Investing

Guy Wagner of Banque de Luxembourg Investments believes that Western economies will emerge weakened by the health crisis, with higher inflation and huge private debt. His fund is defensively positioned, despite an equity exposure close to 70% of assets under management.

The pandemic has put the resilience of the big city in the spotlight. The need to protect cities against the challenges of this century remains as great as ever. Schroders is therefore investing in real estate projects in the cities of the future. They are looking for players who push the boundaries and take the most drastic steps towards “net zero”. How? In this case, with a python script and a big database.

Andrea Carzana of Columbia Threadneedle has said the firm believes that it is now necessary to be exposed to the leaders of the future in terms of a sustainable investment strategy, and to focus on groups that are in the process of making a sustainable transition.

Floods, the Shell verdict, EU climate plans: climate change is coming to you and is increasingly becoming a factor in investment decisions. How do you deal with it? Quantification is difficult, but that makes the opportunity for fundamental investors all the greater. 

Keith Ney of Carmignac has said stock markets are still in a favourable climate. China remains an interesting country in which to invest, both for equities and bonds.

Ney joined the Strategic Investment Committee of Carmignac in April 2021. He has developed particular expertise in bonds and their place in a portfolio. His long career with the French manager has given him expertise in both equities and bonds. In addition to his role on the committee, he is direct co-manager of the Carmignac Patrimoine Europe fund.

There is no evidence that banks are shifting profits to Luxembourg to dodge tax, one of the authors of a recent controversial report by the EU Tax Observatory has said. Yet if this is so, why does the think-tank label Luxembourg a “tax haven” for banks? We asked one of the report authors to explain.

“Providers are gearing up to launch their crypto-ETFs in America, Europe and Asia, as soon as the regulator gives permission. As the custodian bank of some of these trackers, State Street is counting on about 20 new products initially, with a variety of products over time, including single asset crypto funds and baskets of cryptos,” said State Street’s Swen Werner, in a conversation with Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication.

Every day, Natixis IM’s head of multi asset James Beaumont and his team wonder how much higher the equity markets can go. Yet, according to him, the issue that is keeping multi asset investors awake at the moment is something else. What should they do with government bonds? 

The 300 largest pension funds in the world together had 21,700 billion US dollars under management in 2020. An increase of 11.5 percent, according to a study by Willis Towers Watson, in cooperation with the American platform Pensions & Investments. Prevailing trend: becoming more complex, but above all more holistic. 

You may have noticed that when Whatsapp starts a new chat, it displays a message that “end-to-end encryption” is being used. This means that the content of the messages cannot be read by anyone other than the people in the chat (though some question the extent of this). Facebook, the owner of Whatsapp, knows something about who you were in contact with and when, but not (necessarily) what it was about.