In investing, developed markets or developed economies are those countries that are thought to be the most developed and therefore less risky.
FTSE Group’s list
FTSE Group, a provider of economic and financial data, assigns the market status of countries as Developed, Advanced Emerging, Secondary Emerging or Frontier on the basis of their economic size, wealth, quality of markets, depth of markets, breadth of markets. As of March 2012, FTSE Group has classified 26 countries as developed markets (the list being identical to the S&P list, see below):
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
FTSE Criteria
Developed countries all have met criteria under the following categories
They are high income economies (as measured by the World Bank GNI Per capita Rating, 2008)
Market and Regulatory Environment EMG EMG
Formal stock market regulatory authorities actively monitor market (e.g., SEC, FSA, SFC)
Fair and non-prejudicial treatment of minority shareholders
Non or selective incidence of foreign ownership restrictions
No objections or significant restrictions or penalties applied on the repatriation of capital
Free and well-developed equity market
Free and well-developed foreign exchange market
Non or simple registration process for foreign investors
Custody and Settlement
Settlement – Rare incidence of failed trades
Custody-Sufficient competition to ensure high quality custodian services
Clearing & settlement – T +3 or shorter, T+7 or shorter for Frontier
Stock Lending is permitted
Settlement – Free delivery available
Custody – Omnibus account facilities available to international investors
Dealing Landscape
Brokerage – Sufficient competition to ensure high quality broker services
Liquidity – Sufficient broad market liquidity to support sizeable global investment
Transaction costs – implicit and explicit costs to be reasonable and competitive
Short sales permitted
Off-exchange transactions permitted
Efficient trading mechanism
Transparency – market depth information / visibility and timely trade reporting process
Derivatives
Developed derivatives markets
Size of Market
Market Capitalisation
Total Number of Listed Companies (as at 31st Dec 2008)
MSCI list
MSCI Barra classified the following 27 countries as developed markets:
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
The following country has been reclassified to an Emerging market, effective from November 2013
Greece
The following countries are currently under review for a reclassification to Developed market, with conclusions being announced in June 2014
South Korea
Taiwan
S&P list
As of 31 May 2012, Standard and Poor’s classified the following 26 countries as developed markets (the list being identical to the FTSE list, see above):
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Portugal
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
Source- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_market