Industry news


Date: Sep 30, 2013

September 30, 2013: CFTC allows delay to smooth transition to swaps trading; Aquis Exchange plans November launch; CME Delays European Exchange for Second Time

The CFTC decides that maybe SEFs can have a little more time after all to comply with new regulations; but only a little more. New European startup Aquis Exchange picks November 14 as its starting time, pending approval to open its doors. CME Europe puts its opening date on hold as regulators are said to have issues with the new exchange’s physical delivery process.

First Read

Scott O’Malia For CFTC Chairman
By John J. Lothian

I believe President Obama should appoint Scott O’Malia as the acting chairman of the CFTC when Gary Gensler leaves the Commission at the end of the year.

As the United States faces a shutdown of its government due to partisan fighting between Republicans and Democrats, President Obama has a unique opportunity to remind the American people that he leads a bi-partisan administration. As a Democrat who has selected cabinet officers from the opposite party multiple times, President Obama has the opportunity to appoint a Republican appointee to be the acting chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He has the opportunity to appoint the the person I believe most qualified to lead the CFTC during its continued development and deployment of the rules required by Dodd-Frank.

Scott O’Malia is that person. As a current CFTC commissioner and one who has the most respect in Washington and the industry at the commission for his understanding of the challenges facing the futures industry, he is the best choice to succeed current chairman Gary Gensler.

Chairman Gensler’s term is up and he will be forced to leave the commission at the end of the year. By nearly all accounts – except his own, according to some news reports – he will not be renominated as chairman and has little to no chance of being confirmed again by the U.S. Senate. While a recess appointment has been hinted at lately, I would suggest that act would only politicize the CFTC even more. What we as a nation and we as an industry need right now is to de-politicize our markets and the regulators who oversee them.

Commissioner O’Malia has earned the respect of the futures industry for his work to understand the challenges the industry faces. Specifically, his work with the Technology Advisory Committee has addressed some of the biggest issues facing not only the futures industry, but the securities industry as well.

O’Malia understands that charging forward with the launch of the SEF rules, which were still being tweaked as late as Friday was a dangerous gambit. He understands the radical residual interest rules being considered could kill the industry and the markets he is sworn to protect. I can only guess where he stands on the transaction tax issue, but know it is backed by input from a breadth of sources.

An O’Malia led CFTC could include up to three members from the Democratic side, forcing him and these fellow commissioners to find compromise and common ground in order to move the regulatory agenda forward.

In this time of demonization of our markets and segments of market participants, we need a strong regulator who understands how the markets really work and can effectively communicate to the public and the industry.

We need someone who can help restore confidence in our markets, through effective regulation and a strong understanding of the problems of the past and the challenges of the future.

We need Scott O’Malia as the acting CFTC chairman in January. If he works out OK, as I believe he will, then he should be considered as the permanent chairman.

By appointing him acting chairman, the President will help his cause with the American people during this current standoff with Congress and he will give the Dodd-Frank implementation efforts the best continuation efforts the American people and the futures industry deserve.

I have witnessed first hand Commissioner O’Malia’s professionalism as he approaches the challenges in front of the CFTC. I don’t make this recommendation based on political affiliation, I make it on selecting the best person for the job. I understand the political professionals and cynics will call me naive, but I believe we can move beyond the politics of the moment to a better future with small steps like this.

President Obama has the ability and the history of doing just that. With two Republican Defense secretaries during his presidency, Mr. Obama has looked outside his party for the best leaders for key positions. I believe this is another case of the same.

I am not a Republican and in fact, as Will Rogers once said, I am not a member of any organized political party. I believe Scott O’Malia is the best person for this job and hope President Obama will give him the opportunity.

