Industry news

July 9, 2012: TSE bid for domestic rival on knife edge; JPMorgan Shuts Europe Money Market Funds on ECB Rate Cut; Barclays Sued by Investor Over Alleged Euribor Actions

The Tokyo-Osaka exchange merger continues to hang in the balance, as the recent regulatory approval is followed by shareholder demands.  As European deposit rates go negative, JPMorgan Chase stops taking money market funds there, saying investors may not be able to make a profit. The first class-action lawsuit against Barclays has been filed.  In First Read, John Lothian says another farewell (no, not to this newsletter) and hints at a soon-to-come hello.

First Read

I am not a Futures Broker (Anymore)

I am not a futures broker… anymore that is.  Wow!  What a feeling!  (See Taking My Own Advice from Friday for why.)

Since 1984 I have worked for a futures brokerage firm, been a futures broker, or a proprietary trader.  Of course, since 2000 or 2003, depending on your perspective, I have been in the media business too.

As a futures broker, you have a lot of risk.  Your clients are risk takers.  They are speculators who have assumed the risk of hedgers.  Or, your clients are hedgers.  And they are laying off their cash market risk in the futures markets.

One way or another, you the broker have a lot of risk.  If their speculation goes awry and they don’t have enough money up to handle the risk, you the broker are on the hook for the money until the customer pays.  If your commissions don’t cover it, your firm will cover it (hopefully), until such time as your commissions completely cover it and/or the customer pays up.

Same thing can happen with a hedger.  They need to keep their marked-to-the-market futures positions properly funded, or you the broker are on the hook.

I have lived with this risk for a long time.  Yesterday was the first time since I raised my first brokerage account in 1990 that I have not had this risk.  

My first client, who only left me a couple of years ago due to retirement, congratulated me on my move on Facebook yesterday.  My second client raised in 1990 left in 2010 because he wanted to give his trading money to his grandchildren.  Both were clients of my CTA program that I stopped trading in 2011 prior to the debt crisis of last summer.  

I wanted nothing to do with the debt crisis last summer.  I had never seen anything like that before and wanted nothing to do with it in terms of market risk.

Another long time client who was a hedger who tended to trade like a speculator left me with a nice-sized debit after a soybean trade he entered went immediately against him in 2010 when prices opened up more than a dollar higher one day.  This client met every margin call I ever gave him with a wire or a check.  He never missed one.  Until the last one.

To say this left a sour taste in my mouth is an understatement.  The client also went off on a rant about how the markets were rigged by the big funds and that he was never trading again.  Of course, that is easy to say when you leave your broker with a debit.

I was only left with two unpaid debits as a broker.  The total was less than $50,000 combined.  

The first debit was a shared account with another broker and the account was negatively impacted by one of those hurricanes in the gulf, which hurt some gas, crude and natural gas spreads.  The customer paid half the debit, then did a song and dance every time I talked to him since then.

The client blown out by the soybean move had made and lost of lot of money, but mostly lost over the long term.  It was hard to tell when he was hedging or speculating, so I didn’t know what it meant to his bottom line.  But, he was a big risk taker, who would sometimes hold positions into delivery.  One time he held a soybean position into the last trading day right up to five minutes before the close (during a hurricane again) and the pit broker messed up the order.  The client was made good, but the error discovered after the soybean contract stopped trading cost the pit broker $100K.  All that risk was for a $1 per contract pit broker commission.  Ouch!

I am going to enjoy my time without futures brokerage risk.  While I said I still have ambitions in the brokerage space, taking customer debit risk is not part of it.  The economics of the brokerage business have changed as has my appetite for the broker’s risk.

Today, I am not a futures broker.  That will change again soon, but the risks I take will be different.

~John J. Lothian

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Libor Scandal Seen Boosting NYSE Repo Futures: Credit Markets
Bloomberg
July 9 (Bloomberg) — The scandal impairing confidence in the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark for $360 trillion in securities, may drive demand for interest-rate futures that NYSE Liffe U.S. will start offering this month.  The contracts on NYSE’s U.S. futures exchange will be tied to indexes that track movements in a $400 billion market where bond dealers that trade directly with the Federal Reserve finance securities holdings. The futures were developed to give banks a more direct method of hedging changes in the cost of those transactions, known as general collateral finance repurchase agreements, or GCF repos.

