The $570 billion CPP Investments is strengthening efforts around scenario analysis as volatile fiscal, geopolitical and economic risk factors plunge the macro environment into a state of flux, with the fund naming four scenarios for the future world order within its risk management framework.
As artificial intelligence models become more sophisticated, asset owners and managers are rethinking portfolio construction as an activity sitting at the nexus of human and machine, which means gaining an edge over the market increasingly needs investors to tap into the wisdom from both sources.
Inflation hedging is back on top of the agenda for investors as conflict in the Middle East drives up energy prices globally, but the FIS Singapore heard that many portfolios are not well-prepared for the broad ways through which inflation can creep through. The new era of significant trade and capital flow shifts driven by modern mercantilism is also throwing out TAA opportunities.
While the dominant economic narrative has been that supply chains are shifting out of China amidst rising geopolitical competition and that the ASEAN countries are obvious beneficiaries, the truth is more nuanced.
While war weighs heavily on the world’s mind and its portfolio impacts are acutely felt by investors, celebrated geopolitical expert Stephen Kotkin said there is another thing that troubles him even more in today’s society: the "decay" of government performance.
Tokenisation of traditional assets will lead to a boom in on-chain trading, and that in turn opens the door to AI-agentic trading. But there are risks that AI agents may behave in unpredictable ways and, despite the hype surrounding the technology, still produce unexpected investment losses. In these cases, it will typically still be the CIO who bears responsibility – so they’d better understand what their AI agents are up to.
Some investors are “missing the point” of geopolitical risks by equating them to the disruptions from conflicts and wars, according to GIC chief economist Prakash Kannan, but in reality, geopolitical risk is no longer episodic or peripheral. This means investors need to think harder about inflation and country composition in their portfolio.
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FIS 2026 at Harvard University