Industry news

April 24, 2013: EU to Review Proposed Merger of ICE, NYSE; U.K. Regulator Said to Join CFTC in ISDAfix Manipulation Probe; Liffe Sues Dutch Options Market TOM Over AEX Products

Regulators for the European Union agree to review the ICE-NYSE Euronext merger plan, simplifying the approval or denial process for the two companies. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority opens a probe into the ISDAfix rate, joining US regulators in looking for rate fixing. NYSE Liffe sues Dutch platform TOM, accusing the options marketplace of creating equity options without a license.

First Read

A Step Forward From No-Admit Settlements
Jonathan Matte
Regulatory “neither admit nor deny” settlements are all the rage. Record fines are being collected from wrongdoers, while the sheriff gets to polish his brass star and boast of his tough stance on financial crime via fiery press releases.

If the goal of a regulatory agency were simply to collect as much money in fines as possible, then I’d agree that the system is working as intended. But — and do correct me if I’m wrong — I’m under the impression that our financial regulators are ideally supposed to safeguard the integrity of the marketplace, and work to make the industry as crime and error free as reasonably possible. Seeing an ever-increasing rate of fines doesn’t tell me the system’s working; it tells me either that more people than ever are breaking the rules, or that smaller fines aren’t working as a deterrent.

Part of the problem (and I agree it’s a complex puzzle) is that in many cases, fines alone aren’t even a punishment. Quite the opposite: the offender pays the fine to AVOID taking the blame for wrongdoing, no matter what the sheriff says at his press conference. Rather than being an agent of better behavior, the regulator ends up in the ugly and ethically questionable place of accepting money in exchange for agreeing that no violation occurred.

There’s no perfect fix. Neither rules nor punishment fully prevent crime from happening, so we have to give up the idea that any regulatory method will banish financial crime from the world. But more progress can be made toward encouraging some people to not misbehave; why not improve something, if the opportunity is there? Here’s my starting point.

Start by ditching the “no admit” stuff. Either the offender did something wrong and they’re busted; or we can’t really prove they did something wrong, in which case we need to suck a lemon and leave them alone, or change the rules. (If people just want to quit the business and never return… ok, maybe we can keep the current system for them. Who cares, they’re leaving.)

Instead, use a new form of settlement — still fast and profitable for the regulator! — that says the following:
1. I admit that I broke the rules (specifically… x and y and z).
2. I am paying an unpleasant fine because I am very sorry that I broke the rules.
3. As part of this settlement, the regulatory agency agrees not to prosecute me for the violation, and this agreement serves to shield me from civil or criminal prosecution by other entities as well (multi-agency jurisdiction issues are left as an exercise for the reader).
4. If I break this rule again, however, I agree that the protection in item #3 will be rescinded, leaving me open to prosecution from any and all comers, to the extent allowed by law, for this thing that I agree I did wrong.
5. Also, if I break the same rule again, I will not be immune from prosecution for the second and any subsequent offenses.

To me, that heads in the direction of balancing responsibility for the fault with initially holding back on aggressive action; and provides a meaningful deterrent against repeat offenses. Not perfect, but maybe a good first step. For the eight of you still reading (I know, I’m optimistic – it’s a fault), I’d be interested in hearing what you think.

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To Bail or Not to Bail
Jon Matte
Last week, John Lothian posted an update in which he mentioned being put in jail by the Muscular Dystrophy Association (donation jail, not Stateville). He’s been calling me every day now because he’s apparently still in jail. At least, that’s what he keeps yelling on the voice mail messages right before the other voice says, “Ok, tough guy, that was your call” and he hangs up.

I understand that for many of you, this puts you in a delicate situation: do we let him just rot there, or do we help him out? Frankly, I’m a little surprised that they set bail at all; he’s doing well with his post-surgery recovery, but Eleanor Mandlebaum says he’s still hardly a flight risk.

