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GC Asia
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Science-based targets could help banks wrestling with climate risk
UK banks and building societies are struggling with difficult aspects of incorporating climate change into their risk management, as demanded by the regulator, a PwC survey has found. The answer to some of their problems could be a non-risk initiative: science-based targets.
22 Oct 2020 -
Banks: net zero in 2050 is not enough
One by one, banks are taking responsibility to help fight climate change, by setting targets to eliminate carbon emissions from their whole financing portfolios by 2050. This will not suffice. Banks must learn a new way of interacting with clients.
21 Oct 2020 -
HSBC financed climate laggards weeks before net zero target
HSBC provided $1.8bn of financing to high carbon companies including Kepco, which is developing new coal plants, in just five deals in the past four months, as it prepared to announce its “net zero ambition” on October 9, an NGO has alleged.
16 Oct 2020 -
Indika fires up $450m bond comeback
Indonesia coal producer Indika Energy was back in the debt market on Thursday with a $450m bond.
16 Oct 2020 -
Post-Covid world will demand ‘new more humane’ capitalism
While most financiers are focused on dealing with the immediate impact of the pandemic, critics of capitalism are focused on the world after Covid and are determined that wealthy tackle inequality, financial support for the poor, and Earth’s worsening climate.
15 Oct 2020 -
Central banks and climate change: Lagarde becomes leader
Long used to scanning the horizon for risks, central banks have belatedly woken up to the biggest one of all — climate change. Monetary policy has so far been ignored — but the European Central Bank, until now on the fringes of this issue, is plunging in
15 Oct 2020 -
World Bank urged to channel shareholder money to cut poor country debt
The World Bank says it cannot follow its own advice to member countries to cancel debts to poor economies for fearing of losing its AAA status, but a new report says it can bypass that by setting up a new vehicle
14 Oct 2020 -
Sustainability disclosures delayed as regulators admit legal clash
The European Commission has bowed to lobbying by investors and delayed compelling them to follow the detailed requirements of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation — a complex reporting task that is ill-matched with another EU rule, the Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities.
09 Oct 2020 -
Eurex accommodates new strategies with new ESG line
Greater ESG sophistication is coming to the listed derivatives market, with Eurex Exchange announcing on Wednesday that it intends to launch new contracts that apply a new methodology for ESG exposure.
07 Oct 2020 -
Permira plans to step up ESG approach in next Providus CLO
Permira Debt Managers is looking at a new, enhanced ESG approach for its next Providus CLO, going beyond the negative screening seen so far in the market and committing to a minimum ESG score across the portfolio.
07 Oct 2020 -
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Meet the Platform: EU green finance watchdog
The European Union’s formation of its Platform on Sustainable Finance last week marks a new phase in responsible investing. Over the past four years or so, the most influential thinkers in the market, such as the Principles for Responsible Investing, have been quietly moving back to an older interpretation of what RI means: considering the effects of investment choices on others.
05 Oct 2020 -
Bold banks to set first Science-Based Targets
The long-awaited Science-Based Targets standard for financial institutions has arrived. It is one of the most ambitious attempts so far to wrest the financial sector from its path towards climate destruction.
01 Oct 2020 -
ECB to look at green TLTROs
The European Central Bank is considering a proposal to use its Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs) to incentivise green lending. It has said it may also exclude so-called brown bonds from its asset purchase programmes.
29 Sep 2020 -
Bondholders split on Zambia debt breather
Zambia’s request to defer payment on $3bn of its Eurobonds is the first potential default by an African government during the coronavirus crisis. The process has been poorly managed, say sources close to the matter, throwing into doubt Zambia's chances of winning leniency, the vital first step to avoiding a messy hard default. Mariam Meskin reports.
24 Sep 2020 -
People moves in brief
Goldman gives new positions to Marsh, Verri and Sorrell — Bain picks ESG boss — Falth turns up at Mizuho
24 Sep 2020 -
ESG innovation blooms as market pushes for growth spurt
ESG derivatives have been on the development fast track this year as product creation has swept from equity referencing contracts through to other asset classes. Ross Lancaster reports on the next steps the market must take to reach maturity.
23 Sep 2020 -
Bain hires ESG head with energy background
Bain Capital has hired a new global head of ESG with extensive experience of oil and gas investments.
