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  • High-Yield Debt Issuer GFL Eyes Green Bond Deal

    (Bloomberg) -- GFL Environmental Inc., a waste management company whose largest shareholder is investment firm BC Partners, is considering a debut in the green bond market as the company looks to digest an acquisition spree and reduce debt costs.The Vaughan, Ontario-based company may go ahead with the transaction to finance projects such as the construction of large organics processing facilities similar to those the firm has built in British Columbia and Ottawa, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Dovigi said in an interview.“Our view is that there is going to be a couple of projects that actually qualify for that program,” said Dovigi, adding that an eventual green bond may be priced at a lower yield than its regular securities.GFL, which carried out around $4 billion of mergers and acquisitions in 2020, is looking to reduce interest rates on its debt. The company is considering the green bond sale at a time when issuance of such debt is at record levels, partly driven by a so-called greenium, which allows borrowers to notch lower yields than comparable, conventional securities.While GFL would be a new company for green bond investors, it’s a regular borrower in the high-yield debt markets. In December, the firm -- which operates in Canada and 27 states in the U.S. -- issued $750 million of 3.5% bonds at par, data compiled by Bloomberg show.The company expects to build three large organics processing facilities at a cost of around C$50 million to C$60 million each, said Dovigi. The facilities -- two of them to be located in the U.S. and one in Canada -- are expected to be rolled out over the next two years.After publishing its first sustainability report last year, GFL is in the process of setting specific environmental, social and governance-related targets. Even as the specific metrics are expected to be released next year, the firm is increasing the diversity of its board. Last month the company hired Violet Konkle, a former executive from companies including Walmart Canada, as independent director, and is currently searching for another female director, said Dovigi.GFL was challenged last year after hedge fund Spruce Point Capital Management LLC alleged that the company required injections of new capital and questioned its accounting. GFL called the allegations “misleading and false statements.” Spruce Point largely reiterated its allegations in a Sept. 23 letter to Paolo Notarnicola, who chairs GFL board’s nomination, governance and compensation committee, and is an executive at BC Partners.“I can tell you that we took it very seriously so we did come back with a thorough review,” Notarnicola said in an interview. The conclusion was that “there was absolutely not cause for concern,” he said.GFL’s stock price has risen more than 65% since the closing on the day that Spruce Point -- which at the time said it had a short position on the company’s stock -- issued its allegation in August. Spruce Point officials didn’t reply to requests for comment about their views on GFL and whether they continue to hold a short position on GFL.(Updates share price increase in last paragraph. A previous version of the story corrected the spelling of GFL’s board member in 7th paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall Street slumps on Fed remarks, bond scare

    Wall Street slumped on Thursday and global stock markets declined after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeated his pledge to keep credit flowing until Americans are back to work, pushing back at investors who have doubted if he can hold that promise after the pandemic. Benchmarket U.S. Treasury yields rose toward last week's highs as Powell spoke, and the dollar jumped. Oil prices spiked as OPEC and its allies agreed to extend most oil output cuts into April, after deciding that the demand recovery from the coronavirus pandemic was still fragile.

  • How stimulus checks can give you a $14,000 windfall this year

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  • Getting A Third Covid-19 Stimulus Check Just Got Tougher — But You Might Still Influence How Big Yours Is

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  • Joe Biden's stimulus check changes: Do you still qualify for $1,400?

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  • Oil Sands Give OPEC a Boost With Half-Million-Barrel Output Cut

