it his business to understand how trends play out and which thematic concepts actually have long-term viability.

In this first episode of the third series of Future Thinking, the Heptagon Capital manager outlines what it takes to tackle thematics without getting overawed by marketing and media excitement.

Gunz, who runs the Heptagon Future Trends Equity fund, also outlines why he believes the dynamic around investing in pets has got genuine potential, while casting warnings about other areas that are gathering momentum.

Investors can’t reduce decarbonisation discussions to investment in renewables, as some vital economic sectors need to be set on the right path.

This is according to Wim Van Hyfte, global head of ESG investments and research at Candriam, who said tackling fossil fuels will have a massive knock-on effect on the energy sector at large.

'[Energy] is so crucial to the economic structure that you can’t just unplug fossil fuels from our systems,’ he said.

Also in this podcast Van Hyfte talks about his expectations from the COP26 conference and how investors should approach climate challenges from the overall asset allocation perspective.

Although specific areas like coal-fired power generation will be under fire during the COP26 conference, asset managers have to start thinking about the impact of climate change on their overall portfolio.

Andrew Howard, global head of sustainable investment at Schroders, says that instead of focusing on the types of assets or sectors investors want to be exposed to, managers need to start looking at the bigger picture.

As part of this podcast, Howard also talks to us about the importance of carbon pricing, international cooperation and why the social part of the climate transition should not be overlooked.

The COP26 climate conference taking place in Glasgow is only a month away and investors have both high hopes and reservations about its outcomes.

Citywire Selector is temporarily rebranding Let's Talk About ESG as Let's Talk About COP, to find out more about asset managers’ expectations and the impact the summit for their future investment decisions.

Our first guest is Eoin Murray, chief investment officer of Federated Hermes’ international business, who said that the number one priority for everyone involved in climate science is to agree on the rulebook that will determine exactly how Paris Agreement targets are implemented.

China’s corporate governance is shifting into unknown areas. Brazil is stuck between a political rock and a hard place. Argentina is offering up welfare reform to get its latest government through some tricky mid-terms.

It can only mean it’s time for our EM Insider to review the latest goings on.

Following a summer hiatus, Raphael Kassin, now of Itaú, is back and means business. In this bumper return-to-work episode, we cover the current dynamics of local and hard currency investing, look at political challenges and even have time to take shots at Amazon rainforest crusaders Norway’s own track record on ESG. Something for everyone.

As part of this special edition of Citywrie Selector podcast, head of ESG and cross-border research Nisha Long and the founder of the 100% Club Deborah Gilshan discuss some of the biggest findings and where they see the asset managers' policies on gender moving next.

If carbon prices were to reach $75-per-tonne of CO2 emissions, even ESG-screened global equity indices will not immune from the fall in valuations.

That is a scenario modelled by the team led by Nikesh Patel, head of investment strategy at Kempen, who calculated that global equity valuations could decline on average by 4% and even by 20%, if Scope 3 emissions are taken into account.

In this podcast, Patel explains what allocators can do beyond investing in sustainable strategies and what he expects from the forthcoming COP26 summit.

Few fund managers have built billion-dollar empires and shared a stage with likes of The Rolling Stones, but Edouard Carmignac isn’t like most managers.

In this extended interview with Citywire Selector, Edouard talks through the intricacies of setting up as a ‘one-man-show’ in the 1980s and how he would struggle to repeat that success today.

It also covers his current role in the company, having dropped day-to-day fund management, a throw forward to when he might not be involved at all and his current thinking about ‘steroid’ induced financial markets floating on a ‘delusion of liquidity’

There is no denying that firms need to increase their decarbonisation efforts, but they should also be mindful of their workforce and what the transition might mean for job security.

In this podcast Ashley Hamilton Claxton, head of responsible investment at Royal London Asset Management, discusses how the asset manager worked with UK utility firm SSE to develop its first ‘just’ transition strategy.

Hamilton Claxton also talks about the importance of setting a global carbon price and why delaying certain aspects of Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation is a good thing.

Chess players. Professional sportsmen. Opera singers. All of these disciplines require ongoing training and coaching, so why should the world of fund management be any different?

One person trying to bridge this gap is Josh Jacobson, chief operating officer for equities at UK boutique Cheyne Capital. Jacobson has zeroed in on efforts to try and give his fund managers an edge by reviewing, assessing and attempting to improve their performance.

With more data available than ever before, how do you target the right areas for improvement? In this episode of Future Thinking, Jacobson draws on sporting examples and also experiences from across his career to look at the opportunities – and potential challenges – here.

Thematic offerings are becoming more and more crucial in the world of ETFs, as providers seek innovative ways to gain traction, but those that can specifically cater to female investor needs stand to win big.

That is according to Roxane Sanguinetti, head of fixed income and investor relations at ETF market maker GHCO. Speaking on the latest episode of Future Thinking, Sanguinetti laid bare the current thinking in ETF creation and highlighted the gap surrounding female investors.

In this episode, Sanguinetti also discussed the limitations for indexing, the role of ARK Invest in bringing attention to more specialised investment ideas and why the pricing argument is becoming less of a focal point.

