Industry news
Date: Jun 28, 2012
June 28, 2012: Barclays Fined by U.K., U.S. for Falsifying Libor Rates; Tensions rise over regulatory over-reach; Regulators Probe Role of ‘Glitches’ in Market Upheavals
Barclays is fined most of its petty cash and actually has to admit wrongdoing in the LIBOR rate-fixing scandal; more fallout may occur both within Barclays and in other accused institutions. As national regulators struggle to oversee a global financial industry, tempers rise as various agencies are viewed as playing in their neighbors’ yards without permission. Stock market overseers are looking into the possibility that a number of past market mayhem events may have had roots in electronic corruption of one version or another. In today’s First Read, John provides the latest “kilt blackmail” photo, this time of Simon Rostron at the Futures For Kids fundraising gala.
First Read
Simon Rostron of Rostron Communications in a kilt at the IDX Futures of Kids Gala dinner.
Simon has made good on the kilt challenge. Not only did he raise over £4000 for the Futures for Kids charity, but he came to the gala stylishly dressed in a tuxedo jacket and bow tie. (pictured with Simon is Clive Furness of Contango Markets at the gala).
Congratulations to Simon. He has taken the tradition started by Jeremy Grant of the Financial Times and carried on by yours truly last year to a whole new level. The question remains, who will Simon pick to wear a kilt to next year’s gala dinner and can this person top his fundraising? The picture would indicate Mr. Furness may be the next year’s kilt wearer.
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Senior Icap executives to head Plus Stock Exchange
Tom Osborn – Financial News
Icap has named several of its senior management to the board of Plus Stock Exchange, the loss-making bourse it acquired last week for L500,000, as the broker moves to rapidly integrate the UK’s secondary listings venue into its electronic trading business.
http://jlne.ws/LFc8lP
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GFI Group to provide full suite of OTC market data to Visual Risk
GFI Market Data, a division of GFI Group Inc., 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/LFc8lW
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High-Frequency Trading Has Made Markets More Efficient — Larry Tabb
Wall Street Journal Blogs
In a recent interview with MarketBeat, Mark Cuban, the famed technology entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, called high-frequency traders “the ultimate hackers.” To get another perspective on the impact of high-speed trading on the market, we conducted a Q&A with Larry Tabb, founder of the research firm Tabb Group. Mr. Tabb has been following the rise of computer trading for years and says that the market today “is more efficient than it has been at any other time in history.”
http://jlne.ws/LFcb1d
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Remuneration of bank bosses could reflect fines
By Alison Smith – Financial Times
Libor now means not only “London interbank offered rates” but also “Look – it’s Barclays oozing repentance”. As a sign of their collective sackcloth and ashes, Bob Diamond and three other senior executives have agreed to rule themselves out of being considered for an annual bonus this year. Somehow, it doesn’t seem enough.
http://jlne.ws/LFcb1h
**** Messing with something like LIBOR settlement, i.e. market manipulation, should mean a ban from the industry for life for someone or firm. End of story. ~John J. Lothian
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Challenging the Long-Held Belief in ‘Shareholder Value’
By JESSE EISINGER, ProPublica
It’s a bedrock principle of our era: Companies should be run for the sole purpose of increasing their stock prices, or returning “value” to shareholders, the ultimate “owners.” To Lynn A. Stout, however, it amounts to nothing more than a “shareholder dictatorship.” Ms. Stout, a professor at Cornell Law School, has written a slim and elegant polemic, “The Shareholder Value Myth” (Berrett-Koehler Publishers) to explain the idea’s two problems: It’s worked out horribly and, as a matter of law, it’s not true.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbhB
**** More power to managers and a Robin Hood tax on securities trades?
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A Rate-Setting Mechanism of Far-Reaching Effects
By PETER EAVIS – NY Times
Libor is used to determine the rate on an array of financial products, including home loans.Daniel Acker/Bloomberg NewsLibor is used to determine the rate on an array of financial products, including home loans. A multiyear, global investigation into the setting of interest rates has focused on often complex trades in the financial centers of New York, London and Tokyo. But the accusations in the case have real-life consequences for consumers and businesses in the United States.
