New thematic ETF from iShares on Xetra: Access Copper Mining
October 9, 2023--Since Friday, a new exchange-traded fund issued by iShares has been tradable on Xetra and via the trading venue Börse Frankfurt.
The iShares Copper Miners UCITS ETF provides investors with access to a portfolio of companies from developed and emerging markets that have significant exposure to copper mining. Companies from India, Kuwait, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia are excluded.
There are currently 35 companies in the portfolio; a company's weighting is limited to 8 per cent. The largest companies represented come from Canada, Great Britain, and Austra
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Source: Xetra
Three new ETFs from L&G on Xetra: access to world-leading brands, Indian government bonds and a diversified commodity investment
October 9, 2023--Since Monday, three new exchange-traded funds issued by Legal & General Investment Management have been tradable on Xetra and the trading venue Börse Frankfurt.
For the first time, the L&G Global Brands UCITS ETF offers an investment in a portfolio of companies representing the world's leading brands across a variety of industries.
These include companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla. From an industry perspective, companies from the IT, finance and healthcare sectors account for the largest share. There are currently 81 companies represented in the portfolio, with the weighting of one stock limited to 5 per cent. Companies that violate the UN Global Compact or are associated with controversial topics will be excluded.
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Source: Xetra
ESMA provides analysis on issuers' potential benefits from an ESG pricing effect
October 6, 2023--The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets and securities regulator, today publishes an article on the European sustainable debt market, analysing the existence of an ESG pricing effect ('the Greenium') across different types of sustainable-abelled debt instruments.
In the article, ESMA notes that it cannot confirm a systematic pricing benefit for any ESG-labelled debt type as of March 2023. However, issuers of ESG bonds did benefit from a statistically significant pricing in the past driven by their issuer-level ESG credentials.
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Source: ESMA
Economic Activity in Europe and Central Asia Improves but Growth Lags Pre-Pandemic Levels
October 5, 2023--Economic growth for the emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) of the Europe and Central Asia region has been revised up to 2.4% for 2023, says the World Bank's Economic Update for the region, released today.
The pickup in growth reflects improved forecasts for war-hit Ukraine and for Central Asia, as well as consumer resiliency in Turkey and better-than-expected growth in Russia because of a surge in government spending on the military and social transfers.
Excluding Russia and Ukraine, regional output is expected to grow by 3% in 2023. Nevertheless, growth remains weak relative to the long-term pre-pandemic averages. Overall, growth in half of the Europe and Central Asia countries is expected to be slower or little changed in 2023 than in 2022.
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Source: worldbank.org
ESMA consults on the potential impact of shortening the standard settlement cycle
October 5, 2023--The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, today launches a Call for Evidence (CfE) on the shortening of the settlement cycle. Stakeholders are invited to provide their input by 15 December 2023.
The Call for Evidence will help ESMA to assess the costs and benefits of a possible reduction of the settlement cycle in the European Union (EU); and identify whether any regulatory action is needed to smoothen the impact for EU market participants of the planned shortening of the settlement cycle to T+1 in other jurisdictions, such as the US. ESMA seeks input, including quantitative evidence, from all stakeholders involved in financial markets, and not only those in financial market infrastructures.
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Source: ESMA
ESMA publishes second consultation on crypto market rules
October 5, 2023--The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, today publishes a second consultation package under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Stakeholders are encouraged to provide their feedback to this consultation by 14 December 2023.
In the documents published today, ESMA is seeking input on five sets of proposed rules, covering:
sustainability indicators for distributed ledgers;
disclosures of inside information;
technical requirements for white papers;
trade transparency measures; and
record-keeping and business continuity requirements for crypto-asset service providers.
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Source: ESMA
Households and non-financial corporations in the euro area: second quarter of 2023
October 5, 2023--Households' financial investment increased at lower annual rate of 2.1% in second quarter of 2023, after 2.4% in previous quarter
Non-financial corporations' financing grew at lower annual rate of 0.9%, after 1.4%
Non-financial corporations' gross operating surplus increased at lower annual rate of 5.3%, after 9.4%
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Source: ECB
Euro area quarterly balance of payments and international investment position:
second quarter of 2023
October 5, 2023--Current account surplus at €34 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP) in four quarters to second quarter of 2023, after a €129 billion surplus (1.0% of GDP) a year earlier
Geographical counterparts: largest surpluses vis-à-vis United Kingdom (€156 billion) and Switzerland (€74 billion) and largest bilateral current account deficits vis-à-vis China (€156 billion) and the United States (€27 billion)
International investment position showed net assets of €265 billion (1.9% of euro area GDP) at the end of second quarter of 2023
Current account
The current account of the euro area recorded a surplus of €34 billion (0.2% of euro area GDP) in the four quarters to the second quarter of 2023, after recording a surplus of €129 billion (1.0% of GDP) a year earlier. This decline was mainly driven by a fall in the primary income surplus from €76 billion to €7 billion and by reductions in the surpluses for goods (down from €74 billion to €56 billion) and services (down from €142 billion to €128 billion).
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Source: ECB
New fixed income ETFs from BNP Paribas Easy on Xetra: access to sustainable investment grade corporate bonds denominated in euros and US dollars
October 4, 2023--Four new exchange-traded funds issued by BNP Paribas Easy have been tradable on Xetra and via Börse Frankfurt.
The BNP Paribas Easy EUR Corp Bond SRI Fossil Free Ultrashort Duration UCITS ETF offers investors the opportunity to invest in a portfolio of euro-denominated corporate bonds with a short remaining maturity.
Only fixed-rate bonds with a residual maturity of one month to a maximum of 18 months and floating-rate bonds with a residual maturity of one month to 3 years are taken into account.
All bonds must have an investment grade rating and an outstanding volume of €500 billion at the time of intake. The trading currency is Euro.
The BNP Paribas Easy USD Corp Bond SRI Fossil Free UCITS ETF provides investors with access to investment-grade fixed-income corporate bonds denominated in US dollars.
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Source: Xetra
21.co Appoints Senior ETF Leader as Head of Financial Product Development
October 3, 2023--Mandy Chiu, CFA, brings deep experience developing innovative investment solutions for international markets
21.co, the world's largest issuer of crypto ETPs, today announced the appointment of Mandy Chiu, CFA, the company's Head of Financial Product Development.
As interest increases in the digital asset investment space, Chiu's addition to 21.co comes at a time of significant growth and key talent acquisition for the company.
In this role, Chiu will oversee the company's global product expansion of 21Shares. Working closely with industry partners, she'll seek to bridge the gap between TradFi and DeFi -a key initiative in supporting the company's mission and growth.
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Source: 21.co