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London Stock Exchange-ETF Statistics August 2009
September 22, 2009--The London Stock Exchange ETF Statistics for August 2009
are available. view report
Source: London Stock Exchange
Enthusiasm Builds for Financial Tax Idea
September 21, 2009--No longer just a hopeless cause for anti-capitalist activists, the idea of a global tax on financial transactions is gaining ground in Europe.
European Union leaders could not agree to put it on the agenda this week of the Group of 20 summit meeting in Pittsburgh on changing the financial system, but the leaders of France, Germany and the European Commission endorsed the concept.
More strikingly, the head of the British Financial Services Authority, which regulates the world’s second biggest banking center after New York, said last month that such a levy could help shrink a swollen financial sector. “If increased capital requirements are insufficient I am happy to consider taxes on financial transactions — ‘Tobin taxes,”’ the F.S.A. chairman, Adair Turner, told Prospect magazine.
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Source: NY Times
EU-Regulation of finance
September 21 2009--Three pan-European supervisory agencies will draw up and help enforce a common rulebook for banks, insurers and securities markets under laws to be unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday.
Currently, three committees exist at the EU level in the financial services sector, with advisory powers, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee (CEIOPS) and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR).
These are often known as the “Lamfalussy level 3 Committees” because of the role which they play in the EU framework for financial services legislation, created following a report by a group chaired by Alexandre Lamfalussy.
In January 2009 the Commission took action to strengthen the powers of these committees and proposed a financial instrument giving them a secure financial basis for their work.
In February 2009 a report by a high-level group chaired by J. de Larosière recommended transforming the three Committees into European Authorities, with commensurately increased powers to, inter alia:
co-ordinate the work of national supervisors,
arbitrate between national supervisors in supervisory colleges in cases of disagreement on supervisory issues regarding a cross-border financial institution;
take steps to harmonise national regulatory rules and move towards a common European rulebook;
directly supervise certain pan-European institutions which are regulated at EU level, such as Credit Rating Agencies.
On 27 May 2009 the Commission adopted a Communication describing its plans for putting into effect the recommendations of the de Larosière report.
This will be followed by legislative proposals in the autumn.
Source: Various
ISE faces test from Turkey’s trading past
September 21, 2009--Istanbul is Turkey’s undisputed commercial centre for most businesses. But its stock exchange is battling against a challenger from the second city of Izmir, a port with a tradition of commodity exchanges from its mercantile past.
The new rival - founded in 2001 - is the derivatives exchange Turkdex, where trading volumes reached TL415bn ($282bn) in 2008, close to volumes on the Istanbul Stock Exchange.
Futures contracts on the ISE’s two main equity indices, the ISE 100 and ISE 30, make up the bulk of Turkdex’s business.
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Source: The Penisula
EU rules would see hedge funds go oversea
September 21, 2009--Nearly half of the UK’s hedge funds are likely to move abroad if new EU regulations are passed, according to a comprehensive new study of the alternative asset management industry due to be released on Monday.
The findings – based on a survey of 121 managers, looking after $384bn (£236bn, €261bn) of client assets, the bulk of the European industry – come as UK and American politicians step up their efforts to modify the EU’s controversial draft alternative investment fund manager directive.
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Source: FT.com
Quarterly Changes to the NASDAQ OMX European Government Relief Index
September 21, 2009-- NASDAQ OMX
Nordic, part of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ), announced
today the results of the quarterly review of the NASDAQ OMX European
Government Relief Index (Nasdaq:EUGR) which will become effective with
the market open today.
Aegon NV, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, Allied Irish Banks PLC, Hypo Real Estate Holding, Banco Popolare, ING Groep NV-CVA, Bank of Ireland, KBC Groep NV
BNP Paribas, Lloyds TSB Group PLC,
Caisse Regionale Mutuel Brie Picardie, Peugeot SA, Commerzbank AG, Renault SA, Credit Agricole SA, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Dexia SA, SNS Reaal Groep, Erste Bank der Oester Spark, Societe Generale Fortis B ORD, UBS N ORD
The NASDAQ OMX European Government Relief Index is an equal-weighted index designed to track the performance of European-listed securities whose issuer is participating in direct government investment programs or has received government loans and NASDAQ OMX is aware of the transaction. The Index commenced calculation with a value of 1000.00 on January 5, 2009.
Two versions of the Index are calculated -- a price return index and a total return index. The price return index is ordinarily calculated without regard to cash dividends on Index Securities. The total return index reinvests cash dividends on the ex-date. Both Indexes ordinarily reinvest extraordinary cash distributions.
