FTSE Russell Convenes

Has geopolitical denialism run its course? Welcome back to the FTSE Russell Convenes ‘geopolitical’ series. Tina Fordham, Founder of Fordham Global Foresight, returns to explore how the current constellation of risks interact with markets. Tina reflects on 2025 and reveals the key signposts shaping the 2026 risk map—from U.S mid-terms to Hungary's upcoming elections. She also explains how geopolitical risk will impact businesses and shares the word she believes best captures the year ahead. Chapters (00:00:00) - Looking back at 2025(00:03:00) - Shifting geopolitical risks in 2026(00:06:10) - Structural change: How companies are navigating risk(00:08:03) - Has geopolitical denialism run its course?

“Real estate touches all the big evolutions we see in society”. Listen as David Sol, Global Head of Policy, FTSE Russell, and Dominique Moerenhout, CEO of the European Real Estate Association (EPRA) discuss how mega trends such as specialisation, scale, consolidation, sustainability and innovation affect the real estate market. 

In this episode, Indrani De, FTSE Russell and Ed Tom, Cboe, present new research they have co-authored that explores how options on public equity can be used to manage private equity risk. Their findings reveal surprising similarities between private and public markets once smoothing techniques are applied—and how options strategies can be a good hedge of private equity risk exposures, using both tactical and systematic hedges.

Listen as Joe Thomson, Founder and CEO of Pacer ETFs, discusses Pacer’s origins in fund distribution.  Our discussion covers the launch of Pacer’s ETF business in 2015 and their focus on developing deep relationships with financial advisors. Guest: Joe Thompson, Founder and CEO, Pacer Financial  Host: Steve Kriechman, Director, Index Investments Group, FTSE Russell  Chapters (00:00:00) - Pacer's evolution(00:04:06) - Their cash cows(00:05:44) - The products of the future(00:07:23) - Diversifying your portfolio(00:08:44) - Planning ahead

Marina Mets (FTSE Russell) and BlackRock's Joyce Choi talk about the recent market volatility and how the recent market dynamics in the US along with the falling US dollar make international fixed income more attractive to invest in. Joyce discusses the best way to dip your toes into international bonds and which iShares ETF invests that way.   Guest: Joyce Choi, Head of Institutional Product Strategy, Fixed Income, ETFs, BlackRock Host: Marina Mets, Head of Americas, Fixed Income & Convertibles, FTSE Russell Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction(00:00:50) - How fixed income markets fit into the big picture(00:03:11) - Looking beyond US borders(00:04:55) - International fixed income and its different segments(00:06:22) - Considerations for investors(00:08:43) - International markets: A diversifier or complimentary?

In this episode, Stephanie Maier, FTSE Russell and Laura Starks, University of Texas, discuss investor democracy and the evolving landscape of proxy voting where shareholder voting becomes more open and inclusive, enabling broader participation and representation. Laura explains the impact of decentralised voting and investor choice programs, revealing key findings from her latest research on how these shifts influence decisions on ESG and climate proposals, and corporate governance.  Guest: Laura Starks, George Kozmetsky Centennial Distinguished University Chair and Professor of Finance at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin  Host: Stephanie Maier, Head of Sustainability, FTSE Russell  Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction(00:01:04) - Proxy voting: Key findings(00:03:04) - Shareholder resolutions: How voting behaviour changed

Meet StepStone Group, a private markets solutions provider with $723 billion in total capital responsibility (as of June 30, 2025). In June 2025, FTSE Russell announced a partnership with StepStone to leverage their extensive private markets database in the creation of new indices—designed to help investors better understand these strategies and potentially broaden access to the asset class. We sat down with Tom Keck, StepStone’s Co-founder and Partner, to explore the hidden value these next-generation private markets benchmarks are poised to unlock.  

Dana Moody (FTSE Russell) and Vanguard's Carole Okigbo discuss recent Vanguard milestones and review some current ETF industry trends, including the resilience of the ETF structure in the face of more recent market volatility. Lastly, they look at portfolio construction considerations and some common ETF misconceptions. 

