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Clayton and Giancarlo on Crypto; Aramco IPO Implications; May’s Brexit talk

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), J.Christopher Giancarlo, will be a keynote speaker at Boca 2018!

You looking for something to trade? CME is holding a course: Introduction to TOPIX on the Tokyo Stock Price Index (TOPIX) and Yen-denominated TOPIX Futures, which are set to launch on February 5 at CME Group. Gain a basic understanding of how to incorporate TOPIX futures into a trading strategy and how the contracts compare to Nikkei 225 Index futures.~JK

JLN will be issuing a Special Report this morning on some embargoed news. Stay tuned.~JJL

Former CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton is joining the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Omega One as an adviser.~JJL

Jim Falvey has a new blog post from his work with Bovill titled “Crypto-World Regulatory Update.”~JJL

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CME Group Announces All-Time Daily Open Interest Record for Eurodollar Futures of 14.5 Million Contracts
CME Group
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it reached an all-time daily open interest record for Eurodollar futures of 14.5 million contracts on Jan. 23, 2018. The previous single-day open interest record was 14.4 million contracts, set on Dec. 13, 2017.
/goo.gl/f3wEcG

****** The CME Group has now set a record for the number of records. This new record is a record high.~JJL

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Deutsche Bˆrse launches readings for children in the Frankfurt Commercial Hall
Deutsche Bˆrse
From now on, once a month, Deutsche Bˆrse offers readings for children aged 3 to 7 at the visitor gallery in its commercial hall in downtown Frankfurt, which is known from television. The children and their companions can follow the events on the trading floor “live”.
/goo.gl/UPzdJx

***** Once upon a time there was a great German exchange operator who…..~JJL

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U.K. Charity at Center of Groping Allegations to Shut Down
Joe Mayes and Kitty Donaldson – Bloomberg
Presidents Club to shut down in wake of furor over claims; WPP ends connection to dinner, hospital to return donations
Today, they, and government attendees, were rushing to explain, defend themselves against or brush off a report in the Financial Times that multiple hostesses at the event were harassed, groped and insulted. One company, WPP Plc, said it would end its association with the event and a world-renowned hospital that had benefited from the fundraiser said it would return all donations. By late afternoon, the Presidents Club said it would disband.
/goo.gl/Qujuky

**TimesUp on the Presidents Club. All eyes now on Davos.~JK

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Wednesday’s Top Three
Wednesday’s top stories were led by the intriguing story about big changes to the industry – the Scotch industry. The Wall Street Journal’s piece If You’re a Purist About Scotch Whisky, You Might Find This Hard to Swallow took the top spot yesterday, which says something about our readership. Second went to the FIA’s volume release FIA Releases Summary Statistics For 2017 Futures And Options Volume And Open Interest. Third went to Marketwatch’s article Goldman issues a warning on bitcoinóand an even bigger warning on Ethereum. That story was the third most read piece on Tuesday. Bottoms up everybody.

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Lead Stories

Regulators Are Looking at Cryptocurrency; At the SEC and CFTC, we take our responsibility seriously.
Jay Clayton and J. Christopher Giancarlo – WSJ
Distributed ledger technology, or DLT, is the advancement that underpins an array of new financial products, including cryptocurrencies and digital payment services. Many have identified DLT as the next great driver of economic efficiency. Some have even compared it to productivity-driving innovations such as the steam engine and personal computer.
/goo.gl/8CXTNs

How a $1.5 Trillion Aramco IPO Could Transform Global Stocks
Matthew Winkler, Filipe Pacheco and Shin Pei – Bloomberg
IPO seen as a game changer in the region, investor says; Company market value would be almost twice that of Apple
Saudi Aramco CEO Says ‘We Are Ready’ for IPO in Second Half of 2018
Money managers in the Middle East are confident the sale of government-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co. this year will shake up the global stock market with a record initial public offering that gives the world’s biggest company a valuation of about $1.5 trillion.
/goo.gl/y7b1km

May Leaves Door Open to Paying for Access to the City’s Future
Kitty Donaldson and John Micklethwait – Bloomberg
U.K. premier under pressure ahead of second round of talks; In exclusive interview, May says financial services are key
May said in a television interview with Bloomberg’s Editor in Chief John Micklethwait in Davos Thursday that she was “very clear that we want to develop a deep and special partnership, a comprehensive trade agreement.” “Obviously we recognize the importance of the financial services and we want to ensure that we can continue to see those financial services, ensuring the City of London retains its role as a global financial center,” she said.
/goo.gl/Q4Bwvi

Chicago Futures Trader Pleads Guilty to Fraud That Sunk His Firm
David Glovin – Bloomberg
Chicago futures trader Thomas Lindstrom pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a $13 million fraud that led to the collapse of his firm, the U.S. said.
/goo.gl/drFkmJ

This Is What the Average Bitcoin Owner Looks Like
Fortune
Chances are, you’ve heard of Bitcoin. But the odds are much smaller that you actually have a stake in it. Nearly 60 percent of Americans have heard or read about the world’s largest cryptocurrency, according to a joint SurveyMonkey and Global Blockchain Business Council poll of more than 5,700 adults conducted in January. But only 5 percent of people actually own the digital coin.
/goo.gl/5WV3x9

FCA lambasted for ‘worst piece of financial regulation ever’; Fund industry veteran calls for ‘heads to roll’ over rules on performance projections
Chris Flood – FT
European regulators, including the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, have been accused of an “absolute dereliction of the duty of care” to consumers by a senior fund industry veteran for allowing publication of wildly misleading performance projections on investment products across Europe.
/goo.gl/M7ffAh

Interactive Brokers fined £1 million for market abuse failures; Online broker failed to submit any suspicious transaction reports on potential market abuse for a year.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Interactive Brokers £1,049,412 for failing to oversee its market abuse systems and controls in the UK.
/goo.gl/gTCghq

Chicago HFT embarks on cryptocurrency hiring drive
Samuel Agini – Financial News
A leading US proprietary trader is hiring cryptocurrency experts at home and abroad as the world’s big financial firms differ on whether or not to embrace the booming, but volatile, market for digital money. Chicago-based DRW Holdings has been an early mover in this area. Its Cumberland Mining unit has been active since 2014, trading around 20-30 cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ethereum, zcash and monero.
/goo.gl/caGxuD

A weak dollar ‘good’ for the U.S.? It’s complicated
Richard Leong – Reuters
A dollar rout intensified on Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a lower greenback was “good for us” – though a weaker U.S. currency may not prove a long-term economic boost. It was a highly unusual remark for a Treasury secretary, as it is seen as a break from previous White House administrations’ public stance for a stronger U.S. currency, even as they wrangled with trade partners to open up their local markets to U.S. companies.
/goo.gl/rji7dm

Big Bang Turns to Drip Feed as MiFID Arrives in Bits and Pieces
Silla Brush – Bloomberg
Battle over tick-sizes in equity pricing set to recommence; Dark pool trading back in focus after enforcement delayed
The European Union’s sweeping MiFID II law came into force on Jan. 3. Well, at least some of it.
/goo.gl/jTRCMC

What the KPMG Conspiracy Case Revealed About Its Audits; Former KPMG executives were charged with conspiracy earlier this week
Michael Rapoport – WSJ
In February 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission summoned top executives from KPMG LLP to a meeting in Washington, D.C. The reason: The regulator was “frustrated” with poor inspection results for the firm, and this resulted in concerns about the quality of its audits of public companies.
/goo.gl/hwyMwV

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

GMEX Launches Fusion, Integrating Centralised And Blockchain Technologies – Delivering Modern, Hybrid Centralised And Distributed Blockchain Enabled Exchange Trading And Post Trade Solutions For Exchanges, Clearing-Houses And Depositories
MondoVisione
In response to changing global market drivers and technical innovation, GMEX Technologies Ltd (GMEX), a provider of multi-asset exchange and post-trade business and technology solutions is pleased to announce GMEX Fusion, a unique integrated centralised and distributed solution set.
/goo.gl/HC1QuX

Presentation of Myanmar’s Capital Market Activation Support Plan to the Ministry of Planning and Finance of Myanmar
JPX
Today, the Financial Services Agency, Japan Exchange Group, Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. presented the Ministry of Planning and Finance of Myanmar with a support plan “LIST (Listing + Investment Strategy and Timeline) for Myanmar (Myanmar LIST)” for the activation of the capital market of Myanmar.
/goo.gl/vUQ5Bz

Commodity index derivatives: Introduction of four further futures on Bloomberg Commodity indexes (XL contracts)
Eurex
The Management Board of Eurex Deutschland and the Executive Board of Eurex Z¸rich AG took the following decision, effective 12 February 2018: Introduction of four further futures on Bloomberg Commodity indexes (XL contracts)
/goo.gl/rJMH7T

Equity Index Highlights – January 2018 edition
Eurex
2017 was another year of new record highs in global equity markets supported by the recovery of the global economy and the ongoing expansive monetary policy by international central banks. Side by side with rising index levels, volatility levels in equity markets reached new record lows. The uncertainties about the outcome of the French elections in April and a possible escalation around the North Korean conflict in August have been the only two major events last year with substantial effect on volatility levels. Despite the record low levels, trading volumes in the European volatility benchmark VSTOXX showed considerable growth. Traded VSTOXXÆ Futures & Options contracts volume increased by more than 50% y-o-y.
/goo.gl/Y1ez6o

ITG POSIT hits block trading record; POSIT Alert block crossing network set new record as MiFID II continues to see greater large-in-scale activity.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Agency brokerage and technology vendor ITG registered a new record in value traded on its block crossing network in Europe this month as traders continue to seek block liquidity under the new MiFID II regime.
/goo.gl/EzUXrQ

Broadridge launches repo trading platform; Request Order Quote service provides traders with the ability to quote and execute repo trades on aggregate basis.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Broadridge Financial Solutions has unveiled a new multi-market aggregation and execution platform for repo markets.
/goo.gl/khYgAW

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Is In A Process Of Finding A Strategic Investor – 71.7% Of TASE Shares Are Available For Sale
Mondovisione
TASE is in a process of finding a strategic investor. After approaching its shareholders, 71.7% of TASE shareholders offered TASE to sell their shares.
/goo.gl/aMKGQa

Fintech

Startup seeks to super-charge returns, without derivatives or debt; Fintech firm Salt Financial has a fresh approach to measuring volatility, which could transform the choices available to asset managers
Samuel Agini – Financial News
How do you seize the attention of investors looking to maximise their returns? For two trading executives turned fintech moguls, the answer is in their slogan: “No derivatives. No borrowing.” Tony Barchetto, the former head of corporate development at then-upstart exchange Bats, and Alfred Eskandar, former chief executive of FactSet’s Portware trading technology provider, have an alternative to leverage ó the standard, if risky, tool many investors have used to super-charge their returns.
/goo.gl/8xmRvt

Ripple Wants XRP to Be Bitcoin for Banks. If Only the Banks Wanted It; The blockchain company’s plan to create a global payments system for banks got swept up in the crypto craze.
Matthew Leising and Edward Robinson – Bloomberg
Every day, companies and consumers around the world send more than $76 billion in payments through a vast network of banks. Without the flow of money, container ships stay in port, workers don’t get paid, and supply chains break down. For the past seven years, Ripple, a tech company in San Francisco, has vowed to use the blockchain wizardry behind Bitcoin to rewire this global circulatory system with what it calls an “internet of value.”
/goo.gl/78HDf6

Integral Expands Cryptocurrency Market Data Services to Include; Most accurate reference price for all major cryptocurrencies
Integral
Integral (www.integral.com), the financial technology partner trusted by leading banks, brokers, and investment managers to design, deliver and grow their FX businesses, announced today that it has expanded its market data offering for
cryptocurrencies to include 14 major cryptocurrencies connecting to all major exchange sources across the U.S., Europe and Asia including Japan and Hong Kong.
/goo.gl/jrxxcE

FIX Releases Cybersecurity Guidelines; The guidelines recommend authentication methods to use TLS protocols with FIX.
cyber-security-2-web
Emilia David – Waters Technology
The FIX Trading Community released new cybersecurity guidelines for FIX-over-TLS (FIXS) standards after concerns were raised over the vulnerability of the Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol.
/goo.gl/n6BuCz

Bank of America CEO: We have tons of blockchain patents
Daniel Roberts – Yahoo Finance
Wall Street banks and financial institutions have been beating the drum of “blockchain without bitcoin” for a couple years nowóexcitement in blockchain, the distributed ledger technology that underpins bitcoin, but hesitation, or outright dismissal, of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Then, at the end of 2017, when the price of bitcoin, ether, litecoin, ripple and other digital coins surged to all-time highs, big names like Nasdaq, CME, and Cboe rushed into bitcoin futures, and the
/goo.gl/kApKFG

Tech firms let Russia probe software widely used by U.S. government
Dustin Volz, Joel Schectman, Jack Stubbs – Reuters
Major global technology providers SAP (SAPG.DE), Symantec (SYMC.O) and McAfee have allowed Russian authorities to hunt for vulnerabilities in software deeply embedded across the U.S. government, a Reuters investigation has found.
/goo.gl/ahoc6D

Politics

May Says She’ll Look ‘Very Seriously’ at Action on Bitcoin
John Micklethwait , Tim Ross , and Jill Ward – Bloomberg
Cryptocurrencies are something we need to supervise “very seriously,” May says.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to consider clamping down on bitcoin as she raised concerns that cryptocurrencies are being used by criminals.
/goo.gl/qWQr66

History Suggests Mnuchin’s Dollar Rhetoric Could Backfire
Lananh Nguyen – Bloomberg
Already-weak outlook exacerbated by administration stance; State Street sees dollar weakening to $1.30 per euro this year
When it comes to the dollar, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin may soon come to realize that talk isn’t always cheap.
/goo.gl/CWk873

Trump administration backs bills to toughen foreign investment rules
Reuters Staff
The Trump administration supports bipartisan bills in Congress to toughen U.S. foreign investment rules amid growing concern about Chinese efforts to buy U.S. high-tech companies, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/ZEMLpZ

Trump Out to Show Davos Elite He Knows Best
Kathleen Hunter and Shannon Pettypiece – Bloomberg
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Switzerland this morning with a familiar message for the global elites gathered at the World Economic Forum: You were wrong.
/goo.gl/g86xnz

Regulation

Crypto market put on notice ó yet again
Alexandra Scaggs – FT
SEC Commissioner Jay Clayton is once again warning the crypto market about regulation. Lest his interest be underestimated, he wrote an op-ed with the headline “Regulators Are Looking at Cryptocurrency” published in the WSJ late Wednesday.
/goo.gl/V9i416

FCA fines Interactive Brokers (UK) Limited £1,049,412 for poor market abuse controls and failure to report suspicious client transactions
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today imposed a financial penalty on Interactive Brokers (UK) (IBUK) in the amount of £1,049,412 for failings in its post-trade systems and controls for identifying and reporting suspicious transactions in the period February 2014 to February 2015 (‘the Relevant Period’).
/goo.gl/yce6S5

CFTC Charges Randall Crater, Mark Gillespie, and My Big Coin Pay, Inc. with Fraud and Misappropriation in Ongoing Virtual Currency Scam
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing of a federal court enforcement action under seal on January 16, 2018, charging commodity fraud and misappropriation related to the ongoing solicitation of customers for a virtual currency known as My Big Coin (MBC). The CFTC Complaint charges Defendants Randall Crater of East Hampton, New York, Mark Gillespie of Hartland, Michigan, and My Big Coin Pay, Inc., a corporation based in Las Vegas, Nevada, with misappropriating over $6 million from customers by, among other things, transferring customer funds into personal bank accounts, and using those funds for personal expenses and the purchase of luxury goods.
/goo.gl/UExJmy

ASIC reports on how large financial institutions manage conflicts of interest in financial advice
ASIC
An Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) review of financial advice provided by the five biggest vertically integrated financial institutions has identified areas where improvements are needed to the management of conflicts of interest.
/goo.gl/5ZtD3w

FCA fines UK arm of Interactive Brokers for poor controls
Hannah Murphy and Philip Stafford in London – FT
The UK’s financial watchdog has fined the UK arm of Interactive Brokers, a US retail broker, more than £1m for patchy market abuse controls and failing to report suspicious transactions.
/goo.gl/B48ZX5

Bitcoin Futures Get Cold Shoulder From Japanese Regulator
Gareth Allan and Yuki Hagiwara – Bloomberg
Law change would be needed to allow derivatives in Japan; FSA may consider such a move if needed for hedging: official
Japan’s financial regulator is in no hurry to follow the U.S. and enable the listing of futures contracts linked to cryptocurrencies, according to a senior Financial Services Agency official with direct knowledge of the matter.
/goo.gl/EXVUT7

Broker Fined for Impersonating Rival With Online Sex Ads
Matt Robinson – Bloomberg
Cyberbullying has officially hit Wall Street. When Edward Jones broker Paul Betenbaugh in California wanted to exact revenge on a rival, he went too far. He impersonated the competitor and posted ads on the Internet that solicited men for sexual encounters, according to a Tuesday order from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The ads included the other broker’s business cell phone number, resulting in a number of unwanted calls and text messages, Finra said.
/goo.gl/gU9JQv

SEC investigating GE charge; company posts $10 billion loss
Alwyn Scott – Reuters
U.S. securities regulators are probing a massive insurance charge recently announced by General Electric Co (GE.N), the latest blow to the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate as it struggles to reverse steep declines in some of its units and is looking to sell off $20 billion of assets.
/goo.gl/e2ZSn7

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies must be regulated before becoming large enough to disrupt global economy, suggests Philip Hammond
Jack Maidment, political correspondent – Telegraph
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies must be regulated before they become large enough to disrupt the global economy, Philip Hammond has said.
/goo.gl/rWNmfV

Uniform global curbs on cryptocurrency trading may be hard: BOJ official
Leika Kihara, Yoshifumi Takemoto – Reuters
Policymakers around the world may debate ways to deal with the volatility of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies but imposing global, across-the-board regulations on their trading won’t be easy, a senior Bank of Japan official said on Thursday.
/goo.gl/XgPhBj

Investing and Trading

Bitcoin earns ‘C+’ from ratings agency, while the competition scores higher
Shawn Langlois – MarketWatch
No digital currency deserves an A, and bitcoin barely earns a passing grade, according to Weiss Ratings, which released Wednesday what it claims to be “the nation’s first-ever grades on cryptocurrencies by a financial rating agency.”
/goo.gl/d9KmXG

50 Cent has been sitting on a bitcoin fortune, but forgot about it; Rapper earned about 700 bitcoin in 2014 album sales
Mike Murphy – MarketWatch
Rapper, actor and entrepreneur 50 Cent is a bitcoin millionaire, and he apparently didn’t even realize it until this week.
/goo.gl/gSuqU1

There’s a 33 percent chance bitcoin goes to zero, VC Jason Calacanis says.
Sara Salinas – CNBC
Top venture capitalist Jason Calacanis has not been a bitcoin booster and said there’s a 33 percent chance the cryptocurrency goes to zero.
/goo.gl/1irwzh

Gold ETFs see steep inflows as investors look to hedge
Ryan Vlastelica – MarketWatch
The largest exchange-traded fund to track gold has seen heavy adoption thus far in 2018, with massive inflows amid a rally in the precious metal’s price, as well as interest from investors looking to hedge their portfolios.
/goo.gl/u1gfrF

Institutions

Why Goldman and Pritzker Sank Millions Into a Startup Before Suing It for Fraud; Outcome Health raised nearly $500 million from investors in a funding round last May
Rolfe Winkler – WSJ
Last winter, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS 2.15% presented Silicon Valley investors with what seemed like a hot opportunity in Chicago.
/goo.gl/Fq4VrZ

Leading stock exchange analysts depart from LSE broker RBC; Departure of the analysts comes at a crucial time for the iconic British exchange group
Samuel Agini – Financial New
One of the UK’s leading stock exchange analysts is among three departures from the research division at Royal Bank of Canada, which is corporate broker to the London Stock Exchange.
/goo.gl/wVybT6

BlueMountain loses senior investment adviser, senior trader
Svea Herbst-Bayliss – Reuters
More executives have departed BlueMountain Capital Management as the hedge fund posted disappointing results last year, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/8yMgpM

Scaramucci hits pause button on Las Vegas hedge fund party
Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Lawrence Delevingne – Reuters
Anthony Scaramucci’s annual schmooze fest for Wall Street on the Las Vegas strip is on hold.
/goo.gl/Y1cJDw

Regions

Swiss loans may struggle with Libor transition, warn lawyers; Lack of standardisation means fallback clauses may be unable to handle move to Saron
Frances Ivens – Risk.net
Fallback provisions in legacy Swiss floating-rate loan contracts may not be robust enough to handle a move away from the Libor benchmark after 2021, lawyers have warned, which could see local courts decide whether the replacement rate is applicable on a case-by-case basis.
/goo.gl/eVfno2

When It Comes to Teaching Coding, Parents Won’t Get With the Program; It’s the latest hot thing for Chinese investors, startups and the government, but coding isn’t catching on among parents
Li Yuan – WSJ
Chen Kunjie started learning piano when he was 4 years old, practicing Taekwondo at 7 and taking lessons for the mathematics Olympiad at 10. These after-school tutoring classes are typical for Chinese children. Last year, at 11, Kunjie took up something unusual among his peers: coding.
/goo.gl/oygiD1

Switzerland embraces cryptocurrency culture; Alpine country emerges as global hub for initial coin offerings
Ralph Atkins in Zurich – Ft
In other countries, politicians express concern about the cryptocurrency craze, citing worries about security, regulation, volatility and a speculative bubble. Not in Switzerland.
/goo.gl/HZv5xR

Russia Offers Legal Cover for Cryptos as Central Bank Dissents
Stepan Kravchenko – Bloomberg
Finance Ministry publishes draft bill on cryptocurrencies; Digital assets won’t be deemed legal means of payment
Russia’s Finance Ministry published draft legislation to regulate operations using cryptocurrencies, putting it at odds with the central bank’s resistance to allowing their exchange into rubles and other currencies.
/goo.gl/pTMXPi

Chinese Firm Found Guilty of Stealing Wind Technology From U.S. Supplier; American Superconductor Corp. claimed Sinovel Wind Group stole source code for turbine software
Erin Ailworth – WSJ
A federal jury found a Chinese wind-turbine maker guilty of stealing technology from a former U.S. supplier, in what was viewed as a test case for looming intellectual property battles between the two countries.
/goo.gl/8EuuqZ

Lagarde Says Cryptocurrency Mining Is Consuming Too Much Power
Mark Deen – Bloomberg
Mining cryptocurrencies is far too energy intensive and is consuming as much electricity as a G-20 economy, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said.
/goo.gl/kzK3gy

How China’s Crackdown on Conglomerates Is Hitting Their Assets
Eric Lam – Bloomberg
China’s Communist leadership has tightened the regulatory screws on some of the nation’s largest, private-sector conglomerates in the name of financial stability.
/goo.gl/YNRsRk

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister says IEA overhyped US shale boom; ‘We should not be scared’, Khalid Al Falih tells Davos panel
Anjli Raval and David Sheppard in London – FT
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister took a rare sideways swipe at the International Energy Agency on Wednesday, accusing the body of overhyping the impact of US shale growth on the oil market.
/goo.gl/VDiXHp

Europe Is Back. And Rejecting Trumpism.
Peter S. Goodman – NY Times
French President Emmanuel Macron laid claim to the mantle of leader of the free world on Wednesday, with an ambitious speech before a packed assembly at the World Economic Forum.
/goo.gl/JFPj9k

Brexit

Can Britain Hit the Reset Button on Brexit?; Even Theresa May’s government isn’t sure leaving the EU is a good idea.
Robert Hutton – Bloomberg
Nineteen months after Britain voted to leave the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May still has to assure people that Brexit is really happening. On Jan. 16, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz asked May directly if Brexit was still on. Then German newspaper Bild asked the same question. “Wir verlassen die EU,” May insisted. “We’re leaving the EU.”
/goo.gl/bkD9ir

Brexit could mean JP Morgan moves more than 4,000 jobs from Britain
Reuters Staff
JPMorgan (JPM.N) could move more than 4,000 jobs out of Britain if Brexit talks result in a divergence of regulations and trade agreements between Britain and the European Union, the U.S. banking giant’s Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said on Thursday.
/goo.gl/oA7yaX

The post Clayton and Giancarlo on Crypto; Aramco IPO Implications; May’s Brexit talk appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).


Deutsche Boerse ends Asia expansion plans; NYSE, Nasdaq Fighting to Keep Grip on Market Close; Hodgkinson leaving Euronext

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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

John Lothian News will be bringing our video team to Boca for the FIA International Conference in March. We will again be shooting our exchange and industry leader video series. If you have some suggestions for topical subjects or persons to interview, email me.~JJL

Yesterday we issued a Special Report for the Trading Technologies and GDAX/Coinbase news and Jim Kharouf shot a short video to introduce the story he wrote. I did a short Twitter live piece as an experiment to promote the Special Report. It went fine, except my tie was not quite right and I had to scratch my nose at the end, which was caught on video.~JJL

Did you know that if you are a paid Enterprise subscriber to this newsletter that your firm can have one FREE Special Report to the JLN Readership? Email me for more information.~JJL

Cboe FX hit an all-time single day volume record of $68.4 billion on January 25.~JJL

Another entry into the realm of Bitcoin-related crime: a trio of armed men unsuccessfully tried to rob a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange by forcing an employee to make an online transaction. One 19-year-old culprit was apprehended after falling in a ditch. Little bit of a “stupid criminal” vibe to it.~SD

To our venerable viewers – “The Spread,” our weekly recap of notable options news, is merely paused and not gone. The host (read: me) succumbed to a nasty strain of influenza and then a sinus infection. Like a contagious phoenix, I shall rise. In the period of my ailment, Campbell’s Soup (CPB) is up more than four percent; Kimberly Clark (KMB), maker of Kleenex, is up more than seven percent; and the SPDR healthcare ETF (XLV) is up nearly three percent – all beating the S&P 500.~SD

I am trying to figure out which joke is funnier. This one: I am so old we had to eat Tide out of a box when we were kids. Or, this one: My wife told me I was immature so I told her to get out of my (blanket) fort.~JJL

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THE Infrastructure Project: Trading Technologies and Coinbase’s GDAX Partner On Deal To Connect Cryptocurrencies To Institutions
Jim Kharouf – John Lothian News
Cryptocurrency trading moved further into the mainstream today with the announcement that Trading Technologies and the Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX), one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, have partnered to offer the cash products on TT’s platform.
jlne.ws/2Bs3GkV

**In case you missed our special report yesterday, here is the top story. ~JK

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William McDonough, N.Y. Fed Chief in Twin Crises, Dies at 83
Rich Miller and Brendan Murray – Bloomberg
Greenspan describes him as formidable force in world economy; McDonough was also first chairman of public accounting board
William J. McDonough, whose decade-long tenure as Federal Reserve Bank of New York president included dealing with the market scare of Long-Term Capital Management LP and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has died. He was 83.
/goo.gl/tQeKYo

***** When I met William McDonough at a CME Globex celebration in Chicago many years ago, the thing that struck me was his incredible eyebrows. The man’s eyebrows were the biggest and bushiest I ever saw. He was a good man. ~JJL

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Robinhood adds zero-fee cryptocurrency trading and tracking
Josh Constine – TechCrunch
No-commission stock trading app Robinhood will let you buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum without any added transaction fees starting in February, compared to Coinbase’s 1.5 to 4 percent fees in the US. And as of today Robinhood will let all users track the price, news, and set up alerts on those and 14 other top crypto coins, including Litecoin and Ripple.
/goo.gl/TkdnqY

**** Robinhood continues to come out bow and arrows ablazin’ – keep in mind this is a month after it announced it is rolling out free options trading. It is unclear though what sort of plumbing/connectivity Robinhood will use for the offering, set to go live in February. When I first woke up, there were some 374k people signed up for early access. As of sending out the newsletter, there are more than 380k.~SD

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You’re Ordering Wine Wrong; But it’s not a lost cause; star sommelier Robert Bohr has advice on how to avoid common pinot pitfalls.
Kate Krader – Bloomberg
If there’s one person who would be voted Most Likely to Intimidate at a restaurant, it’s the sommelier. Wine lists can be confusing, even daunting territory for diners, plus alcohol invariably represents a good percentage of a restaurant check. You will recognize most of the bottles on a cocktail list; wines are another story, and it’s well-documented that selections are invariably marked up at least 200 percent.
/goo.gl/XMZGL1

***** You mean picking a wine by how interesting the label looks is not the right way?~JJL

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Friday’s Top Three
Apparently, one of the only ways to grab more attention than Bitcoin is to get busted. So it was with Chicago trader Thomas Lindstrom, in Bloomberg’s Chicago Futures Trader Pleads Guilty to Fraud That Sunk His Firm. Order was restored for second and third with the Wall Street Journal op-ed from Jay Clayton and Chris Giancarlo in Regulators Are Looking at Cryptocurrency. Third went to Fortune’s This Is What the Average Bitcoin Owner Looks Like. Hint, they are young. Yesterday’s JLN Special Report on Trading Technologies deal with Coinbase was well read with JLN’s THE Infrastructure Project: Trading Technologies and Coinbase’s GDAX Partner On Deal To Connect Cryptocurrencies To Institutions taking the top spot. Have a great weekend everyone.

++++

 

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Lead Stories

Deutsche Boerse ends Asia expansion plans
Philip Stafford – FT
Deutsche Bˆrse, Europe’s largest exchanges operator, is ending plans to expand in Asia with investors preferring to trade popular instruments like Stoxx futures in its home German market. In a statement on Friday, Eurex, its derivatives business, said it “had decided to not further pursue the establishment of separate regulated entities in Singapore in order to reduce complexity and effort for its members.”
/goo.gl/RzKSiF

NYSE, Nasdaq Fighting to Keep Their Grip on the Stock Market’s Close; The SEC gave rival Cboe the green light for its closing-auction plan last week
Alexander Osipovich – WSJ
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are making a last-ditch effort to retain their grip on the crucial 4 p.m. closing auctions that determine end-of-day prices for thousands of stocks.
/goo.gl/Vs1SNa

Lee Hodgkinson to move on from Euronext
Finextra
Euronext, the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone, announces that Lee Hodgkinson, Head of Markets and Global Sales of Euronext and CEO of Euronext London Ltd, has decided to pursue a new professional project. Lee Hodgkinson, after more than 9 years at Euronext, will leave the company in early April 2018 and will serve as CEO of OSTC, a London-based proprietary trading firm which operates from 14 offices around the world. Lee Hodgkinson will actively participate in the transition process during his notice period.
/goo.gl/hb9Qz2

**** The press release here and The Trade here.

Asian Exchanges Woo Firms With Two Classes of Stock But Investors, Companies Are Wary; Stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Singapore are planning to let companies with dual-class share structures list in their markets
Kenan Machado and Saurabh Chaturvedi – WSJ
If you allow it, will they come? Stock exchanges in Hong Kong and Singapore are planning to let companies with dual-class share structures list in their markets, moves widely seen as attempts to attract more IPOs and to avoid losing share to each otheróand other exchanges.
/goo.gl/o4Y5cV

How Hedge Funds (Secretly) Get Their Way in Washington; Fake grass roots. An inflatable rat. Testimony with hidden ties. Billionaires are using DCI Group to make their bets pay offówhile keeping the public in the dark.
Zachary Mider and Ben Elgin – Bloomberg
With swept-back silver hair and a prestigious rÈsumÈ, James K. Glassman cuts the classic figure of a Washington wise man. He’s a former undersecretary of State, think-tank founder, and best-selling author, with a considered opinion on just about any Beltway issue.
/goo.gl/cS2A6b

Eurex simplifies its corporate structure
Eurex
Over the last two years, the regulatory framework and market structure changed significantly. Eurex, one of the leading derivatives marketplaces, adapts its global structure to the new reality. To best serve its clients, reduce complexity and improve agility, the exchange will change its set-up in Switzerland and strengthen its offering in Asia. Eurex has decided against filing for a separate authorisation as Multilateral Trading Facility under the new Swiss Financial Market Infrastructure Act (FMIA). In agreement with the supervisory authority FINMA, Eurex Z¸rich AG will discontinue its operational trading activities by 31 March 2018.
/goo.gl/Nh1HiW

Cryptocurrencies Drop After Japanese Exchange Halts Withdrawals
Yuji Nakamura and Andrea Tan – Bloomberg
Cryptocurrencies slumped after one of Japan’s biggest Bitcoin venues halted client withdrawals, spooking investors in a country that’s still wary of digital-token exchanges four years after the collapse of Mt. Gox.
/goo.gl/wbVgqa

TT + Coinbase….What’s It All About?
Mike Unetich, VP Cryptocurrencies – Trading Technologies
By now, we hope you’ve heard the big news: not only will TT be expanding into a new asset class, crypto (!), but also we’ll be doing it with a connection to Coinbase’s Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX). “Why now?” “Why GDAX?” “How do I get involved?” “Will TT offer full functionality for crypto trading?” These are all questions we expect to be hearing in the upcoming days.
/goo.gl/r6VGVs

Inside the Bustling Comic-Con of ETFs (PODCAST)
Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber – Bloomberg
What do you get when you cross Comi-Con, the Catalina Wine Mixer and low-cost passive investing? You get “Inside ETFs,” the world’s largest ETF conference, which is getting bigger and more colorful by the year, in no small part to the growing mountain of flows coming into ETFs each year.
/goo.gl/ssW76Y

Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting for Bitcoin ETFs Amid SEC Review
Annie Massa and Erik Schatzker – Bloomberg
Regulators taking a cautious approach to Bitcoin ETF approval; SEC told several fund companies to pull Bitcoin ETF proposals
Although several Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have been proposed, they’re unlikely to win U.S. regulatory approval soon, said Tom Farley, who oversees the New York Stock Exchange.
/goo.gl/2L5VEW

Why Are ABCD Singing the Blues?
Streetwise Professor
It’s pretty clear that the major agricultural trading firms, notably the ABCDs – ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and Dreyfus – are going through a rough patch of tight margins and low profits. One common response in any industry facing these conditions is consolidation, and in fact there is a major potential combination in play: ADM approached Bunge about an acquisition.. I am unsatisfied with most of the explanations given. A widely cited “reason” is that grain and oilseed prices are low due to bumper crops. Yes, bumper crops and the resulting low prices can be a negative for producers, but it does not explain hard times in the midstream. Ag traders do not have a natural flat price exposure. They are both buyers and sellers, and care about margin.
/goo.gl/sOCGu

What’s a Ping Pool? A VIP Lounge for Dark Trading
Annie Massa – Bloomberg
There are casinos that welcome everyone, by the busload. Then there are casinos that are by invitation only, designed for big rollers. In the markets, stock exchanges are the first kind. Ping pools are the second. And like anything else with a velvet rope, they’re generating intense interest among those left outside.
/goo.gl/vpoYW6

The Big Bang: How SPY Changed the Investment Universe
James E. Ross, Chairman of the Global SPDR Business
Today, many investors use the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) as an integral part of their toolkits thanks to SPY’s key characteristics: unparalleled liquidity, resiliency and persistent performance. But what often goes overlooked is the significant innovative impact that SPY’s creation and subsequent success has had on the broader investment world.
/goo.gl/VFmjz6

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Deutsche Bˆrse drops plans for Asian derivatives hub; Regulated exchange and clearing hub in Singapore had originally been scheduled to launch in 2016
Vivek Ahuja – Financial News
Deutsche Bˆrse has finally shelved its plans to set up a derivatives clearing and exchange hub in Singapore, nearly two years after the much-delayed project had been due to launch.
/goo.gl/Agn4tu

Trimming the Hedge: How can CCPs efficiently manage a default?
Fernando Cerezetti, Emmanouil Karimalis, Ujwal Shreyas and Anannit Sumawong – Bank of England Blog
When a trade is executed and cleared through a central counterparty (CCP), the CCP legally becomes a buyer for every seller and a seller for every buyer. When a CCP member defaults, the need to establish a matched book for cleared positions means the defaulter’s portfolio needs to be closed out. The CCP then faces a central question: what hedges should be executed before the portfolio is liquidated so as to minimize the costs of closeout? In a recent paper, we investigate how distinct hedging strategies may expose a CCP to different sets of risks and costs during the closeout period. Our analysis suggests that CCPs should carefully take into account these strategies when designing their default management processes.
/goo.gl/rGHetK

NYSE National Creates A Stock Exchange Baker’s Dozen
Themis Trading Blog
NYSE has decided to reopen the National Stock Exchange which it bought last January. According to their 798 page SEC filing, the new exchange will be known as NYSE National and will begin operations in the second quarter of this year.
/goo.gl/cNXWoR

Exchange Publishes Results of its Latest Review of Disclosure in Issuers’ Annual Reports
HKEX
Disclosure in issuers’ annual reports is satisfactory, generally; Areas for improvement include annual reports’ MD&A sections and issuers’ actions to address audit modifications
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), today (Friday) published a report on the findings and recommendations from its review of issuers’ annual reports1 for financial year ended between January and December 2016.
/goo.gl/DAjPcP

GLMX reboots high-tech platform in post-crisis repo environment
Kate Duguid – Reuters
GLMX has raised $20 million in financing and updated its high-tech platform for trading repurchase agreements and secured lending to help clients comply with new regulatory reporting requirements, the company said on Thursday.
/goo.gl/iWtdzF

GMEX targets crypto markets with Fusion launch; Blockchain-powered service created to help traditional and crypto exchanges with technological challenges.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
GMEX Technologies has developed a centralised, blockchain-powered exchange and post-trade service to meet demands from cryptocurrency exchanges.
/goo.gl/fR1tpt

Fintech

Alt Data on the March with Machine Learning
Ivy Schmerken – The Industry Spread
The explosion of alternative data sources, such as satellite images, sentiment analysis, and geolocation data, is having a profound impact on the field of quantitative investing. Analyzing torrents of unstructured data requires sophisticated tools and technology, and this leads to opportunities as well as challenges.
/goo.gl/6cgCjr

Trading Technologies & Coinbase break ground on institutional cryptocurrency trading; Trading Technologies’ clients will be able to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Litecoin as of March this year.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Trading Technologies has teamed up with global digital asset exchange (GDAX) Coinbase to provide institutional investors cryptocurrency market access and trading.
/goo.gl/Vddgg8

Artificial Intelligence Nears the Summit of Hype in Davos
Jeremy Kahn – Bloomberg
The technology will be better than fire; lead to World War III; Karl Marx invoked; corporate decision-making in AI crosshairs
Artificial intelligence approached the summit of hype at this year’s World Economic Forum.
/goo.gl/6TRGUa

Artificial Intelligence: The Next Step in Corporate Governance
David Townsend, CFA – CFA Institute Blog
In investment management, early is rarely a safe play. In a runaway bull market, going against the grain is lonely and unprofitable. However, getting in early on the artificial intelligence (AI) wave might buck this trend. AI’s role in security selection and portfolio construction is well documented. Perhaps a better, albeit less sexy, use of AI is cultivating stronger corporate governance and leaders with a culture of better decisions and lifelong learning.
/goo.gl/iUPKTT

Billionaire George Soros Is Using Blockchain Technology to Help Migrants
Jen Wieczner – Fortune
George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist working to ease the global refugee crisis, said Thursday that he’s found a new way to help migrants: blockchain technology.
/goo.gl/23ZHWL

Credit Card Companies Don’t Want You to Buy Bitcoin With Plastic
AnnaMaria Andriotis and Paul Vigna – WSJ
Some banks and credit-card companies have begun restricting customers’ purchases of bitcoin, shutting down a popular way to buy the volatile digital currency.
/goo.gl/3qRZtp

Are Bitcoins More Real Than Boyfriends?
Malka Fleischmann – NY Times
Recently, my brother experienced a cryptocurrency windfall. Almost overnight, $300 ballooned into tens of thousands, and now he can remodel his basement. Maybe. I don’t know. I suppose he can if he finds the money lurking behind the math.
/goo.gl/UN5f7G

Politics

For Mnuchin, a Lesson in How Words Can Move Markets
Peter Baker- NY Times
His name now appears on the dollar bill. But that does not mean it is safe for him to actually talk about the dollar.
/goo.gl/o9o1F

George Soros Says Trump Administration Is ‘Danger to the World’
Katia Porzecanski – Bloomberg
Trump is ‘temporary phenomenon’ that may be gone by 2020; Calls out Facebook, Google as creating addiction among users
George Soros said President Donald Trump is risking a nuclear war with North Korea and predicts that the groundswell of opposition he’s generated will be his downfall.
/goo.gl/eVAeeSY

Dutch Spied on Russian Group Linked to 2016 U.S. Election Hacks
Wout Vergauwen – Bloomberg
Dutch agency hacked ‘Cozy Bear’ network in summer of 2014; Newspaper investigation cites six people with direct knowledge
The Dutch intelligence service passed on “crucial evidence” to the FBI about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant reported Friday, citing the results of an investigation.
/goo.gl/udopN2

Trump Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit
Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman – NY Times
President Trump ordered the firing last June of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive.
/goo.gl/zWSeFG

****Bloomberg here.

What Facebook, Google and Twitter Told Congress About Russian Misinformation
Wall Street Journal
Congress on Thursday published responses from Facebook Inc.,Twitter Inc. and Google to questions about how Russian actors used their platforms to spread misinformation before and after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
/goo.gl/QcqhwW

Regulation

The TRADE launches first event of 2018, MiFID II Check In; The MiFID II Check In event will be held in London on 28 February at Merchant Taylors’ Hall.
Editors – The Trade
The TRADE is pleased to announce the next in its series of MiFID II events, Check In, a full-day conference on 28 February reviewing the first two months of operating under the new regulation.
/goo.gl/5PhY6B

BitConnect’s ‘Crypto-Wonderland’ Hit With Investor Lawsuit
Olga Kharif and Christie Smythe – Bloomberg
Complaint says thousands lost money in ‘wide-reaching’ scam; Digital currency cratered after state regulators intervened
A group of investors sued BitConnect, alleging that the cryptocurrency exchange platform was a “wide-reaching Ponzi scheme” and seeking potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
/goo.gl/Bm4Frb

SEC Weighs a Big Gift to Companies: Blocking Investor Lawsuits
Benjamin Bain – Bloomberg
To spur IPOs, agency is said open to requests to ban lawsuits; Businesses want to use arbitration to settle investor disputes
In its determination to reverse a two-decade slump in U.S. stock listings, a regulator might offer companies an extreme incentive to go public: the ability to bar aggrieved shareholders from suing.
/goo.gl/zsCCZv

SEC Invites Regulated Entities to Voluntarily Submit Self-Assessments of Diversity Policies and Practices
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) today introduced its Diversity Assessment Report for Entities Regulated by the SEC.
/goo.gl/542fFo

Podcast: CFTC Talks EP028: Citi Global Head of Commodity Research Ed Morse
CFTC
This week on CFTC Talks, we bring on Citi’s Global Head of Commodity Research Ed Morse. We discuss what’s driving the…
/goo.gl/J8qSyM

FCA publishes decision notices against One Call Insurance Services Limited and John Lawrence Radford
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority has today published Decision Notices in respect of One Call Insurance Services Limited (One Call) and its Chief Executive and majority shareholder John Lawrence Radford.
/goo.gl/5Se2Ct

Building cyber resilience
UK FCA
Speech by Robin Jones, Head of Technology, Resilience & Cyber at the FCA, delivered to the PIMFA Financial Crime Conference, London.
/goo.gl/GuppBL

Investing and Trading

What to Watch in Metals Markets in 2018
Neil Hume and Henry Sanderson – CME Group OpenMarkets
Aluminum, Steel and Iron Ore could be boosted by China demand; Metals for electric cars poised for growth
The rally in equities may have stolen much of the attention in 2017, but metals and minerals were also buoyant. Helped by solid global economic growth, metals returned 24 per cent last year, according to the S&P GSCI Industrial Metals Total Return index.
/goo.gl/46HmnZ

Is fossil fuel divestment the only way to address climate change risk?
Fong Yee Chan, senior product manager, sustainable investment – FTSE Russell Blog
On January 10, New York City officials announced plans to divest its pension funds of about $5 billion in fossil fuel investments. As a growing number of investors seek to address climate change risk, this initiative represents one of the more significant divestment efforts to date. The headline is indicative of a larger trend, as it comes on the heels of a recent letter to Norway’s finance ministry from Norges Bank, recommending that the country eliminate all oil and gas securities from the index tracked by its pension fundóan allocation comprising nearly 6% of the index.
/goo.gl/UqfV7t

Small Caps Need No Style To Accelerate With GDP
Jodie Gunzberg, Managing Director – S&P Dow Jones Indices
The first estimate of US GDP for the fourth quarter is set to be released this Friday and the median forecast is 3.0% according to MarketWatch, which if met or exceeded will be the first time 3 consecutive quarters to show at least 3% growth since the first quarter of 2005. While this is supportive for the entire U.S. equity market, small-caps may gain most (except small-cap telecom.)
/goo.gl/N6Nva9

Dell considers return to stock market; PC maker’s board to look at idea of initial public offering 4 years after going private
Richard Waters and James Fontanella-Khan – FT
Michael Dell is considering a return to the stock market, a little over four years after he took his PC company private in a highly contentious $25bn buyout. He followed that deal with the $67bn purchase of storage company EMC in the tech industry’s biggest-ever deal, to create one of the world’s largest and most diversified IT groups.
/goo.gl/szVxTr

Head of $1 Trillion Manager Hasn’t ‘Felt This Good’ Since 2007
Fabio Benedetti Valentini and Erik Schatzker – Bloomberg
The head of Natixis SA’s $1 trillion asset-management arm said he hasn’t “felt this good since 2007,” amid worldwide economic growth and stable interest rates.
/goo.gl/dzMfDG

Wall Street Loves Hock Tan. Not Everyone Else Is There Yet; Broadcom and its CEO have been on a $50 billion shopping spree. Some people don’t like his habits with new purchases.
Ted Greenwald – WSJ
In the innovation-obsessed technology industry, Broadcom Ltd. AVGO -3.73% Chief Executive Hock Tan unapologetically favors surefire profits over visionary projects.
/goo.gl/acBTZf

A Doomsayer’s Guide to the Dollar and Why It Could Keep Plunging
Jacob Bourne and Robert Fullem – Bloomberg
Technicals flash warnings that greenback rout just beginning; Latest drop leaves few support levels to buffer futher losses
The dollar’s worst start to a year since 1987 may get a lot worse. Regardless of whether the Trump administration wants a strong U.S. currency or not, this week’s plunge is breaching technical barriers that had stood as proverbial last lines of defense against a significant gap lower.
/goo.gl/r2bJpw

The Daily Prophet: ‘Ultimately’ Is Now for the Currency Market; Connecting the dots in global markets.
Robert Burgess – Bloomberg
A day after his Treasury Secretary tanked the dollar by commenting that a weaker currency is good for the U.S. economy, President Donald Trump sought to make things right by saying the remarks were taken out of context. In fact, Trump told CNBC, “ultimately I would like to see a strong dollar.”
/goo.gl/DtbbpY

Institutions

Ex-TCW Executive Says Firm Fired Her for Alleging Sexual Harassment; Former managing director who led the money manager’s distressed-debt group files lawsuit seeking at least $30 million in damages
Justin Baer – WSJ
A former TCW Group Inc. executive alleged in a lawsuit Thursday that she was fired from the money manager in December for filing a sexual-harassment complaint against her boss.
/goo.gl/ki8Khi

Bank Bans ‘Not Surprising’ Given Bitcoin Risks, Sweden Says
Niklas Magnusson and Kati Pohjanpalo – Bloomberg
Swedish minister comments following Nordea’s employee ban; Finance unions have challenged such limits on staff freedoms
As Nordea Bank AB’s Bitcoin ban for staff has unions questioning the legality of the move, Sweden’s minister in charge of financial legislation says it’s understandable that the industry is resorting to such measures.
/goo.gl/3v2CfP

Ex-Banker’s Trial Ends With Money Problems, $1 Million Gifts
Hugo Miller – Bloomberg
Former Credit Suisse banker’s deceit undiscovered for years; Lescaudron’s trial ended Thursday with verdict due Feb. 9
The trial of the former Credit Suisse Group AG banker accused of defrauding his clients wrapped up after eight days with a personal plea.
/goo.gl/nDQBwj

Bank of England says technology glitches hit limited number of transactions
Reuters Staff – Reuters
The Bank of England said on Thursday it was experiencing intermittent technology problems that are indirectly affecting its ability to process a limited number of transactions for wholesale counterparties.
/goo.gl/gVvRAs

Exclusive: Commodities fund Jamison Capital to shut – source
Catherine Ngai, Maiya Keidan – Reuters
Jamison Capital Partners LP, a New York-based macro commodity hedge fund run by former Morgan Stanley trader Stephen Jamison, will shut its nearly $1.5 billion fund by the end of the month, according to a source familiar and an investor letter.
/goo.gl/ya9tfr

Capital One Jettisons Online Brokerage Accounts in E*Trade Deal
Jennifer Surane – Bloomberg
Bank to sell 1 million accounts to E*Trade for $170 million; Lender says asset sale will probably result in job cuts
Capital One Financial Corp. is selling more than 1 million brokerage accounts to E*Trade Financial Corp. for $170 million as the bank exits the self-directed online investing business.
/goo.gl/ge9xPZ

Goldman, Barclays, SocGen interested in Commerzbank unit: Handelsblatt
Reuters Staff
Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Britain’s Barclays Plc and French lender Societe Generale SA are interested in buying the Equities, Markets and Commodities (EMC) division of Germany’s Commerzbank AG, Handelsblatt reported on Thursday.
/goo.gl/BY77Jw

Hedge Fund Wins Bid to Block Quant Fraudster’s China Deportation
Jeremy Hodges – Bloomberg
Ke Xu convicted of stealing trading algorithms from Trenchant; Firm wants Xu in U.K until he gives whereabouts of spoils
A London quant analyst convicted of stealing millions of pounds worth of secret algorithmic trading strategies has been stopped by his former employer, Trenchant Ltd., from being deported to China.
/goo.gl/9fPUcC

Regions

Swiss Central Bank Shares Up 75% This Month, Just Don’t Ask Why; The SNB has listed shares but doesn’t behave like a regular company or bank
Brian Blackstone – WSJ
Shares in Switzerland’s central bank are starting this year as they finished lastósurging. The Swiss National Bank was one of Europe’s hottest stocks Thursday, soaring 10% to 6,000 francs before giving up some of those gains later in the session. It tacked on another 16% Friday morning, pushing its share price to 6,800.
/goo.gl/Y2dE31

2,000% Stock Gains Vanish From Hong Kong
Fox Hu – Bloomberg
Average new listing rose 23% in first day in past 12 months; Stock exchange, regulator took steps to rein in speculation
The world’s most volatile new stocks are vanishing from Hong Kong after regulators tightened oversight of the city’s small-cap Growth Enterprise Market.
/goo.gl/6zSzto

Brexit

Carney Says Brexit Has Cost Economy `Tens of Billions’ of Pounds
Brian Swint and Catherine Bosley – Bloomberg
Says U.K. could ‘recouple’ with global economy this year; BOE governor says weaker investment holding back growth
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Brexit has already cost the the U.K. economy billions of pounds in lost output and it’s not benefiting yet from a global pickup.
/goo.gl/LV1KFB

London should remain Europe’s financial centre after Brexit to ‘balance’ New York, says UBS
Iain Withers – Telegraph
Swiss investment bank UBS has said it wants London to remain Europe’s financial hub and it will try to keep as many staff in the City as possible after Brexit.
/goo.gl/3ndNez

Brexit Drags Down U.K. Economy as Neighbors Soar; U.K. idles as neighbors reap benefits of global growth
Wiktor Szary and Jason Douglas – WSJ
The U.K. economy in 2017 grew at the slowest pace in five years, highlighting how Britain isn’t reaping the full benefits of the recent upsurge in global growth as it prepares to leave the European Union.
/goo.gl/q2uLyD

Miscellaneous

Careless tweets can cost your place at business school; Admissions offices are checking digital profiles, so what should you avoid?
Seb Murray – FT
A tweet can have unintended consequences. In 280 or fewer characters, Twitter has fuelled revolution across the Arab world, sent stocks plummeting and triggered countless spats among the rich and famous.
/goo.gl/4QLcNa

Nutella ‘riots’ spread across French supermarkets
BBC
A discount on Nutella has led to violent scenes in a chain of French supermarkets, as shoppers jostled to grab a bargain on the sweet spread.
/goo.gl/686AK3

The post Deutsche Boerse ends Asia expansion plans; NYSE, Nasdaq Fighting to Keep Grip on Market Close; Hodgkinson leaving Euronext appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

U.S. authorities due to make arrests in futures ‘spoofing’ probe; Deutsche Börse to spend EUR18m renovating the Frankfurt stock exchange; Hedge Funds Go Bullish on Bitcoin Futures

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Fintank is holding a cryptocurrency event on February 17 at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law on East Chicago Avenue in the Thorne Auditorium. The name of the event is Crypto Con. I am not sure if you are supposed to wear a costume of your favorite cryptocurrency to the event, but I will be there on a panel at 4:30 PM.~JJL

The Fintank people have me listed as John Lothian of JJL News. Not sure what that is. Maybe they meant JLN.~JJL

An interesting take on crypto in Bloomberg today, where Markus Mueller, Global Head of Chief Investment Office at Deutsche Bank Wealth Management pointed out that high volatility, possible price manipulation and data loss or data theft are problematic. Wondering if he remembers stocks like Tesla or Netflix for volatility, Enron for price manipulation and Target for data loss.~JK

The CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee meeting looks to be rescheduled for February 14, which is Ash Wednesday and Valentines Day. I will be in Washington, DC on Feb 13 and 14 for the meeting and other meetings.~JJL

Great quote from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Davos in this Financial Times OpEd about the challenges of the digital age to liberal democracy: “The pace of change has never been this fast, and yet it will never be this slow again.” ~SR

Clearstream and Deutsche Börse are holding Global Funding and Financing (GFF) Summit 2018 on the 30th of January. Here is the agenda.~JJL

Free samples of Diet Coke’s four new flavors will be handed out outside the NYSE building today from 8:30am-1:00pm. If that doesn’t get you out of bed, nothing will.~SR

Mark Rzepczynski has a blog post about what makes a good hedge fund manager.~JJL

CME Group Chief Economist Blu Putnam was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Economic Research and Commentary at the Hedge Fund Journal Awards on Wednesday night.~JJL

Quantitative Brokers has joined the FIA.~JJL

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Sponsored Content
IFM

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Ingvar Kamprad, Founder of Ikea and Creator of a Global Empire, Dies at 91
Robert D. Mcfadden – NY Times
Ingvar Kamprad, a Swedish entrepreneur who hid his fascist past and became one of the world’s richest men by turning simply-designed, low-cost furniture into the global Ikea empire, died on Saturday at his home in Smaland, Sweden. He was 91.
/goo.gl/P43pRW

***** Word is he will be buried in a thin rectangular cardboard box.~JJL

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Mort Walker, Creator of ‘Beetle Bailey’ Comic Strip, Dies at 94
Richard Goldstein – NY Times
Mort Walker, the creator of “Beetle Bailey,” a comic strip about an Army private who malingered his way through seven decades at Camp Swampy to the consternation of his commanding officers and the delight of his fans in the armed forces and beyond, died on Saturday at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 94.
/goo.gl/pa4evr

***** Legendary graduate of University of Missouri at Columbia, where my son Tim is in school.~JJL

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Flu Season From Hell Keeps Getting Worse; Now your kids are spreading it. More than 50,000 deaths are expected before it finally ends.
Michelle Cortez – Bloomberg
Children returning to school after the winter holidays appear to be sharing more than just their new toys. They are driving influenza infections to levels not seen since the swine flu pandemic of 2009, public health officials said. By the time this flu season is over, experts said, more than 50,000 Americans will be dead.
/goo.gl/Y4ffa5

***** Let’s be smart about this out there.~JJL

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Fake Coins, Real News; “It Depends” Advice; Market Abuse; Insider Information
Gary DeWaal – Bridging the Week
It was real and not fake news last week when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission finally disclosed the details of an enforcement action alleging a fraudulent scheme involving a fake virtual currency that was reported to have been filed two weeks ago but for which no details were made public at the time. Separately, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission warned lawyers about providing “it depends” advice to issuers of digital tokens in initial coin offerings that are very likely securities. Additionally, the chairs of the SEC and the CFTC said that it might be appropriate to re-evaluate whether the current regulatory framework governing currency transactions fits neatly for transactions involving cryptocurrencies.
jlne.ws/2DTM1aV

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Friday’s Top Three
Our top read story on Friday was well timed for those getting ready for a night out, You’re Ordering Wine Wrong, from Bloomberg. Second was the FT’s piece Deutsche Börse ends Asia expansion plans. Third was Craig Pirrong’s column Why Are ABCD Singing the Blues?

