
Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Oct 2021.
The world of retail investing is in the crosshairs of fintech ‘disruptors’, which are using techniques from online gaming and social media to ‘democratise’ investing. They are growing their (mostly young and inexperienced) client bases incredibly rapidly. Intentions are good. Consequences can be disastrous. Are these platforms really the future of retail investing? Or further accidents waiting to happen?

Article written for BVCA Journal magazine (British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association), Autumn 2021.
VC was behind the curve when ESG investing ramped up dramatically in public markets in 2019. “We were speaking to funds and coming away with the impression that some had an ‘exclusions’ list (to avoid totally unpalatable investments), but that was it … It was also common to field questions such as ‘What is ESG?’ and ‘Why does it matter to VC?’.”
That’s all changed …
Read the full article here (page 49)

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Jan 2021.
Responsible investing is moving rapidly to its next level of sophistication. Simple negative screening models – which avoid investing in companies or sectors with poor sustainability credentials – are starting to look like very blunt instruments. Even more sophisticated environmental, social and governance (ESG) scoring models are beginning to look dated.
But leading investors are starting to make their investment decisions through the lens of nature …

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), October 2020.

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), 15 Nov 2019
“People in the investment sector are struggling. They want to do more sustainable investing, but are finding it difficult because there’s a general lack of ESG data, no consistency across company disclosure of ESG data, and because it’s really hard to define what sustainable investing is. It is not a binary choice between good and bad ESG credentials. Investors are faced with 50 shades of green.” …
Read the full article here on the CISI website

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), June 2020
“There has been a huge emphasis on ‘registration’ numbers when we talk about using technology to boost financial inclusion, which is understandable because rapid scaling is what makes technology so impressive – the ability to connect vast numbers of people very quickly. But while financial product adoption is important, doing so superficially is not all that helpful. People must actively use the product, not just ‘sign up’, and that product has to have a positive impact on their lives. We don’t want digital credit being used to develop and fund a gambling habit, for example.”

Article for Wealthsmiths magazine (Sanlam), Summer 2020 edition.
The media has always fed off individuals’ insatiable appetite to take a punt on the stock market – offering ‘expert’ tips and forecasts in a bid to sell newspapers to investors or direct eyeballs to a television show or website. There is little doubt these forecasts are highly influential.
But, “By and large most of these forecasts are indistinguishable from chance.”

Article for Wealthsmiths magazine (Sanlam), Winter 2020 edition.
In 2015, economists at the Commonwealth Secretariat discovered a ‘secret sauce’ that somehow boosts trade between Commonwealth countries.
And they couldn’t explain these elevated levels of economic activity with ‘conventional’ trade drivers …

Article for Charity Perspective magazine (Brewin Dolphin), Spring 2020 edition.
From the late 20th century, and into the early part of the 21st, a singular economic motive of business has reigned supreme ….
Today, while the concepts of ‘shareholder primacy’ and ‘shareholder value’ live on, businesses are increasingly realising that the path to long-term survival and success depends upon ensuring that all stakeholders are being taken into consideration. The pursuit of short-term profit is not enough.
Taxing times

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), July 2020
Even before the Covid-19 crisis, the personal tax landscape was facing an overhaul. Now, that’s almost guaranteed.
“In mid-2020 in the wake of eye-watering spending by both the UK and US governments on fighting and reducing the impact of Covid-19, some of the tax ideas of Sanders, Warren, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are lingering, even though they lost their respective political races.”
Financial planners have a challenge and an opportunity ahead of them.
Private Equity fundraising has bandwidth to accommodate ESG-related regulation

Article for Private Equity Wire, September 2019.
Capital is flowing into ESG investments with many private equity GPs now on the case. But to stay ahead, they will need credible evidence of impact, not just slick marketing.
“The capital deployed via PE has the potential to have much more impact compared to investments in listed equities. Because PE holdings typically involve significant equity stakes in portfolio companies and board representation, GPs know their portfolio companies better and can influence underlying ESG strategies. Holding periods are also longer in many cases which is very compatible with sustainable investing.”
Stars aligned for continued growth of UK ‘take-private’ deals

Article for Private Equity Wire, Nov 2019
Research shows take-private deal value more than tripling in one year to GBP14 billion in 2018/19, up from GBP 3.7 billion the year before. “The valuation premium associated with buying a public company is not as daunting for Private Equity as it historically has been, so many firms are taking the view ‘maybe we should look at this again’.”
Read the full article here on the Private Equity Wire website.
Smaller buyouts outperforming their larger cousins, but riskier

Article for Private Equity Wire, Oct 2019
“We had a hunch that small and mid-cap managers had more ‘juice to squeeze’ from their deals and deliver higher returns than large-cap managers. But we didn’t have hard evidence to back that view up,” says Dr Andrea Carnelli Dompé, vice president at Pantheon, an investor with USD46 billion of assets under management in private equity, infrastructure and real assets.
Read the full article here on the Private Equity Wire website.

