Future Cities Forum - Investment 2019
The Behavioural Economics Forum will be running an investment forum in December looking at a range of topics from the housing crisis and innovation in the mortgage market, treasure assets, green bonds and clean energy along with economic predictions for 2019.
The housing crisis has led UK building societies to look at better ways of assessing and funding loans for properties built with modern methods of construction techniques while investment in green mortgages and bonds has been reported as picking up in popularity in Europe. The recent formation of the PRA and FCA forum on financial services and climate change will speed up innovation in this area in the UK.
Zurich Insurance has urged businesses to build resilience to climate change impact with a new report outlining risk management recommendations for companies to best respond. Prevention it warns will be less costly in the long run if building more resilient infrastructure is taken seriously by companies.
Meanwhile, WYG which is expanding its expertise in geo-environmental capabilities is reporting on investment around last mile deliveries with courier company DPD UK and the UK government's Plug-In Car Grant.
The economy of the high street had a sharp focus at our last forum this month with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Aviva Investors and the GLA looking at funding projects to support growth. It remains to be seen whether sales will pick up through the Christmas rush or whether gloomy forecasts will prove accurate - with more household names like Debenhams closing their shops.
Our forum has previously covered topics such as trading behaviour, behavioural corporate finance, culture change in financial services, and consumer behaviour around the new pension freedoms.
Contributors to our forums have come included, among others, AXA insurance, Hay Group, Warwick Business School, Standard Life Investments, Barclays, The Economist, Reuters BreakingViews, Sky Business News, Judge Cambridge Business School, the University of Bath and the ICMA Centre.