Arbroath Group
Geopolitics & Macroeconomics
Strategy & Insight
Arbroath Group
Geopolitics & Macroeconomics
Strategy & Insight
Focused Analysis - Actionable Advice
Shifting Global Order
Opportunity in Volatility
Shifting Global Order
With extensive experience in global politics, economics and financial markets, we deliver insights that are focused, concrete and actionable.
Signal in the Noise
Opportunity in Volatility
Shifting Global Order
We track macroeconomic and geopolitical dynamics to develop critically relevant recommendations that target top client priorities.
Opportunity in Volatility
Opportunity in Volatility
Opportunity in Volatility
Amid generational upheaval, we continuously assess where current market opportunities may fail and current market failures offer opportunity.
Arbroath Group Expertise
Geopolitcal Strategy
We advise multinationals and investment clients on how best to navigate rising global political and economic tensions. Drawing on broad expert networks, we offer concrete advice on corporate and portfolio strategies that exploit opportunities and mitigate risks. Recent engagements include helping global firms manage new trade barriers with China, advising investors on tightening Russia sanctions and assessing threats to supply chains from escalating Middle East conflict. In each instance, we provide tailored advice that helps frame strategic decisions amid growing uncertainty.
Macroeconomics & Markets
Managing Partner Christopher Smart brings extensive expertise drawn from both top quintile portfolio management experience as well as senior policymaking roles at the U.S. Treasury and White House. This nuanced understanding of geopolitics and markets offers clients a rare perspective on the current outlook. This rich mix of demonstrated investment expertise alongside policymaking leadership at the highest levels delivers uniquely actionable, high-trust advice for Arbroath clients.
Megatrends
We explore the trends that will determine profits and losses over the long term, asking questions corporate executives and investors a decade from now will wish they had understood today. Will demographic change bring more headwinds than tailwinds to growth? Can technological innovation create jobs faster than it destroys them? Where will the climate transition disrupting markets most? Track our latest views on political, economic and market developments by subscribing to Leading Thoughts on Substack.
Christopher Smart
Managing Partner
Christopher Smart founded the Arbroath Group to provide institutional investors and multinational corporations with insights that only come from having operated at the highest levels of both government and global finance.
Christopher's government service includes serving as Special Assistant to President Obama at the National Economic Council and National Security Council (2013-2015), where he advised on international trade, investment and economic policy during major global crises. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, he led the U.S. response to the European financial crisis and managed economic engagement across Europe, Russia and Central Asia.
As Chief Global Strategist at Barings and founder of the Barings Investment Institute, Christopher guided institutional clients through major market transitions. Previously, as Director of International Investments at Pioneer, he managed top-performing emerging markets and international portfolios.
This unique expertise - combining policy formation experience with proven investment success - enables Christopher to anticipate how geopolitical developments will impact markets before conventional analysis catches up.
Christopher maintains a strong public profile through regular columns in Barron's, Bloomberg Opinion and Foreign Policy, plus frequent appearances on CNBC and Bloomberg TV.
He has served as Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Harvard Kennedy School's Mossavar-Rahmani Center, and Chatham House.
Christopher holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Columbia University, a B.A. in History from Yale University. Fluent in French and Russian, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Contact us
Questions?
Reactions to Leading Thoughts or other published content from the Arbroath Group are always invited.
Arbroath Group
Declaration of Arbroath
Strategic investment advice must be thoughtful, informed and above all independent. We take our name from the Declaration of Arbroath, signed by Scottish barons in this coastal town northeast of Edinburgh in 1320 to declare independence from England.