Finance Monthly January 2020 Edition

WILL THE 2020s BE THE DECADE THE STOCK EXCHANGE DIES? Daniele Mensi, CEO of Nexthash Group, explains how the global investment structure may change in the next 10 years. As we reach the end of the 2010s, many investors will reflect on a decade that was still recovering from the worst financial collapse in history as we race towards the centenary of the great depression of the 1920s. Many players, including politicians, investors and fund managers, have commented on financial practices and how we need radical change to ensure economic collapse does not happen again. However, in this new era of technology and globalisation, there is a case to be made for digital exchanges superseding the traditional stock exchange to break the monopoly of overinflated IPOs and expensive exchange fees by traders and fund managers. With various political and economic influences affecting businesses today, investors are looking for ways to gain rapid and secure returns on their investment on an international scale. IPOs, or companies listing on a stock exchange, have been receiving a substantial amount of negative press, in particular, WeWork and its operating losses and valuation, and this is worrying both institutional and retail investors who are looking for a better and more secure solution to access internationally facing high growth startups. One of the most spectacular falls from grace in terms of Unicorns reaching the IPO stage was WeWork. They publicly filed its IPO paperwork on 14th August. After this, WeWork faced intense scrutiny of its finances and leadership from investors and the media. There were concerns about WeWork’s path to profitability and its leader, CEO and Co-founder Adam Neumann. Ultimately, WeWork delayed its IPO on 16th September. Now, WeWork owner The We Company may seek a valuation in its upcoming initial public offering of between $10 billion and $12 billion, a dramatic discount to the $47 billion valuation it achieved in January, Reuters reported. SoftBank, WeWork’s biggest investor, took control of the company on 22nd 33 www.finance-monthly.com FINANCIAL INNOVATION & FINTECH - THE STOCK EXCHANGE