The global financial system is undergoing several simultaneous transformations. Digitalization and democratizations are reshaping how capital markets operate. Both investors and corporate issuers have changing needs and expectations, and a range of new actors are joining traditional financial institutions to meet this demand. There are many other systemic issues that pose a risk to global financial stability, heightened by the recent market downturn.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Capital Markets Initiative explores how institutions across the capital markets ecosystem can improve trust amid these market shifts and transformations.

Phase I of the initiative launched in January 2022, exploring how institutions across the capital markets ecosystem can improve trust amid market shifts and transformations. In order to grow wealth globally, this work sought to chart the implications of the rise of retail investors and opportunities of democratized markets. It considered how the industry could address some of the unintended consequences of what has evolved to date, such as the “meme stock” events of 2021. Finally, it considered opportunities to improve retail investors trust in the capital markets ecosystem.

The World Economic Forum, supported by an expert team from Accenture, convened a group of experts to dive into these questions. Insights were also generated from a large-scale survey of 9,000 global retail investors supported by BNY Mellon.

The report, The Future of Capital Markets: Democratization of Retail Investing, details findings and Calls to Action for a range of stakeholders.