Moody's strips France of triple-A rating
November 20, 2012--Moody's Investors Service downgraded France's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 from triple-A, the agency said on Monday, citing the country's uncertain fiscal outlook as a result of "deteriorating economic prospects".
Moody's said it is maintaining a negative outlook on the country due to structural challenges and a "sustained loss of competitiveness" in the country.
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Source: FIN24
New SPDR ETF launched on Xetra
ETF tracks corporate bonds from emerging markets
November 20, 2012--A new exchange-listed equity index fund issued by SPDR (State Street Global Advisors) has been tradable on Xetra since Tuesday.
ETF name: SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Emerging Markets Corporate Bond UCITS ETF
Asset class: bond index ETF
ISIN: IE00B7LFXY77
Total expense ratio: 0.50 percent
Distribution policy: distributing
Benchmark: BofA Merrill Lynch Emerging Markets Diversified Corporate ex-144A Index
The SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Emerging Markets Corporate Bond UCITS ETF enables investors to participate in the performance of emerging market corporate bonds denominated in US dollars for the first time. All bonds admitted to the reference index have an outstanding volume of at least USD 500 million and a residual maturity of at least one year, and must also represent senior and secured corporate debt issued in the US or Europe.
The index currently comprises bonds from companies located in Argentina, Bahrain, Barbados, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, the UAE, Ukraine and Venezuela.
The product offering in Deutsche Börse’s XTF segment currently comprises a total of 1,005 exchange-listed index funds, making it the largest offering of all European stock exchanges.
Source: Xetra
Shadow banking: balance benefits and risks, say MEPs
November 20, 2012--"Shadow" banks, such as hedge funds or trading houses, benefit the real economy by lending to risky ventures that regular banks avoid.
But if their loans turn bad, they may collapse, taking regular banks with them, because they lack a capital cushion. Better prudential oversight is needed to reduce shadow banking's systemic risks, without stifling its benefits to the economy, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Tuesday.
Shadow banking institutions account for up to 30% of the global financial system, worth over €50 trillion in 2011. In good times, they provide credit to people or entities that otherwise cannot get it and so fund the real economy. But if they make bad investments they have no protection, because they do not hold deposits and have no access to central bank liquidity.
Risks to regular banks
Shadow banks do not exist on their own. They are interconnected with regular banks, which often use them to get round capital and accounting rules. If they collapse, they can cause a domino effect across other financial institutions and borders, bringing down regular banks and ultimately harming taxpayers across the EU who are obliged to come to the rescue.
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Source: European Parliament
ESMA publishes an opinion on the interpretation of Article 50(2)(a) of the UCITS Directive
November 20, 2012--ESMA has published an opinion on the interpretation of Article 50(2)(a) of the UCITS Directive
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Source: ESMA
MEP proposes ban on fund manager performance fees
Funds charging performance fees could be threatened by European ruling on charges.
November 19, 2012--Fund managers could be banned from charging performance fees under European proposals that could be included in a future Ucits directive.
Amendments to the latest Ucits rules, which cover the majority of open-ended funds in the UK, include a proposal to limit charges to a percentage of a fund’s size, rather than any performance-related measure.
The Ucits V proposals, which were tabled by German MEP Sven Giegold,
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Source: FT Adviser
Borsa Italiana reaches 800 listed instruments on ETFplus
November 19, 2012--More than 800 Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) are now listed on ETFplus, Borsa Italiana's dedicated market for the trading of ETFs, ETCs and ETNs.
The important milestone was reached as two new ETFs were listed on the market.
In the year of the 10th anniversary of the first ETF to be listed on the Italian market, ETFplus continues to grow, confirming its status as an international centre for the trading of ETFs.
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Source: Borsa Italiana Spa
Institutional investor surveys reveal marked risk aversion
November 19, 2012-- A number of recent institutional investor surveys reveal significant risk aversion among asset owners even as asset managers are beginning to suggest that now is the time to take a little more risk.
As Dutch asset manager ING Investment Management (INGIM) presented its 2013 outlook and the results of a Europe-wide survey of 171 pension professionals in London last week, Valentijn van Nieuwenhuijzen, head of strategy, said: "Investor confidence is low, so many may miss out on the upside risks we believe are clearly visible."
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Source: IP&E
db X-trackers to offer replication choice on major benchmark indices
19 November 2012--Europe's second largest exchange traded funds (ETF)
provider, db X-trackers, is launching a new initiative that aims to provide investors with the choice of direct or indirect tracking of major equity benchmarks.
In a first for the ETF industry, buyers of db X-trackers ETFs will be able to invest in line with their replication preference for certain ETFs tracking the German, US, Japanese, British, and
Eurozone equity markets. The direct replication products will include the identifier ‘(DR)’ in their fund names. As with all db X-trackers ETFs, the new products will be fully compliant
with the UCITS regulations.
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Source: db X-trackers
New buzz around ETF managers
November 19, 2012--The European stage is set for the development of a new breed of asset manager, dedicated to using exchange-traded funds to allocate assets.
Over the past three years, the number of ETF specialist fund managers in the UK has tripled to 45, although most of them are small.
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Source: Financial News
FSB publishes Initial Integrated Set of Recommendations to Strengthen Oversight and Regulation of Shadow Banking
November 18, 2012--The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is publishing today for public consultation an initial integrated set of policy recommendations to strengthen oversight and regulation of the shadow banking system.
The "shadow banking system" can broadly be described as “credit intermediation involving entities and activities (fully or partially) outside the regular banking system” or non-bank credit intermediation in short.
The FSB has focused on five specific areas in which the FSB believes policies are needed to mitigate the potential systemic risks associated with shadow banking:
(i) to mitigate the spill-over effect between the regular banking system and the shadow banking system;
(ii) to reduce the susceptibility of money market funds (MMFs) to “runs”;
(iii) to assess and mitigate systemic risks posed by other shadow banking entities;
(iv) to assess and align the incentives associated with securitisation; and
(v) to dampen risks and pro-cyclical incentives associated with secured financing contracts such as repos, and securities lending that may exacerbate funding strains in times of “runs”.
view the Consultative Document-Strengthening Oversight and Regulation of Shadow Banking
Source: Financial Stability Board (FSB)
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