    (Bloomberg) -- Major oil sands producers in Western Canada will idle almost half a million barrels a day of production next month, helping tighten global supplies as oil prices surge.Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s plans to conduct 30 days of maintenance at its Horizon oil sands upgrader in April will curtail roughly 250,000 barrels a day of light synthetic crude output, company President Tim McKay said in an interview Thursday. Work on the Horizon upgrader coincides with maintenance at other cites.Suncor Energy Inc. plans a major overhaul of its U2 crude upgrader, cutting output by 130,000 barrels a day over the entire second quarter. Syncrude Canada Ltd. will curb 70,000 barrels a day during the quarter because of maintenance in a unit.The supply cuts out of Northern Alberta, following a surprise OPEC+ decision to not increase output next month, could add more support to the recent rally in crude prices. OPEC+ had been debating whether to restore as much as 1.5 million barrels a day of output in April but decided to wait.The Saudi-led alliance closely monitors other major oil producers as it seeks to manage the entire global market, and surging production in North America was its biggest headache in recent years -- especially from U.S. shale but also from Canada.“The U.S., Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Brazil and other well endowed countries with hydrocarbon reserves -- we need to work with each other, collaboratively,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said after the group’s meeting on Thursday.Read More: Saudis Bet ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Is Over in Push for Pricier OilCanada’s contribution to balancing the market with less production, much like slowing output in the U.S., is not a deliberate market-management strategy but significant nonetheless.Even though the output cuts are short-term, the battered oil-sands industry shouldn’t be a concern for the Saudis in the long run either, judging from McKay’s outlook for the industry.“I can’t see much growth in the oil sands happening because there is going to be less demand in the future,” he said. “The first step is we have to get our carbon footprint down.”After years of rising output turned Canada into the world’s fourth-largest crude producer, expansion projects have nearly halted on the heels of two market crashes since 2014.Adding to its struggles, Canada’s oil industry is being shunned by some investors such as Norway’s $1.3 trillion wealth fund amid concern that the higher carbon emissions associated with oil sands extraction will worsen climate change. These forces help make future growth in the oil sands unlikely, said McKay, whose company is among the largest producers in the country.Oil sands upgraders turn the heavy bitumen produced in oil sands mines into light synthetic crude that’s similar to benchmarks West Texas Intermediate and Brent. Syncrude Sweet Premium for April gained 60 cents on Thursday to $1.50 a barrel premium to WTI, the strongest price since May, NE2 Group data show.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Stocks Tumble, Gold Dumps , Dollar Jumps Amid Treasury Yield Spike as Powell Signals Inflation is Ahead

    Powell and his policymakers have until March 17 to regain control of monetary policy or they could face a creditability issue.

  • Texas Regulators Decline to Reprice $16 Billion Market ‘Error’

    (Bloomberg) -- Texas regulators declined to rescind $16 billion in alleged overcharges for electricity during last month’s blackouts, leaving the state’s power market facing a potential financial crisis.“Decisions were made about these prices in real time based, on information available to everybody,” said Arthur D’Andrea, chair of the Public Utility Commission of Texas during a meeting Friday. “It is nearly impossible to unscramble this sort of egg.”The state’s independent market monitor had recommended that $16 billion in charges be reversed, saying that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, known as Ercot, overpriced power for two days during the crisis.Retroactively adjusting those prices could have offered sweeping relief to companies facing astronomical bills in the wake of the grid emergency. With many generators crippled by the cold, electricity prices skyrocketed, squeezing anyone who had to buy power on the wholesale market. The grid operator now faces a $2.5 billion shortfall as more than a dozen companies face default. At least one utility has already filed for bankruptcy.While utility commissioners didn’t close the door repricing in the future, they didn’t embrace the idea.“Repricing the energy -- I would be more inclined to say we’re not going to do that,” said Commissioner Shelly Botkin. D’Andrea agreed, adding, “It looks like you’re protecting consumers. I promise you’re not.”The commission also declined to vote on a request to retroactively adjust the price of certain grid services during the emergency, a move that would have offered relief to distressed companied and potentially saved consumers $2 billion, according to the market monitor. So-called ancillary services, which help maintain the flow of electricity on the system, jumped above $20,000 a megawatt-hour during the crisis. Retail electricity providers and others had asked for those charges to be capped at $9,000.Texas’s biggest power generators have generally opposed any kind of repricing. But ahead of Friday’s meeting, Vistra Corp. told regulators in a filing that energy prices on Feb. 18 and 19 -- the days after the rolling outages ended -- should be changed “to an equitable calculation of the market clearing price.”“Vistra continues to believe that the Commission should not take an arbitrary, piecemeal approach to repricing,” the company said in its filing. “But acting without allowing all market participants to engage is likely to create another set of parties that will be adversely affected by the new pricing structure.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • The Bottom Is in for These 3 Stocks? Analysts Say ‘Buy’