Corporate boards need a major overhaul and chief executives need to be taken to task over what they are really achieving when it comes to ethics and improvement, or they should be hastily removed.

That is according to economist and author Dambisa Moyo, who joined Citywire Selector for of the most recent episode of Future Thinking.

Offering insights from her latest book, How Boards Work: And How They Can Work Better in a Chaotic World, Moyo talked about the ‘necessary evil’ of quota systems, diversity of thought at board level, and what the three key functions of an efficient board should be.

In this new episode of Why Inclusion?, investment director Phoebe Smith delves into the various ways infrastructure can be inclusive for all communities.

The Whitehelm Capital’s investment director shares investment ideas that the team implemented with the Whitehelm Capital smart-city infrastructure fund, which was launched in 2018.

Smith also argues that an investor ought to apply the principles of their investment philosophy to their corporate policies and exemplifies Whitehelm’s course of actions when it comes to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion initiatives.

‘Everything was going well until one day something happened’. The old foreign correspondent maxim has never been more relevant to the emerging market than it is today, according to EM debt expert Raphael Kassin.

On the latest episode of EM Insider, Kassin talks through the breaking situation in Belarus, the varying levels of investor appetite across Latin America and lifts the lid on Lula’s surprise return to the very top of Brazilian politics.

‘We were very disappointed’. Peter Habermacher was left scratching his head when it came to finding a properly clued-in fund manager to help him unlock the true potential of cryptocurrency. So, he decided to do it himself.

In this latest episode of Citywire Selector’s ‘Future Thinking’, Habermacher, who co-founded Aaro Capital with Ankush Jain and Sébastien Jardon, explained how the marketplace has evolved and changed over a relatively short space of time.

Habermacher digs deep into the realities of DLT – distributed ledger technologies – and how ‘smart contracts’ will really reshape business ventures. He also discusses the increasingly controversial topic of the environmental impacts of crypto mining.

‘2020 was the year that AI came of age in the wider world’. That is according to Nick Williams, analyst on the Polar Capital Automation and Artificial Intelligence fund.

Speaking on the latest episode of Citywire Selector’s Future Thinking podcast, Williams discussed how the sector advanced over the past year and, crucially, what is likely to come next.

In this discussion, Williams also touches upon the age-old debate of man versus machine, the role of the emerging world in either catching-up to AI acceleration or even leading the charge and what sources of research to trust as the story evolves.

Citywire Selector’s Why Inclusion? series returns with a new episode tackling two inclusive topics at once: climate change and gender-lens investing.

In this episode, investor and consultant Suzanne Biegel expounds on the reasons why climate change, which is a man-made problem, can be solved with gender-lens investing.

According to Biegel, who founded gender-lens initiative GenderSmart, investors should start making internal changes in their teams, as well as in their portfolios to embrace the biggest opportunity of our time.

As asset managers are signing up to achieve net zero carbon emissions, they have to face up to the challenge of adequately measuring physical climate risks.

Speaking hot-on-the-heels of the US climate summit, Wendy Cromwell, director of sustainable investments at Wellington Management, explained what she learned from the panel with special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry.

Also in this podcast, Cromwell explains why it was important for the asset manager to team up with Woodwell Climate Research centre, which climate solutions the firm is offering and how ramped up its voting record.

The media focus on Elon Musk has made space an attractive topic once again. Almost exactly 50 years after man first stepped on the Moon, there is no palpable interest in what riches could lie in Earth’s near orbit and, crucially, how we access them.

In this episode of Future Thinking, Simon Drake, co-founder of Space Ventures Investors, charts a course for the future of investing in space. What will it take to make a meaningful return from investing in this area and what does it actually entail?

During the discussion, Drake touches upon space mining laws, the inability to actually own anything in space – as a result of the Cold War – and why the sector is the ultimate testing ground for innovation, as space will do everything it can to kill new inventions.

The challenges faced by scandal-hit China Huarong Asset Management – Huarong – show that China is willing to let state-backed darlings fade in order to reflect a healthier view of their markets to the wider world. That is according to our EM Insider, Raphael Kassin.

In this latest podcast, Kassin talks zombie companies in China’s fast-growing market and also reflects on a month which saw a positive surprise for fans of fiscal conservativism in South America. All that and a deep dive into what EMD investors can really expect in terms of returns.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a mental health crisis of never-before-seen proportions and the implications for how companies both attract and nurture talent now hinge on how their cultural priorities.

Marisa Hall, co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute at Willis Towers Watson, joined the latest episode of Future Thinking to look at how the working world will evolve as offices and other working environments return to normal.

In this podcast, Hall delves into the challenges now posed by a year of working remotely, how ‘soft skills’ are harder to ascertain than ever before and why, when all is said and done, culture ultimately eats strategy for breakfast.

Facebook, Google and Twitter have to put their violent and offensive content under control, otherwise they risk losing their users and advertisers.

Speaking to Citywire Selector, Marte Borhaug, head of sustainable outcomes at Aviva Investors, explained why investor should pressure social media platforms on these sensitive issues.

