As exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have become increasingly popular and investors have discovered their benefits, financial services firms have developed more ways to package those benefits. Enter the ETF wrap, a packaging innovation that is beginning to gain attention. It offers all of the benefits typically associated with an index fund - and more. Here we'll look at the types of ETF wraps available, discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and see what the future holds for this relatively new financial product.
An ETF wrap is similar to a mutual fund wrap, except the underlying investments are ETFs. (If you are unfamiliar with ETFs or Mutual Fund Wraps, see Introduction to Exchange-Traded Funds and Introduction To Mutual Fund Wraps.) Like mutual fund wraps, ETF wraps are available in two varieties: discretionary and non-discretionary.
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mutualfund/05/ETFwrap.asp
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
Two important ERM frameworks are COSO and RIMS. Each describes an approach for identifying, analyzing, responding to, and monitoring risks or opportunities, within the internal and external environment facing the enterprise. Management selects a risk response strategy for specific risks identified and analyzed, which may include:
Avoidance: exiting the activities giving rise to risk
Reduction: taking action to reduce the likelihood or impact related to the risk
Share or insure: transferring or sharing a portion of the risk, to reduce it
Accept: no action is taken, due to a cost/benefit decision
Monitoring is typically performed by management as part of its internal control activities, such as review of analytical reports or management committee meetings with relevant experts, to understand how the risk response strategy is working and whether the objectives are being achieved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_risk_management
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