Global ETF News Older than One Year
HSBC's London Gold Vault: Is This Gold's Secret Hiding Place?
April 19, 2016--HSBC's main gold vault in London regularly comes under the media spotlight for a number of reasons. These reasons include: a) the HSBC London vault stores a very large amount of gold on behalf of gold-backed Exchange Traded Funds, primarily the well-known SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) b) along with the Bank of England..
China's 'Bants' set to rival America's 'Fang' tech stocks
April 19, 2016--Fund managers quadruple holdings of Chinese internet quartet
Incisive Chinese companies have long been sinking their teeth into their western rivals. Now the country has developed its answer to the "Fangs" phenomenon, one of the remaining crown jewels of the west.
Source: FT.com
Eurex and Korea Exchange extend cooperation
Introduction of new index futures
April 18, 2016--Eurex, one of the world's leading derivatives exchanges and part of Deutsche Börse Group, and Korea Exchange (KRX) today signed a contract in KRX's Seoul Office to extend their cooperation by listing Mini KOSPI 200 index futures during Eurex trading hours.
Carbon Pricing: Building on the Momentum of the Paris Agreement
April 15, 2016--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
There is growing global momentum to put a price on carbon pollution. About 40 national and 23 subnational governments have put in place carbon pricing mechanisms, covering 12 percent of global emissions.
Nearly half of the national pledges submitted in the run-up to the Paris COP21 climate conference reference carbon pricing, and new approaches are being rolled out in China, France, Canada and other countries.
Source: World Bank
Revealed: the Digital Poverty Holding Back Global Growth and Development
April 15, 2016--The Global Information Technology Report 2015 finds a growing digital divide within and across countries, with the full economic and social benefits of the internet only available to a minority of the world's population
Many countries are failing to implement basic reforms that could increase productivity, boost economic growth and raise living standards
Singapore tops the world ranking of network-ready countries in 2015; the United States and Japan are the only other non-European countries in the top 10
Definitions and disclosure of non-performing exposures and forbearance proposed by the Basel Committee
April 14, 2016--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has today issued for consultation Prudential treatment of problem assets-definitions of non-performing exposures and forbearance.
At present, banks categorise problem loans in a variety of ways and there are no consistent international standards for categorising problem loans. The definitions proposed by the Basel Committee aim to promote harmonisation in the measurement and application of two important measures of asset quality and thereby foster consistency in supervisory reporting and disclosures by banks.
Source: BIS
Bond investors turn passive aggressive as ETFs swell
April 14, 2016--Investors are becoming passive, aggressively. While substantial inflows into funds that merely track a stock market index is not new, the trend is becoming increasingly powerful in bond markets too.
This raises a host of thorny issues both for bond buyers, as well as the community of active managers who stake their claim to command juicier fees on an ability to beat the performance of a benchmark or index.
Source: FT.com
IMF Survey-Coping With a New Reality
April 13, 2016--Public debt ratios have worsened almost everywhere and public finances have become more vulnerable
Countries need to adapt, but "no one-size-fits-all"
Fiscal policy should be growth-friendly with a focus on measures that boost both short-and medium-term growth
In a context of fragile and uneven global economic recovery, a comprehensive policy response is needed to reduce vulnerab Tilities and improve growth prospects, the IMF said today in the latest Fiscal Monitor.
The April 2016 Fiscal Monitor examines how countries can respond to the sharp deterioration of fiscal positions in the past year.view more
view the FISCAL MONITOR (FM) Acting Now, Acting Together April 2016
Source: IMF
IMF Warns of Threats to Financial Stability
April 13, 2016--Risks have risen in advanced economies, remain high in emerging markets
Market turmoil reflected setbacks to growth, greater uncertainty, weaker confidence
More balanced, potent policy mix can expand global output by extra 2 percent
ver the last six months, global financial stability risks increased because of higher economic risks and uncertainty, falling commodity prices, and concerns about China's economy, , according to the International Monetary Fund's latest Global Financial Stability Report.
view the IMF Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) Potent Policies for a Successful Normalization
Source: IMF
Balancing Work and Care in Aging Societies
April 13, 2016--From Europe and Central Asia to East Asia and the Pacific, rapid aging-increased life expectancy and lower fertility rates-puts enormous pressures on societies.
Aging economies need to increase women's labor force participation to counter the shrinking working population and boost economic growth.
This means redistributing the supply of informal and formal care, but also changing social norms and policies that tend to designate women as primary caregivers.
Source: World Bank
