One Part At A Time
John Lothian’s shoulder surgery went well yesterday, and he’s due to return home today. Straws will be his favorite utensil for a while. We’ll keep you posted on his progress.
First Read
Swimming With the Sharks in Miami Beach: Shelly Brown of MIAX Talks Competition
Sarah Rudolph, JLN
As the the newest independent options exchange, having launched on December 7, 2012, MIAX has had impressive growth considering the odds of competing against 11 other established exchanges.
We spoke with MIAX’s CEO Shelly Brown at the Options Industry Conference in Miami Beach earlier this month about what MIAX is doing to stay competitive and about the challenges the industry is facing as a whole.
The exchange’s market model is what sets it apart, Brown said. MIAX is a pro-rata allocation, conventional fee exchange with payment for order flow, closest to the CBOE, PHLX, AMEX, and ISE model (before ISE went maker-taker in penny names) – and it competes mostly with those four exchanges and less so with the price-time maker-taker exchanges.
Read the rest of the interview, including Brown’s views on price improvement auctions and the OCC’s capital plan, as well as MIAX’s upcoming initiatives, at JohnLothianNews.com.
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ORC Chicago Discussion – Consolidation in Derivatives
May 20, 2015 – 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., The Library Bar, 190 S. LaSalle St., Chicago
Interested in how consolidation has impacted financial technology? Please join us for an industry-critical conversation about how consolidation in the derivatives space has impacted technology. Experts will lead an interactive discussion looking at how firms are managing the integration of systems, lessons learned and how to maximize benefits for the end users.
jlne.ws/1ELXLkH
***DA: A broad selection of panelists from all sides of the industry, and moderated by our own Jim Kharouf. Register today and come join us tomorrow.
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First Gen Financial Education Extends At Roosevelt University
Chicago Inno
A financial gift from the Clearing Corporation Charitable Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Chicago-based Clearing Corporation, will allow Roosevelt University to help fund the education of 20 undergraduate finance students each year. The foundation donated $132,000 to Roosevelt, which the university is using to create a special internship and training program for students interested in a finance career. Roosevelt said they will specifically target first-generation college students and other underrepresented groups in the field for the program.
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***DA: That is step one. The next step will be to build and reinforce the pipeline to the Chicago financial sector, so these young folks have a home in the industry after graduation. We are working on that.
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Many on Wall Street Say It Remains Untamed
NYTimes.com
Wall Street has changed. But perhaps not as much as you would think. The past several years have been filled with headline-grabbing legal settlements by financial services firms – $11 billion here, $5 billion there. Most of them involved conduct that took place before the 2008 crisis. Virtually every major Wall Street firm has pledged to redouble its efforts to instill an ethical culture. And virtually all the large firms said that if there was bad behavior, it is behind them.
Well, it isn’t.
jlne.ws/1B8RnDI
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Markets are jumpy over coming ‘leap second’
MarketWatch
Wall Street’s latest worry: Y2K’s distant cousin, the leap second. Traders and exchange officials are prepping for the latest incidence when a seemingly innocuous time change could potentially cause havoc if computer systems aren’t made ready.
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***DA: The FIA published guidance last week. Looks to be a potential audit and compliance headache, to be sure, but far from a Y2K-esque scare. Of course, Y2K itself did not live up to the hype.
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Your Boss Is Now Tracking You at Home
Bloomberg Business
Myrna Arias knew that her professional life was monitored by her boss. As part of her sales job at Intermex, a wire transfer service, she had to install an app called Xora that uses GPS to keep tabs on her whereabouts as she drove around California’s Central Valley. The tracking appears to have continued even when Arias was off the clock.
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***DA: Have at it, John. Not exactly compelling theatre at the Ashburn household after hours.
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Long run: Jack Schwager talks traders, old and new
JohnLothianNews.com
Jack Schwager’s career runs from pre-financial futures markets to author of the Markets Wizard books to an online start-up today. As the recipient of the CTA Expo’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award in New York in April, he spoke with Jim Kharouf, editor-in-chief of John Lothian News about what he knows about about top traders and his new venture, Fundseeder, an online platform for the next generation of market wizards.
For Schwager, top traders don’t just post profits, but have great risk management as well.
“It doesn’t have to be complicated at all,” Schwager said of risk management systems. “Most risk management can be achieved with some very, very simple rules.”