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Lead Stories

U.S. authorities due to make arrests in futures ‘spoofing’ probe: sources
Michelle Price – Reuters
U.S. authorities were set to arrest several people on Monday in connection with a federal investigation into so-called spoofing and manipulation in the U.S. futures market by three European banks, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
/goo.gl/RvpcTe

Deutsche Börse to spend EUR18m renovating the Frankfurt stock exchange
Philip Stafford in London – FT
The business may have long disappeared from its floor but for stock exchanges, the symbolism matters. Deutsche Börse on Monday said it was committing EUR18.5m to a three-year plan renovating and expanding its historic central Frankfurt bourse to build more links with investors and the general public.
/goo.gl/JeAPqz

Hedge Funds Go Bullish on Bitcoin Futures; Most recent CFTC report showed leveraged funds with 1,142 long positions in bitcoin futures, more than double the 518 short positions they held
By Alexander Osipovich – WSJ
Hedge funds have swung their bitcoin-futures bets to the bullish side for the first time, a marked turn around from a few weeks ago, according to figures released on Friday.
/goo.gl/15LCVZ

Crypto Investors Risk ‘Total Loss,’ Deutsche Warns
Stephan Kahl – Bloomberg
It’s only something for people who invest speculative: Mueller; Problematic issues include volatility and possible data loss
Deutsche Bank AG’s Wealth Management currently does not advise to invest in crypto-currencies, according to Markus Mueller, Global Head of Chief Investment Office. Problematic issues include high volatility, possible price manipulation and data loss or data theft, he told Bloomberg News in an interview.
/goo.gl/WprS3h

London’s Bankers Haven’t Been This Gloomy Since 2008
Gavin Finch – Bloomberg
Poll shows finance workers gloomiest since 2008 last quarter; Nine out of 10 firms see Brexit as risk to London’s dominance
Sentiment among London’s Brexit-hit bankers sank to its gloomiest depths since the 2008 financial crisis, a survey showed — a stark contrast to the bullish tone of finance executives gathered last week in Davos, Switzerland.
/goo.gl/gSo9jc

Chinese Investors Keep Losing Billions Online. Here’s Why.
Alexandra Stevenson – NY Times
The company’s name appeared in ads for the local marathon. Its logo was emblazoned on the jerseys of two professional soccer teams in Spain. Its founder had been lauded by the government’s official television channel.
/goo.gl/LByaqv

Wall Street to Vanguard: We’re Not Your Doormat; Fidelity makes it more expensive for some clients to invest in Vanguard funds, while others cut off access altogether
Sarah Krouse – WSJ
Wall Street is fighting back against Vanguard Group. In the past year, large financial firms including Fidelity Investments, TD Ameritrade and Morgan Stanley have all made changes to their fees or product lineups that make it more expensive for some customers to invest in Vanguard’s funds. In some cases, these firms have even made it impossible to invest in Vanguard mutual funds at all.
/goo.gl/jNq77m

The cryptocurrency market just suffered a theft worse than Mt. Gox
Mark DeCambre – MarketWatch
Bitcoin prices and the value of other cryptocurrencies dropped on Friday as Tokyo-based Coincheck Inc. revealed that as much as $530 million in digital assets had been stolen, eliciting shades of the Mt. Gox hack back in 2014.
/goo.gl/YxRXWW

How to Launder $500 Million in Digital Currency
Pavel Alpeyev and Yuji Nakamura – Bloomberg
Early Friday morning in Tokyo, hackers broke into a cryptocurrency exchange called Coincheck Inc. and made off with nearly $500 million in digital tokens. It’s one of the biggest heists in history, with the exchange losing more than 500 million of the somewhat obscure NEM coins. The hack has raised questions about security of cryptocurrencies around the world.
/goo.gl/FfE123

The Regulators Up Their Crypto Game
David Weisberger, CoinRoutes and ViableMkts – TabbForum
We were treated this week to an unprecedented event in the history of market regulation: a joint OpEd written by the heads of the two most powerful market regulators in the U.S. The reason for the piece is clear – they are concerned that the practices of the crypto community during the current crypto boom have gone too far, and the OpEd is clearly meant to be a wake-up call to an industry that is making too much money, too fast, for its own good.
/goo.gl/n61YN8

Massive Cryptocurrency Heist Spurs Call for More Regulation
Yuji Nakamura and Andrea Tan – Bloomberg
Coincheck says it was hacked, will reimburse customers; Regulators are grappling with booming crypto markets
At 2:57 a.m. on Friday morning in Tokyo, someone hacked into the digital wallet of Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc. and pulled off one of the biggest heists in history.
/goo.gl/BjFka2

London’s Bankers Haven’t Been This Gloomy Since 2008
Gavin Finch – Bloomberg
Poll shows finance workers gloomiest since 2008 last quarter; Nine out of 10 firms see Brexit as risk to London’s dominance
Sentiment among London’s Brexit-hit bankers sank to its gloomiest depths since the 2008 financial crisis, a survey showed — a stark contrast to the bullish tone of finance executives gathered last week in Davos, Switzerland.
/goo.gl/gSo9jc

The Social Good of Bubbles – Part II
Tiffanie Bederman – Bantix
In my last post I discussed the need for a concrete definition of “bubble” if we’re to use the concept for trading/investing (as opposed to cocktail party hyperbole) and listed a few famous bubbles. These so-called bubbles (here I’m using the term to imply a rapid increase in price and a subsequent, dramatic decline) can roughly be attributed to three sometimes concurrent causes: New/Unexplored Frontier or Industry; Enabling Financial Conditions or Innovation; Fraud or Morally Questionable Business Practices.
/goo.gl/8SnC2p

****Part I here.

How the Finance Industry Is Trying to Cash In on #MeToo
Matthew Goldstein and Jessica Silver-Greenberg – NY Times
Accusations of sexual harassment have felled dozens of executives, but in one quiet corner of the financial world, the #MeToo movement looks like a golden opportunity.
/goo.gl/cvhyM7

The Hedge Fund Skirmish That Could Kill the CDS Market
Mary Childs – Barron’s
If you take an aggrieved hedge fund at its word, the fate of the credit-default swaps market is being determined right now.
/goo.gl/GRhPLr

U.S. Says Russian Gas Link Hurts European Security
Konrad Krasuski – Bloomberg
Tillerson says the U.S. joins Poland in opposing Nord Stream 2; U.S. wants to aid diversification of European energy supplies
The expansion of Russia’s gas pipeline to Germany under the Baltic Sea, which bypasses a number of east European nations, will allow the Kremlin to use energy as a “political tool,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in Warsaw.
/goo.gl/K2LDAH

ATM makers warn of ‘jackpotting’ hacks on U.S. machines
Jim Finkle – Reuters
Diebold Nixdorf Inc and NCR Corp, two of the world’s largest ATM makers, have warned that cyber criminals are targeting U.S. cash machines with tools that force them to spit out cash in hacking schemes known as “jackpotting.”
/goo.gl/w4nCW9

Opinion: Blame bitcoin’s crash on these sharp new players
Atulya Sarin – MarketWatch
Futures trading provides a market for cryptocurrency bears
Futures trading in bitcoin opened the door for naysayers to participate in the trading market, which had previously been largely dominated by true believers. Now the naysayers have pushed bitcoin’s price down sharply. Since closing at a peak above $19,000 on December 18 — on the first day of futures trading — bitcoin has lost almost half of its value.
/goo.gl/C9LWWZ

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Frankfurt Stock Exchange Building becomes a focal point for the financial center; Deutsche Börse invests 18.5 million euros by 2020; Congress center and world of experience for the general public
Deutsche Börse
Deutsche Börse is expanding the historic building in the center of Frankfurt, which houses the well-known Börsensaal and the Frankfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), into an attractive point of contact for the Frankfurt financial center and the general public. To this end, the company is investing a total of 18.5 million euros in the expansion of the site by the beginning of 2020. The lease with the IHK Frankfurt, which owns the building, was completed by 2048.
/goo.gl/8H7FBp

Sun Trading to Utilise Cboe Europe Equities Systematic Internaliser Services
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today announced that Sun Trading, a leading liquidity provider in the European equities market, will utilise Cboe Europe Equities’ suite of MiFID-II compliant Systematic Internaliser (SI) services, which include SI quote distribution, bilateral connectivity and matching services, and trade reporting.
/goo.gl/V1EoTo

Rebate-Hating ‘Flash Boys’ Exchange Offers Discount to Traders
Annie Massa – Bloomberg
IEX Group Inc.’s top executive once called the rebates his stock exchange rivals pay some customers the “biggest problem in markets.” Now, Brad Katsuyama’s company is introducing a discount program that’s puzzled some observers. The exchange, whose fight against parts of the market it viewed as unfair was made famous by Michael Lewis’s “Flash Boys,” argued the program it revealed Thursday isn’t conflicted like the one Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s NYSE Group, Nasdaq Inc. and Cboe Global Markets Inc. use to entice traders.
/goo.gl/HAxiwF

Designing a Market Making Program for IEX
Eric Stockland, Chief Strategy Officer, IEX – Medium
One of the advantages of building a brand-new listings exchange is the opportunity to design our offering to solve market problems in a way that aligns with our principles. Part of our role as a listings exchange will be to support price discovery for IEX-listed stocks. As I’ve written before, the price of actual, completed trades?—?especially large trades at the midpoint?—?are the most valuable indications of the fair value of a stock because they show where real investors are willing to transact.
/goo.gl/ANJRTU

****Some people’s names perfectly fit a job in equities…

Japan Traders Piling Into Derivatives Set to Get New Options
Livia Yap – Bloomberg
BOJ policy, consumption-tax hike may lead to renewed interest; Flexible options have had limited success in HK, Australia
As the Japanese stock-market euphoria continues into the new year and traders increase spending on derivatives, the nation’s exchange is about to give them another tool to bet on the shares: flexible options.
/goo.gl/RWRb1r

Euronext to extend maize futures delivery to northern Europe
Reuters
Euronext plans to create delivery points for its maize (corn) futures contract in northern Europe as part of a focus on improving its core commodity contracts.
/goo.gl/iBme5d

Coincheck quizzed over reimbursement plans after $500m heist; Japan’s Financial Services Agency unsure if hacked exchange is able to repay customers
Robin Harding in Tokyo – FT
Japanese financial authorities say that it is no clear whether Coincheck has enough cash to cover a $500m theft amid questions over the future of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange.
/goo.gl/YMdG38

Aramco IPO Stalled by Indecision Over Where to List; Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil producer continues to weigh risks of listing in New York, London, Hong Kong or locally
Maureen Farrell, Summer Said and Benoit Faucon – WSJ
Two years after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced his intention to turn Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil producer into the world’s largest public company, the kingdom and its advisers remain stuck on the crucial question of where to list the shares.
/goo.gl/oUYUdn

The Coincheck Cryptocurrency Hack: Everything You Need to Know
Reuters
Hackers have stolen roughly 58 billion yen ($532.60 million) from Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, raising questions about security and regulatory protection in the emerging market of digital assets.
/goo.gl/sqiFeG

Admissible Eurex Clearing collateral securities: Update of parameters effective 1 February 2018
Eurex
With this circular we provide an overview of the parameters which will come into effect after the batch run on 1 February 2018.
/goo.gl/V2C91a

Fintech

CloudMargin Named to List of 100 Most Influential FinTech Companies for 2018
PR Newswire
CloudMargin, the multi-award winning creator of the world’s first web-based collateral and margin management solution, announced today that the firm has been named to Harrington Starr’s Definitive List of the 100 Most Influential FinTech Companies for 2018. The list includes a mix of start-ups and well-known companies in the financial technology space. The full list of financial technology companies expected to create a significant impact in 2018 was just published in the first quarter issue of The Financial Technologist magazine.
/goo.gl/gLH679

Fintech Targets Fixed Income
Shanny Basar – Markets Media
Fintech firms will continue to target the bond market as trading becomes more electronic and regulations change how firms approach data and reporting according to consultancy Aite Group. Audrey Blater, senior research analyst at Aite Group, said in a report that the number of electronic bond trading venues and trade flow technology providers will increase this year. The study, Developments in Electronic Bond Trading: What to Expect in 2018, predicted that exchanges and banks will partner with existing fintech firms and invest in proprietary technology, while new entrants will develop workflow and data aggregation products.
/goo.gl/5cbLCX

One Thing Is Clear From Davos, Blockchain Is Out Of Beta
Dante Disparte – Forbes
Under the decidedly grim moniker creating a shared future in a fractured world, the world’s elite gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the annual meetings of the World Economic Forum. Awaiting the arrival of President Donald Trump, delegates were regaled with prognostications about the state of the global economy and whether national retrenchment would signal the end of multilateralism as we know it. While Trump’s remarks on the closing day of the Forum signaled that America first does not necessarily mean America alone, there was one sub-theme that echoed throughout the snow-covered mountains of Davos – Blockchain, Blockchain, Blockchain.
/goo.gl/opJ4Ln

Someone Created A Cryptocurrency Based On Bananas; There’s always money in the Bananacoin stand.
Andy McDonald – Huffington Post
This sounds like a bad line in a “Planet of the Apes” film, but there’s now a cryptocurrency based on bananas.
/goo.gl/5FBPZU

Starbucks Chairman Says Cryptocurrency Will Be Big — Just Not Bitcoin
Time.com
Starbucks Corp. Chairman Howard Schultz said he believes digital currency will catch on with consumers, though not necessarily Bitcoin.
/goo.gl/ErZZ58

Cryptocurrency trader ‘forced at gunpoint to make bitcoin transfer’; Police seek witnesses after four armed men break into family home in Moulsford, Oxfordshire
Maev Kennedy – The Guardian
Armed men broke into the family home of a cryptocurrency trader and are believed to have forced him at gunpoint to transfer holdings of the virtual currency bitcoin.
/goo.gl/xACSyo

Fluent Expands FX Technology Platform To Include Post-Trade And Credit API
Mondovisione
New Suite of Services Combines Post-Trade, At-Trade Credit and Kill Switch APIs, and Pre-Trade Risk Management on One Platform
Fluent Trade Technologies (Fluent) today announced that it has enhanced its market-leading trading technology platform by launching ‘Post-Trade’ risk management services and ‘At-Trade’ venue Credit and Kill Switch APIs. These new services are hosted on the same platform as Fluent’s existing Pre-Trade risk controls, providing clients with a complete suite of FX risk management and control services.
/goo.gl/FLbYKy

Duco Announces $28m Growth Investment for Data Engineering in the Cloud
Business Wire
Duco, the data engineering technology company, today announced the completion of a $28m investment round by Insight Venture Partners, NEX Opportunities and Eight Roads Ventures. The round also includes an investment by lifetime entrepreneur and former CEO of SunGard, Cristóbal Conde.
/goo.gl/kUYzsz

FlexTrade Integrates BestX Trade Analytics Into FlexTRADER EMS – Enhances FX Best Execution Capabilities Under MiFID II
Mondovisione
FlexTrade announced the integration of the BestX trade analytics solution for FX within its FlexTRADER EMS. With a fully interactive interface, users can use BestX to analyse their FX executions in real-time, delivering transparency to enable better decision making whilst meeting the needs of MiFID II compliance for FX trading.
/goo.gl/rYkQDp

FlexTrade Integrates OTAS Trading Intelligence And Analytic Solutions Into FlexTRADER EMS
FlexTrade
FlexTrade Systems, Inc. announced the integration of OTAS Apps and Alerts, including Core Summary, Microstructure, Stacked Graph, Lingo, Express and News with FlexTRADER EMS. The flexible integration ensures all current and future OTAS Apps will be available in FlexTRADER EMS.
/goo.gl/Tk4Wmx

Politics

How the Opioid Crisis and the Trump Administration Are Changing Middle America’s Economy
By Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal – Bloomberg
Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and TracyAlloway take you on a not-so-random walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics.
/goo.gl/fiZhbf

Trump’s attack on the FBI is an attack on the US constitution itself
Jill Abramson – The Guardian
Since his election, revelations of Donald Trump’s contempt for the legal process have been dizzying. The rule of law is what protects democracy in the United States. The president has done everything possible to subvert it.
/goo.gl/RKQy2e

Russian bots retweeted Trump nearly 500,000 times in final weeks of 2016 campaign
Donie O’Sullivan – @CNNMoney
Russian-linked automated Twitter accounts, or bots, retweeted Donald Trump almost half a million times in the final weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Twitter told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
/goo.gl/hLukaj

Regulation

Japan raps Coincheck, orders broader checks after $530 million cryptocurrency theft
Taiga Uranaka, Thomas Wilson – Reuters
Japan’s financial regulator said on Monday it would inspect all cryptocurrency exchanges and ordered Coincheck to get its act together after hackers stole $530 million worth of digital money from its exchange in one of the biggest cyber heists on record.
/goo.gl/x8aHeJ

Philippines to develop rules on cryptocurrency trading
Reuters Staff
The Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday it is crafting rules to regulate cryptocurrency transactions to protect investors and reduce the risk of fraud.

ASIC reports on the 2017 annual general meeting season
ASIC
ASIC today published its overview of the annual general meeting (AGM) season for S&P/ASX 200 (ASX 200) listed companies in 2017.
/goo.gl/VLeLVa

ESMA draws issuers’ attention to IAS requirements following introduction of new tax legislation in the US
ESMA
Following the signing of the United States Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act), significant changes in US tax laws took effect on 1 January 2018. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has become aware of concerns expressed by EU issuers with respect to the accounting for the effects of the Act in their IFRS financial statements.
/goo.gl/WDtgfR

FCA warns of increased risk of online investment fraud, as investors lose £87k a day to binary options scams
UK FCA
Online overtakes phone as most common contact method for investment fraudsters
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is today urging the public to be vigilant to the threat of online investment fraud. Fraudsters offering investments in binary options, contracts for difference (CFDs), forex and cryptocurrencies* (such as Bitcoin) often promote themselves online and via social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They typically promise high returns and use images of luxury items, like expensive watches and cars, to entice people to invest in their scams. After someone has invested, they distort prices on their website, tie people in with extreme pay-out clauses and even close customer accounts, refusing to pay back their money. This call comes as the regulator reveals that last year investors lost £87,410** per day to binary options scams.
/goo.gl/nCGqgj

Investing and Trading

Investor Thirst for Foreign Stocks May Be Speeding Dollar’s Decline; Share of U.S. equities in global portfolios has fallen back to near its lows in early 2016
Riva Gold – WSJ
Global investors are shifting more of their money overseas, betting that even as the U.S. stock market reaches new highs a resurgent global economy creates greater opportunities elsewhere.
/goo.gl/Zyfmeu

Cargill hunts for scientists to use AI and sharpen trade edge; From shipping patterns to sound of shrimp eating, group eyes data to boost profits
Gregory Meyer in New York – FT
Cargill, the agricultural trading titan, is hiring data scientists to find ways to profit from the scraps of information picked up as food commodities flow through its factories, silos and ports.
/goo.gl/g1QSc3

Dell Has 49 Billion Reasons to Consider Going Public Again
Dina Bass and Molly Smith – Bloomberg
Cost of Dell debt is rising, new tax bill caps deduction; Private equity firm Silver Lake may also be seeking an exit
When Michael Dell led a group taking his company private four years ago, he extolled the virtues of shading the company from the scrutiny of the public markets. Now he’s considering taking the computer maker public again.
/goo.gl/2k2Kgs

Lured by Market Records and Hot Bets, Individual Investors Finally Dive In; Discount brokerages report surging trading volume, particularly among younger clients, in part due to interest in cryptocurrencies and cannabis
Lisa Beilfuss – WSJ
After sitting out most of the nearly nine-year bull market, individual investors are finally pouring in.
/goo.gl/fP4skk

Too Much Testosterone Is Bad for Returns; Also crypto-hedging, index funds and airlines, Outcome Health, email lists and the VIX.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
Alpha. Great title, great abstract: Here’s “Do Alpha Males Deliver Alpha? Testosterone and Hedge Funds,” by Yan Lu and Melvyn Teo.
/goo.gl/Z79Vqe

Institutions

Asset management’s fight for ‘alternative data’ analysts heats up; Asset managers bolster ability to analyse alternative sources such as satellite data
Robin Wigglesworth in New York – FT
Investment groups have more than quadrupled their number of “alternative data” analysts over the past five years, as asset managers scramble to unlock the potential of trading signals contained in website scrapes, language analysis, credit card purchases and satellite data.
/goo.gl/xpvMGB

UBS bankers ‘frustrated’ with growth on Wall St; Insiders remain optimistic because of strategic hires and new global wealth business
Laura Noonan in Dublin and Ben McLannahan in New York – Ft
Senior management at UBS is “immensely frustrated” at the bank’s slow growth on Wall Street.
/goo.gl/4cJEVH

Goldman Sachs Invests in Pea Milk Startup
Olivia Zaleski – Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. participated in a $65 million investment in Ripple Foods Inc., a little-known beverage company that makes a milk-like drink from yellow peas.
/goo.gl/qDrh6M

Now Clients Ask: Got Anyone Other Than White Males?
David Hellier , Ruth David , and Thomas Buckley – Bloomberg
Big British companies want more diversity from suppliers; Financial advisers, PR firms judged on inclusive workplaces
When the co-founder of a London communications group was invited to pitch for business with a Wall Street firm last November, the offer came with an unusual demand.
/goo.gl/QTDfmB

How Goldman Sachs Is Regaining Its Touch
Jack Hough – Barron’s
Lloyd Blankfein is careful about mentioning the word “cyclical” these days.
/goo.gl/q28CzL

Active fund managers beat market by just 16p for every £100 invested; Fund houses skim off three-quarters of the value they create for pension clients
Owen Walker – FT
Pension schemes that used active fund managers over the past quarter of a century were rewarded?.?.?.?but only by 16p a year for every £100 they invested.
/goo.gl/bpT5AJ

Nomura Recharges U.S. Coverage With New Investment Bankers
Japanese bank looks to restart international growth in the Americas
By Austen Hufford – WSJ
Nomura Holdings Inc. has hired 15 senior investment bankers in the U.S. as the Japanese bank looks to restart international growth in the Americas.
/goo.gl/FosVp2

Regions

Investors look to France’s ‘Macronomics’ to beat benchmarks
Leigh Thomas – Reuters
Investors are banking on an economic renewal under President Emmanuel Macron to beat broader European benchmarks, sparking a flood of cash into funds offering exposure to France.
/goo.gl/VVCmZL

Japan’s Cryptocurrency Whiz Kid Faces $530 Million Reckoning; Financial Services Agency says Coincheck should establish an effective risk-management system
Takashi Mochizuki – WSJ
In Japan’s stodgy financial world, young entrepreneur Koichiro Wada wanted to make a splash.
/goo.gl/3i63Hd

Saudi Purge Puts Investments at Risk as Uncertainty Lingers
Sarah Algethami and Archana Narayanan – Bloomberg
Cost of insuring Saudi debt may rise if doubt persists: MUFG; Prince Alwalweed and others freed from Ritz over the weekend
Saudi Arabia’s corruption clampdown has everyone guessing what’s next, risking investments into the kingdom, according to the head of Middle East and North Africa research at Japan’s biggest bank.
/goo.gl/QLvwFB

Saudis Release Prince al-Waleed, One of the World’s Richest Men; Saudi officials say the prince reached a settlement that allows him to remain chairman of Kingdom Holding
Summer Said and Benoit Faucon – WSJ
Saudi authorities on Saturday released billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, more than two months after he was detained in a widespread purge of the kingdom’s elite.
/goo.gl/MJe3e1

Intel Warned Chinese Companies of Chip Flaws Before U.S. Government; Decision to disclose issue to select few customers, including Lenovo and Alibaba, has ripple effects through security and tech industries
Robert McMillan in San Francisco and Liza Lin in Shanghai – WSJ
In initial disclosures about critical security flaws discovered in its processors, Intel Corp. INTC 10.55% notified a small group of customers, including Chinese technology companies, but left out the U.S. government, according to people familiar with the matter and some of the companies involved.
/goo.gl/FwATpV

Hong Kong’s London Love Affair; Office property is underpinned by a weaker pound and higher yields.
Nisha Gopalan – Bloomberg
Brexit’s pending arrival has some companies pulling out. Hong Kong investors are going the other way.

Japan’s Central Bank Sees No Need to Mint a Digital Currency
Toru Fujioka and Masahiro Hidaka – Bloomberg
Circulation of notes, coins highest among developed nations; Bitcoin is being traded for speculation, BOJ’s Kawai says
Cash is still king in Japan, and that means that the central bank doesn’t see a need to mint a digital currency for now, according to the head of the FinTech Center at the Bank of Japan.
/goo.gl/BR4Hrv

India Inc is skipping the stock market party. Nobody is sure why
Nupur Anand – Quartz India
(It’s been a spectacular year for the Indian stock markets. But, somehow, corporates aren’t cashing in. This has left India’s chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian puzzled.
/goo.gl/zmnkgo

Brexit

‘Door is open’ if Britain wants to change mind on Brexit, says EU’s Moscovici
Reuters Staff
The “door is open” should Britain want to reverse its 2016 vote to leave the European Union, Pierre Moscovici, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Union, told French media in an interview on Sunday.
/goo.gl/k2TmQP

Challenged on all fronts, Britain’s May faces pressure over Brexit law
Elizabeth Piper, Andrew MacAskill – Reuters
British Prime Minister Theresa May came under further pressure over her Brexit blueprint on Monday, with members of the upper house of parliament saying there were “fundamental flaws” in a law crucial to the departure.
/goo.gl/1Vhevp

Miscellaneous

Arsenal FC partners with iGaming firm ahead of ICO
Ricardo Esteves – The Industry Spread
Premier League football club Arsenal FC is the first top sports club to partner with a company linked to cryptocurrencies after having announced a deal with CashBet, an iGaming platform that is about to have its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of its new cryptocurrency, CashBet Coin.
/goo.gl/KybzKg

****Huh?~SD

The post U.S. authorities due to make arrests in futures ‘spoofing’ probe; Deutsche Börse to spend EUR18m renovating the Frankfurt stock exchange; Hedge Funds Go Bullish on Bitcoin Futures appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Flash-crash trader helps US in fight against market abuse; Justice Department Charges Eight Traders With Deceptive Futures Market Trading; Decade of Easy Cash Turns Bond Market Upside Down

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First Read

Turn Yourself In, It’ll Be Easier: Bank Cooperation On Spoofing Charges Saves Millions
Jim Kharouf – JLN

Over the past several months, there has been a fair amount of talk about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s push on the so-called “self-reporting” initiative launched last September and aimed at taking it easier on firms that come forward with wrongdoing.

Yesterday’s announced spoofing charges and fines include one of the first such self-reporting cases, with HSBC Securities settling for $1.6 million, Deutsche Bank for $30 million and UBS for $15 million.

For the rest of the commentary, click HERE

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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Correction: The FinTank CryptoCon 2018 event is on February 15, not 17. We had a typo yesterday on the date. Apologies.~JJL

Integrity Research Associates has a report out titled “Mitigating Legal Risks Associated With Alternative Data.” If you don’t have time for the 20 page report, here is a blog with highlights. Concerns about the use of alternative datasets are not new. For more context on the issue, check out this blog – The (Weak) Link Between Alternative Data and Inside Information – from Quandl CEO Tammer Kamel that was published in September 2016.~SD

Fake social media accounts and bots have been in the headlines quite a bit recently, but it is far more than a Twitter or Facebook thing. According to a report from Distil Networks, a web security firm, if you have a website with “unique content and/or product and pricing information,” there is a 97 percent chance you were hit with scraper bots. Lots of other disconcerting tidbits in there…~SD

Jitesh Thakkar of Edge Financial, arrested as part of the DOJ/CFTC spoofing case announced yesterday, used John Lothian Productions for a video on Edge Financial’s Kill Switch. He also served on a CFTC Technology Advisory Committee subcommittee on high frequency trading.~JJL

We’re living in strange times for everyone, including lawyers. The Wall Street Journal has this story: “Lawyers Faced With Emojis and Emoticons Are All ¯\_(?)_/¯ – Chipmunks, kissy lips and champagne bottles are becoming bones of contention in legal disputes; a court considers the ‘:P'” ~SR

Michael Ivers tweeted this yesterday: “25 years ago today My Father Ivers Riley introduced SPY on the American Stock Exchange.” Here is a story Jim Kharouf wrote for JLN about Ivers in 2015 when he passed.~JJL

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Cboe’s Crypto Journey Just Getting Started

JohnLothianNews.com

At STAC’s 92nd Annual Mid-Winter Meeting, JLN spoke with Michael Mollet, Cboe Global Markets’ director of product development, about the exchange group’s outlook on cryptocurrency derivatives and what’s needed for more growth in the space.

It’s been more than a month since the launch of Cboe’s bitcoin futures, but to render a verdict on the success of the product is far too premature, Mollet says. Cboe is priming itself to be a market for cryptocurrency derivatives and its XBT offering is just a start.

Watch the video and read the rest here »

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Sponsored Content

IFM

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West Corporation Agrees to Acquire Nasdaq’s Public Relations Solutions and Digital Media Services Businesses
GlobeNewswire
West Corporation and Nasdaq, Inc. jointly announced today that West has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the public relations and webcasting and webhosting products and services within Nasdaq’s Corporate Solutions business for approximately $335 million.
/goo.gl/B4WPur

***** Adena Friedman continues to reshape Nasdaq.~JJL

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The Connection Between Retiring Early and Living Longer; Research shows a link, but it isn’t retirement itself that leads to a longer life, but what you do in retirement.
Austin Frakt – WSJ
You may not need another reason to retire early, but I’ll give you one anyway: It could lengthen your life. That’s the thrust from various research in recent years, and also from a 2017 study in the journal Health Economics.
/goo.gl/qgZw7j

***** How do you know you are old? People call at 9 p.m. and ask, “Did I wake you?”~JJL

***** I am so old I have to use glasses. I used to drink directly from the bottle.~JJL

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Monday’s Top Three
Our top read story yesterday was Reuters’ piece U.S. authorities charge three banks, eight individuals in futures ‘spoofing’ probe. Second went to the other serious concern in the industry, Bloomberg’s story Flu Season From Hell Keeps Getting Worse. Third went to Bloomberg’s How to Launder $500 Million in Digital Currency, which still seems hard to do even after reading it.

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
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Level Trading

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Lead Stories

Flash-crash trader helps US in fight against market abuse; Briton in spoofing case co-operates with prosecutors in plea deal
Gregory Meyer in New York and Philip Stafford in London – FT
Navinder Singh Sarao, the UK day trader guilty of “spoofing” stock index futures, has helped US prosecutors build a case in a broadening crackdown on market abuse.
/goo.gl/GNK8k7

Justice Department Charges Eight Traders With Deceptive Futures Market Trading; The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced related civil charges against three banks and six individuals
Gabriel T. Rubin – WSJ
Federal prosecutors on Monday announced charges against eight traders for deceptive trading practices in the futures markets, with all but one person charged with illegal spoofing.
/goo.gl/4LPbWa

Decade of Easy Cash Turns Bond Market Upside Down; Debt deals set records from Tajikistan to East Rutherford as investors keep hunting yield
Matt Wirz – WSJ
Last fall, a hydroelectric dam in Tajikistan, the government of Portugal and a cruise-ship operator all issued debt at unusually low interest rates. The seemingly unconnected deals are part of a proliferation of aggressive bond sales influenced by a decade of loose monetary policy and a demographic shift in global investing.
/goo.gl/Lj8oJu

Jamie Dimon signs on for another five years as JPMorgan chief; Move damps speculation about political ambitions
Ben McLannahan in New York – FT
Jamie Dimon has signed on for another five years as chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, damping speculation that the 61-year-old banker was considering a move into politics.
/goo.gl/uMWN4W

CFTC Files Eight Anti-Spoofing Enforcement Actions against Three Banks (Deutsche Bank, HSBC & UBS) and Six Individuals
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced, in conjunction with the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Investigative Division, criminal and civil enforcement actions against three banks and six individuals involved in commodities fraud and spoofing schemes.
jlne.ws/2rNkSS9

****The CFTC also put out specific releases on each of the actions: Deutsche Bank; UBS; HSBC, Andre Flotron; James Vorley and Cedric Chanu; Jitesh Thakkar and Edge Financial Technologies; Krishna Mohan; and Jiongsheng Zhao.

FCMs demand self-certification overhaul after bitcoin debacle; CBOE, CME rush to list bitcoin futures “felt like an arms race”, says one FCM chief
Dan DeFrancesco – Risk.net
The race between two of the US’s largest futures markets to launch bitcoin futures last month has sparked a backlash from clearing banks, which are calling for changes to the self-certification process for listing new derivatives contracts.
/goo.gl/7yWyog

Vanguard warns of strengthening ‘predators’ in ETF market
Robin Wigglesworth, US markets editor – Financial Times
Vanguard fears that ”predators” are taking advantage of exchange traded funds at the expense of retail investors and hopes that an expected overhaul by US regulators will not mandate perfect transparency for the booming $4.8tn industry.
jlne.ws/2GtylBS

Rags to Riches Tale Ends in Disaster for Noble Group’s Elman
Jack Farchy – Bloomberg
Trader’s shareholders to be all but wiped out in restructuring; A one-time scrap metal laborer, Elman became a billionaire as Noble expanded
When Swiss commodity trader Andre & Cie went bust 17 years ago, Richard Elman pounced. He bought its Asian grains business for next to nothing as part of an acquisition spree that would make his own fledgling company, Noble Group Ltd., into Asia’s biggest commodity trader within a decade.
jlne.ws/2GulL5m

MSCI and Confluence Help Investors Streamline SEC N-PORT Regulatory Reporting Requirements
BusinessWire
MSCI Inc., a leading provider of analytics, applications and services to institutional investors, has entered into agreement with Confluence Technologies, Inc, a global leader in investment data management automation for regulatory, financial and investor reporting, to help asset managers streamline compliance with SEC Modernization and other regulatory reporting requirements.
jlne.ws/2GsdBum

As Scaramucci Puts Hedge Fund Event on Ice, a New Show Emerges
Simone Foxman – Bloomberg
Fear not, hedge funders. There will still be a conference in Las Vegas this May.
jlne.ws/2Gvahij

Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Create Healthcare Company
Bloomberg News
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan have announced plans to create an independent company focused on technology solutions “that will provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost,” Bloomberg News reports.
/goo.gl/NC8DDg

Why Do So Many Managers Forget They’re Human Beings?
Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter, Vince Brewerton – Harvard Business Review
In our assessments, surveys, and interviews of over a thousand leaders, many comments stood out, but one in particular was especially powerful and thought-provoking. “Leadership today,” Javier Pladevall, CEO of Audi Volkswagen, Spain, told us, “is about unlearning management and relearning being human.”
/goo.gl/BT1N8v

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

It’s Not A Rebate!
Themis Trading Blog
There seems to be a discrepancy within the industry as to the difference between a “rebate” and a “discount”.
jlne.ws/2Gur58P

Moscow exchange says bomb call threat forces evacuation
Reuters
The Moscow stock exchange evacuated its two buildings after a phone a bomb threat call, the exchange said on Monday, adding that its trading operations were not affected.
jlne.ws/2FronQq

CAC 40 shareholder profiles – Euronext unveils new study
Euronext
At its 7th annual Stock Exchange Conference, bringing together key players in the French financial market, Euronext unveiled a new report on trends in direct shareholders of the companies that collectively form the CAC 40 index.
/goo.gl/qHi69M

London leads Komodo bonds issuance
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange Group today welcomes Wijaya Karya, one of the largest listed state-owned infrastructure and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) companies in Indonesia, to celebrate the successful issuance of its first Komodo bonds on London Stock Exchange’s International Securities Market (ISM).
/goo.gl/pqbFcy

Fintech

Object Trading’s Peck latest to leave Vela
Luke Jeffs – Global Investor Group
Tech firm Vela has parted ways with Object Trading’s former head of sales Des Peck, marking the latest senior Object Trading figure to leave in the six months since it was bought by Vela.
Peck, who was recently a London-based business development manager at Vela Trading Technologies, left the firm in December according to sources close to the firm.
A spokeswoman for Vela Trading Technologies declined to comment.
jlne.ws/2GsrIjm

Kodak’s Dubious Blockchain Gamble
Kevin Roose – NY Times
An eon or two ago, Eastman Kodak was a bleeding-edge technology company. It hired the smartest engineers and put them to work racking up patents, pioneering new chemical processes and building a globe-spanning camera and film business that, at its peak, employed 145,000 people.
/goo.gl/4g1mjz

Thomson Reuters in Talks to Sell Stake in Unit to Blackstone; The financial and risk unit services banks, money managers and other financial institutions
Ben Dummett – WSJ
Thomson Reuters Corp. said it is in advanced talks to a sell a major stake in its financial and risk business to private-equity giant Blackstone Group LP.
/goo.gl/cqvVVf

****Financial Times here.

Blockchain is this year’s buzzword – but can it outlive the hype?; The open-source ledger behind bitcoin is touted as revolutionary for everything from banking to health, but the jury is still out
Mattha Busby – The Guardian
The speculation around cryptocurrencies has obscured the fact that blockchain, the decentralised, open-source ledger that drives bitcoin, could radically change how ownership is verified.
/goo.gl/hHeJdE

How blockchain technology will reduce trade friction for everything from real estate to fine art
Eric Jackson – CNBC
Stephen McKeon is a professor of finance at the University of Oregon, and I first got to know him through a Medium post he wrote last August on asset-backed tokenization. A couple weeks ago, he was on CNBC’s”Power Lunch.” I had a lot more questions in my own mind after that segment so I reached out to him and he kindly agreed to chat.
/goo.gl/Gz1u6J

Politics

Theresa May faces growing calls to quit; Unrest grows among MPs and Tory donors
Francis Elliott, Political Editor, Sam Coates, Bruno Waterfield – The Times
The prime minister is facing a donors’ revolt and growing pressure to leave Downing Street as soon as the outline of a trade deal is negotiated with the European Union this autumn.
/goo.gl/K9T1a8

Trump’s Weakness Is a Dangerous Thing
Jonathan Bernstein – Bloomberg
President Donald Trump attempted to get special counsel Robert Mueller fired back in June, according to reports, but White House counsel Donald McGahn refused to set the plan in motion, threatened to resign in protest, and Trump backed down.
/goo.gl/tF3k7B

Draft FEC Rules Target Political Ads on Social Media
Nafeesa Syeed , Gerrit De Vynck , and Naomi Nix – Bloomberg
Democratic FEC member says commission reviewing draft rules; Facebook will archive political ads for four years: Harbath
The U.S. Federal Elections Commission is moving forward with a plan to introduce new rules on political advertising on social media ahead of the 2018 election cycle.
/goo.gl/Ve9TSx

Regulation

U.S. banking regulators sign off on foreign bank ‘living wills’
Reuters
U.S. banking regulators said Monday that “living wills” submitted by 19 foreign banks are largely satisfactory, and are likely to ease expectations for future submissions from those firms.
jlne.ws/2GsRjsA

Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan Announces Futures Markets Spoofing Takedown
US DOJ
Today, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice is pleased to announce the largest futures market criminal enforcement action in Department history.
/goo.gl/XnZVLv

Eight Individuals Charged With Deceptive Trading Practices Executed on U.S. Commodities Markets
US DOJ
Eight individuals who allegedly engaged in various deceptive trading practices on commodities markets in the United States have been publicly charged with federal crimes. Seven of the eight individuals were charged with the crime of spoofing, an illegal trading practice that can be used to manipulate the commodities markets. Other than the individuals identified today, only three other individuals have ever been publicly charged with the crime of spoofing. Of those identified today, five were traders employed by global financial institutions, two were traders at large commodities trading firms, and one was the owner of a technology consulting firm.
/goo.gl/AUfpPc

US files ‘spoofing’ charges against UBS, HSBC and Deutsche Bank
Telegraph
The US Justice Department and the country’s derivatives regulator said they had filed civil and criminal charges against three European banks, which paid $46.6m (£33m) to settle the cases, and eight individuals for alleged manipulation in US futures and commodities market.
/goo.gl/odk6SH

US regulator fines European banks for ‘spoofing’; Deutsche Bank, HSBC and UBS to pay over $40m between them for futures market abuse
Barney Jopson in Washington, Gregory Meyer in New York and Martin Arnold in London – FT
Three European banks have been fined a total of over $40m to settle US charges of “spoofing” futures markets, extending the efforts of regulators to crack down on the illegal trading practice.
/goo.gl/nfB7Dx

BNP Paribas admits FX price rigging, accepts $90 million fine; Guilty plea makes BNP Paribas the sixth major bank to admit price-fixing charges in FX markets.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The North American arm of French bank BNP Paribas has pleaded guilty to price-fixing charges in foreign exchange and will pay a criminal fine of $90 million, the US Justice Department confirmed.
/goo.gl/EoG23k

ASIC commences civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia for BBSW conduct
ASIC
ASIC has today commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court in Melbourne against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) for unconscionable conduct and market manipulation in relation to CBA’s involvement in setting the bank bill swap reference rate (BBSW) between 31 January 2012 and October 2012.
/goo.gl/VWq3it

ESMA updates equity transparency calculations and tick sizes band assessment for MiFID II/ MiFIR
ESMA
The European Securities Market Authority (ESMA) has updated today its transitional transparency calculations (TTC) for equity and tick sizes under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).
/goo.gl/nEUxeR

FINRA and ISG Announce Extension of Effective Date for Certain Electronic Blue Sheet Data Elements and Updates to Certain Requestor and Exchange Codes; Effective Date: November 15, 2018; Updates to Requestor and Exchange Codes are Effective Immediately
FINRA
FINRA and the other U.S. members of the Intermarket Surveillance Group (ISG members) have extended the effective date for compliance with certain data elements for Electronic Blue Sheets (EBS) identified in FINRA Regulatory Notice 15-44 to November 15, 2018. FINRA and the other ISG members are extending the effective date for these data elements to be consistent with the exemptive relief recently granted by the SEC, which extended the compliance date for certain broker-dealer recordkeeping and reporting requirements of SEA Rule 13h-1 (Large Trader Rule) from November 1, 2017, to November 15, 2018.
/goo.gl/aeCWtW

A Court Is Going to Decide Whether the Government Can Regulate Bitcoin Like Stocks
Fortune
The U.S. is trying to regulate cybercurrency offerings. It’s still unclear whether it has the authority to do so.
/goo.gl/eqb5JS

Investing and Trading

ETF minnows struggle to catch up to giants; Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street dominate an industry that is tough for smaller players
Robin Wigglesworth – FT
When Jonathan Steinberg, the founder of exchange-traded fund provider WisdomTree, was asked whether it was feasible to replicate the feat of building a big independent ETF company in today’s environment, he was unequivocal.
/goo.gl/ZDSWH6

Taming the factor zoo
Tom Goodwin – FTSE Russell Blog
Investors’ interest in smart beta has increased significantly in recent years, with a specific focus on factor investing. That interest has helped drive an explosion of research on factors. But there can be too much of a good thing: “We now have a zoo of new factors,” declared Professor John Cochrane from the University of Chicago in 2011. Since this statement, the proliferation of factors purporting to deliver excess returns has only accelerated. In just the years between 2010 and 2012, 59 new factors were “discovered.” By some counts, there are now over 300 factors in academic and practitioner literature. But in a zoo of 300, how can anyone sort through the herd and find a group of factors that will generate reliable, sustainable long run premiums?
jlne.ws/2GuUK1E

US IPO market has strongest start to year on record; Soaring share prices and clarity on tax reform lures 17 companies to list
Nicole Bullock in New York – FT
US initial public offerings are off to their strongest start to a year on record, as the equity market rally lures companies to list.
/goo.gl/pcHnXZ

Alice Handy, a Pioneer in Investing for Nonprofits, to Retire
Michael McDonald – Bloomberg
Investure produced Ivy League-like returns for school funds; She popularized investment office ‘outsourcing’ for nonprofits
Alice Handy brought Ivy League-like returns to college endowments over a four-decade career and helped build the investment management industry for nonprofits. Now, she has ceded control of her company as she prepares to retire at year-end.
/goo.gl/We6r1i

VIX Hedging Proves Timely as Record Stock Rally Shows Fatigue
Cecile Vannucci – Bloomberg
Volatility gauge has been rising with S&P 500 more often; Simultaneous advances have led to more stock gains in the past
All the hedging that’s pushed up the VIX lately is now proving useful. The S&P 500 Index’s biggest slump since September halted a rally that came in tandem with an advance in the Cboe Volatility Index, a rare occurrence that happened as investors favored VIX options to protect equity gains. The selloff that started in the U.S. triggered declines in Asian and European stock markets on Tuesday as volatility climbed across regions and asset classes.
/goo.gl/JpYc5z

Hunting Cheap Stocks Harder Now Than During Dot-Com Mania Peak
Cormac Mullen – Bloomberg
The dot-com bubble was a lot more picky. Even on the day the S&P 500 Index hit its March 2000 peak an investor could buy a third of the index for less than 11 times earnings. Today that figure is just 6 percent.
/goo.gl/tKLU7y

Bitcoin price dips as South Korea cryptocurrency ban on anonymous accounts comes into force
Lynsey Barber – City AM
New regulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has come into force in South Korea, one of the biggest markets for trading.
/goo.gl/9vavab

Institutions

JP Morgan says Jamie Dimon will continue to serve as CEO for five more years
Liz Moyer – CNBC
J. P. Morgan Chase’s Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon will stay in that role for another five years, the bank said Monday, though it named two lieutenants to a co-president job.
jlne.ws/2Gs7JBz

JPMorgan Names Daniel Pinto, Gordon Smith as Co-Presidents, COO; CEO James Dimon says he will stay on for about five more years
Emily Glazer – WSJ
JPMorgan Chase JPM -0.10% & Co. elevated two executives to share the No. 2 post at the nation’s largest bank, the clearest step yet to designate a potential successor to Chairman and Chief Executive James Dimon.
/goo.gl/nft5rN

Rags to Riches Tale Ends in Disaster for ‘Mini-Glencore’
Jack Farchy – Bloomberg
Trader’s shareholders to be all but wiped out in restructuring; A one-time scrap metal laborer, Elman became a billionaire as Noble expanded
When Swiss commodity trader Andre & Cie went bust 17 years ago, Richard Elman pounced. He bought its Asian grains business for next to nothing as part of an acquisition spree that would make his own fledgling company, Noble Group Ltd., into Asia’s biggest commodity trader within a decade.
/goo.gl/V5vbtj

Exclusive: Blackstone in talks to buy majority stake in key Thomson Reuters unit
Pamela Barbaglia – Reuters
U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP is in advanced talks to buy an approximate 55 percent stake in the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters Corp, a deal that would value the unit at about $20 billion including debt, three sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.
/goo.gl/HMqqZj

The Big Interview: Susan Estes
The Trade – Hayley McDowell
OpenDoor Trading’s CEO, president and co-founder, Susan Estes, discusses the future of fixed income trading and how disparities in US Treasuries trading have affected the buy-side.
/goo.gl/21Mrwz

Citi makes landmark move to accept ETFs as collateral; Citi’s plans to go live with a fund administration service for European exchange traded funds (ETF) in 2018.
Jonathan Watkins – The Trade
Citi has made a move to accept exchange traded funds (ETFs) as collateral in agency securities lending transactions.
/goo.gl/fjnskh

OpenDoor adds $10 million investment for further expansion; Funding will be used to hire more sale and marketing professionals as firm looks to further expand business.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
All-to-all US treasuries platform provider OpenDoor Trading has completed a third $10 million investment round to support its ongoing expansion.
/goo.gl/DPaqft

Deutsche Bank, UBS and HSBC incur $46 million penalty for spoofing; Three major investment banks allegedly carried out various frauds and spoofing on precious metals futures contracts.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Authorities in the US have taken enforcement action against Deutsche Bank, UBS and HSBC, imposing a combined $46.6 million penalty on the three institutions.
/goo.gl/FpDkv9

Julius Baer’s new chief set to cement his authority at Swiss bank; Bernhard Hodler expected to tell investors he plans more acquisitions
Martin Arnold in London and Ralph Atkins in Zurich – FT
Bernhard Hodler will seek to stamp his authority on Julius Baer on Wednesday by telling investors he plans to remain in charge of the Swiss private bank for years to come.
/goo.gl/gtYZWK

One Million People Are Waiting in Line to Join Robinhood’s Crypto Trading
Kailey Leinz and Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
Eager to trade Bitcoin for free on Robinhood? Take a number and get in line…a very long line.
/goo.gl/iyMMBP

Regions

HNA to Face $2.4 Billion Liquidity Crunch This Quarter
Bloomberg News
The crisis surrounding HNA Group Co. deepened after it emerged that the Chinese company’s ability to repay its debt will face a potential shortfall of at least 15 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) in the first quarter.
/goo.gl/k8uAsX

Raising India’s Investor Taxes Will Backfire; A capital-gains levy may look like low-hanging fruit, but it’s toxic.
Andy Mukherjee – Bloomberg
Sending investors the bill for a shortfall from India’s new goods and services tax is a bad idea. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley should resist the temptation. A long-term capital-gains levy on equity can be problematic in a country perennially short of domestic savings. In a frothy stock market, it’s like crying “fire” in a crowded room.
/goo.gl/iViGK2

Nigeria’s Southwest Cocoa Belt Hit by Dieback Disease
Tolani Awere -Bloomberg
Disease could result in the loss of 750 tons of cocoa; Prolonged dry season making plants vulnerable to attack
Cocoa farms in southwestern Nigeria, the country’s main growing region, have been bit by outbreaks of a fungal disease identified as dieback, which causes plants to wither and die.
/goo.gl/d3UTRt

Crypto Firm Ordered to Stop Broker Business by German Watchdog
Alexander Weber – Bloomberg
German supervisors ordered a Berlin-based firm to immediately stop offering the exchange of clients’ Bitcoins into euros, saying it had no permission to offer such brokerage services.
/goo.gl/R6JQjU

Brexit

Secret data show Britain worse off under all Brexit scenarios; Government analysis on economic impact set to strengthen hand of ‘soft Brexiters’
George Parker, Political Editor – FT
Britain will be left worse off under all Brexit scenarios, with financial services, chemicals, clothing, manufacturing, food and drink, cars and retailing among the sectors worst hit, according to secret government analysis.
/goo.gl/E1kVq4

Miscellaneous

City hedge fund millionaire will fund final search for MH370
Alys Key – City AM
City millionaire Anthony Clake is to help fund last-ditch attempts to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing Flight MH370.
/goo.gl/bR1uNY

The post Flash-crash trader helps US in fight against market abuse; Justice Department Charges Eight Traders With Deceptive Futures Market Trading; Decade of Easy Cash Turns Bond Market Upside Down appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

MarketAxess sees record trading volumes in 2017; Facebook and regulators move to halt cryptocurrency scams; Blackstone bets big on Wall St. information business with Thomson Reuters deal

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

CQG’s Pat Kenny, The Most Interesting Man in the World, just became a little more interesting. He was named the new chairman of the board of directors of the Association of Futures Markets during its 21st Annual Conference organised in Bangkok.~JJL

The latest edition of Inside Advantage, from Advantage Futures, is out with a Q&As with Don Wilson and Blair Hull.~JJL

Nasdaq’s reported its Information Services and Data Products represented a combined 44 percent of net revenues in Q4. ~JK

The WFE’s https://goo.gl/CTe53Y|FOCUS]] newsletter is out. FOCUS features the following exchange and CCP executives: Gilson Finkelsztain, CEO, B3, Ed Tilly, CEO & Chairman, Cboe Global Markets, Diana Chan, CEO, EuroCCP, Nicky Newton-King, CEO, JSE, Alina Aldambergen, CEO, Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), Chairman Jan-yau HSU, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), Ittai Ben-Zeev, CEO, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)~JJL

Yesterday’s JLN Options newsletter covered options market structure issues, some timely hedging and the trader “50 Cent” options.

The Winter issue of the Global Commodities Applied Research Digest (GCARD) has been launched. The GCARD is a publication of the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities at the University of Colorado Denver Business School; the publication is sponsored by the CME Group Foundation.~JJL

The following quote comes from Euronext CEO Stephane Boujnah when asked on Bloomberg if the exchange would get into bitcoin – “No. No, we will not create a market, because the mandate of Euronext is to power pan-European capital markets to finance the real economy and bitcoin has nothing to do with the real economy. Bitcoin has a lot to do with bitcoin … Bitcoin today is just like a piece of art, much like a diamond, just like a Pokemon card.” His whole commentary is a fun watch.~SD

Want to visit Shangri-La? That’s the name of the resort in Muscat, Oman, that is hosting the World Exchange Congress on February 27 and 28. Here is the agenda.~SD

I will be in Washington, DC next week for the rescheduled CFTC Technology Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday. ~JJL

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Sponsored Content

IFM

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Facebook is banning all ads promoting cryptocurrencies — including bitcoin and ICOs
Kurt Wagner – CNBC
Facebook is banning all ads that promote cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, in an effort to prevent people from advertising what the company is calling “financial products and services frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.”
/goo.gl/naFxvG

**Is this the end of the Crypto Genius

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Eventus Systems, Inc. Signs ENGIE Marketing NA, Inc.
Eventus Systems
Eventus Systems, Inc., a provider of innovative regtech software solutions for the capital markets, announced today that ENGIE Energy Marketing NA, Inc. has deployed the firm’s Validus surveillance and risk software platform to enhance its compliance program.
/goo.gl/y58Z9V

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Want to Keep Up With Bitcoin Enthusiasts? Learn the Lingo; In the crypto world, fans will HODL and moon and are likely to suffer from OCD
Stephanie Yang – Bloomberg
Virtual currencies have gone from being a topic for fringe enthusiasts to a full-blown cultural wave, discussed at dinner tables and among casual acquaintances with little else to talk about.
/goo.gl/Hz61B3

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Tuesday’s Top Three
Yesterday was spoofing day. Our top read story was the FT’s piece on Navinder Singh, Flash-crash trader helps US in fight against market abuse and his alleged involvement with Jitesh Thakkar, who was charged yesterday. Second went to John Lothian News’ piece on the first big case of self-reporting under new CFTC guidelines, in Turn Yourself In, It’ll Be Easier: Bank Cooperation On Spoofing Charges Saves Millions. Third went to the overall coverage of the cases by the Wall Street Journal in Justice Department Charges Eight Traders With Deceptive Futures Market Trading

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
  • 120,315,327 pages viewed
  • 22,965 pages
  • 211,257 edits
Level Trading

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Lead Stories

MarketAxess sees record trading volumes in 2017; Overall trading volume in 2017 reached $1.5 trillion compared to $1.3 trillion the year prior.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
MarketAxess has reported a record total trading volume for the full year in 2017 of $1.5 trillion, up more than 10% from the year prior.
/goo.gl/4Bb6cq

Facebook and regulators move to halt cryptocurrency scams; Social network says it will ban all bitcoin and initial coin offering advertising
Chloe Cornish in San Francisco – FT
Facebook has banned all advertisements for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, after it decided too many of them were being used to mislead or deceive potential customers.
/goo.gl/EqfV4d

Blackstone bets big on Wall St. information business with Thomson Reuters deal
Pamela Barbaglia and Jessica Toonkel – Reuters
U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP catapulted itself into the major leagues of Wall Street’s financial information industry on Tuesday with the acquisition of a majority stake in the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters Corp.
reut.rs/2Gw8IRa

U.S. SEC halts AriseBank’s initial coin offering, alleges fraud
Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Susan Heavey – Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has halted what it alleged was a fraudulent initial coin offering by Dallas-based AriseBank to raise $1 billion for its “AriseCoin” cryptocurrency, the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/YoJMZZ

SEC Freezes Crypto Assets of $600 Million Initial Coin Offering
Matt Robinson – Bloomberg
Action is first involving cryptocurrencies by U.S. agency; Evander Holyfield allegedly endorsed sales of AriseCoin. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order freezing the assets of an Texas-based initial coin offering that claimed to have raised more than $600 million.
/bloom.bg/2Gtkiwa

****Evander Holyfield was a celeb endorser adding oomph to the tagline, “Join the biggest fight in history. The people’s bank has arrived.”~SD

Why Crypto Traders Are So Worried About Tether
Andrea Tan , Benjamin Robertson , and Matthew Leising – Bloomberg
It’s one of the most hotly debated questions in the world of virtual currencies: Is Tether telling the truth when it says that each of its digital tokens is backed by one U.S. dollar? News on Jan. 30 that American regulators are scrutinizing the company has given fresh ammunition to the skeptics.
/goo.gl/LVDJsT

U.S. Regulators Subpoena Crypto Exchange Bitfinex, Tether
Matthew Leising – Bloomberg
Firms say they routinely get ‘legal process’ from regulators; Tether has yet to verify that it holds $2.3 billion in reserve
U.S. regulators are scrutinizing one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges as questions mount over a digital token linked to its backers.
/bloom.bg/2Fty14R

#MeToo movement puts pressure on U.S. banks to disclose diversity data
Ross Kerber – Reuters
The #MeToo movement has put new momentum behind efforts to have companies, especially in finance, disclose details about their workforce diversity – data that could throw into sharper relief the slow pace of progress for women and minorities in the field.
reut.rs/2Gw91LO

South Korea says no plans to ban cryptocurrency exchanges, uncovers $600 million illegal trades
Dahee Kim, Cynthia Kim – Reuters
South Korea’s finance minister said the government has no plans to shut down cryptocurrency trading, welcome news for investors worried that authorities might go as far as China’s tough action in blocking virtual coin platforms.
/goo.gl/67JYbz

Coincheck falsely explained security to customers – industry group head
Reuters Staff
Japanese Coincheck made false explanations to customers about its security system before suffering one of the world’s biggest cyber heists, the head of a major cryptocurrency industry group said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/LrkwU4

Exclusive: Coincheck hackers trying to move stolen cryptocurrency – executive
Jemima Kelly, Tommy Wilkes – Reuters
Hackers who stole around $530 million worth of cryptocurrency from the Coincheck exchange last week — one of the biggest such heists ever — are trying to move the stolen “XEM” coins, the foundation behind the digital currency said on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/m1Y6vX

Treasury Refunding Announcement Is a Rare Nail-Biter for Traders
Elizabeth Stanton – Bloomberg
Auction sizes are expected to rise for the first time in years; Forecast ranges are especially wide for 2- and 3-year notes
The U.S. Treasury’s quarterly refunding announcement on Wednesday is shaping up to be the most interesting in years.
/bloom.bg/2Gz5nRq

Founder of Chicago firm charged in crackdown on futures ‘spoofing’
Corilyn Shropshire – Chicago Tribune
The founder of a Chicago technology consulting firm was among eight people and three multinational banks charged Monday by federal authorities with committing commodities fraud through so-called spoofing trades.
/goo.gl/Xoujjc

DTCC processes first US buy-side cleared repo trade; DTCC aims to bring new players into providing liquidity to the repo market.
Joe Parsons – The Trade
Capula Investment Management and State Street have executed the first US buy-side cleared repo trade through the DTCC’s fixed income clearing house, as it looks to boost liquidity in the market via new participants.
/goo.gl/ak3Qv1

Blackstone’s $17 Billion Thomson Reuters Bet May Supersize Deals
Melissa Mittelman – Bloomberg
Blackstone Group LP’s $17 billion deal for a unit of Thomson Reuters Corp., the private equity giant’s biggest bet in a decade, raises the question: Is a deal of this size a one-off, or are buyouts poised to get larger as firms move to deploy record sums of dry powder?
/goo.gl/uA4c4C

The $12 Trillion Mutual Fund Men’s Club Needs More Women; It’s a disservice to clients that only 2 percent of those assets are managed exclusively by women.
Tara Lachapelle – Bloomberg
By now we know that having more women on leadership teams enhances businesses. We also know that women have qualities that make them good investors, such as their approach to risk. Why then are there still so few women money managers? The figures are even starker than you might imagine.
/goo.gl/NWKGyz

Wall Street Fraud Watchdog Now Offers to Ensure High Net Worth Victims of Stockbroker Churning or Unauthorized Trading Have Access to Some of the Nation’s Top Securities Attorneys
PRNewswire
The Wall Street Fraud Watchdog is launching a new initiative designed to ensure a high net worth investor has access to some of the nation’s most skilled securities attorneys if the investor’s stock broker has been involved in churning the client’s account or has been engaged in unauthorized trading.
/goo.gl/dBzD9n

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Market services business boosts Nasdaq’s quarterly profit
Reuters Staff
Exchange operator Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) posted a fourth-quarter profit, helped by higher revenue at its market services and non-trading related businesses.
/goo.gl/3ZiCzA

Nasdaq Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.38 Per Share
GlobeNewswire
The Board of Directors of Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.38 per share on the company’s outstanding common stock. The dividend is payable on March 30, 2018 to shareowners of record at the close of business on March 16, 2018. Future declarations of quarterly dividends and the establishment of future record and payment dates are subject to approval by the Board of Directors.
/goo.gl/DgAoqx

Nasdaq Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2017 Results; Delivers Strong Revenue and Income Growth
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2017.
/goo.gl/YyiY5X

DTCC Opens New Chapter for Buyside Participation in Repo Clearing
DTCC
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced the start of a new era of buyside participation in the cleared repo market as State Street Bank and Trust Company and funds managed by Capula Investment Management LLP, complete the first cleared sponsored repo transactions as a collateral provider.
/goo.gl/Tn4rx9

Hong Kong and New Zealand Exchanges Sign MOU
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and NZX Limited (NZX) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to further promote confidence and co-operation in Asia-Pacific markets.
/goo.gl/FUE9xj

Hong Kong seen winning mega-IPO from Xiaomi after reforming listing rules
Peggy Sito, Zhang Shidong – South China Morning Post
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is reportedly valued at as much as US$110 billion as it aims for an initial share sale in Hong Kong. The company was reportedly considering New York for its IPO.
/goo.gl/wfpGjp

Eurex Clearing’s Roadmap for 2018
Eurex
With this circular, Eurex Clearing provides an overview of planned release introductions for 2018, which should facilitate Members’ resource and time planning. Please note that concrete product introductions and further clearing initiatives are not included in this Roadmap.
/goo.gl/5RjiA3

Moscow Exchange launches trading in Turkish Lira
MOEX
On 29 January 2018, Moscow Exchange began trading the Turkish Lira/Russian Rouble (TRY/RUB) currency pair. On its first day, the instrument saw turnover of RUB 1.5 million (TRY 100 thousand).
/goo.gl/L8cvRh

Moscow Exchange facilitates access to its FX Market for international investors
MOEX
From 30 January, Moscow Exchange’s FX services will be accessible by international clients through technical solutions offered by MarketFactory.
/goo.gl/FxzG7Y

Japan Exchange Group, Inc. and Consolidated Subsidiaries; Consolidated financial results for the nine months ended December 31, 2017
JPX
/goo.gl/LGXvf2

