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EDHEC-Risk Institute announces the launch of EDHEC-Risk Indices & Benchmarks
March 17, 2011--EDHEC-Risk Institute has announced the creation of a spin-off, EDHEC-Risk Indices & Benchmarks, which aims to be one of the leading beta designers for the investment industry. EDHEC-Risk Indices & Benchmarks will be based in London, New York, Nice and Singapore and has recruited two experienced executives to spearhead business development in Europe and North America. Profiles of these new recruits, Eric Shirbini and Vijay Vaidyanathan, can be found overleaf.
Professor Noël Amenc, Director of EDHEC-Risk Institute and Chairman of EDHEC-Risk Indices & Benchmarks said, “EDHEC-Risk Indices & Benchmarks hopes to be perceived as a concept and implementation provider for smart beta. We believe that the index and benchmarking research that EDHEC-Risk Institute has conducted since it was founded in 2001 has led to a series of products that provide more efficient and more academic-based solutions to investors’ needs than the indices and benchmarks currently available on the market. EDHEC-Risk Indices & Benchmarks is the channel through which these solutions will be made available to the investment community.”
Pension reforms must deliver affordable and adequate benefits, warns OECD
March 17, 2011--Recent reforms will still be insufficient to cover increased pension costs in the future, despite increases in retirement ages in half of OECD countries, according to a new OECD report.
Pensions at a Glance 2011 says that by 2050 the average pensionable age in OECD countries will reach 65 for both sexes.
This represents an increase of about 1.5years for men and 2.5 years for women. But life expectancy is rising even faster, outstripping the increase in pension ages by about 2 years for men and 1.5 years for women.
This means that in all but five OECD countries the time spent in retirement will continue to grow. Recent reforms are a step in the right direction to rein in public pension spending rising as a result of population ageing. The size of the working-age population in the OECD will peak around 2015 and decline by over 10% in 2050. But governments should consider the impact of benefit cuts on the most vulnerable. Pension reforms in OECD countries since the early 1990s have reduced future benefits on average by 20 per cent.
view the Pensions at a Glance 2011: Retirement-Income Systems in OECD and G20 Countries
Creditless Recoveries -IMF Working paper
March 15, 2011--Summary: Recoveries that occur in the absence of credit growth are often dubbed miracles and named after mythical creatures. Yet these are not rare animals, and are not always miracles. About one out of five recoveries is "creditless", and average growth during these episodes is about a third lower than during "normal" recoveries.
Aggregate and sectoral data suggest that impaired financial intermediation is the culprit. Creditless recoveries are more common after banking crises and credit booms. Furthermore, sectors more dependent on external finance grow relatively less and more financially dependent activities (such as investment) are curtailed more during creditless recoveries.
view IMF Working paper-Creditless Recoveries
Advancing Food Security in a Changing Climate
Agricultural production needs to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed a world population of 9 billion.
In the next 40 years, agricultural land will be lost to urbanization, desertification, sea level rise and increasingly salty water.
Bangladesh, Kenya eye climate-smart farming practices.
March 15, 2011 – In November 2007, powerful Cyclone Sidr claimed the lives of thousands of people in Bangladesh and wiped out a lot of the country's rice crop. A year later, Bangladesh became the first country to put together a multibillion dollar strategy on climate change, including a plan to boost agricultural production and food security in anticipation of more adverse weather.
“If one country is aware and taking action, it's Bangladesh,” says Maria Sarraf, a senior environmental economist for the World Bank's South Asia region. “While other countries are projecting climate change, Bangladesh has already suffered from it.”
Like Bangladesh, the majority of developing countries have economies grounded in agriculture. Globally, 75% of poor people live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their living. For this reason, agriculturally-based economic growth is two to four times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in other sectors. But, investment in agriculture and rural development has fallen short in the last several decades, and much more is needed to meet the needs of the future.
Experts predict agricultural production will have to increase by 70% by 2050 to feed a population of some 9 billion people.
And climate models predict a much more uncertain climate in the next several decades. A new study by the Foresight Project, The Future of Food and Farming, warns that in the next 40 years, agricultural land will be lost to urbanization, desertification, sea level rise and increasingly salty water in which few crops can grow.
view the report-The Future of Food and Farming:
Challenges and choices for global sustainability
Global Futures and Options Trading Rose 25.6% in 2010
March 15, 2011—The Futures Industry Association today released a
report on trading volume in the global listed derivatives markets. The report, which measures volume based on the number of contracts traded on derivatives exchanges, indicates that 22.3 billion futures and options contracts changed hands during 2010, an
increase of 25.6% compared to 2009.
