Who
holds the power in financial markets? For many, the answer would probably be
the large investment banks, big asset managers, and hedge funds. These are the
organizations that are in the media's spotlight and whose leaders and employees
command outsized salaries and bonuses. They are the supposed leading edge of
global finance and their power seems almost absolute, even as questions abound
about their social and economic utility. But more and more asset owners are
confronting the status quo, the power to exact high fees and the focus on the
short term. The New Frontier Investors
chronicles the rise of this new group of long horizon asset owners that
includes some of the world's largest pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and
endowments. These asset owners are driving the business of asset management to
a new frontier by retaking responsibility of the end-to-end management of their
investment portfolios and by re-conceptualizing investment decision-making.
The
lessons illustrated in The New Frontier
Investors fly in the face of conventional wisdom, which has it that these
asset owners are at a disadvantage to the private sector fund managers and
other service providers. These asset owners are supposedly not able to attract
talent nor do they have the organizational capabilities to compete. That many are
located far from the markets in which they invest only exacerbates the problem.
But this is incorrect. This expanding group of asset owners is learning how to
make the most of their scale and long time horizons, finding new ways to
attract talent, to collaborate, and to build greater alignment with the users
of capital. They are not at a disadvantage. They are at an advantage.
The New Frontier
Investors
is essential reading for anyone wanting to see a change in global financial
markets and the professionalization of asset owners worldwide, from public
pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to foundations and endowments. It is
thus required reading for the senior executives and employees working in the
field of beneficiary institutional investment, as well as government officials
and others that have a stake in the design and governance of beneficiary
financial institutions and long-term capital.
Author Biography:
Jagdeep Singh Bachher is Chief Investment Officer of the
University of California’s pension, endowment, short-term, and total return
investment pools. Previously he was Executive Vice President, Venture and Innovation,
and Deputy CIO at AIMCo. He is also chairman emeritus of the Institutional
Investors Roundtable, a global organization representing long-term investors
such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds worth collectively over $11
Trillion. In 2012 he was named in the Global Top Forty Under Forty Chief
Investment Officers of aiCIO
Magazine. He also serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on
the Future of Investing. He holds a BASc in mechanical engineering and an MASc
and PhD in management sciences from the University of Waterloo.
Adam D. Dixon is Reader in Economic Geography at the University of
Bristol. He is also a non-resident research affiliate at Stanford University’s
Global Projects Center, the European Centrefor Corporate Engagement at
Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and IE Business School’s Sovereign
Investment Lab in Madrid. His research focuses on financial globalization and
the political economy of institutional investors, particularly sovereign wealth
funds and pension funds. He is the author of The New Geography of
Capitalism: Firms, Finance, and Society (Oxford University Press 2014) and
co-author with Gordon L. Clark and Ashby H. B. Monk of Sovereign Wealth
Funds: Legitimacy, Governance, and Global Power (Princeton University
Press, 2013). In addition to his scholarship, Dr Dixon has worked with a range
of international organizations and NGOs, such as the OECD, the Asian
Development Bank, the Center for Global Development, and the Pacific Pension
Institute. He holds a D.Phil. in economic geography from the University of
Oxford, a Diplôme (Master) de l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris
in finance, and a BA in international affairs from The George Washington
University.
Dr Ashby H. B. Monk is the Executive and Research Director of the Stanford Global Projects
Center. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford and
a Senior Advisor to the Chief Investment Officer of the University of
California. Dr Monk has a strong track record of academic and industry
publications. He was named by aiCIO
magazine as one of the most influential academics in the institutional
investing world. His research and writing has been featured in The
Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial
Times, Institutional Investor, Reuters, Forbes, and
on National Public Radio among a variety of other media. His current research
focus is on the design and governance of institutional investors, with
particular specialization on pension and sovereign wealth funds. He received
his Doctorate in Economic Geography at Oxford Universityand holds a Master's
in International Economics from the Université de Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and
a Bachelor's in Economics from Princeton University.
