FTSE Russell Convenes | FTSE Russell

The FTSE Russell Convenes series brings independent and unvarnished insights and opinion from experts at our World Investment Forum, including practitioners, investors, and academics. The conversations dive deep into the market environment and critical trends including AI and emerging technology, fixed income, factor investing and ETFs.

Season 3

Creating the best playlist for your portfolio

Andrew Ang

Managing Director, Head of Factors, Sustainable and Solutions, BlackRock Systematic

In our eighth episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Andrew Ang explains the importance of investing in a balanced portfolio and how factors can help inform the basis of a core portfolio holding. An expert in quantitative investing, Andrew shares his views on the evolution of factor investing which has created more democratised access for investors and how factors perform in different economic environments. Andrew also discusses what he feels will be the biggest driver of the stock market over the next six to 12 months and how machine learning has been into play for some time now in his field. Read more

A deeper dive into asset allocation

Mo Haghbin

Head of Investment Solutions at Invesco

How should investors allocate assets today to set up for future success? Mo Haghbin, Head of Investment Solutions at Invesco discusses opportunities in today’s challenging markets and why he believes a balanced, diversified long-term approach to asset allocation is so important. He shares his thoughts on the resurgence of the 60/40 portfolio, the need to look under the surface of headline numbers in equities and where on the yield curve he thinks is most exciting for investing — a key current topic with Invesco clients. Mo also talks about the future of the banking system, explaining why financial crises are rarely repeated. Read more

AI and Indices: What's next?

David Sol

Global Head of Policy and Governance, FTSE Russell

Can artificial intelligence (AI) change how we perceive ourselves and what impact is it likely to have? Having studied AI since the 90s when it was a more obscure term, David Sol, Head of Index Policy and Governance at FTSE Russell joins us to share his knowledge on the developments in AI from its debated origins to the present day. David shares his expertise on the increasing intelligence of AI in recent years, how developing technology could affect the labour market and whether FTSE Russell is incorporating AI. He also explains FTSE Russell’s country classification framework, what it takes to get into an index and the importance of accuracy in index construction. Read more

The continuous rise of ETFs

Ravi Goutam

Managing Director, BlackRock

What is driving the rise in popularity of ETFs and will we see a slowdown? In this episode, Ravi Goutam, Managing Director at BlackRock discusses what he thinks the biggest driver for ETFs are and if he has seen a rise in liquidity. Ravi also delves into bond ETFs, BlackRock’s product innovation process today and how their customer base is evolving. Read more

The role of indices in today’s capital markets

Arne Staal

Group Head of Product and Research, FTSE Russell

The role of indices in the markets shifted drastically during the pandemic as people’s views towards ESG changed. In 2023, how has their role changed? Arne Staal, Group Head of Product and Research at FTSE Russell answers this pressing question and delves into current investing trends including the resurgence of fixed income. Arne also discusses if disclosure has improved since his last conversation with Jamie, his own thoughts on the current market outlook and how FTSE Russell’s product innovation process works. Read more

Can capitalism be just?

Martin Whittaker

CEO, JUST Capital

In his interview Martin Whittaker, CEO, JUST Capital, talks about what he feels to be the real drivers of major social and cultural change, and the shift he is seeing in public opinion towards business within our society today. He shares his views on how the private sector could better address societal challenges and capitalism ‘shaken up’ to get money flowing in the right directions. As part of his interview, Martin explains how Just Capital measures the progress of companies, provides incentives for businesses to partake in corporate social responsibility efforts and what companies need to do next to drive significant change. Read more

The longer view for financial markets

Indrani De, CFA, PRM,

Head of Global Investment Research, FTSE Russell, LSEG

In our second episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Indrani De discusses several longer-term issues for financial markets. What will happen to the dollar? Is the US on the cusp of another technological boom, or even one in healthcare? How will the US’s current raised debt ceiling problem play out? In addition to answering these questions, Indrani shares her insights on China and commodities, the impact of labor on inflation and investing in emerging markets. Read more

Finding opportunities in a challenging macro-outlook

Elizabeth Burton CAIA

Managing director and client investment strategist, client solutions and capital markets, Goldman Sachs

During her interview Elizabeth dives into the US and inflation outlook, drawing upon lessons learnt from the past, factors likely to impact a rate hike and the one piece of information she feels is ‘going to have a lot to do with where we see the Fed’. Elizabeth also provides her opinions on why she feels it’s an over simplistic view to regard commercial real estate as a bad actor, the ‘reopening of China, the commodities investment story and whether asset allocators are thinking seriously about digital assets. Read more

Season 2

Value investing is back

When markets are turbulent and difficult to predict, often what’s needed is some wise words from someone who has been through many calm and stormy waters alike. Someone who fits that description: Rob Arnott, founder and chairman of the board at Research Affiliates. Rob founded Research Affiliates in 2002, which now develops investment strategies for over $160bn of assets under management. Suffice to say, he knows what’s important, and we sit down to discuss why indexing changed everything, why value is back and the fact that not all inflation is created equal. Read more

The Monetary Dilemma

The Financial Times named him one of the six “Gurus of the Future”, Jon Stewart described him as “Eliot Ness meets Milton Friedman” and he sat in the President’s cabinet under Present Obama who, of course, became President during the Financial Crisis. It’s fair to say that Austan Goolsbee knows what he’s talking about. In this insightful interview, Austan Goolsbee discusses in detail the difficult dilemma the Fed is in and how he sees the US economy today. Read more

