Global ETF News Older than One Year
US investors find their way back to Europe
November 19, 2013-Two years ago in the midst of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, US investors were fleeing from the region's financial sector in droves, plagued by fears that some lenders were on the brink of disaster and the economy was in tatters.
The French banks in particular were nearly brought to their knees by the withdrawal of short-term money-market funding as conservative investors returned to home turf, while long-only money also pulled back with a vengeance.
Source: FT.com
Exclusive: Barclays weighs index unit sale after MSCI approach-sources
November 19, 2013--Barclays Plc is exploring options for its index business after equity index provider MSCI Inc approached the British bank recently about buying the unit, according to several people familiar with the situation.
MSCI's interest has spurred early-stage discussions at Barclays, the sources said, and the bank has not yet decided whether it should sell the Barclays Indices platform, which includes well-known products like the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which tracks assets with a market value of $16.7 trillion (£10.36 trillion).
Source: Reuters
New Book Looks at Major Trends and Challenges in Geopolitics
What's Next: Essays on Geopolitics that Matter' Volume 2' is a series of essays on the latest trends and challenges in geopolitics
Topics covered include US-China relations, the China-Russia dynamic, events in the Middle East and the rise of popular politics
Unconventional energy in North America and its implications on global energy markets are also examined
November 19, 2031--What's Next: Essays on Geopolitics that Matter, Volume 2, is the latest book published by the World Economic Forum,s Global Agenda Council on Geopolitical Risk that examines the major trends and fault lines shaping geopolitics today.
The book, the second to be published by the Council, is co-edited by Ian Bremmer, Vice-Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Geopolitical Risk and Founder and President of Eurasia Group, and Wu Xinbo, Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Geopolitical Risk and Executive Dean, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University. Chapters include The Rise of the Vox Populi Risk, a look at the rise of populist politics; The Dynamics of Disorder: Power Shifts and Politics in the Middle East; and The Vulnerability of Elites, which ties together discussions among Council Members on emerging challenges that leaders could face just as other risks, such as the break-up of the eurozone, subside.
view the ebook-What's Next: Essays on Geopolitics that Matter, Volume 2
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
World Bank-Infographic: Carbon Markets of the World
November 18, 2013--The World Bank Infographic: Carbon Markets of the World is available for viewing.
Source: World Bank
World Bank-Damages from Extreme Weather Mount As Climate Warms
New Report Calls for Greater Investment in Managing Climate and Disaster Risk
November 18, 2013--As the global climate continues to change, the costs and damages from more extreme weather related to a warming planet are growing. While all countries are impacted, developing nations bear the brunt of mounting losses in lives and livelihoods from increasingly severe floods, droughts, and storms.
"Typhoon Haiyan, the most powerful typhoon ever to hit the Philippines, has brought into sharp focus how climate change is intensifying the severity of extreme weather events, which hurts the poor the most," said Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President. "While the immediate relief effort must be front and center of our attention today, such tragic events show that the world can no longer afford to put off action to slow greenhouse emissions, and help countries prepare for a world of greater climate and disaster risks."
view the World Bank Report-Building resilience: integrating climate and disaster risk into development
Source: World Bank
ESMA finalises clearing and risk mitigation obligations for non-EU OTC derivatives
November 18, 2013--The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) related to derivative transactions by non-European Union (EU) counterparties. The RTS implement provisions of the Regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (EMIR).
EMIR provisions regarding central clearing and risk mitigation techniques also apply to those OTC derivatives entered into by two non-EU counterparties which have a direct, substantial and foreseeable impact on EU financial markets. Ensuring that risks posed to the EU's financial markets by non-EU transactions are addressed by regulation and supervision is key in ensuring safer markets.
Source: ESMA
STOXX launches EURO STOXX 50 Futures Roll Index
November 18, 2013--STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today introduced the EURO STOXX 50 Futures Roll Index. The new index measures the return of a hypothetical, rolling portfolio invested into a series of EURO STOXX 50 futures contracts. It is designed to underlie exchange-traded funds and other investable products, and to act as a benchmark for actively managed funds.
"With 63 million traded contracts in the third quarter of 2013, the EURO STOXX 50 futures contracts are the second most traded index futures contracts worldwide, " said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited. "The EURO STOXX 50 Futures Roll Index offers market participants an effective and transparent tool to participate from the returns of these highly liquid futures contracts through an index concept."
Source: Stoxx
FSB publishes the Principles for an effective risk appetite framework and consults on Guidance on Supervisory Interaction with Financial Institutions on Risk Culture
November 18, 2013--The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has today published two papers to assist supervisors in strengthening risk management practices at financial institutions:
1) Principles for an Effective Risk Appetite Framework- finalised document; and
2)Guidance on Supervisory Interaction with Financial Institutions on Risk Culture-for public consultation.
These papers form part of the FSB''s initiative to increase the intensity and effectiveness of supervision, which is a key component of the policy measures to address systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) that were endorsed by the G20 in November 2010 to address the problem of firms that are "too big to fail".
Supervisory expectations for firms' risk management functions and overall risk governance frameworks are increasing, as these were areas that exhibited significant weaknesses in many financial institutions during the global financial crisis.
view the Principles for an Effective Risk Appetite Framework- finalised document
Source: FSB
ETFS Precious Metals Weekly-China Bullishness and Central Bank Dovishness Support Precious Metal Rally
November 18, 2013--China balanced growth focus,Fed and ECB dovishness supportive of precious metals prices. Risk assets continued to outperform last week as the S&P 500 rallied to new highs. The gold price also rose despite an increase in outflows from gold ETP's as dovish comments from likely future Fed Chairman Janet Yellen, together with poor euro-area GDP growth numbers and weak inflation supported gold and bond prices towards the end of the week.
News from China's Third Plenum meeting was viewed positively by markets,with an increasing emphasis on private sector-led growth,a loosening of the one-child policy,encouragement of rural land right reform and other legal changes to boost urbanisation supportive of balanced long-term growth. Two prominent industry reports (from the World Gold Council and Johnson Matthey) added clarification to the strong physical demand for gold and persistent supply deficits in platinum and palladium. However,silver fell sharply on the back of increasing supply concerns, notably from better than expected production data from Pan American Silver,the world's sixth largest silver producer. We expect the weakness to be short-lived as global growth data and central bank easing policies remain supportive of the cyclical asset rally.
Source: ETF Securities
Connecting the Right Data is Key to Managing Sustainability
The world has the data it needs to manage sustainability, but finding and connecting it remains a challenge, new report argues
Open approach to data and greater collaboration on standardization would boost sustainability efforts
World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Measuring Sustainability collaborates with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia on report.
November 18, 2013--The fight against climate change is being hampered by a lack of awareness among decision-makers on how best to measure the sustainability of resources, according to a report, Designing for Action: Principles of Effective Sustainability Measurement, published today by the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Measuring Sustainability.
The report, which was produced in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) of Australia, aims to provide an authoritative guide to decision-makers on what to measure to build resilience and sustainability in development planning.
view the report-Designing for Action: Principles of Effective Sustainability Measurement
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
