Industry news


Date: Sep 3, 2013

September 3, 2013: FX industry wins clearing rules concessions; Italy introduces tax on high-speed trade and equity derivatives; Aluminum Industry Seen by JPMorgan Unprofitable on LME Proposal

Global regulators at the last minute pull away from imposing stricter risk controls on the over-the-counter markets. Italy starts up its second phase of financial transaction tax plans, implementing a charge on high-frequency trading. JPMorgan says that the LME’s proposal for faster warehouse waiting times would render two-thirds of the aluminum warehouse industry unprofitable.

First Read

Welcome Back Jim
Jim Kharouf returns back to work today after a 3-week vacation. We hope he still remembers where the office is. And how to write. And how to edit. And how to criticize the publisher gently. Welcome back Jim. We missed you, now get back to work. Oh, and BTW we have 10 new Special Reports for you to write and edit.

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Recommended Reading
John Lothian
Now that the summer is over, it time to put down those novels and get back to work. Below is the recommended reading list from Allston Trading, a Chicago-based proprietary trading firm. This list is under “Who We Need, Our Principles of Hiring.”

Allston Trading Recommended Reading

Trading:
Liar’s Poker – Michael Lewis (1989)
Moneyball – Michael Lewis (2003)
The Big Short – Michael Lewis (2010)
Freakonomics – Stephen Dubner & Steven Levitt (2006)
Fooled by Randomness – Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2001)
The Vandal’s Crown – Gregory Millman (1995)
Capital Ideas – Peter Bernstein (2005)
Against the Gods – Peter Bernstein (1998)
When Genius Failed – Roger Lowenstein (2001)
The Predator’s Ball – Connie Bruck (1989)
Den of Thieves – James B. Stewart (1992)

Technology:
The Art of Computer Programming -Donald Knuth (1998)
Code Complete – Steve McConnell (2004)
Coders at Work – Peter Seibel (2009)
The Mythical Man-Month – Frederick P. Brooks (1995)
Refactoring – Martin Fowler & Kent Beck (1999)
The Pragmatic Programmer – Andrew Hunt & David Thomas (1999)

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Why some markets have tech failures and others don’t
Lynne Marek – Crain’s Chicago Business
While the Chicago Board Options Exchange has shut down twice this year, part of a spate of electronic trading snafus plaguing the industry, the futures exchanges operated by CME Group Inc. haven’t ground to a halt since Sept. 11, 2001. Their differing fortunes may offer regulators a signpost as they struggle to respond to the technological troubles roiling the stock and stock options markets.
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***** I wonder where the idea for this story came from?

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TABB Group Issues 2013 Mid-Year Review of European Equity Market Trading Trends
The long-only investor has returned to the European equities markets and as a result so has volume of European equities executed in the dark, according to new TABB Group research published today, showing that institutional market share increased nearly 19% in 2012, on the rise in the first six months of 2013 to almost 21% of European notional turnover – this after a continued decline since 2009.
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***** Up is better than down.

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China to Start Bond Futures Trading Next Week After 18-Year Halt
Bloomberg
China will start trading government bond futures next week, providing investors with a tool to manage risk 18 years after the derivatives were suspended following a probe into alleged market manipulation.
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***** Bond trading was halted as part of the Shad-Johnson-Wi Tu accord.

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NZX Launches Natural Gas Market
NZX is pleased to announce that having received the necessary operating approvals, its spot gas market is now open for trading. The launch of NZX’s gas market has been dependent on successful completion of an Interconnection Agreement with Maui Development Limited, the owner and operator of the Maui Pipeline.
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***** Natural Gas is natural and a gas.

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Trade Surveillance Increasingly A Front Office “Business” Responsibility
Becca Lipman – Wall Street & Technology
In case you managed to miss it, the most recent case for electronic trading controls came in the form of erroneous orders sent into the stock-options market by Goldman Sachs in mid-August. The glitch could cost Goldman more than $100 million and within a week the company placed four IT staffers on administrative leave.
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***** Ahem. It is everyones responsibility. No passing the buck.