Also in this podcast, Borhaug explains the importance of the World Benchmarking Alliance and how Aviva Investors is planning to engage with social media giants this year.

eSports has risen from nowhere to be a genuine counterpoint to the world of physical sports. Fuelled by hundreds of millions of participants matched with hundreds of millions prize money, as well as a whole host of adjacent industries, how long can this boom period last?

In the latest edition of Future Thinking, Degroof Petercam fund manager Quirien Lemey, who co-runs the DPAM Invest B Equities NewGems Sustainable, walks Citywire Selector through the opportunities this sector can offer investors.

Millennials – or Generation Y, if you prefer – have never had so many bosses, more flexible hours or more of a focus on what a company can do for them, as much as what they think they can do for it.

The rise of a more me-first mentality is likely to clash with older generations who valued an approach more focused on ‘sit down, shut up’ then self-starting, according to author and academic Adam Kingl.

In the latest episode of Future Thinking, Kingl, who spoke recently at Citywire’s World of Boutiques Europe event, outlines how millennials will fit into the modern workforce and what that means for increasingly important topics, such as mental health awareness.

External networks for female financial professionals have a crucial role to play in the industry’s diversity push, especially for smaller asset managers that can’t afford a dedicated diversity unit.

Mentorship and connection to industry peers with similar experiences are only two among many aspects highlighted by our podcast guests, Deborah Gilshan, the founder of 100% Club in the UK, Manuela Froehlich, co-founder of Fondsfrauen, Claudia Stanghellini and Susanne Bolin Gärtner, chairwoman and a member of KvinnoKapital.

Also in this podcast they discuss their efforts to engage with male colleagues and the challenges their networks face in times of Covid and why, despite popular belief, women in Nordic countries face similar challenges to their peers in wider Europe.

Now is not the time to have full exposure to the emerging world, but there are opportunities for those willing to buy at the bottom. That’s according to our EM Insider, Raphael Kassin.

In the first podcast for 2021, the developing world debt specialists looks into the recent upheaval in Brazilian business caused by Jair Bolsonaro, as the president keeps one eye squarely on next year’s election.

He also runs the rule over Ecuador’s first round of elections and why a Martian would struggle to make sense of how the US 10-year is acting when it comes to emerging markets.

Hedge funds offer a roadmap on how traditional asset management can move its star manager culture, while also highlighting how tools such as shorting can be increasingly useful when returns are harder to generate.

That is according to Jack Inglis, chief executive officer of industry trade body and advocacy group Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA).

In the first episode of this new series of Future Thinking, Inglis talks about the implications of the greater push for ESG investing in the alternative world. He also talked about how the coming decade could prove a ‘golden age’ for hedge funds.

Natural capital preservation is a new investment theme that institutional investors should invest more time and resources in today.

That is according to Mirova’s chief executive officer, Philippe Zaouati, who joined the Natural Capital Investment Alliance during the One Planet Summit in January of this year.

Also in this podcast, Zaouati explains his company's impact work with L’Oréal, the promise of green hydrogen and why the firm decided to become B Corp.

The bond market veteran talks openly about how he played the ‘short squeeze’, why he made a mistake by joining Janus Henderson from Pimco and also dismisses the notion that anybody will assume his crown as a ‘bond king’.

In this exclusive interview with Citywire Selector, the former Pimco fund manager also talks about his charity work, his views on the ‘little devil’ Elon Musk and why he is buying back into US Treasurys for the first time in years.

While energy companies are the main targets for those focused on climate stewardship, the lines of engagement are gradually shifting.

Speaking to Citywire Selector, Robert Walker, global co-head of asset stewardship at State Street Global Advisors, said the firm’s climate change interactions are now focusing more on financial institutions funding energy companies.

Also in this podcast, Walker explains why State Street’s CEO Ron Hanley went all the way to the Vatican to engage on the topic and where the company focuses its attention when it comes to racial equity challenges.

Chief economist Alberto Matellán, who serves at Spanish-based Mapfre Inversion, discusses the benefits of empowering disabled workforces.

He delves into the investment philosophy of equity fund Inclusión Responsable, which he helped conceptualise in 2018 to invest in companies that create enabling environments for their disabled workforce.

The candid conversation also tackles issues of data transparency, and it switches the premise according to which a disabled person is not able to fit into a given environment. Rather, it calls into question how a given environment can shift from disabling to enabling those who have an handicap.

Covid-19 has exposed a lot of societal issues, be it job security or workplace safety, however the social aspect of ESG remains one of the least explored by investors today.

Speaking to Citywire Selector, BNP Paribas Asset Management’s Jane Ambachtsheer, global head of sustainability, and Adam Kanzer, head of stewardship Americas, said lots of conversations the team had with firms in 2020 were about the health and safety of employees, as sick leave, for example, became the key element of long-term risk management.

‘When companies are saying they have added some paid sick leave policies or hazard pay, we are asking which of these policies are temporary and which are going to remain in place, because these kinds of things are going to happen again,’ Kanzer added.

