Latest news with #European-focused
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Global investors launch Europe defence funds to profit from rearmament
By Iain Withers LONDON (Reuters) -BlackRock and BNP Paribas have become the latest asset managers to launch exchange-traded funds focused on funnelling cash into Europe's defence industry, with at least nine new funds created in the last seven months. European governments are ramping up spending on ammunition, tanks and other arms in response to deepening geopolitical tensions and U.S. President Donald Trump's warnings that they should not rely so much on Washington. This has prompted money managers to tap into growing investor demand to profit from the region's rearmament drive. Asset managers offer more than 50 defence industry ETFs globally, but Europe-focused products are a recent trend, with nine launched since late last year, according to company releases and data from Morningstar Direct. The world's largest asset manager BlackRock and the fund arm of French bank BNP Paribas said their launches were in response to increased demand. Amundi and WisdomTree had earlier launched similar products. ETFs are a fast-expanding part of the investment market, offering investors exposure to an index of stocks or bonds without having to pick individual assets. Investors globally have ploughed an additional $8.4 billion into defence ETFs so far this year, of which $2.7 billion has been put into the new European-focused products, according to Morningstar data. The overall $8.4 billion is more than double the $4.1 billion added over the whole of 2024, the data shows. The BlackRock European product, launched under its iShares platform, listed in Amsterdam and Frankfurt on Wednesday, according to a statement from the product index provider STOXX. BNP Paribas' asset management arm said in a statement on Tuesday that it had listed in Paris an ETF focused on European defence and would soon list it in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The fund will focus on financing defence companies within European NATO member states, BNP said. Defence stocks have soared in value this year, helping to attract money managers offering new investment products. Fund managers including Allianz and UBS have also ditched some prior exclusions on investing in defence.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Europe gains traction amid doubts over US assets, global money managers say
By Iain Withers and Sinead Cruise LONDON (Reuters) -Asset managers at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are fielding more investor enquiries about the resilience of U.S. assets and helping clients move more money to Europe ahead of more potential trade-related market turmoil, executives said. The clock is ticking on President Donald Trump's 90-day pause on "reciprocal" tariffs that threaten to upend global trading ties and deepen the trade conflict between the world's biggest superpowers. U.S. assets plummeted in April after economists slashed odds on the likelihood of a U.S. recession, leading some investors to seek refuge in perceived safe havens, such as gold and relatively undervalued European stocks and bonds, executives said during separate media events held in London this week. Markets have rallied back since Trump eased many of the tariffs but that has only partially restored confidence, executives said. Some investors have begun hedging the dollar, taking profits on U.S. companies, allocating more capital to Europe and Asia, and holding more cash, they said. "I would say the average client is looking to maybe trim (U.S.) exposure, just a little bit, put a little bit more into Europe, maybe a little bit more into Asia," said Matt Gibson, head of the client solutions group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "Everyone is thinking. Some are acting. But nobody that I have seen is full-out exiting the U.S.," Gibson said, flagging client queries on whether a U.S. stock market boom led by the so-called Magnificent 7 of top tech stocks had "run its course". Investors in Europe have flipped their preference from U.S. to European-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) so far this year, according to Morningstar data shared with Reuters, as they diversified portfolios amid unpredictable U.S. policymaking. European equity ETFs have pulled in 34 billion euros ($38.6 billion) of additional cash over the year to May 16, four times the 8.2 billion euros put in U.S. equity funds. In 2024, net flows into U.S. equity funds in Europe had dominated by a ratio of more than 8:1 over locally-focused products. Executives at JPMorgan Asset Management also said they had seen stronger client interest in Europe, including investments in private assets, as countries, such as Germany unveiled bigger spending plans. "We are certainly getting more questions about investing in Europe," said Brandon Robinson, deputy global head of private markets. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has been discussing with clients how to put asset and currency hedges back into portfolios to mitigate risks, multi-asset co-Chief Investment Officer Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo said. ($1 = 0.8820 euros)
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Europe gains traction amid doubts over US assets, global money managers say
