Passives becoming active choice for many
June 14, 2013--
Growing awareness of the impact of charges on long-term returns for investors means that low-cost index trackers and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are playing an increasingly important role in portfolios run by wealth managers.
“There is no question that wealth managers are increasingly looking at ETFs and passive funds to keep costs down as they move to fee-based models,” says Neil Jamieson, head of UK & Ireland, ETF Securities.
Source: FT.com
iShares Predicts "Incredibly Bright Future" for ETFs in the U.S.
U.S. ETF Assets Could More Than Double in Next Five Years To Exceed $3.5 Trillion by 2017
Growth Fueled by Existing and New Investors Segments, Greater Usage of ETFs as Core Exposures and Fixed Income ETFs
June 14, 2013--The U.S. market for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) will likely grow to more than $3.5 trillion in assets over the next five years, compared with $1.5 trillion1 today, according to a new industry projection announced today by iShares, the ETF business of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK).
Growth in the U.S. is expected to be primarily driven by increased ETF usage by existing and new investor segments, ETFs as core exposures and a widening investor base for fixed income ETFs.
Mark Wiedman, the Global Head of iShares, commented: "In the last decade, ETFs have evolved from obscurity to a $2+ trillion industry2, embraced by retail and institutional investors alike. But these are still early days in ETF adoption. Even in the most mature market, the U.S., there is an incredibly bright future."
Source: BlackRock
Eurex Exchange completes migration to new, state-of-the-art trading architecture
New global trading system fully rolled out since 10 June/Fixed-income derivatives segment was last product group to migrate
June 12, 2013--
Eurex Exchange has been operating since Monday, 10 June, entirely on Deutsche Börse Group's global trading architecture.
The fixed-income derivatives segment, including highly liquid Euro-Bund, Euro-Bobl and Euro-Schatz futures, was the last to migrate from the previously used system. The new platform meets the needs of Eurex Exchange participants in terms of enhanced performance, efficiency and capacity, more connection options and improved functionality, while maintaining the high stability and availability that traders are used to. This technology has already been successfully used since April 2011 by the International Securities Exchange (ISE), the leading U.S. options venue and Eurex Exchange’s partner exchange.
Source: Eurex
Europe and Central Asia: Less Volatile, but Slower Growth
June 12, 2013--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
GDP growth in Europe and Central Asia is projected to rise only slightly in 2013 to 2.8 percent.
Following a sharp decline in 2012, Foreign Direct Investment is expected to rebound in 2013.
Developments in global financial markets remain important for the region, particularly for countries with high external financing needs.
Overview
The Europe and Central Asia region (1) suffered a significant economic slowdown in 2012, as the region faced significant headwinds, including weak external demand, deleveraging by European banks, poor harvest and inflationary pressures. As a result, growth fell to 2.7 percent in 2012, compared with 5.6 percent in 2011 with a sharp slowdown in developing Europe and less severe adjustments among the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Source: World Bank
Developing world faces domestic challenges, as global economy stabilizes
June 12, 2013--STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Risks from advanced economies have receded, says Global Economic Prospects
Structural reforms needed in developing countries to regain fast growth
Expanding South-South trade is boosting global commerce
The world economy appears to be getting back on its feet as risks from advanced economies ease.
Growth in the developing world will remain solid, albeit slower than the frenetic growth rates seen during the pre-crisis boom period, as developing countries grapple with home-grown challenges brought on by capacity constraints in many middle income countries, says the World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects, issued today.
Global GDP is expected to expand about 2.2 percent in this year and strengthen to 3.0 percent and 3.3 percent in 2014 and 2015.
view the Global Economic Prospects Report-Less volatile, but slower growth-June 2013
Source: World Bank
MSCI Announces the Results of the 2013 Annual Market-Classification Review
June 11, 2013--MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, including indices, portfolio risk and performance analytics and corporate governance services, announced today its decision to reclassify the MSCI Qatar and MSCI UAE Indices from Frontier
Markets to Emerging Markets, the MSCI Greece Index from Developed Markets to Emerging Markets and the MSCI Morocco Index from Emerging Markets to Frontier Markets.
