Name: The Evolution of the Thematic Funds Landscape - European View
Start: 2023-02-28T15:00:00Z
End: 2023-02-28T15:00:38.000Z
Location: BrightTALK
Rating: 1.3

Independent investment research and analysis. Get the latest insights on the European, Middle Eastern, and African markets. Subscribe to our regular webinars on investing trends, EU regulations, and tools for financial professionals. 

Efficient performance reporting is essential for effective due diligence. Join us for a live session to explore how Morningstar Direct’s performance reporting capabilities can help you surface key insights faster, simplify complex workflows, and improve team-wide efficiency.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

• Navigate Morningstar Direct’s Performance Reporting tool
• Leverage its advanced functionality to build more impactful reports
• Analyze, format, and automate performance reports with ease

We’ll also showcase how Presentation Studio, a powerful module within Morningstar Direct, enables you to design visually striking, professional-grade reports.

Discover how to use Performance Reporting in Morningstar Direct can help you build custom reports at scale. Our expert speakers will share practical tips to help refine your processes and speed up your reporting efforts.

Build Smarter Reports, Faster: Custom Reporting at Scale with Morningstar Direct

2025 threw up plenty of shocks, but we survived, and European markets still delivered double digit returns. The macroeconomic environment has since improved and the benefit of lower interest rates is slowly filtering down to businesses and consumers, which should be supportive of stocks in 2026. Despite the strong returns in 2025, European equity markets still have some upside potential, which is good news for investors. The big question now however is what could cause us disruption in 2026, will it be more trade wars, political instability in Europe, or another left field event like Covid-19?
 
What we will cover:
• We will look at major price movements across the EMEA coverage universe and opportunities this has created.
• How sector valuations have shifted over the last quarter, and where we see value
• Relative valuation of the European market versus other regions
• Our top stock picks across the European coverage universe

Morningstar's Q1 EMEA Market Outlook: Markets Poised for Another Strong Year, But What Could Derail the Momentum?

Morningstar is committed to increasing transparency, explainability, and confidence in our Medalist Ratings. Join us for an in-depth webinar where we’ll introduce our simplified approach to ratings and methodology. 

This session will provide a comprehensive overview of the changes, including: 
• Transparent Pillars: Quant-driven fundamental pillars (People, Process, Parent) will now include greater visibility into the underlying inputs — including new metrics like Fund Manager Successful Experience*— so investors can better understand how a Medalist Rating is determined. There will continue to be a delineation between pillar ratings that come from an analyst or algorithm.  
• Simplified Structure: Funds are evaluated against their Morningstar Category average rather than a benchmark, enabling investors to more easily identify Medalist options within a category and make meaningful peer comparisons.  
• New Price Score: A Morningstar Medalist Rating Price Score from –2.5 to 2.5 will explicitly reflect whether an investment’s fee is a liability or competitive advantage, subtracting from or adding to the overall rating.  
• Fixed Rating Thresholds: Medalist Ratings will be determined by a simple combination of fundamental pillar ratings and a Medalist Rating Price Score, increasing stability by eliminating a forced distribution of ratings that caused ratings to change based on updates to other funds.  

*Fund Manager Successful Experience: Tenure-weighted average of the successful manager experience values for the managers listed on the fund. The successful manager experience value for each manager is the total number of months over the past 10 years in which a manager achieved a positive gross-of-fee excess return over the category index, minus the number of months with negative ones.

Discover the Future of Morningstar’s Medalist Ratings

For investment teams, year-end reporting isn’t just a routine—it’s a high-stakes opportunity to deliver clarity, value, and trust. But behind the scenes, many firms face common challenges: data overload, tight timelines, and rising expectations for personalization and transparency. 

In this webinar, Morningstar’s Customer Success Managers share first-hand insights from their conversations with asset and wealth management clients. They'll highlight the most common pain points around year-end reporting and demonstrate how Morningstar Direct is helping teams streamline workflows, enhance personalization, and deliver reports that resonate with clients and stakeholders. 

