The Global Investment Report

The world is changing and whilst you're reading this; the speed of change is increasing even further. What this leads to no one knows - the future of financial services could be "anxious and challenging" or "brilliant and full of opportunities".

Will customer centricity still be the mindset? What about “AI-first”? Or will we jump into the next phase of life?

In this session, Vincent Fokke, CTO FS Benelux, Capgemini, will walk you through the future of banking touching on key themes including;

* AI First as starting point
* Branch “office" or not…
* PLC V4.0

Join this session and start tomorrow's conversation today.

This webinar will provide an analysis of what an Initial Coin Offering is useful for, who uses them, how to do your own, and how to get involved in others. It will provide an overview of how to tokenize an asset, why blockchain is used to do this, and how companies have done it so far.

In this presentation Callum Thomas, Head of Research at institutional research house Topdown Charts, will talk through the macro outlook for China. He will talk about where China is at in the business cycle, the key charts and indicators to watch, and how the macro outlook will shape the key risks and opportunities ahead. Listeners will leave the presentation with an understanding of the main things to think about on the macro front in China, and how to integrate that with the investment outlook.

Callum Thomas, Head of Research, Topdown Charts
Callum is the founder of Topdown Charts – a chart driven research house covering global asset allocation and economics. Callum has a background in multi-asset investment strategy on the buy-side and has built up strong research and analytical expertise for generating global macro driven investment insights and unique charts. Callum’s vision in creating Topdown Charts is to serve as a vital resource for portfolio managers and active asset allocators on idea generation, risk management, and in informing their macro view. Callum is based in Queenstown, New Zealand.

This webinar will define ESG, and speak about why it’s important from a Portfolio Manager’s viewpoint. It will also cover risk management / emerging opportunities / fiduciary responsibility.

3 case studies will be shared including:

1) Why clients are demanding it & market opportunities

2) The ESG Process

3) Integrating ESG into your current investment process – building capacity & achieving team buy-in

Simon is currently the Head of Institutional Business at CSOP Asset Management and his team covers investors in both Europe & Hong Kong. Prior to CSOP, Simon spent 7 years at Bloomberg as an ETF/Mutual Fund Market Specialist & Senior RM covering offshore Chinese financial institutions.
Earlier in his career, Simon worked for Credit Suisse, Mayfair Pacific Financial Group, and Fubon Bank in Hong Kong. Simon started his career at SAFE HK as an Analyst and was subsequently promoted to Portfolio Manager responsible for managing part of China’s Foreign Reserves. Simon earned his BA Degree from UCLA.

Can the megacap tech elephants still dance? Or should the question be: Is there an alternative and better way to capture long-term investment returns, created by disruptive forces and innovation without falling for the “Next-Big-Thing" trap by overpaying for "growth" and chasing to invest in the fads, 'me-too' imitators, or even in seemingly cutting-edge technologies without the ability to monetize and generate recurring revenue with a sustainable and scalable business model?

We see a distinct value opportunity in an exclusive group of under-the-radar Asian SMID-cap tech stocks who are exceptional market leaders in their respective fields with unique scalable business models run by high-integrity, honorable and far-sighted entrepreneurs with a higher purpose in solving high-value problems for their customers and society whom we call H.E.R.O. - “Honorable. Exponential. Resilient. Organization.”.

- Investing in exponential innovators = The most relevant language in value investing?
- Why are these exponential & exceptional innovators overlooked and mis-priced winners and the most relevant multi-year investment trend and opportunity?
- The analytical framework to identify winners, including rejuvenating the defensive economic "moat" analysis by complementing with the more offensive “catapult” analysis, using this new lens to view the value creation process afresh and continually discover innovators creating, enabling and capturing new demand with exponential non-linear growth potential
- Remaining skeptical and grounded in the Asian capital jungles and avoiding the investing pitfalls and traps of Asian-style accounting fraud and mis-governance which western-based fraud detection tools and techniques have not been adequately adapted to the Asian context
- Selected case studies

In this webinar, Ziad Abdelnour will speak about where he is seeing opportunity in the us. Investing ideas abound, but which are the most over-looked, which are caused by the geopolitical undercurrents of the day, and how can investors get involved? Topics will include infrastructure, oil, commodities, and real estate, and the macroeconomic and political indicators showing that these investments are poised for growth.

