Industry news

August 2, 2013: Swaps Probe Finds Banks Manipulated Rate at Expense of Retirees; Legal status of US exchanges under fire; Eurex, CME and NYSE Liffe weigh long-dated inflation futures

Investigators in the US reveal evidence of direct manipulation of the ISDAfix interest rate benchmark. The battle between exchanges and brokers continues apace, with SIFMA suggesting that exchanges should give up their self-regulatory status in favor of centralized oversight. A handful of exchanges are considering creating inflation futures products as an alternative to unclearable swaps.

First Read

Legal status of US exchanges under fire
Arash Massoudi in New York – FT.com
The self-regulatory legal status could instead rest solely with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which already oversees a majority of supervision and compliance functions on behalf of exchanges, Sifma said in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission
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***** The debate continues.

++++

CFTC Starts to Approve Bids for Swaps-Trading Platforms
JAMILA TRINDLE, JACOB BUNGE AND KATY BURNE – WSJ.com
A new swaps marketplace is beginning to take shape. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week started approving applications for new swaps trading platforms, setting the stage for a battle over who will dominate a regulated marketplace designed to boost transparency and lower trading costs in the financial products.
jlne.ws/1bRMFCj

***** Many of the new SEFs believe they know exactly who is going to dominate the market.

++++

Indian commodity exchange investigated
James Crabtree in Mumbai – FT.com
Shares in Financial Technologies, an Indian bourse operator, dropped by more than 60 per cent after its National Spot Exchange Limited commodity exchange suspended trading on most contracts following a government investigation. Financial Technologies operates NSEL, India’s largest spot commodities exchange, alongside Multi Commodity Exchange, the country’s leading general commodities bourse.
jlne.ws/16MuhE5

***** An “I told you so” might be in order here. Or maybe an “I am not surprised at all” is more appropriate.

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Deep-Pocketed Funds Give Up on Speed Game
Geoffrey Rogow – MoneyBeat – WSJ
For some large investors, the trading game has shifted from speed to size. A focus on size, specifically using “big data” to get a trading advantage, has become a major component of research budgets at hedge funds, asset managers and even some large banks over the last year. The spending push is a shift from just a few years ago, when firms’ research and development budgets were focused on making sure they were first in line on every trade.
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***** Fast or smart. I take smart.

++++

VIX Futures Trading Volume Rose 53% In July
The CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC announced today that July 2013 trading volume for futures on the CBOE Volatility Index increased 53 percent over July 2012, while year-to-date volume through the end of July has nearly surpassed the total volume for all of 2012.
jlne.ws/13qhmsK

***** Where is Ed Tilly to comment when you need him.

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OneChicago Announces July 2013 Equity Futures Volume Up 58% Year-Over-Year
OneChicago, LLC, an equity finance exchange, today announced July 2013 volume of 582,681. “The demand from the managed futures community has been very effective in tapping the enormous liquidity available for these Delta One products and we anticipate this accelerating through the end of the year,” said David Downey, CEO of OneChicago.
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***** OneChicago, TwoChicago, ThreeChicago, heh!

++++

ICE Clear Europe to Introduce Client Clearing for Index and Single Name CDS on October 7, 2013; Over EUR 12 Trillion in European CDS Cleared to Date
ICE Clear Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange, a leading operator of global markets and clearing houses, today announced that ICE Clear Europe will introduce client clearing for European credit default swaps after receiving regulatory approval in the U.K. and U.S.
***** Clearing of single name CDS needs some transparency and public education.

