STOXX LTD. Launches Faith-Based Christian Index For The European Region
April 26, 2010--TOXX Limited, a global index provider and creator of the leading European equity indices, today announced the launch of the STOXX Europe Christian Index. The new index measures the performance of companies selected from the STOXX Europe 600 Index according to the values and principles of the Christian religion.
The STOXX Europe Christian Index is designed to act as a proper benchmark for actively managed funds, or to underlie exchange-traded funds and other investable products that enable investors to participate in the performance of European companies which are compliant with Christian moral and social doctrines.
“With the launch of the STOXX Europe Christian Index, STOXX acknowledges the growing number of Christian market participants who wish to invest in accordance with their religious beliefs,” said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Ltd. “The new index provides a broad representation of European companies who act responsibly on an ethical, environmental, social and economical level; and are therefore in-line with Christian values.”
To ensure the quality of the index and the integrity of the underlying index methodology, an independent committee has been established to define, build and implement the screening criteria. It is made up from members of Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS), the Vatican, Missionary International Service News Agency (MISNA), as well as members of the academic and investment community.
The index universe for the STOXX Europe Christian Index is defined as all stocks in the STOXX Europe 600 Index. To be included in the index, stocks must pass a set of screens for compliance with Christian values and principles, which are conducted by the Independent Committee led by CBIS. Excluded from the index are companies which do not meet predetermined tolerance levels for certain areas of activity, such as for example pornography, strategic and non-strategic weapons, birth control and gambling.
The STOXX Europe Christian Index is weighted by free-float adjusted market capitalization, and each component's weight is capped at 20% of the index's total free-float market capitalization. It is reviewed semi-annually in June and December. Daily history is available back to December 31, 2004. The STOXX Europe Christian Index is available in price and net return versions, and is calculated in Euro and U.S. Dollar (USD).
Further information on the STOXX Europe Christian Index is available at www.stoxx.com.
Source: STOXX
On April 28th 2010, 7 new ETFs issued by db x-trackers will be listed on the ETFplus market.
April 26, 2010--Borsa Italiana welcomes on the ETFplus market 7 new ETFs issued by db x-trackers, the new offer is composed as follow:
- 4 structured long ETFs on developed markets: db x-trackers LevDAX Daily ETF, db x- trackers FTSE100 Leveraged Daily ETF
db x-trackers S&P 500 2x Leveraged Index Daily ETF, db x- trackers EURO STOXX 50 Leveraged ETF.
- 3 structured short ETFs on developed markets: db x-trackers ShortDAX x2 Daily ETF, db x-trackers S&P 500 2x Inverse Index Daily ETF, db x- trackers EURO STOXX 50 Double Short Daily ETF.
Source: ETF Plus Market-Borsa Italiana
New trading system at derivatives market
April 26, 2010--Wiener Börse announced today that it converted its trading system for the derivatives market from the USbased
NASDAQ-OMX’s OM-Click to the Eurex system. The Eurex trading and clearing platform is an
extremely stable and reliable infrastructure used around the world, currently by more than 410 Eurex
customers in 25 countries on four continents. In converting to the Eurex system, Wiener Börse expects to see
increased liquidity on its derivatives market.
The majority of Wiener Börse’s cash market participants already use the Eurex infrastructure to trade
derivatives on other marketplaces. In the future, these participants can also use the new Eurex infrastructure
to trade on Wiener Börse‘s derivatives market without any significant technical investment. This will make the
addition of new trading participants for the derivatives market much easier. The conversion to the Eurex
system will also give trading members of the Austrian derivatives market access to a much larger group of
potential General Clearing providers.
The system conversion will not result in any changes for private investors on Wiener Börse.
Wiener Börse has been cooperating with Deutsche Börse on the cash market since 1999, when it also began
to use the Xetra electronic trading system for its equities market; since December 2009 also for the spot
market of the CEGH Gas Exchange. The conversion to the Eurex system on the derivatives market and the
associated expansion of the partnership serve to underscore the success of the cooperation.
