There is something about this season which is quite exciting. Maybe it comes from the schooldays with the new academic year beginning still deep in our thoughts, but in all walks of life there is a nice buzzing with teams coming together after vacations, fresh to start new things and generally just getting involved again. Another reason to get excited this fall is our upcoming FINISF Seminar to be held on October 13th at Pörssitalo in Helsinki. This seminar is the main event of the New Season for FINISF. Please, make sure you mark the date in your calendars.
We have constructed the seminar with three main themes in our minds. First of them is governance, the grand G of the ESG. Proxy voting is the most important annual means of engagement for equity investors. Here in Finland, our listed companies still carry their AGMs in pretty much the same format as they have done for ages, by using physically delivered proxies and by voting in meetings where you more or less have to be present yourself. Needless to say, this limits the ability of foreign owners to cast their votes and quite generally makes it more difficult to exercise basic shareholder rights. Add in all the travel and you get the environmental angle and carbon footprints, too. The problem here is perhaps associated with the cost of arranging electronic voting, and this is why we asked OMX Nasdaq to give an update on their pilot proxy voting project in Estonia designed and set up precisely to introduce a lower-cost solution. The PRI Organisation is going to give us an update on proxy voting practices more globally and highlight some of the trends and issues based on the annual reporting of UNPRI signatories.
Our second theme is artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. AI is developing with gigantic quantum leaps, it has taken the centre stage of technology investing recently and as a fund manager myself, I am very excited about the potential of these technologies to solve many of the problems human existence faces, including the battle against the climate change. Yet, there are huge challenges to be considered, and I thought we should at least try to scratch the surface here from the responsibility point of view, too.
From the beginning of computing with machines, the question ‘Will machines be able to think, like humans or perhaps even better?’ has been brought forward. Alan Turing posed this question in one of the first studies of the philosophy of artificial intelligence back in 1950 in his article ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’. The first chapter of that article is titled ‘The Imitation Game’, which became the title of the film starring Benedict Cumberbatch, a recommended background entertainment. Man’s fascination and fear of The Machine is ingrained in our popular culture and science fiction, but now the fiction is becoming a reality and it is no surprise that at this very moment, at the cusp of the Age of Artificial Intelligence, graphically dystopian futuristic views are making headlines, starring Stephen Hawking and some other leading scientists. Others see the opportunities and sure enough, investors are salivating with the profit potential. What we can do with all the data could be the key to manage the progress of humanity, but it may also be the key to world domination. Think social media; what do we get involved with, in exchange for cute cat videos?
Anne Berner, Minister of Transportation and Communications, will give a keynote speech on the goals and opportunities for Finland in AI and robotics and Professor Arto Laitinen will explain the ethical and philosophical issues around this theme and Olof Hoverfjält from Finnish technology firm Reaktor will give us insights into the solutions and possibilities.
The third theme is environment. There are 180 signatories to the Paris Agreement reached almost a year ago. Of these, 26 have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval and the ratification, including now The United States and China. We invited one of our leading meteorologists, Jari Haapala, to tell us what’s happening on the field in the Arctic region. We will also have a presentation from the WWF on green bonds. Jochen Krimphoff, who has just released his Green Bond Report, will talk about this rapidly developing market. PRI will also give practical examples of environmental considerations in their second session dealing with integration in practice.
As you can see, we have worked quite hard to make this event again relevant and worthy of your valuable time. Please, come and invite your friends and stakeholders. Engage and enjoy the company of your colleagues in our common pursuit to invest a bit more responsibly every day.
On behalf on the Event Organising Committee of FINSIF, welcome to the new season of ideas and a warm welcome to all to our Annual Seminar,
Esa Saloranta
Director, eQ Asset Management
Chairman of Event Organising Committee at FINSIF
