G20 acknowledges slippage on swaps reform
November 5, 2012--International groups tasked with safeguarding the world banking system conceded they would miss a deadline for new rules aimed at limiting risk and boosting transparency in the $648 trillion over-the-counter swaps market.
At a meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies in Mexico City, the head of the G20's regulatory arm said the goal of having strong global swaps reforms in place by the end of 2012 was not in the cards.
"We are going to use all the time that is left in 2012 to get as much done in 2012 and then take stock instead of what remains to be done in a reasonable time frame," Financial Stability Board chief Mark Carney told reporters.
With memories of the 2007-2009 financial crisis still
Source: CNBC
Tenet predicts RDR will force 75% drop in platform market
Keith Richards says consolidation and closures due to lack of profitability will leave just 8-10 providers.
November 5, 2012--
Post-Retail Distribution Review the platform market will shrink from 32 providers currently to potentially as few as eight, as consolidation across the sector and failure to generate sustainable profits increases attrition, Tenet’s Keith Richards has said.
Mr Richards, group distribution and development director at the firm, was speaking at an Aviva roundtable today (6 November) on the RDR, at which the pensions provider revealed research showing advisers’ key concern remains maintaining profitability.
Source: FT.com
Barclays Announces Changes to Its Benchmark Fixed Income Indices
November 5, 2012--Barclays, publisher of leading broad market bond benchmarks, announced today changes to its widely-used benchmark fixed income indices after concluding its annual index review and governance process in October.
The governance process has resulted in a number of rule changes that will take effect as of March 31, 2013, as well as reaffirmations of existing rules that were reviewed and remain unchanged.
These decisions were made after carefully evaluating the evolving fixed income landscape and incorporating the perspectives of a diverse set of global investors who use Barclays indices as portfolio benchmarks and measures of broad fixed income market returns.
Source: Barclays
NYSE Euronext Monthly ETF Activity Report-October 2012
November 5, 2012--October 2012 saw a total of six new ETF listings from three different issuers: 4 ETFs from Lyxor, 1 ETF from Ossiam, and 1 ETF from Amundi
At end of October, NYSE Euronext European markets had 679 listings of 589 ETFs from 16 issuers.
Trading activity
Average daily value traded on-book in October of €217.4 million, down 10.15% MoM.
Total value traded on-book amounted to €5.0 billion, down 5% vs. YTD Average.
Average of 5,809 on-book trades (single-counted) executed daily last month, a decrease of 43.4% vs October 2011, and down 2.3% MoM.
Total of €740.1 million exchanged in block trades in September, up 0.11% from the €739.9 million in September.
Overall, block trade volume represented 14.8% of total regulated market ETF trading activity on NYSE Euronext.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
At the end of October 2012, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on the NYSE Euronext European markets totalled €153.2 billion, up 7.08% YTD.
Market Quality
6 LPs took on liquidity responsibilities for an impressive 223 additional LP contracts on 205 different ETFs:
BNP PARIBAS ARBITRAGE made an important addition to their current activity by starting activity on a grand total of 84 Amundi ETFs.
SUSQUEHANNA continued expanding their already significant activity by adding an additional 65 ETFs to their list: 15 Amundi ETFs, 18 db-x trackers, 9 HSBC ETFs, 9 iShares, 9 Lyxor ETFs and 5 SPDR ETFs.
COMMERZBANK further built on their expansion seen in the first two quarters of this year by adding another 62 ETFs to their activity: 19 Amundi ETFs, 4 CS ETF, 15 iShares, 21 Lyxor ETFs, 1 PowerShares ETF and 1 RBS Market Access ETF.
CITIGROUP further expanded their LP activity by adding 7 Easy ETFs to their list.
SG SECURITIES expanded their existing coverage with 4 Lyxor ETFs and 1 Ossiam ETF.
CA CHEVREUX started LP activity on 1 Amundi ETF.
Median spread for all listed ETFs of 37.4 bps.