He said 2021 will involve trying to get a better understanding of what lessons have been learned and what steps companies are taking regarding resilience. ‘Let's not waste a crisis, let's try to learn from this,’ he added.

Also in this podcast the duo talk about the challenges of measuring social aspects of ESG, why companies should pay migrant workers for relocation.

‘They said we were absolutely crazy’. Fund selector Daniel Zachmann was not shocked by the response from his friends and family when he said he was going to co-found a company focused on gluten-free snacks.

The former Citywire Selector cover star, who is now an investment director at digital loans firm HCG Funds, explains how his education in advertising and economics led him to venture into the highly-competitive world of food start-ups.

In this interview, Zachmann also explains why he views himself as something of a reluctant entrepreneur, instead favouring the term ‘intrapreneur’.

UN PRI has now been around for 14 years, but the organisation needs to move with the times as the demands of investors in the ESG space are increasing.

In this episode of Let’s Talk About ESG, Tycho Sneyers, managing partner at LGT Capital Partners and a UN PRI board member, explains how the organisation is planning to expand its minimum requirements.

He also explains what investors can do to be compliant with various SDGs and how private equity can contribute to the ESG thinking.

Restructuring, a pandemic and political headwinds have all weighed heavily on the emerging world in 2020, but where should debt investors be looking to uncover opportunities for the year ahead?

In the final episode of EM Insider for this year, Raphael Kassin talks us through what challenges we have faced, how the market has performed and where he has been putting his own money to best use. And, as always, we take a look at Brazil’s continued slip into potential basket-case territory.

Many investment boutiques were launched over the past months, but seldom by women. Citywire A-rated Jane Andrews, who founded boutique BambuBlack in 2019 after twenty years at Smith & Williamson, is an exception to the rule.

In this new episode of Why Inclusion?, Andrews outlines what drove her to launch her own venture. From lazy balance sheets to restructuring, Andrews also discusses the improvement of corporate governance in Japan and the ‘womenomics’ that are at play in Asian markets.

BambuBlack’s founder, who enjoys unearthing small caps and meeting entrepreneurs, reviews promising areas aside from tech and digital stocks in her investment scene.

Executive compensation is among the burning issues that ESG investors just can’t afford to ignore.

That’s according to Neuberger Berman’s head of ESG, Jonathan Bailey, who said some pay packages are simply out of touch with reality, giving an example of a US rail company that the asset manager engaged with on the issue.

Also in this episode, Bailey names companies that do better and worse at reporting on ESG matters, explains why Neuberger Berman launched a sustainability-linked credit facility and what challenges US asset managers are facing when it comes to sustainability.

In this new episode of Breaking & Entering, portfolio manager Jeff Mueller delves into the epiphany that made him turn to investments after spending a decade in the United States Marine Corps. Mueller shares the transferable skills he still benefits from in his current role at Polen Capital and he points at current outstanding opportunities in the equity market.

The investor also debunks Hollywood myths that portray the military (as well as the investment industry) as individualistic and he praises the value of team culture.

The emerging markets have faced an unusually high number of restructuring efforts the governments are not helping themselves with their efforts to properly payback the debt.

In the latest EM Insider podcast, portfolio manager and local market expert Raphael Kassin walks us through how Argentina managed to turn an agreement into ‘the worst rout’ that Morgan Stanley had seen in 20 years.

This episode, also includes a lengthy look at Venezuela’s latest legal challenges and a throw forward to the potential implications that the US election could have for the developing world.

While it can be tempting to exclude palm oil producers on deforestation concerns, investors should avoid treating the commodity in simple, binary terms.

That’s is according to Masja Zandbergen, head of sustainability integration at Robeco, who said it can make sense to stick to the most efficient palm oil producers.

Also in this podcast Zandbergen explains how ESG investors should approach so-called ‘brown industries’, such as mining, how her team approaches biodiversity and the biggest challenges surrounding ESG integration at the moment.

Sharon Bentley-Hamlyn's appeal for European equities stems from both a singular training in opera singing and multiple financial crises. In the third episode of Breaking & Entering, the AA-rated manager chats about her fascinating path, which led her to found Aubrey Capital. She also discusses contemporary opportunities that stands out in the European market.

Covid-19 has pushed up the social aspect of the ESG acronym, however with job cuts looming across different sectors, how are sustainable investors supposed to react?

In this episode of our podcast we talk to Sacha Sadan, director of investment stewardship at LGIM, who explains why the focus should be on executive pay and why transparent tax reporting is rising on ESG investors’ agendas.

Also in this episode Sadan talks about beating greenwashing and how LGIM engaged with companies on various themes, be it climate change or modern slavery.

The idea of ‘vultures’ piling into low-priced bonds after a default and then forcing through restructuring terms that favour them could become a thing of the past if ESG investing really takes hold.

That is according to our EM Insider, Raphael Kassin, who made the comments in light of restructuring by Ecuador and Argentina, with the likes of Venezuela and Lebanon likely to go through herculean efforts to manager their debt.

