Advisers warn of instability of emerging markets

Describing the hype surrounding emerging market funds as "PR to get the unsuspecting to invest in less than ideal geographic locations," Harry Katz, principle at Norwest Consultants said: "Russia is an authoritarian state in which corruption is endemic." Chris Geeson, managing director at Geeson Financial, said the position in Russia meant that it had risks that didn't exist elsewhere. Describing Russia as a "cowboy state," he said: "It is in exactly the same early stages of development as America was in the 1920s and 1930s when the mafia ran America". According to Geeson, the only diff...