++++

BlackRock hedge fund performance analysis
Harriet Agnew – Financial News
Equity hedge funds have delivered the highest total returns this year but managers of global macro funds demonstrated the most skill, according to a new report. The average (median) alpha generated across all hedge funds was 1.7 percentage points, while the average total return was 4% across all strategies. Equity hedge funds, which take long and short positions in stocks, on average generated alpha of only 0.9 percentage points despite an average total return of 6.6%, the highest of any of the strategies.
jlne.ws/16Mug2P

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HFT and the Computerization of Wall Street, Part 3: Eliminating the Middleman
Steve Wunsch – TabbFORUM
Although trading costs are down dramatically, the portion of trading that is intermediated actually has risen – ironically due to reforms meant to eliminate intermediation. Now, disappointed, indignant, diehard reformers are upping their demands. This is Part 3 in a series that examines the evolution of US market structure and regulators’ role in shaping the current state of the markets, for better or for worse.
jlne.ws/16MuhUx

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Decline and fall of a trading star
Tracy Alloway in New York – FT.com
Fabrice Tourre read an abridged version of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire as he waited to hear his fate in a lower Manhattan courtroom. In the famous tome, English scholar Edward Gibbon attributes Rome’s inglorious collapse to the loss of “civic virtue” among its citizens.
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***** Some stars turn into black holes.

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Lead Stories

Swaps Probe Finds Banks Manipulated Rate at Expense of Retirees
Matthew Leising – Bloomberg
U.S. investigators have uncovered evidence that banks reaped millions of dollars in trading profits at the expense of companies and pension funds by manipulating a benchmark for interest-rate derivatives.
jlne.ws/16Mug2W

*** “In three years, ISDAfix will be the bigger story and could be potentially bigger than Libor in terms of damages,” said Jack Chen, a financial consultant in New York.

Eurex, CME and NYSE Liffe weigh long-dated inflation futures
Tom Osborn – Risk.net
Eurex, CME Group and NYSE Liffe are exploring the potential for long-dated inflation futures as an alternative to over-the-counter inflation swaps for pension fund managers – a possible new front in the futurisation war. Pension funds are seen as a likely source of demand because they are big users of swaps, which cannot currently be cleared and face heavy capital and margin costs as a result.
jlne.ws/16Mug2X

Goldman set to relaunch Hong Kong dark pool
Michelle Price in Hong Kong – Financial News
Goldman Sachs is set to relaunch its Hong Kong dark pool after the bank was forced to halt trading on the venue in 2009, Financial News has learnt. The development comes amid a broader regulatory review of dark pool licenses in the Hong Kong market.
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Man Group shares rise despite continuing fall in managed assets
Sam Jones – FT.com
Shares in Man Group rallied strongly on Friday morning as Europe’s biggest hedge fund posted results that were not as bad as the market had feared.
jlne.ws/16Mug2Y

CME profit rises 27 percent
Reuters
CME Group Inc., the world’s biggest futures exchange operator, reported a 27 percent rise in quarterly profit, beating analysts’ expectations, as trading surged.
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Tourre’s Junior Staff Defense Seen Leading to Trial Loss
Bob Van Voris & Patricia Hurtado – Bloomberg
Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) vice president found liable for his role in a failed $1 billion investment, may have lost his case because jurors rejected his defense that as a junior employee he wasn’t primarily responsible for the transaction.
jlne.ws/16MuiaT

Nasdaq Preps US Feed Changes
Max Bowie – WatersTechnology
Nasdaq OMX is readying a raft of new and enhanced datafeeds over the coming months, including new feeds from its Nasdaq OMX Futures Exchange and new versions of datafeeds from its Nasdaq, BX (the former Boston Stock Exchange) and PSX (the former Philadelphia Stock Exchange) markets.
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Let’s (not) get physical: the commodities conundrum facing banks
Suzi Ring – Financial News
Should banks own and trade physical commodities? That was the question asked of senior regulators by the US Senate Banking Committee last week.
jlne.ws/16Mugjg

Block trading booms on ITG’s dark pool
Anish Puaar – Financial News
Agency broker ITG has reported a surge in volumes on the European version of its anonymous trading platform Posit, with buyside-to-buyside trades enjoying a massive year-on-year increase.
jlne.ws/16Mugji

