Industry news

June 27, 2012: Public Exchanges Duel With Newcomers Over Trade Transparency; Derivatives Rules Have Swaps Users Eyeing Shift To Futures; HKEx COO Sees Need For Closing Auction Revival

As exchanges seek volume to stay growing and profitable, both NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq are seeking to compete in the dark pool arena. In response to the regulatory push for more control over derivatives, many swaps participants are reviewing their business models with an eye to shifting to less onerous solutions like futures transactions. HKEx is considering the reinstatement of a stock price closing auction as a way to smooth price volatility.

First Read

Glenn Solheim
Glenn Solheim, 55, died yesterday of a heart attack. The independent 30-year bond pit broker had been on the floor since 1978. He is the brother in law of Pat Kenny, of CQG, and is survived by a daughter and two sons. Solheim’s wife died several years ago of cancer. Services are pending.

*** My condolences to Pat Kenny and his wife Lisa (Solheim) Kenny on their loss. It has been a couple of very tough years in the Kenny/Solheim households for deaths in the family. This is not the way the “most interesting man in the world” wanted to be in the news again.

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Mystical numbers in HKEx bid for LME
By Jeremy Grant – Financial Times
When it comes to valuing a business as complicated as the London Metal Exchange, you would think the advisers to Hong Kong’s bourse would not have resorted to a kind of numerical feng shui. Yet the L1.388bn that Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing has offered in an agreed bid for the venerable British institution is, whether by accident or design, curiously close to the Asian bourse’s own stock ticker of “388”.
http://jlne.ws/NMiChy

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OCC Board Of Directors Expands And Welcomes New Members
OCC announced today the election of six new members to its Board of Directors including two in newly created Public Director roles.
http://jlne.ws/NMiCxQ

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CFTC Orders Barclays to pay $200 Million Penalty for Attempted Manipulation of and False Reporting concerning LIBOR and Euribor Benchmark Interest Rates
CFTC Press Release
The Order finds that Barclays attempted to manipulate interest rates and made related false reports to benefit its derivatives trading positions.
http://jlne.ws/OspiTg

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Trading Technologies’ TTNET Announces New Client Win for Global Distribution of X_TRADER Software
Trading Technologies International, Inc., a leading provider of order-entry software and solutions for professional derivatives traders, and Macquarie Bank Limited’s Futures Division (Macquarie), a global provider of futures execution, clearing and financing solutions, today announced that Macquarie has selected TT’s low-latency, fully managed hosting solution.
http://jlne.ws/NMiApR

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CQG Premieres Spreadsheet Trader for Multimarket Monitoring and Trade Execution
CQG has launched Spreadsheet Trader in response to trader and broker demand for tools to better navigate and perform in increasingly fragmented markets, the company announced today at the International Derivatives Expo (IDX) 2012.
http://jlne.ws/OnVPtu

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SunGard – Economist Intelligence Unit Survey Shows Institutions Need a Firmer Grasp on Volatility
A majority of bankers, insurers and asset managers, as well as finance executives at non-financial companies, consider their organizations to be vulnerable to exceptional or sudden swings in volatility, according to a global survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit for SunGard.
http://jlne.ws/NMiCOk

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Financials in tech battle over bond trading
By Tracy Alloway, Michael Mackenzie and Nicole Bullock in New York – Financial Times
There’s a new arms race on Wall Street. Convinced that corporate bonds and other fixed income securities are destined to trade electronically on big open exchanges in a similar way to stocks, some large financial firms are attempting to shape the new market structure in their favour.
http://jlne.ws/NMiCOn

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High-speed trades make up fifth of Canada market
Reuters via Yahoo! News
High-frequency trading, using lightning-fast algorithms to turn profits, represents a fifth of all activity on the Toronto Stock Exchange and other Canadian trading systems, according to data released by regulators.
http://jlne.ws/NMiAGq

**** That is just loonie.

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Spanish Officials Hailed Banks as Crisis Built
By LANDON THOMAS Jr. – NY Times
As Spain edged closer to a real estate and banking crisis that led to its recent bank bailout, Spanish financial leaders in influential positions mostly played down concerns that something might go terribly wrong. The optimism of Spanish central bankers who went on to top jobs at the International Monetary Fund echoes the attitudes of officials in the United States who misjudged the force of a housing collapse several years ago that crippled banks and the economy.
http://jlne.ws/NMiCOy