    Never say that one person makes no difference. This past Thursday, stocks tumbled, bonds surged, and investors started taking inflationary risks seriously – all because one guy said what he thinks. Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, held a press conference at which he gave both the good and the bad. He stated, again, his belief that the COVID vaccination program will allow a full reopening of the economy, and that we’ll see a resurgence in the job market. That’s the good news. The bad news, we’ll also likely see consumer prices go up in the short term – inflation. And when inflation starts rising, so do interest rates – and that’s when stocks typically slide. We’re not there yet, but the specter of it was enough this past week to put serious pressure on the stock markets. However, as the market retreat has pushed many stocks to rock-bottom prices, several Wall Street analysts believe that now may be the time to buy in. These analysts have identified three tickers whose current share prices land close to their 52-week lows. Noting that each is set to take back off on an upward trajectory, the analysts see an attractive entry point. Not to mention each has earned a Moderate or Strong Buy consensus rating, according to TipRanks database. Alteryx (AYX) We’ll start with Alteryx, an analytic software company based in California that takes advantage of the great changes brought by the information age. Data has become a commodity and an asset, and more than ever, companies now need the ability to collect, collate, sort, and analyze reams of raw information. This is exactly what Alteryx’s products allow, and the company has built on that need. In Q4, the company reported net income of 32 cents per share on $160.5 million in total revenues, beating consensus estimates. The company reported good news on the liquidity front, too, with $1 billion in cash available as of Dec 31, up 2.5% the prior year. In Q4, operating cash flow reached $58.5 million, crushing the year-before figure of $20.7 million. However, investors were wary of the lower-than-expected guidance. The company forecasted a range of between $104 million to $107 million in revenue, compared to $119 million analysts had expected. The stock tumbled 16% after the report. That was magnified by the general market turndown at the same time. Overall, AYX is down ~46% over the past 52 months. Yet, the recent sell-off could be an opportunity as the business remains sound amid these challenging times, according to 5-star analyst Daniel Ives, of Wedbush. “We still believe the company is well positioned to capture market share in the nearly ~$50B analytics, business intelligence, and data preparation market with its code-friendly end-to-end data prep and analytics platform once pandemic pressures subside…. The revenue beat was due to a product mix that tilted towards upfront revenue recognition, an improvement in churn rates and an improvement in customer spending trends," Ives opined. Ives’ comments back his Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating, and his $150 price target implies a one-year upside of 89% for the stock. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here) Overall, the 13 analyst recent reviews on Alteryx, breaking down to 10 Buys and 3 Holds, give the stock a Strong Buy analyst consensus rating. Shares are selling for $79.25 and have an average price target of $150.45. (See AYX stock analysis on TipRanks) Root, Inc. (ROOT) Switching over to the insurance sector, we’ll look at Root. This insurance company interacts with customers through its app, acting more like a tech company than a car insurance provider. But it works because the way customers interact with businesses is changing. Root also uses data analytics to set rates for customers, basing fees and premiums on measurable and measured metrics of how a customer actually drives. It’s a personalized version of car insurance, fit for the digital age. Root has also been expanding its model to the renters insurance market. Root has been trading publicly for just 4 months; the company IPO'd back in October, and it’s currently down 50% since it hit the markets. In its Q4 and Full-year 2020 results, Root showed solid gains in direct premiums, although the company still reports a net loss. For the quarter, the direct earnings premiums rose 30% year-over-year to $155 million. For all of 2020, that metric gained 71% to reach $605 million. The full-year net loss was $14.2 million. Truist's 5-star analyst Youssef Squali covers Root, and he sees the company maneuvering to preserve a favorable outlook this year and next. “ROOT's mgt continues to refine its growth strategy two quarters post IPO, and 4Q20 results/2021 outlook reflects such a process... They believe their stepped-up marketing investment should lead to accelerating policy count growth as the year progresses and provide a substantial tailwind heading into 2022. To us, this seems part of a deliberate strategy to marginally shift the balance between topline growth and profitability slightly more in favor of the latter,” Squali noted. Squali’s rating on the stock is a Buy, and his $24 price target suggests a 95% upside in the months ahead. (To watch Squali’s track record, click here) Shares in Root are selling for $12.30 each, and the average target of $22 indicates a possible upside of ~79% by year’s end. There are 5 reviews on record, including 3 to Buy and 2 to Hold, making the analyst consensus a Moderate Buy. (See ROOT stock analysis on TipRanks) Arco Platform, Ltd. (ARCE) The shift to online and remote work hasn’t just impacted the workplace. Around the world, schools and students have also had to adapt. Arco Platform is a Brazilian educational company offering content, technology, supplemental programs, and specialized services to school clients in Brazil. The company boasts over 5,400 schools on its client list, with programs and products in classrooms from kindergarten through high school – and over 405,000 students using Arco Platform learning tools. Arco will report 4Q20 and full year 2020 results later this month – but a look at the company’s November Q3 release is instructive. The company described 2020 as a “testament to the resilience of our business.” By the numbers, Arco reported strong revenue gains in 2020 – no surprise, considering the move to remote learning. Quarterly revenue of 208.7 million Brazilian reals (US$36.66 million) was up 196% year-over-year, while the top line for the first 9 months of the year, at 705.2 million reals (US$123.85 million) was up 117% yoy. Earnings for educational companies can vary through the school year, depending on the school vacation schedule. The third quarter is typically Arco’s worst of the year, with a net loss – and 2020 was no exception. But, the Q3 net loss was only 9 US cents per share – a huge improvement from the 53-cent loss reported in 3Q19. Mr. Market chopped off 38% of the company’s stock price over the past 12 months. One analyst, however, thinks this lower stock price could offer new investors an opportunity to get into ARCE on the cheap. Credit Suisse's Daniel Federle rates ARCE an Outperform (i.e. Buy) along with a $55 price target. This figure implies a 12-month upside potential of ~67%. (To watch Federle’s track record, click here) Federle is confident that the company is positioned for the next leg of growth, noting: "[The] company is structurally solid and moving in the right direction and... any eventual weak operating data point is macro related rather than any issue related to the company. We continue with the view that growth will return to its regular trajectory once COVID effects dissipate.” Turning to expansionary plans, Federle noted, “Arco mentioned that it is within their plans to launch a product focused on the B2C market, likely already in 2021. The product will be focused on offering courses (e.g. test preps) directly to students. It is important to note that this product will not be a substitute for learning systems, rather a complement. Potential success obtained in the B2C market is an upside risk to our estimates.” There are only two reviews on record for Arco, although both of them are Buys, making the analyst consensus here a Moderate Buy. Shares are trading for $33.73 and have an average price target of $51, which suggests a 51% upside from that level. (See ARCE stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for beaten-down stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • Portnoy-Backed ETF Sees Third-Highest Volume Ever in a Debut

