Recently we hosted our Annual End of Year Investor Relations Seminar in Moscow in conjunction with Citibank. The event saw 45 corporate clients from the Russian market come together to engage in sessions on the outlook for the Russian capital markets, ESG and the global political landscape in 2020.

The morning included a panel with prominent Russian Investment Bankers and Capital Markets leaders. The key takeaways from this session was that 2019 was a strong year for Russian issuers, with Equities offering a strong dividend yield and Fixed Income issuance was at its second highest issuance since 2013. Russia outperformed all its Emerging Market peers and 2020 looks like it will be a good year for Russian business.

Following, Lisa Williams from Citi discussed ESG and how it affects Russian Investor Relations teams. Concluding that ESG drives investor returns, and the buyside sees ESG policies as a fiduciary duty. The Oxford Word of the year is "Climate Crisis" (I know, that's two words) and all things Environmental & Social have reached public consciousness. Investors are increasingly demanding ESG investments. To match investor need corporates would be better to provide negative data rather than none. Every investor has a slightly different take on their ESG standards. Lisa left us with the warning that the next carbon is water.

A panel of Investor Relations professionals moderated by Tom Blackwell, CEO of EM Communications, focused on the ESG plans of Russian companies. The key learning from this session was that some remain sceptical of the value to investors of ESG but all saw it an essential part of their business.

Our concluding session was from IHS Markit's Principal Global Risk Advisor, John Raines, who spoke about the global issues impacting the world economy and discussed current uncertaintites in the market including:

• US government sanctions in Russia and other countries are unlikely to be repealed. Companies and investors are learning to work alongside the sanctions.
• The UK's decision to Brexit from Europe is costing the UK dearly and will change the face of the EU.
• What could President Trump's impeachment mean for the US and the rest of the world?
• What will happen in Hong Kong and what impact will this have on China?

Our annual Investor Relations seminar was an engaging and thought provoking event with lively discussions and networking folllowing, and we are looking forward to hosting the next annual event.

Please contact Clare.Connolly@ihsmarkit.com with any questions.

S&P Global provides industry-leading data, software and technology platforms and managed services to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in financial markets. We help our customers better understand complicated markets, reduce risk, operate more efficiently and comply with financial regulation.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.