Industry news

July 17, 2012: HSBC Probe Shows Bank Allowed Money Laundering; Barclays executive says acted on orders on Libor; NYSE shelves plans for CFD market

Senate investigators call HSBC’s number in the “banking scandal queue”, and release their statement detailing the bank’s involvement with terrorists and money launderers.  In London, a Barclays exec testifies that contrary to what was said last week, he did indeed get orders to jimmy the LIBOR rate from his CEO boss.  Only months after announcing it, NYSE Euronext puts away plans to create a retail CFD trading platform for commodities, currencies and equities.

First Read

PFGBest regulator orders review of audit division
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The National Futures Association said it will conduct a review of its audit division as it seeks to answer fierce criticism that it missed two decades of fraud at failed Iowa brokerage Peregrine Financial Group. Just hours after a former customer of Peregrine Financial called for a U.S. congressional investigation of the NFA, the industry group said it was retaining outside law firm Jenner and Block to review its general practices and their execution in the case of PFGBest, as Peregrine is widely known.
http://jlne.ws/O7MgNB

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NYSE Liffe U.S. Begins to Trade in Futures on DTCC Repo Index
By Liz Capo McCormick – Bloomberg
NYSE Liffe U.S. began trading in futures contracts based on the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. repurchase agreement indexes to enhance dealers ability to hedge short-term interest rates. The futures contracts, which began today, track movements in the $400 billion market for general collateral finance repurchase agreements using three DTCC GCF Repo indices. Changes in repo rates affect dealers financing costs, which use them to finance debt holdings as well as to increase leverage.
http://jlne.ws/LsewLQ

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Solid start for GCF Index futures but an uphill battle lies ahead
FOW
Yesterday NYSE Liffe US’s GCF Repo Index futures suite got off to a solid start with over 2,500 contracts changing hands across the suite. William Mitting looks at the potential of the contracts and the challenges ahead.
http://jlne.ws/O7MgNN

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ROSENTHAL COLLINS GROUP INITIATES DAILY PUBLIC POSTING DESCRIBING ITS INVESTMENT OF CUSTOMER SEGREGATED FUNDS
CHICAGO, July 17, 2012 – Rosenthal Collins Group LLC (RCG), a leading independent futures clearing firm, today announced that, in an effort to further increase transparency for its customers and the public, the firm is providing a daily update on how RCG invests its customers’ funds.  Effective immediately and available prominently at www.RCGdirect.com, the chart describes the allocation of customer segregated funds between the various instruments in which the firm invests.
http://jlne.ws/NRISqw

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SPOT TRADING HONORED FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR AS ONE OF “CHICAGO’S 101 BEST AND BRIGHTEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR”
Spot Trading LLC, a leading proprietary equity options trading firm, announced that the National Association for Business Resources (NABR) has again named the firm one of “Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For.” This is the second consecutive year that NABR has recognized Spot as a company that delivers exceptional human resources practices and appreciates employees as its greatest asset.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mi8l

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ASX Welcomes CQG, Inc. to the Australian Liquidity Centre
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the leading securities exchange in Australia and a subsidiary of the ASX Group, and CQG, Inc., provider of high-performance trading and information solutions for the world’s financial community, today announced that CQG will co-locate its software, services and global connectivity network for the financial marketplace at ASX’s state-of-theart data centre, the ASX Australian Liquidity Centre (ALC), located 5km north of the Sydney CBD.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mh4h

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Commodity Markets Council Appoints Joshipura as President
The Commodity Markets Council (CMC), a competitive markets association, today announced it will promote Sanjeev Joshipura to President of the organization, succeeding Christine Cochran at the end of the month. Mr. Joshipura, who comes to the chief staff position after serving as Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Policy, will lead CMC in its mission to represent some of the most important commodity-related businesses in the grains, energy, metals and livestock industries to advocate for free, open and robust markets.
http://jlne.ws/O7MhkB

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Hedge-fund legend Barton Biggs dead: reports
By Tim Rostan – MarketWatch
Money manager Barton Biggs, who famously called the technology bubble of the late 1990s and the deep recession that followed it, is dead at 79, according to reports.
http://jlne.ws/O7MhkJ