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NYSE EURONEXT ANNOUNCES NEW LONDON MANAGEMENT
NYSE Euronext today announced the restructured leadership team for its regulated exchange business (NYSE Liffe).
* Executive Vice President, Mark Ibbotson, has been appointed Chief Executive of NYSE Liffe with responsibility for exchange trading, clearing and regulation.
* Executive Vice President, Finbarr Hutcheson, has been appointed Chief Executive of NYSE Liffe with responsibility for commercial and business development.
http://jlne.ws/LY9lT8

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SET ready to launch Cinnober technology
As previously communicated, The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and Cinnober have been involved in a major project for the Thai exchange trading infrastructure. The agreement, which was signed in June 2011, means that Cinnober will deliver several core systems to the exchange.
http://jlne.ws/LY9lT9

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The rotten heart of finance
The Economist
What may still seem to many to be a parochial affair involving Barclays, a 300-year-old British bank, rigging an obscure number, is beginning to assume global significance. The number that the traders were toying with determines the prices that people and corporations around the world pay for loans or receive for their savings. “This is the banking industry’s tobacco moment,” says the chief executive of a multinational bank, referring to the lawsuits and settlements that cost America’s tobacco industry more than $200 billion in 1998. “It’s that big,” he says.
http://jlne.ws/LY9lTd

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The Economist, Then and Now, on Bankers
Yves Smith – Naked Capitalism
Last week, the British press was in full-throated cry on the Libor scandal , both as a political story (the connections to the Conservative party; the questions over the Bank of England’s role) and for its economic repercussions (who else was involved, who wound up on the losing side). Many commentators took note of the Economist’s cover:
http://jlne.ws/LY9nKR

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Barclays Bank Bash
WSJ
Federal gumshoes are hot on the trail of banks suspected of attempting to manipulate a key interest rate. If only it were easy to separate the effect of alleged manipulation efforts by private banks from the deliberate manipulation by government.
http://jlne.ws/LY9nKS

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The NYSE Gets Its Very Own Dark Pool
By Paul Vigna – WSJ
Dark pools are going big time. The New York Stock Exchange, with its folksy history (the buttonwood tree and all that), its historic trading floor, and its reputation as the responsible exchange, now has its very own dark pool.
http://jlne.ws/LY9lTg

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Whilst my breath is still warm
Steve Grob – Fidessa
Good to see that the HFT community is finally starting to educate the regulators and policymakers. As we all know, the debate hinges on whether these firms are really acting as electronic versions of traditional market makers and, if they are, whether they should be subject to some of the same formal market making obligations. In particular, regulators have been gnashing their teeth over the fact that such firms are free to replace their quotes as often, or as “frequently”, as they like. The regulators argue that all this activity creates substantial noise that clogs up data pipes and distorts the true picture of the real price of a stock. In their defence, the HFTers argue that they have the right to re-price their “product” just as often as market conditions dictate and that, anyway, they aren’t breaking any laws.
http://jlne.ws/MOizlS

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US advocate of regulation takes on Libor
By Kara Scannell and Gregory Meyer in New York – Financial Times
In recent years, Gary Gensler has climbed Kilimanjaro and finished nine marathons and one 50-mile race. As a US regulator, he faces another tough challenge by taking on Libor, the benchmark that is critical to the world’s financial markets.
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1b

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July 2012 InBOX
This is the July issue of InBOX, your news source from inside the BOX Options Exchange. This monthly publication will provide convenient summaries of recent developments at BOX.
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1d

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[Video] Moving swaps trading to screens
Financial Times
US regulations are forcing upheaval in the swaps trading market. Trading is moving from phone to computer, new venues are being created and the industry is required to clear more of its trades than ever before. Jonathan Fieldman, chief operating officer at Broadway Technology, a US fixed income trading technology company, explains to Philip Stafford how these changes are more likely to alter market shares for existing players than to usher in high frequency swap trading.
http://jlne.ws/RMEWYG

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The Future Of Stock Trading: Neutrino Beams
James Kerin | Investopedia
The stock market relies on a rapid, accurate data transfer mechanism to inform players of any price fluctuations within the marketplace. If this mechanism is not functioning properly, information asymmetry will allow the more informed investor to capitalize and profit off his relative advantage. In essence, the faster the rate of information exchange, the higher levels of efficiency financial markets can achieve. Today, information exchange occurs almost instantaneously via the Internet, as well as optic fiber technology. However, neutrino beam technology has the potential to drastically speed up the rate of data transmission.
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1f

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Shareholders or wimps?
Philip McBride Johnson – FOW
Barclays Banks’ $450 million settlement with regulators over alleged LIBOR tampering (used to price hundreds of trillions of dollars in financial transactions) claimed as its principal victims – again – its shareholders. Not only did the settlement come from their pockets but a major decline in their share prices added to the grief.
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1i

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CII to launch first Options training in Shanghai and Beijing
As China Futures Markets are progressively preparing to launch the Option trading, the Chicago Institute of Investment, CII, will work with the Webstock, the biggest Futures market data distributor in China, to open training classes on Options in Shanghai and Beijing, the two financial hubs in the country. The two institutions plan to run these training classes once every quarter with first classes to start in July.
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1k

**** A company to watch.

MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Norman Champ
http://jlne.ws/KYmG9G

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MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Paul Tucker; Charles Bean; Carlos Tavares; Steven Maijoor; Norman Champ; Verena Ross; Philip Pendergraft

Companies, Organizations and Groups

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board; Bank of England; Orc Software; Orc Group; People’s Bank of China

Statistics

25,860,067 pages viewed, 6,937 articles, 144,074 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

TSE bid for domestic rival on knife edge
By Ben McLannahan in Tokyo – Financial Times
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s bid for the Osaka Securities Exchange is hanging in the balance with the TSE refusing to bend as rebel shareholders in its domestic rival hold out for a higher takeover offer than the agreed Y130bn ($1.6bn).
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1o

JPMorgan Shuts Europe Money Market Funds on ECB Rate Cut
By Dawn Kopecki | Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, closed five of its European money-market funds to new investments after the European Central Bank lowered deposit rates to zero.
http://jlne.ws/LY9o1r

Barclays Sued by Investor Over Alleged Euribor Actions
By Edvard Pettersson – Bloomberg
Barclays Plc (BARC) was sued by an investor who claimed her futures-trading business was harmed by the bank’s admitted manipulation of the Euro Interbank Offered Rate. A copy of the complaint, which also names JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Citigroup Inc. (C) among other defendants, was provided by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, the law firm representing the investor. The filing couldn’t be independently confirmed yesterday on the website of the federal court in Manhattan.
http://jlne.ws/LY9m9I

Diamond Antithesis Seen as Key Step to Repairing Barclays
Barclays Plc (BARC) needs to find a successor for Robert Diamond who is the opposite of the American investment banker as a first step to restoring political trust.
Diamond, 60, quit last week after the London-based bank was fined a record 290 million pounds ($449 million) for trying to rig the London interbank offered rate, the benchmark interest rate for more than $360 trillion of securities.

Barclays executive Jerry del Missier quits over ‘Libor lies’
Telegraph
Jerry del Missier, the co-head of Barclays investment bank who was recently promoted to chief operating officer, has resigned with immediate effect, the bank said. It is understood that Mr del Missier was the senior manager who misinterpreted the comments of chief executive Bob Diamond after he came off a call in October 2008 with Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohH

LIBOR Scandal: The Smoking Gun Showing The Authorities Knew
Tim Worstall – Forbes
The scandal over the attempts to manipulate Libor looks like one of those stories that just runs and runs. For now we’re getting into the fun and joy of discussing who knew what and when. It’s all looking quite Nixonian. To start from the beginning: there have been two different sets [...]
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohI

