Greta Thunberg’s efforts to draw attention to the climate crisis are having a powerful effect on decision-making in the investment sector, according to Nigel Green, CEO and co-founder of independent financial advisory firm deVere Group. Green’s comments arrived as the high-profile, young Swedish activist urged political and business leaders and media groups at the Davos World Economic Forum to heed the relevant science.
Citing a 2018 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Thunberg said: “With today’s emissions levels, [the] remaining budget is gone in less than eight years. These aren’t anyone’s views, this is the science. I know you don’t want to report about this, but I assure you I will continue to repeat these numbers until you do.”
Green noted: “Greta’s message is a consistent one, based on science and fact – and one that is likely to hit home with millennials and Gen Z. Typically, these generations – those born from the early 1980s onwards – seem to ‘get’ the climate emergency we’re facing, and the urgency with which it needs to be tackled, far better than older generations. This is why it is crucial that she was at Davos in order to drive her message through to the political and business leaders who can actually do something about it right now.”
He added: “These younger generations who will listen to the message and warnings of Greta Thunberg, among others, are going to be the beneficiaries of the biggest-ever generational transfer of wealth – likely to be around $30 trillion – over the next few years… With their socially responsible awareness, plus their new wealth and power, we can expect them to put environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues at the centre of their investment decisions. Therefore, Greta Thunberg is not just helping to save the planet – she is reshaping the global investment industry, because financial institutions, companies and agencies will need to decisively shift their priorities to match those of millennials and Gen Z.”
Some 24% of British workers believe that cryptocurrency should be taught in schools as part of the national curriculum, a new study on behalf of trading platform CoinBurp has found. Breaking down the data by age groups, 35% of those aged 16 to 24 in the sample of 2,000 participants agreed that they would benefit from cryptocurrency being taught as a subject. That eclipsed the 15% of those aged 55 or older who took the same view, flagging up a generational divide in public interest.
Further findings showed that a combined average of 25% of those aged 16 to 34 are planning to invest in cryptocurrency this year – and that 37% of those aged 16 to 24 believe that their banks should provide access to cryptocurrency. Only 15% of over-55s agree.
In a statement, CoinBurp pointed out that the ICT GCSE was recently phased out of the national curriculum and replaced with the more challenging Computer Science course, to better combat a predicted shortage of 800,000 skilled IT workers in the EU by 2020. The firm suggests that a lack of understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology could be just as damaging to students’ future as the skills drought, should the UK suffer another financial crisis.
CoinBurp CEO Peter Wood said: “Cryptocurrency is already offering exciting opportunities for investors and is set to transform the banking industry and wider economy in the very near future. Right now, it’s utterly ludicrous that such important digital assets are being overlooked by businesses and our education system. With trust in established financial institutions at an all-time low, the need for preparing the next generation to understand, invest and use digital currencies is absolutely vital.”
Strong customer authentication (SCA) is likely to hit further delays past its current, 18-month extension, says James Booth, vice president, head of payment partnerships EMEA, at payments platform PPRO.
In a January statement outlining a series of predictions for his industry, Booth noted: “We’ve already seen the deadline to be compliant with the SCA requirements … extended to March 2021, beyond the original deadline of September 2019. The Financial Conduct Authority stated that implementation in the UK would divert to a phased approach, over the course of 18 months… However, I would not be surprised if this deadline is extended again.”
He explained: “Merchants are expected to continue to push back against SCA’s full implementation, largely because many are still not ready to adopt its requirements into their payment and checkout systems, as per PSD2 guidelines.”
However, despite those hurdles, Booth added that the initiative would ultimately be good for the industry. “I have full faith that the introduction of SCA is a hugely positive step forward to creating a truly secure payment ecosystem,” he said. “People have increasingly fallen victim to payment fraud for the best part of a decade, and action must be taken. Yes, transactions may take slightly longer to carry out, as the new SCA requirements will mean customers need to provide additional methods of authentication at online checkouts. However, the additional step will see sensitive data more robustly protected and reduce the payment fraud crime rate that has afflicted so many for so long.”
A new, digital network designed to modernise the $18 trillion trade finance market launched on 28 January, under the brand Contour. The launch follows a series of ground-breaking live pilots in 14 countries, plus a global trial involving more than 50 banks and corporates that slashed letters of credit processing times by more than 90% – from five to 10 days to under 24 hours. Established independently in Singapore, Contour has now moved into full commercialisation and is inviting banks and corporates to join its beta network.
Backers include Bangkok Bank, BNP Paribas, CTBC, HSBC, ING Bank, Standard Chartered, SEB, Bain & Company, CryptoBLK and leading enterprise blockchain firm R3.
Contour CEO Carl Wegner said: “The opportunity cost in trade finance is huge. Trillions of dollars in commodities, products and services are transacted daily, but the sector is still characterised by slow, duplicative and expensive processes. Contour delivers a network where trusted information is shared in real time, effectively digitising letters of credit across all users in the transaction.”
He added: “We are indebted to the community of banks and corporates who have collaborated with us to validate our solution, which delivers genuine, measurable value as well as process improvement around letters of credit. With the launch, Contour is now available to provide a full commercial service to organisations looking to enhance their trade finance practices. We are now focussing on scaling the network with more banks, corporates and partners, and look forward to continuing to collaborate with our growing community.”
Investment managers have access to a new technology suite combining tools for assisting MiFID II reporting and Market Abuse Regulation compliance. The solution has stemmed from a partnership between fintech company Red Deer and regulatory intelligence specialists Cappitech.
Under the arrangement – announced on 21 January – each firm will offer the other’s services to its own client base. Red Deer’s Holistic Surveillance solution covers multi-asset class trade and communications surveillance, embedding compliance and control functions within front, middle and back office workflows. Meanwhile, Cappitech’s regulatory service platform uses state-of-the-art technology to provide a unified experience for multijurisdictional regulatory reporting, plus an analytics dashboard to monitor and extract value from compliance data.
Red Deer vice president of product Alistair Downes said: “The partnership with Cappitech now enables us to help our clients seamlessly meet the requirements of transaction reporting and best execution under the regulations, without affecting their investment or operational workflow.”
Cappitech CEO Ronen Kertis added: “Our goal is to provide efficient, cost-effective solutions that also drive added value, and the addition of Red Deer’s Holistic Surveillance solution to our offering supports this. We are also looking forward to supporting Red Deer’s clients, as they look to integrate our regulatory reporting solutions into their existing services.”