***JM: More articles on Mr. Biggs can be found in the Hedge Funds & Managed Futures section below.

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The Scandal Behind the Financial Scandals
By FRANCESCO GUERRERA – WSJ
Two of the world’s financial capitals are hurting. London, Europe’s trading hub, and Chicago, America’s bridge between the farm and the global commodity markets, have been rocked by scandals. The controversy over the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, and the unraveling of the brokerage Peregrine Financial Group Inc. share only their timing. But their collision in the headlines is deepening investors’ antipathy toward the financial industry, capital markets and regulators.
http://jlne.ws/O7MhkT

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Peregrine’s Fraud Went Undetected in Two U.S. Government Reviews
Bloomberg
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission reviewed operations at Peregrine Financial Group Inc. at least twice since 2006 without detecting the fraud that led to the collapse of the futures broker and a $200 million shortfall in client funds.
http://jlne.ws/O7MhBf

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Wasendorf’s greatest legacy
By Daniel P. Collins | Futures Magazine
The news of Russ Wasendorf Sr. suicide attempt and what apparently prompted it is a shocker and another back eye for the futures industry. Russ Wasendorf Sr. was not some obscure head of a midsized future commission merchant but a seriously engaged member of the futures world. I never had a problem getting a comment from Russ. And Russ wasn’t one of those guys who grew multiple hands during an interview. He typically had strong opinions and liked to express them. Ironically many of them were on the failings of regulators, which perhaps is appropriate as he was able to maintain a fraud for more than two decades without being discovered. While there are a lot of details yet to unfold, many of us feel a little foolish now for not seeing the red flags earlier.
http://jlne.ws/O7MiFr

JLN Managed Futures

No More Scandals, Please
Douglas Ashburn

This week, the futures industry was plagued with its second major FCM scandal in nine months – this one surrounding PFGBest and its founder and CEO Russell Wasendorf, Sr. Since most readers are likely familiar with the scandal, we will simply refer you to the John Lothian Newsletter blog for recent updates.
Meanwhile, another scandal involving the manipulation of LIBOR continues to grow. Finally, some are alleging that traders at JP Morgan initially masked the extent of losses in its credit risk management trading debacle. Trust in the financial sector seems shaky at best.

But the news is not all bad. In fact, some of the news is quite good. Regulatory and customer-driven solutions to the FCM problem have begun in earnest, as the market comes to the realization that the loss of segregated funds at MF Global was not a “one-and-done” event. The popularity of alternative investments, and specifically managed futures, continues to rise. But up first, we present the first of our videos from last month’s highly successful Emerging Manager Forum London.

MarketsWiki.tv

Kevin Cook of Autumn Capital Partners Discusses Common Pitfalls for Emerging Managers
MarketsWiki.tv
Kevin Cook, partner at Autumn Capital Partners, a UK-based consulting firm for hedge funds and CTAs, discusses common pitfalls for emerging managers and the outlook for the managed futures space at the Emerging Manager Forum in London. Cook presented “The Top 10 Reasons Emerging Managers Fail” at the conference.  Interview by John Lothian News editor-in-chief Jim Kharouf.
**Special thanks to Bucky Isaacson and Frank Pusateri for their help and to the May Fair Hotel, for use of their facilities
http://jlne.ws/MAJXjc

MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Sanjeev Joshipura
http://jlne.ws/O2tnf6

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MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Jennifer Ropiak; Robert Pickel; Paul MacGregor; Ted Leveroni; Dan Hart; Cortland Capital Market Services LLC; Sanjeev Joshipura

Companies, Organizations and Groups

International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc.; NYSE Liffe; Autumn Capital Partners; Thomson Reuters; Omgeo; The Price Futures Group, Inc.; Rapid Ratings International; NYSE Liffe U.S.