Made-in-London Scandals Risk City Reputation as Money Center
By Kevin Crowley and Ambereen Choudhury – Bloomberg
London risks losing its status as the world’s top financial center as the $360 trillion interest-rate fixing probe follows a series of market abuses by banks that eroded trust in a city already shrinking faster than rivals.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohJ

EU’s Barnier pushes for criminal sanctions for Libor abuse
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Europe’s top regulatory official intends to propose new rules that would criminalize the manipulation of benchmarks such as Libor, a spokesman for the EU commissioner in charge of financial reform said on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohK

Iceland’s Economy Is Mending Amid Europe’s Malaise
New York Times
While much of Europe is struggling to pull itself out of the recessionary swamp, Iceland’s economy is expected to grow by 2.4 percent this year.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohL

Analysis: Euro zone fragmenting faster than EU can act
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Signs are growing that Europe’s economic and monetary union may be fragmenting faster than policymakers can repair it. Euro zone leaders agreed in principle on June 29 to establish a joint banking supervisor for the 17-nation single currency area, based on the European Central Bank, although most of the crucial details remain to be worked out.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohP

Euro Zone Nations Wrestle With a ‘Trilemma’
New York Times
The trilemma theory says that in addressing a crisis, member states can have only two of three things: deep economic integration, democratic politics and autonomy as nation-states.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohS

ICAP steps up Plus charm offensive
By Mark Wembridge and Philip Stafford – Financial Times
ICAP has stepped up its efforts to convince Plus-traded companies to keep their listings, promising to upgrade the junior market’s technology platform and improve its attractiveness to investors.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohT

Regulatory

Floodgates on U.S. derivative reforms set to open
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The U.S. swaps regulator is set to finalize this week a critical reform that will trigger banks and traders having to comply with costly new derivatives rules. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will vote on Tuesday on a definition of a “swap,” which will start a countdown on compliance dates for big swaps players to start registering with regulators and reporting their trades.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohV

U.S. CFTC seeks more comment for swaps margin rule
Alexandra Alper – Reuters
The U.S. swaps regulator announced on Friday it would give the industry another chance to comment on a rule dictating how much money needs to back uncleared swaps, in light of the release of a new international paper on the reform. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will give the public until Sept. 14 to comment on the rule, which lays out how much margin is needed to back swaps that have not been routed through independent clearinghouses.
http://jlne.ws/LY9ohY

CFTC Said to Exempt Banks Under $10 Billion From Clearing
By Silla Brush – Bloomberg
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is poised to exempt banks with assets of less than $10 billion from Dodd-Frank Act requirements to guarantee swap trades at clearinghouses, two people briefed on the matter said.
http://jlne.ws/LY9mqb

CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight Issues Letter to Market Participants Regarding Compliance with Large Trader Reporting System for Physical Commodity Swaps and Swaptions
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight (Division) issued a letter to market participants providing temporary no-action relief for less than fully compliant reporting of positions based on ownership under the CFTC’s large trader reporting system for physical commodity swaps and swaptions.
http://jlne.ws/NcflY8

Time to Recheck the Regulatory Queue
By AMY FELDMAN | Barron’s
Mutual funds didn’t cause 2008′s financial collapse, and they weren’t the targets of the massive Dodd-Frank legislation passed in its wake. Yet the funds, and their investors, will feel the effects of a spate of regulations in the works that are designed to head off the next crisis.
http://jlne.ws/LY9mqe

Banks’ Ability to Rig Rates Shows Need for Change
By FLOYD NORRIS – NY Times
Is Libor — the London interbank offered rate — an idea whose time has passed? And if so, what can replace it?
http://jlne.ws/LY9mqi

‘Urgent reforms’ needed as Deutsche caught in Libor row
By Richard Blackden, in New York – Telegraph
The Libor scandal must be the “swift kick in the pants” that forces an improvement in the global supervision of banks, according to the US regulator that first began investigating the allegations more than four years ago. As Deutsche Bank became the latest bank to be dragged into the global Libor probe, Bart Chilton said that regulators had not done enough to predict approaching crises.
http://jlne.ws/LY9oyl

