Second estimate for the fourth quarter of 2012-Euro area GDP down by 0.6% and EU27 down by 0.5%
-0.9% and -0.6% respectively compared with the fourth quarter of 2011
March 6, 2013--GDP fell by 0.6% in the euro area1 (EA17) and by 0.5% in the EU271 during the fourth quarter of 2012, compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates2 published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In the third quarter of 2012, growth rates were -0.1% and +0.1% respectively.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP fell by 0.9% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU27
in the fourth quarter of 2012, after -0.6% and -0.4% respectively in the previous quarter.
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Source: Eurostat
Eurex Clearing offers new "Omnibus Model" segregation service for the UK market
March 6, 2013--Europe's leading clearing house, further expands its suite of segregation services and offers a UK CASS compliant Omnibus Clearing Model as an additional alternative.
The new service complements the existing models – the Individual Clearing Model (ICM) and the Elementary Clearing Model (ECM). It allows UK-domiciled Clearing Members (CMs) to use the segregation rules for Client Assets (CASS) of the British Financial Services Authority (FSA) in respect of client margin collateral. Goldman Sachs was the first clearing member deploying the new service model for its clients. Further clearing members are preparing to use the new segregation service.
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Source: Eurex Clearing
ETFGI -$1.3 billion net inflows into ETFs and ETPs listed in Europe in February 2013 show a continuation of the rotation into equities
March 6, 2013 — In February 2013, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) listed in Europe had net inflows of $1.3 billion, according to new research published in the latest ETFGI Europe ETF and ETP industry insights.
ETFGI won the Best ETF Research award in 2012 in the ETF Express awards announced on February 28th in London.
In February 2013, ETFs and ETPs saw net inflows of US$1.3 billion. Equity ETFs and ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with $1.5 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs and ETPs with $403 million, and active ETFs and ETPs with $380 million, while commodity ETFs and ETPs experienced net outflows of $1.15 billion.
Year to date through end of February 2013, ETFs and ETPs have seen net inflows of $7.85 billion. Equity ETFs and ETPs gathered the largest net inflows year to date with $6.7 billion followed by fixed income ETFs and ETPs with $1.5 billion, and active ETFs and ETPs with $522 million, while commodity ETFs and ETPs experienced net outflows of $931 billion.
"The flows into equity ETFs and ETPs show investors are rotating out of cash and fixed income into equities as investor confidence continues to improve," says Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at London-based ETFGI.
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Source: ETFGI
UK Official holdings of international reserves, February 2013
March 5, 2013--This monthly press notice shows details of movements in December 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.
If such interventions were to occur, then they would be shown and explained in this release. The Background note at the end of this release explains more about the reserves, and about these statistics.
In summary this month’s release shows that, in February 2013:
No intervention operations were undertaken.
Movements in reserves and levels of reserves were as follows:
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Source: HM Treasury
Changes to MDAX, SDAX and TecDAX
Deutsche Borse reviewed index composition/Changes are effective on 18 March 2013
March 5, 2013--On Tuesday Deutsche Börse decided on changes in its selection indices that will become effective 18 March 2013.
The following changes have been made to the MDAX Index: The shares of Norma Group AG will be included in the index and will replace the shares of Vossloh AG. Consequently, the shares of Vossloh AG will be included in SDAX and the shares of Norma Group will leave the index. In TecDAX the shares of Telefonica Deutschland Holding AG will be included, while the shares of Solarworld AG will leave the index.
The next regular index review will be held on 5 June 2013.
Source: Deutsche Borse
EMIR-what are the margin requirements for uncleared OTC derivatives?
March 5, 2013--Will there be universal initial margining, how will it be calculated, will thresholds be permitted, what will count as eligible collateral, will letters of credit be included and, if so, on what basis?
These main questions come to mind in conjunction to EMIR. A new White Paper by ReedSmith discusses the main principles of these proposals and what they mean to those working in financial markets.
request whitepaper
Source: Eurex
One year of impressive risk-adjusted performance from Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management actively managed ETF.
March 4, 2013--The first London-listed actively-managed exchange-traded fund-of-funds, the db xtrackers
SCM Multi Asset UCITS ETF, has reached its one-year anniversary since listing
(on 24th February), registering risk-adjusted outperformance versus standard benchmark
UK equities and UK Gilts indices.
The ETF, which provides exposure to a portfolio of exchange-traded products actively managed by SCM Private LLP, a third-party asset manager that specialises in running asset allocation portfolios primarily consisting of ETFs, had a Sharpe ratio- a common
measure of risk-adjusted returns – of 1.0% for the year since launch, posting returns of 7.85% p.a with volatility of 7.84% p.a.
The equivalent Sharpe ratios for the FTSE 100 Index and for the iBoxx Gilts Overall Index were, respectively, 0.79% p.a and 0.28% p.a*. The higher the Sharpe ratio the greater the return generated per unit of volatility.
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Source: Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management
New Sponsored Funds trading segment on SIX Swiss Exchange
March 4, 2013--SIX Swiss Exchange is today launching Sponsored Funds, a trading segment in which conventional investment funds can be traded. This segment has been realized in conjunction with Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd, which is also acting as the first sponsor.
Until now, investors were only able to subscribe to or redeem fund units on the primary market. The new trading segment now allows them to trade conventional investment funds including equities, bonds, structured products and also exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the stock exchange efficiently and – above all – in a timely way that suits the market. This option to process orders on the secondary market differs from the primary market, in which calculation of the execution price – NAV (net asset value) – and order execution are subject to a delay.
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Source: SIX Swiss Exchange
Two new Lyxor-ETFs launched in the XTF segment on Xetra
ETFs track VIX based volatility indices
March 4, 2013--Two new exchange-listed equity index funds from the issuer Lyxor Asset Management have been tradable in Deutsche Borse's XTF segment since Monday.
ETF name: Lyxor ETF Dynamic Long VIX Futures Index -EUR
Asset class: volatility
ISIN: LU0871960976
Total expense ratio: 0.75 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: Dynamic Long VIX Futures Index
ETF name: Lyxor ETF Dynamic Short VIX Futures Index- EUR
Asset class: volatility
ISIN: LU0871961511
Total expense ratio: 0.40 percent
Distribution policy: non-distributing
Benchmark: Dynamic Short VIX Futures Index
The two new Lyxor ETFs offer investors access to the performance of two VIX based volatility indices.
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Source: Xetra/FWB
FSA publishes discussion paper on transparency
March 4, 2013--The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a discussion paper looking at how transparency and more effective disclosure could improve the accountability of the regulator and the financial services industry, and help consumers make more informed decisions.
The incoming Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is committed to being a transparent regulator and to being open to scrutiny from consumers, firms and Parliament. As part of this, it is keen to gather views and ideas from interested parties about information which, if disclosed, would be helpful for firms and consumers.
view the Consultation paper-Transparency DP13/1
Source: FSA
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