ARX Series
Most Read on ARX
(January - March 2021)
Overview
ARX is designed to bring together investment professionals in Asia Pacific and other regions to share their views, knowledge and experience, so that they can learn from their peers and thought-leaders. Below are the most often downloaded posts in the last three months.
To browse or search ARX's repository of more than 4,000 posts, select "Research" in the upper left-hand corner of the page.
COVID-19 Impact on Bangladesh Economy
Like in most other nations, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented shock to the Bangladesh economy. The report explores the possible impact of the ongoing pandemic on the broad economy and major industries of the country.
22 June 2020 | LankaBangla Asset Management Co. Ltd.
WEBINAR: Building the FinTech Workforce of the Future
As Covid-19 forces governments and the industry to focus on workforce skills, the future is shaped by the convergence of technology and traditional finance. The panel discusses its implications for education, training, future job opportunities, and how this is being addressed at a macro (governmental) and micro (companies and individuals) level.
3 March 2021 | Pete Bentley, Brian Lam, Warwick Pearmund, Larry Cao, CFA, Clare Witts | Video: 1 hr 3 min.
Why Bitcoin and Digital Assets are Bullish (And Not a Bubble!)
Digital assets saw incredible gains towards the end of 2020 and in early 2021. Although the price will likely see a natural retracement, we look at the macro, the technicals, and the maturity of the assets, and see incredible synergistic forces.
15 February 2021 | Thomas A Kuhn, CFA
WEBINAR: Green, Social, and Sustainability Bonds
The third webinar in the series "ESG in Credit", presented by CFA Institute and Fitch Ratings, addresses the market outlook for the green, social, and sustainability bonds, the opportunities and challenges for investors, how best to avoid “greenwashing”, how to balance credit risk and impact considerations, and regulatory developments.
2 March 2021 | Mary Leung, CFA, Mervyn Tang, CFA, Kenneth Hui, Giorgio Valente, Sean Kidney | Video: 1 hr 31 min.
A Commitment to Professional Development at Moody's: Case Study
This case study aims to understand the origins and development of an internal CFA community within Moody’s and how the company has become an exemplary employer that supports CFA Institute and CFA® Program.
15 January 2021 | CFA Institute
WEBINAR: The Future Trends of Impact Investing in Asia
The goal of impact investing is to generate financial returns alongside measurable and positive social and environmental impact. Such investments provide capital funding to address the world’s most pressing challenges in sectors such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and affordable and accessible basic services, including housing, healthcare, and education.
22 February 2021 | Maud Savary-Mornet, Ronie Mak, Dina Pons, Pierrick Balmain, CFA, Piotr Zembrowski, CFA | Video: 1 hr 17 min.
How to Create a Digital Asset Portfolio: Ideas for investors in a new asset class
Digital assets are an exciting new asset class without consensus on how they should be treated. We discuss various assets available to investors and consider how portfolios may be constructed in sound ways.
22 January 2021 | Thomas Kuhn, CFA
WEBINAR: Fundamental Principles of Islamic Finance
Islamic Finance is a rapidly growing segment of the global financial system with total AUM of USD2.4 trn. The webinar provides an overview of its fundamental principles: prohibition on charging interest, excessive uncertainty, and profit sharing.
26 August 2020 | CFA Society Indonesia, CFA Society Malaysia, CFA Society Pakistan, CFA Institute | Video: 1 hr 15 min.
The Role of Banks in Illiquid Credit Markets: The Disruption and Evolution of Credit Portfolio Management
The combination of new entrants, new technologies and (unintended) consequences of regulatory and accounting rules are driving banks to collect more data and to develop sophisticated tools when designing ever more robust credit portfolio strategies.
31 January 2020 | Moody's Analytics: Dr. Amnon Levy, Dr. Pierre Xu
WEBINAR: ESG Performance and Impact in the Tropical Forestry Sector
Sustainable finance is needed more than ever to help address issues such as climate change, deforestation, or human rights violations. This webinar presents case studies from Robeco, an asset manager, and New Forests, a sustainable real assets investment manager, to support informed analysis and meaningful dialogue between financial institutions and tropical forestry sector companies.
