S&P Dow Jones Indices kicked off the month of February with the launch of the S&P Business Development Company Index, a press release said.
In December, Europe-based index provider Stoxx Limited launched a new index offering exposure to emerging markets through European-based companies.
In late January, S&P Dow Jones Indices rolled out the S&P Emerging Markets Domestic Demand Index; the benchmark is designed to track emerging market companies operating in sectors that are driven by domestic demand.
In mid-January, IntercontinentalExchange Group said that its ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) unit would become the new administrator for London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) as of Feb. 1 under the auspices of the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, which oversees the benchmark’s administration.
MSCI has reportedly approached Barclays to buy its index business, according to news reports. The move, which could see MSCI build out its fixed-income offering and mean a potential windfall for Barclays, comes ahead of pending regulation in the form of Basel III and CRD IV.
In December, S&P DJI rolled out its S&P Total China BMI indexes, featuring five different indexes. The benchmarks cover different combinations of China’s A-share and B-share markets, as well as securities listed in Hong Kong and in foreign markets, the press release said.
The S&P China A BMI targets the broad A-share market in China, covering the small-, mid- and large-cap segments. Similarly, the S&P China A+B BMI does the same for both the A-share and B-share markets combined.
In early December, global index provider MSCI launched a new range of strategic indexes that offer investors access to passive index-linked multifactor strategies.
MSCI is offering the MSCI Multi-Factor Indexes in standard combinations, but investors can also create customized blends according to their portfolio needs. Additionally, the methodology can be applied to core MSCI indexes such as the MSCI EAFE, MSCI ACWI, MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets.
In mid-December, S&P Dow Jones Indices said it had begun calculating indexes tracking the frontier markets Zimbabwe and Palestine.
Neither market is included in the S&P Frontier BMI or the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index; instead, they are calculated as stand-alone benchmarks and are included on the index provider’s watch list to be included in the broader benchmarks if they become eligible, according to the press release.
Global index provider Bloomberg Indexes in November 2013 launched a new index that measures credit risk and funding rates of high-quality European banks.
The Bloomberg European Banks Funding Margin Index works by calculating the average spreads of euro currency bonds to ensure transparency in risk assessment. It aims to provide an accurate reflection of the borrowing costs of major European banks by measuring a six-month moving average of asset swap spreads of the bonds from 20 highly rated European banks.