CIO Brief

Research evidence excerpt

CIO Brief

CIO Brief June 28, 2026

KEY THEMATIC RESEARCH

Batteries and AI: Salt – The New Oil

In an AI-driven, power-intensive world, sodium-ion batteries address the critical bottleneck where energy security meets AI.

We characterize the incipient sodium-ion battery era as the "New Oil Age." We think the new breed of batteries could

redefine energy security and disrupt both new deployments and the installed base. Sodium-ion batteries have a 30-40%

cost edge over Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries, and their performance in cold weather is superior. We see sodium-

ion batteries taking ~2% market share in battery deployment in 2027, accelerating to 20% by 2030 and 37% in 2035.

read more

Exchanges: Digital Rails, Traditional Trust; Implications of the Next Market Structure Stack

Digital rails should modernize exchanges rather than replace traditional trust. Tokenization is modernizing collateral,

funding, and settlement first, creating both efficiency gains and competitive pressure. Always-on markets should make

make tokenized cash and collateral critical to off-hours funding, margin, and settlement workflows. Clearing remains

durable: institutions still require netting, margin efficiency, default management, and legal finality. Exchanges that we see as

best positioned are those with exposure to data, technology, collateral, and workflow infrastructure – we highlight Nasdaq,

LSEG, B3, and Singapore Exchange. read more

Asia Thematic Alpha: Multipolarizing Opportunities into 3Q

We expect outperformance of Thematic investing in Asia to broaden into 3Q, encompassing Multipolar-connected sub-

themes as the US-Iran MoU reinforces spending imperatives and US-China AI competition potentially lifts semi localization

and critical minerals.