Europe ETP News Older Than 1 year-If your looking for specific news, using the search function will narrow down the results
CESR publishes responses to consultation on trade repositories
November 20, 2009--CESR today published the responses received to its consultation on trade repositories in the European Union.
Consultation on Trade Repositories in the European Union
Closing date : 06 Nov. 2009 Consultation on Trade Repositories in the European Union
29 Sep. 2009 - The financial crisis, especially the default of Lehman Brothers, underlined the importance of a robust and adequately functioning post-trading infrastructure, highlighted the need for more transparency on exposures generated by the over-the counter (OTC) market, in particular for derivatives, notably credit default swaps (CDS), and demonstrated the need to safeguard the OTC market from abusive behavior. The CESR/ESCB Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems and Central Counterparties in the European Union, upon request of the ECOFIN, have been reviewed in order to encompass the OTC derivatives dimension. On 31 July 2009 the European Commission announced a major step towards financial stability for the European CDS market in (defined as the market in CDS that reference European entities and indices), related to European entities and indices will be cleared through central counterparties as of that date. The fact that various providers of clearing services have now expanded (or are in the process of doing so) their scope of services to central clearing of CDS is an important reason to consider what further improvements can be made in order to enhance risk mitigation and to improve the transparency and efficiency of the post-trading process as a whole. On 3 July 2009 the European Commission published a Communication on ensuring efficient, safe and sound derivatives markets. In the Communication the Commission referred to the forthcoming report of CESR on trade repositories, on the basis of which the Commission will take appropriate actions. It also raised several other issues that it considers to be important in the context of derivatives markets.
read more
Source: CESR
NASDAQ OMX Launches New Fixed Income Index - OMRX All Index Added To Expanded OMRX Index Family
November 20, 2009--NASDAQ OMX Stockholm announces that it has launched a new fixed income index named OMRX All Index, which will act as a benchmark for the Swedish bond and money markets. The index includes treasury bills, nominal treasury bonds as well as nominal bonds from major mortgage institutions. The OMRX All Index will be added to NASDAQ OMX' new expanded OMRX fixed income index family.
Effective November 19, NASDAQ OMX existing index series (ALLA, OTHER, STAT and SSV) will be incorporated into the OMRX index family and rulebook. The new name standard is introduced to simplify and facilitate the comparability of NASDAQ OMX fixed income indexes. Significant indexes included in the OMRX series are OMRX Bond All Index and OMRX Mortgage Bond All, which together with the new OMRX All Index will form a sub-index family suitable for investors looking to utilize broad mortgage issuer diversification.
Magdalena Hartman, Vice President NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group said, “The launch of OMRX All Index together with the new OMRX Bond All Index and OMRX Mortgage Bond All Index is a direct response to customer demand for broader benchmark indexes that covers multiple mortgage issuers. Moreover, by harmonizing the name standard and rulebook for our fixed income index family we make them more accessible and visible to our customers.”
Jonas Pripp, Head of fixed income at Swedbank Robur commented, “It is very positive that NASDAQ OMX now takes the step to expand its OMRX index family. These types of indexes are in demand among our large institutional clients and we also intend to change benchmark to the new indexes for our fixed income funds. The new indexes reflect actual market conditions for Swedish covered mortgage bonds, which implies an increased diversification, leading to better products for our customers. For us, a reliable and dynamic supplier is just as important as transparency, diversification and index replicability.”
Source: NASDAQ OMX
WSE Introduces the RESPECT Index
November 20, 2009--On 19 November 2009, the Warsaw Stock Exchange announced the Respect Rating – a ranking of socially responsible WSE-listed companies – and started publishing the Respect Index.
“It is an important day from the perspective of the development of the Warsaw Stock Exchange during the past couple of years. Today, we initiate the project of promoting responsible management in WSE-listed companies and measuring it through a special-purpose index. The activities of a modern enterprise take into account relations with shareholders, business partners, stake holders as well as the community.” – said Mr Ludwik Sobolewski, WSE President & CEO, during a seminar that inaugurated the Respect Rating and Index.
“Securities exchanges have a very important role to play – that of leaders in establishing responsible business standards. Today’s launch of the Respect Index marks the beginning of a great adventure and a great challenge for us.” – Ms Eliza Durka, WSE Marketing Communications Office Director, said.
