Global ETF News Older than One Year
Bitcoin retreats from all-time high even as Fidelity debuts digital-currency tracking
August 9, 2017--Bitcoin saw a modest pullback from its recent record run on Wednesday, but the cryptocurrency enjoyed some upbeat news on the session, with Fidelity Investments announcing that it would start tracking the digital unit for its clients.
Source: www.marketwatch.com
SIX Swiss Exchange and Nasdaq to Develop Distributed Ledger Technology for SIX's OTC Structured Products
August 9, 2017--SIX Swiss Exchange and Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today have announced that Nasdaq, in collaboration with its technology partner Chain, will provide distributed ledger technology (DLT) for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for SIX's OTC structured products business.
Source: Nasdaq.com
BetaShares-Global Market Outlook: Central banks bark but don't bite
August 8, 2017--Global equities shook off the previous month's concerns about global central bank tightening to post another solid gain in July.
With global inflation low and central bank's still cautious over policy tightening, the outlook remains encouraging for risk markets.
view the BetaShares Global Market Outlook report
Source: betashares.com.au
IMF Working paper-Cyber Risk. Market Failures, and Financial Stability
August 7, 2017--Summary:
Cyber-attacks on financial institutions and financial market infrastructures are becoming more common and more sophisticated. Risk awareness has been increasing, firms actively manage cyber risk and invest in cybersecurity, and to some extent transfer and pool their risks through cyber liability insurance policies.
This paper considers the properties of cyber risk, discusses why the private market can fail to provide the socially optimal level of cybersecurity, and explore how systemic cyber risk interacts with other financial stability risks. Furthermore, this study examines the current regulatory frameworks and supervisory approaches, and identifies information asymmetries and other inefficiencies that hamper the detection and management of systemic cyber risk. The paper concludes discussing policy measures that can increase the resilience of the financial system to systemic cyber risk.
Source: IMF
Leading blockchain club readies first commercial product
August 7, 2017--Startup backed by many of the world's largest financial institutions is fresh from raising $100m from Bank of America, HSBC and others
R3, which has brought together over 80 banks and other institutions to develop blockchain technology for use in financial services, is close to coming to market with its first commercial product.
Source: fnlondon.com
BIS Working paper-Demographics will reverse three multi-decade global trends
August 7, 2017--Between the 1980s and the 2000s, the largest ever positive labour supply shock occurred, resulting from demographic trends and from the inclusion of China and eastern Europe into the World Trade Organization.
This led to a shift in manufacturing to Asia, especially China; a stagnation in real wages; a collapse in the power of private sector trade unions; increasing inequality within countries, but less inequality between countries; deflationary pressures; and falling interest rates. This shock is now reversing. As the world ages, real interest rates will rise, inflation and wage growth will pick up and inequality will fall. What is the biggest challenge to our thesis? The hardest prior trend to reverse will be that of low interest rates, which have resulted in a huge and persistent debt overhang, apart from some deleveraging in advanced economy banks. Future problems may now intensify as the demographic structure worsens, growth slows, and there is little stomach for major inflation. Are we in a trap where the debt overhang enforces continuing low interest rates, and those low interest rates encourage yet more debt finance? There is no silver bullet, but we recommend policy measures to switch from debt to equity finance.
view the BIS Working paper-Demographics will reverse three multi-decade global trends
BY: Charles Goodhart and Manoj Pradhan Source: BIS
BIS working paper-The FinTech Opportunity
August 7, 2017--This paper assesses the potential impact of FinTech on the finance industry.
I document first that financial services remain surprisingly expensive, which explains the emergence of new entrants.
I then argue that the current regulatory approach is subject to significant political economy and coordination costs, and therefore unlikely to deliver much structural change. FinTech can improve both financial stability and access to services, but this requires significant changes in the focus of regulations.
view the BIS working paper-The FinTech Opportunity
By: Thomas Philippon Source: BIS
BIS working paper-World changes in inequality: an overview of facts, causes, consequences and policies
August 7, 2017--This paper reviews various issues linked to the rise of inequality observed particularly in developed countries over the last quarter century.
Various data on the time profile of inequality are examined, which do not always fit the common view that inequality is everywhere trending upwards. Overall, changes in inequality appear to be very country-specific. The same conclusion obtains when examining the causes of these changes. There is little doubt that common forces affected the distribution of income in most countries, but idiosyncratic factors have amplified their effects in some cases and offset them in others. Country-specificity also holds with regard to policies aimed at correcting inequality, even though globalisation imposes constraints on some key redistribution tools such as taxation and the regulation of financial markets. International coordination and, in particular, more transparency in cross-border financial operations are needed if governments are to recover some autonomy in these matters.
By: François Bourguignon Source: BIS
ULTUMUS-Global ETF Monitor-First Trust, UBS and Amundi
August 7, 2017--Americas
Market weight vs. equal weight indexing is a debate that refuses to die. But First Trust is taking sides, having filed a prospectus for an equally weighted ETF...
Europe
UBS has cross-listed an interest rate hedged corporate bond ETF into London. CUIH tracks the liquid debts of big American businesses....
Amundi has listed its American equity smart beta ETF into Milan. STMU tracks an index built up of four subindexes...
Source: ULTUMUS-Financial Data Management
ETF Securities Weekly Flows Analysis-Investors rotate into gold out of silver
August 7, 2017--Investors rotate back to gold, away from silver
Emerging market bond ETPs see highest inflows since January
Investors sell oil ETPs as price nears the top of trading range
Gold ETPs receive largest inflows since May 2017, while silver ETPs see largest outflows since July 2016. With gold holding its gains last week, investors increased their holding of the metal by US$64.7mn. A small miss in US ISM manufacturing figures and continued political volatility in the Trump Administration following the sacking of its Communications Director lent weakness to the US Dollar and support to gold.
Source: etfsecurities.com
