Long-term Investing
Introduction
Long-term investing has received fresh attention in light of the global economic crisis. Discussion has focused on how long-term investors – pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments, insurers and family offices – are helping to stabilize financial markets, impact the time horizon of corporate managers and fund important long-term projects such as infrastructure and the development of a low-carbon economy. Yet the capacity of investors for long-term investing and their ability to play these critical economic roles has diminished in recent years.
The Forum’s report, The Future of Long-term Investing, defines long-term investing and identifies long-term investors and the key constraints they face in making long-term investments. In addition, it explores the impact of long-term investing on investors, corporations and society and the outlook for long-term investing.
The Forum’s subsequent report, Measurement, Governance and Long-term Investing, explores the impact of constraints on long-term investors related to measurement and governance: how challenges in measuring long-term investment values and returns, risks and liabilities intersect with the governance of long-term investors themselves. The report argues that, without effective governance, measurement schemes can distort decision-making around which investments are chosen and the time frame over which they are held. Yet the lack of meaningful, intuitive measurements for performance and risk over long time horizons adds more complexity to long-term investing and the governance of such efforts.
For further information, please contact:
Irwin Mendelssohn, Associate Director, Investors Industries: irwin.mendelssohn@weforum.org
Measurement, Governance and Long-term Investing
Measurement, Governance and Long-term Investing explores how difficulties faced by long-term investors –pension funds,
sovereign wealth funds, foundations, endowments, insurers and family offices – in
measuring investment values and returns, risks and liabilities intersect with the
governance of long-term investors themselves.
The report argues that, without effective
governance, measurement schemes can distort decision-making around which
investments are chosen and the time frame over which they are held. Yet the
lack of meaningful, intuitive measurements for performance and risk over long...
Post date:
March 28, 2012
The Future of Long-term Investing
The ability to make long-term investments is diminishing at a time when the need for long-term capital is significantly increasing, contends The Future of Long-term Investing, a report prepared by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Oliver Wyman. In 2009, long-term institutional asset owners held slightly under half of the world’s professionally managed assets – approximately US$ 27 trillion out of US$ 65 trillion. The report finds that long-term investors as a whole have been able to allocate only 25% of their capital to long-term investments, and this figure is likely to fall as...
Post date:
March 24, 2011
The Future of Investing
Friday 28 January, 09.00 - 10.00
How
will investors deploy capital in the post-crisis world?
The
following dimensions will be addressed:
-
Changing mindsets and new strategies-
Asset classes and allocation-
Regional diversification
Key Points
Despite the downturn, there is no
shortage of investment opportunities.Risk is clearly a critical challenge and
investors have much more to learn about it.In addition to presenting salient
opportunities, emerging markets also bring exceptional challenges.
Synopsis
The recent financial ...
Post date:
January 28, 2011
Private investors
There is little doubt that private investors face a more challenging financial climate than at any time in a generation.As financial reforms gather pace attention is focusing on the impact that this is likely to have on the financial services industry, on private equity investors and on the wallets of professionals.Will there be appetite for more initial public offerings in 2011, thereby providing an exit for some companies' investors - this remains unclear. What is clear is that uncertainty will remain a feature of the landscape for some time to come. Eric Mindich, Founder and...
Post date:
November 10, 2010
Sustainable credit
In the aftermath of the global recovery attention is focusing on how to ensure greater stability amid concern about the susceptibility of some banks to ongoing turmoil and after-shocks in the financial markets.As banks repair their balance sheets and deal with huge writedowns concerns remain that with markets still reluctant to support leverage the severely diminished flow of credit may undermine a global recovery. It is accepted that the credit recovery will be slow and that policy moves by lawmakers may be required to address credit constraints. The International Monetary Fund has...
Post date:
October 20, 2010
New Financial Architecture
The Forum has looked at the driving forces shaping the global financial system and how these forces might affect governance and industry structure. Two reports on this subject have been published.The first report The Future of the Global Financial System: A Near-Term Outlook and Long-Term Scenarios1, published in January 2009 explored: How the financial crisis, and the changes it has precipitated in financial regulation and supervision, might affect the near-term structure of wholesale financial markets and how these changes would likely impact players in the banking, insurance...
Post date:
October 20, 2010
Financial Governance
The global financial crisis revealed major shortcomings in the system of institutional and regulatory governance. To move beyond the crisis, it will be necessary to improve current structures and develop a more fair and efficient structure of global governance that reflects changes in the global political and economic landscape.The principle of equal participation and inclusive cooperation should be followed in improving global governance. It is imperative to raise the voice and representation of developing countries.It has become a consensus of all parties to improve current structures...
Post date:
October 20, 2010
The Challenges of Long-term Investing
The Challenges of Long-term InvestingWhile pension funds, foundations, endowments and sovereign wealth funds have long-term investment horizons, they often face significant challenges such as political and governance constraints.How can these investors address these challenges and deliver long-term value for their stakeholders?Key Points• Investment flows play a key role in global imbalances: over of the last decade, the developed world has become a large debtor to the developing world (most of the US$ 50 trillion in global debt is owed by Western countries).• There is no ...
Post date:
September 14, 2010
