Business

This decade, their GDP will increase by about $12 trillion, i.e. they will create another one of themselves! More importantly, the share of consumption in this decade's growth will be bigger and this is where the big opportunity lies. I am especially optimistic about the Chinese consumer.

Economist who coined the term "BRICS" for emerging markets.

It's been a very difficult time, that's why we're here. We're here to preserve people's risk hedging and transfer needs.

Former CEO of CME Group, global derivatives exchange leader.

The second big change I foresee is the continued convergence of the complex OTC derivatives market and the exchange traded futures and equity options market. Those lines will continue to blur due to regulation, legislation, increased capital and margin requirements, increased requirements for trade reporting, and increased pre and post trade price transparency in OTC markets.

Former CEO of CME Group, global derivatives exchange leader.

If you look at the notional value of trading on our exchanges in any given year, they range from $600-700 trillion to a quadrillion (1000 trillion) dollars in total value. People can use these markets very effectively, not just for bona-fide risk hedging and transfer and risk management but also for asset allocation, portfolio management and trading strategies as well.

Former CEO of CME Group, global derivatives exchange leader.

One of the things which is a really distinguishing factor about our markets in contrast to the OTC derivative market is that we're completely open, competitive and transparent with a very high degree of participation, a very high turnover, and a high degree of pre and post trade price transparency. That refers back to that old phrase of 'liquidity begets liquidity'.

Former CEO of CME Group, global derivatives exchange leader.

We do show that there is a predictive effect which is quite consistent over time! In our paper we report an 86% accuracy in predicting the up and down movements in the Dow Jones three or four days out. The question is how you turn that into a money making strategy. It could be- for example- that you lose ALL your money in that other 14%!

Unknown.

There's a huge amount of corruption in some of these countries, but when you have traceability and transparency that's been pushed through consumer and shareholder pressure into global value-chains, it can act as an antidote to the corruption which may exist in the market.

Unknown.

We manage risk by lending into the value-chain where we are able to leverage the non-financial-assets of the corporation that's buying from these communities and agricultural businesses. By having off-take agreements, we have guaranteed demand for the underlying product and, therefore, bankable cash-flows.

Unknown.

We are unapologetically at the high-risk, low-return sweet-spot of agricultural finance. We choose to address geographies and sectors where there are real market failures or at least deep market imperfections.

Unknown.

They are opening seventeen distribution centres. I've never seen a company open more than two or three at a time and this company is opening seventeen! The valuation is very stretched, but the business advantages are, in my opinion, mind-boggling.

Unknown.

I've been doing this a long time and have very rarely seen a company with sustainable competitive advantage like Amazon has. They have a very low cost of capital, they are very efficient, and the government provide an additional advantage in that the transactions are not tax.

Unknown.

For the iPad it's game over in terms of market-share… Apple has won! It's a preposterously cheap stock… The applications for the iPhone and the iPad are just growing every day. I think these things are going to be ubiquitous…

Unknown.

I think Groupon was preposterously overpriced, and Zynga was moderately overpriced. The principal problem with Groupon, in my opinion, is that they have a bad business model. It basically eats by selling their customers crack cocaine- telling them to cut their prices 50% for a selected number of people. If you do that enough? You wont have a business.

Unknown.

I think Apple is preposterously undervalued. Apple has this mind-boggling margin structure, phenomenal consumer brand, and is accumulating mountains of cash. I joked on television that they should lever up and buy Greece! They have something like 7x cash-flow.

Unknown.

I've worked with many entrepreneurs and billionaires and I see the same trend over and over again. What they want is someone to manage the liquid side of their portfolio, and they want to take a huge chunk out and use it as their risk capital on things they know and can control. The money didn't just drop-in… it arrived through creation and building! These individuals are always going to be about growth….

If you look historically at the historical contours of wealth- it's primarily created through private ownership. That's always been the case- and I believe it always be. Having said that…. the lines begin to get blurred when you start to look at places like Latin America and Mexico where the state-owned enterprises are dominated by individuals- like a Carlos Slim, for example…. or if you look at state-owned assets being privatised in a place like Russia where former KGB agents are now industrial capitalists.