SGX welcomes LY Corporation Limited to Catalist
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed LY Corporation Limited to its Catalist under the stock code “1H8”. LY Corporation Limited is one of Malaysia’s leading manufacturers and exporters of wooden bedroom furniture. With strong in-house design and development capabilities and an established subcontractor network, they have a track record of approximately 40 years in the furniture industry and are well recognised for the quality of their furniture products.
/goo.gl/zya7vM

SGX proposes updates to rules on mineral, oil and gas companies for greater relevance and alignment
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) is proposing changes to the Mainboard and Catalist Listing Rules for mineral, oil and gas (MOG) companies so that they remain aligned with industry developments.
/goo.gl/AeJC5X

End of Regional commodity exchanges: Hapur awaits Sebi nod for closure; Four other bourses had to shut shop earlier due to thin volumes and stringent Sebi norms
Dilip Kumar Jha – Business Standard
With the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) having refused to renew the mustard seed contract, Hapur Commodity Exchange Ltd (HCX), the last operational regional commodity exchange of the 22 that were in existence until a decade ago, awaits closure next month.
/goo.gl/U9ThvM

A major social network is launching its own bitcoin exchange
Daniel Shane – CNN
One of the biggest social networks in Asia wants to cash in on the bitcoin boom.
Popular messaging app Line (LN) said Wednesday it plans to launch an exchange that will allow its more than 170 million users to trade digital currencies via their smartphones.
/goo.gl/Y4t5NE

Bucharest bourse to keep focus on boosting turnover – CEO
SeeNews
The Bucharest Stock Exchange [BSE: BVB] will continue aiming at increasing its turnover so that Romania is promoted to the emerging market status as soon as possible, the new chief executive officer of the bourse, Adrian Tanase, has said.
/goo.gl/2cE2MC

Fintech

Paris Is City of Fintech Love for Startups Seeking Hookups
Fabio Benedetti Valentini and Marie Mawad – Bloomberg
Founders want incumbents to extend a hand, as partners or M&A; Payments in focus on how startups defy giants at Fintech Forum
The fintech dating game is on in Paris. Entrepreneurs in Europe’s financial-technology sector are pushing low-cost payments solutions to steal market share from banks, hoping the challenge they pose will spur the lenders to buy them or seek partnerships with them.
/goo.gl/YbR1AD

TRG and Vela announce exclusive partnership for DART usage analysis
Vela
TRG, the leading provider of subscription spend management software solutions, today announced it has agreed exclusive global distribution rights for DART Terminal Usage Analytics with Vela, the leading trading and market access technology provider.
/goo.gl/d6f4UW

Delivering quick and easy access to EDI reference data services from within the QH Ecosystem
QuantHouse
QuantHouse, the independent global provider of end-to-end high performance market data and trading through API based technologies, today announced that Exchange Data International (EDI) is the latest provider to join the QuantHouse API Ecosystem.
/goo.gl/bjUh7T

****SD: See Jim Kharouf’s piece for more on Quanthouse

Blackstone-Thomson Reuters deal paves way for more; Analysts predict M&A in financial data industry the Thomson family failed to dominate
Save to myFT
Philip Stafford in London and Shannon Bond in New York – FT
For more than a decade, the Thomson family has wrestled, at great expense, with a big problem: how to derive value from the £8.7bn acquisition of Reuters by the family’s company, Thomson Financial, in 2008 and the dozens of other smaller data and trading assets it has subsequently bought.
/goo.gl/jMPjYN

TNS Expands Hosting Services To New York And Chicago Financial Hubs
Mondovisione
Low latency trading firms looking to access key equity, derivatives and FX markets can now choose Transaction Network Services (TNS) as it expands its Managed Hosting, Co-Location and Connectivity Service to New York and Chicago.
/goo.gl/XQkxzn

Line, Japan’s WhatsApp challenger, is getting into cryptocurrency and fintech
Lynsey Barber – City AM
The bitcoin boom continues…Line, a hugely popular messaging app from Japan which rivals WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, has revealed plans to launch a its own cryptocurrency exchange
/goo.gl/U9bh6Z

How ‘blockchain’ compares with ‘dotcom’ in the company name game
Kevin Murphy – City AM
One of the first things you learn as a value investor is to dig below the surface of any potential investment – analysing a business’s balance sheet and other data to ensure you really understand its underlying value, its financial strength and how it works.
/goo.gl/g3hb6i

A Vermont City Tests Blockchain Technology for Property Deals; South Burlington doing a small trial run to test to the technology on recording real estate sales
Peter Grant – FT
The city of South Burlington, Vt., is embarking on a pilot project with a startup blockchain firm in a possible step toward using the technology to replace the city’s system for recording property transactions.
/goo.gl/hyrQQY

Bitcoin Is the New Gold; Invest in it, perhaps. But don’t try to shop with it.
Noah Smith – Bloomberg
They might have a lot in common. Photographer: Ulrich Baumgarten/Getty Images
I hate to say I told you so, but … well, I told you so. Bitcoin, 1 while still a popular financial asset, is looking less and less like a currency. Online payments company Stripe is ending Bitcoin support. It cites several reasons for doing so:
/goo.gl/GC6uy2

Why Bitcoin May Not Be Digital Gold After All
Jen Wieczner – Fortune
To explain Bitcoin’s exponential rise over the past year, proponents of the cryptocurrency often come back to the same refrain. Think of Bitcoin, they say, as digital gold—a so-called “store of value” that, like the precious metal itself, doesn’t need to have a lot of practical uses to be worth a lot of money.
/goo.gl/ZNctVu

Reuters News to get $325 million annually under Blackstone offer: sources
Pamela Barbaglia – Reuters
Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) has agreed that annual payments of $325 million would be made for 30 years to the Reuters News business as part of an offer by the U.S. private equity firm to buy a majority stake in Thomson Reuters’ (TRI.N) (TRI.TO) Financial and Risk unit, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/13Avod

Blackstone to Buy Thomson Reuters Unit in a $20 Billion Deal
Melissa Mittelman – Bloomberg
Canada Pension, GIC to invest in business alongside Blackstone; Blackstone PE head Baratta: ‘This is a landmark transaction’
A group led by Blackstone Group LP agreed to buy a majority stake in Thomson Reuters Corp.’s financial and risk unit in a deal that values the business at $20 billion, sealing plans for the firm’s biggest buyout in a decade.
/goo.gl/M3QmGh

Politics

Leaving Nafta Would Cost $50 Billion a Year; America’s gross domestic product is now 0.2% to 0.3% larger than it would be without the agreement.
Matthew J. Slaughter – WSJ
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer met in Montreal Monday with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts for a critical day of negotiations over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Lighthizer told the press that “some progress was made” at the talks. That’s good. Withdrawing from Nafta would be a $50-billion-a-year mistake for the U.S.
/goo.gl/QWeyNU

The Man From Sullivan & Cromwell; Under Trump’s SEC, Wall Street Secrecy Expands as Enforcement Shrinks
Susan Antilla, Gary Rivlin – The Intercept
Late last October, several hundred handsomely suited financiers gathered in the ballroom of a luxury Marriott, just two blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Trump International Hotel. Lisa Kidd Hunt, the new chair of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, practically glowed as she addressed the crowd of bankers, brokers, and other money managers.
/goo.gl/rfXYfJ

MEPs and markets split over Mifid II data rules; There is confusion about whether regtechs should have to pay for trade data under the EU’s revised regulatory framework
Lucy McNulty – Financial News
Two MEPs who helped craft the European Union’s vast trading reforms are split on how crucial data price rules should be interpreted — rules that are already causing confusion in the markets.
/goo.gl/dCdEt9

Second Trump-Russia dossier being assessed by FBI; Exclusive: memo written by former journalist Cody Shearer independently sets out some of the allegations made by ex-spy Christopher Steele
Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Nick Hopkins – The Guardian
The FBI inquiry into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election has been given a second memo that independently set out some of the same allegations made in a dossier by Christopher Steele, the British former spy.
/goo.gl/cXjNaD

Trump Administration Admits It Cribbed From Forbes Magazine To Create “Oligarch List”; The revelation is likely to invite criticism that a congressionally mandated list designed to punish Russia for interfering in the US election was put together haphazardly.
John Hudson – Buzzfeed
The striking similarity between a newly released Treasury Department report of Russian oligarchs and a 2017 list of wealthy Russians published in Forbes magazine is no coincidence.
/goo.gl/DDBvPX

Regulation

SEC Halts Alleged Initial Coin Offering Scam
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order halting an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO) that targeted retail investors to fund what it claimed to be the world’s first “decentralized bank.”
According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Dallas on Jan. 25 and unsealed late yesterday, Dallas-based AriseBank used social media, a celebrity endorsement, and other wide dissemination tactics to raise what it claims to be $600 million of its $1 billion goal in just two months.
/goo.gl/xhnYit

SEC’s chief enforcement accountant to leave agency
Reuters Staff
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday its chief accountant for enforcement matters would leave the agency next month.
/goo.gl/jdWnkU

Carney Says Cryptocurrency Transactions Shouldn’t Be Anonymous
Fergal O’Brien – Bloomberg
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said cryptocurrency payments are often used for money laundering or other illicit activity and he’s against users having their identities kept secret from authorities.
/goo.gl/RYn3Qn

Michael Maloney, Enforcement’s Chief Accountant, To Leave SEC
Mondovisione
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Michael F. Maloney, Chief Accountant of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, is planning to leave the agency next month.
/goo.gl/kUbqb5

FCA publishes update on high-cost credit work
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published an update on its work in the high-cost credit sector.
/goo.gl/BzMWMB

Sebi weighs tighter norms to protect market liquidity
Livemint
India’s market regulator is weighing options to direct stock exchanges to either stop offering securities-related data feed services to entities trading on bourses abroad, such as the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), or levy high additional fees on the traders.
bit.ly/2GuCtSe

EX-JPMorgan Trader Loses London Whale Identity Suit Against FCA
Suzi Ring – Bloomberg
Julien Grout not improperly identified in report, court says; Decision in line with Supreme Court ruling on issue last year
A former JPMorgan Chase & Co. trader wasn’t improperly identified by the U.K. markets regulator in its settlement report over the London Whale scandal, a court ruled, upholding a Supreme Court decision on the wider issue last year.
/goo.gl/CcWtL4

Investing and Trading

So goes January, so goes the Year?
RCM Alternatives
Don’t look now, but up there near the top of the asset class scoreboard so far in January is none other than Managed Futures, with the SocGen CTA Index up around 6% for the month. That would make it the best monthly performance since it gained +8.85% in December 2000. And all of this while stocks scream higher on the year, proving once again that Managed Futures holds a non-correlation to equities. Of course, an index of the largest CTAs isn’t necessarily indicative of the entire asset class, so how are some of the smaller funds doing?
/goo.gl/mEhqow

Wall Street Can’t Hold Back Vanguard’s Low-Fee Ocean
Nir Kaissar – Bloomberg
Investors agree with Jack Bogle that “you get what you don’t pay for.”
/bloom.bg/2FtDXLk

It’s Getting Hot Out There: Investors Need to Pay Attention
Joachim Klement – CFA Institute Enterprising Investor
In a previous incarnation, I was a theoretical astrophysicist. In that role, I worked on a team that tried to parse how much of global warming could be attributed to the sun and how much to human causes.
cfa.is/2Fv2Whm

Bitcoin Is Having Its Worst Month in Three Years; Global regulatory clampdown hits cryptocurrencies
By Steven Russolillo in Hong Kong and Eun-Young Jeong in Seoul – FT
Bitcoin gripped the investing world last year like no other asset class in recent memory, minting new millionaires, sparking a pivot to blockchain technology and attracting a new wave of interest from institutional investors.
/goo.gl/26vHns

Digital Coins Tumble in January Amid Facebook, Tether Concerns
Eric Lam – Bloomberg
Bitcoin heads for worst monthly slide in almost four years; CFTC in U.S. said to send subpoenas to Bitfinex, Tether
For cryptocurrency investors, January is turning into a month to rue. Digital coins have mostly slid this week, with Bitcoin heading for its worst monthly decline since February 2014, as U.S. regulators ramp up their scrutiny of one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges while Facebook Inc. is banning ads tied to the industry.
/goo.gl/qhYLgD

Jim Chanos: Charity Can Be A Sign Of Fraud
Linette Lopez – CNBC
Legendary short seller Jim Chanos gave an extensive interview to Salon.com about how to spot fraud and corruption in business.
/goo.gl/LkQ3sM

Institutions

Jamie Dimon’s longevity at JPMorgan leads to itchy feet below him; Veteran banker is popular with investors and seen as a potential political candidate
Ben McLannahan in New York and Martin Arnold and Laura Noonan in London – FT
Last week at Davos, Jamie Dimon worked the crowds in a black shirt and jeans, fuelling speculation that the chief executive and chairman of the biggest bank in America was getting tired of the old routine.
/goo.gl/gjS5Lz

Star trader Greg Coffey leases Belgravia office ahead of hedge fund return
Tabby Kinder – Financial News
Renowned trader Greg Coffey has leased offices in Belgravia and picked prime brokers as he prepares to launch his first hedge fund since exiting the industry amid much fanfare in 2012.
The lease provides a clear picture that the Australian trader — once known as the Wizard of Oz in fund management circles for his trading prowess — is very close to making a return to hedge fund investing.
/goo.gl/UCTyP4

RBS restructuring arm did not turn around ‘vast majority’ of businesses
Emma Rumney – Reuters
Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS.L) restructuring business did not turn around the “vast majority” of small businesses it worked with, Chief Executive Ross McEwan said on Tuesday in response to lawmakers’ questions.
reut.rs/2Gwxxw7

Julius Baer profits beat estimates, announces Brazil acquisition
Ralph Atkins in Zurich – FT
Julius Baer, the Swiss private bank which last year lost its chief executive to Geneva rival Pictet, has reported a 14 per cent rise in net profits for 2017 and signalled it remains on the acquisition trail by snapping up a wealth manager in Brazil.
/goo.gl/HR6rFb

Legg Mason appoints chief diversity officer
Jayna Rana – InvestmentWeek
Legg Mason has appointed Regina Curry as chief diversity officer, as part of plans to boost its diversity initiative across the company.
/goo.gl/iAgwxR

Och-Ziff Names New CEO to Replace Daniel Och; A battle for firm’s future has pitted Mr. Och against his one-time chosen successor
Gregory Zuckerman – WSJ
Hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC OZM 4.35% named a Wall Street veteran to replace founder Daniel Och as chief executive officer after a high-profile battle for the firm’s future that pitted Mr. Och against his one-time chosen successor.
/goo.gl/tD4NQZ

Cohen Leads Wave of Hedge Fund Startups After Year of Retreats
Saijel Kishan – Bloomberg
Viking alum Dan Sundheim hires ex-White House adviser at D1; Cohen rearms with outside cash as Gelband preps ExodusPoint
After a cohort of hedge fund veterans called it quits last year, a trio of established managers are prepping to fill their shoes in 2018 by starting firms with at least a billion dollars apiece.
/goo.gl/f8i7p7

Banker Bonuses Jumping While Traders Brace for Smaller Payouts
Hugh Son and Laura J Keller – Bloomberg
Gap set to widen further this year as mergers start strong; Underwriting fees boost Wall Street investment-banking revenue
Wall Street bankers are celebrating this bonus season, while the party in trading divisions is somewhat more subdued.
/goo.gl/A4nyhS

Ex-HSBC Wealth Manager Accused of $3 Million Drip-Feed Heist
Hugo Miller – Bloomberg
Banker allegedly stole in small increments to avoid detection; Man accused in Geneva of criminal mismanagement and forgery
A former wealth manager with HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private bank in Geneva was accused of stealing about 3 million Swiss francs ($3.2 million) from his rich Turkish clients, drip-feeding money from their accounts over a period of two years.
/goo.gl/hoM4VC

Goldman Sachs inadvertently bought a stake in a bitcoin trading desk
John Detrixhe – Quartz
Contrary to recent reports, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein says the investment bank isn’t starting a bitcoin trading desk (paywall). While the company provides services for clients who trade bitcoin derivatives, the executive said in an interview with CNBC that the bank isn’t placing bets on crypto or posting bids and offers on bitcoin with its own money.
/goo.gl/XU6cMR

Regions

Argentina Goes From Market Darling to Dud
Ben Bartenstein and Will Mathis – Bloomberg
Inflation jitters mount as central bank takes dovish stance; Currency is the worst performer in emerging markets this year
Mauricio Macri’s honeymoon is over, at least in the foreign-exchange market.
/bloom.bg/2FuVtPg

Bank of Japan Denies Bond-Purchase Signals, But Some Don’t Buy It; Haruhiko Kuroda, governor of the Bank of Japan, at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 26.
Suryatapa Bhattacharya and Megumi Fujikawa – FT
Japan’s central bank has ramped up its insistence that there are no signals in its day-to-day buying of government debt, but market players continue to look for them.
/goo.gl/FCcpNA

Brexit

Morgan Stanley to decide on Brexit staff moves early this year
Reuters Staff
Morgan Stanley (MS.N) will make decisions on redeploying staff to its chosen locations of Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin as a result of Brexit very early this year, its president said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/zS876P

Secret Brexit analysis warns of financial hit to Britain; Predicted fall in growth of 2%-8% expected to aid ministers seeking soft deal
George Parker, Jim Pickard and Laura Hughes in London – FT
Britain will be left worse off under all economic scenarios after Brexit, according to a leaked government analysis, with financial services, manufacturing and retailing among the industries worst hit.
/goo.gl/E1kVq4

U.K.’s May Fighting to Keep Brexit Economic Study Secret
Robert Hutton – Bloomberg
Minister who trashed forecasts tells staff ‘I still love them’; But another says ‘evidence not dogma’ must drive strategy
Theresa May’s government will fight to keep secret an assessment of the likely impact of Brexit on the British economy, even as one of her own ministers called for the numbers to be published.
/goo.gl/vA19L8

Morgan Stanley Boosts Dublin, Frankfurt, Paris Offices on Brexit
Peter Flanagan and Gavin Finch – Bloomberg
Firm taking multi-centered approach, Colm Kelleher says; Bank said to move 200 jobs to Frankfurt, 100 to other cities
Morgan Stanley President Colm Kelleher said the bank would boost its offices in three European Union cities as it seeks to relocate London-based roles after Brexit.
/goo.gl/muT9Di

EU Is Refusing to Budge on Post-Brexit Financial Services
Ian Wishart – Bloomberg
European Commission sticks with Canada model for U.K. banks; Presentation was made to EU-27 in Brussels in Tuesday
U.K. banks will have limited access to the European Union’s single market after Brexit if the government refuses to weaken its red lines, the European Commission told diplomats, according to two people familiar with private discussions in Brussels.
/goo.gl/6Xxd9z

Britain Has Lost Its Bearings on Brexit; Nearly 600 days after the vote, it can’t or won’t tell the EU what it wants.
Leonid Bershidsky – Bloomberg
The leaked U.K. government forecasts of Brexit’s impact on the economy discusses several scenarios, none of them favorable. But the scariest takeaway was that London still isn’t clear on what kind of deal it’s capable of getting, or what it wants. Almost 600 days have passed since the referendum.
/goo.gl/WVvY7D

Rich Folks Are Fleeing London and Lagos, Wealth Report Shows
Jeanette Rodrigues – Bloomberg
New taxes, Brexit are factors in first big outflow from London; Cities seeing inflows include Auckland, Dubai, Montreal
Wealthy Londoners are leaving the city as new taxes make it expensive to inherit and invest, and as Brexit prompts rich Europeans living in the U.K. capital to return home.
/goo.gl/wdx9iw

The post MarketAxess sees record trading volumes in 2017; Facebook and regulators move to halt cryptocurrency scams; Blackstone bets big on Wall St. information business with Thomson Reuters deal appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Big Banks Accused of Stifling Competition in Stock Lending; Rise of Bitcoin Futures Prompts Regulator to Revisit Hands-Off Approach; EU rejects Brexit trade deal for UK financial services sector

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam said in a speech before the Market RIsk Advisory Committee that in the 18 years since the introduction of the self-certification process for new futures products, 15 exchanges have self-certified 10,628 new products.~SD

There were some Citadel personnel moves recently. Seetharam Gorre, formerly the chief investment officer for Steve Cohen’s Point72, joined Citadel as a managing director and in April, Will Evans, global franchise manager for commodities at Goldman, will join Citadel, too. (Back in August, Point72 snagged Jerrell Watts from Citadel where he was head of algorithmic execution and order routing.)~SD

According to a Global Risk Insights special report on the Belt and Road Initiative, China imports 65-66 percent of its oil and that is set to rise to 80 percent by 2030. That factoid is in the section on energy security. How about those yuan-denominated oil futures, eh? Natural gas, rail lines, regional outlooks, shipping routes – plenty of insight in the roughly 10 pages of content.~SD

Rumi Morales, former head of CME Ventures, was named a Futurist and a “Woman to Watch” by The Helm. The Helm is “a community and a venture fund that rethinks how people invest in female entrepreneurs — a segment of the financial sector that received only 2.5% of all venture capital in 2016 despite consistently outperforming all-male teams.”~JJL

The CME Group will be at E-World 2018~JJL

It is not next week I will be in Washington, DC, for the CFTC TAC meeting, but the week after. Oops!~JJL

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Sponsored Content

IFM

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Tax Law Change Means All Cash Grain Traders Are Not Equal, Better Bids or No
John Lothian – JLN

Grain market players who are not part of farmer-owned cooperatives are alarmed over the potential impact on grain market origination of the recent changes to the U.S. tax code. In what appears to be an unintended consequence of bad tax bill writing, cooperatives have been favored over other market players in the form of a tax benefit to farmers for selling their grain to cooperatives rather than to private grain companies.

This change in the way physical grain moves through the system could make it more expensive for consumers, as cooperatives exercise what appears to be newly granted monopoly powers over the cash grain market.

The benefit to the farmer is “a 20 percent deduction on payments for sales of crops to farmer-owned cooperatives,” according to a recent Reuters story.

For the rest of the commentary CLICK HERE.

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Slippery Slope: Let’s Let Markets Decide On New Contracts
Jim Kharouf – JLN

Do exchanges need further regulation on the contracts they launch? That is the question the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is addressing now with the so-called self-certification process for new contracts.

Exchanges have not faced this type of scrutiny over the launch of a new product in recent history until Bitcoin. Several new contract ideas have been squashed by legislation or regulation, including movie futures and onion futures way back when. But for the most part, exchanges are allowed to introduce new contracts as they wish and ultimately let the markets decide on whether or not they offer enough value to trade them, offer them to clients or clear them.

For the rest of the story, CLICK HERE

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The global trading system works when we all play by the rules; As China opens up to the world, its economy is already helping British businesses
Theresa May – FT
In 2018, the global economy is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. The nature of international trade means that decisions made by governments and businesses in one country can have a deep and lasting impact on workers and high streets half a world away.
/goo.gl/NxYpfq

**A very different tone from May than from Trump. ~JK

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Gary Katz to Receive Joseph W. Sullivan Award at 2018 Options Industry Conference
OCC
The Options Industry Council (OIC), an industry resource funded by OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today announced that Gary Katz, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Securities Exchange (ISE), will receive the 2018 Joseph W. Sullivan Options Industry Achievement Award.
/goo.gl/Ui6zqt

**First David Krell and now Gary Katz, two people who reshaped the options markets. Well deserved.~JK

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QB Launches Trade Simulation & Ticketing Tools On The Bloomberg App Portal
Quantitative Brokers
Quantitative Brokers (QB), an independent provider of advanced algorithms and data-driven analytics for futures and U.S. cash treasury markets, enhanced its premium execution algorithms and introduced a new trade simulation tool on the Bloomberg App Portal. The two complementary apps (“QB” and “SIMQB”) enable traders to use QB’s electronic trading technology with data and functionality on the Bloomberg Terminal.
/goo.gl/oKR7Ya

***** The new leadership of QB starts to make their mark.~JJL

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Wednesday’s Top Three
Yesterday’s top read items were led by the Chicago Tribune’s piece on Jitesh Thakkar and others charged with spoofing in this week’s major crackdown on the practice by the CFTC, DOJ and FBI. The Tribune’s piece Founder of Chicago firm charged in crackdown on futures ‘spoofing’ took the top spot. Second went to Advantage Trading’s newsletter Inside Advantage which featured pieces on Don Wilson and Blair Hull. Third went to Bloomberg’s Why Crypto Traders Are So Worried About Tether

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
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Lead Stories

Big Banks Accused of Stifling Competition in Stock Lending; Six firms conspired to boycott upstart trading platform and ‘starve it of liquidity,’ according to suit
Gretchen Morgenson – WSJ
A newly filed lawsuit against six major investment banks contends they worked together to prevent a startup company from competing in the vast and lucrative stock-lending market.
/goo.gl/ZTqY66

Rise of Bitcoin Futures Prompts Regulator to Revisit Hands-Off Approach
Gabriel T. Rubin – WSJ
The top U.S. derivatives regulator is reviewing its process for approving new products, after the launch of bitcoin futures raised questions about whether its hands-off approach should be changed.
on.wsj.com/2GyzMPF

EU rejects Brexit trade deal for UK financial services sector; Brussels negotiators say Europe would benefit from a smaller City of London
Jim Brunsden in Brussels – FT
EU Brexit negotiators have set out a tough line on financial services, ruling out an ambitious trade deal for the lucrative sector and arguing that Europe would benefit from a smaller City of London, according to confidential discussions among the other 27 EU member states.
/goo.gl/GMz1wK

Irish Stock Exchange sale offers ‘pivot towards Europe’; Dublin bourse presents scale as best response to Brexit and technological change
Arthur Beesley in Dublin – FT
The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) is pivoting to Europe after its sale to Euronext, as the bourse looks to ride out — and even benefit from — the UK’s exit from the EU. The EUR137m deal, excluding cash and regulatory capital, will establish Dublin as the capital markets group’s hub for the listing of debt securities, funds and exchange traded funds.
/goo.gl/LVeptf

Meet the physicists selling time to traders; The UK’s national lab has invented a unified measurement system for high-speed transactions
Philip Stafford – FT
Twenty-first century trading is conducted across continents at speeds incomprehensible to humans.
/goo.gl/WxFEHS

US derivatives regulator looks to calm cryptocurrency fears; Chairman of CFTC eyes measures to protect futures markets from volatile price swings
Gregory Meyer in New York – FT
The main US derivatives regulator has moved to assuage brokers worried that explosive swings in cryptocurrency prices could destabilise conventional futures markets.
/goo.gl/bX1rnn

Nex Group shares jump 8% on expected boost from US tax cuts; Bright spot after earlier profit warning
Philip Stafford – FT
Nex Group, the UK financial technology company headed by Michael Spencer, said on Thursday that it is set to receive a boost to forthcoming earnings from the reforms to the US tax code by president Donald Trump, sending its shares up by over 8 per cent.
/goo.gl/83PjZW

DealBook Briefing: Is Someone Manipulating the Price of Bitcoin?; New questions about Bitcoin’s price
NY Times
Regulators are increasingly worried that Bitfinex, a widely used (and famously opaque) exchange, has been propping it up. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has subpoenaed the company, whose Tether digital token is often used to buy other virtual currencies.
/goo.gl/fz5rCW

PanXchange Opens Houston Office
PanXchange – Medium
We have hired Mike Hall as director of PXEnergy and manager of the new office. Mike brings with him deep industry expertise in supply chain management with the U.S. Marine Corps, Halliburton and Schlumberger, and, more recently, he has used his previous experience to run a highly successful consulting business in proppants.
/goo.gl/g1e3hQ

Overstock.com And tZERO Advisors Launch Robo-Advisor Digital Investment Platform
Mondovisione
Overstock.com announces the launch of a digitally driven investment platform, powered by tZERO Advisors, within the online retailer’s FinanceHub.
/goo.gl/KgUWfr

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

CME Group’s Q4 profit soars on $2.6 bln tax gain
Reuters Staff
CME Group Inc, the world’s largest futures exchange, said on Thursday its fourth-quarter profit surged due to a $2.6 billion benefit related to the U.S. tax overhaul.
/goo.gl/VKcPNv

CME Group Inc. Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2017 Financial Results
CME Group
CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today reported revenue of $900 million and operating income of $537 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. Fourth-quarter 2017 net income included a $2.6 billion net income tax benefit due to recognition of a reduction in deferred tax liabilities as a result of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017. Resulting net income was $2.9 billion and diluted earnings per share were $8.63. On an adjusted basis, net income was $383 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.12. Financial results presented on an adjusted basis for the fourth quarters of 2017 and 2016 exclude the net income tax benefit noted above and certain other items, which are detailed in the reconciliation of non-GAAP results.
/goo.gl/jTPrHN

CEO CHAT: Craig Donohue, OCC
John D’Antona – MarketsMedia
Technology. Cybersecurity.
Two buzzwords that are firmly entrenched in the financial lexicon – certainly in equities and options markets, among others.
bit.ly/2GAnmXA

2017 CCP Market Share Statistics
Amir Khwaja – Clarus Financial Technology
In this article I look at 2017 CCP market share for OTC Derivatives in Credit, FX and Interest Rates.
bit.ly/2Fwbepc

London Metal Exchange appoints James Cressy as COO
Reuters Staff
The London Metal Exchange has appointed James Cressy as chief operating officer for the LME Group effective immediately, the exchange said on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/zW5X1D

Thomson Reuters FXall appoints new head from NEX Traiana; NEX Traiana veteran Jill Sigelbaum leaves firm after 15 years to oversee FXall business.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Thomson Reuters’ foreign exchange electronic trading platform business has appointed a new leader from NEX Traiana.
/goo.gl/6kwNVV

Euronext launches Trade & Leverage programme to increase investor access for European Tech SMEs; German, Italian, Spanish and Swiss newly listed Tech SMEs to benefit from investor access initiative in partnership with experienced European providers
Euronext
Euronext, the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone, today announces the launch of its new sponsored investor access initiative called “Trade & Leverage”. This programme is designed as part of Euronext’s European Tech SME initiative, which was launched in September 2017 to assist tech companies in developing their business on a greater scale through capital markets.
/goo.gl/R4pcwm

Fixed Income Highlights – January 2018 edition
Eurex
First of all, I’d like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to our members and clients who continued to show Eurex strong support throughout 2017, despite grappling with the implementation of MiFID II.
/goo.gl/8zmBYm

Withdrawal of admission of nine Single Stock Futures and two equity options
Eurex
The Management Board of Eurex Deutschland and the Executive Board of Eurex Zürich AG decided to withdraw admission to trading of nine Single Stock Futures and two equity options according to the attachment.
/goo.gl/M3BQAR

EurexOTC Clear: Introduction of EurexOTC Clear Release 8.1
Eurex
With this circular Eurex Clearing announces the introduction of
EurexOTC Clear Release 8.1 on 18 June 2018.
/goo.gl/oe5Q1M

ICE Endex announces results of European gas storage auction for GasTerra
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced the results of the ICE Endex gas storage auction held on January 31 2018, on behalf of GasTerra.
/goo.gl/DuJghC

SGX welcomes Macquarie Futures as Derivatives Trading and Clearing Member
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed Macquarie Futures (Singapore) Pte Limited as a Trading and Clearing Member of its derivatives market.
/goo.gl/Mi27jV

ICGN-IIRC Tokyo Conference 2018
JPX
We are pleased to announce that International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) will hold the “ICGN-IIRC Tokyo Conference 2018” on Wednesday, February 28 and Thursday, March 1, 2018, which is jointly hosted by JPX and TSE as well as Japanese Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
/goo.gl/9obVUG

Trading Overview in January 2018
JPX
Japan Exchange Group released Trading Overview in January 2018.
Cash Equity Market- In January 2018, the daily average trading value for the TSE 1st Section (domestic common stocks) was JPY 3.3503 trillion; In the ETF market, monthly trading value was JPY 4.4236 trillion.
Derivatives Market – In January 2018, total derivatives trading volume was 27,793,260 contracts.
/goo.gl/2CE2fJ

25th Anniversary Event Held for U.S.-listed SPDR® S&P 500® ETF’
JPX
The Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. commemorated the 25th anniversary of the U.S. listing of the world’s largest ETF, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (TSE: 1557, NYSE Arca: SPY), which is managed by State Street Global Advisors, at a ceremony held at the TSE Arrows Open Platform on Tuesday, January 30th, 2018.
/goo.gl/PLQjeE

Fintech

Davos Elites Still Don’t Get Blockchain
Michael J. Casey – CoinDesk
Every year at the World Economic Forum, a handful of timely, hot-button issues overshadow the myriad other topics consuming the chatter of the attending businessmen, government officials, development professionals, celebrities, journalists and multiple other breeds of wannabe “Davos men.” This year, as with last, a guy called Trump was on everyone’s mind. But that was hardly unexpected. What was truly remarkable, at least for anyone who has been interested in blockchain technology since its relative obscurity only a few years ago, was the degree to which it became one of the uber-themes of #WEF2018.
/goo.gl/g596Cy

BMO Capital Markets Enhances Trading Performance
Mondovisione
BMO Capital Markets (BMO), the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group, today announced that it has partnered with Trade Informatics (TI), a leading provider of quantitative analytics and systematic trading solutions to institutional asset managers. TI will provide BMO with transaction cost analysis (TCA) tools to help execute algorithmic trades with improved execution quality.
/goo.gl/ZFpCso

Options Expands Market Data Connectivity With NYSE Integrated Feed
Hedgeweek
Options, the leading provider of global market data and colocation services for trading firms, has today announced direct access to the NYSE Integrated Feed. The new service will be available to clients leveraging Option’s ultra-low latent connectivity and managed colocation platform in Mahwah, Carteret, NY4 and NJ2.
/goo.gl/V96cA6

Singapore’s QQQ Capital Taps Eze Investment Suite for Growth; Eze Investment Suite to Power Operations for USD100M Start-Up
Business Wire
Eze Software, a global provider of investment technology, has signed on QQQ Capital Pte Ltd., Singapore’s new long-term value hedge fund manager, to use Eze Investment Suite to automate its operations. QQQ Capital will be launching the QQQ Capital Feeder Fund, a USD100 million fund focused on technology, education and tourism, in early 2018, and will use Eze Investment Suite to help streamline its front-to-back investment workflows.
/goo.gl/rmrnFA

EBay to Ditch PayPal for Dutch Processor Adyen
Spencer Soper and Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
PayPal will remain as an EBay checkout option until July 2023; Most EBay payments will be processed by Adyen in 2021
EBay Inc. will shift its payments business from long-time partner PayPal Holdings Inc. to Adyen BV, a global payments company based in the Netherlands, further distancing the companies that split in 2015 but remained intertwined through an agreement that fully expires in 2020.
/goo.gl/xC31pV

The $2.5 Billion Plan to Turn Brooklyn’s Navy Yard Into a Tech Hub
David M Levitt – Bloomberg
With old buildings transformed, developer sketches the future; Aim is 5.1 million more square feet at site of warship maker
America may never recover its glory as a manufacturing powerhouse, but the Brooklyn Navy Yard is doing what it can, transforming itself from a 20th-century warship builder to a 21st-century high-tech hub.
/goo.gl/wkvzfy

Square Cash expands bitcoin buying and selling to all users
Fitz Tepper – TechCrunch
A few months ago we wrote that Square’s peer-to-peer payment app called Square Cash was running a bitcoin trial for select users. These users had the ability to buy and sell bitcoin using whatever payment method they had attached to the app.
/goo.gl/RR1Quv

Crédit Agricole bets on blockchain with SETL investment; Crédit Agricole takes minority equity stake in financial blockchain specialist SETL.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Crédit Agricole CIB has acquired an equity stake in blockchain specialist SETL in the bank’s first investment in a FinTech company.
/goo.gl/ABtDN8

Politics

Trump’s top health official traded tobacco stock while leading anti-smoking efforts
Sarah Karlin-Smith and Brianna Ehley – Politico
The Trump administration’s top public health official bought shares in a tobacco company one month into her leadership of the agency charged with reducing tobacco use — the leading cause of preventable disease and death and an issue she had long championed.
politi.co/2FyHBDs

****According to the linked filings of her financial records, she did sell her Domino’s Pizza stock at the end of October 2017. At least she didn’t have a large position in one of the “sin stock” funds…~SD

Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts to be named RNC finance chair
Crain’s Staff
The Republican National Committee is set to select billionaire Todd Ricketts as its next finance chair, replacing casino magnate Steve Wynn, who resigned over the weekend over sexual misconduct allegations.
/goo.gl/echwYB

Trump Powers GOP to Raise Twice as Much as Democrats in 2017
John McCormick and Bill Allison – Bloomberg
Republicans raised $132.5 million, a non-election year record; Cubs co-owner Ricketts succeeds Wynn as party finance chair
The Republican National Committee raised twice as much as its Democratic counterpart last year, boosted by the fundraising power of having President Donald Trump in the White House.
/goo.gl/qFGARu

Trump’s words are disconnected from his actions; State of the Union call for unity comes as president attacks at home and abroad
Edward Luce – FT
Twenty four hours from now, most Americans will have forgotten what Donald Trump said. In his first address to Congress a year ago, the president gave hope to adults around the world. People were encouraged he might be maturing into the job. On Tuesday night, he used his State of the Union address to make it an annual reassurance. By Mr Trump’s standards, it was a balanced speech. If you were hoping to be calmed, Mr Trump delivered. Where there was discord, he brought harmony. And so on.
/goo.gl/MHnpLG

Democrats Say Republicans Secretly Altered FBI-Russia Memo
By Billy House – Bloomberg
Schumer accuses Nunes of interfering with Mueller inquiry
Only two members of committee have seen classified sources
Democrats charged Wednesday night that House Republicans secretly altered a controversial memo drawn from classified information on how the FBI handled an investigation into Russian election meddling before sending it to the White House for review.
/goo.gl/tVFNx6

Trump Jr.’s emails setting up Russian Trump Tower meeting “will never get out,” Hope Hicks allegedly pledged
Graham Lanktree – Newsweek
In an upcoming interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, a former spokesman for President Donald Trump’s legal team is expected to allege that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks wanted to prevent the release of emails in which the president’s son sought dirt on Hillary Clinton.
/goo.gl/k1us3T

Trump is on a Nixonian collision course with the FBI
Michael D’Antonio
Michael D’Antonio – CNN
FBI Director Christopher Wray is forcing the Trump White House to choose between the national interest and President Donald Trump’s political hide.
/goo.gl/bbuUHd

Brexit Politics Goes From Bad to Worse; The split in Britain’s Conservative Party is doing enormous damage.
The Editors – Bloomberg
Political dysfunction is unquestionably aggravating the U.K.’s Brexit nightmare. But the resignation of Prime Minister Theresa May, as some in her own party are calling for, would only make matters worse.
/goo.gl/D8yVwM

Koch Industries’s New Ads Aim to Distinguish Company From Owners’ Politics; Ads during the Olympics and Super Bowl will focus on the industrial conglomerate’s principles of integrity and entrepreneurship
By Alexandra Bruell – WSJ
Koch Industries is launching a new series of ads during the Olympics and Super Bowl to boost the reputation of its corporate brand, as well as quash “misperceptions” by people who only associate the company with its owners’ political views.
/goo.gl/j8468L

Regulation

Two ex-Morgan Stanley advisers to plead guilty to U.S. fraud charges
Nate Raymond – Reuters
Two former Morgan Stanley advisers have agreed to plead guilty to U.S. charges that they misused client funds to invest in a wind farm project they were involved with, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
reut.rs/2E5Q1Fm

CFTC Chairman Giancarlo to Testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry
CFTC
/goo.gl/eJN6G5

Remarks Of CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo Before The Market Risk Advisory Committee Meeting
CFTC
This is the first time my new fellow Commissioners and I are appearing together in an official capacity at the agency. It is very good to be with Commissioners (Brian) Quintenz and (Rostin) Behnam. Hopefully, the three of us will have additional company this year.
/goo.gl/EzA5Ws

Opening Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz Before The CFTC Market Risk Advisory Committee
CFTC
I agree with Chairman Giancarlo’s long held perspective on regulation’s ability to foster financial market innovation. I believe that the self-certification of new financial products can play an important role in realizing that philosophy. Specifically, the self-certification process ensures that the market’s introduction of new products is not delayed by regulators’ political considerations. It reflects the government providing the market with the freedom and space to innovate outside of Washington bureaucracy. I think we all benefit from that free market approach.
/goo.gl/26eV2x

Opening Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Rostin Behnam Before The Market Risk Advisory Committee
CFTC
Ground-breaking new ideas have gone from theory to application in just the past few months. I am especially mindful and appreciative of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to affirmatively exercise its regulatory authority and expertise while remaining ever vigilant of the risks associated with the adoption of nascent technologies.
/goo.gl/QVMZrT

Two ex-Morgan Stanley advisers to plead guilty to U.S. fraud charges
Nate Raymond – Reuters
Two former Morgan Stanley advisers have agreed to plead guilty to U.S. charges that they misused client funds to invest in a wind farm project they were involved with, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/1XgUs4

Carney says no to cryptocurrency anonymity
The Star
Bank of England governor Mark Carney said cryptocurrency payments are often used for money laundering or other illicit activity and he’s against users having their identities kept secret from authorities.
/goo.gl/BAXUHf

Nausicaa Delfas appointed Executive Director of International
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority has today announced the appointment of Nausicaa Delfas as the Executive Director of International.
/goo.gl/zt4bmJ

ESMA appoints new members to its Management Board
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority has appointed two new members to its Management Board to replace two outgoing members who stepped down from their positions in December 2017.
/goo.gl/yuW3rs

Investing and Trading

Shale powers US oil output to heights of 1970; Surge to flows of 10m b/d a day means shake-up for global crude market
Ed Crooks in New York – FT
US oil production has returned to its record high point, 47 years after the previous peak during the final days of the last Texas oil boom, as the shale revolution that was temporarily set back by low crude prices has reignited.
/goo.gl/XucYEF

Shell Makes as Much Money at $60 a Barrel as When It Was $100
Kelly Gilblom – Bloomberg
Earns as much at $60 a barrel as it did when crude was $100; Cash-flow disappointment tempers hope of share buybacks: RBC
The oil-price rally worked both ways for Royal Dutch Shell Plc as improved exploration and production lifted profit to a three-year high while refining and trading fell short of expectations as margins shrank.
/goo.gl/LjsuDa

Shell Confronts the Murky Future for Oil; Van Beurden has kept investors sweet, now he needs to pump up returns.
Chris Hughes – Bloomberg
Ben van Beurden must feel he’s come to the end of a painful journey. Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s CEO has cut the oil major’s debt and secured its dividend. But if that has appeased income investors, he must now turn Shell into a business that actually adds value.
/goo.gl/1vgTq5

Bitcoin’s January Wipeout Made Cryptocurrency Owners $44 Billion Poorer
Fortune
Bitcoin is proving that cryptocurrencies can erase wealth as fast as they create it. Its January slide knocked $44.2 billion off the $200 billion in market value generated in all of last year, the biggest one-month loss in dollar terms in the short history of digital assets.
/goo.gl/47c7Vy

Big Oil Finds Going Green Is Hard to Do; Shell has made the clearest bet on a lower-carbon future but that may cause headaches in the near term
Nathaniel Taplin – WSJ
Thanks to better global growth and OPEC’s grit, oil is testing $70 a barrel again. Oil titans like Royal Dutch Shell RDS.B -0.18% are reveling in the unexpected bounty: the firm posted strong fourth-quarter results Thursday showing earnings up a cool 147% compared with a year earlier.
/goo.gl/Xs5ctU

Insurers gingerly test bitcoin business with heist policies
Suzanne Barlyn – Reuters
Major global insurers are starting to offer protection against cryptocurrency theft, willing to tackle daunting challenges it brings rather than miss out on this volatile and loosely regulated, but rapidly growing business.
/goo.gl/3w7HCB

Some Trades Are Shady, Not All Are Illegal; Using information that no one else has to make money is sort of the point.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
If you bought short-dated out-of-the-money call options on Bioverativ, Inc. stock, just before its January 22 announcement that it will be acquired for $105 per share (a 63.8 percent premium) by Sanofi, then you did pretty well.
/goo.gl/3nupMV

Short sellers eye better days after Steinhoff and Carillion wins; Accounting sleuths believe a downturn in credit markets will produce opportunities
Miles Johnson and Robert Smith – FT
A rising tide, as the saying goes, lifts all boats. This effect, which has been played out across financial markets for several years, has inflicted pain and frustration on specialist short sellers of stocks and bonds who try and profit by betting against companies they believe harbour accounting irregularities.
/goo.gl/36iYDH

Institutions

Goldman loses more commodities traders in broader overhaul
Catherine Ngai, Devika Krishna Kumar – Reuters
Several key commodities traders are leaving Goldman Sachs Group Inc, sources said on Wednesday, the latest wrinkle as the Wall Street firm seeks to turn around its struggling commodities unit.
/goo.gl/cXJJNa

Wells Fargo’s Quants Pick the Patriots to Win the Super Bowl
Dani Burger – Bloomberg
Formula says New England will cover point spread over Philly; Firm has called 10 of the last 14 winners against the spread
The New England Patriots on Jan. 21. Photographer: Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Picking a winner in the Super Bowl can feel like a crap shoot, but if you ask Wall Street’s rocket scientists they’ll tell you the smart money’s on the New England Patriots.
/goo.gl/f8Dp4f

Jamie Dimon and the dangers of staying too long at the helm; However impressive the individual, long tenures can create big headaches
Patrick Jenkins – FT
If Jamie Dimon fulfils the plan he announced this week, and remains chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase until 2023, he will have been at the helm for 17 years. That is still some way short of the near-half century racked up by John Pierpont Morgan, who founded the eponymous bank in 1871. But in this day and age, it is more than a fair innings.
/goo.gl/qLaaqq

Nomura’s Tricky Translation; Japan’s largest investment bank should take it easy overseas.
Nisha Gopalan – Bloomberg
Can a bank that’s a giant at home flourish as a mid-tier lender overseas? That’s the question Nomura Holdings Inc. needs to ask itself as a booming Japanese equity market offsets a weaker performance from its more internationally focused fixed-income-trading business. The answer is probably yes, but only so long as Nomura can get its domestic clients to stick around.
/goo.gl/LF4VtY

Maitland Further Establishes Position As Prominent Administrator For Uk Listed Funds With Two Guernsey Funds Listing
Financial IT
Today Maitland, one of the leading global advisory and fund administrators for listed funds, announced that it has been chosen as the fund administrator for two Guernsey domiciled funds: Tufton Oceanic Assets and CIP Merchant Capital.
/goo.gl/ChWTWj

BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Is ‘Maniacal’ About Risk in His $33 Billion Fund; The manager of the firm’s Strategic Income Opportunities bond fund is trying to shape a steady winner without taking any big bets.
Brian Chappatta – Bloomberg
Rick Rieder frequently describes himself as “maniacal.” And he’s not alone. BlackRock Inc.’s chief executive officer, Larry Fink, agrees.
/goo.gl/RkuVwF

BMO Capital Markets adds TCA in bid to maximise alpha; BMO Capital Markets will integrate Trade Informatics TCA to maximise alpha, improve workflow and execution quality.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
BMO Capital Markets has teamed up with Trade Informatics and will use its transaction cost analysis (TCA) to maximise alpha across its trading business.
/goo.gl/51hJFr

Regions

China’s $11 Trillion Bond Market Is Luring Foreign Investors
Emma Dai – Bloomberg
Inflows will rise to $110 billion this year: Deutsche Bank; Winning inclusion in global indexes could spur next wave
China’s efforts to open up its domestic bond market, the world’s third largest, are starting to pay off, by pulling in foreign investors drawn to relatively high yields in a newly stable currency.
/goo.gl/amZmzK

Argentina companies list on U.S. exchanges ahead of expected rate hikes
Walter Bianchi – Reuters
Argentine companies are rushing to list shares on U.S. exchanges beginning this week to beat an expected hike in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve, analysts said, while taking advantage of an improved investor climate under President Mauricio Macri after years of populist rule.
reut.rs/2GBtM8X

Nigeria’s lawmakers think bitcoin is one big financial scam
Yomi Kazeem – Quartz Africa
The bitcoin boom in Nigeria is drawing opposition from its lawmakers. The senate has asked Nigeria’s central bank and other regulators to “investigate the proliferation of bitcoin” and do more to educate citizens about “the dangers” of the cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/FWku1t

Nigeria’s Corn Output Expected to Fall 7% on Pests, Rising Imports
Ruth Olurounbi – Bloomberg
Production may decline by as much as 750,000 tons in 2017-18; Continent’s most-populous nation is major African corn grower
Nigeria’s corn output for the 2017-18 season will probably decline by as much as 750,000 metric tons due to the impact of pests and increased imports, the producers’ association said.
/goo.gl/SXnQVj

Bitcoin ads disappear from social media in China after central bank bans cryptocurrency fundraising; Growing popularity of ICOs raised concerns that organisers may prey on unwitting investors, with China and South Korea banning such fundraising
Amanda Lee – South China Morning Post
China’s major social media networks and search engines don’t appear to return paid searches or advertisements on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies following a fundraising ban implemented last year by the country’s central bank.
/goo.gl/y2uYpJ

Germany opens anti-trust probe into online advertising
Reuters Staff
Germany’s anti-trust regulator is opening an investigation into online advertising, responding to concerns expressed by advertisers and publishers over the “significant” market position of U.S. platforms Google and Facebook.
/goo.gl/1xCXUk

Arun Jaitley has just killed India’s cryptocurrency party
Nupur Anand – Quartz India
It appears to be the end of the road for cryptocurrencies in India. Finance minster Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech today (Feb. 01), stated that the government will do everything to discontinue the use of bitcoin and other virtual currencies in India. He reiterated that India does not recognise them as legal tender and will instead encourage blockchain technology in payment systems.
/goo.gl/tf2XSU

India Turns Against Bitcoin But Embraces Blockchain
Anto Antony and Archana Chaudhary – Bloomberg
Govt doesn’t consider cryptocurrencies legal tender: minister; ‘People are getting scared’: cryptocurrency exchange official
India’s government said it doesn’t consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender and will take all measures to eliminate payments using them.
/goo.gl/8x7q3j

Australia to tighten foreign investment rules amid China concerns; Fears over Chinese influence prompt curbs on electricity assets and agricultural land
Jamie Smyth in Sydney – FT
Australia is to tighten rules on foreign investment in electricity infrastructure and agricultural land, amid concerns about growing Chinese influence in business, politics and society.
/goo.gl/yWt2Mc

Indian finance minister vows cryptocurrency crackdown; Arun Jaitley to stop use of digital coin for illicit deals as domestic interest in currency surges
Simon Mundy in Mumbai – FT
Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley has promised a crackdown on the use of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin for illicit purposes, stressing the government does not consider them to be legal tender.
/goo.gl/A2kPBi

How J.D. Power Was Acquired by a Chinese Company Shrouded in Mystery; Hong Kong’s XIO Group, which acquired the U.S. auto-rating firm in 2016, is now embroiled in a dispute about the source of XIO’s funding
Simon Clark – WSJ
A plan for the sale of the car-rating business J.D. Power was a month old when the seller, New York-based information giant S&P Global Inc., SPGI 0.42% grew uneasy. It wasn’t quite sure to whom it had agreed to sell the company.
/goo.gl/m1BMcH

Brexit

EU banking authority to test banks for 8.3% post-Brexit slump; Regulator plans to see how lenders would cope in doomsday scenario
Caroline Binham in London – FT
Banks across the EU are to be tested to make sure they can withstand potential doomsday Brexit consequences, including a severe recession that would leave the bloc’s economy 8.3 per cent smaller than it otherwise would have been.
/goo.gl/yAG1uM

Europe Won’t Need London Finance, France Says
Mark Deen and Heather Harris – Bloomberg
London financial markets not critical for Europe, France says; France is maintaining its tough stance on Brexit negotiations
European companies will do just fine with reduced access to London’s financial markets after the U.K. leaves the European Union, France says, dismissing suggestions they may suffer.
/goo.gl/8E8zME

EU seeks powers to stop post-Brexit bonfire of regulation; UK could face tax blacklists and sanctions to prevent it undercutting continent’s economy
Alex Barker and Jim Brunsden in Brussels – FT
The EU is threatening sanctions to stop Britain undercutting the continent’s economy after Brexit, including “tax blacklists” and penalties against state-subsidised companies, according to a leaked strategy paper.
/goo.gl/yRNeYu

Miscellaneous

California mulls state-owned bank for cannabis industry
Jennifer Bissell-Linsk – Financial Times
California is considering setting up a state-owned bank for its newly legalised cannabis industry, which it says has to operate mainly in cash due to federal regulations blocking access to traditional banking.
on.ft.com/2Fw3B1U

Ex-HSBC Trader Scouts Financiers to Become Born-Again Coders
Marie Mawad – Bloomberg
Le Wagon sells a 9-week curriculum to students in 27 cities; Candidates are changing careers and starting companies
An ex-HSBC Holdings Plc trader who quit his job to learn code is persuading his former colleagues to follow in his footsteps.
/goo.gl/LtUkWo

The post Big Banks Accused of Stifling Competition in Stock Lending; Rise of Bitcoin Futures Prompts Regulator to Revisit Hands-Off Approach; EU rejects Brexit trade deal for UK financial services sector appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up; Deutsche Börse’s new CEO launches housecleaning; EU clearing houses pass second stress test

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Last night’s CAIA packed event on cryptocurrency markets featured David Schulz, director, global client services at Cboe Futures Exchange, Michael Groff, managing member at the GCG Fund and Matt Wolf, partner and CEO at Antonym. It covered some interesting ground, such as: Cboe’s bitcoin futures contract’s ADV and OI is about 5,800 contracts and ICOs are the Wild West indeed.~JK

And have you heard of the top five through 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap? That would be Cardano at $14.6 billion, NEO at $9.7 billion, Litecoin at $9.3 billion, Stellar at $8.9 billion, EOS at $7.7 billion and NEM at $7.2 billion, from Coinmarketcap.com.~JK

In January, CME reported nine trading days above 20 million contracts, compared with 34 days in all of 2017. ~JK

OCC cleared contract volume increased 42 percent in January with 479,812,469 contracts. This marks the third highest month ever for cleared volume & highest January ever for cleared volume. ~JJL

A couple of CME disciplinary notices hit the tape yesterday pertaining to activity on NYMEX. And yes, of course, there’s a spoofing one in there. Unlike the actions earlier this week that mostly pertained to precious metals, that case involved various gasoline calendar spreads. Another involved pre-hedging of natural gas block trades. The third was a tech issue. Apparently, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. misrouted someone’s custom algorithmic spread order – unsupported by Merrill – instead of rejecting it. The result of executing the 937-lot order was a 90 tick upswing in the span of 22 milliseconds in the heating oil spread market.~SD

The following words did not come up during President Trump’s 80-minute State of the Union speech, https://goo.gl/GwZiGDaccording to the NY Times: “Woman” did not come up once. Other words or phrases never mentioned included “peace,” “human rights,” “equality,” “Europe,” “multilateral,” “civil rights” and “alliance.” ~JJL

CME Group is now accepting proposals (due March 9) to present to investors at their Pinnacle Research Symposium in Chicago on June 20 ahead of the Managed Futures Pinnacle Awards (www.mfpawards.com).

