This App Ranks Home Loans According To ‘Green’ Credentials
Lenders are ranked on Acacia’s app based on sustainability goals and practices.
Lenders are ranked on Acacia’s app based on sustainability goals and practices.
With a firm want from the finance industry to look to ‘greener’ options, Acacia Money pulls together collates the trends driving the market, including a growing desire for climate action, bank funding of the energy transition, the emergence of a platform economy and data-driven analytics used by more empowered consumers.
The two-year-old start-up provides a consolidated view of users’ finances plus insights on the coasts and environmental credentials of energy, superannuation, mortgage and savings products — also helping consumers switch providers.
Joining Acacia this week is Uno Home Loans, a digital mortgage broker that will aid in assessing 85% of the mortgage lenders in the market based on commitments to net-zero and the amount of group revenue earned from lending to fossil fuel-intensive industries. Acacia will show users a host of financial providers ranked in order of ‘sustainability’ on its app.
Beyond mortgage lenders, Acacia is analysing deposits and super funds, encouraging customers to think about shifting to financial institutions with the strongest ESG profiles.
The start-up relies on a range of data feeds to create its environmental scores and is in talks with a range of data providers to get more detail on emission intensity. Currently, it has built tools ranking lenders on governance and their 2030 and 2050 sustainability commitments alongside its lending books.
For Acacia, the goal is to give consumers clarity on where their financial institution of choice lends their money. Some banks have responded to calls for a greener industry and products by offering “green loans”, whereas Acacia wants to bring to light where corporate and institutional lending is being offered.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
China’s economic recovery isn’t gaining the momentum money managers are awaiting.
Data from China Beige Book show that the economic green shoots glimpsed in August didn’t sprout further in September. Job growth and consumer spending faltered, while orders for exports came in at the lowest level since March, according to a monthly flash survey of more than 1,300 companies the independent research firm released Thursday evening.
Consumers’ initial revenge spending after Covid restrictions eased could be waning, the results indicate, with the biggest pullbacks in food and luxury items. While travel remains a bright spot ahead of the country’s Mid-Autumn Festival, hospitality firms and chain restaurants saw a sharp decline in sales, according to the survey.
And although policy makers have shown their willingness to stabilise the property market, the data showed another month of slower sales and lower prices in both the residential and commercial sectors.
Even more troubling are the continued problems at Evergrande Group, which has scuttled a plan to restructure itself, raising the risk of a liquidation that could further destabilise the property market and hit confidence about the economy. The embattled developer said it was notified that the company’s chairman Hui Ka Yan, who is under police watch, is suspected of committing criminal offences.
Nicole Kornitzer, who manages the $750 million Buffalo International Fund (ticker: BUIIX), worries about a “recession of expectations” as confidence continues to take a hit, discouraging people and businesses from spending. Kornitzer has only a fraction of the fund’s assets in China at the moment.
Before allocating more to China, Kornitzer said, she needs to see at least a couple quarters of improvement in spending, with consumption broadening beyond travel and dining out. Signs of stabilisation in the housing market would be encouraging as well, she said.
She isn’t alone in her concern about spending. Vivian Lin Thurston, manager for William Blair’s emerging markets and China strategies, said confidence among both consumers and small- and medium-enterprises is still suffering.
“Everyone is still out and about but they don’t buy as much or buy lower-priced goods so retail sales aren’t recovering as strongly and lower-income consumers are still under pressure because their employment and income aren’t back to pre-COVID levels,” said Thurston, who just returned from a visit to China.
“A lot of small- and medium- enterprises are struggling to stay afloat and are definitely taking a wait-and-see approach on whether they can expand. A lot went out of business during Covid and aren’t back yet. So far the stimulus measures have been anemic.”
Beijing needs to do more, especially to stabilise the property sector, Thurston said. The view on the ground is that more help could come in the fourth quarter—or once the Federal Reserve is done raising rates.
The fact that the Fed is raising rates while Beijing is cutting them is already putting pressure on the renminbi. If policy makers in China wait until the Fed is done, that would alleviate one source of pressure before their fiscal stimulus adds its own.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual