Global Trends in Exchanges and Implications for Exchanges in ASEAN Countries
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PERSPECTIVE YOHEI KITANO Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research (Singapore) Global Trends in Exchanges and Implications for Exchanges in ASEAN Countries Brothers in 2008 have included mandato- ular on three trends that have implications ry clearing of standardized OTC derivative for exchanges in the region: (1) strengthen- contracts by a central counterparty. ing of initiatives promoting so-called ESG That said, cash equities remain an im- investment focused on environmental, so- portant source of revenues for exchanges. A cial and governance factors, (2) promotion look at the current scale of the world’s cash of the ETF market, and (3) development of Introduction equity markets reveals an ongoing shift in blockchain-based financial market infra- power from markets in the West to those in structure. the East. According to the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), the Asia Pacific region accounted for only 21 percent of global mar- ket capitalization at end-2003, compared he power structure of the world’s ex- with 51 percent for the US and 28 percent Strengthening changes has been changed dramati- for EMEA. However, the Asia Pacific re- T cally by international restructur- gion’s share has risen to 36 percent at end- Initiatives Promoting ings that have taken place since around the 2017. This trend is expected to continue, turn of this century. More recent exchange supported by the sustained strong economic ESG Investment restructurings, such as the 2012 acquisition growth of countries in that region. Exchang- of the London Metal Exchange by Hong es in China have been the major contributor Kong Exchanges and Clearing and the 2013 to the Asia Pacific exchanges’ growing share purchase of NYSE Euronext by Intercon- of global market capitalization. Meanwhile, Exchanges have been strengthening their tinental Exchange, indicate that restruc- exchanges in ASEAN countries account for promotion of ESG investments in recent turing is being motivated not simply by a only three percent of global market capital- years. We see two main factors supporting desire to expand scale but also by a need ization despite their steady expansion. this trend. to diversify business portfolios. This need In addition to being small in scale, The first is the growing tendency reflects slow growth of trading volumes exchanges in ASEAN countries tend to among the world’s pension funds, invest- on cash equity exchanges and increasing lack depth and are behind the curve in ment trusts, insurance companies and competition among the world’s exchanges. financial infrastructure development. other institutional investors to base invest- As a result, cash equity transactions now However, viewed from a more optimistic, ment decisions not only on financial data account for a smaller share of exchange forward-looking perspective, these short- but also on ESG factors. The United Nations revenues while more profitable derivative comings indicate huge growth potential. introduced its Principles for Responsible trading is accounting for a higher share of The advances being made by the world’s Investment in 2006, and we have seen a those revenues. In addition, clearance and leading exchanges include many initiatives heightened awareness of ESG investment other post-trade operations are becoming that will be useful examples for the future starting from around 2010. According to more important for exchanges. Regulato- development of exchanges in ASEAN coun- the Global Sustainable Investment Alliance ry reforms of the over-the-counter (OTC) tries. Considering the current state of capi- (GSIA), an international organization that derivatives market following the financial tal markets in ASEAN countries, this article gathers data on ESG investment around crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman focuses on the cash markets and in partic- the globe, total assets of socially responsible 4 | NOMURA JOURNAL OF ASIAN CAPITAL MARKETS | Spring 2018 Vol.2/No.2 Figure 1: Global IPOs and Follow-on Offerings Luxembourg, London, Oslo and Stockholm exchanges, have established dedicated Proceeds raised via IPOs (lhs) Proceeds raised via follow-on offerings (lhs) USD Billion green bond markets. No. of IPOs (rhs) Another ESG initiative supported 1,000 2,000 by participating exchanges is the Sustain- able Stock Exchange (SSE) Initiative. The 800 1,600 SSE Initiative was launched in 2009 by the United Nations with the aim of strengthen- 600 1,200 ing collaboration between exchanges and investors, corporations, and regulatory 400 800 authorities. As of end-2017, 68 exchanges were participating in the Initiative, which 200 400 holds its SSE Global Dialogues every two years to promote common best practices 0 0 for ESG initiatives. SSE Initiative partner ex- 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 changes also conduct joint research aimed Source: EY, Thomson Reuters at contributing to the development of sus- tainable and transparent capital markets worldwide. In the years ahead, we think ex- investment (SRI) increased from USD 18.3 In this environment, efforts to im- changes can be expected to strengthen their trillion in 2014 to USD 22.9 trillion in 2016.