So as Storm Arwen begins to blow in with real vigour from the Atlantic we bring our own vim and vigour to yet another week of insight, education, debate, and CPD by and for members here on Octo.

On Wednesday, we hosted the third and final part of our ‘beyond COP26’ series, with the help of Mark Riggall, Michael Collins, Parit Jakhria, and Jinwee Tan of Prudential. This online training session, which has been accredited for CPD, outlined the key outcomes from the conference, along with what it means for the UK government. The webinar also defined how the M&G Treasury & Investment Office looks at climate change and other ESG themes when deciding on its long-term strategic asset allocation for funds.

On Thursday, Artemis presented a webinar looking at how the manager’s Target Return Bond Fund has performed in what has been a challenging period for fixed income markets. The team explained how their measured approach to risk generates returns on an annual basis. Presented by Head of Intermediated Business Adam Gent, Head of Fixed Income Stephen Snowden and Fund Manager Juan Valenzuela.

Also on Thursday lunchtime, we held our latest Hot Topic, under the title of “Investing for climate change – responsible investing as the new normal”. Chaired by regular Octo contributor John Lappin and supported by panellists Gabriela Herculano, CEO of iClima Earth and Caroline Shaw, a Portfolio Manager at Fidelity International, the conversation was wide reaching, touching on themes ranging from what actually was achieved at COP26, the potential for flaws in ESG scorecards and what the future holds for innovation amongst fund managers. A more in-depth write-up of the session will be available early next week.

Remember, much of our content is accredited for CPD so check out CPD Streams in the main menu if that is something you are interested in.

Looking ahead, we have our very first Advisers’ Responsible Investment Forum, which has been requested by many members, so if you are advising the public and want to help inform the debate please do jump on over and join the Group in time for the first meeting on the 9th of December at 2pm, details in Events.  This is an advisers-only group as there is already a separate Group for asset management and providers.

As ever, I will close with a very warm welcome to the latest pioneers to join our ever-growing merry band. 

Welcome Jon Leech, Wendy Appleton, Graham Brady, 

Kieran Cardozo-Smith, Dan Knight, Nimo Ibrahim, Anna Traniello, Kate Jones, Kainat Shah, 

Gabriela Herculano, Austyn Smith, Ian Batterbee and 

Marcus Barclay BA (Hons), FPFS, CFP, it’s a pleasure to have you here.  

Have a great weekend.