YouSaid · the spoken record

Kristin O'Keeffe

lines on the record: 22
first: 2017-02-22
most recent: 2017-02-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Big issue and things like the Financial Women's Association in Singapore are very helpful from an industry perspective to help us bring more women into this business. So I think it's an exciting time, but it's also a time where the next generation can really be trained and learn and hopefully have more future leaders of all stripes.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Many of the themes that we've seen in recruiting in the US and Europe are repeated in Asia. It's incredibly competitive place to secure talent. We start early getting to know people at the college level well before their senior year. We have internships and so on. I think from a diversity perspective, that's something that has picked up tremendously in the last couple of years in Asia. When you think about the talent pool, it would be crazy not to focus on recruiting the women that are out there, making them interested in finance, recruiting among many other diversity groups, and it's pervading all parts of what's going on in places like Singapore, Japan, you hear Prime Minister Abe talking about women ox in Singapore they formed a similar focus on getting women on boards among corporate women just as has been done in Europe and the US. And so from top to bottom, diversity has become”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It is, and I would say what we've seen clients do in emerging markets is ask for more customization. So there are factors that matter to them. There's a knowledge of emerging markets within the emerging markets that's unique, as well as a different set of exposures. And so really what we've seen the combination of this move to rethink passive and to incorporate the advances in technology and quantitative analytics, what it's done in Asia is elsewhere, is made people realize I can design for myself a bit. I can make my portfolio look like what I think it should be and combine the benefits of active and passive in new and unique ways.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We see clients using a mix of both, and I think there's places for both in a broad asset allocation and portfolio. When you think about active in today's context, the increased volatility we talked about certainly lends itself more to an active style of investing. When you think about passive and you think about the quantitative approach that that represents, it's been very simplistic and very market capitalization index-based. Today, we're quite involved in active bait, which combines some of the same benefits of passive in terms of a more index-oriented approach and a very economical approach, but combines it with the active thinking that factor based investing.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely, I think some of the data being collected in China is so fascinating. For example, look at some recent work done by our GIR department on tourism, and right now about 4% of the Chinese population has passports. We estimate in 10 years, twelve percent will have passports. That's millions and millions of people. That's more people traveling than the US and Europe combined. And where are they going? Of late, they've been going to places like Hong Kong and Macau first, but it's expanded now. It's Tokyo, it's Seoul, it's Singapore, it's increasingly the Middle East and Europe. And what are they doing? They're spending and they spend more than the average traveler. So analyzing that data and understanding those trends and what those travelers and again this new Asian wealth, where they're spending their money is, again, critical to finding the best places to invest.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To allow people that are getting to invest, that are middle income for the first time, new generation coming into income and wealth to invest and learn and make the right choices for themselves and their futures.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, from an Asian perspective and more broadly, I think technology is such a huge, huge impact on investing maybe in two big buckets. One bucket is the investing itself. And when you think about big data and you think about the kind of quantitative investing that we can do, such as governance screening, such as creating indices customized for clients in Asia that look for ESG factors or look at other factors, it's a huge opportunity and big data doesn't get any bigger than China. So when you're trying to understand macro trends in places like China and India, such as internet adoption rates, mobile adoption rates, what kind of transactions people are doing, where large populations are going, the analytics behind that big data is critical to driving the best investment decisions. On the flip side, those are huge populations to serve. And so again, when you think about technology, what a great leveler of the place.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It certainly seems to be impacting behavior. A great example is Japan, the largest investor in Japan, the government pension, as well as many other investors have said governance is a key factor in their investment process and has put their money where their mouth is. And you see that in other countries such as Singapore as well. And when investors are moving their money or judging companies based on that governance factor, then companies have to stand up and take notice. When you think about the issues that have been challenging in Asia, many of them have been about governance, have been about succession planning when a founder has to hand down a company potentially to the next generation or to professional management. And that has come a long way in Asia and hopefully continues to develop.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“in India, challenging in China, as well as social implications of rising wealth and how you make sure it's inclusive. So ESG in Asia really has turned a corner in terms of the engagement of large institutions and governments and regulators in this process, and for us at GSAM it's the way we think about the markets anyway.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's such an interesting time in ESG in Asia. Recently stewardship codes have been promulgated in both Singapore and Japan. GSAM is an early adopter of both of those just as we were in the UK, just as we were an early signer of UNPRI. And when you think about ESG, really for us from an investing perspective, it's all the things that embody what we want to do as active managers anyway. Think about governance, and that's a key factor in Asia. When you think about investing in Asia, whether it's fixed income or equities, governance, the way that accompanies management is structured, and the way they're set to manage the growth that we hope for in emerging markets is critical. These stewardship codes focus quite a bit on governance, but of course we also look at the E and the S, the environmental and the social. Again, hot topics in Asia with air pollution becoming something that many populations in Asian countries have become much more concerned about challenges.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Goldman Sachs, particularly GSAM, has made ESG investing. That's a form of factor-based investing focused on environmental, social, and governance, a focus of your division, the investment management division. How is GCAM employing ESG investing in Asia? Because we hear about it a lot in the US context, in the European context, but how does it look in that part of the world?”