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JPMorgan Gave Risk Oversight to Museum Head With AIG Role
May 25, 2012--The three directors who oversee risk at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) include a museum head who sat on American International Group Inc.'s governance committee in 2008, the grandson of a billionaire and the chief executive officer of a company that makes flight controls and work boots.
What the risk committee of the biggest U.S. lender lacks, and what the five next largest competitors have, are directors who worked at a bank or as financial risk managers. The only member with any Wall Street experience, James Crown, hasn’t been employed in the industry for more than 25 years.
Treasury Releases Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies
May 25, 2012--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the Semi-Annual Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies that is required under Sections 3004 and 3005 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. The Report covers international economic and foreign exchange developments in the second half of 2011.
Where pertinent and available, data and developments through mid-May 2012 are included.
The Report highlights that conditions in Europe continue to pose a risk to the U.S. recovery, that global growth has been hindered by insufficient demand rebalancing, and that greater exchange rate flexibility is needed – most notably in China. Based on the appreciation of the RMB against the dollar since June 2010, the decline in China's current account surplus, and China's commitments in the G-20 and the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue to move more rapidly to a more market-determined exchange rate system, Treasury has concluded that the standards identified in Section 3004 of the Act during the period covered in this Report have not been met with respect to China. Nonetheless, the available evidence suggest the RMB remains significantly undervalued, and we believe further appreciation of the RMB against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted. Treasury will continue to closely monitor the pace of RMB appreciation and press for policy changes that yield greater exchange rate flexibility, a level playing field, and a sustained shift to domestic demand-led growth.
view the Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policies
Broker Losses on Facebook Put at $100m
May 25, 2012--Wholesale brokerages including Knight Capital and Citadel have suffered trading losses that could top up to an amount of $100m as a result of computer glitches in Nasdaq OMX's software on the morning of Facebook's trading debut on May 22nd.
According to people familiar with the case, it was said that problems with the exchange’s trading software meant the brokers were uncapable of calculating their precise shareholdings in the social network through more than two hours of share trading.
Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP Commences Class Action Lawsuit On Behalf Of Investors In VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short Term Exchange Traded Notes Linked To The S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index
May 25, 2012--Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP today filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of Plaintiff and the other members of the class ("Class") who purchased VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX Short Term Exchange Traded Notes linked to the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index ("TVIX ETNs") [NYSE ARCA: TVIX] pursuant and/or traceable to a November 29, 2010 pricing supplement
(the “Pricing Supplement” and, together with a March 25, 2009 Registration Statement and Prospectus, the (“Offering Documents”)) and held TVIX ETNs through and including March 22, 2012, thereby suffering economic damages (the “Class Period). TVIX ETNs were sold to members of the Class during the Class Period by Credit Suisse AG and its affiliate Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC (together, “Credit Suisse” or the “Company”).
CFTC Staff to Host a Public Roundtable to Discuss Proposed Regulations
Implementing Core Principle 9 for Designated Contract Markets
May 25, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that staff will hold a public roundtable on Tuesday, June 5, 2012, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., to discuss the proposed regulations implementing Core Principle 9 for designated contract markets.
The roundtable discussion will focus on:
• centralized market trading requirement;
• certain aspects of the requirements for exchange of derivatives for related position transactions; and
• reporting timeframe for block transactions in futures contracts.
CFTC.gov Commitments of Traders Reports Update
May 25, 2012--The current reports for the week of May 22, 2012 are now available.
read more
New Research from iShares: iShares Projects New Sector of ETF Industry-ETF Investment Strategists
Will Comprise $120 Billion in ETFs by 2015
Retirement, International Markets Will Likely Spur Demand For Outsourced ETF Portfolio Services
Investment Strategists Deliver Institutional Quality ETF Solutions To Retail Audience
Focus on Client Satisfaction, Strong Use of ETFs Drive Success for ETF Investment Strategists
May 24, 2012-- A rigorous focus on increasing client satisfaction -and relatively greater use of exchange traded funds (ETFs) in asset strategies-are emerging as key "drivers of success" for a new breed of advisors and asset managers who provide special expertise and deep knowledge of ETF portfolio construction and trading to advisors seeking outsourced model portfolios.
Those are among the key findings of new research released today by iShares, the global leader in ETFs, focused on the emerging class of “ETF Investment Strategists” (EIS), a term iShares uses to refer to registered investment advisors (RIAs) or asset managers utilizing ETFs at the core of an outsourced investment solutions business. These advisors and managers utilize ETFs in their practice at virtually every stage in the investment process, from building complete asset allocation models to executing tactical strategies.
Improving the Measurement of Cross-Border Securities Holdings: The Treasury International Capital SLT
May 24, 2012--The Federal Reserve Board published an article providing a more complete description of the SLT data and its relationship to other TIC securities data: Improving the Measurement of Cross-Border Securities Holdings: The Treasury International Capital SLT (PDF).
In the wake of the financial crisis, growing interest in improving the measurement of cross-border securities positions spurred the introduction of a new Treasury International Capital (TIC) reporting form, the TIC SLT. This article reviews the existing structure of TIC cross-border position and flow data, the benefits that the new SLT can provide, and the incoming information from the first two reporting months of SLT data, September and December 2011. While some patterns and characteristics of the SLT data will become clear only after more data have accumulated, the SLT data have already begun to provide timely insights on U.S. and foreign cross-border investment flows that are different from the monthly estimates provided by existing flow data.
