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Our briefing for Thursday, January 6, 2022:
Jan 6, 2022 4:12:50 PM
- In the United States, health officials have said that they will not change the definition of “fully vaccinated.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday that a person would still be considered under the definition two weeks after receiving a first dose of Johnson & Johnson or a second dose of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. The CDC now recommends a third dose of vaccine for individuals to stay “up-to-date” on their inoculations to ensure they have optimal protection. The CDC says the decision was made to make Covid-19 vaccines “align with standard language CDC uses about other vaccinations.” The new language could potentially have legal implications and raise new challenges to vaccination requirements.
- In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canadians are becoming increasingly frustrated with the unvaccinated. He said while most Canadians have gotten the shot, unvaccinated people are still putting others at risk. "It's not just about governments and health workers frustrated that there are Canadians who still continue to choose to not get vaccinated. It's fellow Canadians as well," Trudeau said at a news conference on Wednesday. "When people are seeing cancer treatments and elective surgeries put off because beds are filled with people who chose not to get vaccinated, they're frustrated.” According to the CBC’s vaccine tracker, 80.6% of Canadians aged five and older have been fully vaccinated.
- In the United Kingdom, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to take a Covid-19 test before arriving in England. The decision was made after heavy lobbying from the travel industry, who have been hit hard by the Omicron variant. Under the new rules, fully vaccinated people will no longer need to take a test before travelling, only on arrival. Travellers can also opt for the less costly lateral flow test rather than the PCR test and will no longer need to self-isolate unless they test positive. Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement on Wednesday, explaining that the pre-departure test discourages people from travelling. The new rules come into effect this weekend.
- Italy has made it mandatory for everyone age 50 and older to get the Covid-19 vaccine, becoming one of the first European countries to do so. Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government has already made the shots mandatory for healthcare workers and teachers, with refusal resulting in suspension without pay. Beginning on February 15, people aged 50 and over will not have the option to take a test when entering their workplaces. They will be required to have the “Super Green Pass,” which is only available to those who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19. It is not clear what the penalty would be for those who don’t comply.
- Health authorities in Brazil approved the Covid-19 vaccine for children ages five to 11 on Wednesday. The decision from the country’s Ministry of Health came three weeks after the country’s independent medicines regulator, Anvisa, gave the green light on Pfizer’s child-size dose. "To all those parents who want to vaccinate their children, the Ministry of Health will guarantee doses of the vaccine," said Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga at a news conference. Although the vaccines will not be mandatory, state governments could require children to be vaccinated in order to attend school. President Jair Bolsonaro, who is not vaccinated, is against the vaccination of children and has said he will not immunize his 11-year-old daughter.
- Australia’s economy has been hit hard by Covid-19, with staff shortages causing shops and restaurants to close and calls growing for free rapid tests in workplaces. Although there is no official data to show how many people are off work because of Covid-19, some companies are reporting that they’ve lost over half their employees. Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the federal government is focusing on increasing capacity in areas like healthcare, food production and transport. “We need truck drivers to keep on trucking, that is what we need to do to keep moving things around,” Morrison said. “And right now they are delivering vaccines to GPs and pharmacists, and that system is of course under strain because of the high case numbers.”
Covid-19 – Due Diligence And Asset Management
Investors dismiss Omicron risk in December, pushing full-year equity inflows to record levels for 2021
Brief: Hopes that Omicron’s impact will be less severe than past waves swept a flurry of optimism through UK investors in December. Savers added GBP1.0 billion in new cash to their equity holdings during the month, taking the 2021 net inflow to a record GBP14.2 billion, according to the latest Fund Flow Index from Calastone. In 2015, the last high point, inflows reached GBP11.6 billion. As Omicron fears subsided, investors became much more enthusiastic about the prospects for equities. In December, net inflows doubled compared to November and, at GBP1.0 billion, reached their highest level since August. The biggest change in sentiment was evident in European and North American funds, where heavy selling in October and November was replaced by modest inflows.
UK private equity market leads the way in Europe
Brief: Europe’s private equity industry has continued to rebound following disruption caused by the pandemic, completing 741 buyouts cumulatively valued at EUR141.5 billion in 2021, according to provisional full-year data from CMBOR, the Centre for Private Equity and MBO Research. Deal volume is broadly consistent with previous years, barring the understandable dip in 2020, whilst deal value reached its highest level since 2007, signalling Europe’s upswing as markets began to stabilise. Private equity activity in the UK market in 2021 reached levels not seen since before the global financial crisis. At GBP45.8 billion, the cumulative value of the 235 buyouts of UK-based companies last year represented the biggest headline figure in the 35-year history of CMBOR, surpassed on an inflation-adjusted basis only by the GBP44.1 billion recorded in 2007.
Pandemic sees boom in voluntary super contribution
Brief: Despite the financial hardships many have endured because of global lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, AMP has noted its super members have made more voluntary contributions than usual during the period. AMP reported that analysis of its approximately one million super members show they are 27% more likely to be making voluntary contributions to their super than before the pandemic. These additional contributions are also 28% larger than pre-COVID levels. AMP members contributed an extra $296 to their super over the three months to September 2021 on average, compared to the same period in 2019. However, those who withdrew money under the government's early release of super (ERS) program early in the pandemic are still lagging. This group of individuals had voluntary contribution rates 15% behind the wider population.
Investors: Tie Pharma CEO Pay to Fair Global COVID-19 Vaccine Access
Brief: A group of institutional investors representing $3.5 trillion in assets under management on Thursday called on pharmaceutical companies to link their executives' pay to making COVID-19 vaccines available around the globe.cWhile the majority of citizens of wealthy nations are vaccinated and many are now receiving booster shots, across the African continent vaccination rates average only around 10%. The World Health Organization has set a target of a 70% vaccination rate in every country by July 2022 in order to end the "acute phase" of the pandemic. The 65 participating asset managers, pension funds and insurance companies signed a letter reviewed by Reuters dated Jan. 4 that was sent to the boards of Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Inc and AstraZeneca PLC asking them to adopt a WHO roadmap for achieving equitable vaccine access and tying it to management pay "in a meaningful, material, measurable and transparent way."
HSBC, UBS Order Hong Kong Office Changes as COVID Cases Rise
Brief: Banks in Hong Kong including HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG are taking steps to reduce the number of people at the workplace after having operated at near full capacity for the past few months, as the city faces a spike in COVID-19 cases. HSBC, which is one of the biggest employers in Hong Kong with about 30,000 people, will maintain a maximum of 50% staff occupancy in its offices from Friday, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. A spokesperson for HSBC confirmed the memo's content. Bank of America has encouraged its staff to work from home from Jan. 7-24, according to the U.S. bank's internal memo seen by Reuters. A bank spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo that was sent on Thursday. Earlier, UBS said in a memo to staff that it would split its 2,500 Hong Kong workforce into two groups, with each returning to the workplace on alternate weeks.