In this latest episode of our monthly podcast, Kassin also touches upon Turkey and why he believes the Belarus situation is not going to have major implications for developing world debt buyers.

The headline from this year’s Citywire Alpha Female report is that it will take 200 years to reach gender parity for portfolio managers in the asset management industry.

To dissect these findings and talk about what comes next, reporter Victoire Barbin Perron chats with guests Dr. Nisha Long, who led the research effort, and independent adviser Deborah Gilshan, who is the founder of female empowerment network, the 100% Club.

This second episode of Why Inclusion? also looks at the bright side, and unpicks the means by which the industry could accelerate the shift towards gender equality with tools such as representation and role models, flexibility, networks, and healthy corporate culture.

As an openly gay woman, Arisaig Partners’s chief executive, Rebecca Lewis, has made diversity a cornerstone of both her corporate culture and her investment processes. In the first episode of Why Inclusion?, Lewis says, despite structural challenges, implementing inclusivity in the emerging market space has positive ripple effects.

The head of the UK-based boutique also unveils some of the firm’s best, long-term investment calls which have been driven by the forward-looking concept of ‘antevasin’, an intriguing Sanskrit term that is worth knowing about.

In this episode head of sustainability at Liontrust Peter Michaelis zooms in on engagement with companies on climate and why his team invested in pet insurance company Trupanion despite it being overlooked by ESG rating agencies.

Also in this podcast he talks about the fast fashion dilemma for sustainable portfolios and how his team debated investing in Alphabet.

Mega trends are in vogue in the fund industry these days, but Lyxor's Arnaud Llinas is aiming to revolutionise the space by offering low-cost solutions that tap into the expertise of non-financial professionals.

He talks to Citywire Selector about picking advisers to define the universe of its new ETF range and names his favourite themes.

At just 30 years old, Dr. Armando Cuesta Díaz took a leap of faith and stopped seeing patients to dedicate his time to asset management.

In this second episode of Breaking & Entering, Cuesta Díaz tells Victoire Barbin Perron what scientific revolutions drove him to co-found Spanish boutique Ilana Capital and to launch the Abante Biotech fund in 2018. He also reveals the secrets to spotting promising clinical trials, as well the most promising areas within the biotech space.

While the meat industry is a major producer of emissions, the likelihood that it will go the way of coal or energy seems far-fetched, which means it might be a bit too early to build vegan-focused portfolios.

That’s according to Henrik Pontzen, head of ESG at Union Investment. In a far-reaching episode of ‘Let’s Talk About ESG’, Ponzen explains why E, S and G don’t go far enough and how other dimensions, such as controversy, have to be considered.

He also delves into his problems with backwards-looking ESG ratings and tackles the thorny issue of why US Treasurys could easily be excluded from many lists due to their stance on the death penalty.

Argentina has blown its final chance to prove its worth and it is high time the Latin American country was barred from international bond markets, according to our EM Insider, Raphael Kassin.

In this first episode since Kassin returned from Brazil, the emerging markets specialists explains his strong feelings and why his home nation finds it so hard to shake itself from long-running corruption story.

This episode also takes in what Joe Biden in the White House could mean for emerging currencies, and a nod towards Mohamed El-Erian pitching up as chairman at a boutique with strong developing world ambitions.

Most people in finance have been in the industry their whole lives, but that’s not the case for Citywire AAA-rated Randall Dishmon. Randy, who is a senior global equity portfolio manager at Invesco, honed his skills in the diverse worlds of engineering and professional music before moving into fund management.

In this new series called Breaking & Entering, Randy tells Victoire Barbin Perron how his multi-faceted experiences have forged his investment golden rules. The outperforming investor also elucidates why transformation is a requisite to great management.

In this episode, Citywire Selector speaks to Sudhir Roc-Sennett, head of ESG at Vontobel’s quality growth boutique. He reveals his course of action if controversy occurs in a stock his team is invested in. He also explains why it paid off to hire investigative journalists when it comes to engagement and why it is important to talk to beer companies.

‘I cut my teeth as a hack at a newswire in the early 90s,’ admits Dan Scott, who despite holding one of the top jobs in wealth management doesn’t shy away from his career start in journalism.

In this podcast, Scott also explains how it felt to take over from his predecessor Lars Kalbreier in some of the most turbulent months for the financial markets, what he thinks about the death of value and how his team tackles greenwashing.

Hendrik-Jan Boer, head of sustainable investments equity at NNIP, explains what the Wirecard situation means for ESG investing, why it benefits salmon growers to have sustainability reports and how NNIP’s own sustainability investments have evolved over the last 20 years.

In a special episode of EM Insider, Raphael Kassin is on the ground in Rio de Janeiro as it becomes a global focal point for the Covid-19 outbreak and President Bolsonaro fights for power. In this episode, Raphael tells Chris Sloley why Brazil is becoming increasingly uninvestable.

Also in this episode, we look at how Argentina has delayed its debt restructuring but potentially alienated all future international investors in the process, as well as hearing how China has quietly emerged as a strong place to buy corporate debt.

