Forget BRICS-2016 Is The Year Of The ASEAN Bloc
December 22, 2015--2015, what a year that was for BRICS! It will be the year to remember Brazil's economic slowdown and turbulent political scene, China's botched response to a rout in its stocks that gripped financial markets in mid-2015, and geopolitical tensions and economic sanctions placed on Russia.
But what's happening with other emerging markets outside the BRICS?
Source: emergingequity.org/
33 Signs that Bitcoin Growth Isn't Slowing in 2016
December 21, 2015--It's been a year of mixed results for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and speculators.
The biggest positive for Bitcoin is that it was actually the best performing currency this year, ahead of the US Dollar and the Israeli Shekel.
Source: visualcapitalist.com
BIS-Guidance on the application of the Core principles for effective banking supervision to the regulation and supervision of institutions relevant to financial inclusion
December 21, 2015--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has today issued for public consultation proposed guidance for the regulation and supervision of institutions relevant to financial inclusion.
This consultative document builds on past work by the Committee to elaborate additional guidance in the application of the Committee's Core principles for effective banking supervision to the supervision of financial institutions engaged in serving the financially unserved and underserved. This includes a report of the Range of practice in the regulation and supervision of institutions relevant to financial inclusion, and expands on Microfinance activities and the Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision.
Surce: BIS
Will Vanguard Manage to Crack the Active ETF Market?
By launching a range of active factor ETFs, Vanguard looks to ride two waves at the same time: smart-also know as strategic-beta and active ETFs
December 21, 2015--On December 10, Vanguard launched four new European-domiciled actively managed ETFs which provide global exposure to four factors-value, liquidity, momentum and low volatility.
For a number of reasons, Vanguard's move has confounded industry observers.
Source: Morningstar
LSEG acquires XTF
December 21, 2015--XTF is a provider of U.S. ETF data, analytics and ratings
Acquisition adds to LSEG's leading offering in the ETF space
Growing demand for greater research tools to track $3 trillion global ETF market
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) today confirms that it has completed the acquisition of assets, through its Information Services division, from XTF Inc., a U.S. based provider of high-quality ETF data, analytics and ratings. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. The business will be integrated into LSEG's Information Services Division, which includes FTSE Russell, a global leader in indexes, and a range of real time and reference data products, including SEDOL, UnaVista and RNS.
Source: London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)
JPMorgan to pay $150 million in 'London Whale' U.S. class action
December 21, 2015--JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $150 million to resolve a securities fraud lawsuit by investors suing the bank over its "London Whale" trading scandal, which caused a $6.2 billion loss.
The settlement was disclosed in papers filed on Friday in federal court in Manhattan and would resolve a class action lawsuit filed in the wake of the scandal that emerged in 2012.
Source: Reuters
All of the World's Money and Markets in One Visualization
December 20, 2015--How much money exists in the world?
Strangely enough, there are multiple answers to this question, and the amount of money that exists changes depending on how we define it.
The more abstract definition of money we use, the higher the number is. .
Source: The Money Project
Smart beta's potential starting to overwhelm ETF providers
December 20, 2015--Exchange traded fund sponsors and index providers are churning out new smart beta benchmarks at a rapid clip, but the challenge now is explaining to investors how the latest approach to mixing and matching factors is better
than-or at least different from-the ones that came before.
Source: FT.com
Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund Transitions to New FTSE Index
December 20, 2015--Vanguard announced today that the $53 billion Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund, including its ETF share class (ticker: VEA), will begin tracking a new FTSE transition index as part of a two-phase change to a new target index, the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Index. The change will be effective with the opening of trading on December 21, 2015.
In the first phase, the fund will track the FTSE Developed All Cap ex US Transition Index, an interim index that will gradually increase exposure to small-capitalization stocks and Canadian securities, while proportionately reducing the weightings of other stocks.
Source: Vanguard
Infographic-Junk Bonds Finally Capitulate to Lower Oil Price Environment
December 18, 2015--High-yield bond ETFs are down double-digits since the summer.
Over the month of December, the market for high-yield bonds (also known as junk bonds) had a mini-meltdown that's raised some eyebrows.
Junk bonds, which are non-investment grade debt instruments that are issued by companies with poor credit ratings, are both high-risk and high-reward. If the companies don't default on their payments, the bonds pay a nice premium to the investor. In fact, the risk and return on junk bonds is generally comparable with that of stocks. view
Source: visualcapitalist.com