ETF Securities submits proposal for new silver price benchmark-FT
June 4, 2014--ETF Securities, one of the biggest providers of exchange-traded funds, has submitted a proposal to develop a new global silver price benchmark when the 117-year-old London silver fix is disbanded in August.
The company, which operates precious metals-backed ETFs, has sent a proposed solution to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), the Financial Times reported citing founder and chairman Graham Tuckwell.
UK Official holdings of international reserves: May 2014
June 4, 2014--This monthly press notice shows details of movements in May in the UK's official holdings of international reserves, which consist of gold, foreign currency assets and International Monetary Fund assets. These reserves are maintained primarily so that the UK government's reserves could be used to intervene to support sterling' or the Bank of England's reserves could be used to support the Bank's monetary policy objectives.
Hornbach Baumarkt and Borussia Dortmund to be included in SDAX
June 4, 2014--On Wednesday Deutsche Börse decided on changes in its selection indices which will become effective on 23 June 2014.
The composition of DAX, MDAX and TecDAX remains unchanged.
The following changes will be made to SDAX: The shares of Hornbach Baumarkt and Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co.KH aA will be included in the index. The shares of König & Bauer AG and Air Berlin PLC will be deleted from the index.
New iShares ETF launched on Xetra
ETF offers access to stock corporations from emerging markets
June 4, 2014--A new equity index ETF issued by iShares has been tradable in Deutsche Börse's XTF segment since Wednesday.
ETF name: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: IE00BKM4GZ66
Total expense ratio: 0.25 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index
With the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF, investors participate in the performance of large to small-cap stock corporations. The reference index currently comprises over 2,600 stocks from 21 emerging markets worldwide, which together constitute around 99 percent of market capitalization.
EC Building growth: Country-specific recommendations 2014
June 2, 2014--The European Commission has today adopted a series of economic policy recommendations to individual Member States to strengthen the recovery that began a year ago. The recommendations are based on detailed analyses of each country's situation and provide guidance on how to boost growth, increase competitiveness and create jobs in 2014-2015.
This year, the emphasis has shifted from addressing the urgent problems caused by the crisis to strengthening the conditions for sustainable growth and employment in a post-crisis economy. As part of today's package, which marks the culmination of the fourth European Semester of economic policy coordination, the Commission has also adopted several decisions on Member States' public finances under the Stability and Growth Pact. Taken together, they represent an ambitious set of reforms for the EU economy.
view the Overview of the 2014 recommendations by country
Turnover at Deutsche B0rse's cash markets at 96.1 billion euros in May
June 2, 2014--Order book turnover on Xetra, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Tradegate stood at €96.1 billion in May (May 2013: €109.2 billion). Of the €96.1 billion, €88.4 billion were attributable to Xetra (May 2013: €99.5 billion). €3.9 billion were attributable to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (May 2013: €5.4 billion). Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange* totalled approximately €3.8 billion in May (May 2013: €4.3 billion).
In equities, turnover reached €84.2 billion on Deutsche Börse’s cash markets (Xetra: €78.9 billion, Frankfurt Stock Exchange: €1.8 billion, Tradegate Exchange: €3.5 billion). Turnover in bonds was €1.0 billion, and in structured products €1.1 billion. Order book turnover in ETFs/ETCs/ETNs amounted to €9.7 billion.
view the IMF Country report-Switzerland: Financial Sector Stability Assessment db x-trackers MSCI USA ETF (DR) launched on Xetra
The db x-trackers MSCI USA Index UCITS ETF (DR) enables investors to participate in the performance of the MSCI USA Index. Source GS EFI World ETF launched on Xetra
The Source Goldman Sachs Equity Factor World UCITS ETF enables investors to participate for the first time in a strategy approach based on these five stock-picking factors: size, value, momentum, quality and low beta.
he two global banks––particularly UBS––were hard hit by the recent global financial crisis (GFC); the rest of the banking sector emerged relatively unscathed. In response to the GFC the Swiss authorities took forceful action. The single supervisor, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), became operational in 2009. Capital standards were raised above Basel minima and ahead of the Basel implementation timetable. Additional capital buffers were imposed on the two large banks, and contingent capital instruments (CoCos) introduced. Macroprudential instruments were analyzed, and at end-September 2013 a countercyclical capital buffer (CCB) targeting residential property mortgages took effect; an increase in the CCB was announced in January 2014, to take effect from June 2014. The insurance industry became subject to the Swiss Solvency Test (SST). Stress tests indicate that the banks are robust against even severe shocks. Banks have increased their capital, and the two global banks have achieved substantial deleveraging. FINMA has focused on significantly improving the quality of its supervision. That said, identification of individual bank risk was hindered as legal constraints prevented the Swiss authorities from providing regulatory data at the individual bank level. Hence the stress tests will not have served to indentify outliers in performance. Nonetheless, there remain important vulnerabilities and challenges to financial stability:
The Swiss economy is among the most interconnected in the world and is deeply exposed to volatility in the European Union (EU). Stresses in the euro area periphery led to “safe haven” flows to the Swiss franc, putting sustained upward pressure on the rate, which the authorities seek to counter through maintaining an exchange rate floor.
Real estate bubbles appear to be emerging; with monetary instruments not available, macroprudential instruments are being introduced, but so far are limited and untested.
While important progress has been made in addressing too-big-to-fail (TBTF) and too-big-to-save (TBTS) issues, this is still a work in progress.
Interest rates are negative at some maturities, threatening the business models of life insurance and pension companies. Temporary alleviation from the SST is in effect through 2015.
May 28, 2014--ETF offers access to US equities
May 28, 2014--A new db x-trackers equity index fund from the ETF section of Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has been tradable in the XTF segment on Xetra since Wednesday.
ETF name: db x-trackers MSCI USA Index UCITS ETF (DR)
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: IE00BJ0KDR00
Total expense ratio: 0.09 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: MSCI USA Total Return Index
May 28, 2014--A new equity index fund from the ETF offering issued by Source has been tradable on Xetra since Wednesday.
ETF name: Source Goldman Sachs Equity Factor World UCITS ETF
Asset class: equity index ETF
ISIN: DE000A1XES75
Total expense ratio: 0.65 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: Goldman Sachs Equity Factor Index World NTR USD Index