Investors need to start demanding that governments act with more fiscal discipline as ballooning debts on sovereign balance sheets around the world approach a breaking point, MFS Investments, one of the world’s oldest asset managers, said at FIS Singapore.
Chief investment officer of the $150 billion Minnesota State Board of Investment will gain authority to hire and fire managers without board approval in a governance overhaul approved this week that will sharply fast-track decision-making. The change follows an 18-month asset allocation study which has resulted in some portfolio finetunes.
Fordham University CIO Geeta Kapadia is cutting back on private credit, calling it an asset class “less able to financially engineer returns” in a higher-rate world. She’s instead redirecting the $1.1 billion endowment to venture and growth equity and entrusting larger mandates to a smaller roster of high-conviction managers.
An increasing push to invest in home markets means asset owners need better frameworks for aligning government expectations with investment goals. APG’s three-pronged approach for public infrastructure investments could act as a guide for other investors looking to balance fiduciary duty with political demands.
Condoleezza Rice, the 66th US Secretary of State and current director of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said the new world order will have several characteristics of which there are already signs: more protectionist trade policies, a redistribution of security burdens, and louder voices for those marginalised in globalisation.
Rolling out a total portfolio approach is rarely a linear process, as even its most experienced practitioners warned that without careful resistance to old language, culture and structure, asset owners can easily slide back into the “comfort” of strategic asset allocation. A new report unpacks how leading funds stay disciplined.
Former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger has warned that China could spark “a very serious crisis” in Taiwan without even resorting to a full-scale war – an escalation he said could occur within the current Trump administration.
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Fiduciary Investors Symposium 2026, Singapore