In recent years, investment professionals have identified a more nuanced category of diversification—specifically, gender diversification within workplace leadership. Data shows that leadership diversity tends to provide the same benefits as asset-class diversification: higher returns and lessened risk. Given this research, investors, particu...
Increasing data availability and shifting investor focus toward ESG integration has led to rapid innovations in the financial industry as demand grows for impact investing. Research suggests that ESG Tilt strategies can earn competitive returns, with particularly favorable results in emerging and European markets. Meanwhile, ESG Momentum strategies...
Gross domestic product per capita, a proxy for living standards, has slowed dramatically over the last 15 years. For equity investors, slower economic growth translates into reduced opportunity for revenue growth and increased risk for transitory shocks and market volatility. The biggest risk to the economy is that political leaders will respond to...
The surprise result of the British referendum to leave the European Union this June sent shockwaves through the markets and some investors expected additional fallout down the road. It seems the opposite has been happening. Recent data from the U.K. Office for National Statistics showed the British economy grew by 0.7 percent in the second quarter ...
In the past, central banks were able to push short-term interest rates below zero with negative deposit rates but they had limited influence on longer-maturity bonds. When the financial crisis hit in 2007, all this changed, revealing a new unconventional monetary policy that included buying bonds. Since then, central banks have supported pricing by...
From an economic perspective, resource rich ASEAN, with its 600 million consumers is one of the most interesting regions in the world. Yet, German companies have to recognize it and position themselves to benefit from its long-term growth potential. Compared with the EU, the level of integration in ASEAN is still at an early stage. At the same time...
Co-investing is gaining popularity and theoretically offers investors cost advantages and higher return potential. This report discusses the opportunities and common pitfalls of co-investing, leveraging our aggregated data on co-investments and funds generating co-investment.
One primary consideration of investors looking to make an allocation to listed real estate via real estate investment trusts (REITs) today is the impact that a rising-rate environment has on the relative performance of REITs vs. other broader asset classes. This paper discusses the role of REITs in a portfolio as part of a comprehensive investment ...
Amid unprecedented economic turmoil and regulatory change, most asset managers have afforded themselves little time to bring the future into focus. But the industry stands on the precipice of a number of fundamental shifts that will shape the future of the asset management industry. This paper will help asset managers’ plan for the future by ...
Advisors and consumers often think of variable universal life (VUL) as just an equity-linked product. But for many, VUL is much more than that.This article seeks to encourage a rethinking of VUL as a unique life insurance product that provides control, flexibility and transparency in a low cost product chassis, while providing the potential for enh...
Since their introduction only two decades ago, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have been undeniably successful. Growing far beyond their initial function of tracking large liquid indices in developed markets, ETFs now hold over $2.6 trillion of assets globally. In fact, the proliferation of ETFs was identified as one of the six game change...
Micro cap stocks are among the investment world’s worst-kept secrets. They have been around as an asset class category since the 1980s, and research has repeatedly confirmed the ad­vantages they offer to investors – most notably a chance to exploit numerous opportunities for greater excess returns.Micro caps’ size and role in ...
This report provides a historical review of past economic conditions for 2013 and 2014, and illustrates what might be in store for investors in 2015 by asking five key questions. Those questions include: Will US equities continue to outperform? Is the macro environment in Europe getting worse? What impact will diverging monetary policy have o...
The foreign exchange market is widely appreciated to be the largest and most liquid market of all global financial markets. However, it is susceptible to shocks which can cause significant unexpected volatility, such as the timing of the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) decision to remove its 1.20 floor on the Swiss Franc versus the Euro on 15th J...
The US energy renaissance may be taking a breather, exasperated from ten years of mind boggling growth, but unquestionably it is not over. Global energy demand is expected to grow well into the future and the US is poised to take advantage of the trend to become the world’s marginal producer. At current oil prices, US energy producers will (a...