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U.S. watchdog allows delay to smooth transition to swaps trading
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The U.S. derivatives regulator late on Friday gave a new and untested type of trading platform a bit more time to comply with some of its rules, to smooth the transition to regulated trading next week. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been rushing through permits for the platforms – called Swap Execution Facilities – that must open their doors for customers on Wednesday.
jlne.ws/1697q8v

***** Late Friday we received some relief, but not enough.

Related information
MarketsReformWiki, Swap Execution Facilities Regulation: jlne.ws/15Fv7l8
MarketsReformWiki, SEF Final Rules Page: jlne.ws/18jW3Kj
CFTC Press Release – Relief for Temporarily Registered SEFs: jlne.ws/1697sgr
CFTC Press Release – Relief to Temporarily Registered SEFs from any Enforcement Responsibilities: jlne.ws/1697qFl

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CFTC Warns Swaps Markets on Trade Rules That Impair Open Access
Matthew Leising and Silla Brush – Bloomberg
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission warned owners of government-mandated swaps platforms set to go live next week that they must ensure all types of buyers and sellers can participate.
jlne.ws/1697pRV

***** Let Johnny trade swaps, PLEASE!

++++

Sponsored Content
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OCC Plan May Cut Capital Costs for Europe Options Traders
Nandini Sukumar – Bloomberg
Options Clearing Corp., the Chicago-based clearinghouse for U.S. stock options, plans to register in Europe to help lower capital requirements for firms based there who want to trade American equity derivatives.
jlne.ws/1bMKWh4

***** Innovation from a utility? What is the world coming to?

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BATS, Direct Edge CEOs, Once Rivals, Now Pulling Together
Jacob Bunge – MoneyBeat – WSJ
The chief executives of electronic-exchange companies BATS Global Markets and Direct Edge make an odd couple of trading.
jlne.ws/1697pRY

***** It should be noted that a baseball bat does not have an edge. It is round.

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CFTC fines Vision Financial for second time this week
Tom Polansek | Reuters
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined Vision Financial Markets $525,000 on Friday for illegally commingling customer money with company funds.
jlne.ws/1697oNS

***** The CFTC is paying attention.

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Singapore App Maker MyHero Raises $10M Series A For Its Stock Market Trading Gamification App, TradeHero
TechCrunch
Natasha Lomas
An app that lets people play the stock market without the risk of losing any real money has turned its virtual cash game into a pile of actual Benjamins, by closing out a $10 million funding round — one of the largest Series A rounds for a consumer startup in the region, it claims.
jlne.ws/1697oNW

***** My App, MyLoser, has not done so well.

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Managed Futures vs ETFs: Why Managed Futures Should be Part of Your Clients’ Portfolios
RCM Asset Management
RCM is holding a cocktail reception and panel discussion Wednesday, Oct. 2 from 4-7pm at CME Group, 20 S. Wacker in Chicago. The event features two panels covering the reasons for managed futures allocation and proper manager selection.
jlne.ws/16Q7re2

***** Have a cocktail on RCM and pick up a tip or 2 on managed futures.

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MarketsWiki.tv

Robert Pickel

ISDA’s Robert Pickel Discusses the State of Cross-Border Regulation of Swaps (Part 1)
MarketsWiki.tv

Robert Pickel is the CEO of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA). Since joining ISDA in 1997, Pickel has worked to promote and advocate for OTC market participants and work with international regulatory bodies to harmonize regulation across jurisdictions. Pickel spoke with John Lothian News editor-at-large Doug Ashburn about the cross-border issues that are still “works in progress,” an international standard for initial margin currently under development at ISDA, and the status of trade repositories around the world.

Watch the video »

MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Singapore Exchange Limited
jlne.ws/9Bn27A

MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Michael Davie; William O’Brien; John Barun; Vincent Viola

Companies, Organizations and Groups

SwapClear; CME Europe; Singapore Exchange Limited

Statistics

43,997,643 pages viewed, 7,669 articles, 165,796 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

Aquis Exchange plans November launch
Philip Stafford – FT.com
Aquis Exchange, a start-up European share trading platform, has provisionally set a date of November 14 for its launch date, according to two people familiar with the situation.
jlne.ws/1697rJm

CME Delays European Exchange for Second Time
Nandini Sukumar – Bloomberg
CME Group Inc., the world’s largest futures exchange, delayed the introduction of its planned London-based market for the second time because of a “technical issue around the delivery of physical currencies.”
jlne.ws/1697q8w

Australian dark pool rules ‘hurt investors’
Tim Cave and Michelle Price – Financial News
New rules governing the use of anonymous trading venues in Australia may have increased the cost of trading to investors, according to one of the first pieces of research into the impact of the guidelines.
jlne.ws/1697rJs

