STOXX Annual Conference to discuss disruptive innovation and sustainable investing

• Matteo Andreetto, CEO
  

Investors face quite a different landscape from what was discussed in the annual STOXX conference a year ago. While the economic outlook and financial markets appear to have significantly improved since then, investors are facing an increasing number of global risks from fiscal crises, to involuntary migration, to failure of climate change mitigation.

In the role we play in addressing their concerns, we at STOXX also further evolve our business we develop thematic strategies and risk-focused approaches to address the risks and opportunities presented by today’s interconnected global economy.  Fueled by quantitative and mathematics-based investment strategies, we aim to transform portfolio construction and empower decision-making for our clients. We call this “Investing 4.0” – the way we crunch growing collection of data into quant analysis and mathematical models to enable the expansion into new, targeted, transparent and rules-based index products which are designed with methodical precision.

We also continue expanding our range of sustainability indices, as investors are increasingly focusing on sustainable investment strategies as a way to address the ESG-related risks in their portfolios while establishing a long-term vision for ‘sustainable business’. Since our first STOXX® Global ESG Leaders index family introduced in 2011 to our pioneering Global Climate Impact Indices with forward-looking CDP data, we developed a vast product suit with 100 indices that foresee and address the need for sustainable business practices. 

Welcoming Roubini and Altman at Innovate2Invest 2017

This year’s ‘Innovate2Invest 2017’ will give us plenty opportunities again to discuss key global trends summarized above with a clear focus on sustainability and disruptive innovation in investing. It is in that spirit that on March 30 in London, we will host New York University Professors Nouriel Roubini and Edward Altman, as well as an outstanding line-up of speakers from the full spectrum of the industry.

Altman, creator of the famed Z-Score model that gauges companies’ chances of bankruptcy, will be the first guest speaker. His analysis on financial factors and how they result in strong and weak corporate balance sheets promises to garner attention in these times of increasing interest rates.

ESG integration and transition to a 2-degree world 

After Altman’s analysis, we will turn to non-financial factors, more specifically environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations, and how they contribute to a company’s financial performance. Responsible investing, a topic that continues to gain relevance in the asset-management industry, will be the feature of a morning session. There will be a panel on ESG integration into portfolio construction and a workshop on climate change. We’ll count on the invaluable input of experts from Mercer, Northern Trust Asset Management, CDP and Unilever’s pension plan, plus our in-house specialists, to take a deep-dive into the latest sustainable investment trends.

Global Economy – through the lens of Roubini

The afternoon session will be opened by keynote speaker Nouriel Roubini, who will examine the downside and upside risks in the global economy. He famously warned about excessive lending last decade, just before the debt bubble burst led to the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. No doubt many of us will listen attentively to the assessments and predictions of the man the media likes to call “Dr. Doom.”   

Protecting the Equity Portfolio

Next up, Dr. Jan-Carl Plagge, Head of Applied Research at STOXX, will be joined by Jean-Eric Pacini, Head of Structured Equity Distribution EMEA at BNP Paribas, to review defensive equity portfolio strategies in a world of political and economic shocks.

Smart beta and factor investing

Smart beta products have recently contributed significantly to the passive- investing trend, which is on its way to represent a third of global assets under management. Money in index products rose in the past two decades from 55 billion dollars to 4 trillion – a twenty-year compound annual growth rate of almost 24%. Money in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) topped 2 trillion dollars in 2015, up from under 1 trillion five years earlier. Alternative weighting, factor investing strategies, and the adoption of ETFs for new asset classes will only add further stimulus to this progress.  

We will give the floor to Dr. Plagge and Aniket Das, Investment Strategist, Index and Smart Beta, at Legal & General Investment Management. They will present smart-beta strategies and factor investing to look at emerging and future trends in this area.

Innovation in Structured Products

In the last panel of the day, leading distributors across different regions will discuss the outlook for structured products. We’ll hear from them how innovation is helping to offset the problem of low interest rates in the industry. 

Reserve your seat!
The conference will provide a great opportunity to meet others from across the industry and exchange views on topics that are top of mind with investors, advisors and providers around the globe. Breakout sessions and the closing cocktail reception will provide plenty of room for networking and personal interaction with industry leaders.

 

For more information on ‘Innovate2Invest 2017’, visit our website and contact marketing@stoxx.com to register for a seat. We look forward to a thought-provoking event and hope to see many of our clients and partners in London.