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Charlie Munger: Lessons From an Investing Giant
JASON ZWEIG – WSJ.com
One of the least appreciated virtues in investing is courage. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March and again this month show the extraordinary gumption of Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s business partner and vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
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***** Gumption and courage can outdo speed every day of the week.

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How technology could push banks to form global alliances
Solomon Teague – Euromoney magazine
Some banks could be set to form global alliances, in the same way global airlines have split into oneworld and Star Alliance factions, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Paul Taylor. He suggests the next stage of global financial development could be called ‘Correspondent Banking 2.0’.
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***** Or we could make all the banks smaller again like we did with the phone companies and Standard Oil in its day.

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MGEX: AJC Contract Sets New Daily Volume Record
MGEX, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, set a new daily volume record for Apple Juice Concentrate during yesterday’s trading session with 250 contracts traded. This is a 13 percent increase over the previous top volume day set on June 20, 2013.
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***** When they make the movie about the MGEX, I think it should be called “The Last Man Standing.” I am thinking Matthew McConaughey to play the role of Mark Bagan.

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Veronica Augustsson makes Financial News’ top list again
Cinnober
For the second consecutive year, Cinnober’s CEO Veronica Augustsson is included in Financial News’ “40 Under 40 Rising Stars of Trading and Technology” list.
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***** The only list I am on ends in IT.

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Bridging the Week: August 26-30 and September 3, 2013
Gary DeWaal and Associates
As summer unofficially ends in the United States and a new school year is about to begin for students, fittingly, international regulators have issued a few report cards for the last semester on the rollout of some important worldwide regulatory initiatives (regarding BASEL III and the international coordination of OTC derivatives regulation), as well as a few salient life messages: lying is bad (especially to your Chief Compliance Officer)(this in connection with an SEC enforcement action against a former employee of Boulder Investment Advisers), and don’t try to hide your big mistakes (this in connection with a CFTC enforcement action against an ex-Goldman, Sachs trader)!
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***** I hope Gary DeWaal will be in DC for the September 12 TAC meeting.

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Asset managers face pressure over research fees
David Oakley – FT.com
Investment companies must overhaul the way they pay fees for research from banks amid warnings that regulators are poised to put further pressure on asset managers on the controversial issue of charges.
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***** Is there such a thing as a soft Euro deal?

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Deutsche Börse Expects Around 200 Participants At ETF Forum
Deutsche Börse is hosting its ETF forum today. The event, which is now in its sixth year, has become an important meeting point for the sector. Around 200 participants from across Germany are expected at the forum, most of them institutional investors. They will hold discussions with product providers and industry experts.
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LME Metals Seminar 2013
Each year the metals seminar is attended by 500 delegates from around the world. The 2013 seminar will be held on Monday 7 October at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London.

This year’s programme will include presentations on the economic outlook for the major areas of metal consumption – Asia, North America and Europe and an analysis of metal supply. Keynote speaker Gerard Lyons, International Economist, will be presenting on the global economy, focusing on key drivers and how will they evolve in both the short term and the longer term.

For more information and registration, visit
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MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Finbarr Hutcheson
jlne.ws/175t3BX

MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Tom Anderson; Joseph Murphy; Eric G. Gurdian; Katie Hanley; Donna Heidkamp; Mary Ellen Scanlin; Matthew Rees (brokerage professional); John M. Ruth; James Gabriele; Finbarr Hutcheson; Jeff Malec

Companies, Organizations and Groups

R.J. O’Brien & Associates

Miscellaneous

Credit Crisis of 2008

Statistics

43,356,718 pages viewed, 7,636 articles, 164,065 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

FX industry wins clearing rules concessions
Brooke Masters and Philip Stafford in London – FT.com
Prime brokers and foreign exchange traders were given last-minute concessions on Monday as global regulators softened some of the new rules aimed at reducing systemic risk from over-the-counter derivatives.
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Italy introduces tax on high-speed trade and equity derivatives
Philip Stafford – FT.com
Italy will on Monday become the first country to introduce a tax on high-frequency trading in a move that has become a test case for potential further crackdowns on the controversial practice. The country will introduce levies against high-speed trading and equity derivatives in the final part of a two-stage process established this year to tax equity-related transactions.
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Aluminum Industry Seen by JPMorgan Unprofitable on LME Proposal
Bloomberg
Two-thirds of aluminum producers would be losing money because of lower premiums paid on top of exchange benchmarks if the world’s biggest metals bourse approves rules to cut waiting times at its warehouses, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
jlne.ws/1ag8laG

