Global ETF News Older than One Year
STOXX launches iSTOXX Global ESG Select 100 Index
December 5, 2013-- STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today introduced the iSTOXX Global ESG Select 100 Index. The new index screens the components of the STOXX Global ESG Leaders Index for high dividend paying companies which also have low volatility, thus creating a hybrid portfolio of ESG, maximum dividend and low volatility strategies.
The new index is designed to act as an underlying to exchange-traded funds and other investable products, such as structured products.
"Part of the research done by STOXX centers around the low volatility anomaly, where low volatility companies have historically produced higher returns than high volatility companies, although the opposite would have been expected,"said Hartmut Graf, chief executive officer, STOXX Limited. "Within this research, we have discovered that the historical performance of dividend indices can be significantly enhanced when adding screens for low volatility components."
Source: STOXX
UBS announces changes to Group Executive Board and Corporate Center
John Fraser to retire as CEO Global Asset Management business, retaining his position as its Chairman
Ulrich Koerner to become CEO Global Asset Management,
Tom Naratil to become Group Chief Operating Officer in addition to
current position as Group Chief Financial Officer. December 5, 2013--UBS (NYSE:UBS)(SWX:UBSN) today announced a number of changes to its senior leadership team and Corporate Center structure.
John Frase, who has been Chairman and CEO Global Asset Management since 2001, has decided to retire from his CEO role and as a member of UBS's Group Executive Board, effective 31 December 2013.
Source: UBS
World Bank Online: Foreign Investors Increasingly Cautious amidst Ongoing Global Turbulence, MIGA Finds
December 5, 2013--Foreign investors are increasingly cautious about investing in developing countries in the face of continued global economic and political turbulence,finds the World Investment and Political Risk 2013 report published by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). A survey conducted for the report finds that macroeconomic instability and political risk rank neck-and-neck as top concerns for investors as they plan over the short and medium terms.
Despite this,the survey finds nearly half of respondents expect to increase their investments in developing countries over the next 12 months-with that number increasing to 70 percent when the horizon is extended for three years.
The fifth annual MIGA-EIU Political Risk Survey finds that breach of contract and regulatory risks once again top survey respondents' political risk concerns. Survey results show that these concerns are based on actual experience as well as sentiment.
view the the World Investment and Political Risk 2013 report
Source: World Bank
ETFGI Global Press Release: End of November 2013
December 5, 203--The combination of US$17.0 billion in net inflows and positive market performance pushed assets in the global ETF/ETP industry to a new record high of US$2.4 trillion at the end of November, according to preliminary findings from ETFGI's November 2013 Global ETF and ETP industry insights report.
Net inflows into global ETFs/ETPs in November were weaker than the US$32.6 billion of net inflows in October and the US$35.7 billion net inflows in September.
"Rising levels of uncertainty as to when and how the Federal Reserve will taper its QE scheme has contributed to the weaker inflows into ETFs/ETPs in November" according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.
In November 2013, ETFs/ETPs saw net inflows of US$17.0 billion. Equity ETFs/ETPs gathered the largest net inflows with US$18.2 billion, followed by fixed income ETFs/ETPs with US$1.1 billion, while commodity ETFs/ETPs experienced the largest net outflows with US$1.7 billion.
Source: ETFGI
OECD Regions at a Glance
December 5, 2013--Regions at a Glance 2013 shows how regions and cities contribute to national growth and the well-being of societies.
It updates its regular set of region-by-region indicators, examining a wide range of policies and trends and identifying those regions that are outperforming or lagging behind in their country. The report covers all 34 OECD member countries, and, where data are available, Brazil, China,Colombia, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa.
view OECD Regions at a Glance report
Source: OECD
FTSE China 25 Index Will Become The FTSE China 50 Index From 19 September
December 4, 2013--In response to evolving market conditions and client demand, FTSE is enhancing the FTSE China 25 Index. The FTSE China 25 Index will be extended to become a 50 stock index, and will be renamed the FTSE China 50 Index.
The changes will take place after the close of trading on 19 September 2014, effective from the start of trading 22 September 2014. To help our clients manage the transition, FTSE is providing clients with the option of utilising a FTSE China 50 Migration Index. A new FTSE China 50 Net of Tax Index will also become available to index subscribers.
Source: FTSE
TAIFEX And Eurex Announce Launch Date Of Joint Product Cooperation
Eurex To Launch Contracts Based On Taiwan's Main Index TAIEX On 15 May 2014
December 3, 2013--TAIFEX, the Taiwan Futures Exchange, and Eurex Exchange, the international derivatives marketplace and part of Deutsche Börse Group, today announced their plan to launch the Eurex/TAIFEX Link on 15 May 2014.