The panel lineup for #CryptoCon from FinTank and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law that Chuck Mackie will be moderating on trading opportunities in cryptocurrencies includes Jared Vegosen from DV Trading LLC, Michael Unetich from Trading Technologies, John Lothian from John J. Lothian & Company, Inc., and Brian Walls from Bridge Alternatives.~JJL

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Sponsored Content

IFM

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Steve Wynn Fallout Could Rattle Upstart Stock Exchange’s Plans
Alexander Osipovich – The Wall Street Journal
IEX, seeking to challenge NYSE and Nasdaq for listings, was expecting to bring on Wynn Resorts
The sexual-misconduct allegations against Steve Wynn could impact a company that has little to do with casinos: IEX Group Inc., a startup stock exchange that is looking to shake up the business of U.S. corporate listings.
/goo.gl/EEM5rw

****** Sounds like a Wynn lose situation.~JJL

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Crypto Bros Are Actually a Brotherhood; Bitcoin fosters a global community, at least among young men.
Camila Russo and Lily Katz – Bloomberg
The last time Marc Kenigsberg traveled to London, he messaged his cryptocurrency friends on WhatsApp to ask who would be around. One of the guys in the chat offered to pick him up at the airport.
/goo.gl/Bdibbg

****** The brotherhood of the traveling token.~JJL

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There’s Now a Monopoly Made Specifically for Cheating; Hasbro concedes to human nature with a special, new Monopoly Cheater’s Edition
Rachel Tepper Paley – Bloomberg
As Hasbro Inc. passed GO, collected $200, and lapped Mattel Inc. to become the No.1 toymaker in terms of sales, it also threw some gasoline on the smoldering embers of your game night grudges: it’s now OK to cheat at Monopoly.
/goo.gl/miyK1D

***** A game for the current times.~JJL

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Thursday’s Top Three
Our top read story yesterday was The Wall Street Journal’s Big Banks Accused of Stifling Competition in Stock Lending. I wonder what OCC is thinking now. Second and third went to columns from John Lothian News: Slippery Slope: Let’s Let Markets Decide On New Contracts and Tax Law Change Means All Cash Grain Traders Are Not Equal, Better Bids or Not

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
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Lead Stories

Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up
Nathaniel Popper – NY Times
A growing number of virtual currency investors are worried that the prices of Bitcoin and other digital tokens have been artificially propped up by a widely used exchange called Bitfinex, which has a checkered history of hacks and opaque business practices.
/goo.gl/DUXLNT

Deutsche Börse’s new CEO launches housecleaning; Theodor Weimer has shut down the “kitchen cabinet” set up by his predecessor in a first move to streamline management at the stock exchange operator.
Andreas Kröner and Darrell Delamaide – Handlesblatt
In the best tradition of a new broom, Deutsche Börse’s new chief executive has begun sweeping clean some of the bureaucracy that has been slowing down Germany’s largest stock exchange operator.
/goo.gl/KFZkiu

EU clearing houses pass second stress test; ICE Clear Europe and BME Clearing faced minor shortfalls, but overall EU CCPs passed the stress test.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Central counterparties (CCPs) have successfully passed the European Securities Markets Authority’s (ESMA) second EU-wide stress test.
/goo.gl/REZgmQ

Big investors back push for 30% target for female executives; Managers with £10tn of assets add clout to UK drive for greater gender diversity
Sarah Gordon, business editor – FT
Twenty-seven global investors with £10.5tn of assets under management have signed up to an initiative to promote more women to the senior management and boards of British companies in which they invest.
/goo.gl/adkvKg

Bit-pop: Bitcoin rout deepens, down over 40% so far this year; Heightened regulation and Facebook move have weighed on sentiment
Adam Samson – FT
Bitcoin is having a bad year, and it’s only February 2. The cryptocurrency has come under further pressure on Friday and deepened its 2018 loss to over 40 per cent.
/goo.gl/uUwnL4

Derivatives trade group ISDA may challenge new capital rules
Karen Brettell – Reuters
An industry group representing the privately traded derivatives markets may challenge new rules requiring that more capital be used to back the trades, arguing that the requirements place them at a disadvantage to trading futures contracts.
jlne.ws/2FAsidA

This is the pattern for suppressing bitcoin, says a Chinese crypto exchange’s CEO
Victor Reklaitis – MarketWatch
Bobby Lee, CEO and co-founder of BTCC, is pictured in Shanghai in 2013.
A prominent figure in cryptocurrencies has a prediction for how governments worldwide will crack down on bitcoin: They’ll follow the existing pattern.
/goo.gl/9qM6zU

Blackstone sees data, not desktop products, as future of Thomson Reuters unit
Reuters
Blackstone Group LP) President Tony James said on Thursday the future of the Thomson Reuters Financial and Risk business is in data, not in selling terminal desktop products to traders, bankers and investors.
jlne.ws/2FzN2SY

Isda’s O’Malia: back-office costs are ‘killing’ swap dealers
Robert Mackenzie Smith – Risk.net
“The legacy systems we have today are killing us from a cost standpoint,” Isda’s Scott O’Malia said at an industry conference earlier today (February 1). “Collateral now needs to move on a T+1 basis on an antiquated system of fax machines, excel spreadsheets and Outlook – that’s the cutting edge technology which is managing your back office and moving collateral, whether it’s cleared or uncleared. It’s horrific and it has to change.”
jlne.ws/2FB2YEh

Racial bias persists at Morgan Stanley, new lawsuit claims
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
Morgan Stanley has reneged on promises to stop discriminating against black employees, according to a lawsuit by a former broker who said he was fired after complaining about racial bias, including in pay and career opportunities.
jlne.ws/2FEnbcz

Eurex Clearing successfully passes EU-wide stress test
Eurex
Eurex Clearing has successfully passed the second EU-wide stress test conducted by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Objective of this exercise is an assessment of central counterparties’ resilience in stressed market conditions. “The stress test is an important contribution to ensuring financial stability in Europe, given the important role of central counterparties”, says Thomas Laux, Chief Risk Officer at Eurex Clearing.
/goo.gl/W6NTLq

One month after the Mifid II tsunami, the City is keeping its head above water
Lucy White – City AM
This Saturday, City workers will be able to celebrate surviving through one month of a dreaded new regulatory environment.
/goo.gl/JD4UuV

Was Chicken Libor Manipulated Too?; Also atomic clocks, bond marking, an informal blockchain, crypto and flamethrowers.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
Chicken Libor! We have talked a few times before about what I like to call “Chicken Libor,” the alleged manipulation of the Georgia Dock index of chicken prices. The Georgia Dock index was a sort of country version of Libor, in which an employee of the Georgia Department of Agriculture — his name is Arty Schronce — would call up chicken producers each week and ask them what the price of chickens was. As with Libor, there was no market check on this data, and so the chicken producers could make up numbers if they wanted. As with Libor, the chicken producers could profit by manipulating the number:
/goo.gl/pHnnPX

Settlements for 3 Wall Street Banks Hold a Silver Lining
Emily Flitter – NY Times
Three big banks were punished for market manipulation this week — and tucked into the punishment was a single sentence that could pay big dividends for the banking industry.
/goo.gl/zgHMXa

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

CME Group Reached Average Daily Volume of 19 Million Contracts in January 2018, up 18 Percent from January 2017
CME Group
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced January 2018 average daily volume (ADV) reached 19 million contracts, up 18 percent from January 2017, and representing the second-highest monthly ADV ever. During January 2018, there were nine trading days above 20 million contracts, compared with 34 days in all of 2017, and eight in November 2016, which was the highest monthly ADV of all time. January 2018 options ADV reached a record 4.5 million contracts, up 32 percent, with record electronic options ADV of 2.9 million contracts, up 54 percent. Open interest at the end of January was 124 million contracts, up 11 percent from the end of January 2017.
/goo.gl/L7fQ4a

CME Rebuffs Smaller Bitcoin Fans While Cboe Leads in Crypto-Futures
Brian Louis – Bloomberg
Chicago rival Cboe has consistently seen more futures volume; CME CEO says Bitcoin futures contract will be a ‘slow grower’
CME Group Inc. might be the world’s biggest exchange, but it lags behind a rival Chicago exchange in the nascent Bitcoin futures business. That’s partly a design decision.
jlne.ws/2FAyrqb

NYSE’s Record-Breaking January Across IPOs And ETFs Opens 2018
Mondovisione
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, reached three historic milestones in January that amplified its leadership as the world’s premier stock exchange.
jlne.ws/2FDsCIF

BME acquires 10% of Finect
Markets Media
BME, the operator of all stock markets and financial systems in Spain, has acquired 9.7% of Spanish smart data financial firm Finect, which offers investors a specialised social media community, interactive tools to improve decision-making and financial information based on smart data technology, among other services.
jlne.ws/2GCef8J

NSE Is Said To Seek Singapore Delay On Stock Futures
Andrea Tan and Santanu Chakraborty – Bloomberg
The National Stock Exchange of India Ltd., operator of the country’s biggest bourse, is asking Singapore Exchange Ltd. to delay the planned introduction of single-stock futures that would track some of the subcontinent’s largest companies, according to people familiar with the matter.
jlne.ws/2FBT8lP

SGX Sets New Volume and Open Interest Record for CNH in January 2018
Press Release
SGX USD/CNH futures continued their strong growth momentum through January, with a record volume of 297,011 contracts (US$ 29 billion). This represents an increase of 175% y-o-y and comes at the back of a phenomenal growth of 270% witnessed in 2017 over full year volume in 2016.
We continue to hit new trading records in the contract, with the daily open interest reaching a new high of 31,278 contracts (US$ 3.21 billion) on 26 January.
(press release via email)

All time record in Eurex Single Stock Dividend Futures
Eurex
January 2018 marked an all-time high in Single Stock Dividend Futures with a total of more than 650,000 traded contracts, meaning an average daily volume (ADV) of more than 27,000 contracts. This follows on from a record year in 2017 with more than 4.1 million traded contracts and ADVs of 17,000 contracts compared to ADVs of 14,500 in 2016.
jlne.ws/2FD9AlN

A trading veteran has joined startup exchange IEX as it goes after the marquee business of NYSE and Nasdaq
Frank Chaparro – Business Insider
A former sales and trading director at Instinet has joined the listings team at upstart stock exchange IEX. Jon Simblist, who started in January, joins the firm at a critical point as it seeks to lure listings from its larger rivals NYSE and Nasdaq.
jlne.ws/2FBml02

NYSE’s Record-Breaking January Across IPOs and ETFs Opens 2018
ICE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), reached three historic milestones in January that amplified its leadership as the world’s premier stock exchange:
/goo.gl/mRzn58

OCC Cleared Contract Volume Increased 42 Percent in January;Third highest month ever for cleared volume;Highest January for cleared volume;Securities lending activity percent up 29 percent; Index options volume highest month ever
OCC
OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, announced today that cleared contract volume in January was up 42 percent from January 2017 with 479,812,469 contracts. Average daily volume at OCC is up 35 percent in 2018 with 22,848,213 contracts. OCC cleared futures volume is up 23 percent in January with 11,907,702 contracts. OCC’s stock loan program reported strong volume numbers with 233,482 transactions in January, up 29 percent from January 2017.
/goo.gl/iid96L

Listing Nominating Committee Seeks Listing Committee Candidates
HKEX
The Listing Nominating Committee of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), is now seeking applications from individuals interested in serving on the Exchange’s Listing Committee and the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) Listing Committee1. Appointments will be for a term of approximately 12 months commencing in July 2018. Similar to last year, the Listing Nominating Committee will interview short-listed candidates before appointments are made.
/goo.gl/DEeNo9

Changes of Designated Securities for Short Selling
HKEX
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), announces that with effect from 9 February (Friday), 44 additional securities will be eligible for short selling and 26 existing designated securities will be removed from the list. The total number of designated securities for short selling will be 929 after the revision.
/goo.gl/i4e1pU

Exchange Publishes Guidance Letters on Pricing Flexibility for IPOs and Placing Tranche Reallocation in IPOs
HKEX
Listing applicants can use pricing flexibility mechanism to set price of shares in an IPO; Listing applicants can move shares from placing to public subscription tranche under certain conditions other than those in the practice note that has the clawback mechanism
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), published today (Friday) guidance letters (GLs) on: 1) pricing flexibility for initial public offerings (IPOs); and 2) placing tranche reallocation cap in IPOs.
/goo.gl/CTvDbe

Consultation on changes and amendments of Special Provisions and changes and amendments of other provisions of Eurex Clearing AG
Eurex
Eurex Clearing plans to introduce clearing and settlement services for OTC FX products (FX Spots, Swaps, and Forwards) and Cross Currency Swaps (XCCY Swaps), together called OTC Currency Products. Certain amendments of the planned offering fall within the scope of Special Provisions and, hence, are subject to a Consultation process.
/goo.gl/DUwZsY

Boerse Stuttgart Generates Turnover In Excess Of EUR 7.5 Billion In January – Significant Increase In Turnover Across All Asset Classes
MondoVisione
According to its order book statistics, Boerse Stuttgart generated turnover in excess of EUR 7.5 billion in January 2018. The trading volume was around 24 percent higher than in the previous month.
/goo.gl/gsT6kW

Fintech

What’s Zelle? Banks hope commercials get customers to notice the app
David Henry – Reuters
Big U.S. banks are spending millions of dollars to promote Zelle, their digital payment service, by running commercials on major sports games and entertainment shows, as well as a YouTube campaign painting the app as simple and ubiquitous.
jlne.ws/2FCkO9T

smartTrade Technologies unveils blockchain post-trade service; smartTrade Technologies acknowledges client feedback to explore blockchain technology for post-trade.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Multi-asset electronic trading services provider smartTrade Technologies has developed a new blockchain-based solution for post-trade functions.
/goo.gl/pBDtEy

European Commission launches EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum; US-based software firm ConsenSys selected to support new European blockchain expertise hub.
John Brazier – The Trade
The European Commission (EC) has launched a new initiative to monitor and engage with the development of European-based blockchain projects, in conjunction with the European Parliament.
/goo.gl/XDze3R

Blockchain: an explainer; Fans compare its potential to the internet, but the technology is in its infancy
Hannah Murphy and Philip Stafford – FT
The word blockchain has been the equivalent of financial fairy dust in recent weeks, adding tens of millions of dollars to the market value of companies, including former camera pioneer Kodak Eastman, that have announced a project involving the technology or simply added it to their names.
/goo.gl/BkiEci

Square Rolls Out Bitcoin Trading to Almost All Cash App Users
Selina Wang – Bloomberg
Users can buy up to $10,000 of the digital currency per week; Support for Bitcoin comes as some other companies shy away
Square Inc. shares climbed after Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said the company is introducing Bitcoin trading for almost all users of its cash payments app, signaling support for the volatile cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/vRVmgg

Key KodakCoin exec barred from serving as officer in German companies
Francine McKenna – MarketWatch
A key official for the cryptocurrency venture that has sent shares of Eastman Kodak skyrocketing is barred in Germany from serving as an officer for a public company.
/goo.gl/w7ksRb

THE BIG ICO SWINDLE; Many cryptocurrency speculators are banking on the theory that someone dumber than them will buy their tokens for more than they paid. That’s a pretty good bet … until it isn’t.
Joi Ito – Wired
Ever since my friends and I set up a Digicash server to sell music and artwork with a digital currency called eCash representing real gold, back in the ’90s, I’ve been waiting for the day when cryptocurrencies—digital currencies that operate independently of central banks by using encryption to generate units and verify transfers of funds—would transform the world. Cryptocurrencies are finally here, but not exactly in the way that I envisioned.
/goo.gl/paVcQg

Cryptocurrency: Why Criminals Are Now Focusing Their Attacks On Bitcoin, ICOs, And Many Alt-Cryptos; Here are 11 reasons why criminals are increasingly trying to steal cryptocurrencies rather than data and classic, fiat currencies.
Joseph Steinberg – INC.
Over the past month, criminals have successfully stolen significant amounts of cryptocurrency, making international news headlines on multiple occasions.
/goo.gl/zvnpsz

Politics

EPA chief riles ethanol advocates with call for biofuels policy reform
Reuters
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that the recent bankruptcy of a Pennsylvania oil refiner was evidence the nation’s biofuel policy needs an overhaul in comments that infuriated biofuels advocates.
jlne.ws/2Fytpun

The Republican Plot Against the F.B.I.
The Editorial Board – New York Times
So this is what a partisan witch hunt really looks like. In a demonstration of unbridled self-interest and bottomless bad faith, the Trump White House and its Republican minions in Congress are on the cusp of releasing a “memo” that purports to document the biggest political scandal since Watergate. To pull it off, they are undermining the credibility of the law enforcement community that Republicans once defended so ardently, on the noble-sounding claim that the American public must know the truth. Don’t fall for it.
/goo.gl/HkWG2D

Comey Blasts ‘Weasels’ in Tweet Apparently Aimed at GOP Memo
Mike Dorning – Bloomberg
‘All should appreciate the FBI speaking up,’ ex-chief says; He invokes the legacy of Joe McCarthy in scathing message
Former FBI Director James Comey offered his support for the agency’s current leaders as Republican members of Congress criticize it for surveillance of Trump campaign officials during the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
/goo.gl/mP2r3a

Economists warn of Trump deficit’s ‘dark trajectory’; President’s large budget shortfall could push bond yields even higher
Sam Fleming in Washington and Joe Rennison in New York – FT
The US is heading into some of its biggest budget deficits outside of wars and recessions as Congress debates increasing ceilings on federal spending on top of December’s trillion-dollar tax cuts.
/goo.gl/yWWNzW

White House worried FBI director could quit over Nunes memo release
Dana Bash, Jeff Zeleny and Evan Perez, CNN
Top White House aides are worried FBI Director Christopher Wray could quit if the highly controversial Republican memo alleging the FBI abused its surveillance tools is released, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell CNN.
/goo.gl/fsSVLh

Trump vs. the FBI
Kathleen Hunter – Bloomberg
Donald Trump is upping the ante in the high-stakes partisan warfare over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his administration and the 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia.
/goo.gl/nevQK1

Regulation

Fed outlines yearly ‘stress test’ standards for Wall Street
Reuters
The Federal Reserve on Thursday outlined standards for its annual ‘stress test’ of the largest banks to see how Wall Street would fare in a future financial crisis.
jlne.ws/2FB3QJ3

Federal Reserve Plans Tougher Big-Bank Stress Tests This Year; ‘Severely adverse’ scenario imagines 10% unemployment, severe stress in corporate and real-estate lending markets
Ryan Tracy – WSJ
The Federal Reserve said Thursday that its stress tests for big banks will imagine a more severe economic downturn in 2018 than in last year’s version, as it announced the details of the hypothetical scenario banks must survive to pass the exams.
/goo.gl/KoisPN

Remarks Of CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz At The DerivCon 2018
CFTC
Let’s take a trip back in time. It’s the early 1980s. Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters rule the box office. Prince and Tina Turner dominate the airwaves. The torture device known as the rotary telephone is being replaced with a push-button model. Chances are you do not have a personal computer at home; only 8% of U.S. households do. Those computers use floppy disks and run DOS. And IBM and the World Bank enter into a transaction ,which is widely considered to be the first swap.
/goo.gl/hLrPpy

FINRA Announces Comprehensive Changes to Advisory Committees, Including Creation of Two New Committees; Launches New Online Portal to Facilitate Engagement
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today announced a series of changes to its advisory committees – including the addition of two new committees focused on the specialized issues surrounding clearing firms and capital acquisition brokers – as part of a comprehensive effort to improve opportunities for firms to provide input on key issues. The changes, which build on several enhancements to FINRA’s advisory committee structure announced in November, are a response to feedback received through President and CEO Robert W. Cook’s listening tour and comments received through the FINRA360 Special Notice on FINRA’s engagement programs.
/goo.gl/vji4vk

2018 Involvement and Election Process Overview
FINRA
FINRA360 is an effort through which FINRA is conducting a comprehensive self-evaluation and organizational improvement initiative to ensure that FINRA is operating as the most effective self-regulatory organization (SRO) it can be, working to protect investors and promote market integrity in a manner that supports strong and vibrant capital markets. In March 2017, as part of the FINRA360 initiative, FINRA issued a Special Notice requesting feedback on certain of its engagement programs (Engagement Notice). Since that time, FINRA has been processing the feedback received on the Engagement Notice, making changes to its programs and implementing various recommendations in response to that feedback, where appropriate. These changes include issuing this Special Notice, FINRA’s first annual Involvement Notice.
/goo.gl/62xFyC

Podcast: CFTC Talks EP029: CFTC Chief Economist Bruce Tuckman
CFTC
This week on CFTC Talks, we dive into research on the $544 trillion interest rate swaps market. Is it really this big…
/goo.gl/1oQeKK

ESMA publishes results of the second EU-wide CCP stress test
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published today the results of its second EU-wide stress test exercise regarding Central Counterparties (CCPs) established in the European Union (EU).
/goo.gl/sNCJB9

Now Available: End-Of-Day and TRACE Security Activity Report (TSAR)
FINRA
FINRA has launched two new TRACE data products: the End-of-day TRACE Transaction File and the TRACE Security Activity Report.
/goo.gl/tGtSVM

European Commission Letter on Money Market Fund Regulation
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a reply received on 19 January from the European Commission (EC).
/goo.gl/bSTeVy

Regulators raid hacked Tokyo virtual currency exchange; FSA checks Coincheck has sufficient funds to compensate customers
Nikkei
Japanese financial regulators on Friday raided the office of virtual currency exchange Coincheck, which lost 58 billion yen ($530 million) worth of digital currency held by its customers when it was hacked last week.
/goo.gl/4GTaFM

ASIC removes licence conditions imposed on OpenMarkets Australia Limited
ASIC
ASIC and OpenMarkets Australia Limited (OpenMarkets) have agreed to the removal of additional licence conditions imposed on OpenMarkets on 10 July 2017 (refer: 17-259MR).
/goo.gl/PY5RfJ

Deutsche Bank Fined $70 Million for Trying to Rig Benchmark Rate
David Scheer – Bloomberg
U.S. regulator says bank staff knew actions were illegal; Deutsche says it cooperated with CFTC, worked to fix issues
Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay $70 million to settle a U.S. regulator’s claims its traders sought to manipulate a benchmark for interest-rate derivatives and other financial instruments.
/goo.gl/6upwZG

CFTC Orders Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. to Pay $70 Million Penalty for Attempted Manipulation of U.S. Dollar ISDAFIX Benchmark Swap Rates
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and settling charges against Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (DBSI) for attempted manipulation of the ISDAFIX benchmark and requiring DBSI to pay a $70 million civil monetary penalty.
/goo.gl/KHKLhu

Federal Reserve Plans Tougher Big-Bank Stress Tests This Year; ‘Severely adverse’ scenario imagines 10% unemployment, severe stress in corporate and real-estate lending markets
Ryan Tracy – WSJ
The Federal Reserve said Thursday that its stress tests for big banks will imagine a more severe economic downturn in 2018 than in last year’s version, as it announced the details of the hypothetical scenario banks must survive to pass the exams.
/goo.gl/KoisPN

Japan’s regulator urged Coincheck to fix flaws before $530 million cyber theft
Taiga Uranaka – Reuters
Japan’s financial regulator on Friday swooped on Coincheck Inc with surprise checks of its systems and said it had asked the Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange to fix flaws in its computer networks well before hackers stole $530 million of digital money last week.
/goo.gl/WT5Tzb

FCA seeks feedback on non-workplace pensions
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published a Discussion Paper to gather views on the market for non-workplace pensions.
/goo.gl/rk13vs

US Commodities Regulator Beefs Up Bitcoin Futures Review
Annaliese Milano – Coindesk
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is developing a “heightened review process” for cryptocurrency futures though it will continue to allow exchanges to self-certify products, Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo announced last week.
/goo.gl/DQpHnE

Cryptocurrency ICOs: It’s impossible to police what you can’t see; UK regulators are drafting laws to control ICOs but a legal expert has cast doubt on how they can be enforced.
Charlie Osborne – ZDNet
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), commonly connected to cryptocurrency including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), are events which investors worldwide have clamored to capitalize on.
/goo.gl/SJ8YrZ

Investing and Trading

Forget bitcoin, give me old-fashioned gold as an inflation hedge; It’s pretty, it’s useful and you don’t need a password to access it
Merryn Somerset Webb – FT
Over the past year or so, there has been no overall cut to Japanese domestic productive capacity — except in some thoroughly outdated sectors and a few in which Japan has no hope of ever regaining a competitive advantage, such as coal or textiles.
/goo.gl/NWqNe9

US bond market sell-off deepens; Ten-year Treasury yield rises to fresh 4-year high at just under 2.8%
FT reporters
The US government bond sell-off entered a second session on Friday as rising optimism over the strength of the global economy fuelled expectations that inflationary pressures are building.
/goo.gl/m1Te2B

ECB Official Warns Markets Are Unprepared for Inflation Bogeyman
Luke Kawa and Sid Verma – Bloomberg
Markets price in low risk premiums despite global recovery; Reversal in stability of prices seen as threat to global rally
The global market rally is unprepared for one potential killjoy, and the European Central Bank has taken note.
/goo.gl/ce12Sm

Wall Street Is Taking On More Risk Again
Sridhar Natarajan, Sally Bakewell, and Kiel Porter – Bloomberg
Recent deals show banks taking lax view on lending guidelines; Trump administration indicated plans to dial back regulations
Three words have finally set Wall Street deal-makers loose: President Donald Trump.
/goo.gl/z2ZyQC

Bitcoin Drops Below $8,000 as Cryptocurrency Pain Continues
Eric Lam and Dani Burger – Bloomberg
Biggest digital token takes losses since peak to about 60%; Rival coins including Ripple, Ether and Litecoin tumble
Bitcoin fell below $8,000 as a miserable 2018 continued for cryptocurrencies, with investors confronting a mounting list of concerns about the future of the industry.
/goo.gl/7KrRqT

Bitcoin Is Falling Fast, Losing More Than Half Its Value in Six Weeks; Selloff triggered by expanding regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies
Steven Russolillo and Kenan Machado – WSJ
Bitcoin plunged below $8,000 on Friday, extending its sharp rout since the start of the year in a selloff triggered by a widening regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
/goo.gl/Ev5Mio

The Short-Volatility Trade Got Crushed in January; Despite a rough month for short-volatility strategies, some investors are still piling in
Gunjan Banerji – WSJ
One of last year’s most-loved trades is off to a rough start in 2018. Strategies that minted money by betting against stock-market turbulence have gotten crushed in January, as volatility finally made an appearance.
/goo.gl/G9rYHL

Bitcoin Brawl: A New Twist In Tezos’s $232 Million Coin Offering; Frustrated investors try to install new board as fight drags on
Tezos co-founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman speaking at the Money 20/20
By Paul Vigna – WSJ
Angry investors in a high-profile coin offering stalled by infighting are taking a page out of activists’ playbook—proposing a new board of directors—to get the project back on track.
/goo.gl/Dj2oKs

Hedge Fund Due Diligence And Its Limitations
Mark Melin – Value Walk
In a world where machines learning to create investment strategies is colliding with fundamental portfolio management, today’s algorithmically-minded investment managers go about their jobs in very different ways. One of the methods to mine alpha is to dig deep into niche markets. For a hedge fund allocator, such adventure can involve enhanced risk – particularly with smaller managers with exposure to exotic and sometimes illiquid markets. For many such investors, the reward can be meaningful when the focus is on risk management and ongoing monitoring in addition to manager selection.
/goo.gl/Gyiqok

Institutions

Wells Fargo loses big client after dialing up risk in retirement funds
Tim McLaughlin – Reuters
After Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) decided to ramp up risk in its flagship age-based retirement funds last year, one of its largest customers decided to call it quits, unhappy with the new investment strategy and how the bank handled the transition.
jlne.ws/2GFbOCa

NordLB spins off asset management to Warburg; The troubled Landesbank is streamlining its operations as it turns over its asset portfolios to a specialized bank.
Darrell Delamaide – Handlesblatt
As it seeks to keep its troubled shipping loans from sinking it, NordLB has thrown out a lifeline to private banking house M.M. Warburg to take over its asset management business. The two will merge their investment operations under Warburg’s control, becoming with EUR34 billion ($42 billion) under management one of the largest asset managers in northern Germany.
/goo.gl/qiUTMf

European Central Bank official raises spectres of crisis in push for closer union
Jasper Jolly – City AM
The Eurozone’s booming economy will not solve the issues faced by the currency bloc, according to one of the European Central Bank’s top bosses.
/goo.gl/hWuBgC

Deutsche Bank Is Fine, Apart From the Bank Bit; There’s little sign of John Cryan’s much-promised turnaround.
Lionel Laurent – Bloomberg
The best news Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan had for shareholders on Friday is that, if you take out the whole banking part, there’s a really good business there.
/goo.gl/cZuPbu

Deutsche Bank Investors See No Silver Lining After Results Slump
Steven Arons – Bloomberg
Bank to pay one-off bonus to boost investment banking business; Revenue falls to seven year-low; bank posts third annual loss
Deutsche Bank AG investors searching for good news after the bank’s third straight annual loss found little to give them optimism.
/goo.gl/YW4Vgu

Bored With Banking, This Former Citi Trader Went Full Crypto; Arthur Hayes is exploring the risky frontiers of finance—running BitMEX, a Bitcoin futures exchange in Hong Kong.
Edward Robinson and Viren Vaghela – WSJ
In 2013, Arthur Hayes was biding his time as an equities trader for Citigroup Inc. in Hong Kong. His energy—he’s a fitness fanatic and an early riser—was better suited to another era in finance. Six years earlier, as a recent arrival in the former British colony, he’d gotten a taste of what the golden age in banking felt like when he worked in the “snake pit,” the equity derivatives sales desk, at Deutsche Bank AG’s office. The markets were on fire.
/goo.gl/ZUYQmq

Steve Cohen Needs to Prove Himself to Wall Street All Over Again; The hedge fund billionaire is trying to rebuild and show the government he’s squeaky-clean. But he has to show investors he hasn’t lost his touch.
Katherine Burton – Bloomberg
There’s a low-slung glass and brick building in Stamford, Conn., steps from Long Island Sound, that once housed one of the most successful hedge funds ever. Inside, the halls are still adorned with works by Jeff Koons and Jasper Johns. The trading room—where phones blink instead of ring—is still kept at 69F to keep traders awake. And Steve Cohen still sits in the middle of it, watching the tape and making his bets.
/goo.gl/yGWWb7

Why Illinois Got Out of the Hedges; These funds are hard to understand and have lousy returns.
Marc Levine – WSJ
Can anyone explain why Illinois continues to own this hopelessly complicated bunch of hedge funds? That’s the question I asked the state’s Board of Investment, which oversees $22 billion of pension assets, when I became its chairman two years ago.
/goo.gl/kgvKvU

Quartet of blockchain ETFs try to cash in on cryptocurrency craze
Anora M. Gaudiano – MarketWatch
Cryptocurrency markets might be cooling off, but the hype around blockchain isn’t abating, judging by the popularity of exchange-traded funds centered on the technology.
/goo.gl/LJp7wj

Charity Funds Take Off as Tax Law Reshapes Giving; Households open donor-advised investment vehicles to benefit from deductions
Richard Rubin – WSJ
Americans late last year poured money into charitable-giving vehicles known as donor-advised funds, which allow immediate tax deductions but gradual distributions to nonprofits—a sign of ways the new tax law could reshape how Americans donate money for years to come.
/goo.gl/c4MYE7

Regions

China’s Bad Banks Face a Case of Indigestion; Distressed-debt asset managers are helping give Chinese banks’ share prices a boost by buying their soured loans. But just how much can they absorb?
Anjani Trivedi – WSJ
The share prices of China’s big banks are surging. But the institutions tasked with cleaning up their balance sheets are struggling to keep up.
/goo.gl/xYkqfx

China’s 2015 GDP Was Exaggerated By Fake Data, Analysis Shows
James Mayger – Bloomberg
Growth probably slowed markedly, Bloomberg Economics says; Provinces look to have overstated data between 2011 to 2015
Bloomberg’s Enda Curran discusses the stability of China’s GDP numbers.
China’s growth rate in 2015 was probably overstated by “a couple of percentage points,” according to new data analysis by Bloomberg Economics.
/goo.gl/NiKYwQ

Bitcoin’s huge arbitrage play just vanished as Korea bubble pops
The Star
Bitcoin’s brutal start to the year is proving especially painful in South Korea.
/goo.gl/w1iiKm

Brexit

EU lawmaker seeks to soften euro clearing plan as Brexit looms
Huw Jones – Reuters
A tougher test is needed when deciding if clearing of euro denominated assets conducted outside the European Union should be relocated to the bloc, a senior EU lawmaker said on Friday.
/goo.gl/AW9Jaj

Miscellaneous

The Publisher of Newsweek And The International Business Times Has Been Buying Traffic And Engaging In Ad Fraud
Craig Silverman – BuzzFeed
The publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times has been engaging in fraudulent online traffic practices that helped it secure a major ad buy from a US government agency, according to a new report released today by independent ad fraud researchers.
jlne.ws/2GDxkrl

Reuters reporters arrested under Myanmar Secrets Act denied bail
Thu Thu Aung, Yimou Lee – Reuters
A court in Myanmar declined to grant bail on Thursday for two Reuters journalists accused of violating the country’s Official Secrets Act, although their defense lawyer said information in documents at the center of the case was publicly available.
/goo.gl/NVyhHW

The post Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up; Deutsche Börse’s new CEO launches housecleaning; EU clearing houses pass second stress test appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Finance chiefs warn on Big Tech; Trading venues buzzing; China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Richard Sandor has a new book coming out, “Electronic Trading & Blockchain: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” The book tells the story of his experience leading the first project to design and establish an electronic trading platform and for-profit exchange when he taught at Berkeley in the late 1960s.

Included in the book are chapters from leaders in digital assets, including Don Wilson and Don Tapscott.

Doc Sandor gives Jim Kharouf and I a tip of the hat in the book as we are mentioned as leading figures in the financial press covering the impact of blockchain on the financial markets.

The book will be published in the last part of the first quarter of 2018.~JJL

(Click for larger image)

INTL FCStone Inc. today announced that it will convene its inaugural Global Markets Outlook Conference on March 7-9, 2018 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.~JJL

Cboe Global Markets’ market services, aimed at MiFID II compliance, reported that Cboe Periodic Auctions notional volume was up 885 percent in January and the Large in Scale block trading facility was up 46 percent.~JK

Rumi Morales is the headline speaker at a Chicago SunTimes event to be held at 1871 in Chicago titled “The Basics of Blockchain & Bitcoin.” The event will be on March 1 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at 1871 at 222 West Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212. Sign up is HERE.~JJL

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Bridging the Week by Gary DeWaal: January 29 to February 2, and February 5, 2018 (Spoofing; FCMs; Software Development; ICOs; Block Trades; Position Limits)
Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced enforcement actions against four banking organization companies, a software development firm and six individuals, while the US Department of Justice disclosed that criminal charges had been filed against the same six individuals and two other persons, all in spoofing-related cases. These actions signal a significantly heightened emphasis by the CFTC and DOJ in prosecuting spoofing activities involving futures contracts traded on United States markets. Additionally, the CFTC actions and simultaneous settlements with the four banking organization companies may provide useful insight into the Commission’s evolving views regarding future commission merchants’ (if not all registrants’) duty to supervise, software development firms’ potential obligations when they are requested to design custom trading software, and the benefits persons may reap if they voluntarily disclose possible wrongdoing to the CFTC before the Commission discovers it. As a result, the following matters are covered in this week’s edition of Bridging the Week:
/goo.gl/3i6HqA

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The Spread – Week of 1/29 – 2/2
JohnLothianNews.com

We’re baaaack! The flu season stinks but this episode of The Spread doesn’t. The Spread is a brief recap of some of the notable activity in the options world. 

Watch the video and read the rest here »

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Friday’s Top Three
Our top read stories from Friday were led by the New York Times’ piece, Worries Grow That the Price of Bitcoin Is Being Propped Up. After seeing bitcoin fall under $8,000, I’m not sure it’s working very well. Second went to Handelsblatt’s piece on Theodor Weimer in Deutsche Bˆrse’s new CEO launches housecleaning. Third went to Bloomberg’s article on the Hasbro game in There’s Now a Monopoly Made Specifically for Cheating

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
  • 120,524,934 pages viewed
  • 22,992 pages
  • 211,511 edits

 

Level Trading

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Lead Stories

Finance chiefs warn on Big Tech’s shift to banking; Leading lenders fear internet giants will cherry-pick best parts of their business
Martin Arnold, Banking Editor – FT
Big Tech’s move into banking is threatening financial stability and the biggest US and Chinese technology groups should be subject to some of the same regulation as big banks, according to top European finance chiefs.
/goo.gl/LK3J7E

Trading venues buzzing on strong start to year; Busiest January on global markets in years lifts hope of trading revenue rebound
Philip Stafford in London – FT
The busiest January on global markets in many years is raising hopes among exchanges and market venues that 2018 will spark a long-awaited rebound in trading revenues.
/goo.gl/XjNMsu

China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading completely with ban on foreign platforms
South China Morning Post
China is to block all websites related to cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs) – including foreign platforms – in a bid to finally quash the market completely.
/goo.gl/bFUWy5

Australia seeks crown as ‘Nasdaq of Asia Pacific’; Stock exchange battles Asian rivals to lure tech companies
Jamie Smyth and Emma Dunkley – FT
Australia is pushing to become the “Nasdaq of the Asia Pacific” after nearly doubling its technology listings in five years.
/goo.gl/kcCo7U

Brain Genius Submerges His Bitcoin Mining Rig in a Giant Vat of Oil
Daniel Oberhaus – Vice
At the core of most cryptocurrency networks are miners, the people who use specialized computer equipment to secure the cryptocurrency’s blockchain by performing mathematical equations millions of times per second. In exchange for this computing power, and the electricity it takes to run the computer, these miners are rewarded in cryptocurrency proportionate to their contribution to the network. Given the high cost of electricity in many places and the computing equipment it takes to mine, it makes sense that miners try to maximize their return in any way possible.
/goo.gl/fY5UNa

Bond Market Says, ‘What Europe Crisis?’; Italian and Spanish bonds beat the Germans as economies accelerate
Richard Barley – WSJ
Rising yields and shrinking European Central Bank bond purchases were supposed to be bad for bonds from indebted southern European governments. So far, at least, it isn’t working out like that: southern Europe is the place to be.
/goo.gl/fxCfBR

EU regulator receives wave of responses to CFD clampdown; Frantic lobbying by trading platforms sparks ‘unprecedented’ reaction to consultation
Hannah Murphy – FT
The EU’s financial watchdog has had an “unprecedented” number of responses to its proposals to restrict risky leveraged trading among retail investors after frantic lobbying from online trading platforms to a consultation that closes on Monday.
/goo.gl/Esbc4h

Everyone loves to hate the City and the financial sector but sometimes hedge funds really do save the day
Ben Chu – Independent
The world of high finance sounds rather like a zoo. It’s not only the bulls and bears of the stock market, or the hawks and doves that flock around the central banks. Investment banks are “vampire squids”. Hedge funds are “locusts”, speculating against decent companies and entire countries until they collapse into bankruptcy. Jordan Belfort, the drug-addled conman who pushed dodgy stocks of hopeless companies on poor Americans in the 1990s, styled himself as the “Wolf of Wall Street”.
/goo.gl/fkbw4r

Wells Fargo Rebuke Puts Bank Boards in Fed’s Crosshairs; Fed’s move sends message that directors, not just management, will be held accountable for mismanaging risk
Ryan Tracy and Emily Glazer – WSJ
The Federal Reserve’s unprecedented move to handcuff growth at Wells Fargo & Co . WFC -2.20% sent a message that boards of directors, not just management, will be held accountable when big banks fail to manage risks.
/goo.gl/aibirr

Bitcoin’s Crashing? That Won’t Stop Arbitrage Traders From Raking in Millions; Cryptocurrency arbitrageurs cash in on wide price disparities between exchanges
Alexander Osipovich and Eun-Young Jeong – WSJ
One of the oldest tactics on Wall Street is going viral in the world of digital currencies. The strategy, called arbitrage, is simple. If something trades at different prices in multiple places, buy it where it’s cheap and sell where it’s dear. Traders call that “capturing the arb.”
/goo.gl/aQ73UC

The Latest Victim of China’s Great Firewall? Cryptocurrency Websites; After banning bitcoin exchanges and fundraising via ICOs, Beijing looks to block cryptocurrency-related websites
Chao Deng – WSJ
Chinese authorities plan to block websites related to cryptocurrency trading and fundraising, state media reported, in the latest move to tighten controls over what Beijing deems as risky investments.
/goo.gl/VeQ7b1

SEC drags feet on approving bitcoin ETFs; The US watchdog has set its face against cryptocurrency vehicles for now
Owen Walker – FT
The regulator’s warning was unambiguous. “There are a number of significant investor protection issues that need to be examined before sponsors begin offering these funds to retail investors,” wrote Dalia Blass, a director at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the US investment industry.
/goo.gl/fFGE95

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Cboe Global Markets Sets Several Daily Volume Records on Friday, February 2
Cboe
VIX options volume reaches new all – time high, topping the previous record by 39 percent; New single – day records set at Cboe Options, C2 Options and Cboe EDGX Options exchanges
/goo.gl/1zqUk4

Cboe Periodic Auctions, LIS trading volumes soar to $11 billion; Cboe Periodic Auctions book saw average daily notional value traded surge 885% in January this year.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The Cboe Periodic Auctions book saw a record month of trading volume totalling more than EUR6.5 billion during January, as MiFID II continues to shift the European trading landscape.
/goo.gl/af5vQm

NSE’s revenues from its frozen co-location facility climb to Rs 9.45 bn; More than a fourth of the NSE’s revenues are garnered from the co-location business
Shrimi Choudhary – Business Standard
The National Stock Exchange of India’s (NSE’s) revenues from its co-location facility, frozen into a separate bank account, have climbed to Rs 9.45 billion. The exchange will not be able to access these funds till the time an investigation into wrongdoings at its co-location facility are completed.
/goo.gl/RpWwLx

Partnership program starts successfully
Deutsche Bˆrse Group
Eurex Clearing, one of the world’s leading central counterparties and part of Deutsche Bˆrse Group, is experiencing strong demand for its off-exchange clearing services. In January, the average daily volume in OTC interest rates rose by a factor of seven to EUR 35 billion from EUR 5 billion in the same month last year. “We are very pleased that our partnership program meets with broad support in the market,” says Erik M¸ller, CEO of Eurex Clearing AG.
/goo.gl/g1X4kZ

Nasdaq and Palestine Exchange Sign New Market Technology Agreement
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and Palestine Exchange (PEX) have signed a new market technology agreement for Nasdaq to deliver new matching engine technology via the Nasdaq Financial Frameworkarchitecture to Palestine’s stock exchange. This new agreement marks the next chapter in a 10-year technology partnership between Nasdaq and PEX.
/goo.gl/eDn7sq

ELITE partners with Monsha’at (Saudi Small & Medium Enterprises Authority) to launch ELITE Saudi Arabia
London Stock Exchange Group
ELITE, London Stock Exchange Group’s international business support and capital raising programme for high-growth companies, today announces that it has partnered with the Small and Medium Enterprises Authority in Saudi Arabia (Monhsa’at) to support the launch of ELITE in Saudi Arabia.
/goo.gl/jK1B2T

Suspension of the all derivatives night session trading on February 9th
JPX-OSE
The night session for all derivatives trading on February 9, 2018 (the trading day of February 13, 2018), which is a business day preceding the launch date of the next derivatives clearing system at Japan Securities Clearing Corporation, will not be held at OSE.
/goo.gl/Ms414E

CCP stress tests have found capital shortfalls – Esma
Dan Hardie – Risk.net
Europe’s central counterparties (CCPs) are “overall resilient”, but two of them need to increase their capital resources to deal with possible shocks, says the European Securities and Markets Authority.
/goo.gl/61QKVN

Cboe Europe Equities Reports January Volume and Activity
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today announced volume and highlights for Cboe Europe Equities for January 2018, summarising the first month of equities trading under MiFID II.
/goo.gl/rBwbrs

Fintech

Ripple-Powered Mobile Payments to Debut at Santander
David Z. Morris – Fortune
Santander Group, the international Spain-based bank, will introduce a mobile app that uses technology from the cryptocurrency startup Ripple to power fast cross-border payments. However, the product does not use XRP, the cryptocurrency that exploded in value in 2017 on the promise that it would become the backbone of Ripple’s new global bank settlement system.
/goo.gl/uKMDHW

Bitcoin has a huge scaling problemóLightning could be the solution; The Lightning network could enable much cheaper and faster bitcoin payments.
Timothy B. Lee – Arstechnia
Three startups are getting ready to launch one of the most ambitious and important cryptocurrency experiments since the creation of bitcoin itself. Called Lightning, the project aims to build a fast, scalable, and cryptographically secure payment network layered on top of the existing bitcoin network.
/goo.gl/Qc2cmH

Bitcoin Investors Had a Tough Week. Credit-Card Companies Are About to Make It Tougher; Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to ban purchases of bitcoin with credit cards issued by them
AnnaMaria Andriotis – WSJ
More credit-card issuers are ditching bitcoin. Three of the largest banks in the U.S. said Friday that they would no longer permit credit-card customers to buy bitcoin with their credit cards. The decisions were announced after a brutal week for bitcoin prices, which have plummeted more than 50% from their peak in December.
/goo.gl/y582KB

Cryptocurrencies Drop With Risk Assets as Stock Rout Endures
Eric Lam and Todd White – Bloomberg
Bitcoin declined for a fifth day and led cryptocurrencies lower as a global equities selloff deepened and investors migrated to havens.
/goo.gl/rXKt8H

The Cost of Crypto Is Turning Miners Towards Green Power
Helena Bedwell, Vanessa Dezem, Stephen Stapczynski and Jonathan Tirone – Bloomberg
Pollution from power needed to mint new coins grows as concern; Bitcoin mines using renewables emerge from Canada to Iceland
Vakhtang Gogokhia’s plan to extract cryptocurrencies from the netherworld of cyberspace relies on a strategy familiar to many old-school manufacturers who use a lot of energy — the cheaper the fuel, the better.
/goo.gl/R3um9d

Politics

Brexit chaos shatters Theresa May’s illusion of unity; As talks reach their crunch point, the prime minister faces a rebellion from Conservative Eurosceptics who fear she favours a close relationship with the EU
George Parker – FT
Theresa May might have been out of the country last week on a three-day trip to China, but for many in her Conservative party the prime minister has been absent for much longer.
/goo.gl/E25Ve6

Carl Bernstein: These Could Be The Darkest Days Since Joe McCarthy; “We have the unprecedented situation of one of the major political parties … backing the president in showing and believing that he is above the law.”
Mary Papenfuss – Huffington Post
Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein warned Friday that the Trump administration may be ushering in the darkest days in America since Joe McCarthy.
/goo.gl/gxVpzU

Opinion: The jobs report, the memo and other White House propaganda
Tim Mullaney – MarketWatch
Wall Street may be on pins and needles about how stocks will react to the jobs report in 18 minutes (as I write this sentence). I’m wondering about a related issue: How exactly will Sarah Huckabee Sanders lie about it when it comes?
/goo.gl/eBgzqE

Regulation

Financial Transaction Costs in the Spotlight
Owen Minde and Stephen Mendolia – Bloomberg
Managing the currency exposure of a portfolio is more ≠important than ever. In fact, fund managers are expected to increase their total foreign-exchange trading volumes to $2.3 trillion a day by 2022, from $1.5 trillion now, according to consulting company Aite Group in Boston. With best execution under the microscope, thanks to Europe’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II and other regulatory developments, buy-side companies are looking to transaction cost analysis, or TCA, to help measure trading performance and optimize processes.
/goo.gl/QJ74ki

Janet Yellen to join Brookings after Fed
Jessica Dye in New York – FT
Janet Yellen is already getting back to work. The first woman to chair the Federal Reserve is set to join several former Fed luminaries at Brookings, the US think tank, when she leaves her post this week.
/goo.gl/3tPpQH

Bitcoin investors find tax demands are not virtual; Cryptocurrency traders in many jurisdictions may be liable for hefty CGT bills
Ben McLannahan in New York and Vanessa Houlder in London – FT
Cryptocurrency converts across the US have had to contend with zigzagging prices and glitch-prone exchanges. Now comes another problem: the tax authorities.
/goo.gl/D2vm5h

For Companies on the Rocks, Tax Bill Doesn’t Help Much; U.S. tax overhaul takes away a tool that struggling firms have long depended on to free up cash
Katy Stech Ferek and Theo Francis – WSJ
The new tax law is a boon to most U.S. businesses, but it will make life harder for one type of company: those that are struggling financially or at risk of filing for bankruptcy.
/goo.gl/1pFG9W

SEC Halts Ongoing Fraud by Purported Hedge Fund Manager
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a purported hedge fund manager in New York City with a brazen offering and investment adviser fraud thereby putting an end to an ongoing scheme.
/goo.gl/zP6jYH

Alleged Perpetrator of Ski Slope Investment Scheme Agrees to Pay Back Investor Money, Surrender Properties
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the Miami-based businessman behind an alleged scheme involving investments in a Vermont-based ski resort has agreed to pay back more than $81 million of investor money that he used illegally.
/goo.gl/bWPssv

CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee Public Meeting Rescheduled to February 14, 2018
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) has rescheduled its public meeting to February 14, 2018 at CFTC’s Washington, DC headquarters.
/goo.gl/w9b9wZ

Staff Will Participate in the CFTC KISS Policy Initiative Forum hosted by The Risk Desk on February 12th
CFTC
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) staff will participate in the KISS Policy Forum hosted by The Risk Desk.
/goo.gl/XZ22yw

NFA bars North Salem, N.Y. introducing broker and commodity pool operator Managed Capital Advisory Group from membership
NFA
NFA has permanently barred North Salem, N.Y. introducing broker and commodity pool operator Managed Capital Advisory Group Ltd. (Managed Capital) from membership and from acting as a principal of any NFA Member.
/goo.gl/JrxoU3

Investing and Trading

Using Forests to Fight Climate Change; California is again leading the way.
Editorial Board – Bloomberg
Forests give us shade, quiet and one of the harder challenges in the fight against climate change. Even as we humans count on forests to soak up a good share of the carbon dioxide we produce, we are threatening their ability to do so. The climate change we are hastening could one day leave us with forests that emit more carbon than they absorb.
/goo.gl/AV6gxy

Debunking the investment myth that high risks yield high returns; The success of evidence-based strategies demonstrates that low-risk investment yields superior returns, writes Pim van Vliet
London School of Economics and Political Science
My wife is a surgeon, and her field of medicine has been transformed by the ‘evidence-based’ approach. Every pill she prescribes is extensively tested and empirically validated. You will agree that this makes sense, since it directly affects our physical health.
/goo.gl/pqaRDh

Literally, the Trade of the Century; Wellcome Trust and some other charities borrow using ultralong bonds to buy shares now
James Mackintosh – WSJ
Everything is expensive in the markets these days, but some things are more expensive than others. Shares are, historically, very highly valued, but not nearly as pricey as bonds, especially very long-dated bonds. The result is a lot of reluctant buyers of stocksóand one investor willing to put on what is literally the trade of the century. The next century.
/goo.gl/yEcSWZ

Bitcoin Newbies Are Getting Crushed
Fortune
For Bitcoin investors, these are the times that try one’s soul. After surging to almost $20,000 in December following the introduction of regulated futures contracts in the U.S., the world’s largest cryptocurrency has lost more than half its value, plummeting to as low as $7,614 on Friday. It regained some ground on Saturday, rising 7.5 percent to $9,290.15 as of 2:58 p.m. in New York, according to coinmarketcap.com.
/goo.gl/ah2r9w

Anatomy of the escalating bond bear market; With term premia now back to ‘normal’ bonds look better underpinned
Gavyn Davies – FT
The global economy remains in the strong, synchronised upswing that has now been in place for almost two years. The latest Fulcrum nowcasts show no sign of any major slowdown in the global growth rate, which remains around 4.5 per cent, almost a full percentage point above its long term trend. Among the major blocs, the advanced economies are continuing to record growth rates that are, remarkably, 1.7 percentage points above trend, while the emerging markets are hovering around trend.
/goo.gl/QaBUaW

Miners and investors bet and fret over latest commodities cycle; Industry buoyant ahead of annual Indaba but past mistakes and Chinese concerns lurk
Neil Hume, Commodities and Mining Editor – FT
Spirits will be high when thousands of top mining executives and investors gather in Cape Town this week for one of the industry’s biggest annual jamborees.
/goo.gl/VGjNvj

Strong ESG policies are no protection against scandal; BlackRock study ‘expected to find better social performance. We were wrong’
Chris Flood – FT
Companies that aim to do good for society by adhering to environmental, social and governance policies are more likely to encounter lawsuits and regulatory actions, says BlackRock.
/goo.gl/2b3HSa

Hard Lessons From the Federal Student-Loan Program’s Coming $36 Billion Shortfall; Prospect of taxpayer losses increases the chances that Congress will make major changes to the program
Josh Mitchell – WSJ
U.S. officials have long maintained the federal government would make a profit on its $1.4 trillion student loan portfolio or at least break even, but two recent reports suggest just the opposite will be the case. Government lending to college and graduate students could soon become an immense drain on federal coffers, worsening an already deteriorating U.S. budget picture.
/goo.gl/4rkBMB

BP Faces Down Its Doubters; Oil company is trying to regain the confidence and prestige it lost after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010
Sarah Kent – WSJ
BP PLC is struggling to convince investors it can regain its top position among the world’s elite energy players nearly eight years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
/goo.gl/ky9BDT

As Stock-Market Rout Spreads, Investors Fear Markets Falling in Lockstep; Some investors worry that markets moving in tandem raise the chances of a more severe selloff than what still-positive fundamentals would warrant=
By Amrith Ramkumar and Ira Iosebashvili – WSJ
U.S. stocks last week suffered their largest weekly drop in two years. But some investors worry that falling prices for things like oil futures, gold and bitcoin are offering a more ominous signal that could presage deeper declines.
/goo.gl/gnqETB

U.S. asset managers shake up equity research as banks cut back
Trevor Hunnicutt – Reuters
As new rules spur Wall Street banks to further shrink their research budgets, U.S. asset management firms are shoring up in-house research, and reinventing the stockpicking business in the process.
/goo.gl/me8ejD

Institutions

Deutsche Bank gambles German goodwill with bonus bonanza
John O’Donnell, Tom Sims – Reuters
Deutsche Bank’s British chief executive may have done much to rebuild bridges between Germany’s biggest bank and its politicians, business leaders and general public, but John Cryan has gambled this goodwill in an effort to keep top bankers.
/goo.gl/2Ez9ZE

Bitcoin Ban Expands Across Credit Cards as Big U.S. Banks Recoil
By Jennifer Surane and Laura J Keller – Bloomberg
A growing list of card issuers are declining crypto purchases; After recent price drops, JPMorgan doesn’t want credit risk
A growing number of big U.S. credit-card issuers are deciding they don’t want to finance a falling knife.
/goo.gl/fxCasm

Wells set to turn away billions in deposits after asset freeze; Federal Reserve sanctions will hurt US bank’s profits
Alistair Gray and Ben McLannahan in New York – FT
Wells Fargo is expected to turn away billions of dollars of deposits as the US bank grapples with the effects of an asset freeze imposed by the Federal Reserve after years of wrongdoing.
/goo.gl/VfQ8u2

US mutual funds’ dead wood is for the chop; This time round, the cuts have more to do with a switch from active to passive
Owen Walker – FT
Fund managers in the US are keeping their pruning shears sharp. In 2017, for the second year running, US investment companies cut more mutual funds than they launched.
/goo.gl/qwnvUC

State Street ramps up pressure on excessive executive pay; Group will publicly demonstrate unease over lavish packages by abstaining from votes
Ben McLannahan and Robin Wigglesworth in New York – FT
State Street Global Advisors is to get tough on executive pay ó and it will signal its displeasure over lavish packages by refusing to back them.
/goo.gl/srpdyZ

Vanguard hosts Brussels meeting over fund cost disclosures; Mifid II rules spark complaints that savers are being fed misleading information
Chris Flood – FT
Vanguard held a series of meetings with members of the European Parliament in Brussels last week as debate intensified over the true cost of investment funds.
/goo.gl/BbxiTd

JPMorgan to Banking Clients: Joint Health-Care Venture Is No Threat; JPMorgan reassured banking clients by likening its venture with Amazon.com and Berkshire Hathaway to a group purchasing organization for employees
Anna Wilde Mathews, Dana Cimilluca and Emily Glazer – WSJ
The high-profile health-care partnership JPMorgan Chase & Co. struck last week with Amazon.com Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK.A -3.55% has created consternation among some clients of the lender’s investment-banking arm, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/7AGLqN

Banks Raise Oil Forecasts but See Risks; Rebalancing in crude supply pushes prices to multi-year highs but some analysts question how long the rally will last
Georgi Kantchev – WSJ
Banks raised their oil-price forecasts for the fourth month in a row in January, as rebalancing in crude supply pushed prices to multiyear highs.
/goo.gl/8ndxEN

‘Wizard of Oz’ plans return with $2bn hedge fund; Ex-GLG and Moore Capital star trader Coffey was once among world’s top performers
Miles Johnson and Jennifer Thompson – FT
Greg Coffey, a star hedge fund trader who retired five years ago, is raising $2bn for a new fund at a time when some of the industry’s best known names have shed assets or closed down.
/goo.gl/9uNfvn

RBS taught us to forge signatures, says whistleblower
Paul Drury – The Times
Police and finance watchdogs are being asked to investigate claims that Royal Bank of Scotland staff were trained in how to forge customers’ signatures.
/goo.gl/5AKMv5

Regions

The Chinese have transitioned directly to a mobile-only era
The London School of Economics and Political Science
China’s middle class group is already the size of the US population and is expected to double within seven years. In addition to its large population size and significant disposable income, this new middle class is also characterised by its quick adoption of mobile applications in their everyday activities.
/goo.gl/7F4pYE

Bank of Japan’s Kuroda urges cryptocurrency service firms to beef up security
Reuters
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday companies offering cryptocurrency services must have ample security steps in place.
/goo.gl/MwwRbU

India’s runaway bulls tested by capital gains tax; New Delhi ends longstanding levy exemption for equity investments
FT
Simon Mundy in Mumbai and Kiran Stacey in New Delhi FEBRUARY 2, 2018 6
Reversing India’s stunning equity market bull run may require something stronger than a higher levy on capital gains, as the country experiences a fundamental savings shift in favour of shares.
/goo.gl/8QdkjL

‘Crypto crazy’ Japanese mystified by virtual heist; The $500m theft of XEM coins by an anonymous hacker is threatening the country’s faith in cryptocurrencies
Leo Lewis and Robin Harding – FT
As she sat in her office last Friday Komugi Yamazaki, director at a celebrity news website, former “idol” girl band member and voracious cryptocurrency investor, received an unusual email.
/goo.gl/gHkBSz

Companies Everywhere Copied Japanese Manufacturing. Now the Model Is Cracking
Alastair Gale and Sean McLain – WSJ
Japan’s reputation for flawless manufacturing quality and efficiency transformed the country’s postwar economy, changed business practices world-wide and spawned a library’s worth of management manuals and business advice books. Now, the model is cracking.
/goo.gl/oUfXxv

China Launches Probe Over U.S. Sorghum Imports; Move follows Trump administration decision to put tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports
WSJ
China’s Commerce Ministry said Sunday that it initiated an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation after preliminarily finding that heavy volumes and low prices of American exports of sorghum, bolstered by U.S. government subsidies, hurt Chinese growers.
/goo.gl/HUHf1k

Chinese Regulators Move to Tighten Financial Regulation; Shadow banking and insurance sector put on notice
Fan Yu, Epoch Times
An eventful 2017 saw Chinese regulators begin to rein in a number of problematic behaviors in its financial sector.
/goo.gl/ehPzyM

Brexit

S&P Says Disorderly Brexit Would Pressure U.K. Sovereign Rating
David Goodman – Bloomberg
A disorderly Brexit may see further cuts to the U.K.’s credit rating, according to S&P Global Ratings.
/goo.gl/jE6pZm

BoE deputy warns against ‘bonfire of the regulations’ after Brexit; Supervisor cautions on push for more competitive banking regime
Caroline Binham and Patrick Jenkins – FT
The UK’s top banking supervisor has warned against a “bonfire of the regulations” after Brexit, despite Eurosceptics calling for a more competitive regime when Britain leaves the EU.
/goo.gl/nRvw7p

Don’t listen to the naysayers: The City is Brexit-proof and will remain the world’s financial hub
Gerard Lyons – City AM
The City of London is in a strong position to maintain its status as the world’s financial capital. Many of the City’s strengths are deeply embedded and therefore “Brexit-proof”.
/goo.gl/Z3FH11

Miscellaneous

Too Many People Dream of a Charmed Life in Academia; Brilliant colleagues. Curious students. High status. Earning less than half of what a kindergarten teacher makes.
Noah Smith – Bloomberg
The academic dream is a powerful thing. To be surrounded by brilliant colleagues, working on discovering new insights for the betterment of society, is a heady prospect. To enjoy ironclad job security, to rest easy deep into middle age as your peers in the private sector grow anxious about being laid off, would be an almost unimaginable relief. And to enjoy both the company and the respect of smart, energetic youngsters, not to mention free gyms, lots of time off and good health care — well, it’s no surprise that for many, academia is an ideal job.
/goo.gl/jSk9Cu

The post Finance chiefs warn on Big Tech; Trading venues buzzing; China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).


Bitcoin tumble; CurveGlobal readies fixed income push; Market rout; Robo-advisers crash

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

ICE’s NYSE FANG+ futures had record volumes on Friday last week with 7,884 contracts trading. That was one of three new record trading days last week, and average daily volume for the week was 3,278.~JJL

Yesterday was the biggest one-day move for the VIX in percentage terms, up 115.6 percent.~SD

Mark your compliance calendar for May 11! That’s the date on which compliance with new FinCEN Anti-Money Laundering rules (published May 11, 2016) is required. Courtesy of our friends at Exchange Analytics, who offer an AML course and more.~JJL

CurveGlobal raised another £20 million in funding, according to the FT story from Phillip Stafford, after raising £30 million in 2016. ~JK

The audio of the most recent update on the Consolidated Audit Trail is posted on the CAT NMS site.~SD

On Thursday, February 22, FIA Operations Americas is providing a Washington update with Walt Lukken at the The Union League Club in Chicago. Lunch is at noon with the presentation to follow at 1 p.m. Register here.~SD

HRW Wheat futures reached a record 62K contracts traded daily in January. Up 45% from January 2017 according to @CMEGroup~JJL

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to hold hearings on the cryptocurrency markets beginning today. Traders Magazine has their “Quick Take” on it and some comments from a couple of crypto litigation attorneys. ~SR

The newest CFTC Talks podcast is out – listen to CFTC Chief Economist Bruce Tuckman here.~SD

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BIS Chief Sees ‘Strong Case’ for Cryptocurrency Intervention
Catherine Bosley and Alessandro Speciale – Bloomberg
Carstens says central banks, regulators may need to act; Digital currencies may reshape financial system, abet crime
There is a “strong case” for authorities to rein in digital currencies because of their links to the established financial system, Bank for International Settlements General Manager Agustin Carstens said.
/goo.gl/Eiabzu

**** Bitcoin says there is no central control over it. Guess again.~JJL

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Trump Considering Firing Dow Jones Industrial Average
Andy Borowitz – The New Yorker
After watching it suffer its worst losses since he became President, Donald Trump is “seriously considering” firing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, aides have confirmed.
/goo.gl/j982cr

***** Trump was always more of a FTSE guy anyway.~JJL

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Monday’s Top Three
It couldn’t last forever, stories without the word bitcoin making the top three. Today’s stories about bitcoin ARE the top three including the top read piece that speaks to our curiosity. What does a computer in oil look like? The story from Motherboard, Brain Genius Submerges His Bitcoin Mining Rig in a Giant Vat of Oil shows us something truly different in the world of computers. What are you doing with that Pennzoil in your garage?The Wall Street Journal’s piece Bitcoin’s Crashing? That Won’t Stop Arbitrage Traders From Raking in Millions took second. And the South China Morning Post’s piece on another hammer coming down on crypto, China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading completely with ban on foreign platforms was third.

