Global ETF News Older than One Year
World Bank: Pension Reforms Needed in Emerging Europe and Central Asia to Protect Future Generations
Countries struggle to meet pension needs of their aging populations
February 21, 2014--The profound effects of aging populations and a shrinking labor force on overstretched state pension schemes in emerging Europe and Central Asian countries demand significant reforms, says the World Bank's new report The Inverting Pyramid: Pension Systems Facing Demographic Challenges in Europe and Central Asia.
If bold pension reforms are not made, it will be today's young and the elderly poor who will suffer the most from the inability of state pension systems to ensure basic income protection in old-age. Failing to act today raises equity concerns for the next generation as it would likely result in future pension benefits cuts and these would hurt the poor more than the rich, according to the report.
Source: World Bank
Smart beta growing as the 'third pillar' of investment portfolios
February 20, 2014--Most institutions see 'smart beta' funds as a potential substitute for some active management although retail investors may not be quite as quick to jump on board.
State Street Global Advisors surveyed 300 institutional clients and found 42 per cent use smart beta strategies while a further 24 per cent intend to do so in the next three years
Source: Fundweb.co.uk
BNY Mellon Research paper- New Frontiers of Risk: Revisiting the 360 Manager.
February 20, 2014--BNY Mellon has published the research paper- New Frontiers of Risk: Revisiting the 360° Manager.
Source: BNY Mellon
Financial Markets Overview-February 2014
February 20, 2014--Financial markets are undergoing a significant transition as strengthening growth in high-income economies is prompting an end to the extraordinary stimulus measures taken in the wake of the global financial crisis.
During the spring and summer of 2013, long-term interest rates on U.S. sovereign debt nearly doubled as financial markets reacted to the prospect of a tapering-off of the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing policies. The sharp increase in U.S. yields sparked a sudden portfolio adjustment by international investors away from developing country assets, leading to a significant decline in capital flows. Most of this adjustment had played itself out by end-August 2013, with equity, bond and foreign exchange markets recovering or stabilizing in the final months of the year. Gross capital inflows also recovered during the fourth quarter of 2013, with the volume of foreign capital raised through new bond, equity and syndicated bank lending up 13.6 percent from a year earlier.
view the Financial Markets Overview-February 2014
view the Infographic: Financial Markets-February 2014
Source: World Bank
Wanted: Financial advisers who aren't about to hang it up
February 20, 2014--If you've ever thought about getting some professional help with your retirement plan, this would be a great time to get going. Financial advisers may be in short supply in the years ahead.
A brain drain is about to hit the world of financial planning, according to Cerulli Associates, a financial services consulting firm. Cerulli reports that 32 percent of all advisers will retire in the next 10 years. At the same time, the industry isn't hiring nearly enough new blood to replace them, let alone expand the ranks to handle the anticipated surge in demand.
Source: Reuters
Deutsche Boerse Plans to Set Up Singapore Clearinghouse
February 20, 2014--Deutsche Boerse AG plans to set up a clearinghouse in Singapore to compete with Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX) and IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc. (ICE) as the owner of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the Eurex futures market seeks to benefit from new financial regulations.
The expansion will help increase net annual revenue to as much as 2.7 billion euros ($3.7 billion) within the next four years, Chief Executive Officer Reto Francioni said in Frankfurt today. Deutsche Boerse had sales of 1.9 billion euros in 2013.
Source: Bloomberg
Further MSCI futures available for U.S. based customers
CFTC certified a further 11 MSCI futures contracts for trading in the U.S.
February 20, 2014--The international derivatives market Eurex Exchange has been informed by the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission that an additional 11 MSCI futures fall under the scope of the 'no-action' letter and can be marketed in the U.S.
This brings the total number of MSCI futures contracts listed on Eurex which are now available to U.S. investors to 15.
Source: Eurex
International Debt Statistics 2014 now available
February 20, 2014--The 2014 edition of International Debt Statistics (IDS) has just been released. IDS 2014 draws from comprehensive databases of debt statistics collected from 124 low and middle-income countries, as well as quarterly external and public sector debt from high-income economies.
As part of this year's release, the new features include:
New online tables with all the regional and country data tables that were previously published in the book, as well as additional topical tables with data for high-income economies. The regional and country data tables have been expanded with new indicators that were not available earlier in the print publication. All of the data tables will now be compiled directly from the latest version of the database, with metadata attached to individual values. These will display in web browsers, and be available as PDF-format downloads.
view the International Debt Statistics 2014 report
Source: World Bank
The big gold ETF turnaround and its prospective impact
February 19, 2014--Chinese and Indian gold demand in particular will probably bring stability to the gold price, but it is the potential turnaround in ETF sales/purchases which could provide the key to price growth this year.
2013 was a pretty disastrous year for the gold investor with the year's gold price high point being reached right at the beginning of January, from where it was almost all downhill until the beginnings of a pick-up at the start of the current year.
Source: MineWeb
NASDAQ OMX Launches Two New Indexes in the NASDAQ IBIS Index Family
February 19, 2014--The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) has introduced two new indexes on the Global Index Data Service 2.0 (GIDS 2.0)-the NASDAQ IBIS Focused Growth Index (NQIBIS); and the NASDAQ IBIS Focused Growth Total Return Index (NQIBIST).
"These new indexes offer the unique viewpoint of accessing an absolute return strategy, while maintaining a rules-based and rigorous selection process,"said Dave Gedeon, Managing Director of NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes. "Partnering with IBIS Capital allows the market to benefit from both the tactical allocation models and rules-based index tracking."
Source: NASDAQ OMX