For
additional information, please visit
https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/indexwatch.aspx.
Source: NASDAQ OMX
Dow Jones STOXX Factoids - September 17, 2009
September 18, 2009--JONES STOXX 600
- Dow Jones STOXX 600, up 1.28 points, or 0.52%, to 246.10.
- Up for three consecutive trading days.
- Up 5.17 points, or 2.15%, over the last three trading days.
- A new 2009 closing high.
- Highest closing value since Friday, October 03, 2008.
- Off -39.31% from its record closing high of 405.50, hit on Monday, March 06, 2000.
- Off -4.16% from 52 weeks ago.
- Up 55.79% from its 2009 closing low of 157.97, hit on Monday, March 09, 2009.
- Month-to-date, Dow Jones STOXX 600 is up 4.28%.
- Year-to-date, Dow Jones STOXX 600 is up 24.99%.
Dow Jones STOXX 50
- Dow Jones STOXX 50, up 12.12 points, or 0.49%, to 2485.60.
- Up for three consecutive trading days.
- Up 46.65 points, or 1.91%, over the last three trading days.
- A new 2009 closing high.
- Highest closing value since Tuesday, October 07, 2008.
- Off -52.05% from its record closing high of 5183.24, hit on Tuesday, May 02, 2000.
- Off -3.26% from 52 weeks ago.
- Up 53.93% from its 2009 closing low of 1614.75, hit on Monday, March 09, 2009.
- Month-to-date, Dow Jones STOXX 50 is up 3.50%.
- Year-to-date, Dow Jones STOXX 50 is up 20.34%.
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Source: Mondovisione
Speech by Paul Myners, Financial Services Secretary, Developing a new financial architecture: lessons learned from the crisis, at the Financial Times Global Finance Forum
September 18, 2009--A year ago this week the world’s financial system faced its most dangerous moment in at least 70 years. The collapse of Lehman Brothers made even the world’s oldest, most storied firms appear vulnerable.
After watching Lehman collapse, the US Government was forced to prop up insurance giant AIG as it became clear the firm could not realistically honour its billions of dollars in obligations.
Right across the globe, a spike in interbank lending rates and credit default swap prices arrested the flow of credit, further weakening already struggling banks.
Having stared into this abyss just a year ago, we should be pleased to be in attendance at an event that can reflect on the future of the financial system – 12 months ago it was not entirely clear it had much of a future at all.
But thinking about the future we are. And as we do so it is remarkable to think about how far we have come since the dark days of last autumn.
Our financial system – whether judged by the share prices of major banks or the flow of credit between institutions – is on a much stronger footing than many of us would have imagined, though far from where we need it to be.
In my comments today, I want to focus on how we have arrived at this point of relative calm and tentative stability, and what we have learned along the way. The core of my message is that this crisis exposed a fundamental imbalance between the power of the financial system and its accountability for its actions.
As banks fought for survival, we learned that their impact on the real economy – on workers, businesses, and households – was greater than most people had imagined.
But we also learned that that power of the financial system was not matched by responsibility for its actions, creating an accountability gap that has had to be filled by taxpayers across the globe.
A strong, independent, and commercial banking system must be our goal for the future. But as we rebuild the architecture of our global financial system, the task of rebalancing the power and accountability of the sector must define our efforts.
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Source: HM Treasury
IOSCO consults on auditor transparency, communication and ownership structures
September 18, 2009-IOSCO consults on auditor transparency, communication and ownership structures The International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) Technical Committee has launched three related consultation reports prepared by its Task Force on Audit Services on the Transparency of Firms that Audit Public Companies; Auditor Communications and Exploration of Non-Professional Ownership Structures for Audit Firms.
The Technical Committee is seeking input from investors, audit oversight authorities, industry and other relevant stakeholders on these three reports. The closing date for responses is 1 December 2009.
Summary The Technical Committee’s Task Force on Audit Services (Task Force) announced in May 2008 its intention to expand the scope of its work to look at a number of audit services related issues, in response to concerns raised by participants at a roundtable on the Quality of Public Company Audits from a Regulatory Perspective in June 2007.
These issues included: the transparency of audit firms and the effect this could have on the quality of audits and the availability and delivery of audit services; the adequacy of the standard audit report; and the impact of audit firm ownership structure on concentration in the market for auditing large issuers.