22 Sep 2020 -
Covid known unknowns, ESG vs. S&P, Suganomics
This week in Keeping Tabs: what scientists still don't know about coronavirus as we grapple with a second wave, ESG index funds outperformed in the first half of the year, and Japan's currency challenge.
18 Sep 2020 -
ESG harmonisation push gives cheer for derivatives
A push towards harmonising data and reporting standards in ESG finance is gaining momentum and is a much-needed move in the development of the market. This was the message from panellists at GlobalCapital’s Sustainable and Responsible Investment Capital Markets Virtual Forum this week.
17 Sep 2020 -
People moves in brief — September 17, 2020
García and Gutman given new roles at Goldman — Mizuho hires in convertible bonds — Smida and Coudray handed coverage leadership at Natixis
17 Sep 2020 -
Taxonomy opens up host of questions
Market participants are still speculating about exactly how the EU's Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities will shape sustainable finance.
17 Sep 2020 -
‘We are at a historic crossroads': Sir Ronald Cohen calls for impact-weighted accounts
Sir Ronald Cohen, the venture capitalist who chairs the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, on Tuesday called on governments to mandate companies to publish impact-weighted accounts.
15 Sep 2020 -
M&G’s ESG head to join Citi
Anita McBain, head of responsible investment and environmental and social governance at M&G Investments, is joining Citi as head of ESG research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
15 Sep 2020 -
Home Reit prepares £250m IPO
Home Reit, a new real estate investment trust focused on homeless accommodation, is preparing to raise £250m via an IPO on the London Stock Exchange.
07 Sep 2020 -
IMF drives Ecuador rally as debt swap settles
An IMF agreement that surpassed all expectations triggered a rally in Ecuador’s exchange bonds after they went free to trade this week, although analysts warn that February’s presidential election represents a major event risk.
03 Sep 2020 -
Norilsk Nickel trade 'unaffected' by oil spill scandal
Norilsk Nickel, the Russian metal and mining company, was set to issue a benchmark dollar bond on Thursday evening, just months after it was found responsible for a series of major diesel spills.
03 Sep 2020 -
Norilsk goes for dollars but spill scandal concerns remain
Norilsk Nickel, the Russian metal and mining company which has found itself under heightened scrutiny in recent months after a series of major oil spills, is set to raise a dollar denominated benchmark bond this week. Russian telecom major Veon was also in the market for its second rouble offering in recent months.
01 Sep 2020 -
Argentina eyes mid-September budget as 99% of bonds hit CAC thresholds
Martín Guzmán, Argentina’s finance minister, said on Monday that 93.5% of international bondholders had participated in the sovereign’s debt restructuring as he promised to deliver a budget by the middle of the month.
01 Sep 2020 -
Big groups join in new drive to clear ESG roadblocks
Two of the biggest sustainable finance organisations, the PRI representing investors and WBCSD for companies, are putting their heads together to try to solve two of the thorniest issues impeding progress in the field.
28 Aug 2020 -
Don’t let activist hedge funds trample ESG’s roses
If investors were a family, the activist hedge fund would be the brattish 20-something rich kid with libertarian opinions who relishes annoying everyone else. You wouldn’t expect this character to get on with the woke, vegan responsible investor who loves to hold forth on moral values.
27 Aug 2020 -
Activist hedge funds prefer to fight ESG stars
Evidence is building that two of the biggest trends in investing — activism and environmental, social and governance awareness — are actually in conflict. Activist hedge funds not only worsen companies’ ESG performance, a study suggests, but seek out companies with high ESG values for attack.
27 Aug 2020 -
ETFs take growing share of the ESG asset pie
The use of exchange-traded funds labelled as addressing environmental, social and governance themes is rising rapidly, as investors believe they allow them to track ESG indices more easily and cheaply, without necessarily having to engage intensively with ESG matters.
26 Aug 2020 -
ELFA tries to open levfin’s ESG blockage
The speed with which leveraged finance investors have embraced environmental, social and governance issues in the past 18 months has created an information impasse in the market, which the investors’ trade body is striving to ease.
19 Aug 2020 -
ESG investors: be careful with supply chains
Environmental, social and governance investors are taking an interest in companies' supply chains at last. It is important they do this in a sophisticated way and think deeply about the potential repercussions. Getting supply chains wrong could have devastating consequences.
18 Aug 2020 -
ESG, Trump, Covid hasten re-shoring trend
Signs are growing that Western companies may be on the verge of a wave of moving manufacturing from China to other emerging markets and ‘re-shoring’ them to the home country, a trend that could have profound implications for markets and international politics.
