Industry news

September 27, 2012: German Cabinet To Agree Tougher Rules On HFT; Ukraine, CME In Talks On Maize, Barley And Sunseed Futures; Nasdaq Product Head Departs For Start-Up

Germany reveals cabinet plans to approve a draft law today that tightens up controls for high-frequency trading.  Ukraine and CME Group discuss the possibility of launching new agricultural products for trading. Nasdaq OMX’s European head of product management has elected to step down and start a new consulting firm. In First Read today, take a look at the details for Rocktoberfest New York & Chicago, a charity event that features hot music to help people gain mobility.  Also, you’ve got one more chance to take a look at JLN’s three most recent interviews: Steven Crutchfield of NYSE Euronext; Ryan McElvogue of FFastFill; and Colin Lambert of Profit & Loss Magazine.

First Read

A Leg To Stand On: Rocktoberfest New York & Chicago
MarketsWiki.tv

New York – Thursday, 10/11/12, 7pm – 12am
Chicago – Thursday, 10/25/12, 7pm – 11pm

From A Leg To Stand On: The annual Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest benefiting A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO) has been recognized as one of the most unique and highly anticipated fundraising events in both the charitable and financial sectors. ALTSO’s signature event unites more than 1,000 leaders from the hedge fund and related financial services communities for a night of rock ‘n roll and acoustic music performed by industry professionals – to help ALTSO treat more children.

ALTSO provides free prosthetic limbs, corrective surgery, orthotic devices and rehabilitative care to children who have lost limbs in traumatic accidents or suffer from congenital limb disabilities. They work in countries where there is a staggering need for orthopedic treatment due to landmines, violence, and most simply – poverty.

Event Tickets: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/ALegtoStandOn/TicketPurchase.html

More Information: http://altso.org/hedge-fund-rocktoberfest/

Video: http://jlne.ws/P1Zb1H

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New studies highlight uncertain future for swaps trading
Anish Puaar – The Trade
Market participants gearing up for widespread changes in the OTC derivatives market are likely to favour exchange-traded products to manage risk because of onerous margin requirements for exotic instruments. The predictions are part of new research from consultancy TABB Group commissioned by the World Federation of Exchanges and suggest that a margin shortfall for swaps that reached US$2.6 trillion at the end of 2011 could be reduced to several hundred billion dollars based on product selection changes.  
http://jlne.ws/QEJHCg

**** Customers always trade where they get the best deal, i.e. value for their money.

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MarketAxess to Join the S&P SmallCap 600 Index
MarketAxess Holdings Inc., the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for U.S. and European high-grade corporate bonds, emerging markets bonds and other fixed income securities, will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 Index after close of trading on Friday, September 28.
jlne.ws/UtkhbJ

**** The big time in a SmallCap Index.

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ASX Chief Speaks Out Against Competition in Clearing
Caroline Henshaw – WSJ
Opening Australian equities clearing to competition could threaten the stability of the country’s financial markets, according to the head of Australia’s dominant exchange.
jlne.ws/PFrlC1

**** Competition is such a bad thing when you are the dominant exchange.

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Diversification by just having a passive allocation across asset classes is becoming less and less useful
Opalesque Nordic Roundtable
During the recent ten years we have seen a steady increase in correlation between basically all markets. You will find a very good illustration for the decreasing diversification by just looking at the daily moves of the S&P 500 index stocks from 1996 to 2008. During all those years, there were only 12 trading days when more than 490 of the S&P 500 stocks moved in the same direction on a given trading day. In 2011, there were 15 such days with nearly even up/down ratio – and that’s in just one year.
jlne.ws/PFrlC5

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Mifid II: a lesson in European politics
Michelle Price – Financial News
The European Parliament is scheduled to vote tomorrow on its version of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive text, the most transformational piece of reform to hit the European financial markets in decades.
jlne.ws/PFrlC6

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‘Knight’mare triggered volume plunge at Knight Capital dark pool
Matt Jarzemsky and Steven Russolillo – WSJ
It’s no secret that trading volumes were unusually low over the summer. But one venue operated by Knight Capital, the brokerage firm roiled by a trading snafu last month, really took it on the chin
jlne.ws/PFrlCc

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CBOT grain traders petition for shorter trading day
Reuters
Almost 300 traders sign petition for shorter trading day Grain traders circulated a petition on Tuesday asking the Chicago Board of Trade to reduce the nearly non-stop trading hours it implemented earlier this year.
jlne.ws/PFrlSJ

