[All values in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted] As we noted in last week’s Insight, U.S. Financials: Why They Remain Attractive (Especially the Mid-Caps), the Q4 2020 pick-up in U.S. bank M&A – a clear sign of management’s conviction that the economic recovery was well underway – has gained momentum in 2021, including several transactions involving Hamilton U.S. Mid/Small-Cap Financials ETF (tickers: HUM, HUM-U) and Hamilton…
Insights: Subsector
U.S. Financials: Why They Remain Attractive (Especially the Mid-Caps)
[All values in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted] One year on from the market depths of the pandemic, it is worth a quick review of how far the U.S. financials have come. Notwithstanding the fact Ontario recently entered another province-wide lockdown, things south of the border look far brighter, especially for the holdings in the Hamilton U.S. Mid/Small-Cap Financials ETF (tickers: HUM, HUM-U) and much of…
Is the Future of Banking “Open”?
In today’s insight – part four of our financial innovation series – we discuss open banking, open APIs[1] and how the underlying technology has supported the rise of fintech competitors in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. With Canada expected to introduce open banking regulations in the near to medium term, the topic is timely. Part I: Can Standalone Digital Banks Disrupt the Incumbents? (January 14, 2021) Part…
Market Data M&A Accelerates Pivot to a Digital Future
In today’s insight – part of our financial innovation series – we highlight how a string of large, transformational acquisitions by market data and technology companies in the Hamilton Financials Innovation ETF (HFT) over the course of 2019 and 2020 have boosted the ETF’s exposure to secular investment themes brought forward by the pandemic. Crucially, the acquisitions provide investors in HFT exposure to emerging themes with…
Four Themes Driving Innovation in Global Financials
In our series on financial innovation, we discuss key issues relating to financial technology and innovation impacting the global financial services sector in general and the Hamilton Financials Innovation ETF (HFT) in particular. Launched on June 1, 2020, HFT invests in a blue-chip portfolio of 30+ established global financial services firms benefiting from powerful, secular trends amplified by the pandemic such as growth of digital payments, digitization…
Fintech/Cdn Banks: Can Standalone Digital Banks Disrupt the Incumbents?
In the coming weeks, we will publish a series of insights on financial innovation discussing several powerful secular trends relating to financial technology/innovation and its impact on the global financial services sector. We will also review how these trends influence the investment strategy of the Hamilton Financials Innovation ETF (HFT). Part I: Can Standalone Digital Banks Disrupt the Incumbents? Part II: Four Themes Driving Innovation in…
U.S. Banks: The Return of M&A – A Clear Sign of Bankers’ Conviction in the Recovery
All values in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. As the year draws to a close, the whipsaw nature of 2020 will not soon be forgotten. When the pandemic struck earlier this year and businesses shuttered under direct orders by various governments, how long and how deep the resulting global economic downturn would be was next to impossible to forecast with any sense of accuracy. As businesses…
Hamilton Financials Innovation ETF: Invest in Digital Leaders Reshaping the Financial Sector
When most investors think of the financial sector, they think about the traditional financial subsectors, like commercial banks, investment banks, and insurance. However, the rapid advancement of technological innovation has created an entirely new category of financials and transformed others. In our view, this category has become so large and established that it should comprise a material portion within all investors’ financial sector equity allocations. Not…
Global Financials: The Most Attractive/Important Investment Themes in 2021
Hamilton Global Financials ETF (HFG), which launched on June 26, 2020, is focused on investing in high quality global financial stocks with strong balance sheets, diversified income streams and exposure to favorable, medium- and long-term cyclical and secular trends. This focus aims to provide Canadian investors with diversified exposure to the most attractive themes within the global financial sector while maintaining a volatility profile not materially…
Australian Banks: Entering Recovery Stage of Credit Cycle (in 6 Charts)
In this insight, we share 6 charts that, in our view, indicate that the Australian banking sector – one of the world’s strongest – has entered the recovery stage of the credit cycle, which should be supportive of share prices. In the past, we have described the Canadian and Australian banking sectors as being akin to fraternal twins given their significant similarities, as well as those…
Australian Banks: Outperformance vs Canada (akin to Canadian Bank #4)
In this insight we review the performance of the Australian banks versus the Canadian banks and discuss why Canadian bank investors should consider the Hamilton Australian Bank Equal-Weight Index ETF (ticker: HBA). Launched on June 29, 2020, HBA aims to replicate (net of fees) the performance of the Solactive Australian Bank Equal-Weight Index TR (SOLBAEWT) and is currency hedged. The SOLBAEWT index, which tracks the performance…
Canadian Banks: Outperformance from Mean Reversion (in 7 Charts)
As all Canadian investors know, the stock prices of the Canadian banks are highly correlated, and the individual banks have generated similar returns over long periods of time. Over the past several decades, the Canadian banks that have underperformed tended to catch up to those that outperformed, and vice versa – i.e., their performance was “mean reverting”. In this Insight, we discuss these mean reversion tendencies…