Market information

Monday, March 01, 2010

The European Commission has momentarily started making new rules concerning credit default swaps. Prior to the economical crisis there was hardly a market for these derivatives. Countries such as Greece and Portugal used these derivatives in a complex way in order to conceal various parts of their governmental budget deficit. Between October and February the net amount of such traded credit derivatives on sovereign bonds in 54 countries has increased with 14.2%. The amount of derivatives on other bonds increased with just 2.6% in the same period.

BlackRock has acquired Barclays Global Investors for an amount of EUR 13.5 bln. Together they now have EUR 115 bln assets under management in the Netherlands. That makes them the second biggest asset manager in the Netherlands, after APG. Worldwide, both parties manage a total amount of approximately USD 3000 bln. With BGI’s index trackers such as iShares BlackRock hopes to attract more big institutional clients.

The Dutch umbrella fund Theta Legends Fund has requested a listing at NYSE Euronext. At this moment private investors are only able to enter or exit a fund semiannually. Due to current dynamics funds are exposed to extreme fluctuations in a period of six months and therefore it can be interesting for investors to enter or exit a fund daily. According to Wouter ten Brinke, partner at Theta Capital, this will enhance both liquidity and transparency. The Theta Legend Fund manages a total assets amount of EUR 60 mln. It expected that more these ‘fund of funds’ will take this step.

De 6M Euribor has remained the same at 0.96%. De 10Y Swap has also remained the same at 3.36%.

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