Sandile Malinga, Co-Head of Multi-Asset, M&G InvestmentsIn the current conditions, diversification in portfolios is especially valuable, and attractive opportunities are presenting in the widely diverging real yields and valuations we are seeing between countries,...
Investments
China’s recovery may be bumpy, but the focus should be on long term growth drivers
Wenchang Ma, Portfolio Manager, Ninety One The reopening of China sparked a wave of positive market sentiment as investors anticipated a robust economic recovery. But over the last few months, we’ve seen optimism waxing and waning due to a fixation on short term...
Driving investment strategies to achieve net zero
Ashely Daswa, Senior Investment Specialist, Sanlam Corporate InvestmentsThe recently published 2023 Sanlam Benchmark Survey has revealed a significant shift in the attitudes of retirement funds towards utilising their assets to address climate change. The survey...
Inflation reverberations
Izak Odendaal, Investment Strategist, Old Mutual WealthThe post-Covid inflation surge and accompanying jump in interest rates was a global phenomenon. There were a few important exceptions, notably China and Japan, but almost all other economies experienced broad and...
Providing fund solutions that are future fit through ESG
Veenesh Dhayalam, Head of Asset Manager Research, Sasfin Asset ManagersEnvironmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is by no means the newest catchphrase. It could even be construed as somewhat of a worn out theme. Although it may have not been fully appreciated or...
Understanding GIPS: Enhancing transparency and trust in the retirement fund industry
Chris Lourens, Director, Solve Business ConsultingIn the fast paced world of asset management, accurate representation of performance is crucial for both asset managers and potential clients. Enter the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®), a set of...
Are your retirement fund’s ESG strategies sustainable?
Desmond Barry, Founder and Consultant, ESG LeadESG, sustainable and impact investing practices and standards are continuously evolving, making it challenging to keep up with their fast changing appearance. This article highlights 10 crucial areas for retirement funds...
Why there’s no future in cryptocurrencies
Richard Firth, CEO, MIP HoldingsFTX, a major cryptocurrency exchange, and FTX.US, its American branch, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 11 November 2022. This is not the only disturbance to hit the extremely volatile cryptocurrency market – a market that has...
The local construction sector can ignite the fuse on SA’s infrastructure renewal
Nicole Martens, Head of Stewardship, and Siboniso Nxumalo, Chief Investment Officer, Old Mutual Investment Group The local construction sector has faced a number of challenges in recent years, led by a lack of infrastructure spend post the World Cup boom, the Covid-19...
Is El Niño’s economic impact being underestimated?
David Rees, Senior Emerging Markets Economist at Schroders A key plank of our view on emerging markets (EM) is that steep declines in inflation, in part due to a reversal of food price pressures, would allow central banks to start cutting interest rates this year,...