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.
December 21, 2018 – The UK is scheduled to exit the EU on March 29, 2019. During the two years since the original UK withdrawal notification, businesses have been preparing for two scenarios: either a negotiated transition to a future free trade agreement or a disorderly departure. Until mid-November, given the troublesome issue of the land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, it was unclear whether the UK and EU would actually be able to conclude such a Withdrawal Agreement.
October 5, 2018— On March 29, 2019, the UK officially leaves the EU, 33 months after the June 23, 2016 referendum. Fortunately, the referendum triggered a depreciation of pound sterling that has boosted the international competitiveness of UK goods exporters (Figure 1).
July 13, 2018—The unresolved issue of Brexit—the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU)—continues to present ongoing uncertainty for the UK and broader European equities. Markets have already priced in much of this uncertainty. If the UK fails to conclude an agreement with the EU on post-Brexit arrangements, we believe equities will be negatively repriced. If the U.K.
