Editor’s Picks: Issue #12 – Here’s everything you’re getting wrong

Hello everyone,

I have a self-imposed embargo not to mention Liontrust/GAM this week… but it’s hard not to. Anyway, the major news of the week probably comes from our sister publication Citywire Wealth Manager , where Christopher Luke Johnson reported on the inevitable demise of Abrdn’s once-mighty Gars.

Having once boasted about the ability of the multi-strategy to reach the loft heights of €52bn in assets, abrdn was this week forced to merge away the strategy with just €1.6bn in assets. Click through for the full story and Frank Talbot ’s analysis.

Elsewhere, however, we inadvertently went on a myth-busting mission this week, with AI, thematic investing and Chinese equities all coming onto our radar. Take a look at the stories below.

This week's choices

1. First up, Krystle Higgins took on the topic du jour, AI. But with a keen focus on the challenges that come from trying to govern this particular runaway train. Having spoken to experts on the ethics around it, the concept of ‘ethicswashing’ has come to the fore, with fears about the long-term problems posed by bad attempts to steer it into the right direction.
2. What else is hot and potentially problematic? In the eyes of Joe Wiggins , it is thematic funds. The behavioural investment specialist laid out five reasons why theme-based strategies tend to fail, but also why investors cannot get enough of them.
3. China is possibly not as hot as it once was, but still impossible to ignore. Sharukh Malik , who runs two funds at Guinness Global Investors , joined Ian Heath for a podcast looking at common misconceptions around investing in the emerging market giant. One of the main takeaways being – if you don’t read Mandarin, then you really don’t know what is going on.
4. Rounding out the recommendations for this week with some self-promotion, as my latest column looked at the explosion in Saudi Arabian soccer. While not quite myth-busting, I spoke to Luis García álvarez, CFA of MAPFRE about the implications huge sums being thrown around by the government-backed league could have for listed football clubs.

This column will take a brief hiatus, as I head off for my summer break.

All the best,

Chris