But let’s face it; the MDA is a good cause, and if John doesn’t get out of jail then I’ll be stuck doing the comments here for the life of the newsletter, and none of you really want that. So pony up. To help John and his cause, visit his donation page at jlne.ws/13igGad

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BlackRock and [[MarketAxess]] join forces
Michael Mackenzie in New York and Dan McCrum in Cayman Islands – FT.com
BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager, is teaming up with a widely used trading platform for US corporate bonds in an attempt to concentrate volume in one venue and offset the retreat of Wall Street dealers from supporting this $9tn market.
jlne.ws/XWkJog

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BOX Offers Complex Order Book; SEC Approval for May 3 Launch
The BOX Options Exchange announced today it has received SEC approval to launch its Complex Order Book on Friday, May 3, 2013. The BOX complex order technology supports implied out pricing for all two leg orders, while the standard book supports up to four separate leg components. Implied pricing and NBBO protections in the BOX Complex Order Book assures customer orders the highest probability of execution and price protection.
(via email)

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ISE Receives Award for “Most Proactive Exchange for ETF Options/Derivatives” at 9th Annual Global ETF Awards [pdf]
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) announced today that it received the “Most Proactive Exchange for ETF Options/Derivatives” award at the 9th Annual Global ETF Awards Dinner and Workshop on April 18, 2013.
jlne.ws/17RkPyP

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The changing dynamics of proprietary trading
Galen Stops – FOW
Proprietary trading firms have not been immune to the low volumes and high compliance costs that are blighting much of the industry, and over the past 18 months many have struggled. This has lead to the consolidation within the market.
jlne.ws/XWkM3i

***JM: This is a good read, especially if you like chewing on data about HFT and what might arrive to oppose it (not because it’s bad, but because everything with an edge gets blunted by something else eventually).

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Sheila Bair QandA: Protect borrowers and banks
Bankrate.com via Yahoo! Finance
She sounded alarm bells before the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Now she worries that a new crisis might be in the making. Sheila Bair, former chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., tells Bankrate that the Federal Reserve is creating potentially dangerous asset bubbles.
jlne.ws/XWkJoh

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How MF Global’s collapse prompted two men to challenge the futures industry
Lynne Marek – Crain’s
Commodity trading advisers James Koutoulas and John Roe, who manage client money invested in the futures market, were among the investors and traders who lost personal and customer funds in the meltdowns of MF Global Inc. and Peregrine Financial Group Inc. After the MF Global collapse, they created the Chicago-based Commodity Customer Coalition to bring together customers to fight in bankruptcy court for the return of their MF Global money.
jlne.ws/XWkM3k

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AP Twitter hack causes panic on Wall Street and sends Dow plunging
Heidi Moore in New York and Dan Roberts in Washington – Guardian
Wall Street collided with social media on Tuesday, when a false tweet from a trusted news organization sent the US stock market into freefall. The 143-point fall in the Dow Jones industrial average came after hackers sent a message from the Twitter feed of the Associated Press, saying the White House had been hit by two explosions and that Barack Obama was injured.
jlne.ws/XWkM3n

***JM: Folks have been told for years, “Just because it’s on the Internet, doesn’t make it true. Verify everything,” …but this is guaranteed to happen anyway. It’ll happen again.

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Human Beats Machine This Time as Fake Report Roils Stocks
Bloomberg
When a false report of explosions at the White House instantly wiped more than $136 billion off the value of U.S. stocks, Jonathan Corpina didn’t need a powerful computer.
jlne.ws/XWkJop

***JM: Another thing. Computers are not an invasive new species. They are machines that in this case people built to trade. If people told their computers to believe whatever they see on the Internet… then they’ve taught their machines to be as dumb as they are.

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CBOE 40
If you haven’t seen the CBOE 40 anniversary video produced by John Lothian Productions, you should! Not only are all the cool kids doing it, but in this case the lessons of the past might provide insights for the future for more than just the people at CBOE. You can see it in all its glory at jlne.ws/YjoFkn

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CME Lists Kansas City Exchange Building for Sale
Jacob Bunge – Dow Jones
CME Group Inc. listed for sale the building that houses the Kansas City Board of Trade, the specialist wheat market acquired by CME last fall. Colliers International and Holly Duran Real Estate Partners LLC were retained to market the 166,000 square foot building, which has housed the KCBT trading floor since 1966, according to a statement from CME.
jlne.ws/XWkJoq

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Word Up! Bank Tells Staff They’ve Been ‘Demised’
CNBC
To the annals of business euphemisms for the painful process of cutting jobs, HSBC has added a new entry that critics say raises the stakes in obfuscation- “demising”.
jlne.ws/XWkM3o

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MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Susan Axelrod
jlne.ws/15EFSbt

MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Guo Shuqing; Xiao Gang; Tom Haldes; Susan F. Axelrod; Ian Axe

Companies, Organizations and Groups

ISE; Trading Technologies International; MIAX Options Exchange; Securities Association of China; ADM Investor Services, Inc.; State Council Securities Commission

Products

CQG Integrated Client; CQG Trader; ISE Gemini; NEURO Dark

Miscellaneous

Portfolio margining; Value at Risk

Statistics

38,355,206 pages viewed, 7,458 articles, 157,623 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

EU to Review Proposed Merger of ICE, NYSE
JACOB BUNGE and VANESSA MOCK – Dow Jones
The European Commission will review IntercontinentalExchange Inc.’s bid to buy NYSE Euronext, enabling the exchange operators to avoid a potentially longer examination by national antitrust regulators. Competition authorities in the U.K., Spain and Portugal agreed to allow ICE to submit the acquisition to the European Union, with discussions between the exchanges and EU regulators expected to open in the coming days.
jlne.ws/XWkJor

U.K. Regulator Said to Join CFTC in ISDAfix Manipulation Probe
Lindsay Fortado & Matthew Leising – Bloomberg
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has started an inquiry into how the so-called ISDAfix rate is set in British pounds, widening a price-manipulation probe into benchmark interest-rate swaps that began in the U.S.
jlne.ws/11Bn2fQ

Liffe Sues Dutch Options Market TOM Over AEX Products
Bloomberg
NYSE Euronext ’s Liffe derivatives market sued The Order Machine , saying the Dutch alternative trading system that’s 25 percent owned by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. introduced equity-index options without a license.
jlne.ws/XWkJEE

Six Group vows to go it alone
Tim Cave – Financial News
Six Group, the operator of Switzerland’s national stock exchange, has vowed to remain independent after talks with Deutsche Börse collapsed last year and is pursuing an acquisitive growth strategy across all its business areas.
jlne.ws/XWkM3r

Swaps Committee Creates Standardized Interest-Rate Contract
Bloomberg
Users of over-the-counter derivatives may now use an interest-rate swap contract with preset terms as the industry lobby group seeks to standardize the $379 trillion market. The contract, which the International Swaps and Derivatives Association developed with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, has pre-agreed terms including on coupons and payment dates, according to a press release distributed today at ISDA’s annual general meeting in Singapore.
jlne.ws/XWkJEH

Exclusive: SEC looks to ease rules for launching ETFs
Reuters via Yahoo! News
By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may revive a proposal that would make it easier and cheaper to launch certain kinds of exchange-traded funds, according to interviews with SEC staff.
jlne.ws/XWkM3v

SEC’s Gallagher says agency looking into bogus AP tweet
Reuters via Yahoo! News
NEW YORK – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision is looking into a ‘bogus’ tweet that appeared on the Associated Press’s Twitter account on Tuesday, according to SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher.
jlne.ws/XWkM3w

Corzine sued by MF Global trustee over firm’s collapse
Reuters via Yahoo! News
By Jonathan Stempel – Jon Corzine was sued by the bankruptcy trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd , who accused the former chief executive of negligently pursuing a high-risk business strategy that culminated in the commodities brokerage’s destruction.
jlne.ws/XWkM3z

Fears over market impact of Tobin tax
Alex Barker in Brussels – FT.com
Talks on a European financial transaction tax are faltering amid concerns over its economic impact, indicating the levy may be scaled back by the eurozone countries that want to adopt it.
jlne.ws/XWkMjO

Meet ISDAfix, the Libor Scandal’s Sequel
BusinessWeek
After fining banks billions of dollars over the last year for distorting a key interest rate known as Libor, regulators in the U.S. are now investigating whether a more obscure rate in another huge market is also rigged.
jlne.ws/13mB0Du

Austerity loses an article of faith
Martin Wolf – FT.com
In 1816, the net public debt of the UK reached 240 per cent of gross domestic product. This was the fiscal legacy of 125 years of war against France. What economic disaster followed this crushing burden of debt? The industrial revolution. Yet Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard university argued, in a famous paper, that growth slows sharply when the ratio of public debt to GDP exceeds 90 per cent.
jlne.ws/XWkMjU

