Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Despite another rough year in 2012, investments in hedge funds this year topped the levels achieved in 2011. ICE delays the listing of 2015 cotton futures contracts as it reviews the process for registering the commodity for delivery. FINRA takes aim at several large US banks, fining them for using off-limits bond funds to pay [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
As expected, the London Stock Exchange has downshifted its offer for clearing house LCH.Clearnet. TD Ameritrade, a major shareholder in Knight Capital, gives a key thumbs-up to the takeover deal by GETCO. Risk was alive, well, and in some cases handing out big rewards in 2012, as the junk bond market paid off well for [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
December 26, 2012: We’re back after a short Christmas holiday. Today’s issue features a number of predictable prediction stories for 2013, including one from former IMF economist Simon Johnson and another from Forbes. There is also a break though in the bankruptcy case for MF Global customers as trustees announced a major settlement. Also, if [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC’s Robert Khuzami is said to be planning his exit in the near future; possibly as early as next month. Exchanges owned by NYSE Euronext in Europe could attract interest from local rivals as part of the industry shift related to the N-ICE merger. Morgan Stanley takes a stake in Eris Exchange, as standardized [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
ICE and NYSE Euronext have agreed to a merger deal. The CFTC is distributing delays and no-action letters to freshly-regulated dealers as industry participants struggle to gain compliance with new regulations. Getco outlines its future after its intended acquisition of Knight is completed. In First Read today, John Lothian and Jim Kharouf discuss the new [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
A NYSE official says that regulators and exchanges are nearing agreement on how to implement a shutdown mechanism for runaway trading software. Following a requirement for LCH.Clearnet to significantly increase its capital, London Stock Exchange has reduced its acquisition bid. Broker Knight Capital evaluates suitors and selects Getco’s bid for acquisition. In First Read today, [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
NYSE prepares to tell Congress that current market rules give professional traders an advantage over retail investors, and that the regulatory structure must change in order to fix the disparity. In Australia, some fund managers are pushing for the imposition of a tax on high-frequency traders that flood the market with orders. The CFTC heads [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Swiss exchange operator SIX Group reaches out to buy Norwegian clearing house Oslo Clearing, giving it access to clearing operations as regulatory change increases the importance of that sector. Nasdaq OMX is set to activate a year-old listing agreement with Chilean exchange BEC. Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane suggests that a banking revolution may shortly [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
UK antitrust regulators give a green light to the London Stock Exchange’s bid to take a controlling interest in clearing house LCH.Clearnet. China is nearing approval for a Shanghai-based crude oil futures contract that could be accessed by offshore traders without a local subsidiary. Nasdaq’s new European trading platform NLX hires a compliance director. In [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The CFTC agrees to back away from setting global swap rules, and will (so far) temporarily redefine new regulations to target US participants. After months of noise and other things commonly associated with elephants, the EU arrives at an agreementto consolidate eurozone banking control (mostly) under a single supervisor. Thomson Reuters joins the LIBOR Derby [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
CBOE Holdings announces that William Brodsky will step down as CEO after the company’s May 2013 annual meeting. Nasdaq OMX gets closer to the finish line with its plans to acquire the corporate services unit of Thomson Reuters. LCH.Clearnet applies to begin offering interest-rate swap clearing to banks in Australia, beginning in early 2013. First [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Nasdaq OMX takes a 25 percent stake in European trading platform The Order Machine. HSBC bank agrees to pay a whopper of a fine for laundering money. Tom Kloet of Canada’s TMX exchange group reacts with disbelief at the US cost estimates for creating a real-time market surveillance system. In today’s First Read section, see [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
India’s options market is growing at the fastest pace in the world, bringing a much-needed piece of good news to a region still trying to recover from the global financial crisis. New swaps regulation for central counterparty clearing puts pressure on hedge investors to either greatly increase collateral or switch to higher-risk products. And speaking [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC will switch off its ban on actively-managed ETFs that emphasize derivatives use. The operator of the Bombay Stock Exchange plans for a 2013 IPO. Several hedge funds, facing high levels of redemption, announce their intention to shut down in the near future. In First Read today, there’s another chance to watch our new [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
NYSE Euronext starts the clock on the creation of a new Europe-wide exchange targeted at small and medium sized companies. Eris Exchange plans to cut a large chunk of its interest-rate swap contract margin requirements to better compete with rival CME Group. Standard & Poor’s notes that volume in the exchange sector has been a [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
New options exchange MIAX gets a green light from the SEC, and will be able to open its doors as planned on December 7. Eurex Exchange launches the next generation of its derivatives trading system, beginning the months-long process of migrating its offerings onto the new platform. CME Group’s new interest rate swap futures contracts [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC takes aim at Chinese accounting firms affiliated with big US auditors, who are said to be uncooperative with the SEC in investigating firms. NYSE Liffe aligns itself with a derivatives overhaul, and prepares to allow certain block trades to be done OTC style. US market operators intend to ask the SEC for more [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
A new off-exchange derivatives trading platform is under construction, possibly with the goal of registering as a new Dodd-Frank-inspired swap execution facility. Some US banks, facing stricter derivatives regulation when dealing with foreign customers, are gearing up to continue trading old-style by using foreign affiliate companies for handling transactions. The head of BATS in Europe [...]
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