Watch the video »
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Show real remorse and the bank bashing will soften
FT.com
Another month, another fine. Last week it was announced that five of the world’s biggest banks would pay $6bn to settle allegations that they manipulated the foreign exchange markets. Will the expected admissions of guilt, together with the accompanying payments, permit the banks to put the past behind them? They hope it will; I fear it will not.
jlne.ws/1B8TfMC
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Bernie Sanders Wants to Tax Stock Trades to Pay for Free College
Bloomberg Politics
Bernie Sanders wants to take from the rich in order to make public college tuition-free for everyone else. On Tuesday, Sanders will hold a press conference in the nation’s capital at which he will introduce a plan to use a so-called Robin Hood tax on stock transactions to fund tuition at four-year public colleges and universities.
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***DA: I don’t know where to begin to comment on the pitfalls of this idea. Probably best to remember the words of my dad, who said “When you argue with a fool, it’s hard to tell who’s who.”
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Lead Stories
Deutsche Börse to set up Europe’s first multi-asset RMB platform
Risk.net
German exchange group signs joint venture deal with CFFEX and Shanghai Stock Exchange to bring trading venue to Frankfurt Frankfurt has strengthened its position as a major RMB trading hub with a joint venture deal between Deutsche Börse and its Chinese counterparts
jlne.ws/1KgPkFM
Banks seek OTC clearing lifeline
Mike Kentz, Reuters
Banks providing over-the-counter derivatives clearing services to their clients are seeking innovative ways to keep those businesses alive as crippling capital and leverage requirements sap limited returns. As a last-ditch effort to make the economics work, some houses are mulling deals with credit investment funds that would see the third-party entities take the responsibility of guarantor for swaps clients passing trades through clearing houses.
jlne.ws/1EZvjwJ
Illegal activity on Wall Street still widespread, says Wall St
FT.com
Illegal activity on Wall Street and in the City of London remains widespread, according to those who should know — high-earning workers at financial services firms. Despite repeated scandals, arrests and billion dollar fines in the wake of the financial crisis, more than half of UK and US financial services professionals earning over $500,000 believe that competitors have engaged in unethical or illegal activity in order to gain an edge in the market, a survey published on Tuesday has found.
jlne.ws/1KhMYql
Banks delaying UK investment due to EU uncertainty – lobby
Reuters
A number of banks have put off possible investments in Britain until after a referendum on its future in the European Union, a lobby group said on Tuesday, after Deutsche Bank revealed it was considering cutting down its UK operations should the country pull out.
jlne.ws/1EZtqjD
High Court Ruling Adds Protections for Investors in 401(k) Plans
WSJ
The Supreme Court on Monday put companies managing 401(k) retirement plans on notice they have a continuing duty to be judicious on plan investment decisions, adding protections for the worker savings plans.
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Buy-side to up activity in cleared repo transactions, say experts
The Trade News
The buy-side are set to become increasingly involved in repo trading as the market moves more towards clearing, according to industry experts at the Euroclear Collateral conference in Brussels.
jlne.ws/1INlRBq
Years of Overlooked Red Flags Catch Up to Stockbroker
NYTimes.com
In most professions, it would take only one or two acts of egregious conduct before troubled employees were shown the door. In the case of one stockbroker who has repeatedly had complaints from investors, it took 69 customer disputes filed over the last 13 years before he was barred from the business.
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HKEx to decide in coming weeks on plan to curb closing volatility
Reuters
The Hong Kong stock exchange said it expects to make a long-awaited announcement in coming weeks on a controversial proposal to rein in volatility which large investors favour but small investors say discriminates against them. Under the proposal, unveiled in January, Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEx) plans to introduce a so-called closing auction and other volatility curbs that would bring it in line with international peers in New York and Europe.
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Regulatory
CFTC Staff Issues Proposed Order to Exempt Certain Specified Transactions of Southwest Power Pool
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission), on May 18, 2015, issued a notice of proposed order and request for comment on that order concerning Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP), a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The comment period will be open for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. Comments may be submitted electronically through the Commission’s Comments Online process.
jlne.ws/1AbmGCV
SEC warns structured note issuers over proprietary indexes
Tom Osborn, Risk.net
A senior SEC official has warned US issuers that it is closely monitoring the current uptick in the sale of structured notes tied to proprietary indexes A senior regulator at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned US banks that it is scrutinising the sale of structured notes tied to proprietary issues, arguing that the dealers’ sales networks may not understand the payout profiles of the products they have been tasked with selling.
