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This regular supplement—delivered in paper form solely to our European audience—will aim to address the topics that matter to you, the leading institutional investors across the continent.
In May, at our first-ever European Innovation Awards held in London’s Savoy (party pictures on page 22), I was chatting to one of the Nordic CIOs who had flown in for the occasion. He asked me what we were going to cover in our first European supplement and, crucially, how it would differ from the other publications already out there.
I outlined the stories you are about to read, then turned to his second, more important question.
Firstly, I replied, we are creating something very targeted. Our magazine is written for and about the largest and most sophisticated investors on the planet; this new supplement recognises that although there are huge similarities around the world, there are regional differences. As with the main global edition, we are not trying to be all things to all investors of all sizes in all countries—there are plenty of people doing that already. We want to cover the issues you are talking about with your peers—those related to investment, regulation, governance, and anything else we hear about at the end of a long night (when the important matters are discussed).
Secondly, we want to highlight and dig deep into the misalignments and problem areas in our industry. Things do not always run 100% smoothly-sometimes by accident, other times by design. We want to help uncover and investigate these issues on your behalf. Let us know what they are, and we will see what we can find.
Lastly, we want to create a community. Through our global Power 100 and Forty Under Forty, we have already started this process, and if the guest list and turnout at our European awards and preceding roundtable (page 24) were anything to go by, we’ve made a good start—more than 90% of the region’s contingent joined us at our May dinner.
I think the Nordic CIO was satisfied with my response. He grabbed some back issues of the global magazine and wandered off to mingle at the bar.
We aim to provoke, inform, and be relevant. Let us know what we are doing right-and wrong.
I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labour as much as we have enjoyed putting it together.
Elizabeth Pfeuti
European Editor, aiCIO