The future of commercial real estate belongs to those who can meet the evolving needs of the office
Lockdowns and remote work presented unique challenges for the commercial real estate sector. Vast amounts of office space were suddenly empty as people worked from home. But the sector is rebounding. There are projects underway in cities around the world are a testament to investors’ confidence in its outlook, says Sebastien Betermier, an Associate Professor of Finance at Desautels.
McGill Personal Financial Essentials course helps people understand common investing mistakes
Human instinct is not well-suited to making wise investments, says Prof. Benjamin Croitoru in an interview with Global News. Fear of missing out is just one example of this. Following the crowd can lead to bad investments, and the crash of cryptocurrency values in 2022 is only the latest example of this.
Prof. Augustin's paper wins 2022 Global AI Finance Research Conference Best Paper Award
Congratulations to Patrick Augustin, Associate Professor in Finance, whose paper with co-authors Roy Chen-Zhang and Donghwa Shin (both with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) titled “Reaching for Yield in Decentralized Financial Markets” has been awarded the 2022 Global AI Finance Research Conference Best Paper Award.
Delve: How Banks and Institutional Investment Funds Are Driving the Road to Net-Zero
One of the biggest challenges today for financial institutions is how to meet net-zero climate targets while achieving high returns on investment and satisfying the needs of various stakeholders. What does the road to net-zero look like in the realm of long-term investment, who are the players, and how should the inevitable roadblocks be overcome?
Central bank digital currencies could help improve financial inclusion
People are using cash less, and plastic more. But this presents a problem for unbanked and underbanked people. There are still a significant number of Canadians who don’t have a bank account. They can’t participate fully in the digital economy, but central bank digital currencies could help them do that.
Crypto’s impressive returns led institutional investors to consider unconventional investments
Cryptocurrencies have always been volatile, but they have also generated some very impressive returns. Even large pension funds got in on the action, and some of them have been burned. By investing in the crypto exchange FTX, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) hoped to avoid the risk of investing in individual cryptocurrencies. But that backfired spectacularly when FTX collapsed, and OTPP recently wrote down its entire $95 million (USD) investment.
A place to call home trumps portfolio diversification for some investors
Many households are heavily, or even exclusively, invested in real estate. That’s a lot of money to have tied up in a single type of investment, but people don’t think of houses like other investments, according to research from Associate Professor Sebastien Betermier.
Prof. Weitzner's paper wins research award
Congratulations to Gregory Weitzner, Assistant Professor in Finance, whose paper “Bank Loan Markups and Adverse Selection” has won the 2022 John W. Ryan Research Award.
Delve: Why digital currencies could change the future of central banking
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) represent a possible next step in the technological evolution of banking and the financial intermediation sector, with advances in privacy, fraud protection, and efficiency—but their roles and risks on the high-tech path forward are only now becoming clear.
Peer-to-peer lending platforms are a potential disruptor to a long-established industry
For small businesses – and aspiring businesspeople -- banks have been a financial gatekeeper. Without assets and a business credit profile, businesses are often out of luck. But peer-to-peer lending services are beginning to disrupt an industry that is very set in its ways. Fintech lending platforms like October assign businesses a credit score based on a company’s financial history, default probability, and projected profit margin.
Real estate investment helps Canadian pension plans outperform peers
Canada’s pension plans consistently outperformed their peers between 2004 and 2018, largely thanks to their diversified their assets, which include investments in real estate and infrastructure assets. “Here, the funds are doing it themselves,” says Professor Sebastien Betermier in an interview with Benefits Canada. “They are on the ground, building projects themselves in Toronto, in Montreal and abroad.”
Delve: How Barriers to Foreign Investments Affect Risk-Taking in International Markets, with Francesca Carrieri
What regulations are at play when financial institutions, hedge funds, mutual fund managers, and others invest in stocks and businesses in another country—and who do those regulations ultimately benefit? Despite protecting both foreign investors and countries’ domestic markets, regulatory constraints still present certain barriers to foreign investment, especially in times of market stress, inflation, and increased interest rates.
It is never too early to take learn the basics of investing
Everyone should have basic financial knowledge, even if they have not yet accumulated much wealth, according to Benjamin Croitoru, Finance Professor and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at Desautels. The McGill Personal Finance Essentials course is a good place to start, Croitoru told CTV News Edmonton.
Delve: How FinTech Lending to Small Businesses Opens the Door to Bank Loans, with Paul Beaumont
Bank loans are the typical first step for most small and medium-sized businesses, but another form of business lending has emerged: FinTech companies that use algorithms to determine whether a business is worth the risk.
Why the CAQ’s proposed economic incentives may not be all they cracked up to be
“Many of the drivers of the inflation we are seeing today are coming from the supply and production side of the economy,” says Associate Professor of Finance Sebastien Betermier in an interview with CTV News. The war in Ukraine, post-pandemic recovery and supply side frictions are all factors outside our control contributing to inflation.