Products

GCF Repo Index futures

Statistics

26,184,016 pages viewed, 6,953 articles, 144,447 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

HSBC Probe Shows Bank Allowed Money Laundering
Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) did business with firms linked to terrorism, failed to guard against money- laundering violations in Mexico and bypassed U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to U.S. Senate investigators.
http://jlne.ws/O7MhRK

Barclays executive says acted on orders on Libor
Reuters via Yahoo! News
A former Barclays executive said he ordered staff to manipulate interest rates in line with instructions from his then boss, Bob Diamond, providing an account of the scandal apparently at odds with that given by the British bank’s former chief executive.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mjcc

Exclusive: NYSE shelves plans for CFD market
FOW
NYSE Euronext has shelved plans for a retail focused electronic CFD platform just months after it was announced, FOW has learned. The market would have offered trading in contract-for-difference instruments on commodities, currency pairs and equities. Plans for the MTF, which were being developed internally under the name Tangent, were unveiled in April when the exchange group was reported to have spent £7m ($11m) on the development of the platform. However, NYSE Euronext spokesman James Dunseath confirmed today that the plans had been shelved.
http://jlne.ws/O7MhRV

Libor Collusion Can’t Be Excused by Bank Crisis: Almunia
Bloomberg
Banks that manipulated Libor and other interbank lending rates shouldn’t use the financial crisis as an excuse for collusion, the European Union’s antitrust chief said.
http://jlne.ws/O7MkNo

Bank of England’s King Testifies on Libor
By JASON DOUGLAS And PAUL HANNON – WSJ
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said Tuesday that the U.K. central bank had no evidence that banks were deliberately misreporting their borrowing costs in 2008.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mjcs

U.S. Tightens Security for Economic Data
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. – NY Times
On Tuesday morning at precisely 8:30, after a 10-second countdown synchronized to the Naval Observatory’s atomic clock, a Labor Department official will flip a master switch in the agency’s battened-down pressroom and computers will blurt out the monthly Consumer Price Index. Until that moment, the market-sensitive data will be guarded with launch-code secrecy, a precaution against anyone who might try to take advantage of an accidental or a surreptitious leak to gain an insider’s edge in the financial markets, turning milliseconds into millions.
http://jlne.ws/O7MjsY

Brokers lament French tax tour de farce
Michelle Price – Financial News
European brokers remain in the dark as to how a new French financial transaction tax will be implemented just two and a half weeks before it is due to come into effect. Two brokers have privately described the ongoing confusion as “mayhem”.
http://jlne.ws/O7Ml43

ECB Said to No Longer Oppose Imposing Losses on Bank Bondholders
Bloomberg
The European Central Bank would no longer oppose the imposition of losses on senior bondholders of euro-area banks, said two officials with knowledge of the ECB’s thinking.
http://jlne.ws/O7MjJj

Others at Peregrine Financial Being Investigated
Dow Jones Newswires
Authorities are continuing to investigate the actions of top officials at collapsed brokerage Peregrine Financial Group Inc. even though Chief Executive Russell Wasendorf Sr. said last week he was solely responsible for a decades-long fraud, according to people familiar with the investigation.
http://jlne.ws/O7MlkD

Peregrine Financial Group’s Former Employees Recall A Troubled Workplace
D.M. Levine – Huffington Post
When Leon Bressert first heard that his former employer, Peregrine Financial Group, had collapsed amid fraud allegations, he was not surprised. “I was waiting for something like that to happen,” he said.
http://jlne.ws/Ns7CWx

BATS GLOBAL MARKETS NAMES PAUL ATKINS NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN
Former SEC Commissioner Augments Parent Board
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – July 17, 2012 – BATS Global Markets, Inc. (“BATS”) announced today that its board of directors has elected Paul Atkins to the board in the role of non-executive chairman, effective immediately, further strengthening the company’s longstanding commitment to regulatory affairs.
http://jlne.ws/Ny8Q1p

Regulatory

CFTC Reviewing ‘Loophole’ in Customer-Protection Rule – Source
By Katy Burne – Dow Jones
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, seeking to restore confidence in an industry rocked by missing funds, is weighing whether to tighten one of its rules to better safeguard customers’ money held by futures brokers, according to a person familiar with the matter. The changes under consideration would be in addition to new protections the CFTC approved Friday, following allegations of fraud at Peregrine Financial Group this month and of misappropriated funds at MF Global Holdings (MFGLQ) last year.

