As senior portfolio manager of the Wilmington International Fund, Clem develops and maintains close working relationships with a network of investment managers located in Europe, Japan, and Asia ex-Japan. He is a voting member of the firm’s investment committee and a non-voting member of its portfolio management committee. He is a frequent contributor to the firm’s Wilmington Wire publications.
Prior to joining investment management, Clement was a senior relationship manager with M&T Bank’s international trade division. He led a team of four relationship managers who financed transactions supporting foreign buyers’ purchases of U.S. exports, often from firms in M&T Bank’s business regions. He received the President’s Council Award for his sales accomplishments. Before joining M&T, Clem served in a variety of positions with the Export-Import Bank of the United States. As a relationship manager, he shepherded U.S. firms’ export finance transactions through the bank’s credit approval process. He served on the bank’s credit committee, which approved all loans under $10 million and managed the bank’s workouts division, working within creditor groups to renegotiate the debts of foreign and U.S. borrowers. He participated as the bank’s representative on a U.S. government delegation to inter-governmental trade financing negotiations organized by the OECD in Paris. Clem also served as a country risk economist, advising the bank’s board on country eligibility and sovereign loan pricing decisions and participating in inter-agency working groups. Earlier in his career, he served as an international economist with business consulting firm WEFA, providing economic advice to a range of business clients.
Clem holds an MBA in finance and international business from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in international economics from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is a CFA® charterholder and served five terms on the board of the 600-member Baltimore CFA Society, including two as its elected president. Currently, he is serving as the M&T appointed board member of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce.
July 22, 2020—Once the epicenter of the global coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Europe is taking significant fiscal actions to support European Union (EU) efforts to climb out of a deep recession. These actions come on the heels of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) emergency monetary initiatives.
May 26, 2020—We design our client portfolios in two stages. The first stage is tactical asset allocation. For example, in equity asset classes, we allocate among U.S. large cap, U.S. small cap, developed international, and emerging markets. The second stage is the construction of portfolios within each asset class, comprising mixes of funds to achieve various objectives and tilts.
February 5, 2020 — This Wilmington Wire blog post is the third in a continuing series of updates on the coronavirus outbreak and its market and economic implications. The first, Coronavirus Concerns: Monitoring the Risks Closely, but not Reacting to Portfolios Yet; and the second, Cononavirus update: Hold the line. We also held a conference call on Monday, February 5, where we discussed the market sell-off and potential economic implications of the epidemic. Call recording.
January 3, 2020— On January 2, a U.S. military drone strike eliminated General Qassem Suleimani, leader of the al-Quds battalion of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The drone strike, which occurred at Baghdad airport, followed a rapidly escalating U.S. conflict with an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia. The al-Quds forces advance Iran’s influence by supporting various governments and militias across Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Iran has threatened unspecified retaliation against U.
December 12, 2019—Chinese equities have been holding up reasonably well, despite the U.S. threat of expanded tariffs and technology sanctions, and the risk of blow-back from the Hong Kong situation. From its recent trough on August 5 to its subsequent grind upward through December 12, the MSCI China Index has gained 12.3%.
As we approach the end of 2019, it is worth “taking stock” of China, pun intended.