***** Time to listen when Dan Brophy speaks.

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Winton backs China’s first managed futures fund
Harriet Agnew – Financial News
Winton Capital Management, the largest managed futures firm in Europe, has teamed up with Shanghai-based Fortune SG Fund Management for what is believed to be the first Chinese managed futures fund.
jlne.ws/PFrlCe

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Special Report: As Peregrine teetered, founder went on shopping binge
Reuters
Second of two parts.
The year 2007 brought one of the biggest scandals in memory to hit the futures community. Brokerage Sentinel Management Group collapsed in what prosecutors later said was a fraud by its chief executive and its head trader, leaving customers out hundreds of millions of dollars. That December, one of the leaders of the industry, Russell Wasendorf Sr., warned authorities that beefing up policing in response would be overkill.
jlne.ws/PFrlCf

**** Every time I read one of these stories, I just get angry again.

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Peregrine Financial Chief Executive Pushes Back On Missing Money
By Jacob Bunge – Dow Jones
The disgraced chief executive of Peregrine Financial Group Inc. is disputing U.S. government investigators’ estimate of how much customer money was lost in a years-long fraud, according to his public defender. His lawyer also said Russell Wasendorf Sr., who last week pleaded guilty to embezzlement and mail fraud in the scheme, would be better able to help authorities track down missing money if he were freed from jail ahead of his sentencing.
jlne.ws/PFroxI

***JM: “I’m sure I buried it in the backyard, but you’ll need to let me out so I can go remember where”…

MarketsWiki.tv

Steven Crutchfield of NYSE Discusses New Management Structure and Options Technology
MarketsWiki.tv
Steven Crutchfield was named CEO of NYSE Euronext’s two U.S. options exchanges, NYSE Amex Options and NYSE Arca Options earlier this month. The move marks a new management strategy for NYSE’s options markets, which had been managed separately. Crutchfield spoke with John Lothian News editor-in-chief Jim Kharouf about the new management structure, new initiatives for market makers and in risk management as well as dealing with lower options volumes this year.
http://jlne.ws/PQXBjO

Ryan McElvogue of FFastFill Discusses Dodd-Frank Related Risk Management
MarketsWiki.tv
Ryan McElvogue is managing director of FFastFill, the U.S. subsidiary of FFastFill Plc., a London-based provider of front-, middle- and back-office solutions for the global electronic trading community. In August 2012, FFastfill announced that OrbitRisk, its clearing member risk management suite, is fully conformant with certain Dodd-Frank related CFTC regulations scheduled to take effect October 1, 2012. McElvogue spoke with John Lothian News Editor-at-Large Doug Ashburn about Orbit Risk, Dodd-Frank readiness and operational versus technical implementation issues.
http://jlne.ws/S9ZQOV

JLN Forex

Five Minutes with Colin Lambert, Editor, Profit & Loss
Colin Lambert is Editor-in Chief at P&L Services, Ltd., publisher of monthly FX magazine Profit & Loss, and host of numerous conferences covering the foreign exchange market. Lambert, in town for this week’s Forex Network Chicago conference, sat down with John Lothian News Editor-at-Large Doug Ashburn to discuss Lambert’s migration from forex dealer to news editor, and what we can expect later this week when P&L brings its Forex Network conference series to Chicago.

Q. Tell us a bit about your FX background and your transition from trader to journalist.

A. I traded for, I believe it was 26 years, all foreign exchange, banking and corporate side. My job was a flow trader – basically a market maker. Around 2001 I saw the coming of the machines and thought, “soon they will be doing my job, so I should get out in front of it.” One of the few trades I got right.

I decided I would do something different. I figured I knew quite a bit about the foreign exchange market, so I could become a writer on the foreign exchange market. I was wrong, as it turns out, about how much I knew, because it was changing so amazingly fast. I switched over in 2001, right as the real e-commerce boom started in foreign exchange. It was a very high profile time for e-FX, because you had two platforms (FXall and Currenex) vying to be seen as the platform of the future. We already had EBS and Reuters matching, but this was a different concept.

I had been in the job about three weeks when [P&L founder Julie Ros] took an extended maternity leave and, all of a sudden I was “it.” It was a baptism of fire.

