Global ETF News Older than One Year
Digital Financial Inclusion in the Times of COVID-19
July 1, 2020--The COVID-19 pandemic could be a game changer for digital financial services. Low-income households and small firms can benefit greatly from advances in mobile money, fintech services, and online banking.
Financial inclusion as a result of digital financial services can also boost economic growth. While the pandemic is set to increase use of these services, it has also posed challenges for the growth of the industry's smaller players and highlighted unequal access to digital infrastructure. Several actions will need to be taken to ensure maximum inclusion going forward.
Source: IMF
IMF-The Promise of Fintech:Financial Inclusion in the Post COVID-19 Era
July 1, 2020--Summary:
Technology is changing the landscape of the financial sector, increasing access to financial services in profound ways. These changes have been in motion for several years, affecting nearly all countries in the world.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, technology has created new opportunities for digital financial services to accelerate and enhance financial inclusion, amid social distancing and containment measures. At the same time, the risks emerging prior to COVID-19, as digital financial services developed, are becoming even more relevant.
view the IMF Departmental Papers-The Promise of Fintech:Financial Inclusion in the Post COVID-19 Era
Source: IMF
IEA-Sustainable Recovery
World Energy Outlook Special Report
July 1, 2020--Since the scale of the economic crisis began to emerge, the IEA has been leading the calls for governments to make the recovery as sustainable and resilient as possible. This means immediately addressing the core issues of global recession and soaring unemployment -and doing so in a way that also takes into account the key challenge of building cleaner and more secure energy systems.
As they design economic recovery plans, policy makers are having to make enormously consequential decisions in a very short space of time. These decisions will shape economic and energy infrastructure for decades to come and will almost certainly determine whether the world has a chance of meeting its long-term energy and climate goals.
Source: IEA (International Energy Agency)
FTSE Russell-Impact of COVID-19 on USD Corporate Bond Liquidity
July 1, 2020-- The COVID-19 crisis has impacted asset valuations, increased volatility and led to reduced liquidity in many cases. Most asset classes have been affected, and governments have stepped in to support financial operations. In this paper, we examine the effects of the crisis on the year-to-date liquidity of USD corporate bonds, as measured by the price liquidity ratio.
The price liquidity ratio calculated by Yield Book looks at market impact and measures the movement in price of a security for an executed trade of a given size. The price movement is calculated on an excess of curve basis, and then aggregated across the given index or sector. A higher ratio represents a larger movement in price for a given trade size and therefore shows lower liquidity.
Source: FTSE Russell
U.N. warns COVID-19 could wipe out gains in equality for women at work
June 30, 2020--The coronavirus pandemic could wipe out "the modest progress" made on gender equality at work in recent decades with women globally at greater risk of losing their jobs, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned on Tuesday.
The U.N. agency said the fall in global working hours was "significantly worse than previously estimated" in the first half of the year. The Americas was the hardest-hit region.
Source: reuters.com
Central banks a stabilising force in response to unprecedented crisis
June 30, 2020--Central banks played a crucial role together with fiscal and prudential authorities in a concerted response to the Covid-19 crisis.
The lender of last resort role of central banks has evolved as they sought to mitigate the blow to the economy.
As the crisis transitions from a liquidity phase to a solvency one, governments must take the lead to promote a strong and sustainable recovery.
Central banks played a key role in the unprecedented response to the Covid-19 crisis during the acute phase of the pandemic, working with fiscal authorities to cushion the economic and financial blow and support companies and workers, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said in its Annual Economic Report 2020.
Source: BIS
How to know if you've been greenwashed: a survival guide
June 29, 2020--'What used to be appendices material has now jumped to the forefront of product presentations,' says Financiè re Arbevel fund selector Vincent Morel, speaking about the rise of ESG.
Over the last five years, demand for ESG-compliant funds has rocketed, and those making sales pitches have been quick to seize on the trend, sometimes in a facile way.
"There are two main aspects to greenwashing," says Philippe Mitaine, a senior fund analyst at Lyxor Asset Management. 'It predominantly consists of presenting funds which claim to use extra-financial criteria in their investment decisions, while their ESG processes actually do not constrain much of their strategies.'
It also occurs when asset managers questionably claim that the companies they hold have a positive impact.
Source: citywireselector.com
Bassanese Bites: Shelter in place
June 29, 2020--Global markets
The continued rise in U.S. COVID-19 cases further undermined risk sentiment last week- even though, as U.S. President Trump noted, increased testing appears an important factor behind the rise (although the percentage of positive tests is also increasing). The S&P 500 lost 2.9%, with a hefty 2.4% decline on Friday.
Gold again demonstrated its safe haven status, rising 1.6% and breaking above its consolidation range of the past few months. At 3,009 points, the S&P 500 is now a hair's breadth away from its 11 June closing low of 3,002 (and intra-day low of 2,965 on June 15), which if broken would confirm the first significant 'lower high' and 'lower low' in the rally since late March.
Source: betashares.com.au
World Bank-EFI Prospects Group-Global Monthly-June 2020
June 29, 2020--Overview
According to the June 2020 Global Economic Prospects report, COVID-19 is triggering the deepest global recession since the Second World War.
Emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) as a group will experience their first contraction since at least 1960, tipping millions back into extreme poverty.
Global output is projected to contract by 5.2 percent in 2020, and recover to 4.2 percent in 2021, as the effects of the pandemic fade.
The global recession this year could be even deeper if bringing the pandemic under control takes longer than expected, or if financial stress triggers cascading defaults.
Special Focus: Scenarios of possible global growth outcomes
Since near-term global growth projections are subject to an unusual degree of uncertainty, this special focus presents three scenarios to illustrate possible global growth trajectories for 2020-21.
In addition to presenting the baseline scenario of the June Global Economic Prospects report, a downside scenario explores the possibility of a deeper and more protracted global recession, while an upside scenario illustrates a prompt recovery.
Even in the upside scenario, the 2020 global recession would be about twice as deep as the 2009 global recession.
While the pandemic will have a particularly severe impact on advanced economies, EMDEs will also be substantially affected, with the magnitude of the downturn and subsequent recovery varying across EMDE regions.
Source: World Bank
FSB evaluation finds too-big-to-fail reforms made banks more resilient and resolvable, but gaps need to be addressed
June 28, 2020--The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published for public consultation an evaluation of too-big-to-fail (TBTF) reforms for systemically important banks. The TBTF reforms were endorsed by the G20 in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and have been implemented in FSB jurisdictions over the past decade.
The evaluation examines the extent to which the reforms are reducing the systemic and moral hazard risks associated with systemically important banks, as well as their broader effects on the financial system.
Source: FSB (Financial Stability Board)