**** No one likes to take away the Sangria bowl.

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Look beyond summits for euro salvation
By Martin Wolf – Financial Times
Yet again, the EU is about to hold a summit to deal with the crisis in the eurozone. Yet again, it is likely to fall far short of a convincing solution. A heavy weight rests on the shoulders of weary and disillusioned leaders. The question is whether there is hope for success.
http://jlne.ws/NMiD4Q

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T.R. Lazo Joins SIFMA As Managing Director
http://jlne.ws/NMiKxy

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‘Big Data’: Trend-watching, to the nth degree
Washington Post
From a trading desk in London, Paul Hawtin monitors the fire hose of more than 340 million Twitter posts flying around the world each day to try to assess the collective mood of the populace. Hawtin has seen a gain of more than 7 percent in the first quarter of this year, and his method shows the advantage individuals, companies and governments are gaining as they take hold of the unprecedented amount of data online.
http://jlne.ws/NMiD4V

***JM: There is an enormous fallacy in the assumption that an action and outcome are directly related simply because one was observed after another. On days when I left the house before 7 a.m. this month, it rained; on days when I left after 8 a.m., it was sunny. Does my time of departure cause the weather?

One trader returning a profit for one quarter hardly establishes his method as a breakthrough. There’s absolutely a good reason to investigate the extent to which giant populations telegraph their sentiment and investment behavior ahead of time; but this article’s writer seems more than a little dazzled by the inaugural fireworks.

JLN Forex

Party Like It’s 1992
by Douglas Ashburn

I have nothing against the [common currency] apart from its name — I think it should be called the deutschemark.

- Helmut Schlesinger, Bundesbank president, 1992

I am thinking of a period of unprecedented stress in the currency market. After years of progress by Eurocrats, the economic union appears to be imploding. Europe’s leaders face the impossible task of threading the needle between Greater Europe and the ire of the constituents back home. George Soros has his finger on the pulse of the currency market, and has no qualms about wagging said finger at policymakers. Back home in the U.S., a president who breezed into office a mere three and a half years prior, suddenly finds himself fighting for his political life due to a stubbornly persistent recession.

Does this situation sound familiar?

Veterans of the currency market knew right away I was talking about 1992, the year of the “currency crisis.” In June of that year, Denmark voted down the Maastricht Treaty, threatening to scuttle decades of progress toward a monetary union. Mr. Soros took on the Bank of England and won, with the Pound dropping out of the ERM on September 17th.

On a personal note, I was two months into a new phase of my trading career – managing my own account as an FX options market maker after having left the banking world. I had never seen a 20 big-figure move before, nor had I seen volatility literally double in the blink of an eye. A small short gamma position – a rounding error by bank standards – was substantially bigger than it looked. Lesson learned.

For the rest of the commentary and the latest Forex and world economic news, visit the JLN Forex site at http://www.jlnforex.com/

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Lead Stories

Public Exchanges Duel With Newcomers Over Trade Transparency
By NATHANIEL POPPER – NY Times
NYSE Euronext asked regulators to allow it to create a market that is similar to the unregulated “dark markets,” and Nasdaq said it had similar plans. The proposal looks like a technical tweak to help ordinary investors. But it has become the front line in a battle over what the nation’s stock markets should look like after nearly a decade of fragmentation has resulted in over a third of all stock trades occurring in the dark, up from 15 percent in 2008, according to Rosenblatt Securities, a brokerage firm.
http://jlne.ws/NMiD53

Derivatives Rules Have Swaps Users Eyeing Shift to Futures
By Katy Burne – Dow Jones
Regulators’ push to make derivatives markets safer is having an unexpected side effect: it is encouraging some financial institutions to rethink how they manage risk and consider experimenting with alternatives to privately traded derivatives called “swaps.”
http://jlne.ws/NMiBdj

Hong Kong Exchange COO Sees Need for Closing Auction Revival
Bloomberg
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., the world’s second-largest stock-market operator, is considering the reinstatement of a closing auction for equities to calm price swings, according to its chief operating officer.
http://jlne.ws/NMiDlp