LSE gunning for first tech IPO on new platform
Marion Dakers | City A.M.
AS LONDON gears up for the first floats on the new High Growth Segment, experts in fast-growing firms have said that a handful of extra analysts and investors could enable the platform to rival the Nasdaq for technology listings.
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Regulators ease derivatives rule to avoid harming economy
Reuters
Global regulators have eased the impact of new rules designed to make the $630 trillion derivatives market safer as they seek to avoid too-tight controls on the sector that some banks argue could harm economic recovery.
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London Job Vacancies Jumped 16% Last Month, Survey Says
Liam Vaughan – Bloomberg
Job vacancies at London’s financial-services companies jumped 16 percent last month, as confidence returned to the market, recruitment firm Astbury Marsden said.
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After the crash, the comeback
Gillian Tett – FT.com
Five years ago, Charles Morris, a banker-turned-writer, produced a compelling and highly prescient book. It pointed out all the problems with subprime mortgages and credit derivatives several months before the crisis at Lehman Brothers. To my mind, that made it one of the most lucid and timely accounts of the mess in the western financial system (the title was The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, later revised to The Two Trillion Dollar Meltdown, as the disaster got worse). Earlier this year, Morris published another book.
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First anniversary test for Icap’s ISDX
Richard Partington – Financial News
Icap Securities and Derivatives Exchange – best known as the listings venue for Arsenal Football Club and brewer Adnams, and once called Plus Stock Exchange – will celebrate the first anniversary of its launch next month.
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Moscow Foreign Flows Dream Doubted on Discount: Russia Overnight
Bloomberg
The Moscow Exchange’s transition to a two-day stock settlement today won’t suffice to lure foreign investors to locally-traded stocks because of concerns over minority shareholder rights, according to BCS Financial Group.
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Flagship British scheme fails to boost bank lending
Reuters
Britain’s flagship scheme to encourage banks to pump more credit into the economy failed to boost lending in its first year, data showed, as banks focused on meeting tougher capital demands from regulators instead.
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NSEL 3rd payout; gathers Rs 5.97 cr so far against Rs 174.7 cr
Business Standard
The troubled National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) has so far got Rs 5.97 crore from members, including biggest defaulter NK Proteins, against the third scheduled payout of Rs 174.72 crore due on Tuesday.
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SIT to probe criminal offence in NSEL crisis
Business Standard
The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police has formed a special investigation team, headed by the deputy commissioner of police and comprising the assistant commissioner and five inspectors, to probe the National Spot Exchange Ltd payment crisis. SIT is expected to come out with its findings by the end of the week. Business Standard had reported about the probe last week.
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Regulatory

OTC Derivatives Regulators Issue Report to the G20
Today, authorities with responsibility for the regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets in Australia, Brazil, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Ontario, Quebec, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States issued a report regarding common understandings to improve the cross-border implementation of OTC derivatives reforms.
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SEC Rewards Three Whistleblowers Who Helped Stop Sham Hedge Fund
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that three whistleblowers have been awarded more than $25,000 combined for tips and information they provided to help the SEC and Justice Department stop a sham hedge fund.
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SEC: Fee Rate Advisory #1 for Fiscal Year 2014
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that in fiscal year 2014, the fees that public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities with the Commission will be set at $128.80 per million dollars.
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FMA: FMA Q2 2013 Survey on Changes in Foreign Currency Loans:FX loan volume to private borrowers falls below E 30.0 billion for the first time since 2005
The set of measures introduced by the FMA to limit the risk arising from foreign currency loans is having a lasting effect. The amount outstanding of foreign currency loans (FX loan volume) owed by Austrian households again clearly decreased in Q2 2013. At the end of June 2013, E 28.9 billion still had to be repaid. After allowing for exchange rate fluctuations, this is E 5.3 billion or 15.4% lower than during the same period one year earlier.
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FMA states it will apply ESMA guidelines in full to ensure “a sound remuneration policy compliant with AIFMD”
The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) today issued its formal declaration to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) that it will apply the ESMA guidelines in full, in order to ensure “a sound remuneration policy that is compliant with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD)”.
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NSE suggests upfront margin in share trading
Business Standard
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has received a proposal from National Stock Exchange (NSE) to make it mandatory for brokers to collect upfront margin money from investors for trading in shares or cash segment.
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[Japan] Appeal for vigilance against fraudulent phone calls and e-mails in which criminals pretend to be officials of the Financial Services Agency
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Exchanges & Trading Facilities