What you’ll learn: 
- The top challenges investment teams face during year-end reporting 
- How to craft compelling narratives using high-quality data 
- Where automation and personalization intersect in reporting workflows 
- How Morningstar Direct helps streamline reporting and elevate client communications 

Whether you're looking to improve efficiency, elevate your client experience, or reduce reporting friction, this session will provide practical strategies and tools to help your team close the year strong.

From Data to Decisions: Best Practices for Year-End Investment Reporting

In today’s ESG landscape, investors face an overload of data, and with ever-changing regulations there is an increasing need for reliable data, regulatory alignment, and clear communication of impact.  

Join us for an in-depth look at how Morningstar Direct helps institutional investors navigate the complexity of ESG investing. Discover how recent advancements in Direct’s tools streamline access to high-quality ESG data, integrate the latest regulatory frameworks, and enable you to deliver customized reports that demonstrate tangible outcomes. 

We will cover: 

- Current climate and trends impacting ESG investing. 
- ESG data challenges across the investment workflow. 
- Best practices for communicating portfolio impact. 
- Interactive demo showcasing how to build, screen, and report ESG data in Morningstar Direct. 

Discover how to turn ESG complexity into clarity and insight into opportunity!

Bringing ESG Data to Life: Uncover opportunities and Communicate Portfolio Impact

Thematic funds, which invest based on secular growth trends such as artificial intelligence, climate change, and disruptive technologies, have seen rapid expansion and are gaining popularity. While these funds offer targeted exposure and potential for high returns, they also carry significant risks, including volatility and challenges in fund selection and theme purity. 
Join our speakers on November 27th to hear more about the latest trends, risks, and opportunities in thematic investing. In addition, our Morningstar Direct expert will demonstrate how to effectively compare and analyse thematic funds using Morningstar’s tools.

Our speakers will discuss:  
• Key insights from the 2025 Thematic Funds Landscape report, including exclusive findings from Morningstar’s newly enhanced Thematic Fund Classification System
• Which themes have been the biggest winners — and the biggest losers 
• Who the major players are in the thematic space 
• How thematic funds have performed and how fees stack up 
• Practical ways to use Morningstar’s tools for fund analysis and comparison

Exploring Europe’s Thematic Fund Landscape

Controversies can be costly—not just financially, but also in terms of reputation, stakeholder trust, and long-term impact. Yet, many organizations and investors struggle to assess the true materiality of these events, leaving them vulnerable to unforeseen risks.

Join us for an insightful webinar where we’ll dive into the complexities of controversies research and the recent enhancements Morningstar Sustainalytics rolled out to provide actionable strategies to identify ESG controversies.

Our experts will cover: 
- Evidence of Costly Controversies: Real-world examples that highlight the duality of financial risks and impact. 
- Risk Factors and Assessments: How to identify and evaluate potential risks before they escalate. 
- Financial Materiality of Events: Understanding the costs of controversies. 
- Impact on Stakeholders: Exploring the scale, scope, and remediation elements. 
- Customizing Risk Thresholds: Learn how to select the relevant risk and impact signals using our solution. 

This webinar addresses key challenges in navigating controversies, from unclear financial materiality and risk assessment difficulties to aligning impact thresholds with organizational goals. Gain actionable insights to proactively manage risks and safeguard your reputation and bottom line.  

Register now to gain actionable insights!

Controversy Ratings in the Age of Double Materiality

Interest is surging in what many consider the next big shift in investing: actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But how quickly is this segment expanding—and are active ETFs proving their value for investors? How do they compare to their passive counterparts?  

Join us for an in-depth exploration of Morningstar’s  active ETF research and ETF data, with a focus on the European market. Our  researchers and analysts will also showcase how Morningstar’s powerful data and tools can be used to generate deeper insights and analysis. 

In this webinar, we’ll discuss: 
- Key trends fuelling demand for Active ETFs and their growth trajectory in Europe 
- Insights into the benefits and risks of Active ETFs 
- How to use Morningstar Direct, our comprehensive investment platform, to access active ETF data and perform custom analysis.