Q. By the time she returned, you had immersed yourself, then?

A. For me, it was one of the better things that could have happened, as it forced me to say, “I have got to learn this.” Fortunately, I knew a lot of people in the industry – people I had been trading with and working with – which gave me a good “in.” Luckily, I had a decent reputation as a trader, not letting people down, so that helps as a journalist.

For the rest of the interview, visit JLN Forex at http://www.jlnforex.com/
We tweet! (even though Jon prefers “twerble”) Join @JLNForex on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JLNForex

MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Colin Lambert
jlne.ws/TwfxHe

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MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Colin Lambert; Steven Crutchfield

Companies, Organizations and Groups

Alpha Group; NYSE Arca Options; NYSE Amex Options; FFastFill

Statistics

28,858,362 pages viewed, 7,119 articles, 147,861 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

German cabinet to agree tougher rules on high-frequency trading
Reuters via Yahoo! News
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet is set to approve a draft law on Wednesday to tighten regulation on high-frequency trading, often blamed for volatility on stock exchanges, government sources said on Tuesday.
jlne.ws/PFroxO

Ukraine, CME in talks on maize, barley and sunseed futures
Reuters
Leading grain exporter Ukraine is in talks with the CME Group to launch futures contracts for its maize, barley and sunseed crops, its agriculture ministry said on Tuesday.
jlne.ws/PFrm9c

Nasdaq product head departs for start-up
Tom Osborn – Financial News
The European head of product management at exchange operator Nasdaq OMX has left the bourse in order to launch his own financial technology consultancy practice, Financial News has learned.
jlne.ws/PFroxR

BBA Votes To End Libor Role – Report
Dow Jones
The council of the British Bankers’ Association has formally voted to give up its responsibility for setting the interbank borrowing rate, or Libor, following the fixing scandal that engulfed the industry three months ago, Sky News reported on its website Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
jlne.ws/PFrm9h

RBS Instant Messages Show Libor Rates Skewed for Traders
Bloomberg
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc trader Tan Chi Min told colleagues the firm was able to move global interest rates, according to electronic messages the bank is trying to make secret.
jlne.ws/PFroO9

Spanish Leader Outlines Fresh Overhauls
RICHARD BOUDREAUX, MATTHEW WALTER and MICHAEL CASEY – WSJ.com
The Spanish government will restrict programs that allow people to take early retirement as part of overhauls to rein in the country’s debt and shore up its shrinking economy, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Tuesday.
jlne.ws/PFroOc

Why exit is an option for Germany
Martin Wolf – FT.com
Should Germany leave the euro? It is, after all, the big country with an obvious exit option. The question becomes more pertinent after the decision by Angela Merkel, Germany’s conservative chancellor, to support Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, against Jens Weidmann, her appointee as head of the Bundesbank, over plans to buy bonds of governments in difficulty.
jlne.ws/PFroOl

Hedge fund sceptics warn on ‘QE Infinity’
Sam Jones – FT.com
“A man’s got to know his limitations,” says “Dirty Harry” Callahan, the gun-toting, rule book-ignoring cop immortalised by Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force. It is a principle the US Federal Reserve – which earlier this month embarked upon its own, third bout of “unorthodox” enforcement, “QE3” – could learn from, according to Stephen Jen, the former Morgan Stanley FX-guru turned hedge fund manager.
jlne.ws/PFrmpI

Schneider headcount drops by 85%
Tom Osborn – Financial News
A large trading service provider to the London futures markets, which has been severely hit by declining trading volumes and the collapse of MF Global, is to operate with just a fraction of its former staff.
jlne.ws/PFrp4P

Regulatory

Nasdaq markets space in Amazon’s cloud
Arash Massoudi and Barney Jopson in New York – FT.com
Nasdaq OMX is offering Wall Street brokers a chance to store key regulatory data on Amazon’s “cloud” computers, marking the ecommerce conglomerate’s boldest incursion into the financial services sector.
jlne.ws/Tw4hLa

Regulators get stuck into asset managers
Mike Foster – Financial News
Executives from the Financial Services Authority used its latest asset management conference on Tuesday to remind the industry it will stamp down on business models and products, which it deems a threat to clients and markets.
jlne.ws/PFrpls

Former top accountant Tweedie to push for global valuation rules
Reuters via Yahoo! News
David Tweedie, who led the drive towards global accounting rules, will head a body working for international consistency in the valuation of derivatives and other financial instruments – addressing a need highlighted by the financial crisis.
jlne.ws/PFrpBK

