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SII response to FSA CP09/18 on distribution of retail investments (Delivering RDR)
November 2, 2009--Following consultation with its members, the Securities & Investment Institute has responded broadly positively to the FSA’s consultation document (CP09/18) on its proposals to raise standards of professionalism.
The SII organised a series of presentations across the country and received feedback from 500 members, who demonstrated consistently high support for compulsory Continuing Professional Development, an industry-wide Code of Ethics and also for the raising of examination levels for investment advisers across the sector affected by the RDR.
However, whilst the SII is supportive of the general thrust of the professionalism proposals, it is aware that there are many unanswered questions, particularly over the role of the proposed Professional Standards Board, on which a consultation paper is about to be issued.
The SII endorses the FSA’s approach to professionalism, which seeks to go beyond the rhetoric of exhorting best practice in maintaining competence and behaving ethically, by setting out specific proposals around the monitoring and measurement of relevant CPD and an ethical code which is similar to the SII’s own Code of Conduct.
The securities and investment sector has a distinguished record of examinations recognised at graduate level. Whilst the Institute and its members strongly support the raising of standards for existing advisers across the sector from Level 3 to Level 4, equating to first year undergraduate level, there was also overwhelming support from roadshow participants for new entrants to aspire to Level 6, the level of a graduate qualification.
We therefore call upon the FSA to ensure that professional bodies seeking to ensure relevance and excellence for specific job roles covered by the RDR, are supported in offering provision above Level 4. We believe that the FSA should consider stating a longer term objective to raise standards to Level 6 for new entrants post 2012.
We also urge the FSA to review its proposals for alternative assessments, especially for the small number of experts in specialised areas such as Eurobonds, who are already operating at a level well above Level 4, for whom the new examination proposals will not be relevant, but who nevertheless fall under the RDR requirements. We suggest that a restricted license may be an option.
Simon Culhane FSI, Chief Executive of the SII, said: “We received strong feedback from our members for the FSA to consult specifically on the case for mandatory membership of a professional body. Not only is this cost effective, but membership of a credible, chartered, professional body whose sole remit is to combine holistically examinations, Continuing Professional Development and ethics, is the embodiment of professionalism and is well understood by the public from its interaction with other professionals in other sectors.”
Ruth Martin, the SII’s Managing Director added: “The SII roadshows endorsed the proposals and demonstrated that in preparing for the RDR, our members are ready to embrace change, for the benefit of the industry, its reputation and its users, even though for many of them it means more examinations.”
Source: Chartered Institute For Securities & Investment
Longevity market could double in 2010
November 3, 2009--Longevity deals by pension funds could double in 2010 as the market is starting to see convergence on price following the first few deals, according to market specialists.
Credit Suisse was the counterparty in the deal arranged by Babcock International to hedge the longevity of three of its pension schemes. Two of the deals have been completed - for the Devonport Royal Dockyard scheme and the Rosyth Royal Dockyard scheme - while the longevity hedging of the Babcock International Group Pension Scheme is still under discussion.
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Source: IPE.com
Pension deficits soar
November 2, 2009-A return to relative calm in financial markets has turned out to be bad news for UK pension fund deficits, as the negative effect of falling bond yields more than outweighed the benefits of the recent surge in equities.
Pension funds of FTSE 100 and FTSE 350 companies have swung into deficit over the past year, and their deficits widened by 27 cent in the month of October alone.
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Source: FT.com
Markit creates e-trade loan platform
November 2, 2009-Markit, the financial information provider, has acquired ClearPar of the US to create a platform that for the first time will allow banks and investors to process loan trades electronically from start to finish.
The move is intended to help reduce counterparty and operational risk in a market with $1,000bn of loans outstanding.
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Source: FT.com
db x-trackers launches ETF tracking short daily performance of Hang Seng
November 2, 2009-db x-trackers, Deutsche Bank’s exchange-traded fund platform, has launched the HSI Short Daily Index ETF, the first ETF to offer European investors access to the short daily performance of an Asian stock market.
The ETF tracks the daily inverse performance of the Hang Seng Index, the most widely quoted indicator of the Hong Kong stock market.
Manooj Mistry, head of db x-trackers UK, says: “The db x-trackers ETFs on short daily indices are very popular with investors across Europe. These products now have assets of over EUR2bn and are amongst the most actively traded ETFs in Europe. The launch of the db x-trackers’ HSI Short Daily Index ETF complements the existing range of short daily index ETFs and provides a diversified option for investors looking for exposure to short performance of an Asian stock market.”
