Global ETF News Older than One Year
Rules and regulations dog ETF managers
January 31, 2014--The reforms of regulation standards needed after the financial crisis have placed a heavy burden on the exchange traded funds industry.
Although ETFs performed well throughout the crisis, with none of the problems associated with more complex financial products such as credit default swaps, ETF providers have found their operations and business models subjected to much greater scrutiny.
Source: FT.com
EU meets with CFTC to contest Gensler cross-border derivatives measures
January 301, 2014--IN BRIEF
A European delegation planned to meet Thursday with US derivative
regulators to try to get them to reverse some of the final cross-border
trading measures approved by Gary Gensler, former US Commodity Futures
Trading Commission chairman.
The planned Washington meeting with CFTC staff followed higher-level discussions in Brussels last week between Acting CFTC Chairman Mark Wetjen and Jonathan Faull, the European Commission's top civil servant for financial services policy
Source: MLex
ESMA delivers second set of advice on EMIR equivalence
January 30, 2014--Following its technical advice published on 9 September 2013, the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) has published a supplement to its advice to the European Commission on the equivalence of the regulatory regime for central counterparties (CCPs) of Japan with the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
This supplement to the September 2013 Final report sets out ESMA's advice to the European Commission is in respect of the equivalence between the Japanese regulatory regime for commodity CCPs and the regulatory regime for CCPs under EMIR.
Source: ESMA
Economic danger lurks in China's shadow banks
The rescue puts off the immediate threat but raises the stakes, writes Simon Rabinovitch
January 31, 2014--Of all the economic dangers to flare up over the past week, the most unsettling was at first glance also the most esoteric: the near default of a high-yield loan product held by a few hundred small-time Chinese investors.
Set against the turmoil in other emerging markets -steep currency falls in Turkey and South Africa that prompted their central banks to raise interest rates, stubbornly high inflation in India and a collapsing currency in Argentina...
Source: FT.com
SPDR gold ETF sees more purchases but still too early to see trend
For the second time in the last fortnight, the SPDR gold ETF saw an increase in gold purchases. We need evidence of move from sales to purchases for a while, before it can be confirmed as a trend change.
January 30, 2014--In the markets, the New York gold price rose yesterday to $1, 269.80 from $1, 254.10 at the close on Wednesday. Asia took it back down to $1, 259.00 ahead of the opening in London. London took it down to $1, 258.20 ahead of the Fix.
The dollar traded stronger at $1.3600 down 0.64 of a cent. It Fixed at $1, 254.00 down $0.75 on Wednesday. In the euro, it Fixed at &euro922.194 up &euro4.308 reflecting a stronger dollar which stood at $1.3598. Ahead of the opening in New York gold stood at $1, 254.40 and in the euro at &euro921.84.
Source: MineWeb
S&P Emerging Markets Domestic Demand Index Launched by S&P Dow Jones Indices
January 30, 2014--S&P Dow Jones Indices today announced the launch of the S&P Emerging Markets Domestic Demand Index which is designed to measure the performance of companies that capture a major engine of growth within the emerging markets- domestic demand.
To qualify for membership in the S&P Emerging Markets Domestic Demand Index, a stock must be a publicly traded company domiciled and incorporated in the following emerging market countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, or Turkey, and be listed on the primary stock exchange of its respective country.
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
NASDAQ OMX Launches Integrated Pre- and Post-Trade Risk System
January 29, 2014-Nasdaq now has integrated its pre- and post-trade risk management into a single platform.
The platform, dubbed TradeGuard, has bundled the multiple risk management services into a single system making it easier for the buyside to use.
TradeGuard is a full-service risk management suite that allows customers to pick and choose from a broad product suite for a range of trade support, from building a custom risk solution to simply filling in gaps in a current solution. In addition to the current enterprise and Nasdaq OMX exchange risk tools available, the new suite also features monitoring for new markets and asset classes, improved gateways, and supplemental risk monitoring systems.
Source: Securities Technology Monitor
IOSCO Publishes Recommendations Regarding the Protection of Client Assets
January 29, 2014--The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published the final report on Recommendations Regarding the Protection of Client Assets, which seeks to help regulators improve the supervision of intermediaries holding client assets.
Events such as the Lehman Brothers and MF Global insolvencies have placed client asset protection regimes in the spotlight. This is the result of investors trying to better understand the potential implications of placing their assets with particular intermediaries and in certain jurisdictions. Regulators also have been seeking to address risks to client assets and how to transfer or return client assets in default, resolution or insolvency scenarios.
Source: IOSCO
BMO Financial Group to Acquire F&C Asset Management plc
Excellent strategic, financial and cultural fit
January 28, 2014--F&C is a diversified U.K.-based investment manager with a strong brand and almost 150-year history
Consistent with BMO's stated intention of growing its wealth management business and demonstrates BMO's commitment to the asset management business
BMO Global Asset Management's scale, product set and distribution capabilities will be enhanced; pro forma combined AUM of F&C and BMO Global Asset Management is approximately US$2691 billion (£162 billion)
Complementary distribution and limited product overlap expected to drive future revenue growth
The acquisition, valued at C$1.3 billion (£708 million), is modestly accretive2 to earnings per share in the first year, and has an internal rate of return of approximately 15%
Source: BMO Financial Group
Deep Capacity Can Be a Benefit to Index-Based Investing: The Case of European Small Caps
January 28, 2014--Until fairly recently, investors relied principally on actively managed mutual funds to gain exposure to the markets-especially for small-cap options around the world, where many believe that opportunities are ripe for active managers to add value.
Small-cap stocks, generally speaking, do not garner the same level of analyst coverage, and many believe informational inefficiencies provide richer opportunity sets for stock pickers to potentially outperform index benchmarks. After a strong performance during 2013, many have set their sights on European small caps1 in particular, and significant levels of assets have flowed into Europe (as Zach discussed in this prior blog post). Index-Based Strategies Offer a New Option Although Europe is an important focus for developed international investors, there are limited choices available to those interested in targeting exposure to European small-cap companies. Looking at the U.S.-listed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Morningstar’s Europe Stock category, as of December 31, 2013, there was only one ETF and three mutual funds specifically focused on small caps.2
See more at: http://www.wisdomtree.com/blog/index.php/deep-capacity-can-be-a-benefit-to-index-based-investing-the-case-of-european-small-caps/#sthash.uVak8WgV.dpuf
Source: WisdomTree
