Global ETF News Older than One Year
Money-laundering watchdog to clamp down on cryptocurrencies
June 21, 2019--Global task force to announce measures on Friday
FATF wants countries to tighten cryptocurrency oversight
Europol warns digital coins being used for crime
Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin are set to be subjected to rules to prevent their abuse for money laundering, a global watchdog will announce on Friday, the first worldwide regulatory attempt to constrain the rapidly growing sector.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a coalition of countries from the United States to China, will tell countries to tighten oversight of cryptocurrency exchanges to stop digital coins being used to launder cash.
Source: Reuters
Growth in global financial wealth ground to a halt in 2018
June 20, 2019--The steady rise in global wealth growth came to a sharp halt in 2018. Gains in global personal financial wealth tumbled by more than 5 percentage points year on year, the weakest performance in the past half-decade.
The fourth-quarter dip in major stock indexes pulled down equities and the large regional portfolios tied to them. High valuation levels, geopolitical risks, and the challenges of returning to normal interest rate levels also contributed to the decline.
Source: Boston Consulting Group
Value of negative yielding debt hits record $12.5tn.
June 19, 2019-- Central bank dovishness has sent a jolt through fixed income markets
The universe of negative-yielding bonds has jumped to a new record of $12.5tn, after the European Central Bank poured more fuel on the global fixed income rally by hinting that it could restart its "quantitative easing" programme.
Source: FT.com
$4.2 Trillion Can Be Saved by Investing in More Resilient Infrastructure, New World Bank Report Finds
June 19, 2019--The net benefit on average of investing in more resilient infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries would be $4.2 trillion with $4 in benefit for each $1 invested, according to a new report from the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).
The report, Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity, lays out a framework for understanding infrastructure resilience, that is the ability of infrastructure systems to function and meet users' needs during and after a natural hazard.
It examines four essential infrastructure systems: power, water and sanitation, transport, and telecommunications.
View the World Bank- Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity report
Source: World Bank
Bitcoin Markets Now Show Greater Influence From Institutional Investors: JPMorgan
June 17, 2019--JPMorgan Chase (JPM) thinks the Bitcoin (BTC) industry has changed considerably since 2017, citing an increase in institutional interest, Bloomberg reported on June 15.
The publication quoted a report led by managing director of global market strategy of the United States' largest bank, Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, in which researchers examined recent phenomena surrounding cryptocurrency exchanges.
Source: cointelegraph.com
London-Shanghai stock link launches
June 17, 2019--Stock Connect, a long-delayed program to link the London and Shanghai stock exchanges will officially launch on Monday, allowing global investors to access shares in Chinese companies and Chinese investors a chance to buy LSE-listed stock, reported the Financial Times.
The scheme, originally scheduled to begin last year, will be launched on the sidelines of a visit by Chinese vice-premier Hu Chunhua to London, during meetings with UK chancellor Philip Hammond. The Stock Connect scheme, first announced in 2015, was due to launch in December, but was delayed for unknown reasons.
Source: Economic Review China
Data Points-ETF Update-May 2019
June 17, 2019--The following data is derived from trading activity on the Tradeweb Markets institutional European- and U.S.-listed ETF platforms.
EUROPEAN-LISTED ETFs
Total traded volume
Total traded volume on the Tradeweb European ETF marketplace reached a record-breaking EUR 29.9 billion in May, narrowly beating February's previous best performance by EUR 391 million.
Furthermore, the proportion of transactions processed via Tradeweb’s Automated Intelligent Execution Tool (AiEX) increased to 55.7%, a new monthly high.
Volume breakdown
Fixed income and commodity ETFs saw net buying in May, in contrast to their shares-based counterparts. Trading activity in equity ETFs accounted for 59% of the overall platform flow, lagging the previous 12-month rolling average by two percentage points.
view the Tradeweb Data Points-ETF Update-May 2019
Source: TradeWeb
Aberdeen Standard Investments Precious Metals Outlook June 2019-Growth and Trade War Concerns Raise Bullish Case for Precious Metals
June 14, 2019--Global trade disputes led by further US-China tariffs has thrown a wrench into the global growth outlook. While official growth figures indicated signs of a slowdown, equity markets appeared to simply shrug off these underlying economic conditions. Yet, the return to headline driving tariffs between the US and China has sparked concerns among both investors and economists alike with the S&P 500 Index falling over 6% in May.
Volatility rose and yields fell as risk-off sentiment spurred investors to defensive assets and cash. Gold rose above $1300/ounce (oz) through month end driven by market expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) along with other developed economy central banks will either continue to pause or seek to cut benchmark rates to support further slides in growth and financial markets. This dynamic may lead to a conducive scenario for gold and other precious metals such as silver. The progressing trade war between two major trade partners, the US and China, is a prime example of the type of geopolitical tensions that may benefit precious metals. Further uncertainty and lack of resolution in this trade war may see gold and silver reach bullish scenario levels of $1400/oz and $18/oz, respectively, by year end.
Source: Aberdeen Standard Investments
IMF Working Paper-From Basel I to Basel III: Sequencing Implementation in Developing Economies
June 14, 2019--Summary:
Developing economies can strengthen their financial systems by implementing the main elements of global regulatory reform. But to build an effective prudential framework, they may need to adapt international standards taking into account the sophistication and size of their financial institutions, the relevance of different financial operations in their market, the granularity of information available and the capacity of their supervisors.
Under a proportionate application of the Basel standards, smaller institutions with less complex business models would be subject to a simpler regulatory framework that enhances the resilience of the financial sector without generating disproportionate compliance costs. This paper provides guidance on how non-Basel Committee member countries could incorporate banks' capital and liquidity standards into their framework. It builds on the experience gained by the authors in the course of their work in providing technical assistance on-and assessing compliance with-international standards in banking supervision.
Source: IMF
ETFGI reports assets invested in the Global ETF and ETP industry decreased to 5.32 trillion US dollars at the end of May 2019
June 13, 2019--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that ETFs and ETPs listed Globally saw net outflows of US$4.05 billion in May, bringing year-to-date net inflows to US$141.04 billion.
Assets invested in the Global ETF/ETP industry have decreased by 4.6%, from US$5.57 trillion at the end of April, to US$5.32 trillion, according to ETFGI's May 2019 Global ETF and ETP industry landscape insights report, an annual paid-for research subscription service. (All dollar values in USD unless otherwise noted.)
Highlights
Assets invested in the Global ETF/ETP industry declined to US$5.32 Tn.
Assets invested in the Global ETF/ETP industry decreased by 4.6% in May.
During May 2019, ETFs/ETPs listed Globally saw$4.05 Bn in net outflows.
Source: ETFGI