Deutsche Börse opens equity platform to Asia
Anish Puaar – Financial News
Deutsche Börse has connected the first Hong Kong-based broker to its Xetra cash equities trading platform as the German exchange continues efforts to build its presence in Asia.
jlne.ws/16Muib0

Regulatory

[Video] Gary Gensler’s Future at the CFTC
Bloomberg
Bloomberg’s Nela Richardson reports on the progress of Dodd-Frank and future for CFTC Chairman, Gary Gensler. She speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers.”
jlne.ws/16Muib4

Deputy Chief Economist Kathleen Weiss Hanley to Leave SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Kathleen Weiss Hanley, Deputy Chief Economist and Deputy Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, is leaving the agency later this month.
jlne.ws/16Muib5

ESMA Issues Opinion On Practical Arrangements For The Late Transposition Of The AIFMD
jlne.ws/16Muib6

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

The Options Industry Council Announces July Options Volume Up 6 Percent
The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 324,651,203 total options contracts traded in July, which is up 5.81 percent compared to last July when 306,817,994 contracts were traded.
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BATS Chi-X Europe, BATS U.S. Options Set Monthly Market Share Records in July
BATS Global Markets (BATS) today reported that BATS Chi-X Europe set seven monthly market share records in its second month as a Recognised Investment Exchange while BATS Options recorded its best month with 4.3% market share.
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CBOE Holdings Reports July Volume
CBOE Holdings, Inc. reported today that July trading volume for options contracts on Chicago Board Options Exchange and C2 Options Exchange and futures contracts on CBOE Futures Exchange totaled 98.16 million contracts. Average daily volume was 4.46 million contracts, an increase of five percent over July 2012 and a decrease of 17 percent from June 2013.
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KC wheat futures volume wanes amid broad slowdown in grains
Reuters
The volume of trade in Kansas City Board of Trade hard red wheat futures fell in July, the first monthly drop since the contract migrated to the floor of the CME Group’s Chicago Board of Trade, exchange data showed on Thursday.
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Turnover At Deutsche Börse’s Cash Markets At 98.5 Billion Euros In July
Order book turnover on Xetra, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and Tradegate stood at E98.5 billion in July (July 2012: E95.8 billion). Of the E98.5 billion, E90.9 billion were attributable to Xetra (July 2012: E88.3 billion). E4.1 billion were attributable to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (July 2012: E4.7 billion). Order book turnover on Tradegate Exchange* totalled approximately E3.5 billion in July (July 2012: E2.8 billion).
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Average Daily Volume Of 6.8 Million Contracts At Eurex Group In July – Segment Interest Rate Derivatives Grew By 15 % Year-On-Year
In July 2013, the international derivatives markets of Eurex Group recorded an average daily volume of 6.8 million contracts (July 2012: 8.1 million). Of those, 4.6 million were Eurex Exchange contracts (July 2012: 5.7 million), and 2.2 million contracts (July 2012: 2.3 million) were traded at the U.S.-based International Securities Exchange (ISE). In total, 106.9 million contracts were traded at Eurex Exchange and 48.7 million at ISE.
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ISE Reports Business Activity For July 2013
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported an average daily volume of 2.2 million contracts in July 2013. This represents a decrease of 3.5% compared to July 2012. Total options volume for the month was 48.7 million contracts. ISE was the second largest U.S. equity options exchange in July with a market share of 16.6%*.
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MGEX Announces Month Over Month Open Interest Growth
MGEX, a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), today reports total Exchange open interest at 40,652 contracts, a nine percent increase from June 2013. Total volume is reported at 99,912 contracts traded. Futures contracts accounted for 98,364 contracts traded, while options contracts accounted for 1,548 contracts traded.
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BOX Options Exchange Price Improvement Activity For July
In the month of July, price improved contracts on BOX Options Exchange (“BOX”) averaged 172,585 per day. Price improvement versus the prevailing NBBO for contracts submitted via BOX’s price improvement auction, PIP, averaged $192,162 per day, while total savings to investors this month was $4.2 MM. With this, BOX has saved investors over $443 MM since its inception in 2004. Overall average daily trading volume on BOX in the month of July was 315,663 contracts.
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[TSE] Trading Overview in July 2013
In July 2013, average daily trading value of 1st Section domestic stocks was JPY 2.2623 trillion, exceeding JPY 2 trillion for 6 consecutive months since February 2013. Total derivatives trading volume on JPX for the month was 26,843,867 contracts. Monthly trading volume for the night session was 6,725,414 contracts. The ratio of night session to the day session trading volume was 38.5%.
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CME Group Inc. Reports Strong Second-Quarter 2013 Financial Results
Press Release
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TMX Group Profit Tops Estimates as Listing Fee Revenue Rises
Eric Lam – Bloomberg
TMX Group Ltd. (X), owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange, reported second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after higher listing fees boosted revenue.
jlne.ws/18U8cJo

