CESR reviews national use of options and discretions of Market Abuse Directive
April 6, 2010--CESR publishes today a review (Ref. CESR/09-1120) of how securities regulators across Europe use options and discretions applied by CESR Members under the European Market Abuse Directive regime, (MAD regime) which is made up of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD) and its Level 2 implementing measures as developed by CESR. The report gives evidence of the wide use of options and discretions by Member States with regard to the MAD regime. CESR’s stock take found divergence in how national supervisors disclose information on supervisory measures or sanctions, inside information directors’ dealings and suspicious transaction reports.
While acknowledging the legitimate use of options and discretions, under the MAD regime, CESR’s Review Panel restates its commitment towards increased convergence of supervisory practices in the EU and recommends that the results of this exercise are taken into account in the ongoing revision of the Market Abuse Directive. This work follows conclusions of the ECOFIN Council of December 2007, on aiming at reducing the use of discretions, and of May 2008 and June 2009, on the need to aim at enhancing supervisory convergence in the EU. CESR’s re-commitment to providing convergence is in line with the recent decisions by the EU Parliament and Council of establishing a single European supervisory rule book.
view the Review Panel report MAD Options and Discretions 2009
Source: CESR
Greece not seeking to amend EU-IMF deal: finance minister
April 6, 2010--Greece is not seeking to amend a recent financial support deal drafted by the European Union with International Monetary Fund involvement to help the country resolve its debt crisis, the finance minister said Tuesday.
"There was never any action by our country to change the terms of the recent European Council agreement on the support mechanism," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said in a statement.
"The agreement is important to both Europe and Greece as it defines the conditions under which a country can be supported under specific conditions by its peers," Papaconstantinou said.
read more
Source: EUbusiness
EU bank tax could raise 50 billion euros a year
April 6, 2010--An EU tax on banks, which finance ministers will examine this month, could generate annual revenues of at least 50 billion euros, a European Commission study showed on Tuesday.
Proposals for such a tax, pushed by Sweden which already operates a national levy on banks, could be used for bailouts in the event of another banking crisis and are broadly backed by France and Germany, mirroring a new US scheme.
According to the study published by the European Commission, which will serve as the starting point for upcoming talks in Madrid, the tax would force the banking sector to plan better for the future.read more
Source: EUbusiness
Index Data Monthly Report: Europe Edition
April 5, 2010--Dow Jones Index Data Monthly Report: Europe Edition is available.
read more
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
ÝMKB sees 29-month high on strong signs of recovery
April 2, 2010--The Ýstanbul Stock Exchange (ÝMKB) has rallied amid news that the Turkish economy is showing signs of a healthy revival from the global financial crisis and managed to hit a 29-month high after a strong opening session.
The benchmark ÝMKB-100 index reached 58,383 during the second session of trading yesterday, hitting a 29-month high despite the economy being hit hard by the global economic crisis. The index is being driven by healthy economic data announced this week: Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of the year soared by 6 percent, much higher than the 3.5 percent figure expected, while exports increased 34 percent in March over a year ago.
read more
Source: Todays Zaman
Turks and foreigners to pay equal investment taxes
April 2, 2010--A bill to be presented next week to the prime minister could bring new income tax rates along with a reconciliation of taxes on investment instruments.
According to the Anatolia news agency, the bill could bring an end to a debate over withholding taxes on investment instruments -- a highly contested topic after the Constitutional Court annulled a directive that would charge no taxes for foreign parties investing in Turkish financial instruments.
read more
Source: Todays Zaman
FSA sees whistleblowing activity surge
April 2, 2010--The number of whistleblowers passing on allegations to the authorities about malpractice in the financial markets has more than doubled since the start of the credit crunch.
The Financial Services Authority said calls to its dedicated whistleblowing desk jumped from 835 in 2007 to 1,890 last year, in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Financial Times.
read more
Source: FT.com
Activists stir among UK investment trusts
April 2, 2010--Activism is returning to the investment trust sector as shareholders seek to improve returns from struggling trusts.
A number of investment companies have suffered in the downturn. They have lost assets under management and seen their shares slide to wide discounts to their underlying holdings.
read more
Source: FT.com
Italian official public deficit is 5.2 per cent of GDP
April 1, 2010-- Italy's public deficit shot up to 5.2 percent of output in 2009 from 2.7 percent in 2008, the statistics agency ISTAT said on Friday in a downward revision of a previous estimate of 5.3 percent.
The deficit, far above the eurozone limit of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), is lower than that of many other countries in the 16-nation zone which, unlike Italy, funded stimulus programmes to fight the global financial crisis.
ISTAT said it revised downward its March 1 estimate by one-tenth of a percentage point after leaving out certain financial operations.
read more
Source: EUbusiness
NASDAQ OMX Starts Trading in Ten New ETFs From Deutsche Bank
April 1, 2010--NASDAQ OMX today starts trading in ten new Exchange Traded Funds (EFTs) from Deutsche Bank's db x-trackers ETF platform. The ETFs from Deutsche Bank that are available for trading on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm as of today are based on the following indexes:
MSCI World Index
MSCI Europe Index
MSCI Japan Index
MSCI USA Index
DAX Index
Short Dax Index
DJ Stoxx Banks Index
DJ Euro Stoxx 50 Short Index
S&P 500 Inverse Index
DJ Stoxx 600 Banks Short Index
Jenny Rosberg, Senior Vice President NASDAQ OMX, said, "We are pleased to today be able to expand on our ETF offering from Deutsche Bank with ten new exciting products. Deutsche Bank's entry into the Nordic ETF market provides easy and cost-efficient access to a wide variety internationally recognized indices, and will act to grow the interest for ETFs in the region."
Thorsten Michalik, Head of db x-trackers ETFs at Deutsche Bank, commented, "We want to broaden the choice of ETF products available to Nordic investors. As the first foreign ETF issuer in the Nordic region we look forward to growing the popularity of ETFs in the region and will continue to introduce further products on international indexes as well as asset classes like commodities and fixed income."
Source: NASDAQ OMX
If you are looking for a particuliar article and can not find it, please feel free to contact us for assistace.