Ian Hamilton

This column is authored by Ian Hamilton, who is the founder of IDS Group. IDS provides fund administration services in Africa and Europe through Malta. He is also the founder of Scotstone Investments, a company that has fund structures and services for global emerging new managers.

Over a year ago, I wrote about world war IV with an explanation as to why we are now in a fourth world war as the third global war was the battle between communism and capitalism.

The refugee crisis in both Europe and elsewhere emphasises the issue that we are in a global conflict that is likely to also impact upon the economies of many nations.

The debt crisis in the PIGS countries has disappeared off the front pages and the TV news and has been replaced with the Refugee Crisis. But do we stop and think that the points of entry into Europe are the countries that are having to deal with debt and economic issues as well?

The refugee issue has long been a problem for Italy and Spain. The Italian island of Lampadusa has changed from a premier holiday destination to that of a huge refugee camp for North African refugees. The economy of the island has been totally destroyed.

Sicily is another part of Italy being overrun by refugees. All of the financial strain must be borne by the Italian government, which has financial issues to deal with for its own citizens.

One can argue that many of these "refugees" are "economic migrants" and should be returned to their countries of origin. But that is not a debate I would want to enter into. The issue i......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.