Polish bourse unveils high-speed service
Tim Cave – Financial News
The Warsaw Stock Exchange has today launched a new service to help attract high-frequency trading activity, amid a wider attempt by the bourse to expand and diversify its franchise.
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Deutsche Börse Presents Recommendations For Capital Market Communication In The Area Of Sustainability
Investors Want A More Comprehensive Picture Of Companies/ Deutsche Börse Gives Issuers A Practical Guide
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Exchanges See Data Revenues Falter, Growth from Diversification
Judith Ugwumadu – WatersTechnology
Exchanges continued to report revenue rises for the second quarter of 2013, though many showed drops—or minor increases—in market data revenues, despite more positive trading activity overall.
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Turnover At Deutsche Börse’s Cash Markets At 84.6 Billion Euros In August
Order book turnover on Xetra, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Tradegate stood at E84.6 billion in August (August 2012: E86.6 billion). Of the E84.6 billion, E76.8 billion were attributable to Xetra (August 2012: E79.4 billion). E4.0 billion were attributable to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (August 2012: E4.4 billion). Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange* totalled approximately E3.7 billion in August (August 2012: E2.7 billion).
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[Japan Exchange Group] Trading Overview in August 2013
Cash Equity Market: average daily trading value of TSE 1st Section stocks was JPY 1.9657 trillion, the highest for the month of August since the Lehman Shock in 2008. Monthly trading value on the ETF market was JPY 1.7535 trillion.
Derivatives Market: In August 2013, total derivatives trading volume on JPX was 23,544,767 contracts. Monthly trading volume for the night session was 5,760,872 contracts. The ratio of night session to day session trading volume was 37.6%. Monthly trading volume of Nikkei 225 VI futures was 3,502 contracts, a record high since the contracts were launched in February 2012.
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Trading Volume At Boerse Stuttgart Around EUR 6.5 Billion In August
Increase In Trading In Securitised Derivatives – Investment Fund Units In High Demand
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The Spanish Stock Exchange Traded E36.27 Billion In August, Up 8% Year On Year
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Trading On The Warsaw Stock Exchange: August 2013
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Key figures for SIX Swiss Exchange and Scoach: August 2013
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Moscow Exchange Turnover Increases 23% YoY In August
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NASDAQ OMX Nordic And Baltic Markets Trading Statistics – August 2013
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Nordic Growth Market NGM AB: August Turnover Exceeds 3.7 Billion SEK (422 Million Euro) At NGM
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EnterNext welcomes Medical Device Works’ listing on NYSE Alternext
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Moscow Exchange Expands Calendar Spread Suite
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Moscow Exchange Successfully Migrates Its Equities And Bonds Market Into T+2 Settlement
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Oslo Børs: Current Opening Hours For Trading In Equities To Be Continued
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Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Brevan Howard Traders Said to Leave as Fund has June Loss
Jesse Westbrook & Lisa Abramowicz – Bloomberg
Two Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP credit traders left in recent weeks, as the firm scales back after its biggest hedge fund had the worst monthly loss since 2008 in June, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
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Ex-Executives of Blackstone, Temasek and Goldman Raising Taiwan-Focused Fund
Sonja Cheung – MoneyBeat – WSJ
Three senior investment professionals formerly of Blackstone Group, Temasek Holdings Pte. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are raising a maiden fund targeting $300 million on behalf of their new firm Zoyi Capital, according to a person familiar with the situation.
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Japan’s giant pension fund picks new managers for foreign stocks
Reuters
Japan’s public pension fund, the world’s biggest, has selected eight asset fund companies to actively manage $159 billion in foreign equities in its massive portfolio aimed at raising higher returns to cope with a rapidly ageing population.
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Let’s take the politics out of fund management
Richard Saunders – Financial News
Fund managers are unlikely candidates for saving the world. Yet I am surprised by how often people seem to think they should, whether that be through combating corporate excess, safeguarding the financial system or just making the world a better place.
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Top pay for Pimco Europe director falls 30% to £20.9m
Sarah Krouse – Financial News
Remuneration for the highest paid director at the European arm of bond giant Pimco fell 30% in 2012, according to documents filed with Companies House, despite an overall rise in pre-tax profits for the business.
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Mixing Fine Wines With The Bond Markets
Will Lyons and Art Patnaude – MoneyBeat – WSJ
Naked Wines, the online wine retailer founded by former Virgin executive Rowan Gormley, is aiming to tap into the growing demand for fine wine by issuing a £3 million fundraising bond.
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Ivorian cocoa exporters, CCC fail to agree on cost structure
Reuters
Ivory Coast cocoa exporters rejected a price structure proposed by the Coffee and Cocoa Council regulator for the 2013/14 season, saying it underestimated the cost of doing business, and have called for government mediation, sources said on Friday.
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Retail investors drive silver rally
Jack Farchy – FT.com
Gold has stolen the limelight in 2013. As the investor world broke off its love affair with the metal, triggering the sharpest quarterly price fall in the modern era between April and June, few had time to focus on its sister metal, silver.
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CFTC Commitments Of Traders Reports Update
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Banks & Brokers