26 February 2021 | Clara Melot, Adam Ng, PhD, Justin Mercer, Laura Bosch | Video: 1 hr 4 min.
COVID‐19 and Market Risk: An Assessment of the G‐20 Nations
A study of the impact of Covid‐19 on downside stock market risk in the G‐20 nations using Value‐at‐Risk models suggests that the market volatility was higher during the pandemic than during other periods of market turmoil.
31 December 2020 | Bhabani Sankar Rout, Nupur Moni Das, Mohd Merajuddin Inamdar
WEBINAR: Sustainable and Responsible Investment
Experts from World Bank Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, Securities Commission Malaysia, MSCI, EPF, CFA Society Malaysia, and CFA Institute discuss industry trends, opportunities and challenges focusing on sustainable and responsible investment practices with a focus on Malaysia's ambition as a sustainability-first nation.
4 February 2021 | Justin Ong, CFA; Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar; Firas Raad, PhD; Mary Leung, CFA; Chitra Hepburn, Mohamed Rozani Osman, Salmah Bee Mohd Mydin, Rohaya Mohammad Yusof | Video: 1 hr 45 min.
WEBINAR: Future of Sustainability in Investment Management - War for ESG Talents?
In late 2020, CFA Institute published a report titled “Future of Sustainability in Investment Management” in which we explored the influences and drivers fuelling the sustainability trend and set out enablers and actions for investment firms, including the need to better integrate sustainability data and to develop sustainability expertise to meet client expectations with innovative products. Rhodri Preece, CFA, senior head of industry research at CFA Institute, shares key highlights and takeaways from the study.
23 March 2021 | CFA Institute, Hong Kong Green Finance Association | Video: 61 min.
Do Factors Carry Information about the Economic Cycle?
Part 1: The Investment Clock: Linking factor behavior to the economic cycle
Institutional investors are often faced with the question which factor strategies should be implemented in different phases of the economic cycle. In this paper, we examine how factors behave across economic cycles for the US market.
11 January 2021 | FTSE Russell: Marlies van Boven, PhD
Part 2: New Thinking: Rebooting the Investment Clock
The concept of a normalized cycle has come under pressure after the Global Financial Crisis. FTSE Russell focuses on the new thinking, rebooting the "investment clock" to link factor behavior to secular regime shifts in the US market.
11 February 2021 | FTSE Russell: Marlies van Boven, PhD
Creditworthiness of Chinese Local Governments in 2021
A positive outlook for an economic recovery of China in 2021, with the GDP growth in many regions expected to surpass 8%, leads to a cautiously optimistic view of the creditworthiness of Chinese local governments in 2021.
8 February 2021 | Pengyuan International: Jameson Zuo
2021 Real Estate Trends to Watch
COVID-19 has significantly accelerated a number of secular shifts that were already starting to have fundamental impacts on the role real estate plays in the economy as well as investment portfolios. We’ve identified the five key real estate trends.
12 January 2021 | MSCI Inc: Will Robson
WEBINAR: Sustainable Finance and Tropical Forestry
Sustainable finance is crucial in helping to address issues such as climate change, deforestation, or human rights violations, and to rise to the challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals. Tropical timber and pulp products are everywhere and their production carries ESG risks, but the tropical forestry sector and its supply chains have been under-scrutinized.
27 January 2021 | CFA Institute, ZSL SPOTT, CFA Society Singapore | Video: 1 hr 3 min.
WEBINAR: The Impact of Covid-19 on Pensions
Industry experts discuss the changes to the 2020 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pensions Index and the diverse efforts by governments across the world to support their communities’ health and finances.
19 January 2021 | CFA Institute | Video: 1 hr 7 min.
The New Financial Paradigm of Risk, Return, and Impact: Presentations from CFA Society Japan Series of Webinars on Impact Investing
Presentations from five CFA Society Japan 2020 webinars on impact investing cover current trends, management techniques, case studies, capital market perspectives, impact evaluation, and the outlook for the future.
3 February 2021 | CFA Society Japan, Fumi Sugeno, Kotaro Sueyoshi, Chunmei Huang, Toshiyuki Imamura, Naoki Chiba, Matt Christensen
WEBINAR: Navigating 2021 - Market Outlook Forum
With COVID-19 being one of the biggest determinants of financial markets over the past year and as we move into 2021, CFA Society Malaysia proudly welcomes you to our panel forum on the market outlook for global and local markets for 2021.
