Private equity is not the enemy — it’s what powers businesses to be a force for good November 2, 2020 It should come as no surprise that 280 characters are not enough to form a well thought-out and nuanced argument. And yet, this doesn’t seem to deter the swathes of Twitterati sensationalists from jumping on the bandwagon of “outrage culture”, calling for boycotts of companies that appear to make the slightest error — such as [...]
Negative rates explained: should UK investors prepare? October 30, 2020 | City Talk The UK’s banks received a letter from the Bank of England (BoE) this week which has brought negative interest rates back into the headlines. The letter, published here, asked banks how ready they would be if the Bank of England base rate – which currently sits at 0.10% – moved into negative territory. The letter, signed [...]
Human rights must be included in sustainable investment strategies, says financial agency October 29, 2020 Human rights must form a core part of financial institutions’ sustainable investment strategies, a leading financial body has said. With climate change protests across the globe, there has been a concerted push by various parties for firms to incorporate sustainability considerations into their business models. Sustainable finance is moving into the mainstream with the government [...]
Has Jack Ma made IPOs a weapon of corporate warfare? October 29, 2020 Ant Group is not a household name. An affiliate of Chinese tech wizard Jack Ma’s Alibaba, it operates the digital payment platform Alipay, which serves more than a billion users and is China’s largest such enterprise. This week, Ant Group announced the pricing of its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Shanghai’s Star [...]
Institutions don’t share retail investors’ optimism on returns October 28, 2020 | City Talk Schroders’ studies suggest retail – or individual – investors are more optimistic about future returns than investors at large institutions. Individuals have indicated that they expect average annual returns of nearly 11% over the next five years while institutional investors anticipate a more moderate 6%. Schroders’ Institutional Investor Study is an analysis of views from [...]
Government issues sustainable finance standards for fund managers October 28, 2020 The UK has issued a set of standards for asset managers within the sustainable investment sector as it shores up its green credentials. Interest in environmental, social and governance-related investing has taken centre stage in recent years. Inflows into active ESG funds reached a record £392m in September, taking the quarterly total to £1bn, according [...]
Octopus Ventures ‘extremely optimistic’ about investment landscape October 28, 2020 Investors have spent most of this year looking inwards as they sought to shore up their portfolio companies in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. But even as the UK continues to grapple with uncertainty amid another round of lockdowns, some investors are starting to look for opportunities to expand their portfolio. London-based VC firm [...]
Octopus Ventures leads seed funding round in pet-tech firm Katkin October 28, 2020 London-based pet food company Katkin has secured £4.5m of funding in a seed round led by venture capital firm Octopus Ventures. Katkin was set up by siblings Brett and Nikki O’Farrell to produce healthy cat food after realising the options available didn’t provide cats with the nutrition they needed. The wet food contains 95 per [...]
Can behavioural finance explain how investors think about sustainability? October 27, 2020 | City Talk Schroders Global Investor Study 2020 examined the attitudes and beliefs of more than 23,000 investors on sustainability. It is a vast project that yields fascinating insights on the way investors think. We thought it would be interesting to put some questions to Stuart Podmore, Investment Propositions Director and an expert in behavioural finance, about the [...]
Why I’m calling for a £15bn National Renewal Fund to support growing businesses October 27, 2020 Some 90 years ago, a government committee set up to examine the health of the British economy identified a persistent shortfall in funding for small and medium-sized businesses. This shortfall was termed the Macmillan Gap — named not after the politician but after the Scottish lawyer, Hugh Macmillan, who chaired the committee. As the saying [...]