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, in the Asian region, it's all about reforms. And so when you look at whether it's a more developed economy like Japan and you look at some of the programs and the efforts that Abe San and others are making in terms of where they want to bring the Japanese economy and the ongoing challenge that they've had or whether you think about China or India, you see leaders who are both trying to lead reform and yet dealing with quite large economies that are tough to move. And so the pace of reform is something that clients within Asia are looking at country by country and it differs by country. You've seen a huge anti-corruption effort in China. But what does that mean for growth? And so balancing these forces in each country has to be evaluated separately. And that's to some extent what's driving clients' country selection choices is their confidence in various government's ability to drive reform and therefore drive.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, there's no getting away from geopolitics. And you have many, many things going on in the world about which clients are still uncertain. So our investors look at a new administration. We're only a few weeks in, so it will be a real question whether the pragmatism in trade talks around fiscal stimulus, et cetera, that investors are hoping for is zine, that's something investors around the world are paying attention to and will have an important dynamic on global markets. Investors are looking at Brexit.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A great example of that actually Jake is China. And so when you think about currency in China and a weaker US dollar, obviously from a long-term perspective, China has a lot to do with its own currency and has been quite concerned about outflows and trying to manage the situation through NEMBI. When you think about a weaker U.S. dollar today, though, that could be helpful and constructive to the extent that they're in a slightly stronger position and can manage it. But when clients look at the dollar, one of the key places they've struggled with is what does it mean for China?”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think this divergence is fascinating and it's against a backdrop of many divergences between what various countries want and what policies are creating. For example, if you think about central bank policy and I've met with many central bankers at Davos recently as well as in the last couple of months around the world, they look to the US, of course, and what's been going on in the U.S. dollar. On the one hand, you see the new administration saying they'd like a weaker dollar. On the other hand, between the actions of the Fed, which looks poised to raise rates several times this year, and potential fiscal stimulus by the Trump administration and potential tariffs, those all indicate a stronger dollar. Traditionally, it can be very difficult for our trading partners versus the US, but particularly in emerging markets. So we see clients really looking at the backdrop of a stronger dollar and saying, where does it come from?”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, as CEO of GCM International, you have responsibility for really all the clients outside the US, including Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Obviously, you're based in Asia. But in all of those regions, central banks are largely pursuing easing policies. While the U.S. is heading in the opposite direction, what are the ramifications of this divergence in central bank policy”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I do think twenty seventeen will be a more volatile trading environment. There are so many things being negotiated and so much going on. For our investors, that means they're leaning towards more active management so that you can bob and weave a bit amidst the volatility. They're thinking about the strong companies that can survive volatility and survive tough times if there are changes in whether it's trade or other issues. And they also involat times have to be long-term thinkers. And so we see clients trying to look through volatility, although they're anticipating it and saying, what kind of investments can weather the storm in both fixed income and equities? And how do I make sure I'm choosing the investments that have resilience for a volatile time period? Volatility is generally a really great opportunity for active management. We've come through a few years with high correlations, makes it very hard to differentiate the best from the worst. Everything goes to the macro.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Active investors certainly from our perspective are looking at both. I certainly think growth and key spaces like technology and the internet, for example, look at the potential growth of mobile phones, mobile banking, various services over the Internet in India. And if you just take the path that, say, China followed and imagine those same companies in India, imagine the investing opportunities.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely, and I think emerging markets is a place where you see active investing versus passive investing really face one of its interesting challenges. If you look at the MSCI indices, if you invest it on an index basis in emerging markets, you are only invested in an index that's heavily weighted towards financials and telecom. The state owned enterprises component is quite high as well, whereas an active investor has all $8,000 stocks to choose from, and you really see active investors generating real alpha in emerging markets.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, Jake, I think it's such an interesting time actually in emerging markets, and we may be at a good inflection point recently inflows have turned to the positive, and we've just passed $3.5 billion flowing into emerging markets, which is the biggest inflows since August 2016 divided between emerging markets debt and equities. It reflects that clients are starting to have more confidence in emerging markets because they see a softening of some of the issues. India is a great example, a form minded government with Modi, some successes on things like GST, and a strong domestic story, where you may not have as many impacts even if there are trade deals that are more adverse to other countries in Asia.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Emerging markets are going to face obviously some near term macro headwinds as US interest rates rise. The stronger dollar and there's obviously some increased protectionist rhetoric at the least. How do those factors impact your clients and where are they seeing opportunities in emerging markets?”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For the clients we work with, the questions around trade are a pretty big deal. I think that clients have been looking to insulate their portfolios in unique ways, for example, looking for domestic stories in emerging markets rather than focusing on companies and investments that are more trade leveraged to potential changes in trade deals when it comes to TPP, rethinking what that means Asia and the US's engagement will be and thinking about more bilateral terms country by country and what that means for their investments. I'd say though that the tone has also changed a bit and you're seeing a bit more confidence in where we're headed on trade. A hope really from clients for more pragmatism from this administration in the US versus some of the rhetoric and some of the talk. I think, for example, the conversation with China has been much more constructive. Also, you could think about Prime Minister Abe and Trump spending time together to talk about the U.S.”
2017-02-22 · Goldman Sachs Exchanges · Asia Adapts to a New Investing Climate · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT