By: CFA Institute Contributor

These are articles written by professionals for investment professionals. They are contributions from external subject matter experts who do not work for CFA Institute, but may be a CFA charterholder as well as a member of a CFA Society. All are experts in their field and strive to deliver useful insights that help investment professionals make better decisions.

All 123 Articles

There are more funds run by Daves than by women

February 11, 2020

The investment industry has a gender representation problem, and more needs to be done, says Holly Black There are more funds in the UK run by men named David than there are female fund managers in total. Of 1,496 UK-listed open-ended funds, 108 are run by managers named David or Dave – equivalent to 7.2% [...]
The second order impacts of artificial intelligence

February 4, 2020

Much has been said about how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning might change the investment profession. Whether it is the advancement of automated trading, using alternative data to find new investment signals, or robo-advisors becoming more capable, the main focus to date has been on how these tools will cause the investment manager’s job [...]
What is an asset class?

January 2, 2020

Today, diversification and alternative returns are our top portfolio concerns. Why? Because low interest rates may have driven valuations of stocks, bonds, and other asset classes to unsustainable heights, so we’re forever on the lookout for uncorrelated assets to incorporate into our portfolios. And of course, product providers are all too happy to accommodate us, [...]
Activism: an escape hatch for active fund managers?

December 19, 2019

Active fund managers are like deer caught in the headlights of oncoming traffic. The exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry is expanding its product range to all investment strategies and grabbing market share from the mutual fund sector. In an important milestone, in August 2019, passive US equity funds surpassed their active counterparts in assets under management [...]
SRI investing and Islamic finance: the same but different

December 17, 2019

Sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) investing and Islamic finance share similar origins and aspirations. Yet for the most part, these two modes of finance have existed as distinct approaches in parallel worlds. Common to both is an ethical underpinning that puts stewardship and societal value creation at the forefront of finance. CFA Institute has recently [...]
Green Bonds vs. Traditional Bonds

November 26, 2019

Are environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing returns higher, lower, or the same as those of comparable traditional investments? This question is the source of constant debate. Because ESG investing integrates non-traditional sources of risk that are not always priced by the market, some theorize that ESG approaches might generate higher returns than traditional assets. Contrasting green and non-green [...]
Why passionate innovators make for better investors

November 19, 2019

What does it take to succeed in business and investing? Differentiation is among the key ingredients. You need to offer a product that differs from the competition in a way that clients recognise as added value. If you want to beat the market as an investor, the first thing you need to do is something [...]
India and the ESG challenge

November 19, 2019

The year 2019 is setting records and not the kind our planet would have liked. Not only will 2019 be among the hottest years recorded, but July was the hottest month in the 140 years that temperature records have been kept. Climate change is for real, and in India, our challenge is grave. Current and [...]
What are the three mindsets of the best investing teams?

October 16, 2019

Which mindsets correlate with investment success? The overarching answer — psychological safety — may be surprising. The investment profession tends to favour the ‘hard’ skills of discipline and process over ‘softer’ counterparts such as self-awareness and empathy. So the centrality of psychological safety to effective mindsets may raise eyebrows, especially among the quantitative practitioners who [...]
Rising Risk (Part II): Tech bubble take two

October 9, 2019

In this second instalment of a two-part article, Sebastien Canderle says many tech start-ups are deploying a bagful of tricks to massage their numbers I have already laid out my thoughts here on CFA Institute Talk on the topic of the innovative financial engineering for which many buyout experts have become associated – for example, [...]

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This remote part of Patagonia is one of the wildest places on Earth

By: CFA Institute Contributor

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