July Statistics Report From The NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchanges
The value of average daily share trading amounted to EUR 1.7 billion, compared to EUR 2.1 billion during the past 12-month period. The average number of trades per trading day was 265,932, compared to 299,088 during the past 12-month period. The total market cap of listed companies at NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange amounted to EUR 845 billion, compared to EUR 739 billion in July 2012.
jlne.ws/16MuirC

The Spanish Stock Exchange Traded E73.3 Billion In July, Up 25.4 On June – The Highest Turnover Monthly Figure Since October 2011
jlne.ws/16MuiHU

Moscow Exchange Trading Values Increased 21% YoY In July 2013
The value traded across all Moscow Exchange markets in July 2013 totaled RUB 43,978 bn, a 21% increase over the same period in 2012.
jlne.ws/16MuiHV

Boerse Stuttgart Reports July Turnover In Region Of EUR 6.7 Billion – Growth In Trading Of Equities And Debt Instruments – Strong Demand For Emerging Market Bonds
jlne.ws/16MuiHW

NASDAQ OMX: Nordic And Baltic Markets Trading Statistics – July 2013
jlne.ws/16MuiHY

NZX Dairy Futures Record Trading Day
After experiencing the biggest trading month in July 2013 since its launch, NZX Dairy Futures has continued to break volume records, registering its largest trading day on 2 August 2013, exceeding the previous daily high recorded in March 2012.
jlne.ws/16MuiI0

London Metal Exchange (LME) And Cesco Team Up For Latin America Roadshow
The London Metal Exchange (LME) will visit Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Brazil from 3-13 September to host a series of seminars in partnership with Cesco (Center for Copper and Mining Studies). LME Chief Executive, Martin Abbott will be joined by industry experts to deliver day-long seminars on key issues facing the Latin American metals and mining industries.
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Direct Edge Trading Notice #13-35: Additional Direct Edge Fee Schedule Changes Effective August 1, 2013
jlne.ws/16MugA3

Program Trading Averaged 24.1 Percent Of NYSE Volume During July 22-26
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TSX Block List Leaders By Volume And By Values – July 2013
jlne.ws/16MuiI9

[CBOE] Follow-Up to Trading Privilege Holder Educational Session on CFE Exchange of Contract for Related Position Transactions
jlne.ws/16MuiIa

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Singapore wealth fund GIC sees western banks healing, could invest more
Rachel Armstrong and Saeed Azhar | Reuters
Aug 2 (Reuters) – Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, the single biggest shareholder of UBS, said it believes the western banking industry is healing and it has the capacity to invest more in the financial sector.
jlne.ws/16MugQo

Pimco Total Return Fund turns positive in July as rate fears ease
Reuters
Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s largest mutual fund, had a positive monthly return in July after its biggest monthly slide since 2008 in June as fears of rising U.S. interest rates eased, preliminary data from Morningstar showed.
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Fortress profit soars in 2nd quarter as its funds perform
Reuters
Fortress Investment Group on Thursday reported its profit almost tripled in the second quarter as double-digit returns in its hedge funds and a solid performance in its credit funds led to higher incentive income.
jlne.ws/16MugQy