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Lead Stories

As Bitcoin Bubble Loses Air, Frauds and Flaws Rise to Surface
Nathaniel Popper – NY Times
You did not have to be a technophobe to worry that the virtual-currency boom of the past year papered over plenty of problems.
/goo.gl/67DAnf

Derivatives exchange CurveGlobal readies for fixed income push; Challenger backed by banks, LSE and Cboe to take on market dominance of Deutsche Boerse, ICE
Philip Stafford in London – FT
CurveGlobal, the fledgling London derivatives exchange, has raised £20m in a second round of funding to fuel its push into fixed income markets.
/goo.gl/cEszgj

Robo-Adviser Websites Crash, Cutting Off Access to Accounts
Brandon Kochkodin, Suzanne Woolley and Ben Steverman – Bloomberg
Complaints spread quickly as S&P 500 plunged as much as 4.5%; Wealthfront, Betterment, Vanguard and Schwab report issues
Robo-advisers haven’t had much experience with market routs. When confronted with one on Monday, they struggled.
/goo.gl/SojvnM

More Than $1 Trillion Wiped From U.S. Equities in Market Rout
Kailey Leinz – Bloomberg
The worst day for U.S. equities in 6 1/2 years came with a price — namely $1.25 trillion.
/goo.gl/5RM5AH

Head of BIS calls for clampdown on bitcoin; Cryptocurrency has lost more than half of value since start of 2018
Martin Arnold – FT
Central banks must clamp down on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to stop them “piggybacking” on mainstream institutions and becoming a “threat to financial stability”, the head of the Bank for International Settlements has warned.
/goo.gl/ptcWLf

Bitcoin freeloads on institutions’ trust warns BIS; Cryptocurrency is ‘a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster’ says Agustín Carstens
Martin Arnold, Banking Editor – FT
Central banks must clamp down on bitcoin and stop such cryptocurrencies “piggybacking” on mainstream institutions and becoming a “threat to financial stability”, the head of the Bank for International Settlements has warned.
/goo.gl/vxnVvJ

Patchy Bitcoin Oversight Poses Hazards for Investors, Regulators Say; SEC, CFTC heads to raise concerns to lawmakers about dearth of protections in cryptocurrency markets
Dave Michaels and Gabriel T. Rubin – WSJ
U.S. regulators plan to ask Congress to consider imposing stricter federal oversight on trading of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, as market cops amplify alarms about an asset that is largely exempt from investor-protection laws.
/goo.gl/8hcKRg

Compliance officers sweat as cryptocurrency trades go mainstream
Anna Irrera – Reuters
As major financial institutions weave themselves deeper into the patchwork of cryptocurrency trading, they are trying to figure out how to handle conflicts that could arise when employees trade digital coins in their personal accounts.
/goo.gl/mbLuHx

VIX at 38 Is Waterloo for the Beloved Short Volatility Trade
Rachel Evans and Elena Popina – Bloomberg
Spike in volatility comes as Dow average tumbles 1,175 points; Years of market calm shattered by rising inflation concern
Of all the harrowing things seen in the stock market Monday, one was a special nightmare for investors in what has become one of the stock market’s favorite strategies.
/goo.gl/SdxTff

High-speed trading firms have been hoping for market chaos just like this
Frank Chaparro – Business Insider
The world’s fastest traders must be loving this. The Dow Jones Industrial Average witnessed its largest point decline in over six years on Monday, while the VIX – an index that gauges market anxiety – soared to its highest level since 2015, doubling in the span of a few hours.
/goo.gl/Zkkdkz

Fed Rebuke Costs Wells Fargo About $29 Billion in Lost Market Value; Shares slumped 9.2% as analysts ratcheted down earnings estimates for the third-largest U.S. bank by assets
Emily Glazer – WSJ
A selloff in Wells Fargo WFC -9.22% & Co. shares chopped $29 billion from the bank’s market value after the Federal Reserve cast it into a regulatory purgatory and limited its ability to expand its business.
/goo.gl/Vro7VK

Spoofing Cops Knock on ISVs’ Door
Michael Friedman – Trillium
A recent flurry of criminal and civil spoofing charges includes a novel theory of liability against an independent software vendor (ISV). For the first time, prosecutors and regulators are seeking to hold someone other than the trader originating the orders, or the broker bringing the orders to market, liable for spoofing. The charges should make independent software vendors very nervous.
/goo.gl/c9tifo

Major dealer banks pump further £20 million into LSEG’s CurveGlobal; Existing bank shareholders including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs participated in £20 million funding round.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) interest rate derivatives platform CurveGlobal has secured £20 million from existing bank shareholders in its latest funding round.
/goo.gl/wmXJoQ

SwapsInfo Full Year 2017 and Fourth Quarter 2017 Review
ISDA
The ISDA SwapsInfo Quarterly Review provides analysis of interest rate derivatives (IRD) and index credit default swap (CDS) trading activity. The report provides a breakdown of publicly available data to analyze the impact of regulatory change on swap execution facility (SEF) and bilateral trading volumes, as well as cleared and non-cleared activity.
/goo.gl/Jhfyd1

Citadel Securities is still doing some big hiring, on both sides of the Atlantic
efinancialcareers
It’s a new year, but Citadel Securities’ old hiring spree is continuing unabated. Two years after it began hiring heavily from banks and other funds, the market maker continues stocking up trading and quant talent.
jlne.ws/2FOkRjk

Volatility-Targeting Funds Could Sell $225 Billion of Stocks
Sid Verma – Bloomberg
The turmoil in global equities has spurred a wave of deleveraging among volatility-targeting funds that’s set to unleash $225 billion of equity sales in the coming days, according to Barclays Plc.
/goo.gl/3MrhMP

Janet Yellen Punches Wall Street in the Jugular on Her Way Out the Door; While Mick Mulvaney treats Equifax to a hot stone massage.
Bess Levin – Vanity Fair
At 6:15 P.M. last Friday, just as Janet Yellen was presumably enjoying her first post-retirement cocktail, the Federal Reserve put out a press release that could be regarded as Yellen’s goodbye present to San Francisco lender Wells Fargo. But where some may have gifted a bottle of wine, or a handwritten note saying, I’ve loved working together and hope we can collaborate in the future, Yellen chose to bequeath the regulatory equivalent of a giant, flaming bag of shit.
/goo.gl/WPD9bP

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

CurveGlobal completes second funding round with bank customers
London Stock Exchange Group
CurveGlobal, the interest rate derivatives platform, announces that it has secured an additional £20 million in financing from existing bank shareholders*, as well as Cboe and LSEG. The funding will support further expansion of CurveGlobal’s product offering, which includes the upcoming launch of a SONIA futures contract.
/goo.gl/GuLRJC

Deutsche Börse makes ground in UK derivatives push
Philip Stafford – Financial Times
Deutsche Börse’s effort to capture more of the valuable business of clearing derivatives from its global home in London is showing signs of paying off.
Volumes at Eurex, the clearing house owned by Deutsche Börse, have jumped sharply after the introduction of an incentive scheme that encourages banks to switch their clearing interest rate swaps — used by investors and companies to hedge risk — from London’s LCH.
jlne.ws/2FMx6N4

SGX and Bursa Malaysia to set up stock market trading link
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) is pleased to collaborate with Bursa Malaysia (BM) on jointly developing our capital markets through a stock market trading link.
/goo.gl/QVFqAS

Euronext suffers fresh departures from senior ranks
Samuel Agini – Financial News
The heads of two important businesses at Euronext have left the company, compounding a difficult period for the stock exchange group which has endured a wave of departures from its senior ranks since the end of last year.
jlne.ws/2EJutMS

January 2018 volumes: FXSpotStream, Cboe FX Markets, FastMatch, and Gain Capital’s GTX
Ricardo Esteves – The Industry Spread
January has provided a few record volume highs for some of the largest institutional FX trading venues, including FXSpotStream, Cboe FX Markets, and Gain Capital’s GTX.
jlne.ws/2ELyEb2

Euro-clearing battle heats up as Eurex gains ground with profit sharing scheme; Profit sharing scheme has 25 market participants signed up globally since launching in October last year.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Eurex Clearing’s profit sharing scheme has continued to win clearing business from London since its launch, as the battle for euro-clearing continues.
/goo.gl/12ndyd

ICE Reports January Statistics; ICE ADV Up 12% Y/Y Led By A 28% Increase In Interest Rate ADV and 12% Increase In Natural Gas ADV; Open Interest +12% Y/Y
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today reported January 2018 trading volume and related revenue statistics, which can be viewed on the company’s investor relations website at http://ir.theice.com/ir-resources/supplemental-information in the Monthly Statistics Tracking spreadsheet.
/goo.gl/s3CJdT

ICE Announces Record Trading Of NYSE FANG+ Index Futures Contract For Two Consecutive Days
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced a record trading week for the NYSE FANG+TM Index futures contract. With average daily volume of 3,278 contracts last week and record daily volume on Friday, February 2, of 7,884 contracts, last week saw record volumes for the new contract over two consecutive days amid increased market volatility.
/goo.gl/abGJ4Q

MGEX Hard Red Spring Wheat To Be Included In Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI)
Press Release
MGEX, a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO), is pleased to announce that effective with the February 2018 index roll period, MGEX’s flagship Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRSW) futures contract will be included in the Rogers International Commodity Index (RICI). The RICI is used to track the value of a basket of commodities consumed throughout the world.
jlne.ws/2FMMt89

Bursa CEO: No hike in annual fees for now
Eugene Mahalingam – The Star
Bursa Malaysia Bhd, the stock exchange operator, says it will not raise the annual fees it charges listed companies this year, although some of the services it provides are overdue for a rate hike.
/goo.gl/z5iEEu

Goldman Sachs licenses iSTOXX Diversity Impact Select Indices
Deutsche Börse Group’
STOXX Ltd., the operator of Deutsche Börse Group’s index business and global provider of innovative and tradable index concepts, announced today that Goldman Sachs has launched both the iSTOXX Global Diversity Impact Select 30 Index and the iSTOXX Europe Diversity Impact Select 30 Index as underlying for structured products.
/goo.gl/Aay1YZ

ASX Monthly Activity Report – January 2018
ASX
/goo.gl/TQwshp

Nasdaq January 2018 Volumes
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today reported monthly volumes for January 2018, on its investor relations website.
/goo.gl/K7vts4

Sebi, exchanges beef up risk management systems post stock market rout; Analysts said the Indian stock market is also showing some correction
Press Trust of India
Capital markets regulator Sebi and the exchanges have beefed up their risk management and surveillance systems in the wake of a global stock market rout triggering a sharp plunge in Indian equities, officials said today.
/goo.gl/kovsPk

Bursa Malaysia Welcomes Catalysts To Boost Capital Markets
MondoVisione
Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or the “Exchange”) welcomes the list of measures announced by Prime Minister Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak at today’s World Capital Market Symposium 2018.
/goo.gl/j3mX78

Fintech

The flimsy logic behind the Thomson Reuters buyout
David Wighton – Financial News
JPMorgan will throw out its Bloomberg terminals and replace them with Thomson Reuters machines in the hope of winning more business from Blackstone Group.
jlne.ws/2nEkZew

Gelber Group Signs with Trillium Surveyor for Trade Surveillance
Business Wire
Trillium announced today that Chicago-based proprietary trading firm Gelber Group will now use Trillium’s Surveyor platform for trade surveillance.
jlne.ws/2FGMzyd

Bitcoin Miners Face Shakeout as Only Strongest Survive at $6,000
Justina Lee – Bloomberg
Bitcoin miners face a reckoning as the cryptocurrency’s tumble wipes out profits for all but the industry’s most efficient operators, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
/goo.gl/pfoH6C

Blockchain a Savior for Stretched Computers at Energy Trader
Jesper Starn – Bloomberg
Technology could provide backbone structure for energy markets; Live trading trials seen across Europe during this year
Vattenfall AB, already one of Europe’s biggest energy traders, plans to expand further and needs blockchain technology to do some of the heavy lifting in its computer systems.
/goo.gl/XusnMy

Metamako And Redline Now Offer Ultra-Low Latency Trading Solutions
Mondovisione
Metamako, the leading provider of low-latency, FPGA-enabled network devices, and Redline Trading Solutions, the premier provider of high-performance market data and order execution systems, today announced a partnership offering an ultra-low latency end-to-end solution for clients in the automated trading space.
/goo.gl/6YotZw

Bitcoin Billionaires Want a Crypto Utopia in the Sun; Some newly wealthy blockchain investors aim to reinvent Puerto Rico. They don’t know it, but they’re more lucky than good.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
There is a well-known phenomenon whereby hedge-fund managers who have a bit of success begin to fancy themselves experts in everything. The typical case begins with style creep in investing: A merger-arbitrage expert will have a few good years and will then start making macro bets on currencies. How hard can it be? Politics and policy will be next, and he will begin lecturing politicians on optimal education policy. Eventually no domain is off limits; he’ll buy a sports team and start giving advice to its coach, or show up at NASA and explain how they’ve gotten astrophysics all wrong.
/goo.gl/GDwWL9

Politics

Trump Lauds ‘Tidal Wave of Good News’ While Dow Plummets
Jennifer Jacobs – Bloomberg
Dow drops 1,175 points, steepest drop in more than six years; Major U.S. stock indexes erase gains for the calendar year
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the stock market’s rise over his first year in office, and now he risks taking the blame if there’s a prolonged downturn.
/goo.gl/m6SZz2

****Reuters has White House, after Wall St. drop, says Trump focused on ‘economic fundamentals’ and the NY Times has Trump, Running Alongside the Market’s Bulls, Risks Being Trampled

Trump’s Lawyers Want Him to Refuse an Interview in Russia Inquiry
Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman – NY Times
Lawyers for President Trump have advised him against sitting down for a wide-ranging interview with the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, according to four people briefed on the matter, raising the specter of a monthslong court battle over whether the president must answer questions under oath.
/goo.gl/1C5cQn

Has Trumphoria Finally Hit a Wall?
Paul Krugman – NY Times
When talking about stock markets, there are three rules you have to remember. First, the stock market is not the economy. Second, the stock market is not the economy. Third, the stock market is not the economy.
/goo.gl/mKjzw9

Lawmaker Seeks Probe into Fake Comments on Payday-Lending Rule; Top Democrat on House energy and commerce panel asks Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to look into Journal’s findings
James V. Grimaldi – WSJ
The top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the Trump administration Monday to investigate fake online comments uncovered by The Wall Street Journal on a rule to restrict high-interest payday lending.
/goo.gl/XpWZgp

Presidents Can Weather Market Meltdowns; The electoral problems start when equity losses turn into deeper slumps.
Jonathan Bernstein – Bloomberg
I’m no economist, so I’m not going to speculate about what the market meltdown over the past week means for the broader economy. In political terms, however, I can make a fairly safe recommendation: settle down. The market has tanked, but that — by itself — would do no harm to Trump’s re-election chances.
/goo.gl/wmf9rc

Trump Accuses Democrats of ‘Treason’ Amid Market Rout
Mark Landler – NY Times
President Trump on Monday accused Democrats who did not clap during his State of the Union address of being un-American and even treasonous. His remarks came in a rambling, discursive speech at a factory in Ohio, during which he celebrated his revival of the American economy as the stock market plummeted by more than 1,000 points.
/goo.gl/eYvbB6

People are falling for a fake Trump tweet about the ‘Dow Joans’
Allan Smith – Business Insider
People are falling for a fake tweet alleged to be from President Donald Trump that claims he said a sitting president should be “loaded” into a cannon and shot into the sun if the “Dow Joans” falls more than 1,000 points in a day.
/goo.gl/y3ZKYw

Regulation

BlackRock Urges More Regulation After Inverse Notes Collapse
Bloomberg News
Money manager calls for classification system to flag risks; Two products linked to Cboe Volatility Index have collapsed
BlackRock Inc., the world’s biggest asset manager, called for regulation that would clearly spell out the risks associated with inverse and leveraged exchange-traded products after the collapse of two notes linked to volatility.
/goo.gl/X53Jrw

FINRA Fines Wedbush Securities Inc. $1.5 Million for Customer Protection, Net Capital Rule Violations and Related Failures
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that it has fined Wedbush Securities Inc. $1.5 million for violating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Customer Protection and Net Capital Rules, and for related supervisory and books and records failures.
jlne.ws/2FKCwIz

Financial Exploitation; First Uniform, National Standards to Protect Senior Investors
FINRA
Two FINRA rule changes took effect today addressing the financial exploitation of seniors and vulnerable adults, putting in place the first uniform, national standards to protect senior investors. Firms are now required to make reasonable efforts to obtain the name of and contact information for a trusted contact person for a customer’s account. In addition, the rule permits FINRA member firms to place a temporary hold on a disbursement of funds or securities when there is a reasonable belief of financial exploitation, and to notify the trusted contact of the temporary hold.
/goo.gl/dYgruR

Conn. Investors Learn Important Investing Tips at Event with Rep. Himes
FINRA STAFF
State and national securities regulators and legislators came together last week in Stamford, Conn., to talk to area savers and investors about how to make informed investment decisions and to protect their retirement savings from fraud.
/goo.gl/AwAQxH

Boston Trading and Research, LLC, et al.
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that on December 12, 2017, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered a final judgment against Craig Karlis, a former owner of the now-defunct, Massachusetts-based Boston Trading and Research, LLC (“BTR”), in a case involving a fraudulent foreign currency trading enterprise.
jlne.ws/2FP99Vg

Jerome H. Powell sworn in as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System
Jerome H. Powell on Monday took the oath of office as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, succeeding Janet L. Yellen. The oath was administered by Vice Chairman Randal K. Quarles in the Board Room.
/goo.gl/4hJ72x

CFTC Commissioner Behnam to Keynote at FIA/SIFMA Asset Management Group Derivatives Forum
CFTC
/goo.gl/nfXizv

CFTC Chairman Giancarlo to Testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs
CFTC
/goo.gl/yS77DE

Lawrence Lindsey Withdraws From Consideration for No. 2 Fed Post; The timing of a White House decision on who should be the next Fed vice chairman remains in flux
Nick Timiraos and Peter Nicholas – WSJ
Republican economist Lawrence Lindsey has withdrawn from consideration for the post of Federal Reserve vice chairman.
/goo.gl/c964st

FCA boss Andrew Bailey calls for ‘assurance’ over Brexit transition
Oxford Mail
The boss of Britain’s financial watchdog has urged the Government to hand firms, markets and regulators “much-needed assurance” over the Brexit transition period.
/goo.gl/HavBeo

Investing and Trading

Dow Drops More Than 1,100 Points in Stock-Market Rout; Blue chips post biggest one-session point decline on record as indexes around the world give up 2018 gains
WSJ
The long-running global stock rally turned into a rout Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its largest-ever, single-day point decline and major indexes in the U.S., Europe and Asia gave up their gains for the year.
/goo.gl/k6k9dy

The $370 Trillion Benchmark Challenge
ISDA’s derivatiViews Blog
The transition from interbank offered rates, or IBORs, to new alternative risk-free rates (RFRs) has been likened to the move to a single currency in Europe.
jlne.ws/2EHBa1M

Gold: Showing Strength Despite Rate-Hike Signals
Erik Norland – CME Group
More than any other factor, changes in expectations for U.S. interest rates play a key role in determining short-term movements in the price of gold, and to a lesser extent silver and platinum. During much of the past two years, the correlation between the daily change in the prices of gold and Fed Funds futures, expressed as an interest rate (100 minus price), has averaged at around -0.6 (Figure 1).
jlne.ws/2FEKlPU

IPO Shortcuts Put Burden on Investors to Identify Risk; Poor showing is the latest episode to raise questions about small companies’ offerings under the JOBS Act
Corrie Driebusch and Juliet Chung – FT
Rules giving small companies a quicker path to public listings aren’t doing investors any favors.
/goo.gl/nqJGMu

Managed Futures / Global Macro 2018 Outlook – Whitepaper
RCM Alternatives
Forget all this alternative investment stuff… buy a basket of cheap ETFs covering the US and world stock markets, then go golf or paint or race cars or whatever you’re into. Life’s too short to be worrying about a correction that may never come. That was the message conveyed by markets in 2017. Volatility? Ha. We didn’t even see a down month in the S&P 500 for the first time…. ever. The trade was buy and hold. Or even better – sell and hold (volatility that is), rinsing and repeating monthly, or even better, better, buy some Bitcoin.
jlne.ws/2FEaa2G

****You might have to register, but it’s free to do so.

Shorting volatility: its role in the stocks sell-off; Unwinding of strategies that make money from markets staying calm deepened the selling
Robin Wigglesworth in New York – FT
When excitable beliefs in new paradigms in markets are shattered it can be spectacular. The conviction that stock markets had entered a new era of tranquility has become the latest example.
/goo.gl/adgYL1

Investors’ Expectations Might Be Too High for Mark Carney
David Goodman and Charlotte Ryan – Bloomberg
Investors are speculating on a more aggressive hiking cycle; Selloff in pound likely should BOE rhetoric fall short
Investors have raised the bar for Mark Carney, boosting the chance the Bank of England governor fails to meet their lofty expectations this week.
/goo.gl/X6FBJd

Bitcoin Dips Below $6,000 as Cryptocurrency Exodus Accelerates
Todd White and Eric Lam – Bloomberg
Digital coins lose $500 billion in value since January peak; Regulators in focus as U.S. prepares hearing in Senate Tuesday
The rout in cryptocurrencies rolled on, sending Bitcoin to its lowest level since October, as worries over tighter regulation by U.S. authorities and central bankers elsewhere gave traders fresh reasons to sell after a brutal start to 2018.
/goo.gl/XPXsTo

Bitcoin Tumbles Almost 20% as Crypto Backlash Accelerates
Olga Kharif – Bloomberg
Lloyds joins U.S. banks in prohibiting purchases with cards; Value of the biggest cryptocurrency drops by as much as $1,990
Bitcoin tumbled for a fifth day, dropping below $7,000 for the first time since November and leading other digital tokens lower, as a backlash by banks and government regulators against the speculative frenzy that drove cryptocurrencies to dizzying heights last year picks up steam.
/goo.gl/rXKt8H

‘Buy the Dip’ Takes Hold at Allianz to JPMorgan as Rout Deepens
By Ksenia Galouchko and Aleksandra Gjorgievska – Bloomberg
Barclays sees ‘nothing sinister’ on horizon, recession distant; Credit Suisse looks for chance to buy in ‘healthy’ correction
Big money managers are surveying the wreckage in global stocks, and many like what they see.
/goo.gl/iBRqo4

Investment Firms Suffer Website Outages; T. Rowe Price, Vanguard among groups affected as Dow closes down more than 1,170 points
By Daisy Maxey and Sarah Krouse – WSJ
The websites and mobile applications of discount brokerages, mutual-fund firms and digital advisers suffered outages and slowdowns Monday, unnerving individual investors trying to access their accounts during the market rout.
/goo.gl/wDuHp8

The Stock Market Didn’t Get Tested—You Did; The calm over the past few years set investors up for a shock
Jason Zweig – WSJ
Stop trying to make sense of the stock market. The one question every investor was asking on Monday has no answer: Why? Why did the Dow Jones Industrial Average close down nearly 1,200 points, or 4.6%?
/goo.gl/mp1ktb

A ‘Buy and Hold’ Approach for People Spooked by the Market Tumble; Regular portfolio rebalancing can prevent risky assets like stocks from dominating any account
Spencer Jakab – WSJ
Following a 1,096-point weekly decline in the Dow Jones Industrials that culminated in the largest one-week point drop since late 2008, it’s natural to ask. The question, however, isn’t particularly helpful.
/goo.gl/mFqbdD

What on Earth Happened to Stocks? Here’s Where to Cast the Blame
Cormac Mullen and Christopher Anstey – Bloomberg
High valuations and record inflows left the market extended; Questions on the Fed outlook contributed to a jump in yields
Not widely welcomed, but arguably overdue? The sharp sell-off in stocks that started last week and gathered steam this week lacked a specific trigger — unlike the last time U.S. shares fell this much, which came in the wake of the U.S. losing its AAA sovereign rating at S&P Global Ratings in 2011.
/goo.gl/B78q4m

ADM profits climb on tax reform gains
Gregory Meyer in New York – FT
Archer Daniels Midland reported sharply higher profits in the fourth quarter, as the benefits of US tax reform overcame weaker operating performance at the global grain merchant and processor.
/goo.gl/ng9SGn

Institutions

Mending Market Making: How to Reverse the Corporate Bond Dealer Slump
Chris White, BondCliQ – TABB Forum
The end of 2017 brought another year of underwhelming revenue for fixed income market-makers. Most observers and participants agree that corporate bonds are the main suspect in the investigation into falling dealer revenues. What fundamental changes are hurting market makers? And what techniques will reverse the market making slump?
jlne.ws/2FOBmfd

Investec confirms leadership shake-up as founders step down; Investec appoints co-CEOs as three of its founding members will step down in October this year.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Three of Investec’s founding members will step down from their roles as of October this year after almost 40 years with the South African bank and asset manager.
/goo.gl/jH5SsV

Lloyds’ ban on credit card purchases of bitcoin makes sense; The move from the UK lender helps as part of its role in fraud prevention
Dan McCrum – FT
Lloyds Banking Group offers a fresh example of lunacy in the cryptocurrency mania that has preoccupied many internet users in recent months. It turns out that so many customers have been using their credit cards to buy the digital tokens that the banking group has taken the step to ban such purchases.
/goo.gl/hGSWwq

Lloyd’s of London to bin paper-based trading; Insurance market hastens electronic-only switch to cut costs and boost efficiency
Oliver Ralph, Insurance Correspondent – FT
Lloyd’s of London will for the first time require all its brokers and underwriters to switch from paper-based to electronic trading in an aggressive push by the 300-year-old insurance market to force tradition-bound members to cut costs and improve efficiency.
/goo.gl/Sw4vVN

Credit Suisse Says It Saw No Losses From VIX-Linked Securities
Jan-Henrik Foerster – Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG, the Swiss bank scaling down its trading unit, said it hasn’t suffered any trading losses related to exchanged-traded notes with which holders made bets on muted market swings.
/goo.gl/rmtWMm

World’s Biggest Wealth Fund Should ‘Immediately’ Cut Oil, Ex-Staffer Says
Sveinung Sleire and Mikael Holter – Bloomberg
Majority in parliament is leaning toward approving divestment; Fund has proposed sales to limit Norway’s overall oil exposure
Norway’s $1.1 trillion wealth fund shocked the world last year when it announced a plan to divest all its oil and gas stocks, worth $35 billion at the time.
/goo.gl/DbeH9s

European trading boss leaves equities post at Barclays; Move comes six months after the arrival of a new global head of equities at the UK bank
Samuel Agini – Financial News
The leader of Barclays’ equities sales and trading business in Europe has left his post just six months after the arrival of a new global head and amid cuts to the group’s senior banking and markets staff.
/goo.gl/4wL8ho

Regions

Venezuela announces 99.6 percent devaluation of official forex rate
Reuters Staff
Venezuela’s central bank on Monday announced a devaluation of more than 99 percent of its official exchange rate with the launch of a new foreign exchange platform, a move critics quickly said would not create a functioning currency market.
/goo.gl/KJ8DDM

Brexit

Brexit games risk EU’s financial efficiency; Paris may make some short-term gains but market fragmentation will hurt Europe
Patrick Jenkins – FT
Europe’s politicians are stepping up their frenzied games of Brexit bluff. Last week Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, gave Britain and its finance sector an ultimatum: set up new operations in the EU27, thus extending access to the single market, or strike a fragile Brexit deal based on “equivalent” market access and regulation.
/goo.gl/3sqquX

Brexit May Escalate 99% Price Jump of Frankfurt’s Apartments
Stephan Kahl – Bloomberg
Condominium prices have almost doubled since 2004, JLL says; Market still cheap compared to London, could attract bankers
The expected onslaught of up to 10,000 Brexit bankers could further exacerbate the already tense situation on Frankfurt’s condominium market. Residential Real estate is often cheaper compared to London, making it more affordable for many in the financial industry.
/goo.gl/WYiH27

FCA’s Bailey Says Brexit Transitional Deal Needed by End of March
Franz Wild – Bloomberg
Bailey lobbies for urgent financial services arrangement; Contracts worth 26 trillion pounds could be affected: Bailey
The head of the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority added urgency to Brexit negotiations by saying European governments must reach a transitional agreement for financial services by the end of March to avoid the risks presented by EU departure.
/goo.gl/M1MsWh

Rise of an English Gentleman Threatens the Hardest of Brexits; He holds no ministerial post, but Jacob Rees-Mogg holds more and more sway when it comes to Europe.
Robert Hutton and Kitty Donaldson – Bloomberg
It was appropriate that Jacob Rees-Mogg should have found himself in the middle of another fight. The British Conservative lawmaker has been in the middle of all the important fights lately.
/goo.gl/rE1Fbo

Brexit chaos shatters Theresa May’s illusion of unity
George Parker – FT
Theresa May might have been out of the country last week on a three-day trip to China, but for many in her Conservative party the prime minister has been absent for much longer.
/goo.gl/E25Ve6

Miscellaneous

College Student Commits Suicide After Mounting Cryptocurrency Loses
By Haps Staff
A 20-year-old college student from Busan committed suicide this week after losing nearly 200 million won in cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/2YMshT

The post Bitcoin tumble; CurveGlobal readies fixed income push; Market rout; Robo-advisers crash appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Cboe says Vix products not to blame; Credit Suisse liquidates vol fund; The market is not the economy

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Electronic Interest Rate options ADV reached a record 1.43 million in January, including a single-day record on January 18th in which 1.3 million Eurodollar options traded on CME Globex, surpassing the daily pit volume.~JJL

SGX FX futures volume hit a new record of $65 billion in January with ADV of $3 billion.~JK

In light of all the VIX ETP drama, which was covered in yesterday’s Options newsletter, check out our blog post Vol-cano Erupts – How’s Seth Golden Doing? It was a response to the seeming surprise amongst pundits about how volatility products would react to sudden selloff. (We will have more ETP drama today, too.)~SD

Venture capital investment in UK fintech firms more than doubled in 2017 to reach $1.8 billion, with 54 percent coming from overseas VCs who appear largely untroubled by the UK’s imminent break from the European Union, according to Innovate Finance.~JK

INTL FCStone Inc. announced that the broker-dealer division of its wholly owned subsidiary, INTL FCStone Financial Inc., ranked as the top market maker in 2017 for international securities traded over-the-counter (OTC), and first by dollar value traded for approximately 2,600 securities, according to data from FINRA’s Over-the-Counter Reporting Facility (ORF) and Bloomberg RANK.~JJL

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History of the World Part III
Steve Grob – Fidessa
Those of us who have been in the industry for a while will remember what became known as the “Battle of the Bund” back in the early 1990s. The quick version is that newly formed DTB (now Eurex) managed, in just a few months, to repatriate trading in the benchmark Bund futures contract from London based incumbent, LIFFE.
/goo.gl/eE1SJ4

**Can Deutsche Boerse repeat history with Euro denominated clearing?~JK

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SpaceX: Craigslist Ad Lists Falcon 9 Rocket for $9.9M
Tom Huddleston Jr. – Fortune
If you’ve thought about buying your own orbital space rocket in the past, only to balk at the massive price tag, today might be your lucky day.
jlne.ws/2E78Dpf

****JB: The ad claims it was “gently used” so it must be in good condition. In case you missed it, Elon Musk sent his Tesla Roadster into space yesterday. Really…you can see it in orbit here. Worth noting, the car has an astronaut mannequin in the seat, the dashboard display has the words “Don’t Panic” in large, friendly letters on it and there is a towel in the glovebox (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fans will understand). Also, David Bowie is playing on the radio which brings this whole thing full circle. David Bowie played Tesla in the movie “The Prestige” and now Tesla is playing Bowie in space. ~JB

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Here Are the World’s Virtual Currency Billionaires (or at Least They Were)
Nathaniel Popper – NY Times
The creators of the famous Forbes rich list have made their first attempt to identify the wealthiest people in the virtual currency industry. Yet the list that was published on Wednesday, right after major drops in virtual currency prices, inadvertently also served as a reminder of the fleeting nature of that wealth.
jlne.ws/2E9xXLB

**Do the Winklevoss twins wear different sweaters all the time so you can tell them apart?~JK

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Market Movers: February 8 Crop Report
CME Group
Industry experts Dave Hightower, Founding Principal of The Hightower Report, and Dan Basse, President of AgResource Company, preview the February 8 USDA report discussing corn and soybean yields in advance of its publication.
/goo.gl/xxuY8x

**Nothing fires you up like a crop report in February.~JK

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Tuesday’s Top Three
Ok, I thought the headline might be real and so did you. Our top story was the short satire from The New Yorker Trump Considering Firing Dow Jones Industrial Average. Second went to the truly serious issue of spoofing and just how accountable technology firms are for the actions of their customers in Spoofing Cops Knock On ISVs’ Door, from Trillium. Third went to the New York Times piece As Bitcoin Bubble Loses Air, Frauds and Flaws Rise to Surface

MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
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  • 23,000 pages
  • 211,569 edits

 

Level Trading

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Lead Stories

Cboe says Vix products not to blame for market rout; Exchange group defends flagship volatility index as recriminations fly
Joe Rennison, Gregory Meyer and Nicole Bullock in New York – FT
Cboe Global Markets has defended its flagship Vix volatility index, after investors and analysts blamed products that seek to track the measure for exacerbating this week’s ructions across global stock markets.
/goo.gl/w4C6pG

Credit Suisse ‘volatility’ fund liquidated after market selloff
Michael Shields, Trevor Hunnicutt – Reuters
Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) said on Tuesday it would terminate the second-largest publicly traded product betting on future swings in the S&P 500 after its value plunged during the global market rout.
/goo.gl/U5pehQ

**** FT has Credit Suisse and Nomura liquidate ETN products amid market volatility but if you want to know the mechanics of the fund check out WSJ’s Born to Die: Inside XIV, the Busted Volatility ETF. Bloomberg has a quick Q&A with Devesh Shah – An Inventor of the VIX: ‘I Don’t Know Why These Products Exist’

Don’t Mistake the Stock Market for the Economy; The selloff doesn’t reflect solid global growth.
Robert Burgess – Bloomberg
It may not be as bad as you think. Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The gut-wrenching moves in equities in recent days raise a number of questions. For one, are the declines indicative of an underlying problem in the global economy? And two, do the losses threaten to spark some sort of contagion?
/goo.gl/32xmko

Inside Wall Street’s $8 Billion VIX Time Bomb
Dakin Campbell, Dani Burger Donal Griffin and Carolina Wilson – Bloomberg
Before whirlwind, banks turned volatility into the hot item; VIX was seen as sure thing — until it suddenly wasn’t anymore
It was the hot trade on Wall Street, a seemingly sure thing that lulled everyone from hedge fund managers to small-time investors.
/goo.gl/zsycqr

Quants Embrace Recent Selloff Even as Everyone Blames Them For It
Bradley Hope – WSJ
A day after the stock market plummeted more than 1,100 points, quantitative traders were made the scapegoat by many investors and even the treasury secretary.
jlne.ws/2EOLF3H

Quants? Bubble on the Brink? The Fed? It’s 1998 All Over Again
Elena Popina and Sarah Ponczek – Bloomberg
Tech megacaps lost a third of their value in March – May 2000; Just as in 1998, the rally was driven by technology companies
Does the chaos embroiling equity markets have an obvious precedent that can guide investors on how it plays out?
/goo.gl/omdhph

Regulators Let Wall Street Turn VIX on Its Head; Products tied to volatility make it worse for the market and individual investors.
Stephen Gandel – Bloomberg
The best thing you can say about sudden market drops is that they can point out the market’s weaknesses and create a road map for regulators to clean up any excesses. The bad news is that regulators look increasingly uninterested in protecting investors from the market’s potholes.
/goo.gl/g11k95

Before the Machines, Human Emotions Set the Stage for a Selloff
Elena Popina and Sarah Ponczek – Bloomberg
Pace of EPS increase is 4 times faster than any time since ’12; Wall Street’s EPS estimates will come down later in ’18: BofA
You’ve heard all about the robots. But the selloff that’s ripped through the stock market over the last six days would never have gotten off the ground without people at the controls.
/goo.gl/KqfBTk

Virtu Financial, Flow Traders rise in volatile trade
Philip Stafford – FT
Sudden market volatility isn’t bad for everyone. High-frequency traders have stumbled across an oasis in the desert.
/goo.gl/zjqnPu

Business Wire sees persistent cyber attack on website
Reuters
Berkshire Hathaway’s Business Wire said on Tuesday its website has been under cyber attack since Jan. 31.
jlne.ws/2ENDlkk

VIX, Shmix. The Debt Ceiling Is a Real Worry
Randall Forsyth – Barron’s
Here we go, again. The debt ceiling looms and Uncle Sam stands the chance of (technically) defaulting again unless Congress gets around to increasing the federal government’s borrowing limit.
/goo.gl/JsMCMV

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Short-vol collapse may deal lasting blow to CBOE ó JPMorgan; Bank warns of ‘tip of the iceberg’ for products focused on volatility
Adam Samson – Financial Times
The collapse this week of a clutch of high-profile exchange-traded products may be the “tip of the iceberg” of a rethink on bets against volatility, a shift that would in turn deal a blow to CBOE Global Markets, JPMorgan said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/N4MtMV

Worries About VIX Funds Drag Cboe’s Shares to a Record Decline
Annie Massa and Brian Louis – Bloomberg
One big VIX fund is closing, another lost most of its value; VIX derivatives provide about a quarter of Cboe’s revenue
Cboe Global Markets Inc.’s been one of the surest bets out there, rallying seven straight years on the back of its famous VIX franchise. But a crack just formed in that pillar of growth for the company, sending its shares tumbling a record 17 percent.
/goo.gl/CcznCw

****FT – Cboe hit as Vix product woes spark trading volume concerns

Intercontinental Exchange Announces 20% Increase to its Quarterly Dividend
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, announced board authorization of its first quarter 2018 dividend of $0.24 per share, up 20% from its previous $0.20 per share quarterly dividend in 2017.
/goo.gl/JXeicD

Intercontinental Exchange Reports Fourth Quarter 2017 GAAP Diluted EPS of $2.08 on Revenues of $1.1 Billion; Fourth Quarter 2017 Adjusted Diluted EPS of $0.73
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), the leading global network of exchanges and clearing houses and provider of global data and listing services, today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2017. For the quarter ended December 31, 2017, consolidated net income attributable to ICE was $1.2 billion on $1.1 billion of consolidated revenues less transaction-based expenses. This included $764 million of a deferred tax benefit related to U.S. tax reform. Fourth quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $2.08. On an adjusted basis, consolidated net income attributable to ICE was $433 million in the fourth quarter, and diluted EPS were $0.73.
/goo.gl/4TMc5M

China securities regulator approves launch of hog futures: exchange
Dominique Patton, Hallie Gu – Reuters
China’s securities regulator has approved plans for a long-awaited live hog futures contract, taking the Dalian Commodity Exchange a step closer to launching a product that will allow farmers in the world’s top pork market to hedge livestock costs.
jlne.ws/2EKlCdN

Fintech

NEX Regulatory Reporting Partners with Delta Capita To Provide SFTR Advice To Clients
Press Release
NEX Regulatory Reporting announces today that it has partnered with Delta Capita, an international business and technology consulting provider, who will offer specialist advice to clients ahead of the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) coming into effect.
jlne.ws/2ElZlFv

Money and trust: lessons from the 1620s for money in the digital age
Isabel Schnabel and Hyun Song Shin – BIS Working Papers
We look to history for lessons on the nature of money and the role of central banks in building trust in the use of money in society. The issue of trust has again come to the fore in debates on the durability of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and how far private money can supplant central bank money as a medium of exchange
/goo.gl/Y8KNxd

Paul Thomas Joins FlexTrade as Vice President, FX Business Development in U.S.
FlexTrade Systems
FlexTrade Systems, a global leader in multi-asset execution and order management systems, today announced the appointment of Paul Thomas as Vice President, FX Business Development with responsibility for both the buy-side and sell-side markets in the Americas.
/goo.gl/m5zQ6w

Politics

Treasury Secretary Tries to Ease Concern Over Stock Market Fall; Mnuchin tells lawmakers stocks are undergoing a ‘normal market correction’ and the underlying economic fundamentals were strong
Kate Davidson – WSJ
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday tried to dampen concerns over the recent stock market fall, which he said was not tied to any issues of financial stability and didn’t overly concern him.
/goo.gl/3jGsFu

US trade deficit jumps 12.1% in Trump’s first year in office
Shawn Donnan – FT
Ignore the markets tumbling for a second. Here’s another number Donald Trump is not going to like. The US trade deficit grew 12.1 per cent, or $61.2bn, to $566bn in 2017, according to data just out from the US Commerce Department.
/goo.gl/vYFwkx

Fake news sharing in US is a rightwing thing, says study; University of Oxford project finds Trump supporters consume largest volume of ‘junk news’ on Facebook and Twitter
Alex Hern – The Guardian
Low-quality, extremist, sensationalist and conspiratorial news published in the US was overwhelmingly consumed and shared by rightwing social network users, according to a new study from the University of Oxford.
/goo.gl/SX5KA9

When Words Lose All Meaning
Jonathan Bernstein – Bloomberg
I really don’t want to write about Donald Trump’s rejection of democratic norms all the time. Plenty of people handle that. And yet, it feels wrong to ignore authoritarian statements by the president of the United States. So here we go again.
/goo.gl/X4DFLd

Regulation

Lawsuit claiming Citigroup ran ‘boys club’ dismissed by U.S. judge
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by a fired Citigroup Inc (C.N) financial adviser who said the bank’s “culture of gender discrimination” made it clear that “the boys were in charge.”
/goo.gl/FLvnX9

Senate cryptocurrency hearing strikes a cautiously optimistic tone
Taylor Hatmaker – TechCrunch
In a hearing today before the Senate Banking Committee, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton and Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Christopher Giancarlo opened up about what the near-term U.S. regulatory fate of cryptocurrency might look like. In a week of plunging prices and bad news, the hearing struck a tone that coin watchers could reasonably interpret as surprisingly optimistic.
/goo.gl/1DL69n

Remarks of Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo at the Black History Month Celebration
CFTC
Good morning and welcome. It was almost 50 years ago, in March 1968, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his last Sunday sermon before his martyrdom. It was here in Washington, just a few blocks away at the National Cathedral.
/goo.gl/mPoEfR

ESMA Publishes The Responses To Consultation On Proposed Amendment To MiFID II RTS 1
Mondovisione
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the responses received to its Consultation on proposed amendment to MiFID II RTS 1.
/goo.gl/WfqZQn

Investing and Trading

Buying the Dip Works Nicely, a 30-Year History of Routs Shows
Cormac Mullen – Bloomberg
As the dust settles for now after the turmoil of the last few days, a chorus of buy-the-dip calls from fund managers and strategists is still ringing in equity investors’ ears. History suggests they have a point.
/goo.gl/BKwk4e

People Are Worried About the Stock Market; Also VIX ETPs, Morgan Stanley, crypto-Ponzi hacking and Uber.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
People are worried that people aren’t worried oh wait no.
/goo.gl/TpDhSL

Bitcoin Volatility Less than Stocks’ ‘VIX’ Index, SEC Says
Jen Wieczner – Fortune
The stock market’s wild swings are making Bitcoin’s price crashes look tame.
As the Dow Jones industrial average continued seesawing Tuesday after plunging a record 1,175 points the previous day, the heads of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission were on Capitol Hill answering lawmakers’ questions about the risks posed by another highly volatile asset class: cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
jlne.ws/2EbbPAc

Bitcoin’s Crash Looks Spookily Familiar; There are similarities between this week’s crypto and markets routs.
Lionel Laurent – Bloomberg
Bitcoin has been a plaything for risk-hungry traders and punters rather than a widely held investment or real-world currency. It’s been shunned by banks and banned by governments.
/goo.gl/8jjaSx

Don’t Forget What Causes a Recession; They have this nasty habit of showing up when least expected.
Noah Smith – Bloomberg
Remember recessions? Those times where the stock market goes down, unemployment goes up and businesses stop investing? There was a really big one about a decade ago, but that was a long time ago — there are plenty of young workers now who were kids back when names like Lehman Brothers and Ben Bernanke were in the news. According to the indicators compiled by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. economy hasn’t been in recession since June 2009 — almost nine years ago. If the economy sustains its expansion for just 14 more months, this will be the longest the country has gone without an economic downturn in recorded history, surpassing both the 1960s and 1990s booms in duration:
/goo.gl/S8QbNT

Institutions

Goldman Hails Outlook for Commodities as Market Turmoil Subsides
Jasmine Ng and Tom Mackenzie – Bloomberg
Currie says raw materials do well during rate-hiking cycles; Backwardation seen in crude oil means ‘it pays you to be long’
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is standing by its bullish call on commodities, saying the recent global markets selloff only bolsters its view that raw materials are set to perform well in months ahead
/goo.gl/Z1WWLT

FXSpotStream breaks record volumes as State Street’s liquidity goes live FEBRUARY 7, 2018 Ricardo Esteves – The Industry Spread
FXSpotStream LLC, a bank-owned consortium that provides the infrastructure to facilitate the route of trades from clients to liquidity providers, announced that State Street, its 13th bank available to clients connected to FXSpotStream’s price aggregation Service, is now live and trading globally.
/goo.gl/TYopba

Hedge Funds Shorting Volatility ‘Forced to Puke’ as Stocks Drop
Suzy Waite, Nishant Kumar and Saijel Kishan – Bloomberg
Option Solutions lost up to 65 percent amid stock selloff; Spike in volatility is set to continue, a hedge fund firm says
Hedge funds betting that stocks will surge and volatility is likely to remain muted were hit the hardest as an equity-market rout wiped about $1.25 trillion from U.S. shares.
jlne.ws/2EI8ndr

Wall Street FX Strategists Hit Reset After Euro Calls Fall Short
Alexandria Arnold – Bloomberg
Euro up more than 3% in 2018, above prior targets for year-end; Some analysts now predicting move toward $1.30 area for euro
Wall Street’s top currency strategists had the right idea when it came to the euro — they just weren’t right enough.
/goo.gl/UxnZjo

For Banks, This Volatility Is Too Much; Bank investors like some market volatility, but only within reason
Aaron Back – WSJ
Banking stocks have been hit along with everything else the past couple days. Are investors making a mistake?
/goo.gl/9eYYF3

Why Banks Will Cut Stock Market Fuel Supply; Loans that boost stock market bets look riskier after last year’s big loss
Paul J. Davies – WSJ
When stock markets hit air pockets like the past couple of days, margin calls are never far behind. This time, banks already have reason to be nervous about lending against shares.
/goo.gl/k7Xk5M

Bill Gross Fares Worst Among Go-Anywhere Bond Fund Managers in Selloff
John Gittelsohn – Bloomberg
Janus Henderson vehicle fell 0.8% on Monday, most in a year; His $2.2 billion fund held up far better than stock markets
Bill Gross was having a good 2018, until he wasn’t.
/goo.gl/3uizon

Regions

One Man’s Fight Against the Lions of Japanese Investing; When Haruhiro Nakano tried to set up a mutual fund in Tokyo, he quickly realized he’d have to overcome a lifetime of resistance.
Tom Redmond, Yuko Takeo and Nao Sano – Bloomberg
In a tiny, windowless meeting room high above the streets of Tokyo, Haruhiro Nakano starts to cry. The rail-thin, 54-year-old fund manager, who looks like a faded former J-pop star, has just shared his investing pitch, which sounds so deceptively simple you may not appreciate just how radical it is: Japanese workers, Nakano says, should invest for retirement using the capital markets rather than letting more than $8.6 trillion fester in bank accounts.
/goo.gl/CX6GyN

China’s Love Affair With Gold Heating Up on Property Riches
Ranjeetha Pakiam and Daniela Wei – Bloomberg
Showrooms in Shenzhen busy, wholesalers see clients returning; World’s biggest jeweler expects sales to keep expanding in ’18
China’s growing throng of affluent consumers is driving a rebound in demand for gold rings, bracelets and necklaces as a property boom and high stock market valuations boost wealth in the largest bullion market.
/goo.gl/uneasv

Euphoria in Emerging Markets Is Over, According to $119 Billion Japanese Fund
Yumi Teso – Bloomberg
Poland, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Mexico among favored markets; Investors are becoming selective and pace of gains will slow
The days when you could buy almost anything in emerging markets and expect to reap returns are over.
/goo.gl/drqpsP

Inside Mexican Capital Markets with Jaime Lazaro, CFA
Ron Rimkus – CFA Institute
Latin American markets are changing economically and politically. Recently, Jorge Castaneda suggested that Latin America is at a turning point: Democracy is taking root, corruption is being punished, stifling business regulations are being reduced, and, of course, the region largely remains rich in natural resources. Of course, there are still significant challenges.
/goo.gl/a3TxLw

India ETFs Wrap-up: 2017
Mahavir Kaswa – S&P Indexology Blog
Until 2013, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry in India was in a nascent stage, with negligible assets under manager (AUM). As of Dec. 31, 2013, the total AUM for ETFs was INR 8,000 crores (or USD 1.2 billion), out of which commodities-based ETFs tracking gold noted the largest share, with total AUM of INR 6,500 crores (USD 1 billion).
/goo.gl/MGv8oB

Brexit

Brexit could cut manufacturing exports by a third, experts warn
The Guardian
Leave-voting areas such as Sunderland to be worst hit by government strategies
/goo.gl/d5njiJ

Brexit issues for carbon market must be solved soon
Risk.net
UK departure from EU ETS is causing headaches for energy traders and risk managers, writes energy consultant
/goo.gl/47ih5P

Theresa May and ministers gather for key Brexit meeting
BBC
Theresa May is to chair the first of two key Brexit meetings with her senior ministers as the government faces more calls to clarify the UK’s position. The Brexit cabinet committee is to sketch out what the future relationship between the UK and EU might look like.
/goo.gl/jRnCBx

The post Cboe says Vix products not to blame; Credit Suisse liquidates vol fund; The market is not the economy appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Map to the Volatility Underworld; Nasdaq Moves to Midtown; Crypto “Ponzi” Schemes?

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

John Lothian News is pleased to welcome Chuck Mackie as a contributing editor. Chuck will be helping us with event coverage and a yet to be disclosed project. Stay tuned. Welcome, Chuck!~JJL

EEX, the Eurex power and commodities exchange, is looking at blockchain for its spot and clearing businesses, including a deal with LO3 Energy, a US-based energy-tech company.~JK

Boatloads of content in yesterday’s JLN Options newsletter. If you’re not getting it, feel free to sign up, because, well, it’s free to sign up.~SD

JLN updated the VIX page in Marketswiki yesterday. The page has been viewed more than 100,000 times.~JK

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The VIX Can’t Cause Vol – Cboe’s View on Volatility ETPs
Spencer Doar – JLN

As volatility began to surge in February, and then exploded on the fifth of the month, exchange traded products (ETPs) that shorted or provided inverse exposure to VIX futures came under fire.

The two most popular, Credit Suisse’s VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term exchange traded note (ETN), ticker XIV, and ProShares’ VIX Short VIX Short-Term Futures exchange traded fund (ETF), ticker SVXY, were the main focus, as they suffered huge losses. Trading in them was halted and then Credit Suisse announced it would liquidate its note. Those two products, more than any other, drew intense scrutiny of such volatility products and the Cboe’s VIX itself.

Cboe saw its own shares tumble from around $135 to $115 in the ensuing days’ trading, a fact attributed to the exchange’s connection with the instruments in question. Some big banks downgraded Cboe stock. On Wednesday, Cboe’s executives addressed the attention surrounding volatility with the aim of clearing up “misconceptions.”

Read the rest HERE.

