Global ETF News Older than One Year
Too-clever ETFs are a car crash waiting to happen
March 5, 2018--At what point does innovation become dangerous?
The long winding road of financial inventiveness is littered with innumerable crashes, and observers must now be wondering whether the exchange traded funds industry is in danger of becoming too clever for its own good. The standard narrative of...
Source: FT.com
Women in ETFs and Five Partner Organizations Ring the Bell for Gender Equality at 59 Stock Exchanges Globally
March 2, 2018--For the 4th year, a global collaboration across 59 stock exchanges around the world plan to "Ring the Bell for Gender Equality," to celebrate International Women's Day 2018 (March 8th).
The events are a partnership between Women in ETFs, UN Global Compact, UN Women, the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, IFC, and the World Federation of Exchanges, to raise awareness about the business case for women,s economic empowerment and the opportunities for the private sector to advance gender equality and sustainable development.
Source: Women in ETFs
Libor's Climb Past 2% is Unnerving Some Investors
March 2, 2018--A benchmark used to set borrowing costs on trillions of dollars worth of loans is on the rise, stirring concerns about the effect of higher U.S. interest rates on consumers and businesses.
The three-month U.S. dollar London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, surpassed 2% this week for the first time since 2008.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Volatility Makes a Comeback: February Market Review
March 2, 2018--Volatility returned to markets in February, whiplashing investors accustomed to a long stretch of solid and stable returns, and causing the worst monthly performance in two years for global equities.
During February, the STOXX(R) Global 1800 Index slumped 4.1%1 when measured in dollars, its first month of losses in 16. It was also the worst monthly performance since Jan. 2016. The index fell only half that much when measured in euros, after a 1.8% decline in the common currency over the month increased the relative value of dollar-denominated holdings in the index.
Source: STOXX
Index providers: benchmark larks
March 2, 2018--High profit margins have not invited more competition
Source: FT.com
The World Federation of Exchanges & McKinsey joint report on fintech in capital markets infrastructure industry reveals likely future innovations & opportunities
March 1, 2018--The World Federation of Exchanges ("The WFE"), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, today published a joint report with global management consultancy McKinsey & Company's Banking & Securities Practice ("McKinsey"), on the fintech landscape in the Capital Markets Infrastructure (CMI) industry.
The report-entitled Fintech Decoded: Capturing the opportunity in capital markets infrastructure-looks at potential uses of new technologies across the sector, and areas likely to see the most innovation. It also outlines several strategic priorities that Capital Markets Infrastructure Providers (CMIP)-such as exchanges, CCPs, trading venues and securities depositories-can adopt to ensure they maximise the fintech opportunity in their markets.
view the Fintech Decoded: Capturing the opportunity in capital markets infrastructure report
Source: WFE (The World Federation of Exchanges)
100 Most Overpaid CEOs Report Shows Fund Managers Reluctant to Vote Against Exorbitant CEO Pay Packages
March 1, 2018--Today's release of The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs: Are Fund Managers Asleep at the Wheel? from shareholder advocacy group As You Sow revealed that the largest fund managers displayed a strong reluctance to vote against exorbitant executive compensation packages.
With a growing number of Americans concerned about wealth inequality, fund managers Blackrock and Vanguard have both been speaking out against high pay packages, but have not often used the power of their proxy cast votes against them.
The report shows that large non-US investment managers and pension funds are more likely to vote against exorbitant executive pay packages, but institutional shareholder votes can be unpredictable-this in spite of dubious returns.
Source: asyousow.org
Ethereum's smart contracts are full of holes
March 1, 2018--Blockchain-powered computer programs promise to revolutionize the digital economy, but new research suggests they're far from secure.
Computer programs that run on blockchains are shaking up the financial system. But much of the hype around what are called smart contracts is just that. It's a brand-new field. Technologists are just beginning to figure out how to design them so they can be relied on not to lose people's money, and-as a new survey of Ethereum smart contracts illustrates-security researchers are only now coming to terms with what a smart-contract vulnerability even looks like.
Source: MIT Technology Review
TrackInsight-Winter 2018 ETF ratings now available!
February 27, 2018--February 27, 2018--1,900+ North America & Europe domiciled ETFs now rated on their replication quality
TrackInsight (www.trackinsight.com), the independent global ETF data & analytics platform, is delighted to announce the release of 2018 Summer ETF ratings.
1,015 Europe-listed & 968 North America-listed ETFs now benefit from a fully independent rating, enabling investors to easily assess the replication quality of ETFs based on a three-year track record.hese 1,983 rated ETFs, covering all asset classes and the most sought-after benchmarks, have over USD3.6T in AUMs as of 31 December 2017.
Source: TrackInsight
World Gold Council-Annual review 2017
February 27, 2018--The strong gold price performance was a positive for investors and producers, and was symptomatic of a more profound shift in sentiment: a growing recognition of gold's role as a wealth preservation and risk mitigation tool. This goes to the heart of our strategy to make gold a mainstream asset.
Over the past year we saw the launch of LMEprecious, developed with the London Metal Exchange, which is intended to improve price transparency and efficiency of transacting in the London wholesale market. Also, the emergence of a range of Shari'ah-compliant gold products, following the launch of the ground-breaking Shari'ah Standard on Gold in 2016, should help to open up the gold market further. More broadly, significant progress has been made in engaging pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to consider making allocations to gold.
Source: World Gold Council (WGC)
