Sofia Villacreses Cardenas | Consultant, Capco

Tokenization is more than a technical breakthrough – it represents a foundational shift in how capital markets are structured, accessed, and composed. By transforming traditional assets such as U.S. Treasuries, private credit, and money market funds into programmable, interoperable tokens, tokenization is redefining the architecture of global finance. 

This article explores the rise of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), with a focus on tokenized U.S. Treasuries – the most advanced and strategically relevant use case to date. Drawing from product data, legal structures, and emerging integrations, the paper examines how these instruments are powering yield-bearing stablecoins, and reshaping liquidity management across decentralized and traditional finance. 

For financial services firms, this shift challenges established models of custody, fund management, and market access – demanding new infrastructure strategies, compliance frameworks, and rethinking client engagement and operation at scale. Firms that adapt early may unlock faster settlement, greater liquidity, and new institutional flows. 

This shift won’t be defined solely in code or regulation; it will be shaped at the intersection of the two. As tokenization matures, its most transformative effect may not be what it replaces, but what new value creation models it enables.

Margaret H. Christ | Professor, University of Georgia
Minjeong (MJ) Kim | Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin
Michael A. Yip | Assistant Professor, University of Georgia

This article explores the impact of artificial intelligence on investment research professionals based on recent academic research. To help investment professionals navigate this potentially transformative technology, we discuss recent academic research, including survey, archival and interview data, examining how AI has begun to transform the sell-side equity research field.

We first discuss the current state of AI adoption within the equity research field, including discussing some common AI applications used by finance professionals. We summarize the benefits of utilizing AI identified by sell-side analysts and documented by academic research, including reduced cost of preparing analysis, more in-depth analysis, broader coverage, and improved forecast accuracy.

Despite the powerful new capabilities and benefits that AI may provide, it is not without limitations. We discuss the factors that may accelerate or constrain the broader adoption of AI within organizations, including concerns about accuracy and inter- and intra-organizational factors influencing its adoption in practice.

Finally, we conclude the article by discussing the impacts of AI adoption on equity research professionals and provide several recommendations for practitioners when considering the adoption of AI by their firm as well as those outside them.

Michael D. Grubb | Associate Professor of Economics, Boston College
Darragh Kelly | Data Scientist, Google
Jeroen Nieboer | Experiment and Machine Learning Platform Manager, Deliveroo
Matthew Osborne | Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Toronto
Jonathan Shaw | Technical Specialist, U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and Research Associate, Institute for Fiscal Studies

Until recently, overdraft charges cost bank customers billions of pounds annually, disproportionately affecting a small share of heavy overdraft users. This paper summarizes Grubb et al.’s (2025) findings from large-scale field experiments at two major U.K. banks, showing that automatically enrolling customers into timely overdraft alerts significantly reduces charges. 

Just-in-time alerts cut unarranged overdraft charges by 17% to 19% and arranged overdraft charges by 4% to 8%. Required since 2019 for all customers at large U.K. banks, the alerts generate estimated annual consumer savings of ￡170 million to ￡240 million across the U.K. Most savings result from consumers transferring available funds rather than substantially changing their spending habits.

While early-warning alerts also encouraged timely account checks and fund transfers, there were no statistically significantly savings beyond just-in-time alerts alone. While effective and broadly supported by consumers, automatic enrollment in alerts alone cannot entirely stop consumers from paying high overdraft charges unnecessarily. Consequently, regulators complemented automatic enrollment with reforms that simplified overdraft pricing starting in 2020, making borrowing costs clearer and comparable to credit card rates.

Hugo Ferreira Braga Tadeu | Director and Professor, Fundacao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Jersone Tasso Moreira Silva | Associate Professor, Fundacao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Denise Pinheiro | Guest Professor, Fundacao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Bruna Dias Diniz Silva | Researcher, Fundacao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Kauã Kenner | Researcher, Fundacao Dom Cabral, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

This article aims to explore the maturity of the digital transformation of Brazilian companies, based on a survey carried out in 2024, analyzing different strategic dimensions and the barriers that hinder the transversal digitalization of the Brazilian territory. Furthermore, it discusses Brazil’s technological trends in relation to the global digital competitiveness landscape, offering recommendations on how the country can overcome its internal challenges and close existing gaps so that organizations can strengthen their digital initiatives and push Brazil toward a more competitive position in the global digital transformation arena.

Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn | Faculty of Arts, Center for International Relations Research (CIRR), University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Marc Lenglet | Strategy and Entrepreneurship Department, NEOMA Business School, Mont-Saint-Aignan, France

This article discusses the transformative claims surrounding the integration of algorithmic technologies, such as regulatory technology or generative artificial intelligence, into financial regulation. While industry and consultancy narratives celebrate these tools as disruptive innovations, their implementation often reproduces existing institutional structures and power asymmetries. 

Drawing on insights from the social studies of finance, the article argues that algorithmic systems are not neutral instruments but actively reshape regulatory logics and normative orders. By privileging automation and calculability over contextual and interpretive judgment, these technologies reconfigure regulatory practices. 

