Liability-Driven Investment. Dan Tammas-Hastings

book has three parts to it, broadly matching the subtitles Pensions, Regulations and Robo-advice, although we may also have described the focus as: i) Investment and Risk; ii) Regulation and ethical considerations; iii) The Impact of Technology.

      The first part, which stretches through the first half of the text, consists of an introduction to the asset classes available to the modern investor. Alongside an introduction to investment funds, why they are important and how to choose them. There is also a brief explanation of both discounted cash flows and investment management frameworks which should be familiar territory for anyone who has taken a finance or economics class in the past.

The second part looks at regulation, the changing regulatory landscape, and the obligations upon stakeholders in the investment world. Regulation is more important to finance professionals than it has ever been, and we expect to see continued growth in the number of, and complexity of, regulations as markets become more and more complex. We also look at ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria and investigate how finance is more than a simple question of risk and return. With ESG criteria incorporated into regulations and the investment process, we expect social considerations to become an increasingly important part of the investment process.

      The third part looks at the digital landscape and the impact of technology. The rise of WealthTech and the likelihood of digital disruption (so far it is early days), including the distribution of advice and financial products such as LDI, is likely to change dramatically over the next few years as processes become less human-led and more commoditised. This will bring mass distribution of investment solutions and lower costs to us as consumers of financial products – but it also creates risks.

      We hope you find this book useful.

      Daniel Tammas-Hastings