(Washington)

The SEC just put out a shot across the bow of brokerage firms as it regards Reg BI. Firms and industry attorneys have been expecting the SEC to ratchet up enforcement over the coming year as the agency starts to bring Biden’s priorities into reality. However, the SEC made it very clear this week, telling firms that it is not enough to tell reps what Reg BI says, but educate them with examples of how to meet Reg BI’s requirements. Investment News summarized the SEC’s comments this way, saying “Financial firms that are failing to comply with the broker standard of conduct aren’t aligning their internal controls to meet its requirements”. The SEC is now checking to see if firms have set up a robust Reg BI compliance program, and if not, they will be in hot water”. According to Corey Schuster, assistant director of Division of Enforcement’s asset management unit, “firms may want to consider: Have you done a deep dive on conflicts? … Have you examined your disclosures regarding conflicts? And is there a need to mitigate certain conflicts of interest?”.

FINSUM: The SEC is gearing up to drop the hammer on Reg BI enforcement, which has long been expected. However, the reality of heavier enforcement and the specifics of how it is executed are very different than seemingly far-off expectations.

In our continued coverage of Morningstar’s top model portfolios, today we are featuring those ranked 6-10. Morningstar is soon going to double the coverage of the growing model portfolio universe, which is great news for advisors having trouble deciding on which to choose. Without further delay, here are the rankings. Number 10: Vanguard S&P (Silver rating). Number 9: Vanguard Russell (Silver rating). Number 8: Vanguard CRSP (Silver rating). Number 7: American Funds Tax Aware Income (Silver rating). Number 6: American Funds Tax Aware Growth and Income (Silver rating).

FINSUM: Well the list isn’t very diverse in terms of managers, but the Russell model from Vanguard looks like an interesting way to play small caps. Additionally, given Biden’s proposals, tax aware income would be a wise strategy in which to take a holistic approach.

China’s giant real estate group Evergrande Real Estate Group is in hot water. While they may be China’s second-largest real estate holding company, they are the world’s most indebted as their balance sheet carries an excess of $300 billion in liabilities. Despite this, some of the most prominent investment firms such as BlackRock, UBS, and HSBC Holdings have all bought up their debt. Evergrande’s bonds are trading at 25 cents on the dollar. BlackRock, for example, has increased its holdings from 12.2 million units to 43.5 million YTD and is now nearly 1% of its portfolio. Evergrande is taking measures like discounting apartments, parking spaces, or retail property to pay back its debt as notes are beginning to reach their maturity. Many investors are expecting Chinese authorities to step in to accommodate the debt by either rolling it over or taking other measures.

FINSUM: There is certainly safer debt to hold, but many investment firms see Evergrande as a buy and a risk worth taking because it may be too big to fail.

Healthcare technology is a rapidly changing field that has a plethora of new ideas entering the market daily, but driving that change is impact investing. The Covid-19 pandemic laid bare many of the problems in the healthcare sector and health technology is closing many of those gaps. For example, Zipline used fleets of drones to distribute vaccines to out of reach populations around the globe after securing $250 million in funding. Healthcare is the third-largest portion of impact investing, lagging climate and financial services, but it’s the fastest-growing area. Venture capital in healthcare doubled in 2020 from 2019, and many see this capital as augmenting government and charitable giving to healthcare to improve access and distribution. Breakthroughs in the sector include companies like Han Genix, which uses ultrasound technology to ensure safety procedures are followed by medical workers, or Plethy which syncs sensors and apps to improve post-orthopedic care.

FINSUM: Technology healthcare blends could become one of the best ways to capture growth and industry diversity in your portfolio.

There has been extensive coverage as to the number of new loans issued being tied to ESG factors, namely greenhouse gas emissions and environmental sustainability, but there is a new dimension as to which companies are securing funding—gender equity. Many companies are signing loans that are tied to increasing women’s share of a company’s workforce from entry-level jobs all the way to executive and board positions. BloombergNEF estimates that these loans make up $19 billion of the market this year, already more than quadrupling 2020’s numbers. Companies improving diversity have better retention, collaboration, decision-making, and a broader talent pool according Tania Smith, leader of a bank authorizing these new loans. If companies fail to meet the diversity criteria they can face interest rate penalties much like the ESG market. Gender equity and diversity loans are a fraction of the total ESG market of $231 billion, yet they are a quick growing segment that will aim to improve gender equity in the corporate world.

FINSUM: This gives companies a new avenue to secure credit at a discount, much like ESG. If companies meet this criterion they can have an edge over competitors in terms of rates and access.