    (Bloomberg) -- A new exchange-traded fund seeking to ride the companies most loved by investors online has found plenty of its own positive sentiment in its first day of trading.About $438 million worth of shares in the VanEck Vectors Social Sentiment ETF (ticker BUZZ) changed hands on Thursday, making it the third best ETF debut on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.“Normally, this kind of blow-the-roof-off volume for the first day is for ETFs that open up a new asset class like gold or Bitcoin,” said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.The fund, which has been promoted by Barstool Sports Inc. founder Dave Portnoy, follows an index that uses AI to scan online sources like blogs and social media to identify the 75 most favorably mentioned equities.Because of its criteria for inclusion, the hottest names among the day-trading crowd like GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. don’t actually make it into the gauge. Its top holdings currently are Ford Motor Co., Twitter Inc. and DraftKings Inc.Nonetheless, the rapid uptake suggests VanEck has succeeded in tapping into the increasingly powerful retail investing cohort.“Given the explosion of individual, younger retail traders, it makes sense to see a pile of volume,” said Dave Lutz, macro strategist at JonesTrading. “Whether it is the WSB crowd embracing Dave Portnoy’s marketing of the ETF, or institutions playing it to bet on the direction of the trend (or hedge) -- we won’t know for a bit. I suspect it’s a bit of both.”The fund opened at $24.40. It was down 1% at $24.15 at 12:02 p.m.(Updates with latest figures, analyst comments.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

  • Buy these 3 battery stocks to play the electric-vehicle party, but stay away from this company, says UBS

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  • Oppenheimer: 2 Stocks That Could Climb Over 100%