Regulator Tightens Requirement Under New Swaps-Trading Rules
KATY BURNE – WSJ.com
A federal regulator has tightened up requirements on the processing of derivatives trades called swaps, under new U.S. rules that are overhauling the market in the wake of the financial crisis.
jlne.ws/1697qoP

Pressured on Ad Disclosures, SEC Extends Comment Period
Andrew Ackerman – MoneyBeat – WSJ
The Securities and Exchange Commission has gotten an earful over a series of investor safeguards it proposed in July aimed at better policing the roughly $900 billion annual market for private placements, with more than 350 comments pouring in from critics and supporters.
jlne.ws/1697rJw

Nodal Exchange Receives CFTC Approval to Register as a Designated Contract Market
Nodal Exchange, LLC announced today that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved its application to be registered as a Designated Contract Market (DCM). The application was filed on October 11, 2012. Nodal Exchange will begin operation as a DCM effective on September 30, 2013.
jlne.ws/1697rJz

Derivatives firms fear backtrack on reporting deadline
Anish Puaar – Financial News
Derivatives traders who expected to have almost 18 months to prepare for new reporting rules were sent scrambling last week when European policymakers signalled they may now have just five months to comply. Some market participants said the timeline would be “near-impossible”.
jlne.ws/1697qoQ

CFTC Issues Notices of Temporary Registration as a Swap Execution Facility to Thomson Reuters (SEF) LLC and ICAP SEF (US) LLC
jlne.ws/1697qoS

Bank Examiners to Face Rigorous Reviews
MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN – WSJ.com
U.S. bank regulators, criticized for lax oversight in the run-up to the financial crisis, are undergoing tougher scrutiny intended to improve their surveillance of the financial system.
jlne.ws/1697rZV

More Capital Makes Banks Safer. Discuss
Ben Wright – MoneyBeat – WSJ
Vince Cable, U.K. business secretary, notoriously dubbed them the “capital Taliban”: members of the Bank of England who called for super-charged capital ratios to rein banks in.
jlne.ws/1697qoY

Gods forbid: India’s temples guard their gold from government
Reuters
India’s Hindu temples are resisting divulging their gold holdings – perhaps nearly half the amount held in Fort Knox – amid mistrust of the motives of authorities who are trying to cut a hefty import bill that is hurting the economy.
jlne.ws/1697s00

Regulatory

CFTC Said to Plan October Votes on Client Funds and Speculation
Silla Brush – Bloomberg
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission next month plans to complete rules to boost protection of customer funds and release a new proposal for limits on speculation in oil, natural gas and other markets, according to two people familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/1697s02

CFTC Enforcement Will Seek Agency Votes on Probes, O’Malia Says
Silla Brush – Bloomberg
Enforcement lawyers at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission have dropped a policy of acting without approval to extend investigations, according to Scott O’Malia, a Republican member who opposed the practice.
jlne.ws/1697s03

Banks watchdog backs away from strict requirements
Patrick Jenkins, Banking Editor – FT.com
The supervisory body that sets the financial safety rules for the world’s banks has signalled a retreat from stringent new capital requirements on the kind of financial products that helped spread crisis around the globe five years ago.
jlne.ws/1697qp1

EU watchdog wants to charge foreign clearing houses
Reuters
The European Union’s markets watchdog wants to charge foreign clearing houses seeking to cash in on new derivatives rules being introduced across the 28-country bloc, an EU document showed on Saturday.
jlne.ws/1697s06

Wall Street & Washington, September 2013
Clarke Camper – Inside the Beltway
The current Federal budget battles; The SEC’s recent pay ratio proposal; Recent CFTC HFT concept release
jlne.ws/1697q8h

Gary DeWaal’s Bridging the Week: September 23 to 27 and 30, 2013
This week swap dealers and other users of swaps will learn whether the decision of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to force trading of certain swaps by US persons onto registered Swap Execution Facilities on October 2 promotes transparency and liquidity, engenders anger and confusion, results in a bit of both, or ends up being postponed at least in part. And, who can keep up with all the last minute flurry of guidance and no action letters?
jlne.ws/1697q8r

Chief Litigation Counsel Matthew Martens to Leave SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Matthew T. Martens, the Chief Litigation Counsel for the Division of Enforcement, will leave the agency next month.
jlne.ws/1697s07