15 January 2021 | CFA Society Malaysia: Faridq Ridzuan, CFA, Woon Khai Jhek, CFA, Yeoh Keat Seng, CFA, Teng Yue Xiang, CFA | Video: 1 hr 39 min.
Does the Game Stop with GameStop?
The GameStop squeeze on short-sellers is an extraordinary event in markets, where at face value, retail traders and investors have worked together in an attempt to put some of the largest Wall Street institutions out of business.
29 January 2021 | Thomas Kuhn, CFA
Power Generation Industry in Pakistan
Pakistan’s power generation sector comprises facilities in the public and private sectors, whose shares are almost equal. The plants include hydropower, thermal, nuclear, and renewable energy (wind, solar, bagasse/biomass).
1 January 2021 | The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited: Saniya Tauseef, Qurat-ul-Ain
WEBINAR: Global Factor Performance: Is Value's rebound sustainable?
November 2020 was a great month for Value. Are we on the cusp of a sustained Value rotation? What are the catalysts for a sustained Value reversal? FTSE Russel’s Mark Barnes and Marlies van Boven answer these and other questions.
22 January 2021 | FTSE Russell Global Investment Research: Mark Barnes, Marlies van Boven | Video: 20 min.
WEBINAR: The Rise of Decentralized Finance: Disruption or Opportunity?
Decentralized finance (DeFi) – financial products and services based on the blockchain technology – has seen a surge of interest and new developments in 2020. New applications in areas such as lending, insurance, derivatives, and exchanges, expand our understanding of what services DeFi can support. Experts from BCG Platinion and Crypto.com discuss trends, challenges, and opportunities in decentralized finance.
8 December 2020 | CFA Institute, BCG Platinion, Crypto.com | Video: 1 hr 14 min.
Why the US Dollar is Losing Trust
We look at the US dollar as a store of value, a settlement currency, its holdings in strategic portfolios, and the US policy decision-making. We find that it has been losing trust within the global financial system it dominates.
8 January 2021 | Thomas Kuhn, CFA
WEBINAR: Practices and Opportunities in Islamic Capital Markets
Capital market practitioners and Islamic finance experts discuss the fundamental principles of Shariah law governing capital markets, opportunities for companies to issue sukuk for funding projects, and more. Part 3 of the Islamic finance webinar series.
15 December 2020 | CFA Institute, CFA Society Indonesia, CFA Society Malaysia, CFA Society Pakistan | Video: 1 hr 32 min.
2021 ESG Trends to Watch
Climate, ESG bubbles, disclosure, social inequality, biodiversity — the topics don’t get much bigger or more systemic. Here’s our analysis of the five ESG trends that will matter most to companies and their investors in 2021.
7 December 2020 | MSCI Inc: Linda-Eling Lee, Meggin Thwing Eastman, Arne Philipp Klug
Is Carbon Risk Priced in the Cross Section of Corporate Bond Returns?
We study the pricing of a firm's carbon risk in the cross-section of corporate bond returns. Contrary to the "carbon risk premium" hypothesis, we find bonds of firms with higher carbon emissions earn significantly lower returns.
12 October 2020 | Tinghua Duan, Frank Weikai Li, Quan Wen
Does ESG Affect Fundamentals?
ESG investing market has shown significant growth over the past decade, and it continues to grow rapidly. It has been proved that systematic analysis of ESG incidents in addition to using traditional ESG scores improves portfolio's returns.
11 December 2020 | Who's Good: Maxim Nam
Blended Finance: Catalysing Bankable Nature Solutions
Bankable Nature Solutions aim to reduce negative pressure on ecosystems, drive sustainability, and generate positive returns. Through blended finance, they create an environment for private investors to adopt a financially self-sustaining approach.
11 December 2020 | Thiaga Nadeson, Adam Ng, Katherine Lim, Siti Rizkiah, Norizan Mohd Mazlan, Sharon Lo, and Belinda Lip
Indexing Risk Parity Strategies
The S&P Risk Parity Index Series provides a transparent, rules-based benchmark for equal-risk-weighted parity strategies. It uses futures to represent multiple asset classes and the risk/return characteristics of funds in the risk parity space.
14 October 2020 | S&P Dow Jones Indices: Berlinda Liu, Tianyin Cheng, Phil Brzenk
About the Author(s)
Director: Scott Lee
Content manager, Editor: Piotr Zembrowski, CFA
Coordinator: Natalie Yiu