Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The Fed’s inspector-general says that the central bank broke its own rules for secrecy when it inadvertently released its minutes a day early, earlier this year. US regulators continue to widen their probe of overseas hiring practices, and are asking questions of many banks and hedge funds. After a very long negotiation process, Switzerland and [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Here comes change: derivatives trading dominated by big banks may radically shift market composition as new electronic platforms enter the game as major players. Curious at-the-close trading patterns in currencies provide evidence that currency traders may have been using those markets to rig benchmarks. JPMorgan’s hiring practices in China look increasingly suspicious as a spreadsheet [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC plans a mid-September meeting date to sit down with NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq to talk about what went wrong in last week’s market outage. Hedge fund manager Man Group is proceeding with its fund cleanup, and closes (among other things) a fund seeking returns via algo trading. Estimation’s of JPMorgan Chase’s liability in [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
After a head-fake in the direction of Martin Pratt, HKEx names Garry Jones to be the new CEO of the London Metal Exchange. The EU’s official guidance on financial regulation falls in the circular file in the UK, as that nation’s regulators chart their own, separate course. The SEC instructs Nasdaq and NYSE Euronext to [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Exchange operators BATS Global Markets and Direct Edge are close to a merger. CME Group is predicted to try and buy European grain futures products from ICE when it merges with NYSE Euronext. Shanghai Exchange, stung by an order entry error this month, is considering implementing a circuit breaker rule to limit the damage done [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Nasdaq suffers the latest operational error in the exchange sector and shuts down for some hours on Thursday. The CFTC is nearly ready to release its road map to govern its regulation of computer-based trading. Hopefully they’ve included rest stops and those helpful blue highway signs. Brazil’s BM&FBovespa exchange receives recommendations to dump penny stocks [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC is looking to Goldman Sachs’ recent bad-trade incident to help formulate a broader response to that type of issue. IntercontinentalExchange picks three banks to help it offload the Euronext part of NYSE Euronext as part of the exchange merger. Nasdaq OMX preps to split up its exchange and clearing operations in its Stockholm [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Hong Kong Exchanges offers the job of London Metal Exchange CEO to… somebody that nobody seemed to expect. Eurex Exchange announces plans to start new FX trading products. Goldman Sachs floods options markets with unintended orders, and now the cleanup process begins. First Read ICE could shake up London sugar with container delivery Reuters The [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
CME Group and IntercontinentalExchange consider joining a new trade body for resolving issues regarding derivatives data repositories. Singapore Exchange plans to reduce its minimum order size for securities trading, a move that it hopes will increase trading in blue chip stocks without increasing high-frequency trading. Even as the value of its stake in India’s MCX [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The Warsaw Stock Exchange steps up to take a significant ownership stake in the new Aquis Exchange. The SEC gives a thumbs-up to the ICE-NYSE merger; at least, for the parts over which it has jurisdiction. Pension funds around the world consider how to manage their money on their own instead of working with private [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Dutch trading platform The Order Machine posts milestones in volume and market share. Shanghai’s stock market makes a big mountain on the chart, and some are guessing it was a fat finger error, absent a better explanation from local regulators beyond, “What problem?” Investment participants who could once dance near the edge of insider trading [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Lehman Brothers sells its stake in BATS Global Markets to a pair of private equity firms. Hong Kong Exchanges records a solid Q2 profit as interest in new listings improves. The ETF market is booming, and both Fitch Ratings and the Federal Reserve express concerns that overactive trading in those markets could cause a larger [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The CFTC decides after all that fund managers don’t need to provide extra information to the commission regarding their use of derivatives, even though it has been succesfully forging ahead with that requirement. Canada’s securities regulator is asking for advice on how to handle proposed trading methods for startup Aequitas. SIX Swiss Exchange, having delayed [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Global regulator IOSCO proposes a grand plan to save central counterparties by taking initial margin away from depositors if needed. They must’ve been watching how well that Cyprus bank bailout went. Eurex Clearing launches a new service in a bid to capture interest-rate swap clearing market share. And rounding out today’s clearing news, EuroCCP announces [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Trading on dark pools hit an all-time high in July, getting a boost from lower volatility and higher high-frequency trading. As the metals warehousing inquiry expands, the CFTC sends out subpoenas to a metal warehousing firm seeking information on their dealings with the London Metal Exchange. Though the London Whale himself is said to escape [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The SEC says Deutsche Börse’s Eurex exchange broke some rules in how they sold index futures to US residents, but not bad enough to be formally charged over it. Regarding JPMorgan, however, the SEC is said to be close to finishing a settlement over the London Whale Mess (that’s the official name for it) that [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The London Metal Exchange is said to have three top candidates for their CEO job. Ex-Barclays Bank head Bob Diamond considers taking a stake in Aquis Exchange. Hong Kong Exchanges prepares a new index futures product for trading that will for the first time track stocks in both Hong Kong and China. First Read ALTSO [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
The Warsaw Stock Exchange looks to expand beyond its home turf with a partial acquisition of Aquis Exchange. Japan’s alternative platform operators Chi-X and SBI Japannext look to South Korea as a good place to sell their services. New interest rate swap venue trueEX signs up Credit Suisse as its first clearing firm. First Read [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Eris Exchange looks to Europe as a possible place to introduce its products. Brokerage GFI Group has applied to become an exchange, but the CFTC wants more information before it will agree to that idea. Germany’s financial regulatory agency Bafin is taking a look at whether banks in that country were involved in ISDAfix rate [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Two big European brokerages have pulled away from Deutsche Börse’s dark pool, on concerns that trading information could be exposed to other parties. Singapore Exchange is increasingly relying on derivatives trading for its future growth. The CFTC is investigating a curious pre-report spike in trading in treasury futures contracts at the CME that briefly caused [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Investigators in the US reveal evidence of direct manipulation of the ISDAfix interest rate benchmark. The battle between exchanges and brokers continues apace, with SIFMA suggesting that exchanges should give up their self-regulatory status in favor of centralized oversight. A handful of exchanges are considering creating inflation futures products as an alternative to unclearable swaps. [...]
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Source: John Lothian Newsletter
Clearinghouse OCC looks to hire former CME Group CEO Craig Donohue as the company’s new chairman. The SEC approves new rules designed to protect client cash held at brokerage firms. Bloomberg gets regulatory approval to operate as a swap execution facility. First Read MarketsWiki Scholars education program John Lothian At the close of our successful [...]
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