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EDHEC-Risk Institute Draws the French Government’s Attention to the Inadvisability of Imposing a Tobin Tax in France
January 11, 2012--In an open letter dated January 10, 2012 addressed to the French Prime Minister, which itself referred to a previous letter addressed to the European Internal Market and Services Commissioner, Michel Barnier, EDHEC-Risk Institute has underlined the difficulties and risks associated with implementing a tax on financial transactions in France.
On the basis of a position paper* by Raman Uppal, Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School, EDHEC-Risk Institute’s recommendations are structured around theoretical evidence on financial transaction taxation, empirical evidence on its effects, as well as the implementation challenges of such a tax. The key findings from this study are as follows:
The findings of theoretical models are mixed about the effectiveness of the “Tobin tax” to reduce volatility and improve welfare. The Tobin tax will obviously lead to a reduction in the trading of securities on which the tax is imposed. But, a reduction in the trading of financial securities also means that it is now more difficult to use the financial markets to smooth consumption over time and in different economic conditions. The Tobin tax reduces speculative activity in financial markets; but, this tax also drives away investors who provide liquidity and stabilise prices. Thus, introducing a Tobin tax has both advantages and disadvantages, and the net effect on volatility is likely to be small.
2011 in Retrospect: “Transparency in Energy Markets”
January 11, 2011--In 2011, the
“Transparency in Energy Markets” (www.transparency.eex.com) platform – the central publication location for energy market data, such as regarding the installed capacity, scheduled and unscheduled power plant outages and on the planned and actual generation
of power – was further expanded and improved.
In the framework of the publication of statutory requirements, fundamental data regarding the generation of power in Austria has also been published since 22 July 2011. At the same
time, the existing voluntary messages by Austrian power plant operators were expanded considerably. In addition to this, BASF and Volkswagen became the first industrial power plant operators to provide information in the statutory segment and PCK became the first
industrial operator to provide information in the voluntary segment in addition.
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Source: EEX
Powernext Energy Savings: Launch Of The Organised Market For Energy Savings Certificates On 10th January 2012
January 11, 2012--Powernext launched the Energy Saving Certificate (in French “Certificats d’Economies d’Energie” or CEE) organised market on 10th January 2012. This launch follows a study made in close cooperation with the market actors since 2009. After a first phase of obligations (2006-2009) where the objective was largely exceeded without any heavy involvement of the market,
the much more ambitious second phase (2011-2013) shows a greater development of the activity on the CEE secondary market.
Within this context, Powernext has launched an anonymous and secure multilateral spot trading platform to bring transparence and structure to a market still in its developing phase.
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Source: Mondovisione
Sarkozy Pushes Financial Transaction Tax While Seeing Risk of Going Solo
January 10, 2012--France will lead the way on taxing financial transactions in an effort to spur other countries into joining, President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
“If France waits for others to tax finance, then finance will never be taxed,” Sarkozy said today in a speech in the eastern French city of Mulhouse.
A unilateral levy is opposed by France’s financial community and its feasibility was questioned today by one of Sarkozy’s own ministers. It has become a political challenge for the president, who faces elections in a two-round vote in April and May this year and wants to make good on a pledge he made to impose such a tax when France last year held the presidency of both the G-8 and G-20 group of countries.
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Source: Bloomberg
Ex BlackRock ETF guru Fuhr not joining BoAML as role axed
January 10, 2012--Ex BlackRock ETF guru Fuhr not joining BoAML as role axed
Former BlackRock ETF expert Deborah Fuhr will not be joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as the role of head of global delta one strategy has been axed.
Fuhr, who was previously global head of ETF research and implementation strategy at BlackRock, was set to join BoAML in the third quarter of last year.
A spokesperson for BoAML said: 'Due to organisational changes the role of head of global delta one strategy will no longer exist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
'As such it has been mutually agreed that Deborah Fuhr will not join the bank. We wish her every success in her endeavours.'
Fuhr left BlackRock in July, and her departure was followed by that of her deputy, Shane Kelly, who has joined BoAML.
In her new role, she was due to report to Pier Butler, who is head of the EMEA global equity, macro and events group.
Rather than heading up ETF research, as Fuhr did in her previous roles, she was set to work on other aspects of ETF development and trading, as well as other delta one products.
Both Fuhr and Kelly worked at BlackRock since it acquired Barclays Global Investors in 2009. The duo joined BGI in 2008, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley.
Source: Citywire
Pendulum swings firmly in favour of Eurozone financial transaction tax
January 9, 2012--A very broad agreement in favour of an EU financial transaction tax emerged on Monday, at the start of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee's work on the legislative proposal. Spokespersons for Parliament's various political groups all advocated such a tax, at least throughout the Eurozone, and many deplored France's weekend hint that it could go it alone.