Banks Ask CFTC to Delay Derivatives Rules
By Jamila Trindle – Dow Jones
Banks and other financial firms asked regulators for more time to comply with new derivatives rules, in a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Monday

National Futures Association announces review of FCM audit practices relating to customer segregated funds
Press Release
Today, NFA’s Chairman has requested that the Special Committee for the Protection of Customer Funds, consisting of the public representatives on NFA’s Board of Directors, retain the services of Jenner and Block, a national law firm, to conduct a careful internal review of NFA’s audit practices and procedures, and the execution of those procedures in the specific instance of PFG, to assure that the right procedures are in place and that they are being properly followed.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mkgh

British Lawmakers Take Aim at Regulators
New York Times
The relationship between regulators and banks came under scrutiny on Monday when senior officials from the Financial Services Authority of Britain testified before Parliament about the rate-rigging scandal.
http://jlne.ws/O7MlRz

FSA’s Turner Orders Probe into Missed Warnings
Dow Jones
The chairman of the Financial Services Authority said Monday that he has ordered an investigation into how the regulator missed repeated warnings from Barclays PLC staff that the London Interbank Offered Rate was being manipulated by banks.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mm7S

SEC: Paul A. Beswick Named Acting Chief Accountant
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro today announced the appointment of Paul A. Beswick as the Acting Chief Accountant in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant. In his new role, Mr. Beswick will oversee accounting interpretations, international accounting matters, and professional practice issues. Mr. Beswick replaces James L. Kroeker, who left the SEC last Friday.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mkgw

Treasury’s Miller Juggles Volcker With Housing Overhaul
Bloomberg
Mary Miller knows all about risk. As an executive at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. during the 2008 financial crisis, she reassured worried bond traders and portfolio managers when a competitor, the $62.5 billion Reserve Primary Fund, failed after investing in the debt of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
http://jlne.ws/O7MkwV

Broadridge Publishes Research on Potential Impact of RDR Chapter 5 Regulation
Broadridge Financial Solutions , Inc. today announced the publication of an industry white paper that explores UK market views on the specific requirements set out in Chapter 5 (Investing in authorised funds through nominees) of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).
http://jlne.ws/O7Mnst

State Aid: European Commission Invites Comments On Use Of State Aid Rules For Supporting Risk Capital Investments
http://jlne.ws/O7Mnsz

Wolin OP-ED: ‘Capital Can’t Be The Only Line Of Defense’
http://jlne.ws/O7MnsD

ASIC review of unlisted property MIS sector
http://jlne.ws/O7MmFb

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

London Stock Exchange Group’s Millenniumit Technology Goes Live At Three Exchanges On Three Continents
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) today announces that three exchanges on three continents, Borsa Italiana, Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Mongolian Stock Exchange have, within the last month, successfully migrated to the Group’s ultra-low latency, high performance trading platform, Millennium Exchange.
http://jlne.ws/O7MmVz

ICE Futures Europe Announces NER 300 Auction on Behalf of European Investment Bank
IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global regulated futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, today announced that ICE Futures Europe will host auctions for NER 300 sales on behalf of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
http://jlne.ws/O7MmVI

MGEX Announces New Apple Juice Concentrate Contract Listing on Globex
MGEX, a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), announced the listing of its new Apple Juice Concentrate (AJC) futures and options contract on the CME Globex trading platform which will be available for trade starting Monday, August 13, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mnc5

DGCX launches first derivatives trading Academy in Middle East
DUBAI (Commodity Online): Dubai Gold & Commodity Exchange (DGCX) has launched the DGCX Academy, the first of the kind in the region, aims at extending the benefits of derivatives trading to wider business and investment community in the Middle East.
http://jlne.ws/PcIYKn

EEX: Second round of NER 300 auctions announced for August and September
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) is pleased to announce that a second round of auctions for the NER 300 Initiative will be held on the auction platform starting on 6 August.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mncd

Equity options exercise totals BRL 3.78 billion on BM&FBOVESPA
The equity options exercise today in the BOVESPA segment totaled BRL 3.78 billion, of which BRL 2.39 billion in call options and BRL 1.38 billion in put options.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mq7L

Burgundy : Reducing Opening Hours For The Norwegian Segments
As from 6 August, Burgundy will reduce the opening hours for the Norwegian segments with one hour, and close at 16:19:59 CET.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mq7V