Where to invest now

Charles VanVleetis no stranger to difficult markets,having spent his entire career in the banking and asset management world. Now, as CIO of Textron, he imparts decades of wisdom on how to navigate the choppy waters we find ourselves in today. Charles talks about his outlook on equities, the niche area of fixed income he finds very attractive right now and which digital assets he thinks are a zero versus those that are really here to stay. Read more

Season 1

The evolution of corporate culture

A strong corporate culture maybe linked to firms outperforming their peers explains Professor of Finance at the UBC Sauder School Business, Dr. Kai Li. Charging how ESG moving forward will be an important part of organizational culture. Read more

Digital Assets: The intersection of markets and policy

Professor of finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, Dr. Reena Aggarwal, predicts an explosion in digital assets as more countries move and adopt central bank digital currencies. As emerging economies are considering crypto and digital assets long-term, Aggarwal finds technology firms entering many financial related businesses, while regulators try to determine what to regulate and how to regulate. Read more

Digital Gold: Picking the winners and losers through diversified index like exposure

Craig Salm is Director, Legal at Grayscale Investments, holders of the world's largest bitcoin trust and the trusted authority on digital currency investing. Discussing a broad range of financial services, Craig expands on decentralized exchanges, yield farming, governance, lending platforms, payment gateways and much more. Read more

Big Tech vs the Central Bank: The race for digital currency

During the 2021 World Investment Forum, as part of our FTSE Russell Convenes series, we interviewed some of the most prominent speakers on key trends influencing the investment industry and beyond. This time round our host Jamie Macdonald met with MIT’s Media Lab Director of the Digital Currency Initiative, Neha Narula, who shared her thoughts on how the advancing technologies around cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum is placing pressure on central banks. Read more

Machine Learning: The evolution of governance through AI

In the latest segment of the series FTSE Russell Convenes, we talk to Professor Isil Erel, the David A. Rismiller Chair in Finance at the Fisher College of Business of the Ohio State University about corporate governance and how AI can help augment human judgement to identify diverse boards and management by avoiding biases. Read more

Evolving market trends: The effect of global warming on our financial system

Chairman of the Risk Committee and Founding Partner, Kepos Capital Robert "Bob" Litterman explains the lack of appreciation in the diversity of incentives to reduce emissions across the globe. In this discussion, Litterman highlights the importance of placing a price on climate risk on carbon emissions would be considerable move in the right direction for the US. Read more

CryptoDad: Restoring a generation’s lost trust in money

Chris Giancarlo, popularly known as “Crypto Dad,” a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair, believes that today’s youth turn towards an online digital tokenised-based money system having lost faith in the centralised banking system. But Chris warns , that the importance of money is far too great to be left solely to the central banks. Read more

FTSE Russell CEO on climate and sustainable investing: 'Time is running out'

Our new FTSE Russell Convenes series brings together experts across finance, academia and government to discuss big trends like sustainable finance, digital assets and the evolution of investing. In this inaugural episode, FTSE Russell CEO Arne Staal explains what it will take for sustainable investing to matter at scale, why transparency is key, and his concerns about greenwashing. Read more

The ghosts of sustainable investing's past, present and future

Twenty years ago, investors mocked the launch of the first ESG focused index called FTSE4Good. But two decades later, interest in ESG indices is driving some of the biggest allocations of capital today. FTSE Russell Americas Head of Sustainable Investment Tony Campos discusses what has changed since then, what’s driving markets’ and companies’ need for certainty, and what the world of sustainable investing might look like in 2026. Read more

New growth opportunities for Indonesia in 2023

With the Indonesian economy expanding more than 5% in 2022 despite a period of global economic downturn, Indonesia’s potential for further growth in 2023 is evident. In the first episode of FTSE Russell Convenes ASEAN, Iman Rachman, President Director of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and Director of Strategy, Portfolio & New Ventures at Pertamina, gives us insights into what channels will help global investors access Indonesian as well as ASEAN markets, the recent market developments that international investors should pay attention to, and why he is optimistic about Indonesia’s market outlook in 2023.

A Bullish Market for the Philippines in 2023

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is seeing new opportunities to attract more international and domestic investors with the emergence of the Philippine-China Stock Connect initiative as well as their partnership with finance app GCash. In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes ASEAN, Ramon Monzon, President and Chief Executive Officer of PSE, discusses how these opportunities can contribute growth and how retail participation has fared compared to institutional participation in the Philippines.

Is the Thai Market Thriving

The Thai market is growing in 2023, with its GDP as well as number of investors overtaking pre-pandemic levels. With over 40 Thai listed companies appearing on our FTSE4Good Index Series, ESG is also proving to be a promising area for growth in the Thai market. In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes ASEAN, Pakorn Peetathawatchai, President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), talks to us about Thailand’s market growth, how program trading activities are shaping the proportion of foreign and domestic investors, and ways international investors can either directly or indirectly invest in the Thai and ASEAN market.

Exciting Developments in Singapore Markets

Following a difficult year for the global financial markets in 2022, what is the outlook for Singapore in 2023 and how are exchanges providing support through this period of uncertainty? In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes ASEAN, Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Exchange (SGX Group), discusses his thoughts on the year ahead as well as how ecosystem-building has facilitated significant developments in Singaporean markets, how global investors can access Singapore and ASEAN markets, and how retail and institutional participation in Singapore has grown.

How will ASEAN Indexes Evolve?

For over 15 years, FTSE Russell has partnered with various stock exchanges to develop indices representing the ASEAN market. In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes ASEAN, Susan Quintin, Head of Business Management, Investment & Wealth Solutions at LSEG, tells us about FTSE Russell’s long history with the ASEAN region, introduces some of the ASEAN focused indexes at FTSE Russell including FTSE Straits Times Index (STI) and the FTSE Vietnam 30 Index, and shares future product launch plans.