[France] AMF mystery shopping in 2012
After an initial mystery shopping series in 2010, the AMF has repeated the effort with the same scenario in 2012 to determine if there was a change in the commercial offering of banking networks. With mystery shopping, the AMF seeks to increase its preventive efforts to protect savings by onsite monitoring of how financial products are presented to the general public.
jlne.ws/PFrmWD

Steven Maijoor, Chair Of ESMA, Spoke At The EFAMA Investment Management Forum
jlne.ws/PFrpBY

ESMA Publishes A Q&A On KIID For UCITS
jlne.ws/PFrpSf

ISDA Response To UK HMT Consultation On Broadening The Special Resolution Regime Into Non-Bank Financial Institutions
jlne.ws/PFrpSi

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

LSE suffers amid trading slowdown
David Oakley, Investment Correspondent – FT.com
A disappointing trading update from the London Stock Exchange was compounded by technical problems across some trading floors on Wednesday morning, with some market makers having trouble logging on to terminals. Although trading opened without a hitch, the worries came at a bad time for the LSE, which issued a weak set of results for the five months ending in August. Trading volumes on its flagship London stock market fell by a fifth over the period and 16 per cent at its Italian arm, the company said.
jlne.ws/PFrnd7

London Stock Exchange Group plc pre-close period update for the five months ended 31 August 2012
Positive performance, with good revenue growth, from the diversified Group in difficult market conditions; Success of Group’s equity markets continued with further raising of new capital to support businesses, though new issue levels and trading remained subdued, reflecting quiet market conditions (and compared with the strong prior year):
jlne.ws/PFrpSp

TMX Group Names James Oosterbaan to Head NGX
TMX Group Limited today announced the appointment of James Oosterbaan as President of Natural Gas Exchange Inc. (NGX). NGX, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group, provides electronic trading, central counterparty clearing and data services to the North American natural gas and electricity markets. Mr. Oosterbaan will assume this position on November 1, 2012 and will be based in Calgary, Alberta.
jlne.ws/PFrndd

EEX chief says green power trading may start next year
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Europe’s leading power exchange, the EEX, aims to start trading contracts for hydro-electric, wind and solar power in the first quarter of 2013, its chief executive said on Tuesday, a day after the bourse outlined plans for the products.
jlne.ws/PFrq8J

NYSE MKT Issues Short Interest Report
jlne.ws/PFrq8O

NYSE Group Inc. Issues Short Interest Report
jlne.ws/PFrq8V

NASDAQ Announces Mid-Month Open Short Interest Positions In NASDAQ Stocks As Of Settlement Date September 14, 2012
jlne.ws/PFrq91

TMX Atrium Expands Community With Connectivity To Trad-X Trading Platform
jlne.ws/PFrntF

NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions Well-Represented At The Digital Impact Awards – Two Clients Named Finalists In The ‘Best Online Newsroom’ Category
jlne.ws/PFrntK

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Asia’s Hedge Funds Find GDP Growth Doesn’t Help Returns
Tomoko Yamazaki and Bei Hu – Bloomberg
The world’s fastest economic growth isn’t helping Asia’s hedge funds. The Eurekahedge Asian index tracking 395 hedge funds returned 1.6 percent this year through August, the worst performer among regions and about half the 3.2 percent gain by the global benchmark.
jlne.ws/PFrqpm

Deal Professor: A Hedge Fund’s Complex Scheme May Cost It Millions
New York Times
After the Telus Corporation proposed converting its nonvoting shares into voting shares, Mason Capital Management made a bet against the proposal in a gamble that could now fail.
jlne.ws/PFrqpp

Ex-RBC, BofA Traders Leave Tandem to Start Fund at TIG
Bloomberg
Former Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of America Corp. proprietary traders plan to start a mortgage-focused structured-credit hedge fund at New York-based TIG Advisors LLC after leaving Tandem Global Management LP.
jlne.ws/PFrnK9

Einhorn’s Losing Gold-Miner Strategy Endorsed: Chart of the Day
Bloomberg
David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital Inc. suffered in the past year by favoring gold-mining stocks over the precious metal, a strategy that Scotia Capital Inc. recommended last week.
jlne.ws/PFrnKc

