FTSE Russell Convenes

Fiona Bassett, CEO of FTSE Russell shares her unique perspective on indexing. Fiona discusses why she feels we are early in the evolution of indexing, what she sees as key challenges within the index industry today and the opportunities that are on the horizon.

How far is crypto exposure evolving beyond Bitcoin? In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Inkoo Kang, Vice President, ETFs at Grayscale joins Kristen Mierzwa, Head of Digital Assets at FTSE Russell to discuss how pension plans and institutions are more easily gaining access to crypto products, and what Inkoo’s product development role involves, from the early stages of the ideation process all the way to in-market support. Inkoo also discusses the emergence of exposures in US ETF markets, his views on the story beyond Bitcoin, and why he sees Ethereum as a tech stack built for the modern world. 

In our fourth episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Joyce Choi, Head of Institutional Product Strategy, Fixed Income ETFs at BlackRock, shares her knowledge on fixed income markets at what she sees to be a very interesting and pivotal time.

From key market drivers through to market structure and products, Joyce explains the core components of fixed income markets that have enabled investors to build portfolios with a wider number of strategies, and for dealers to more easily hedge their risk.

Greg Brown, Professor of Finance, Kenan Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, joins us for our third episode of FTSE Russell Convenes to share his knowledge on private equity markets. A ‘Van and Kay Weatherspoon Distinguished Professor of Finance’, Greg has been an academic researcher, faculty member at UNC for more than 25 years and is also the founder and research director of the Institute for Private Capital.

In his discussion with Indrani De, Head of Global Investment Research at FTSE Russell, Greg begins with the drivers of general outperformance of private equity over public equity, and sources of returns.

The conversation turns to other parts of private markets, and inherent shifts from private equity to private credit and real estate to infrastructure, delving into growth post-financial crisis in the last ten to fifteen years and the different reasons behind it.

Final questions from Indrani, addressed by Greg, include the key differences in the inflation sensitivity of public markets and private markets, and the importance of investability - specifically the differences in economies or diseconomies of scale.

In our second episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, we are joined by Daniel Reyes, Global Head of Product at Vanguard, whose career with the firm spans over 14 years.

In his discussion with Dana Moody, Manager, Index Investments Group at FTSE Russell, Dan explains how Vanguard adapts to evolving ETF market dynamics, while staying true to its investment philosophy—to offer products and exposures it believes will drive positive investment outcomes over the long term.

The conversation flows into new entrants into the ETF market, novel exposures and the many different types of ETF strategies launched over the last decade, with most coming and going with a market cycle. Digging in deeper here, Dan shares his views on thematic exposures, and when an investment strategy turns from a fad into a sound investment strategy.

Wrapping up the discussion, the focus is on market structure, specifically in the U.S., where equity market indexes and returns have become increasingly concentrated. Dan addresses how Vanguard considers this in the index construction process of its products, and the broader product lineup.

In our first episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Season 4, we welcome Michael Brandt, Professor of Finance, Duke University at The Fuqua School of Business whose career on strategic and tactical asset allocation spans 25 years. In his discussion with Indrani De, Head of Global Investment Research at FTSE Rusell, Michael explains why asset allocators need to pay particular attention to market structure and the time frames we use to measure it.

A focus of Michael and Indrani’s conversation is asset allocation in the current market environment, in particular financial market imbalances. Michael shares his knowledge on what is leading to them and where investors should be most concerned; impact at asset class level on the time horizon; implications for optimal frequency and timing for portfolio construction; and the issue of correlated strategies—where capital flows are happening right now and their tie-in to these imbalances.

Janice Kan Pui Yoke, Co-Head of Equities and Head of Derivatives, SGX Group shares insights on the developments she has seen during her time there over the past three decades. Well-positioned to talk about its history, Janice explains how the Euro dollar futures contract transformed the face of trading in Singapore before explaining how product offerings and innovations are determined.

In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Tony Campos, Head of Sustainable Investment, Index Investments Group at FTSE Russell, provides the lowdown on ESG. He begins with the three categories that institutional investment clients are broadly falling into with climate-related and green-focused investing, before providing an update on the reengineering of ESG indexing, regulation, and risk. 

Sean O'Hara, President at PacerETFs joined us for an episode of FTSE Russell Convenes at our World Investment Forum in June 2023.  He discusses the need to be innovative, disruptive and unique in light of the competitive ETF landscape, along with differentiating on distribution.  He also talks about the macro headwinds of this year, his concerns over valuations and how 'narratives' could play out in the next few months.

At the World Investment Forum in June 2023, Rob Arnott, founder and chairman of the board of Research Affiliates, shares his thoughts on Fed policy, interest rates and inflation from a historical viewpoint and where he sees them heading. He also talks us through the key findings of a RAFI research paper “Reports of Value’s death may have been greatly exaggerated” published in the FAJ in 2021. From there he explains the ‘migration effect’ on the dividend stream of the Russell Value portfolio from 2007 to 2022, the flaws in book-to-value and his thoughts on AI.