Asset Owner

Family offices blur traditional financial roles. They are asset owners, asset managers, and wealth advisors simultaneously. Can the industry manage this complexity effectively?

Hiring freezes, automation, and a shrinking talent funnel point to a structural reset in America’s financial sector. One with growing implications for Europe.

Emerging markets extended their strong start to the year with another solid quarter. The Morningstar EM TME Index rose nearly 3 percent in Q2, outpacing the Morningstar Global TME Index, which gained 2.5 percent. As a result, emerging markets have now widened their outperformance over developed markets to nearly 4 percent year to date.

While this week’s spike in copper prices may have grabbed headlines, veteran mining executive Ernest Mast, based in Toronto, believes it signals something deeper: a market entering a structural phase shift, complicated by geopolitics, policy, and supply-side inertia.

Large language models may seem brilliant at making predictions, but often it’s just memorization. And that has implications for investors relying on LLMs for economic analysis.

Luxembourg, long seen as the administrative engine of Europe’s fund industry, has evolved into a strategic global hub, with U.S. asset managers leading the charge. Firms like Blackrock, Invesco, and JPMorgan are anchoring cross-border operations in the Grand Duchy, turning it into a launchpad for global growth and highlighting America’s dominant role in shaping Europe’s financial future.

Each week, I think about which macro figure or market theme to explore in this column. Then, out of nowhere, another article pops up about that enormous elephant in the room: our debt-fueled economic system is creaking so loudly that it can’t be ignored.

A combination of increased volatility and ongoing political and economic uncertainty is pushing financial institutions in Europe and Asia toward bonds. Asset allocators at several hundred of these firms expect to significantly increase their allocation to the asset class.

This week’s overview of people transfers and appointments includes updates from Mirabaud, Alfi, Carmignac and River Global.

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform many industries. In addition to the software sector, heavy industry and mining may be among the biggest winners, according to experts.