M&G suspends trading in £2.5bn property fund over Brexit fears December 4, 2019 Trading has been suspended in M&G’s £2.5bn property fund after investors rushed to withdraw their money. Asset management giant M&G said the Property Portfolio has seen unusually high outflows, and blames continued Brexit-related political uncertainty for the fund suspension, which had made it difficult to sell commercial property. Read more: UK property investors fear Brexit [...]
Two lessons from the underperformance of alternative energy December 4, 2019 | City Talk Renewable energy is playing an ever-greater part in the mix of energy we use to power our daily lives. Potential investors in the sector may assume that it’s too late to get involved. Surely the best returns from companies exposed to the energy transition have already been made by now? Investors making that assumption may [...]
Avoiding the mistakes of the British Steel pension scandal December 4, 2019 For those of us who haven’t been blessed with gold-plated pensions, the mere thought of sacrificing a guaranteed income in retirement might seem insane. So it may come as a surprise that around 210,000 people transferred out of defined benefit pension schemes in 2018/19, more than double compared to the previous year, according to figures [...]
Stop comparing business with football December 4, 2019 There are many similarities to be drawn between the executive boardroom and the football pitch. Both are high-stakes environments, full of competition and ruthlessness. They also host some of the most meaningless jargon in the history of the English language (think “game of two halves” and “reaching out about disrupting industries”). And, dare I say [...]
The conflict of interest around pension transfers December 4, 2019 Going back 40 years, most employees were members of defined benefit pension schemes. Things have certainly changed. Access to defined benefit schemes has dropped significantly, while the proliferation and membership of defined contribution schemes has soared. In April 2015, the pension freedoms liberated funds by offering individuals easier access to their savings from age 55 [...]
Private wealth becomes main source of funding for European venture capital December 3, 2019 Private wealth is now the main source of funding for European venture capital, according to a new report, as a new generation of entrepreneurs ditch more traditional assets in favour of funding the next generation of startups. A fifth of fundraising by European VC firms in 2018 came from family offices and private individuals as [...]
Women and Wealth: Three findings and their risks December 3, 2019 | City Talk In a decade of researching women and finance, I have interviewed more than 800 highly accomplished women globally from diverse ages, backgrounds and industries. My three main findings relate to women’s preferred communication style for investing, the types of investments that appeal to most women, and attitudes to risk-taking. So, what are these three findings, [...]
The woes of the IPO market show the problems with the stock exchange model December 3, 2019 A lot has changed since the early 1600s. For a start, we’ve stopped burning people at the stake for suggesting that the world is round. But some things have remained surprisingly similar over the past 400 years — like the stock exchange. Today, most exchanges remain similar in format to the very first stock market, [...]
Stubborn Boris could scupper 2020 GBP recovery December 2, 2019 | City Talk As we enter the final pre-election stretch, markets are faced with a number of potential consequences; from a Conservative-led Brexit, to a referendum and potential withdrawal of article 50 under a Lib/Lab/SNP alliance. However, one thing is for sure; there is a huge amount of uncertainty irrespective of the outcome. Should Corbyn manage to enter [...]
Are we witnessing the US dollar’s fall from grace? December 2, 2019 | City Talk November’s multi-asset chart of the month highlights how a global shortage of US dollars could be reversing. This could signal the beginning of a weak phase for the currency. A world in which money is scarce might appear to be a far-fetched idea. But for US banks in the business of taking deposits and making [...]
