Industry news

August 9, 2012: CME tests support for aluminum contract to rival LME; UBS traders offered deal by U.S. in interest rate probe; SEC to hold post-Knight forum

CME Group considers building an aluminum contract to compete with a decades-old industry leading product at the LME.  US investigators into the LIBOR mess are said to be offering UBS traders immunity and protection deals in exchange for assistance in bringing down bigger game within the organization.  The SEC plans an industry forum to search for answers and solutions to high-frequency trading risks.  And in First Read, you’ll find cats dressed up in taco suits; an essay by Jon Matte in which he considers the case of Benjamin Lawsky vs. mutually-beneficial settlements; and a fresh MarketsWiki.tv interview with Eirvin Knox of Ambata Capital Partners, who talks about renewable energy in the Middle East and Africa.

First Read

Crime and Either Punishment, or a Reasonable Facsimile Thereof
Jonathan Matte

They busted a guy, finally, for burglary in our neighborhood.

A lot of people around here knew who he was; he was living in the neighborhood that he was stealing from.  On his days off from work, he would wait until mid-morning for his neighbors to head out, and then he’d start checking houses.  Anything of value he could carry away without attracting a lot of attention, he would just grab.  He kept some of what he took, and sold the rest online and at pawn shops.  Turns out he’d been doing it for a couple of years.

The cops got him because a few people in the neighborhood set up surveillance cameras in their homes just in case they got robbed.  The quality of those cameras nowadays is really good, so they had crystal-clear pictures and videos of this guy roaming around and taking things. They were able to connect the dots between stuff that he took with his online sales, too.

The police took several months to get their case together; it was really important to make sure the evidence was complete.  As they built their case, they talked to and worked with the suspect.  They kept him informed of the progress made in the investigation, and he cooperated with them by providing key information and details.  Once they were done and were ready to bring him down, they had meetings with him to discuss the best way to proceed.  After all, he’d stolen and sold tens of thousands of dollars of other people’s property.

In the end, they decided not to arrest and convict him because of the additional cost of bringing him to trial. Instead, the city charged him a $500 fine, sent him a letter warning him never to steal again, and made him sign a paper saying he accepted the terms of the settlement.  They didn’t make him give back any of the stolen goods, though, since most of that had already been sold or had the serial numbers stripped off.

For the rest of the essay, and to find out what any of this has to do with financial news, head to the John Lothian Newsletter blog at http://jlne.ws/O6DZMu

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Really, Cat Tacos?
You can tell when I have been away from the office too long.  Strange things happen.  For instance….Cat Tacos.

What, you say?  The new video for JLN Environmental/Energy features a new advertising bumper that starts out with a cat in a taco outfit.  This is supposed to represent a humorous aspect of the early days of video on the Internet.  From there we tell you the story of John Lothian Productions and what we can do for you.

What I first saw the video, when it was online, I was aghast.  I am not a cat person, even cute ones in videos.  Actually, I am allergic to cats.  Their presence around me makes it hard for me to breathe.  As you can imagine, I don’t like that so I don’t like them.

But my team decided to use a video of a cat in a taco suit to make a point about bad video, and a point about good video.  

Let me know what you think.  Does this tell our story, using humor to get your attention?  Or is it something else?

Here is the link: http://jlne.ws/QGiSzV

What I want to know, and still don’t know, who on my team thought this up?  I figure the Chicago staff is going to somehow blame it on Jon Matte in Norway.