    Markets are taking us all for something of a roller coaster ride in recent sessions, alternating gains and drops in precipitous fashion. There’s no telling exactly what comes next, but some of Wall Street’s sharpest minds are on the job. One of those sharp minds is John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist and managing director at Oppenheimer. Stoltzfus sees us in the preparatory phases of further market gains, and he goes to great lengths to explain his outlook. While he agrees that we have not yet succeeded in putting the COVID-19 pandemic crisis fully behind us, he points out that the data indicate a resilient economy. Stoltzfus starts with the Treasury bond market, which he describes as ‘normalizing.’ Yes, yields are up in recent days from historic lows reached late last summer, but the strategist sees this as evidence that “as the pandemic crisis begins to ebb better times are likely ahead for the US economy.” Stoltzfus goes on to the recent earnings season. Of the corporate earnings reports, Stoltzfus says, “With 97% of companies in the S&P 500 having reported profits are up 5.37% on the back of 2.47% revenue growth—a much stronger result than had been anticipated by consensus analytics at the start of the season.” But solid earnings results are not the only support Stoltzfus offers for his view that better times are ahead of us. Stoltzfus points out the rising price of oil, noting that its year-to-date rise has coincided with the spreading vaccination campaigns and the prospect of economic reopening, and he notes copper. In his words, “The rise in copper prices serves as a sign that expectations are for global growth to accelerate as the world moves out from under the pandemic.” Against this backdrop, one of Stoltzfus’s colleagues at Oppenheimer, 5-star analyst Kevin DeGeeter, has followed up and tapped two stocks that he as primed for big gains in a market rebound, gains on the order of 100% or better. We ran the two through TipRanks database to see what other Wall Street's analysts have to say about them. Evaxion Biotech (EVAX) The first Oppenheimer pick we’re looking at is Evaxion, a biotech company that uses proprietary AI-immunology platforms to develop novel immunotherapies for the treatment of various cancers and infectious diseases. The company currently has two immunotherapy candidates in the clinical trial stage for several cancers, and two other candidates in pre-clinical research. Evaxion went public on the NASDAQ in early February, announcing the pricing of the IPO on February 4 and closing the offering on February 10. The shares were priced at $10 each, the lower end of the range, and the company put 3 million shares on the market, raising gross proceeds of $30 million. The key point to Evaxion, as far as investors are concerned, are the two candidates in Phase IIa clinical trials. The candidates, EVX-01 and EVX-02, are designed to be patient-specific treatments for non-small-cell lung cancer, bladder cancer, and various types of melanoma. Results for both candidates’ studies are expected in the first half of 2021. DeGeeter initiated coverage on this stock in early March, basing his optimism on “1) Artificial Intelligence-driven immunology platform generating a broad portfolio; 2) personalized cancer vaccines, EVX-01 and EVX-02, with two important Phase I/IIa updates in 2Q21; 3) capital-efficient business mode…” At the bottom line, DeGeeter writes, “We view EVAX as an AI platform story with multiple differentiated programs either in early-stage human studies or nearing clinical development. Our near term focus is on the oncology platform…” In line with his upbeat outlook, DeGeeter rates EVAX an Outperform (i.e. Buy), and his $18 price target implies a robust upside of 157% for the coming year. (To watch DeGeeter’s track record, click here) DeGeeter’s review is one of two that have been published on EVAX, but both are Buys, making the consensus here a Moderate Buy. The stock is selling for $7, and the average price target is $18, the same as DeGeeter’s. (See EVAX stock analysis on TipRanks) Sensei Biotherapeutics (SNSE) For the second stock on our short list from Oppenheimer, we’re staying in the biotech industry. Like Evaxion above, Sensei Biotherapeutics is an immunotherapy research company with a focus on cancer treatments; what makes Sensei different is its platform, using a bacteriophage to deliver the therapeutic agent and trigger an immune response in the patient. In another similarity to Evaxion, Sensei held its IPO in February. The company put 7 million shares of common stock on the market, at a price of $19 per share, and closed its first day’s trading at $18.90. The IPO grossed a total of $152.6 million, and the company now boasts a market cap of $418 million. That company's leading candidate, SNS-301, is an experimental cancer vaccine that targets the overexpression of aspartyl beta hydroxylase (ASPH) in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. The product is in Phase I/II development, and preliminary data demonstrated long duration of response, including 30+ weeks disease stability in 2 patients. Further data is expected in the second half of this year. In his note initiating coverage on Sensei Biotherapeutics, DeGeeter takes an optimistic view. “We view SNSE's ImmunoPhage immuno-oncology platform as offering important differentiation based on 1) potential to easily combine low-cost off-the-shelf and personalized neoepitopes in a single product, 2) self-adjuvant profile of ImmunoPhage, and 3) rapid turnaround time of ~four weeks for personalized neoepitope production. Our positive outlook is based on potential for Phase I/II study of SNS-301 ASPH ImmunoPhage to demonstrate clinically meaningful benefit in first-line treatment and neoadjuvant head and neck cancer settings based on improved durability of response,” DeGeeter commented. To this end, DeGeeter puts an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating on SNSE shares, along with a $36 price target that indicates potential for ~141% upside over the next 12 months. (To watch DeGeeter’s track record, click here) Sensei has only been a public company for a few weeks, but in that time it has attracted 4 analyst reviews – all are Buys, making the analyst consensus view a unanimous Strong Buy. Shares are priced at $14.95 and have an average price target of $29.50, which implies a one-year upside of ~97%. (See SNSE stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

