Global ETF News Older than One Year
DECPG Weekly Global Economic Brief
December 20, 2013--The US Federal Reserve announced that it will begin a gradual tapering of its asset purchase program beginning in
January 2014, initially reducing it from $85bn to $75bn per month. The communication around the policy change was effective, with most markets reacting calmly to the news.
Stock-markets and currencies in selected developing countries had already come under renewed pressure in recent weeks, but did not suffer additional adverse effects with the announcement. The recent WTO trade facilitation agreement reached in December has the potential to significantly ease the transactions cost of moving goods across borders, with significant benefits to developing countries
The US Federal Reserve decided this week to start gradually reducing its quantitative easing policies, reinforcing at the same time its commitment to maintaining short-term policy rates close to zero until at least mid-2015. The Fed decision reflects a convergence of factors including the decline in the US unemployment rate, improving housing markets and progress in fiscal negotiations in the US Congress. Markets reacted calmly to the news, taking comfort in the upbeat assessment of the outlook for the US economy and the reinforced commitment to keep short-term policy rates unchanged "well past the time that the unemployment rate declines below 6-1/2 percent", which by the Fed’s own forecasts will not happen until the end of 2015. Given the role the US Fed has come to play on US bond markets (holding at present more than 50 percent of the outstanding amount of Treasuries of 8 to 10 year maturity), market volatility and potentially abrupt changes in yields and risk premia may yet arise. The process of withdrawing quantitative easing is expected to span most of 2014.
Source: World Bank
IMF Working paper-Procyclicality and the Search for Early Warning Indicators
December 20, 2013--Summary: This paper compares three types of early warning indicators of financial instability-those based on financial market prices, those based on normalized measures of total credit and those based on liabilities of financial intermediaries. Prices perform well as concurrent indicators of market conditions but are not suitable as early warning indicators.
Total credit and liabilities convey similar information and perform better as early warning indicators, but liabilities are more transparent and the decomposition between core and non-core liabilities convey additional useful information.
view the IMF Working paper-Procyclicality and the Search for Early Warning Indicators
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-External Imbalances and Financial Crises
December 20, 2013-- Summary: Consider two views of the global financial crisis, One view looks across the border: it blames external imbalances, the unprecedented current account deficits and surpluses in recent years, Another view looks within the border: it faults domestic financial systems where risks originated in excessive credit booms.
We can use the lens of macroeconomic and financial history to confront these dueling hypotheses with evidence. The credit boom explanation is the most plausible predictor of crises since the late nineteenth century; global imbalances have only a weak correlation with financial distress compared to indicators drawn from the financial system itself.
view the IMF Working paper-External Imbalances and Financial Crises
Source: IMF
IOSCO Publishes Report on Regulation of Retail Structured Products
December 20, 2013--IOSCO Publishes Report on Regulation of Retail Structured Products
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published the final report on Regulation of Retail Structured Products, which provides a toolkit outlining regulatory options that securities regulators may find useful to regulate retail structured products.
The Toolkit has been developed with the goal of enhancing investor protection by providing securities regulators with possible approaches to address certain concerns with retail structured products. The proposed tools are intended to allow for a wide range of application and adaptation in different jurisdictions, and regulators may choose to implement some, all, or none of them in their jurisdiction.
view the IOSCO report-Regulation of Retail Structured Products Final Report
Source: IOSCO
Joint Forum issues final paper on longevity risk transfer markets
December 20, 2013--The Joint Forum released today its final report on Longevity risk transfer markets: market structure, growth drivers and impediments, and potential risks.
Ageing populations pose serious social policy and regulatory/supervisory challenges in many countries. Longevity risk-the risk of paying out on pensions and annuities for longer than anticipated- is significant when measured from a financial perspective. For example, certain estimates of the total global amount of annuity-and pension-related longevity risk exposure range from $15 trillion to $25 trillion. At the same time, pension funds are increasingly looking to transfer this risk. The Joint Forum is therefore publishing this forward-looking report on longevity risk transfer markets that makes a set of recommendations to policymakers and supervisors:
Source: IOSCO
EPFR Global News Release-Fund flows slump as US Federal Reserve finally pulls the trigger on QE3
December 20, 2013--Redemptions from EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds hit a 24 week high in mid-December as the US Federal Reserve, after months of talking about tapering its current quantitative easing program (QE3), announced on December 18 that the process will begin in January.
The week leading up to the Fed's decision also saw heavy redemptions from Global Equity and Bond, Balanced, Gold and Energy Sector and Emerging Markets Bond Funds while Japan Equity Funds posted back-to-back weekly outflows for the first time since 4Q12.
Visit www.epfr.com for more info
Source: EPFR
TASE and Eurex sign derivatives trading cooperation agreement
December 19, 2013--TASE, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and Eurex Exchange, the international derivatives marketplace and part of Deutsche Börse Group, have signed a cooperation agreement.
Under the agreement, Eurex Exchange will list and clear index futures based on the TA-25 index, Israel's blue chip index and one of the most heavily traded regional equity indexes. Eurex's TA-25 index futures will be denominated in US dollars. The launch is planned for H1 2014.
The cooperation agreement was signed today by Ester Levanon, CEO of TASE, and Mehtap Dinc, member of the Eurex Executive Board, in Tel Aviv. Both partners will jointly promote the launch of the new Eurex index derivatives contracts.
Source: Eurex
IMF Working paper-Securitization: Lessons Learned and the Road Ahead
December 19, 2013-- Summary: This paper examines the financial stability implications arising from securitization markets, with one eye on the past and another on the future. The paper begins by deriving a number of "lessons learned" based on an examination of key industry developments in the years before the crisis.
Emphasis is placed on the various ways in which securitization markets dramatically changed shape in the years preceding the crisis, vis-á-vis their earlier (simpler) incarnation. Current impediments to securitization markets are then discussed, including a treatment of various regulatory initiatives, the operational infrastructure of securitization markets, and related official sector intervention. Finally, a broad suite of policy recommendations is presented to address the factors that either contributed to the crisis or may currently be posing obstacles to growth-supportive, sustainable securitization markets. These proposals are guided by the objective of preserving the beneficial features of securitization, while mitigating those that pose a potential risk to financial stability.
view the IMF Working paper-Securitization: Lessons Learned and the Road Ahead
Source: IMF
IMF Working paper-Policy Analysis and Forecasting in the World Economy: A Panel Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Approach
December 19, 2013--Summary: This paper develops a structural macroeconometric model of the world economy, disaggregated into thirty five national economies. This panel unobserved components model encompasses an approximate linear panel dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model featuring a monetary transmission mechanism, a fiscal transmission mechanism, and extensive macrofinancial linkages, both within and across economies.
A variety of monetary policy analysis, fiscal policy analysis, spillover analysis, and forecasting applications of the estimated model are demonstrated, based on a Bayesian framework for conditioning on judgment.
Source: IMF
Time for the industry to accept its just deserts
December 19, 2013--The need for savings to fund retirement is being recognised as being far greater than previously thought and represents a great opportunity for the long-term growth of the asset management industry.
But it also underlines the need for us to lead the way in setting standards of the highest integrity and professionalism.
Source: Financial News
