Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to member services. Megafunds might be able to mass customise, but when you’ve got two million members it’s tough to bring the personal touch.
The famous and closely watched US endowment model took a hit in FY23, with smaller, equity-heavy investors taking the lead. But the longer-term superiority of a chunkier exposure to alternatives remains unchallenged.
Debt sustainability in emerging markets
Global financial markets have been subjected to multiple shocks over the past three years: the COVID pandemic; the end of quantitative easing, with the subsequent tightening of liquidity; the Russia-Ukraine war; and more recently, the unrest in the Middle East. For emerging markets, these developments have had implications for sovereign balance sheets, as well as fiscal policy, and, in many cases, have raised external vulnerabilities. In this paper, the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income group analyses the International Monetary Fund’s Debt Sustainability Framework, in terms of its inputs, outputs and shortcomings. Â