~John J. Lothian

***Norway Jon says:  Cat Taco!!!1!1!

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When Regulators Go Rogue
By DAVID WEIDNER – WSJ
Benjamin Lawsky made one of the most exciting entrances to the regulatory game since a young attorney general by the name of Eliot Spitzer burst onto the scene in 1998. And like Mr. Spitzer before him, Mr. Lawsky’s independence has the potential to upend the way Wall Street is policed.
http://jlne.ws/NpCofA

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Mike Daly, 53, Was A Gold Specialist And Kitco Contributor
By Debbie Carlson and Allen Sykora Of Kitco News
Mike Daly started his career in the financial markets while a late teenager and at 21 he joined J. Aron, the former Goldman Sachs subsidiary, to learn to trade metals. At the time J.Aron was one of the biggest metals traders in the world and he learned to arbitrage gold between the Chicago and New York gold markets. “Big financial institutions don’t just give those jobs to anyone. He had talent as a young kid on the floor,” said Sean Lusk, equity index analyst at Iron Beam and colleague of Mr. Daly’s.
http://jlne.ws/NpCofC

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New milestones achieved in Eurex’s Futures on French government bonds
The international derivatives market Eurex Exchange announced today that it has set several new records in its Euro-OAT Futures. In August 2012, open interest exceeded for the first time the 100,000 threshold with 104,869 contracts. Trading volume in July also set a new record, both in average daily volume with about 19,600 contracts and in total with 431,000 contracts. Total volume since launch is close to 1.5 million contracts.
http://jlne.ws/NpCm7u

**** Another success story for a new contract.  Something we have not seen for far too long.

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DealBook: Indian Financial Exchange Trades Accusations With Economist
New York Times
Multi Commodity Exchange sued the economist Ajay Shah claiming defamation, but the Mr. Shah says the case is just a legal means to silence a critic.
http://jlne.ws/NpCm7w

**** It is a good thing I am not in India, as we have also been critical of certain related enterprises.  Also, it is my assertion that you can’t have truly free markets without a free press.  

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Comment: Anatomy of a HFT Knightmare
Christopher Nagy – FT.com
Post “flash crash” there were a number of brilliantly designed proposals to help fix the problem so a repeat would not be possible. In all, the regulators implemented well over a dozen rules designed to slow things down and allow the human to react to the reality of the situation. But none of those fixes seem to be curing the next successive issue. Why?
http://jlne.ws/NpCofL

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Dealers seek clearing exemption for new TriOptima service
Michael Watt – Risk magazine
Dealers are hoping to save a new service from Stockholm-based infrastructure firm, TriOptima, which promises huge reductions in counterparty risk – and collateral demand – but only if granted an exemption from incoming rules that require central clearing for all standardised over-the-counter derivatives.
http://jlne.ws/NpCm7B

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Herman Pretorius, South African Hedge Fund Manager, Shot Partner, Himself Over Alleged Ponzi Scheme
Huffington Post
South African hedge fund manager Herman Pretorius allegedly shot and killed his business partner Julian Williams before turning the gun on himself after regulators launched an investigation into his firm, Relative Value Arbitrage Fund, according to Forbes.
http://jlne.ws/OMUnxJ

**** Crime and punishment, self inflicted style.

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Uncle Ben wants us to be happy
Al Lewis – MarketWatch
In a kingdom, far, far away, economists measure happiness. “An interesting and unique case is the Kingdom of Bhutan, which abandoned tracking gross national product in 1972 in favor of its gross national happiness index,” noted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a speech he recently recorded for the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth in Cambridge, Mass. Read Bernanke’s speech.
http://jlne.ws/NpCow4

MarketsWiki.tv

Eirvin Knox of Ambata Capital Partners Discusses Renewable Energy in the Middle East and Africa
MarketsWiki.tv
Eirvin Knox has been the in the international banking business for more than 30 years, spending the past decade in the Middle East, as CEO of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Knox currently serves as CEO of Ambata Capital Middle East, a division of the global investment and advisory firm, Ambata Capital Partners. Knox focuses on clean energy and sustainability projects in the Middle East and Africa. He spoke with JLN Environmental/Energy editor Jim Kharouf at the 2012 Emerging Managers Forum in London about renewable and sustainable energy projects and the prominent role they are taking in the region.
http://jlne.ws/QGiSzV