jlne.ws/1PuCh7i
FCA warns of cold calling fake regulator fraudster
Investment Week
A man pretending to be from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is cold calling people in an attempt to defraud them, the regulator has warned.
jlne.ws/1EZsDze
What’s New on the SEC Website, May 18, 2015
Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) Rulemaking and National Market System (NMS) Plans
FICC: Notice of Filing of a Proposed Rule Change to the Government Securities Division Rules in connection with the extension of the GCF Repo service pilot program
ICC: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change Related to Settlement Finality (Release No. 34-74974; File No. SR-ICC-2015-008; May 15, 2015)
ISE: Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of Proposed Rule Change to Amend the Schedule of Fees (Release No. 34-74975; File No. SR-ISE-2015-17; May 15, 2015); see also Exhibit 5
NASDAQ: Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Relating to the Listing and Trading of the Shares of the PowerShares DB Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy Portfolio, PowerShares Agriculture Commodity Strategy Portfolio, PowerShares Precious Metals Commodity Strategy Portfolio, PowerShares Energy Commodity Strategy Portfolio, PowerShares Base Metals Commodity Strategy Portfolio and PowerShares Bloomberg Commodity Strategy Portfolio, Each a Series of PowerShares Actively Managed Exchange-Traded Commodity Fund Trust (Release No. 34-74979; File No. SR-NASDAQ-2015-049; May 15, 2015)
NASDAQ: Notice of Filing of Proposed Rule Change Regarding NASDAQ Last Sale Plus (Release No. 34-74972; File No. SR-NASDAQ-2015-055; May 15, 2015)
OCC: Order Approving Proposed Rule Change to Establish Procedures Regarding the Monthly Resizing of its Clearing Fund and the Addition of Financial Resources On March 13, 2015, The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) filed with the Securities and ExchangeCommission (Commission) the proposed rule change SR-OCC-2015-009 pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 1 2(Act) and Rule 19b-4 thereunder.
OCC: Notice of No Objection to an Advance Notice, as Modified by Amendment No. 1 and Amendment No. 2, to Establish Procedures Regarding the Monthly Resizing of its Clearing Fund and the Addition of Financial Resources (Release No. 34-74981; File No. SR-OCC-2014-811; May 15, 2015)
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Exchanges & Trading Facilities
CME, with JPM nod, to launch zinc contract, upping LME battle
Reuters
CME Group Inc said on Monday it would launch a zinc futures contract next month, stepping up a global battle for metals market share with the London Metal Exchange amid expanding Asian markets. CME’s announcement, which included a statement from JP Morgan Chase & Co expressing strong support for the move, said the new zinc contract will begin trading June 29. The first available U.S. delivery was targeted for October, pending regulatory reviews, CME said
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BATS Chi-X Europe overhauls ETF trading tariffs | Financial Industry & Algorithmic Trading News Automated Trader
BATS Chi-X Europe has announced new trading tariffs intended to incentivise tighter price formation and promote deeper liquidity as it continues its campaign to improve the European marketplace for exchange-traded funds and products (ETFs/ETPs).
jlne.ws/1EZt3Wt
LME Launches LMEapp In Chinese
Press release
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has launched a Chinese language version of the LMEapp, the exchange’s smartphone application providing metals data and tools.
jlne.ws/1KhMZKS
Polish bourse eyes speed traders as U.S. approves futures contract
Reuters
The Warsaw Stock Exchange has been cleared by U.S. regulators to make futures contracts based on an index of Poland’s top public companies available to U.S. investors and high-speed trading firms, an exchange executive said on Monday. The move could attract more automated trading firms that use arbitrage strategies to profit from fleeting disparities between the prices of the futures contracts and those of the underlying securities, said Grzegorz Zawada, vice president of WSE’s management board.
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ETPD: Next event on 21 May 2015 in Zurich
SIX Swiss Exchange
In their eighth year, the Exchange Traded Product Days offer you direct access to current investment ideas, the latest product developments, and an overview of the regulatory framework. The low-interest-rate environment presents new challenges for the composition of your portfolio. At this event, you can get specific solutions from the wide range of structured products and ETFs, and talk to specialists in the field.
jlne.ws/1jZdylX
Moscow Exchange Authorizes Cross Trading Through The CCP On Its Derivatives Market
Press Release
Effective 12 May 2015, the amended Moscow Exchange trading and admission rules will authorize cross trading on the Derivatives Market. The new rules require all cross transactions to be cleared through the CCP. The National Clearing Centre (NCC) acts as the CCP across the Moscow Exchange markets.
jlne.ws/1B8T6Zw
KRX Joins The UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative As A Partner Exchange
Press Release
Korea Exchange (KRX) publicly announced that it has joined the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative as a Partner Exchange to promote sustainable business practices among listed companies at the UN Global Compact Korea Leaders Summit 2015 held on the 19th May 2015 in Seoul.
