Global ETF News Older than One Year
IMF-Is the Glass Half Empty Or Half Full?: Issues in Managing Water Challenges and Policy Instruments
June 9, 2015--Summary: This paper examines water challenges, a growing global concern with adverse economic and social consequences, and discusses economic policy instruments. Water subsidies provided through public utilities are estimated at about $456 billion or 0.6 percent of global GDP in 2012.
The paper suggests that getting economic incentives right, notably by reforming water pricing, can go a long way towards encouraging more efficient water use and supporting needed investment, while enabling policies that protect the poor. It also discusses pricing reform options and emphasizes an integrated and holistic approach to manage water, going beyond the water sector itself.
view the Liquid Assets-Infographic
Source: IMF
MSCI May Upgrade Pakistan To Emerging Markets, Saudi Arabia Is Not Ready
June 9, 2015--There is a chance Pakistan will be in the emerging markets again, while Pakistan's far wealthier brother Saudi Arabia is nowhere close to entering the club, tracked by close to $1.7 trillion funds.
Indexer MSCI said today it will review Pakistan for a potential upgrade to emerging markets in its annual review next June.
Source: Barron's
MSCI Decides Against China A-Shares In Huge Emerging Market Index
June 9, 2015--The verdict is out. China is not ready for the big time...just yet.
MSCI decided against including the A-shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index on Tuesday.
"Substantial progress has been made toward the opening of the Chinese equity market to institutional investors," said Remy Briand, MSCI Managing Director and Global Head of Research.
Source: Forbes
BetaShares Global Market Review: May 2015...
June 9, 2015--The main theme last month was fear of Fed tightening, which saw the US dollar rise and the $A weaken-which in turn contributed to unhedged international equity being the best performing major asset class during the month.
Locally, stocks were close to flat despite a 3.1% drop in financial sector stocks, as investors switched to other sectors, such as property and resources. Bumper US grain supply contributed to further weakness in commodity prices.
Source: BetaShares
Bond-Market Volatility Triggers Alarms
June 8, 2015--U.K.'s debt agency chief raises prospect that swings could cause investors to balk at buying bonds at auction.
Regulators and government officials are becoming increasingly worried about rising volatility in government bond markets.
Federal Reserve and European Central Bank officials have publicly discussed the issue in recent weeks, and the head of the U.K.'s Debt Management Office raised the prospect that the swings could one day cause investors to balk at buying its bonds at auction.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Collaboration with Shanghai Stock Exchange
June 8, 2015--SIX Swiss Exchange and Shanghai Stock Exchange have agreed in a memorandum of understanding to step up their collaboration.
Today, SIX Swiss Exchange welcomed a delegation from China. The meeting was focused on signing a memorandum of understanding between SIX Swiss Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It envisages regular, institutionalized exchange of information, in order to improve understanding of each other's market, promote business relations and strengthen regulatory standards.
The aim is to develop service offerings to the benefit of investors in both financial centers and to create attractive conditions for mutual admission of financial products.
Source: SIX Swiss Exchange
IOSCO publishes good practices on reducing reliance on CRAs in Asset Management
June 8, 2015--The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published its final report on Good practices on reducing reliance on CRAs in Asset Management, which provides a set of good practices for reducing over-reliance on external credit ratings in the asset management industry.
The report stresses the importance of asset managers having the appropriate expertise and processes in place to assess and manage the credit risk associated with their investment decisions. To help managers avoid over-reliance on external ratings, the report lists eight good practices that they may consider when resorting to external ratings.
view the Good practices on reducing reliance on CRAs in Asset Management report
Source: IOSCO
BlackRockETP Landscape: Durable non-U.S. equity demand
GLOBAL ETP FLOWS IN MAY REFLECT DURABLE DEMAND FOR NON-U.S. EQUITIES DESPITE BROADER SLOWDOWN IN ACTIVITY
June 8, 2015--Global ETPs gathered $18.3bn, though excluding non-U.S. equities flows were largely flat
Japan and EAFE exposures led non-U.S. developed markets equities with $5.8bn and $4.2bn, respectively, and each category has been steady all year bringing in over $20bn to eclipse its full-year 2014 total
Broad EM equity inflows persisted for a second straight month, with $1.6bn lifting year-to-date flows into positive territory
Currency-hedged equity ETP flows of $3.4bn were the lowest since October, but accelerated again late in the month across EAFE, Europe and Japan funds
Pan-European funds brought in $1.6bn, a six--month low, as investor sentiment moderated along with the regional economic outlook after a strong Q1.
Source: BlackRock- ETP Research
STOXX Ltd. launches True Exposure index family to help investors achieve efficient strategic asset allocation
June 8, 2015--STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today announced the launch of the STOXX True Exposure index family, in short STOXX TRU. The indices allow investments in predefined countries or regions by selecting companies that have a dominant economic exposure to the targeted area. By enabling investors to sharpen portfolio exposure to selected regions, these indices allow for improved asset allocation that significantly de-risks portfolios with the same regional allocations.
"In today's interconnected world, having a portfolio that invests in a US, European and Asian market-cap benchmark leads to unintended regional overlaps of economic exposures, leaving investors with allegedly diversified portfolios that could have highly correlated returns," said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited.
Source: STOXX
Jain Era Ending as Deutsche Bank Appoints Cryan for Top Job
June 8, 2015--Deutsche Bank AG shares surged the most in more than two years as investors welcomed a management overhaul at Germany's biggest bank.
John Cryan, a supervisory board member since 2013, was named the next chief executive officer in a surprise announcement Sunday. He'll replace co-CEO Anshu Jain at the end of the month and become sole CEO when Juergen Fitschen steps down next May.
Source: Bloomberg
