monday-morning-briefing-July 16

Tuesday morning briefing – May 21, 2019

There is no stopping socially responsible investingThe benefits of making personalization a realityHow ETFs rose to prominence. And much more in this week’s briefing.

Economic/industry news

Canada’s inflation rate rises to 2.0% in April: Inflation rises in April as carbon taxes drive up gas prices

Why a Fed rate cut could be problematic for the economy: Fed’s George warns rate cut could lead to bubbles and recession

How ETFs rose to prominence: Why ETFs succeeded for retail investors

Looking beyond fees: Fees aren’t the only cost of investing

MSCI to add more shares to its emerging markets index: MSCI boosts China, adds Saudi to emerging-market indexes

There is no stopping socially responsible investing: Socially responsible investing movement is hot and there are no signs of it cooling off

How DC plans can follow in the footsteps of DB plans: 2019 Top 40 Money Managers Report: Investment lessons for DC plans from their DB parents

News and notes (U.S.)

A look at the hedge fund industry in April: State of the industry – April, 2019

Alternative asset firms looking to enter the retail market: Hiring activity suggests alts firms are eying wealth management

Balancing foreign investment with national security: An increase in foreign investment in the US comes with trade-offs

A look at one of the largest lenders in the world, GSO Capital Partners: The radical, lucrative, and controversial company hiding in Stephen Schwarzman’s pocket

Looking at retirement in the U.S.: Is there really a retirement crisis brewing?

Another delay on the decision of a bitcoin ETF: SEC delays decision on Bitwise Bitcoin ETF again

Mutual fund sales and performance over the past two weeks: Mutual funds scorecard: May 14 edition 

News and notes (Canada)

Private equity firm, Onex, to purchase WestJet: Onex signs agreement to buy WestJet in $5B deal

BMO announces changes to its investment lineup: BMO Investments announces new fund and series launches

Nest Wealth purchases Razor Logic Systems: Nest Wealth acquires Canadian software firm

Accelerate Financial Technologies launches three ETFs with 0% management fees:Alternative offerings mark firm’s ETF debut

Certain budget measures affecting the financial services industry may not pass before the fall election: Stock option changes, other budget measures unlikely to proceed before election

On the pulse – New frontiers in fintech

Making personalization a reality: Big payoffs for banks & credit unions from personalization

How technological advancements can turn complaints into opportunities: Five year increase in customer complaints an opportunity for banks, Financial Ombudsman reports

House Committee on Financial Services sets up fintech task force: US Congress launches fintech and AI task forces

Responding to cyber risks: Cyber exposure for mutual funds

FINRA to streamline interactions with member firms: FINRA plans digital transformation

Fintech deals grew to $111.8 billion in 2018: Global fintech investment doubled in 2018

Cybersecurity teams should be involved in managing the risks of business and digital transformation: PwC’s Digital Trust Insights survey: aligning business and cyber security drives success

A look at the Chief Data Officer: The evolution of the Chief Data Officer

Amazon moving into the blockchain space: Will Amazon find the same success with blockchain as they did with cloud?

High-net-worth topics

How much money do people need to consider themselves wealthy: You need $2.3 million to be considered truly wealthy in America

Brokerage firms must improve the products and services they offer the high-net-worth:Not good enough

Polls & surveys – What financials are saying

Help from a financial advisor is one of the best tools for retirement planning (Benefits Canada): Advisors top list of retirement planning tools: survey

ETF investors expected to increase their allocation to ETFs to protect against market volatility (Charles Schwab): Two thirds of ETF investors expect to raise allocations this year

Education costs impacting parents’ finances (FP Canada): University costs delay parents’ retirement: survey

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