Regulatory

Markets Insight: Global banking and regulation already fractured
John Plender – FT.com
Is it more than sabre-rattling? The response by Michel Barnier, the EU commissioner in charge of financial services, to US plans to force foreign banks to hold more capital in their US subsidiaries certainly sounded bellicose. The Frenchman even threatened Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, with “a protectionist reaction”.
jlne.ws/XWkJEK

Judging The SEC’s Division Of Enforcement With 20/20 Foresight
Forbes
I almost feel sorry for Mary Jo White, the Chairman of the SEC, and Andrew Ceresney and George Canellos, soon to be Co-Directors of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Four days after Ms. White was sworn in, Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times was reminding Ms White on page one of the Times’ Sunday Business Section that time was running out on the SEC’s ability to bring cases based on “questionable practices and disclosures arising from the mortgage bust of 2008.”
jlne.ws/XWkMjV

NY Fed warns on ‘go it alone’ regulators
Stephen Foley in New York – FT.com
Regulators cannot solve the problem of banks that are “too big to fail” unless there is an expansion of international co-operation and sharing of inspection data, the president of the New York Federal Reserve warned.
jlne.ws/XWkJEP

Hazy Future for Thriving S.E.C. Whistle-Blower Effort
BEN PROTESS and NATHANIEL POPPER – NYTimes.com
For years, Wall Street’s top enforcers lacked the firepower to thwart financial misdeeds like Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. But now that the Securities and Exchange Commission has turned to sophisticated statistical tools and financial experts, one of the most effective weapons in its new enforcement arsenal may be a more traditional one: whistle-blowers.
jlne.ws/XWkMjW

SEC Names Anne K. Small as General Counsel
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Anne K. Small has been named General Counsel of the agency.
jlne.ws/XWkJER

SEC Announces Agenda for Credit Ratings Roundtable
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda for its Credit Ratings Roundtable, which will be held at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., on May 14.
jlne.ws/XWkMjZ

Global challenges facing regulators in the next decade: A speech by Greg Medcraft, Chairman, ASIC and Chairman, International Organization of Securities Commissions delivered at the American Australian Association lunch event, New York, 24 April 2013
jlne.ws/XWkJEU

IMF Holds High-Level Roundtable On Structural Banking Reform
jlne.ws/XWkMk0

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

NASDAQ OMX NLX appoints Non-Executive Board Directors
NASDAQ OMX NLX (“NLX”), the new London derivatives market launching a range of both short-term interest rate (STIRs) and long-term interest rate (LTIRs) euro- and sterling-denominated listed derivative products, announces the appointment of Daniel Hodson and Alan Gibbins as Non-Executive Board Directors of NLX.
jlne.ws/XWkMk1

NZX To Extend Dairy Derivatives Trading Hours
NZX today announced its intention to extend trading hours in Dairy Derivatives from early Q3 this year, in response to market demand. The trading session for all dairy futures will move from the existing market open of 8.00am New Zealand time to market open of 2.00am New Zealand time, with the 4.00pm close remaining unchanged
jlne.ws/XWkMk3

BlackRock and MarketAxess Announce the Creation of a Unified, Electronic Trading Solution in the U.S. Credit Markets
BlackRock, Inc. and MarketAxess Holdings Inc. today announced a strategic alliance to create a unified, open trading solution in the U.S. credit markets. The alliance between BlackRock’s Aladdin Trading Network and MarketAxess, the industry leader in electronic credit trading, is designed to help reduce liquidity fragmentation and improve pricing across credit markets, while expanding both firms’ open trading efforts.
jlne.ws/XWkJVa

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

BlackRock Retreats from Bond-Trading Platform
KIRSTEN GRIND and TELIS DEMOS – WSJ.com
BlackRock Inc. is retreating from plans to allow customers to trade corporate bonds directly with one another on its own platform, in a setback for the giant asset manager’s efforts to pick up a chunk of business long dominated by Wall Street.
jlne.ws/XWkMk6

Vulture funds come under sovereign fire
Robin Wigglesworth – FT.com
Vultures, parasites, pirates and loan sharks. Investors that snap up the debts of countries in financial distress in an attempt to profit from an eventual restructuring are often maligned by their supposed prey.
jlne.ws/XWkJVd

