Investment decision making in the face of radical uncertainty

The COVID-19 Pandemic shocked the world and found global governments, healthcare systems and employers to be underprepared, under resourced and unclear on how to deal with its impacts. The impetus to act by investors may have compromised the quality of their decision making as they struggle to process the plethora of information intertwined in the media hullabaloo. Dr Ben Kelly, Senior Thematic Analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments will investigate why investor decision making is often compromised under these stressed circumstances and offer strategies to mitigate the impacts of behavioural biases on investor decision making. Learning Objectives:  Understand how market shocks can impact decision making  Explain the key behavioural biases which drive decision making  Utilise tools to identify and remove behavioural biases from your own and your client’s behaviour Speaker Bio Benjamin Kelly is a Senior Thematic Analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. His principal responsibility relates to the development, delivery and integration of thematic research in particular sustainable outcome strategies across equity and fixed income portfolios. In addition, Ben leads the firm’s idea generation in behavioural science which includes providing behavioural insights to the investment teams regarding biases in investment decision making. Prior to joining the company, Ben worked in BlackRock’s Investment Institute where he combined macroeconomic research across equity, fixed income and real asset teams with expertise in behavioural finance and investment decision making. In this context, he worked with fundamental and quantitative alpha generation teams focusing on their investment processes and how these can be modified to combat behavioural biases. Ben is a current visiting lecturer in behavioural science at the University of St. Andrews and London School of Economics.