作者： bankr

The first half of 2020 has been extraordinary on many levels and there is still significant uncertainty about what lies ahead.

While the pandemic has put the financial plans of Canadians to the test, it has also been the kind of crisis that reminds us why we make such plans to begin with.

With that in mind, here’s a look at five key lessons that have been reinforced by the pandemic and that can still help Canadians navigate the unknowns to come.

Stocks can be volatile

The S&P/TSX Composite was down 21 per cent in the first quarter of 2020. One of the biggest risks for a long-term stock market investor is abandoning a sound investment strategy by panic-selling after a stock market downturn and making a temporary loss a permanent one. I wrote about this in mid-March during the week the TSX hit its low point for the year.

Individual stocks can certainly lose all their value and go bankrupt. However, the whole stock market cannot go bankrupt. A diversified, balanced portfolio will lose money about one out of four years but will generally trend upwards over time and is highly unlikely to have a negative return over a five-year period.

Debt is dangerous

The Bank of Canada had an interest rate announcement recently and left rates unchanged. Financial projections in their Monetary Policy Report suggest the economy may not be back at full capacity for three years, and as a result, interest rates may not rise until 2023.

In fact, new Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem was unusually clear with Canadians that “if you’ve got a mortgage, or if you’re considering to make a major purchase, or you’re a business and you’re considering making an investment, you can be confident that interest rates will be low for a long time.”

The Bank has decreased the prime rate by 1.5 per cent so far in response to COVID-19 and as a result, borrowing costs for mortgages have followed suit, with five-year fixed and variable mortgage rates both plunging below two per cent. Borrowers who took out mortgages in 2018 in particular may find themselves in an interesting position. Five-year fixed rates were well over three per cent for most of that year. Home equity lines of credit may have rates between 2.45 and 2.95 per cent right now. Borrowers who are a couple years into their mortgage term may be able to use their line of credit to make lump-sum prepayments of 10 to 20 per cent of their original mortgage principle without penalty. Their debt would immediately be at a lower interest rate with interest-only payments. The line of credit debt could then be converted to a regular fixed payment of principal and interest at rates of around two per cent. Some borrowers may be able to save hundreds of dollars per month in interest charges.

Low rates are good for borrowers in the short term, but in the long term, taking on too much debt can limit one’s ability to save for other goals like retirement. So, while the Bank’s intention behind lower rates is to encourage spending and inflation, be careful not to let your own spending and debt derail your financial plan.

Emergency funds have a purpose

Banks have provided payment deferrals for mortgages and other debts in response to the pandemic lockdown. The federal government came to the rescue with the $500 weekly Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). Had they not, many Canadians may have had a tough time staying afloat.

Don’t lose sight of spending

Consumer spending declined significantly in the initial weeks following lockdown. It is tough to spend money when you are confined to your home. One key lesson some of us may have learned is how blurred the line between basic necessities and discretionary spending has become.

Workers who were lucky enough to maintain their incomes during lockdown likely saw their expenses decline and savings rate increase. In fact, Statistics Canada reported the household savings rate hit 6.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 — the highest level in almost 20 years.

Prepare for the worst

Many people know someone who has contracted COVID-19. Some have been relatively unscathed, while others have become quite sick. Some have died. This is a good reminder that everyone, even young, healthy people should plan for the risk of disability or death.

The best way to mitigate against these risks, at least financially, is with insurance. Any working age Canadian who is not financially independent should have disability insurance to replace their income if they cannot work. Disability insurance pays a monthly benefit to a disabled recipient.

Anyone with financial dependents should also have life insurance. Life insurance pays out a lump sum benefit to replace someone’s future income for their family.