Nasdaq OMX Wins SEC Approval for New BX Options Exchange
By Jacob Bunge – Dow Jones
Market regulators have cleared the way for Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) to launch what will be the exchange group’s third U.S. stock-options market, the company told traders Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/NMiD4X

MF Global Trustee Freeh May Participate in U.K. Court Cases
By Jeremy Hodges – Bloomberg
MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chapter 11 trustee, Louis Freeh, was given the right by a London judge to participate in all U.K. court proceedings involving the failed brokerage.
http://jlne.ws/NMiBdn

Barristers descend as Supreme Court tries to carve up MF Global pie
Leonie Lamont – Sydney Morning Herald
THE local fallout from the collapse of international derivatives trader MF Global is being played out in the NSW Supreme Court, where the liquidator, Deloitte, is asking how it can divvy up available sums to clients who are owed $309 million. Twenty-one barristers lined up before Justice Ashley Black, representing the liquidator and the interests of 11,000 individual clients who held 16,000 accounts with MF Global Australia.
http://jlne.ws/NMiDly

Spain says bank aid deal will take time
Reuters via Yahoo! News
MADRID – Spain said on Tuesday that negotiating terms for a European financial package to recapitalize its banks was a very complex process and would take time, playing down hopes of a quick rescue for the country’s ailing lenders.
http://jlne.ws/NMiBdt

Leaders face ambitious agenda at European summit
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
When they meet Thursday and Friday in Brussels, leaders of the 27 countries in the European Union will face a daunting task: Find a solution to a debt crisis that’s spread misery across Europe, raised doubts about the euro currency, rattled investors and threatened global growth.
http://jlne.ws/NMiDlD

Before Talks With Lenders, Greece Appoints Finance Minister
By LIZ ALDERMAN – NY Times
Yannis Stournaras, a prominent economist, is expected to succeed Vassilis Rapanos, who resigned before he could be sworn in, citing health problems.
http://jlne.ws/NMiDBU

Regulatory

Investment firms fear liquidity decline
By Michael Mackenzie in New York – Financial Times
Investment firms are worried about a decline in liquidity and a shortage of collateral across derivatives markets once new rules are finalised by US regulators, according to a survey conducted by State Street and Tabb Group.
http://jlne.ws/NMiDBY

Japan to relax curbs on trading platforms
By Ben McLannahan in Tokyo – Financial Times
Japanese regulators are set to ease restrictions on alternative trading platforms, in an attempt to make it easier for new markets to compete with a merged Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange.
http://jlne.ws/NMiDC1

Finance Standards Dilemma — Let Many LEIs Bloom?
Forbes
The Legal Entity Identifier initiative appeared to be going down two tracks at SIFMA Tech 2012 Leaders Forum last week. When it comes to standards, one is better than two, but LEI could be going to two or more.
http://jlne.ws/NMiE98

Remarks To The IRI 2012 Government, Legal & Regulatory Conference By Susan Nash Associate Director, Division Of Investment Management U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission
http://jlne.ws/NMiDSt

UK’s Financial Services Authority Consults On Changes To Platforms Market
http://jlne.ws/NMiEpy

Letter From ISDA To EC, ESMA And EBA On Concerns Regarding Article 11 Of EMIR
http://jlne.ws/NMiEpC

AMF is launching a public consultation on certain provisions regarding notifications of major shareholdings and declarations of intent
http://jlne.ws/NMiGO6

AMF Instruction 2011-19 on authorisation procedures, preparation of a KIID and a prospectus, and reporting for French and foreign UCITS marketed in France
http://jlne.ws/NMiGOd

ASIC releases information sheet for licensing of financial services in emissions units
http://jlne.ws/NMiGOi

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

London Metal Exchange CEO expects bid vote approval
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The London Metal Exchange’s chief executive is confident that its shareholders, with some persuasion, will approve a $2.2 billion offer by the Hong Kong stock exchange for the world’s biggest marketplace for industrial metals. “I think we will,” Martin Abbott said on the sidelines of the IDX International Derivatives Expo in London.
http://jlne.ws/NMiEFY

LME CEO: China Links, Not Price, Gave Hong Kong Exchanges the Edge
By Andrea Hotter – Dow Jones
Price wasn’t the reason why the London Metal Exchange picked Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. as its preferred buyer, the LME’s chief executive said Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/NMiH4B