Caxton reopens hedge fund to new investors
Sam Jones, Hedge Fund Correspondent – FT.com
Caxton Associates, a hedge fund manager with $7bn under management, has reopened its main fund to new investors in the belief that global markets are rife with investment opportunities.
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ICE places moratorium on Antwerp certified coffee warehouse
Reuters
ICE Futures U.S. has prohibited any movement of certified coffee to and from an Antwerp warehouse after the structure storing roughly 4.5 percent of its total stocks sustained damage from heavy rain, the exchange said in a notice on Thursday.
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Investec inflows hit by currency swing
Joe McGrath – Financial News
The asset management and wealth, and investment businesses at Investec witnessed a 4% fall in assets under management in the three months to June 30, 2013 to £105.8 billion, compared to the first quarter.
jlne.ws/16MuiYs

Jupiter ups cash pile and looks to expand
Sophie Baker – Financial News
Improved markets, revenue growth and asset inflows over the six months to the end of June enabled the UK manager to reduce its bank loan, and the chief executive is keen to continue expanding.
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Euro money market funds shed assets
Christopher Thompson – FT.com
Euro money market funds have shed more than a tenth of their cash under management as low bank lending rates and lingering political uncertainty in the eurozone prompt investors to take their money elsewhere.
jlne.ws/16MuiYu

KKR Successfully Launches First Listed Closed-End Fund
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
KKR & Co L.P. today announced that its first listed closed-end fund, KKR Income Opportunities Fund, has successfully completed its initial public offering and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 26 under the symbol “KIO.”
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Banks & Brokers

And So The Next RBS Chapter Begins
Phillipa Leighton-Jones – MoneyBeat – WSJ
A job that has been described as “monstrous” (by an analyst) and “bruising” (by its current occupant) has been filled.
jlne.ws/16Muh6Y

Bank of America expects civil charges over mortgage bonds
Reuters
The Justice Department intends to file civil charges against Bank of America Corp linked to a sale of one or two mortgage bonds, the bank said on Thursday in a regulatory filing.
jlne.ws/16MuiYC

Judge tosses out Goldman ruling, points to arbitrator
Reuters
A federal judge late on Thursday tossed out a securities arbitration ruling against an investor who sought to recoup $1.4 million from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), citing an arbitrator’s failure to fully disclose his involvement in an unrelated criminal proceeding, according to a court opinion.
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BGC Partners Reports Second Quarter 2013 Financial Results
Shaun D. Lynn, President of BGC, said: “Volumes in Rates and Foreign Exchange improved in late May and throughout June, as volatility returned to more normal levels across many of our products. As a result, our revenues from Foreign Exchange increased by 14.0 percent year-on-year, driven mainly by double-digit growth from our voice/hybrid desks and by a nearly 38 percent improvement in overall fully electronic FX volumes. We also generated strong growth across many of our voice/hybrid and electronic desks in Rates.
jlne.ws/16Muh74

Credit Suisse Agrees to Sell Private-Equity Unit to Grosvenor
JENNY STRASBURG AND JULIET CHUNG – WSJ.com
Credit Suisse Group AG agreed to sell its roughly $20 billion private-equity investment business to Grosvenor Capital Management LP.
jlne.ws/16MujeY

INTL FCStone Announces Hedge Fund Capital Raising Team
GlobeNewswire via Yahoo! Finance
NEW YORK — INTL FCStone Inc today announced the appointment of George Lucaci as head of their wholly owned subsidiary, INTL FCStone Securities Inc.’s new hedge fund capital-raising group.
jlne.ws/16Muhnk

Citigroup to pay $10.75 million in arbitration
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Citigroup Inc was ordered to pay $10.75 million to a former customer over losses from investments in Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC , which was bailed out after the 2008 financial crash, a securities arbitration panel ruled.
jlne.ws/16Muhno

