Global ETF News Older than One Year
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.
Source: IMF
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
Source: IMF
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.
Source: FTSE
Oil price holds global economy hostage
March 11, 2011--Friday brought the first real evidence on how a 20-30 per cent jump in oil prices over the past few months will affect the US economy. It was not reassuring.
The University of Michigan index of consumer confidence slumped from 77.5 to 68.2 in March, the lowest for six months, and expectations of inflation for the next year rose to 4.6 per cent from 3.4 per cent.
Source: FT.com
Thomson Reuters Monthly Market Share Reports For February 2011
March 10, 2011--Trading is fragmenting between exchanges and competing venues. But by how much and which venues? Find out in the summarised monthly reports.
Source: Thomson Reuters
CPSS-IOSCO principles for financial market infrastructures
March 10, 2011--New and more demanding international standards for payment, clearing and settlement systems have today been issued for public consultation by the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
The new standards (called principles) are designed to ensure that the essential infrastructure supporting global financial markets is even more robust and thus even better placed to withstand financial shocks than at present. They are set out in a consultative report Principles for financial market infrastructures which contains a single, comprehensive set of 24 principles designed to apply to all systemically important payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties and trade repositories (collectively financial market infrastructures or FMIs). These FMIs collectively record, clear and settle transactions in financial markets.
view the Principles for financial market infrastructures- Consultative report
Source: IOSCO
Traders face rise in costs to clear deals
March 10, 2011--Traders of equities, bonds and derivatives face significantly higher costs under proposals by global regulators that would require the companies that process their deals to bolster their financial bases.
Traders would be required to post higher so-called margin payments to clearing houses.
Source: FT.com
Record inflows for hedge fund industry forecast in 2011
March 10, 2011--Hedge funds will attract record inflows this year, estimated at $210bn, with smaller managers seeing growing interest from investors, according to a survey by Deutsche Bank.
Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of the 528 respondents to the survey said they anticipated making allocations to hedge funds that had less than $1bn in assets.
Source: FT.com
BlackRock * New Report * ETF Landscape: Industry Highlights - February 2011
March 9, 2011-- Global ETF and ETP industry:
The global ETF industry had 2,557 ETFs with 5,802 listings and assets of US$1,367.4 Bn, from 140 providers on 48 exchanges around the world. This compares to 2,091 ETFs with 3,998 listings and assets of US$1,001.9 Bn from 115 providers on 40 exchanges, at the end of February 2010.
The global ETF and ETP industry combined, had 3,649 products with 7,583 listings, assets of US$1,542.7 Bn from 174 providers on 52 exchanges around the world. This compares to 2,721 products with 4,919 listings, assets of US$1,152.2 Bn from 139 providers on 43 exchanges, at the end of February 2010.
United States ETF industry:
The ETF industry in the United States had 919 ETFs and assets of US$929.1 Bn, from 28 providers on two exchanges. This compares to 807 ETFs and assets of US$678.6 Bn, from 28 providers on two exchanges at the end of February 2010.
US$7.5 Bn of net new assets went into United States listed ETFs/ETPs in February 2011. US$2.7 Bn net inflows went into equity ETFs/ETPs, of which US$4.2 Bn went into ETFs/ETPs tracking North American indices, while ETFs/ETPs tracking emerging market indices saw net outflows of US$5.3 Bn. Fixed income ETFs/ETPs saw net inflows of US$1.0 Bn, of which US$0.5 Bn went into high yield bond ETFs/ETPs while government bond ETFs/ETPs saw net outflows of US$0.1 Bn. Commodity ETFs/ETPs experienced net inflows of US$3.5 Bn, of which ETFs/ETPs providing exposure to agricultural commodities saw net inflows of US$1.5 Bn and US$0.8 Bn net inflows went into broad commodity exposure ETFs/ETPs in February 2011.
Of the US$4.2 Bn of net new assets in United States listed ETFs in February 2011, Vanguard gathered the largest net inflows with US$2.5 Bn, followed by iShares with US$1.2 Bn net inflows, while State Street Global Advisors saw US$1.6 Bn net outflows.