NexPoint Credit Strategies Fund Announces New Portfolio Manager
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
NexPoint Credit Strategies Fund announced today that it has appointed James Dondero as Portfolio Manager.
jlne.ws/PFrnKd

SAC Capital Fund Manager Said to Be Uncharged Conspirator
Bloomberg
A hedge fund manager at Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors LP is an unindicted co-conspirator in a $62 million insider trading scheme tied to technology stocks, two people familiar with the matter said.
jlne.ws/PFrqpv

FTSE Announces Annual Country Classification Review Results
This year’s annual FTSE Country Classification Review has been completed by the independent FTSE Country Classification Committee, and their recommended changes have been ratified by the FTSE Policy Group. As a result of the review all country classifications remain unchanged. Two countries – Argentina and Mongolia – have been added to the Watch List for further assessment in the next annual review.
jlne.ws/PFrnKj

Brookfield and Fairfield Close $323 Million U.S. Multifamily Real Estate Fund
Marketwire via Yahoo! Finance
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and Fairfield Residential Company LLC announce the successful final close of the Brookfield Fairfield U.S. Multifamily Value Add Fund with total commitments of $323 million….
jlne.ws/PFrnKk

Banks & Brokers

ICAP plc Trading Statement
ICAP plc, the world’s leading interdealer broker and provider of post trade risk and information services, announces its trading update ahead of the close period for the half year ending 30 September 2012.
jlne.ws/GWA7GX

Deutsche Bank Co-CEO:3Q Performance Solid, Especially At Investment Bank
Dow Jones
Deutsche Bank AG posted a “solid performance” in the third quarter, especially at the bank’s investment banking operations, the bank’s co-chief executive, Anshu Jain, told an investor conference in London Tuesday.
jlne.ws/PFrqFT

Wells Fargo is latest victim in cyber attack spree
E. Scott Reckard – chicagotribune.com
A day of disruptions in Wells Fargo & Co.’s electronic banking operations apparently was the latest in a series of cyber attacks that disrupted online operations at Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
jlne.ws/PFrqG0

Bank of America Hires More Than 130 Small Business Bankers Across Florida
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Bank of America today announced that it has hired more than 130 small business bankers throughout Florida to provide guidance to local small business owners. The additions are part
jlne.ws/PFro0G

RBS CEO Hester Says Asset Protection Scheme Exit is “Imminent”
Dow Jones
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC Chief Executive Stephen Hester said the 81% state-owned bank is close to exiting a costly insurance plan that helped keep it afloat in the financial crisis, and that it should be strong enough for the government to start selling down its shares from 2014.
jlne.ws/PFrqWo

RBS Libor Rigging May Have Extended Beyond Fired Traders; Smith Barney Brand Too Old Fashioned For This World: Roundup
The New York Observer
Royal Bank of Scotland managers and traders routinely sought to influence interbank lending rates between 2007 and 2010, and the wrongdoings extend beyond the four traders fired last year, according to Bloomberg.
jlne.ws/PFro0N

Credit Suisse Said to Consider Merging Its Asset-Management Unit
Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG , Switzerland ’s second-biggest bank, is considering combining its asset-management unit with the private and investment banking divisions, a person familiar with the matter said.
jlne.ws/PFrrcN

Morgan Stanley renames wealth management business
Colorado Springs Business Journal
Morgan Stanley said Tuesday that its U.S. wealth management business, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, has been renamed Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
jlne.ws/PFrohb

Santander CEO Sees Bank’s Market Share to Keep Increasing -Report
Dow Jones
Banco Santander SA’s chief executive officer Alfredo Saenz expects the bank’s market share in Spain to continue to increase over the next four years, reports Expansion in its Wednesday Internet edition, citing the executive remarks at a conference for investors in London sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
jlne.ws/PFrohd

Barclays Sued over $555 Million of Mortgage Securities
Dow Jones
The National Credit Union Administration has sued a U.S. subsidiary of Barclays PLC over alleged misrepresentations in the sale of $555 million of mortgage-backed securities to two credit unions that failed during the financial crisis.
jlne.ws/PFrrcW

Former Programmer Demands That Goldman Cover His Legal Fees
MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and PETER LATTMAN – NYTimes.com
A former Goldman Sachs programmer charged a second time with stealing valuable computer code from the investment bank is fighting back, demanding that his former employer cover his mounting legal fees.
jlne.ws/PFroho

