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Major figures in the financial sector are shunning Davos this year as the World Economic Forum competes with a growing number of rival conferences around the world.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Fidelity International’s Dame Anne Richards, Pimco’s John Studzinski and Ninety One’s Hendrik du Toit all opted out. Private equity firms Clayton Dubilier & Rice and BC Partners will also not be participating in the event. One company whose chief executive was a regular at an alpine resort in Switzerland said he had decided to stop going as a result of “meeting fatigue”.
Sir Martin Sorrell, founder of advertising giant WPP, who will also be attending Davos, said that while the WEF remains important, it is “less prominent than it used to be due to competition” from other global events. Ta. These include CES, a technology conference held in Las Vegas this month, the Sun Valley conference in Idaho, which attracts billionaires this summer, Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative, dubbed “Davos of the Desert,” and the annual COP Climate Change Conference. included. Change the meeting.
COPs are popular among financial services companies, some of whom believe they are better for their company’s image and more influential than Davos.
At COP28, held in Dubai last year, countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels and establish a fund to compensate developing countries for “loss and damage” caused by climate change.
Bill Browder, a financier-turned-activist who has attended Davos for more than 25 years, stopped attending last year after organizers raised the price of admission from $70,000 to $250,000.
“Nobody in their right mind would pay that kind of money to attend,” said the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management. will be priced,” he said. “The WEF has become a corporate money-making machine, its real purpose has been prioritized, and it has almost disappeared.”
Du Toit, CEO of Ninety One, is one of the industry leaders and is now a regular at the COP, but he no longer goes to Davos.
Other companies not attending Davos this year include Japanese tech investor SoftBank. Founder Masayoshi Son took up his post in 2020.
Studzinski has visited Davos every year since working for Morgan Stanley in the 1990s. Currently vice chairman of Pimco, he was joined at the 2020 Davos meeting by Manny Roman, CEO of a major bond manager. However, Pimco will be a no-show this year.
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Mr. Richards is a frequent visitor to Davos, both in his current job as chief executive officer of Fidelity International and in his previous role as head of M&G Investments.
However, she will not be attending this year and neither Fidelity International nor M&G will be represented.
Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser to Pimco’s parent company Allianz, hasn’t been to Davos “in decades.”
He said organizers’ efforts to make the annual summit a huge one had backfired. “Organizers have made significant efforts to expand the number of participants to counter what many see as a too narrow approach to cognitive diversity,” he said. He added that the main discussions at Davos still “tend to overlook a significant number of changes in the global economy”.
difficult logistics
British investment managers are increasingly out of favor at Davos. Legal & General Investment Management will not be participating and will only be represented by Schroders’ impact investing arm, BlueOrchard.
Standard Life Aberdeen (now Aberdeen) announced in 2020 that it would no longer operate a whiskey bar complete with a bagpiper. Then-CEO Keith Skiok described Davos as “divisive” and said the company had better things to spend money on.
Former London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Lorre will also not be attending Davos. He said the location of the annual conference was inconvenient for participants.
“Despite the economic and environmental costs, the practical considerations of attending Davos, such as travel, accommodation, meals, and day-to-day access to events, conferences, and meetings, are very “It can be frustrating. I question whether the location itself is still suitable and suitable for such a large event,” he said.
However, a Bank of England spokesperson confirmed: financial news The Bank of England will not be attending. Former governor Mark Carney was a regular at the conference, often speaking on everything from the British economy to climate change.
Although some investment firms have withdrawn, a WEF spokesperson said six more top investment firms will still participate this year.
As usual, BlackRock plans to send a delegation of about 10 people. “We use Davos to meet with clients and have a full schedule of client meetings this year,” the spokesperson said.
Other industry heavyweights attending this year’s Davos include Blackstone’s Steve Schwartzman, KKR’s Scott Nuttall, Carlyle’s David Rubenstein, and TPG’s Todd Sisitzky. .
bet on it
In contrast to asset managers, there appears to have been little exit by large banks. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citi, UBS, Barclays, Standard Chartered, Lloyds, and HSBC all have CEOs (in the case of HSBC, the European CEO).
A WEF spokesperson said in a statement: FNThe article “does not accurately represent the overall sentiment and engagement” of the summit. They noted 2,800 attendees, including 1,600 business leaders.
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“The Forum provides a structure for the exchange of ideas and initiatives that fosters collaboration between partners and stakeholders throughout the year. [This] This week’s annual meeting will foster collaboration at a time when global challenges require urgent solutions, from reviving growth and leveraging technology to advancing security and climate action. will play a role,” they said.
To contact the authors of this article with feedback or news, email David Wighton and Shruti Tripathi Chopra.
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