Exploring Opportunities in European Active ETFs

European equity markets have had a rollercoaster nine months, but are up 8% year to date, a solid return in a normal year. Both the EU and the UK now have a trade agreement in place with the US, oil prices are waning, and interest rates are low in Europe and falling in the UK. There is of course the possibility for geopolitics to spoil the party, from capricious policy making in the US, to an unstable French government. But thus far the market is shrugging off these concerns. Whether the market is right or not will come out in the next few months.

In this session our Equity Analysts will discuss a myriad of topics, from public vs private opportunities for asset managers, to how banks are surviving in a lower interest rate environment, and whether more opportunities will arise as French political turmoil beckons. 
 
What we will cover:
• We will look at major price movements across the EMEA coverage universe and opportunities this has created.
• How sector valuations have shifted over the last quarter, and where we see value
• Relative valuation of the European market versus other regions
• Our top stock picks across the European coverage universe

Morningstar's Q4 EMEA Market Outlook: Smooth sailing into 2026 or more market turbulence to come?

As private investments become increasingly accessible and semiliquid funds approach $350 billion in net assets, investment professionals need sophisticated tools to analyze these complex instruments alongside traditional holdings.

Join us to see how Morningstar Direct's latest enhancements enable you to see your entire portfolio more clearly than ever before. 

In this session you will: 

- Learn more about the convergence of public and private markets and its impact on investment strategies.  
- Discover unified portfolio analysis tools for public and private investments.  
- Gain insights into future trends in market integration. 
- Learn about Morningstar Direct's expanded semiliquid and private capital fund data, powered by PitchBook.

What’s Next in Public and Private Markets: Insights & Semiliquid Coverage in Morningstar Direct

In this webinar we’ll bring our quarterly International Regulatory Watch newsletter to life, exploring the latest regulatory status and developments impacting the industry and investors. 

ESG investing is currently in a state of flux, a significant reason for this is the regulatory changes that are occurring. In this session we will discuss some of the latest updates to ESG related regulations, how they continue to evolve, and the overall impact on the ESG investment landscape within EMEA. 

We will cover:
• The latest on the EU Omnibus package
• ESG Rating Provider Regulation
• The latest SFDR updates and their implications
• What’s next for ESG Investing

Regulatory Watch: What’s Next for ESG Investing in EMEA?

As financial firms broaden their product offerings and digital presence, the battle for attention, trust, and investor assets grows fiercer. In today’s landscape, differentiation isn’t optional—it’s essential. Yet many firms still struggle to clearly define and communicate what sets them apart. 

Join us for an exclusive webinar where Morningstar introduces its 5-Step Competitive Analysis Framework that can be used to highlight your firm’s unique strengths and turn them into compelling, data-driven story that resonates with investors and fuels growth. 

In this session, you’ll learn how to: 
- Pinpoint competitive advantages through performance and product insights 
- Craft strategic messaging that highlights real differentiation 
- Automate insights for efficient, scalable distribution 
- Practical demonstration of how Morningstar Direct to implement a tailored competitive analysis framework.

Simplify Competitive Analysis for Asset Management with Morningstar Direct

The effect of fees on performance goes to the heart of the debate about active or passive. Join the analysts behind the Morningstar European Active/Passive Barometer and the newly launched European Fund Fee Study for an overview of how different management styles fare in various categories. Furthermore, our regulatory expert speaker will dive into the latest updates on fee regulation and the implications for investors.  
 
Our speakers will discuss:   
- Short- and long-term active and passive management trends.  
- Trends in fees and how these affect active managers' success rates.   
- How Morningstar analysts establish benchmarks for active managers.

Active and Passive Investing - The Power of Fees

Efficient performance reporting is essential for effective due diligence. Join us for a live session to explore how Morningstar Direct’s performance reporting capabilities can help you surface key insights faster, simplify complex workflows, and improve team-wide efficiency.  

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to: 

• Navigate Morningstar Direct’s Performance Reporting tool 
• Leverage its advanced functionality to build more impactful reports 
• Analyze, format, and automate performance reports with ease  

We’ll also showcase how Presentation Studio, a powerful module within Morningstar Direct, enables you to design visually striking, professional-grade reports.  

