Fintech’s challenge to retail banking gathers pace The granting of a full banking licence in France to Revolut reflects the ongoing expansion of fintech firms into core banking services. Coming shortly after the award of a full Australian banking licence in July and a UK banking licence in March, it marks another step in
ESG in Europe on hold despite transatlantic divide A slew of high‑profile mandate withdrawals from US asset managers points to a growing rift with European investors over ESG. Yet this has done little to revive ESG momentum in Europe, where policy initiatives remain largely on hold. Sustainable investing has become something of a
Iran war upends commodities market The old assumption that commodities markets were primarily driven by supply, demand and economic growth has been overtaken by events. Perhaps like never before, the Iran war has underlined that commodities are geopolitical assets. The initial market reaction to the Iran conflict was predictable. Crude oil prices surged
Markets attempt to look through Iran conflict – For now Market sentiment has oscillated sharply in response to developments in the Arabian Gulf, but recent price action suggests investors are increasingly willing to look through the immediate shock. Having been down roughly 9% earlier in the year, the S&P 500 has recovered most
Investors exit private credit After more than a decade of uninterrupted growth, the private credit market is facing its first major contraction. Recent weeks have seen a rush to exit the asset class, prompting several fund managers to "gate" redemptions – a move only likely to further erode investor confidence. The primary catalyst for
The debate over index concentration The meteoric rise of US mega-cap technology stocks over the past 15 years or so has led to an extraordinary level of index concentration. The combined weight of the five largest stocks in the MSCI World Index has surged from around 6% in 2015 to 20% today, while
DeepSeek’s market shock: What you need to know A breakthrough AI model by Chinese upstart DeepSeek created a storm in global financial markets in January, slashing nearly USD 1 trillion of US tech sector market capitalization in a single day and forcing a dramatic rethink of AI valuations. Nvidia plunged 17%, with other semiconductor
Heavy stock concentration poses indexing problems The relentless secular bull market in tech stocks has led to structurally high index concentration. While this is an age-old market phenomenon, it still poses a challenge for fund managers and index designers, particularly with passive investing having added fuel to the debate around index concentration.
Stablecoins come under increased scrutiny For an asset type often regarded as a “safer” corner of the crypto world, stablecoins have attracted a surprising degree of regulatory scrutiny. While stablecoins are designed to maintain a stable value, their underlying structures and use cases vary, meaning not all stablecoins are created equal. Regulators are
Regulators take aim at greenwashing Greenwashing – a misleading or deceptive marketing practice used by companies and other organizations to portray themselves or their products and services as environmentally friendly or sustainable – has become so ubiquitous in recent times that regulators have been forced to act. The EU’s proposed “green claims” directive is
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