Emerging markets forward-looking

Even though BankInvest has been present in Luxembourg since 2007, the investment manager reintroduced itself last week at the Cercle Cité, as a partner in emerging markets.

The Danish company has been involved with emerging markets and developing countries since 1987. As CEO Bo Foged said in his opening address, “these markets are part of the future.” He emphasised the importance of understanding them in order to pull through the current financial crisis and economic slow-down.

BISA S.A., BankInvest's global distributor in Luxembourg, is responsible for investment funds and other investment products outside of Denmark, currently focusing on Nordic countries, as well as Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. More and more in demand are SRIs, socially responsible investments.

Main speaker of the evening was Fredrik Härén, founder of Interesting.org. With “The Idea Book” Härén landed a business book bestseller, with over 150,000 copies sold in his native Sweden alone. His focus is the fostering of creativity in businesses, but with his 2010 book “The Developing World” he looks at what we can learn from emerging countries.

“Twenty to 30 years ago we made the huge mistake to divide the world into developing and developed countries,” said Härén. “No country in the world is financially, economically and socially sustainable. How could we ever think we were done developing?”

For Härén it is clear that the question is not what the Western world can teach emerging economies anymore, but rather what we can learn from them. “People who grow up in a fast-changing world understand change better. We need to catch up with them.”

Part of the problem is an arrogance about the own ignorance and a holding tight of old-fashioned ideas and opinions. “We don't know where we're headed and therefore we hold on to what we have while the others are developing full steam ahead.”

After the presentation many of the roughly 100 guests seemed thoughtful. BISA S.A. managing director Johan Lindberg nonetheless seemed content with the speaker, “everybody has to be self-critical, but it also shows that we are doing something right.”

The Danish ambassador to Luxembourg, Louise Bang Jespersen, also seemed impressed by Härén's presentation. “There's room for improvement,” she said about the relationship to emerging countries. “We can learn a lot from the developing world.”

Härén himself didn't want his thoughts and observations to be understood as a threat but rather as food for thought, as he explained later on in a short interview. Still, he issued a kind warning.

“I have been speaking on creativity for 12 years and on developing countries for six years. Over the past 12 months, I've been speaking a lot in finance and banking,” said Härén. “I believe that banking will be one of the top three changing businesses. And I don't think they're ready for it.”