Major forces impacting the financial markets and wider business environment, from crypto currencies to geopolitics to emerging technologies, were explored at an event hosted by JTC recently in Jersey that brought together a number of investment and banking professionals.
The event, held in October and attended by more than 100 investment experts, lawyers, non-executive directors and other finance industry professionals, featured a panel with Simon Smith, Head of Crown Dependencies Investments and UK Corporate Distribution at Barclays Private Bank, Gajan Mahadevan, Senior Macro Strategist, Commercial Banking at Lloyds Bank International, and Edward Smith, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Rathbones Investment Management. The session was moderated by Paul Fosse, Group Head of Banking and Treasury at JTC.
Over the course of the event, the panel discussed a broad range of issues that are currently impacting all corners of the international financial services landscape, and explored what the key drivers are likely to be as the sector looks ahead to 2025 and beyond.
In particular, the panel discussed:
- The inflationary outlook and the interest rate environment, with the prospect of further cuts to interest rates on the horizon. The panel outlined how interest rate movement would impact people with both savings and debt, as well as the wider macro picture.
- The significance of global geopolitics, including the impact of UK and US elections, as well as the disruption to markets posed by ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. The panel highlighted how these risks affect market stability, liquidity and the ability of people and businesses to plan effectively.
- The challenge of supply chain disruption as a result of both the inflationary environment and geopolitical uncertainty and how, despite it being an abstract concept, it has the capacity to significantly shape consumer behaviours and market stability.
- How approaches to emerging technologies, including AI, virtual assets and crypto currencies, are shaping markets and influencing liquidity strategies.
Reflecting on the event, Paul Fosse said:
“Our intention in hosting this session was to bring together some expert commentators to prompt a really healthy debate about some of the key issues that are impacting all corners of our industry and, indeed, our economy. There’s no doubt this has been a highly complex period for investors and businesses to navigate and there are no easy solutions – the fact that our panellists offered some diverse and often opposing views on these issues is evidence of that.
“As we look forward, it’s important that we have these opportunities to collaborate and bring our thoughts together to generate valuable debate and challenge assumptions and established ‘group-think’, so that as a sector we can help guide our clients and advise our stakeholders effectively.”