This article calls for a more reflexive and critical engagement with algorithmic technologies specifically and technologyled governance, highlighting the need to re-examine the political implications of regulatory transformation in the digital age.

Anthony Gahan | Executive Fellow, King’s Business School & Co-Founder, Wyvern Partners

This article explores the increasing dominance of private equity as both a source of capital for businesses and a core asset class for institutional and, increasingly, private investors. In the context of ongoing challenges in public markets, including lower IPO volumes and diminished price discovery, PE is also the default financing model for many founders and management teams. Drawing on recent data and market trends, the article contrasts the “inside-out” operational engagement of PE with the “outside-in” constraints of public equity, highlighting the advantages PE offers in strategic alignment, performance measurement, and return potential.

The article also addresses emerging systemic risks associated with PE’s expansion. It concludes that while PE offers powerful advantages, it still depends on public markets for exits, benchmarking, and capital recycling. As such, the future of global capital markets lies not in the dominance of one model over another, but in a rebalanced ecosystem where both private and public structures contribute to long-term economic dynamism and investor value.

Nick Paulussen | Executive Director, Capco

Secondary markets for private assets have evolved from a niche liquidity outlet to a cornerstone of modern private-markets investing. Global secondary transaction volume reached a record $162 billion in 2024 – up 45% year-on-year and now representing roughly one-fifth of all private equity exits. This expansion has been fueled equally by traditional LP-led portfolio sales and the rapid rise of GP-led continuation funds, which alone accounted for about half of 2024 volume.

Alongside these deal structures, fund-level NAV-based lending and a new generation of digital trading platforms are broadening access and compressing execution timelines, while a surge of fresh capital – from large institutions to semi-liquid retail vehicles – has deepened market liquidity. 

Regulatory reforms on both sides of the Atlantic aim to standardize processes, enhance valuation transparency, and safeguard investors, even as they introduce new governance requirements. For investors, the maturing secondary ecosystem now offers strategic tools to actively manage portfolio liquidity, recycle capital, and extend ownership of high-performing assets. 

Yet challenges remain: pricing still hinges on volatile NAV discounts, information asymmetry persists, and deal execution can be complex. Mastery of these dynamics is therefore essential for any institution seeking to optimize risk-adjusted returns in an increasingly interconnected private-markets landscape. 

Kenneth Lee | Professor, Loughborough Business School, Loughborough University, U.K.
Mark Aleksanyan | Professor, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, U.K.
Subhash Abhayawansa | Professor, Swinburne Business School, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia

Introducing substantial regulation into complex systems, such as contemporary capital markets, creates a series of challenges for both regulators and market actors. In this article, we explore the impact of a major piece of European legislation called MiFID II1 on long-established practices and relationships. 

Our findings highlight that, despite well-intentioned efforts to address identified risks, regulatory interventions can sometimes weaken the very systems they aim to improve. Moreover, these unintended consequences are often difficult to foresee. To illustrate this dynamic, we draw on our recent study of investor relations and corporate brokers, providing a real-world example of how attempting to resolve one issue can, inadvertently, exacerbate another.

Eoin Murray | CIO Rebalance Earth

Existing approaches to sustainable finance all too often view nature and ecosystem services from a cost perspective. Dominant frames around ESG go further by emphasizing the value that nature can deliver, but generally within quite constrained parameters that don’t move us significantly beyond the status quo. 

This article presents a more penetrating perspective that advances the notion of nature as a genuine asset class that is now a practical necessity rather than a theoretical nicety. In turn, this leads to a view of nature as the infrastructural backbone of resilient economies and financial markets.

Dr Anat Keller | Reader in Law, Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, U.K.
Dr Andreas Kokkinis | Associate Professor of Law, University of Birmingham, U.K.

Our study on culture in finance is one of the first in its field to be grounded in extensive, original qualitative data on the lived experiences of senior managers in financial firms. 

This article presents key findings from 29 semi-structured interviews with current and former senior managers in U.K. financial firms and regulatory personnel. 

It then links the findings to practical takeaways that financial regulators, professional bodies in finance and senior managers and culture champions in financial firms can embrace to support the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory vision of a healthy, purposeful culture.

Aofinn Devitt | PhD candidate, King’s College London and CIO, Moneta Wealth Management

The concept of psychological safety within organizations has gained increasing traction since the term was made popular by Amy Edmondson in 1999. Defined as perceived safety and freedom to voice different perspectives in a work unit, the concept has been adopted as a tool to drive learning and improve performance, particularly in healthcare-related fields. 

In this article, we examine its expansion to the field of investment management, a $145 trillion global industry that depends on the ability of professionals to manage assets and deliver positive investment performance. We study the role of culture within investment teams, and whether creating more psychological safety enables better learning from mistakes, increases innovation, and drives improved investment performance. 

We found that at a leadership level in investment management there is enhanced awareness of the importance of culture and talent retention and that these factors can add to organizational stability, even if at the present time there is an absence of concrete causal links to better investment performance.

