Blog - Economy

After many debates, votes and faff, the UK is just about ready to start leaving the EU. Chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth takes a look at the year ahead and the one just gone.

This election result – a vote for Brexit and against socialism – is just as seismic as the referendum, argues head of multi-asset investments David Coombs. But CEOS can’t relax, capitalism has to change to survive.

The idea of responsible capitalism is topical, and its merits widely debated today, but it isn’t a new concept. Taking a look back at the origins of capitalism shows us that it has roots in a social contract with a sense of purpose. With roots like these, there’s great opportunity for advisers to help their clients embrace healthy and responsible capitalism to address today’s urgent challenges.  

Misinformation is rampant ahead of the UK election, as if things weren’t chaotic enough. Multi-Asset Portfolio Fund manager Will McIntosh-Whyte worries about what plans the politicians may be hiding and how markets will react to the eventual result.

Another deadline, another delay to Brexit – and now another election on top. Meanwhile, the tennis match between China and the US over trade continues, notes our chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth.

Rathbones’ stewardship director Matt Crossman explains the Principles for Responsible Investing and how we’ve been putting them into practice over the past 10 years.

Rathbones’ head of asset allocation Edward Smith explains why he believes that responsible capitalism is in every long-term investor’s self-interest – even if they don’t care about the societal benefits.

A jokey present from Christmas past comes back to haunt David Coombs, our head of multi-asset investments. As the nights lengthen, he spooks himself by pondering the meaning of ‘tech’.

One of the main concerns among advisers prior to adopting a discretionary fund manager is how the new structure will be viewed by clients, and how their relationships with those clients could be affected.

Investors are galloping from one extreme to the other in all sorts of markets. But nothing is black and white, warns chief investment officer Julian Chillingworth, so investors should try to focus on the longer term effects and ignore short-term craziness.

It is money that makes the world go round, or so the saying goes, and the value of Discretionary Fund Management (DFM) report set out to discover exactly how adopting a discretionary fund manager could hit the pockets of advisers.

New threats require new defences. Our head of multi-asset investments David Coombs explains how he’s filling the sandbags to protect his funds against a populist storm.