江苏省高级人民法院关于

涉中国银行“原油宝”事件民事

诉讼案件集中管辖等事项的公告

为充分发挥人民法院审判职能作用，依法保护投资者的合法权益，确保法律统一实施，根据最高人民法院要求，现就涉中国银行“原油宝”事件民事诉讼案件集中管辖等事项公告如下：

一、江苏省范围内中国银行“原油宝”客户就“原油宝”事件以中国银行总行及其分支机构为被告提起的民事诉讼，由南京市鼓楼区人民法院或南京市中级人民法院集中管辖。根据诉讼标的额，依法属基层人民法院管辖的，由南京市鼓楼区人民法院管辖；依法属中级人民法院管辖的，由南京市中级人民法院管辖。

二、前述江苏省范围内中国银行“原油宝”客户，是指办理“原油宝”业务所使用中国银行银行卡开户行在江苏省范围内的客户；前述中国银行分支机构，是指客户办理“原油宝”业务所使用中国银行银行卡在江苏省范围内的开户行。

三、为方便当事人诉讼，江苏省范围内中国银行“原油宝”客户提起民事诉讼的，可到管辖法院诉讼服务中心提交立案申请，也可通过江苏法院诉讼服务网（http://ssfw.jsfy.gov.cn）、江苏移动微法院（微信小程序）等在线方式提交立案申请，也可通过跨域立案方式，在江苏省范围内任何一家法院提交立案申请。

特此公告。

江苏省高级人民法院

二〇二〇年七月二十一日

The Securities Commission (SC) has announced today an enhanced initial public offering (IPO) framework for listing on Bursa Malaysia’s Main Market.

This is to promote greater shared responsibility among key stakeholders involved in the submission of an IPO.

The SC said the new framework, which was also applicable for Reverse Takeover (RTO) submissions, would take effect on January 1 next year.

“Under this enhanced approach, the SC places greater emphasis on the shared responsibility among all stakeholders involved in the IPO application process.

“Applicants and all their advisers will play a greater role to ensure that relevant due diligence is properly conducted before the submission and that the governance standards of industry gatekeepers are maintained in order to facilitate greater efficiency in the approval process,” said the SC chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar.

One of the key features of the new framework is the introduction of a mandatory pre-submission holistic consultation between the SC and key stakeholders including the applicant, principal advisers, lawyers, reporting accountants and valuers.

“The mandatory pre-submission session will facilitate discussions of any material issues and concerns prior to the submission of IPO application,” it said.

The new framework will also provide for a longer exposure period of the draft prospectus until the date of registration of the prospectus, instead of the current 15-market-day exposure period.

The SC said this would enable greater public participation in providing feedback on the draft prospectus.

Besides that, it said the approved principal adviser and qualified senior personnel regime would be liberalised under the new framework.

This is to allow for a larger pool of qualified professionals to be involved in the submission of IPO or RTO applications to the SC.

This will be balanced with specific obligations on the principal advisers, the qualified professionals and other parties involved in the submission of applications to the SC.

To operationalise the framework, the SC revised the Licensing Handbook and incorporated the eligibility criteria of principal adviser and qualified person and requirements for recognition as a recognised principal adviser.

Singapore’s largest bank the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) is seeking to boost the amount of funds it will channel into green investments as investors’ appetite for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment products increases.

DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, recently announced that it planned for 8 to 10 percent of its total assets under management (AUM) to be channeled into sustainable investments within the next five years. As of 2019, the bank’s AUM stood at S$245 billion. 

“Eight to 10 percent of AUM we believe is a very good target. Just to give you a sense of comparison, the average bank in Asia currently has about 5 percent of their AUM in ESG-type investments,” DBS group head of private bank Joseph Poon said during a media briefing on July 14.

“We all believe that social good is good for the soul, it’s good for business, it’s good for the community,” Poon went on to say. “So, we want to be ambitious and double that amount in five years’ time”. 

Although a standard definition is lacking, sustainable or ESG investing largely refers to financing efforts that contribute to mitigating the impacts of climate change. This may include financing the pursuit of a low-carbon economy, or supporting businesses that implement ethical conduct and empower the local community, among other criteria.

Poon added that the bank had seen growing interest among millennials in ESG investing. “Millennials are more willing to express their values through investments,” he noted. 

The pandemic has left an indelible mark on investors, with reports indicating that the pandemic has altered how they think about their finances. It is especially true among millennials, a survey has shown. 

