WEF-Disruptive innovation in financial services: A blueprint for digital
September 19, 2016--Disruptive innovation in financial services: A blueprint for digital identity-a report from the World Economic Forum. (originally published August 12, 2016)
The World Economic Forum's digital identity report lays out, in detail, the argument for financial institutions to drive the development of digital identity solutions, discusses the landscape of identity solutions, provides recommendations on the construction of identity systems, and discusses the suite of benefits that these systems would bring to stakeholders.
view the Disruptive innovation in financial services: A blueprint for digital identity
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
WEF-The future of financial infrastructure: An ambitious look at how blockchain can reshape financial services
September 19, 2016--On August 12, 2016 the World Economic Forum published The future of financial infrastructure: An ambitious look at how blockchain can reshape financial services report.
The transformation of the financial services industry is top-of-mind for everyone in the field and blockchain might be the hottest topic in the rapidly changing world of Fintech. But how can this technology really help financial firms? This report from World Economic Forum takes a pragmatic approach to answering this question.
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
ETF Securities Weekly Flows Analysis-GBP short positions are back to pre-referendum announcement levels
September 19, 2016--The futures market has highlighted an increasing probability of rate hike this year, weighing on commodity prices. Consequently, gold saw small outflows last week representing only 1% of inflows this year
AuM in GBP short ETPs has now fallen back to levels not seen pre the EU referendum announcement
Industrial metals saw continued outflows last week totalling US$15m
The futures market has highlighted an increasing probability of rate hike this year. While the markets are pricing in a lower probability of a rate increase this week, the implied probability of a rate move in December has risen.
Source: ETF Securities
Infographic-How Oil is Formed
September 19, 2016--Does the oil we use today originate from the remains of dead dinosaurs?
No, but the actual answer is just as interesting.
The generally accepted theory is that today's oil reserves come from organic materials that existed millions of years before dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Source: visualcapitalist.com
World Bank-By 2050, drug-resistant infections could cause global economic damage on par with 2008 financial crisis
September 19, 2016--New research from World Bank shows that antimicrobial resistance would increase poverty and affect poorest countries the most
Drug-resistant infections have the potential to cause a level of economic damage similar to-and likely worse than-that caused by the 2008 financial crisis, according to a new report by the World Bank Group entitled "Drug Resistant Infections: A Threat to Our Economic Future."
The research shows that a high-case scenario of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-where antibiotics and other antimicrobial dugs no longer treat infections the way they are supposed to-could cause low-income countries to lose more than 5% of their GDP and push up to 28 million people, mostly in developing countries, into poverty by 2050.
view the "Drug Resistant Infections: A Threat to Our Economic Future" report
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
Morningstar-A Global Guide to Strategic-Beta Exchange-Traded Products
September 18, 2016--Executive Summary
"Smart beta' is an unfortunate name, one that has positive connotations that may not always
be warranted.
What Morningstar deems "strategic beta" is a broad and rapidly growing category of benchmarks and the investment products that track it
As of June 30, 2014, there were 673 strategic-beta exchange-traded products, or ETPs, with collective assets under management of approximately $396 billion worldwide.1 Strategic-beta ETPs are making inroads against their peers that are benchmarked to more-traditional indexes. While their market share has been increasing in every region we have examined, they have made greater inroads in large, more mature markets than they have in smaller, less developed ones.
For example, strategic-beta ETPs accounted for 19% of U.S. ETP assets, but just 1.5% of ETP assets in the Asia-Pacific region.
view the Morningstar-A Global Guide to Strategic-Beta Exchange-Traded Products
Source: Morningstar
Global bond issuance highest in nearly a decade
September 18, 2016--Global bond issuance is running at its fastest pace in nearly a decade as companies, countries and US agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac binge on debt in an era of historically low interest rates.
Source: FT.com
Banks face $5bn hit to research teams as asset managers cut spending
September 18, 2016--Asset managers intend to cut their analyst research budgets by 30 per cent, heaping more pain on the investment banking industry that has already been forced to make thousands of people redundant on the back of falling profitability.
Source: FT.com
September 2016 BIS Quarterly Review: Markets pass Brexit test
September 18, 2016-Markets recovered quickly from the shock of the Brexit vote. Central banks have exerted a calming influence and have eased further in recent months as dissonant markets raised questions about the outlook and the pricing of underlying risks.
"There has been a distinctly mixed feel to the recent rally-more stick than carrot, more push than pull, more frustration than joy. This explains the nagging question of whether market prices fully reflect the risks ahead," said Claudio Borio, Head of the Monetary and Economic Department.
view the BIS Quarterly Review, September 2016
Source: BIS
How Our Cities Impact the Future Incomes of Children
September 16, 2016--Certain cities in America are better for upward mobility
In the long-standing psychology debate on nature versus nurture, the question is whether it is our genes or our experiences that hold the keys to our future.
The short answer to this question, according to many of today's scientists and psychologists, is that nature and nurture are always working together. In other words, genes do what they do depending on their context, and nature and nurture work to influence each other constantly.
Source: visualcapitalist.com