Various MEPs said that in recent months they had shifted their position in favour of a financial transaction tax. Wolf Klinz (ALDE, DE) explained that this was "because the financial sector has not learnt the lessons from the crisis".
The shift suggests that more MEPs may favour the proposal than was the case some months ago. Only the ECR spokesperson, Czech MEP Ivo Strejček, stood by his group's fundamental opposition to the tax.
Parliament an early mover in calls to tax financial transactions
By narrow margins, Parliament had already pronounced itself in favour of a financial transaction tax towards the end of 2010 and more specifically in March 2011. The Commission tabled its legislative proposal late in 2011.
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Source: European Parliament
First commodity ETF launched
January 9, 2012--Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and Source are pleased to announce the launch of the LGIM Commodity Composite Source ETF. The fund, which tracks the LGIM Commodity Composite Index, is designed to offer high quality, diversified exposure to commodities in a UCITS-compliant ETF.
The LGIM Commodity Composite Index aims to be a new kind of benchmark for broad-based commodity exposure. Using LGIM’s expertise as an index manager, and an in-depth quantitative and qualitative screening process, it offers exposure to a selection of ‘best of breed’ commodity indices.
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Source: Source
ESMA Publishes A Q&A On MAD Regarding Definition Of Inside Information On Dividends
January 9, 2012--ESMA publishes today a Q&A on the definition of inside information of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD), with regards to information relating to dividends by an issuer of financial instruments
that would be likely to have a significant effect on the prices of related derivative financial instruments.
view Q&A on MAD regarding definition of inside information on dividends
Source: ESMA
Gold holdings at a record level in 2011
Xetra-Gold reserve with a value of around €2.1 billion in central vault
January 9, 2012--The value of gold stored by Deutsche Börse Commodities rose by around 32% in 2011 to €2.1 billion (as at 31 December 2011), thus achieving a new record level. The gold in the central vault well crossed the 50 ton mark in the course of the year. The highest demand for Xetra-Gold was in July and August.
“Investors showed an increased interest in gold during the turbulent phases of the market. Xetra-Gold gave them the opportunity to invest simply and flexibly in physical gold and to trade it economically like a share. The bid/ask spread is generally only around 0.1 percent. Every security has a value equivalent to exactly one gram of physical gold. The gold is in safe custody in our central vault and can be delivered at any time,” said Martina Gruber, managing director at Deutsche Börse Commodities GmbH.
Since Xetra-Gold launched in 2007, investors have already made use of this physical backing 643 times – a total of 3.4 tons has been delivered from the central vault in Frankfurt to investors' own banks. This only involves fees for packaging, transport and insurance which differ according to the quantity delivered. Delivery normally takes around two weeks. The smallest amount that has been delivered so far was 10 grams, the largest 213 kilograms.
Xetra-Gold is by far the best-performing security among the 218 exchange traded commodities (ETCs) available on Xetra. Its annual turnover for 2011 was €3.2 billion. Its annual average share of total order book turnover in the ETC segment was 26.9 percent.
Source: Deutsche Börse Commodities
Seven new Deutsche Bank ETFs launched on Xetra
New funds track bond and credit derivative indices
Janaury 9, 2012--Seven new exchange traded funds issued by db X-trackers II, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, have been tradable in the XTF segment on Xetra since Monday. Four are credit derivative ETFs on iTraxx indices and three are bond index ETFs on government bonds.
The four db X-trackers II credit derivative ETFs give investors the opportunity for the first time to participate in the positive or inverse performance of the iTraxx Europe and iTraxx Crossover indices with a leverage factor of two. iTraxx Europe comprises 125 European companies with an investment-grade rating. iTraxx Crossover, on the other hand, reflects the yields of 45 European companies with a rating of Baa3/BBB minus or below.
The db X-trackers II iBoxx € Sovereigns Eurozone 1-3 Total Return Index ETF and db X-trackers II iBoxx € Sovereigns Eurozone 3-5 Total Return Index ETF give investors the opportunity to invest in the performance of euro zone government bonds with a maturity of one to three years and three to five years, respectively.
And the db X-trackers II Global Sovereign Index ETF allows investors to participate in the performance of global government bonds. The underlying index, the Deutsche Bank Global Investment Grade Government Index, currently comprises government bonds from 20 industrialised nations with an investment-grade rating.
The product offering in Deutsche Börse’s XTF segment currently comprises a total of 907 exchange-listed index funds, while average monthly trading volume stands at €16 billion.
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Source:Deutsche Börse
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