http://jlne.ws/LFc8Cm
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Buffett Joins Bon Jovi in a Song for Charity
By WILLIAM ALDEN – NY Times
Warren E. Buffett appears to be building a side career as a musician. Mr. Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman, gave his ukulele a workout on Tuesday in a duet with Jon Bon Jovi, just six months after a breakout performance celebrating the Chinese new year.
http://jlne.ws/LFc8Cr
JLN Options
Derivatives Rules Have Swaps Users Eyeing Shift to Futures
Katy Burne, Dow Jones Newswires
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/MTHHUZ
Hedge Fund Exits Trades That Made Waves for J.P. Morgan’s ‘Whale’
Katy Burne, The Wall Street Journal
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, according to people familiar with the matter.
http://jlne.ws/N3t0fX
** Recall that the ‘Whale’ was preceded by unusual options trading. –JB
Investors Look to Options as Way to Play Health-Care Ruling
Alexandra Scaggs, The Wall Street Journal
A Supreme Court ruling Thursday on the president’s health-care plan has the potential to spur big moves for insurers’ stocks. But with considerable uncertainty surrounding a verdict, investors brave enough to trade have sought cheaper, safer ways to play the outcome.
http://jlne.ws/MV2OGE
MarketsWiki
MarketsWiki Page of the Day
T.R. Lazo
http://jlne.ws/MWQHqC
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Companies, Organizations and Groups
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Lead Stories
Barclays Fined by U.K., U.S. for Falsifying Libor Rates
By Lindsay Fortado and Silla Brush – Bloomberg
Barclays Plc was fined 290 million pounds ($451.4 million), the largest penalties ever imposed by regulators in the U.S. and U.K., after admitting it submitted false London and euro interbank offered rates.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbhI
Tensions rise over regulatory over-reach
Michelle Price – Financial News
Tensions are rising over the geographical reach of new derivatives trading rules which threaten to stymie global growth, the derivatives industry warned yesterday.
http://jlne.ws/MAXLuo
Regulators Probe Role of ‘Glitches’ in Market Upheavals – SEC
By Jacob Bunge – Dow Jones
U.S. regulators are examining whether some high-profile stock-market disruptions have been driven by “glitches” in electronic-trading systems or by more-fundamental problems with the plumbing of financial markets.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbyf
SEC to Miss Deadline on Hedge Fund Ad Rules
Dow Jones
The Securities and Exchange Commission will miss next week’s deadline to adopt rules allowing hedge funds to engage in mass marketing but will likely move on the matter soon, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro will say in prepared testimony for a hearing Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/LFc8SU
Philip A. Falcone and Harbinger Charged with Securities Fraud
Press Release
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed fraud charges against New York-based hedge fund adviser Philip A. Falcone and his advisory firm, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC for illicit conduct that included misappropriation of client assets, market manipulation, and betraying clients. The SEC also charged Peter A. Jenson, Harbinger’s former Chief Operating Officer, for aiding and abetting the misappropriation scheme. Additionally, the SEC reached a settlement with Harbinger for unlawful trading.
http://jlne.ws/LFc8SY
Falcone’s SEC Charges: Bad Behavior, But Illegal?
Forbes
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged hedge-fund manager Phil Falcone with a profusion of misdeeds, from lending himself $113 million to pay his taxes to engineering a nearly perfect short squeeze in the bonds of a troubled Canadian plumbing-supply business.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbOy
JPMorgan Derivatives Trading Losses May Reach $9 Billion
Dow Jones
JPMorgan Chase’s derivatives losses may reach $9 billion, more than four times higher than initially estimated, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources.