KCBT Raises Minimum Margins for HRW Wheat Old Crop/New Crop Spreads
http://jlne.ws/O7Mowz

[CBOE] All-Or-None (AON) Orders
http://jlne.ws/O7Mqoc

BME Chairman Antonio Zoido Is Elected Chairman Of The University Of Extremadura’s Social Council
http://jlne.ws/O7Mqoi

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Remembering My Old Buddy, Barton Biggs
Forbes
I’m probably the only guy who remembers that Barton was a tow-head good looker, fresh out of Yale and the Marines with two ash blonde babies pictured on his desk. Barton and I were half the institutional research department at E. F. Hutton.
http://jlne.ws/O7MoN9

Barton Biggs, Colorful Troubador of The Stock Market
Forbes
Barton Biggs’ erudite, witty and extraordinarily well-informed insights into the financial markets were must reading for professional investors for many decades. As the Morgan Stanley chief investment strategist, he was bold instead of conventional, and had a most sophisticated ironic take on the happenings of finance. For me he was the [...]
http://jlne.ws/O7MoNe

Barton Biggs’ Strategic Successors
By Jonathan Cheng – WSJ
Barton Biggs, who passed away on Saturday at 79, helped give the role of global strategist a new prominence. He established Morgan Stanley’s research department, and founded Morgan Stanley Investment Management in 1975.
http://jlne.ws/O7MqEF

CalPERS Reports Preliminary 2011-12 Fiscal Year Performance Of 1 Percent – Real Estate Portfolio Earns Nearly 16 Percent Exceeding Benchmark
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) today reported a 1 percent return on investments for the 12 months that ended June 30, 2012, falling short of its benchmark that returned 1.7 percent. CalPERS assets at the end of the fiscal year stood at more than $233 billion.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mp3C

Libor scandal riles Calpers chief investment officer
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The biggest U.S. public pension fund will seek damages if it finds it has been hurt by the Libor scandal, its chief investment officer said on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mp3H

Supercycle runs out of steam – for now
By Javier Blas – Financial Times
Citius, altius, fortius. Mirroring the official motto of the Olympic Games, the commodities market has been “faster, higher and stronger” during the past decade. Never in the modern history of the global economy has the price of so many commodities – from oil, to metals, to agriculture – risen as much and stayed as high for so long.
http://jlne.ws/O7MqEV

Europe: When losing money makes sense
CNN
There is a remarkable trend developing in European bond markets, where investors are increasingly willing to lend money to certain governments in exchange for next to nothing.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mpkk

Hedge Funds Tap Into Early Views of Stock Analysts
New York Times
Polling analysts on their outlooks for a given company has become a way for large Wall Street firms to discover trading advantages from information that might not be public yet.
http://jlne.ws/O7MqVl

Short Sales on NYSE Top 2011 Peak as September Bets Lost 21%
Whitney Kisling – Bloomberg
Short sales on the New York Stock Exchange have climbed above last September’s peak, a level that preceded a five-month rally and heralded losses for bears.
http://jlne.ws/O7MpAN

Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund Asset Flows Through June 2012
Morningstar, Inc. (MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows through June 2012. Long-term mutual funds recorded their lowest monthly intake year to date with just $10.8 billion in new money, and money market funds saw outflows of $30.1 billion after tepid May inflows of $1.4 billion.
http://jlne.ws/O7MpAO

IMF – Global Financial Stability Report – GFSR Market Update – Intense Financial Risks: Time For Action
http://jlne.ws/O7MpR6

Calvert Investments Hires Vishal Khanduja as Fixed Income Portfolio Manager
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Calvert Investments announced today that Vishal Khanduja has joined its taxable fixed income portfolio management team as Portfolio Manager.
http://jlne.ws/O7MpRl

Banks & Brokers

DealBook: Royal Bank of Scotland Fighting Bid for Data in Libor Case
International Herald Tribune
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is largely owned by the British government, is refusing to turn over crucial information to Canadian regulators.
http://jlne.ws/O7MsMP