UK’s Serious Fraud Office Formally Accepts LIBOR Matter For Investigation
http://jlne.ws/LY9mGC

Statement Of Support – CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler
http://jlne.ws/LY9mGD

BCBS And IOSCO Issue Consultative Paper On Margin Requirements For Non-Centrally-Cleared Derivatives
http://jlne.ws/LY9mGI

AMF informs issuers about new measures arising from the Prospectus Directive review, and their entry into force date
http://jlne.ws/LY9oOI

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

NYSE Liffe launches equity options on D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753
Trading in individual equity options D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753 N.V. (DE) started on the Amsterdam market of NYSE Liffe, the Europe-based derivatives market of NYSE Euronext (NYX).
http://jlne.ws/LBQDmv

Analysis: TMX deal makes life tough in Canada’s markets
Reuters via Yahoo! News
TORONTO – Canada’s small stock trading venues will find the struggle to grow even tougher once a made-in-Canada takeover of the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange gets the final regulatory green light, creating a giant that will dominate the market.
http://jlne.ws/LY9mGO

Quick View: Dark pool controversy
By Philip Stafford – Financial Times
Controversy around dark pools is back. The embers of this hotly contested debate have been fanned in recent weeks but it could be argued that it finally reignited this week. Duncan Niederauer, chief executive of NYSE Euronext, largely repeated his comments about the bloc trading platforms at a Congressional hearing in an opinion piece for the Financial Times.
http://jlne.ws/LY9oOK

LSE set for windfall from TMX
By Philip Stafford – Financial Times
The London Stock Exchange is set for a C$29m ($28.5m, £18.3m)) windfall if the final regulatory and shareholder approval for the purchase of Canada’s TMX Group by a consortium of its users is concluded, as expected, this month. The sum was one of the conditions of the break-up terms agreed by the LSE and TMX, operator of Canada’s largest bourse, when their agreed merger collapsed a year ago.
http://jlne.ws/LY9mX6

Chicago Board of Trade seat sales hot despite chill on floor
CHICAGO, July 9 (Reuters) – A cadre of largely electronic traders are bidding up seats on the Chicago Board of Trade, even as trading floor veterans fear that new exchange rules threaten their ability to make a living in the famed pits.
http://jlne.ws/PFoGLY

HKEx Announcement
The Board provides an update of the expected timetable in connection with the proposed acquisition of the entire issued ordinary share capital of LMEH by HKEx Investment by way of a scheme of arrangement and a capital reduction announced by HKEx on 15 June 2012.
http://jlne.ws/LY9mX8

IBERCLEAR TO CHAIR CSD STEERING GROUP IN THE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK OF TARGET2 Securities
Jesús Benito, CEO of Iberclear, the Spanish Central Securities Depository and a BME subsidiary, today was appointed Chairman of the CSD Steering Group (CSG) in the governance framework of TARGET2 Securities (T2S). He was unanimously elected by the full members of the CSG for a renewable term of two years.
http://jlne.ws/OPIrha

[CBOE] Trader E-News
http://jlne.ws/LY9mXb

[CBOE] Temporary Suspension of Automation for Stock-Option Strategy Orders
http://jlne.ws/LY9mXj

Xetra/FWB: IPO In Frankfurt For Chinese Company FAST Casualwear AG
http://jlne.ws/LY9oOV

TMX Group Equity Financing Statistics – June 2012
http://jlne.ws/LY9pSN

Program Trading Averaged 32.4 Percent Of NYSE Volume During June 25-29
http://jlne.ws/LY9oOW

Ljubljana Stock Exchange Monthly Statistical Report – June 2012
http://jlne.ws/LY9pSS

