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BME to offer co-location service for market members
The service makes the Spanish stock exchange one of the most accessible in the world
May 16, 2012--BME announced today it will offer co-location services to all its Members, after expanding its communication infrastructure and IT systems in its Data Processing Centre, in Madrid.
In addition, BME will provide high-tech facilities to house Member’s automatic trading systems. The goal of this service is to improve the speed of access to the Spanish market, in this way enhancing liquidity and improving price formation.
Through this new service, which will be available in the fourth quarter, the Market Members’ IT systems will be placed just a few meters away from BME’s Cash and Derivatives trading platforms. This closeness will significantly reduce the communication times between both systems, as a result of which Members will enjoy greater operational capacity. The whole infrastructure of the service will be managed by specialised BME staff, in this way ensuring fairness in terms of access and a secure system.
Greek euro exit 'would cost France EUR 50 bn'
May 15, 2012--France would face a bill of 50 billion euros ($64.3 billion) if Greece were forced to quit the eurozone, outgoing French Finance Minister Francois Baroin warned Tuesday.
Speaking to Europe 1 radio, Baroin said that in addition to the costs to the state, French banks and insurance companies with Greek assets would lose out, but he predicted that they could survive this.
"We have loaned 50 billion," he said, referring to France's part in the EU fund set up to protect weaker member states from default.
Fiscal Policy: Growth dimension and control of new Commission powers needed
May 15, 2012--The European Commission should have more control over fiscal policy in EU Member States, but not the free rein it asked for, says the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in texts, voted on Monday, stating a position on the economic governance "two pack".
This increased power must be democratically controlled and serve to spur economic growth, MEPs say.
The vote was not without acrimony as centre left and centre right groups were divided on whether the timing was right for a vote. "The world was a different place when the Commission made its proposals and the Council is also shifting its position on how much austerity is needed", said Elisa Ferreira (S&D, PT), one of the rapporteurs, said before the vote.
"Changes in the political environment happen all the time. We should vote because this legislation should enter into force as quickly as possible in view of the persisting crisis" Jean-Paul Gauzes (EPP, FR), the other rapporteur, replied. A slim majority was then secured for the votes to be taken.
HSBC Revamps Exchange-Traded Fund Business
May 15, 2012--HSBC (HBC) has moved its European exchange-traded-fund platform into the bank's global asset management division, in a restructure of its ETF business.
HSBC Global Asset Management will be accountable for the HSBC ETF product platform and its distribution activities, the asset management business said.
The bulk of the ETF business including ETF sales, product development and marketing teams will now operate under asset management, while market making and ETF pricing will continue to operate under global markets.
The restructure follows the December exit of Mark Rodino, the bank's head of ETF sales in Europe, and the transfer of its global head of ETFs, Farley Thomas, into the investment banking arm earlier this year.
NYSE Euronext Monthly ETF Activity Report - April 2012
May 15, 2012--Listings
In April, there were no new ETF listings. At the end of the month NYSE Euronext had 695 listings of 597 ETFs from 16 issuers.
Trading activity
April's ETF trading activity largely echoed the wider market's overall rather conservative sentiment. Toward the end of the month, the first round of the French elections took place, causing the market to react and showing an uptick in activity. This helped to extend the upward year-to-date trend first seen at the end of the first quarter 2012 and overall ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext reflected some strengthening in April:
The average daily value traded on-book last month was €297.1 million, down 14.8% vs. April 2011. The total value traded on-book amounted to €5.6 billion, up 1.3% month-on-month;
An average of 7,903 on-book trades (single-counted) was executed daily last month, a decrease of 0.4% vs April 2011, but up 9.6% month-on-month;
A total of €819.9 million was exchanged in block trades in April, down 2.5% from the €840.9 million in the previous month. Overall, block trade volume represented 12.7% of total regulated market ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
At the end of April 2012, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on the NYSE Euronext European markets totalled €135.9 billion.
Market Quality
Our high-capacity, low-latency technology, combined with the flow from client orders, competitive market makers and our 22 first-class Liquidity Providers, contributed to a median spread for all listed ETFs of 29.58 bps.