http://jlne.ws/LFc8T1
Merkel stands firm on euro bonds before EU summit
Reuters via Yahoo! News
German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused other European leaders on Wednesday of wanting to put the cart before the horse by pressing for common bond issuance to fight the euro zone crisis before agreeing to tough new budget controls.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbOB
ECB’s Praet “very skeptical” of Monti bond buy plans
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The European Central Bank chief economist Peter Praet said he was “very skeptical” of plan being put forward by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to use the ECB to buy bonds of debt-strained euro states, echoing the Bundesbank’s criticism.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbOC
Statement By The Eurogroup On Cyprus
http://jlne.ws/LFcbOF
Statement By IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde On Cyprus
http://jlne.ws/LFc99q
Spain May Aid Bank Preferred Stock Investors
Dow Jones
Spain is working on a solution for retail investors who have suffered losses on investments in preferred stock issued by bailed-out banks, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/LFcbOJ
Regulatory
FSA consults on changes to platforms market
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is consulting on proposals which would ensure that investors can make fully informed choices if they wish to consolidate their investments in one place on a platform and understand exactly what they are paying for this service.
http://jlne.ws/LFc99x
FASB Publishes Proposal for Disclosing Liquidity and Interest Rate Risk
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
The Financial Accounting Standards Board today issued for public comment a proposed Accounting Standards Update intended to improve financial reporting about certain risks inherent in financial instruments and how they contribute to the reporting organization’s broader risks.
http://jlne.ws/LFcc54
Barclays Shows Need for CFTC, SEC Funds, Wolin Says
Bloomberg
The Barclays Plc settlements on interbank rates shows the need for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to be “appropriately funded,” the Treasury Department’s No. 2 official said.
http://jlne.ws/LFc99E
Sweden FSA Proposes Liquidity Rules for Banks
Dow Jones
Sweden’s Financial Supervisory Authority Thursday proposed new requirements for the amount of liquid assets banks should hold to make them more resilient to short periods of financial stress and any lack of market funding.
http://jlne.ws/LFc9pV
Commodity Markets Regulation To Weigh On Small Players – BP Executive
Dow Jones
The cumulative impact on the commodity markets of regulation is a serious concern, particularly to smaller market participants faced with restricted access to capital markets and difficulties absorbing the resultant higher costs, a senior executive at BP International said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/LFcc5h
Steven Maijoor Chair Of ESMA Interviewed By The BBC On Credit Rating Agencies
http://jlne.ws/LFcclA
Statement Regarding CFTC Charges Against Barclays PLC, Barclays Bank PLC And Barclays Capital Inc. – CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler
http://jlne.ws/LFcclH
[NFA] New Filing Requirements – Segregated Investment Detail Reports
http://jlne.ws/LFc9Go
[NFA] Guidance to Persons Operating or Advising Funds Pursuant to an Exemption under CFTC Regulation 4.13(a)(4)
http://jlne.ws/LFc9Gw
Remarks By FINRA Executive Vice President Thomas M. Selman At The IRI Government, Legal And Regulatory Conference
http://jlne.ws/LFc9Gy
ASIC to discuss next phase of financial advisers exam
http://jlne.ws/LFc9GB
Certainty for representatives providing financial services in regulated emissions units
http://jlne.ws/LFccCc
ASIC updates policy on administrative action against financial services providers
http://jlne.ws/LFc9GF
ASIC consults further on key market structure reforms
http://jlne.ws/LFccCf
Exchanges & Trading Facilities
NZX Gears Up For Markets Growth
A new phase for New Zealand markets calls for investment in customer focus, operational excellence and broadening of the skill base at NZX. NZX CEO Tim Bennett said, “I’m excited by the opportunities across the range of businesses we’re in, and by what those opportunities mean for our people, our customers and our markets.
