Weak Spots in Global Financial System Could Amplify Shocks
April 10, 2019--In the United States, the ratio of corporate debt to GDP is at record-high levels. In several European countries, banks are overloaded with government bonds. In China, bank profitability is declining, and capital levels remain low at small and medium-size lenders.
Vulnerabilities like these are on the rise across advanced and emerging market economies, according to the IMF's latest Global Financial Stability Report. They aren't all setting off alarm bells just yet. But if they continue to build, especially with still-easy financial conditions, they could amplify shocks to the global economy, raising the odds of a severe economic downturn a few years down the road.
Source: IMF
ETF investor inflows tumble 28% in first quarter
April 10, 2019--Lyxor and State Street Global Advisors among worst performers so far in 2019
ETF investor inflows tumble 28% in first quarter
This year's battle between providers of exchange traded funds to drum up new business has made an anaemic start with worldwide investor inflows down more than a quarter in the first three months.
Source: FT.com
ETFGI reports assets invested in the Global ETF and ETP industry reached a new record US$5.40 trillion at the end of March 2019
April 10, 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 gathered net inflows of US$37.48 billion in March, bringing year-to-date net inflows to US$99.14 billion. Assets invested in the Global ETF/ETP industry finished the month up 1.42%, from US$5.32 trillion at the end of February, to US$5.40 trillion, according to ETFGI's March 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 reach a new record US$5.40 Tn.
April 11th marks the 19th anniversary of the listing of the first ETF in Europe.
Assets invested in the Global ETF/ETP industry rise 1.41% in March.
Source: ETFGI
ETF investor inflows tumble 28% in first quarter
This year's battle between providers of exchange traded funds to drum up new business has made an anaemic start with worldwide investor inflows down more than a quarter in the first three months.
Source: FT.com
Global Business Value Of Artificial Intelligence In Banking To Reach $300 Billion By 2030, IHS Markit Says
With the projected increase in the number of AI projects that are launched and become commercially deployed, the business value of AI in banking is projected to reach $300 billion by 2030, according to global business information provider IHS Markit (NASDAQ: INFO).
Source: technology.ihs.com
Deutsche Boerse to pay $850m for analytics firm AxiomaDeutsche Boerse to pay $850m for analytics firm Axioma
US-based Axioma will be rolled in with Deutsche Börse-owned Stoxx and Dax in a new company with a valuation of EUR2.6 billion and led by Axioma CEO Sebastian Ceria.
Source: finextra.com
SocGen Is Latest Bank to Shutter Its Commodities Business
The French bank said on Tuesday that it is planning to close its over-the-counter commodities business and its proprietary trading subsidiary as part of a global move to cut about 1,600 jobs after a slump in trading revenue.
Source: Bloomberg
Machine-learning on the rise in financial services: Refinitiv
In a report, Refinitiv, the financial data provider, said more than 90 percent of the organizations it surveyed had either deployed machine-learning in multiple areas of the organization or have made a start in some pockets.
Source: Reuters
IMF Working Paper-Illuminating Economic Growth
This paper uses recently developed results for measurement error models to identify and estimate the nonlinear relationship between nighttime lights and true GDP per capita and the nonparametric distribution of errors in official GDP per capita data. We then construct more precise and robust measures of GDP per capita using nighttime lights, official national accounts data, statistical capacity, and geographic locations. We find that GDP per capita measures are less precise for middle and low income countries and nighttime lights can play a bigger role in improving such measures. IMF Working Paper-Illuminating Economic Growth
Source: IMF
Bassanese Bites: Beautiful Numbers
Service sector activity in both economies also remained at robust levels. And while US retail spending was softer than expected in February, this was more than offset by a solid upward revision to January's report.
Of course, the most beautiful set of numbers came in the US payrolls report, with better than expected employment growth and softer than feared wage growth.
Source: BetaShares
April 10, 2019--Lyxor and State Street Global Advisors among worst performers so far in 2019
ETF investor inflows tumble 28% in first quarter
April 10, 2019--Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the banking sector by detecting fraud in financial transactions on the basis of a pre-defined set of rules. In 2018 AI in banking business was estimated to be $41.1 billion, which includes the cost savings and efficiencies of introducing AI technology compared to keeping existing infrastructures and processes.
April 9, 2019--German exchange operator Deutsche Börse is buying Axioma for $850 million and combining the analytics specialist with its index businesses in a new company.
April 9, 2019--Bank Shutting OTC commodities business, trading subsidiary
Comes after BNP shut its U.S commodities derivatives desk
Add Societe Generale SA to the list of banks and financial institutions to take a big step back from commodities amid a slump in trading profits.
April 9, 2019--The use of machine-learning has picked up across the financial services industry, although problems such as data quality continue to dog its progress, a study by Refinitiv has found.
April 9, 2019--Summary:
This paper seeks to illuminate the uncertainty in official GDP per capita measures using auxiliary data. Using satellite-recorded nighttime lights as an additional measurement of true GDP per capita, we provide a statistical framework, in which the error in official GDP per capita may depend on the country's statistical capacity and the relationship between nighttime lights and true GDP per capita can be nonlinear and vary with geographic location.
April 8, 2019--Week in Review
To paraphrase former PM Paul Keating, last week produced a fairly consistent set of "beautiful numbers" across the global economy. Key manufacturing indices in both the US and China were better than expected and suggest tentative signs of recovery due to easing trade tensions, the Fed's dovish tilt and renewed Chinese stimulus.
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