TOM MTF Statistics Week 27 2012
http://jlne.ws/LY9pSW

Warsaw Stock Exchange: Derivatives Market In June 2012
http://jlne.ws/LY9pSX

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Dealers Decline Bernanke Twist Bids
Bloomberg
Wall Street banks are increasingly choosing to hoard their U.S. bonds rather than sell them to the Federal Reserve as speculation grows that a slowing economy and global financial turmoil will only make them more dear.
http://jlne.ws/LY9pSY

Think You Control The Investments In Your 401(k)? Read This Horror Story
Forbes
Think you control the investments in your 401 and are on the hook for any gains or losses? Well, you’re half right, anyway. In certain circumstances your investments can be switched without your approval, but you’re still on the hook for the losses. That’s the disturbing lesson from a decision handed down last week by a three judge panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
http://jlne.ws/LY9p5f

Effects of Janus Ruling Remain a Mystery for Mutual Funds
New York Times
In the last year, mutual funds have done little to adapt to a Supreme Court decision that defines a fund’s board, not its management company, as the ultimate authority for its operations.
http://jlne.ws/LY9q9j

Is this the end of the global oil benchmark?
Galen Stops – FOW
Brent and West Texas Intermediate used to be the best of partners. Wherever one went, the other soon followed in near perfect harmony. However, in recent years ruptures have emerged in the marriage and prices have diverged hurting end users and prompting demand for a fragmentation of global oil benchmarks, finds Galen Stops.
http://jlne.ws/LY9q9m

Mutual Funds: Big Bets on the Energy Boom
By RESHMA KAPADIA – WSJ
It used to rank up there with death and taxes—the certainty of the rising price and eventual disappearance of fossil fuels. For a generation and beyond, images of oil dependency were drummed into the American psyche—in the form of long lines at gas stations, secretive overseas oil barons and screaming headlines about $100-a-barrel crude.
http://jlne.ws/LY9q9u

Three Mutual Funds That Turned Back the Tide of Losses
New York Times
Some fund managers bucked the trend of huge spring declines by concentrating on American utilities, currency trading and companies poised for disease-fighting breakthroughs.
http://jlne.ws/LY9q9x

Two Stocks That Tripped Up Hedge Fund Star John Thaler
Forbes
John A. Thaler, the 36-year-old wunderkind of hedge fund JAT Capital, is getting some unwanted press in the New York Times. A year ago his fund was up 30% and he had investors practically throwing money at him. Now the fund is down 20%. The Times spins this is a cautionary tale for investors chasing star managers. So what did Thaler do wrong?
http://jlne.ws/LY9p5w

Cotton Trader Fires Back
BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD AND CAROLYN CUI – WSJ
Mark Allen made a name as a cotton trader unafraid to take big positions in risky markets where many others wouldn’t go. Now, less than a year after suffering huge losses trading cotton and losing his job at one of the world’s biggest commodities firms, Mr. Allen has returned with another bold move: accusing the industry’s biggest player of market manipulation.
http://jlne.ws/LY9plL

Cotton July contract leaves losses in its wake
By Gregory Meyer in New York – Financial Times
When July 2012 US cotton futures become history Monday, many traders will say good riddance. The contract, to deliver bales this month to one of five southern US cities, is the latest example why the cotton market seems full of frustrated people.
http://jlne.ws/LY9qpV

Banks & Brokers

Deutsche Bank suspends two over Libor probe, Reuters says
Theflyonthewall.com via Yahoo! Finance
Deutsche Bank suspended two employees after an investigation into the manipulation of interbank lending rates,says Reuters, citing German magazine Der Spiegel.
http://jlne.ws/LY9plS

DealBook: Banking Official Faces Panel in Barclays Scandal
New York Times
Paul Tucker, considered a candidate to lead the Bank of England, will confront intense scrutiny when he testifies on Monday in the Barclays rate-rigging scandal.
http://jlne.ws/LY9qpX

Edward Lotterman: Why we should care about LIBOR probe
By Edward Lotterman – Twincities.com
The growing kerfuffle over Barclays Bank’s false reporting of its input into the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) is big news in Europe and among finance specialists in our own country, but it is not on the radar screen of the general public and it isn’t visibly affecting stock or bond markets. This contrasts with the hullabaloo over JPMorgan’s $2 billion-plus losses in derivatives markets last month.
http://jlne.ws/LY9qq0

