The debt-financed, $1.2 billion acquisition of Avantax Inc. and its 3,100 financial advisors that Cetera announced last week is not only an indication of firms’ interest in nabbing more and more wealth management assets, but also shows how using debt to fuel such deals could further reshape the financial...
In the sustainable investing world, motivating companies to do better has happened through two basic strategies: divestment and engagement — and new research shows that using elements of both can accomplish the most. That won’t be news to investment providers and advocacy groups that specialize in sustainable investing — some...
The world economy is set for a slowdown as interest-rate increases weigh on activity and China’s pandemic rebound disappoints. Growth will ease to 2.7% in 2024 after an already “sub-par” expansion of 3% this year, according to the latest OECD forecasts. With the exception of 2020, when Covid struck, that...
UBS Group Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said the bank will give investors an outline of its growth strategy early next year and signaled the direction of plans to grow in the U.S., as the lender progresses with the integration of Credit Suisse. The Swiss lender is currently working at “full...
BlackRock Inc.’s Amanda Lynam says the rebound in junk bond issuance is set to accelerate, as companies work to get ahead of a wall of maturities starting in 2025. The high-yield market has sprung to life in September, with firms taking advantage of improved investor appetite to refinance debt or...
Proxy voting for investors is about to become a whole lot easier. Envestnet and iconik, a voting technology provider, announced Monday they’re teaming up to provide enhanced proxy voting solutions for those using Envestnet’s Sustainable Quantitative Portfolios. The firms say the move, which comes after an increase in investor demand, will...
Over 200 people are expected to lose their jobs at Amsterdam-based Sustainalytics, the company announced. The decision comes after Chicago-based Morningstar said in June it would move to align Sustainalytics more closely with its Indexes businesses. According to its website, the ESG service provider arm Sustainalytics employs over 1,800 people,...
The private credit market is seeing strong interest from both fund managers and investors and the once-niche market is now worth around $1.5 trillion. Private credit fund managers are increasingly providing investors with customized exposure to the market and some key trends are emerging, according to a new report from...
The world’s first fractional bond exchange using the latest in distributed ledger technology now has Citi Securities Services as its first digital custodian participant. BondbloX Bond Exchange, or BBX, launched in 2020 and allows investors to track and trade bonds electronically. It has been hailed as a significant step in...
Short term treasury yields have risen to levels too high for wealth managers to ignore. Maybe that’s why they are ignoring municipal bonds instead. Treasury yields from one month through 2 years up the curve have eclipsed 5% at last check thanks to the past year’s steady diet of Federal...