European investors face a ‘swing state’ – looking ahead to our Global Investment Forum

Mark McNulty ???? , Europe Investments and Retirement (Wealth) Leader, Mercer

Mercer’s first Global Investment Forum of 2025 will take place in Amsterdam tomorrow. It's a fitting location as, less than a year since we announced our acquisition of Cardano, we are going to the country where the company was born. The integration of Cardano has added to the strength and depth of our organization, allowing us to be at the forefront of innovation and deliver exceptional value to our clients.?

Mercer’s Global Investment Forum Europe is an opportunity to bring our global and regional strategy and research teams together with our clients and asset managers to discuss the most pressing issues and opportunities for asset owners today. What I think makes this agenda one of the strongest to date, is the sheer level of client representation on our panels.

We will be bringing you the best of our latest thinking and research, combined with a wide selection of our clients and an unprecedented number of large asset owners – from wealth managers to pension schemes to insurers – joining us to talk about what they are doing in their portfolios now.

The theme we have chosen for this year's series of Forums’ is ‘Swing state’, a term we believe reflects the many changing dynamics taking place across markets in the current environment, from market concentration levels reaching a secular high, to rates beginning a downswing as inflation comes under control.

In an environment in a state of flux there are many factors that investors must take into consideration, and the goal of the Forum is to provide food for thought that will help them to do so.

Our aim is to foster deep discussions specific to the different needs of the entire range of large asset owners. We have dedicated content streams specifically for endowments and foundations, single family offices, wealth managers, insurers and pension schemes, each aimed at helping investors navigate their sector-specific challenges.

However, some concerns are universal across all large asset owners. Across segments and across the many countries of Europe, and indeed the world, we see a growing appetite for private markets across a broad base of investor types.

This leaves questions to be answered around governance, managing liquidity and measuring investment performance. New liquidity structures such as semi-liquid funds are growing in popularity to meet the needs of different investors, and asset classes such as private credit are expanding into new frontiers of opportunity. We will explore the key innovations in this market that are most relevant for portfolios.

Of course, another area relevant to all investors is sustainability. Europe has traditionally been a leader in this space, and as E, S and G considerations seem to be facing a backlash from some corners, we will discuss how European investors can continue to lead.

This includes how ESG considerations may evolve in the face of changing policy, and what innovations may be needed in a world where previous assumptions about the continued growth in adoption of sustainability disclosures may turn out to have been incorrect.

Times of change bring challenge, but also opportunity, and our Europe Forum underpins our intention to take a proactive approach to our current swing state. With collaboration, partnership and clear-eyed analysis we will navigate whatever lies ahead together. I hope you will join us.

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