With this link, Eurex Exchange will list TAIEX futures and options as daily expiring futures on Eurex Exchange. Derivatives on the TAIEX index are one of the most heavily traded Asian equity index contracts.
The cooperation has also been approved by Taiwan's regulator Financial Supervisory Commission. They stated that they encourage the development of mutually beneficial endeavors of this kind.
Source: Eurex
OPEC World Oil Outlook 2013
December 4, 2013--On November 7, 2013 OPEC issued the World Oil Outlook 2013. The OPEC World Oil Outlook (WOO) provides projections for the medium-term (to 2018) and long-term (to 2035) on an annual basis for oil demand and supply. It demonstrates that oil will continue to play a major part in satisfying the world's
growing energy needs, with amply sufficient oil resources and a diversity of supply sources contributing to world prosperity and to poverty alleviation.
The WOO also clearly illustrates the uncertainties that surround the medium- to long-term energy future, stemming from many drivers, such as the world economy, policies, technology and consumer choices. It also confirms again the growing importance of developing countries in terms of energy demand, as well as the emergence of a diversity of energy supply sources worldwide, resulting in a sizable change of energy flows.
Oil prices assumed to remain stable in the long-run
view the OPEC World Oil Outlook 2013
Source: OPEC
Word 'reform' works its magic for China Equity Funds going into December
December 3, 2013--China Equity Funds came into 2013 on the back of their biggest quarterly inflow in over a decade and looked to have broken decisively with their BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) peers.
But questions about China's export story, the trajectory of its property markets and the health of its financial sector saw over $11 billion pulled out of China Equity funds between March and September. Lately, however, hopes that China's new leadership is committed to reforming the world's second largest economy have translated into four straight weekly inflows with the latest hitting a 45 week high.
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Source: EPFR
European Union: Publication of Financial Sector Assessment Program Documentation
Detailed Assessment of Observance of the CPSS-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures
December
December 3, 2013--Summary: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Euroclear Bank is a securities settlement system that contributes to the safety and efficiency of global markets for government bonds and other international securities but also concentrates systemic risk. It is one of the largest securities settlement systems worldwide with a daily average settlement value of around 1.1 trillion euro,providing settlement services for securities from 44 markets in 53 currencies. In particular,Euroclear Bank services the largest,global banks with tri-party repo arrangements to secure their interbank financing.
As a default of Euroclear Bank has the potential to highly disrupt global financial markets adequate risk management is necessary. Operational risk is significant but appears to be well-controlled through appropriate risk measures such as contingency plans and back-up facilities allowing for timely completion of settlement processes. A delivery-versus-payment settlement model is in place that mitigates the risk of a participant losing the value of the transaction. Under its banking license Euroclear Bank offers banking and credit facilities that are linked to its custody and settlement functions. Its credit exposures are managed by a combination of credit limits and-in principle-full collateralization. Euroclear discloses information to allow its participants to accurately identify the risks and costs associated with the use of the system. Euroclear Bank’s risk framework is generally sound. Euroclear Bank should become operationally ready to fully implement plans for recovery and the orderly winding-down of operations. In anticipation of the emerging international regulatory standards and frameworks on recovery and resolution of FMIs,Euroclear Bank has developed recovery plans and plans for the orderly winding down of its operations. It should now,in particular,take measures to be operationally ready for their full implementation. Euroclear Bank and the NBB should accord a high priority to addressing this issue as the disorderly failure of Euroclear Bank would likely lead to systemic disruptions to the institutions and the markets it supports,linked payment systems,CSDs and CCPs,and to the financial system more broadly. Important risk measures have been taken to reduce credit risk,but further improvements are needed to comply with the international standards. Euroclear Bank has recently improved the quality of its collateral and liquidity management frameworks. Credit risks are apparent in the current practices for asset servicing. EB should address this credit risk for its normal settlement activities and should also adopt measures to mitigate similar credit risks for settlements done via the bridge with Clearstream Banking Luxembourg (CBL) which necessitates a review of the link agreement with CBL. Also,EB has no tools in place to identify,monitor and measure risks from tiered participation,which is a requirement of the new international standards. Another necessary improvement relates to the frequency of the reconciliation of positions. Eurobonds-that represent more than half of the deposited value-are reconciled on a daily basis. For other securities positions are reconciled on a weekly or monthly basis,which can be a potential source of uncertainly related to the integrity of the securities issues. EB should introduce daily reconciliations of positions for all securities.
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Source: IMF
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