Pimco’s Rising Stars Pull in Money for Future After Gross
Bloomberg
Pacific Investment Management Co. is becoming less dependent on Bill Gross, preparing for an eventual future without the world’s best-known bond investor and adding pressure on its rising stars to live up to his legacy.
jlne.ws/XWkMk7

‘C’ words top the agenda at Russia Forum
Matt Turner – Financial News
At an event in Moscow last week focused on attracting international investment in Russia, the same three same words kept coming up: ‘corruption’, ‘corporate governance’, and ‘consistency’. The question for investors is whether the country’s government will tackle the first two, and deliver the third.
jlne.ws/XWkJVf

Paamco Seeks Asian Institutional Money for Hedge-Fund Strategies
Bloomberg
Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co., an $8.6 billion U.S. fund-of-hedge-funds, is seeking to raise money from pensions and sovereign wealth funds in Asia to diversify its investor base.
jlne.ws/XWkMAk

TABB Group Announces Strategic Alliance with KLS Associates
In a continuing effort to expand its research and consulting services beyond electronic trading and market structure, TABB Group announced today a strategic alliance with KLS Associates, Inc. led by founder and president James Steinke, a 40-year Wall Street industry veteran recognized for his expertise in assisting clearing, advisory, technology, wealth management and retail and institutional brokerage firms.
jlne.ws/XWkMAl

ISDA And Risk Launch OTC Derivatives Research Award Program
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today announced at its 28th Annual General Meeting in Singapore that ISDA and Risk are teaming up to sponsor and conduct an annual awards program for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives research.
jlne.ws/XWkMAp

Billionaire Hedge Funder Marc Lasry Will NOT Be The Next Ambassador To France
Business Insider
Billionaire Marc Lasry, who runs distressed debt hedge fund Avenue Capital, will not be the ambassador to France, CNBC’s Kayla Tausche reported. According to Tausche, he told investors in a letter that he will not be the next ambassador to France.
jlne.ws/XWkMAq

SIFMA’s Asset Management Group Helps Develop New Market Agreed Coupon For Interest Rate Swaps
jlne.ws/XWkMAr

Subscription starts for MBB Clean Energy AG corporate bond
jlne.ws/XWkMAu

Goldman Sachs Just Covered Its Gold Short
Business Insider
Goldman Sachs has covered its gold short. We closed our short trading recommendation on gold We have closed our recommendation to short COMEX Gold, as prices moved above the stop at $1,400/toz.
jlne.ws/XWkMAx

Banks & Brokers

MarketAxess Reports First Quarter 2013 Record Revenues of $55.6 Million, Record Pre-Tax Income of $24.3 Million and Diluted EPS of $0.41
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
MarketAxess Holdings Inc., the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, and the provider of market data and post-trade services for the global fixed-income markets, today announced results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013.
jlne.ws/17Wyck0

Time for a more radical approach to cost-cutting
William Wright – Financial News
If you thought things were getting brutal at investment banks, then brace yourselves. For all of the tough talk and nasty headlines about slashing costs and culling jobs over the past few years, investment banks have been running hard to stand still.
jlne.ws/XWkJVt

HSBC to Cut 1,150 Additional Jobs in Britain
New York Times
The job cuts are separate from a cost-cutting plan that HSBC announced in 2011, when it said it would reduce about 30,000 positions over the next three years.
jlne.ws/XWkMAB

Scale enables megafunds to ‘go Dutch’ with custodians
Mark Cobley – Financial News
When it comes to custody, pension funds in the Netherlands like to spread their bets. As most fund markets in the world have moved to single providers for custody services, this makes the Dutch an anomaly.
jlne.ws/XWkKbK

DealBook: Credit Suisse Profit Soars in First Quarter
International Herald Tribune
The Swiss bank reported a net profit of $1.4 billion in the first three months of the year, a large increase over the same period last year when Credit Suisse took charges on its own debt last year.
jlne.ws/XWkMAC

Deutsche Bank Structured Notes Offering Worst Value, Scope Says
Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG structured notes sold to German investors offered the poorest value, according to a Scope Ratings analysis of eight of the country’s leading issuers this month.
jlne.ws/XWkMQR

Deutsche Bank Hires Don Birchenough as Americas Head of Media and Telecom Mergers & Acquisitions
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Deutsche Bank today announced that Don Birchenough will join as a Managing Director and Americas Head of Media and Telecom Mergers & Acquisitions . He joins Deutsche Bank from Credit Suisse where he was most recently Co-Head of the Technology, Media and Telecom M&A group in the Americas.
jlne.ws/XWkKbO