Transparency of firms that audit public companies In the first paper, the Task Force explores whether enhancing the transparency of audit firms’ governance, audit quality indicators and audited financial statements could maintain and improve audit quality and the availability and delivery of audit services. The paper considers the benefits and possible disadvantages of enhanced transparency, while also examining alternative methods of achieving enhanced transparency and ways in which to mitigate any potential limitations arising from increased transparency.
Auditor Communication In order to address concerns about the effectiveness of the standard audit report in communicating important information about the audit and audit process, the second paper considers whether changes to the standard audit report or additional auditor communications are warranted to meet investor information needs.
The consultation paper:
highlights the evolution of the audit report;
describes perceived shortcomings of the report observed by others;
identifies possible solutions to these issues proffered by others; and
notes possible advantages and disadvantages of such solutions.
Exploration of Non-Professional Ownership Structures for Audit Firms
The third paper focuses on the impact of audit firm ownership restrictions on concentration in the market for auditing large issuers, but the Task Force recognizes that the ultimate strategy for reducing concentration may need to address several barriers to entry (and any related solutions) together. The paper describes the current state of audit firm concentration in the market for auditing large public companies, including its impact on the availability of audit services.
The paper explores the potential benefits for audit service availability of removing ownership restrictions and discusses the adverse impact that removing ownership restrictions may have on audit firm competence, professionalism, independence, and audit quality. The paper also considers the pros and cons of authorizing alternative forms of audit firm ownership and governance.
Source: IOSCO
Emissions trading: Member States approve list of sectors deemed to be exposed to carbon leakage
September 18, 2009--EU Member States today approved a draft Decision listing 164 industrial sectors and sub-sectors deemed to be exposed to 'carbon leakage'. Under the revised EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) which will apply from 2013, installations in such sectors will receive a higher share of greenhouse gas emission allowances free of charge than other industrial sectors. The final Decision should be adopted by the European Commission by the end of the year following scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council.
The issue of carbon leakage relates to the risk that companies in sectors subject to strong international competition might relocate from the EU to third countries with less stringent constraints on greenhouse gas emissions.
At a meeting of the Commission's Climate Change Committee, Member States gave a favourable opinion on a list of 164 sectors and sub-sectors which the Commission judges face a significant risk of carbon leakage. The list has been drawn up on the basis of detailed criteria on CO 2 costs and trade exposure set out in the revised EU ETS Directive agreed as part of the climate and energy package in December 2008 (see IP/09/628 ).
The draft Decision will now undergo three months of scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council with a view to its adoption by the Commission by the end of the year.
The risk of carbon leakage could be lessened by the international climate change agreement due to be concluded at the Copenhagen U.N. climate conference in December. The Commission will therefore review the list in the light of the Copenhagen agreement and may propose revisions.
If the list is not revised it will apply for five years, until 2014, but sectors can be added to the list during this period. A new list would apply for the period 2015-2019.
The sectors and sub-sectors judged at risk of carbon leakage are estimated to account for around a quarter of total emissions covered by the EU ETS and around 77% of the total emissions from manufacturing industry in the EU ETS. A large part of the emissions covered by the ETS come from the power sector which from 2013 will not receive any free allowances, subject to a limited exemption to aid modernisation of the electricity sector in some Member States.
The actual number of free allowances that industrial installations will receive will be decided in 2011. This will be done on the basis of common performance benchmarks which should be determined by the end of 2010. Under the Directive, industrial sectors will receive 80% of benchmarked allowances for free in 2013 decreasing annually to 30% in 2020. Those sectors which are deemed to be exposed to carbon leakage will receive 100% of the benchmarked allowances for free. The benchmarks will reflect the average performance of the 10% most efficient installations (in terms of their greenhouse gas emissions) in a sector or subsector in the EU over the years 2007-2008. The benchmarks will therefore create additional incentives for ETS installations to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency. Given the stringency of the benchmarks, only the most efficient installations have a chance of receiving all of their allowances for free.
To prepare the draft Decision the Commission held several broad stakeholder consultations as well as a large number of bilateral meetings with industry, NGOs, academics and Member States. The work was carried out in close co-operation between the Commission's Directorate-General for Environment and the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry.
Further information: The draft decision on the list of sectors and sub-sectors proposed by the Commission will be put on the Commission's carbon leakage website:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission/carbon_en.htm
Amended ETS Directive and Frequently Asked Questions:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission/ets_post2012_en.htm
Source: EUROPA
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