AdvisorShares, Philippe Cousteau Launch Actively Managed Sustainable ETF
Global Echo (GIVE) sub-advisors seek balance with equity, bonds and alternatives
May 24, 2012--AdvisorShares' 14th actively managed exchange traded fund-and the first of its ETFs to focus on sustainable investment, the Global Echo ETF (GIVE)-opened for trading on Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange.
Launched in partnership with environmental advocate and social entrepreneur Philippe Cousteau Jr., the AdvisorShares Global Echo ETF is a multi-manager fund that seeks to “do well by doing good” by pairing a public investment company product with a private charitable foundation.
CFTC Staff to Host a Public Roundtable to Discuss the Proposed Volcker Rule
May 24, 2012--The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that staff will hold a public roundtable on Thursday, May 31, 2012, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., to discuss the proposed regulations to implement Section 619 (commonly known as the Volcker Rule) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Section 619 contains certain prohibitions and restrictions on the ability of banking entities to engage in proprietary trading and to have certain interests in, or relationships with, a hedge fund or private equity fund.
U.S. copper user, trader attack JP Morgan ETF plan
Red Kite, Southwire executives met SEC last week
ETF would be comparable to Sumitomo price fixing scandal - lawyers
Fund would "wreak havoc on U.S. and global economy"-letter
May 23, 2012--A major U.S. copper consumer and a trader have lodged the first public opposition to JPMorgan Chase & Co's plan to launch a exchange-traded fund (EFT) physically backed by copper,
comparing its impact to the Sumitomo scandal in the 1990s.
Lawyers representing Southwire, one of the largest copper users in the United States, and Red Kite, a major metals hedge fund and physical trader, argued in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this month that such a fund would inflate
ETF Portfolio Management Launches InvestableBenchmarks.com
Firm is First Financial Advisor to Offer Strategic Core Portfolios with No Advisory Fee
May 23, 2012--ETF Portfolio Management (ETF PM), a revolutionary financial advisory firm, today announced that it has launched InvestableBenchmarks.com to help investors save money annually.
The firm is first to offer strategic multi-asset class core portfolios with no advisory fee.
“Many investors significantly underperform strategic indexing long term,” said David Kreinces, ETF PM’s founder and portfolio manager. “We believe investable benchmarks help investors avoid mistakes and save thousands of dollars annually.”
UBS expands suite of income yielding products with 2 ETRACS ETNS designed to deliver high monthly potential and leveraged exposure to blue-chip dividend indexes
May 23, 2012--UBS Investment Bank announced that today is the first day of trading on the NYSE Arca for 2 new ETRACS Exchange Traded Notes ("ETNs") linked to the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend IndexSM and the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index:
ETRACS Monthly Pay 2xLeveraged Dow Jones Select Dividend Index ETN
Ticker: DVYL
ETRACS Monthly Pay 2xLeveraged S&P Dividend ETN
Ticker: SDYL
The 2 new ETRACS Monthly Pay 2xLeveraged ETNs are designed to provide:
2x leveraged exposure to the Index(s), less fees, making them the only exchange-traded products with leveraged exposure to these indexes.
Monthly leverage resetting, which provides an innovative alternative to daily leverage resetting typically used in other leveraged products
Significant income potential in the form of variable monthly coupons linked to 2 times the dividends, if any, on the index constituents.
Convenience of a single exchange-traded security.
ProShares Launches Only Corporate Bond Fund1 With Substantially All Assets AAA-Rated2
May 23, 2012--ProShares, a premier provider of alternative exchange traded funds (ETFs), today announced the launch of ProShares USD Covered Bond1 (NYSE: COBO). This new ETF is the only corporate bond fund1-mutual fund or ETF-in the U.S. with substantially all of its assets rated AAA.2 COBO lists on NYSE Arca today.
COBO invests in covered bonds, a type of collateralized corporate debt typically issued by non-U.S. financial institutions. Covered bonds are a popular investment outside the U.S. but not broadly accessible in the U.S. until today.
"Many investors are interested in high credit quality bonds, but the supply of AAA-rated corporate debt in the U.S. is very limited," said Michael L. Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares' investment advisor. "COBO, a first-of-its-kind ETF, fills the gap by accessing the highest-rated segment of the $3 trillion,3 240-year-old4 covered bond market."
Futures Now Trading on the CBOE NASDAQ-100 Volatility Index
May 23, 2012--NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes is pleased to announce that CBOE NASDAQ-100 Volatility Index futures contracts (ticker symbol VXN, futures symbol VN) are now trading on CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC (CFE).
The CBOE NASDAQ-100 Volatility Index, which measures the volatility of the NASDAQ-100 Index® (NDX®), is calculated through the application of CBOE's VIX® methodology to the prices of options on NDX.
Barclays will act as a liquidity provider for VXN futures contracts.
Trading the CBOE NASDAQ-100 Volatility Index futures could further enhance the liquidity of the industry-leading securities that comprise the NASDAQ-100 Index. These futures reflect not only the popularity of the NASDAQ-100 Index, but the CBOE’s commitment to innovation and broadening the adoption of this important benchmark.
For more information on on CBOE NASDAQ-100 Volatility Index futures, visit www.cboe.com/VXN.
For information on the NASDAQ-100 Index and other offerings, visit www.nasdaqomx.com/indexes
