Morningstar: Blackrock versus MFS Meridian in global small- and mid-cap equity
A strong start to the year for smallcaps does not guarantee outperformance in 2026.
Alternatives form cornerstone of BNP Paribas AM growth strategy
BNP Paribas Asset Management expects its alternatives division to grow by 5 to 6 percent annually and to consolidate its leading position in Europe. The asset manager said it is barely affected by the negative sentiment surrounding private credit.
European banks aren’t overexposed to the Middle East, but their borrowers might be
European banks have little direct exposure to the Middle East, says European credit rating agency Scope. However, as tensions in the region threaten to push up energy prices and slow economic growth, the risks for lenders may emerge elsewhere: in the balance sheets of the companies they finance.
The Great Monetary Illusion: Why equity markets soar in a fragile world
Many investors today look at global equity indices and wonder how markets have risen so sharply over the past two decades in an environment marked by tepid economic growth, recurring geopolitical shocks and rising public debt burdens.
The new equity analyst is called Claude. But he can’t do everything
Write a prompt asking Claude to act like an investor who wants to know everything about a company. Upload the quarterly results of a business you follow. Click. Wait fifteen minutes. And there it is: an investment memo with a cash-flow model, scenario analysis, a risk overview and a valuation framework. Neatly structured.
Morningstar: HSBC vs Schroders in Asian bond funds
The Asian bond market continues to deepen, supported by local and international interest.
Mourant anchors EU fund structuring work in Luxembourg
In a fund market that is becoming increasingly fragmented between European requirements, rising regulatory pressure, and the growth of private markets, large offshore firms can no longer ignore Luxembourg. For Mourant, historically established in Jersey, Guernsey, and the Cayman Islands, opening an office in the Grand Duchy two years ago was not merely a geographic expansion. It was a strategic repositioning.
How Europe wants to protect itself from dollarization
With euro stablecoins and a digital euro, Europe wants to counter the looming dollarization of the European economy. In consumer payments, the sovereignty of the euro is already under pressure, the European Central Bank warns.
The price of war
Within one hundred hours, American and Israeli forces struck nearly 2.000 targets in Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei and dozens of senior officials were killed. It is the largest American military operation in the Middle East since 2003. The initial market reaction was remarkably muted, but the oil price tells a different story.
Noise in the factors
I recently came across an interesting study about the Fama-French factors, those widely used risk factors that underpin how we evaluate investment performance. The findings should matter to every (institutional) investor.