http://jlne.ws/LFccCi
Thomson Reuters Symbology Made Available For Use Across The Trade Lifecycle
BATS Chi-X Europe Is Named As The First Institution To Sign Up For The New Service
http://jlne.ws/LFc9WV
EQT Midstream Partners, LP Celebrates its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange
http://jlne.ws/LFccSD
Mitel Networks Corporation Lists on Toronto Stock Exchange
http://jlne.ws/LFccSH
Warsaw Stock Exchange: Another WIG20 Company Issues Bonds And Introduces Them To Catalyst Market
http://jlne.ws/LFccSL
FESE General Assembly Appoints A New Member Of The Board And A New Chair Of The Management Committee
http://jlne.ws/LFccSO
Direct Edge Trading Notice #12-25: Attributed Quoting To Be Available On EDGA And EDGX Exchanges
http://jlne.ws/LFcd98
CBSX Trader News Update SEC Rule 605 Execution Quality Reports
http://jlne.ws/LFcd9f
[CBOE] Attributable Order Type (“Caller ID”) for Auction Messages
http://jlne.ws/LFcd9l
SIFMA Market Close Recommendations For The US Independence Day Holiday In The US, The UK And Japan
http://jlne.ws/LFcd9p
OneChicago Holiday Notice – Independence Day July 4th
http://jlne.ws/LFcdpG
Hedge Funds & Managed Futures
Insight: John Paulson’s returns falter again; investors fret
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Billionaire trader John Paulson has told his wealthy investors that he has learned from his mistakes of 2011, which produced enormous losses for his closely watched hedge fund. The founder and manager of Paulson & Co, who made his fortune and fame by betting against the subprime mortgage market, went so far as to tell investors in January that last year’s big losses, including a 50 percent decline in his popular Advantage Plus fund, were an “aberration.”
http://jlne.ws/LFcadz
Heebner at Bottom for Fourth Year in Five Sticks to Bet
Bloomberg
Kenneth Heebner ranked as America’s No. 1 stock picker before losing his touch and most of his main fund’s assets. The 71-year-old manager, at the bottom of his peer group for the fourth year in five, hasn’t lost his swagger.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdpL
Chicago Equity Partners Hires Brian Portnoy as Head of Alternatives and Strategic Initiatives
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Chicago Equity Partners LLC today announced that it has hired Brian Portnoy as Managing Director and Head of Alternatives and Strategic Initiatives. In this newly formed role, Mr. Portnoy will report to the firm’s President, Patrick Lynch, and will help to lead the firm’s ongoing efforts in creating innovative solutions for the firm’s institutional clientele.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdpQ
Optiver profit benefits from market volatility
By Philip Stafford in London – Financial Times
Optiver Holding, the high-frequency trading and market-making firm, more than doubled pre-tax profit for 2011 as it benefited from market volatility and regulatory changes.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdpR
PIMCO Hires Three Senior Alternatives Investment Professionals as Part of Continued Expansion of Firm’s Alternatives …
Marketwire via Yahoo! Finance
PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, has hired three senior investment professionals as the firm continues to expand its alternatives platform.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdpT
Fortress Receives Second Consecutive “Credit-Focused Hedge Fund of the Year” Award from Institutional Investor
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Fortress Investment Group LLC (FIG) was recognized for a second consecutive year as “Credit-Focused Hedge Fund of the Year” at Institutional Investor’s 10th Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards.
http://jlne.ws/LFcadG
JPMorgan Bails Out Junius Fund
Zacks via Yahoo! Finance
JPMorgan is set to bail out its cash-strapped Junius Real Estate Partners Fund by investing $110 million as the initial capital.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdGh
Softs to Suffer as Regulation Drains Liquidity – Contango Markets
Dow Jones
Pending changes to regulation of the commodities markets will drain liquidity, particularly in softs, and could drive business to other jurisdictions, the managing director of commodities consultancy Contango Markets said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdGo
Selerity expands global coverage of macroeconomic event data
Selerity, a provider of real-time event data solutions for the financial services industry, today announced the expansion of its macroeconomic event data coverage in both developed and emerging markets. By expanding its international coverage, Selerity is able to serve a broader customer base engaged in foreign exchange and sovereign debt trading.