Matthew Solomon Named SEC Chief Litigation Counsel
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Matthew C. Solomon will be promoted to the position of Chief Litigation Counsel in the Division of Enforcement next month.
jlne.ws/1697s0a

CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight Issues Time-Limited No-Action Relief for Temporarily Registered Swap Execution Facilities from Certain Swap Data Reporting Requirements of Parts 43 and 45 of the Commission’s Regulations
jlne.ws/1697sgr

CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight Provides Time-Limited No-Action Relief to Temporarily Registered SEFs from any Enforcement Responsibilities under Commission Regulations 37.200(a), 37.200(b), 37.201(b)(1), 37.201(b)(3), 37.201(b)(5), 37.202(b) and 37.2
jlne.ws/1697qFl

CFTC Designates Nodal Exchange, LLC as a Contract Market and CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight and Division of Clearing and Risk Issue Related Time Limited No-Action Letters
jlne.ws/1697sgs

FCA wealth role still vacant
Mike Foster – Financial News
The Financial Conduct Authority has yet to appoint a permanent head of its wealth and private banking department, after months of searching.
jlne.ws/1697qFq

NFA Manual: Compliance Rule 2-38. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan
jlne.ws/1697sgw

Cross-border stricter-rule-applies approach causing confusion
Nick Sawyer – Risk.net
Global regulators have agreed to cooperate when implementing new derivatives rules on a cross-border basis, but market participants are unsure as to how this will work in practice
jlne.ws/1697sgy

ASIC Response To ABC TV’s Four Corners’ Questions – 30 September 2013
An ASIC statement in March 2012 discussed the Australian Federal Police’s referral to ASIC about bribery allegations concerning Securency International Pty Ltd and Note Printing Australia Limited. The statement said ASIC had reviewed the AFP’s material for possible directors’ duty breaches of the Corporations Act and had decided not to take the matter further. This decision followed a thorough assessment of the information.
jlne.ws/1697sgB

CFTC Shutdown Plan, September 27, 2013
Pursuant to Section 124, Agency Operations in the Absence of Appropriations, OMBCircular A-11 (2013), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is submitting its plan for an orderly shutdown in the event of a lapse of appropriations.
jlne.ws/1697sgD

New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority Update – 30 September 2013, Real Property Developments Exemption Notice Update
jlne.ws/1697sgH

Remarks Of CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler Before The International Group Of Treasury Associations And The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce
jlne.ws/1697swV

“Reasonable” – Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton
jlne.ws/1697qFu

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

Aquis Exchange Appoints Three New Non-Executive Directors
Aquis Exchange, the proposed pan-European equities trading exchange*, has appointed three new non-executive directors to its Board of Directors. Adam Maciejewski, CEO of Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), Pawel Czupryna, senior WSE advisor and Peregrine Holdings’ founder Sean Melnick have joined the Board as shareholder representatives.s
jlne.ws/1697qFw

New LSEG Derivatives Market Launches With FTSE Super Liquid Index Futures
London Stock Exchange plc has today completed its acquisition of Turquoise Derivatives, the derivatives business of Turquoise Global Holdings Limited (“Turquoise”). The platform has been renamed London Stock Exchange Derivatives Market.
jlne.ws/1697sx1

SPOT event: Successful 3rd edition
The third edition of SPOT – Open Day was successfully held on 26 October 2013. Around 150 delegates attended the event in the ConventionPoint in Zurich to discuss industry issues, share knowledge and exchange ideas about the global markets of the future. A total of 15 exhibitors with close relationships with presented their products and services to trading participants, banks, financial institutes and third party companies.
jlne.ws/1697qVP

CME Group Inc. Announces Date of Third-Quarter 2013 Earnings Release, Conference Call
CME Group Inc. will announce earnings for the third quarter of 2013 before the markets open on Monday, November 4, 2013.
jlne.ws/1697sx5

Direct Edge Fee Schedule Changes For October
jlne.ws/1697sx7

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Ucits funds continue fee battle
Georgina Kenyon – Financial News
The arrival this summer of a new EU-regulated multi-asset hedge fund from Man Group that charges a low fixed management fee and no performance levy has added further momentum to the war over hedge fund fees. Investment returns, however, are still what wins investors’ money.
jlne.ws/1697sxb