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Fidessa scoops industry award for ETD affirmation service
Fidessa
Fidessa group plc today announced that its post-trade affirmation management service for exchange-traded derivatives has been named Best Utilities Technology at the 2018 Fund Technology & WSL Awards.
jlne.ws/2sgMyiD

**My power company is jealous and waiting for affirmation.~JK

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Wednesday’s Top Three
When volatility spikes, so do the VIX stories. The Financial Times piece Cboe says Vix products not to blame for market rout took the top spot yesterday. Second went to the other volatility play, cryptocurrencies, where you can be a billionaire today and a nobody tomorrow. So Here Are the World’s Virtual Currency Billionaires (or at Least They Were), from the New York Times. Third went to Bloomberg’s Volatility Inc.: Inside Wall Street’s $8 Billion Mess

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Lead Stories

Map to the Underworld: $2 Trillion of Volatility Trades Here
Dani Burger – Bloomberg
Products tied to market swings put in spotlight amid selloff; Inverse VIX ETPs grew in popularity with short-vol trade
For a fledgling asset class whose idiosyncrasies are understood by few, there sure is a lot of money swirling around in volatility trades. Investment strategies and products married to market swings were thrust front and center by the worst market meltdown in seven years, in which the Cboe Volatility Index surged to its highest level since 2015. VIX-related securities were halted, volatility-targeting quants blamed, and options trading in benchmarks for turbulence ballooned.
/goo.gl/4QsWSe

****Also see Bloomberg’s kindred story – Volatility Inc.: Inside Wall Street’s $8 Billion Mess.

A Wall Street Digital Pioneer Leaves for Midtown
David M. Levitt – Bloomberg
Soon there’ll be a little less Wall Street on Wall Street. Nasdaq Inc., a pioneer in the shift to electronic trading, announced Wednesday it will move its global headquarters to 4 Times Square by December of 2021 to join its MarketSite facility, where it rings in the start and end of each day’s trading session, among other ceremonies.
/goo.gl/CZANPN

****Reuters on Nasdaq here.

Cryptocurrencies Are Like Ponzi Schemes, World Bank Chief Says
Shelly Hagan – Bloomberg
Jim Yong Kim expresses doubt about legitimacy of digital coins; Questions come amid slump in market for cryptocurrencies
The head of the World Bank compared cryptocurrencies to “Ponzi schemes,” the latest financial voice to raise questions about the legitimacy of digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
/goo.gl/e2PpTA

Morningstar Announces the Expansion of its Index Marketplace in Software Products, Enabling Benchmark Comparisons for Investors
Morningstar
Signs FTSE Russell as first strategic provider to integrate index performance and constituent data to Morningstar on over 70 global equity index series
Morningstar, Inc. announced that it will be expanding its index marketplace in software products by integrating third-party index data, giving investors the ability to make direct benchmark comparisons based on their needs.
/goo.gl/U7S5TB

U.S. Announces Take-Down of $530 Million Cyberfraud Network
Tom Schoenberg – Bloomberg
Charges against 36 members of ‘the Infraud Organization’; U.S. says group used stolen IDs and malware to commit fraud
The U.S. charged 36 people in a take-down of an international cybercrime ring that prosecutors say used the slogan “In Fraud We Trust” and stole $530 million with the help of pilfered identities and malware.
/goo.gl/ZHaURC

Women outperform men in investing as they ‘do not take excessive risk’; Held more diverse portfolios
Laura Dew – InvestmentWeek
Women outperform men when it comes to investing over a three-year period as they hold more diverse portfolios and less risky investments, according to research from Hargreaves Lansdown.
/goo.gl/w1PcYW

??Is This Obscure Wall Street Invention Responsible for the Market Selloff?; Risk-parity funds, which balance portfolios based on the volatility of assets, were blamed for the price swings, but some outperformed the broader market
Corrie Driebusch and Rob Copeland – WSJ
The surge in market volatility this week, after a long period of tranquility, left investors seeking a culprit. Critics began pointing to an obscure investment strategy pioneered by the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.
/goo.gl/xY1fvG

ICE chief Sprecher bullish on MiFID II prospects; Jeff Sprecher is confident on growth in Europe due to MiFID II, but continues to criticise the open access regime.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) chief executive has expressed his optimism regarding MiFID II in Europe as a direct result of increased demand for regulatory products.
/goo.gl/EQJEzS

Warning Credit Suisse and Nomura could face mis-selling claims on short volatility funds; Access to non-sophisticated investors
Mike Sheen – InvestmentWeek
Credit Suisse and Nomura are in danger of facing mis-selling claims after the closure and suspension of a suite of short volatility exchange-traded note (ETN) products in this week’s market sell-off, according to legal advisory firm RPC.
/goo.gl/zyw8nV

The Market Time Bomb That’s Bigger Than the VIX; Loan funds pose a potential liquidity problem, which could have a destabilizing effect.
Stephen Gandel – Bloomberg
As bad as the stock market turbulence has been from volatility-linked products, it could be even worse some day because of exchange-traded loan funds.
/goo.gl/LdcbmH

VIX May Form the ‘Mother of All Inverted Vs’
Joanna Ossinger – Bloomberg
SocGen expects term structure to normalize in coming weeks; MKM sees ‘floor’ elevated above 10-11 level of recent years
The Cboe Volatility Index may not go back to its extreme lows of the past few years, but strategists at Societe Generale and MKM Partners LLC think it’s headed in that direction.
/goo.gl/gRwraL

Wells Fargo Downgraded by S&P in Wake of New Fed Asset Limit
Steve Dickson – Bloomberg
Bank loses credit-rating advantage over rivals with cut; S&P cites ‘continued elevated regulatory risks for Wells’
Wells Fargo & Co. lost a credit-rating advantage over its biggest rivals after the Federal Reserve banned the bank from growing until it convinces authorities it’s addressing problem areas.
The lender’s long-term credit grade was cut to A- from A, S&P Global Ratings said in a statement Wednesday. The ratings company said the bank didn’t warrant a higher grade than its peers because of ongoing regulatory and reputational issues.
/goo.gl/pTBZCp

Bank of America Hires Law Firm to Help Probe $292 Million Loss; Davis Polk & Wardwell brought in to look into charge stemming from Steinhoff loan
Rachel Louise Ensign – WSJ
Bank of America Corp. BAC 0.16% has brought in an outside law firm to help examine a soured lending arrangement that led to a $292 million charge in last year’s fourth quarter, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/S2K7fF

BlackRock’s Larry Fink Wants to Become the Next Warren Buffett; World’s largest asset manager looks to raise over $10 billion to make direct investments in companies
Sarah Krouse – WSJ
BlackRock Inc. is looking to raise more than $10 billion that it would use to buy and hold stakes in companies, replicating the approach of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
/goo.gl/Wyf9mv

Blockchain Project Raises $61 Million from A16Z, Polychain Capital
Coindesk
A blockchain project based in Switzerland has raised $61 million from a group of investors that includes venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz and token hedge fund Polychain Capital. – Announcing the news this morning, DFINITY Stiftung said the funding would go toward development of its blockchain protocol, aimed to support a public decentralized cloud computing platform. According to Reuters, $21 million of the total will be dedicated to development, with the rest devoted to a venture fund aimed at supporting developers and teams working on applications of the protocol.
/goo.gl/NZXmMi

FX Traders Are Going to Be Hooked on Algos
Lananh Nguyen – Bloomberg
One in 10 currency traders uses algos: Greenwich Associates; Adoption of trading algorithms seen as a future need
In a few years, currency traders will be hooked on algos like their stock-market colleagues.
/goo.gl/Snv1Z5

Churches warn firms over pay, gender and climate change; Slash CEO income, bring more women on board and go low carbon, Church Investors Group tells companies
Angela Monaghan – The Guardian
The Church Investors Group has warned some of Britain’s biggest companies it intends to take a hard line over failings on executive pay, gender diversity and climate change in the forthcoming annual meeting season.
/goo.gl/2QQ1jY

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Nasdaq Announces 2018 Investor Day
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) will host its 2018 Investor Day on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 with presentations given by Adena Friedman, President and CEO, and other members of Nasdaq’s senior leadership team on the company’s operations and strategy.
/goo.gl/KxNVo1

NYSE Announces April 30 Launch of NYSE National; Expands Customer Choice with Taker-Maker Market Model
ICE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), part of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), today announced that NYSE National, an electronic equities exchange, plans to commence trading on Monday, April 30, 2018.
/goo.gl/w3yUP3

Exclusive: CME mulls changes to soy, corn contracts – customers
Tom Polansek, Michael Hirtzer – Reuters
CME Group Inc is talking to customers about potential changes to its biggest agricultural futures markets – corn and soybeans – to address concerns the contracts’ prices are not accurately reflecting the underlying U.S. cash grain markets, the company’s clients told Reuters.
/goo.gl/1kHmxb

EEX Group unveils solutions for future energy and commodity markets
Hedgeweek
Four of the Group’s Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) took part in the press event discussing how EEX Group’s series of innovative projects meets the challenges and opportunities posed by the increasing importance of decarbonisation, digitalisation and decentralisation.??”As EEX Group we are committed to providing our customers with tailor-made solutions that help to shape the future. Our series of innovations is shaped by the major trends of decarbonisation, decentralisation and digitalisation, which will undoubtedly transform the energy markets of the future on a local, regional and global level,” said Peter Reitz (pictured), CEO of EEX.
jlne.ws/2E8WCfd

SGX welcomes Rui Da International as Derivatives Trading Member
SGX
SGX welcomes Rui Da International as Derivatives Trading Member
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed Hong Kong-based Rui Da International Finance Holding Limited (Rui Da International) as a Trading Member of its derivatives market.
/goo.gl/1gQxCi

Euronext announces volumes for January 2018
Euronext
Euronext, the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone, today announced trading volumes for January 2018.
/goo.gl/teusPm

Millennium Exchange Oslo Bors: New trade Type For Fixed Income
Mondovisione
In order to meet customer request, Oslo B¯rs has decided to add the trade type ´NMª to fixed income. This trade type may be used to report trades that has been reported to another MiFiD II trading venue or another APA than Oslo B¯rs APA.
/goo.gl/1Ai9wM

An investor’s best friend? Israel Diamond Exchange launches digital coins
Ari Rabinovitch and Tova Cohen – Reuters
Israel’s diamond exchange is turning to digital currencies to inject new life into a marketplace long ruled by cash and backroom handshakes, but it must first persuade traditionally conservative players that the technology can work.
/goo.gl/Gisq9J

Wall Street Sours on Cboe Following Collapse of VIX-Linked Funds
Annie Massa, Brian Louis and Nick Baker – Bloomberg
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs analysts downgrade shares of Cboe; Regulatory scrutiny of VIX-tied products seen as possibility
The pain continues for Cboe Global Markets Inc. The exchange fell as much as 5.1 percent Wednesday, building on Tuesday’s record 10 percent plunge, after analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the stock to “neutral,” leaving just two buy recommendations on Wall Street.
/goo.gl/SvwEWa

SGX welcomes Rui Da International as Derivatives Trading Member
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today welcomed Hong Kong-based Rui Da International Finance Holding Limited (Rui Da International) as a Trading Member of its derivatives market.
/goo.gl/NmvfiD

CME Group Increases Regular Quarterly Dividend by Six Percent
CME Group
CME Group Inc., the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today declared a first-quarter dividend of $0.70 per share, a six percent increase from the prior rate of $0.66 per share. The dividend is payable March 26, 2018, to shareholders of record as of March 9, 2018.
/goo.gl/Gi5k2A

Tokyo Exchange has nasty news for Toshiba investors; Demoted conglomerate set to remain in the index’s second division until 2022
Leo Lewis – FT
If you squint a bit at Toshiba’s share price chart over the past 12 months and ignore the catastrophic, post-writedown plunge last December, you could almost conclude that the accident-prone conglomerate was back on track.
/goo.gl/PMWqMB

Fee rebate programme and readiness reward for Eurex EnLight
Eurex
Eurex Deutschland and Eurex Z¸rich (collectively: the Eurex Exchanges) have recently launched their electronic request-for-quote (RFQ) service called Eurex EnLight in order to provide Trading Participants a platform to electronically negotiate off-book transactions. With this service, the Eurex Exchanges aim to support Trading Participants in proving compliance with the “best execution-requirement” under MiFID II and to improve overall operational efficiencies and transparency.
/goo.gl/yyV5tj

Cross Currency Haircuts: Adjustments as of the end-of-day batch run on 12 February 2018
Eurex
Please find attached a specification of Eurex Clearing’s Cross Currency Haircuts effective with the end-of-day batch run on 12 February 2018.
/goo.gl/k5RHtU

HKEX to Proceed with Plan to Include Equity Index Options in its After-Hours Derivatives Trading
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is proceeding with its plan to include its most actively traded equity index options – Hang Seng Index (HSI) Options, Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Options (HSCEI) Options, Mini-HSI Options and Mini- HSCEI Options (equity index options) – in the T+1 Session (after hours trading) of its derivatives (futures and options) market. The changes will be made after a readiness test scheduled for the early second quarter of this year and the final regulatory approval. They are expected to be introduced before the end of the second quarter. The effective date will be announced later.
/goo.gl/qskFoS

Fintech

Fintech Firms Look to Enter Banking Via Century-Old Tactic; FDIC nominee has spoken favorably about industrial loan company charters, raising hopes they can make a comeback
By Lalita Clozel – WSJ
Financial-technology firms eager to offer banking products are eyeing a century-old model that fell out of favor during the financial crisis but could see a revival under the Trump administration.
/goo.gl/PjppxT

Dynasty Financial Partners and YCharts Team Up to Provide RIAs With a Tailored Institutional Investment Platform
Press Release
Dynasty Financial Partners and YCharts today announced a multiyear extension of their partnership to provide Dynasty’s Network Advisory Firms with YCharts’ web-based investment research platform within Dynasty’s proprietary advisor dashboard, the Dynasty Desktop.
jlne.ws/2Esl3Yo

FIS Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2017 Results and 2018 Guidance
Fourth Quarter 2017
FIS (NYSE:FIS), a global leader in financial services technology, today reported fourth quarter and full-year 2017 results. The Company’s GAAP results were impacted by “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” and the divestitures of its public sector and education business and its consulting businesses in 2017.
/goo.gl/5yytuK

Bitcoin’s Plunge Weighs on Coin Offerings; Recent low has weighed heavily on so-called altcoins and the newer tokens created via initial coin offerings
Paul Vigna – WSJ
Bitcoin’s roughly 70% selloff from the December peak to its recent low has weighed heavily on so-called altcoins and especially the newer tokens created via initial coin offerings.
/goo.gl/RXGHZZ

Exchange Data International Announces Options Analytics Service; The new service gives users nine End of Day Options Sensitivities, five End of Day Implied Volatilities and Interpolated Volatility Surfaces.
Exchange Data International
Exchange Data International (EDI), is pleased to announce the release of a new service Options Analytics. Serge Tchikanda, Ph.D. Options Analytics Analyst says: The Options Analytics Service is an institutional quality, end of day feed for options implied volatilities, volatility indexes, volatility surfaces, and options sensitivity parameters (Greeks) on global markets of exchange-listed options on equities, indexes, currencies, and futures. As an “Analytics as a Service” feed, the Options Analytics Service eliminates the costly investment in hardware infrastructure and labour typically associated with developing options analytics.
/goo.gl/k5G3y9

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance suspends trading and withdrawals; Company cites system upgrade for trade halt
Adam Samson in London – FT
Cryptocurrencies exchange Binance has denied that it was hacked after a system upgrade prevented users from trading or withdrawing funds on Thursday, in a fresh reminder of the practical issues inherent in digital currencies.
/goo.gl/5kyD4c

FactSet targets active buy-siders with blockchain technology; CG Blockchain services will be made available to FactSet’s clients through its order and executive management system.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
FactSet has teamed up with a distributed ledger technology provider to offer its clients access to blockchain products.
/goo.gl/A72ZCP

Politics

Israeli police recommend indicting Netanyahu for corruption: report
John Bowden – The Hill
Israeli police chiefs will recommend to the country’s attorney general that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on corruption charges, according to reports in local media.
jlne.ws/2EMwY0M

Good Is Bad, Bad Is Good and Trump Is Miffed at Stock Traders
Sarah Ponczek – Bloomberg
Stocks fall on better-than-expected jobs, ISM reports; ‘The most common thing that can halt a bull market’: Selkin
The word is officially out: Good is bad in the stock market once again (and, by extension, bad is good).
/goo.gl/g1dtHn

Do You Think Donald Trump Is Ready for a Real Financial Crisis?
Editorial Board – NY Times
The global financial markets are not in crisis. Though some pundits stoked panic with their coverage of several days of market plunges before Tuesday’s leap, stock prices are still near their record highs, the economy is creating jobs and many workers are finally getting decent raises after years of stagnant wages.
/goo.gl/AU3nLB

Russians penetrated U.S. voter systems, top U.S. official says
Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin and Kevin Monahan – NBC News
The U.S. official in charge of protecting American elections from hacking says the Russians successfully penetrated the voter registration rolls of several U.S. states prior to the 2016 presidential election.
/goo.gl/kNZZVy

Former Lawmaker Who Was Rejected as Ex-Im Bank Chief to Join SEC; Scott Garrett to get second act advising SEC chairman; as congressman, he had criticized Wall Street regulators
Dave Michaels and Andrew Ackerman – WSJ
‘Scott Garrett, a former Republican lawmaker known for criticizing what he considered government overreach by Wall Street regulators, has landed a senior role at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
/goo.gl/8yr89e

Trump Warns Stock Market Is Making A “Big Mistake”; The president has responded to Monday’s plunge, and all we can say is the “Stock Market” better run and hide.
Bess Levin – Vanity Fair
Earlier this week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted a record-setting 1,597 points, the biggest point decline in history during a single trading session. Donald Trump, who has patted himself on the back for gains in the stock market on a near daily basis since becoming president, was uncharacteristically silent on the matter, while the White House suddenly claimed it was focused on the long-term health of the economy, rather than short-term market fluctuations.
/goo.gl/PMpAkG

George Soros donates £400,000 to anti-Brexit campaign; Financier backs the Best for Britain group founded by Gina Miller
Henry Mance, Political Correspondent – FT
An anti-Brexit group founded by businesswoman Gina Miller says financier George Soros has given £400,000 to its campaign against Britain’s decision to leave the EU.
/goo.gl/KkX2m5

Regulation

ECB Wakes Up to Bitcoin as Virtual World Touches Reality
Pioptr Skolimowski, Carolynn Look – Bloomberg
Cryptocurrencies are one focus of Argentina G-20 presidency
The European Central Bank has woken up to the risks digital currencies can pose to policy makers’ bread-and-butter business: the economy.
/goo.gl/AFsFsk

Rabobank agrees to pay $368 million over processing illicit funds
Karen Freifeld – Reuters
Rabobank N.A., a California unit of the Dutch cooperative bank, agreed on Wednesday to pay over $368 million for processing funds likely tied to drug trafficking and other illicit activity and pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to obstruct regulatory oversight.
/goo.gl/2t7Gjz

Bitcoin Surges 40% Because Regulation Is Suddenly a Good Thing
Avi Salzman – Barron’s
Bitcoin owners might want to send flowers to Washington, D.C., after the digital coin shot up some 40% since it slipped below $6,000 on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/xED4XS

Cryptocurrencies Get Word From SEC Inspectors: We Are Watching
Benjamin Bain – Bloomberg
Digital currencies just got name-checked by a group that many of their boosters would probably rather avoid: Securities and Exchange Commission inspectors.
/goo.gl/6Ty7FY

Ex-State Street Executive Faces New U.S. Fraud Charge
Nate Raymond – Reuters
U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday brought a new charge against a former State Street Corp executive accused of participating in a scheme to defraud clients by charging them secret commissions on billions of dollars of trades.
/goo.gl/kDmN7E

OSC Announces Fintech Advisory Committee Members For 2018
Mondovisione
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) today announced new members of its Fintech Advisory Committee (FAC), which advises OSC staff on developments and trends in the fintech space, as well as the unique challenges encountered by innovative businesses in the securities industry.
/goo.gl/T9knur

Swiss regulator in contact with Credit Suisse over Vix-related products
Pan Kwan Yuk and Ralph Atkins – FT
Switzerland’s financial regulator has been in contact with Credit Suisse over its volatility-related trading products, just a day after the bank was forced to shut down one of its Vix funds in the wake of Monday’s dramatic market sell-off.
/goo.gl/rkQbRx

ESMA publishes 2018 Work Programme for CRAs, trade repositories and third country CCPs
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has today published its 2017 Annual Report and 2018 Work Programme setting out its main supervisory activities for credit rating agencies (CRAs), trade repositories (TRs), and third country central counterparties (TC-CCPs) in the EU. ESMA supervises eight registered TRs, 26 registered CRAs and four certified CRAs from third-countries. The report also details ESMA’s supervisory activities and achievements in 2017.
/goo.gl/5NwtBG

Issues Conflict Of Interest Guidelines for CCPs
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued today final guidelines on the management of conflict of interests for central counterparties (CCPs).
/goo.gl/2SBAwh

SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations Announces 2018 Examination Priorities
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) today announced its 2018 examination priorities. OCIE publishes its exam priorities annually to improve compliance, prevent fraud, monitor risk, and inform policy. Of particular interest this year will be matters involving critical market infrastructure, duties to retail investors, and developments in cryptocurrency, initial coin offerings, and secondary market trading.
/goo.gl/1NzQb6

Virtual currencies may stay even if bubble is already deflating: ECB
Reuters Staff
The market bubble of virtual currencies is already deflating but central banks should still pay attention as the innovation may be here to stay even if early market leaders die out, European Central Bank board member Yves Mersch said on Thursday.
/goo.gl/CbfjuA

ULLINK and LiquidMetrix partner on best execution for MiFID II; UL Publisher for Best Execution addresses new requirements under MiFID II RTS 28, combining ULLINK and LiquidMetrix solutions.
John Brazier – The Trade
Paris-based technology and connectivity provider ULLINK has launched a new solution for best execution reporting under new MiFID II rules.
/goo.gl/XRG8HR

Operators of ‘binary options trading boiler room’ banned following conviction
ASIC
ASIC has permanently banned Jana Jaros and Jackson Laurence Malcolm Capper from providing financial services or from engaging in any credit activities after they were convicted and sentenced on charges brought by ASIC.
/goo.gl/Szh2Nz

Charges laid against former FX trader
ASIC
Former Deutsche Bank FX options and futures trader, Andrew Donaldson, of Bronte NSW, has been charged with 85 offences under s184(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 in respect of using his position as an employee dishonestly with the intention of directly or indirectly gaining an advantage for himself. Mr Donaldson’s charges were first listed before Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on 6 February 2018.
/goo.gl/X7ziVG

FINRA Requests Comment on Proposed Amendments to Its Membership Application Program to Incentivize Payment of Arbitration Awards; Comment Period Expires: April 9, 2018
FINRA
FINRA is requesting comment on proposed amendments to its Membership Application Program (MAP) rules to create further incentives for the timely payment of arbitration awards by preventing an individual from switching firms, or a firm from using asset transfers or similar transactions, to avoid payment of arbitration awards while staying in business.
/goo.gl/m2k13h

Investing and Trading

Shorting volatility: its role in the stocks sell-off; Unwinding of strategies that make money from markets staying calm deepened the selling
Robin Wigglesworth in New York – FT
When excitable beliefs in new paradigms in markets are shattered it can be spectacular. The conviction that stock markets had entered a new era of tranquility has become the latest example.
/goo.gl/adgYL1

Drought Across U.S. Reaches Highest Levels Since 2014
Brian K. Sullivan – Bloomberg
Eastern cold snaps offset by warm West to boost temperatures; Drought covers more than one-third of lower 48 states
In January, the East was cold, the West was warm and drought reached its largest extent since 2014, the National Centers for Environmental Information said Wednesday.
/goo.gl/mJnNsR

Winklevoss Twins Say Bitcoin Will Hit $320,000 and Non-Believers Suffer a ‘Failure of Imagination’
David Meyer – Fortune
Bitcoin may have had a rocky last couple months, to put it mildly, but some boosters still have their optimism goggles on. Case in point: the Winklevii.
/goo.gl/GZpk2q

Blockchain name-grabbing has echoes of dotcom bubble
Alasdair Pal – Reuters
If you want a quick boost to your company’s share price, adding “blockchain” to your name will work – at least for a while.
/goo.gl/cishhj

Forbes’ First List Of Cryptocurrency’s Richest: Meet The Secretive Freaks, Geeks And Visionaries Minting Billions From Bitcoin Mania
Pamela Ambler, Angel Au-Yeung, Grace Chung, Jeff Kauflin, Alex Konrad, Laura Shin and Nathan Vardi – Forbes
In the world of cryptocurrency, where billion-dollar fortunes can be made overnight, speed is everything ó and CZ is the fastest of them all. From closet-size offices in Tokyo ó “I would touch four people if I turned around in a circle” ó the 41-year-old Chinese-Canadian coder runs Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that has gone from a standing start to the largest on the planet in just under 180 days.
/goo.gl/VhWoUS

Bitcoin on Credit? For 20 Percent of Owners, That’s a Yes
Olga Kharif – Bloomberg
More than half pay back their loans, says new CoinDesk report; Major credit-card issuers are disallowing buying crypto
Nearly 20 percent of people who own cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin went into debt to buy it, or bought it on margin.
/goo.gl/7H7tDy

For Millennial Investors, a Harsh Lesson in Market Gyrations
Tiffany Hsu – NY Times
Watching the wild swings in the stock market has been a heartbreaking experience for Jasmine Okougbo, who started investing only last month.
/goo.gl/hzLnmB

Institutions

Star fund manager leaves over ‘professional conduct issue’; Philip Rodrigs exits River & Mercantile Asset Management after internal investigation
Attracta Mooney – FT
Top-rated UK fund manager Philip Rodrigs has left River & Mercantile Asset Management over a “professional conduct issue”, following a two-month long internal investigation.
/goo.gl/6WnmSS

ABN Amro: damn squared; Shares in the Dutch bank have dropped and the chairman is headed for the exit
FT
Bankers at ABN Amro have to swear an oath to serve society. Swearing of another kind emanated from investors when the Amsterdam-based bank said payouts would be restricted to 50 per cent of “sustainable profit”. Chairman Olga Zoutendijk is stepping down, reportedly after falling out with the Dutch government, ABN’s largest shareholder. Might the two be related?
/goo.gl/rVjekT

Macro Hedge Funds Rediscover Their Mojo; Less QE should mean more opportunity for profit.
Mark Gilbert – Bloomberg
Hedge funds that try to earn a crust from speculating on the market impact of shifts in the economic and political background have starved in recent years. But the global macro gang is back.
/goo.gl/CnxivW

Are Banks Worthless?; Also XIV surprises, Wynn, KodakCoin and the decline of public markets.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
Here is a hilarious paper from Juliane Begenau of Stanford and Erik Stafford of Harvard called “Do Banks Have an Edge?” No, is their answer. You’d be better off just passively buying Treasuries than buying the complicated mix of stuff that banks actually own
/goo.gl/dqrtwA

Deutsche Bank Shares Plunge to Crisis Level
Steve Arons – Bloomberg
Analysts turn sour on ‘damaged franchise,’ cut recommendations; Shares tumble to lowest point since before DOJ settlement
Deutsche Bank AG fell to the lowest level since a crisis of confidence in 2016 after its fourth-quarter earnings flop prompted analyst downgrades.
/goo.gl/gu8YoF

Goldman Is Close to Buying Personal-Finance Startup Clarity
Dakin Campbell and Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
Bank is boosting efforts to do more business with consumers; Firm’s Marcus online unit has originated $2 billion in loans
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in discussions to acquire personal-finance startup Clarity Money, with plans to fold it into its Marcus online lender, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/fgzeaM

SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale ekes out quarterly profit despite charges; Results helped by an improving trend in bank’s French and international retail units
David Keohane in Paris – FT
SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale eked out a small profit in the fourth quarter, beating expectations of a loss driven by exceptional items, as the bank presented its first set of results since setting out its new business plan.
/goo.gl/Mz1x5V

UBS to Focus Bonuses on Star Performers and Millennials
Patrick Winters, Stefania Spezzati and Ambereen Choudhury – Bloomberg
Bank said to pay flat bonuses for 2017 compared to last year; Investment bank chief has said it would be a ‘tricky’ year
UBS Group AG’s investment bank allocated the biggest discretionary payouts to the highest revenue generators and younger employees as competition from other industries intensifies, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
/goo.gl/sUAp9L

Regions

As cryptominers eye Quebec, forest companies see opportunity
Allison Lampert – Reuters
At least two Canadian forestry companies are reviewing offers by cryptocurrency miners who want to lease excess mill space in Quebec, a province where electricity prices are among the lowest in North America.
/goo.gl/vC4Dyp

For China’s Wealthy, Singapore Is the New Hong Kong; It’s farther from the authorities in Beijingóand a nice place to keep an apartment.
Chanyaporn Chanjaroen, Keith Zhai and Cathy Chan – Bloomberg
When more than 80 of China’s wealth managers gathered recently at the Shangri-La hotel on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa, the chatter during tea breaks kept returning to one theme: Hong Kong is starting to be eclipsed by Singapore as the favorite destination for the wealth of China’s rich.
/goo.gl/s3fZH6

Japan regulator to inspect more cryptocurrency exchanges: source
Takahiko Wada – Reuters
Japan’s financial regulator will this week launch on-site checks of several cryptocurrency exchange operators potentially vulnerable to cyber-attacks, and may widen its inspections, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.
/goo.gl/BH9kUp

India chases 100,000 for tax on cryptocurrency profits; Action follows vow by finance minister to stamp out illicit use of digital coin
Simon Mundy – FT
India’s crackdown on bitcoin shows signs of gathering pace, after the tax authority revealed it has issued 100,000 tax notices to cryptocurrency investors suspected of concealing profits.
/goo.gl/5ZGmEB

Why currency traders kept their heads while others lost theirs; Emerging markets and havens were remarkably unscathed by the blitz of stock selli
Roger Blitz – FT
It is not often that the world of currency trading looks like an oasis of calm, but it has this week. As the worst drop in the S&P 500 since 2011 reverberated across global equities, the foreign exchange market watched from the sidelines.
/goo.gl/Shv8ov

China fines payments companies for cross-border forex breaches; Alibaba, Tencent transactions draw scrutiny amid crackdown on capital flight
Louise Lucas, Emily Feng and Gabriel Wildau – FT
China tech groups Alibaba and Tencent have been caught up in Beijing’s war on capital flight, with both being handed fines for breaches of cross-border foreign exchange payments at their financial services units.
/goo.gl/rm5fyz

Canary Wharf Group to Help China Build Its New Financial Center
Bloomberg News
Firm signed agreement to work on fintech city, U.K. envoy says; Richard Burn says it won’t copy London’s financial district
China’s plans to build a fintech center in a new city being built southwest of Beijing will get a hand from Canary Wharf Group Plc, the developer behind London’s famed business district.
/goo.gl/XNtBQs

Brexit

George Soros, the man who ‘broke the Bank of England’, backing secret plot to thwart Brexit
Nick Timothy, Kate McCann, Claire Newell and Luke Heighton – Telegraph
George Soros, the billionaire known as the man who “broke the Bank of England”, is backing a campaign to overturn Brexit, the Telegraph can disclose.
/goo.gl/RjNtH2

Theresa May Plans Instant Split From Some EU Rules After Brexit
Bloomberg
Senior officials prepare to sell the upside of EU withdrawal; Bank regulation, farm subsidies and trade deals in U.K. sights
Prime Minister Theresa May is drawing up plans for an instant break from key European Union regulations — including some on financial services — after Brexit in a drive to exploit the upside of the divorce, according to senior U.K. officials.
/goo.gl/jSgXkz

May to tell Japanese firms she wants Brexit transition deal as soon as possible
Reuters Staff
British Prime Minister Theresa May will tell business leaders from major Japanese firms on Thursday that she is seeking to agree a transition period for Britain’s exit from the European Union as soon as possible.
/goo.gl/qbZzyN

Miscellaneous

Tether critic’s Twitter account suspended under questionable circumstances
Jack Morse – Mashable
Why release an audit of your so-called stablecoin when you can just shut down your loudest critic’s Twitter account?
/goo.gl/xYieXw

The post Map to the Volatility Underworld; Nasdaq Moves to Midtown; Crypto “Ponzi” Schemes? appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Insider trading has been rife on Wall Street, academics conclude; Singapore Bourse Seeks to Defuse Tensions With Indian Counterpart; Booming Demand for Clearing Options, Futures Contracts Fuels OCC’s Growth

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

The National Stock Exchange of India will end its licensing arrangements with SGX, CME Group, Taiwan Futures Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange, according to Bloomberg. Given the ongoing limited access to the Indian market, this can’t be good for NSE, even with a new tax-free trade zone. ~JK

ICE is set to relaunch the National Stock Exchange, purchased last year, as NYSE National, a maker-taker pricing model.~JK

Cliff Histed, a partner at K&L Gates LLP will be moderating the Enforcement Actions panel at the ABA’s “2018 Blockchain Technology, Digital Currency, and ICO National Institute” in New York on April 27.~JJL

Quote of the Day from TheHill. “It strikes me that we owe it to this new generation to respect their enthusiasm about virtual currencies with a thoughtful and balanced response, not a dismissive one.” – CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, during last Tuesday’s Senate Banking Committee panel.~JK

JLN has updated the Leo Melamed page in Marketswiki. Did you know his Asia experience includes advisory roles with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Huatai Financial USA, a Chinese futures broker and an equity stake in HuaMei Capital Company, which consults on cross-border mergers and acquisitions?~JK

We have also updated the page for Jack Sandner, who is retiring from the CME Group board at the same time as Mr. Melamed. In addition to being a trustee of The University of Notre Dame, Rush University Medical Center, The Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago, and the Shedd Aquarium, Sandner has received numerous awards from Notre Dame and elsewhere.~SR

The CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee will be in Washington, DC on Wednesday. I will be there.~JJL

The Financial Times has published a Special Report on Exchange Traded Funds.~JJL

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Dennis K. Berman Joins Lazard as a Managing Director, Financial Advisory
Business Wire
Lazard Ltd announced today that Dennis K. Berman, Financial Editor of The Wall Street Journal, will join the firm as a Managing Director in Financial Advisory, effective February 26.
/goo.gl/TMGv82

***** Berman is a Pulitzer-Prize winning editor and writer, has served as the financial editor of The Wall Street Journal and as a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Committee since July 2015.

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The Computer Part People Are Hoarding: ‘I Felt Like I Was Buying Drugs’; The race to create cryptocurrencies is driving up cost of one specific type of hardware that’s also prized by PC gamers
Sarah E. Needleman – WSJ
Three months into a seemingly futile search, James Liska finally spotted a reasonably priced computer-graphics card online. By the time he clicked “buy,” it was gone. He blames those cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
/goo.gl/BDK4Lk

**So ahh, you got any stuff? Like graphics cards?~JK

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New Crypto Regulator?; Spoofing Appealed Again; Examination Priorities
Gary DeWaal – Bridging the Week
Last week, the chairmen of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission provided their insight into the risks of cryptocurrency activities before a Senate committee. During his testimony, CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo suggested it might be appropriate to extend federal oversight to spot virtual currencies and exchanges to avoid gaps in current regulation. Additionally, the first trader convicted of spoofing under a Dodd-Frank amendment to existing law expressly designed to prohibit such activity appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court, claiming the law change was unconstitutionally vague.
jlne.ws/2Ejn3Tz

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Friday’s Top Three
Monday’s top read item was CME Group Inc. Names Slate of Director Nominees from the exchange. Second went to the FT’s Melamed, Sandner to retire from CME Group board. Third went to the New York Times’ Cryptocurrencies Come to Campus

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
  • 120,765,077 pages viewed
  • 23,001 pages
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Level Trading

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Lead Stories

Insider trading has been rife on Wall Street, academics conclude; One study suggests insiders profited even from the global financial crisis; another that the whole share-trading system is rigged
The Economist
Insider-trading prosecutions have netted plenty of small fry. But many grumble that the big fish swim off unharmed. That nagging fear has some new academic backing, from three studies. One argues that well-connected insiders profited even from the financial crisis.* The others go further still, suggesting the entire share-trading system is rigged.**
/goo.gl/QJagC5

Singapore Bourse Seeks to Defuse Tensions With Indian Counterpart
Andrea Tan and Santanu Chakaborty – Bloomberg
Singapore Exchange drops most in 9 years as NSE to cut ties; Move is latest effort by India to discourage offshore trading
A shock decision by Indian exchanges to cut ties with their offshore counterparts sent shares of Singapore Exchange Ltd. falling by the most in nine years and raised questions about how the world’s second-most populous nation will fit in with the global financial system.
/goo.gl/NfQzfW

Booming Demand for Clearing Options, Futures Contracts Fuels OCC’s Growth
Heather Noel – DallasInnovates.com
As the Dow plummeted this week, trade volumes experienced a sharp rise. The jump in activity has brought record-setting days for The Options Clearing Corporation, which operates using a decentralized structure with equally-capable offices in Dallas and Chicago.
/goo.gl/GajDdb

Singapore Exchange shares tumble after India pulls data; Action endangers SGX’s place as major international exchange for Indian stock futures
Philip Stafford in London and Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong – FT
Shares in the Singapore Exchange plunged on Monday after three of the largest Indian stock markets announced they would stop licensing their data to overseas exchanges due to fears that trading was deserting India.
/goo.gl/WbWtRH

UK financial watchdogs launch coordinated push on algorithmic trading
Philip Stafford in London – FT
UK authorities have published plans to toughen financial institutions’ accountability for the algorithms they use to trade on global markets.
/goo.gl/qZeh63

Fidelity bans retail investors from trading short volatility
Joe Rennison and Nicole Bullock in New York – FT
Fidelity, one of the largest retail brokerages in the US, has temporarily stopped clients from buying an exchange traded fund that bets on markets remaining calm and was a victim of this week’s market rout.
/goo.gl/X7CmBc

Italian cryptocurrency exchange BitGrail loses $170 million
Mariella Moon – Engadget
One of the biggest problems with cryptocurrency exchanges is that they’re a juicy, enticing target for high-tech criminals. Case in point, Italian exchange BitGrail, which lost $170 million worth of Nano tokens, a little-known digital coin previously called RaiBlocks. BitGrail is the second exchange that lost of massive amount of money this year — and it’s only February — following Tokyo-based Coincheck, which lost between $400 and $534 million worth of coins in a cyberattack on its internet-connected wallet back in January.
/goo.gl/4vE9wU

Algos Face New Trading Curbs in U.K. as Regulator Reins in Risk
Silla Brush – Bloomberg
Banks and other firms may have to meet tougher requirements to manage risks stemming from algorithmic trading in the U.K. as markets become increasingly computer-driven, the Bank of England said on Monday.
/goo.gl/4mpxmT

This Tiny Hedge Fund Just Made 8,600% On a Vix Bet
Dani Burger – Bloomberg
Denver traders pocketed $17.5 million on $200,000 VIX wager; People laughed when the firm bought disaster protection in XIV
Not everyone got crushed when the market collapsed. For traders at a little-known Denver hedge fund who saw it coming, it was the score of a lifetime — a $17.5 million payday on a $200,000 bet.
/goo.gl/t1y1Vp

Wall St blames turmoil on insurers’ volatility strategy; Analysts say funds designed to produce steady returns sold as turbulence increased
Alistair Gray and Robin Wigglesworth in New York – FT
Wall Street is pointing the finger at insurance companies as an unlikely but pivotal source of the turbulence that wiped trillions of dollars off stock market values in recent days.
/goo.gl/eTVDBd

Hey, Economist! What Do Cryptocurrencies Have to Do with Trust?
Michael Lee and Antoine Martin – New York Federal Reserve
Bitcoin and other “cryptocurrencies” have been much in the news lately, in part because of their wild gyrations in value. Michael Lee and Antoine Martin, economists in the New York Fed’s Money and Payment Studies function, have been following cryptocurrencies and agreed to answer some questions about digital money.
/goo.gl/8AhHZC

Deutsche Bank to Recruit Rookies in Bid to Revive Equities Unit
Steven Arons, Donal Griffin – Bloomberg
Ex-Goldman Sachs partner Selman tapped to rebuild business; ‘We certainly have holes to fill and we’re hiring,’ he says
Peter Selman, hired out of retirement by Deutsche Bank AG to turn around Wall Street’s worst-hit equities business, wants to tap universities rather than rivals to do so.
/goo.gl/87pFcM

The Economy Is Full of Crypto (And Collective Delusion); Finance has become untethered from productive work.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
We have talked a few times around here about a socialist republic that has been hit hard by sanctions imposed by the U.S. government and that, in response, is planning to issue its own cryptocurrency to raise money. I mean Venezuela. Venezuela’s government is the one that is planning to issue a cryptocurrency to replace money that it has lost due to the policies of the U.S. federal government.
/goo.gl/tJwgry

For Global Markets, an Uncertain Anniversary; U.S. stocks have rebounded since their tumble on Feb. 11, 2016, when sliding oil prices and bank stocks stoked fears of a global slowdown
Akane Otani and Kiersten Schmidt – WSJ
Two years ago, financial markets hit their recent low point following months of upheaval centering on the economic outlook for China and the attendant risks of recession elsewhere. Since then, stocks and many other assets have staged a powerful rally—but those gains have come under intense pressure during the early stages of 2018, renewing questions about the prospects for investors across asset classes. The next few weeks promise to be eventful ones on Wall Street and beyond.
/goo.gl/TQPEuk

European banks break ranks over cryptocurrencies; Despite prospect of tighter regulations, smaller lenders see an opportunity
Martin Arnold in London and Ralph Atkins in Zurich – FT
A handful of smaller European banks are breaking ranks with the rest of the sector by giving investors access to cryptocurrencies and advising on initial coin offerings, despite an intensifying effort by regulators to clamp down on the area.
/goo.gl/rqdFQ9

One Cause of Market Turbulence: Computer-Driven Index Funds
Landon Thomas Jr. – NY Times
A decade ago, the center of gravity on Wall Street were raucous trading desks and stock exchange floors. These days, the locus has shifted to far quieter places, where computers are in charge.
/goo.gl/DHXKrj

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

SGX flagship futures in doubt after Indian exchange market data suspension; India’s largest exchange operators will stop licensing index market to foreign exchanges as derivatives volumes migrate from the country.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Three major Indian exchanges have said they will stop licensing their market data and indices to foreign investors, bringing the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) flagship futures index into question.
/goo.gl/VPaj7G

Announcement on SGX India Equity Derivatives
SGX
We refer to the issuance of the “Joint Press Release for Licensing of Indian Indices and Market Data of the securities listed or traded in India” by National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Metropolitan Stock Exchange of India (MSEI) (“the Indian Exchanges”) on 9 February 2018, regarding the commercial licensing of their indices and market data with a number of foreign exchanges and other business partners.
/goo.gl/wFucNA

Joint Press Release for Licensing of Indian Indices and Market Data of the securities listed or traded in India
NSE, BSE and MSEI
Indian Exchanges (“Exchanges”), through a licensing arrangement, provide their Market Data at various levels (Real time, Delayed feed and End of the day feed) to Index Providers either directly or through their subsidiaries/group entities or through third party data vendors, for creating Indices. Such indices are licensed by the Index Providers to prospective licensees, including foreign stock and derivatives exchanges and other foreign trading platforms (“foreign exchanges and/ or trading platforms”) for enabling them to provide products for trading and settlement on such foreign exchanges and/ or foreign trading platforms. Additionally, it is possible that Exchanges could also create indices based on their Market Data which could then be licensed to such foreign exchanges and/ or trading platforms, for the purpose of trading and settlement of products based on such indices outside India. It is observed that for various reasons the volumes in derivative trading based on Indian securities including indices have reached large proportions in some of the foreign jurisdictions, resulting in migration of liquidity from India, which is not in the best interest of Indian markets.
/goo.gl/HB9S1h

NYSE to begin trading on new electronic equities exchange in April; NYSE National will begin trading as of 30 April following the acquisition of the National Stock Exchange last year.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has confirmed it will begin trading on its newly established electronic equities exchange on 30 April.
/goo.gl/ipL82E

Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montréal Exchange Closed for Family Day
PR Newswire
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montréal Exchange will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2018 for Family Day.
/goo.gl/berLX1

BitGrail Cryptocurrency Exchange Claims $195 Million Lost to Hackers
David Z. Morris – Fortune
An obscure Italian cryptocurrency exchange called BitGrail claims that it was hacked late last week and lost roughly $195 million worth of customers’ cryptocurrency. But others — including the developers who created the stolen cryptocurrency — have suggested not all may be as it appears.
/goo.gl/GbVQWM

Amendments to the Clearing Conditions of Eurex Clearing AG
Eurex
This circular contains information with respect to Eurex Clearing AG’s service offering and corresponding amendments to the Clearing Conditions of Eurex Clearing AG (Clearing Conditions) regarding the following topics:
/goo.gl/TegX9a

Mistrade fees: Changes to the process of charging mistrade fees
Eurex
As announced in Eurex Circular 033/17, order book and Eurex T7 Entry Service (TES) mistrade fees are regulated by the Fee Regulations for Eurex Deutschland. Accordingly, the process for charging mistrades will be amended with effect from 5 March 2018.
/goo.gl/1B7Tsi

iSTOXX American Century United States Quality Value Index will be the Underlying for ETF in the US
Deutsche Boerse Group
STOXX Ltd., operator of the index business of the German Stock Exchange and global provider of innovative, tradable index Concepts Group, the iSTOXX ® American Century United States Quality Value Index licensed to American Century Investments. The Company offers an ETF on this Underlying.
/goo.gl/Cf61tz

HKEX Welcomes Government Appointments to its Board
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) welcomes the Government’s appointment of Laura Cha and Benjamin Hung to its Board of Directors.
/goo.gl/f4rMrW

Exchange Launches Director Training Webcast on IPOs
HKEX
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the Exchange), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), today published a new webcast that offers directors at companies considering an initial public offering with guidance on their responsibilities, as well as practical advice on tackling issues that may arise during and after the listing process.
/goo.gl/v2AeCD

HKEX to Reduce Multipliers of 4 Stock Futures Contracts
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) will reduce the multiplier of four of its stock futures contracts from 22 February 2018.
/goo.gl/KBfkSt

Fintech

Cryptocurrency Ads Find Ways Around Facebook’s Ban; Bitcoin ads rely on email spam technique
Sarah Frier – Bloomberg
Cryptocurrency ads have found their way onto Facebook despite a ban, using a workaround popular with email spammers: changing spelling.
/goo.gl/KdPmn2

Bcause LLC Opens Cryptocurrency Mining Facility
Largest Digital Mining Data Center in North America is First Part of Cryptocurrency Ecosystem to Launch
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Bcause LLC, creator of the world’s first full-stack cryptocurrency ecosystem, today announced that it has successfully launched its state-of-the-art cryptocurrency mining facility and data center in Virginia Beach. Staffed around the clock, the facility is the largest of its kind in North America and represents the first component of the ecosystem to launch.
/goo.gl/E8a55M

U.S., UK government websites infected with crypto-mining malware: report
Reuters Staff
Thousands of websites, including ones run by U.S. and UK government agencies, were infected for several hours on Sunday with code that causes web browsers to secretly mine digital currencies, technology news site The Register reported.
/goo.gl/oa5oTE

Bitcoin Mania Triggers Miner Influx to Rural Washington; Small towns confront surge in power demand as firms that generate new cryptocurrency units ask to set up shop
Alison Sider – WSJ
In Wenatchee, Wash., a bitcoin invasion is under way. Home to hydroelectric dams that harness the flow of the Columbia River, north central Washington has some of the cheapest power in the U.S.
/goo.gl/5bQNni

How the U.S. Courts Website Unwittingly Became a Cryptocurrency Miner
David Meyer – Fortune
Official websites across many countries, including the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, were unwittingly drawn into a cryptocurrency-mining scheme that quietly hijacked the computers of people who visited those sites.
/goo.gl/2sZfnD

A culprit for financial site glitches: you and your apps
Ross Kerber – Reuters
Jittery investors and their smartphones stressed out leading U.S. online financial sites last week as heavy volatility shook markets, technology analysts said.
/goo.gl/qBZHrL

SoFi Reports Disappointing Earnings as Loan Performance Suffers; Fintech upstart says it is refining its credit model, working to improve collections
Peter Rudegeair – WSJ
Customers of online lender Social Finance Inc. are missing their loan payments at an unexpectedly high rate, a misstep for a company that has boasted that its focus on high-earning individuals would yield better borrowers.
/goo.gl/os62Uz

Equifax Hack Might Be Worse Than You Think; Hackers accessed more records, including tax ID numbers and email addresses, than Equifax previously announced
AnnaMaria Andriotis – WSJ
Hackers in the Equifax Inc. EFX -1.58% breach accessed more of consumers’ personal information than the company disclosed publicly last year.
/goo.gl/vqLBLu

Citigroup to set up innovation centre in London; Decision is boost for UK’s fintech sector ahead of Brexit
Laura Noonan, Investment Banking Correspondent – FT
US banking giant Citigroup is setting up an innovation centre in London in one of the first strategic investments by a big US bank in the British capital since the Brexit vote.
/goo.gl/Lme7vS

Politics

Trump’s America will be saddled with debt – just like his bankrupted hotels
Richard Wolffe – The Guardian
The Republican spending bill throws conservative principles – whatever remains of them – into the wind
Once upon a time, conservatives said they hated Barack Obama because of his budget deficits. They said he was destroying America and its future, which made them very angry indeed. They were so mad about all those Obama debts that they invented a new party, and named it after the revolutionaries who opposed a nasty British king.
/goo.gl/uEoHax

‘Hypocritical’ Republicans abandon fiscal discipline; US debt to hit 100% of GDP if tax cuts and spending rises are made permanent
Sam Fleming and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington – FT
Rand Paul cut a lonely figure on the floor of the Senate on Thursday evening as he accused his Republican colleagues of hypocrisy over the deficit. Running up a $1tn dollar deficit after vilifying Barack Obama for racking up huge debts was intellectually dishonest, the libertarian senator and former presidential contender said.
/goo.gl/3pQtdY

The G.O.P. Is Flirting With Fiscal Disaster
Steven Rattner – NY Times
In August 2015, the leading Washington budget watchdog predicted that the federal deficit would total about $600 billion the next year.
/goo.gl/JvobGf

Washington Needs a Correction Too; There’s no avoiding stock-market volatility. But there’s no need for lawmakers to make it worse.
Editorial Board – Bloomberg
Thursday’s drop in the S&P 500 brought the fall since last month’s peak to more than 10 percent, making this a correction, according to the usual definition. Such a reassuring term: It suggests not so much a setback as an overdue adjustment. Is that right?
/goo.gl/n21XHh

House Departures Give Democrats Hope of Winning GOP Strongholds
Arit John – Bloomberg
Districts that backed Clinton seen as Democrats’ best targets; In California district, GOP’s Royce retires after 25 years
After a quarter century of easily winning re-election, California Republican Ed Royce was facing an unusually competitive contest this year in a U.S. House district that has swung from solidly conservative to increasingly Democratic.
/goo.gl/Pjzdcr

Regulation

Financial watchdogs intensify crackdown on algorithmic trading malpractice
Lucy White – City AM
Algorithmic trading is set to come under more intense scrutiny, as UK financial authorities have today demanded that institutions increase awareness and safety controls surrounding the electronic trading mechanisms.
/goo.gl/1mVYxy

IMF chief: Cryptocurrency regulation is ‘inevitable’
Zahraa Alkhalisi – @CNNMoneyInvest
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says it’s only a matter of time before cryptocurrencies come under government regulation.
/goo.gl/NENCp8

Top regulator becomes unlikely hero for bitcoin activists
Ali Breland and Sylvan Lane – The Hill
A top federal regulator has become an unlikely hero to the cryptocurrency community, after making optimistic comments about bitcoin and other digital currencies.
/goo.gl/hwomfm

Bitcoin Closes in on $9,000 as Regulatory Fears Peter Out
Eric Lam – Bloomberg
Bitcoin extended a rebound on Monday as the regulatory concerns that have plagued digital currencies this year showed signs of subsiding.
/goo.gl/eBFga6

Appeals Court Exempts Loan Funds from Dodd-Frank Risk-Retention Rule; Court: Fed, SEC lack authority to apply the risk-retention rule to CLOs
Dave Michaels – WSJ
Managers of Wall Street funds that lend money to heavily indebted firms won’t have to retain an interest in the debt they sell to investors after a federal appeals court invalidated part of a major postcrisis rule.
/goo.gl/n9E6gU

ECB’s Record as a Bank Supervisor? Barely a Pass, Experts Say
Nicholas Comfort – Bloomberg
Supervisor only given partial credit for improvements at banks; Barely gets passing grade from group of academics, analysts
European banks are generally safer and stronger than they were when the European Central Bank stepped in as the pan-continental financial supervisor three years ago.
/goo.gl/HjzYmc

Bank Misconduct Under Scrutiny as Australia Inquiry Starts
Emily Cadman, Peter Vercoe – Bloomberg
Fairness in consumer lending first focus of yearlong inquiry; Scandals range from rate-rigging to mistreating customers
Australia’s banks, rocked by years of scandals and wrongdoing, risk having further misconduct exposed as a powerful government-appointed inquiry into the nation’s financial industry starts.
/goo.gl/o7rC3a

New members of the SMSG
ESMA
The ESMA Board of Supervisors has recently appointed the following four stakeholders to become members of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG):
/goo.gl/Pxu7Ao

ESAs warn consumers of risks in buying virtual currencies
ESMA
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) for securities (ESMA), banking (EBA), and insurance and pensions (EIOPA) have today issued a pan-EU warning to consumers regarding the risks of buying Virtual Currencies (VCs).
/goo.gl/oU6Nqm

Proposed Rule Change to Revise the Investment Banking Representative (Series 79) Examination
FINRA
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) revisions to the content outline and selection specifications for the Investment Banking Representative (Series 79) examination as part of the restructuring of the representative-level examination program.
/goo.gl/2WP57r

Proposed Rule Change to Revise the Research Analyst (Series 86 and 87) Examinations
FINRA
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) revisions to the content outline and selection specifications for the Research Analyst (Series 86 and 87) examinations as part of the restructuring of the representative-level examination program.
/goo.gl/BgjWUm

Proposed Rule Change to Revise the Operations Professional (Series 99) Examination
FINRA
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) revisions to the content outline and selection specifications for the Operations Professional (Series 99) examination as part of the restructuring of the representative-level examination program.
/goo.gl/sPsRoq

Investing and Trading

Why Millennials Should Be Stoked About the Stock Market Crash
Ian Salisbury – Fortune
The stock market is down more than 10% in the last few weeks, raising the prospect that millennial investors, who just a few days ago were bragging about their 401(k) balances on the Internet, could face their first real bear market as investors.
/goo.gl/rMCqyR

Paul Tudor Jones: I’d rather be holding hot coal than U.S. Treasury bonds
Julia La Roche – Yahoo Finance
Legendary macro trader Paul Tudor Jones predicted that tax reform would have huge implications on the markets.
/goo.gl/qYNyLJ

When Will It End? Bloodied Traders Seeking Clues
Lu Wang – Bloomberg
Fed model suggests bull case for stocks is under threat; P/E ratios have yet to bottom if past corrections are guide
When will it finally stop? After a jarring week that rattled financial centers from New York to Hong Kong, and wiped out almost $5 trillion from stock markets, it’s the question everyone is trying to figure out.
/goo.gl/pgcCNV

Bitcoin Finds a Bottom as Risk Aversion Grips Global Markets
Camila Russo – Bloomberg
What’s supposed to be the most volatile asset in the universe is proving to be a bastion of stability compared with wild swings and carnage in global equities this week.
/goo.gl/tH9bam

The unstoppable rise of trading market volatility; Concern mounts that this week’s reaction is merely the first instalment of a bigger shock
Joe Rennison and Robin Wigglesworth in New York and Miles Johnson in London – FT
When the Chicago Board Options Exchange sat down with Goldman Sachs traders in 2003, it would prove to be one of the most profitable meetings in the exchange’s history.
/goo.gl/dGNyn3

Investors Are the Guinea Pigs in U.S. Fiscal Experiment; How long can this borrowing binge go on before it matters to the credit-ratings firms and global investors?
Joseph G. Carson – Bloomberg
In a span of less than two months, the U.S. Congress passed substantial tax-reduction legislation and agreed to a major increase in federal spending. Estimates are that the U.S. Treasury will at least double its debt sales this year to more than $1 trillion to make up for the lost revenue from the tax cuts and pay for this extra spending.
/goo.gl/DvAsQ8

‘Shut Up and Let Me Trade’: The Week That Rocked Stock Markets; An hour-by-hour account of Wall Street’s roller-coaster ride.
Bloomberg News
One of the wildest runs in U.S. stock-market history began with the collapse of arcane bets on volatility and ended with a sober realization: The easy ride is over. After heart-stopping swings in the Dow (Down 1,000 points! Up 500 points!), a market correction is finally here.
/goo.gl/GKKv86

Institutions

Australia’s big banks focus on job cuts as inquiry looms
Paulina Duran – Reuters
Australia’s big banks are responding to a revenue crunch by cutting jobs and other costs, prompting fears on the eve of an inquiry into their businesses that the industry’s tarnished reputation is about to take another hit.
/goo.gl/zJfK2A

Credit Suisse Says Claims Bank Misled Investors Unfounded
Albertina Torsoli – Bloomberg
Lawyers in U.S. trying to obtain class status for lawsuit; All regulatory reviews were closed with no action, CS says
Claims that Credit Suisse Group AG failed to disclose material information in 2015 and 2016 are “unfounded and without merit,” the Swiss bank said.
/goo.gl/UrkEXT

ETF market smashes through $5tn barrier after record month; Tectonic shift causes profound changes across global asset management industry
Chris Flood – FT
Investors ploughed more than $100bn in new cash into exchange traded funds in January, a record monthly inflow that helped drive assets held in ETFs globally above the $5tn mark for the first time.
/goo.gl/Q147VJ

Bridgewater investment chief sees new era of volatility; World’s biggest hedge fund expects end of easy money to trigger market ‘shakeout’
Robin Wigglesworth, US markets editor – FT
The world’s biggest hedge fund has warned that global markets are entering a new era of volatility as the world adjusts to higher interest rates after a decade of ultra-loose monetary policy.
/goo.gl/45BLKg

Bank Cybersecurity Heads Need More Face Time With CEOs
Yalman Onaran – Bloomberg
Industry group’s poll finds employee training as top priority; Group recommends direct flow of information to CEO and board
Just 8 percent of cybersecurity heads at U.S. financial firms report to the chief executive officer directly and more should do so to help facilitate decision-making, according to the Financial Services Information Sharing & Analysis Center.
/goo.gl/J4BbNq

Barclays Bank faces second charge over Qatar cash injection; Serious Fraud Office alleges bank had unlawful financial assistance during 2008 crisis
Martin Arnold and Cat Rutter Pooley in London – Ft
Barclays has been charged a second time by UK authorities over its 2008 emergency fundraising, raising the stakes for the British bank in its legal battle over the cash injections it arranged from Qatari investors to survive the financial crisis.
/goo.gl/iTMjXM

Regions

OPEC’s Oil Price Nightmare Is Coming True; U.S. shale production is surging on higher crude, now the fear is waning demand growth.
Julian Lee – Bloomberg
The latest surge in U.S. oil output will probably hasten the country’s rise to the top of the producer pile. More important, it’s starting to look as though at least half of OPEC’s nightmare scenario for 2018 — a surge in shale output and slowdown in demand growth — is coming true.
/goo.gl/hKYEQh

MSCI, Here’s Your India Whip on a Plate; By not allowing index providers to supply data to foreign bourses, New Delhi is begging for punishment.
Andy Mukherjee – Bloomberg
Move over, China. After much coaxing and cajoling, MSCI Inc. has given that country what it craved: an inclusion of Chinese A shares into its globally tracked benchmarks.
/goo.gl/AKk9BV

Why HNA Needs to Fail; Letting the conglomerate go bust would send the right signal.
Michael Schuman – Bloomberg
The latest news leaked out of China’s troubled HNA Group Co. is not good. Management has asked its employees to hand their paychecks over, with promises of big returns down the road. It is a pretty safe assumption that any company willing to try such a scheme is tottering on the edge of the financial abyss.
/goo.gl/pNmnkL

Coincheck heist sheds light on Japan’s rush to create cryptocurrency rules
Thomas Wilson and Takahiko Wada – Reuters
After the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange was stung by a half-billion dollar theft in 2014, Japanese regulators swung into action.
/goo.gl/8cg9vQ

Brexit

U.K. Government to Offer Vision on Brexit as Divisions Rage
Andrew Atkinson – Bloomberg
Minister says speeches will put ‘some meat on the bone’; Splits have cast doubt over transition period wanted by firms
Divisions over Brexit were on display again on Sunday. International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said a series of speeches planned by Prime Minister Theresa May and other Cabinet ministers in the coming weeks would offer a vision of the sort of relationship the government is seeking with the European Union.
/goo.gl/dutHBe

May Reboots Road to Brexit With Speeches to End Tory Civil War
Andrew Atkinson – Bloomberg
U.K. premier and cabinet ministers set to outline positions; EU has thrown prospect of Brexit transition deal into doubt
Conservatives’ infighting over how to engage with the rest of a united Europe has helped bring down the party’s past three prime ministers.
/goo.gl/G9wSCv

Citigroup to invest in London, hire staff despite Brexit: FT
Reuters Staff
Wall Street bank Citigroup Inc (C.N) will set up an innovation center in London in one of the first investments by a big U.S. bank since Brexit, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
/goo.gl/NSAhiC

The post Insider trading has been rife on Wall Street, academics conclude; Singapore Bourse Seeks to Defuse Tensions With Indian Counterpart; Booming Demand for Clearing Options, Futures Contracts Fuels OCC’s Growth appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

VIX Manipulation Costs Investors Billions, Whistle-Blower Says; High-Speed Traders Profit From Return of Loophole at CME; Tighter monitoring for computer trading demanded

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

The SEC’s 2019 budget request of $1.658 billion is a 3.5 percent increase over 2018. The majority of that extra funding, $45 million, would go to “technology enhancements to support the agency’s cybersecurity capabilities, risk and data analysis, enforcement and examinations, and automation of business processes.”~SD

The CFTC’s budget request of $281.5 million for fiscal year 2019 would support 716 full time employees. CFTC Commission Brian Quintenz pointed out that in FY 2016, the agency had 714 full time employees, 689 in 2017 and 670 this year.~JK

Economist/Stanford professor/auction theorist Paul Milgrom received his CME Group-MSRI prize yesterday. Ever watched TV? Are you using your phone to look at this newsletter right now? Well, Milgrom’s work is integral to spectrum auctions, the process by which providers have divvied up the airwaves. For more on Milgrom, see Why Paul Milgrom is an Economist You Should Know.~SD

The MarketsWiki page on NYSE National, the fourth NYSE exchange under the ICE umbrella, has been updated. Did you know it traces its roots back to 1885 and became the first all-electronic stock market in the US?~JK

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Call the Guinness Book – Trading Records at CME Continue
Spencer Doar – JLN
The hit parade continues over at CME Group.
Its markets didn’t need a volatility spike to continue their volume and open interest trends, but CME got one anyway and benefitted, especially in the interest rate options complex. The exchange group already had record electronic daily activity in its interest rate options in January.
/goo.gl/RK4VWi

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Antidote to financial infidelity is honesty
Reuters
Among couples who have combined finances, more than two in five people admit to hiding cash or bills or purchases, or outright lying about earnings and debt, according to new survey data from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE).
jlne.ws/2EFkfPQ

**This story, the day before Valentine’s Day?~JK

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FIA statement on Indian exchanges restricting access to indices and data by foreign exchanges
FIA
FIA today released the following statement in response to the announcement by three Indian exchanges that they will impose restrictions on the licensing of indices and market data for use by foreign exchanges to offer derivatives based on Indian stocks.
/goo.gl/dZoTwJ

**Let’s be open and honest about this.~JK

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Monday’s Top Three
The top read story yesterday was The Economist piece Insider trading has been rife on Wall Street, academics conclude, which used a picture from the movie “Trading Places.” An insider trading movie, yes, but the Oliver Stone classic ”Wall Street” would have been a better fit. Second went to the Bloomberg story on the Indian index bombshell in Singapore Bourse Seeks to Defuse Tensions With Indian Counterpart. Third went to our friend Gary DeWaal‘s Bridging The Week column which looked at more regulation talk about cryptocurrencies.

