A 22-minute listen. 

A regular contributor to Octo, Simon James, CIO of Gore Browne Investment Management, joined me for the latest in our remote podcast series, talking about all things income, ESG, and keeping in touch with clients.

While the FCA has temporarily halted the need for the so-called ‘10% drop’ letters from portfolio managers to inform clients of asset falls, Simon stresses this shouldn’t change the way practitioners work.

“It’s appropriate for all industry participants to be in touch with their clients; if there’s undue volatility in the markets we need to recognise that people need reassurance,” he says.

“In many ways we shouldn’t need to be told by the regulator that we should be providing reassurance – we should be doing that anyway”.

With many companies across all sectors having curtailed dividends during times of crisis, income is getting harder and harder to come by. Still, Simon points to the value of investment trusts, with boards tending to build up revenue reserves in the good times. Open-ended funds don’t have this luxury.

Building on recent debates around the future of globalisation, Simon sees a different path forward to what we have been used to.

“The situation with China is reversing; as it has caused its economy to be driven much more by domestic consumption, its involvement with the rest of the world has been reduced,” he explains.

“At the same time, bizarrely, the involvement of the rest of the world’s economies with China has grown”.