Palamon blames euro fears for fund rethink
Dan Dunkley – Financial News
Palamon Capital Partners has said a lack of appetite from US investors, wary of investing in Europe due to macroeconomic uncertainty, hindered the firm’s latest fundraising effort, as it settled for a fund E460 million smaller than its predecessor.
jlne.ws/1697sxd

Crispin Odey’s views on…
Harriet Agnew – Financial News
Crispin Odey is known for his robust attitudes to politics, markets and economics… and is probably the only hedge fund manager to have a sausage named after him.
jlne.ws/1697qVX

Sprott Launches New Offshore Fund with Zijin Mining Group
Sprott Inc. today announced that it has launched a new offshore global mining fund with Zijin Mining Group Company Limited. All relevant regulatory approvals have been received in Canada and the People’s Republic of China and the Fund has been initially seeded with US$100 million from Zijin and US$10 million from Sprott.
jlne.ws/1697qVZ

Farmers embrace hedging to minimise currency risks
Delphine Strauss – FT.com
The recent rally in sterling may reflect an upswing in the fortunes of the UK economy but it comes at an unfortunate time for one sector: farming.
jlne.ws/1697sNF

GLG’s White drops hedge funds to work directly with Man Group’s Manny Roman
Margie Lindsay – Risk.net
GLG’s John White has moved from managing equity hedge funds to work closely with Man chief executive Manny Roman. His existing hedge funds have been handed over to others within GLG to run
jlne.ws/1697sNH

Banks & Brokers

Weekend Reading: JPMorgan Settlement in Sight
ERIC OWLES – NYTimes.com
After another week of intense negotiations, the Justice Department and JPMorgan Chase continue to inch closer to a multibillion-dollar accord over questionable mortgage practices. No one can be certain how much the bank will have to pay, but everyone seems to have an opinion.
jlne.ws/1697sNI

Why Judges Are Scowling at Banks
GRETCHEN MORGENSON – NYTimes.com
For decades leading up to the foreclosure debacle, plaintiffs’ lawyers say, judges generally took the side of lenders when borrowers came to court complaining of problematic lending or predatory loan servicing. Many judges still do. But some are getting tough, perhaps having seen too many examples of dubious bank behavior.
jlne.ws/1697sNJ

Swiss private banks face 7,000 job cull
Madison Marriage – FT.com
As many as 7,000 Swiss private banking jobs could be culled if European regulation aimed at improving market infrastructure goes ahead as planned. The Swiss Bankers Association has warned that heavy job losses are inevitable if the proposals, which would force Swiss banks to set up branches or subsidiaries in the EU to access onshore clients, are approved.
jlne.ws/1697rco

Brokers Update Basis Reporting Tools for IRS Compliance
Becca Lipman – Wall Street & Technology
Brokerages are tasked with cost-basis tax analysis, promoting investment in tools and handling the heavy load of complex calculations.
jlne.ws/1697t3Y

Danny Ludeman to retire as head of Wells Fargo Advisors
Reuters
Danny Ludeman, who has led Wells Fargo Advisors and a predecessor brokerage firm for almost 15 years, will retire as of Jan. 1, 2014, the Wells Fargo & Co. brokerage unit said Friday.
jlne.ws/1697t40

HSBC hires eight in Asia equities push
Michelle Price – Financial News
HSBC has made eight hires in Asia Pacific sales and trading as it pushes ahead with the build out of its global equities business.
jlne.ws/1697rcv

Clearing & Settlement

LCH.Clearnet Seeks Cost Savings After Purchase by LSE
Nandini Sukumar – Bloomberg
LCH.Clearnet Group Ltd. has room to cut costs in technology and overlapping systems after London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE) purchased a majority stake in the clearinghouse, its chairman said.
jlne.ws/1697t48

Banks plan data outsourcing deal to combat compliance costs
Philip Stafford – FT.com
Four of the world’s largest investment banks are planning to outsource a collection of vital client data to a centralised library in an effort to combat rising compliance costs.
jlne.ws/1697rcz

The European Association Of Clearing Houses (EACH) Appoints Rafael Plata As Its First Secretary General
The European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH), the industry group that represents the interests of Clearing Houses in Europe, has appointed Rafael Plata as Secretary General. The appointment was made during the EACH General Assembly that took place on September, 25th in Geneva.
jlne.ws/1697t4f