European banks to quit London if UK left EU – Goldman executive
Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
European banks would leave London “in very short order” if Britain voted to exit the European Union, a senior Goldman Sachs executive said in a newspaper interview published on Monday.
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Merrill Lynch $160 Million Race-Bias Accord Goes to Judge
Bloomberg
Bank of America Corp. is seeking approval of a $160 million settlement from a judge who thrice rejected requests by black financial advisers at its Merrill Lynch unit to sue as a group over alleged racial discrimination.
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Is The Cult Of Central Bankers Unravelling?
Forbes
In my experience, markets don’t deal well with several crises emerging at the one time. Give them just QE tapering and they may be able to adapt, but throw Syria and an Asian currency mess into the mix, and it can make for a wild ride. Underlying all of the recent volatility though is the first sign that investors are starting to doubt the omnipresent powers of central bankers.
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Bank of America cutting China bank holdings with $1.5 billion stake sale
Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
Bank of America Corp launched on Tuesday an up to $1.5 billion share offering in China Construction Bank Corp, exiting an eight-year investment in China’s second-biggest lender in a bid to shore up its own balance sheet.
jlne.ws/1ag8mvc

Ten miniature portraits show big bank picture
William Wright – Financial News
The fruits of a substantial, if patchy, recovery in capital markets over the past year have not been evenly shared between the main investment banks. These 10 vignettes – some positive, some less so – tell the story of a disjointed industry.
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Fixed income faces Basel Committee body blow
Matt Turner and Matthew Attwood – Financial News
One of the main drivers of investment banking profits could face extra pressure as a result of proposed changes in regulation, which may result in $200 billion of assets being added to the balance sheets of investment banks that have large fixed income businesses.
jlne.ws/1ag8omM

Standard Chartered Loses Some Luster
Fiona Law – MoneyBeat – WSJ
Once the darling of shareholders thanks to its focus on emerging markets, Standard Chartered PLC no longer looks as favored as capital leaves the region amid concerns about Asia’s growth.
jlne.ws/1ag8omS

