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STOXX Launches Global ESG Leaders Indices in collaboration with sustainalytics
April 11, 2011--STOXX Limited, the market-moving provider of innovative, substantial and global index concepts, today introduced the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index family, an innovative series of ESG (environmental, social, governance) indices which is based on sustainability data provided by Sustainalytics, a leading global provider of ESG research and analysis, with nearly 20 years of experience in the responsible investment (RI) and socially responsible investment (SRI) markets.
These new equity indices are fully transparent with components selected based on a comprehensive set of sustainability ratings. Based on data provided by Sustainalytics, this index model will, for the first time, allow investors to fully understand which factors determine a company’s ESG rating and their respective importance. The model has been mapped to the “KPIs for ESG 3.0” standard defined by Deutsche Vereinigung für Finanzanalyse und Asset Management (DVFA) and The European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS), and is fully approved by both organizations.
“With the launch of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders indices we are taking another step to bring superior and innovative index concepts to the market. Our new index family will set standards in terms of full transparency and comprehensiveness in the ESG indexing space,” said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited. “Market participants now have the possibility to consider detailed environmental, social, and governance ratings for each index component; and make an educated and conscious decision on their ESG investment.”
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Source: STOXX
Independent Commission on Banking: publication of Interim Report
April 11, 2011--The Independent Commission on Banking published its Interim Report today. The Commission has been asked to consider structural and related non-structural reforms to the UK banking sector to promote financial stability and competition, and to make recommendations to the Government by September 2011.
The Interim Report sets out the Commission’s current and provisional views on the need for reform and on possible reform options, and it seeks views, evidence and analysis in response. The Commission has not reached final conclusions.
view the Interim Report Consultation on Reform Options
Source: Independent Commission on Banking
Vickers' banking report not enough to reduce risks to us all in global banking
April 11, 2011--The UK, alongside Switzerland, is at the forefront of sensible financial sector reform. Both countries desperately need this.
David Cameron's government should shudder at the realization that Britain's major banks have over £6 trillion of liabilities, four times the size of the UK economy.
UBS and Credit Suisse are five times the size of the Swiss economy. Such sums constitute a time bomb with the potential to create mass financial devastation – just ask Ireland.
The preliminary report from Sir John Vickers's Independent Commission on Banking – a dream team of talents – is due out today, but we already have strong hints of the likely proposals.
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Source: Daily Telegraph
Europe’s $2 Trillion of Distressed Debt Set to Outstrip U.S.
April 11, 2011--The distressed debt market in Europe is set to outstrip the U.S. for the first time as the region’s sovereign crisis forces banks to sell $2 trillion of underperforming assets, Strategic Value Partners LLC said.
“The opportunity set in Europe is very attractive and rich,” Victor Khosla, founder of the Greenwich, Connecticut-based distressed-debt hedge fund manager, said in a phone interview. “It far exceeds the U.S. for the first time.”
Source: Bloomberg
Europe needs tough bank tests to maintain recovery: IMF
April 11, 2011--The IMF pressed Europe on Monday to conduct credible stress tests on its banks so as to restore market confidence in a sector strained by a eurozone debt crisis threatening a modest recovery.
The eurozone's economy is expected to grow a modest 1.6 percent this year and 1.8 percent in 2012, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook, a 0.1 percentage point improvement from a January update.
But the recovery is "gradual and uneven" within the 17-nation eurozone, with markets still "apprehensive" about the future of countries under sustained pressure from investors.
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Source: EUbusiness
Deutsche Börse launches information portal for sustainable securities/STOXX introduces Global ESG Leaders indices
Largest German information offer for sustainable securities on a central platform / High transparency through use of standardised indicators / New indices facilitate measurement of a company’s sustainable activities
April 11, 2011--Deutsche Börse’s Xetra division and STOXX today announced the introduction of an information portal for sustainable securities, as well as the launch of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders indices.
The information portal for sustainable securities is aimed at private and institutional investors. The portal helps investors to make their individual investment decisions according to standard sustainability criteria.