Most global equities including US and Asia are in the late bull market. Valuations are beginning to look
stretched, and many risks loom large. Where should investors look for value? We will look at some
themes and trends in the markets – economic, demographic, geopolitical, regulatory and technological –
that could help find the long-term outperformance.

With a new FED increasing interest rates, geopolitics affecting US strength, how can investors think about the next 6 months with an eye to profits? This webinar will dive into how investors can view the US as an investment opportunity going into the last 6 months of 2018.

Cherry Reynard writes regularly for publications including the Telegraph, Investors Chronicle, Money Observer, Moneywise, Morningstar & www.iii.co.uk, Investment Week & Trustnet. Cherry is a winner of the AIC freelance journalist of the year award (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) & winner of the IMA freelance journalist of the year award (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016) & co-authored a book – Investing in Emerging Markets; the BRIC economies and beyond, which was published in 2010.

Leon Diamond is the founder & Chief Investment Officer of Mansard Capital. As CIO of Mansard Capital, Leon sits on the investment committee focusing on portfolio construction, risk management & trading strategies. Previously he was head of investments for AJ Bell Investments, responsible for long term asset allocation & implementation. Prior to AJ Bell he ran a macro fund being nominated for HFMWeek US Performance Awards “Best Performing Global Macro Fund” - Finalist November 2007 and Hedge Funds Review European Performance Awards 2009 “Best Global Macro Hedge Fund” - Highly Commended May 2009. He received a Bachelor of Business in Finance from Queensland University of Technology & completed his post graduate studies through the Australian Securities Institute. He has been investing in global markets for the last 19 years.

Francesco Filia heads all portfolio management and research related activities at Fasanara. Prior to co-founding Fasanara, Francesco was MD & EMEA head of the principal investors group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, a top producing investment practice comprised of 15 professionals. Francesco is a graduate of Bocconi University in Milan & scholar of Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.

In a post GDPR world, top of the funnel traditional direct marketing isn't a viable option for financial services firms. Data is more regulated, targeting is more limited and a broad approach is a strategy that will likely fail.

Instead it's time to focus on a strategy that will attract, convert and delight engaged clients. This strategy is Growth Marketing. In this webinar we focus on how to turn your marketing culture from top of the funnel to a growth marketing culture where every stage of the funnel counts.

Other key takeaways include:

- Aligning your marketing goals into creating inbound opportunities which allows your firm to grow
- How to use the inbound model to not only create more leads, but turn these leads into delighted brand ambassadors
- How content is the new data when it comes to creating successful modern growth marketing campaigns
- Using technology and automation to streamline your marketing

Section 1 – From QE to QT – now is the time for active management
Section 2 – a behavioural approach to generating alpha
Section 3 – Conclusion / Q&A

Nadia Grant joined the company in 2014 as a portfolio manager within the US Equities team and became Head of US Equities, EMEA in July 2017. She manages the Threadneedle American Fund as well as a number of institutional portfolios. Nadia also contributes to the team’s macroeconomic and thematic research.

Prior to joining the company, she worked for 13 years at JP Morgan Asset Management. She worked as a portfolio manager in various teams, managing European, American and Global strategies.

Nadia has a Master’s degree from Reims Business School (Neoma) and also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Currency has been many things over the ages. First, it was barley, salt and cattle. It then became metal, mostly gold and silver. Representational currency came next, where pieces of paper represented holdings in gold or silver. Then fiat became the norm, where the currency's value was supported only by the government issuing it. Crypto-currencies have now entered the scene and are believed by many to be setting the stage for the next shift in currency. The question remains: What will it take to drive adoption and allow digital currencies to replace fiat as the major form of currency on the planet?

Ryan Ross speaks w/ Ripple's Marjan Delatinne about how they are employing blockchain technology, how banks are beginning to use blockchain, and the fact that the phenomenon is beyond hype. Topics also include how Ripple views blockchain as the 'internet of value', distinct from the 'internet of information', how to scale a technology, and how remittances create a test case for the way forward.