Barclays may launch cash call on anniversary of U.S. Lehman deal
Reuters
Barclays Plc is set to launch its 5.8 billion pound rights issue in two weeks, possibly on the fifth anniversary of its takeover of the U.S. operations of Lehman Brothers, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.
jlne.ws/1ag8omT

Mark Walsh exits Morgan Stanley
Reuters
Mark Walsh has left his role as co-head of European leveraged finance and acquisition finance at Morgan Stanley, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
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Citigroup sheds more than $6 billion in PE, hedge fund assets: WSJ
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Citigroup Inc has sold more than $6 billion in private equity and hedge fund assets in the past month to comply with new regulations that limit such investments, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the transactions.
jlne.ws/1ag8omW

J.P. Morgan adds high-net-worth services
The Tennessean
Nearly two years after establishing a commercial banking office in Nashville, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has added a private banking presence to cater to the growing number of area residents with at least $5 million of investable assets.
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Clearing & Settlement

Margin Requirements For Non-Centrally Cleared Derivatives
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released today the final framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The framework is available on the websites of the Bank for International Settlements and IOSCO.
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Indexes & Products

34 new Sponsored Funds on SIX Swiss Exchange
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[TSE] New ETF to be Listed on September 20, 2013 (Fri.) – Daiwa AM, “Daiwa ETF TOPIX Ex-Financials”-
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Technology

Study on Study
Trade Talk – Trading Technologies
With the release of X_STUDY 7.8.0, users of our charting application can now apply a technical indicator (or study) to the value of another technical indicator. Although this feature can be used in many ways, two primary ways are to help measure market conditions and increase or improve trading signals. I’ll show a few simple examples of this feature, which we call study on study.
jlne.ws/1ag8mLG

Financial messaging providers converge
by Rebecca Brace – Euromoney magazine
Bottomline Technologies’ acquisition of financial messaging companies Sterci and Simplex GTP could represent a new era of increased integration in the world of financial messaging.
jlne.ws/1ag8oDi

SWIFT Adds BIC To LEI Directory To Its SWIFTRef Platform – New Directory Will Enable Easy Mapping Between Business Identifier Codes
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Euroclear Nederland And Broadridge To Launch Automated Meeting Notification Service
Euroclear Nederland and Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. are launching an automated, ISO-compliant shareholder meeting notification service in the Netherlands. As of today, Dutch and foreign institutional investors will be able to receive meeting notifications for equities listed on NYSE Euronext-Amsterdam and NYSE Alternext.
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Enforcement

SEC Charges San Diego-Based Investment Adviser in Cherry-Picking and Soft Dollar Schemes
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against a San Diego-based investment advisory firm and its president for allegedly steering winning trades to favored clients and lying about how certain money was being spent.
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Federal Court Orders Matthew Marshall Taylor to Pay $500,000 for Fraud for Fabricating and Concealing Trades from Goldman, Sachs & Co., His Former Employer, and Obstructing Their Discovery
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Final Judgment and Consent Order for Permanent Injunction against Matthew Marshall Taylor (Taylor) for defrauding Goldman, Sachs & Co. (Goldman), his former employer, in December 2007 by intentionally concealing from Goldman the true position size, as well as the risk and potential profits or losses (P&L) associated with the S&P 500 e-mini futures contracts (e-mini futures) position in a firm account traded by Taylor.
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NFA Regulatory Actions: Wall Street Pirate Management LLC and Gary Creagh
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NFA Regulatory Actions: Southern Trust Securities, Inc. and Robert Juan Escobio
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NFA Regulatory Actions: Cap Ex Partners LLC, Keith R. Bramlett and Ralph H. Johnson
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Madoff Trustee Adds Details to Suit, Saying Financier Detected Fraud
PETER LATTMAN – NYTimes.com
In 2003, a research company met with J. Ezra Merkin, a prominent Wall Street financier who had earned a fortune investing his clients’ money with Bernard L. Madoff. During the meeting, according to a new court filing, Mr. Merkin admitted that he did not fully understand Mr. Madoff’s business and questioned its legitimacy.
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UK’s Financial Conduct Authority: Aberdeen Asset Managers And Aberdeen Fund Management Fined £7.2 Million For Failing To Protect Client Money
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited and Aberdeen Fund Management Limited (Aberdeen) £7,192,500 for failing to identify, and therefore properly protect, client money placed in Money Market Deposits (MMDs) with third party banks between September 2008 and August 2011.
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ASIC removes Mobile Rentals’ franchisees from industry
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Environmental & Energy

