Global ETF News Older than One Year
IMF 2011 Financial Access Survey Data Now Available
July 1, 2011--The “Access to Finance” Project (the Project) aims at collecting annual geographic and demographic data on access to basic consumer financial services worldwide. This is done through the identification and development of appropriate high quality data that are comparable across countries and over time collected by means of periodic surveys.
The main envisaged users of these data are researchers and policy makers.
view the IMF 2011 Financial Access Survey Data
Source: IMF
Health: spending continues to outpace economic growth in most OECD countries
June 30, 2011-- Health spending continues to rise faster than economic growth in most OECD countries, maintaining a trend observed since the 1970s. Health spending reached 9.5% of GDP on average in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, up from 8.8% in 2008, according to OECD Health Data 2011.
But health spending as a share of GDP is likely to stabilise or fall slightly in 2011. This is due to improving economic growth and lower health spending as governments seek to rein in budget deficits. While governments must do more to get better value for money from healthcare spending, they must also continue pursuing their long-term goals of having more equitable, responsive and efficient health systems, according to the OECD.
The rise in the health spending share of GDP was particularly marked in countries hard hit by the global recession. In Ireland, the percentage of GDP devoted to health increased from 7.7% in 2007 to 9.5% in 2009. In the United Kingdom, it rose from 8.4% in 2007 to 9.8% in 2009.
view the OECD Health Data 2011
Source: OECD
Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves (COFER)
June 30, 2011--COFER is an IMF database that keeps end-of-period quarterly data on the currency composition of official foreign exchange reserves. The currencies identified in COFER are:
U.S. dollar,
Euro,
Pound sterling,
Japanese yen,
Swiss francs, and
Other currencies.
Source: IMF
ETF Licensing, Innovative Index Launches, Dow Anniversary Cap Memorable First Half of 2011 Dow Jones Indexes
June 30, 2011-- The late-June licensing of eight indexes from the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Sector Titans Indexes series capped an impressive first half of 2011 for Dow Jones Indexes, which also launched a host of innovative indexes and commemorated the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 115th anniversary.
Among the other first-half 2011 highlights for the global index provider included:
a collaboration with FXCM Inc. to launch the Dow Jones FXCM Dollar Index, which measures the value of the U.S. dollar against a basket of the world’s most liquid currencies;
the licensing, with SAM, of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Enlarged ex All/AE Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe ex All/AE Index, to Blackrock for use with ETFs; and
the winning of three awards for its highly decorated Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes series:
Source: Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes In June 2011: Islamic Finance Defies The Global Banking Industry’s Contraction
June 30, 2011--This Dow Jones Indexes commentary is a monthly analysis of the Islamic market indexes industry written by Gerard Al-Fil, a Dubai-based financial journalist.
Mr Al-Fil is a Middle Eastern correspondent for Dubai-based portal AME Info, German business weekly Euro am Sonntag, and the Swiss publications, Schweizer Bank and moneycab.com. Over the course of his career, Mr. Al-Fil has reported on business and finance from the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Turkey, Iran and China.
Source: Mondovisione
TMX/LSE Withdraw Application Related To Proposed Merger
June 30, 2011--On June 29, 2011, the TMX Group Inc. and London Stock Exchange Group plc withdrew their applications to the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) and the Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) to amend the TSX-Venture Exchange's recognition orders in B.C. and Alberta.
A copy of the Withdrawal of Application (http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/documents/en/Proceedings-OTH/now_20110629_tmx-lse.pdf) is available on the BCSC and ASC websites.
The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities within the province.
The ASC is the regulatory agency responsible for administering the province's securities laws. It is entrusted to foster a fair and efficient capital market in Alberta and to protect investors.
Source: British Columbia Securities Commission
Gold hits six-week low on weak demand outlook
June 30, 2011--The price of gold slumped to a six-week low on Friday as the passage of austerity measures in Greece, the end of quantitative easing in the US and softening commodity prices dealt a triple blow to the precious metal.
The bullion had held up around $1,500 a troy ounce but on Friday slid as much as 1.4 per cent to a low of $1,478.01 after Greece took a decisive step away from default with a vote backing austerity measures.
Source: FT.com
LSE future uncertain after TMX failure
June 30, 2011--Middle East investors Borse Dubai and the Qatar Investment Authority hold the key to the future of the London Stock Exchange, amid speculation that it has become a takeover target after its aborted $3.5bn bid for Canada’s TMX Group.
Borse Dubai owns nearly 21% of LSE stock and the Qataris hold 15.1%, Thomson Reuters data shows, making the investors easily the largest shareholders in the London exchange and key decision-makers in its future.
Source: FIN24
Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext seek approval from the European Commission for planned business combination
June 29, 2011--Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext confirm that they have today formally notified their planned business combination to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition, thereby triggering the formal start of the anti-trust review process in Europe.
The NYSE Euronext Board of Directors has scheduled a special meeting of shareholders on July 7, 2011 where they will ask the NYSE Euronext shareholders to vote to approve the combination with Deutsche Börse. The acceptance period during which shareholders of Deutsche Börse can tender their shares for exchange to the joint holding company of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext (Alpha Beta Netherlands Holding N.V.) will end on July 13, 2011.
The combination of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext creates:
a genuine transatlantic market infrastructure, positioning Europe as an equal partner to the US in leading the development and harmonization of effectively regulated capital markets;
a true, pan- EU equity stock market, with single currency trading and the deepest pool of liquidity in Europe, which thereby advances the European Commission’s vision of a single, integrated, pan EU €-denominated capital market;
significant benefit for clients and issuers thanks to increased efficiencies and reduced costs from opportunities for post-trade harmonization.
the premier global exchange, allowing Europe to strengthen and solidify its role as one of the world’s most important financial centers now and into the future.
Source: Deutsche Börse
Business tightens up on risk control
June 29, 2011--One in 10 global companies has spent more than $250m on improving their risk management over the past two years, and half of all companies have spent more than $25m, according to a twice yearly report on nearly 400 groups by Accenture.
Rocked by the financial crisis, many companies told the consultancy they had sharply stepped up their spending and the amount of board time and energy they devoted to risk management.
Source: FT.com
