We are threatened with excitement in 2020, from civil unrest and ongoing trade wars to political upheaval and market volatility. We believe global economic expansion will continue at a slower, less even pace across regions.

When looking ahead to next year it is easy to focus on the many uncertainties around the world, but we prefer to focus on what we consider a certainty: the continued, rapid digitalisation of the financial services industry. We have already seen huge disruption on this front in the last five to ten years and we expect this to continue creating new investment opportunities through the next decade and beyond.

There's growing evidence that private equity markets are beginning to overheat after several high-profile IPO flops. Investors in stocks should pay attention because private funding troubles are also a very public market affair.

The duration rally over the month of August was eye-watering. The whole German sovereign bond curve, out to 30 years, now trades with a negative yield, with half the European investment grade bond universe also yielding below zero.

While Europe's fragmentation has hindered development of a mass-market giant to rival those from the US and China, its distinctive technology businesses are competing successfully in global markets.