In this episode of our ESG-focused podcast, we talk to Lisa Beauvilain from Impax AM about the threat that corporate lobbying poses to green investors, why you might need to consider ‘killing’ your ESG darlings and how asset managers can aid the fight against racism.

The Covid-19 crisis has caused many headaches for asset management chiefs, but you need to focus on plans being delayed rather than destroyed, according to Artisan Partners’ chief executive officer, Eric Colson.

In this latest episode of Future Thinking, Colson reveals how his multi-disciplined firm has responded to the market challenges, why his autonomous sub-group approach can thrive in the future and how his focus on company culture emboldens those willing to ‘misbehave’ when it comes to investment thinking.

The road ahead for real assets can be hugely positive but more work needs to be done to better educate investors from the outset, according to Gresham House’s chief executive officer, Tony Dalwood.

In this latest episode of Future Thinking, Dalwood talks about how he reshaped Gresham House’s real assets efforts, what the future could be for real assets and what could shape the real assets agenda over the next decade.

Digital strategies have raced to the top of investment firms’ agendas, while companies and countries have both begun to realise that whoever has access to the greatest amount of data will ultimately win the growing cold war around tech.

The latest Future Thinking podcast welcomes GAM’s Amanda Lyons, who works across several technology funds at the Swiss group. Also in this discussion, Lyons talks about the reality of not being to operate in a tech-free world and why remote working will become permanent.

Nordea Asset Management’s Eric Pedersen only started his role as head of responsible investments at the end of last year, but he already has his hands full.

He spoke to us about the EU’s forthcoming ESG taxonomy and how his team is getting ready for its implementation. We also discussed whether boutique asset managers will be swept by an ESG reporting tsunami, and he revealed his proudest achievement when it comes to responsible investing.

5G is the future – but what is it really? There are few issues that feature more prominently in discussions around technology and communication than this next level of telecommunications. So, who better to speak to than YT Boon, a chipmaker-turned-fund-manager running a 5G-focused fund at Neuberger Berman? This conversation covers the whole gamut, from the onset of the Internet of Things to the security and health concerns that have dogged the development of a system that could revolutionise the way in which technology interconnects. In this discussion, Hong Kong-based Boon looks at what is ‘mission critical’ in the 5G story.

Pictures of clear skies and clean air are great for short-term indications of how we can improve the environment but the reality is that Covid-19 has not meaningfully staved off the negative impacts of climate change in any meaningful way.

In the latest episode of Future Thinking, Ben McEwen, climate investment analyst at Sarasin & Partners, discusses his unique role, the importance of education and what really has to happen to ensure meaningful climate change abatement starts to take hold.

There is one emerging market which is proposing such strange measures that it might as well put a dome around itself and cut itself off from the rest of the world. That’s according to our EM Insider, Raphael Kassin. In the latest episode of our deep dive into developing world debt, Raphael talks Citywire Selector’s editor Chris Sloley through a wide array of market challenges and problems coming to the fore in the emerging markets over the past fortnight.

Millennial investment and working trends brought to the fore by Covid-19 will now never go away and the pace of adoption is a crucial topic for investors to get their heads around. That is according to Luke Barrs, head of the fundamental equity client portfolio management at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In this latest episode of Future Thinking, Barrs also talks about how experiences continue to take over from possessions, while the crossover from the baby-boomer generation to millennials will never be repeated due to one factor – the internet.

Having been highlighted in Citywire Selector’s 40 Under 40 – and even within its ‘Three Under 30’ sub-section – Aviva Investors’ Josh Biele knows first-hand how millennial thinking is reshaping the investment universe.

In this interview, Josh Biele talks about building up his own knowledge, the need for new blood in the financial industry and how the climate questions needs to move beyond being viewed as simple a concern of younger generations.

In the latest episode of Future Thinking, Mikkel Storup, regional director for Sparinvest, reflects on how Covid-19 has changed the way we communicate and what that means for people who are looking to get a clear message out in an era of increased noise.

Also in this discussion, the Luxembourg-based specialist talks about receptive audience, the growth of AI in marketing and communication and how virtual events can’t quite fill the gap of physical interactions when it comes to building relationships.

A week is a long time in politics and even longer in the emerging world. In this episode of our EM Insider series, Raphael Kassin turns his attention to Brazil and how the country could be heading to a political impasse in the wake of impeachment talk swirling around President Jair Bolsonaro.

Also in this episode, Kassin looks at the curious case of Ecuador, which has faced a particularly tough time amid the Covid crash and the oil price slump, as well as naming which market could be set to steal Brazil's ‘EM darling’ crown. This podcast was recorded on 29 April.

In the latest episode of Future Thinking, Taimur Hyat, chief operating officer of PGIM, builds on his work on the future of asset managers to look at how companies will have to reshape and reinvent themselves to survive and thrive.

In this discussion, Hyat discusses how everything from the shape of companies to the people they hire to the potential for more meaningful delivery of ESG than just an ‘elite charade’ of ‘corporate window dressing’ that actually doesn’t achieve anything.

