Two new iShares ETFs with a focus on sustainability launched on Xetra
July 13, 2016--Two new iShares ETFs with a focus on sustainability launched on Xetra
ETFs track companies from the USA and emerging market countries
Two new exchange-listed index funds issued by BlackRock have been tradable via Xetra and Börse Frankfurt since Wednesday.
The new iShares factor ETFs enable investors to participate in the performance of companies with high ESG ratings, i.e. those that place a special focus on the environment and corporate governance.
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Source: Deutsche Börse Cash Market
Pension funds keep calm and carry on plugging gaps
July 12, 2016--Battle lines are being drawn over defined benefits liabilities
The Ministry of Information told Brits to "Keep Calm and Carry On" ahead of the so-called phoney war of 1939.
Exactly 77 years later, the Pensions Regulator broadcast the same message following Brexit. There is no crisis in defined benefit retirement schemes, it told the pensions industry.
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Source: FT.com
IMF-France : Selected Issues
July 12, 2016--Structural unemployment in France has long been elevated, and appears to have edged up further since the crisis. This reflects both demand and supply factors, including: high labor taxes, wage stickiness, a growing skill gap, hysteresis effects from the crisis years, a lengthy period of elevated economic uncertainty, inactivity traps created by the unemployment and welfare benefit systems, and demographic factors that have pushed up the labor force.
The cyclical recovery is projected to bring down the unemployment rate only slowly, and the NAIRU is estimated to remain above 8 percent over the medium term. We investigate the structural causes of unemployment and potential remedies.
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Source: IMF
Two new Amundi smart beta ETFs launched on Xetra
July 12, 2016--ETFs with a focus on momentum and earnings quality of European companies.
Two new equity index ETFs issued by Amundi have been tradable on Xetra and Börse Frankfurt since Tuesday.
Name: Amundi ETF MSCI Europe Quality Factor UCITS ETF
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: FR0013140522
Total expense ratio: 0.23 percent
Distribution policy: accumulating
Benchmark: MSCI Europe Quality
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Source: Deutsche Börse Cash Market:
VanEck consolidates ETF and active business
July 11, 2016--US-based asset manager VanEck-which launched its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe last year-has restructured its European fund business under one team.
The ETFs and active strategies team will fall under Uwe Eberle, head of international business development and distribution.
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Source: Funds Europe
Revised securitisation framework with capital treatment for "simple, transparent and comparable" securitisations
July 11, 2016--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision today published an updated standard for the regulatory capital treatment of securitisation exposures.
By including the regulatory capital treatment for "simple, transparent and comparable" (STC) securitisations, this standard amends the Committee's 2014 capital standards for securitisations.
view the Revisions to the securitisation framework
Source: BIS
Amendment of Exchange Offer Acceptance Condition
July 11, 2016--View press announcement.
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Source: Deutsche Börse
IMF-Italy : Selected Issues
July 11, 2016--Elevated levels of nonperforming loans (NPLs) are weighing on bank profitability in Italy. This paper analyzes the conditions under which Italian banks can earn sufficient profits to grow out of their asset quality problems, re-build capital buffers, and finance the real economy, taking account of continued pressures from high provisioning and operating costs and declining net interest margins from negative policy rates.
A bottom-up analysis of the 15 largest Italian banks suggests that restoring sustainable profitability depends heavily on the growth outlook.
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Source: IMF
Policy paper: Women in Finance Charter
July 11, 2016--On 22 March, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money, published her review into the representation of women in senior managerial positions in financial services.
On 11 July HM Treasury announced that 72 firms have signed the Women in Finance Charter.
These firms have committed to implement four key industry actions, as recommended in Jayne-Anne Gadhia's review into the representation of women in senior managerial positions in financial services. In early October this list will be updated with links to signatory firms' targets as published on their websites.
view the Women In Finance Report-Empowering Productivity-Harnessing the Talents of Women in Financial Services
Source: HM Treasury
IMF-Euro Area Policies: Selected Issues
July 8, 2016--THE IMPACT OF WORKFORCE AGING ON EURO AREA
PRODUCTIVITY1
The euro area population has aged considerably over the past few decades, a process expected to accelerate in the years ahead. At the same time, labor productivity growth in the euro area has been sluggish, posing risks to long-term growth prospects.
This paper studies the effect of the aging of the workforce on labor productivity, identifies the main transmission channels, and examines what policies might mitigate the effects of aging. We find that workforce aging reduces growth in labor productivity, mainly through its negative effect on TFP growth. Projected workforce aging will reduce TFP growth by an average of 0.2 percentage points every year over the next two decades. A variety of policies can ameliorate this effect.
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Source: IMF