OP-ED: Mandatory carbon reporting is the beginning of a revolution
Carbon Trust Chief Executive Tom Delay on Management Today
Without much fanfare we have just seen a small change in UK law that will catalyse a global change in business behaviour. New regulations will make the directors of some of the world’s largest companies legally responsible to report on more than just financial performance and business strategy.
jlne.ws/18jlJ8q

Silver Lining in China’s Smog as It Puts Focus on Emissions
The New York Times
Jiang Kejun may be one of the few Beijing residents who see a ray of hope in the smog engulfing the city. A researcher in a state energy institute, he is an outspoken advocate of swiftly cutting China’s greenhouse gas output, and he says public anger about noxious air has jolted the government, which long dismissed pollution as the necessary price of prosperity.
jlne.ws/1dykx77

Global Warming Slowdown Data Sought in UN Climate Report
Bloomberg
U.S. and European Union envoys are seeking more clarity from the United Nations on a slowdown in global warming that climate skeptics have cited as a reason not to “panic” about environmental changes, leaked documents show.
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Asia-Pacific

Rattled by investigations, foreign firms in China beef up compliance
Reuters
Foreign companies in China are getting increasingly jumpy about a spate of antitrust and corruption investigations by Chinese authorities and are hiring lawyers to make sure their operations comply with the law.
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Japan put on hold as investors await Abe’s next move
Ben McLannahan in Tokyo – FT.com
For a sense of how much the Japanese government frets about stock prices, take a look at the programme for Mizuho Securities’ autumn conference, beginning in Tokyo next Monday, for which about 320 foreign and 1,200 domestic investors – a record high – have signed up.
jlne.ws/1ag8n2i

Everbright Securities Plunges on Record Penalty: Shanghai Mover
Bloomberg
Everbright Securities Co. plunged to the lowest since its shares started trading in 2009 after China’s securities regulator imposed a record penalty on the broker for insider trading and two more executives resigned.
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JCCH: Japanese Commodity Markets Monthly Volume & Open Interest Report, Futures Contracts Traded in August 2013
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Charles Li Live And Direct: Latest Blog Post From HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li
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SGX welcomes Zhongmin Baihui Retail Group to Mainboard
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Xi Jinping, General Secretary Of Communist Party Of China Wishes For Dalian Commodity Exchange: Come Down To Earth, Make Audacious Explorations
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Frontier Markets

India Slowdown Pressures Singh to Bolster Lowest BRIC Reserves
Bloomberg
India’s weakest economic growth since 2009 escalates pressure on the government to increase the smallest foreign-exchange reserves among BRIC nations, as policy makers struggle to contain a sliding rupee.
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Kenya : Bourse tames fraud with electronic share certificates
JAMES ANYANZWA – Standard Digital News
The Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) has completed the conversion of physical share certificates of the first batch of quoted companies.
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Dubai International Financial Centre Records 7% Growth In Active Registered Companies And Employment In First Half Of 2013 Net Total Of 979 Registered Companies With A Combined Workforce Of 15,000 Currently Operating Within DIFC’s Financial Ecosystem
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Exclusive: Qatar bolstering wealth fund team to diversify portfolio – sources
Reuters
Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s most aggressive investors, is hiring senior bankers and industry executives to lessen the fund’s reliance on Europe and diversify its investment portfolio, sources familiar with the plan said.
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10 companies under Sebi scanner for IPO fund diversion
Business Standard
At least 10 companies and their promoters are being probed by market watchdog Sebi for suspected diversion of funds collected from their respective IPOs, allegedly to shell companies created for personal gains.
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Ambassador Of Netherlands Visits The Lahore Stock Exchange
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Malawi Stock Exchange Weekly Trading Report – 30th August, 2013
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