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Hedge Funds & Managed Futures
Wall Street Is Back, Almost as Big as Ever
NYTimes.com
Major investment banks have raised their standard base salary this spring for recent college graduates to $85,000, the first rise after five years in which the salaries hovered near $70,000. At the complex in Lower Manhattan formerly known as the World Financial Center, the vacancy rate — which soared to 41 percent after Merrill Lynch consolidated offices after the financial crisis — is now less than 5 percent.
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Oil volatility fades as risks become more balanced: Kemp
Reuters
Oil prices have become much less volatile in recent weeks as the record short position previously established by hedge funds has been squared up and prices return to a level at which many U.S. shale wells are profitable. Realized volatility, a technical measure of the day to day variability in prices, has fallen to an annualized rate of just 24 percent, down by more than half from its peak of 60 percent in late February.
jlne.ws/1B8Rjno
Traders warn on gold liquidity
FT.com
A few years ago London’s precious metals traders would arrive at their desks to find the phones flashing. On the other end of the line were rival banks looking to buy and sell gold. Today, the trading floors are a lot quieter.
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The $18 Trillion Global Economic Boost If Everything Went Right
Bloomberg Business
What if everything started to go right in the world economy? It’s a lot to ask. The 1.1 percent global growth of the first quarter was the weakest for an expansion since 1998, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers’s “secular stagnation” warning is gaining traction and central banks are finding more and more reasons to keep monetary policy easy.
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Banks & Brokers
Societe Generale Prime Services Launches Portfolio Margining For Clients Trading With CME Group
PRNewswire
Societe Generale Prime Services, formerly Newedge, today announced it now offers CME Group portfolio margining for its clients. This enhancement enables its clients to treat cleared IRS contracts and exchange traded futures contracts as a single portfolio, resulting in reduced margins when trading CME Group products.
jlne.ws/1AaWesZ
ICAP full-year trading profit falls 15 pct
Reuters
ICAP Plc, which matches buyers and sellers of bonds, swaps and currencies, said full-year trading pretax profit fell 15.5 percent as it coped with transformed market environment across many of its businesses, primarily its global broking unit.
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US Bank, Bank of America win dismissal of mortgage claims
Reuters
U.S. Bancorp and Bank of America Corp won a dismissal of claims in lawsuits accusing them of breaching their duties as trustees for residential mortgage-backed securities that suffered losses tied to the global financial crisis. The dismissals came in three decisions late Monday by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan.
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Morgan Stanley to Critic: You’re Bad at Your Job
MoneyBeat – WSJ
A dustup between Morgan Stanley’s equity strategists and a financial adviser spilled over into the bank’s research report. The strategists, led by Adam Parker, make their case that it’s too early to call the top of the stock market. Among other points, they argue that earnings estimates are two low, the U.S. economy is improving and stock-market sentiment is poor.
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BGC Partners Continues Spree With Deal to Buy Real Estate Firm
NYTimes.com
The brokerage firm BGC Partners is on a deal-making spree. The firm announced on Monday that it had acquired Excess Space Retail Services, a specialist in helping companies get rid of their unused space, as it continues to build out its real estate offerings. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
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ICAP reports growing automation of FX trades
The TRade News
A FX matching service launched by ICAP last year has seen strong demand and growing interest in automated trading, the interdealer broker has said. ICAP launched the eFix Matching solution in May last year, looking to enable customers to execution currency fixes electronically via the EBS Market platform.
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ITG becomes Bondcube US trading intermediary
Press Release
Bondcube, the Fixed Income trading platform, is pleased to announce that ITG, the independent execution broker, has been appointed as a US trading intermediary for Bondcube’s buy-side to buy-side trades.
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Clearing & Settlement
Peter J. Curley, Associate Director in the Division of Trading and Markets, to Leave SEC
SEC.gov
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Peter J. Curley, Associate Director for Clearance and Settlement in the Division of Trading and Markets, is leaving the agency later this month. Mr. Curley has headed the Office of Clearance and Settlement since October 2011 and managed it during a time of significant expansion in its responsibilities.
