Max Severijns

“Due to the search for yield, a “shut up and take my money” sentiment is starting to emerge in the world of high-yield corporate bonds. Investors would be wise to be more cautious in allocating money to the high-yield markets. It is dangerous to stay in the highest-risk segment with the idea that things will go well for another six months”, according to Sander Bus, managing director and co-head of the credit team at Robeco, speaking in an interview with Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication.

The pandemic has put the resilience of the big city in the spotlight. The need to protect cities against the challenges of this century remains as great as ever. Schroders is therefore investing in real estate projects in the cities of the future. They are looking for players who push the boundaries and take the most drastic steps towards “net zero”. How? In this case, with a python script and a big database.

A majority of nearly 3,000 risk managers admit that the pandemic has led to more careless due diligence checks and a more sloppy handling of the Know Your Customer (KYC) principle. In addition, 71 per cent of respondents report that cybercrime is harder to contain because of remote working.

At the moment, the healthcare sector is still underdeveloped digitally, while the world population is getting older and more chronically ill. Nevertheless, this sector is also slowly but surely embracing the Internet of Things. Henk Grootveld sees this as a reason to invest in digital healthcare.

Accommodative central bank policy, an ageing Europe and the exorbitant increase in debts make interest rate hikes in Europe extremely unlikely in the short term. This increases the risk of negatively-yielding bond portfolios for pension funds and insurers. Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s Dutch-language sister publication, asked three investment specialists for their views.

In 2017, Joof Verhees, senior client advisor and former board member at Van Lanschot Kempen, was asked if he wanted to become team manager of the Dutch national field hockey team. Up to and including the Tokyo Olympics, Verhees was responsible for the ins and outs of the national field hockey team as the right-hand man of national coach Max Caldas.

In 2008, the ECB changed its approach to a “full allotment” system. “Those apparently meaningless words explain why the savings interest rate is currently zero percent. It is also a benchmark to watch for when the savings interest will rise again.

To increase the range of responsible and sustainable solutions available to investors, Invesco launched the Solar Energy UCITS ETF this month. But surprisingly, even this ETF is only “light green”, under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).

In April this year, Auréus launched the Equities Blue Chips fund. The fund is in Morningstar’s highest rated percentile for sustainable funds. “That is amazing. The fund is not labelled as sustainable, and just this one is in the top percentile,” said Auréus’s Chief Commercial Officer Han Dieperink in an interview with Fondsnieuws, Investment Officer Luxembourg’s sister publication (for whom Dieperink writes regular commentary articles).

Emerging companies in the technology sector are often heavily overestimated, according to tech investor Richard Clode of Janus Henderson. “The trick is to remain cynical,” he said. Remarkably, he said he also sees opportunities in emerging market companies that have yet to go public.