Clearing & Settlement

DTCC Launches Corporate Actions Iso 20022 Pilot For Entire Lifecycle Of Distribution Events
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) today announced it has launched a new corporate actions pilot program testing ISO 20022 messages that covers the entire lifecycle for distribution events, beginning with entitlements and payments and later moving on to instructions.
jlne.ws/PFrtRZ

CME Group Clearing Advisory: CFTC Regulation 39.13(g)(8)(ii) – Customer Initial Margin
jlne.ws/PFrrtv

Indexes & Products

Schwab and Blackrock join ETF fee war
MarketWatch
Americans happily pay a premium for all sorts of products when they’re new and exciting. One thinks of the early days of home computers and, more recently, coffee bars and fancy smartphones. But when will ETF fees follow?
jlne.ws/PFrrtx

Global X Shutting Down Four ETFs
Zacks
Global X, the New York-based ETF issuer best known for its innovative products in the emerging market and mining spaces, announced that it would be joining the recent rash of ETF closures with
jlne.ws/PFrrtz

Technology

Numerix Recognized for Technology Innovation and Best in Class Derivatives Pricing & Risk Analytics Capabilities throughout the Asia-Pacific Region
Numerix, the leading provider of cross-asset analytics for derivatives valuations and risk management, today announced it was named Technology Innovation Provider of the Year for Asia by Structured Products Magazine. Numerix also made an impressive showing in this year’s Asia Risk Technology Rankings, placing 9th overall in the incredibly competitive field, and 3rd overall in the Derivatives Pricing & Risk Analytics category.
jlne.ws/PFrrJP

Advise Technologies Appoints Sean Sullivan President
Advise Technologies LLC, a software solutions provider for global regulatory compliance, today announced it has hired Sean Sullivan as President. Sullivan will report to Doug Schwenk, Founder and CEO.
jlne.ws/PFrtSb

iTB Launches Platform Connecting Institutional Investors To Fixed Income Trading Venues – iTBconnect Offers Single Point Access To Improve Liquidity And Trading Efficiency
jlne.ws/PFrrJT

Enforcement

Court to decide if SEC can sue Gabelli Fund execs
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
The Supreme Court will decide how long the Securities and Exchange Commission can wait before suing fund executives for securities fraud.
jlne.ws/PFrrJW

SEC charges firm with high-speed manipulation
Market Watch
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged a New York-based brokerage firm with allowing overseas investor customers to manipulate publicly-traded stocks in a high-speed maneuver that involved rapidly cancelling orders.
jlne.ws/PFru8w

FINRA Joins Exchanges and the SEC in Fining Hold Brothers More Than $5.9 Million for Manipulative Trading, Anti-Money
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority , along with NYSE Arca, Inc., The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NASDAQ OMX BX, Inc., and BATS Exchange, Inc. today announced that they have censured and fined Hold Brothers On-Line Investment Services, LLC $3.4 million for manipulative trading activities, anti-money laundering , and other violations.
jlne.ws/PFrrJY

CFTC Orders China-based Weidong Ge and Sheenson Investments, Ltd. to Pay $1.5 Million in Monetary Sanctions for Violating Speculative Position Limits in Cotton And Soybean Futures
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Weidong Ge (Ge) and Sheenson Investments, Ltd. (Sheenson), both of Shanghai, China, agreed to pay disgorgement of $1 million and a $500,000 civil monetary penalty to settle CFTC charges that they exceeded speculative position limits in Soybean Oil and Cotton No. 2 futures contracts.
jlne.ws/PFru8E

CFTC Charges Wisconsin Resident Eric N. Schmickle and His Company, Q Wealth Management Inc., with Operating a $5.3 Million Commodity Futures Fraud
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that it filed a civil enforcement action against Cedarburg, Wisconsin resident Eric N. Schmickle and his company, Q Wealth Management Inc. The CFTC complaint charges Schmickle and Q Wealth Management with operating a commodity futures Ponzi scheme. The complaint alleges that the defendants made misrepresentations to induce investment, misappropriated customer funds, and created and sent false account statements, invoices for commission, and tax forms.
jlne.ws/PFrrK7

CFTC Seeks to Revoke Registrations of Nevada Resident Gordon A. Driver and his Company, Axcess Fund Management LLC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today filed a notice of intent to revoke the registrations of Gordon A. Driver and Axcess Fund Management LLC. Driver, a resident of Las Vegas, Nev., is registered with the CFTC as an Associated Person and is the sole principal of Axcess Fund, which is a registered Commodity Pool Operator.
jlne.ws/PFru8J

