–-Building Robust Financial Markets and Institutions in EMDEs presented by Eric Bouyé
A high level investment forum took place on 20th November 2018 in Buenos Aires hosted by the president of Argentina check out of the G20 and co-organized with the World Bank group. The forum brought together leaders from the public sector and the global investment community with combined assets under management of over twenty trillion dollars. They explore how their combined power could contributes to sustain global economy growth and increase the flow of flow down sustainable investments to where they are needed most.
The head of the forum the World Bank group conducted semi structured interviews with senior executives must be the chief executive officer and chief investment officers for certify global institutional investors. They were ask for their views on the current global operational and investment environment their strategic priorities going for a walk and what actions are needed to scale up investments in sustainable long term projects. Particularly investments in infrastructure. The interviews also covered the current that sections of today’s global economic and investment under a month. For the best sections of mega-trends and how these are shaping the current and future investment strategies. They were asked about sustainable investing along the number of dimensions.
The interviews then discuss infrastructure investing in emerging markets and the potential role of the World Bank group and closer international financial institutions in unlocking investments and addressing any concerns. The survey results were surprising in their uniformity and high degree of consensus among global investors on what does a principal consensus opportunities and actions needed. They had strong share view on the currency investment landscape. Nearly all the executives agreed that the extraordinary international macroeconomic policies in particular monetary policies and regulations instituted in response to the two thousand eight global financial crisis hosted in place and our major factor shaping today’s investment environment.
While these measures were largely effective in containing the crisis they agreed that they also continue to have unintended consequences affecting markets as a global business environment. Four categories of mega-trends are seen as creating both risks and opportunities. First environmental climate change and resource scarcity are disrupting supply chains and markets but these are also creating new investment opportunities such as in renewable energy technologies. Second social demographic trends are shifting the distribution of human capital affecting labor markets and the sustainability of existing pension schemes. That visa also opening new markets of consumers and producers. However high levels and worsening inequality presents increasing the salary system increased, economic social and financial. Third technological disruptive technologies in the short to medium term as strength to traditional jobs and sources of income but things are longer term contribute to productivity improvements and create new opportunities. And fourth geopolitical political polarization and description of the multilateral world order.
The CEOs CIOs and other investment leaders interviewed identified advancing sustainable long-term investing and investing in infrastructure as important. Opportunities related to this can be enabled their did by collective and coordinated action by the global investment community multilateral institutions and governments. Through the G and other channels. Their investors noted chiefs to evolve sustainable investment practices including the adoption of environmental social and governance called ESG principles in investing at driven power by customers and employees what increasingly reluctant to work so all buy from companies we spoke ESG practices. Increased media attention and global advocacy through international political platforms such as a sustainable development goals supervise trend. It is increasingly difficult relative for investor to turn a blind eye to any afoot sustain and sustainability in packs of their investment decisions.
The interview is infrastructure as electronically investment because like all long-term investments it acts as a hedge against inflation generates stable cash flows and is a potential buffer to returns in the next financial crisis. Greater investment in sustainable infrastructure is also essential to mitigate the pressures that the world we face in the next decades environmental social technological and geopolitical and to adapt to the emerging mega-trends. To institutional investors interviewed agreed on actions needed to increase sustainable long-term investing and scaling up infrastructure investment across G economies. First on sustainable long-term investing.
Common definition of sustainable and impact investing as well as the need for consistent product labeling and taxonomy. More uniformity in how a concept of fiduciary duty is defined and applied by regulators high quality on performance benchmarks reporting in measurement frameworks to price long-term value creation long-term oriented contracts and fee structures between asset owners and asset managers that incentive rising the optimal global allocations of investment changes in the post financial and prudential regulation that could block capital allocation to certain types of assets and investments and finally adequate pricing a fixed amenities and tax regimes that favor long-term results.
Second on infrastructure investing what institutional investor asks for they ask for information sharing an adequate access to information about existing opportunities most standardization of infrastructure put also ask for pipeline of projects of sufficient size on solutions to political foreign exchange and credit risk in emerging markets and finally an increased capacity of governments to work with institutional investors and specialty in emerging markets. The results of the intend you provided the background and end frames a discussion as investor forum at which institutional investors issues of Buenos Aires call to action to boost public private collaboration on actions needed to address critical system you can know at risks and assuring a new era of sustained economic growth and long-term sustainable investments in areas where they are needed most. Investor forum in Buenos Aires was a unique opportunity for institutional investors and governments to meet and to push fallout the agenda on sustainable long-term investments.