Hong Kong Exchange Renews Contract With NASDAQ OMX and Upgrades to INET-Based Trading Platform
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. announces that the Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd will upgrade its derivatives trading system and clearing system to NASDAQ OMX’s Genium INET technology. In addition HKEx has extended its support contract with NASDAQ OMX for a further five years.
http://jlne.ws/NMiEGa

TMX Group turns focus back to London
Tim Cave – Financial News
The chief executive of Canadian exchange operator TMX Group, which last year fell foul of a shareholder revolt in its attempt to merge with the London Stock Exchange, has turned full circle on the UK bourse by plotting an “ambitious” global focus in which it could target European listings.
http://jlne.ws/NMiHl9

CBOE Holdings, Inc. Announces Date Of Second-Quarter 2012 Earnings Release And Conference Call
CBOE Holdings, Inc. will announce financial results for the second quarter of 2012 before the market opens on Thursday, August 2, 2012. A conference call with remarks by CBOE Holdings, Inc. senior management will begin at 7:30 a.m. Central Time. A presentation will be referenced during the call and will be available on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://ir.cboe.com under Events and Presentations.
http://jlne.ws/OnV9EE

NYSE MKT Issues Short Interest Report
http://jlne.ws/NMiHlk

NYSE Group Inc. Issues Short Interest Report
http://jlne.ws/NMiHBI

CBSX Trader News Update CBSX Announces Changes to Pricing
http://jlne.ws/NMiEWF

NASDAQ Announces End-Of-Month Open Short Interest Positions In NASDAQ Stocks As Of Settlement Date June 15, 2012
http://jlne.ws/NMiEWJ

Direct Edge Trading Notice #12-24: Market Holiday Reminder – Independence Day
http://jlne.ws/NMiFcY

[CHX] U.S. INDEPENDENCE DAY HOLIDAY HOURS
http://jlne.ws/NMiFd5

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Hedge Fund Exits From Trades That Made Waves for J.P. Morgan’s ‘Whale’ – Sources
By Katy Burne – Dow Jones
Saba Capital Management has exited from a series of credit derivatives trades that pitted the New York hedge fund against now-infamous derivatives trades by the London-based Chief Investment Office of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), according to people familiar with the matter.
http://jlne.ws/NMiHSk

Asian hedge funds ditch short-selling for long-only game
Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
Some of Asia’s oldest hedge funds are ditching short-selling as investors pull out of the strategy on concerns that bearish bets are failing to pay off and not worth the hefty fees they bring.
http://jlne.ws/NMiFdd

JP Morgan Hedge Fund of Funds: Out-of-this-World Fees and Egregious Conflicts
Edward Siedle – Forbes
When you hire a private bank to manage your investments, be prepared for the bank to ask for discretionary authority to invest in alternative investments managed by the bank itself, including hedge funds and hedge funds of funds.
http://jlne.ws/NMiHSq

J.P. Morgan Boosts Own Fund
CRAIG KARMIN – WSJ
After a planned J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. real-estate fund got the cold shoulder from potential investors, it turned to a friendlier source: the bank itself.
http://jlne.ws/NMiFtx

Framing the Money Market Mutual Fund Debate
Forbes
Markets move forward or they disappear. The uncomfortable middle doesn’t last long. If you’ve paid attention to the current debate around money market funds, you know that the uncomfortable middle is here.
http://jlne.ws/NMiFtF

Report: SEC Is Going After Hedge Fund Billionaire Phil Falcone
Forbes
Philip Falcone, the embattled hedge fund billionaire who runs Harbinger Capital, will soon be battling a Securities & Exchange Commission lawsuit, according to a Bloomberg News report.
http://jlne.ws/NMiI8N

Bloomberg Launches Real-Time Industry Research Platform Globally
Bloomberg LP today announced the global roll-out of Bloomberg Industries, the first and only portal to offer interactive, continuously updated industry research and data for business and financial professionals.
http://jlne.ws/NMiIpa

[CalPERS] Ed Robertiello Named Senior Portfolio Manager Of Absolute Return Strategies
http://jlne.ws/NMiIpn

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System Purchases One-Third Interest In Bentall Kennedy
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has become a one-third owner in Bentall Kennedy, one of North America’s largest real estate investment advisors, it was announced today.
http://jlne.ws/NMiG0E