ECC: Raiffeisenbank a.s. Becomes New General Clearing Member
jlne.ws/1697tkz

CME Group Clearing: Listing Additional Contract Months for RINs Products on Globex
jlne.ws/1697tkB

CME Group – Performance Bond Requirements – Nymex New Products – Effective Friday, September 27, 2013
jlne.ws/1697tkD

CME Group Clearing: Review of Collateral Haircuts Advisory
jlne.ws/1697rsQ

CME Group Clearing: Foreign Currency Settlements Missing SSIs
jlne.ws/1697tkJ

Indexes & Products

Absa Capital wins regulatory approval for SAfrican palladium ETF
Reuters
South Africa’s Absa Capital has received regulatory approval for its planned Johannesburg-listed palladium exchange-traded fund and hopes to launch the product by the end of the year, a spokesman for Absa said on Sunday.
jlne.ws/1697rsS

Two New db X-Trackers Equity Index ETFs Launched On Xetra – ETFs Provide Access To MSCI Nordic And MSCI Turkey Indices
jlne.ws/1697rsW

Guggenheim Launches 2 More High Yield BulletShares ETFs
jlne.ws/1697rsY

Technology

NYSE Euronext Goes Live With ITRS Geneos For Real-Tim Technology Performance Monitoring
ITRS Group Ltd, a leading provider of performance monitoring and management technology has announced today that NYSE Euronext has now gone live with ITRS Geneos to monitor a core part of its U.S. Cash Equities trading infrastructure. On completion of the phased implementation NYSE Euronext will be using ITRS Geneos to monitor its entire U.S. equities and options exchange technology environment, from matching engines and client gateway connectivity to market data delivery, using a single tool.
jlne.ws/1697rt0

Pioneers and Leaders of Emerging Markets Trading Launches: Marco Polo New World
Recently acquired Marco Polo Securities today announced that it has integrated with ‘Marco Polo New World.’ The Marco Polo New World vision encompasses new management along with next generation technology, befitting the firm’s testament to reliability and performance that have kept loyal financial services customers in place for fourteen years.
jlne.ws/18jWVPe

Enforcement

CFTC Orders Vision Financial Markets LLC to Pay a $525,000 Penalty for Violations of Customer Fund Segregation Requirements, Failure to Notify the CFTC of its Under-Segregation, and Misstatements to the CFTC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Vision Financial Markets LLC, for failing to segregate commodity and options customer funds, failing to notify the CFTC and Vision’s designated self-regulatory organization of its under-segregation, and making misstatements to the CFTC about the location and manner in which the customer funds were being held.
jlne.ws/15zTQHl

CFTC Orders R.J. O’Brien & Associates LLC to Pay $125,000 for Violation of Customer Protection Regulation
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an order filing and settling charges against R.J. O’Brien & Associates LLC, a CFTC-registered Futures Commission Merchant based in Chicago, Illinois, for unlawfully commingling secured foreign futures and options customer funds with segregated domestic futures and options customer funds.
jlne.ws/160QNvy

CFTC Charges Ethanol Trader John Aaron Brooks with Fraud for Scheming to Conceal Trading Losses
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today filed a civil injunctive enforcement action charging John Aaron Brooks with defrauding an affiliate of a large commercial bank where he then worked by scheming to conceal trading losses from the bank and its affiliate.
jlne.ws/1697rt6

NFA Regulatory Actions: Quants Capital LLC and Gokhan Kisacikoglu
jlne.ws/1697tBf

NFA Regulatory Actions: Global Arena Commodities Corp. and John A. Piazza
jlne.ws/1697tBh

BCSC panel fines and permanently cease trades Nevada company for illegally distributing securities
jlne.ws/1697tRD

‘Hustle’ Jury in Jeopardy Over LinkedIn Search
Shayndi Raice – MoneyBeat – WSJ
The jury for the “hustle” case against Bank of America Corp. was thrust into the spotlight Friday after one member said lawyers for the defense had done research on him via social-media websites, a possible violation of pre-trial rules.
jlne.ws/1697uoJ