RBC Says It Didn’t Collude With Other Banks in Libor Rate
Bloomberg
Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, said it didn’t collude with other banks in setting the London interbank offered rate, distancing itself from probes on whether banks rigged benchmark rates.
http://jlne.ws/LY9plY

Thomson Reuters Agrees To Acquire FX Alliance Inc. (FXall), The Leading Multi-Bank Electronic Foreign Exchange Platform
Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of FXall for $22 per share in cash.
http://jlne.ws/NTBp6c

[Video] Goldman Halts Investment in European Money Fund
Bloomberg
July 6 — Deirdre Bolton reports that Goldman Sachs temporarily closed a European money-market fund to new investments after the ECB lowered depsit rates to zero yesterday. She speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “Money Moves.”
http://jlne.ws/LY9qq4

JPMorgan Entangled in Lehman’s Case
Zacks via Yahoo! Finance
Lehman has been constantly making efforts to evade payment claims by JPMorgan. Moreover, Lehman claims to get back $8.6 billion paid as collateral to JPMorgan.
http://jlne.ws/LY9pm1

RBS Markets Mansions to Salvage $47 Billion of Loans: Mortgages
By Simon Packard – Bloomberg
Less than a mile from Buckingham Palace in London, among a row of 19th century luxury homes, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is seeking to recover some of the 30 billion pounds ($47 billion) of commercial property loans it got stuck with when borrowers defaulted.
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCg

Clearing & Settlement

J.P. Morgan Merges Services for Derivatives and Securities
By Katy Burne – Dow Jones
In a move that highlights how big banks are reacting to the post-crisis overhaul of financial markets, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) has consolidated teams dedicated to brokering customer derivatives and securities trades with those focusing on the back-office plumbing of those transactions.
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCh

Basel Group Seeks Tougher Rules for Non-Centrally Cleared Swaps
Bloomberg
Banks may have to meet minimum collateral rules for over-the-counter derivatives trades that aren’t centrally cleared as part of a push by global regulators to make the market safer.
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCi

Equiduct Launches Interoperable Clearing Services With EuroCCP
EuroCCP, the pan-European cash equities clearing house, today announced that its interoperable Central Counterparty (CCP) clearing is now live on Equiduct.
http://jlne.ws/LY9qq7

CME Group Clearing Advisory
IMPORTANT: New Rule 512 – Reporting Infractions
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCp

Indexes & Products

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Core Hedge Fund Index Closed Down 0.45% in June
http://jlne.ws/LY9qGq

Dow Jones Islamic Market Titans 100 Index Closed Up 4.66% In June
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCt

MSCI Indices Q2 2012 Performance Results -Volatile Global Markets Generate Losses
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCu

Technology

Corvil Brings Latency Management to the Broader Market
Corvil, a provider of latency management systems for global financial markets, today announced a major addition to its Latency Management System. The new release features a business visibility module titled Trade Lens, Management Reporting, Advanced Deployment Management, and a new lower cost appliance.
http://jlne.ws/LY9pCv

SET ready to launch Cinnober technology
As previously communicated, The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and Cinnober have been involved in a major project for the Thai exchange trading infrastructure. The agreement, which was signed in June 2011, means that Cinnober will deliver several core systems to the exchange. The first phase of the project has been formally accepted by SET, and will lead to the replacement of their current trading, market data and surveillance systems within equities markets during Q3 2012. In following stages the project will also include the derivatives markets.
http://jlne.ws/OPGBg6

3di Launches Profiler Integra to Market Data Professionals
London (UK) – 9 July 2012 –  3d Innovations, the data management consultancy specialising in market, reference and derived/computational data, today launched the Profiler Integra toolset that enables Profiler’s comparative market data sets to be integrated within third-party and in-house applications. An extension of 3di’s Profiler solution, Profiler Integra enables organizations to evaluate their business requirements against more than 1,800 data products and 700 vendors of enterprise market data.
http://jlne.ws/LIYYQw