CFTC Rule 1.73: Jim Downs of Connamara Systems Talks About New Options Rule
MarketsWiki.tv
A little known CFTC rule (Rule 1.73), part of the Dodd-Frank Act, is gaining attention of futures brokers. Jim Downs, founder and CEO of Connamara Systems, explains the basics of Rule 1.73, which will force FCMs and swaps participants to create new market-based limits on options positions, as well as monitor liquidation costs, options stress tests and other compliance elements. Downs talks about the key components of the new rule, which goes into effect on October 1, and what impact it may have on the industry.  Interview by John Lothian News editor-in-chief Jim Kharouf.
http://jlne.ws/OKVhLx

JLN Options

S.Korea to start taxing Kospi 200 futures, options in 2016
Se Young Lee, Reuters
South Korea will start taxing popular stock price index options and futures transactions from 2016 as part of changes to tax rules following an annual review, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/ThyjhO

Indian corporates turn to forex options
Justin Lee, Risk.net
A precipitous fall in the value of the rupee combined with a restrictive regulatory framework for forex hedging has prompted Indian corporates to pile into the options market
http://jlne.ws/QfNZ11

Time may be ripe to buy low-cost option protection
Doris Frankel, Reuters
With major stock benchmarks close to four-year highs and the option market’s barometer of fear in a summer slumber, strategists say it may be a good time to pick up low-cost portfolio insurance for the year-end.
http://jlne.ws/ThCzOv

MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Luis Palha da Silva
http://jlne.ws/MwakGH

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MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Michael North; David Cummings; Eirv Knox; Luís Palha da Silva; Sanford I. Weill

Companies, Organizations and Groups

Singapore Exchange Limited; New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.; NYMEX Natural Gas Futures

Miscellaneous

Job Postings

Statistics

27,072,687 pages viewed, 7,028 articles, 146,027 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

CME tests support for aluminum contract to rival LME: sources
Reuters via Yahoo! News
CME Group Inc has canvassed traders in recent weeks about the viability of an aluminum contract to rival that of the London Metal Exchange, which has dominated the $80 billion market for decades, industry sources said.
http://jlne.ws/NpCow6

UBS traders offered deal by U.S. in interest rate probe: WSJ
Reuters via Yahoo! News
U.S. prosecutors have offered several former junior UBS AG employees protection from criminal charges in exchange for their cooperation with their expanding probe into alleged interest-rate manipulation, the Wall Street Journal reported.
http://jlne.ws/NpCm7E

SEC to hold post-Knight forum
Michael Mackenzie in New York – FT.com
A week after Knight Capital incurred a $440m loss from erroneous electronic trades the main regulator of US equity markets said on Wednesday it will host an industry forum next month to explore ways to safeguard automated systems.
http://jlne.ws/NpCm7F

Who are the true villains of the StanChart tragedy?
Frank Partnoy – FT.com
Media commentators and bank analysts have suggested that the evil actors in this drama were the employees who did the “repairs” and the managers who supervised them. Others have absolved Standard Chartered, accepting the bank’s argument that the scope of wrongdoing was minimal and had nothing to do with terrorism. But the New York regulators’ order centres on the bank’s general counsel and compliance offices. This focus on lawyers is important.
http://jlne.ws/NpCm7I

How a Lax Banking Law Obscured Money Flow – NYTimes.com
By JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG and EDWARD WYATT – NY Times
The list of global banks that have been accused in recent years of laundering foreign transactions totaling billions of dollars has been growing — Credit Suisse, Lloyds, Barclays, ING, HSBC — and now Standard Chartered.
http://jlne.ws/NpCowd

What’s Next in the Standard Chartered Case
By PETER J. HENNING – NY Times
The order issued to Standard Chartered by Benjamin M. Lawsky, the superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, creates a problem for the federal government in its own investigations of the bank. Mr. Lawsky accused the bank of operating “as a rogue institution” in its dealings with Iranian customers in violation of federal law, and seeks to revoke its license to do business in New York.
http://jlne.ws/NpCowf

Court to consider $160 million MF Global pact with CME
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd’s broker-dealer unit on Wednesday urged a bankruptcy judge to approve a settlement under which exchange regulator CME Group Inc would return $160 million to the unit’s estate.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmnY

