Today's big stories

US insurer Allstate agreed to buy National General Holdings for $4 billion
There's an increasingly popular group of markets that, counterintuitively, might offer safety and opportunity in equal measure – Read Now
The UK government announced almost $40 billion of new economic support

1/3

Safe And Sound

What’s Going On Here?

National General Holdings is in good hands: American insurer Allstate just announced a deal to buy the rival insurer for $4 billion.

What Does This Mean?

If there’s a silver lining to the damage coronavirus has done to travel, it’s that fewer drivers on the roads has resulted in fewer accidents – and, in turn, fewer claims. That might have spurred Allstate – one of the country’s biggest insurance providers – to eye up National General’s more specialist vehicle and home insurance offerings. The team-up should result in more insurance products for its newly expanded network of brokers to sell, making the combined company an even more formidable competitor. But don’t just take our word for it: just ask 24’s President Palmer…

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Meet our friend, Benjamin Franklin.
Allstate is buying National General’s shares for $34.50 each – or around 69% more than they were worth before the announcement. But that’s not necessarily something to worry about: if someone wants to take control of a whole company rather than just a fraction of it, they have to convince all its existing investors that it’s worth selling – and an almost 70% windfall is a good way to do just that. Allstate’s investors don’t seem sure the addition will be as immediately profitable as promised, mind you: the company’s stock fell on Wednesday.

The bigger picture: To infinity and beyond.
Investors in US financial services had plenty more to mull over on Wednesday: Rocket Companies – owner of Quicken Loans and Rocket Mortgage, one of the US’s biggest home lenders – filed documents for an upcoming initial public offering. But investors have good reason to be skeptical: a survey last month showed that 11% of US households failed to make their last mortgage payment, and 16% worry they won’t be able to pay their next one.

Get invested: How you can profit from changes in the insurance industry.

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2/3 Premium

Any Port In A Storm

What’s Going On Here?

As so-called “frontier markets” pick up in popularity, our analysts look at how they can offer higher returns than their emerging market cousins and, somewhat counterintuitively, can act as safe havens during turbulent times.

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3/3

Show Me The Money

What’s Going On Here?

The UK government made it rain on Wednesday by announcing a raft of new economic support potentially worth up to $38 billion (tweet this).

What Does This Mean?

With UK unemployment on the rise and government’s job retention scheme set to wrap up by October, there’s a risk economic demand won’t recover enough to protect those who’ve been furloughed from losing their jobs. That might be why the government has now announced plans to pay employers to create new jobs, as well as bring their existing employees back into the fold.

The Boy Wonder of the Exchequer had other tricks up his sleeve too. For one, he introduced temporary tax cuts on both the purchase of properties and goods in the hospitality sector. For another, he announced $4 billion worth of infrastructure and green investments – from improvements to the energy efficiency of homes to broader plans that’ll slash the country’s carbon footprint.

Why Should I Care?

For markets: Blood, debt, and tears.
The government might be hoping that by keeping people in work, it’ll encourage them to keep spending their hard-earned wages. That should grow the economy and help convince investors the UK will be able to repay its bonds. Those investors are increasingly hesitant, after all: the amount the country’s spent battling coronavirus has grown its debt to about the same size as its entire economy. But tax cuts might not calm their nerves, either: the poorest in the country tend to buy low-tax items anyway, and the richest – who have been affected least – aren’t as easily incentivized to spend more.

The bigger picture: The “special relationship” in action.
America’s playbook could look similar to the UK’s if the US government goes ahead with more mooted economic support before August – perhaps in response to the country’s rising number of coronavirus cases. It’s spent some $6 trillion in response to the pandemic so far, and this package could see another $1 trillion added to that.

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💬 Quote of the day

“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”

– Charles Darwin (an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist)

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🤔 Q&A · RE: Number-Crunching

“What are the benefits and drawbacks of passive and active funds?”

– Yunus in Lagos, Nigeria

“Put simply, Yunus, passive funds require less work. They simply track the performance of whatever group of investments they’re following – whether that’s a group of country-specific stocks or those in a particular industry. They come with management fees, sure, but the simpler the passive fund, the lower those fees will generally be. Active funds, on the other hand, typically have a manager making investment decisions based on parameters you’ve agreed to beforehand. That tends to make them more expensive, but that extra buck should, at least in theory, bring you the extra bang of better performance – especially in downturns when passive investors are watching asset prices overall decline.”

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🌍 Finimize Community

🤠 Round ’em up

So if a group of cows is called a herd, a group of lions is called a pride, and a group of fish is called a school, what do you call a group of Finimize events? Good question: it’s what’s known as a posse of events. And this sure is one rowdy posse…

🇳🇬 Nigeria: COVID-19 & The Nigerian Economy – 5pm West Africa Time, July 11th
🇭🇰 Hong Kong: Imagining Asia’s Next Decade – 9pm Hong Kong Time, July 14th
🇩🇪 Germany: Is Cash Still King in Germany? – 3pm Berlin Time, July 15th
🇺🇸 USA: IP Risk During A Pandemic – 11am New York Time, July 15th
🇺🇸 USA: How To Build An Anti-Racist Startup – 1pm New York Time, July 16th
🇺🇸 USA: What’s Next For Streaming? – 12pm New York Time, July 20th
🇦🇺 Australia: Women & Money (in-person) – 5.30pm Perth Time, July 22nd
🌎 Global: Finimize Live AMA – 1.30pm UK Time, July 28th
🇨🇦 Canada: Searching For Financial Stability – 1.30pm Pacific Time, July 28th
🇬🇧 UK: The Bright Future for Renewable Energy – 12pm UK Time, July 30th

📚 What we're reading

“What shall we 3D print next?” (3D Printing Industry)
Can algorithms write the next Harry Potter? (MIT Technology Review)
Sydney’s planning the world’s tallest timber tower (Design Boom)

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Today's big stories

Safe And Sound

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Any Port In A Storm

🌎 A bank for home and away

Show Me The Money

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

👾 Level up your banking

¹ Fees: there are no fees charged by Level. If you use the Level Debit Card at an ATM, the ATM owner may charge you a fee that will be disclosed to you. Level will reimburse you the ATM operator fee up to 5 times per calendar month, up to $4 per reimbursement.

🤠 Round ’em up

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Today's big stories

Safe And Sound

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

Any Port In A Storm

🌎 A bank for home and away

Show Me The Money

What’s Going On Here?

What Does This Mean?

Why Should I Care?

👾 Level up your banking

1 Fees: there are no fees charged by Level. If you use the Level Debit Card at an ATM, the ATM owner may charge you a fee that will be disclosed to you. Level will reimburse you the ATM operator fee up to 5 times per calendar month, up to $4 per reimbursement.

🤠 Round ’em up

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¹ Fees: there are no fees charged by Level. If you use the Level Debit Card at an ATM, the ATM owner may charge you a fee that will be disclosed to you. Level will reimburse you the ATM operator fee up to 5 times per calendar month, up to $4 per reimbursement.