By Iain Withers and Sinead Cruise LONDON (Reuters) -Asset managers at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are fielding more investor enquiries about the resilience of U.S. assets and helping clients move more money to Europe ahead of more potential trade-related market turmoil, executives said. The clock is ticking on President Donald Trump's 90-day pause on "reciprocal" tariffs that threaten to upend global trading ties and deepen the trade conflict between the world's biggest superpowers. U.S. assets plummeted in April after economists slashed odds on the likelihood of a U.S. recession, leading some investors to seek refuge in perceived safe havens, such as gold and relatively undervalued European stocks and bonds, executives said during separate media events held in London this week. Markets have rallied back since Trump eased many of the tariffs but that has only partially restored confidence, executives said. Some investors have begun hedging the dollar, taking profits on U.S. companies, allocating more capital to Europe and Asia, and holding more cash, they said. "I would say the average client is looking to maybe trim (U.S.) exposure, just a little bit, put a little bit more into Europe, maybe a little bit more into Asia," said Matt Gibson, head of the client solutions group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. "Everyone is thinking. Some are acting. But nobody that I have seen is full-out exiting the U.S.," Gibson said, flagging client queries on whether a U.S. stock market boom led by the so-called Magnificent 7 of top tech stocks had "run its course". Investors in Europe have flipped their preference from U.S. to European-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) so far this year, according to Morningstar data shared with Reuters, as they diversified portfolios amid unpredictable U.S. policymaking. European equity ETFs have pulled in 34 billion euros ($38.6 billion) of additional cash over the year to May 16, four times the 8.2 billion euros put in U.S. equity funds. In 2024, net flows into U.S. equity funds in Europe had dominated by a ratio of more than 8:1 over locally-focused products. Executives at JPMorgan Asset Management also said they had seen stronger client interest in Europe, including investments in private assets, as countries, such as Germany unveiled bigger spending plans. "We are certainly getting more questions about investing in Europe," said Brandon Robinson, deputy global head of private markets. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has been discussing with clients how to put asset and currency hedges back into portfolios to mitigate risks, multi-asset co-Chief Investment Officer Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo said. ($1 = 0.8820 euros) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
27-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Crypto Exchange Revolut's Disrupts Itself By Cutting Fees 96%
A major fintech payments leader with strong crypto ambitions in Europe isn't afraid to sacrifice profitability for volume and stickiness. Revolut and Revolut X mobile apps Revolut Want to buy Bitcoin? Crypto trading fees run the gamut. PayPal and rival Cash App charge their tens of millions of users as much as 150 basis points (1.5%) fee plus unspecified spread to buy $1,000 worth of bitcoin. Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange by assets, charged its tens of millions of users an average of 143 basis points in transaction fee and spread and generated $1.35 billion in retail trading revenue for Q4 2024. By contrast traditional securities broker Robinhood charges no fee or commission at all. London-based Revolut, a European-focused financial services firm with a valuation of $45 billion and 9 million crypto users, is breaking ranks with the high-fee peer group. Up until last year, most of its global crypto users paid platform fees of 49 to 149 basis points plus a spread of about 100 basis points. Starting Tuesday Mar 25, it launched a dedicated crypto app for its Revolut X crypto exchange across the UK and Europe, charging zero spread and a low 9 basis point fee to price takers. Unlike a limited token offer by traditional financial peers, Revolut offers more than 220 tokens with a total of 400+ pairs denominated in three major fiat –US dollar, euros, and sterling. The most recent Forbes-calculated weighted cost of buying bitcoin industry wide is actually 80 basis points. On the less expensive side of the equation, firms like Robinhood charge no fee but don't disclose average spreads, while OKX and Binance have a base fee of 10 basis points plus 20bp in spreads. Revolut's high priced strategy, which is apparently being fazed out, operates within the company's super app that lets users spend, send, and invest their money - banking services are already available in parts of Europe where the company is accumulating licenses in payments, investing, and banking to support its broader financial services aspirations. So it's unusual that with so much riding on the convenience of a single financial app that does it all, Revolut finds it strategically important to have a specialized app for one particular product (crypto), that at the same time disrupts its existing high-fee model. Revolut published record profits of $545m from $2.2 billion in gross income from 2023 commissions. Revolut X crypto trading app Revolut Capturing crypto liquidity is becoming a top priority for Revolut's wider ecosystem, and this can only happen if the firm can achieve a critical number of active crypto buyers and sellers. The company told Forbes that 'the average active Revolut X customer trades 10x more when compared with the average active Revolut retail customer.' Although the firm's new pricing strategy will aim to take market share from all, there is one European competitor in particular, Binance, that has the most to lose. To a lesser extent Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp (now owned by Robinhood) – all with significant European market share – will also see stiffer competition. Binance, which has virtually no presence in the large and lucrative US market, claims to have more than 250 million users worldwide. It is widely known in capital markets and crypto that 8% to 9% of registered users typically become active clients. If that holds true for Binance, its actual number of active users is probably around 20 million, with many residing in places like Brazil, India, and Argentina where average account sizes are a fraction of what they are in Europe. Europe is the most important market for Binance from a client wealth perspective but it is costly from a regulatory perspective. Revolut's current pricing strategy is lower than Binance in Europe, its regulatory licensing is comparable, but Revolut's reputation with regulators is better. Attempting to expand beyond Europe, Revolut is already courting Gen Z and Gen Y users in the United States with its offering in payments, currency exchange, zero-fee investing, and savings. Its US banking services come through partnerships with Ohio-based Sutton Bank and New Jersey's Cross River Bank.