Banks reconsider Libor panels, RBS pulls out
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Banks weighed up the reputational risks from an opaque benchmarking system at the centre of a global rate-rigging scandal as Royal Bank of Scotland pulled out of a Singapore panel setting interbank lending rates.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mrse

JPMorgan losses clip banks’ efforts to fight derivatives reform
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Banks are finding it harder to fight proposed reforms of the $300 trillion U.S. privately traded derivatives market because of outrage over JPMorgan’s credit derivatives losses. Lobbying efforts continue, nonetheless, as many important rules have not been hammered out.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mrsi

Seven Banks Under U.K. Libor Investigation as FSA Criticized
Bloomberg
The U.K. financial regulator said it’s investigating seven banks over attempts to manipulate interbank offered rates as lawmakers criticized it for not opening the probe earlier.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mrsr

Goldman Sachs to build up private banking arm: WSJ
Market Watch
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is seeking to build up its private banking services, including lending to individuals and corporations, in a push to broaden its appeal among wealthy customers and shift away from reliance upon trading activities and corporate deal making, according to a report Tuesday in The Wall Street Journa
http://jlne.ws/O7Mrsu

JPMorgan sued over pushing in-house funds on clients
Reuters via Yahoo! News
A former brokerage client has sued JPMorgan Chase & Co for allegedly steering him and other investors to overpriced, underperforming funds to boost the bank’s fees and profits.
http://jlne.ws/O7MrIM

Carly Fiorina: It’s Time to Look at the Board
CNBC
In light of the recent scandals at Barclays, JPMorgan Chase, and others, the obvious question that must be asked is: Where was the board?
http://jlne.ws/O7MrIR

Citigroup earns $2.9 billion in Q2, beats Street
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
Citigroup made $2.9 billion from April through June and exceeded Wall Street estimates, helped by lowering the amount it keeps aside for loan losses because more of its customers paid back loans on time.
http://jlne.ws/O7MtjS

Citigroup’s CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript
Seeking Alpha
http://jlne.ws/O7MtjV

Citigroup’s Lost Years
BusinessWeek
Citigroup’s suffering shareholders might be compelled to seek comfort from how the bank has overcome centuries of brushes with death. After all, some four years into its recapitalization, a shrunken Citi is still trying—desperately—to find its footing.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mtk3

Citigroup Cranks Up the Lending
Wall Street Journal Blogs
Citigroup is lending. The nation’s third biggest bank by assets reported total loans on its balance sheet up a slim 1%, but below that figure are several levels of strong growth, including in consumer loans.
http://jlne.ws/O7MrZv

Citigroup says it’s cooperating with Libor probe
Market Watch
Senior executives at Citigroup Inc. told analysts on a Monday conference call that they should not infer from the situation of one Libor-submitting bank that every bank is in a similar position.
http://jlne.ws/O7MsfT

Carlos Arrizurieta Joins Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management as Private Banker in Miami
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management today announced that Carlos Arrizurieta has joined the firm’s U.S. Private Bank as a Managing Director and Private Banker, focusing on wealth management solutions for high-net-worth individuals and families.
http://jlne.ws/O7MtQT

BofA Merrill Lynch Loses Rocks to Nomura
Wall Street Journal Blogs
News Limited Tim Rocks Sydney-based Bank of America Merrill Lynch managing director and equity strategist Tim Rocks, known for his “Rocks on Stocks” notes, has been poached by Japanese investment bank Nomura, people familiar with the matter said.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mswl

Clearing & Settlement

LCH.Clearnet’s ForexClear breaks $50 bn notional cleared
LCH.Clearnet Limited’s (LCH.Clearnet) ForexClear service has exceeded $50 billion in cleared notional of FX NDFs since launching only four months ago on 19 March 2012. With 14 members clearing across six currencies, the service has seen a marked acceleration in daily volumes in the last month as FX market participants have become accustomed to the processes around clearing.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mswz

World’s First Cleared LNG Swap Trades – Settles on ICIS East Asia Index
The world’s first cleared LNG swap traded on 16 July. The contract settles on the ICIS East Asia Index (EAX) for physical LNG. The deal was brokered by Tradition over the CME Direct trading platform and has been cleared by CME Europe.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mu7p