Portfolio construction is a key tool for investors. By applying a framework and a systematic approach, investors may understand their exposures better. Listen to learn more about both practical and theoretical ideas about building robust and resilience strategies.  Host: David Sol, Global Head of Policy and Governance FTSE Russell Guests: Dr. Joseph Simonian, Head of Equity Portfolio Design and Analytics, CalPERS and Sebastian Lancetti, Head of Index Research & Design, Americas, FTSE Russell   Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction(00:01:00) - Portfolio construction: Is it an art or a science?(00:02:39) - Examples of portfolio construction techniques(00:05:05) - What academics are writing about today(00:07:40) - Approaching portfolio construction(00:12:20) - Practical vs theoretical approaches(00:14:13) - Concentration

Anthony Rochte (FTSE Russell) talks with GSAM's Brendan McCarthy and ProShares' Mo Haghbin about the evolution of the ETF industry. They discuss how the types of ETFs are evolving and how the question in portfolio construction is no longer about active vs passive, it's how you combine the two optimally.

Media reports, social media posts, press releases, CEO conference calls and many other channels deliver unstructured data to the market. MarketPsych uses AI and its large language models to analyse emotions and sentiment and turn these into signals and forecasts. Listen to learn more about this exciting and powerful growing field.    Chapters (00:00:00) - Introduction(00:00:50) - What is media analytics?(00:01:49) - Converting unstructured data into structured content(00:04:15) - Explaining named entity recognition(00:05:15) - Launch of the StarMine MarketPsych Media Sentiment Model(00:06:44) - Sentiment vs stock market performance(00:08:20) - Signals around tariffs(00:10:08) - LLMs and entity recognition(00:10:39) - CEO optimism and analysing emotions(00:12:03) - The future of technology

Welcome to the second episode of our new three-part FTSE Russell Convenes ‘geopolitical’ series with Tina Fordham, independent global political strategist and founder of Fordham Global Foresight.  In this episode Tina discusses this ‘very different victory’ for President Trump, and its potential impact on global markets. She shares her views and expectations on topics from the change in political power, investor optimism, and the new administration, through to global political stability.

Welcome to the second episode of our new three-part FTSE Russell Convenes ‘geopolitical’ series with Tina Fordham, independent global political strategist and founder of Fordham Global Foresight.  In this episode Tina discusses this ‘very different victory’ for President Trump, and its potential impact on global markets. She shares her views and expectations on topics from the change in political power, investor optimism, and the new administration, through to global political stability.

The spotlight is on the upcoming U.S. elections…   We are pleased to introduce the first episode of our new three-part FTSE Russell Convenes ‘geopolitical’ series, with Tina Fordham, Founder of Fordham Global Foresight. An accomplished independent global political strategist and advisor to senior leaders about the intersection between geopolitics, markets and the business environment, Tina shares her views on the polls, the ‘race’ from investor perspectives, and the acceleration in, and impact of, drivers of geopolitical risk.

Concluding this season of FTSE Russell Convenes, in the 40th anniversary year of the FTSE Russell US Indexes, we shine the spotlight on the evolution of FTSE Russell’s indices and how client input is key to their success.  With fifty years of indexing experiencing between them, Bryce Clarke, regional director, Index Investments Group and Catherine Yoshimoto, director of equity product management at FTSE Russell are ideally placed to discuss indexing from the product and client side.  Here they explain the necessity to collaborate with clients to really understand their desired investment outcomes, and how this intel feeds into FTSE Russell’s product development, customisation and delivery. 

Johannes Lee, Investor within the asset management team at Builders Vision—the family office and impact platform created by the grandson of Walmart founders—discusses the organisation’s mission, investment strategy and recent work in stewardship and engagement.    He provides detail on Builders Vision’s investment focus in key thematic areas including sustainable food and agriculture, healthy oceans, renewable energy and thriving communities, with a focus on how the portfolio plays out both actively and passively. 

In episode 8 of FTSE Russell Convenes, Walter Kress, Chief Investment Officer of Ernst & Young, LLP discusses the ‘large playground’ of fixed income and how individual components of the fixed income market are significantly different to two years ago.  He explains how the inflation environment is playing through to pension plans, the additional fixed income opportunity set beyond a core vanilla holding and the very different role of fixed income in portfolios today. 

How is robo advisory and machine learning impacting the financial services market? In episode 7, Alberto Rossi, Professor of Finance, at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business explains how the right balance of human and algorithmic engagement empowers investors to become more effective. He shares the importance of being cautious when using AI, the need to really understand signals and the advice he would give to a CIO of an asset management firm building a strategy around AI.

Fiona Bassett, CEO of FTSE Russell shares her unique perspective on indexing. Fiona discusses why she feels we are early in the evolution of indexing, what she sees as key challenges within the index industry today and the opportunities that are on the horizon.