*1 prove ESG disclosure and performance ESG-related efforts. A geographical breakdown shows Europe have become increasingly important for leading the way in SRI, with assets totaling exchanges as a means of enhancing the val- USD 12.0 trillion (52.6 percent of the total), ue of their most important product – listed followed by the US at USD 8.7 trillion (38.1 companies – and attracting investors. Ac- percent). SRI assets are still rather small in cording to a joint survey by the WFE and Promoting the the Asia Pacific region. UNCTAD, 32 exchanges were providing With institutional investors in the US guidance on ESG reporting to their listed Development of the ETF and Europe showing greater interest in ESG companies as of September 2017, and that investment, exchanges in those parts of the number is expected to increase.*2 Market world have introduced ESG indices. In ad- Needing to expand their offerings dition to exchange-developed indices, ESG of listed products, the exchanges are also indices have been developed by such major actively promoting the listing of so-called index providers as FTSE-Russell, MSCI, Stan- green bonds, the proceeds of which must be Investors have shown an increasing in- dard & Poor’s and Thomson Reuters. Ac- used to finance businesses or projects that terest in low-cost, highly liquid and highly cording to the WFE and the United Nations are environmentally friendly. Green bonds transparent exchange traded funds (ETFs) Conference on Trade and Development have attracted greater attention around since the global financial crisis. Securities (UNCTAD), as of September 2017 there were the world against the backdrop of stronger firms, which previously had not promoted more than 100 ESG indices in use on 38 ex- efforts to respond to climate change since these funds very aggressively, have come changes around the world. In this environ- the 1992 adoption of the United Nations to regard them as a more strategic product ment, the number of institutional investors Framework Convention on Climate Change, offering. Investors’ increasing needs for using ESG indices is growing. For example, an international treaty targeted at reducing more diversified and sophisticated portfolio Japan’s Government Pension Investment greenhouse gas emissions.*3 According to allocation have spurred the development Fund (GPIF), the world’s largest pension the Climate Bonds Initiative, a nonprofit in- of a wide variety of ETF types and driven fund, announced in July 2017 that it had be- ternational organization that is establishing the growth of a global ETF market.*5 The gun passive investment in Japanese equities industry standards, green bond issuance wide variety of ETFs available today include that tracked three selected ESG indices. has increased rapidly in recent years and leveraged ETFs constructed to generate a The second factor encouraging ex- outstanding issues as of end-2016 reached multiple return on the tracked index, ac- changes to strengthen initiatives promot- more than USD 874 billion. Of this total, tively managed ETFs that undergo portfo- ing ESG investment has been a relatively unlabeled bonds that earmark proceeds lio adjustments targeted at outperforming low level of corporate fundraising through for climate or environmental projects but the tracked index, target-date ETFs that initial public offerings (IPOs) and follow-on have not been labeled as green by the issu- undergo automatic portfolio revisions at a offerings. The number of IPOs and the pro- er amounted to more than USD 694 billion, specified future date, and smart-beta ETFs ceeds raised both fell drastically during while the outstanding balance of labeled that add value, scale and other factors into the global financial crisis that followed the bonds that the issuer declared would be their index-based portfolio construction. collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and used for green projects was USD 180 bil- Institutional investors that aim to generate while they have since been in a recovery lion. Forty-four percent of the unlabeled excess returns while relying on index-based trend, neither has returned to the levels bonds and 72 percent of the labeled bonds investments are expanding investment in seen in 2007 (Figure 1). Proceeds raised were listed on exchanges.*4 The world’s first smart-beta ETFs in particular. through follow-on offerings peaked in 2009 green bond was officially issued by the Eu- According to ETFGI, an independent and has since followed an up-and-down ropean Investment Bank and listed on the research firm covering the ETF market, pattern that lacks any signs of turning into Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 2007. To- total assets under management (AUM) of a strong upward trend. day, a number of exchanges, including the ETFs have expanded from USD 417 billion Global Trends in Exchanges and Implications for Exchanges in ASEAN Countries | 5 PERSPECTIVE at end-2005 to USD 4.7 trillion at end-2017 Figure 2: Number of ETFs Listed on Global Markets and Total AUM (Figure 2).