The OMFIF Podcast

Cryptoassets: Risks, opportunities and valuation

With the financial stress of Covid-19 and inflation fears, institutional investors are exploring cryptocurrencies and tokenised assets as alternative investments. However, as we witness the beginning of a major portfolio diversification shift, uncertainty remains regarding risk, taxonomy and valuation surrounding these new asset classes. In partnership with Kroll, OMFIF DMI hosts this virtual panel on the cryptoasset landscape. The panel discusses market trends and demand, types of cryptoassets, technical ways of valuing cryptoassets, risk, and adoption.

Panellists:
Dan Berkovitz, Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Ken Joseph, Managing Director, Kroll, former Senior Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission
David Larsen, Managing Director, Alternative Asset Advisory, Duff & Phelps, A Kroll Business
Nicole Sandler, Head of Digital Policy, Barclays

This podcast is taken from a recording of a live event. Recorded on 20/07/2021. 

Watch the event.

Ahead of the ECB

Athanasios Orphanides, professor of the practice of global economics and management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, joins Ellie Groves to discuss the European Central Bank’s strategy review and its potential consequences for the July monetary policy announcement. Orphanides, who served as governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus between 2007-12 and member of the Governing Council of the ECB, offers his thoughts on how the central bank will have to provide further accommodation in asset purchases to reach the 2% inflation target and ensure credibility. Discussing European inflation forecasts and unanswered structural questions from the strategy review, he sets out ways in which the ECB can step up to the challenge of the post-pandemic recovery.

ECB and the future of monetary policy

Following the Covid-19 crisis the European Central Bank expanded their policies. As the recovery phase of the pandemic plays out, Luis de Guindos, vice president of the European Central Bank, joins OMFIF to discuss the European economic situation, current status of the ECB’s monetary policy strategy review and challenges for monetary policy in the current environment.

Speaker:
Luis de Guindos, Vice-President, European Central Bank

This podcast is taken from a recording of a live event. Recorded on 12/07/2021. 

Watch the full event.

AP3’s Hamnmark on Covid-19, monetary policy and ESG

Torbjorn Hamnmark, head of strategic asset allocation at Swedish pension fund AP3, joins OMFIF’s Pierre Ortlieb to discuss the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, how AP3 adapted to the shock and his approach to ESG investing and stewardship. They explore why Covid-19 has been so challenging for pension funds in particular, the prospect of an inflationary recovery and the relationship between sustainability and returns.

To hear more about how asset owners are managing the Covid-19 shock, join us for the launch of the Global Public Investor on 21 July. Register here.

The role of just transition in developing sustainable cities

Peggy Tse, chief strategy officer of the Future City Summit and upstream officer at the International Finance Corporation, joins Emma McGarthy, programmes manager at OMFIF’s Sustainable Policy Institute, to discuss the policies, tools and strategies required in a just transition to sustainable cities. They discuss the approaches and frameworks the Good City Foundation has established, and the role of governments and small- and medium-sized enterprises in driving that transition, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on progress towards green cities.

CalPERS on the global Covid-19 response and emerging market fixed income

Scott Grimberg, emerging markets fixed income portfolio manager at pension fund CalPERS, joins Pierre Ortlieb, head of policy analysis at OMFIF, to discuss economic policy responses to Covid-19, the state of play in emerging markets and how the fund approaches emerging market debt assets.

To hear more about how asset owners are managing the Covid shock, join us for the launch of the Global Public Investor on 21 July. Register:

https://www.omfif.org/events/global-economic-recovery-and-the-role-for-central-banks/

 

Second quarter in focus

OMFIF’s Katie-Ann Wilson, programmes manager, fintech and emerging markets, and Bhavin Patel, senior economist and head of fintech research, give an overview of OMFIF’s main Digital Monetary Institute activities which have taken place during the second quarter of 2021. The discussion focuses on the highlights and themes that have come to light through the meetings organised as well as the research undertaken in this area during this quarter.

Catch-up on demand:
DMI Symposium -  'Central banks and digital currencies, revolution in money' 
The Bank of England’s approach to digital currencies and cross-border payments

Read:
OMFIF Digital Monetary Institute Journal: Changing bank models
Future of Payments report, 2020

Euro area financial stability in the Covid-19 recovery

How can governments, the European Commission and the European Central Bank keep to their mandates of financial stability and encourage growth in the euro area during this critical part of the recovery from Covid-19? Pedro Duarte Neves, alternate chairperson of the European Banking Authority from 2013-18 and senior adviser of the board of directors of Banco de Portugal, joins Ellie Groves, managing director of the OMFIF Institute, Economic and Monetary Policy to discuss the economic position of the euro area and differences between countries and sectors. They also cover the implications of the US fiscal stimulus on euro area inflation expectations and what help is needed for businesses to stay solvent as government support is slowly tapered.

Comparing Chinese and Anglo-American public pension system

Professor Jiye Hu, China Aging Finance Forum, and Philip May, director of retirement income solutions at Capital Group, join OMFIF’s Pierre Ortlieb to discuss various similarities and differences between the Chinese and Anglo-American pension systems. They discuss structural differences, such as the emphasis on second-pillar tensions in the US and Europe, as well as broader themes including the changing demographic environment, lessons from Anglo-American retirement systems and the potential for investment diversification.

Ahead of the ECB

In the latest episode, Danae Kyriakopoulou speaks to Ricardo Reis, Arthur Williams Philip professor at the London School of Economics. They compare the causes of and outlook for inflation in the US and euro area and discuss how fiscal stimulus packages will feed into the European Central Bank’s reaction function ahead of its monetary policy meeting on 10 June. They explore the longer-term implications of continued monetary policy accommodation on fiscal-monetary policy interactions and potential tensions, including the question of central bank independence. They also take a deep look into the evolving nature of central bank communication strategies and how the ECB’s track record has differed across its policy communications from inflation and quantitative easing to changes in sovereign debt spreads.