A new investment trust to profit from the space race
July 6, 2021--There is now an investment trust focusing on the space sector. It looks intriguing, says David Stevenson-but highly risky.
I recently highlighted the launch of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the space sector: the Procure Space UCITS ETF (LSE: YODA).
Now comes news of another new fund in the same area, an actively managed investment trust called the Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LSE: SSIT). It is set for an initial public offering (IPO) worth £180m. The closing date for applications is Friday 9 July, with dealing commencing on Wednesday 14 July. The fund is targeting a net-asset-value (NAV) total return of at least 20% a year.
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Source: moneyweek.com
New law opens gates for institutional crypto investment in Germany
July 5, 2021--The German Bundesrat has approved a new piece of legislation -The Fund Location Act-which aims to regulate emerging asset classes for Germany's finance industry, including crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC).
The new law was first proposed and approved in the Bundestag (the lower house in Germany's parliament system) back in April, and with the recent approval in the Bundesrat the bill passed into law yesterday.
The specifics of the bill grant spezialfonds (special wealth management funds) the legal ability to allocate as much as 20% of their portfolio into crypto assets.
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Source: finance.yahoo.com
Euro area quarterly balance of payments and international investment position:
first quarter of 2021
July 5, 2021--Current account surplus at €285 billion (2.5% of euro area GDP) in four quarters to first quarter of 2021, up from €247 billion (2.1% of GDP) a year earlier
Geographic counterparts: largest bilateral current account surpluses vis-a-vis United Kingdom (€157 billion) and United States (€68 billion), largest deficit vis-a-vis China (€78 billion).
International investment position showed net liabilities of €118 billion (1.0% of euro area GDP) at end of first quarter of 2021
Current account
The current account surplus of the euro area increased to €285 billion (2.5% of euro area GDP) in the four quarters to the first quarter of 2021, up from €247 billion (2.1% of GDP) a year earlier (see Table 1). This increase reflected larger surpluses for services (from €26 billion to €66 billion) and for goods (from €327 billion to €357 billion). These developments were partly offset by a decrease in the surplus for primary income (from €41 billion to €34 billion), and a larger deficit for secondary income, which increased from €147 billion to €172 billion.
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Source: ECB
ECB to crack down on dangerous risks in banks' leveraged lending
July 2, 2021--European Central Bank supervisors warn that banks are overly content with the undue risk they are accumulating in the leveraged and equity derivatives markets, resulting in higher capital requirements.
Andrea Enria said on Friday that she was concerned about banks' "market complacency and excessive risk-taking" : "increased leverage, financial complexity and opacity warning signs are a dangerous combination of risk factors. It creates the possibility of. "
ECB officials said the speech showed that supervisors had lost patience with some larger eurozone lenders, such as Deutsche Bank. That call To curb more risky lending.
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Source: californianewstimes.com
ESMA publishes first overview of national rules governing fund marketing
July 1, 2021--The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU securities markets regulator, has submitted to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission its first report on national rules governing the marketing of investment funds under the Regulation on cross-border distribution of funds.
In this report, ESMA provides an overview of the marketing requirements across Member States, and analyses the effects of national laws, regulations and administrative provisions governing the marketing of investment funds. The report is based on responses provided by National Competent Authorities (NCAs) to two questionnaires prepared by ESMA.
Key findings:
National laws, regulations and administrative provisions governing marketing requirements are usually based on the transposition of the AIFMD and the UCITS Directive, although NCAs’ responses showed that some additional national requirements may be applicable.
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Source: ESMA
New theme ETF from HANetf on Xetra: first ETF with a carbon offset
June 30, 2021--A new exchange traded fund issued by HANetf has been tradable via Xetra and Börse Frankfurt since Wednesday.
With the HANetf S&P Global Clean Energy Select HANzeroTM UCITS ETF-Acc, investors participate in the performance of 30 companies from developed and emerging markets around the world, who promote the development of clean energies with their products and services.
This includes the production of wind, water, solar, and geothermal energy as well as biofuels and fuel cells.
To achieve climate neutrality, the fund invests in a carbon offset which is acquired in cooperation with South Pole to finance green projects to reduce greenhouse gases.
The weighting of an instrument is limited to a maximum of 4.5 per cent.
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Source: Xetra
ETFGI reports assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe reach a record of US$1.48 trillion at the end of May
June 28, 2021-- ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETFs/ETPs ecosystem, reports assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe reach a record of US$1.48 trillion at the end of May.
ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe reported net inflows of US$16.34 billion during May, bringing year-to-date net inflows to US$96.02 billion.
Assets invested in the European ETFs/ETPs industry have increased by 3.6%, from US$1.43 trillion at the end of April, to US$1.48 trillion, according to ETFGI's May 2021 European ETFs and ETPs industry landscape insights report, the monthly report which is part of an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe reach a record $1.48 Trillion at the end of May.
Record YTD net inflows of $96.02 Bn beating the prior record of $53.22 Bn gathered YTD in 2017.
Fifteen consecutive months of net inflows
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Source: ETFGI
21Shares Continues Its Listing Strategy With The Launch of Solana (SOL) ETP
June 28, 2021-- 21Shares AG, the pioneering issuer of crypto Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) is launching the world’s first Solana (SOL) ETP (ticker: ASOL) on the regulated market of the Swiss stock exchange (SIX Exchange) on Wednesday, June 30th 2021 further boosting 21Shares as the leading issuer of crypto ETPs.
The ETP will offer additional yield through staking rewards by validating transactions on the Solana blockchain which is dedicated to fostering active network participation (such as staking) in a secure, regulated and insured environment.
Solana (SOL) is a highly functional open source project that banks on blockchain technology’s permissionless nature to provide decentralised finance (DeFi) solutions. While the idea and initial work on the project began in 2017, Solana was officially launched in March 2020 by the Solana Foundation with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland headed by developer Anatoly Yakovenko. One of the essential innovations Solana brings to the table is the proof-of-history (PoH) consensus. Solana is known in the cryptocurrency space because of the incredibly short processing times the blockchain offers. Solana's hybrid protocol allows for significantly decreased validation times for both transaction and smart contract execution.
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Source: 21Shares
ECB-Monetary developments in the euro area: May 2021
June 25, 2021--Annual growth rate of broad monetary aggregate M3 decreased to 8.4% in May 2021 from 9.2% in April
Annual growth rate of narrower monetary aggregate M1, comprising currency in circulation and overnight deposits, decreased to 11.6% in May from 12.3% in April
Annual growth rate of adjusted loans to households stood at 3.9% in May, compared with 3.8% in April
Annual growth rate of adjusted loans to non-financial corporations decreased to 1.9% in May from 3.2% in April
Components of the broad monetary aggregate M3
The annual growth rate of the broad monetary aggregate M3 decreased to 8.4% in May 2021 from 9.2% in April, averaging 9.2% in the three months up to and including May. The components of M3 showed the following developments.
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Source: ECB
ESG-linked bonds unsuitable to be used as capital buffer, says EU banking watchdog
June 24, 2021--ESG-linked bonds should be excluded from the capital buffers used by banks to offset potential risks and losses, the European Banking Agency (EBA) has said.
The guidance was included in a report published today by the EBA, which updated the eligibility criteria for capital buffers under the EU's Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). It is believed to be the first time the regulator has opined on the topic in relation to ESG-linked bonds.
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Source: responsible-investor.com