Global ETF News Older than One Year
Asset managers fight 'financial threat' label
April 13, 2014--Big asset managers are fighting hard against being labelled potential threats to the stability of the financial markets. They have urged regulators to focus on heavily indebted institutions instead.
Regulators are considering imposing tighter rules as part of an assessment to determine whether large funds should be considered as "systemically important".
Funds with assets of more than $100bn will be subject to greater scrutiny, but regulators will also employ other measures such as leverage ratios to determine how wide to spread the net.
Vanguard, which manages $2.7tn, is potentially most under threat. It runs five tracker funds and a money-market fund with assets of more than $100bn.
Source: FT.com
Citi makes further cuts to trading business
April 13, 2014--Citigroup has made deeper cuts at its investment bank, cutting around 200 to 300 staff in its global sales and trading businesses in the last few weeks, said people familiar with the bank.
Steve Prince, brother of former chief executive Chuck Prince was among those to leave the bank, a person familiar said, confirming an earlier report in the Wall Street Journal.
Source: FT.com
Palladium Price Highest Since 2011 Due To Russian Worries, South African Strike
April 12, 2014--Palladium futures hit their highest level since 2011 on Monday as heightened geopolitical tensions surrounding Russia and Ukraine have exacerbated supply worries at a time when a major strike is occurring in South Africa.
Some analysts look for further gains over the longer term, while others described themselves as constructive but offered caution with so much bullish news already factored into prices.
Source: Forbes
Palladium Price Highest Since 2011 Due To Russian Worries, South African Strike
April 12, 2014--Palladium futures hit their highest level since 2011 on Monday as heightened geopolitical tensions surrounding Russia and Ukraine have exacerbated supply worries at a time when a major strike is occurring in South Africa.
Some analysts look for further gains over the longer term, while others described themselves as constructive but offered caution with so much bullish news already factored into prices.
Source: Forbes
Big asset managers eye new trading venue
April 11, 2014--Several of the world's largest asset managers are discussing the creation of a joint equity trading venue, in an attempt to end the technological arms race sparked by high-frequency trading firms.
Fidelity, the Boston-based manager with $1.9tn under management, has sounded out rivals about routing their share trades through a central venue that would rival traditional stock exchanges and so-called "dark pools" of liquidity.
Source: FT.com
ETF Securities expands into the Index Business
ETFS Indices LLC Unveils Four Composite Strategy Indices
April 10, 2014--The ETF Securities Group today announced the launch of ETF Securities' Index unit, ETFS Indices LLC. Led by Dan Raab, Head of Indices and Managed Futures, ETFS Indices will design and publish new futures-based indices.
The suite of Commodity Indices launched by ETFS Indices includes four composite strategy indices based on commodity futures prices. Current composite index types include Commodity Carry, Commodity Long-Short, and Commodity Long-Only. ETFS Indices' composite strategies are designed to be liquid and replicable, and useful as tools for portfolio diversification.
Source: ETF Securities
Infographic: Shared Prosperity in Emerging Europe and Central Asia
April 10, 2014--The first decade of the new millennium saw sustained growth of the incomes of the bottom 40% in Emerging Europe and Central Asia, above average GDP growth.
In some countries, however, poorer people have experienced contraction in their incomes, while in others they enjoyed yearly rates above 7%. Going forward, sustained growth of the bottom 40 percent will require structural policies that facilitate access to assets and reconcile equity and growth for all.
Source: World Bank
Capital standard for bank exposures to central counterparties finalised by the Basel Committee
April 10, 2014--The Basel Committee has today published a final standard for calculating regulatory capital for banks' exposures to central counterparties (CCPs).
The final standard will replace the interim capital requirements that were published in July 2012. When developing the final standard- in close cooperation with the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)- the Basel Committee sought to simplify the underlying policy framework and to complement relevant initiatives undertaken by other supervisory bodies, including the CPSS-IOSCO Principles for financial market infrastructures. The Committee also aimed to support broader policy efforts advanced by the G20 leaders and the Financial Stability Board, particularly those relating to central clearing of standardised OTC derivative contracts.
view the Capital requirements for bank exposures to central counterparties
Source: BIS
IMF Report-The Caucasus and Central Asia: Transitioning to Emerging Markets
April 10, 2014--Summary: The countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia (CCA) have recorded significant macroeconomic achievements since independence. These countries have grown more rapidly-on average by 7 percent over 1996-2011-than those in many other regions of the world and poverty has declined.
Inflation has come down sharply from high rates in the 1990s and interest rates have fallen. Financial sectors have deepened somewhat, as evidenced by higher deposits and lending. Fiscal policies were broadly successful in building buffers prior to the global crisis and those buffers were used effectively by many CCA countries to support growth and protect the most vulnerable as the crisis washed across the region. CCA oil and gas exporters have achieved significant improvements in living standards with the use of their energy wealth.
view the IMF Report-The Caucasus and Central Asia: Transitioning to Emerging Markets
Source: IMF
UBS inks Bloomberg index pact
April 9, 2014--UBS is shifting the management of its commodity indices to data giant Bloomberg, the latest example that large investment banks are reassessing their involvement in an area that has suffered a string of reputational blows.
Bloomberg has formed a strategic partnership with the Swiss bank that will see its index unit become responsible for the calculation, distribution, licensing and governance of the commodity indices, which UBS will continue to own.
Source: Financial News