Yuval Millo | University of Warwick, U.K.
Crawford Spence | King’s College London, U.K.
James Valentine | Analyst Solutions, U.S.

Markets are simultaneously hotbeds of dynamism, innovation, creative destruction, and characterized by habit, routine and inertia. Yet dominant understandings of market activity emphasize the former over the latter. Taking the latter seriously isn’t just about being negative but can productively help identify barriers that need to be overcome in order to ensure value creation rather than value destruction. We illustrate this line of thinking through an analysis of the active fund management community in the U.K. and the U.S.

Martha Lucía Férez Blando | Managing Principal, Capco

Financial institutions face increasing challenges in designing effective and sustainable adoption strategies for new products and services. In a rapidly evolving digital and regulatory landscape, many firms rely heavily on short-term adoption metrics, often overlooking the underlying behavioral factors that drive long-term customer engagement. 

This paper demonstrates how behavioral science, particularly choice of architecture, can help financial services firms structure adoption strategy decisions in a way that supports both immediate business goals and long-term customer relationships.

A key obstacle to effective adoption strategies is the presence of cognitive biases in decision making. Firms often rely on familiar habits and short-term gains while overlooking strategic trade-offs that could lead to more sustainable growth. This research introduces a structured decision-making approach that helps broaden strategic thinking by addressing biases, such as narrow framing, availability bias, and present bias. By applying this approach, financial institutions can design more customer-centric, commercially viable, and resilient adoption strategies.

This framework is particularly valuable for firms looking to strengthen decision-making processes, reduce behavioral risks, and optimize adoption strategies to drive lasting customer value. 

John Dumay | Professor of Accounting, Macquarie University, Australia

Shared value is an economic and business strategy that advocates helping poor farmers increase productivity, leading to higher incomes. I examine Nestle’s shared value ambitions in the cocoa supply chain, mainly in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, through Nestle’s Cocoa Plan and Income Accelerator Program. Unfortunately, after almost two decades of implementing shared value, few cocoa farmers earn a living income and productivity has not significantly increased. 

In 2024, cocoa yields decreased due to climate change, plant disease, aging farms, and the Ivorian governments’ resistance to planting higher-yielding cocoa trees. Cocoa farmers are also powerless to determine prices because they receive farmgate prices set by their governments that are less than world market prices. 

In the good times, when harvest productivity is higher, cocoa supplies for Nestle are locked in at traditionally lower prices. However, if the harvest is down, farmgate and world prices increase, but Nestle transfers the supply risk to the farmer because Nestle does not pay farmers for the cocoa they can’t harvest. 

As cocoa prices increase, so do retail prices, but chocolate demand is inelastic, causing sales dollars to increase and volumes to decline, which can still increase Nestle’s profit. Cocoa traders and speculators profit from the increased and wildly fluctuating cocoa prices. 

Ultimately, Nestle, other chocolate manufacturers, traders, and speculators keep the lion’s share of the profits, while most farmers still do not earn a living income. Ironically, producers can subsidize traders and companies if they can’t supply their contracted quantities because of lower production due to climate change and diseases, which results in lower cocoa production.

Adam Leaver | Professor of Accounting & Society, Accounting & Financial Management Group, Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield, Professor of Accounting, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, Director of the Centre for Research
on Accounting & Finance in Context (CRAFiC), Director of the Audit Reform Lab, Sheffield University Management School
Daniel Tischer | Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of Sheffield

The case of Evergrande – a Chinese property developer – received much business press attention when Western investors in its corporate bonds lost billions of dollars as it went into liquidation and was eventually delisted. The case illustrated the strong financial relationship that has evolved between Eastern debt markets and Western investors. 

However, the Evergrande example highlights a less well understood issue: that Western firms have also been centrally involved in the structuring and marketing of Chinese debt securities, effectively enabling the globalization of Chinese finance. Using social network analysis, drawing on data extracted from legal documents (offering circulars), our paper shows the roles played by Chinese, European and North American financial institutions in the construction of Evergrande’s debt securities. 

Evergrande therefore provides a window on our entwined economies. But it also illuminates an unknown: how these historic relations may change as geopolitical tensions grow. We reflect on the unanticipated outcomes that may arise from U.S.-China political polarization, in a context where European states seek to steer their financial centers towards domestic geopolitical priorities but are also responsive to their financial interests. 

One possible outcome is that a more isolationist and recalcitrant U.S. partner may drive European financial actors towards the pursuit of their historic business interests in China, while being less mindful of U.S. foreign policy interests.

Utpal Bhattacharya | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Amit Kumar | Singapore Management University
Sujata Visaria | Bayes Business School, City St. George’s, University of London
Jing Zhao | Hong Kong Polytechnic University

In the world of personal finance, gender disparities aren’t just about gaps in income or wealth accumulation – they also extend to the quality of financial advice. This study explores whether financial advisors give women systematically worse advice than they give men and, if so, why. 

Through a secret shopper study conducted in Hong Kong, we uncover gendered patterns in financial advice that could have implications for women’s financial empowerment.