Amundi shuts commodity ETFs amid "hunger speculation" charge
February 21, 2013--Amundi, Europe's second-largest asset, is in the process of closing three of its commodities exchange traded funds amid criticism that such funds are "speculating on hunger".
The Amundi ETF Commodities S&P GSCI Agriculture, the Amundi ETF All Commodities S&P GSCI Light Energy and the Amundi S&P GCSI Non Energy ETF will be closed “within the next few weeks”, the French fund house says.
MTS Licences Lyxor For MTS Spain Government Bond Index
February 21, 2013--Lyxor listed new ETF tracking the index this week
First MTS index to measure the performance of Spanish government bonds
Transparency of methodology and accuracy of index calculation meet highest industry standards
MTS, Europe’s premier facilitator for the European fixed income market, today announced that it has granted a licence to Lyxor to launch ETFs based on its MTS Spain Government Bond Index.
The Lyxor ETF MTS Spain tracks the all-maturity MTS index composed of government bonds issued by the Spanish government with an outstanding volume of at least EUR 2 billion.
Francois Millet, Product Line Manager ETF & Indexing at Lyxor said: “The MTS Spain Government Bond Index is the most accurate and representative benchmark for Spanish sovereign debt. By tracking it with our new ETF, investors now have plain and direct access to this market”.
Eurex Exchange lists four new MSCI index derivatives
Launch date on 11 March 2013
February 21, 2013--The international derivatives marketplace Eurex Exchange will start listing new derivatives on global MSCI indices on 11 March.
From this date, futures and options based on the MSCI World, MSCI Europe, MSCI All Countries Asia Pacific ex-Japan and futures on the MSCI Frontier Markets will be available. Other derivatives on regional and country-specific MSCI emerging markets indices will be launched in July this year. A total of around 30 new index derivatives will be launched in two phases. The two planned product launches will grow the existing offering of equity index derivatives, which currently covers 70 different indices, to around 100.
“We are pleased that Eurex has chosen to expand its product offering to include futures and options on the MSCI World Index and the MSCI Europe Index, two widely used benchmark indices in the investment community,“ said Ricardo Manrique, Executive Director and Head of Derivatives at MSCI. “We look forward to continuing to work with Eurex as they develop their suite of derivatives based on MSCI indices.”
Italian financial transactions tax-Italy imposes Tobin tax on financial transactions
February 21, 2013--Introduction
Italy has introduced a domestic tax on financial transactions (FTT-so called Tobin Tax). The new tax will be imposed on certain financial transactions executed as from 1 March 2013 and on others executed as from 1 July 2013.
Relevant Transactions, Excluded Transactions and Exempt Parties
The FTT applies to certain financial transactions (the Relevant Transactions), wherever executed and regardless of the nationality of the parties.
The five categories of Relevant Transactions are:
transfers of shares and participating financial instruments issued by Italian resident entities (Shares and PFIs), including those transfers on conversions of bonds (except for newly issued shares). Bonds, quotas and fund units are, instead, excluded (further exclusions may be introduced with a subsequent ministerial decree)
transfer of other instruments representing such Shares and PFIs (for example, ADRs – American Depositary Receipts)
Healthy prognosis for European ETF market
February 20, 2013--The US has led the global exchange-traded funds market since the early 1990s, but market practitioners are bullish about the prospects for Europe.
Assets under management in ETFs grew 23% last year to reach $369bn, and in January continued growing to a $389bn all-time high.
ETF provider iShares had the highest net inflows in 2012 in Europe with $18.6bn. However, Stephen Cohen, head of investment strategy and insights Emea, thinks there are even better times ahead. He said: “We feel we are on the verge of a real pickup of ETFs in Europe.”
Deutsche Bank sheds db X-trackers ETF brand
February 20, 2013--Deutsche Bank's newly merged asset and wealth management division is undergoing a major rebranding exercise to bring consistency to its marketing message.
Germany’s largest lender is in the process of scrapping the numerous brands that are grouped under its recently formed asset and wealth management division.
Environment committee backs emissions trading fix
February 19, 2013--A freeze in the auction of some pollution allowances should be allowed to help boost green investments, according to environment committee MEPs voting on draft legislation on Tuesday.
The growing surplus of pollution allowances – due to initial oversupply and the economic slowdown – has seen the carbon price fall well below levels estimated when the EU emissions trading system (ETS) was created.
Boost ETP Signs up three new authorised participants
February 19, 2013--Boost ETP, a new independent provider of ETPs, has signed up three new Authorised Participants (APs): Flow Traders, ABN Amro and UBS.
Each of the new APs are world class ETF market makers and will add significantly to the depth of liquidity available on the Boost 3x leveraged and 3x short ETP platform.
Boost ETP currently works with more than 15 market makers. Boost operates an open and competitive market making model which promotes deeper liquidity across its range of ETPs; this is in contrast to the single AP model adopted by many of BOOST’s competitors, which means investors benefit from greater liquidity and tighter pricing through an open model.
Mid-December 2012 saw Boost list Europe’s first platform of 3x long and 3x short ETPs, 10 ETPs and 10 Exchange Traded Commodities (ETCs) on the London Stock Exchange, the first of its kind in Europe.
DB-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-ETF Research - European Weekly ETF Market Review
February 19, 2013--The most recent issue of the European Weekly ETF Market Review is now available. The report includes key statistics on the European ETF market as well as global ETF market highlights.
For more detailed coverage please refer to our monthly report, issued in the first week following the end of each month.
DB-Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy-ETF Research-ETF Research - Market Access - European ETF and ETC Product Directory
February 19, 2013-- The updated version of the European ETP directory is now available. This document includes all European domiciled exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs).
The directory is organised by asset class and it has been sorted by benchmark exposure and by ETF issuer, in alphabetical order. A number of key information per product have been included in order to enable the reader to get an overview in their respective area of interest.