A UBS investor watch news release, published on July 13, said that millennials had been the most affected by the pandemic, writing that they were now more concerned about their finances than older generations. 

“They are also concerned about having their money make a societal impact,” the report said. A third of millennials surveyed have increased financial support for family and friends, 69 percent are interested in sustainable investing and 60 present in philanthropy because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

These preferences will likely determine long-term trends in investing, Moody’s Investors Service wrote in a report published on Feb. 27. It said that the shift toward ESG products would be enduring, as the young cohort that was beginning to invest in the financial market was characterized as being more socially conscious. 

The desire to avoid future losses is another reason investors are turning to ESG products. 

“With greater recognition of the risks and opportunities arising from ESG considerations, such as climate change, investors are increasingly focused on avoiding investment losses connected to these risks, and on positioning themselves to profit from correctly anticipating climate and social trends,” the report reads. 

Moody’s Investors Service estimated that the total addressable market size for ESG products was a rather significant US$89 trillion, more than half of the $129.6 trillion in total global invested assets. 

“The United Nations expects that within the next 20 years, Indonesia will be one of the top 10 economies in the world. So, Indonesia, in the long run, is a great economy to invest in if you want to be in ASEAN,” DBS Bank group head of consumer banking and wealth management Sim S. Lim said.

EU leaders have struck a deal on a huge post-coronavirus recovery package following a fourth night of talks.

It involves €750bn (£677bn; $859bn) in grants and loans to counter the impact of the pandemic in the 27-member bloc.

The talks saw a split between nations hardest hit by the virus and “frugal” members who were concerned about costs.

It is the biggest joint borrowing ever agreed by the EU. Summit chairman Charles Michel said it was a “pivotal moment” for Europe.

The deal centres on a €390bn programme of grants to member states hardest hit by the pandemic. Italy and Spain are expected to be the main recipients.

A further €360bn in low-interest loans will be available to members of the bloc.

The agreement followed a long weekend of talks, during which tempers were often frayed. Member states were largely split between those hit hardest by the outbreak and those more concerned about the costs of the recovery plan.

The “frugal four” – Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands – along with Finland had opposed extending €500bn in grants.

The group originally set €375bn as the limit, in addition to conditions such as the right to block requests. Other members, such as Spain and Italy, did not want to go below €400bn.

At one point French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly banged his fists on the table, as he told the “frugal four” they were putting the European project in danger.

The €390bn figure was suggested as a compromise, and “frugal” nations were reportedly won over by the promise of rebates on their EU budget contributions.

Another issue was over linking aid to the “rule of law”. Hungary and Poland both threatened to veto the package if it adopted a policy of withholding funds from nations deemed to fall short of democratic principles.

EU leaders have struck a deal on a landmark coronavirus recovery package that will involve the European Commission undertaking massive borrowing on the capital markets for the first time.

After days of sometimes bitter debate, the bloc’s heads of government agreed on a €750bn package aimed at funding post-pandemic relief efforts across the EU. The deal was announced in a tweet from Charles Michel, the European Council president at 05.31am (CET) on Tuesday and was hailed by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, as a “historic day for Europe”.

The recovery fund centres on a €390bn programme of grants to economically weakened member states — a significantly smaller sum than the €500bn package originally proposed by Berlin and Paris in May. Leaders also signed off on the EU’s next seven-year budget, which will be worth €1.074tn.

The deal, orchestrated by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Mr Michel, is the fruit of marathon negotiations which began in Brussels on Friday morning. The summit was the second longest in the bloc’s history, falling just shy of the record set at a meeting in Nice in 2000.

欧盟27国领导人在布鲁塞尔经过5天密集磋商后，终于在周二清晨五点半就欧洲新冠疫情后高达7500亿欧元的经济纾困计划和欧盟预算达成协议。

Bank Indonesia (BI) has cut its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time this year to bolster the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which has dealt a crushing blow to the country’s economy.

The central bank slashed its benchmark interest rate, the BI seven-day reverse repo rate, by 25 basis points (bps) to 4 percent, the lowest since 2016.

