UK Bankers Criticized for Lack of Risk Appetite in Green Finance
A senior executive at the UK's National Wealth Fund has criticized the country's banks and money managers for what he characterized as their failure to embrace the risk levels needed to drive the low-carbon transition.
'What I'm not seeing is enough appetite from the banks and the insurance companies, from the pension funds and institutional investors' to finance the low-carbon transition, said Ian Brown, the wealth fund's head of banking and investments.
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Forbes
32 minutes ago
- Forbes
Why Laopu Gold Is One Of The Hottest Luxury Stocks Right Now
Beijing,China Most of you know by now that I've long emphasized the two powerful forces driving gold demand: the Fear Trade and the Love Trade. The Fear Trade is what most Western investors are familiar with. It's the flight to safety during times of uncertainty, driven by concerns over inflation, interest rates, geopolitical risk and more. Gold has historically been sought as a safe haven during crises and recessions. The Love Trade, on the other hand, is based on cultural affinity, religious tradition and rising household incomes, particularly in India and China, the two biggest consumers of the precious metal. Accounting for roughly 60% of global gold demand, the Love Trade is about buying physical gold as a symbol of status and celebration. This brings me to Laopu Gold, a Hong Kong-listed company we recently took a position in, as we believe it sits at the very heart of China's Love Trade. Founded in 2009, Laopu Gold is a homegrown luxury brand with a deep focus on traditional Chinese goldsmithing. Its name, Laopu, literally means 'Old Shop,' a nod to the company's emphasis on cultural pride and nostalgia. Laopu's business model involves selling high-purity 24-karat gold pieces using a fixed-price, high-margin model. More than just a jewelry retailer, Laopu is selling exclusivity and exquisite design, which may be why some people think of the company as the 'Hermès of gold.' The stunning results speak for themselves. Shares of Laopu Gold have surged over 2,300% since 2024 IPO Its stock has soared more than 2,300% over the 12-month period through June 4, 2025. Year-to-date, it's up 315%—all while much of the Chinese economy has seen lukewarm recovery at best. In an investment note dated May 28, JPMorgan projects Laopu's annual revenue will reach nearly $20 billion this year, representing a 135% increase over 2024. Net income is forecast to reach $3.8 billion, up from last year's $1.5 billion. Perhaps even more impressively, the company reported a gross margin of over 41%, nearly double that of Chow Tai Fook, China's largest traditional jeweler. Laopu's average store revenue exceeded 100 million yuan, the highest in the country for gold retail. It wasn't just Laopu's stock performance that drew us to the company; it was also the story. As I've shared with you many times before, gold plays an important, auspicious role in Chinese culture. The yellow metal is given at births, worn at weddings and handed down as heirlooms. Young Chinese consumers aged 18–34 now account for over a third of gold jewelry sales, according to Bloomberg's Chongjing Li. Laopu has tapped directly into this demand. Their boutiques—36 of them so far, with at least eight more planned this year—are strategically located in some of China's most prestigious malls and shopping districts, with lines sometimes stretching around the block. Their designs often go viral on Chinese social media. Since the start of this century, China's GDP per capita has increased over 13-fold, from under $1,000 in 2000 to approximately $12,600 in 2023. (For comparison's sake, India's GDP per capita has grown sixfold over the same period, or less than half as fast.) While there are signs of a slowdown, especially due to the real estate and demographic headwinds, we believe China's long-term picture still supports growing discretionary spending in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. That's where Laopu operates, and that's where the luxury gold market is most resilient. China's GDP per capita has increased 13-fold this century We believe Laopu is well-positioned to benefit from a shift in Chinese consumer behavior toward premium domestic brands. Much like how Moutai dominates high-end liquor or how BYD is overtaking Western electric vehicles (EVs) in China, Laopu is making the case that a Chinese company can lead in luxury jewelry. They've also begun international expansion, with stores opened in Singapore's Marina Bay Sands and Hong Kong's IFC Mall. No stock goes up forever, of course, and Laopu's meteoric rise has raised a few eyebrows. The company trades at earnings multiples some would call elevated (trailing 12-month price-to-earnings of 87x), and skeptics have compared Laopu to a 'story stock' riding retail hype. We're watching the fundamentals closely. But as investors who've followed the gold market for decades, we've seen that price often follows passion—especially in culturally driven demand markets. Laopu isn't a typical miner or ETF proxy for gold prices. We believe it's a pure play on China's cultural and increasingly affluent relationship with gold. And at a time when Western luxury brands are losing ground in China, Laopu's ascent feels like a secular trend, not a speculative flash. It's riding the Love Trade, and it's doing so in the most important gold market on Earth.