Source: Eurex
FSA consults on use of certain new powers granted by the Financial Services Act 2010
April 26, 2010--The consultation paper includes proposed Handbook changes in relation to the following areas:
•To redraft the provisions requiring disclosure of short-selling positions and place them in a new part of the Handbook covering financial stability and market confidence;
•The imposition of financial penalties or censure on those who breach short-selling rules;
•The power to suspend firms or individuals by stopping them undertaking some or all of the activities which they are permitted to carry on for a period of time, and to use this new power in conjunction with other enforcement tools;
•The power to impose financial penalties on individuals who have carried out controlled functions without the necessary approval from the FSA;
•The ability to gather information in relation to financial stability from both authorised and unauthorised persons to help identify potential threats to the UK financial market;
read Implementing aspects of the Financial Services Act 2010 paper
Source: FSA.gov.uk
CB raises reserve requirement for foreign currency
April 26, 2010--The Turkish Central Bank has increased the reserve requirement for foreign currency deposits from 9 to 9.5 percent, in a statement published in Monday’s Official Gazette and effective as of April 30.
The bank did not change the reserve requirement for Turkish currency, which remains at 5 percent. The Central Bank had announced on April 14 in its blueprint strategy to ease its crisis measures that it would gradually increase the reserve requirement for foreign currency deposits.
read more
Source: Todays Zaman
Response to the EU’s proposal for changed capital adequacy rules
April 26, 2010--The recent financial crisis has revealed a number of weaknesses in the existing capital adequacy rules. It is therefore important to impose stricter capital adequacy requirements for the banks, stress FI, the Swedish Ministry of Finance and the Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) in a joint response to the EU Commission's Capital Requirements Directive, CRD.
The Swedish authorities would also like the new capital adequacy rules within the EU to be secured in harmony with the framework agreed upon by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.
read more
Source: Finansinspektionen
Bank of Ireland seeks to raise €3.4bn
April 26, 2010--Bank of Ireland is to raise up to €3.4bn to meet new regulatory standards and restore capital buffers that have been hurt by property loan losses in the wake of the housing crash.
The bank will raise the funds by a combination of a placing, a rights issue and a debt-for-equity exchange.
The move is part of an industry wide recapitalisation in line with stricter capital adequacy requirements set by regulator Matthew Elderfield last month.
read more
Source: FT.com
Gross domestic product-preliminary estimate-1st Quarter 2010
April 23, 2010--The chained volume measure of gross domestic product
(GDP) increased 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2010.
The increase in output was due mainly to increases in business services and finance and manufacturing.
Output of the service industries increased 0.2 per cent.
Output in the production industries increased 0.7 per cent.
GDP decreased 0.3 per cent in 2010 Q1 compared with 2009 Q1.
Contributions to Growth
Business services and finance was the largest
contributor to the positive growth this quarter. Total
production, transport, storage and communication and
government and other services also contributed to the
increase. This was partially offset by a decrease from
distribution, hotels and restaurants and construction.
read report
Source: Office for National Statistics
Greece crisis takes toll on euro
April 23, 2010--The euro tumbled to a one-year low against the dollar and a three-month trough against the pound this week as concerns over Greece’s finances intensified.
Those fears were ignited on Thursday after the European Commission revised Greece’s budget deficit higher to 13.6 per cent of gross domestic product. This was almost a full percentage point higher than the Greek government’s projection of 12.7 per cent.
read more
Source: FT.com
ECB moves to restore confidence in securitisation
April 23, 2010--Managers of asset-backed securities held by the European Central Bank will have to provide far more data on the loans backing the bonds under a new system designed to restore confidence in the market.
Investor appetite for ABS withered during the financial crisis when fears that all mortgage-backed bonds might be infected by poor-performing US subprime loans paralysed the market, sending prices plunging. As a result of its collateral-backed loans to banks during the crisis, the ECB is now by far the single biggest holder of European ABS.
Securitisation, which essentially frees up lenders’ balance sheets for new loans by repackaging existing consumer loans from mortgages to credit card debt into new bonds, is considered crucial to economic recovery by boosting the supply of credit to the real economy.
read more
Source: FT.com
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