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DTCC 10-Year Anniversary In Tampa Marks A Decade Of Job Growth And Community Involvement
Press Release
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary in Tampa. Regional community, city and business leaders joined with DTCC to commemorate the milestone, applauding the company’s important contributions to Tampa Bay over the last decade. The firm has brought hundreds of jobs and contributed thousands of volunteer hours to the city.
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LCH.Clearnet Appoints New Global Head Of Sales And Relationship Management
Press Release
LCH.Clearnet Group (“LCH.Clearnet”), the global clearing house, is pleased to announce that Ali Hackett has been appointed to the newly created role of Global Head of Sales and Relationship Management. Ms Hackett will be responsible for maximising the value, reach and range of the Group’s existing customer relationships whilst pursuing new member and client business opportunities. Ali will report into the Group CEO, Suneel Bakhshi, and will be a member of LCH.Clearnet’s Executive Committee. She will be based in New York.
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Indexes & Products
LSEG Launches New FTSE Russell Brand
Plan Sponsor
Combined elements of Russell Investments and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) will operate under a newly established brand, FTSE Russell. The launch of FTSE Russell is “an important milestone in the integration of FTSE and Russell Indexes,” the firm notes. The announcement follows the 2014 acquisition of the Russell Investment businesses by the London Stock Exchange Group.
jlne.ws/1KhNVyP
PUT Index Hits All-time Daily Closing High, with Less Volatility
Matthew Moran, via LinkedIn
On Monday, May 18, the CBOE S&P 500 PutWrite Index (PUT(SM)) closed at 1507.95, its highest all-time daily closing value. PUT is an award-winning benchmark index that measures the performance of a hypothetical portfolio that sells S&P 500® Index (SPX) put options against collateralized cash reserves held in a money market account. The PUT Index is the leading benchmark index for the cash-secured put writing strategy.
jlne.ws/1EZuJPQ
Euronext and Shenzen Stock Exchange Announce Partnership on Exchange Traded FUnds and Indices
Euronext
Euronext and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance the development of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) in the Republic of China and the Euronext markets. The MOU is the starting point for collaboration on joint development, research, marketing and specialized trading technology, as well as co-branding of indices and Exchange Traded Products.
Xetra/Börse Frankfurt: New PIMCO Source Active ETF Launched On Xetra
Press Release
A new active ETF issued by PIMCO Fixed Income Source has been tradable on Xetra since Tuesday. This is a new asset class for the PIMCO Euro Short Maturity Source UCITS ETF, which is already tradable on Xetra. The only difference is that the income is not distributed but accumulated.
jlne.ws/1EZsvQq
Technology
CRYEX to establish crypto currency exchange and clearinghouse using turnkey solutions from Cinnober
Press Release
A new start-up in digital currency, CRYEX, has made its entrance on the financial stage. The company announced recently that it has filed an application with the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) to become one of the world’s first regulated clearing organizations. They then intend to create a members-only European marketplace for trading FX, including digital currencies like bitcoin and other crypto currencies. Cinnober had announced this partnership earlier but without names and details.
jlne.ws/1kFNIbz
Startups to Watch: Hong Kong
WSJ.com
Bioengineered fish embryos that turn fluorescent green in the presence of toxins. Humanoid robots that display lifelike facial expressions when they talk. Artificial intelligence software that crunches data to decide which stocks to buy and sell. Hong Kong is home to a growing number of startups that are making technological advances. Below, some startups to watch.
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30 Hot Fintech Startups to Watch
Fox Small Business Center
If you’re in the banking sector, there’s no doubt that you should be keeping a close eye to the Fintech industry. Besides providing innovative new technology and ideas for the banking industry, it’s also been estimated by Statista that “bank spending on new technologies was predicted to amount to $19.9 billion in 2017 in North America.”
jlne.ws/1KhO5WZ
Enforcement
Former Bank Of America Executive Sentenced To Serve 26 Months In Prison For Role In Conspiracy And Fraud Involving Investment Contracts For Municipal Bond Proceeds
Press Release
A former Bank of America executive was sentenced today for his participation in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud related to bidding for contracts for the investment of municipal bond proceeds and other municipal finance contracts, the Department of Justice announced today.
jlne.ws/1B8QQBH
Ex-JPMorgan executive wins case over FCA ‘London Whale’ report
FT.com
A former JPMorgan executive who oversaw a unit where the trader known as the “London Whale” caused more than $6bn in losses won a case against the UK finance regulator that will impact what it can publish in enforcement cases.
