Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 21 October 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Social enterprise to solve the advice gap
Financial advice firms are increasingly aware of their social responsibilities and are meeting them in numerous ways, from pro bono and charity work to B-Corp certification, which assesses the social and environmental impact of business practices.
Some firms are focusing their efforts on addressing the ‘advice gap’, where people who would benefit from financial advice cannot afford it.
But could social enterprises — businesses that trade for a social and/or environmental purpose — provide a longer-term solution?
MM Talks with Kim, Lois an Tom
Join Kimberley Dondo, Lois Vallely and Tom Browne from the Money Marketing team for the third episode of MM Talks.
This episode explores the FCA’s consolidation review, and speculation of the upcoming budget’s impact on financial advisers, and shares chillingly true finance horror stories from the internet. Listen now:
Quote Of The Day
Remember how your granny always told you that if something seems too good to be true then it probably is? You’d do well to apply this advice to investments too.
– Victoria Hasler, head of fund research at Hargreaves Lansdown, talks about how to avoid investment scams, in honour of Scams Awareness Week, which starts today
Stat Attack
New data from YouGov commissioned by BlackRock explores attitudes to investing by Europeans. The 2024 BlackRock People & Money Survey also examines why people across Europe feel they are not able to invest. The survey explores the attitudes of current investors and potential investors across 14 European countries.
29%
Of women now invest across Europe in 2024
11%
Increase year-on-year in the number of women investing
47%
Of men currently invest
4%
Growth (from 46% in 2022)
46%
Of 25-34-year-olds now invest
13%
Increase year-on-year (from 40% in 2022)
Source: BlackRock
In Other News
Janus Henderson today announces the launch of its first active ETF in Europe: the Janus Henderson Tabula Japan High Conviction Equity UCITS ETF (JCPN).
The launch of this active ETF provides investors with an alternative way of accessing the firm’s “deep knowledge and insights” in this market.
The fund will adopt a high conviction approach and invest in an actively managed all-cap concentrated portfolio of 20 to 30 holdings, providing exposure to companies that are set to benefit from structural themes and trends in the Japanese Equity market, and showcasing the best of Janus Henderson’s stock selection skills.
The launch of this active ETF represents an important milestone for Janus Henderson, allowing the firm to cater to client demand globally for its investment strategies to include a UCITS ETF wrapper.
It also builds upon the firm’s active ETF proposition in the US where it is fourth largest provider of actively managed fixed income ETFs.
Europe markets watchdog bids to become EU’s version of SEC (Financial Times)
Chinese banks slash lending rates to bolster ailing economy (Bloomberg)
UBS sells its 50% stake in Swisscard to American Express (Reuters)
Did You See?
It has been 10 years since financial education was introduced to the national curriculum for secondary schools in England.
At primary school level, the national curriculum provides a framework for young children to recognise coins and learn how to use money through simple ‘number problems’ in maths lessons.
The ‘real life’ context comes later, during citizenship or ‘personal, social, health and economic’ education from age 11.
However, says Amanda Newman Smith, some schools do not follow the national curriculum, adding weight to the criticism that financial education is inconsistent in England.
Earlier this year, a report by the House of Commons Education Committee found widespread evidence that financial education in England’s primary schools was “insufficient and should be expanded”.
So, how should financial education be presented to younger children and what role do financial advisers have in this?