CME Group Clearing Advisory
NYMEX Options Expiration Operational Procedures for the Trading Floor and Clearing Members (LO) Effective Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Indexes & Products

A Game Of Two Halves For FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index – Index Saw 15.1 Percent Increase In Q1 2012 With 11.4 Percent Decrease In Q2 – June Closed Up Six Percent
http://jlne.ws/O7Muo0

First RQFII A-share ETF To Debut At HKEx
http://jlne.ws/O7MvII

Technology

Maple Financial Group Selects SunGard’s Apex to Support its Securities Finance Operations Globally
Maple Financial Group, a privately held global financial organization, has selected SunGard’s Apex securities finance solution for its operations in Frankfurt, London, Toronto and New Jersey.
http://jlne.ws/O7MvYZ

Grupo Financiero Interacciones Goes Live on SunGard’s Ambit Asset Liability Management
Grupo Financiero Interacciones, a leading financial services provider in Mexico and a long standing customer of SunGard’s Ambit Operational Risk Management solution, has implemented SunGard’s Ambit Asset Liability Management (ALM) solution.
http://jlne.ws/O7MvZ7

Cinnober’s Clearing Technology Wins The Technical Battle At LME – Cinnober And TRADExpress RealTime Clearing Selected In Competition With 20 Technology Vendors
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has today announced the appointment of Cinnober as LME’s technology provider for their new clearinghouse, LME Clear.
http://jlne.ws/O7MuED

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Acquires FinArch
Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, a leading worldwide provider of comprehensive risk management, compliance and audit solutions for the financial services industry, today announced the acquisition of FinArch, a leading provider of integrated finance, risk and performance measurement solutions that enable financial institutions to manage, measure and report all financial activities.
http://jlne.ws/O7MvZh

Enforcement

Federal Court In California Orders Las Vegas Resident Gordon A. Driver And His Companies To Pay Over $41 Million In Restitution And Penalties In Commodity Pool Ponzi Scheme – Court Permanently Bars Defendants From Commodities Industry
http://jlne.ws/O7MuUY

Former Major League Baseball Player Lenny Dykstra Pleads Guilty in Federal Court to Bankruptcy Fraud and Money Laundering
U.S. Attorney’s Office July 13, 2012 Central District of California (213) 894-2434
LOS ANGELES—Lenny Kyle Dykstra, an All-Star outfielder who played for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, pleaded guilty today to bankruptcy fraud and other federal charges for selling items pilfered from his mansions in Ventura County.
http://jlne.ws/Lvh246

Green energy company found guilty of failing to lodge reports with ASIC
http://jlne.ws/O7MuV1

Self-managed super adviser pleads guilty to ASIC charges
http://jlne.ws/O7Mwwd

ASIC cancels Australian credit licence of Sydney broker
http://jlne.ws/O7Mvbv

Sydney financial adviser permanently banned
http://jlne.ws/O7MwMB

Sydney woman permanently banned from credit activities
http://jlne.ws/O7MwMH

Environmental & Energy

Low-key carbon tax talks fuel conservative outcry
Politico
Nobody expects the idea to be enacted anytime soon, but some liberal and conservative thinkers are having a quiet, informal dialogue about imposing a tax on industrial carbon emissions.
http://jlne.ws/MBz9jO

GOP leaders slam the door on carbon taxes
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Capitol Hill’s most powerful Republicans say advocates who have been discussing a carbon tax behind closed doors are wasting their breath.
http://jlne.ws/O5GcUd

Mexico’s historic climate law: an analysis
Environmental Defense Fund
While environmental issues were not center stage in Mexico’s recent election, Mexico’s new president, whether he is yet aware of it or not, will inherit a tremendous opportunity for win-wins on environmental stewardship and combating the country’s pressing economic challenges through Mexico’s new climate law.
http://jlne.ws/Ne3Rpl

Asia-Pacific

China Cracks Down on Money-Smuggling Ring
By LINGLING WEI – WSJ
A court in the Chinese city of Chongqing convicted a group of 18 people on Tuesday of running a nearly $10 billion money-smuggling ring, according to an attorney involved in the case, in one of the authorities’ highest-profile moves yet to clamp down on the illegal flow of money across its borders.
http://jlne.ws/O7MvbF

