Gender pension gap narrows but women still lag behind November 11, 2020 Women will need to work beyond 100 to match men’s pension pots even as the gender pension gap narrows. More women are putting money aside for retirement, with the pension gap closing to just one per cent, the narrowest on record according to pension provider Scottish Widows. Despite this, the gender pay gap and part-time [...]
Gearing up against greenwashers: investors seek clarity on sustainability terminology November 9, 2020 | City Talk A dearth of clear, agreed sustainability definitions present a challenge to investors looking to invest sustainably. This is according to the results of the Schroders Institutional Investor Study, which surveyed 650 institutional investors across 26 countries during April 2020. Gearing up against greenwashers Greenwashing is about falsely communicating the environmental benefits of a product or [...]
Five trends to watch in China’s consumer sector November 3, 2020 | City Talk As the world continues to try to contain the spread of Covid-19, China is among the few countries sustaining a return to normal activity. Restrictions on movement have been lifted and the government’s test and trace system has so far proven effective in containing new outbreaks. As a result, shops, restaurants and other services have [...]
Negative rates explained: should UK investors prepare? October 30, 2020 | City Talk The UK’s banks received a letter from the Bank of England (BoE) this week which has brought negative interest rates back into the headlines. The letter, published here, asked banks how ready they would be if the Bank of England base rate – which currently sits at 0.10% – moved into negative territory. The letter, signed [...]
Institutions don’t share retail investors’ optimism on returns October 28, 2020 | City Talk Schroders’ studies suggest retail – or individual – investors are more optimistic about future returns than investors at large institutions. Individuals have indicated that they expect average annual returns of nearly 11% over the next five years while institutional investors anticipate a more moderate 6%. Schroders’ Institutional Investor Study is an analysis of views from [...]
Can behavioural finance explain how investors think about sustainability? October 27, 2020 | City Talk Schroders Global Investor Study 2020 examined the attitudes and beliefs of more than 23,000 investors on sustainability. It is a vast project that yields fascinating insights on the way investors think. We thought it would be interesting to put some questions to Stuart Podmore, Investment Propositions Director and an expert in behavioural finance, about the [...]
Modern Monetary Theory: A shared delusion that will destroy the economy October 27, 2020 As Rishi Sunak announced another multi-billion-pound support package last week, most numerate people would have been boggling at the numbers. How are we ever going to pay all that money back? Surely it means years of austerity, high taxes, or debt for our children and grandchildren to repay? But there is a growing and increasingly [...]
Three factors behind the rise of the retail trader in 2020 October 26, 2020 | City Talk 2020 has seen global financial markets such as equities and foreign exchange (FX) being moved by an army of retail traders, in a manner we have not seen previously. Their influence is here to stay, writes Brendan Callan. It’s a cliché frequently used to describe the events of this year, but 2020 has not been [...]
Credit Suisse to connect clients with early-stage investment opportunities October 23, 2020 Credit Suisse, Linklaters, Deloitte and The Conduit Connect have launched a new venture to partner early-stage companies with potential investors. The partnership will connect members of London-based social change initiative The Conduit with Credit Suisse clients to access impact investment opportunities. The Conduit Connect currently matches early-stage investment opportunities, such as The Library of Things, [...]
Which stock markets look cheap as we enter the final quarter of 2020? October 23, 2020 | City Talk While the virus itself hasn’t gone away, as far as financial markets are concerned, the pit of misery was back in March. At that point, a typical global market stock market portfolio had haemorrhaged around a third of its value in just six weeks. Stocks have soared As is often the case, peak despair turns [...]