Exchange Traded Funds (or ETFs) have been available in the US since 1993 and in Europe from 1999. The 'idea' of ETF's is to put 'funds' and stock exchange trading into one product. Traditionally, 'funds' or cash and stock exchange investments have been carefully kept apart to reflect liquidity issues. An ETF is a pool fund invested with a stated investment objective , for example, a tracker fund for the energy sector or geographical area. Shares owned in this fund by investors are in turn traded on an exchange
ETFs were first introduced by the TORONTO Stock Exchange
The objective of an ETF is to participate in the economic growth of an industry or sector NOT available to the market in which the ETF is traded. Early US ETFs were set-up for example to participate in EU stocks or Companies. The performance of the fund is tracked by comparison to the growth index of the sector invested into. ETFs are distinct from UNIT TRUSTS and Investment Trusts. ETFs provide the attraction of the returns of a traditional tracker fund with the liquidity of a stock-exchange share.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_traded_fund
Governance, Risk, and Compliance or "GRC" is an increasingly recognized term that reflects a new way organizations focus on and manage an integrated approach to these three areas.
According to Michael Rasmussen, an industry analyst at Forrester Research, the challenge in defining GRC is that individually each term has "many different meanings within organizations. There is corporate governance, IT governance, financial risk, strategic risk, operational risk, IT risk, corporate compliance, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance, employment/labor compliance, privacy compliance . . . you get the picture."
According to Scott L. Mitchell, Chairman & CEO of the Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG), there "are substantially more processes than governance, risk and compliance playing critical roles in GRC. But 13-letter acronyms rarely catch on."
Typically GRC solutions are Enterprise Software that enables businesses to comply with legal requirements. Examples for such requirements are regulation like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Basel II and local requirements for occupational health and safety. Failure to meet these standards can lead to severe legal penalties or civil liability.
Initial interest in GRC was driven by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but GRC software requirements have changed and now are seen as a means to achieve Enterprise Risk Management. Specifically to evolve from managing risk as a transaction or compliance activity to adding business value by improving operational decision making and strategic planning.
GRC software becomes the governance platform for defining, maintaining, and monitoring risk.
OCEG, a non-profit organization that provides a performance framework for integrating governance, compliance, risk management and culture, is one of the leading voices for GRC.[citation needed] OCEG has developed a Measurement and Metrics Guide (MMG) for assisting in measuring and reporting on the performance of compliance and ethics programs. This measurement platform advocates that program objectives be aligned with and contribute to the enterprise objectives in a tangible way. In order to achieve desired program outcomes, an organization should design processes and practices that effectively measure program dimensions on three key dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency and responsiveness.
i-flex solutions, is the first company to issue a GRC Framework for the financial services industry, according to BobsGuide, an industry news site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governance%2C_Risk_Management%2C_and_Compliance
Corporate governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way a corporation is directed, administered or controlled. Corporate governance also includes the relationships among the many players involved (the stakeholders) and the goals for which the corporation is governed. The principal players are the shareholders, management and the board of directors. Other stakeholders include employees, suppliers, customers, banks and other lenders, regulators, the environment and the community at large.
Corporate governance is a multi-faceted subject.An important theme of corporate governance is to ensure the accountability of certain individuals in an organization through mechanisms that try to reduce or eliminate the principal-agent problem. A related but separate thread of discussions focus on the impact of a corporate governance system in economic efficiency, with a strong emphasis on shareholders welfare. There are yet other aspects to the corporate governance subject, such as the stakeholder view and the corporate governance models around the world
There has been renewed interest in the corporate governance practices of modern corporations since 2001, particularly due to the high-profile collapses of a number of large U.S. firms such as Enron Corporation and Worldcom. In 2002, the US federal government passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, intending to restore public confidence in corporate governance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_governance