Source: Online News
New Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on SIX Swiss Exchange
November 2, 2009--8 new products have been listed in the Exchange Traded Funds segment of SIX
Swiss Exchange, taking the total to 208 ETFs. The new funds are:
db x-trackers DJ EURO STOXX 50® ETF (1C). The trading currency is CHF.
db x-trackers Russell 2000 ETF (1C). The trading currency is USD.
db x-trackers MSCI AC ASIA ex JAPAN TRN INDEX ETF (1C). The trading
currency is USD.
db x-trackers MSCI PACIFIC ex JAPAN TRN INDEX ETF (1C). The trading currency is USD.
db x-trackers DJ STOXX® 600 ETF (1C). The trading currency is CHF.
db x-trackers CAC 40® Short Daily ETF (1C). The trading currency is CHF.
db x-trackers DB COMMODITY BOOSTER DJ-UBSCI ETF (4C). The trading
currency is CHF.
db x-trackers DB HEDGE FUND INDEX (5C). The trading currency is CHF.
Deutsche Bank London Branch will perform the market making for these
products.
Source: SIX Swiss Exchange
A CESR analysis sees room for better compliance with IFRS disclosures
November 2, 2009--CESR publishes today an analysis (Ref. CESR/09-821) of the compliance of European financial institutions with disclosure requirements related to financial instruments. For the purposes of the analysis, CESR reviewed the 2008 year-end financial statements of 96 listed banks and/or insurers, including 22 companies from the FTSE Eurotop 100 index.
The findings revealed that, in some areas, a significant proportion of companies failed to comply with mandatory disclosure requirements relating to financial instruments, for example regarding the use of valuation techniques and on relationships with special purpose entities (SPEs).
Source: CESR
New TABB Group Research Shows Dark Trading in Europe is on the Rise
Buy-Side Traders Say Better Aggregation and More Innovation Needed to Optimise Execution
November 2, 2009--As the SEC in the US puts pressure on measuring and defining dark pool activity, the same debate is occurring in Europe, where buy-side equity traders are having a love-hate relationship with the dark. Trading in dark environments is estimated by TABB Group, the capital markets research and consulting firm, at 4.1% of daily turnover in major European markets, forecast to increase 7% in 2010 as buy side traders acquire the knowledge, tools and insight to increase their confidence to trade where they cannot see.
According to Miranda Mizen, a principal at TABB and author of a new research report, “Trading in the Dark in Europe: Choice and Complexity on the Cusp of Change,” trading in the dark is just scratching the surface of its potential in Europe.” Although the infrastructure for trading in a multi-layered, pan-European marketplace is largely in place, the buy side is still adopting and upgrading tools, the sell side is expanding the intelligence of algorithms and traders tell TABB that they need time to adjust.
Across the market, algorithms are becoming better at preventing information leakage, and spotting crossing opportunities and liquidity aggregators is gaining in sophistication. Data is available to those who know what they want, when they want it and have the means to process it when they receive it. Still, in a European marketplace very much in flux, the buy side is picking through a plethora of algorithms, leading TABB Group to pinpoint eight questions buy-side traders should ask about their broker’s dark strategy to determine what, where, when and how their order is being traded.
According to Mizen, the pending regulatory review in Europe should add clarity, review the MiFID waivers and remove the ambiguity around dark environments, thereby anchoring dark trading as a legitimate alternative that complements the lit markets. “Regulation may restrict unfettered expansion of dark environments by raising the bar on competition, but it will also marginalise those with paltry liquidity.” Current reporting standards, the spectre of a regulatory review and lack of volume in some have created uncertainty about how much volume is traded in the dark, and a reluctance to share.
TABB Group estimates there are 33 dark environments operated by a combination of brokers, lit multi-lateral trading facilities (MTFs) and exchanges but the large choice “does not de facto add to the quality of the dark environment,” says Mizen. Unless regulation becomes a barrier, TABB Group believes the number of dark environments will continue to increase but “as liquidity splinters, this will work against the buy side as liquidity becomes harder to find without leaking information,” and this increases the need for smarter aggregation.
Knowledge, tools, visibility and standardisation create greater demand for differentiation and innovation, and this will result in the concentration of liquidity in the more sophisticated environments. If providing transparency in the marketplace and shedding light on the mechanics sounds juxtaposed when it comes to dark liquidity, it is because this is a work in progress. “The best is yet to come as innovation takes off in earnest and the stakes are raised to attract order flow into the dark; but only the most sophisticated will be able to show the kind of value for which the buy side is willing to pay a premium,” concludes Mizen.
