Audere Insights

The current military conflict in Ukraine has caused significant disruption to the world’s economic affairs. In the past couple of days, we have identified the most notable developments in Russia that will affect global and regional business communities.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has further dampened the economic prospects for developing countries in Asia, meaning lower economic growth and higher poverty. In the past few days, some countries in Asia have been witnessing significant local economic stress and political turmoil, bringing further uncertainty to the region.

Following COP26 an emphasis on sustainability within the financial sector has increased substantially. Specifically, investors are looking to invest in sectors with a strong environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) focus. India has 10 ESG-exclusive funds, 6 of which were introduced in FY21. This has diversified ESG investment portfolio in the country.

The UK is considered to have “lost the art of grand strategy” since 1960s when the country “lost an empire but [had] not yet found a role”. With Brexit, a game-changer for UK foreign policy, a new strategy was needed to define the UK’s future outside the EU.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria have become increasingly important in global investment markets in recent years. Some $40 trillion, more than a quarter of total professionally managed assets, is now in funds that have overt ESG objectives.