Global ETF News Older than One Year
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
Update on global adherence to regulatory and supervisory standards on international cooperation and information exchange
November 2, 2012--The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published a statement providing an update of information on the jurisdictions evaluated to date under its initiative to encourage the adherence of all countries and jurisdictions to regulatory and supervisory standards on international cooperation and information exchange.
The initiative commenced in March 2010 in response to a call by the G20 Leaders at their April 2009 Summit in London for the FSB to develop a toolbox of measures to promote adherence to prudential standards and cooperation among jurisdictions. It complements similar initiatives by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes to promote adherence to international standards in the tax area, and by the Financial Action Task Force for standards concerning anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.
Source: Financial Stability Board (FSB)
Fund firms face "unstable foundation," need new products: report
November 1, 2012--Despite cushy profit margins, asset managers must look to new areas such as retirement products and exchange-traded funds for growth as flows to their traditional equity funds stall out, a new research report found.
Scheduled to be released on Thursday morning by consulting firm McKinsey & Co, the report lays out stark alternatives for fund companies even as many have ridden a wave of rising assets to manage.
But often the asset growth has come from rising stock markets, and not because firms have found new ways to bring in cash from investors.
Source: Reuters
OCC Announces Average Daily Cleared Contract Volume Down 17% in October, Futures and Securities Lending Activity Up 31%
November 1, 2012--OCC announced average daily cleared contract volume in October was 15,598,902 contracts, a 17 percent decline from October 2011. Total cleared contract volume reached 327,576,945 contracts for the month, representing a 17 percent decline from
the October 2011 volume of 393,461,669 contracts. OCC's year-to-date total contract volume is down 14 percent with 3,385,778,300 contracts in 2012.
These figures reflect two fewer trading days due to the market shutdown caused by Hurricane Sandy on October 29 and October 30, 2012.
Options: Average daily options trading volume in October was 15,444,282 contracts, 17 percent lower than October 2011. Total options trading volume for the month reached 324,329,913 contracts, a 17 percent decline from October 2011. Year-to-date options trading volume is down 14 percent with 3,355,815,364 contracts.
Source: OCC
IMF paper-Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Risk
November 1, 2012--Summary:This paper surveys that state of fiscal transparency in the wake of the current crisis and looks at what can be done to improve it.
It examines the relationship between fiscal transparency and fiscal outcomes; reviews progress in promoting greater fiscal transparency over the past decade; considers the lessons of the recent crisis for existing fiscal transparency standards, practices, and monitoring arrangements; and makes a series of recommendations for renewing the global fiscal transparency effort in the wake of the crisis.
view the IMF paper-Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Risk
Source: IMF
Rumoured physical ETF foray a 'natural' step for Deutsche
November 1, 2012--A push into physical exchange traded funds is a "natural evolution" for Deutsche Bank, according to ETF experts.
Deutsche, whose db x-trackers division is currently one of Europe’s largest providers of synthetic ETFs, is reportedly lining up a suite of physical funds to be launched this month.
Source: FT.com
BATS Global Markets Reports October Volume; Sets Monthly U.S. Equities Market Share Record With 13%
U.S. Options Market Share Hits 3.6%; BATS Chi-X Europe Reports 24.8% Market Share
November 1, 2012--BATS Global Markets (BATS), a leading operator of securities markets in the U.S. and Europe, today reported October U.S. equities market share of 13.0%, a new record for the company. In Europe, BATS Chi-X Europe reported market share of 24.8%, maintaining its position as the largest equity market in Europe during 2012.
Joe Ratterman, president and chief executive, commented: “I am excited about the strong performance across all of our markets, particularly in U.S. equities where in October we surpassed 13% market share for the first time in our seven-year history. We attribute our continued market share growth to our strong market quality, price improvement metrics, and diverse membership base, which we believe are vital to a growing and healthy marketplace.
“In Europe, BATS Chi-X Europe is bringing new products and services to market participants, most recently with a new market data license covering our European trade data for use in real-time index calculations. The introduction of this new license highlights an information gap in the European markets where exchange-owned benchmarks do not yet include our price informing data. Incorporating our trade data in Europe’s major benchmarks will produce a more complete picture of today’s market in which significant amount of intraday trading occurs on BATS Chi-X Europe.
Source: BATS Global Markets, Inc.
NASDAQ OMX Agrees to Acquire Index Business of Mergent, Inc, Including Indxis
October 31, 2012-- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), parent of the world's first electronic stock market and a leading index provider, today announced it has agreed to acquire the index business of Mergent, Inc., including Indxis.
Mergent is an established index provider and a renowned supplier of business and financial data on global publically listed companies.
Mergent is the creator of the Dividend AchieversTM Indexes, the leading index family that tracks companies with strong long-term dividend growth. Mergent has been tracking companies with outstanding dividend records since 1979. Products based on the Dividend Achievers Indexes are offered by major investment management firms worldwide. Indxis is also an expert provider of index calculation services to a wide spectrum of clients in the financial services industry.
With this acquisition, NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes will become one of the largest providers of dividend-themed indexes based on benchmarked assets and will further enhance its custom index offering capabilities and services. Assets under management of exchange traded funds licensed by NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes are expected to increase 30% as a result of the acquisition.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
MSCI acquires real estate data, index firm
October 31, 2012--MSCI Ltd. is buying IPD Group, a real estate data provider and index sponsor, for about $125 million.
“The addition of IPD to the MSCI family will enable us to expand our multiasset-class offering by integrating private real estate assets into our performance and risk models, and by adding real estate market performance benchmarks to our family of market leading indices,” Henry Fernandez, chairman and CEO of MSCI Inc., parent of MSCI Ltd., wrote in letter to clients.
Source: Pensions & Investments
