Citywire: The Selection Show

PODCAST: Morningstar’s sustainability director Hortense Bioy on the importance of not losing sight of the 1.5C target

Morningstar’s Arthur Carabia and Lindsey Stewart speak to Citywire’s Krystle Higgins on what governments need to enforce to support the climate agenda at COP28. 

COP28 is a crucial landmark in the fight against climate change, and keeping the financial and corporate worlds on track to achieving net zero emissions.

Morningstar’s Arthur Carabia, director of ESG policy research and Lindsey Stewart, director of investment stewardship research join Citywire’s Krystle Higgins to speak about their COP28 regulatory wish lists, as well as why this COP is so important.

Also discussed in this episode are what this season's ESG proxy voting trends tell us about the mood music leading up to COP28, as well as the vital role stewardship plays in the path to net zero.

With investors at their most excited about the Japanese equity market in decades, Citywire Selector spoke to the co-manager one of the best funds in the sector.

Citywire AAA-rated Ben Williams spoke to Selector news editor Ian Heath about why he thinks the turnaround in Japan’s fortunes is here to stay and what is driving this trend.

Topics included why Japan’s rally this year has differed from that of the US, the role Shinzo Abe played in reviving his country’s markets and how M&A reforms could drastically affect corporate culture in the Land of the Rising Sun.

The recent flare-up in violence in Israel and Gaza has shocked the world and is among a number of geopolitical threats faced right now.

 

Anna Rosenberg, who is the head of geopolitics at the Amundi Investment Institute, dropped in to speak to Selector news editor Ian Heath about these key issues and the risks investors need to be aware of. 

 

They discussed themes such as the stability of the Middle East region, the US-China rivalry and the political uncertainty we face in 2024 as several important elections loom.

The ability to know your limits and have the courage to hire people to take on aspects that might not be your strong point can make or break a start-up venture.

That’s one of the key takeaways from Jacob Mitchell, co-founder and chief investment officer of Antipodes Partners, who shared the story of how he developed his global equity shop in this final episode of the first series of Boutique Builders.

In this discussion, Mitchell continues the theme of the series by outlining what it was that drove him to create his own company, while also explaining what he would do differently if he could rewind the clock to 2015 when he first started.

Allspring Global Investment’s EM equity veteran, Derrick Irwin joins Citywire’s Krystle Higgins to discuss how investable China is right now. Irwin has been in the industry for 30-years, and discussed how the current investor pessimism compares to other economic challenges faced by the second largest economy in the world. 

Irwin also makes a case that it is now easier to value Chinese stocks, as well as what his top picks are.

The saying goes that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks.

But one person who might disagree is Chris Reid, chief investment officer and founder of Cambridge-based boutique Iguana Investments.

Reid dropped into Citywire’s London studios to speak to Selector news editor Ian Heath about how after a two-year hiatus from investment management he has adapted to what he feels has been the biggest change in the industry - the increasing impact of fund flows on share pricing.

They also talked about the lessons he learned during his time out, as well as the challenges of coming back into the industry and setting up your own company.

‘It’s really, really stressful’. Dan Brocklebank, UK director of Orbis Investments, has perhaps summarised the chief challenge facing all independent asset managers, but it is not all downside.

Speaking as part of our Boutique Builders podcast series, Brocklebank outlined what drives business thinking at the UK-based group, how investment returns remain the key driver for the future of the company and what he factors in when recruiting people.

In this interview, Brocklebank also outlines why mistakes and failings will happen, but it is about creating both a working culture and an investment framework which means any fallout does not prove detrimental for the company as a whole.

Everyone wants some control over their own destiny, to an extent. However, this can get lost in large organisations and make it hard for fund managers to deliver on what they have promised.

 

In this latest episode of Boutique Builders, Glen Finegan talks about the important role a collaborative culture and collective mindset played when Skerryvore Asset Management was launched in 2019.

 

Finegan, who had held senior EM equity roles at major groups, took the plunge with several former colleagues and immediately embraced a partner-focused model and also prioritised the next generation of investment talent.

 

In this episode, Finegan talks about the challenge of setting up literally months before a global pandemic permanently altered working practices and is efforts to remove ‘unhelpful stress’ by knowing what his and his teams limits are when it comes to running the business.

‘The majority of the time when you’re a boutique, you’re not going to have the job security or immediate pay levels of the larger funds. So you need to create something that is compelling and avoids the churn.’

 

That is the underlying message Adam Davies bears in mind when bringing new people and fresh thinking to his group Velox Capital, a UK-based independent asset manager.

 

Speaking as part of Citywire Selector’s Boutique Builder series, Davies outlines how he came to be chief executive officer of the group and how covering both business growth and product development takes a very focused mindset.

 

Unlike previous guests on this series, Davies was brought into Velox Capital when the organisation was up and running, so he also talks about ingratiating into a new set-up, developing a collaborative culture and why his grounding in the world of start-ups can help the company grow.