jlne.ws/1KhMUXu
Environmental & Energy
Bursa Malaysia Commits To The Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative
Press Release
Bursa Malaysia Berhad today signed the Sustainable Stock Exchanges’ (“SSE”) voluntary commitment to promote sustainability performance and transparency in Capital Markets. The support for SSE’s sustainability initiative underscores the national Exchange’s commitment to remain one of the world’s most competitive markets by integrating global best practices in the local marketplace.
jlne.ws/1B8SDqn
Oxford Joins Cambridge With Ethical Move on Investments
MoneyBeat – WSJ
Oxford University, one of the world’s oldest schools, has joined the ranks of British universities shunning investments in carbon-intensive energy projects. Under pressure from some students, the thousand-year-old college has formalized the investment policy for its £2 billion ($3.1 billion) endowment and permanently banned itself from investing in any companies that derive most of their income from coal or oil sands projects, as well as “sectors with high social and environmental risks.”
jlne.ws/1B8QsD5
IMF Estimates Trillions in Hidden Fossil-Fuel Costs
WSJ
Consumers should be paying a whopping $5 trillion more a year for energy to cover the hidden health and environmental costs of using fossil fuels, the IMF said.
jlne.ws/1B8Sy5S
EEX Launches New Offer On The CO2 Market – New Market Makers On The Spot And Derivatives Market As Of June – New Price Model And Expanded Product Portfolio
In order to further strengthen its role on this market, the European Energy Exchange (EEX) has fundamentally revised its offer on the Secondary Market for Emission Allowances
jlne.ws/1B8T97K
Asia-Pacific
China Hedge Funds Defy Commodity Slowdown With Trading Boom
Bloomberg Business
Chinese hedge funds are helping drive a commodity-derivatives trading boom in the world’s biggest energy, grains and metals consumer that’s defying the worst economic growth in 25 years
jlne.ws/1EZvnMZ
China releases guidelines for economic reform priorities in 2015
Reuters
Chinese policymakers on Monday announced guidelines for reform priorities in 2015, ranging from streamlining administrative procedures to boosting the yuan’s global role, as Beijing steps up efforts to open up the country’s capital markets.
jlne.ws/1EZsVGi
Shanghai Stock Exchange Planning Startup Market
WSJ
The Shanghai Stock Exchange is on track to launch a new market for small, innovative companies that will challenge the wildly successful Nasdaq -style startup board in Shenzhen, people familiar with the matter said.
jlne.ws/1KhO8Sz
China’s record capital outflows spark financial stability fears
FT.com
Capital is flowing out of China at a record pace, sparking fears over financial stability and complicating efforts by the central bank to support a slowing economy with lower interest rates.
jlne.ws/1Heie3p
Frontier Markets
India ignored warnings on foreign investor tax row -sources
Reuters
India’s Finance Ministry could have sidestepped a damaging multibillion-dollar tax row with foreign investors if it had acted on regular warning letters that officials had been sending since as long ago as September.
jlne.ws/1EZsRGF
Signs look dire for Zimbabwe economy
FT.com
On May 1 – Labour Day – one of President Robert Mugabe’s top officials took to Twitter to offer a bleak assessment for Zimbabwe’s economy. In unusually frank comments, Jonathan Moyo, information minister, tweeted: “This May Day our triple challenge is we’ve workers without work, we’ve lost the sense of labour value & we lack a strategy to create wealth!”
jlne.ws/1KhMSPk
Saudi Arabia to open stock market to foreigners
Daily Sabah
Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that direct foreign investment in its stock market will soon become possible, according to a statement by the Riyadh-based Capital Market Authority. The move, which will take place on June 15, opens up what has been one of the world’s most restricted exchanges, as well as one of the most important ones in terms of liquidity and market capitalization.
jlne.ws/1HeisaI
Tehran Stock Exchange to Raise Price Fluctuation Level
The market department of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) has informed its participants that in order to increase market liquidity, the Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO)’s board of directors has ratified the TSE’s proposal to raise daily price fluctuation of the listed equities, debt and derivatives products to ±5 percent from 23 May 2015. The amount will be ±10 percent for rights. The fluctuation rate is currently ±4 and ±8 percent for equities and rights, respectively.
jlne.ws/1KhMTD9
READ MORE: John Lothian Newsletter: Deutsche Börse to set up Europe’s first multi-asset RMB platform; Banks seek OTC clearing lifeline; Illegal activity on Wall Street still widespread, says Wall St.