Citi hires metals duo from UBS
Suzi Ring – Financial News
Citigroup has hired a senior metals duo from UBS to head its global metals sales and base metals trading divisions, as the investment bank continues to buck the market trend and build out its commodities arm, Financial News has learned.
jlne.ws/XWkMQU

Lloyds Plans I.P.O. After Branch Sale Collapses
MARK SCOTT – NYTimes.com
Lloyds Banking Group said on Wednesday it was planning an initial public offering of part of its branch network after the sale of the division to a rival British lender, Cooperative Bank, collapsed.
jlne.ws/XWkKbQ

Barclays First-Quarter Profit Declines 25% on Savings Program
Bloomberg
Barclays Plc, the first U.K. bank to report first-quarter results, said pretax profit fell 25 percent, missing analyst estimates, as it took a charge for its cost-savings plan.
jlne.ws/XWkMQY

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Launches Inaugural Mother’s Day “Gifts for Good” Philanthropic Catalog
jlne.ws/XWkKsd

Clearing & Settlement

FX NOTEBOOK: ICE Gets Cold Feet on Swaps Clearing
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld – Traders Magazine
Intercontinental Exchange is delaying plans to clear foreign exchange swaps. The exchange operator and clearing firm, which is in the midst of acquiring NYSE Euronext, is putting its plan to launch a clearing service for over-the-counter foreign exchange contracts, until regulatory requirements are clearer, the firm said.
jlne.ws/15EIhCR

Sourcing the right collateral a major priority for the financial industry in Asia, shows conference poll
Sourcing the most appropriate collateral to cover global exposures is still a major priority for most financial institutions in Asia, according to a poll of banking professionals at Clearstream’s Global Securities Financing Conference Asia in Singapore. Some 92.6 percent of the delegates – who represented pan-regional institutions, infrastructures, investment banks, universal banks and central banks – expressed that identifying the right type of collateral was either a “very high” or “high” priority for their organisation.
jlne.ws/XWkKsh

Banks try to standardise Sef sign-up for clients
Risk.net
glamorous, or more important, than updating what’s known as trading enablement – the process through which dealers accept a client’s request to start using a given electronic platform.
jlne.ws/XWkKsl

ISDA Publishes Market Agreed Coupon Confirmation for Interest Rate Swaps
jlne.ws/XWkKso

Trade Settlement And Finomial Work Together To Deliver FATCA Compliance To The Syndicated Loan Market And CLOs
jlne.ws/XWkKsp

Indexes & Products

iShares And Euroclear Bank Improve Access To Fast-Growing Exchange-Traded Funds Market
jlne.ws/XWkKss

Moscow Exchange Adopted New Methodologies For Blue-Chip Indices And Free Float
jlne.ws/XWkN7n

Change In The Composition Of The ATHEX Indices
jlne.ws/XWkN7p

Technology

ASX Selects Greenline’s VeriFIX for Multi-Protocol Testing – WSJ.com
Greenline Financial Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of multi-protocol electronic trading technology, today announced the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has successfully used VeriFIX to test its ASX ITCH, ASX OUCH and ASX 24 ITCH services. VeriFIX is an industry-leading automated testing tool that supports FIX and over 60 major proprietary protocols for the testing and validation of market data and order entry trade messaging.
jlne.ws/XWkN7q

smartTrade HTML5 Framework Is Recognized By Sell-Side Technology Award
smartTrade Technologies announced today that its HTML5 front-end and development platform was recognized as the best sell-side web-based development environment at the Sell-Side Technology Awards held by Waters Technology.
jlne.ws/XWkN7s

Thomson Reuters Wins Best Use Of Social Media At FStech Awards 2013
jlne.ws/XWkN7t

ASX Selects Greenline’s VeriFIX(R) for Multi-Protocol Testing
Greenline Financial Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of multi-protocol electronic trading technology, today announced the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has successfully used VeriFIX to test its ASX ITCH, ASX OUCH and ASX 24 ITCH services.
jlne.ws/XWkN7w

Fiserv Adds New Features to its Unified Wealth Platform
ThomasNet
Fiserv, Inc., a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced several new enhancements to its Unified Wealth Platform.
jlne.ws/XWkKIO