How far is crypto exposure evolving beyond Bitcoin? In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Inkoo Kang, Vice President, ETFs at Grayscale joins Kristen Mierzwa, Head of Digital Assets at FTSE Russell to discuss how pension plans and institutions are more easily gaining access to crypto products, and what Inkoo’s product development role involves, from the early stages of the ideation process all the way to in-market support. Inkoo also discusses the emergence of exposures in US ETF markets, his views on the story beyond Bitcoin, and why he sees Ethereum as a tech stack built for the modern world. 

In our fourth episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Joyce Choi, Head of Institutional Product Strategy, Fixed Income ETFs at BlackRock, shares her knowledge on fixed income markets at what she sees to be a very interesting and pivotal time. From key market drivers through to market structure and products, Joyce explains the core components of fixed income markets that have enabled investors to build portfolios with a wider number of strategies, and for dealers to more easily hedge their risk.

Greg Brown, Professor of Finance, Kenan Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, joins us for our third episode of FTSE Russell Convenes to share his knowledge on private equity markets. A ‘Van and Kay Weatherspoon Distinguished Professor of Finance’, Greg has been an academic researcher, faculty member at UNC for more than 25 years and is also the founder and research director of the Institute for Private Capital. In his discussion with Indrani De, Head of Global Investment Research at FTSE Russell, Greg begins with the drivers of general outperformance of private equity over public equity, and sources of returns. The conversation turns to other parts of private markets, and inherent shifts from private equity to private credit and real estate to infrastructure, delving into growth post-financial crisis in the last ten to fifteen years and the different reasons behind it. Final questions from Indrani, addressed by Greg, include the key differences in the inflation sensitivity of public markets and private markets, and the importance of investability - specifically the differences in economies or diseconomies of scale.

In our second episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, we are joined by Daniel Reyes, Global Head of Product at Vanguard, whose career with the firm spans over 14 years. In his discussion with Dana Moody, Manager, Index Investments Group at FTSE Russell, Dan explains how Vanguard adapts to evolving ETF market dynamics, while staying true to its investment philosophy—to offer products and exposures it believes will drive positive investment outcomes over the long term. The conversation flows into new entrants into the ETF market, novel exposures and the many different types of ETF strategies launched over the last decade, with most coming and going with a market cycle. Digging in deeper here, Dan shares his views on thematic exposures, and when an investment strategy turns from a fad into a sound investment strategy. Wrapping up the discussion, the focus is on market structure, specifically in the U.S., where equity market indexes and returns have become increasingly concentrated. Dan addresses how Vanguard considers this in the index construction process of its products, and the broader product lineup.

In our first episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Season 4, we welcome Michael Brandt, Professor of Finance, Duke University at The Fuqua School of Business whose career on strategic and tactical asset allocation spans 25 years. In his discussion with Indrani De, Head of Global Investment Research at FTSE Rusell, Michael explains why asset allocators need to pay particular attention to market structure and the time frames we use to measure it. A focus of Michael and Indrani’s conversation is asset allocation in the current market environment, in particular financial market imbalances. Michael shares his knowledge on what is leading to them and where investors should be most concerned; impact at asset class level on the time horizon; implications for optimal frequency and timing for portfolio construction; and the issue of correlated strategies—where capital flows are happening right now and their tie-in to these imbalances.  

Janice Kan Pui Yoke, Co-Head of Equities and Head of Derivatives, SGX Group shares insights on the developments she has seen during her time there over the past three decades. Well-positioned to talk about its history, Janice explains how the Euro dollar futures contract transformed the face of trading in Singapore before explaining how product offerings and innovations are determined.

In this episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Tony Campos, Head of Sustainable Investment, Index Investments Group at FTSE Russell, provides the lowdown on ESG. He begins with the three categories that institutional investment clients are broadly falling into with climate-related and green-focused investing, before providing an update on the reengineering of ESG indexing, regulation, and risk. 

Sean O'Hara, President at PacerETFs joined us for an episode of FTSE Russell Convenes at our World Investment Forum in June 2023.  He discusses the need to be innovative, disruptive and unique in light of the competitive ETF landscape, along with differentiating on distribution.  He also talks about the macro headwinds of this year, his concerns over valuations and how 'narratives' could play out in the next few months.  