http://jlne.ws/LFcfOl
Banks & Brokers
Barclays Libor fix trail leads to senior managers
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Senior Barclays managers were worried over negative headlines during the financial crisis and contributed to a culture that fixed key funding rates artificially low, U.S. and UK regulators said in reaching a settlement with the bank. The findings based on internal emails and other communications raise questions about how high up the Barclays management chain came instructions to submit lower rates, and who knew about the rate rigging.
http://jlne.ws/LFcdWJ
Pressure mounts on Barclays chief
By Hannah Kuchler – Financial Times
David Cameron said there were “serious questions” for the whole of Barclays’ management after the bank was issued with a record fine for trying to change a benchmark interest rate.
http://jlne.ws/LFcfOz
Barclays ex-CEO: board faces decision on leader
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
A former chief executive of Barclays says the bank’s board will have to make a decision about whether the current boss should keep his job after the company was slapped with massive fines for manipulating the price of key interest rates.
http://jlne.ws/LFcg4Q
Lie Bores Into Credibility of Barclays and the City
BY SIMON NIXON – WSJ
Scandals emanating from the boom years should have lost their power to shock. But evidence unearthed by U.S. and U.K. regulators showing how traders and managers at Barclays connived to manipulate a key market interest rate used to benchmark trillions of dollars of loans and derivative contracts is enough to stir even the most jaded cynic.
http://jlne.ws/LFcg4T
O’Donnell Says He’s Adding to Bank Knowledge as He Mulls BOE Job
Bloomberg
Gus O’Donnell, the former head of the U.K. civil service, said he’s using his new job to learn about banks and financial regulation as he considers whether to apply to replace Mervyn King as Bank of England governor.
http://jlne.ws/LFcedf
Moody’s downgrades 11 Brazilian banks
Reuters
Moody’s Investors Service said it had downgraded the ratings of 11 Brazilian financial institutions in line with its review of global banks.
http://jlne.ws/LFcg4W
RBS Asked To Provide UK Lawmakers With Report On Computer Glitch
Dow Jones
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC Chief Executive Stephen Hester has been asked to provide U.K. lawmakers with answers about what caused the computer glitch that left millions of the bank’s customers unable to access their money, the chairman of Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee said Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/LFcedn
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 (JPM) Chase & Co.
Now he has a new message: It’s time to break up.
http://jlne.ws/NMiGh5
Don’t Hold Your Breath, Big Banks Will Not Be Broken Up
Forbes
The latest defense of the universal bank model comes from Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman who says “we need to just calm down” about bank breakups.
http://jlne.ws/LFceds
Goldman Starts New Bond Trading Platform
Dow Jones
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recently started trading corporate bonds on a new electronic platform designed to bring investors together to trade at specific times, as the New York securities firm looks to respond to a growing threat from rival trading venues that could woo customers away.
http://jlne.ws/LFcglq
Jefferies Expands Investment Banking into Canada, Adding to Mining Sector Focus
Business Wire
NJefferies today announced Steven Latimer has joined as a Managing Director and Head of Canadian Investment Banking, and will initially focus on the Metals and Mining sector. He will be based in Toronto.
http://jlne.ws/LFcglt
Vatican bank starts headhunting for new chief
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The board of the Vatican bank met on Wednesday to start the hunt for a new president to replace Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was unceremoniously ousted last month.
http://jlne.ws/LFcetT
BGC Partners Updates its Second Quarter 2012 Financial Outlook
BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company primarily servicing the wholesale financial and property markets, today updated its financial outlook for the second quarter ending June 30, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/LFcglB
State Street Corporation Announces Date for Release of Second-Quarter 2012 Financial Results and Conference Call Webcast
Business Wire
State Street Corporation plans to release its second-quarter financial results on Tuesday, July 17, 2012, followed by a related Internet broadcast of a conference call at 9:30 a.m. EDT that day.
http://jlne.ws/LFceKe
Clearing & Settlement
BNY Mellon Forms Global Collateral Services to Meet Expanding Needs of Broker-Dealers and Institutional Investors
PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance
BNY Mellon, the global leader in investment management and investment services, has formed Global Collateral Services to serve broker-dealers and institutional investors facing rapidly expanding collateral management needs as a result of current and emerging regulatory and market requirements.
