Insurable Interest Canadian Insurance Blog

Amy Mundwiler National director of wine and beverage, Maple and Ash, Chicago Win or lose: “I will be drinking Champagne. Specifically, Drappier Carte d’Or. If I’m celebrating, I want Champagne. If I need to cheer myself up, I want Champagne. Why Drappier Carte d’Or? It’s my favorite. It’s delicious and affordable, and based on the news these days, we’re probably gonna need more than one bottle. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” Andra “AJ” Johnson; managing partner, Serenata DC, Washington If it’s a win: “Tres leches Ramos fizz … the sweet taste of success. I chose this cocktail because, if we win, it’s cause for celebration, but also it took a lot of hard work to get here. The Fizz in any variation is a lot of ‘shaking things up’ in order to get the desired result. But once you get it and master it, there’s no better feeling.” If it’s a loss: “Corpse reviver variation … death to us all.” Sam Bogue; beverage director, Flour + Water Hospitality Group, San Francisco If it’s a win: “It will be a trip or two directly to my cellar at home. I have an old bottle of Jacques Puffeney Arbois [an aromatic white from the Jura] that I have been waiting for a special moment to enjoy. It...

Late in New York trading, yields hovered near session highs, with the two-year up 3.5 basis points to top 4.20%. The moves were larger for longer-dated benchmarks, with both 10- and 30-year yields up nearly 10 basis points. Yields had climbed roughly 60 basis points throughout October, causing a Bloomberg gauge of the debt to post its worst monthly loss since 2022. Leading into Friday’s data, traders in the options markets had been hedging against a deeper selloff in Treasuries and liquidating positions in anticipation of next week’s risk events. Volatility has been rising as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump face off in a tight race for the White House on Nov. 5. The ICE BofA Move Index, a closely watched gauge of U.S. bond-market volatility, closed at its highest this year this week, showing that traders are paying up to protect against increased turbulence. The Fed meets on Nov. 7, just two days after the vote. “Clearly, there is risk next week in terms of uncertainty around the election,” said Roger Hallam, global head of rates at Vanguard. And the recent string of firmer data mean “the outcomes for Fed policy next year also widen — and that feeds into relative market...

The disclosures, she said, don’t indicate whether that treatment applies to all or only a portion of the assets held in the fund. SEC staff typically ask issuers for additional disclosures on their products. But for the private-credit ETFs, the agency may push for more details on how the firms will navigate conflicts of interest and how they select the underlying private credit assets. Many of those assets will be comprised of collateralized-loan obligations, a $1.3 trillion market that repackages leveraged loans into securities of varying risk and size. The agency will home in on whether any conflicts can be addressed through simple disclosures, or if they need to be resolved, said Val Dahiya, a partner at the law firm Morrison Foerster and a former branch chief in the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets. If they can’t be addressed, the agency is more likely to deny the proposals, she said. Apollo plans to source some of the private credit assets wrapped into an ETF, provide valuations for those assets and offer intraday trading liquidity for those assets, according to the SEC filing. The money manager has pledged to purchase a certain amount of the asset-backed and corporate finance investments...

ETFs The Virtus Private Strategy Credit ETF (VPC) is the only exchange-traded fund dedicated solely to tracking private credit. There are other ETFs with a portion of their portfolio held in private equity. The fund carries an expense ratio of 9.72% and has a 12-month yield of 10.52%, according to Morningstar. The fund’s five-year annualized trailing return as of Oct. 29 was 7.95%. The ETF tracks the Indxx Private Credit Index, which provides passive exposure to private credit instruments that are exchange listed. Investing Platforms Several investing platforms, such as Yieldstreet, offer access to both accredited and non-accredited investors to a number of alternative portfolios such as art, collectibles and private credit. For non-accredited investors at Yieldstreet, the minimum investment is generally $10,000. Accredited investors can typically open an account and invest in one or more of their funds. There is a lockup period on the investment during which the investor cannot access their investment. Benefits of Private Credit Private credit can be a valid alternative investment strategy for a portion of clients’ portfolios. Here are some positive features: Low correlation and diversification: Private credit as an asset class has a generally low correlation to traditional assets like stocks and...