The Respect Index measures the performance of companies that were classified as socially responsible in the survey. It is an income index, taking into account corporate actions such as dividends and rights issues. Sixteen companies that received the highest rating in the survey were included in the composition of the Index:
APATOR SA
BANK PBH
Barlinek SA
Ciech SA
Citi Handlowy
ELEKTROBUDOWA SA
Grupa LOTOS SA
GRUPA ZYWIEC SA
ING Bank Slaski SA
KGHM Polska Miedz
Mondi Swiecie SA
PGNiG SA
PKN ORLEN SA
Telekomunikacja Polska SA
Zaklady Azotowe w Tarnowie – Moscicach SA
Zaklady Magnezytowe „ROPCZYCE” SA
For more information, please visit www.wse.com.pl
Source: Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE)
NASDAQ OMX Stockholm And Valueguard Launch New Housing Price Index
November 19, 2009--NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB, part of the NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ), together with Valueguard today introduced a new suite of housing price index, “NASDAQ OMX Valueguard-KTH Flats” (HOX), based on the price development for privately held flats in Sweden's three largest cities.
The HOX index will increase the transparency of the housing market by providing timely and trustworthy information of the monthly price movements. This is the first step in building a standardized market for financial products with housing prices as the base. In the longer run, households will be able to invest in products that give a return equal to the price changes in the housing markets.
The calculation of the index is done by Valueguard Index Sweden, based on a methodology developed together with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The index base value is 100 and the base date is January 2005, and distribution starts today.
“The housing market in Sweden is about the same size as the market capitalization of the entire NASDAQ OMX Stockholm”, says Erik Thedéen, President NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. “For most households, the house is the largest asset and we believe that many house-owners could benefit from being able to manage their exposure to this market and to save in financial products with the return linked to house prices”.
Håkan Toll, CEO of Valueguard, says: ”We are pleased to launch this suite of indices together with NASDAQ OMX. We believe that this is the first step for the introduction of financial products based on these indices that can be used by both professional and retail investors to manage their exposure to this market.”
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Structured Product Market Will Expand 20% In 2010
November 19, 2009--OPAL, the UK’s largest provider of structured product administration to investment companies, banks, building societies and other third parties, predicts that, despite the high profile issues in 2009, the market will continue to grow by 20 percent in 2010.
OPAL also predicts that there will be a move to create a new classification for ‘no risk’ / guaranteed products such that they do not become tainted by some of the more esoteric structures, more commonly associated with structured products.
Tony Collins, managing director, OPAL, comments: “2009 has been a turbulent year, but despite this, many companies see the benefits that a specific type of structured product can offer. I personally welcome the closer review by the FSA as this will help to create stability in the market and, more importantly, give companies the confidence to launch what are really compelling products. Returns of above 5 per cent, capital protection and protection under the FSCS give the market a healthy future.”
Source: Business UK
CESR has published the DIRECTIVE 2009/65/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
November 18, 2009--CESR has published the DIRECTIVE 2009/65/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL-on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)(recast)
view Directive 2009/65/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
Source: CESR
DB Index Research -- Weekly ETF Reports -- Europe
November 18, 2009-Highlights
ETF Volume
Exchange based Equity ETF turnover remained at about the same level on the previous week. Daily turnover for the previous week was E1.5bn. European fixed income ETF turnover remained at about the same level at E183m, with money market ETFs continuing to be the main focus.
In exchange based bond ETFs, db x-trackers II EONIA TR Index ETF has the highest daily turnover of E18.11m. Among the Equity ETFs, iShares DAX (DE) has the highest daily turnover of E75.98m.
There were 44 listings in the last week. ETF Securities Ltd listed 22 new ETCs and cross-listed 18 ETCs on the London Stock Exchange, AXA IM/BNP Paribas cross-listed 2 ETFs on Borsa Italiana and UBS listed 1 new and cross-listed 1 existing ETF on Swiss Stock Exchange.
European Style ETFs, led by short and leveraged products, kept its position as the leading product area with total turnover of E458m accounting for 31.31% of total ETF turnover, followed by European Regional ETFs with total turnover of E385m with 26.34% of total turnover. The DAX ETFs remain the dominant country products with total average daily volume of E205m across the nine listed products and accounting for 14.0% of all equity ETF volume.
DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETFs accounted for 13.5% of turnover trading E198m per day with liquidity split across 26 ETFs and 46 different listings on 9 exchanges.
Market Share
The Deutsche Borse XTF platform has the largest market share with 37.6% of total turnover. The Euronext NextTrack platform has 21.6% market share. The LSE’s combined Italian Exchange and London market share is now 25.7%.
