2015's best-and worst-selling fund houses
January 3, 2016--Pimco, Franklin Templeton, M&G and Aberdeen are among the worst-selling investment companies of 2015 as the surge of money into cheap passive funds and volatility in emerging markets took their toll on active managers.
Bond fund house Pimco, which was hurt by the acrimonious departure of its founder Bill Gross in 2014, suffered the heaviest outflows of any asset management company last year.
Source: FT.com
Record number of companies launch exchange traded funds
January 3, 2016--A record number of companies entered the exchange traded fund market last year even though the vast majority of existing ETFs have failed to generate profits for fund managers.
Forty-three fund companies launched ETFs, which give investors cheap exposure to markets by passively tracking an index, for the first time in 2015.
Source: FT.com
RPT-Wall St Week Ahead-Investors look to January effect at start of 2016
January 3, 2016--As Wall Street wraps up its flattest year since 2011, investors will have to deal with many of the same issues next year as they attempt to gauge market direction.
While many market participants have a host of worries heading into 2016 that could hurt stocks and keep volatility high, they remain optimistic for gains in 2016 and a strong start to the year could boost that case.
Source: Reuters
Nasdaq makes first share trade using blockchain technology
Market operator has spent millions experimenting with the technology behind Bitcoin
December 31, 2015--The Nasdaq stock exchange has used blockchain to transfer shares for the first time in what the US firm said was "a seminal moment" in the nascent technology.
Nasdaq said its Linq blockchain ledger had issued securities to an unnamed private investor, proving the concept of share trades through a decentralised ledger, and removing the need for a middleman such as a clearing house.
Source: The Telegraph
Exchange dealmaking to focus on new markets
December 30, 2015--Investors are anticipating a new round of dealmaking among some of the world's biggest stock exchanges next year as they look to boost their revenue streams by accessing new markets and products.
Fuelled by buoyant share prices and regulatory amendments, a cadre of new, young chief executives at top bourses are exploring fresh areas for growth including assets traded away from exchanges, such as currency trading, and showing increasing confidence in making deals.
Source: FT.com
IMF Working paper-The Impact of Unconventional Monetary Policy Measures by the Systemic Four on Global Liquidity and Monetary Conditions
December 30, 2015--Summary: The paper examines the impact of unconventional monetary policy measures (UMPMs) implemented since 2008 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Euro area and Japan-the Systemic Four-on global monetary and liquidity conditions.
Overall, the results show positive significant relationships. However, there are differences in the impact of the UMPMs of individual S4 countries on these conditions in other countries. UMPMs of the Bank of Japan have positive association with global liquidity but negative association with securities issuance. The quantitative easing (QE) of the Bank of England has the opposite association. Results for the quantitative easing measures of the United States Federal Reserve System (U.S. Fed) and the ECB UMPMs are more mixed.
Source: IMF
World Bank exit highlights China fears
December 30, 2015--When the Postal Savings Bank of China announced it had raised $7bn from a group of international investors it marked a significant step towards what is expected to be one of the biggest Chinese listings in 2016.
Alongside China Life and giants of global finance such as UBS and JPMorgan, it raised funds from the World Bank's private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, representing a turnround for a state bank that just three years earlier had seen its president charged with corruption.
Source: IMF
China to suspend foreign banks' yuan business
December 30, 2015--China has suspended at least two foreign banks from conducting some cross-border yuan business,
according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Source: FIN24
Bond Buyers Readying Defenses for 2016 Leave Nothing to Chance
December 29, 2015--Bond exchange-traded funds, total-return swaps used to hedge
Investors try to revive shrinking credit-default swaps market
Wall Street is searching for new ways to protect corporate bond investments amid concern that traditional hedging tools aren't working properly as default rates rise.
Source: Bloomberg
Infographic-A Timeline of Failed Tech Predictions
December 29, 2015--In the realm of technology, predictions about the future are famously hard to make.
Technology evolves at a logarithmic pace. Even small incremental changes over time can compound to create an entirely different business reality in the future.
Entire industries can be created or changed out of nowhere, as companies go from "zero to one", as Peter Thiel might say.
Source: visualcapitalist.com