The lurking sanctions threat facing investment managers in the search for returns

Sky-high equity valuations and near historic low yields in fixed income has left fund managers looking elsewhere for returns.

Whether in emerging market opportunities or new more exotic assets the search for returns is on as investor appetite directs funds to riskier and more exotic parts of the market. With this backdrop though, there is a largely concealed compliance problem lurking for fund managers - sanctions. ESG has become an important factor in decision-making at asset managers, but sanctions must also be high up on the list of considerations. The big wake-up call came in 2019 when Italian bank UniCredit was fined $1.3bn for breaches of sanctions on Iran and other countries. Far from being just a bankin...