Washington Post
44 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump pushes $1,000 ‘Trump accounts' for babies
As Republicans' massive tax and spending cut bill makes its way through the Senate, President Donald Trump on Monday touted a provision in the measure that would provide every child born in the United States with a $1,000 investment account. Dubbed 'Trump accounts,' the tax-deferred investment accounts would be set up for children born in the U.S. after Dec. 31, 2024, and before Jan. 1, 2029 — covering the majority of Trump's second term. The accounts will, over the course of a child's first 18 years, track the overall stock market, and parents are allowed to contribute up to $5,000 a year to the account. The accounts will be controlled by the child's guardians or parents. Once an account holder turns 18, they can cash out and use the funds, which will be taxed as long-term capital gains, for limited purposes: they can pay for college or a job training program, open a small business or make a down payment on a first home. If the money is spent on anything else, it will be taxed as ordinary income. 'This is a pro-family initiative that will help millions of Americans harness the strength of our economy to lift up the next generation, and they'll really be getting a big jump on life, especially if we get a little bit lucky with some of the numbers in the economies into the future,' Trump said Monday. Trump promoted the program as a pro-family, pro-child initiative at the same time his administration and congressional Republicans face criticism from Democrats over cuts that the tax, spending and immigration bill would make to programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Democrats argue the reductions would leave millions of American children and families without proper health care or nutritional benefits. Trump appeared at a White House roundtable that featured leading CEOs, including Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell, Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Dell said his company would match the government's $1,000 seed money in the accounts of their employees' new children. At the event, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who shepherded the tax and spending cuts bill through the House last month, said the program is a 'transformative policy that gives every eligible American child a financial head start from day one.' 'If you have a 401(k), you understand the power of investing early for the future,' Johnson said at the White House. Trump accounts were originally introduced under the 'MAGA Act' — short for 'Money Accounts for Growth and Advancement' — by Rep. Blake D. Moore (R-Utah) in May. The proposal adopted Trump's name before it was incorporated in the House Republican version of the bill, which the Senate is working on. While Trump and Johnson encouraged Senate Republicans on Monday to keep the program in the bill, it is unclear if the proposal will remain. Already, fiscally conservative Republicans in the Senate have complained that the bill doesn't do enough to cut spending, and they are looking to make substantial revisions in the House package. Republicans have not released any cost estimates for the program. But with about 3.6 million babies born in the U.S. each year, the cost could exceed $3 billion annually. The One Big Beautiful Bill — as Trump and Republicans have dubbed the tax and spending cut package — is expected to add more than $3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Trump program is similar to 'baby bond' programs run in California, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., which give some newborns investment accounts. However, while those local programs were created to reduce the wealth gap by supporting children in need or lower-income families, Trump accounts will be made available to Americans regardless of their socioeconomic status. To open a Trump account for their child, at least one of the parents will be required to have a Social Security number with work authorizations — leaving some U.S.-born children of immigrants out of the program. Economist Darrick Hamilton — who conceptualized the idea of baby bonds — told The Washington Post that Republicans' program will probably 'enhance inequality' by 'directing our public resources towards an already affluent class while at the same time, imposing … mean-spirited cuts to those who need the most.' 'It's a bad idea co-opting a good idea in both rhetoric and design,' Hamilton said. Other critics of the program said American children in poverty would be better off if congressional Republicans did not make major cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The current tax and spending bill would make significant cuts to both programs. 'Feel like low-income families would prefer their assistance buying groceries not get cut, but that's just me,' said Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Senior Director Brendan Duke on X.
Bloomberg
2 hours ago
- Bloomberg
France's Macron Doesn't Rule Out Calling Snap Elections Again
By and Ania Nussbaum Save French president Emmanuel Macron said he doesn't rule out the possibility of again dissolving the National Assembly and calling snap elections. 'My wish is that there's not another dissolution but I'm not used to depriving myself of a constitutional power,' he said Monday in response to a reporter's question on whether he had excluded the possibility of taking such an unusual step.