“This decision is consistent with low inflationary pressure, maintained external stability and the need to speed up economic recovery during the coronavirus pandemic,” BI Governor Perry Warjiyo told a live streamed press briefing after the decision on Thursday. “This decision is aimed at fully supporting economic recovery while also maintaining inflation and exchange rate stability.”

The central bank also lowered its deposit facility rate to 3.25 percent and its lending facility rate to 4.75 percent. The lower benchmark rate is expected to transmit into lower interest rates charged by banks on consumer loans, corporate loans and mortgages, as well as bond yields and other instruments.

The central bank expects the economy to have bottomed out in the second quarter and start recovering in the second half of the year, following the easing of restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the virus. The central bank expects the economy to grow by 0.9 percent at worst or 1.9 percent at best this year.

Meanwhile, the government expects the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to have contracted by 3.8 percent in the second quarter and possibly shrink further in the third, which would mark Indonesia’s first recession since the 1998 financial crisis.

The governor reiterated the central bank’s commitment to the burden-sharing scheme with the government as part of the country’s COVID-19 response, which will see BI buy Rp 397.5 trillion (US$27.16 billion) in government bonds directly while fully bearing the interest cost.

BI will also bear the debt cost of the government’s stimulus package for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large businesses, estimated to generate Rp 177 trillion in debt.

“Bank Indonesia is committed to buying sovereign debt papers in the primary market through the market mechanism and private placement to fund health care, social protection and stimulus for regional administrations,” Perry went on to say.

The Finance Ministry expects the budget deficit to reach 6.34 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year as it has allocated Rp 695.2 trillion to boosting the economic recovery and strengthening the healthcare system in response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the rupiah exchange rate slipped to a seven-week low on Thursday and has dropped more than 1 percent since late last month to 14,625 per US dollar at 3 p.m. Jakarta time.

“We maintained our view that the rupiah remains fundamentally undervalued and will strengthen further to reflect its fundamentals” in line with low inflation, a narrowed current account deficit and attractive yields compared to other economies, Perry said.

Inflation in Southeast Asia’s largest economy slumped to 1.96 percent in June from a year earlier, the lowest rate since 2000 and slightly below the central bank’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.

“With relatively stable external pressure and exchange rates as well as adequate reserves, we view a policy rate cut as appropriate for the central bank,” University of Indonesia Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM UI) economist Teuku Riefky wrote in a note.

“BI’s decision will enhance aggregate demand and could lower the cost of monetary operations needed to participate in the burden-sharing scheme with the Finance Ministry.”

A relatively stable rupiah over the last few weeks together with low inflationary pressure due to weak purchasing power justified the central bank’s latest policy move, said Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede.

“This policy rate cut will provide stimulus for the demand side and boost domestic consumption and investment, which will be key to keep Indonesia’s economy from falling into recession this year,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that the decision would stimulate credit growth that could support economic recovery.

“Room for another policy rate cut is limited for the monetary authority now,” Josua went on to say, adding that the government must be more aggressive in spending the stimulus funds to prevent a greater economic downturn.

槟州政府将设立槟城数字有限公司，雇佣250名无现金交易指导员在州内各大菜市场向商贩和公众讲解无现金交易措施，以及聘用32名培训员为社区民众提供数字课程。

槟州首席部长曹观友指出，槟州政府在上星期的州行政议会会议做出上述决定，耗资100万令吉成立数字公司及聘用上述人员。

他说，上述人员的工作只属暂时性，为期约6个月，让那些在2019冠状病毒病行动管控指令影响停业的人士可以暂时获得工作，也协助政府推动电子钱包和网上电子交易平台。

他今日上午在槟岛市政厅峇央峇鲁巴刹民众会堂为全槟公共巴刹无现金交易计划主持推介礼时，这样说话。

出席者包括槟州行政议员拿督阿都哈林、州议员魏子森、王耶宗、沙迪斯，槟岛市长拿督尤端祥、槟岛市政厅秘书拿督阿德南、市议员王宇航等人。