Key Takeaways
- • CPP Investments, which manages a $570bn fund, has built a "deglobalisation radar" framework around four world-order scenarios: deglobalisation, re-Americanisation, de-Americanisation and complete fragmentation.
- • The radar draws on more than 70 indicators built with the Oxford-Man Institute and underpins the fund's regime analysis, shaping both top-down and bottom-up investment decisions, according to Top1000funds.com.
- • Chief risk officer Priti Singh said the fund prioritises preparedness over prediction, with liquidity at the centre of its approach and a stated aim to position for market dislocations before a crisis hits.
- • PGIM's Daleep Singh identified "economic security" as an asset class with a potential opportunity set of US$10tn across global governments, citing underfunded supply chain and technology projects.
Summary
CPP Investments has shifted from trying to forecast the next crisis toward preparing its risk framework for multiple possible outcomes. The C$... fund, which manages $570bn, has named four scenarios for the future world order within a framework it calls the "deglobalisation radar": deglobalisation, re-Americanisation, de-Americanisation and complete fragmentation. According to Top1000funds.com, the radar is fed by more than 70 indicators built with the Oxford-Man Institute and underpins the fund's regime analysis.
Senior managing director and chief risk officer Priti Singh told the Top1000funds.com Fiduciary Investors Symposium at Harvard University that these scenarios shape every top-down and bottom-up decision the fund makes. She said early tariff announcements left the team guessing daily about the direction of events, which led her to conclude that a framework was needed. Preparedness, in her account, allows the fund to manage risk more efficiently when a crisis hits and to position for any market dislocation. Liquidity sits at the centre of this work, and the fund ranks "pretty high" on the liquidity spectrum in what she described as an environment rich with opportunities. Deciding which opportunity represents "the best use of capital at that time" is something a firm can prepare for in advance, she said, adding: "You don't have to wait for the crisis." Top1000funds.com also reported that a resilient risk culture matters as much as the underlying practices.
Daleep Singh, vice chair and chief global economist at PGIM and a former deputy national security advisor for the National Economic Council under the Biden administration, argued that the coming market will reward organisations that treat humility as a core cultural characteristic. He said the market will reward those who can imagine, while punishing those who dismiss historical lessons and assert that "this time is different." He identified the largest opportunity as the potential for "economic security to become an asset class," estimating an opportunity set that could reach US$10tn across global governments, since most major governments are fiscally constrained and leave long-horizon projects such as supply chain build-out and technology innovation underfunded. He also pointed to a "valley of death" between proven science and commercial scale, which he described as a market failure that some institution or asset manager will eventually fill.
Senior managing director and chief risk officer Priti Singh told the Top1000funds.com Fiduciary Investors Symposium at Harvard University that these scenarios shape every top-down and bottom-up decision the fund makes. She said early tariff announcements left the team guessing daily about the direction of events, which led her to conclude that a framework was needed. Preparedness, in her account, allows the fund to manage risk more efficiently when a crisis hits and to position for any market dislocation. Liquidity sits at the centre of this work, and the fund ranks "pretty high" on the liquidity spectrum in what she described as an environment rich with opportunities. Deciding which opportunity represents "the best use of capital at that time" is something a firm can prepare for in advance, she said, adding: "You don't have to wait for the crisis." Top1000funds.com also reported that a resilient risk culture matters as much as the underlying practices.
Daleep Singh, vice chair and chief global economist at PGIM and a former deputy national security advisor for the National Economic Council under the Biden administration, argued that the coming market will reward organisations that treat humility as a core cultural characteristic. He said the market will reward those who can imagine, while punishing those who dismiss historical lessons and assert that "this time is different." He identified the largest opportunity as the potential for "economic security to become an asset class," estimating an opportunity set that could reach US$10tn across global governments, since most major governments are fiscally constrained and leave long-horizon projects such as supply chain build-out and technology innovation underfunded. He also pointed to a "valley of death" between proven science and commercial scale, which he described as a market failure that some institution or asset manager will eventually fill.
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