State Street Global Advisors Issues Mid Year ETF & Investment Outlook
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporation, today released a new report titled, 2012 ETF & Investment Outlook: Sinking or Swimming?, which focuses on developments shaping market performance and the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) industry during the first half of 2012 and provides an updated investment outlook for the remainder of the year.
http://jlne.ws/NMiIFM

Deutsche Bank Hides The Hopium: “The Next Recession Should Start By The End Of August”
Zero Hedge
If there is one bank report that Obama wishes is absolutely wrong it is the following note from Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid who, looking at the timing of business cycles, makes the following ominous, for both the economy and Obama’s reelection chances, prediction:
http://jlne.ws/NMiG0N

Thomson Reuters Acquires Business Intelligence Provider Zawya Limited
Combination Solidifies Thomson Reuters Comprehensive Coverage Of The Middle East And North Africa Financial Markets And Increases Its Presence Among A Broader Set Of Users
http://jlne.ws/NMiIFS

Banks & Brokers

Breaking Up Big Banks Hard to Do as Market Forces Fail
Bloomberg
Seventeen years ago fund manager Michael F. Price spurred the merger of Chase Manhattan Corp. and Chemical Banking Corp., creating what was then the biggest U.S. bank and laying the foundation for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
http://jlne.ws/NMiGh5

Big banks craft “living wills” in case they fail
Reuters via Yahoo! News
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON – Five of the biggest banks in the United States are putting finishing touches on plans for going out of business as part of government-mandated contingency planning that could push them to untangle their complex operations.
http://jlne.ws/NMiGh8

Barclays poised to settle Libor probe
By Brooke Masters in London and Kara Scannell in New York – Financial Times
Barclays is poised to announce a deal with US and UK regulators to settle a probe into allegations that its employees sought to manipulate the London interbank lending rate that is the basis of more than $350tn ongoing contracts worldwide.
http://jlne.ws/NMiIFZ

Lloyds Traders Suspended Amid Libor Probe Said to Return to Work
Bloomberg
Two Lloyds Banking Group Plc traders who were suspended in a probe of potential manipulation of the London interbank offered rate returned to work this week, two people briefed on the matter said.
http://jlne.ws/NMiIWc

Commerzbank pulls out of shipping finance
By James Wilson in Frankfurt – Financial Times
Commerzbank is pulling out of ship finance and commercial property lending as part of a strategic review prompted by the financial crisis and tougher capital requirements.
http://jlne.ws/NMiGhh

Morgan Stanley Faces Test on ServiceNow IPO After Facebook Flop
Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley is taking ServiceNow Inc. public this week in the first U.S. technology initial public offering since Facebook Inc. , a sale that may be crucial in preserving its position as Silicon Valley’s go-to bank.
http://jlne.ws/NMiGhk

Restructuring Veteran Headed for Third Avenue Management
Wall Street Journal Blogs
Rothschild’s David Resnick, head of global financing advisory and a veteran restructuring banker, is leaving the investment bank to become president of Third Avenue Management, said people familiar with the matter.
http://jlne.ws/NMiGxz

Citigroup Promotes Larsen Global Head of Retail Banking
Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. , the third-biggest U.S. lender, appointed Hong Kong-based Jonathan Larsen to global head of retail banking as Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit pushes deeper into Asia for revenue growth.
http://jlne.ws/NMiJcN

Oakland considers boycotting Goldman Sachs
Contra Costa Times
Council members are threatening to terminate Oakland’s ties to Goldman Sachs if the Wall Street titan refuses to favorably terminate an investment that will cost the city about $4 million this year.
http://jlne.ws/NMiJcU

Clearing & Settlement

CME Clearing – Performance Bonds / Margins
Performance Bond Requirements: Agricultural Outright Changes- Effective Wednesday, June 27, 2012
http://jlne.ws/NMiGxO

CME Group Delivery Dates for July 2012
http://jlne.ws/NMiM8s

Indexes & Products

ETFs Passive No More in Challenge to $7.8 Trillion Market
By Christopher Condon – Bloomberg
Exchange-traded funds are posing a new threat to the $7.8 trillion market for active mutual funds by challenging the notion ETFs are only good for tracking benchmarks.
http://jlne.ws/NMiJtk

