Symax Fintech Daily Market Insights 29.12.23

Norway’s largest pension manager, KLP, just blacklisted a dozen companies listed in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. The divestments mostly reflect what it called an “unacceptable” risk of contributing to human rights abuses, with Saudi Aramco targeted separately for what it deemed the oil giant’s negative impact on the environment. The excluded firms also included companies in the real estate sector, where KLP says migrant workers from Africa and Asia have faced discrimination and human rights violations. The Norwegian pension fund, which oversees $70 billion, targeted telecom as well, where it cited the development of artificial intelligence as reinforcing surveillance and censorship risks.  BB

One of Cathie Wood’s funds has executed a massive shake-up to its Bitcoin-related holdings, selling off its remaining position in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust because of uncertainty over whether it will be able to successfully convert into an exchange-traded fund. The shuffling of holdings comes amid an industry race to get US regulatory approval for the first ETF to invest directly in the biggest cryptocurrency.  BB

Earlier this week, Turkey took a step toward approving Sweden’s accession into NATO—as requested by US President Joe Biden. A timely backing of the Nordic nation’s membership was a US condition attached to the sale of new military aircraft and equipment. Now, Turkey is asking the US for permission to co-produce GE Aerospace engines used in its F-16 jets, with an aim to deploy them for its own domestically produced fighter plane. BB

President Javier Milei is to face his first general strike little more than a month after taking office. Argentina’s top unions are calling for a nationwide labor action against his plans to deregulate the economy, change the voting system and reduce social safety nets. Workers are to walk out across the country on Jan. 24, according to an announcement Thursday from the CGT, one of Argentina’s oldest and most powerful union groups. They plan to take to the streets around congress in Buenos Aires to fight what the unions call an “illegal” decree signed by Milei last week. BB

China’s Xiaomi Corp. unveiled its first electric vehicle Thursday. The SU7 rolled onto a stage at the China National Convention Center in Beijing as the finale of a presentation by billionaire chief executive and co-founder Lei Jun. Xiaomi’s EV foray is a $10 billion wager by Lei that his company can shake up the transport sector much as it did smartphones a decade ago. Lei, a prolific venture investor, has called it his final entrepreneurial bet. “Xiaomi’s goal is to make a dream car that is as good as Porsche and Tesla,”he said. BB