23 Liquidity Providers currently active on ETFs.
Source: NYSE Euronext
BlackRock Investment Institute-Industry Highlights-October 2012
November 5, 2012--Year-to-date global ETP flows of $193.7 billion have surpassed 2011's full year total of $173.4 billion. October flows of $10.9 billion were focused in Emerging Markets, Gold, and Investment Grade exposures.
ETPs listed in Europe generated $4.6 billion in flows, which represents 42% of total global flows in October, the highest ratio this year. Flows remained robust and diversified by asset class, making October the third consecutive month of flows greater than $4 billion.
Investors maintained a degree of risk appetite, embracing both Emerging Market Bonds and Emerging Market Equities which together drew in $8.9 billion. Emerging Market Bond ETPs garnered $1.9bn, the highest monthly total on record. Investors favoured those providing sovereign exposure which offer higher credit quality than many High Yield Corporate Bonds. Credit spreads have compressed in recent months as investors accept additional risk to gain income.
Investment Grade Corporate led Fixed Income flows with $3.4bn in October, showing continued demand for enhanced yield balanced by credit quality.
Source: BlackRock
Financial Stability Board reports to G20 on progress of financial regulatory reforms
November 5, 2012--The Chairman of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) reported to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors today on progress in the financial regulatory reform programme.
In connection with this, the FSB is publishing today:
a letter by the FSB Chair to the G20, sent ahead of their meeting, reporting on the solid progress being made in financial reforms, including in the following priority areas:
building resilient financial institutions;
ending “too big to fail”;
strengthening the oversight and regulation of shadow banking activities;
creating continuous core markets by completing OTC derivatives and related reforms.
The letter also welcomes the recent publication of the recommendations of the Enhanced Disclosure Task Force to improve risk disclosures by major banking institutions, and emphasises the importance of completing convergence on a single set of accounting standards.
Source: Financial Stability Borad (FSB)
Northern Trust, MSCI Create Custom ESG Indices
November 2, 2012--Northern Trust has partnered with investment decision tools company MSCI to give more environmentally and socially responsible investing options to the investment management company's clients.
Under the agreement, Northern Trust will use MSCI’s environmental, social and governance research, ratings and screening tools to provide customizable ESG portfolios. Northern Trust clients looking to integrate ESG factors in their investment portfolios can now access 79 distinct indices ranging from global ESG best in class to regional responsible investing themes, such as clean technology, and further customize these according to their requirements, according to the company.
Source: Enviormental Leader
EPFR Global News Release-Money Market outflows remaining on sidelines ahead of US elections
November 2, 2012--The final 14 days of October saw over $40 billion flow out of EPFR-tracked Money Market Funds, with $28 billion redeemed in the week ending Oct. 31.
But a combination of mixed earnings reports, the Eurozone’s ongoing crisis, Hurricane Sandy and the impending US elections deterred investors from putting that cash to work, with only $5 billion – a seven week low – finding its way into Bond Funds and $2.8 billion into Equity Funds.
Visit http://www.epfr.com/overview.aspx for more info.
Source: EPFR
IMF Working paper-Exogenous Shocks and Growth Crises in Low-Income Countries: A Vulnerability Index
November 2, 2012--Summary: This paper develops a new index which provides early warning signals of a growth crisis in the event of large external shocks in low-income countries.
Multivariate regression analysis and a univariate signaling approach are used to map information from a parsimonious set of underlying policy, structural, and institutional indicators into a composite vulnerability index. The results show that vulnerabilities to a growth crisis in low-income countries declined significantly from their peaks in the early 1990s, but have risen in recent years as fiscal policy buffers were expended in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Source: IMF
IPD sale to MSCI 'necessary for expansion', clients told
November 2, 2012--Index provider MSCI is set to acquire Investment Property Databank (IPD) at the end of November for £78m (€97.2m), having signed a definitive agreement.
IPD said the deal would help it pursue its ambitions to cover real estate markets on a global basis and has sought to reassure clients that it will be "business-as-usual" following the acquisition
Source: IP&E