Enforcement

Investors to Receive Their Entire Investments Back After SEC Halted Scheme Exploiting Immigration Program
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that investors in a fraudulent investment scheme that offered foreign investors a path to citizenship will get their money back promptly thanks to the SEC’s recent court action. A federal district court judge has ordered the return of all investors’ principal investment in the fraudulent securities offering.
jlne.ws/XWkKIP

Federal Court Orders Wisconsin Resident Eric N. Schmickle and his Company, Q Wealth Management Inc., to Pay over $5 Million in Restitution and a Civil Monetary Penalty for a Multi-Million Dollar Commodity Futures Fraud
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that it obtained an Order requiring Defendants Eric N. Schmickle, of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, and his company, Q Wealth Management Inc., to pay approximately $3.6 million of restitution and jointly to pay a $1.5 million civil monetary penalty in connection with operating a commodity futures Ponzi scheme (see CFTC Press Release 6362-12, September 26, 2012).
jlne.ws/XWkN7y

Argentina tells SEC it wants proof in bribery case
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
Argentina wants the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to name names and provide proof that Ralph Lauren Corp. bribed customs officials for years to allow its products into the South American country.
jlne.ws/XWkN7A

SEC finally releases Morgan Keegan settlement funds
Mississippi Business Journal
After repeated requests, the Securities and Exchange commission has finally announced the proposed plan to distribute Morgan Keegan settlement funds to Mississippi investors, according to the Office of Secretary of State.
jlne.ws/XWkN7B

Fair Finance Australia pays infringement notice penalty
jlne.ws/XWkN7D

Environmental & Energy

The value of energy assets
Financial Times blog
A report from the Grantham Institute and the Carbon Tracker initiative, titled “Unburnable Carbon”, has produced a studied silence from the energy industry. The study, published last week, is privately being dismissed as the predictable conclusions of people who don’t understand business. But investors should take it more seriously because it opens up some very interesting questions about what energy companies are doing with their money.
jlne.ws/17Vu0AY

California and New England Carbon Markets Unfazed by Europe’s Woes
Energybiz.com
News of the European Union and its troubles with the program there to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions is spreading around the globe. What will happen and how might that experience affect California and New England, where similar efforts are underway?
jlne.ws/14NjJYU

Renewables Tapping Partnership Tax Plan Backed by Big Oil
Bloomberg
Renewable energy companies moved a step closer to accessing a tax financing structure that’s worth more than $350 billion as the American Petroleum Institute said it would back Congressional plans to expand the program.
jlne.ws/15Hmuds

Asia-Pacific

China Said to Ask Bond Traders to Check Histories Amid Probe
Bloomberg News – Bloomberg
China’s central bank asked participants in the nation’s $3.7 trillion interbank bond market to examine trading histories as it cracks down on illegal transactions, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
jlne.ws/ZliNYg

Distress spreads in South Korea
Henny Sender – FT.com
For many years, Japanese business people believed their economic malaise lay in a cheap South Korean won, rather than anything intrinsic to their country. Once the yen depreciated, all would be well. The Japanese definition of well meant that consumers around the globe would cease to buy Samsung goods and turn to Japanese products instead. Now their thesis is about to be tested.
jlne.ws/XWkKIS

Japanese Pensions Selling JGBs on Abe’s Stimulus, JPMorgan Says
Bloomberg
Japanese pensions are selling domestic bonds as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to spur inflation stoke concern rising interest rates will erode the value of their holdings, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. survey showed.
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Markets Insight: Bank of Japan action threatens emerging Asia
Frederic Neumann – FT.com
The Bank of Japan just threw another log on the fire. Over the coming two years, it plans to inject the equivalent of $1.4tn into the system. And more could come as officials struggle to hit their newly imposed inflation goal.
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Thai Bourse Announces Two Members Elected To Its Board
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Frontier Markets

Is Pakistan the Next Frontier for Entrepreneurs?
Mashable
The Internet industry in Pakistan is at an extremely exciting point, and the outlook for local entrepreneurs and venture capitalists is strong in the mid to long run As the sixth largest country in the world in terms of population, Pakistan has an ever-expanding web base which currently stands at 22 million users, with 8 million now on Facebook .
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