Global ETF News Older than One Year
Deutsche Bank to Shrink in Commodities as Revenue Slides
December 6, 2013--Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) is cutting about 200 commodities jobs, joining the world's largest financial firms in reducing headcount to the lowest since 2009 as prices for everything from energy to metals head for the first annual drop since the recession.
Europe's top investment bank will exit dedicated energy, agriculture, dry bulk and base metals trading and transfer its financial derivatives and precious metals desks to the fixed income and currencies division. The move will have "no material impact" on earnings, the bank said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. Total headcount in commodity units at the 10 largest banks stood at the lowest since at least 2009 as of September, according to analytics company Coalition.
Source: Bloomberg
Launch of Global Learning Exchange on Social Impact Investing
Global Learning Exchange on Social Impact Investing(GLE) launched with support of UK Cabinet Office
With an online platform, monthly virtual meetings and gatherings held alongside World Economic Forum events, the GLE will connect people, ideas and resources for sharing best practices on impact investment
Brings together public officials, investors, philanthropic and civil society organizations, international financial institutions, academics and business leaders
December 5, 2013--The World Economic Forum has launched the Global Learning Exchange on Social Impact Investing (GLE), in collaboration with the Impact Investing Policy Collaborative (IIPC) and the support of the UK Cabinet Office.
The GLE is a unique multi-stakeholder initiative that facilitates an inclusive and action-oriented dialogue on social impact investing. The work of the GLE will complement the ongoing efforts of the Social Impact Investment Task Force to drive impact investing as an important innovation for public good.
"Social impact investing-an investment approach intentionally seeking to create both financial return and positive social impact that is actively measured- is a topic that investors, social entrepreneurs and governments have engaged with through the World Economic Forum in recent years. There was a clear need to introduce impact investing to new audiences, not only among G8 countries but more broadly across the world and among diverse stakeholders. The spirit of cross-sector collaboration among stakeholders and of sharing information is not only central to the GLE but also core to the founding and operating mission of the World Economic Forum," said David Aikman, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum.
Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
STOXX launches iSTOXX Global ESG Select 100 Index
December 5, 2013-- STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today introduced the iSTOXX Global ESG Select 100 Index. The new index screens the components of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index for high dividend paying companies which also have low volatility, thus creating a hybrid portfolio of ESG, maximum dividend and low volatility strategies.
The new index is designed to act as an underlying to exchange-traded funds and other investable products, such as structured products.
"Part of the research done by STOXX centers around the low volatility anomaly, where low volatility companies have historically produced higher returns than high volatility companies, although the opposite would have been expected,"said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited. "Within this research, we have discovered that the historical performance of dividend indices can be significantly enhanced when adding screens for low volatility components."
Source: STOXX
UBS announces changes to Group Executive Board and Corporate Center
John Fraser to retire as CEO Global Asset Management business, retaining his position as its Chairman
Ulrich Koerner to become CEO Global Asset Management,
Tom Naratil to become Group Chief Operating Officer in addition to
current position as Group Chief Financial Officer. December 5, 2013--UBS (NYSE:UBS)(SWX:UBSN) today announced a number of changes to its senior leadership team and Corporate Center structure.
John Frase, who has been Chairman and CEO Global Asset Management since 2001, has decided to retire from his CEO role and as a member of UBS's Group Executive Board, effective 31 December 2013.
Source: UBS
World Bank Online: Foreign Investors Increasingly Cautious amidst Ongoing Global Turbulence, MIGA Finds
December 5, 2013--Foreign investors are increasingly cautious about investing in developing countries in the face of continued global economic and political turbulence,finds the World Investment and Political Risk 2013 report published by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). A survey conducted for the report finds that macroeconomic instability and political risk rank neck-and-neck as top concerns for investors as they plan over the short and medium terms.
Despite this,the survey finds nearly half of respondents expect to increase their investments in developing countries over the next 12 months-with that number increasing to 70 percent when the horizon is extended for three years.
The fifth annual MIGA-EIU Political Risk Survey finds that breach of contract and regulatory risks once again top survey respondents' political risk concerns. Survey results show that these concerns are based on actual experience as well as sentiment.
view the the World Investment and Political Risk 2013 report
Source: World Bank
ETFGI Global Press Release: End of November 2013
December 5, 203--The combination of US$17.0 billion in net inflows and positive market performance pushed assets in the global ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of US$2.4 trillion at the end of November, according to preliminary findings from ETFGI's November 2013 Global ETF and ETP industry insights report.
Net inflows into global ETFs/ETPs in November were weaker than the US$32.6 billion of net inflows in October and the US$35.7 billion net inflows in September.
"Rising levels of uncertainty as to when and how the Federal Reserve will taper its QE scheme has contributed to the weaker inflows into ETFs/ETPs in November" according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.
In November 2013, ETFs/ETPs saw net inflows of US$17.0 billion. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with US$18.2 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with US$1.1 billion, while commodity ETFs/ETPs experienced the largest net outflows with US$1.7 billion.
Source: ETFGI
OECD Regions at a Glance
December 5, 2013--Regions at a Glance 2013 shows how regions and cities contribute to national growth and the well-being of societies.
It updates its regular set of region-by-region indicators, examining a wide range of policies and trends and identifying those regions that are outperforming or lagging behind in their country. The report covers all 34 OECD member countries, and, where data are available, Brazil, China,Colombia, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa.
view OECD Regions at a Glance report
Source: OECD
FTSE China 25 Index Will Become The FTSE China 50 Index From 19 September
December 4, 2013--In response to evolving market conditions and client demand, FTSE is enhancing the FTSE China 25 Index. The FTSE China 25 Index will be extended to become a 50 stock index, and will be renamed the FTSE China 50 Index.
The changes will take place after the close of trading on 19 September 2014, effective from the start of trading 22 September 2014. To help our clients manage the transition, FTSE is providing clients with the option of utilising a FTSE China 50 Migration Index. A new FTSE China 50 Net of Tax Index will also become available to index subscribers.
Source: FTSE
TAIFEX And Eurex Announce Launch Date Of Joint Product Cooperation
Eurex To Launch Contracts Based On Taiwan's Main Index TAIEX On 15 May 2014
December 3, 2013--TAIFEX, the Taiwan Futures Exchange, and Eurex Exchange, the international derivatives marketplace and part of Deutsche Börse Group, today announced their plan to launch the Eurex/TAIFEX Link on 15 May 2014.
With this link, Eurex Exchange will list TAIEX futures and options as daily expiring futures on Eurex Exchange. Derivatives on the TAIEX index are one of the most heavily traded Asian equity index contracts.
The cooperation has also been approved by Taiwan's regulator Financial Supervisory Commission. They stated that they encourage the development of mutually beneficial endeavors of this kind.
Source: Eurex
OPEC World Oil Outlook 2013
December 4, 2013--On November 7, 2013 OPEC issued the World Oil Outlook 2013. The OPEC World Oil Outlook (WOO) provides projections for the medium-term (to 2018) and long-term (to 2035) on an annual basis for oil demand and supply. It demonstrates that oil will continue to play a major part in satisfying the world's
growing energy needs, with amply sufficient oil resources and a diversity of supply sources contributing to world prosperity and to poverty alleviation.
The WOO also clearly illustrates the uncertainties that surround the medium- to long-term energy future, stemming from many drivers, such as the world economy, policies, technology and consumer choices. It also confirms again the growing importance of developing countries in terms of energy demand, as well as the emergence of a diversity of energy supply sources worldwide, resulting in a sizable change of energy flows.
Oil prices assumed to remain stable in the long-run
view the OPEC World Oil Outlook 2013
Source: OPEC
