GFMA: News on the global financial markets

UK's RMBS market defies expectations amid debt crisis
Britain's primary residential mortgage-backed securities market has remained open throughout Europe's sovereign-debt crisis. The sector's strong track record, along with demand from US investors, has fuelled issuance. "In light of wider market stresses and the fear of something much worse around the corner, the health of the primary European -- and especially UK [asset-backed securities] and RMBS market -- has held up remarkably well," said Mark Hale, chief investment officer at Prytania Investment Advisors. Structured Credit Investor (U.K.)(30 Nov.)

Progress continues on legal-entity identifiers
The Financial Stability Board is working on a governance framework for legal-entity identifiers, which have gained momentum and support in the past few months. "We have achieved a tremendous amount globally to get buy-in. We have the [Group of 20] finance ministers and leaders endorsing the LEI, so from a top-down perspective, it is all going well," said David Strongin, SIFMA's managing director. "But I think our challenge now is to ensure that, as countries start to implement this, they do it in a way that is going to meet the needs of each local marketplace, but also the unique LEI ... that we have set up globally." WatersTechnology.com(30 Nov.)

• Other News

CEO Ermotti begins to leave mark on UBS with appointments
Reuters (01 Dec.)

Regulatory Roundup

ESMA chairman calls for increased funding
Stephen Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority, called for more funding for the agency, warning that without proper resources, rules might be rushed through. Maijoor also asked for more appropriate time frames for developing regulations. "While the overall level of funding of ESMA looks reasonable considering the tasks envisaged when we started this year, since then there have been many suggestions for additional tasks," he said. "It is very important that any new task for ESMA is accompanied with an assessment of additional resources required to fulfill that new task." Financial News Online (U.K.)(subscription required)(30 Nov.)

Trade group opposes taxing financial transactions
A Brussels industry group has come out in opposition to the EU's proposed tax on financial transactions. The proposal has German and French backing, but the UK remains strongly opposed. Peter de Proft, director general of the European Fund and Asset Management Association, said advocates of the levy have promoted it using misleading claims. Financial News Online (U.K.) (free content)(30 Nov.)