http://jlne.ws/LFcgBZ
Burgundy Launches Multiple CCP Interoperable Clearing In The Nordics – EuroCCP To Provide Interoperable CCP Clearing To Burgundy
http://jlne.ws/LFcgC3
EuroCCP Adds New Participant – Jefferies Becomes An Individual Clearing Participant Of EuroCCP
http://jlne.ws/LFceKr
CME Group Clearing Advisory
Independence Day Holiday Clearing Schedule-Wednesday, July 4, 2012
http://jlne.ws/LFceKs
Indexes & Products
S&P Indices Announces Changes In The S&P/TSX Canadian Indices – A Deletion From The S&P/TSX Venture Composite And Venture Select Indices
http://jlne.ws/LFcgSo
ProShares Launches First -1X Euro ETF
http://jlne.ws/LFcf0K
ProShares Adds Bearish Euro ETF To Lineup
http://jlne.ws/LFcgSr
Component Change Made In STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index
http://jlne.ws/LFcgSA
MainStay Investments Introduces Its First NYSE-listed Closed-end Fund
http://jlne.ws/LFch8R
Technology
Sidera and Sabey Collaborate to Connect Key Data Centers
Sidera Networks, the premier provider of fiber optic-based network solutions, and Sabey Data Centers, one of the largest privately held data center owners, operators, and developers in the United States, announces a new collaboration and agreement to provide connectivity between Sabey’s properties in New York, Ashburn, and Seattle.
http://jlne.ws/LFcf0U
Cross River Fiber Provides Infrastructure and Dark Fiber Connectivity to Support RF Technologies in New Jersey
Cross River Fiber, a New Jersey-based boutique dark fiber optic and telecommunications solutions provider, announces its support of infrastructure and dark fiber solutions for Radio Frequency (RF) wireless communication technologies being deployed in New Jersey.
http://jlne.ws/LFcf0W
Enforcement
SEC Charges Long Island Software Company in Connection With Bribery Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged that FalconStor Software, Inc., a Long Island, N.Y., data storage company, misled investors about bribes it paid to obtain business with a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
http://jlne.ws/LFch91
[Video] CFTC Commissioner Chilton on Barclays Settlement
Bloomberg
June 27 — Bart Chilton, a commissioner at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, talks about the agreement by Barclays Plc to pay $452.3 million in penalties to settle U.S. and U.K. probes into whether it sought to rig the London and euro interbank offered rates.
http://jlne.ws/LFcfhe
US: Madoff brother to plead guilty in NY in fraud
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
Plans for the brother of jailed financier Bernard Madoff to plead guilty and serve 10 years in prison raises fresh questions about the status of the investigation into the epic multibillion dollar fraud and whether other family members remain under criminal investigation.
http://jlne.ws/LFchpm
Glen Rock man allegedly ran Ponzi schemes to fund lavish lifestyle
The Star-Ledger
George Seporo was indicted today on charges he used investors money — including an elderly woman’s life savings – to finance five-figure bar tabs and luxury vehicles
http://jlne.ws/LFchpp
BCSC Executive Director’s Bulletin: Securities regulator issues notice of hearing alleging that corporate communications officer made misrepresentations
http://jlne.ws/LFcfht
Environmental & Energy
EU Must Avoid Short-Term CO2-Supply Fix, BusinessEurope Says
Bloomberg
The European Union should start a debate about 2030 carbon-reduction targets and avoid short-term tools to curb the supply of permits in its cap-and-trade system, said BusinessEurope, a Brussels-based employers’ federation.
http://jlne.ws/OzEFur
Major firms urge removal 1.4 bln EU carbon permits
Reuters
Major companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and commodities giant Bunge have written to top EU officials calling for the urgent withdrawal of 1.4 billion carbon permits to support the market and green investment.
