OECD-Job automation risks vary widely across different regions within countries
September 18, 2018--The risk of job automation is much higher in some regions than others within countries, meaning governments will need to address any widening of job inequality between one area and another in the coming years, according to a new OECD report.
Job Creation and Local Economic Development 2018: Preparing for the Future of Work finds that the geographic variation in job automation risk is strikingly high in the 21 countries for which data is available.
The share of jobs at high risk nears 40% in some regions (e.g. West Slovakia) and is as low as 4% in others (e.g. the region around the Norwegian capital Oslo).
Previous OECD analysis has estimated that around 14% of jobs across the OECD area as a whole are at risk of automation, while another 32% are likely to see significant changes.
Markets Committee analyses changes in fast-paced electronic markets
September 17, 2018--Trading in foreign exchange and other fast-paced electronic markets is increasingly spread across a range of platforms, with non-bank intermediaries, most notably principal trading firms, gaining a stronger foothold. In addition, access to data and data-centric technologies increasingly defines competitive and market structure changes, a Markets Committee report shows.
The report, Monitoring of fast-paced electronic markets, analyses major developments in the evolution of market structure and their implications for central banks. Market monitoring is a core part of central bank activities for operational purposes and to help fulfil their financial stability mandates.
view the BIS Monitoring of fastpaced electronic markets report
OECD-G20 GDP Growth- Second quarter of 2018
September 17, 2018--Growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in the G20 area picked-up marginally to 1.0% in the second quarter of 2018, compared with 0.9% in the previous quarter, according to provisional estimates.
GDP growth rebounded in Japan, to 0.7% in the second quarter of 2018, following a contraction of 0.2% in the previous quarter. It also picked-up significantly in the United States (to 1.0%, from 0.5% in the previous quarter), Russia (to 0.9%, from 0.4%) and China (to 1.8%, from 1.4%). Real GDP growth also picked-up in Canada (to 0.7%, from 0.4%), and to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom (to 0.4%, from 0.2%), Germany (to 0.5%, from 0.4%) and Brazil (to 0.2%, from 0.1%).
Robo advisers short circuit over ethical investing
September 13, 2018--A rift is emerging between rival robo advisers over the suitability of ready-made ethical investment portfolios, with several platforms arguing that the market is not mature enough to support fully diversified products.
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FTSE Russell to decide on China A-shares inclusion "very soon"
September 13, 2018--FTSE Russell will decide in the coming weeks whether to include China-listed equities in its indices, the index provider's chief executive said.
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Global Financial Centres Index 24
September 12, 2018--Today Z/Yen Partners and the China Development Institute(CDI) publish the twenty-fourth Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 24).
Not for the first time, New York took first place in the index, just two points head of London. However both centres fell slightly in the ratings.
Hong Kong is now only three points behind London. Shanghai overtook Tokyo to move into fifth place in the index gaining 25 points in the ratings. Beijing, Zurich, and Frankfurt moved into the top ten centres, replacing Toronto, Boston, and San Francisco.
In Western Europe, Zurich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Milan moved up the rankings significantly. These centres may be the main beneficiaries of the uncertainty caused by Brexit. Surprisingly, despite some evident success in attracting new business, Dublin, Munich, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Stockholm fell in the rankings, reflecting respondents' views of their future prospects.
view the The Global
Financial Centres Index 24 September 2018
IMF Working Papers-Dollarization and Financial Development
September 11, 2018--Summary:
Despite significant strides in financial development over the past decades, financial dollarization, as reflected in elevated shares of foreign currency deposits and credit in the banking system, remains common in developing economies. We study the impact of financial dollarization, differentiating across foreign currency deposits and credit on financial depth, access and efficiency for a large sample of emerging market and developing countries over the past two decades.
Panel regressions estimated using system GMM show that deposit dollarization has a negative impact on financial deepening on average. This negative impact is dampened in cases with past periods of high inflation. There is also some evidence that dollarization hampers financial efficiency. The results suggest that policy efforts to reduce dollarization can spur faster and safer financial development.
view the IMF Working Papers-Dollarization and Financial Development
Bassanese Bites-Wage Worry
September 10, 2018--Week in Review
Global equities were on the defensive last week reflecting rising trade tensions and a higher than expected US wage outcome. Contrary to hopes, no US-Canada trade deal was announced and instead Trump ratcheted up the trade angst by threatening more tariffs on China and hinting his next focus could be Japan.
Meanwhile, US payrolls on Friday revealed that annual growth in average hourly earnings hit 2.9%, contrary to a market expectation that it would remain steady at 2.7%. As seen in the chart below, annual growth in average earnings has displayed a volatile sawtooth pattern around a broadly steady trend in recent years, but it’s now again testing the top end of this range and a breakout (similar to that last evident in late 2015) could now be at hand.
Fidelity raises stakes in price war
September 9, 2018--A shockwave hit the investment industry in August when asset manager Fidelity launched the first US zero-fee index-tracking mutual funds.
It was a daring effort to seize the initiative in an escalating price war.
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BlackRock to expand its private investment activities
September 9, 2018--BlackRock plans to ramp up its private investment activities, concerned that the US stock market is being shrunk by the surge in buybacks.
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