Global ETF News Older than One Year
UK government to issue the world's first non-Chinese sovereign offshore renminbi bond.
September 12, 2014--The government announced today (12 September), as part of the conclusion of the Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) with China, that it intends to issue the world's first non-Chinese sovereign offshore renminbi bond and the proceeds will be used to finance the UK government's reserves of foreign currency.
The government is taking these steps in recognition of the increasingly prominent role that renminbi is playing in the global economy and financial markets, including as a potential future reserve currency.
The bond is intended to be a one-off issuance, with the benefit of contributing liquidity to the small but fast-growing renminbi offshore market and attracting other market players in both the private and official sectors.
Source: HM Treasury
Basel III monitoring results published by the Basel Committee
September 11, 2014--The Basel Committee today published the results of its latest Basel III monitoring exercise. The study is based on the rigorous reporting process set up by the Committee to periodically review the implications of the Basel III standards for banks.
The results of previous exercises in this series were published in March 2014, September 2013, March 2013, September 2012 and April 2012.
A total of 227 banks participated in the current study, comprising 102 large internationally active banks ("Group 1 banks", defined as internationally active banks that have Tier 1 capital of more than €3 billion) and 125 Group 2 banks (ie representative of all other banks).
view the Basel III Monitoring Report
Source: BIS
OTC Derivatives Regulators Issue Report to the G20
September 10, 2014--The Over-the-Counter (OTC) Derivatives Regulators Group (ODRG),which is made up of authorities with responsibility for the regulation of OTC derivatives markets in Australia,Brazil,the European Union,Hong Kong,Japan,Ontario,Quebec,Singapore,Switzerland,and the United States,issued a report today that provides an update to the G20 on further progress in resolving OTC derivatives cross-border implementation issues and identifies a cross-border issue that may call for legislative change.
The ODRG provided an update regarding two areas in which it is working to develop approaches to address cross-border issues: (i) potential gaps and duplications in the treatment of branches and affiliates; and (ii) treatment of organized trading platforms and implementation of the G20 trading commitment.
Source: CFTC.gov
IMF Working paper-Sovereign Debt Composition in Advanced Economies: A Historical Perspective
September 9, 2014--Summary: We examine how the composition of public debt, broken down by currency, maturity, holder profile and marketability, has responded to major debt accumulation and consolidation episodes during 1900-2011. Covering thirteen advanced economies, we focus on debt structure shifts that occurred around the two World Wars and global economic downturns, and the subsequent debt consolidations.
Notwithstanding data gaps, we are able to recover some broad common patterns. Episodes of large debt accumulation—essentially, large increases in debt supply- were typically absorbed by increases in short-term, foreign currency-denominated, and banking-system-held debt. However, this pattern did not hold during the debt build-ups starting in the 1980s and 1990s, which were compositionally skewed toward long-term local-currency debt. We attribute this change to higher structural demand for sovereign paper, linked to capital account liberalization in advanced economies, the emergence of a large contractual saving sector, and innovative sovereign debt products. With regard to debt consolidations, we find support for the financial repression-cum-inflation channel for post World War II debt reductions. However, the scope for a repeat of this strategy appears limited unless financial liberalization and globalization were materially rolled back or the current globally agreed monetary policy regime built around price stability abandoned. Neither are significant favorable structural demand shifts, as witnessed in the 1980s and 1990s, likely.
Source: IMF
IOSCO updates survey on commodity derivatives markets supervisory principles
September 9, 2014--The International Organization of Securities Commissions today issued the Update to Survey on the Principles for the Regulation and Supervision of Commodity Derivatives Markets, which updates its 2012 review of the implementation of IOSCO's principles for commodity derivatives markets.
Consistent with the 2012 review of implementation of the IOSCO's principles for commodity derivatives markets, the majority of respondents to IOSCO’s 2014 update were broadly compliant with the Principles. Where commodity derivative markets exist and market authorities were yet to be fully compliant, many of those market authorities had identified initiatives aimed at achieving full compliance over time.
Source: IOSCO
Climate Finance Is Flowing, but It Isn't Enough-Yet
September 5, 2014--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
About US$359 billion a year has been flowing to and within countries to support low-carbon development and clean energy projects that can lower greenhouse gas emissions and increase resilience to the effects of climate change.
That is barely half the volume considered necessary, but innovations in business and finance and bold policies are laying the foundations to scale it up.
Climate change is expensive, and dealing with it will only grow costlier the longer countries, cities, and industries delay reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The good news is that money is flowing to solutions, and a growing number of leaders in government and business are taking action. The challenge is that the volume of finance isn’t enough-yet.
view the Infographic: Getting Climate Finance Flowing
Source: World Bank
WEF-Global Growth at Risk from Slow Reform Progress
The Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 finds insufficient progress in adopting and implementing structural reforms necessary for long-term economic growth
Switzerland remains on top of the report’s Global Competitiveness Index rankings; the US and Japan move up in the rankings for a second year in a row
Innovation, talent development and institutional strength continue to play a defining role in determining world's most competitive economies
September 3, 2014--The health of the global economy is at risk, despite years of bold monetary policy,
as countries struggle to implement structural reforms necessary to help economies grow, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 released today by the World Economic Forum.
In its annual assessment of the factors driving countries' productivity and prosperity, the report identifies uneven implementation of structural reforms across different regions and levels of development as the biggest challenge to sustaining global growth. It also highlights talent and innovation as two areas where leaders in the public and private sectors need to collaborate more effectively in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic development.
view the WEF-The Global Competitiveness Report-2014–2015
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
Average daily volume of 7.0 million contracts at Eurex Group in August
August 1, 2014--In August 2014, the international derivatives markets of Eurex Group recorded an average daily volume of 7.0 million contracts (August 2013: 6.6 million). Of those, 4.8 million were Eurex Exchange contracts (August 2013: 4.5 million), and 2.2 million contracts (August 2013: 2.1 million) were traded at the U.S.-based International Securities Exchange (ISE).
In total, 100.4 million contracts were traded at Eurex Exchange and 45.4 million at ISE.
At Eurex Exchange, the equity index derivatives segment totaled 51.2 million contracts (August 2013: 44.1 million). The single largest contract was the future on the EURO STOXX 50 Index with 21.0 million contracts. The options on this blue chip index totaled 18.2 million contracts. Futures on the DAX index recorded 2.3 million contracts while the DAX options reached 3.2 million contracts. The Eurex KOSPI Product recorded 1.8 million contracts.
Source: Eurex
World Water Week Seeks Solutions to Water and Energy Challenges
August 29, 2014--Story Highlights
Water is needed in almost all energy generation processes. At the same time, the water sector needs energy to extract, treat and transport water.
These inextricable connections between water and energy-and how best to manage them for the benefit of the poor-will be the focus of this year’s World Water Week.
Cross-cutting solutions are critical for developing innovative technical tools, approaches, and policy-oriented guidance to help countries develop and manage their energy and water resources in a sustainable way.
view the Infographic: Why Does the Energy Sector Need Water?
Source: World Bank
Opec trims 2014 oil demand growth forecast
August 8, 2014--The Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil cartel trimmed its 2014 forecast for global oil demand growth on Friday after weaker-than-expected economic growth in rich countries in the second quarter and a "fragile" worldwide recovery.
Opec said it now expects demand to grow by 1.10 million barrels per day (mbd) to 91.11 mbd, down from a previous projection of 91.13 mbd.
Source: FIN24
