ASFA Snapshot: The Global Perspective
Nearly 2,000 delegates, from 17 countries around the world, gathered yesterday on the balmy Gold Coast for the 2016 Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) conference, the world's largest pension expo.
Day one kicked off at the Gold Coast convention centre, amid election uncertainty and speculation. With keynotes including former Prime Minister, John Howard, and founder and chair of Geopolitical Futures, George Friedman, Industry Moves gathered a snapshot of some of the most interesting words and thought-provoking ideas regarding the global financial services landscape, which is, as of today, looking quite different.
"One of the constant verities of Australian economic and political life is that we must all work very hard to preserve the people in the middle." - John Howard
What the speakers had to say...
Dr Ashby Monk - Executive Director, Global Politics Centre, Stanford University... on the US election and technology's role in the financial future
"What is the American dream? It is the notion that everybody, independent of their birth, has the opportunity to achieve a better, richer and fuller life through honesty and hard work. That's the American dream, that was the original version that dragged all of us foreigners here in the first place. The problem with America over the last 34 years is that it has become just that...a dream. According to a recent poll, 63% of Americans could not meet an expected bill of $500. They don't have the rainy day fund, they don't have the savings. They're living pay check to pay check. Without savings there is no financial freedom, no independence, no risk taking, no American dream and without the American dream you end up electing a sociopath."
George Friedman - Founder and Chair of Geopolitical Futures... on Brexit
"Basically the EU will not go away. I'm sure somewhere in the EU there is a building that houses the League of Nations. I'm sure they still have meetings, but no one will pay attention to them. The British, being more formal than most, voted for Brexit. The Italians simply Brexited without voting..."
John Howard - Former Prime Minister of Australia... on Australia's middle class
"Of Western, developed countries, Australia has the largest middle class...and having a strong middle class is the greatest piece of economic cement that any nation can have because it provides stability, it provides continuity and it delivers an environment that discourages extreme break-outs on either the right or the left...[The Finance Industry is] integral to the preservation of the great Australian middle class."
Stephanie Flanders - MD, Chief Market Strategist for UK & Europe, J.P. Morgan Asset Management...on the geopolitical landscape.
"I think we ought to embrace populism. I think it can't be a dirty word, it can't be something that the mainstream is constantly running from. We have to actually see the forces that are driving these populist reactions and start to hope that mainstream, sensible politicians can come up with some answers for those profound, economic political forces. We can't just wish it away."
Richard Jackson - President of the Global Ageing Institute... on the ageing population
"For most of human history, the elderly comprised of only a tiny fraction of the entire population, never more than 3-4% within any country until well into the industrial revolution. In today's developed world the elderly comprise of a little more than 15% of the population, a share that is heading to 25% by mid-century and that's just the average. In Japan, and some of the countries in continental Europe, the elderly share of the population is approaching or sometimes surpassing 35%...by the 2030's and the 2040's, Mexico will nearly be as old as the US and China will be older. Meanwhile, South Korea will be vying with Germany, Italy and Japan for the title of 'oldest country on earth.'
"This is the bottom line. Global ageing, is a global problem, requiring a global solution."
For more information head to the ASFA website.
