Basel Committee issues progress report on banks' implementation of the Principles for effective risk data aggregation and reporting
June 21, 2018--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision today published its latest progress report on banks' implementation of the Principles for effective risk data aggregation and reporting. The Principles, issued in January 2013, aim to strengthen banks' risk data aggregation and risk reporting with a view to improving their risk management, decision-making processes and resolvability.
The progress report is based on the results of a self-assessment survey completed by authorities with supervisory responsibility for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). The report reviews G-SIBs' progress in implementing the Principles in 2017. A previous progress report, published in March 2017, assessed implementation during 2016.
Source: BIS
Mystery seller dumps shares in major emerging markets ETF
June 20, 2018--Someone just threw the towel in on emerging markets.
VanEck's flagship $4.5bn local-currency emerging markets bond ETF suffered a sudden sale of nearly 19m shares worth $321m in one giant block trade this morning, indicating that a single investor probably pulled the plug after a torrid time for the market.
Source: FT.com
The $3 Trillion Thumb on the Bond-Market Scale
June 20, 2018--The $3.2 trillion corporate pension industry has quietly been throwing its weight around the bond market.
Managers of the huge retirement funds, by most accounts, are in the midst of a big shift into bonds. The move makes perfect sense, given that the plans are as well-funded as they've been in years.
Source: Bloomberg Quint
IMF Departmental Papers/Policy Papers-Opening Up in the Caucasus and Central Asia: Policy Frameworks to Support Regional and Global Integration
June 19, 2018--Summary:
The Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) countries are at an important juncture in their economic transition. Following significant economic progress during the 2000s, recent external shocks have revealed the underlying vulnerabilities of the current growth model.
Lower commodity prices, weaker remittances, and slower growth in key trading partners reduced CCA growth, weakened external and fiscal balances, and raised public debt. the financial sector was also hit hard by large foreign exchange losses. while commodity prices have recovered somewhat since late 2014, to boost its economic potential, the region needs to find new growth drivers, diversify away from natural resources, remittances, and public spending, and generate much stronger private sector-led activity.
Source: IMF
The Eurekahedge Report-June 2018
June 19, 2018--Highlights from this month's report
Hedge funds posted their second consecutive month of gains, up 0.33% in May and 0.48% year-to-date. Performance has varied sharply with small to medium sized hedge funds delivering gains while funds managing in excess of US$500 million in assets seeing losses of 0.34% with their sub-group of billion dollar hedge funds declining 0.88% in May.
Total hedge fund assets grew by US$26.4 billion over the past five months, which compares with a growth in total AUM of US$92.9 billion over the same period last year. Investors have been selective in their allocations across strategies with long/short equities and macro hedge funds seeing stronger subscriptions year-to-date.
Assets under management for CTAs have shrunk by 7.13% in 2018 as underlying managers posted their fourth consecutive month of investor redemptions with net outflows totalling US$8.4 billion.
Source: Eurekahedge
Flow Traders releases May 2018 ETP market statistics
June 18, 2018--Flow Traders N.V. ("Flow Traders") (Euronext: FLOW), today releases the monthly ETP (Exchange Traded Products) market statistics for May 2018. This refers to general market observations only.
In May 2018, the total Global ETP Assets under Management (AuM) rose to US$ 4,986 bn from US$ 4,887 bn in April 2018 (+2% month-on-month, source: BlackRock ETP Landscape May 2018).
That translates into a total Global ETP AuM in euro terms of € 4,271 bn in May 2018 versus € 4,045 bn in April 2018, with an EUR/USD FX rate of 1.1673 (rate end May 2018).
The average VIX for the month of May 2018 reached 14.12 (versus 18.27 in April 2018), with a low of 12.53 (versus 15.25 as a low in April 2018) and a high of 17.02 (versus 23.62 in April 2018) (Source: Bloomberg).
Source: Flow Traders
ETF Securities Weekly Flows Analysis: Industrial metal basket ETP flows benefited the most as trade wars intensify
June 18, 2018--Industrial metal basket ETPs took the lion's share of inflows surging the most since December 2017.
Gold ETPs suffered outflows last week after hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve.
Bargain hunters appear to drive inflows into crude oil ETPs ahead of the OPEC meeting on June 22.
Source: ETF Securities
Investors Continue to be Net Purchasers of Bond Funds and ETFs in May
June 18, 2018--For the first month in three money market funds witnessed net inflows, taking in $59.3 billion for May (their largest monthly net inflows since November 2017). For the third month running the fixed income funds macro-group witnessed net inflows, taking in $6.0 billion.
However, for the first month in three stock & mixed-asset funds witnessed net outflows (-$7.9 billion). Authorized participants (APs, those investors who actually create and redeem ETF shares) were net purchasers of stock & mixed-asset ETFs-injecting $24.1 billion. And for the thirty-fifth consecutive month they were net purchasers of bond ETFs-injecting $6.8 billion for May.
Source: Thomson Reuters
Trust is the missing link in today's cryptocurrencies, BIS says
June 18, 2018--Cryptocurrencies' model of generating trust limits their potential to replace conventional money, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) writes in its Annual Economic Report (AER), a new title launched this year.
In a special chapter on cryptocurrencies, the BIS argues that the decentralised technology underpinning private digital tokens is no substitute for tried and trusted central banks. Today's cryptocurrencies become more cumbersome to use as the number of users increases, in contrast to conventional money, which works better the more people use it and trust it.
view the Cryptocurrencies: looking beyond the hype
Source: BIS
Bain Study: if Implemented Right, Blockchain Will Dramatically Reduce Costs for Banks
June 15, 2018--Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize transaction banking according to a study by major global management consultancy firm Bain & Company, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports today, June 14.
According to Bain, "transaction banking revenues tend to be less volatile than other types of banking revenues, and bankers can cross-sell products, which is critical for client loyalty." Bain concludes in its study that this particular area of banking will change substantially in the future through the use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT), like blockchain:
Source: cointelegraph.com