IOSCO issues policy measures to protect investors of OTC leveraged products
September 19, 2018--The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today issued a final report providing measures for securities regulators to consider when addressing the risks arising from the marketing and sale of OTC leveraged products to retail investors.
Simultaneously, the Board issued a public statement on the risks of binary options and the response of regulators for mitigating the risks and harm to retail investors transacting in these products. The Report on Retail OTC Leveraged Products includes three complementary toolkits containing measures aimed at increasing the protection of retail investors who are offered OTC leveraged products, often on a cross-border basis. The report covers the marketing and sale of rolling-spot forex contracts, contracts for differences (CFDs) and binary options.
Source: IOSCO
IOSCO guidance addresses conflicts of interest and conduct risks in equity capital raising
September 18, 2018--The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published guidance to help its members address conflicts of interest and associated misconduct risks that may arise and undermine the equity capital raising process.
Conflicts of interest and associated conduct risks stemming from the role of intermediaries can harm the integrity and efficiency of the equity capital raising process, damage investor confidence and weaken capital markets as an effective vehicle for issuers to raise funding. To help regulators identify and address these risks, IOSCO today published the final report on Conflicts of interest and associated conduct risks during the equity capital raising process, which sets out guidance for regulators to address conflicts of interests that may occur when intermediaries manage an equity securities offering.
Source: IOSCO
Few countries are pricing carbon high enough to meet climate targets
September 18, 2018--Governments need to raise carbon prices much faster if they are to meet their commitments on cutting emissions and slowing the pace of climate change under the Paris Agreement, according to a new OECD report.
Effective Carbon Rates 2018: Pricing Carbon Emissions through Taxes and Emissions Trading presents new data on taxes and tradeable permits for carbon emissions in 42 OECD and G20 countries accounting for around 80% of global emissions.
It finds that today's carbon prices-while slowly rising-are still too low to have a significant impact on curbing climate change.
Source: OECD
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.
Source: OECD
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
Source: BIS
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%).
Source: OECD
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.
Source: FT.com
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.
Source: FT.com
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
Source: longfinance.net
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
Source: IMF