IMF cuts China forecast, ‘hard landing’ possible
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for China’s slowing economy Monday and said a “hard landing” was still possible.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mx3a

GLG unveils equity investment team in Asia
GLG Partners (“GLG”), the Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) authorised and regulated investment manager division of Man Group plc (“Man”) today announces a series of appointments in Asia to form a long-short equities team focused on fundamental stockpicking.
http://jlne.ws/O7My7a

MarketPrizm Continues To Expand Its Team In Asia
MarketPrizm, a leading provider of market data and trading infrastructure services, today announced that Cindy Yeo has joined the company as Director, Exchange Management & Data Products, Asia.
http://jlne.ws/O7MxjE

Export-Import Bank Of Korea To Launch New A$ 2015 Kangaroo Issue
FOX Business
The Export-Import Bank of Korea plans to launch a new Australian dollar kangaroo bond, one of its joint lead managers said Tuesday.
http://jlne.ws/O7MxjL

HKEx: Status Report On New Product And Market Development Initiatives (Status As Of 30 June 2012)
http://jlne.ws/O7MxAd

HKEx Publishes Latest Edition Of Its Publication – Exchange
http://jlne.ws/O7MynS

Hong Kong’s Securities And Futures Commission: Fund Management Business Continues To Develop Despite Challenges In 2011
http://jlne.ws/O7MxQF

Frontier Markets

Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Launches Options On Crude Palm Oil Futures
http://jlne.ws/O7MxQL

Jim Rogers: ‘Myanmar best investment opportunity in the world’
Nasdaq
In an exclusive interview with OilPrice.com, Jim Rogers declared Myanmar to be the best investment opportunity in the world , with North Korea not far behind.
http://jlne.ws/O7MAMj

Window of Opportunity In Mongolia: James Passin
Resource Investor
Investor fears about mining stocks are misplaced, says the hedge fund manager with New York-based Firebird Management, especially if those companies are mining in Mongolia, one of the fastest growing economies with some of the most extensive, untapped resources.
http://jlne.ws/O7MB2M

DGCX Launches Middle East’s First Derivatives Trading Academy
http://jlne.ws/O7MyUJ

Clearstream Facilitates Market Evolution In The Middle East
Clearstream continues to facilitate the creation of a Middle Eastern financial market infrastructure: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank has joined Clearstream’s triparty repo service as a new cash provider. The first trade was executed in Q2/2012 with Commerzbank Dubai and will contribute to the further evolution of a Middle Eastern triparty repo market.
http://jlne.ws/O7MBjl

Palestine Exchange Ramadan Schedule
http://jlne.ws/O7MyUW

Miscellaneous

Stephen R. Covey, Herald of Good Habits, Dies at 79
By DOUGLAS MARTIN – NY Times
Mr. Covey had an enduring best seller in “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” a synthesis of self-help and business literature.
http://jlne.ws/O7Mzbr

Corporate Board Member Introduces Board Diversity Initiative
This week Corporate Board Member, an NYSE Euronext Company, is hoping to debunk the myth that there is a shortage of qualified diverse boardroom candidates to meet the needs of today’s U.S. corporations. The first “Moving the Needle: Building Effective Boards with Qualified Diverse Candidates” event on July 18-19 at the New York Stock Exchange will introduce a pool of qualified candidates recommended by public company CEOs, chairmen, and related parties to search firms and nominating/governance committee members in the public company arena.
http://jlne.ws/O7MBjA

NYSE Euronext’s Krish Venkataraman to be Keynote Speaker at GDS International’s Second Chief Financial Officer Summit in July
On the 24th to the 26th of July, North America’s leading executives will convene at the Evergreen Marriot Resort in Atlanta, Georgia, to attend GDS International’s second Chief Financial Officer (CFO US2) summit.
http://jlne.ws/O7MzrN

How To Get A Job At A Hedge Fund
Forbes
Hedge fun hiring is down, but it hasn’t ground to a halt. In June, hedge fund job listings on finance careers website eFinancialcareers.com totaled 400. Can you get a job at one of these secretive outfits? Here are tips on how best to go about it.
http://jlne.ws/O7MBzZ