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
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  • 211,682 edits
Level Trading

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Lead Stories

VIX Manipulation Costs Investors Billions, Whistle-Blower Says
Brian Louis, Nikolaj Gammeltoft – Bloomberg
Flaw lets traders whip VIX around without trading, letter says; Wild trading session last week turned spotlight on Cboe index
A whistle-blower told U.S. regulators that a scheme to manipulate the VIX, the volatility gauge thrust into the spotlight last week during a wild trading session, costs investors hundreds of millions of dollars a month.
/goo.gl/dQmmLd

****JB: For other stories on this see the Financial Times article Anonymous ‘whistleblower’ claims ‘rampant manipulation’ of Vix index and/or the Reuters article ‘Whistleblower’ alleges VIX manipulation, urges regulatory probe

High-Speed Traders Profit From Return of Loophole at CME; Tiny gap between private trade confirmations and public data feed can be exploited to detect market moves, critics say
Alexander Osipovich – WSJ
Five years ago, the world’s largest exchange operator vowed to fix a flaw in its systems that allowed high-speed traders to infer the direction of the futures market a fraction of a second before everyone else.
/goo.gl/p1nG7V

CME Group Files Patent for Flexible Blockchain System
Arnab Schome – Finance Magnates
One of the core philosophy behind the introduction of the blockchain technology is its resilient nature to any change of data on the blocks. However, in regards to real world application, this becomes a huge roadblock towards implementing the technology across various applications, as they need to be flexible. Consequently, CME Group has been working to develop a flexible blockchain technology.
jlne.ws/2EjOhW8

Tighter monitoring for computer trading demanded
Philip Stafford – Financial Times
UK regulators have told banks to step up their supervision of computer trading systems that dominate equities and are pushing into other markets.
The warning from the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulatory Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority, covers the development, audit and monitoring of trading algorithms, which generate quotes for securities automatically without human intervention.
jlne.ws/2EZQ5EL

Deutsche Bank to Pay $4.4 Million Over Traders Who Misled on Bonds
WSJ
Deutsche Bank AG DB 2.76% agreed to pay more than $4.4 million to settle regulatory claims that it failed to supervise traders who misled customers about the price of commercial mortgage bonds.
jlne.ws/2EFjDtw

Market Volatility Strikes Exchange-Traded Products, Alarming Investors and Regulators; Short-volatility products performed exactly as they were designed amid market’s swings, but that is little comfort to investors
Asjylyn Loder and Dave Michaels – WSJ
The recent implosion of two exchange-traded products is renewing questions about the impact of fast-growing passive funds on the markets they are meant to track.
/goo.gl/FntNmc

The Lessons of Black Monday
Barry Eichengreen – Project Syndicate
When interpreting sharp drops in stock prices and their impact, many will think back to 2008 and the market turbulence surrounding Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy filing. But a better historical precedent for current conditions is the huge one-day drop on October 19, 1987.
jlne.ws/2EZlk2C

’50 Cent’ VIX Trade Just Paid Off to the Tune of $200 Million
Luke Kawa – Bloomberg
Hate it or love it, the underdog’s on top: patiently waiting for the VIX to explode has finally been rewarded in a big way.
/goo.gl/rzD8C7

Bitcoin Investors Aren’t Paying Taxes on Cryptocurrency
Jen Wieczner – Fortune
Despite months of warnings to pay their taxes on cryptocurrency profits, American Bitcoin investors aren’t in a hurry to tell Uncle Sam what they owe.
Early data from one popular tax preparation service shows that only a minuscule proportion—just .04%—of U.S. tax filers have reported their cryptocurrency gains and losses to the Internal Revenue Service so far this year. That’s far fewer than the 7% of Americans who are estimated to own Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency, and who are likely to owe taxes to the IRS on those investments.
jlne.ws/2EmyWrT

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

SGX shares fall 9% after Indian bourses rein in offshore trading
Business Standard News
Shares in Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) plummeted as much as 9 percent Monday as brokers cut their earnings estimates after a move by India’s three main bourses to stop licensing their indexes and securities to foreign exchanges.
jlne.ws/2EYAKo3

Nifty Stock Futures: Indian Stock Futures Off To A Slow Start In Singapore
Bloomberg
Indian stock futures were off to a slow start on the Singapore Exchange Ltd. today with only 11 out of 50 scrips witnessing any sort of trading interest.
jlne.ws/2stb3JC

CFTC Issues Order Of Registration To ICE Futures Singapore To Permit Trading By Direct Access From The U.S.
Mondovisione
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the issuance of an Order of Registration (Order) to ICE Futures Singapore Pte. Ltd. (ICEFS), a Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT) located in Singapore. Under the Order, ICEFS is permitted to provide its identified members or other participants located in the U.S. with direct access to its electronic order entry and trade matching system.
jlne.ws/2EXGbDF

LME says likely to make fee cuts permanent after volumes rise
Peter Hobson – Reuters
The London Metal Exchange (LME) was likely to make fee cuts permanent on short- and medium-dated carry trades after volumes on those trades rose in January, despite slightly weaker overall turnover, it said on Friday.
/goo.gl/hkprn4

Singapore Exchange shares fall most in nine years after end of India licensing pact
Japan Times
Singapore Exchange Ltd. stock fell the most since November 2008 in early trading Monday as investors reacted to the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.’s move to end its licensing pact with the Lion City bourse.
/goo.gl/i3822o

Cboe Global Markets Reports Week of Record Trading Activity
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today reported its busiest week ever with several new trading records across Cboe’s exchanges and products.
/goo.gl/jTZLRs

SIX Swiss Exchange Statistical Monthly Report
SIX
In 2018 to date, a total of 5’949’142 transactions have been executed on SIX Swiss Exchange. This marks a year-on-year rise of 41.6%.
jlne.ws/2EE6HnW

CME Group Announces New Heads of Sales for Europe and Asia
PRNewswire
CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it has expanded its international client development and sales efforts with two senior sales appointments in Europe and Asia.
/goo.gl/tLwBqs

Fintech

Why Governments Might Join the Cryptocurrency Craze
David Tweed – Bloomberg
With crypto mania sweeping the world, a handful of countries have stirred at the possibility of issuing their own virtual currencies based on blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin. For now, the idea seems most popular among autocrats looking to evade or undercut international sanctions that are enforced, in part, through the global banking system. But advocates of government-backed cryptocurrencies (so-named because they rely on cryptography for security) say that if the movement takes hold — which is by no means assured — it could irrevocably change the international monetary system as we know it.
/goo.gl/WgPJMj

Bitcoin Mania Triggers Miner Influx to Rural Washington; Small towns confront surge in power demand as firms that generate new cryptocurrency units ask to set up shop
Alison Sider – WSJ
In Wenatchee, Wash., a bitcoin invasion is under way. Home to hydroelectric dams that harness the flow of the Columbia River, north central Washington has some of the cheapest power in the U.S.
/goo.gl/UoJyhH

Bitcoin energy use in Iceland set to overtake homes, says local firm
Chris Baraniuk – BBC
Iceland is facing an “exponential” rise in Bitcoin mining that is gobbling up power resources, a spokesman for Icelandic energy firm HS Orka has said.
/goo.gl/ARZHMS

Cryptocurrency investors flock to Puerto Rico Investment Summit
Nick Brown – Reuters
Puerto Rico’s annual investment summit, a two-day conference to woo investors to the bankrupt U.S. territory and the first since Hurricane Maria devastated the island, sported some new faces, particularly from the fast-growing cryptocurrency world.
/goo.gl/XeWuhQ

Cryptocurrency mining site hijacked millions of Android phones
Jon Fingas – Engadget
Smartphone users are just as vulnerable to cryptocurrency mining hijacks as their PC counterparts, and sometimes on a dramatic scale. Malwarebytes has detailed a “drive-by” mining campaign that redirected millions of Android users to a website that hijacked their phone processors for mining Monero. While the exact trigger wasn’t clear, researchers believed that infected apps with malicious ads would steer people toward the pages. And it wasn’t subtle — the site would claim that you were showing “suspicious” web activity and tell you that it was mining until you entered a captcha code to make it stop.
jlne.ws/2EmyQ3v

Politics

Trump’s $4.4 Trillion Budget Boosts Defense With More Red Ink
Justin Sink – Bloomberg
President abandons GOP goal of balancing budget over a decade; Pentagon spending would rise 13 percent; EPA cut 25 percent
President Donald Trump proposed a $4.4 trillion federal budget on Monday for fiscal 2019, a plan Congress is expected to all but ignore that would slash entitlements and other domestic programs in favor of higher spending on the military and immigration enforcement.
/goo.gl/sboH9j

Regulation

Investor Protection, Capital Formation and Market Integrity Are Top Priorities in SEC Budget Request
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a $1.658 billion budget request for fiscal year 2019 to support its core mission and expand oversight and enforcement in emerging areas such as financial innovation, market structure and cybersecurity. The SEC’s funding is offset by matching collections of fees on securities transactions and is budget and deficit neutral.
jlne.ws/2EZErKf

As a legal case looms, the past returns to haunt Barclays
Philip Augar – Financial Times
The corridor outside the chairman’s office on the 31st floor of Barclays’ head office in London is lined with portraits of the previous incumbents. Stern-faced Victorians, bewhiskered Edwardians and more softly painted chairmen of the modern age offer a sober reminder of the bank’s long history.
jlne.ws/2ErJvd5

U.S. investment adviser gets prison for insider trading on Pfizer-King deal
Reuters Staff – Reuters
A Long Island, New York, investment adviser was sentenced to six months in prison on Monday after he pleaded guilty to insider trading in connection with Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) $3.6 billion acquisition of King Pharmaceuticals Inc.
jlne.ws/2F2kXol

Coincheck reports to regulators over cryptocurrency heist as investors withdraw $373 million
Thomas Wilson and Taiga Uranaka – Reuters
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc, under pressure to better safeguard investors after the daring theft of $530 million (£381 million) of digital money last month, said it had on Tuesday filed a report with regulators on the hacking.
jlne.ws/2Eo7mdB

Deutsche Bank, trader settle U.S. SEC charges over bond prices
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) will pay nearly $4.5 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges that it failed to police traders and salespeople who lied to customers about bond prices, the regulator said on Monday.
jlne.ws/2EZlOG3

Barclays charged a second time over Qatar cash injection; Serious Fraud Office charges lender with giving unlawful financial assistance
Martin Arnold, Barney Thompson and Cat Rutter Pooley – FT
Barclays has been charged a second time by UK authorities over its 2008 emergency fundraising, raising the stakes for the British bank in its legal battle over the cash injections it arranged from Qatari investors to survive the financial crisis.
/goo.gl/iTMjXM

Deutsche Bank to Repay Misled Customers
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today instituted an enforcement action against Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., which has agreed to repay more than $3.7 million to customers, which includes $1.48 million that was ordered as disgorgement.
jlne.ws/2EZGwWz

South Korea Considers Cryptocurrency Exchange Approval System
Eli Meixler – Fortune
In a turnaround from its hardline approach to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, South Korea is mulling a licensing system to help regulate the country’s virtual currency exchanges.
Authorities may introduce a system based on the Bitlicense model, developed in New York, Business Korea reports, but a final decision isn’t expected until June.
jlne.ws/2EpaOoB

Remarks of CFTC Chief of Staff Michael Gill at the National Press Club, CFTC Kiss Policy Forum, Washington, D.C.
CFTC
Thank you. And, I want to thank The Risk Desk for hosting this forum.
/goo.gl/neaqzC

CFTC Orders AMP Global Clearing LLC to Pay $100,000 for Supervision Failures Related to Cybersecurity of its Customers’ Records and Information
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an Order filing and simultaneously settling charges against AMP Global Clearing LLC (AMP), a registered Futures Commission Merchant since 2010, for its failure between June 21, 2016 and April 17, 2017 to supervise diligently the implementation of critical provisions in AMP’s information systems security program (ISSP).
jlne.ws/2G68saA

CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee Announces Agenda for February 14 Public Meeting
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the agenda for the upcoming Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) public meeting that will be held on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at CFTC’s headquarters in Washington, DC (for attending, viewing, and listening instructions, see CFTC Press Release 7690-18).
jlne.ws/2EWZg8Q

SEC Launches Share Class Selection Disclosure Initiative To Encourage Self-Reporting And The Prompt Return Of Funds To Investors
SEC
The Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a self-reporting initiative that seeks to protect advisory clients from undisclosed conflicts of interest and return money to investors.
/goo.gl/xF7QWi

Ex-Nomura trader must face SEC charges over bond price lies: judge
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may pursue its civil lawsuit accusing a former senior trader at Nomura Holdings Inc of lying to customers about bond prices in order to boost profit and his bonus, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
/goo.gl/icwfwc

Investing and Trading

Two thirds of investment shops ‘fail to publish full details of charges’
Sam Brodbeck – The Telegraph
The vast majority of fund groups, investment “shops” and wealth managers do not openly declare the full extent of their charges, new research has discovered.
Since the start of the year a European Union directive has forced firms to disclose to new customers the full range of fees they can expect to pay, and the impact they will have on returns.
jlne.ws/2Elyl9I

Does Private Equity Really Beat the Stock Market?
WSJ
Private Equity vs. Public Markets
The above chart shows a comparison method that looks nice and simple—it is like calculating the value of $100 invested in a theoretical average private-equity fund over time versus the total return of the S&P 500 index.
jlne.ws/2EBpDU5

Why Private Equity Risks Tripping on Its Own Success
WSJ
The world of investing is going private—but long-term returns are under threat.
The past decade has seen a flood of capital into hard-to-see, less liquid assets, transforming the scale and scope of the private-equity firms managing this money.
jlne.ws/2EDDt8o

How Volatility Trades Shifted at a Record Speed; Speculators now hold the largest bet in favor of the VIX on record
Jon Sindreu – WSJ
Investors’ bet on calm markets shifted to a record trade in favor of volatility last week, new data shows, a move that unleashed a wave of selling that analysts say fueled the worst equity rout in years.
/goo.gl/7X1R9Q

Investors await Goldman’s $5 billion answers as trading picks up
Catherine Ngai – Reuters
Last year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc executives met with some skepticism after unveiling an ambitious plan to grow revenue by $5 billion, whether or not markets remained subdued. Now that trading has picked up, Wall Street is hoping the bank can do even better.
jlne.ws/2EnsW1Y

Institutions

Investors await Goldman’s $5 billion answers as trading picks up
Reuters
Last year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc executives met with some skepticism after unveiling an ambitious plan to grow revenue by $5 billion, whether or not markets remained subdued. Now that trading has picked up, Wall Street is hoping the bank can do even better.
jlne.ws/2EnsW1Y

Barclays charged a second time over Qatar cash injection
Financial Times
Barclays has been charged a second time by UK authorities over its 2008 emergency fundraising, raising the stakes for the British bank in its legal battle over the cash injections it arranged from Qatari investors to survive the financial crisis.
jlne.ws/2EB5HRw

Citi, Goldman Plan ETFs Tied to Riskiest Bank Bonds
Alastair Marsh, Tom Beardsworth – Bloomberg
New products will track additional Tier 1 bank bond market; Broader access may lead to volatility: Cairn Capital
Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among firms seeking to set up exchange-traded funds tracking the riskiest European bank bonds, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/BLEJPh

Why New Barclays Fraud Charge Isn’t the Threat it Appears; U.K. bank faces new charge against the unit that holds its license to operate: that is a risk to its business, in theory at least
Paul J. Davies – WSJ
Barclays BCS 0.47% was slapped with another fraud charge by U.K. investigators Monday, following last summer’s charges against the company and former executives, including its former chief executive. Luckily for Barclays’s investors, this new element sounds more serious than it probably is.
/goo.gl/mU1zRy

Steven Cohen’s Point72 Is Accused of Sexism in Workplace
Miles Weiss, Sail Kishan – Bloomberg
Federal suit filed against investment firm by current employee; Point72 ’emphatically denies’ allegations in the lawsuit
Just as billionaire Steven Cohen stages a comeback as a hedge fund manager, a current employee sued his Point72 Asset Management accusing it of discriminating against women and promoting a culture of sexism.
/goo.gl/8aj7FD

Ex-Nomura trader must face SEC charges over bond price lies: judge
Reuters
Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may pursue its civil lawsuit accusing a former senior trader at Nomura Holdings Inc of lying to customers about bond prices in order to boost profit and his bonus, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
jlne.ws/2EE7Z2g

Regions

China Forgets That Oil Is Liquid; Capital controls present a sticky hurdle for local-currency crude futures.
David Fickling – Bloomberg
If China is about to start setting the global price of oil, why isn’t it setting the price of metals?
/goo.gl/iTUPqv

Aso becomes Japan’s longest-serving finance minister since the war
Japan Times
Taro Aso on Monday became Japan’s longest-serving finance minister since the war, marking 1,875 days in office, a day more than Kiichi Miyazawa, the previous record-holder.
/goo.gl/w2frhb

Brexit

Europe speaks its own post-Brexit English
Michael Skapinker – Financial Times
“When push comes to shove.” It was a jolt to hear this expression from a participant at a recent training event in Amsterdam because I had heard the same words at a Frankfurt session the week before.
Both events were in English, and those taking part were fluent and confident. The Dutch trainees’ English was close to a native speaker’s idea of correctness. But in 10 hours of teaching and listening in the two cities, those twin instances of “push comes to shove” were the only bits of metaphorical language that I heard.
jlne.ws/2EpHqye

Brexiters owe us clarity on the sovereignty dividend
Janan Ganesh – Financial Times
If Brexit does its worst, and Britain sags in relevance, those who suspect George Soros of a plot to overturn the referendum will come to pine for the days when global tycoons thought this country worth subverting. An outsider’s thumb on the scales of our politics is easier to tolerate than a shrug of indifference.
jlne.ws/2EoQzaD

Brexit alarm bells are ringing for British industry
Peggy Hollinger – Financial Times
Companies need to make profits to survive. This is such an obvious statement that one wonders why Japan’s ambassador to Britain felt he had to point this out to Theresa May when he visited the prime minister at Downing Street with some of his country’s business leaders last week.
jlne.ws/2EqGJVL

Miscellaneous

Euromoney sells market info unit to Chinese consortium for $180.5 million
Reuters
British business-to-business information company Euromoney (ERM.L) has agreed to sell its Global Markets Intelligence Division (GMID) to a Chinese consortium of CITIC Capital Partners and leading business news outlet Caixin for $180.5 million, it said on Monday.
jlne.ws/2EXyRb9

Bitcoin Industry Grapples With Age-Old Problem of Inheritance
Nate Lanxon – Bloomberg
Five years ago, Matthew Moody was killed during an observational flight when the two-seater plane he was in crashed flying over a canyon in Chico, California.
His father, Michael Moody, knew his 26-year-old son had been mining Bitcoins — today worth thousands of dollars each — but had no idea how many he had or how to find them. Michael Moody has spent the past three years seeking the answers.
jlne.ws/2Eo7SZ5

The Tech Giants Growing Behind China’s Great Firewall
Visual Capitalist
Every day, your feeds are likely dominated by the latest news about Silicon Valley’s biggest tech giants.
Whether it’s Facebook’s newest algorithm changes, Amazon’s announcement to enter the healthcare market, a new acquisition by Alphabet, or the buzz about the latest iPhone – the big four tech giants in the U.S. are covered extensively by the media, and we’re all very familiar with what they do.
However, what is less commonly talked about is the alternate universe that exists on the other side of China’s Great Firewall. It’s there that four Chinese tech giants are taking advantage of a lack of foreign competition to post explosive growth numbers – some which compare favorably even to their American peers.
jlne.ws/2EsaFQY

The post VIX Manipulation Costs Investors Billions, Whistle-Blower Says; High-Speed Traders Profit From Return of Loophole at CME; Tighter monitoring for computer trading demanded appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

A bit of fear is good for markets; FIA seeks talks with Indian exchanges; Nasdaq/OPCOM New Tech

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

See the Spencer Doar commentary below about the VIX manipulation letter. Spencer methodically and politely shreds the letter writer’s argument and credibility.~JJL

Here is a list of those countries who have won medals at the winter Olympics so far, and also a complete list of the countries competing.~JJL

Tomorrow is the Fintank CryptoCon 2018 event in Chicago. I will be on a panel late in the day, moderated by the one and only Chuck Mackie.~JJL

Simon Barnby, formerly of Fidessa, has written a commentary on LinkedIn titled “CMOaaS – proven marketing skills, as and when you need them.”~JJL

Correction in Call the Guinness Book – Trading Records at CME Continue – Rate options open interest is roughly a third of CME’s total OI, not CME’s total options OI.~SD

Yesterday the Joseph L. Searles III page on MarketsWiki was the most popular page on the site. Searles was the first African American member of the New York Stock Exchange and it was on February 30, 1970 that he became a member of the exchange.~JJL

The MarketsWiki NYSE American page was updated yesterday. Do you know what it was called when it began in the 1840s?~JK

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What’s the Deal With the VIX Manipulation Letter? Inaccuracy and Misunderstanding
Spencer Doar – JLN

The big options news pertains to a letter alleging VIX manipulation. The letter, written on behalf of an anonymous whistleblower by a Washington D.C. law firm, alleges market makers manipulate the VIX by quoting far out of the money SPX put options so they are included in the VIX calculation at junctures that benefit their trading activities.

It’s understandable financial instruments are subject to concerns about manipulation when their inner workings are complicated and not fully understood by the general public. VIX manipulation has come up before and it will probably come up again unless regulators step in and levy an unbiased verdict, thus quashing this occasional debate. Until that point though, the letter needs a grain of salt.

Cboe said in a statement, “This letter is replete with inaccurate statements, misconceptions and factual errors, including a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between the VIX Index, VIX futures and volatility exchange traded products, among other things.”

So, what are these inaccuracies and misconceptions?

Read the rest HERE.

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Highlights from the International Blockchain Conference
By Chuck Mackie

(In his first column as our new contributing editor, Chuck Mackie of Maven Wave Partners shares highlights of the Innovation and Development Foundation’s International Blockchain Conference at mHub in Chicago, where it was all blockchain, all day.)

The Innovation and Development Foundation (IDF) presented the International Blockchain Congress at mHub on February 9 and it was a bit like taking a train trip on Amtrak; it started late, got a little bit later at each stop along the way, and somehow still managed to be rewarding at the same time. The event highlighted how many exciting projects and developments are taking place with blockchain, the dynamic international community that is propelling progress, and just how hard it still is to separate the gold from pyrite at this point.
Highlights from the conference included:

  • Still struggling with blockchain 1.0 (otherwise known as Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies)? Yannick LaPlante and Bo Zhang represented Achain and ABitcoin, respectively, Achain being an example of blockchain 3.0 and ABitcoin being the first coin launched on Achain. A “simple” blockchain like Bitcoin is blockchain 1.0 while a blockchain 2.0 such as Ethereum supports smart contracts and blockchain 3.0 is a public platform to support the development of a global blockchain network. Progress marches swiftly onward and the implications are massive: will it be possible for national entities to contain and control blockchains or will a rapidly expanding network on top of networks spell the inevitability of blockchain ubiquity? It looks like it will be the latter.
  • Ken Huang of TheKey discussed eight security controls for blockchain which ultimately revealed how very un-user friendly things currently are and how that is likely to change very quickly. For the time being, caveat emptor couldn’t be any more applicable.
    Lamont Black of DePaul University led an excellent panel on “Blockchain 2030” with Colleen Sullivan from CMT Capital Markets Trading, Pavel Kravchenko of Distributed Lab, Almora’s Ivan Luthra, Maxim Prasolov from Neuromation, and Rachel Cook of Seeds Inc. On the face of it, talking about blockchain in 12 years time might seem absurd – very few people have figured out blockchain 2018 yet – but there was solid insight and opinion from the panel.

Read the rest of the column HERE.

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FFK 10th anniversary 10K Run

Futures For Kids, the UK-based futures industry charity, has launched FFK10k, a 10km run in aid of the projects that the charity supports across the globe.

The run, which will be combined with a 5km fun run, will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London on 23 May.

“Over the last 10 years we have arranged a wide range of events including the popular Walk to Work,” said Patrick Thornton-Smith, a trustee of the charity. “This has been running for the last seven years and is perhaps the most ‘active’ of our events, but for our 10th anniversary we have decided to do something different for a far wider audience – the FFK10k!”

FFK has raised almost £3m since its launch in 2008.

The charity is currently seeking sponsors for the run and offers several options to organisations interested in supporting the run. Individual runners will be asked to pay a £30 entry fee to take part.

Current sponsors of the race include ION, Cinnober, RJ O’Brien, OSTC, FIA, Cult Wines, Kyte Consulting, GHF, John Lothian News and FOW

For more information on the run and how you can support it or take part go HERE

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High-frequency traders are gift for stock pickers; The value of Virtu’s shares surged as equity markets swooned
Miles Johnson – FT
High-frequency trading firms have never been particularly popular among conventional investors, some of whom have argued the use of ultra-fast computers to gain an edge in the markets puts slower humans at a disadvantage. But after shares in HFT groups such as Virtu Financial and Flow Traders surged last week, traditional fund managers might want to look at these companies in a different and more positive light.
/goo.gl/ZUUhqQ

**The virtue of Virtu?~JK

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Here’s How the Stock Market Affects the Price of Wine
Narae Kim – Bloomberg
A surge in Burgundy prices may be partly due to wealth generated in the stock market trickling down to the fine wine trade. The Burgundy 150 Index, which tracks the prices of the most actively traded wines from the French region, climbed 19 percent last year. This is in line with the S&P 500’s 19 percent advance in the same period.
/goo.gl/aojRGK

**Give me a bottle of the December 1999 S&P 500.~JK

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Tuesday’s Top Three
Our top story of the day yesterday by a long shot was Bloomberg’s piece VIX Manipulation Costs Investors Billions, Whistle-Blower Says. But it is not without scrutiny today. Second was a Wall Street Journal piece High-Speed Traders Profit From Return of Loophole at CME. Third was Bloomberg’s ’50 Cent’ VIX Trade Just Paid Off to the Tune of $200 Million. Gotta love it when the ship finally comes in.

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
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Level Trading

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Lead Stories

A bit of fear is good for markets; The jump in volatility may be disturbing but it should help puncture some of the previous complacency
Martin Wolf – FT
The only thing to fear is the lack of fear itself. Benjamin Graham, the guru on investment often cited by Warren Buffett, referred to Mr Market, a personage characterised by wild mood swings. His moments of euphoria may be more enjoyable than those of despair. But they are dangerous. Over-optimism is the natural precursor of excessive risk-taking, asset price bubbles and then financial and economic crises. The turbulence seen last week was exactly what was needed. It is a pity it did not happen far earlier. But fear has returned. Hurrah.
/goo.gl/WcT1S1

FIA seeks talks with Indian exchanges; SGX shares down 7%; Futures Industry Association (FIA) says it will seek discussion with BSE, NSE and MSEI about their decision to stop trading of indices on Singapore and other foreign exchanges
Gurdip Singh – Livemint
Washington-based Futures Industry Association (FIA) said it will seek discussion with Indian exchanges about their decision to stop trading of indices on Singapore and other foreign exchanges.
/goo.gl/o6m2rU

Nasdaq and OPCOM Sign New Market Technology Agreement
GlobeNewswire
The Romanian market operator’s new trading engine and clearing technology will be running on the Nasdaq Financial Framework; marks 14-year anniversary of technology partnership
Nasdaq Inc. and Operatorul Pietei de Energie Electrica si Gaze Naturale (OPCOM) have signed a new market technology agreement for Nasdaq to deliver new matching engine and clearing technology via the Nasdaq Financial Framework architecture to Romania’s market operator for gas and electricity.
/goo.gl/UMpFSM

Trump Administration Proposes Fees for Futures Industry
Gabriel T. Rubin – WSJ
The White House on Monday proposed levying fees on derivatives users to bolster the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s 2019 budget, an idea that may be dead on arrival because of industry opposition.
Moreover, leaders at the CFTC also are opposed to the funding idea.
jlne.ws/2EYCddT

Exclusive: London Metal Exchange aims to ban metal sourced with child labor
Pratima Desai, Tom Daly – Reuters
The London Metal Exchange could remove companies from its list of approved metal suppliers if they fall short of industry standards following an outcry about cobalt mined by children in Africa, three sources said.
/goo.gl/AXUTcz

Credit Suisse Plays a Dangerous Game With Market Hurricane
Banks should be careful what they wish for on volatility.
Edward Evans – Bloomberg
Be careful what you wish for. Banks had long been begging for volatility to return. This month, they got it in spades as the rout in global stock markets sent a jolt through trading floors from London to New York.
/goo.gl/WNHbHy

Turmoil Could Help Restore More Normal Markets; Investors shouldn’t yearn for a return to the comforting calm of 2017.
Mohamed A. El-Erian – Bloomberg
After enduring something of a sudden trauma last week, many market participants now wish for a rapid return to calm. That’s understandable, but it may not be in their longer-term interest to simply revert to the highly unusual market conditions that prevailed before. Instead, they should hope for a new, less abnormal market paradigm with respect to asset-price volatility, correlations and certain asset class valuations, together with less extreme investor-base conditioning.
/goo.gl/2EC4sz

Eurekahedge: Hedge Fund Index Gains 2.26% in January
FINalternatives
Hedge funds were off to a good start in the first month of 2018, according to an update of Eurekahedge’s Hedge Fund Index.
jlne.ws/2EnvdWS

Taming the CAT: Even With Missing Tech Specs, Broker-Dealers See Opportunity
Monica Summerville – TABB Group
The implementation of the Consolidated Audit Trail may kick off one of the largest and most expensive IT rebuilds in the history of capital markets, and the clock is ticking. TABB Group recently conducted industry outreach to understand broker-dealers’ CAT readiness. At this early stage, some strong technology trends already are emerging and, encouragingly, many firms see opportunities to leverage the data set, reports TABB’s Monica Summerville.
/goo.gl/YKn5hK

Mark Cuban bet on a Wall Street firm that thrives on volatile markets (VIRT)
Frank Chaparro – Business Insider
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban of “Shark Tank” fame told CNBC on Tuesday that he recently invested in high-frequency trading firm Virtu Financial.
/goo.gl/8qAj2T

Flash Boys Aren’t Exploiting Every MiFID Advantage
Will Hadfield, Viren Vaghela – Bloomberg
‘Small tick’ advantage has little demand, so-called SIs say; Virtu, Citadel Securities are among firms bypassing exchanges
Here’s another quirk from the early days of MiFID II: algorithmic traders like Virtu Financial Inc. are deliberately opting not to use a pricing advantage.
/goo.gl/GgUfZt

Bunge Q4 miss fuels questions over trading house’s future
Gregory Meyer in New York – FT
Bunge has revealed an exceptionally weak finish to 2017, results that will intensify questions over the future of the 200-year-old global agricultural trading house as an independent company.
/goo.gl/NxnfSZ

Global regulators propose crackdown on financial spreadbetters
Huw Jones – Reuters
Financial spreadbetters targeting retail customers should be licensed to stop them exploiting gaps in cross-border rules and preying on inexperienced investors, global regulators proposed on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/rQVziB

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

LCH’s EquityClear welcomes Cecabank as first Spanish clearing member
LCH
LCH Limited, a leading global clearing house, today announced that Cecabank has gone live as EquityClear’s first Spanish clearing member. Already a member of LCH Limited’s Repoclear service, by extending its membership, Cecabank will also benefit from EquityClear’s access to 13 European equities trading venues, offering risk management across Spain and Europe.
/goo.gl/u7Yskw

First Scale IPO 2018: Subscription of STEMMER IMAGING AG launched on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange; Trading start planned for February 27; Subscription function DirectPlace supports the placement of shares
Deutsche Börse Group
The share subscription for the IPO of STEMMER IMAGING AG (ISIN: DE000A2G9MZ9) on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange has started today and is expected to continue until 22nd February. The first trading day of STEMMER is scheduled for February 27th. Following the launch of the 2018 IPO season last Friday, this marks the first IPO in the Scale segment for small and medium-sized companies .
/goo.gl/F6kGhW

MSCI offering expanded to include exposure to Korea
Eurex
January saw Eurex MSCI products get off to a great start in 2018. Due to the advancing roll period, open interest in many established products and several new ones have gained traction, most notably in the MSCI U.S. products.
/goo.gl/j3ABn8

Thomson Reuters hits FX record following MTF MiFID II upgrade; Thomson Reuters upgraded its FX platforms to ensure MiFID II compliance last year.
By Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Foreign exchange (FX) trading at Thomson Reuters saw record volumes in January following several enhancements to its multilateral trading facility (MTF) last year.
/goo.gl/mboVHL

HKEX Announces Incentive Scheme for its Stock Futures
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) today (Wednesday) announced an incentive programme for its stock futures that will take effect on Thursday, 1 March 2018.
/goo.gl/JcfNtr

Cboe Global Markets’ Exchanges Trading Schedule for Presidents’ Day Holiday
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE | Nasdaq: CBOE), one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today announced the following trading schedule for the company’s options, futures, equities and FX trading venues in observance of the Presidents’ Day holiday.
/goo.gl/j73mvc

Presidents’ Day Holiday Trading Hours
OneChicago
OneChicago, LLC (“OneChicago”) will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2018 in observance of the upcoming Presidents’ Day Holiday, which is consistent with U.S. equity markets. OneChicago will be open on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.
/goo.gl/WSf6xk

Nadex takes action against two members over “spread squeeze”
Finance Feeds
Effective February 12, 2018, Allen Epstein and Matthew Harford are suspended from engaging in trading activity for 5 and 12 days, respectively.
/goo.gl/c13kD7

NSEL case: Sebi to probe regulatory aspects relating to 5 brokers; Sebi whole-time member named in-charge of the NSEL probe against the five brokers, another to look into admin aspects such as whether the brokers should continue to hold commodity broking licence
Jayshree P. Upadhyay – Livemint
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has decided that two of its whole-time members would look into the regulatory aspects relating to five brokers being probed for allegedly misselling products of the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), two people aware of the matter said.
/goo.gl/DZG51U

Agriculture and Energy Margins – Effective February 14, 2018
CME Group
/goo.gl/CA9bmC

KC Wheat and Mini-Sized KC Wheat Shipping Certificate Conversion: Effective: February 13, 2018
CME Group
/goo.gl/mci9oe

Fintech

GreenKey “Voice-Enables” Wall Street Via OpenFin; Creates First Industry Standard for Voice Applications
GreenKey Technologies
GreenKey Technologies, creator of patented voice software with integrated speech recognition designed for the financial markets, today announced that the firm will release its voice API through OpenFin’s plugin architecture. OpenFin is the secure desktop operating system used by 45 of the world’s largest banks, buy-side and trading platforms. The move brings the voice software to potentially thousands of new users at hundreds of firms and creates the first industry standard for adding voice to a firm’s applications.
/goo.gl/nBmzPF

The Forbes Fintech 50 For 2018
Janet Novack – Forbes
While crypto hogs the headlines, technology is disrupting the $8.5 trillion (market cap) U.S. financial services industry in less flashy ways, changing how we invest, borrow and save; how big banks control risk; and how hedge funds analyze data and place their bets. Worldwide, $27.4 billion poured into fintech startups in 2017, Accenture reports, up 18% from 2016. With so much in play, it’s not surprising that 22 companies are new on this, the third edition of our list.
jlne.ws/2EpmtQh

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning: A Primer
Larry Cao – CFA Institute Enterprising Investor
We are witnessing the beginning of the artificial intelligence (AI) era.
The computer program AlphaGo defeated the world’s top player in the complex Chinese board game of Go for the last time in May 2017. The program had run out of human competition. So its developers designed AlphaGo Zero to simply play against itself without the aid of any historical game data. AlphaGo Zero taught itself how to beat all versions of AlphaGo in 40 days.
jlne.ws/2Ek9WNJ

Maybe it’s time we ditched fintech and Open Banking for something that makes sense to consumers
Lynsey Barber – City AM
No one orders their weekly food shop on Amazon Prime with cries of “oh, I’m just going to do some e-commerce now”. It’s just shopping.
/goo.gl/9AfU9x

Meet cryptocurrency guru George Weiksner—he’s 11; From an old-money enclave in Connecticut, this sixth-grader is making his way in a new-money realm
Aaron Hankin and Tom Teodorczuk – MarketWatch
George Weiksner lives in Old Greenwich, Conn. He attends Greenwich Country Day School. And, from there, his story—more than likely—diverges from those of his classmates.
/goo.gl/rHGBSV

The Pulse of Fintech – Q4 2017; Quarterly analysis of global investment trends in the fintech sector.
KPMG
Given the significant interest in fintech globally, and its ongoing evolution in terms of market drivers, technologies and potential use-cases, KPMG brings you the pulse of fintech investment globally. In this publication, we highlight key fintech deals, issues and challenges seen around the world, in addition to key trends and insights related to fintech in key regions, including the Americas, the US, Asia and Europe.
/goo.gl/p1bk92

Litecoin creator says the upcoming fork is scam
Chris Smith – BGR News via Yahoo Finance
Most people have absolutely no idea what Litecoin is, or that the sixth cryptocurrency of the world by market cap is about to get a fork of its own much like Bitcoin did last year. Some of those who are aware of Litecoin probably know that Litecoin Cash is coming soon, “sold” as a faster version of Litecoin when it comes to transaction times.
/goo.gl/XbWvxz

Microsoft Just Hinted at Support for Bitcoin Over Crypto-Forks
Mike Brown- Inverse via Yahoo News
Microsoft has waded into the cryptocurrency debate. The tech giant, which supports Bitcoin for its online store, released a blog post on Monday detailing its plans to develop decentralized identity systems using the blockchain. Perhaps most telling, though, is the team’s implication that sticking with the original Bitcoin may prove a better solution than splitting away — or “forking” — to create new cryptocurrencies.
/goo.gl/3HwRPB

Opinion: MIT-led team is aiming to build a better cryptocurrency; Digital Tradecoin would pick up where bitcoin, ethereum and others fall short
Sandy Pentland – MarketWatch
New technologies that make it possible to reinvent our financial system have exploded over the past decade.
/goo.gl/p53Ync

Politics

Commentary: Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Is a Scam
Lindsay Koshgarian – Fortune
President Donald Trump claims that a $200 billion investment by the federal government will lead to nearly $1.5 trillion in new infrastructure spending—when it’s leveraged in the private sector over 10 years. That’s the gist of the long-promised “plan” he released on Feb. 12. But as we’ve seen before, when the president makes big plans and claims that someone else will pay, he’s scamming us.
/goo.gl/uCsPVk

Trump’s Biggest Potential Conflict Of Interest Is Hiding In Plain Sight
Dan Alexander – FORBES
The largest American office of China’s largest bank sits on the 20th floor of Trump Tower, six levels below the desk where Donald Trump built an empire and wrested a presidency. It’s hard to get a glimpse inside. There do not appear to be any public photos of the office, the bank doesn’t welcome visitors, and a man guards the elevators downstairs–one of the perks of forking over an estimated $2 million a year for the space.
/goo.gl/ztwSCD

White House Considering Cleveland Fed President Mester for Fed’s No. 2 Job; Richard Clarida, John Williams and Mohamed El-Erian also have been interviewed for the Fed vice chairman post
Nick Timiraos – WSJ
The White House is considering nominating Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, as vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/5KpsWJ

Regulation

The Spanish Connection – Consequences of a macroprudential regulation in Spain on Mexico
Jagdish Tripathy – Bank Underground
Does macroprudential regulation spillover to foreign financial systems through inter-bank linkages? This question has received a lot of attention in recent years given the discord between the international nature of the global financial system and its regulation and supervision by national jurisdictions (e.g. this article). For example, subsidiaries of Spanish banks issue almost half of all credit issued by commercial banks in Mexico. These subsidiaries are also fully owned by their parent banks headquartered in Spain. Therefore, it is quite natural to ask whether macroprudential regulations in Spain can have unintended consequences on the Mexican financial system and the Mexican economy in general. While Mexican subsidiaries of Spanish banks are de-jure ring-fenced from regulations in Spain, does this hold de-facto?
jlne.ws/2EoUtvO

US watchdog probes possible manipulation of volatility index; Finra to look into whether traders have tried to influence derivatives prices
Robin Wigglesworth and Nicole Bullock in New York – FT
A Wall Street watchdog is exploring whether the Vix index has been manipulated, intensifying the concerns over the US volatility benchmark that was blamed for exacerbating last week’s stock market turmoil.
/goo.gl/nQzfPt

Stock Market ‘Fear Index’ Faces Probe; Financial Industry Regulatory Authority looking into whether bets were placed on S&P 500 options to influence VIX futures
Gunjan Banerji – WSJ
A U.S. regulator is looking into whether prices linked to the stock market’s widely watched “fear index” have been manipulated, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
/goo.gl/R5AktB

ASIC welcomes establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority
ASIC
ASIC welcomes the passage through Parliament of the Bill to establish the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
/goo.gl/N3nLNy

Warning over shadow shop scam impersonating ASIC
ASIC
ASIC warns the public to be wary of a scam where cold callers are claiming to be undertaking a ‘shadow shop’ on behalf of ASIC. A shadow shop is where real consumers are recruited to purchase services such as financial advice to help assess the standards in the market.
/goo.gl/1kbEBM

2018 West Region Networking Seminar
FiNRA
The FINRA West Region Networking Seminar is a half-day event designed to provide financial professionals associated with FINRA member firms in the West Region the opportunity to engage in key discussions with FINRA staff, and connect with industry leaders and peers. The seminar also includes thoughtful discussions around the future landscape of the financial services industry, and the opportunity to meet one-on-one with FINRA Regulatory Coordinators, and Surveillance and District Directors to discuss firm-specific questions.
/goo.gl/TJEMmR

West Region Networking Seminar Agenda
ASIC
The West Region Networking Seminar is a half-day event designed to provide financial professionals associated with FINRA member firms in the West Region the opportunity to engage in key discussions with FINRA staff, and connect with industry leaders and peers. The seminar also includes thoughtful discussions around the future landscape of the financial services industry, and the opportunity to meet one-on-one with FINRA l Regulatory Coordinators, Surveillance and District Directors to discuss firm-specific issues.
/goo.gl/5ZLpyD

Holiday Reminder Regarding TRACE Market Data
FINRA
In observance of President’s Day, the TRACE system will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2018. As stated in the data feed interface specifications, FINRA may send out unmarked test data via its data feeds on market holidays. Direct data feed subscribers, including recipients of TRACE data via the Bond Trading Dissemination Service (BTDS), Agency Trading Dissemination Service (ATDS), Structured Products Dissemination Services (SPDS) and/or 144A Trade Dissemination Services (144A) feed(s) should take the necessary precautions to prevent data corruption.
/goo.gl/uV2L31

SEC to Hold National Compliance Outreach Seminar for Investment Companies and Investment Advisers
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the opening of registration for its compliance outreach program’s national seminar for investment companies and investment advisers. The event is intended to help Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) and other senior personnel at investment companies and investment advisory firms to enhance their compliance programs for the protection of investors.
/goo.gl/vZFLKx

FCA has ‘ambitious’ plan to fight insider dealing; The Financial Conduct Authority’s enforcement boss Mark Steward pushes back against outsized estimates of market abuse
Lucy McNulty – Financial News
Dump the burner phone: the UK’s enforcer-in-chief has set insider traders in his sights this year.
/goo.gl/NJ3aaZ

FCA and PRA appoint new Chair of the FSCS
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) today announce the appointment of Marshall Bailey as Chair of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme Ltd (FSCS) with effect from 1 April 2018. The appointment was made by the FCA Board and the Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC) with the approval of HM Treasury. Marshall Bailey succeeds Lawrence Churchill who is stepping down after two successful terms as Chair.
/goo.gl/ptBWGG

U.S. regulators probe Credit Suisse hiring in Asia
Reuters Staff
U.S. authorities are investigating whether Credit Suisse hired referrals from government agencies and state entities in Asia in exchange for investment banking business and regulatory approvals, the Swiss bank said on Wednesday.
/goo.gl/DTfqpB

Investing and Trading

Precious Metals Markets Are Bouncing Back
Peter Shadbolt – CME Group OpenMarkets
As one of the oldest transferable stores of value, gold, silver and other precious metals have always had their place as alternative assets, rising largely when other asset classes have exhausted their potential.
This year, however, everything is different.
jlne.ws/2ErosU5

Credit Suisse CEO Says Note That Crashed Meant for Hedge Funds
Patrick Winters – Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam said an exchange-traded note tied to volatility that lost most of its value last week is a tool created for hedge funds and professionals.
/goo.gl/SY8GVs

Bitcoin Industry Grapples With Age-Old Problem of Inheritance; A U.S. man has spent years trying to untangle the legal mess he found himself in after his 26-year-old son, an early miner of Bitcoins, died in a plane crash
Nate Lanxon – Bloomberg
Five years ago, Matthew Moody was killed during an observational flight when the two-seater plane he was in crashed flying over a canyon in Chico, California.
/goo.gl/kLTEUG

Does More “Skin in the Game” Mitigate Bank Risk-Taking?
Haelim Anderson, Daniel Barth, and Dong Beom Choi – NY Federal Reserve
It is widely said that a lack of “skin in the game” would distort lenders’ incentives and cause a moral hazard problem, that is, excessive risk-taking. If so, does more skin in the game—in the form of extended liability—reduce bankers’ risk-taking? In order to examine this question, we investigate historical data prior to the Great Depression, when bank owners’ liability for losses in the event of bank failure differed by state and primary regulator. This post describes our preliminary findings.
/goo.gl/mu3Asn

Short Sellers’ Favorite Stock Bets Backfire
Lu Wang – Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs’ basket of most-shorted stocks rallies 0.9%; Under Armour and Fossil jump as results beat expectations
Under Armour Sales Surge 47% Outside North America
Short sellers just got burned, badly. Under Armour Inc., the second-most targeted by short sellers among S&P 500 stocks, surged 17 percent Tuesday for the best performance in the benchmark index.
/goo.gl/Ncxh43

Tensions over junk bond covenants start to boil over; Asset managers worry safeguards are being eroded, leaving them more exposed to losses
Robert Smith – FT
When European bond investors tired of private equity firms and the law firms they employ watering down key protections in junk-rated debt, they turned to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.
/goo.gl/rFSSEG

Institutions

Credit Suisse Posts Third-Straight Loss but Says Strategy Is Working; Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam says ‘our strategy is working’ as it enters the final year of a three-year restructuring plan
Brian Blackstone – WSJ
Credit Suisse Group AG posted its third-straight annual loss Wednesday as the U.S. corporate tax overhaul forced the Swiss banking giant to write down over $2 billion in deferred-tax assets.
/goo.gl/eoXHwr

Market volatility boosts revenue at Credit Suisse; Swiss bank says it is already enjoying better trading after tough fourth quarter
Laura Noonan, Investment Banking Correspondent – FT
Credit Suisse’s revenue from markets rebounded by more than 10 per cent in the first six weeks of the year, offering the strongest evidence yet that the recent resurgence in volatility could lift investment banks out of a trading slump.
/goo.gl/xFm7uz

New Hedge-Fund Tax Dodge Triggers Wild Rush Back Into Delaware
Miles Weiss – Bloomberg
Firms set up LLCs in plan to avoid carried-interest change; Congress may have stumbled in narrowing loophole for managers
Wall Street’s fast-money crowd is returning to well-trodden ground to elude Trump-era tax laws: Delaware.
/goo.gl/ufgKEf

Credit Suisse Says Bonus-Pool Increase to Be Smaller for 2017
Jan-Henrik Foerster, Patrick Winters – Bloomberg
A pedestrian walks by a Credit Suisse Group AG bank branch in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, Jan. 15, 2018. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg
Credit Suisse AG’s bonus pool increased at a slower pace in 2017 than a year before, showing that the bank remains cautious about spending as its restructuring continues.
/goo.gl/5kp3Fy

Goldman’s Buyback Desk Was Deluged With Orders as Stocks Plunged
Sarah Ponczek, Lu Wang – Bloomberg
Repurchases surged to 4.5 times last year’s average amid rout, Demand is poised to pick up as earnings-related blackout ends
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. unit that executes share buybacks for clients just had its busiest week ever, but even that couldn’t keep stocks from flopping into a correction.
/goo.gl/t1wL7x

HSBC becomes first international bank allowed to remit yuan to China; The move is one of several indications that internationalisation of the Chinese currency is picking up pace again
Alun John – South China Morning Post
HSBC said on Wednesday that it had helped a Chinese national remit yuan from Australia back to mainland China, the first international bank to do so since a rule change in January.
/goo.gl/A1ngud

Mirae Asset snaps up $10bn ETF provider Global X
Robin Wigglesworth – FT
Mirae Asset Global Investments has snapped up Global X, a $10bn exchange-traded fund provider that is partly owned by JPMorgan, in another example of how asset management companies are moving into and consolidating the fast-expanding industry.
/goo.gl/UxK14v

Regions

Pea Boom Goes Bust as Canada Farmers Ditch Pulses for Canola
Jen Skerritt – Bloomberg
Pea sowings forecast at seven-year low as lentil acres drop; Farmers plan to seed more canola amid better price performance
Just a few years ago it seemed like Canada’s farmers couldn’t get peas into the ground fast enough, but they’re now falling out of favor.
/goo.gl/y9LSVB

$1.8 Billion Fraud May Spread From One of India’s Biggest Banks
Anto Antony – Bloomberg
Punjab National Bank detects fraud at single Mumbai branch; PNB shares plummet in Mumbai by most since August 2015
India’s second-biggest state-run bank said it has detected a $1.8 billion fraud at a single branch in the nation’s financial hub, the impact of which could extend to other lenders as well. Its shares plunged.
/goo.gl/RGmmGj

Crypto Trading Ban Downplayed by South Korea After Backlash
Sam Kim, Kanga Kong – Bloomberg
Government responds after petition on president’s website; Regulators the world over are grappling with cryptocurrencies
South Korea’s government gave the strongest signal yet that it will allow cryptocurrency exchanges to keep operating in the country, a welcome development for traders who had feared an outright ban in one of the world’s biggest markets for digital assets.
/goo.gl/ErmVkf

Authorities crack down on ‘Goldfinger’ tax evasion; A tax loophole involving gold sales may have cost Germany billions. Now the law is cracking down hard, with tax lawyers and investors facing prosecution following spectacular police raids.
Sönke Iwersen, Volker Votsmeier, Jan Hildebrand – Handelsblatt
No, this is not an article about the James Bond movie, but the details would sure make a good Hollywood script. A notorious tax trick that’s become known as “Goldfinger” may have been far bigger than first assumed. The tax dodge, which used fake gold-trading companies to avoid tax, has prompted massive police raids in recent weeks. Prosecution documents seen by Handelsblatt suggest it involved many tax lawyers and hundreds of clients, and ultimately cost German taxpayers billions of euros.
/goo.gl/95gR3H

Punjab National Bank hit by $1.8bn in fraudulent transactions
Simon Mundy in Mumbai – Ft
Shares in Punjab National Bank, one of India’s largest lenders, have fallen more than 4 per cent after it announced the detection of fraudulent transactions worth $1.77bn.
/goo.gl/zvjEKp

Brexit

Boris Johnson to Warn U.K. Against Reversing Brexit
Stephen Castle – NY Times
Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, was expected to argue on Wednesday that Britain’s looming departure from the European Union provides grounds not for “fear but hope,” and to warn critics that efforts to reverse the process would be a “disastrous mistake.”
/goo.gl/4Md5aH

The post A bit of fear is good for markets; FIA seeks talks with Indian exchanges; Nasdaq/OPCOM New Tech appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Should Congress Create a Crypto-Cop?; The New Wizards of Wall Street; IRS to Ban Hedge-Fund Tax Dodge

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

The CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee showed me a few things yesterday. One, the CFTC Commissioners seem to like and respect each other and get along. That has not always been the case. Two, there is a lot of work to be done on crypto-assets regulation. Three is that there is a tremendous spirit of cooperation in the industry to figure all this out.

I learned from an AI expert that AI will take over the world. I learned from a cyber-security expert that I am not paranoid enough. I saw the CME Group’s Bryan Durkin knock the ball out of the park as he explained the breadth of the market protections, systems and functionalities the CME has put in place over the years.

I learned a lot about Bitcoin trading from the presentation from Rich Gorelick, now head of market structure for DRW. He spelled out the DRW experience with cryptomarkets and the risks traders need to address.

In the end, the CFTC’s Dan Gorfine organized and executed a very good Technology Advisory Committee meeting that set the agenda for work to be done by yet to be named TAC sub-committees. I look forward to the opportunity to contribute to one of them.~JJL

IMC Chicago has been certified as a great place to work by @GPTW_US.~JJL

The second Cboe bitcoin (XBT) futures settlement occurred yesterday. The price was $9195 and, per the press release, more than 282,000 total contracts have traded since launch.~SD

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JPX taps Cinnober for updated clearing system; The newly launched JPX clearing system includes real-time clearing and risk technology services.
By Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Japan Exchange Group (JPX) has launched its new clearing system for exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) using Cinnober’s post-trade technology.
/goo.gl/RktoFR

**** Two John Lothian News sponsors working together. It is a beautiful thing.~JJL

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DRW calls for physical settlement of bitcoin futures
Risk.net
Prop shop’s head of market structure says underlying spot exchanges are not transparent enough
/goo.gl/TFKsEj

**** Yes, he did.~JJL

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Wednesday’s Top Three
Our top read story by a long shot yesterday was JLN’s piece by Spencer Doar, What’s the Deal With the VIX Manipulation Letter? Inaccuracy and Misunderstanding, about the whistleblower letter to regulators on the VIX. Second went to another JLN piece, from Chuck Mackie, Highlights from the International Blockchain Conference. Third was the Livemint piece on the Indian index story, FIA seeks talks with Indian exchanges; SGX shares down 7%

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
  • 120,897,989 pages viewed
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  • 211,711 edits
Level Trading

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Lead Stories

Should Congress Create a Crypto-Cop?
Peter J. Henning – NY Times
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether have seeped into the public consciousness. Colleges including Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are offering classes in the blockchain technology that undergirds these virtual currencies to crowds of eager students.
/goo.gl/iP1CwF

The New Wizards of Wall Street; Private-equity firms are doing more of their own investment banking work, which brings fees but also risks and costs
Paul J. Davies – WSJ
The $3.7 billion buyout of a Dutch parking lot company doesn’t sound like the most exciting deal—but the way it was done shows that big private-equity firms can now behave like old fashioned investment banks. They can use their own balance sheets to move quickly, make big bets and earn fees from partners. But as they become more powerful on Wall Street, there are greater risks of conflicts and scrutiny.
/goo.gl/hVQaZS

House Votes to Require SEC Subpoena for Traders’ Source Code
Yueqi Yang – Bloomberg
The code is a secret sauce that fuels firms’ profits; Bill also applies to trading algorithms from hedge funds
The House voted Wednesday to ensure the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would continue to have to seek a subpoena before accessing proprietary source code from high-frequency traders, the secret sauce that fuels profits.
/goo.gl/bY2Nfp

IRS to Ban Hedge-Fund Tax Dodge on Carried Interest
Miles Weiss – Bloomberg
Treasury secretary says agency to issue guidance in two weeks; Senator Ron Wyden calls new carried-interest limits a ‘farce’
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the Internal Revenue Service plans on closing a loophole that hedge-fund managers had been trying to exploit to avoid paying higher taxes on carried-interest profits.
/goo.gl/ExAD4G

Don’t bet on Mifid II’s quiet start lasting; Studies this week from UK regulators suggest they are serious about enforcing the rules
Philip Stafford – FT
The biggest overhaul of European financial markets arrived with a whimper. Six weeks after the introduction of Mifid II, and you’ve got to really hunt for any evidence of the rules actually changing anyone’s behaviour.
/goo.gl/NpfeC9

Harvard, Hawaii Gambled on Market Calm—Then Everything Changed; Harvard, Hawaii and others, pressed to improve returns, made risky bets that depended on low stock-market volatility
Gregory Zuckerman, Gunjan Banerji and Heather Gillers – WSJ
A decade of low bond yields pushed some of the most stability-minded investors to dabble in risky investments that depended on markets being orderly. Now, those bets are looking problematic.
/goo.gl/16Ktto

Worries over exotic exchange traded funds deepen; Market volatility adds to scrutiny over ETFs’ use of derivatives to juice up returns
Robin Wigglesworth – FT
Activist investor Carl Icahn and BlackRock founder Larry Fink have clashed over the merits of exchange traded funds, but they agree on one subject: ETFs that use derivatives to juice up returns for investors are a bane.
/goo.gl/bJuVBS

Out of 250,000 cryptocurrency traders, less than 100 paid taxes, according to survey
Aaron Hankin – Marketwatch
As nearly all major digital assets on Wednesday were rallying, the cryptocurrency market was contemplating a notable climb in Litecoin and questions about which digital-asset traders are forking over money to the Internal Revenue Service.
jlne.ws/2F0upZ3

Sorry, not sorry: Wall Street not quitting ‘vol’ products
Trevor Hunnicutt – Reuters
One bank has expressed its regrets for the unraveling volatility trade.
But in general Wall Street is offering up apologia – rather than an apology – for the dramatic windup last week of investment products that had profited from calm stock markets.
jlne.ws/2F1W2AY

Austrian Bitcoin ‘Scam’ Triggers Police Search Across Europe
Boris Groendahl – Bloomberg
Interpol asked to find suspects in Denmark, Latvia, Germany
Police got ‘hundreds’ of complaints from Austrian investors
Austrian authorities are asking Interpol to help them track down suspects in an alleged Bitcoin scam that blew up last year and may have hit hundreds of investors in the country and abroad.
/goo.gl/CbjiHq

Bitcoin Charity Donations Increased 10-Fold in 2017
Jeff John Roberts – Fortune
Bitcoin owners had a very good year in 2017 as the cryptocurrency leapt from $1,000 in January to nearly $20,000 by end-of-year—which is probably why some of them are sharing their financial windfall.
jlne.ws/2F4ZzyF

FX trading volumes rise sharply in Jan, early Feb – CLS
Reuters Staff
Foreign exchange trading volumes jumped 24 percent in January from a year earlier, data from CLS showed on Thursday, as investors ramped up bets on a weaker dollar and uncertainty about the end of the era of cheap money stoked volatility.
/goo.gl/2Y635E

Welcome to the Post-New Normal Era in Markets; With higher U.S. wage inflation, market participants will begin to doubt the Fed can remain committed to “gradual normalization.”
Larry Hathaway – Bloomberg
Get ready for the post-new normal. Recent market volatility reflects more than just an unwinding of positions or the failure of a few esoteric volatility products. The catalyst for the sell-off arrived on Feb. 2 in the form of higher-than-expected U.S. wage inflation. Although a few data points aren’t conclusive evidence, it won’t be long before market participants begin to doubt the Fed can remain committed to “gradual normalization.” The implications of such a shift in sentiment cannot be overstated.
/goo.gl/gvWYsu

Hartfield, Titus & Donnelly’s Chris Ferreri; Electronification of the Municipal Bond Market: Chris Ferreri, Hartfield, Titus & Donnelly
TABB Forum
While the municipal market typically features illiquid, infrequently traded bonds, the market mechanisms are in some ways more advanced than in other, more developed institutional markets. But there still is a role for the voice broker in trading less-liquid products, says Chris Ferreri, COO, Hartfield, Titus & Donnelly. Speaking with TABB Group founder and research chairman Larry Tabb at our recent Fixed Income conference in New York, Ferreri explains the unique workings of the muni bond market, the advent of the MuniBrokers platform, and the state of electronification in municipal bond trading.
/goo.gl/zJMwgP

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Japan Exchange Group Live with Cinnober’s Clearing and Risk solutions
Financial IT
Japan Exchange Group (JPX) successfully launched its new clearing system for exchange traded derivatives, based on Cinnober’s TRADExpress RealTime Clearing, and a CCP Risk solution. The JPX ETD derivatives market is operated by the Osaka Exchange (OSE) and cleared by the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC), both part of JPX.
/goo.gl/XWiPuH

FC Bari becomes first Italian club to join blockchain-based London Football Exchange
Finextra
FC Bari 1908 has agreed (subject to contract) to become the first Italian club to join the London Football Exchange (LFE) in order to access the LFE Fan Experience platform by trading football equity on the blockchain and giving thousands of ordinary fans a level of access that they have never seen before.
jlne.ws/2F58ZtY

Intercontinental Exchange and Magellan Midstream Successfully Launch Auction for Short Term Crude Storage Capacity at Magellan East Houston Terminal
Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, and Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P.announced the launch of a new auction for a portion of multi-month Permian WTI storage capacity at the Magellan East Houston Terminal. Recently, a total of 1.5 million barrels of Permian WTI storage at the Magellan East Houston Terminal were leased on the ICE trading platform, with an average of 400,000 barrels leased per month. The auctions are designed to help bring additional transparency and efficiencies to the storage and transportation of crude oil in the U.S. Gulf Coast.
jlne.ws/2Erlpv2

Canadian Securities Exchange unveils blockchain clearing platform; Exchange operator aims to offer investors securities token offerings which are regulated by securities commissions, unlike ICOs.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has developed a securities clearing and settlement platform using blockchain technology.
/goo.gl/io5G9F

Canadian Stock Exchange Launches ‘Fully-Regulated’ Token Funding Platform, ‘Unlike’ ICOs
Molly Jane Zuckerman – Cointelegraph
The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) announced yesterday, Feb.13, that they will soon launch a securities clearing and settlement platform based on the Ethereum (ETH) Blockchain that lets companies raise capital with security tokens.
jlne.ws/2Eqvh8t

Bursa Malaysia extends trading hours, contract months for crude palm futures
Reuters
Malaysia’s derivatives exchange said it would extend the trading hours, tenure of contract months and position limits of its crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract effective Feb. 26, according to a document posted on its website on Wednesday.
jlne.ws/2F4xB63

Decommissioning of old 10 Gbit/s Eurex Co-Location infrastructure
Eurex
After the successful introduction of Co-Location 2.0 in June 2017 and the announcement of the ordering stop of the old 10 Gbit/s Eurex Co-Location infrastructure (hereafter referred to as Co-Location 1.0) in December 2017, Eurex Frankfurt will decommission Co-Location 1.0 by 30 September 2018. After this date, it will only be possible to connect to the Co-Location 2.0 infrastructure.
/goo.gl/KtULSS

ASX Ltd Half-Year Media Release
ASX
ASX Ltd Half-Year Results Analyst Presentation
Appendix 4D and ASX Ltd Half-Year Financial Statements
/goo.gl/UgVtTY

SMU team beats 109 others in NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Competition 2018
SGX
A team from Singapore Management University (SMU) has emerged as the winner of the NUS-SGX Stock Pitch Competition finals held last night at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) auditorium.
/goo.gl/q6E5dC

Deletion from the JPX-Nikkei Index 400
JPX
Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. and Nikkei Inc. will make the following deletion from the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 constituent in accordance with the constituent selection rule.
/goo.gl/m498XQ

Fintech

Are fintechs making an impact on treasury functions?
Euromoney Magazine
Technology may be creeping into every aspect of banking and corporate treasury, but there seems to be a low appetite for working with fintechs and more demand for a focus on traditional banking relationships and business understanding.
jlne.ws/2F2IPIa