It is time to shed the start-up mentality and instead focus on operating like a government. That is according to futurist and academic Thimon de Jong, who discussed how remote working has reshaped relationships and even people’s approaches towards each other. In this latest episode of Future Thinking, de Jong discusses how the incidental aspects of meetings are being lost through virtual interactions and offers some tips on how you can turn cold and efficient calls into friendlier interactions.

In the latest episode of Future Thinking, we’re talking ETFs. With the active world under pressure, what is the outlook for their passive counterparts? Rahul Bhusan established Rize ETF with Anthony Martin, Jason Kennard and Stuart Forbes after having worked together for many years at Canvas and, more recently, Legal & General Investment Management. The four-strong team has come to market with medical marijuana and robotics-focused funds, but where does it make sense to expand and where should product providers and – by extension – investors steer clear? In this discussion, Bhusan explains the rationale for going it alone and why there is a fear of oversaturation within several areas of the ETF industry.

Latin America has shown how not to handle a crisis with its response to the Covid-19 outbreak and savvy investors should be looking at the opportunities in Asia and Africa, according to our Emerging Markets Insider. In the fourth episode of this series, Raphael Kassin talks policy response, when it makes sense to make friends rather than enemies and how he is allocating his own money to the developing world during this period of unpredictability.

ESG has become a call-to-arms for active investors but the passive world is set to change shape at the same speed as it adjusts to an increased push for sustainable investing from all corners of the market. That is according to Remy Briand, head of ESG at indexing giant MSCI, who is the second guest in the new Citywire Selector series ‘Future Thinking’. In this dedicated series, we are speaking to thinkers, boutique builders, ESG experts and thematic investors to understand how thinking in its many forms is evolving and changing. From what topics will dominate the asset management industry through to how you can retrain your brain to approach old problems in new ways – stay tuned for more episodes coming soon.

The Covid-19 outbreak stemmed from Asia but what has the experience been on the ground and how are investment companies operating in the region responding and recovering? In a special podcast to coincide with Citywire’s forthcoming View From Asia publication, Citywire Selector editor Chris Sloley, who is based in London, spoke Citywire Asia editor Audrey Raj, who is based in Singapore. In this discussion, the pair talk about the reality of working in this changing climate, how private banks and asset management companies are responding and what is likely to come next.

You are more likely to make a poor decision last thing in the day, so you should move important meetings to periods of calm and quiet and away from pressing deadlines. That is among the many insights offered by neuroscientist and author Dr. Jack Lewis, who is the first guest in the new Citywire Selector series ‘Future Thinking’. In this dedicated series, we are speaking to thinkers, boutique builders, ESG experts and thematic investors to understand how thinking in its many forms is evolving and changing. From what topics will dominate the asset management industry through to how you can retrain your brain to approach old problems in new ways. Stay tuned for more episodes coming soon.

The third episode of our EM Insider series takes place in strange circumstances, with Raphael Kassin speaking down the phone late on Friday (27 March). In this episode, we discuss how the Covid-19 outbreak is weighing on local and hard currency calls.

Also in this episode, Kassin explains how he used to have almost one-third of his portfolios in cash and why taken such an aggressive approach to dry powder could help investors today. He also names an unlikely South American market to potentially back in the face of increased market pressure.

In the second episode of our EM Insider series, Raphael Kassin looks at what the knock-on effects of coronavirus are for developing world debt investors and why ‘catching the falling knife’ could prove painful for all involved. Also in this episode, Kassin tells Citywire Selector’s editor Chris Sloley what opportunities there may be, why unhappy populations make for uncertain markets and why ESG won’t become a major factor until more people are ‘willing to live like the Flintstones’.

BMO AM’s co-head of multi-management, Gary Potter, has seen a lot during his 39-year long career, from the Asian debt crisis to the global financial meltdown and extraordinary levels of stimulus. In this episode of the Citywire Selector podcast, the veteran selector explains why corporate mergers are a red flag for him when picking strategies, why he is avoiding giant funds and why it might be worth meeting a fund manager in a pub rather than a boardroom.

Our brand new EM Insider Podcast lifts the lid on what is really going on in the developing world with our resident EMD expert and columnist Raphael Kassin. In the first episode of this series, Raphael Kassin and Citywire Selector’s editor Chris Sloley discuss the current debt dynamics, the case for blend and why ‘everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die’ when it comes to ethical investing in Brazil.

Will Hobbs, the CIO of Barclays Investment Solutions, features in the latest episode of Citywire Selector podcast. He talks about investors overpaying for safety, his take on recessions and why outright exclusions are not his cup of tea.

In this episode of the Citywire Selector podcast, multi-management pioneer Alessandro Costa discusses why risk-takers are no longer a welcome breed in asset management. The market veteran also gives an insight into the mistakes that helped shape his career progression.

In this episode of the Citywire Selector podcast, Thimon de Jong, futurist and lecturer, gives examples of companies that use emotional AI to improve business relationships and how new technology can aid diversity efforts of financial firms.