European ETF industry:
The European ETF industry had 1,116 ETFs with 3,884 listings and assets of US$299.1 Bn, from 40 providers on 23 exchanges. This compares to 901 ETFs with 2,490 listings and assets of US$220.1 Bn from 35 providers on 18 exchanges, at the end of February 2010.
US$2.1 Bn of net new assets went into European listed ETFs/ETPs in February 2011. US$0.6 Bn net inflows went into equity ETFs/ETPs, of which US$0.9 Bn went into ETFs/ETPs tracking North American indices while ETFs/ETPs tracking emerging market indices saw net outflows of US$0.7 Bn. Fixed income ETFs/ETPs saw net outflows of US$0.4 Bn, of which government bond ETFs/ETPs saw net outflows of US$1.0 Bn while US$0.4 Bn went into money market ETFs/ETPs. US$1.7 Bn net inflows went into commodity ETFs/ETPs, of which US$0.7 Bn went into ETFs/ETPs providing broad commodity exposure and US$0.5 Bn went into ETFs/ETPs providing energy exposure.
Of the US$1.3 Bn of net new assets in European listed ETFs in February 2011, iShares gathered the largest net inflows with US$1.0 Bn, followed by UBS Global Asset Management with US$0.5 Bn net inflows, while Lyxor Asset Management had the largest net outflows with US$1.0 Bn.
Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) ETF industry:
The Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) ETF industry had 217 ETFs with 324 listings and assets of US$54.0 Bn, from 62 providers on 13 exchanges. This compares to
138 ETFs with 226 listings and assets of US$38.4 Bn, from 49 providers on 13 exchanges, at the end of February 2010.
Japan ETF industry:
The Japanese ETF industry had 81 ETFs with 84 listings and assets of US$32.4 Bn, from seven providers on three exchanges. This compares to 70 ETFs with
73 listings and assets of US$24.1 Bn from six providers on two exchanges, at the end of February 2010. There are 178 ETFs which have filed notifications in Japan.
Latin America ETF industry:
The Latin American ETF industry had 26 ETFs, with 365 listings and assets of US$10.2 Bn, from four providers on three exchanges. This compares to 20 ETFs, with 223 listings and assets of US$9.3 Bn from three providers on three exchanges, at the end of February 2010.
Canada ETF industry:
The Canadian ETF industry had 169 ETFs and assets of US$40.3 Bn, from four providers on one exchange. This compares to 132 ETFs and assets of
US$29.7 Bn from four providers on one exchange, at the end of February 2010.
Source: Global ETF Research & Implementation Strategy Team, BlackRock
Crisis Management and Resolution: Early Lessons from the Financial Crisis
MArch 9, 2011--EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper compares the policy choices in recent and past crises, explains why those choices varied, and assesses the current state of financial and operational restructuring and institutional reform.
While acknowledging the unique and global nature of the recent crisis and varying country circumstances, analysis suggests that the diagnosis and repair of financial institutions and overall
asset restructuring are much less advanced than they should be at this stage and that moral hazard
has increased.
Consequently, vulnerabilities in the global financial system remain considerable and continue to threaten the sustainability of the recovery. These conclusions point to a number of steps to finish the business of financial sector repair and reform.
Establishing the long-term viability of the financial system requires recognizing nonperforming assets at financial institutions and a deeper operational restructuring of debts of enterprises and households. Regarding the persistent weaknesses in bank balance sheets, in-depth diagnoses still need to be conducted, including through strict and transparent stress tests. When the diagnoses call for credible recapitalization plans or restructuring of liabilities, they should be carried out swiftly in ways that do not worsen sovereign debt burdens. Conditions in some countries require government interventions, including targeted programs to alleviate debt overhangs in the household and commercial real estate sectors.
view Crisis Management and Resolution: Early Lessons from the Financial Crisis
Source: IMF