  • Gojek-Backed Lender Races to Upend Mobile Banking in Indonesia

    (Bloomberg) -- Bank Jago will begin offering some banking services via mobile app this month before extending full-fledged products including loans, securing early-mover advantage in Indonesia’s booming digital banking industry.The lender, which received fresh capital from ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, will then embed its services on Gojek’s platform this year, President Director Kharim Siregar and Commissioner Anika Faisal said in a joint interview from Jakarta. That would let Gojek’s tens of millions of users instantly open a bank account with Jago and manage their finances via the Gojek app.“We really foresee the change in the lifestyle through the phones,” Siregar said. Digital banking “needs to be easy, fast and secure. Whoever can do this well will come out as leaders. We want to be in that leadership position.”Bank Jago went from obscurity to Indonesia’s fourth most-valuable listed bank in recent months. Gojek and GIC’s investment has swelled optimism that a small bank with total assets of just $116.2 million in September could become the first technology-based lender catering to the masses. Its shares have soared 265% in the past year to a record high 11,100 rupiah on Thursday, boosting its market value to $8.4 billion.Underbanked PopulationIndonesia is one of the most underbanked markets in Asia, with 52% of the population without a bank account. Yet more than 70% of the population have a smartphone and are rapidly becoming accustomed to using digital payments like GoPay and OVO as a way to make purchases and transact business.Read more: GIC Aims To Buy 9.67% of Indonesia’s Bank Jago in Digital Push“Bank Jago is already in the process of transforming itself into a digital bank but bringing in GIC will bring comfort in terms of governance of the bank as well as obviously bringing in new funds,” said Angus Mackintosh, founder of CrossASEAN Research.Expectations that Gojek will merge with Indonesian e-commerce giant Tokopedia bode well for the lender, he added. “The potential customer base for Bank Jago will be even larger assuming the Gojek-Tokopedia merger goes through, opening up Tokopedia’s customers and sellers as potential customers.”Read more: Gojek Is Said to Near Tokopedia Merger Ahead of ListingBank Jago’s partnership with Gojek also underscores the allure of the financial-technology potential in the world’s largest archipelago, where total profit pool is estimated to reach as much as $3.2 billion in five years by Sanford C. Bernstein. By working with Gojek, Bank Jago could boost its share of the revenue pie while Gojek expands its financial services through the bank.The relationship between Bank Jago and Gojek isn’t exclusive, Siregar added. The lender is keen to team up with more tech companies and financial services to reach a wider audience, Faisal said.Lofty ExpectationsFirms offering financial services through digital channels can fill the gap between the many Indonesians who have smartphones but lack access to bank loans, according to Bernstein’s analyst Kevin Kwek.While Bank Jago is focused on building its products and partnerships, it won’t rule out acquisitions in the future. “At least this year, we do not foresee the need to acquire another bank just because we have a number of things on our plate,” Faisal said. “But in the future if an opportunity arises and if it definitely adds value, it’s worth considering. We keep our options open.”With the market capitalization exceeding $8 billion even before it launched its app, Bank Jago’s management is ramping up efforts to deliver on the lofty expectations.“It shows very high expectations from our shareholders for us to perform,” Siregar said. “It’s a responsibility.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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    Now might be "a golden opportunity" to own the "secular tech winners" for the next 12 to 18 months, according to Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives.

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    Mortgage rates have risen past a psychological benchmark for the first time since they fell to historic lows during the pandemic. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.02% this past week, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey—the first time since July that the rate has risen above 3%. “Since reaching a low point in January, mortgage rates have risen by more than 30 basis points,” wrote Freddie Mac’s chief economist, in a release.