EBA publishes final draft technical standards on conditions for assessing materiality of extensions and changes of internal approaches for market risk
July 4, 2014--The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the conditions for assessing the materiality of extensions and changes of the Internal Models Approach (IMA) for market risk.
These RTS complement and amend the standards on the rules for credit and operational risk which were adopted and published in the EU Official Journal on 20 May 2014.
According to the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), all institutions shall apply for permission whenever they intend to implement any material extension or change to their internal approaches for credit, market and operational risk.
view the EBA FINAL draft Regulatory Technical Standards
EBA proposes potential regulatory regime for virtual currencies, but also advises that financial institutions should not buy, hold or sell them whilst no such regime is in place
July 4, 2014--The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion addressed to the EU Council, European Commission and European Parliament setting out the requirements that would be needed to regulate 'virtual currencies'. The Opinion is also addressed to national supervisory authorities and advises to discourage financial institutions from buying, holding or selling virtual currencies while no regulatory regime is in place.
Following a thorough assessment of virtual currencies carried out jointly with other European authorities, each within its relevant mandate, such as the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EBA has concluded that, while there are some potential benefits from virtual currencies, such as faster and cheaper transactions, as well as financial inclusion; however risks outweigh the benefits, which in the European Union remain less pronounced.
view the EBA Opinion on 'virtual currencies'.
Source hires head of European capital markets
July 4, 2014--Exchange-traded fund provider Source has appointed Juergen Blumberg as executive director, head of European capital markets.
"One of Source's key advantages is through the deep roots we have in the trading community," says Gary Buxton, chief operating officer.
IMF-France: Selected Issues paper
July 3, 2014--THE DRIVERS OF BUSINESS INVESTMENT IN FRANCE: REASONS FOR RECENT WEAKNESS
Introduction
1. While the resilience in private consumption has supported domestic spending in France during the crisis, business investment remains a substantial drag on growth.
In 2013, private consumption was 2.5 percent higher than its pre-crisis level whereas business investment was still 9 percent lower than its pre-crisis peak.
2.This paper reviews business investment patterns in France during the crisis. The main motivation is to explore whether investment has recently evolved in line with established determinants or displayed somewhat unconventional dynamics. We address three distinct questions.
First, has recent investment behavior essentially been consistent with past trends or is there any discernible structural break as a result of the crisis? Second, what drove the contraction in investment during the crisis? Third, what is the investment outlook and can we expect a swift and
strong rebound going forward?
view the IMF-France: Selected Issues paper
UK Official holdings of international reserves: June 2014
July 3, 2014--The UK official holdings of international reserves-June 2014 is now available
UBS lists continental Europe and UK mid-cap equity ETFs
July 2, 2014--UBS Global Asset Management, a leading European provider of exchange-traded funds, has listed two new ETFs on the London Stock Exchange: the UBS MSCI Europe ex-UK UCITS ETF (UC77) and the UBS FTSE 250 UCITS ETF (UC78).
The physically replicated funds provide exposure to continental European equities and UK mid-caps via the MSCI Europe ex UK and FTSE 250 indices, respectively.
IMF-Russian Federation: Selected Issues
July 1, 2014--Summary: Russia's trend growth is volatile. The transition from a centrally planned to a market economy started in 1991, hence time series are relatively short compared to other countries.
The size and depth of structural reforms during the 1990's, the financial crisis and default in 1998, followed by the oil boom in the 2000's, and subsequent GFC, make identification of a stable "long run" growth trend a very hard task. Hence, it is complicated to pin down an accurate estimate of potential growth and the output gap.
view the IMF-Russian Federation: Selected Issues report
Turnover at Deutsche Borse's cash markets at 93.7 billion euros in June
July 1, 2014--Order book turnover on Xetra, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Tradegate stood at &euro93.7 billion in June (June 2013: &euro102.5 billion). Of the &euro93.7 billion, &euro86.2 billion were attributable to Xetra (June 2013: &euro95.3 billion). &euro3.9 billion were attributable to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (June 2013: &euro4.2 billion). Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange* totalled approximately &euro3.6 billion in June (June 2013: &euro3.0 billion).
In equities, turnover reached &euro81.9 billion on Deutsche Börse's cash markets (Xetra: &euro77.1 billion, Frankfurt Stock Exchange: &euro1.6 billion, Tradegate Exchange: &euro3.2 billion). Turnover in bonds was &euro1.1 billion, and in structured products &euro1.0 billion. Order book turnover in ETFs/ETCs/ETNs amounted to &euro9.0 billion.
Two new SPDR ETFs launched on Xetra
ETFs based on US stock corporations
July 1, 2014-- Two new equity index funds from the ETF offering issued by SPDR (State Street Global Advisors) have been tradable in the XTF segment on Xetra since Tuesday.
ETF Name: SPDR Russell 3000 U.S. Total Market UCITS ETF
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: IE00BKY7WX37
Total expense ratio: 0.25 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: Russell 3000 Index
ETF Name: SPDR Russell 2000 U.S. Small Cap UCITS ETF
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: IE00BJ38QD84
Total expense ratio: 0.30 percent