Several LPs expanded their LP activity in April on existing ETFs. In total, 4 LPs took on liquidity responsibilities for 19 additional LP contracts:
COMMERZBANK started LP activity on 9 ETFs;
GOLDENBERG HEHMEYER started LP activity on 2 ETFs.
BARCLAYS became LP for 7 ETFs;
SUSQUEHANNA started LP activity on 1 ETFs in April.
IMKB celebrates the trading of "BMD Securities Type A Participation Index ETF
May 15, 2012--On the occasion of the first trading day of "BMD Securities Inc. Type A Paticipation Index Exchange Traded Fund", which is founded by Bizim Menkul Değerler, the executives and guests of the relevant brokerage house will visit IMKB (İstanbul Menkul Kıymetler Borsası) and ring the opening bell of the Stock Market on May 16, 2012.
The participation certificates of "BMD Securities Inc. Type A Participation Index Exchange Traded Fund" will start to be traded on the İMKB Collective Products Market under the ticker symbol "KTLME" .
Bank capital rules -14 May Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee vote
May 15, 2012--The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee took a unanimous stand on the latest bank capital requirements legislation on Monday 14 May. The vote gives Parliament's negotiators, led by rapporteur Othmar Karas (EPP, AT), a strong hand in pushing its reform agenda with Member States.
Put simply, bank capital is the funds held by a bank in the form of cash, real estate, bonds, shares, and loans such as mortgages etc. Bank capital is also categorised by how liquid it is, i.e. how easily it can be converted into cash in order to make payouts to creditors, including depositors.
This note details the key aims that the committee strove for in the vote and how it proposes that they be achieved.
Deutsche Boerse Group to reduce equities clearing fees
Participants will save up to 20 percent of clearing fees
May 15, 2012--Eurex Clearing is to lower the clearing fees for equity transactions on Xetra and Xetra Frankfurt Specialist with effect from 1 July.
The volume-dependent clearing fee will fall by 0.02 basis points for all participants. The volume-dependent fee will in future be 0.0008 percent for Xetra Frankfurt Specialist trading and between 0.0008 and 0.0003 percent in fully electronic Xetra trading – depending on monthly turnover volume. The new pricing model will save clearing customers up to 20 percent of total clearing fees.
“The reduced pricing model in equities clearing makes trading on the Xetra and Xetra Frankfurt Specialist even more attractive and puts us in an excellent position in the European clearing business,” said Frank Gerstenschläger, Deutsche Börse AG Executive Board member responsible for the Xetra cash market segment.
Due to the stimulation in trading and clearing activity as a result of the new pricing model, Deutsche Börse expects a largely neutral effect on total turnover.
In clearing, receivables and liabilities from the securities business are aggregated or offset against each other. After the end of a trading day, the clearing house informs its members of their transactions as well as the remaining receivables and liabilities generated.
Flash estimate for the first quarter of 2012 Euro area and EU27 GDP stable
0.0% and +0.1% respectively compared with the first quarter of 2011
May 15, 2012-- GDP remained stable in both the euro area1 (EA17) and the EU271 during the first quarter of 2012, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In the fourth quarter of 2011, growth rates were -0.3% in both zones.
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP remained stable in the euro area and increased by 0.1% in the EU27 in the first quarter of 2012, after +0.7% and +0.8% respectively in the previous quarter.
During the first quarter of 2012, GDP in the United States increased by 0.5% compared with the previous quarter (after +0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011).
Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, GDP rose by 2.1% in the United States (after +1.6% in the previous quarter).
Fiscal Policy: Growth dimension and control of new Commission powers needed
May 15, 2012--The European Commission should have more control over fiscal policy in EU Member States, but not the free rein it asked for, says the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in texts, voted on Monday, stating a position on the economic governance ""two pack".
This increased power must be democratically controlled and serve to spur economic growth, MEPs say.
The vote was not without acrimony as centre left and centre right groups were divided on whether the timing was right for a vote. "The world was a different place when the Commission made its proposals and the Council is also shifting its position on how much austerity is needed", said Elisa Ferreira (S&D, PT), one of the rapporteurs, said before the vote.
"Changes in the political environment happen all the time. We should vote because this legislation should enter into force as quickly as possible in view of the persisting crisis" Jean-Paul Gauzes (EPP, FR), the other rapporteur, replied. A slim majority was then secured for the votes to be taken.
