Citywire: The Selection Show

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 a...

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 cultur...

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...

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...

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...

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 abl...

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 cl...

‘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 ap...

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 product...

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 clas...

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...

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 h...

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...

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...

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 investmen...

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 ret...

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 podcas...

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...

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...

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, assessin...

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 cur...

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 Th...

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...