Global ETF News Older than One Year
Palestine Added To Lst Of MSCI Standalone Countries
July 8, 2013--Morgan Stanley International Capital (MSCI) announced that Palestine has been added to the list of Standalone countries of MSCI, the MSCI Palestine IMI Index started on June 3, 2013.
The Index consists of four listed companies including PALTEL, Bank of Palestine, PADICO Holding & Wataniya Mobile.
Listing Palestine on MSCI indices responds to the Palestine Exchange's constant efforts in mapping Palestine on regional and international investment agenda.
Source: Mondovisione
Citi Launches a Series of Emerging Markets Government Bond Indices
July 8, 2013--Citi has added a suite of emerging markets indices to its fixed income index family. The Emerging Markets Government Bond Index (EMGBI), which will form the basis of the indices is designed to measure the performance of fixed-rate, local currency sovereign bonds.
It will also serve as a benchmark for the emerging sovereign fixed income markets.
"We are delighted to add these emerging market indices to our government bond index series, and believe this will provide investors the opportunity to gain exposure to growing economies"
EMGBI-JIT, a variant of the EMGBI is designed to serve as a benchmark for performance evaluation by Japanese investment trusts. Also, three emerging markets – China, India, and Sri Lanka will join the index family as individual indices to form a set of EMGBI Additional Market Indices. These markets will be monitored for inclusion to the EMGBI if specific criteria are met.
Source: Citi
ETFs close in record numbers despite industry boom
July 7, 2013--Record numbers of exchange traded funds have closed so far this year, underscoring the difficulty many of the investment vehicles face in gaining traction among investors, despite the industry's overall boom in popularity in recent years.
About 117 ETFs have shuttered in the first half of this year, according to data collected by independent research firm ETFGI, easily outpacing closures in the same period in previous years. Out of 4,849 exchange traded products on the market, more than 60 per cent have less than $100m in assets, suggesting that more closures could take place in the coming months.
Source: FT.com
Report on the regulatory consistency of risk-weighted assets in the banking book issued by the Basel Committee
July 5, 2013--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has today published its first report on the regulatory consistency of risk-weighted assets (RWAs) for credit risk in the banking book.
This study is a part of its wider Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP), which is intended to ensure consistent implementation of the Basel III framework. The study draws on supervisory data from more than 100 major banks, as well as additional data on sovereign, bank and corporate exposures collected from 32 major international banks as part of a portfolio benchmarking exercise.
There is considerable variation across banks in average RWAs for credit risk in the banking book. The study published today finds that most of the variation in RWAs can be explained by broad differences in the composition of banks' assets, reflecting differences in risk preferences as intended under the risk-based capital framework. However, there is also material variation driven by diversity in bank and supervisory practices.
Source: BIS
Capital requirements for banks' equity investments in funds revised by the Basel Committee
July 5, 2013--The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision today published a set of proposals that would revise the prudential treatment of banks' equity investments in funds.
In reviewing the existing standard for banks' equity investments in funds, the Committee's objective was to develop an appropriately risk sensitive and consistently applied risk-based capital regime. The existing standard would benefit from further clarity in some areas. In addition, it does not require banks to reflect a fund's leverage when determining capital requirements associated with their investments in a fund, even though leverage is an important risk driver. The Committee believes the revised standard will more appropriately reflect the risk of a fund's underlying investments and its leverage.
Source: BIS
Institutional investors need access to long-term instruments to finance real economy, says EDHEC-Risk
July 5, 2013--Policy makers increasingly wish to see institutional investors become more involved in the financing of the real economy, but matching the supply of long-term capital provided by such investors with long-term investment demand is not self-evident.
EDHEC-Risk Institute says there needs to be a policy and regulatory focus on the type of instruments that long-term investors need, rather than which sectors of the economy qualify as “long-term” investment. In its recent responses to the European Insurance and Occupational Pension Authority's (EIOPA) consultation on the design and calibration of the Solvency II Standard Formula for long-term investment (May 2013), and to the European Commission's Green Paper on long-term financing (June 2013), EDHEC-Risk Institute has highlighted three important points.
Source: EDHEC-Risk
According to ETFGI: Globally ETFs and ETPs had outflows of US$3.98 billion in June 2013, their first net outflows in over two years
July 5, 2013--Globally ETFs and ETPs had outflows of US$3.98 billion in June 2013, their first net outflows in over two years. Assets invested globally in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) are at US$2.04 trillion, down from their all-time high of US$2.13 trillion at the end of May 2013, according to preliminary figures from ETFGI's Global ETF and ETP industry insights report for first half 2013.
There are now 4,849 ETFs and ETPs, with 9,878 listings, assets of US$2.04 trillion, from 209 providers listed on 56 exchanges. Year to date assets in ETFs and ETPs have increased by 4.9% from US$1.95 trillion to US$2.04 trillion.
Average daily trading volumes in ETFs/ETPs in June were US$92.2 billion, representing an increase of 31.1% from May and the highest level since October 2011.
“Market uncertainty surrounding the future of QE programs and volatility in the markets caused investors to withdraw US$3.98 billion from ETFs and ETPs in June” according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.
Fixed income ETFs/ETPs experienced the largest net outflows with US$7.1 billion, followed by commodity ETFs/ETPs with US$3.8 billion, while equity ETFs/ETPs gathered net inflows with US$4.8 billion. Year to date through end of H1 2013, ETFs/ETPs have seen net inflows of US$103.9 billion, which is slightly lower than the US$107.2 billion of net inflows at this time last year.
Source: ETFGI
Flows bounce back ascentral bankers hit some of the right notes in early July
July 5, 2013--The first week of July saw central bankers in the Eurozone and UK adding their voices to those of US Federal Reserve members arguing that the death of quantitative easing may be a lot less imminent than markets are suggesting.
Enough investors were persuaded by these remarks to snap the four week, $57.8 billion outflow streak compiled by EPFR Global-tracked Bond Funds and end the five week, $22 billion streaks recorded by both Emerging Markets Equity and High Yield Bond Funds/
Visit www.epfr.com for more info
Source: EPFR
Institutional investors won't provide long-term financing without adequate instruments
July 4, 2013--Institutional investors will not provide long-term financing to the real economy, such as investments into infrastructure projects and SMEs, in the absence of "genuinely long-term instruments", according to financial research institute EDHEC-Risk.
If European governments’ desire for pension funds and insurance companies to fund infrastructure is to be realised, there must be “policy and regulatory focus on the type of instruments” they need, rather than which sectors of the economy qualify as "long-term", said EDHEC. Its intervention in the debate about alternative sources of long-term capital following the banking crisis came in the form of written responses to two ongoing consultations.
Source: EDHEC-Risk
ETF Securities: Gold Sparks Decline In Global Commodity ETP Assets During 2Q
July 4, 2013--Assets under management for global commodity exchange-traded products posted a record quarterly decline in second quarter mainly due to a fall in both prices and holdings for one specific market-gold, ETF Securities said Thursday.
Total TOT +0.33% commodity ETP assets fell to $127 billion in the last three months, down from $186 billion at the end of the first quarter, said the provider of exchange-traded funds.
Source: Forbes
