The ETF showdown
Ready for battle: While thousands of financial advisers are gathering for the biggest ETF event of the year, some asset managers are proposing their own exchange-traded fund that could one day house $7 trillion, reports Bloomberg.
Fidelity Investments, Invesco Ltd. and American Century Investments are among those with competing visions for the future of ETFs disclosing their holdings, similar to mutual funds. As stock prices hold, it could still be a hard sell.
“This is going to be one of the key themes of 2020,” said Todd Rosenbluth, director of ETF research at CFRA Research.
The hedge fund scare: As the threat of hedge funds gobbling up local newspapers grows, reporters are sending out an SOS to wealthy private individuals for investments. The fear comes from Alden Global Capital–a hedge fund that owns a majority stake in Tribune Publishing– and its cut-throat management style that’s resulted in hundreds of newsroom layoffs. Tribune Publishing, also known as Tronc, is the publisher for The Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News, The Denver Post, and other metropolitan institutions.
More from The New York Times: “It’s one thing to put your name on a museum,” Gary Marx, a veteran investigative reporter said, “but this is to save an institution that really safeguards this city.”
Unicorn valuations and investor shields: Do fundraising rounds reflect the true value of startups? According to a recent study, the average unicorn is priced 48 percent above its fair value. So, are investors overpaying?
Some say this is not the case. As per Bloomberg, unicorns go through as many as seven funding rounds before emerging on public markets and investors prefer these layers of protective clauses.
“If we could see the contractual terms unicorns agree upon with their patrons, no reasonable investor would say these startups are worth as much as they claim. But, alas, these are private contracts, leaving the unicorn world as murky and fluffy as ever.”
Bank the unbanked: According to the FCA, there are just shy of 1.3 million adults in the UK who do not have a bank account. For those who are homeless, setting up a bank account is a big challenge. HSBC recently put forward an initiative that looks to overcome this hurdle.
Check out our blog on how and if Fintech is the answer to making the unbanked banked.