New ETF Replicates Hedge-Fund Alpha
Forbes
AlphaClone’s new hedge fund, the AlphaClone Alternative Alpha ETF, launched in late May, and has had a successful run-up so far. AlphaClone founder and CEO Maz Jadallah explains the index behind the fund, and how investors could consider using it.
http://jlne.ws/NMiJtn

Seadrill Limited Added To Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index
http://jlne.ws/NMiM8G

STOXX Launches Euro iSTOXX 50 Equal Risk Index – New Index Initiated By And Licensed To Lyxor To Underlie Exchange-Traded Fund
http://jlne.ws/NMiJtu

Technology

Trading Technologies’ Global Hosting Solution, TTNET, to Support UOB Bullion and Futures’ Global Exchange Traded Derivatives Business
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) and UOB Bullion and Futures (UOBBF) today announced that UOBBF has selected TT’s low-latency, high-performance, fully managed hosting solution, TTNET, for its global exchange traded derivatives business.
http://jlne.ws/NMiJJL

Verdande Technology First to Bring the Benefits of Case-Based Reasoning to the Financial Services Industry
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Designed to help clients manage IT and trading risk, reduce service outages and avoid latency-impacting events, Verdande Technology’s Case-Based Reasoning technology has gained interest from top-tier financial firms and offers a compelling solution for the financial markets, leveraging its success in the energy sector.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMp7

ITG Launches New Smart Retail Router – Intelligent Router Maximizes Available Liquidity For Retail Broker-Dealers
http://jlne.ws/NMiJJT

Visual Risk signs for GFI OTC market data
GFI Market Data, a division of GFI Group Inc. (NYSE: GFIG), and Visual Risk announced today that they have entered into an agreement whereby GFI will supply Visual Risk with its full suite of Market Data, which includes data on OTC derivatives in fixed income, FX, energy & commodities, equities and interest rates.
http://jlne.ws/Lsi4IF

Enforcement

SEC Charges Founder of Equity Research Firm with Insider Trading
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Tai Nguyen, the owner of the California-based equity research firm Insight Research, with insider trading. The charges stem from the SEC’s ongoing investigation of insider trading involving so-called “expert networks” that provide specialized information to investment firms.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMpc

SEC Sues Fund Adviser for Fees Charged in Breach of Duty Under the Investment Company Act
The Securities and Exchange Commission today sued AMMB Consultant Sendirian Berhad (AMC), a Malaysian investment adviser, alleging that for more than a decade, AMC charged a U.S. registered fund for advisory services that AMC did not provide. The SEC alleges that by doing so, AMC breached its fiduciary duty with respect to compensation under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMFt

Federal Court in Florida Orders Over $2.5 Million in Sanctions against Abraham Gutterman and His Companies for Commodity Options Fraud and Misappropriation
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that Judge Marcia G. Cook, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, entered an order of default judgment and permanent injunction against Abraham Gutterman, who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, and his companies, Alliance Capital Metals LLC (ACM) and AR Goldman Wealth Management, LLC (ARGWM), both of South Florida.
http://jlne.ws/NMiK0g

Galleon Official Is Spared Prison
By PETER LATTMAN – NY Times
Adam Smith, a former portfolio manager at the Galleon Group hedge fund who provided the government with crucial assistance in prosecuting his onetime boss, Raj Rajaratnam, avoided prison on Tuesday when a judge sentenced him to two years’ probation.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMFE

Malaysian Investment Adviser Sued By SEC For “No Show” Sub-Advisory Fees
Forbes
The arm of the SEC Enforcement Division is long. Now we know that it reaches all the way around the globe to tropical Malaysia! This week, the SEC sued AMMB Consultant Sendirian Berhad, a Kuala Lumpur-based investment adviser, for breach of its fiduciary duty under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
http://jlne.ws/NMiK0s

Environmental & Energy

EPA Greenhouse-Gas Rules Upheld by U.S. Appeals Court
Bloomberg
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was “unambiguously correct” in moving to set limits on industrial and automotive emissions of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, a federal appeals court said.
http://jlne.ws/Mt6NLD