CFTC Seeks to Revoke Registrations of Victor E. Cilli and his Company Progressive Investment Funds, LLC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the filing of a notice of intent to revoke the registrations of Victor E. Cilli and Progressive Investment Funds, LLC. PIF, based in Hackensack, N.J., is a registered Commodity Pool Operator.
jlne.ws/PFru8K

NFA permanently bars West Bloomfield, Michigan futures firm, Atlantas Group Inc.; bars Edmund K. Hysni, the firm’s owner and principal, and associated person Steven H. Joseff
National Futures Association (NFA) has permanently barred Atlantas Group Inc. (Atlantas), an independent introducing broker located in West Bloomfield, Michigan. NFA also barred Atlantas’ owner, president, sole associated person (AP) and listed principal, Edmund K. Hysni, for seven years; and Steven H. Joseff, who worked for Atlantas in the capacity of an AP, for five years.
jlne.ws/PFrs0l

SEC Charges Bank Executives in Nebraska With Understating Losses During Financial Crisis
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged three former bank executives in Nebraska for participating in a scheme to understate millions of dollars in losses and mislead investors and federal regulators at the height of the financial crisis. One of the executives and his son also are charged with insider trading.
jlne.ws/PFruoZ

SEC Charges N.Y.-Based Brokerage Firm with Layering
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a New York-based brokerage firm and three executives for allowing traders outside the U.S. to access the markets and conduct manipulative trading through accounts the firm controlled.
jlne.ws/PFrs0n

SEC alleges Pittsford broker continued to work after being barred
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Disgraced Pittsford businessman Edward Tackaberry, barred from brokerage work in 2007 after accusations of bilking investors of $11 million, continued to work after the prohibition, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission alleges.
jlne.ws/PFrs0q

Environmental & Energy

AIG calls for carbon price to be linked globally
AAP
Linking Australia’s carbon price to international markets sooner than originally planned will help reduce energy costs, a Senate inquiry has heard. Australian Industry Group (AIG) director Dr Peter Burn says permits to pollute available in other markets are lower than Australia’s $23 per tonne fixed carbon price.
jlne.ws/PEl5ue

EU yet to agree on next steps of CO2-law fix
The Age
The European Union has yet to decide what procedural steps to take next in talks about a draft change to the bloc’s carbon law after some governments voiced uncertainty about the plan, an EU presidency official said.
jlne.ws/PloDkf

US, China climate standoff returns
Reuters
Major developing countries have dampened prospects for agreement on international carbon emissions reduction targets by insisting on distinguishing between the responsibilities of industrialised and emerging economies to act on climate change beyond 2020.
jlne.ws/S3WIEJ

Asia-Pacific

CIC likely to increase alternatives allocation
Sarah Krouse – Financial News
One of China’s largest sovereign wealth funds is likely to increase its private equity and alternatives allocation to as much as 70% over the next decade and take a more strategic approach to investments, according to new research.
jlne.ws/PFrs0u

Profits surged for China operations of foreign banks in 2011
The Wall Street Journal
Profits earned by the China operations of foreign banks surged in 2011, according to a new report, a remarkable turnaround from previous years but one the banks may struggle to maintain.
jlne.ws/PFrs0y

Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Promotion Rounded Off In North America
jlne.ws/PFrup4

SGX Welcomes Jason Parquet To Catalist
jlne.ws/PFrup6

HKEx Announces Details Of Temporary Holiday Risk Management Arrangements
jlne.ws/PFrup7

Frontier Markets

Qatar Exchange Joins Mobile Push
This week the Qatar Exchange became the latest bourse to embrace the app revolution with the launch of an iPad app that will advise investors on how to make better decisions. The app is the latest to be launched by the exchange community, with the Intercontinental Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Nasdaq OMX all offering apps through the iTunes store. NYSE Euronext provides four apps.
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DFSA Promotes Continuous Professional Development
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) celebrated, today, the achievement of sixteen (16) of its employees who recently achieved the Advanced Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) from the International Compliance Association (UK).
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Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Takes Part In The Third Istanbul Finance Summit
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Securities Commission Malaysia Issues Guidance On Enhanced Disclosures For Independent Advice Circulars
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