ECB-Euro area securities issues statistics
April 13, 2012--The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of debt securities issued by euro area residents increased from 4.0% in January 2012 to 4.3% in February. For the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents, the annual growth rate was 1.6% in February 2012, compared with 1.7% in January.
New issuance of debt securities by euro area residents totalled EUR 1,160 billion in February 2012.
Redemptions stood at EUR 1,013 billion and net issues amounted to EUR 159 billion.1 The annual
growth rate of outstanding debt securities issued by euro area residents increased from 4.0% in January
2012 to 4.3% in February.
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Source: ECB
Deutsche Boerse appeals EU veto of NYSE merger
April 13, 2012--German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse said Friday it had appealed a European Union veto against a merger with NYSE Euronext that would have created the world's largest exchange operator.
"We have filed the complaint before the competent authorities in Luxembourg" where the EU's court is located, a Deutsche Boerse spokesman said.
Deutsche Boerse said last month that it planned to file the appeal after European regulators vetoed the merger over concerns it would potentially dominate the global derivatives trade.
NYSE Euronext has said it won't appeal the decision and the merger was formally cancelled last month.
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Source: EUbusiness
iShares S&P 500 Crosses USD10 Billion In AUM In Europe
April 12, 2012--Ten years after its launch, the iShares S&P 500 fund has topped $10 billion in assets under management in Europe.
Presently, the fund is the third largest exchange-traded fund (ETF) in Europe and the most traded European ETF with exposure to the US equity market. The constant liquidity and tight bid-ask spreads of the fund let the investors express their views on US stock market either for ‘buy and hold’ or tactical purposes. The London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Borse, Borsa Italiana, Euronext and the SIX Swiss Exchange are the five exchanges where the fund is listed. The ETF is also available in an accumulating version, where dividends are automatically reinvested into the fund, and in Sterling and Euro hedged forms.
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Source: Finance Equity
Tough rules needed on insider trading and market manipulation
April 12, 2012--Proposed legislation to tackle insider trading and market manipulation must not fragment markets, because this would make such abuses even harder to detect, said Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs debating them on Thursday. Cross-border trading calls for cross-border cooperation among regulators, and tiny financial boutiques with billion euro turnovers should not be exempted, they added.
"We need to be very tough on market abuse and market manipulation. Our purpose is to improve and clarify", said rapporteur Arlene McCarthy (S&D, UK), presenting her draft report on the proposed legislation
Limiting market fragmentation
Ms McCarthy believes that increased market fragmentation makes it more difficult to detect manipulation, and she won broad support from her colleagues for her wish to remove so-called "organised trading facility" (OTF), category from the Commission proposal.
MEPs felt that this category - of facilities operated by investment firms or market players, that bring together buyers and sellers or orders relating to a financial instrument - was not well enough defined and would enable yet another type of player to enter a market that is already complex and hard to control.
"It will be nevertheless very useful to have a clear definition of OTF" said Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, FI). Wolf Klinz (ALDE, DE), countered that removing the OTF category would contradict the proposal's aim to cover all kinds of financial markets.
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Source: European Parliament
Quantitative impact study results published by the Basel Committee
April 12, 2012--The Basel Committee published today the results of its Basel III monitoring exercise. The study is based on rigorous reporting processes set up by the Committee to periodically review the implications of the Basel III standards for financial markets. A total of 212 banks participated in the study, including 103 Group 1 banks (ie those that have Tier 1 capital in excess of €3 billion and are internationally active) and 109 Group 2 banks (ie all other banks).
While the Basel III framework sets out transitional arrangements to implement the new standards, the monitoring exercise results assume full implementation of the final Basel III package based on data as of 30 June 2011 (ie they do not take account of the transitional arrangements such as the phase in of deductions). No assumptions were made about bank profitability or behavioural responses, such as changes in bank capital or balance sheet composition. For that reason the results of the study are not comparable to industry estimates.
Based on data as of 30 June 2011 and applying the changes to the definition of capital and risk-weighted assets, the average common equity Tier 1 capital ratio (CET1) of Group 1 banks was 7.1%, as compared with the Basel III minimum requirement of 4.5%. In order for all Group 1 banks to reach the 4.5% minimum, an increase of €38.8 billion CET1 would be required. The overall shortfall increases to €485.6 billion to achieve a CET1 target level of 7.0% (ie including the capital conservation buffer); this amount includes the surcharge for global systemically important banks where applicable. As a point of reference, the sum of profits after tax and prior to distributions across the same sample of Group 1 banks in the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011 was €356.6 billion.
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Source: BIS
NYSE Euronext Monthly ETF Activity Report - March 2012
April 11, 2012--Listings
In March, NYSE Euronext welcomed 2 new ETFs to the Paris market, one from Lyxor and another from Ossiam:
March 2012 ETF Listings | |||
ETF Symbol | Listing date | ETF Trading name | Underlying index |
LVIX | 15/03/2012 | LYXOR LVIX | SP 500 VIX Futures Enhanced Roll |
EMMV | 22/03/2012 | OSSIAM EM MINVAR E | Ossiam Emerging Markets Minimum Variance |
In total, at the end of March, NYSE Euronext had 695 listings of 597 ETFs from 16 issuers.
Trading activity
While trading activity in March still lagged considerably compared with the same period last year, the first quarter 2012 ended on a positive note with an upward trend. Overall ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext bounced back from the lowest levels since May 2007:
visit http://etp.nyx.com for more information
Source: NYSE Euronext
Esma must clarify ETF rules, say fund managers
European plans for exchange traded fund (ETF) regulation are blurring the lines between active and passive management, according to a consultation.
April 11, 2012--The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) closed its consultation on ETF regulation within Ucits rules on April 3, having received several responses calling for greater clarity regarding its definitions.
Research body Edhec Risk Institute said Esma should specify a limit on the maximum tracking error allowed in a passive fund in order to “frame” which funds were passive ETFs.
“For an index to be considered representative of passive management, its ground rules should leave no room for implicit, let alone explicit, discretionary choices,” Edhec’s response stated.
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Source: FT Adviser
The AMF complies with the ESMA guidelines on automated trading
April 11, 2012--The AMF has included the ESMA guidelines1 on automated trading in its position no. 2012-03 published today, the provisions of which will apply from 7 May 2012.
These guidelines, issued on the basis of the Market in Financial Instruments (MiFID) and Market Abuse directives, set out the methods for implementation of certain provisions of these directives and their implementing directive in the particular field of automated trading systems, most notably high frequency trading.
They mainly concern the following activities:
The operation of an electronic trading system by a regulated market or a multilateral trading facility
(MTF);
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Source: AMF
Italy borrowing costs double as euro debt concerns resurface
April 11, 2012--Italy's borrowing costs doubled in a closely-watched bond auction on Wednesday that raised 11 billion euros ($14 billion) in short-term debt, as tensions returned to eurozone bond markets.
Eight billion euros in 12-month bonds were sold at a rate of 2.84 percent -- far higher than the 1.492 percent paid in March while three billion euros due July 2012 went at 1.249 percent compared to 0.492 percent last month.
Borrowing costs had been on the decline in recent months after Prime Minister Mario Monti came to power in November, replacing Silvio Berlusconi who was ousted by a parliamentary revolt and a wave of financial market panic.
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Source: CityWire
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