**RKB – More coverage on court ruling in Carbon section.

For Energy Producers, Natural Gas May Not Be the Only Source of a Glut
The Wall Street Journal
Energy producers struggling with decade-low natural-gas prices have been relying on related fuels such as ethane, propane and butane to remain profitable.
http://jlne.ws/LeUVva

**RKB – Here’s one way to look at it: For a while, NGLs were “the ‘good roommate’—paying the rent so gas can live for free, generating little return while eating Doritos and watching ‘Price is Right,’ ” Tudor Pickering analysts joked in a recent report. This article suggests that roommate is now drinking straight from the milk carton.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Says U.S. Needs Federal Fracking Rules
The Huffington Post
Critics of new fracking rules “simply wrong” – Salazar. Oil production offshore Alaska still years away – Salazar By Balazs Koranyi KRISTIN OIL AND GAS PLATFORM, NORWEGIAN SEA, June 25 – Defending the Obama Administration’s drive for federal regulation of fracking, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said on Monday that the United States must toughen up its rules.
http://jlne.ws/Mz1ag7

Asia-Pacific

OSE’s Year-To-Date Derivatives Trading Volume Has Exceeded 100 Million Units
Osaka Securities Exchange Co., Ltd. (OSE) is pleased to announce that the total trading volume of derivatives on their market since January 2012 recorded 100,622,841 units (preliminary estimates) today.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMVX

China to Strengthen Financial-Market Cooperation With Hong Kong
Bloomberg
China will seek to strengthen ties with Hong Kong by promoting tie-ups between the two financial markets and increasing cooperation in investments overseas and infrastructure.
http://jlne.ws/NMiK0t

China’s Bank Target Australia
CAROLINE HENSHAW And RHIANNON HOYLE – Dow Jones Newswires
Chinese banks such as the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., or ICBC, are muscling into Australia’s syndicated loan market, seeking to replace Europe’s debt-laden lenders as they retrench in the Pacific nation.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMW3

China’s Wen offers $10 billion Latin America credit line
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao wrapped up a tour of resource-rich Latin America on Tuesday by offering $10 billion in credit for infrastructure projects and calling for a joint push to combat protectionism.
http://jlne.ws/NMiKgM

Nomura CEO taken to task over insider probe, keeps job
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Kenichi Watanabe was re-elected as CEO of Nomura Holdings on Wednesday, but faced a series of tough questions from shareholders about the Japanese broker’s slumping share price and his handling of a protracted insider trading probe.
http://jlne.ws/NMiKgN

Nomura CEO Watanabe Apologizes Amid Probe Into Insider Trading
Bloomberg
Nomura Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Kenichi Watanabe broke his silence on a government crackdown on insider trading, delivering his first personal apology over the company’s role in the probe.
http://jlne.ws/NMiMW8

iFAST Financial, First Singapore Distributor To Go Live For Electronic Fund Order Routing Over Calastone – Calastone Goes Live With First Electronic Orders Into Singapore Funds
http://jlne.ws/NMiKgU

Osaka Securities Exchange: Partial Amendment In Related Rules And Regulations With Functional Improvement Of Strategy Trading
http://jlne.ws/NMiNcv

Thai Bourse Joins Capital Market Units To Enhance CEO Role For Sustainable Company
http://jlne.ws/NMiKh1

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission Seeks Court Orders Against former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of China Asean Resources Limited
http://jlne.ws/NMiKxk

Frontier Markets

Qatar flexes muscle in shock Glencore move
By Dinesh Nair | Reuters
Qatar Holding’s shock rebuff of Glencore’s offer in its $30 billion takeover bid for miner Xstrata indicates a new, muscular stance by the sovereign fund which had long been content to be the quiet investor in its big-name portfolio.
http://jlne.ws/NMiKxn

Securities Commission Malaysia: Next Phase Of Growth For Islamic Capital Market To Feature Greater Internationalisation
http://jlne.ws/NMiNcK

Miscellaneous

Norway’s Housing Bubble Makes Ours Look Almost Cute By Comparison
By Matthew O’Brien – The Atlantic
Everything is a bubble nowadays. Even how many words a picture is worth. Take a look at this chart from the San Francisco Fed comparing housing prices in the U.S. and Norway over the past century. This picture is worth approximately eleventy billion words.
http://jlne.ws/NMiKxv