Investment Officer Germany

It has been an eventful year so far for emerging market debt. Investors have enjoyed strong returns in US dollars, with the JPM GBI-EM Global Diversified index gaining 11.4 percent through July. India’s weighting in the benchmark has increased, but not all fund managers are equally enthusiastic about the country’s prospects.

Robinhood, the Silicon Valley-based brokerage known for disrupting Wall Street with zero-commission trading and meme-stock mania, is making a bold play for Europe. Its strategy? Rewire equity markets using blockchain.

ABN Amro is set to personalize wealth management for private banking clients. Starting in October, clients with managed portfolios will allocate 10 percent of their portfolio to at least three self-selected themes. To achieve this, the bank invests in structured products, ensuring that a client cannot lose more than 5 percent of their investment per theme.

Amundi COO Guillaume Lesage, in an interview, reveals how Alto is trying to break Aladdin’s spell, offering a European SaaS alternative in portfolio management tech.

At the Weseler Werft, a green strip along the river Main in Frankfurt with a view of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters, the music of Strauss, Mendelssohn, and Liszt rang out on August 21. The ECB sponsored the Europa Open Air concert to celebrate European diversity.

Bitcoin Treasury Companies, firms that hold billions of dollars in bitcoin on their balance sheets, are crossing over to Europe. This raises the risk that passive investments, via index funds, could be funneled into one of the most volatile corners of the market.

Recently, Donald Trump urged Goldman Sachs to fire its chief economist. According to the president, he was completely off with his unwelcome forecasts about the effects of the trade war on US inflation. This raises the question of how independent economists at commercial financial institutions really are.

In the world of investment advice, a new player has emerged that leaves traditional analysts behind: the finfluencer. A recent study by Vaibhav Lalwani on financial YouTubers in India reveals fascinating insights into how these unregulated advisers influence markets. Insights that institutional investors cannot afford to ignore.

After the sharp rise in the gold price, silver is also on the move. Specialists expect further gains, pointing to declining confidence in public finances and fiat money.

Strong inflows at Amundi, Natixis, DWS and Allianz show investors’ appetite for income strategies. But equity outflows and margin pressure reveal an industry split between volume growth and conviction.