Protecting Yourself From Extreme Concentration Investment Breakfast

Presentation: Protecting yourself from extreme concentration
Speaker: Dr David Walsh, Head of Investments, RQI Investors

Concentration in developed markets equities has grown sharply in the last few years, driven by the growth of the Mag 7 and an era of “American exceptionalism”. At the end of 2024 the S&P500 and the MSCI World reached unprecedented levels of concentration.

Equity investors are now presented with 2 challenges:

• Do they have sufficient diversification within their equity portfolios?
• How should they position equity portfolios to continue to benefit from secular trends like the growth of AI, while at the same time protecting themselves from the potential pain if the levels of concentration unwind?

Join us for a conversation with the CIO of RQI, David Walsh. David will look at how the composition of equity markets has evolved over the last few years, lessons we can draw from previous bouts of concentration, and the implications for equity investors in today’s environment.

Dr David Walsh, Head of Investments, RQI Investors

David has over 26 years’ experience in funds management. Prior to joining RQI Investors, David held various roles including Chief Investment Officer at RF Capital, Head of Investments at Acadian Asset Management, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at BGI Australia, as well as Head of Research at State Street Global Advisors Australia. Before entering the finance industry, David held academic and engineering roles for nearly a decade. David holds a PhD in Finance, a Postgraduate Diploma in Mathematics, and a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Western Australia. He also holds a Master of Business from Curtin University.