Discover how to use Performance Reporting in Morningstar Direct can help you build custom reports at scale. Our expert speakers will share practical tips to help refine your processes and speed up your reporting efforts.

Despite the shock of the Liberation Day Tariffs European markets have been the star performer in 2025. Can this continue into Q3? Certainly, there is momentum behind European equities, Europe is being viewed by many as a safe haven from the political uncertainty in the US, and economic indicators are holding up, all the while interest rates in the region are coming down. 

More fundamentally, valuations in Europe are supportive of further gains, with the market still trading at a modest discount to our fair value estimate. Challenges remain of course, Tariff negotiations with the US have yet to begun, which could prove a potential banana skin for equity markets.
 
We will cover:
• We will look at major price movements across the EMEA coverage universe and opportunities this has created.
• How sector valuations have shifted over the last quarter, and where we see value
• Relative valuation of the European market versus other regions
• Our top stock picks across the European coverage universe

What's Next for Europe? EMEA Q3 Market Outlook

Interest is surging in what many consider the next big shift in investing: actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). But how quickly is this segment expanding—and are active ETFs proving their value? How do they compare to their passive counterparts? 

Join us for an in-depth exploration of active ETFs and their growing influence on the investment landscape. Our experts will also showcase how Morningstar’s powerful data and tools can be used to generate deeper insights and analysis. 

In This Session, You’ll Learn: 
- Key trends fueling demand for active ETFs, with insights from a seasoned Morningstar research analyst. 
- Which active ETF strategies are gaining traction—and which are struggling. 
- A global look at active ETF growth and performance across the US, EMEA, and other markets.
- How to use Morningstar Direct, our comprehensive investment application, to access active ETF data and perform custom analysis.

Active ETFs: The Next Investing Frontier?

Portfolio management has significantly evolved over the years, becoming more complex with the rise of new tools, investment options, and vast amounts of data. Navigating this complexity requires tools that not only simplify the process but also help uncover opportunities during market volatility while managing risks with confidence. 

Morningstar Direct, our comprehensive investment analysis application, offers enhanced functionality to simplify portfolio management. With its browser-accessible, streamlined interface, users can seamlessly create, edit, and analyze portfolios in one place, enabling a more efficient workflow and providing clearer insights into their investments. 

What to Expect in this Session: 
• Discover how Morningstar Direct streamlines portfolio construction  
• Learn how to easily analyze, compare, and monitor your portfolios 
• Watch a live demo on how you can gain deeper insights into portfolio exposure, risk, and holdings 
• See how to seamlessly build portfolios that blend public and private investments with access to PitchBook’s private capital fund universe in Morningstar Direct 
 
Join us to see how Morningstar Direct can help you sharpen your strategies and help you make more confident investment decisions.

Streamline Portfolio Construction and Risk Management with Morningstar Direct

Portfolio optimization is a critical challenge in asset and wealth management, demanding a fine balance between risk, return, and investor preferences. 
In this webinar, we'll explore:

• The common challenges in portfolio construction and optimization
• How to use mean variance optimization and factor-based optimization to enhance your portfolios
• Relevant Jupyter Notebooks you can leverage for portfolio optimization
• Practical demonstration of how Morningstar's Analytics Lab efficient model building and backtesting

Join us for an insightful exploration into portfolio optimization. Discover how to leverage Morningstar’s advanced tools to refine your investment strategies and meet the dynamic needs of today’s market.

Balancing Risk, Return and Preferences: Portfolio Optimization with Factor Models

Thematic funds became increasingly popular with the onset of the coronavirus, with many posting eye-catching returns over the period. These investment vehicles attempt to harness various secular growth themes, from energy transition to connectivity to artificial intelligence to cannabis to disruptive healthcare technologies.

Join Morningstar's Kenneth Lamont and Romir Agarwal to discuss the evolving landscape of Thematic Funds as well as a live demo of the Thematic Analyzer - Funds Notebook in Morningstar Direct.

The Evolution of the Thematic Funds Landscape - European View

Thematic Funds

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The Evolution of the Thematic Funds Landscape - European View

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Morningstar - EMEA