18 Aug 2020 -
Private debt buyers seek richer ESG analysis
Consciousness of environmental, social and governance factors is snowballing among private debt and equity investors, prompting them to seek new answers to the conundrum of how to obtain adequate ESG information on private companies. Providers are trying to meet the demand, including with innovative products.
17 Aug 2020 -
Green Biden hopes, bond/loan decoupling, crypto app on the ropes
This week in Keeping Tabs: whether investors are prepared for the impact of a Joe Biden win on environmental policy, how bond and syndicated loan markets diverged in the crisis, and a crypto app that tanked.
14 Aug 2020 -
Rep risk of sov restructuring is worth it for real money investors
Real money investors have historically avoided the reputational risk involved in participating in sovereign debt restructurings. But a truly socially responsible investor should embrace these situations — for the sake of both their clients and troubled emerging nations.
11 Aug 2020 -
Morgan Stanley launches two sustainable funds
Morgan Stanley Investment Management has set up a European corporate fund and a European strategic fund, both earmarked as sustainable.
05 Aug 2020 -
Delek Drilling sparks HY market with $2.25bn deal
Delek Drilling, the Israeli energy company, launched a $2.25bn bond sale on Tuesday, in one of the few high yield emerging market bond deals seen during the coronavirus pandemic.
04 Aug 2020 -
EU: the musical, Hong Kong: the swan song, and a menacing ballet
Each week Keeping Tabs beings you the most interesting and entertaining reading from around the web that we have uncovered. This week, the perils of the EU recovery fund through the lens of the subject of Broadway's hottest show, a menacing whiteness of swans and a grim view of Hong Kong's future in finance.
31 Jul 2020 -
DoL proposal misses the mark on ESG
The US Department of Labour (DoL) has proposed what it characterises as a reiteration of what has always been required of retirement fiduciaries — that they act in the best interest of their beneficiaries — urging them to disregard ESG considerations in investment decisions. In doing so, it appears not to have noticed the last decade in financial markets, which has shown that ESG investing is very much in investors’ interests.
30 Jul 2020 -
Derivatives can support EU's ESG goals, says ECMI report
Derivatives stand to play a crucial role in the European Union’s green deal and transition to a low carbon economy, according to a study by the European Capital Markets Institute that was released on Thursday.
16 Jul 2020 -
Ecuador creditors push for ESG conditions in restructuring
Ecuador’s market-friendly debt restructuring hit a bump in the road this week as bondholders put forward proposals that would include conditions around environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
14 Jul 2020 -
EM restructuring — spare us the posturing
After striking a remarkably swift restructuring deal with creditors, Ecuador’s government deserves praise. But it is unrealistic to expect such smooth discussions elsewhere, as emerging market sovereign defaults inevitably rise.
09 Jul 2020 -
EBA finally receives approval for exec director
François-Louis Michaud was approved as the next executive director of the European Banking Authority on Wednesday. The EBA’s previous choice was rejected by parliamentarians, and this nomination faced scrutiny too over gender balance.
09 Jul 2020 -
Impact investor Durreen Shahnaz: ‘we must go beyond social bonds’
Durreen Shahnaz is founder and chief executive of Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), which says it created the world's first social stock exchange. She tells GlobalCapital about how we can rebuild a better economy, with the help of capital markets, after coronavirus.
08 Jul 2020 -
Global warming temperature scores to radically simplify green investing
CDP, the leading platform through which companies report their carbon emissions, has become the latest organisation to launch a potentially influential system of temperature ratings, so investors can work out how much global warming each company’s plans will theoretically lead to — and hence the overall temperature of a portfolio.
07 Jul 2020 -
Film director Richard Curtis: ‘the time for tinkering is coming to an end’
If UK pension savers knew how their money was invested, funds would be more inclined to invest exclusively in environmental, social and governance (ESG) assets. So argues Richard Curtis, the screenwriter, director and co-founder of Comic Relief. He has launched a public campaign, Make My Money Matter, to pressure UK pension funds to invest more sustainably.
03 Jul 2020 -
YPF swap not distressed but Argentina battles on
As tensions between Argentina and its largest bondholders climbed this week, the government’s prize asset, oil firm YPF, differentiated itself with a debt exchange that, according to rating agencies, does not punish creditors — unlike the sovereign’s proposals.
02 Jul 2020
