OECD Economic Survey of the Netherlands 2010
June 16, 2010--Chapter 1. Securing fiscal sustainability and boosting potential growth after the crisis
The economy contracted sharply during the crisis but began to recover slowly from mid 2009. Unemployment rose by less than might have been expected, partly as the labour market was more overheated prior to the crisis than realised at the time. Strict employment protection legislation and the government’s continued focus on active labour market policies also played a role.
In this context, the most pressing challenge for the near future is to prevent the cyclical increase in unemployment from becoming structural. As in other OECD countries, the upturn is still supported by exceptional fiscal and monetary stimulus. The fiscal policy response was generally well designed, but as a result the deficit widened significantly and fiscal sustainability deteriorated. As economic growth strengthens, the government coming in after the June 2010 elections will be confronted with the task of consolidating public finances without putting the recovery at risk. The most crucial longer-term challenges are to secure fiscal sustainability and raise potential growth.
Chapter 2. Making the pension system less vulnerable to financial crises
The Dutch occupational pension system has been successful in securing high asset accumulation to fund generous pension promises. However, for the second time in this decade the pension system has been affected by a financial crisis and many pension funds’ assets fell below levels needed to meet regulatory requirements. Insufficient funding raises solvency issues, which could eventually lead to large fiscal costs in case of bail-outs. In response to the crisis, most funds were required by the regulator to draw up recovery plans to restore their funding over five years. This has raised concerns that the adjustment required by the regulator is unnecessarily sharp, with possibly adverse macroeconomic implications. On the other hand, OECD simulations indicate that under current policies, it is unlikely that funding rates will be secured that enable the funds over the long term to fulfil their promises of a replacement rate of up to 80% of average wages. This raises the challenge of implementing parametric changes that secure pension benefits without large detrimental effects on intergenerational equity and growth. Occupational pensions are transferable, which enhances labour market mobility. But it is often very difficult for workers to assess how one pension scheme compares to another, posing practical barriers to mobility that should be eased.
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Source: OECD
NYSE Arca Europe Expands Service Offering Into Eastern Europe
June 16, 2010--NYSE Arca Europe, NYSE Euronext’s European Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF), today announced its expansion into trading the leading blue chip securities listed on Prague Stock Exchange and Budapest Stock Exchange.
From today, NYSE Arca Europe will expand its product range to include constituents of the following Eastern European indices:
BUX Index (Budapest Stock Exchange)
PX Index (Prague Stock Exchange)
Trades in these securities will be cleared by EuroCCP.
NYSE Arca Europe is NYSE Euronext's pan-European Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF), providing customers with low-cost, high-speed access to the most liquid European stocks from 13 countries via its ultra-low latency Universal Trading Platform. Today’s announcement follows the recent expansion of NYSE Arca Europe’s securities coverage to include access to the 100 most liquid U.S. equities featuring 86 NYSE listed companies and 14 other listings, creating the first truly transatlantic trading platform.
Virginie Saade, Head of NYSE Arca Europe, said:
“The expansion of our service offering into the PX Prague Stock Index and the BUX Index reflects the growing interest from our customers to access this new market segment. The addition of these markets will help enable our customers to maximize their trading opportunities.”
Source: NYSE Euronext
Osborne abolishes FSA and boosts Bank
June 16, 2010--George Osborne moved to redress what he described as the spectacular regulatory failure of the City, announcing the abolition of the Financial Services Authority and a sweeping increase in the Bank of England’s powers.
Mervyn King, the Bank’s governor, will become one of the most powerful central bankers in the world, with a new remit to prevent the build-up of risk in the financial system in addition to his monetary policy role.
Mr King told a City audience at Mansion House on Wednesday night that his new role in enforcing financial stability was to “turn down the music when the dancing gets a little too wild”.
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Source: FT.com
Spain to reveal bank ‘stress tests’ results
June 16, 2010--Spain’s central bank has thrown down the gauntlet to bank regulators elsewhere in Europe, saying it plans to publish the results of “stress tests” on the country’s financial institutions in the near future to clear up doubts about Spain’s banking system.
Spanish officials and bankers believe that international investors and speculators are harbouring exaggerated fears about the potential problems of Spanish banks, when the banks of other countries are often weaker than Spanish lenders or have already been bailed out with massive injections of government money.
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Source: FT.com
ECB tells ABS industry to reform
June 16, 2010--A senior European Central Bank official on Wednesday expressed his frustration at the asset-backed securitisation industry’s slowness in implementing meaningful reform
Speaking at an industry conference in London, José Manuel González-Páramo, a member of the central bank’s executive board, reiterated that the 20 largest euro area banking groups have about €800bn of long-term debt outstanding that will need to be refinanced between May 2010 and the end of 2012.
“Against this background, securitisation can potentially play a vital role, and thereby strongly support the financing of the economy,” Mr González-Páramo said.
