His very different style to outgoing president Barack Obama is turning into substance as he puts his team together and indicates his top priorities, with a few early-stage indicators on how the international financial services industry will be affected.
Infrastructure investment is without question on the agenda, as this month’s front cover makes clear, and our timely fund manager interview with global infrastructure specialist Jeremy Anagnos drills down into some opportunities for cunning investors.
This month’s sector analysis piece by Morningstar also sets out a positive outlook for a raft of natural resources, which can only be fuelled by Trump’s expansion plans for the world’s biggest economy.
Beyond the new investment landscape, it is less clear how he will proceed with regulatory changes in the financial services industry and on the international tax front.
We report in our lead story this month that there are concerns Trump may scrap the introduction of the US Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, requiring retirement advisers to put their clients’ interests first.
But for now, it’s anyone’s guess what is going on inside Trump’s head, which explains the clear split among expert observers as to whether it will go ahead as planned, be revised or perhaps be deferred for the chop at a later stage.
On another front, the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) could be repealed as this has been part of the Republican Party’s policy programme. Yet, it has already netted $9.9bn (£8bn, €9.4bn) from voluntary compliance disclosures for all US citizens around the world.
Much may depend on which advisers Trump appoints to key positions, and how much he listens to them.
We live in interesting times.
To read this month’s magazine and the features outlined above, click on the magazine link.
Mark Battersby