In this episode of the Citywire Selector podcast, Thimon de Jong, futurist and lecturer, gives examples of companies that use emotional AI to improve business relationships and how new technology can aid diversity efforts of financial firms.

In the latest episode of the Citywire Selector podcast, our guest Jean-François Hautemulle¸ former head of fund selection at UniCredit and now running his own consultancy Terres Neuves, discusses why more and more selectors are leaving the role. In an open discussion, the former EMEA product development head for JPM AM also explains his work with asset managers to launch innovative new fund ranges and uses his frontline knowledge to explain what trends are on the horizon.

In a special edition of the Citywire Selector podcast, Chris Sloley sat down with Cameron Brate of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to talk about football and finance. The economics major talks about his unique career path from Harvard to the NFL and what he learned during his brief tenure in the world of finance.

In this episode of the Citywire Selector podcast Robin McDonald, head of multi-manager investments at Schroders, explains which areas of alternative investments he likes, how to select truly uncorrelated long-short funds and why he thinks it important for companies not to put fund managers under undue pressure.

ESG is everywhere. That’s a fact. The launch of Citywire Selector’s inaugural ESG Yearbook provoked healthy debate among the investment community about what is and what should be happening. One person to join the fray was the guest on this month’s podcast, Architas ESG analyst Tom Woodfield, who both commented on and questioned elements of the publication. So, here Tom and Chris Sloley, editor of Citywire Selector, discuss what clarity is needed around ESG, why the fight for hearts and minds is not yet complete and how the role of ESG analysts will evolve.

Fund selectors are often warned about ‘storyteller’ portfolio managers, but what can they actually do to avoid being swept away? Citywire Selector's editor Chris Sloley speaks to Neil Clare, fund selector focused on US equities at FundQuest Advisor, about the importance of reading ‘soft signals’, the strength of face-to-face meetings and why the data deluge isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Citywire Selector's international reporter Jessica Beard speaks to Volker Hergert, portfolio manager for multi asset at LGT Group about how to distinguish fund manager talent from luck and why a manager that has been successful all the time is dangerous. He also talks about why he's cynical when it comes to investment according to regional lines.

The regulation burden is getting heavier, so how can fund buyers still carve out time to find a competitive edge? In a panel session at Citywire Luxembourg 2018, AZ Fund Management’s Marco Vironda and Fuchs Group’s Ivan Nicolas tell Chris Sloley how they are staying ahead of the game, why ESG is a European obsession, what AI really means for their roles and how the human touch will never go out of fashion.

Citywire Selector's international reporter Jessica Beard speaks to Alex Brandreth, the deputy CIO and head of third party fund selection at Brown Shipley about the ongoing debate surrounding asset management fees. With a rush among fund houses to slash fees, Brandreth tells us how he is handling the increased pressure to provide value for money.

In the latest episode of the Citywire Selector podcast, our guest David Coombs, who is head of multi asset investments at Rathbones, tells us why he believes the focus on three year performance is flawed. He also reveals how the core skill of a selector is uncovering new names early and this can mean breaking traditional track record thinking.

Fidelity's Nick Peters tells Citywire Selector’s Jessica Beard where his fund selection focus currently lies. Speaking about his renewed interest in alternatives and thematic investing, he discloses his fund pairing successes and mistakes.

Citywire Selector’s international reporter Jessica Beard speaks to the head of multi-management at Schroders, Marcus Brookes. The fund selection chief gives his top tips for knowing when to call time on an underperforming manager and when it’s worth sticking with them through the tough times.

Citywire Selector’s international reporter Jessica Beard speaks to behavioural finance expert and fund selector Joe Wiggins from Aberdeen Standard. Wiggins gives his top tips for avoiding the natural biases all selectors are vulnerable to and explains why it is crucial to admit that emotion is driving your investment decision making.

Just because a hedge fund strategy has emerged in a Ucits structure doesn't make it immediately safe. Chris Sloley, Citywire Selector’s editor, this month finds out the main drawbacks to looking at alternative ideas. He catches up with Ian Crispo, head of liquid funds research at Deutsche Bank, to discuss the gap between what investors want and investors need, as well as his latest innovative investments.

MiFID II is proving a tough nut to crack for many fund buyers, but what lessons and opportunities have its first three months created? This month Chris Sloley spoke to Barclay’s head of fund and manager selection, Ian Aylward, to find out what has worked, what hasn’t and what he wish he knew before the regulation kicked in. We also get an update on his latest asset allocation and alternative thinking.

Is total return a trap and is disruptive a driver of returns or a dynamic marketing tool? This month Citywire Selector’s editor Chris Sloley get to grips with innovation and what fund selectors really think. He sits down with John Mallon of Italian group Classis Capital to hear how fixed income is being rethought and why strategy is more important than size.

Citywire Selector’s editor Chris Sloley is on the floor at Citywire Fixed Income Retreat 2018. He sits down with Investec W&I’s head of fixed interest, Darren Ruane, to hear how cash levels are creeping up in portfolios and shares a coffee with Citi’s EMEA strategist, Jeffrey Sacks, to discuss and debate Fed expectations for the year ahead.