RisCura appoints Robert Ross as Senior Advisor
RisCura, a global investment firm predominantly focused on emerging markets, today announced the appointment of Robert Ross as Senior Advisor. Ross will be responsible for promoting our China capability and identifying potential clients who could benefit from our expertise. Faisal Rafi, Head of Investment Research at RisCura, commented: “Sophisticated...
Making room for alternatives in pension funds’ asset allocations
Financial markets have been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. But pension funds have been in trouble since before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Traditional stalwarts for stable returns and regular cashflows for many pension funds, namely cash, property and bonds, have long suffered in a low-growth, low-interest rate environment. Cash investors have...
Going above and beyond in ESG – the neglected S
“These are unprecedented times,” currently seems to be a catchphrase. The COVID-19 pandemic has easily outstripped previous crises in its impact on the global economy, and on the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. The South African economy, which was already struggling before the crisis, is certainly no exception. The International Monetary...
A Technology Cold War?
These days it is hard to have a conversation about China without considering geopolitical risks. We are seeing a decoupling between China and the US on all fronts – COVID-19, geopolitics, trade and technology. Pro-democracy protests and a national security law have brought uncertainty to Hong Kong and increased tensions between the US and China....
Pension fund reform is crucial in an environment of persistently low interest rates
A Group of 30 report, published late last year, estimates that the world’s top economies will face a pensions shortfall of just over $5 trillion by 2028 and $15.8 trillion by 2050. It is anticipated that this shortfall will be even greater given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic once this report is updated. The...
RisCura receives Level 1 BEE contributor certificate
RisCura has been awarded a Level 1 BEE Contributor certificate in line with the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) codes of good practice. This is a significant milestone in RisCura’s work of embracing diversity and encouraging transformation in the financial services sector. We want to share some of our efforts that are aimed at contributing...
When could a multi-manager approach be particularly effective?
It is a well-established statistical result that a collection of unknowns is less variable than any one of its constituents. As more stocks are added to a portfolio, the total return tends towards the weighted average return of all stocks and the volatility of outcomes reduces, eventually reaching that of the market overall. The same...
South African hedge funds: Taking granular approach
Since the outbreak of Covid-19 asset classes have tumbled globally. Modern portfolio theory always dictates that a well-diversified portfolio should have a mix of asset classes that diversify the risk / return profile over time. However, in periods of market shocks and fast-moving markets on the downside we see much more auto correlation between asset...
Understanding private equity valuations in tumultuous times
It feels as if we woke up one morning and the world was different – but when exactly did it change, and what did we know or should have known at any point in time? Investment managers of illiquid assets need to assess when, to what extent, and how they incorporate the impact of Covid-19...
RisCura says YES to a virtual onboarding process
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing employers to reinvent their style of recruitment and investment firm RisCura has accepted this challenge. The firm successfully recruited a second intake of eight Youth Employment Service (YES) programme candidates during the lockdown period. The YES programme is a one-year government initiative geared...