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Since 2022, sustainable finance has been experiencing a slowdown. Rising rates, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty have led to investors reviewing their ambitions. Despite this, sustainable finance has not disappeared; it has been normalised.

For external asset managers (EAMs), succession planning is a strategic priority. Demographic changes, rising client expectations, increasing regulatory complexity, and the need to attract younger talent are all reshaping the sector. In this piece, Union Bancaire Privée’s (UBP) Nadège Lesueur-Pène, Head of Wealth Management Developing Markets & Europe, and Anja Karcher, Head of EAMs Basel, provide some guidance on how to achieve a smooth handover.

Major central banks mostly held their interest rates steady last week, with the US Federal Reserve (Fed) and the European Central Bank (ECB) preferring to wait and see what happens. Global equities edged lower as the technology sell-off extended into a third week, with investors focussing on the gap between artificial intelligence (AI) spending and free cash flow. Bonds gained on lower yields, while gold traded lower on modest positioning adjustments and its sensitivity to equity markets.

Chancellor John Healey promised us a boring budget. On that, he delivered, with markets seemingly stable in the aftermath. However, it was a more nuanced and complex picture beneath the surface.

When traditional assets increasingly share the same global drivers, diversification may depend on finding genuinely different sources of return.