For the first time ever, Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest share of global volume traded during 2010. Total volume on the derivatives exchanges in that region of the world
reached 8.86 billion contracts in 2010, an increase of 42.8% from the previous year. Exchanges in South Korea, China and India accounted for the majority of the volume in this region. North America, which had the largest share in 2009, came in second with 7.17
billion contracts traded in 2010, up 12.8% from the previous year.
The Korea Exchange was once again the world’s largest exchange by volume, due mainly to the continuing popularity of its Kospi 200 stock index options. The exchange’s total volume in 2010 was 3.75 billion contracts, up 20.8% from the previous year. Coming in second was CME Group, which includes the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange. CME’s total volume in 2010 rose 19.0% to 3.08 billion contracts.
Composite Leading Indicators (CLIs), OECD, March 2011
March 14, 2011-- Composite leading indicators (CLIs) for January 2011, designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, continue pointing to expansion in most OECD countries.
The CLIs for Germany, Japan, and the United States continue pointing to robust expansion relative to trend. Signs of regained growth momentum characterise the CLIs for France and Canada. The CLI for the United Kingdom points to a slow but stable pace of expansion. The CLI for Italy continues pointing to a moderate downturn.
The CLIs for other major economies are little changed from last month's assessment. The CLI for China continues pointing to the possibility of a moderate downturn. The CLI for Brazil remains near its long-term potential. The CLI for India continues pointing to a slowdown relative to trend and the CLI for Russia continues pointing to expansion.
Nasdaq sounds out bankers on NYSE bid
March 14, 2011--Nasdaq is edging closer to a possible hostile offer for the New York Stock Exchange and has been sounding out bankers about a financing package for a bid.
People familiar with the situation said that no decision had yet been made and Nasdaq could shy away from what would be an ambitious attempt by the smaller exchange to break up its rival’s agreed deal with Deutsche Börse
The Impact of Legislation on Credit Risk - Comparative Evidence From the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany
March 11, 2011--Summary: This study investigates the link between bankruptcy and security legislation and potential credit losses faced by banks based on a cross-country study for the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany.
Focusing on corporate credit, we find that legislation produces the highest credit risk in the US, followed by Germany, while UK law is found to be most favorable for banks. US banks gains from the higher number of informal restructurings (without losses) but lose from the low level of recovery in formal proceedings. German banks demand more credit risk mitigants than UK and US banks do, but still recover less than do UK banks. To be at par with UK banks, US banks would have to recover more than twice as much in formal proceedings, while German proceedings would have to be shortened by about one half.
Taxing Financial Transactions: Issues and Evidence-IMF Working Paper
March 11, 2011--Summary: In reaction to the recent financial crisis, increased attention has recently been given to financial transaction taxes (FTTs) as a means of (1) raising revenue for a variety of possible purposes and/or (2) helping to curb financial market excesses.
This paper reviews existing theory and evidence on the efficacy of an FTT in fulfilling those tasks, on its potential impact, and on key issues to be faced in designing taxes of this kind.
view the Taxing Financial Transactions: Issues and Evidence-IMF Working Paper
FTSE4Good Semi-Annual Review – March 2011
Expanding Horizons: South Korea And Israel Added
March 11, 2011--FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the award-winning global index provider, announces the changes to the FTSE4Good Index Series following the FTSE4Good March Semi-Annual Review.
Expanding Horizons
FTSE is pleased to announce that South Korea and Israel have been added to the FTSE4Good Global universe. The expansion of the FTSE4Good Global universe brings it in line with FTSE’s decision to raise South Korea and Israel to developed market status and their subsequent entry into the FTSE All-World Developed Index. As a result, 11 South Korean and eight Israeli companies have been identified as meeting the inclusion criteria and will be entering the index series at this review. EIRIS, the research partner for the FTSE4Good Index Series, has developed partnerships with leading research organisations in both countries; Greeneye in Israel and KOCSR in South Korea, to deliver comprehensive and locally conducted research.