Assets under Management (AUM)
Total European Equity related AUM rose by 2.8% to E104.6bn during last week. AUM for DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETFs was E20.2bn accounting for 19.3% of total European AUM. Fixed Income ETF AUM remained at about the same level at E33.8bn.
Overall, the largest ETF by AUM was the Equity based ETF, Lyxor ETF DJ Euro STOXX 50 with AUM of E5.2bn. The largest Fixed Income ETF by AUM was the iShares € Corporate Bond with AUM of E3.2bn.
To request a copy of the report click here
Source: Aram Flores and Shan Lan -DB Index Research
CESR publishes 2009 Half-Yearly Report
November 18, 2009--CESR today published its Half-Yearly Report for 2009. The interim report for 2009 complements CESR’s Annual Report for 2008, published in August 2008, and provides a half-yearly update on the activities of CESR to the European Commission, Parliament and the European Securities Committee.
The report covers the period from January to June 2009.
View the 2009 Half-Yearly Report
Source: CESR
NASDAQ OMX Baltic Creates A Single Marketplace - A New Trading Venue For Shares Listed On Three Existing Exchanges
November 18, 2009--NASDAQ OMX Baltic, part of the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ), today announced its intention to create a new single marketplace to trade shares listed on the regulated markets NASDAQ OMX Tallinn, NASDAQ OMX Riga and NASDAQ OMX Vilnius. The Euro will be the trading and settlement currency for the marketplace scheduled to launch in the first half of 2010, subject to member readiness and necessary approval from local authorities.
“NASDAQ OMX is committed to improving the liquidity in the exchanges in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and we believe that launching a single currency trading venue will be beneficial to all market participants, listed companies and investors locally and internationally”, said Hans-Ole Jochumsen, President NASDAQ OMX Nordic. “Trading and settling in one currency for the members and investors will increase the accessibility to the Baltic market and thereby make it more attractive”.
The new marketplace will be set up on the same trading platform as the regulated markets, with no additional costs to members and investors to access the new market. This marketplace will have one rulebook and will offer trading in all shares listed on the Baltic stock exchanges. This includes the Baltic Main list as well as the Baltic Secondary list, with all shares that are officially admitted to the regulated markets of all three Baltic countries.
Trading on the regulated markets in local currencies will remain operational after the launch of the new marketplace but the majority of trading is expected to move to the new trading venue. The date of the launch will be decided together with the members, respective Central Banks and Financial Supervisory Authorities as well as other stakeholders.
The listing service and function will not be affected by this change and will remain local. Additionally, there will be no changes in information disclosure rules for the listed companies or information distribution channels for market professionals and investors in the Baltic markets.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
London Stock Exchange To Launch New Retail Bond Market For The UK
November 19, 2009--The London Stock Exchange today announces that it will introduce a new order-driven trading service for bonds. This new electronic order book will be available for a select number of gilts and UK corporate bonds and will offer private investors with an on-screen secondary market in London-listed debt securities for the first time. This new service is expected to go live in February next year.
Pietro Poletto, Head of Fixed Income for London Stock Exchange Group, said:
"London is a global centre for the listing and trading of debt, and in the current climate of low interest rates and equity market volatility, the retail appetite for bonds has increased substantially. This new initiative aims to meet that demand by offering private investors exposure to this market for the first time through transparent, efficient access to fixed income securities listed in the UK.
"London Stock Exchange Group's ‘MOT' market operated by Borsa Italiana is the most liquid and most heavily traded retail fixed income platform in Europe. We are delighted to offer the established benefits of this model to retail investors in the UK."
Over 10,000 debt securities are already admitted to the London Stock Exchange but the vast majority are currently available for trade reporting only.
The main characteristics of the new trading service are:
An electronic order-driven model, with retail-friendly order sizes, and continuous two-way trading provided by market makers. Two new segments for electronically tradable gilt-edged securities (UK Gilts) and electronically tradable UK fixed interest securities (UK Corporates) will be introduced on London Stock Exchange Group's TradElect trading system.
The trading day will be made up of an initial opening auction phase followed by continuous trading until market close. There will be no closing auction.
All order book trades in securities admitted to the new segments will settle in CREST. Routing of trade information to Euroclear UK & Ireland will be carried out by London Stock Exchange Group's post-trade router, X-TRM.
The new trading service is not expected to impact existing wholesale bond or gilt trading and trade reporting arrangements and does not aim to change established practices in the institutional fixed income markets.
Source: London Stock Exchange