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Source: FT.com
Euro area annual inflation up to 1.6%
EU stable at 2.0%
June 16, 2010--Euro area1 annual inflation was 1.6% in May 20102, up from 1.5% in April. A year earlier the rate was 0.0%. Monthly inflation was 0.1% in May 2010.
EU3 annual inflation was 2.0% in May 2010, unchanged compared with April. A year earlier the rate was 0.8%. Monthly inflation was 0.2% in May 2010.
These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Inflation in the EU Member States
In May 2010, the lowest annual rates were observed in Latvia (-2.4%), Ireland (-1.9%) and the Netherlands (0.4%), and the highest in Greece (5.3%), Hungary (4.9%) and Romania (4.4%). Compared with April 2010, annual inflation fell in ten Member States, remained stable in five and rose in twelve.
The lowest 12-month averages4 up to May 2010 were registered in Ireland (-2.5%), Latvia (-1.2%) and Portugal (-0.5%), and the highest in Hungary (5.1%), Romania (4.7%) and Poland (3.6%).
Euro area
The main components with the highest annual rates in May 2010 were transport (5.5%) and alcohol & tobacco (4.4%), while the lowest annual rates were observed for communications (-1.1%), recreation & culture (-0.3%) and food (-0.2%). Concerning the detailed sub-indices, fuels for transport (+0.71 percentage points), heating oil (+0.23) and tobacco (+0.12) had the largest upward impacts on the headline rate, while gas (-0.12), cars (-0.10) and telecommunications (-0.09) had the biggest downward impacts.
The main components with the highest monthly rates were recreation & culture and alcohol & tobacco (both 0.4%), while the lowest were food and communications (both -0.2%) and education (0.0%). In particular, fuels for transport (+0.04 percentage points), fruit (+0.03), package holidays and heating oil (+0.02 each) had the largest upward impacts, while vegetables (-0.06) and air transport (-0.02) had the biggest downward impacts.
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Source: Eurostat
Long JPY Short EUR currency ETC rises by 21 per cent
June 16, 2010--The ETFS Long JPY Short EUR currency ETC has rallied by 2.1 per cent, bringing its year-to-date gains to 21 per cent, the highest on ETF Securities’ currency ETC platform.
Despite high debt levels and being one of the sell-side’s biggest consensus short recommendations earlier in 2010, the Japanese Yen has been one of the world’s best performing currencies, maintaining its role as a safe-haven during periods of risk aversion.
With the Euro feeling the brunt of European sovereign risk, the combination of long Yen short Euro positions as tracked by the fund has made this cross the most profitable on the ETFS currency ETC platform.
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Source: ETF Express
NYSE Euronext is pleased to announce that AMUNDI IS has listed 3 new ETF on NYSE Euronext’s Paris market today
June 15, 2010-- 3 Amundi ETFs have lsited on the NYSE Euronext Paris today: They are:
Listing date: 15/06/2010
ETF name: AMUNDI ETF S&P 500
ETF ISIN: FR0010892224
ETF Symbol:500
Listing date: 15/06/2010
ETF name: AMUNDI ETF NASDAQ 100
ETF ISIN: FR0010892216
ETF Symbol:ANX
Listing date: 15/06/2010
ETF name: AMUNDI ETF FTSE MIB
ETF ISIN: FR0010892208
ETF Symbol:FMI
Source: NYSE Euronext
Ten Years of European Energy Trading on the Exchange – the History of EEX
June 15, 2010--European Energy Exchange AG (EEX) is celebrating ten years
of energy trading on the exchange. In those ten years EEX has evolved from the “Leipzig
power exchange” to one of the leading trading platforms for energy and related
products in Europe.
The starting signal for German power trading was given in Leipzig
on 14 June 2000. On the first trading day, 1,836 megawatt hours (MWh) were traded –
a modest trade volume from today’s perspective.
At the time of the merger between the two predecessor exchanges, LPX Leipzig Power Exchange and the Frankfurt-based European Energy Exchange, in July 2002, the new EEX already had 111 trading participants from ten countries.
EEX has shaped the energy market and has made a significant contribution to the further development of exchange trading in energy and to opening up new markets right from the outset. This includes for instance the continuous expansion of its product portfolio, such as the inclusion of trading in CO2 emission allowances, trading in financially settled coal futures and the launch of trading in natural gas three years ago. EEX reached a further important milestone for the expansion of its position in Europe with the establishment of its subsidiary European Commodity Clearing AG (ECC) in 2006.
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Source: EEX
France and Germany to float a financial transactions tax
June 15, 2010--- France and Germany say they will propose a tax on banks and financial transactions at the next G20 summit, but many countries oppose as yet undefined projects aimed more at public opinion.
President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday in Berlin they would make such a proposal to the current head of the G20 group of industrialised and emerging economies, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The next summit of the G20 group of advanced and emerging economies is to take place on June 26 and 27 in Toronto.
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Source: EUbusiness
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