Citigroup Hires Goldman Sachs’s Mann for Credit Trading
Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc., the third-biggest U.S. bank, hired John “Jay” Mann from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as head of index trading within credit markets, according to two people briefed on the matter.
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JPMorgan Employee Could Face Charges in Italian Bank Debacle
New York Times
The employee, who was not identified, is suspected of wrongdoing for his role in a transaction in 2008 that the investment bank helped arrange for Monte dei Paschi di Siena.
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Clearing & Settlement

ICE Clear Europe to Introduce Client Clearing for Index and Single Name CDS on October 7, 2013; Over EUR 12 Trillion …
ICE Clear Europe, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global markets and clearing houses, today announced that ICE Clear Europe will introduce client clearing for European credit default swaps (CDS) after receiving regulatory approval in the U.K. and U.S.
jlne.ws/16Mujf0

DTCC Units Name New Execs, Including Deriv/SERV Data CEO
Michael Shashoua – WatersTechnology
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has named Marisol Collazo as US CEO of its Data Repository, one of several new promotions, appointments and hires in its core business, its Deriv/SERV unit and its IT division, effective September 1.
jlne.ws/16Mujf4

Fidessa bids to shake up post-trade world
Anish Puaar – Financial News
Fidessa, a provider of trading technology, is attempting to break into the post-trade arena with a new way of confirming trades that will challenge current longstanding market processes.
jlne.ws/16Mujf5

OCC Announces Cleared Contract Volume Increased 6% In July As Securities Lending Activity Rose 53%
OCC announced today that total cleared contract volume in July reached 328,899,421contracts, representing a 6 percent increase from the July 2012 volume of 309,599,417 contracts. OCC’s year-to-date total contract volume is up 3 percent with 2,471,194,347 contracts in 2013.
jlne.ws/16MuhnA

CME Clearing – Performance Bond Requirements – Equity Index Outrights – Effective Friday, August 02, 2013
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Indexes & Products

China-focused KraneShares rolls out China Internet ETF
Reuters
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Neue Helvetische Bank AG To Issue Structured Products With Scoach Switzerland
jlne.ws/16Mukj3

Shanghai Stock Exchange And China Securities Index Co. Urbanization Indices To Be Launched
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Technology

Phillip Futures Begins Offering Asian Futures Markets on Trading Technologies’ TTNET
Phillip Futures Inc., a Chicago-based clearing futures commission merchant and member of the Singapore-based PhillipCapital Group, is pleased to announce that it now offers select Asian markets on TTNET, a fully managed hosting solution from Trading Technologies International, Inc., a global provider of high-performance trading software for derivatives professionals.
jlne.ws/16Mukj7

Hedge Funds Increasingly Using Cloud For Back-End Computing
Becca Lipman – Wall Street & Technology
Hedge funds are increasingly adopting the cloud for the purposes of cost savings, and the shift to cloud can mean big business opportunities for cloud providers.
jlne.ws/16Mujvv

Thomson Reuters Taps Data Vet Dickey for Tech Role
Max Bowie – WatersTechnology
Former Chicago Board of Trade market data head Steve Dickey has joined Thomson Reuters as global technology manager, Inside Market Data has learned.
jlne.ws/16Mujvw

Enforcement

SEC Charges Purported Biofuel Company and a Dozen Individuals in Chicago-Based Pump-and-Dump Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a purported biofuel company in Chicago and a dozen individuals in a pump-and-dump scheme that generated $4.4 million in illicit profits.
jlne.ws/16Mujvz

Case Against SAC Is Aided by Hiring of Fired Trader
BEN PROTESS and PETER LATTMAN – NYTimes.com
Richard S. Lee’s first day of running a trading desk was his last. In March 2008, hours after starting a new job at Citadel, Mr. Lee signed into the hedge fund’s accounting system and misstated the value of his holdings, according to people briefed on the matter. That effort ultimately would have inflated Mr. Lee’s returns by about $4.5 million. Citadel, based in Chicago, detected the misconduct and fired him the next morning.
jlne.ws/16Mukjf