S.E.C. Again Takes On Mark Cuban in Insider Case
BEN PROTESS – NYTimes.com
Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has battled the S.E.C. over his sale of shares in an Internet company in 2004.LM Otero/Associated Press Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has battled the S.E.C. over his sale of shares in an Internet company in 2004. Next up for the billionaire? The federal government.
jlne.ws/1697uoM

Environmental & Energy

U.N. Climate Panel Endorses Ceiling on Global Emissions
The New York Times
The world’s top climate scientists on Friday formally embraced an upper limit on greenhouse gases for the first time, establishing a target level at which humanity must stop spewing them into the atmosphere or face irreversible climatic changes. They warned that the target is likely to be exceeded in a matter of decades unless steps are taken soon to reduce emissions.
jlne.ws/17gj5Cb

White House, Kerry: UN report makes case for climate action
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Top White House and Cabinet officials are seeking to use the new United Nations climate change report to create political momentum for stepped-up U.S. and international steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
jlne.ws/19Pa2WA

Global Warming’s Slower Pace Hardens Views on Need to Act
Bloomberg
Global warming has slowed since 1998 as pollution reached record levels and rising seas became a more pressing concern, according to a United Nations report that’s hardening views on both sides of the climate debate.
jlne.ws/1bUjiia

Asia-Pacific

Shanghai free trade zone no game-changer for Hong Kong, for now
Reuters
The launch of a Shanghai free trade zone heralds a new chapter in China’s drive to promote the yuan currency but it is unlikely to pose a competitive threat to Hong Kong any time soon and could instead provide more opportunities in the former British colony.
jlne.ws/1697tRM

Shanghai trade zone publishes restrictions for foreign investment
Reuters
The Shanghai government published a list of sectors on Monday where foreign investment will be banned or restricted within its new free trade zone (FTZ), but in a departure from usual practise, no permission will be required to invest in other sectors.
jlne.ws/1697u81

China’s grand makeover plan a work in progress; fuzzy on implementation
Reuters
China’s leaders will lay out plans to transform the world’s second-largest economy at a key party meeting in November, leaving the question of how to do it largely unanswered as much of the reform agenda is still a matter of heated internal debate.
jlne.ws/1697uF3

Japan Looks to Southeast Asia for Yield
Mitsuru Obe – MoneyBeat – WSJ
For years, Japan has looked for ways to support the rise of Southeast Asia, providing development aid, offering currency swap deals and helping develop local bond markets. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has already visited the region three times this year. So what does Japan want in return? Their yields.
jlne.ws/1697uF9

Partial Amendment in the Outline of OSE DJIA Futures Market Maker Program
For the purpose of the further activation of futures contracts based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) (hereinafter referred to as “OSE DJIA Futures”), Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) will revise the Outline of OSE DJIA Futures Market Maker Program.
jlne.ws/1697u84

Frontier Markets

Dubai Mercantile Exchange Wins ‘Exchange Of The Year’
On Thursday evening DME (Dubai Mercantile Exchange) was named Energy Risk’s ‘Exchange of the Year’ at the magazine’s prestigious 2013 Asia awards. Hosted at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, the award recognised the significant achievements at DME over the past year, including growing trading volumes, an expanding membership base and a concerted marketing drive in Asia.
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Nigeria central bank cracks down on money laundering
Reuters
Nigeria’s central bank has announced new measures to tackle money laundering it says is weakening the naira currency and risks pushing up inflation, and which it suspects is linked to early political campaigning for 2015 elections.
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Regulatory arms race could benefit western banks in emerging markets
Ben Wright – Financial News
It is a striking feature of the current flux in global finance that domestic regulators are, on the one hand, copper-bottoming their own markets (by, for example, asking banks to increase their locally held capital and liquidity) while, on the other, poking their noses into other jurisdictions. Mutual trust among international financial watchdogs is, it would appear, in very short supply.
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MCX Weekly Market Report – September 20, 2013 – September 26, 2013
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Miscellaneous

Congrats to David Faber on 20 Years at “Squawk”
Joshua M Brown | The Reformed Broker
I basically grew up in this industry listening to David Faber break story after story from his perch on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the start of each day. Faber’s stories and alerts are the soundtrack to The Street getting dressed and out the door in the morning, he’s become part of the firmament and no one is more plugged in.
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