Libor system has ceased to work: BoE’s King
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The Libor system as a measure of interbank lending costs has ceased to work since the financial crisis and a fix needs to be found to support existing contracts based on the rate, Bank of England governor Mervyn King said on Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmo1

Libor Plaintiffs May Refer to Barclays Accord, Judge Rules
Bloomberg
Investors suing banks over Libor rate manipulation may refer to last month’s settlement involving Barclays Plc as they seek to fend off the banks’ requests to dismiss the claims, a Manhattan federal judge ruled.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmo2

U.S. judge in Libor cases puts new lawsuits on hold
Reuters via Yahoo! News
A federal judge on Wednesday suspended several new lawsuits that allege banks rigged key interest rates, saying she first needed to sort through the issues in an earlier round of related lawsuits.
http://jlne.ws/NpCowk

Wasendorf Receiver Gains Right to Cash in Life Insurance
Bloomberg
Russell Wasendorf Sr.’s court- appointed receiver won permission from a federal judge to begin liquidating the Peregrine Financial Group Inc. founder’s assets, starting with a life insurance policy and a jet plane.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmo5

Draghi’s shrewd move
Michael Casey – MarketWatch
“It was not a decision. It was guidance.” So said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi last week as he addressed a reporter’s question on what the ECB’s governing council had just decided — er, guided — regarding purchases of euro-zone governments’ bonds.
http://jlne.ws/NpCown

High Frequency Trading: Wall Street’s Doomsday Machine?
Time Magazine
Another week, another Wall Street scandal, and another opportunity for pundits to bemoan the incompetence and venality of America’s financial professionals. Last Wednesday’s near collapse of Knight Capital Partners – in which a bug in one of its high-frequency trading algorithms caused the firm too loose $440 million – has raised concerns about high frequency trading and what the practice means for the safety and trustworthiness of our financial markets.
http://jlne.ws/NpCoMF

Regulatory

CFTC Requests Public Comment on Cantor Clearinghouse, LP Petition to Amend its Order of Registration as a Derivatives Clearing Organization
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is asking for public comment on a petition submitted by Cantor Clearinghouse LP (Cantor), for an amendment to its order of registration as a derivatives clearing organization. Specifically, Cantor is requesting that the Commission’s Order of Registration which restricts Cantor’s clearing activities to media-related contracts only, be amended to permit it to clear Foreign Exchange Spot Index Binary Flex Options.
http://jlne.ws/O3zK4f

SEC to Host Market Technology Roundtable
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will host a technology roundtable next month to discuss ways to promote stability in markets that rely on highly automated systems.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmoe

U.S. Federal Reserve Board Extends Comment Period On Three Proposed Capital Rules Rulemakings Until October 22, 2012
http://jlne.ws/NpCmof

ESMA Publishes Update On MiFID Waivers From Pre-Trade Transparency
ESMA published todays a revision of its waiver document
http://jlne.ws/NpCoML

FESE Response To ESMA Consultation Paper On EMIR Technical Standards
http://jlne.ws/NpCoMM

ASIC consults on FOFA reforms
http://jlne.ws/NpCmEs

ASIC reviews asset consultants
http://jlne.ws/NpCoMN

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

NYSE Euronext Announces Trading Volumes for July 2012
NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced trading volumes for its global derivatives and cash equities exchanges for July 2012. Trading volumes in July 2012 were down year-over-year and month-over-month across all primary trading venues. NYSE Euronext global derivatives ADV in July 2012 of 7.0 million contracts decreased 12.0% compared to July 2011 and decreased 15.8% from June 2012 levels.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmEw

CME Group Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.45 per share, payable September 25, 2012, to shareholders of record September 10, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmEz

The AX Trading Network Records Its First Million Share Day
AX Trading LLC announced today that it had its first day of trading over 1 million shares. According to Bloomberg trade advertising service, AX Trading traded 1,123,200 shares on August 7, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/NpCoMT

NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions Introduces Leading Board Portal To Iberian Market
NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions announced today that Brisa, one of the largest tolled motorway operators in the world, will be the first company in Portugal and the Iberian market to implement Directors Desk, one of the world’s leading board portals.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmEH

New Chair For New Zealand’s Financial Adviser Code Committee
http://jlne.ws/NpCp38

[CBOE] Equity and ETF LEAPS Listing Schedule for All Cycles
http://jlne.ws/NpCp39

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Busson Talking Tie-Ups Shows Decline of Hedge-Fund Middlemen
Bloomberg
Arpad Busson, one of the biggest names in an industry that funnels billions of dollars to hedge funds, is finding raising cash has gotten a lot harder, and not just for charity. Underperformance in the past four years has investors doubting the value of so-called funds-of-funds as middlemen, spurring a wave of consolidation and forcing firms to redefine their business. Busson’s EIM SA has lost about two-thirds of its assets since 2008, and he said it may not remain a stand-alone company.
http://jlne.ws/NpCp3d

Hedge Fund Fight Over Madoff Claims Shows Contract Woes
Bloomberg via Yahoo! Finance
Hedge funds Perry Capital LLC and Solus Alternative Asset Management LP are fighting over whether they had a contract when they agreed to trade $195 million of claims on Bernard Madoff’s bankrupt firm, amid rising prices on the claims.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmV4

BNP Fund Freeze Shrinks Holdings Five Years After Crisis Ignited
Bloomberg
When a Brookfield Investment Management Inc. analyst saw bonds of Accuride Corp., the wheel manufacturer in Evansville, Indiana, at 94 cents on the dollar in December, he decided it was time to buy. The problem was the price wasn’t real. The debt was only available at 104 cents. Five years after BNP Paribas SA (BNP) marked the start of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression by halting withdrawals from three investment funds that owned subprime mortgage securities, repercussions are lingering in the credit markets. What investors see still isn’t what they can get.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmV6

Banks See Opportunity in Hedge Funds in Asia
Wall Street Journal Blogs
With business slow, bankers in Hong Kong are betting on the growth of offerings for hedge funds, including stock trading, lending shares and leveraged finance.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmV7

Citigroup Sells $158 Million of Mortgages to Fund Venture
Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. , the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets, sold $158 million of mortgages to a joint venture of two investment funds as the lender disposes of unwanted home loans.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmVa

Bet on Platinum’s Fall Is Anti-Euro Wager
CAROLYN CUI – WSJ.com
Some hedge funds have found a new venue to wager on a worsening outlook for Europe: the platinum market.
http://jlne.ws/NpCp3i

TIAA-CREF Names Skip Spriggs as Head of Human Resources
TIAA-CREF, a leading financial services provider, today announced the appointment of Otha T. “Skip” Spriggs III as executive vice president, chief human resources officer. Spriggs will report to TIAA-CREF Chief Executive Officer Roger W. Ferguson Jr. and serve on the company’s executive management team. He starts his new role on September 10, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/NpCp3k

Banks & Brokers

In London, Censure of an Elite Bank Draws Harrumphs
By LANDON THOMAS Jr. – NY Times
In this summer of revelations about bad behavior by British financial institutions, bashing the banks has been London’s other Olympic sport. But now that a state regulator in New York has accused Standard Chartered, one of London’s most reputable banks, of colluding with Iran, Britain seems to be drawing a line against what many here consider American overreaching.
http://jlne.ws/NpCp3m

Knight talks to advisers on outside trade review
Market Watch
Knight Capital Group Inc. is in talks with external advisers to augment an internal review of the wayward-trading episode that nearly drove it out of business last week, according to a note sent to clients.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmVf

Exclusive: UBS, State Street discussed asset management merger
Reuters via Yahoo! News
UBS was in talks with State Street Corp about a possible combination of their asset management businesses, but those talks fell through in June, according to two people familiar with the situation.
http://jlne.ws/NpCmVh