Guernsey has carved out a clear niche in the insurance industry. Whereas jurisdictions to which it is often compared – Malta, Gibraltar and Luxembourg – tend to focus on their European Union (EU) distribution capabilities (through ‘passporting’ rights that come with EU membership), Guernsey is at the forefront of insurance ‘capital management’. It occupies a space at the intersection of the insurance and investment industries, helping the insurance sector to attract capital and manage it efficiently, and helping capital markets find attractive insurance-related investment opportunities.
Article for Business Life Magazine, Sep 2019 (Global business: a view from the Channel Islands).
‘Manager consolidation’ driving growth in PE secondaries

Article for Private Equity Wire, Sep 2019
GPs and LPs are increasingly turning to the private equity secondary market, adding a new layer of sophistication…
Read the full article here on the Private Equity Wire website.
PE-Backed IPOs hit a speed wobble

Article for Private Equity Wire, July 2019
PE-backed IPO exits have fallen dramatically in recent years. The causes are deeper-rooted than stock market price cycles …
Read the full article here on the Private Equity Wire website.

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), 17 July 2019
Read the full article here on the CISI website

After 10 years of a bull market some investors argue that company fundamentals don’t match their share price performance; the lingering suggestion is that many companies have inflated values which don’t match their prospects. The strong performance of equities sucks investors into low-cost tracker funds that don’t differentiate between stocks based upon their prospects, only their current weighting within the index.
With the quantitative easing tide now going out, ‘stock-picking’, based on rigorous analysis, will become even more important to keep portfolios performing …
Article written for Perspective magazine (Brewin Dolphin) June 2019 – Read it here

Interested in the wild ride of tech IPOs in 2019?
Check out my article written before Lyft went public about how public and private tech valuations were already on different wavelengths. Something had to give …
Article written forBVCA Journal magazine (British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association), Spring 2019
Read the full article here on the BVCA medium.com page

Special report for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q1 2019
In the early 1990s, defined benefit pension schemes were the norm in the UK and invested 80% of their assets into equities. By 2017, that allocation had dropped to 29%. Bonds have been the main destination for cash coming out of equities. A significant market impact might have been expected from this shift. For equities, counter forces have been at work to cushion the blow. But that has not been the case for bonds …
Read the full article here (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 29)

Article for Private Equity Wire, June 2019
More businesses are formalising their ESG credentials by becoming certified ‘B Corporations’. And it’s not just a trendy badge or politically correct aspiration.
But are they compatible with private equity?
Read the full article here on the Private Equity Wire website.

Article for Business Life Magazine, May 2019 (Global business: a view from the Channel Islands).
Cryptocurrencies started as payments systems, Then became niche financial assets. Now, especially for the Channel Islands, their underlying technology is driving efficiencies in finance.

Cover story & special report for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q3 2018
Algorithmic trading has reduced costs and made investment decisions more sophisticated. But repeated flash crashes highlight the dangers. Markets and regulators haven’t found the balance yet …
Read the full article here (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 31).

Article forBVCA Journal magazine (British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association), Spring 2019
Could Universal Basic Income cushion the blow of tech-induced job losses? Many think so, but this silver bullet might not be so shiny …
Read the full article here on the BVCA medium.com page

Article for Wealthsmiths magazine (Sanlam), Winter 2018 edition
Greece has officially ‘exited’ its bailout programme. It’s a significant milestone on the road to economic recovery. But it’s also a long way from economic normality, and there are still credible doubters …
Read the full article here. Link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 13.