A Fallen Wall Street Programmer Tells His Side
WILLIAM ALDEN – NYTimes.com
Sergey Aleynikov, a former Goldman Sachs computer programmer, has had a complicated journey since being convicted of stealing computer code from the bank. The latest chapter came on Thursday in the form of a profile in Vanity Fair.
jlne.ws/16MujvC

Two Ran Ponzi Scheme to Finance Resort, U.S. Says
MOSI SECRET – NYTimes.com
The Panoramic View Resort and Residences is carved into a cliff on the easternmost tip of Long Island, a beacon for New Yorkers who want to relax within earshot of the Atlantic Ocean’s crashing waves during the summer months.
jlne.ws/16MujvD

BCSC: Securities regulator alleges that lawyer engaged in illegal insider trading
The executive director of the British Columbia Securities Commission has issued a notice of hearing alleging that a lawyer working in Vancouver, B.C. engaged in illegal insider trading.
jlne.ws/16Mukzu

Ex-UBS rogue trader Adoboli tries again for appeal
Reuters
Former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli has re-submitted his appeal against his fraud conviction after a first attempt was rejected, court officials said.
jlne.ws/16MujvG

[ASIC] Former mortgage broker pleads guilty to submitting false documents to lenders
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[ASIC] Director sentenced for lodging false documents
jlne.ws/16Mukzw

Environmental & Energy

World Energy Council announces winners of “tomorrow’s energy prize” for 2013 World Energy Congress
The World Energy Council (www.worldenergy.com) announced the winners of the “Tomorrow’s Energy Prize” for the most outstanding papers to be presented at the 2013 World Energy Congress in Daegu, South Korea from October 13 to 17, 2013.
jlne.ws/16MujLZ

Carbon tax vote looms in House
The Hill’s E2 Wire
A House referendum on carbon tax proposals. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) will offer an amendment that will put lawmakers on record on the idea. He’s tacking the amendment onto GOP legislation that requires congressional approval before the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies could issue many regulations.
jlne.ws/1ef6Mq2

GOP lawmakers ask for study on increased ‘social cost’ of carbon
The Hill’s E2 Wire
Republican lawmakers from both chambers are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Obama administration’s increased assessment for the toll that carbon emissions have on the public.
jlne.ws/19ANDkt

Asia-Pacific

Japan has not learnt the lessons of its lost decade
Peter Tasker – FT.com
Debate is heating up in Tokyo about the advisability of increasing Japan’s consumption tax. Which should come first – economic growth or fiscal reconstruction? The prime minister must decide in a matter of weeks.
jlne.ws/16MujM1

Japan regulator says Singapore-based hedge fund manipulated share prices
Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
A Singapore-based hedge fund manipulated prices in the Japanese equity market and should pay a 431 million yen ($4.38 million) fine, Japan’s securities regulator said, which would be biggest ever imposed against a non-Japanese firm for market manipulation.
jlne.ws/16MukzA

SGX Welcomes MoneyMax To Catalist
jlne.ws/16MujM6

Frontier Markets

South African exchange unveils high-speed service
Tim Cave – Financial News
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has confirmed plans to attract more high-speed traders to its markets through a service called co-location, a move first reported by Financial News last month.
jlne.ws/16MujM7

Dubai Mercantile Exchange Sets New Trading Record
DME (Dubai Mercantile Exchange) yesterday announced record average daily trading volumes (“ADV”) of 7,381 in July 2013, equivalent to almost 7.4 million barrels of oil a day. This surpasses the previous record of 6,978 ADV set in June 2013, is 36% higher than July last year and is a 6% increase on last month.
jlne.ws/16MukzD

Miscellaneous

NYT bolstered by digital subscriptions
Emily Steel in New York – FT.com
Digital subscriptions have become a small but increasing revenue stream for the New York Times Company, as the publisher attempts to reposition its business for an era when people are quickly trading reading news in print for online and mobile alternatives.
jlne.ws/16MujMd