Fannie Mae posts $2.2B net gain for Q2
Channel 8 San Diego
Fannie Mae earned $2.2 billion from April through June, its second quarterly gain in net income since being taken over by the government during the 2008 financial crisis.
http://jlne.ws/NpCp3p

Citigroup tries another housing tack: own to rent
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
Citigroup is trying something new to keep struggling homeowners out of foreclosure: turn them into renters.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpjC

Hightower Report: Pigs Fly on Wall Street
The Austin Chronicle
Why isn’t Sandy Weill treated as a crook? He not only violated the law, but arrogantly flaunted it. Yet the system treats the criminal acts of Wall Street royals like him as the by-product of “financial innovation.” Far from criminal, you see, Weill simply suffers from Narcissistic Avariciousness Disorder.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnbu

Morgan Stanley Names Walker, Tracy to New Roles in Brokerage Venture -Memo
Dow Jones
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney head of Investment Products and Services Andy Saperstein is putting his stamp on a recently reorganized business line, naming two veteran executives, Jim Walker and Jim Tracy, to new roles in the brokerage joint venture.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpjD

Lehman Judge Won’t Redo JPMorgan $8.6 Billion Suit Ruling
Bloomberg
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. lost a bid for a revised ruling on its $8.6 billion lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase & Co. when the judge said he was satisfied with the way he had dealt with the issues.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnbC

Clearing & Settlement

CME Group Clearing Advisory
Natural Gas Modernization Tick Size Change
http://jlne.ws/NpCpjI

CME Group Clearing Advisory
REVISED CFTC Regulation 1.73 – Clearing Member Risk Management
http://jlne.ws/NpCpjO

Indexes & Products

Russell Indexes: Russell 1000(R) Index Returned 11.9% YTD, With Financial Services One of the Lead Sectors
http://jlne.ws/NpCnbD

Technology

OpenGamma Secures $15 Million in Series C Funding Led by ICAP
OpenGamma, creators of the first open-source analytics and risk management platform for the financial services industry, today announced that it has completed a $15 million Series C round of equity financing led by new investor ICAP plc, the world’s leading interdealer broker and provider of post trade risk and information services, joined by Euclid Opportunities. The round also includes follow-on investments from previous investors Accel Partners and FirstMark Capital.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpjS

Canadian Western Trust Implements SunGard’s Global Plus for Asset Management and Custody Processing
Canadian Western Trust Company (CWT) has implemented SunGard’s Global Plus multi-currency asset management and custody solution to support its growing institutional trust and custody business.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnbF

ConvergEx Group Appoints Steven P. Heineman as General Counsel
ConvergEx Group, a leading technology company, today announced that its board of managers has appointed Steven P. Heineman as general counsel. Mr. Heineman also joins the firm as a member of the ConvergEx Group Executive Committee.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnbG

Enforcement

NM Finance Authority COO, ex-controller arrested
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
The current chief operating officer and a former controller at the New Mexico Finance Authority were arrested Wednesday for state securities violations related to a fake financial audit that was distributed to investors earlier this year.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpA9

N.J. officials charge Jersey City hedge fund, executives with fraud
The Star-Ledger
State officials have sued a Jersey City-based hedge fund and its executives over charges that they defrauded dozens of investors and sold about $12 million worth of unregistered securities.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpAb

U.S. will not challenge computer fraud case to high court
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The government has decided not to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a divided appeals court ruling in a criminal case that drew attention to a 28-year-old computer hacking law that critics argue is being used too broadly.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnbM

UBS Bid-Rigging Defendant Was ‘Idiot,’ Ex-Colleague Tells Jury
Bloomberg
A key government witness against three former UBS AG municipal-bond executives in a bid-rigging trial was asked today whether he hated one of the men so much that he put photos of tortured cats on his desk.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpAg

UK’s Financial Services Authority Takes Action Against City Gate Money Managers Limited And Its Director And Compliance Officer Stewart Domke
The Financial Services Authority has issued a public censure of City Gate Money Managers Limited and banned its director and compliance officer Stewart Wallace Domke from holding any Significant Influence Functions.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpAj

Former Deloitte Partner Pleads Guilty In Chicago To Illegally Profiting $420,000 From Insider Trading Involving Firm’s Clients
http://jlne.ws/NpCpAk

Former AWB managing director found to have breached his duties
http://jlne.ws/NpCns5

Sonray director committed for trial
http://jlne.ws/NpCns7

Temporary order against B.C. reporting issuer revoked
http://jlne.ws/NpCnsb

Kansas Attorney Sentenced for $52 Million Ponzi Scheme
KANSAS CITY, MO—David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Leawood, Kansas attorney was sentenced in federal court today for his role in a fraud conspiracy that stole more than $52 million from its victims.
http://jlne.ws/NpETyG

Environmental & Energy

US insists it does still support two degree climate goal
Business Green
US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern has issued a statement insisting the country remains fully committed to the UN goal of curbing average global temperature increases to two degrees, arguing that a recent speech that questioned the effectiveness of the target had been misinterpreted.
http://jlne.ws/PFPGEv
**RKB – Stern’s remarks at Dartmouth: http://jlne.ws/Ne7v1b

Regulator urges change in California cap-and-trade program
Reuters
A federal regulator asked California’s governor to suspend a section of the state’s cap-and-trade regulations that addresses power imported from out of state, warning that it threatens to destabilize its power supply and disrupt the world’s eighth largest economy.
http://jlne.ws/OUkyTr

Reid hopes for carbon pricing bill if Dems keep Senate
EE News
Following a speech that many observers here saw as among the most forceful confrontations of climate change in recent memory by a high-ranking government official, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he hopes the Senate will take up a bill to put a price on carbon emissions if Democrats maintain control of the chamber next year.
http://jlne.ws/OUohAl

Asia-Pacific

South Korea To Probe HSBC, Standard Chartered Local Units
FOX Business
South Korea’s financial watchdog will investigate whether the local units of HSBC Holdings PLC and Standard Chartered were involved in money laundering, the Financial Supervisory Service said Thursday.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnse

S.Korea to start taxing Kospi 200 futures, options in 2016
Reuters
South Korea will start taxing popular stock price index options and futures transactions from 2016 as part of changes to tax rules following an annual review, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.
http://jlne.ws/ThyjhO

Press Conference By Tadahiro Matsushita, Japan’s Minister For Financial Services – Insider Trading, Daiwa Securities
http://jlne.ws/NpCpAq

HKEx Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements For The Six Months Ended 30 June 2012
http://jlne.ws/NpCpAr

Thailand Futures Exchange To Modify SET50 Index Futures And Options And To launch Sector Index Futures In October
http://jlne.ws/NpCpQG

Presentation By HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li And Deputy Chief Financial Officer Vincent Kwong On 2012 Interim Results Announcement
http://jlne.ws/NpCpQK

Hong Kong’s Securities And Futures Commission Bans Esther Lee Ying Chih For Three Years
http://jlne.ws/NpCpQL

Osaka Securities Exchange: Disciplinary Action On Transaction Participant: SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
http://jlne.ws/NpCnIF

Shanghai Stock Exchange Releases
http://jlne.ws/NpCnIM

Shenzhen Stock Exchange GDP 100 Index Issued, Steering The Structural Industries Investment
http://jlne.ws/NpCpQO

Frontier Markets

Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Dual Licensing Fast Track Programme – Eligibility Requirement Further Eased With Minimum Years Experience Reduced From 10 To 5 Years
http://jlne.ws/NpCqEe

FEAS Newsletter July 2012 Issue
ADX: The Middle EastInvestor Relations Society (ME-IR Society) announced the launch of its AbuDhabi Chapter, hosted at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). This is thesixth ME-IR Society Chapter launched this year so far, following initiativeslaunched in Qatar, Palestine, Kuwait, Dubai and Oman.
http://jlne.ws/NpCpQQ