http://jlne.ws/QnNNQ1
ICAO Carbon-Cut Plan Will Mask Emissions Output: Engineer
Bloomberg
A metric proposed as part of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s plan to curb greenhouse gases in the airline industry will mask the actual emissions of aircraft, according to an aeronautical engineer.
http://jlne.ws/OzFnHU
Asia-Pacific
Japan regulator: fines for alleged insider trading
Market Watch
Japan’s Financial Services Agency on Thursday ordered a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. to pay two fines totaling Y130,000 for alleged insider trading, the latest development in a broad regulatory crackdown into suspicious trading activity.
http://jlne.ws/LFchpu
Singapore c.bank to open China rep office
Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
The Monetary Authority of Singapore will set up a representative office in China, becoming the seventh foreign central bank to have a presence in the world’s No. 2 economy, the People’s Bank of China said on Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/LFchpA
HK stock market in venture with Chinese exchanges
Associated Press
Hong Kong’s stock exchange says it’s setting up a joint venture with mainland Chinese markets to develop new products as it seeks to raise competitiveness. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. said Thursday it is teaming up with stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
http://jlne.ws/LFchFU
HKEx Announcement – Establishment Of Joint Venture With Shanghai Stock Exchange And Shenzhen Stock Exchange
http://jlne.ws/LFchG1
RBS Hires Former UBS Banker David Gray to Head Asia-Pacific Prime Services
Dow Jones
Royal Bank of Scotland PLC has hired a former UBS AG banker for its prime-services desk in Hong Kong, as investment banks seek to win business from hedge funds looking to expand in the region.
http://jlne.ws/LFchG6
Osaka Securities Exchange: Trading After The Launch Of OSE DJIA Futures
Osaka Securities Exchange Co., Ltd. (OSE) launched futures contracts based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
http://jlne.ws/LFchG9
Shanghai Stock Exchange Market Value 100 Index To Be Launched
To further enhance the SSE index family as well as to provide new analysis tool and underlying instrument for investors, Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Securities Index Co., Ltd announced that the SSE Market Value 100 Index would be launched on July 20, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/LFcfxV
Shanghai Stock Exchange Dividend Series Indices To Be Launched
http://jlne.ws/LFcfy2
SGX Forum Reply to ST on SGX Listing Rules Aim to Protect Investors
http://jlne.ws/LFchWw
HKFE Announces Revised Margins For Futures Contracts
http://jlne.ws/LFchWA
Hong Kong’s Securities And Futures Commission Focuses On Risks And Opportunities Arising From Interconnected Markets
http://jlne.ws/LFcitB
Shanghai Stock Exchange Enhances Abilities Of Small And Medium-Sized Investors In Rational Investment By Constantly Reinforcing Investor Education Related To New Shares
http://jlne.ws/LFcitF
Frontier Markets
Indian Exchange Seeks to End Guar Futures Ban Before Sowing
Bloomberg
National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Ltd., India’s largest bourse for farm goods, wants approval to restart guar contracts, three months after the market regulator banned trading to curb speculation.
http://jlne.ws/LFciJY
As rupee skids, smaller Indian companies sweat
By Subhadip Sircar and Swati – Reuters
As the rupee tumbles to record lows, Anil Jain, the chairman of a company which dismantles old ships, is in a bind: like many of the country’s many small and medium-sized firms, his only way to hedge foreign currency risk is hope.
http://jlne.ws/LFcicX
To Sell or Hold India? Depends on How Much Time You Have
FOX Business
The Indian rupee is down more than 17% from its strongest point this year, growth has dropped to its lowest level in a decade and inflation still hounds the government.
http://jlne.ws/LFciJZ
Kenya Stocks Lure Templeton to World’s Third-Biggest Rally
Bloomberg
Kenyan stocks, the worst performers in sub-Saharan Africa last year, are this year’s third best worldwide as the central bank reins in inflation and spurs a rally in the currency.
http://jlne.ws/LFciK0
Securities Commission Malaysia: Court Of Appeal Imposes 12 Months Jail Sentence For Market Manipulation
http://jlne.ws/LFciK7