Patent ‘Troll’ Tactics Spread
Technology companies used to condemn what critics call “patent trolls,” ventures that profit from innovations they themselves often had no hand in creating. Now, some of those companies are taking pages from the trolls’ playbooks.
http://jlne.ws/MUVbDA

Fund Managers Seduced by Facebook
Investors who thought they steered clear of Facebook  Inc.’s initial public offering should take a closer look at their mutual funds.At least 160 U.S.-based mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, including those run by Fidelity Investments, Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. and OppenheimerFunds Inc., bought shares of Facebook in May, according to monthly disclosures made in June and July compiled by investment-research firm Morningstar Inc. for The Wall Street Journal.
http://jlne.ws/NeG3yB

Enforcement

SEC set to hand out up to $452M to whistleblowers
New York Post
Talk about a federal stimulus plan. The Securities and Exchange Commission has amassed a $452 million pot of cash to be paid out to fraud busters across the country, according to a recent report.
http://jlne.ws/LY9qGt

Environmental & Energy

EU OKs 3 states to keep free CO2 permits
Reuters
Bulgaria, Romania and the Czech Republic can continue to provide power firms with free carbon emission allowances from 2013 onwards on condition their utilities spend an equivalent amount to upgrade power plants, the European Union executive said.
http://jlne.ws/OmyO5X

EU Carbon Price Increases Would Intensify Crisis, Poland Says
Bloomberg
The European Union should avoid measures to prop up carbon market prices because they would lead to higher energy costs and could aggravate the economic crisis in the region, Poland’s environment minister said.
http://jlne.ws/MaFyZk

UN urges countries to impose global taxes to boost aid
Reuters
The United Nations on Thursday urged countries to impose international taxes to raise more than $400 billion a year, such as a carbon tax, a currency transaction tax and a billionaires tax, to offset cutbacks in aid by many countries amid global economic turmoil.
http://jlne.ws/LHp7PL

Asia-Pacific

China’s premier warns of further economic slowdown
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
China’s economy faces “huge pressure” to slow further despite stimulus measures, Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday, damping hopes for a quick recovery from the deepest slump since the 2008 global financial crisis.
http://jlne.ws/LY9sxX

The Odd Couple: Singapore and Malaysia Team Up on Development Zone
Time Magazine
A $28 billion port, tourism and industrial complex called Iskandar Malaysia is rising at the tip of southern Malaysia. It promises to knit together erstwhile rivals and, in so doing, reshape the regional economy
http://jlne.ws/LY9qGx

Japan’s biggest banks target Korean conglomerates for growth
Reuters via Yahoo! News
TOKYO – Japanese banks, facing sluggish loan demand at home, are increasingly targeting South Korea where conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor are seeking funds to expand globally.
http://jlne.ws/LY9qGB

Tokyo Commodity Exchange: Changes To The Hallmarks On Deliverable Grades
http://jlne.ws/LY9sy4

3rd Shanghai Stock Exchange-HKEx Index And Product Development Forum Rounded Off
http://jlne.ws/LY9qWT

Statement By IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde At The Conclusion Of Her Visit to Japan
http://jlne.ws/LY9syb

Frontier Markets

South Africa Plans New Bank Regulations, Finance Minister Says
Bloomberg
The South African government plans new measures to regulate banks and financial services in order to avoid risky behavior while expanding services, according to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
http://jlne.ws/LY9sOs

NASDAQ Dubai Monthly Trading Report: June 2012
http://jlne.ws/LY9sOt

Palestine Exchange (PEX) Investor Monthly Newsletter Issue #27, June 2012
http://jlne.ws/LY9qWY

Turkish Ambassador Meets With Egyptian Exchange Chairman
http://jlne.ws/LY9sOy

The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) Held A Joint Session With The Information And Communication Technology Chamber To Discuss The Advantages Of Listing On NILEX
http://jlne.ws/LY9qX3