The portal helps investors to make their individual investment decisions according to standard sustainability criteria. The information portal enables investors to develop their own strategies for sustainable investments in a transparent way and to assess the sustainability of existing investments. The portal also enables companies to filter their activities in line with the ESG criteria: environmental, social and governance considerations.
The information portal covers all investment classes, from equities to ETFs, investment funds and certificates. The STOXX Global ESG Leaders index family offers indicators for 1800 European public limited companies, transparently and neutrally, using the well-known ESG criteria. These key sustainability data were provided by Sustainalytics, a leading global provider of ESG research and analysis, with nearly 20 years of experience in the responsible investment (RI) and socially responsible investment (SRI) markets. Investors can use the portal to select and weight these equities according to their personal investment preferences and sustainability criteria.
“The information portal for sustainable securities is a further important step in our efforts to provide transparency on the capital markets, especially in the sustainable investment segment which is seeing increasing demand from private and institutional investors,” said Rainer Riess, Managing Director at Deutsche Börse AG and responsible for the Xetra business unit.
Source: Deutsche Börse
The Royal Bank of Scotland list currency hedged ETFs on NYSE Euronext
April 11, 2011--NYSE Euronext is pleased to announce that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) launched two RBS Market Access Currency Hedged ETFs on its Amsterdam market. These new currency hedged ETFs enable investors to invest internationally and hedge currency exposure in one trade, without having to monitor and maintain a currency hedge.
The new ETFs were created by RBS to provide Euro hedged exposure to the major benchmark indices S&P 500® and TOPIX®:
RBS Market Access S&P 500® EUR Hedged Index ETF
RBS Market Access TOPIX® EUR Hedged Index ETF
Each currency hedged index has been designed to replicate the returns to an investor whose home currency is Euro and has an exposure to the corresponding reference index denominated in its local currency (foreign currency for the investor) and hedges his currency risk using one month forward FX contracts.
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Source: NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronext welcomes EasyETF
April 11, 2011--Today EasyETF, part of BNP Paribas Investment Partners, listed the EasyETF S&P GSCI™ Capped Commodity 35/20 (EUR) on the Amsterdam market of NYSE Euronext. This ETF offers investors an efficient exposure to commodity markets.
The launch of the ETF follows the successful listing of commodity ETFs by EasyETF on January 17. By introducing this new product, NYSE Euronext is further expanding the range of commodity ETFs on its Amsterdam market, meeting the growing demand for this type of product from both institutional and retail investors.
The ETF allows investors to participate in the performance of the S&P GSCI™ Capped Commodity 35/20 TR index and aims to mirror the returns of the index.
“We are delighted to welcome this new EasyETF ETF covering the commodity asset class that further expands the opportunity for investors to diversify their portfolios through a leading regulated market infrastructure offering superior technology, market model and liquidity,” said Pedro Fernandes, European Head of ETPs at NYSE Euronext.
“We are proud to add this ETF to our Amsterdam range. This is the only UCITS III compliant ETF in Europe on the S&P GSCI index, which is reliable and publically available, and used as both an economic indicator and a measure of investment performance. Importantly, the index provider has adapted the methodology to European legal constraints,” said Daniele Tohmé-Adet, Region Head THEAM products at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
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Source: NYSE Euronext
Hedge Funds, Other Investors Build Turkish Lira Positions
Apri1 8, 2011--Hedge funds and other investors have begun stocking up on Turkish lira through currency forwards or lira-denominated debt as the country's central bank looks increasingly likely to start raising interest rates later this year after controversial rate cuts late in 2010.
The lira was driven down after November due to the rate cuts and because of jitters associated with the political unrest in Turkey's neighboring Middle East countries. Now, some large currency and emerging market investors--including giant currency manager FX Concepts--are getting more comfortable that the country will be able to manage inflation. Worries about the Middle East have also moderated for the moment.
Source: Wall Street Journal
LSE strikes Mongolian exchange deal
April 8, 2011-This week Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange could be found not in Canada – where a proposed LSE merger with its counterpart in Toronto is being scrutinised by regulators – but in Mongolia
Ulan Bator, the capital, may seem an unlikely destination for the man running an exchange whose future may well depend on the successful completion of its merger with TMX Group.
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Source: FT.com
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