Official Statistics: Forecasts for the UK economy: October 2021
October 20, 2021--Forecasts for the UK economy is a monthly comparison of independent forecasts.
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Source: gov.uk
Europe's Post-Pandemic Economic Challenges
October 20, 2021--Getting fiscal policy right will be harder than dealing with inflation.
Europe has met the COVID-19 pandemic with audacity and imagination and is enjoying a strong but bumpy economic recovery. It now faces two policy challenges: controlling inflation and dialing back fiscal support.
While there is considerable uncertainty about inflation, central bankers have plenty of experience dealing with it and can deploy their tools quickly and flexibly. By contrast, unwinding the emergency spending measures governments undertook to support their economies is a major, complex endeavor. If policymakers get it wrong, they risk a repeat of the tepid growth that followed the global financial crisis of 2008.
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Source: IMF.org
Better sustainability data is still needed to accelerate the low-carbon transition in capital markets
October 18, 2021--Capital reallocation towards sustainable investments is viewed as essential to Europe's low-carbon transition. The European Union has already developed global standards with its taxonomy of sustainable activities and disclosure rules applying to financial market firms.
But data on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) characteristics of companies, which are used extensively in asset management, remain a source of much frustration, and are increasingly in the regulators' spotlight.
ESG quality means many things to many investors
ESG-focused investment has been a key trend in capital markets over the past two years. Outside the United States, the share of ESG-dedicated retail funds has jumped to 13% of total assets under management (though this share is only 1.5% within the US).
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Source: bruegel.org
Franklin Templeton debuts three 'dynamic innovation' Lux funds in 10 countries
October 15, 2021--Three new sub-funds of the Luxembourg-domiciled Franklin Templeton Investment Funds (FTIF) range will be registered for distribution in more than 10 European countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain.
These are the Franklin Disruptive Commerce Fund, Franklin Genomic Advancements Fund and Franklin Intelligent Machines Fund.
Matthew Moberg, Portfolio Manager, Franklin Equity Group, said: "These three new strategies aim to capture powerful, multi-industry, and distinct long-term trends that we believe should have a large impact on our economy and our daily lives.
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Source: internationalinvestment.net
Largest index providers' 'stranglehold' is limiting fee cuts
October 14, 2021--FTSE Russell, MSCI and S&P indices account for more than 80% of passive European equity assets
The largest index providers have a chokehold on the market, which is keeping license costs higher for asset managers and limiting further passive fund fee cuts, according to experts.
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Source: ft.com
ECB-Euro area securities issues statistics: August 2021
October 12, 2021--The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents decreased from 4.5% in July 2021 to 4.1% in August.
For the outstanding amount of listed shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 2.5% in August 2021, compared with 2.4% in July.
Debt securities
New issuances of debt securities by euro area residents totalled EUR 547.5 billion in August 2021. Redemptions amounted to EUR 526.9 billion and hence net issues to EUR 20.6 billion. The annual growth rate of outstanding debt securities issued by euro area residents decreased from 4.5% in July 2021 to 4.1% in August.
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Source: ECB
New BNP Paribas Easy ETFs on Xetra: Eurozone companies and ESG companies from the CAC 40 with reduced carbon footprint
October 12, 2021--Two new exchange-traded funds issued by BNP Paribas Easy have been tradable on Xetra and Böörse Frankfurt since Tuesday.
With the BNP Paribas Easy Low Carbon 100 Eurozone PAB UCITS ETF -C, investors invest in 100 large and medium-sized companies from developed countries in the Eurozone, selected because of the opportunities and risks associated with climate change.
Using the best-in-class approach, only the leading companies in terms of ESG criteria from each sector are considered. In line with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, the objective is to reduce greenhouse gases by 50 per cent and decarbonise by 7 per cent annually.
The BNP Paribas Easy CAC 40 ESG UCITS ETF gives investors access to the 40 largest French companies selected according to ESG criteria and aiming to reduce the carbon footprint compared to the baseline universe, the Euronext CAC Large 60 Index.
Both products exclude companies that violate the UN Global Compact or are involved in serious ESG-related controversies. The same applies to companies from the tobacco, weapons, and fossil fuel sectors. The weighting of a security is limited to a maximum of 10 per cent.
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Source: Xetra
Sustainable investment 'rebooting' Europe's private markets, research finds
October 11, 2021--The rise in demand for sustainable investments is driving a "structural reboot" of private market investing in Europe, with environmental, social and governance funds on track to account for up to two-fifths of the industry's assets in just a few years.
According to research from PwC, ESG private market assets could hit between €775.7bn and €1.2tn by 2025, up from €253bn in 2020, as regulation and client demand force an overhaul of private equity, real estate, infrastructure and private debt funds.
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Source: todayuknews.com
New WisdomTree ETF on Xetra: access to commodity basket ex agriculture with roll optimisation
October 11, 2021--Since Monday, a new exchange-traded fund issued by WisdomTree is tradable via Xetra and Börse Frankfurt.
The WisdomTree Enhanced Commodity ex-Agriculture UCITS ETF-USD Acc gives investors access to a broadly diversified commodity basket, which consists of futures contracts on energy. industrial and precious metals.
All three sectors are equally weighted at the time of quarterly rebalancing. Commodities from the agricultural sector are not considered.
An optimised roll mechanism is used in the composition of the commodity basket to minimise roll losses. Thus, commodities with a higher probability of backwardation are overweighted. If longer-dated futures contracts are more favourable than the contract currently expiring, the market is in backwardation.
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Source: Xetra
Passive managers urged to do more to exclude 'coal laggards'
October 8, 2021--Only 15% of European ETFs and other index products track ESG indices
Passive fundhouses are being encouraged to pressure index providers to exclude "coal lag" from mainstream indexes to help move to net zero.
This leaves more than €1.9 trillion in assets in European funds that track non-ESG indexes, estimates based on Morningstar data.
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Source: ft.com