At the World Investment Forum in June 2023, Rob Arnott, founder and chairman of the board of Research Affiliates, shares his thoughts on Fed policy, interest rates and inflation from a historical viewpoint and where he sees them heading. He also talks us through the key findings of a RAFI research paper “Reports of Value’s death may have been greatly exaggerated” published in the FAJ in 2021. From there he explains the ‘migration effect’ on the dividend stream of the Russell Value portfolio from 2007 to 2022, the flaws in book-to-value and his thoughts on AI.

How could the explosive growth of Zero Days to Expiration (0DTE) options affect markets? While at the World Investment Forum in June 2023, Rob Hocking, Senior Vice President and Head of Product Innovation at CBOE Global talks about the biggest developments he’s seeing in the world of options, including short terms 0DTEs. Rob also discusses whether he was surprised by the VIX’s performance and reveals the products CBOE are currently working on.

Kingsley Ford, Global Head of Index Investments at LSEG joins us to talk about how ETFs evolved to become a trading suite in their own right, how attitudes towards fixed income ETFs shifted during the pandemic and why structured products are particularly ripe for innovation. Kingsley also discusses what makes an index successful and if he thinks clients will build indices focused specifically on AI in the near future.

Today, investors have endless options to choose from when tailoring their portfolios, particularly when targeting specific investment factors. But how can you create the perfect factor playlist for your portfolio? In this episode, Andrew Ang, Head of Factors, Sustainable Solutions at BlackRock discusses how factor investing has evolved to create more democratised access for investors, and which factors he thinks will perform better in the long run. Andrew also explains why we are again in an era of macro risk.

How should you allocate your assets today to set yourself up for success tomorrow? Mo Haghbin, Head of Investment Solutions at Invesco joins us to discuss his thoughts on the future of the banking system, why he believes a diversified approach to asset allocation is so important and where on the yield curve he thinks is most exciting for investing. Mo also dives deep into his thoughts on the markets today and explains why financial crises are rarely repeated.   

Could AI change how we perceive ourselves and therefore how we work? Having studied AI since the 90s when it was a more obscure term, David Sol, Head of Index Policy at LSEG joins us to share his knowledge on the developments in AI from its debated origins to the present day and its potential impact. David talks about his thoughts on the increasing intelligence of AI in recent years, how developing technology could affect the labour market and if FTSE Russell is incorporating AI. David also explains FTSE Russell’s country classification framework and how benchmarks are built to filter which companies meet the criteria for certain indices.  

What is driving the rise in popularity of ETFs and will we see a slowdown? In this episode, Ravi Goutam, Managing Director at BlackRock discusses what he thinks the biggest driver for ETFs are and if he has seen a rise in liquidity. Ravi also delves into bond ETFs, BlackRock’s product innovation process today and how their customer base is evolving.

The role of indices in the markets shifted drastically during the pandemic as people’s views towards ESG changed. In 2023, how has their role changed? Arne Staal, CEO of FTSE Russell answers this pressing question and delves into current investing trends including the resurgence of fixed income. Arne also discusses if disclosure has improved since his last conversation with Jamie, his own thoughts on the current market outlook and how FTSE Russell’s product innovation process works.  #FTSERussellConvenes #FixedIncome #Indices

In his interview Martin talks about what he feels to be the real drivers of major social and cultural change, and the shift he is seeing in public opinion towards business within our society today. He shares his views on how the private sector could better address societal challenges and capitalism ‘shaken up’ to get money flowing in the right directions. As part of his interview, Martin explains how Just Capital measures the progress of companies, provides incentives for businesses to partake in corporate social responsibility efforts and what companies need to do next to drive significant change.

In our second episode of FTSE Russell Convenes, Indrani De, CFA, PRM, Head of Global Investment Research, FTSE Russell discusses several longer-term issues for financial markets. What will happen to the dollar? Is the US on the cusp of another technological boom, or even one in healthcare? How will the US’s current raised debt ceiling problem play out? Indrani answers these questions as well as providing insights on China and commodities, the impact of labor on inflation and investing in emerging markets.

In our first episode of Series three of FTSE Russell Convenes, Elizabeth Burton joins Jamie MacDonald to talk about the challenges and opportunities in the current market environment During the interview she dives into the US and inflation outlook, drawing upon lessons learnt from the past, factors likely to impact a rate hike and the one piece of information she feels is ‘going to have a lot to do with where we see the Fed’. Elizabeth also provides her opinions on why she feels it’s an over simplistic view to regard commercial real estate as a bad actor, the ‘reopening of China, the commodities investment story and whether asset allocators are thinking seriously about digital assets. Watch the interview on https://www.ftserussell.com/ftse-russell-convenes