The reclassifications of the MSCI Qatar and MSCI UAE Indices will coincide with the May 2014 Semi‐Annual Index Review while the reclassifications of the MSCI Greece and MSCI Morocco Indices will coincide with the November 2013 Semi‐Annual Index Review. MSCI also announced today the start of the review of China A‐shares for a potential inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, driven primarily by a series of positive market opening measures and strong regulatory momentum over the past 12 months.
Source: MSCI
Europe should open fund markets
June 10, 2013--Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management has ruled out buying any rival businesses in order to grow its asset base despite declaring an intention to increase assets on the passive side by over 50 per cent in the next 18 months.
Reinhard Bellet, head of Deutsche’s passive fund business, anticipates rapid asset growth for the unit following its integration into Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management from the bank’s corporate and investment banking arm last year.
Source: Financial Times
BNP could merge US units to cope with reform: Report
June 10, 2013--BNP Paribas, France's biggest bank, is planning to merge its U.S. operations in an attempt to offset the impact of possible U.S. regulatory reforms for foreign banks, The Financial Times said on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
BNP, which is one of the world's largest by assets has drawn up detailed plans to combine BancWest, its U.S. retail banking subsidiary, with its U.S. corporate and investment banking operations in order to improve the efficiency of its capital and funding in the country.
Source: The Economic Times
NYSE Euronext Monthly ETF Activity Report - May 2013
June 10, 2013--Listings
In May 2013 there were seven new ETF listings, 5 from Lyxor, 1 from ThinkCapital and 1 from iShares.
At the end of May, NYSE Euronext's European markets had 660 listings of 576ETFs from 16 issuers.
Trading activity
Average daily value traded on-book in May of €.233.8 million, a decrease of 5.7% vs April 2013, and down 8.15% vs May 2012.
Total value traded on-book amounted to €.5.14 billion, a decrease of 12.9% vs April 2013, and down 12.14% vs May 2012.
Average of 6,418 on-book trades (single-counted) executed daily last month, a decrease of 9.6% vs April 2013, and down 5.68% vs May 2012.
Total of €.1.3 billion exchanged in block trades in May, down 39.26% from the €.2.08 billion in April.
Overall, block trade volume represented 24.55% of total regulated market ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
At the end of May 2013, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on the NYSE Euronext European markets totalled €.158.3 billion.
Market Quality
In May, 4 LPs took on liquidity responsibilities for 9 additional LP contracts on 9 different ETFs:
Commerzbank continued expanding their activity by adding another 4 ETFs to their list: 1 HSBC ETF, 1 Lyxor ETF, and 2 SPDR ETFs.
SG Securities took the lead on three of the new Lyxor ETFs.
Flow Traders took the lead on the new ThinkCapital ETF.
Susquehanna took the lead on the new iShares ETF.
Median spread for all listed ETFs of 38.8 bps, an increase of 10% vs April 2013 and of 25% vs May 2012.
23 Liquidity Providers currently active on ETFs.
view the NYSE Euronext ETF Activity-Europe
view the NYSE Arca: ETP Monthly Flash
Source: NYSE Euronext
International swaps market reform-Promoting transparency and lowering risk
June 10, 2013--Article-Banque de France-Financial Stability Review-No. 17-April 2013-In 2010, the US Congress passed the historic Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
Act (Dodd‑Frank Act). The CFTC is more than 80 percent complete with Dodd-Frank Act swaps market
reform rulewriting, and now the marketplace is increasingly shifting to implementation of common-sense
rules of the road.
Swaps market reform is about ensuring the vast derivatives marketplace serves the rest of the economy. In the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the G20 leaders agreed that it was time to bring transparency and oversight to the opaque swaps market. Since then, there has been significant global progress on reform. We continue to work in a coordinated way to implement the critical reforms agreed to in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Regulators around the globe are making great progress, but we all must complete the task to bring transparency to these markets and protect the public.view more
Source: CFTC.gov