Eurex to Further Expand its Equity Options Offering Covering UK Equities
30 new UK equity options with home market settlement to be introduced in January 2010
December 15, 2009--The international derivatives exchange Eurex announced today that it will launch new equity options based on 30 of the most liquid British stocks on 18 January 2010. With this new product suite, Europe’s largest derivatives exchange for the first time will also offer British pence denominated equity options with home market settlement. The new UK equity options will be physically settled in the Crest system of Euroclear UK & Ireland.
Peter Reitz, member of the Eurex Executive Board, said: “This launch represents an important step in our strategy to continuously expand our product offering with new contracts. The new UK equity options extend our broad coverage of the Dow Jones STOXX 600® index components. We provide our customers with extended cross margining opportunities as we offer trading of all the major European blue chips derivatives on one platform. UK equity options will enable our customers to better hedge their exposure to the UK equity market and will simultaneously offer new trading opportunities.”
The new options will be denominated in GB pence and physically settled in the Crest system of Euroclear UK & Ireland. Eurex and Eurex Clearing have been officially recognized by statutory instruments as financial intermediaries in the UK and will thus be exempted from SDR taxation (stamp duty). Further the customer business of all Eurex Clearing members will also automatically be exempted.
The new suite of options will have maturities of up to two years. To support order book trading, a market making scheme will be initiated to ensure on-screen liquidity. During the first eight months of trading, supporting market makers can qualify for a 50 percent revenue sharing program lasting for two years. Trading hours will be from 9:00 am until 5:30 pm CET.
Source: Eurex
Three New Bond Index ETFs Launched on Xetra
December 15, 2009--Three new bond index ETFs issued by iShares have been tradable on Xetra® since Tuesday.
ETF name: iShares Barclays Euro
Corporate Bond ex-Financials
Asset class: Bond index ETF
ISIN: DE000A0YEEX4
Management fee: 0.2 percent
Distribution policy: distributing
Benchmark: Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials Index
ETF name: iShares Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials 1-5
Asset class: Bond index ETF
ISIN: DE000A0YEEY2
Management fee: 0.2 percent
Distribution policy: distributing
Benchmark: Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials 1-5 Index
ETF name: iShares Barclays Euro Corporate Bond 1-5
Asset class: Bond index ETF
ISIN: DE000A0YEEZ9
Management fee: 0.2 percent
Distribution policy: distributing
Benchmark: Barclays Euro Corporate Bond 1-5 Index
Two of the new ETFs allow investors to participate in the performance of the Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials indices. These indices track the performance of bonds denominated in euros and issued by companies in the industrial and utilities sectors. The bonds in the Barclays Euro Corporate Bond ex-Financials 1-5 index have maturities of between one and five years.
The third ETF allows investors to participate in the performance of the Barclays Euro Corporate Bond 1-5 index. This index tracks the performance of bonds denominated in euros and issued by companies in the industrial, utilities and financial sectors. The bonds have maturities of between one and five years.
The product offering in Deutsche Börse’s XTF segment currently comprises 547 exchange-listed index funds, making it the largest offering of all European stock exchanges. With this offering and an average monthly trading volume of around €11 billion, Xetra is the leading trading venue for ETFs in Europe.
Source: Deutsche Börse
Disclosure to rise for private equity units
December 15, 2009--The number of private equity-owned companies that disclose plc-style accounts is set to rise by almost half next year when the buy-out industry’s voluntary code of conduct is broadened in spite of resistance from some groups.
The change is expected to extend the reach of the code from 45 private equity portfolio companies to at least 65. While the UK has more than 1,000 companies owned by private equity groups, the expanded code will cover more than 90 per cent of firms by value.
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Source: FT.com
Over a decade of 'banana war' between EU, Latin America
December 15, 2009--The 16 year-long legal wrangling over banana tariffs between the EU and Latin American nations was the longest-running dispute in the history of the World Trade Organisation.
Here are key events during the dispute:
- July 1993: The European Union decides to give preferential treatment to bananas from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states and territories, many of which have historic links to EU members. This angers banana-producing countries in Latin America and also the United States, whose multinationals run much of the international trade in bananas.
- February 1996: The United States, in association with Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, lodges a complaint with the WTO, claiming the EU restricted imports of their bananas into the bloc. The United States does not itself export bananas but three of the largest producers with plantations in Latin America are US-based multinationals -- Chiquita, Del Monte and Dole.
- September 1997: The WTO rules in favour of the plaintiffs, stating that the EU system is "inconsistent" with global trade rules.
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Source: EU Business
EU approves EUR 230m aid for developing countries
Demember 15, 2009--The European Union approved Tuesday 230 million euros (335 million dollars) in aid for 13 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to help them confront the economic crisis.
The funds include 215 million euros from the so-called Vulnerability FLEX mechanism -- a 500 million euro fund adopted in August to help ACP nations deal with the impact of the crisis.
"Developing countries were hit hard by the crisis due to their poor resilience to external shocks," EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Karel De Gucht said in a statement.
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Source: Eu Business
New ETFlab Equity Index ETF Launched on Xetra
December 14, 2009--Another new ETF issued by ETFlab Investment GmbH, a subsidiary of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, has been tradable on Xetra since Monday.
ETF name: ETFlab DJ EURO STOXX 50 Short
Asset class: Equity index ETF
ISIN: DE000ETFL334
Management fee: 0.4 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: DJ EURO STOXX 50 Short
Hedge fund ETF reaches USD1bn in assets under management
December 14, 2009--In under a year the db x-trackers db Hedge Fund Index ETF has reached more than USD1bn in assets under management.
As of 8 December the fund’s assets are USD1.05bn or EUR715m.
In January 2009 the db Hedge Fund ETF became the world’s first ETF to directly invest in hedge funds via the db Hedge Fund Index.
The db Hedge Fund Index is asset weighted to the hedge fund industry and linked to the range of hedge funds available on Deutsche Bank’s X-markets Hedge Fund Platform.
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Source: Hedge Fund Express
Invesco PowerShares to launch four FTSE RAFI ETFs
December 14, 2009--Invesco PowerShares intends to launch four exchange-traded funds on 1 February 2010 to sit in its Fundamentally Weighted range of products.
The range, which already comprises five funds focused on the US, UK, Europe and the developed world equity markets, will be expanded by the following products:
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets Fund
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Asia Pacific Ex Japan Fund
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI Hong Kong/China Fund
• PowerShares FTSE RAFI All-World 3000 Fund
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Source: ETF Express
Banks expect recovery in 2010, cautious about government targets
December 14, 2009--Türkiye Ýþ Bankasý and ING Bank have released their December reviews of the Turkish economy, noting that there will be a slow but gradual recovery in 2010 if government goals for inflation and fiscal spending are met.
In bulletins released yesterday by the Türkiye Ýþ Bankasý Economic Research Group and ING Turkey’s Treasury Group’s Economic Research Department, the two banks reviewed recent economic and political developments in Turkey amid signs that a recovery from the global economic crisis that began last year is imminent.
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Source: Todays Zaman
Markit, C-Questor launch new carbon standard
December 14, 2009--UK-based financial information provider Markit and clean energy project developer C-Questor have launched a new carbon standard for low-carbon energy projects, the companies said on Monday.
The Carbco Platinum Carbon Standard will give extra certification and validation to clean energy projects in the voluntary and regulated U.N.-backed carbon markets.
Projects will have to meet sustainability, additionality, biodiversity and transparent accounting benchmarks to be awarded it.
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Source: Yahoo
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