Article for Business Life Magazine, March 2019 (Global business: a view from the Channel Islands).
We’ve all been through the pain of collating documents to open a bank account – copies of passports, utility bills, payslips and so on. So, imagine how much more complicated the process will be for offshore clients of Channel Islands private banks or investment funds. These are often high or ultra-high-net-worth individuals, or institutions, with complicated affairs structured through trusts or corporations. And imagine their frustration when they have to go through the same process all over again when they make their next investment, with a different bank or fund …

Article & infographic for Quintessence magazine (BNP Paribas), issue 1, 2019.
China is the second largest economy in the world. It is also home to the second largest equity market. According to figures from BNP Paribas, it is valued at USD 14tn (about 45% of the size of the US market), and is the second largest domestic bond market, valued at USD 12tn (about 33% of the size of the US market). But foreign investors have only scratched the surface. Bloomberg data reveals that they only own around 2% of the bond market, and closer to 1% of the equity market according to a white paper published by EFG Asset Management. This is set to change …
Read the full article in Quintessence magazine here (link is to pdf, article on page 42).

Article for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), 29 Oct 2018
Read the full article here on the CISI website

Article for BVCA Journal magazine (British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association), Autumn 2018
There’s an energy in the Welsh start-up scene at the moment, and a feeling that a new generation of tech, and in particular fintech, businesses have a real shot at giving the Welsh economy it’s next foot-up. Not only are there increasing numbers of home-grown start-ups, but the region is attracting start-ups from out-of-town …
Read the full article in the BVCA Journal here (link is to pdf, article on page 32).

Article for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q3 2018 edition.
Personal data has fuelled the growth of some of today’s leading companies. Risks and ethical dilemmas are increasing, threatening to derail this trend …
Read the full article here. (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 17)

Article for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q4 2018 edition.
Banks are further along their digital journey than wealth managers, but they are struggling to generate returns on their digital investments. Wealth managers’ more cautious approach might be paying off.
Read the full article here. (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 17)

Written for The Review (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment). Read the full article here on the CISI website.

Written for quantitative investment manager, CFM, 6 Jul 2018.
Read the full article here on the CFM website.

Article for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q2 2018 edition.
Growth in P2P lending shows no sign of slowing. The innovative finance ISA might provide a further boost. What are the pros and cons for an investment portfolio? …

Written for Dolfin Diary (a look at the people, technologies and ideas shaping the investment landscape – by custody, brokerage and asset management firm, Dolfin), 19 Jun 2018.
Read the article here on the Dolfin website.

Article for Dialogue magazine (Schroders & Cazenove), Spring 2018 edition.
Millennials are set for an inheritance windfall, but it could arrive too late to get them on the housing ladder. Financial advisers have a key role to play guiding older and younger generations on this issue …
Read the full article here. (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 13)
What Open Banking means for investment managers and advisers

Article for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q1 2018 edition.
Open banking presents new opportunities for the financial services sector beyond retail banking, but customers could be slow on the uptake …
Read the full article here. (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 17).

Article for The Review magazine (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment), Q4 2017 edition.
Using artificial intelligence for investment decisions is no longer the exclusive domain of ‘quant’ funds. Asset managers and financial advisers are also adopting the technology. But does it really introduce a new level of sophistication? And will it become mainstream? …
Read the full article here. (link is to pdf of magazine, article on page 25).

Article for IFA Magazine, July/August 2017 edition.
Peculiarly, IFAs and financial planners, seen by some as the archetypal middlemen, are facing pressures to get more involved. Clients see attractive returns and credible incentives such as the Innovative Finance ISA. Platforms are starting to see advisers and planners as an important channel when sourcing loan capital …
Can robo-investors crack the UK mass market?

Canbry Research blog, 27 Sep 2016
UK households hold over £800bn in ultra-low interest savings products. Many savers and the FCA are dissatisfied with the savings market. Robo-investors, the tech and marketing savvy FinTech disruptors, are aggressively trying to capture these customers. Savers’ reluctance to switch from banks will be a challenge. The economics of Robo-investors also looks questionable unless they can achieve very large scale. However, strong progress is likely to make them acquisition targets for larger financial services incumbents. What if the opportunity for investors and consolidators?
Legal Services: A Brexit Bonanza opportunity for investors?

Canbry Research blog, 20 Sep 2016
UK lawyers may see a ‘Brexit Bonanza’ surge in demand as clients seek advice on changes to legal and regulatory environments. At the same time, law firms have started forming ‘Alternative Business Structures’ and take on outside investors…