The 25-page report with 12 exhibits is an in-depth analysis of interviews with 16 head buy-side traders in Europe and the US, and incorporates data and analysis on dark trading from TABB Group’s “European Equity Trading Study 2009: Counterparties, Capital and Control,” where 53 head traders across the major markets of Europe were interviewed. It covers estimated daily turnover in Europe; dark environments throughout the execution chain; multiple types of dark environments; protecting order flow through three areas of innovation, e.g., functionality, aggregation and visibility; ownership structures for dark environment; choosing between trading in lit or dark environments or both; and estimated growth of dark trading in Europe, 2005-2010.
The report can be downloaded by TABB Group Research Alliance Equity clients and pre-qualified media at http://www.tabbgroup.com/login.aspx.
For an Executive Summary or to purchase the report, go to http://www.tabbgroup.com or write to info@tabbgroup.com.
Source: TABB Group
FSA chairman says 'no silver bullet' to address 'too-big-to-fail' challenge
November 2, 2009-There is no ‘silver bullet’ to address the problem of banks being ‘too-big-to-fail’, but instead the answer lies in a combination of different policies between which trade-offs can be made, according to Adair Turner, speaking this morning at the FSA’s Turner Review Conference.
Reviewing the range of options to deal with large systemically important banks, Lord Turner argued that several had achieved consensus support, in particular, higher capital standards, the need to reduce interconnectedness in derivatives markets and the development of firms’ resolution and recovery plans (‘living wills’).
Lord Turner, therefore, focused on two issues where controversy still remains, namely, the narrow banking debate and the appropriate approach to the risks created by cross-border operations.
Addressing ‘narrow bank’ proposals which seek to separate utility banking from casino banking, Lord Turner argued that an extreme narrow banking model, with retail banks investing only in government securities, was certainly practical but failed to address the crucial issue of booms and busts in credit supply and as a result, could actually increase financial instability. But he suggested that the objectives behind a ‘new Glass Steagall’ distinction between commercial banks and proprietary trading were desirable and could be pursued by appropriate capital requirements and the use of resolution and recovery plans to drive internal distinctions between retail and trading activities.
Lord Turner stressed that:
"It is essential to progress this argument beyond the top line slogans, for or against narrow banking, and get down to details. The extreme narrow banking proposal is clearly doable in practical terms, but I believe could produce a financial system even more vulnerable to instability than the one we have today. In contrast the ‘new Glass Steagall’ divide is in principle attractive, but arguably best pursued through the capital requirements we place on trading activities rather than through an attempt to write a law prohibiting some activities and allowing others."
Turning to the approach to large cross-border banks, Lord Turner said that a crucial issue was the appropriate balance between regulatory focus on whole group capital and liquidity versus focus on the soundness of standalone national subsidiaries. He argued that the more standalone approach could be an answer to the “too-big-to-rescue” challenge. If each country was responsible for resolving problems in the local operations of a global group, rather than responsibility resting solely with the home nation of the group’s headquarters, an inevitable consequence would be host countries imposing stronger local capital and liquidity standards, creating standalone national subsidiaries. Whilst some commentators have argued this could lead to a harmful restriction of capital flows, Lord Turner said that this has not been demonstrated and that authorities in several emerging markets believed that standalone national subsidiaries helped guard against harmful volatility.
Lord Turner concluded:
"It is important that these ideas are challenged and others put on the table. This is why the paper we produced on 22 October is a discussion paper not a conclusions paper, and why we hope, through this conference and subsequent initiatives, to stimulate a wide ranging debate on these complex issues."
Contributing to the debate on these issues at today’s conference were Philipp Hildebrand, forthcoming Governor of the Swiss National Bank, Shyamala Gopinath Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, António Horta-Osório Chief Executive of Abbey National plc, Josef Ackermann Chairman of the Management Board and the Group Executive Committee of Deutsche Bank and Hector Sants, FSA chief executive.
Source: FSA.org
October trading in securitised derivatives up 18 percent at Boerse Stuttgart
November 2, 2009--Total exchange turnover more than 12 percent up on previous month/ Trading in securitised derivatives shows second consecutive monthly increase/ Volume of corporate bonds traded more than double figure for October 2008
November 2, 2009--According to the order book statistics, EUR 8.6 billion of securities were traded in October 2009 at Boerse Stuttgart, Germany’s leading exchange for retail investors, equivalent to a rise of over 12 percent on turnover for the previous month. From January to October 2009, trading volume as a whole was down approximately 20 percent on the same period in 2008.
“The stock markets have been reporting strong gains since March with global increases in the region of 60 percent. In October, many retail investors seem to have taken a more sceptical view of future developments following these enormous upward movements of the market, and from the middle of the month onwards they increasingly benefited from gains.” observed Dr Rolf Deml, Managing Director of Baden-Wuerttembergische Wertpapierboerse.
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Source: Boerse Stuttgart
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