It’s Getting Harder to Tell Banks From Tech Companies; Just imagine the day that Goldman Sachs offers an Uber-for-mergers app.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
You know, someone invented the XIV ETN. And someone invented the VIX, and VIX futures. And when you read the technical specifications for all of those things, it is clear that they are not trivial feats of engineering. Teams of marketers and traders and quants and technologists and lawyers put many hours into getting them just right, so that they would work as intended. They are technologies, highly engineered tools designed to help customers do things that they couldn’t have done before. They are financial technologies, built not out of screens and circuit boards but out of formulas and hedging strategies and legal documents, but that is what you’d expect: Financial firms ought to innovate in financial technology.
/goo.gl/VQ14TL

Supercharge Your Spoofing Surveillance with TT Score
Jay Biondo and Morgan Trinkaus – Trading Technologies
On January 29, 2018, the CFTC and the DOJ coordinated announcements regarding the filing of civil enforcement actions by the CFTC, naming five corporations and six individuals, and the filing of criminal actions by the DOJ against eight individuals (including six of the same persons named in the CFTC actions), for engaging in, or aiding and abetting, spoofing in the U.S. futures markets. The CFTC actions imposed fines ranging from $1.6 million to $30 million, which was the highest CFTC spoofing penalty to date. The announcement also marked the largest futures market criminal enforcement action in the history of the DOJ.
jlne.ws/2EqA0Hc

Fintech Won’t Keep the Loan Sharks from the Door; Would non-bank lenders really be any kinder to borrowers?
Mark Gilbert – Bloomberg
“There can’t be all this smoke without some fire,” lawmaker Andrew Tyrie complained at a 2014 hearing into whether Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc mistreated 5,900 business customers. For incendiary material, how about a leaked internal memo suggesting clients should be given enough rope to “hang themselves?”
/goo.gl/baAgQG

Berkshire’s Charlie Munger calls bitcoin ‘totally asinine’; Warren Buffett’s long-time sidekick speaks on tech, healthcare and his advancing years
Tim Bradshaw in Los Angeles – FT
There cannot be many nonagenarians who spend their time worrying about cryptocurrencies.
/goo.gl/CoMxbm

Interactive Brokers fined $4.5 million for algo trading system failures; Hong Kong authorities found Interactive Brokers breached code of conduct for execution of algo and electronic orders.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Financial authorities have fined the Hong Kong-based arm of Interactive Brokers $4.5 million due to failures relating to its algorithmic and electronic trading systems.
/goo.gl/jg4L4Z

Coincheck hit by lawsuit as investors seek restart of cryptocurrency withdrawals
Thomas Wilson – Reuters
Cryptocurrency investors launched a lawsuit against Coincheck Inc on Thursday, seeking to force the Tokyo-based exchange to allow them to withdraw assets worth $183,000 frozen after last month’s $530 million heist of digital money.
/goo.gl/NJRbj3

Number of crypto hedge funds doubles in four months: Autonomous NEXT data
Reuters
Hedge funds focused on trading cryptocurrencies more than doubled in the four months to Feb. 15, hitting a record high of 226, showed new data from fintech research house Autonomous NEXT on Thursday.
/goo.gl/iMzfRg

Politics

House Backs Bill That Would Benefit Fintech Partnerships With Banks; Legislation would ensure bank loans retain original interest rate even if sold to nonbanks
By Lalita Clozel – WSJ
The House on Wednesday approved a bill that would make the resale of high-interest loans more attractive to third-party buyers such as debt collectors—and bolster fintech firms’ partnerships with banks. The bill passed 245-171. Nearly all Republicans voted for the measure, while Democrats were divided.
/goo.gl/7sA5t9

ISDA CEO Scott O’Malia Testimony to US House Financial Services Committee
ISDA
/goo.gl/mQZ1HY

When Trump’s SEC Punishes Wall Street, It’s Often Done Quietly
Matt Robinson, Benjamin Bain – Bloomberg
Cases against hedge funds, banks came with no press releases; Former SEC enforcement officials say they’ve noticed a shift
Under President Donald Trump, a top financial regulator isn’t embarrassing Wall Street as much as it used to.
/goo.gl/itgd1m

Regulation

Opening Statement of Commissioner Rostin Behnam before the Technology Advisory Committee Meeting
CFTC
I’d like to begin by wishing Commissioner Quintenz a Happy Valentine’s Day; and equally important, thanking him for convening today’s meeting, and for his sponsorship and leadership of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC).
/goo.gl/gLdKNk

Opening Statement of Commissioner Brian Quintenz before the Technology Advisory Committee
CFTC
Good morning and welcome to the first 2018 meeting of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC or Committee). I want to take a moment to thank you all very much for taking the time to be here today, particularly those of you traveling from across the country. I would also like to thank Dan Gorfine, the Acting Chair of the Committee and the Director of LabCFTC, as well as Jorge Herrada, for their hard work in planning this meeting and putting together such a robust agenda for our discussion.
/goo.gl/oxZg9P

ESMA launches Interactive Single Rulebook
ESMA
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is launching its Interactive Single Rulebook, which is a new service for market participants and other interested stakeholders across the European Union. The tool is launched today with the Level 1 text of the UCITS Directive, and links to all relevant Level 2 and Level 3 measures already available elsewhere on ESMA’s website.
/goo.gl/DQVpXf

Extension of Time Requests Relating to FINRA Rule 4210
FINRA
FINRA is updating the Regulatory Extension (REX) system to include enhanced functionality that will better enable firms to request extensions of time related to FINRA Rule 4210, inclusive of requests for extensions of time in connection with the margin requirements for Covered Agency Transactions that will become effective beginning June 25, 2018. This Notice contains information about the REX system update, including a REX Customer Test Environment (CTE) that FINRA will make available to assist firms in testing their systems to ensure their readiness for the updated system.
/goo.gl/qjMkqY

SIFMA Testimony on Legislative Proposals Regarding Derivatives
SIFAM
Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., President & CEO of SIFMA, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment at a hearing entitled “Legislative Proposals Regarding Derivatives.”
/goo.gl/Fi7vcL

FCA explores creation of global sandbox
FINEXTRA
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority is looking into the creation of a global regulatory sandbox, enabling fintech firms to carry out tests in different countries at the same time and helping watchdogs to identify and solve common cross-border problems.
/goo.gl/oiQHno

Investing and Trading

Hedge funds outperform stocks and bonds on risk-adjusted basis
Hedgeweek
Hedge funds have produced more consistent and steadier returns than equities or bonds over both the short term and the long term, according to new research by Preqin and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA).
jlne.ws/2F4Qi9P

Charlie Munger urges regulators to ease off Wells Fargo, blasts bitcoin
Jonathan Stempel, Jennifer Ablan – Reuters
Charlie Munger, the longtime business partner of fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, said on Wednesday it is time for regulators to “let up” on Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), which will end up “better off” as it corrects a series of mistakes in how it treated banking customers.
/goo.gl/EUPLAJ

Hottest U.S. Bond Trade of 2017 Is Heading Across the Atlantic
By John Ainger – Bloomberg
Curve flatteners increasingly in demand on ECB Rate Hike Bets; German five- to 30-year yield spread is narrowest since 2016
The flattener fever is spreading to Europe. Investors are betting that the difference between long- and short-dated yields in European government bonds will narrow this year in an echo of a similar trade on the U.S. curve that was among last year’s most lucrative. Allianz Global Investors is positioned to benefit from a further flattening of the bund curve, while HSBC Holdings Plc is recommending a similar wager in the euro swap market.
/goo.gl/mHy5hL

Time Heals All Wounds as VIX Curve Improves by Most Since 2008
Luke Kawa – Bloomberg
Spread between contracts posts biggest shrinkage since 2008; Return of contango should help remaining inverse-VIX products
For the VIX futures curve, time has healed all wounds. The enormous spread between front and second-month VIX futures contracts, which are tied to the Cboe Volatility Index, was a barometer of just how roiled the market was during the recent downturn. It also caused severe pain (and in one case, death) for some products linked to the VIX.
/goo.gl/P59UpK

Institutions

Bunge CEO: Board backs management after company earnings miss
P.J. Huffstutter and Karl Plume – Reuters
Agricultural merchant Bunge Ltd reported a worse-than-expected loss for the fourth quarter on Wednesday, the latest in a string of poor results that has left the company’s management fending off takeover bids from rivals.
Several years of abundant grains supply on global markets have made it tough for Bunge and its rivals to turn a profit on their core business: buying, processing and selling corn, soy and wheat.
jlne.ws/2F2rXBq

Banks Told They’re Lagging on Response to Climate Change Risks
Jeremy Hodges – Bloomberg
Under 50% of banks have hard targets for low carbon products; Most banks failing to ingrain climate strategy into business
Fewer than half the world’s biggest banks are doing enough to forestall climate change that poses risks to their markets and economies.
/goo.gl/YfJaN5

ETF Investors Might Not Really Know What They’re Buying Anymore
Rachel Evans – Bloomberg
ETNs, like XIV, shouldn’t be confused with other securities; Industry executives are calling for better classifications
What’s in a name? When it comes to exchange-traded funds, the answer could mean the difference between surviving a volatile market and getting wiped out.
/goo.gl/hdAwT2

New Trick to Pitching Hedge Funds Is to Call Them Anything Else
Hema Parmar, Somali Basak, John Gittelshon – Bloomberg
Money managers try cryptic names to avoid negative stereotypes; Many investors are abandoning hedge funds for cheaper options
When Jonathan Hook, chief investment officer at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, appears before the board to push investments in hedge funds, he chooses his words carefully.
/goo.gl/kXPZVU

Here’s an Idea for Goldman: Buy Bank of New York Mellon
Antony Currie – NY Times
There’s a potentially ideal merger partner for the $104 billion Goldman Sachs. The Wall Street firm’s chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, told shareholders on Tuesday that it was already having some success turning around its stumbling fixed-income, currency and commodities trading unit. But buying $56 billion Bank of New York Mellon could be a better fix — if only the asset-management and custody specialist weren’t in a different league.
/goo.gl/981Hzx

Regions

Navigating a China Dip
Mark Harrison – CFA Enterprising Investor blog
Visiting Hong Kong for the first time in two decades, I see evidence of breakneck economic transformation everywhere: swathes of new skyscrapers, enticing shopping malls, filled with outlets selling nothing but luxury watches, and everywhere a crush of cheery tour groups from China’s booming mainland.
jlne.ws/2F5m46k

PNB scam: How India’s 2nd largest bank fell victim to one of biggest frauds; The finance ministry has issued an advisory to all banks to review their large customer exposures, according to media reports
Reuters
India’s Punjab National Bank, the second-biggest state-run lender, stunned the country’s financial sector when it announced this week it had discovered fraudulent transactions worth $1.77 billion at a single branch in Mumbai.
/goo.gl/GuZj4P

Soyabean prices hit 7-month high on Argentina drought worries
Emiko Terazono – FT
Grain and oilseed traders are on tenterhooks as Argentina drought concerns continued to push soyabean and soya meal prices higher.
/goo.gl/mwPUfz

French companies complain of skills shortages; As growth picks up employers struggle to find trained staff
Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Valenciennes – FT
In Valenciennes, the northern French automotive bastion where Aurélien Martel was born, unemployment is a daily struggle for many, but not for the 37-year-old maintenance worker, whose skills are in short supply.
/goo.gl/ZidKif

Iran holds 100 traders and freezes accounts in dollar crackdown; Operation to halt slide in rial viewed as signal of economic trouble
Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran – FT
Iranian authorities have detained almost 100 currency traders and frozen bank accounts reportedly worth 200tn rials ($5.3bn) in the biggest crackdown on foreign exchanges in six years.
/goo.gl/9WY7XD

Brexit

EU wants power to raid financial firms in Britain after Brexit
James Crisp – Telegraph
The European Union will demand the right to raid financial services firms in Britain after Brexit and hand its regulators sweeping new powers, as Brussels moves to shackle the City of London with red tape after the UK leaves the bloc.
/goo.gl/2Zbm46

How can London keep its doors open after Brexit?
Helen Cahill – City AM
The government will put forward its immigration plans later this year (Source: Getty)
The future of the UK’s immigration system after Brexit will be decided this year when the government brings forward its Immigration Bill.
/goo.gl/B6x2F8

Brussels eyes corporate tax to fill EUR15bn Brexit hole in EU budget; Juncker’s warning to member states sets scene for hard bargaining in negotiations
Jim Brunsden and Mehreen Khan in Brussels – FT
Brussels is urging EU leaders to consider radical options such as raiding corporate tax receipts and money raised from selling carbon emission permits to fill a EUR15bn a year budget hole left by Brexit.
/goo.gl/tbnGm8

Miscellaneous

At Thomson Reuters, Tensions Between Family and Board Ratchet Up With Blackstone Deal; David Thomson was concerned the board didn’t do enough to seek a higher price for a stake
Jacquie McNish and David Wighton – WSJ
The board of Thomson Reuters Corp. TRI 0.85% recently pressed ahead with plans to sell a piece of its business to Blackstone Group BX 0.69% LP for $17 billion despite its chairman’s concerns that directors had failed to seek a higher price or consider other potential buyers, people close to the deal said.
/goo.gl/DCwZVD

The post Should Congress Create a Crypto-Cop?; The New Wizards of Wall Street; IRS to Ban Hedge-Fund Tax Dodge appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).


US blocks Chinese-led takeover of Chicago exchange; This Short Seller Pressed ‘Tweet.’ Then the FBI Showed Up;

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Thursday’s near half marathon (almost 13.1 hours), CryptoCon 2018 event by FinTank was a smashing success by all accounts with coverage of everything from initial coin offerings to crypto markets from several different vantage points – lawyers, traders, brokers and exchanges. Well done, FinTank. You will see more coverage from the event below and in the coming days.~JK

Wednesday’s Technology Advisory Committee of the CFTC fell on Valentines Day, which was also Ash Wednesday. Each member of the TAC was given a cupcake at their seat. No one was brave enough to eat the cupcake for fear of it being caught on video eating it, except for yours truly. I did snarf it down quickly after lunch before the cameras started rolling. I hope.~JJL

Thank you to ADMIS for a donation to the Boy Scouts of Pathway to Adventure Council. ADMIS had a wear jeans to work day and donated the proceeds to Scouts. Anyone else want to do that this year?~JJL

According to Tom Lehrkinder of Tabb Forum, the top 10 FCMs represent 73 percent of total customer assets. Options on futures volumes in 2017 were up 10 percent and futures volumes were up 2 percent. More info in his story, also contained in our “Lead” section. ~SD

Coinbase had a glitch yesterday during which clients’ bank accounts were charged multiples of what they were supposed to and in some cases were emptied. Coinbase blamed Visa. Here is the Business Insider story on it~JJL

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ICO Rules and Regs: Initial Coin Offerings Under Regulatory Spotlight and Are More Complicated Than They Seem
Jim Kharouf – JLN
So you want to launch an initial coin offering? Better buckle up and lawyer up.
At the FinTank CryptoCon event in Chicago on Thursday, two attorneys addressed the complexity and pitfalls that come with launching an ICO. Barbara Jones, an attorney with GreenbergTrauig, said there continues to be some ambiguity over regulation of ICOs. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has said numerous times that he has not seen a token from an ICO that is not a security. Meanwhile, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo is considering tokens as commodities, and has said the commission will pursue any cases involving token fraud. Interestingly, the CFTC issued a Customer Protection Advisory on Thursday warning customers about pump-and-dump schemes in less liquid and new “alternative” virtual currencies, digital coins or tokens. Both chairmen have said they are working together to address this new instrument. In short, there isn’t a lot of regulatory certainty yet, but it is evolving.
bit.ly/2ELxheA

**From the FinTank CryptoCon event in Chicago.~JK

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Predata Appoints Hazem Dawani as CEO
BusinessWire
Predata, a predictive analytics platform that anticipates the risk of future events, today announced the appointment of Hazem Dawani as Chief Executive Officer. Predata also named Joel T. Meyer as Vice President of Government and Corporate Markets.
/goo.gl/HsX3VW

**Congrats to Hazem on his new role.~JK

++++

Thursday’s Top Three
DRW’s Richard Gorelick grabbed people’s attention yesterday with his comments at the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee meeting, covered by Risk.net in DRW calls for physical settlement of bitcoin futures. Second went to Bloomberg’s House Votes to Require SEC Subpoena for Traders’ Source Code. And third went to Bloomberg’s IRS to Ban Hedge-Fund Tax Dodge on Carried Interest

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MarketsWiki Statistics Sponsored by Level Trading Field
  • 120,932,367 pages viewed
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Level Trading

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Lead Stories

US blocks Chinese-led takeover of Chicago exchange; SEC concerned that foreign ownership would stymie its access to bourse’s records
Nicole Bullock in New York – FT
US regulators have rejected the sale of the Chicago Stock Exchange to a Chinese-led consortium in what could be the final twist in a controversial deal.
/goo.gl/Q65vZX

***** Here is the Bloomberg version and Wall Street Journal version and Reuters

This Short Seller Pressed ‘Tweet.’ Then the FBI Showed Up; Cohodes’s posts were ‘threat to my life,’ says MiMedx’s Petit; rival sees overreach by the feds.
Greg Farrell, Anders Melin – Bloomberg
Short-sellers aren’t known for restraint and decorum, and that goes double on Twitter, where Marc Cohodes vowed to take down a CEO he accuses of fraud. “I will bury the little fella in a shoe box,” Cohodes tweeted in October.
/goo.gl/YPdvzD

CFTC Issues First Pump-and-Dump Virtual Currency Customer Protection Advisory
CFTC Warns Customers to Avoid Pump-and-Dump Schemes
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued a Customer Protection Advisory that warns customers to beware of and avoid pump-and-dump schemes that can occur in thinly traded or new “alternative” virtual currencies, digital coins or tokens.
/goo.gl/4JKyhz

Investors Warned of Cryptocurrency ‘Pump-and-Dump’ Schemes; CFTC says such scams seek to capitalize on growing interest in virtual currencies like bitcoin
By Gabriel T. Rubin – WSJ
Regulators on Thursday warned consumers to beware of “pump-and-dump” manipulation schemes in virtual-currency markets as they try to rein in misconduct on unregulated spot exchanges.
/goo.gl/vVfCyK

Electronic Bond Trading Gains Ground
Matthew Leising and Molly Smith – Bloomberg
TruMid saw January volume more than double to $2 billion; It’s ‘here to stay,’ even as Wall Street maintains its grip
Electronic trading in the $8 trillion U.S. corporate-bond market is beginning to heat up.
/bloom.bg/2F6QOE2

Managed Futures Crazy 2018
RCM Alternatives Blog
The last month and a half has been one crazy ride for an asset class that prides itself more on base hits than trying to hit home runs. It started off with a bang, at one point up about 6% (per the SG CTA Index) as many in the industry headed down to Miami for the annual spate of conferences, broad smiles on their faces. It prompted us to write how it could be the best monthly performance from Managed Futures in more than a decade on January 29th – which, as often happens, put the nail in the coffin for the up move in a cruel contrarian headline sort of way.
bit.ly/2Fa4rTj

U.S. Bancorp Charged Over Relationship With Race-Car Driver Scott Tucker; Regional bank fined $613 million for shoddy money-laundering controls; criminal charges to be deferred for two years
Christina Rexrode – WSJ
U.S. Bancorp USB -0.38% was fined $613 million Thursday for what regulators and prosecutors said were shoddy anti-money-laundering controls, a rare regulatory setback for a bank that emerged from the financial crisis relatively unscathed.
/goo.gl/HX7Srh

Can the Vix index really be tampered with?; The volatility measure may have worsened market turmoil and is now under investigation
Joe Rennison in New York – FT
Never in its 25-year history has the Vix volatility index been in the spotlight the way it has been during recent market turmoil, when wild swings in the S&P 500 frightened investors.
/goo.gl/udX8uj

US Futures, Options-on-Futures Poised to Continue Record Run
Tom Lehrkinder – TABB Forum
US futures and options-on-futures volumes finished 2017 at record levels. Futures were up 2% and options grew 10% compared to 2016 totals, and both are poised to set new records in 2018. Meanwhile, though the number of FCMs ended the year down, due to consolidation rather than contraction, a more favorable interest rate environment coupled with global expansion may lead to FCM growth in 2018. TABB’s Q4 2017 futures market review highlights all the activity.
/goo.gl/hc78xE

The World Federation Of Exchanges Publishes 2017 Full Year Market Highlights
Mondovisione
The World Federation of Exchanges (“The WFE”), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, today published its 2017 Full Year Market Highlights report.
/goo.gl/H8mJ96

La Niña: Calm Before the Storm in Ag Markets?
Erik Norland – CME Group
Corn, soybean and wheat markets are witnessing an odd juxtaposition – the onset of a La Niña and exceptionally low options’ implied volatility (Figures 1 & 2). Why this is unusual is that corn, soybeans and wheat often experienced exceptionally high volatility (about 1.3-1.5x normal) during many of the past eight La Niña episodes (Figures 3, 4, 5). As such, one could wonder: are markets being complacent in the face of approaching danger?
/goo.gl/7tKFY7

Number of crypto hedge funds soars amid bitcoin volatility
Reuters
The number of hedge funds focused on trading cryptocurrencies more than doubled in the four months to Feb. 15, despite sharp falls in the value of the virtual coins in recent weeks, data from fintech research house Autonomous NEXT showed on Thursday.
/goo.gl/37he5R

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Nasdaq Cited as a Leader in Governance, Risk, and Compliance Platforms by Independent Research Firm
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq (Nasdaq:NDAQ) was among the select companies that Forrester invited to participate in its 2018 Forrester Wave(TM) evaluation, Governance, Risk, And Compliance (GRC) Platforms, Q1 2018. In this evaluation, Nasdaq was cited as a Leader in Governance, Risk, and Compliance Platforms and received the maximum score of 5 for the evaluation criteria “Risk & Control Management”, “Audit Management”, “Dashboard and Reporting” and “Integration capabilities” for its BWise solutions.
/goo.gl/5VE9iq

APX Embraces Distributed Ledger Technology For Environmental Commodities
APX
APX, the pioneer of environmental markets infrastructure, is pleased to announce the development of a series of APX smart contracts and a set of APX oracles for the environmental commodity markets. It will also offer a DLT for environmental commodities.
/goo.gl/6bpxMk

Cboe Global Markets to List SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) Monday-Expiring Weekly Options
Cboe
Cboe Global Markets, Inc., one of the world’s largest exchange holding companies, today announced that it plans to list SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust options that expire on Mondays, beginning February 16, 2018, subject to rule filing effectiveness. The new series of SPY options are expected to be listed on Cboe Global Markets’ four options exchanges: Cboe Options, C2 Options, Cboe BZX Options and Cboe EDGX Options.
/goo.gl/svZx5X

Swaps data: the monopoly effect in clearing
Amir Khwaja, Clarus via Risk.net
Regulators made swaps clearing a plank of their post-crisis reforms for good reasons – they wanted the management of counterparty risk to be carried out by tightly regulated, centralised hubs, in a more visible, standardised way. They probably did not want to create a tiny group of systemically important monopolies, but that was always one possible outcome.
/goo.gl/tAAcHR

Coinbase is erratically overcharging some users and emptying their bank accounts
Adrianne Jeffries – The Verge
A growing number of Coinbase customers are complaining that the cryptocurrency exchange withdrew unauthorized money out of their accounts. In some cases, this drained their linked bank accounts below zero, resulting in overdraft charges.
/goo.gl/jzYvMB

Fintech

Update on credit and debit cards
The Coinbase Blog
Over the last few days, some Coinbase customers may have experienced additional charges and/or refunds when purchasing digital currency with a credit or debit card. We know this experience is frustrating. We are actively working with the card networks and processors to investigate these issues.
/goo.gl/AgUz6S

ISDA Appoints REGnosys to Develop Digital Common Domain Model
ISDA
ISDA has announced that regulatory fintech firm REGnosys has been appointed to develop a digital version of the ISDA Common Domain Model (CDM).
/goo.gl/YVXQ1L

Pay With Cryptocurrency Using Coinbase’s New PayPal Competitor
Lucinda Shen – Fortune
The largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is releasing a PayPal-like service of its own.
for.tn/2F7uoCO

Linedata adds Bitcoin in Global Hedge platform upgrade; Users will be able to trade, book and track bitcoin and other cryptocurrency derivatives.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Linedata has released a new version of its Global Hedge platform to include functions relating to cryptocurrencies.
/goo.gl/3nFJaa

Blockchain engineers are in demand
Samantha Stein -nTechCrunch
Demand is off the charts for blockchain talent, and the capital is waiting to back it up. Over $3.7 billion has been raised through ICOs in the United States alone. Blockchain-related jobs are the second-fastest growing in today’s labor market; there are now 14 jobs openings for every single blockchain developer. And as Nick Szabo, the developer who coined “smart contracts” pointed out there is an extreme “$/knowledge” ratio in the blockchain space, where capital by far outpaces talent.
/goo.gl/nixsNe

As Stripe backs away from crypto payments, Coinbase offers a new solution for e-commerce
Jon Russell – Techcrunch
Popular payment enabler Stripe announced plans to end support for bitcoin last month, but crypto exchange Coinbase is stepping into the gap after it released a new option for online merchants.
/goo.gl/tmMkx2

Politics

GOP Senators Pan Trump Plan to Make Futures Industry Pay User Fees; Republican lawmakers show some willingness to consider more funding for CFTC, but not by charging fees
By Gabriel T. Rubin – WSJ
Senate Republicans on Thursday criticized the Trump administration’s proposal to impose fees on the futures industry to fund the top U.S. derivatives regulator, which has requested a bigger budget.
/goo.gl/EyKZjX

Trump ‘Strongly’ Favors Imposing Online Sales Tax, Mnuchin Says
Toluse Olorunnipa – Bloomberg
Legislation pending to permit states to tax online sales; Supreme Court 1992 ruling exempted out-of-state retailers
President Donald Trump “feels strongly” that the U.S. should impose a sales tax on purchases made over the Internet, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday.
/bloom.bg/2F68UGs

Mnuchin expects withholding calculator to be released next week
Naomi Jagoda – TheHill
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that the IRS plans to release a new calculator next week to help people figure out if they need to adjust their tax withholding in light of the new tax law.
/goo.gl/mgS7nA

U.S. spending bill expands carbon tax credit, boosting oil producers
Ernest Scheyder – Reuters
A little-noticed addition to the U.S. budget deal approved last week will help Occidental Petroleum Corp and other oil producers by more than tripling a tax credit for injecting carbon dioxide back into the earth to increase crude output.
reut.rs/2F7uxpQ

The Truth in Donald Trump’s Tweets; There’s not much of it. Plus, Jonathan Bernstein’s morning links.
By Jonathan Bernstein – Bloomberg
We know the feeling. Photographer: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Why do people say that President Donald Trump doesn’t tell the truth? Let’s see one tweet from the weekend:
/goo.gl/MVVdRo

Regulation

U.S. regulator warns of ‘pump-and-dump’ cryptocurrency frauds
Kate Rooney – CNBC
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) joined other regulators sounding the alarm on “pump-and-dump” cryptocurrency investing schemes.
cnb.cx/2F69bZL

U.S. Bancorp to Pay About $600 Million Over Money Laundering
Christian Berthelsen, Jesse Hamilton and Jennifer Surane – Bloomberg
Government agrees to defer prosecution in case for two years; Bank failed to report Scott Tucker’s suspicious activity
U.S. Bancorp agreed to plead guilty and pay about $600 million to settle U.S. allegations that it failed to guard against money laundering, under a deal announced Thursday in New York.
/bloom.bg/2F52pUe

Cohen’s Point72 wants lawsuit over hostility to women sent to arbitration
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
Billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen asked a U.S. judge to force a female executive to arbitrate her claims that his firm, Point72 Asset Management LP, maintains a hostile working environment where women are mistreated and paid less than men.
reut.rs/2F4V2MA

Giancarlo: We’re Making Government Function More Efficiently for Taxpayers and Market Participants
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today unanimously approved an amendment replacing the complex and confusing lettering for defined terms with a simple alphabetical list.
/goo.gl/UYwxhM

U.S. financial regulatory panel to review Prudential risk designation
Michelle Price, Pete Schroeder – Reuters
A panel of U.S. regulators will next week discuss whether insurer Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) should continue to be subject to stringent oversight, according to a public notice and a company statement.
reut.rs/2Ev4aJl

U.S. regulator moves to clear market barriers for energy storage technology
Valerie Volcovici – Reuters
In a boost for electric storage technology, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday approved a new rule to remove barriers to batteries and other storage resources in U.S. power markets.
reut.rs/2F5BbNj

Kyle Moffatt Named Chief Accountant In Division Of Corporation Finance
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Kyle Moffatt has been named Chief Accountant in the Division of Corporation Finance.
/goo.gl/6VJezK

Karen Garnett, Associate Director Of Division Of Corporation Finance, To Leave Agency After 23 Years Of Service
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Karen Garnett, an Associate Director in the Division of Corporation Finance, will leave the agency in February.
/goo.gl/z3SQQX

****SD: You can tell the NBA is on my mind because I definitely read this as “Kevin Garnett…”

Sebi suspects price rigging by PSBs, examines stock trading pattern
Business Standard News
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is examining the trading pattern in the stocks of state-run banks, following the announcement of the government’s recapitalisation programme on January 25.
/goo.gl/LtczwM

Written Testimony of Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo before the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee
CFTC
/goo.gl/YqnrXs

FinCEN issues an Advisory on the FATF-identified jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies
NFA
On February 9, 2018, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an Advisory announcing that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had updated its list of jurisdictions with strategic AML/CFT deficiencies. NFA Member FCMs and IBs should review this Advisory to ensure that their AML programs have the most current information on FATF identified jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies and revise their AML programs accordingly. A copy of the Advisory is available on FinCEN’s website.
/goo.gl/JPQS8q

Podcast: CFTC Talks EP031: Northwestern Mutual Chief Investment Strategist Brent Schutte
CFTC
This week on CFTC Talks, we have on Northwestern Mutual Chief Investment Strategist Brent Schutte. We cover market..
/goo.gl/FHaza

What Does It Mean to Be Pre-Tax or Tax-Advantaged?
Kaitlyn Kiernan – FINRA
From commuter and childcare benefits to retirement accounts, pre-tax benefits and tax-advantaged accounts offer some sort of tax benefit, whether that means contributions are tax-deferred or tax-free. Either way, this could mean more money in your pocket at the end of the tax year.
/goo.gl/Etk6kP

Director excluded from financial services industry for five years and agrees to pay $400,000 to financial literacy fund
ASIC
ASIC has accepted an Enforceable Undertaking from director Mr David Orth under which he will cease to provide financial services for five years. In addition, Mr Orth will make a community benefit payment in the amount of $400,000 to Financial Literacy Australia to support the financial capability of vulnerable people.
/goo.gl/an9LMa

FCA to deliver keynote address at MiFID II: Check In; UK financial watchdog to open The TRADE’s first event of 2018 on 28 February.
Editors – The Trade
Stephen Hanks, head of market policy at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will deliver the keynote address at The TRADE’s MiFIDII: Check In event on 28 February.
/goo.gl/mkEZWd

Investing and Trading

Low-Carbon Investing Is Growing
Emily Chan, Brian Eckhouse, Eric Roston – Bloomberg
Amundi sees low-carbon strategies with little tracking error; Can reduce risk and change corporate incentives on climate
Investors may not know how to solve climate change, but low-carbon indexes are growing as a way to start managing the portfolio risks associated with a warming planet, according to Fred Samama, deputy global head of institutional clients at Amundi Asset Management, Europe’s largest asset manager overseeing about 1.4 trillion euros ($1.7 trillion).
/goo.gl/4namKi

Markets Face a New Paradigm. Get Used to It
Steven Englander – Bloomberg
The period of financial markets being supported by central banks’ easy money policies is ending. Higher equity prices will now require evidence of stronger growth and moderate inflation, meaning it is unrealistic to expect selloffs to be followed by sharp rebounds as quickly as they have in the recent past.
/bloom.bg/2F710wD

These Naked U.S. Treasury Buyers Are Packing Up for Good Japan Yen Dollar
Marcus Ashworth – Bloomberg
The bad times are back for U.S. bonds, and it’s not just a matter of inflation fears combining with fiscal profligacy. There is a third source of pain from an outside source: Japan.
/bloom.bg/2F5X5QF

The Vix horror show will not deter future suckers; Investors looking for safer products should look to the municipal bond market, writes John Dizard
John Dizard – FT
“There’s one born every minute.”
PT Barnum, American carnival promoter who may have foreseen the Vix contract Over the years, Vix products — which track stock market volatility — have proven similar to the Trump White House. For both there is no such thing as bad publicity. I have been denouncing the Vix index and all its works since 2005, with every bit of reason and bile I can muster. Yet even though you would have lost almost all your money “investing” in a Vix ETF, or, on the other side, betting against the Vix with an inverse ETF, people still watch the thing like a presidential press conference.
/goo.gl/Azqhm2

Book Review: The End of Theory
Robert Farago – CFA Institute Enterprising Investor
The use of mathematical models in economics dates back to 1862, with the introduction of marginal utility by William Stanley Jevons. The misuse of financial models in economics followed soon after. Jevons was determined to link economic cycles to sunspots, but the failure of his exotic models had no consequences. In contrast, the repercussions of the failure of economic models to predict the global financial crisis can still be felt a decade later. Richard Bookstaber explores the limitations of our current risk models and proposes a new approach — agent-based modeling.
cfa.is/2EtMoGa

Harvard Alums Have Idea to Boost Endowment: Buy Index Funds
By Michael McDonald
Group from Class of 1969 send letter to incoming president; Half of $37.1 billion fund should track S&P 500, alumni say
Harvard Alums Criticize Compensation at the University’s Endowment
A group of Harvard alumni proposed a solution for how the university’s endowment can pay for a new tax on investment income and boost returns: don’t think so much.
/goo.gl/mBNHEg

Institutions

Failings of RBS must be met with consequences; A big clearing bank is more than merely an enterprise for its shareholders
Neil Collins – FT
The leaked report from the Financial Conduct Authority into Royal Bank of Scotland’s treatment of small businesses is a truly shocking document. Perhaps because it was not designed to be published, there are few of the weasel words that so often blunt the impact of such inquiries, with the result that there is a clear path of responsibility extending right to the top of the bank.
/goo.gl/q3gyDc

Ripples spread from Bridgewater’s $22bn Europe short; Series of hedge fund’s positions includes EU companies with big businesses outside continent
Miles Johnson and Chloe Cornish – FT
A $22bn bet against European stocks by Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund, has seen it build large short positions in companies that generate the majority of their business outside the continent.
/goo.gl/tWjhYU

Investment-Grade Bond Fund Hit by Biggest Outflow in Its 15-Year History
Sid Verma – Bloomberg
As stocks boogied to the risk-on beat Wednesday, investors in the world’s third-largest fixed-income exchange-traded fund left the party at a frenetic pace.
/goo.gl/ydRFDt

Hedge Fund Decca Lost 25% of Its Value in Rout
Nishant Kumar, Alastair Marsh – Bloomberg
A hedge fund managed by former Hutchin Hill Capital trader Shahraab Ahmad lost a quarter of its value last week after its bets against volatile markets backfired, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
/goo.gl/U7V4Qs

HNA Plans to Keep Deutsche Bank Stake at 8.8% After Cuts
By Michael J. Moore, Steven Arons – Bloomberg
Struggling Chinese conglomerate used to own 9.9% in lender; Group took out new collar options, more financing from UBS
HNA Intends to Hold Deutsche Bank Stake at 8.8%
HNA Group Co., the troubled Chinese conglomerate, said it won’t cut its stake in Deutsche Bank AG further after reducing the holding in the past two weeks.
/goo.gl/ey4rX9

Hedge-Fund Mediocrity Is the Best Magic Trick; Never have so many investors paid so much for such uninspiring returns.
By Barry Ritholtz
Hedge funds have accumulated $3 trillion, with a substantial portion of it coming from public pensions. That these funds don’t deliver outperformance is almost beside the point. What they are selling is an inflated estimate of expected returns. This serves a crucial purpose for elected officials, letting them lower the annual contributions states and municipalities must make to the pension plans for government employees.
/goo.gl/LhXFrk

Regions

Global crude producers to formalise oil alliance — UAE energy minister
Anjli Raval – Financial Times
Crude producers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia will aim to draft an agreement to formalise their partnership for oil market co-operation by the end of 2018, the UAE’s energy minister said.
on.ft.com/2F5buMK

Sweden Is on the Hunt for Cobalt
Nicolas Rolander
Government to fund project to map potential mineral reserves; Battery technology seen fuelling demand for lithium, cobalt
Sweden will step up efforts to find precious minerals such as cobalt and lithium, key battery components that are increasingly in demand among makers of electric vehicles.
/goo.gl/uXxTqg

Brexit

Barnier Sticks to His Brexit Guns, Warns U.K. Against Dumping
By Patrick Donahue, Nikos Chrysoloras – Bloomberg
De-regulation would put future trade pact at risk, he says; EU’s Brexit negotiator speaks at Munich Security Conference
European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier reiterated that the U.K.’s red lines effectively exclude the prospect of a preferential relationship with the bloc after their separation, while warning that British de-regulation would put a future trade accord at risk.
/goo.gl/569ARx

The post US blocks Chinese-led takeover of Chicago exchange; This Short Seller Pressed ‘Tweet.’ Then the FBI Showed Up; appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Market’s $3 Trillion Trauma; FCA and CFTC to collaborate on fintech innovation; Euronext Plans More Acquisitions

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Welcome to Presidents’ Day in the U.S. This is the day when U.S. Presidents have historically taken the day off from Twitter. Just kidding. But it is the day we are not going to publish JLN Options and the JLN staff gets the rest of the day off. Have a great day!~JJL

Last week’s CryptoCon 2018 produced some interesting insights into the cryptocurrency space. DRW Cumberland’s Bobby Cho and Jim Radecki revealed just how large that operation is today, with crypto trades representing about 25 percent of DRW’s trades on 30 different currencies with a minimum $100,000 transaction size. Its main counterparties are hedge funds.~JK

SGX put out a notice it will be listing “successor products” to its SGX Nifty index contracts before August and details will be announced next month. It also said it is working on a link to the National Stock Exchange of India in Gujarat International Finance Tech, or (GIFT) City. ~JK

Quantitative Brokers has won the category for Best Broker-Dealer Algorithm in the 2018 Fund Technology and WSL Awards, which recognize and reward providers catering to asset managers and institutional traders who have demonstrated exceptional customer service and innovative product development over the past 12 months.~JJL

We may have missed the news on Friday that Gaurang Desai stepped down as CEO of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) effective February 18. Les Male assumes the role effective immediately.~SR

Reuters has a good niche story out about fund investments in dry bulk shipping. The main instrument of choice is freight forward agreements, or FFAs. One broker estimated that the underlying transaction value of FFAs this year could reach $24 billion, up from $16.5 billion in 2017 and $9 billion in 2016.~SD

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Lying to Investigators Shouldn’t Be a Crime; Everyone from President Trump to a petty thief is at the same disadvantage when talking to prosecutors.
Stephen L. Carter – Bloomberg
Former federal prosecutor Ken White created a stir with his recent argument at Reason.com that neither President Donald Trump nor anyone else should voluntarily meet with investigators. By anyone else, White does not simply mean other people facing scrutiny in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. He means you and me. Ever.
/goo.gl/9MG7z2

***** The logic is, if they can lie to you, you should be able to lie to them. No lie!~JJL

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Between Bridges – February 19, 2018: CFTC Says Futures Brokerage Firm’s Failure to Supervise Led to Unauthorized Cyber Attack; Trader Criminally Charged for Allegedly Misappropriating Employer’s Cryptocurrencies
Gary DeWaal – Bridging the Week
Last week, a futures commission merchant settled an enforcement action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, claiming that it failed to supervise a third-party technology provider it engaged to implement “critical” elements of the FCM’s information system security program. As a result of the breakdown, claimed the CFTC, an unauthorized individual improperly infiltrated the FCM’s technology system and copied files containing customers’ records and private information. Unrelatedly, a Chicago-based trader was criminally charged in a federal court in Chicago with fraud for misappropriating his employer’s cryptocurrencies.
/goo.gl/nkTKW5

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The Spread – Week of 2/12 – 2/16
JohnLothianNews.com
Manipulating, gaming, rigging – that’s the nature of VIX talk this week. But before we get to those allegations in this week’s options recap, we cover a few other stories that didn’t get as much press.

Watch the video here »

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Friday’s Top Three
Our top read story from Friday was Bloomberg’s piece This Short Seller Pressed ‘Tweet.’ Then the FBI Showed Up. Second went to the Financial Times’ piece on the saga of the Chicago Stock Exchange, or CHX, US blocks Chinese-led takeover of Chicago exchange. Third went to Business Insider’s Coinbase cryptocurrency investors hit with credit card glitch.

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Lead Stories

What Shaped the Stock Market’s $3 Trillion Trauma
Elena Popina, Kailey Leinz – Bloomberg
S&P 500 posts best week since 2013 even as yields increase; Daily volume at Goldman Sachs’s buyback unit shot up last week
Want a neat narrative? There isn’t one. Stocks buckled, $3 trillion was lost, then just as quickly, roughly half of it came back. Nothing quite explains every little twist and turn. Much of it remains a blur. But there are clues to be gleaned from the behavior of buyers and sellers.
/goo.gl/tMwRZC

FCA and US CFTC sign Arrangement to collaborate on FinTech innovation
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have today signed an arrangement that commits the regulators to collaborating and supporting innovative firms through each other’s financial technology (FinTech) initiatives – LabCFTC (link is external) and FCA Innovate.
/goo.gl/EeptTs

***** CFTC Version ~JJL

Euronext Plans More Acquisitions After Buying Irish Stock Market
Viren Vaghela – Bloomberg
Euronext NV will acquire more companies this year to help diversify its revenues.
The Amsterdam-based exchange operator is open to tie-ups with other European exchanges like its combination with Irish Stock Exchange Plc — to complete in March — that gives Euronext a foothold in the ETF market, said Chief Executive Officer Stephane Boujnah on a call after reporting full-year earnings.
/goo.gl/p6o9tL

LSE goes head to head with ICE over Libor replacement
Reuters Staff
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSE.L) will launch a contract to compete directly with rival InterContinental Exchange (ICE.N) to wean markets off Libor by 2021, the British bourse said on Monday.
/goo.gl/qURQwA

Start preparing for the next financial crisis now; We need measures to limit the likelihood of disorderly market processes in the next downturn
William White – FT
Global monetary policy has been “ultra-easy” for many years. Yet it is becoming clear it is now caught in a debt trap of its own making.
/goo.gl/RWXgmP

Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Warns That Cryptocurrencies Could Drop to ‘Near-Zero’
David Meyers – Fortune
Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain and its associated cryptocurrency, does not want people throwing their life savings into virtual coins just yet.
/goo.gl/2D3odn

Price war between banks could offset benefits of volatility; Competition among the world’s biggest investment banks could undermine revenue growth
Laura Noonan, Investment Banking Correspondent – FT
A looming price war between the world’s biggest investment banks could erase the revenue rebound promised by a recent surge in market volatility, research group Coalition has warned.
/goo.gl/2drk7W

Munich Security Conference: US government nowhere near regulating bitcoin
Natasha Turak and Hadley Gamble – CNBC
There’s a long way to go before the U.S. government starts regulating bitcoin, Rob Joyce, special assistant to the president and White House cybersecurity coordinator, told CNBC on Friday.
cnb.cx/2ExQWLS

Ex-JPMorgan trader turned bitcoin fund manager: ‘There’s trench warfare going on between analogue and digital financial services’
Oscar Williams-Grut – Business Insider
A former high-flying trader who has embraced the world of cryptocurrencies says there is a “trench warfare” going on between traditional financial services and digital upstarts.
/goo.gl/R8iRc2

All aboard for hedge funds as trade tide lifts shipping
Jonathan Saul, Maiya Keidan – Reuters
Forced to abandon ship after mistiming their investments five years ago, hedge funds are venturing back in a bid to profit from growing global trade flows.
Around 90 percent of traded goods by volume are transported by sea and global shipping sectors, including dry bulk, are on course for a recovery this year after a near-decade long crisis, ratings agency S&P said in a report last week.
/goo.gl/seQgmp

Wall Street’s Five CEOs Get Biggest Payday Since 2006; Combined compensation for chiefs of the biggest banks hit $126 million, the highest annual tally since before financial crisis
Liz Hoffman, Christina Rexrode and Aaron Lucchetti – WSJ
Wall Street CEOs are getting paid the big bucks again. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. said Friday that they gave their CEOs raises for 2017, meaning all five large U.S. banks with significant trading and investment-banking operations have done so.
/goo.gl/9Cxqdn

Eyes wide shut: the $1.8 billion Indian bank fraud that went unnoticed
Krishna N. Das, Aditya Kalra, Devidutta Tripathy, Tom Lasseter – Reuters
The Punjab National Bank branch in south Mumbai sits just down the road from both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of India, at a physical center of one of the world’s fastest growing major economies.
/goo.gl/VWtG3Q

Is it possible to reverse Brexit?
Anand Menon – The Guardian
It’s all kicking off. A poll carried out by ICM for the Guardian showed that, excluding those with no opinion, voters support the idea of a second referendum by a 16-point margin.
/goo.gl/hZhP7s

Few Wealthy Investors Deployed Cash in Meltdown, UBS Survey Says
Joanna Ossinger – Bloomberg
Investors, business owners see market dip as temporary; Companies tempering their actions amid a drop in optimism
Only about 10 percent to 15 percent of investors took advantage of the recent market pullback to boost their equity allocations or put cash to work, according to UBS Group AG.
/goo.gl/xvp3qs

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Chicago Stock Exchange Statement on SEC Acquisition Ruling
Medium
On behalf of its shareholders, board of directors and management team, the Chicago Stock Exchange (“CHX”) would like to express its disappointment with the decision by the Commissioners of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to overrule their own staff’s recommendation in rejecting the acquisition of CHX by a majority American investor group led by North American Casin Holdings, Inc. The disapproval order of February 15, 2018, contains logic and representations with which CHX strongly disagrees.
/goo.gl/UBKQ6r

Update on SGX India Equity Derivatives
SGX
SGX announced today that it will list successor products to its SGX Nifty family of products before August 2018. This will provide market participants with the same ability to invest and maintain their risk exposure to the Indian capital markets. Market participants will be able to transition seamlessly to these products before the expiry of SGX’s licence agreement with the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
/goo.gl/aSXj5y

Nasdaq Dubai launches Abu Dhabi, Dubai equity index futures
Stanley Carvalho – Reuters
In a move that could attract fresh money to the United Arab Emirates’ equity markets, the Nasdaq Dubai exchange launched futures contracts on Sunday covering the main indexes of the country’s two main stock markets in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
/goo.gl/FvoTCZ

CurveGlobal To Launch Three-Month SONIA Futures Contract
London Stock Exchange Group
New SONIA futures contract will aid UK transition from LIBOR Benchmark; Addresses client demand for liquidity in the new SONIA rate; CurveGlobal is making the SONIA contract clearing and exchange fee-free for the remainder of 2018
CurveGlobal, the interest rate derivatives platform, announced today its intention to launch a three-month SONIA futures contract, which will be admitted to trading on London Stock Exchange Derivatives Market (LSEDM). The innovative CurveGlobalÆ Three Month SONIAÆ Future will address client demand for liquidity in the Bank of England’s reformed benchmark rate, which is set to replace LIBOR by 2021.
/goo.gl/aMhDfZ

Singapore Exchange to launch new Indian derivatives before NSE deal ends
Reuters
Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) said on Monday it will launch successor products to its flagship Indian equity index derivatives before the bourse’s licence agreement with the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) expires in August 2018.
/goo.gl/hpv6md

TMX profit beats as lower expenses offset revenue fall
Reuters Staff
Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group Ltd reported on Monday a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as lower operating expenses before acquisition costs helped offset a fall in revenue.
/goo.gl/whQqJh

SGX to launch Nifty index successor before shut down; SGX will launch successor products following shut down of Nifty index and termination of data contract with the NSE in India.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Singapore Exchange (SGX) has confirmed it will list successor products to the Nifty family of products before its contract with the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) expires in August.
/goo.gl/SY92JV

Euronext publishes Full Year 2017 Results
Euronext
Today Euronext, the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone with nearly 1,300 listed issuers, announces its results for the full year 2017.
/goo.gl/hknLxK

Euronext lowers growth revenue target by almost EUR20m; Targets were outlined as part of a strategic plan outlined in the years after 2014 initial public offering
Samuel Agini – Financial News
Euronext has lowered a revenue target put forward nearly two years ago as part of strategic plan outlined in the wake of its initial public offering.
/goo.gl/ikwNhk

Eurex Clearing FpML Interface: New server certificates
Eurex
New SSL/TLS certificates will be installed on the AMQP brokers used for the Eurex Clearing FpML Interface in production. They will replace the existing certificates which will expire on 26 May 2018. The certificates will be signed by the Comodo certification authority (CA). The root and intermediate certificates of the CA can be downloaded from their website www.comodo.com.
/goo.gl/fCbk5R

Dr. Michael Josef Lappe is the new Chief Justice of Deutsche Boerse AG
Deutsche Boerse AG
Dr. Michael Lappe (60) will become Chief Financial Officer of Deutsche Boerse AG on March 1st. Michael Lappe is currently working as an independent lawyer in the consulting and transaction business and as Senior Counsel for various international consulting firms. Until 2012, Michael Lappe was a corporate and M & A partner for more than 20 years, with a focus on the financial services sector and also a senior partner of the international law firm Linklaters with offices in London, Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
/goo.gl/aeTpcc

Fintech

Fidessa group announces the preliminary results for the year ended 31st December 2017
Fidessa
bit.ly/2ETiVca

Coinbase Runs From One Fire to the Next
Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
Coinbase Inc. is one of the most popular online exchanges for digital currencies. But last year, it started seeing complaints soar on the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website. Unfortunately for the San Francisco business and its customers, things have only gotten worse.
/goo.gl/ntrR3y

Visa confirms Coinbase wasn’t at fault for overcharging users
Fitz Tepper – TechCrunch
Yesterday, we wrote that Coinbase customers were being charged multiple times for past transactions.
/goo.gl/Y3kUwA

Bitcoin’s Latest Glitch: Double Charges at Fast-Growing Coinbase; Thousands may have been affected, company executive says; customers will be compensated
Paul Vigna and AnnaMaria Andriotis – WSJ
Thousands of customers of Coinbase, one of the largest bitcoin-related firms dealing with the public, may have suffered repeated, incorrect duplicate charges on their digital-currency purchases, the firm said Friday.
/goo.gl/nJK8RX

Thieves used the international payment system SWIFT to steal $6 million from a Russian bank last year.
Ivana Kottasova – CNN
Thieves used the international payment system SWIFT to steal $6 million from a Russian bank last year.
/goo.gl/ga8ubE

ICO startups band together to create $100M+ grant fund for Ethereum projects
Jon Russell – TechCrunch
In a first of its kind, half a dozen ICO companies have come together to collaborate on a new fund that plans to pay out more than $100 million to promising projects in the Ethereum crypto space.
/goo.gl/iLG85C

This company has filed for more Bitcoin patents than any other
Aaron Hankin – MarketWatch
It’s no surprise that cryptocurrency patents have risen at an extreme rate since the inception of bitcoin in 2008. In fact, the long-term chart of patents looks eerily similar to its price. However, what is surprising is who tops the list.
/goo.gl/A9zLPb

Anonymous trader buys $400 million in bitcoin
Aaron Hankin – MarketWatch
Go big or go home. That’s the motto of one mysterious investor who put his chips on the table, buying close to $400 million of the No.1 digital currency, bitcoin.
/goo.gl/ur2AuY

Bitcoin Thieves Threaten Real Violence for Virtual Currencies
Nathaniel Popper – NY Times
The currency they were after was virtual, but the guns they carried were anything but.
/goo.gl/UNRZAe

ETFs drive demand for electronic trading services at Fidessa; Fidessa sees greater demand from top-tier firms for electronic and programme trading services.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The growth in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and MiFID II requirements are driving demand for electronic and programme trading services at Fidessa.
/goo.gl/qsGU3m

S&P Global Ratings: Cryptocurrency crash will not impact financial markets; Regulation needed
Tom Eckett – InvesmentWeek
S&P Global Ratings has said regulation and guidance needs to be implemented before cryptocurrencies can influence financial institutions.
/goo.gl/PXw6Gi

Investment Association targets buy-side FinTech with accelerator scheme; VeloCity will launch in Q2 this year and aims to increase buy side take-up of emerging technologies.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The UK’s Investment Association (IA) is to work alongside FinTech firms to help bring new technology services to asset managers through the launch of the IA FinTech accelerator, Velocity.
/goo.gl/sW8HkR

An audience with IHS Markit’s Lance Uggla: Going big with big data; Data provider’s founder on how size drove the merger with IHS and his new role as chairman and chief executive
By Samuel Agini – Financial News
Lance Uggla is used to being the public face of Markit, the data provider he founded 15 years ago in a St Albans barn. Perhaps the biggest price of his latest move ó joining with another chief executive to create $18bn data and analytics company IHS Markit ó was eschewing the limelight for more than a year.
/goo.gl/dHbeUq

Politics

Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now
Thomas L. Friedman – NY Times
Our democracy is in serious danger. President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.
/goo.gl/DW61B4

Mueller Shows How Russians Sowed Discord With Dirty Tricks
David Voreacos, Chris Strohm – Bloomberg
Troll farm tricked Facebook, PayPal, Trump campaign officials; Mueller Indictment Lays Out Sweeping Conspiracy Plan by Russians
The sweeping conspiracy detailed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller exposes the sophistication of Russian efforts to undermine U.S. democracy using social media — and how vulnerable the U.S. remains to foreign intervention ahead of 2018 midterm elections.
/goo.gl/gVKEVB

Trump Criticizes Everyone But Russia for 2016 Election Meddling
Shannon Pettypiece, Mark Niquette – Bloomberg
President again refers to collusion ‘hoax,’ Democrats’ fault; Trump tweets 14 times in 24 hours on Russia investigations
President Donald Trump spent much of his weekend hammering the FBI, Democrats, Robert Mueller’s investigation and his own national security adviser over Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 election that he won. Excepted from the criticism — Russia.
/goo.gl/bRFGFS

How Vladimir Putin mastered the cyber disinformation war; Robert Mueller’s move to indict organisations affiliated to the Kremlin is a change in tack
Andrei Soldatov – FT
In order to understand the Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 presidential election, described in detail in the indictment unveiled on Friday by US special counsel Robert Mueller, you have to go back 18 years. In 2000, when the brutal military campaign known as the second Chechen war was in full swing, the Kremlin developed a new view of the nature of information. The recently installed Russian president, Vladimir Putin, decided to treat it as a weapon.
/goo.gl/qCKxNL

Russian Influence Operation Allegedly Ran Like a Propaganda Startup; Federal indictment describes Internet Research Agency as having deep understanding how to use Silicon Valley technology to sow discord
Robert McMillan, Deepa Seetharaman and Georgia Wells – WSJ
The alleged Russian campaign to manipulate the U.S. presidential election was orchestrated by what amounted to a propaganda startup, with finance and graphics departments, performance targets and a sophisticated social-media strategy designed to gain maximum attention, according to U.S. authorities.
/goo.gl/6dtmLb

Facebook and Twitter Are Too Big to Allow Fake Users
Leonid Bershidsky – Bloomberg
There’s something in common between amazing story of “Nicole Mincey,” the pseudonymous Twitter user with 146,000 followers who was retweeted by President Donald Trump and then disappeared overnight along with a few other online personae, and a recent prank by a Berliner frustrated with his inability to get Twitter to remove hate speech. The common element is the obvious solution to both problems, which rarely surfaces in discussions of trolling, fake news and cyberbullying.
/goo.gl/JZo6NE

Regulation

India’s City Union Bank CEO says suffered cyber hack via SWIFT system
Devidutta Tripathy – Reuters
India’s City Union Bank said on Sunday that “cyber criminals” had hacked its systems and transferred nearly $2 million through three unauthorized remittances to lenders overseas via the SWIFT financial platform.
/goo.gl/4NfJx2

Japan’s Financial Regulator To Conduct Inspections Of 15 Unregistered Crypto Exchanges
Molly Jane Zuckerman – Cointelegraph
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) will conduct on-site inspections of 15 cryptocurrency exchanges that are currently awaiting registration in the aftermath of the Coincheck hack, the local news outlet The Japan Times wrote today, Feb. 16.
/goo.gl/PPTnqM

UK’s Financial Conduct Authority Publishes Report On The Supervision Of Algorithmic Trading
Mondivisione
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published a report on the supervision of algorithmic trading in wholesale markets.
/goo.gl/QPyJUJ

FCMs warn EU client-clearing rules could increase risk; Emir review calls for clearing access to be ‘non-discriminatory’ – might mean banks have to take risky clients
Nazneen Sherif – Risk.net
Draft rules that are designed to improve access to derivatives clearing for smaller counterparties in Europe might expose clearing members to riskier clients, banks are warning.
/goo.gl/twtKz2

Imposter Scams: Don’t Be Fooled By “Guarantees” or Money-Making Pitches from “Regulators”
FINRA
There is nothing like an iron-clad guarantee to make you feel secure about a purchase. Sadly, financial fraudsters know what a psychological balm the word “guarantee” can provide, and use it as a tactic to make their investment pitches look more appealing.
/goo.gl/82NbeB

FINRA Warns Investors of ‘Regulator’ Imposter Scams; Con Artists Posing as FINRA CEO ‘Guarantee’ Fraudulent Investments
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today issued an Investor Alert warning investors to beware of financial scams in which con artists are posing as regulators to make fraudulent investment pitches.
/goo.gl/pr3NGa

China to retaliate against U.S. metal tariffs
Yoel Minkoff, Seeking Alpha
It’s the latest trade tension escalation between the world’s top two economies.
China has threatened retaliation after the Trump administration received a green light to impose steep tariffs on aluminum and steel imports on national security grounds.
/goo.gl/rYTifK

Order Regarding Chicago Stock Exchange
SEC
/goo.gl/nohsci

Investing and Trading

Private Trades in Spotify Shares to Play Key Role in Upcoming Debut; Using direct listing will require Spotify to find novel ways to guide the market to a price
Maureen Farrell – WSJ
Spotify AB is counting on its surging private-market value to bolster the music-streaming service’s appeal to investors in an unorthodox public debut that could be the biggest since Snap Inc.’s SNAP 3.39% $20 billion IPO last year.
/goo.gl/MD5co8

How One of the Most Profitable Trades of the Last Few Years Blew Up in a Single Day
Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal – Bloomberg (PODCAST)
Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway take you on a not-so-random walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics.
/goo.gl/RqXa62

We can’t rely on corporations to save us from climate change; The demands of radical decarbonisation clash with the imperatives of profit and shareholder value
Christopher Wright and Daniel Nyberg – London School of Economics and Political Science
Climate change is now the ever-present reality of human experience. Late last year we witnessed a procession of huge hurricanes batter the US and Caribbean, the largest wildfires on record burn through California, and in Australia, despite the death of up to half of the Great Barrier Reef in back-to-back coral bleaching events, political support for new mega-coal mines and coal-fired power stations. While there is now a clear scientific consensus that the world is on track for global temperature increases of 4 degrees Celsius by century’s end (threatening the very viability of human civilization), our political and economic masters continue to double down on the fossil fuel bet, transforming perhaps the greatest threat to life on this planet into ‘business as usual’.
/goo.gl/h6WXxN

Hedge funds forced to cut fees to lure investors; $9.8bn of cash was ploughed into hedge funds last year after $70bn withdrawn in 2016
Chris Flood – FT
Hedge fund managers are being forced to offer lower fees and improve terms to win new business in spite of better performance and a modest rebound in investor inflows in 2017.
/goo.gl/dVW1nW

Institutions

Noble Group Flags $5 Billion Loss as Debt-Deal Endgame Nears
Jake Lloyd-Smith – Bloomberg
Commodity trader expects to be in negative net-asset position; Hong Kong-based company seeking to press ahead on debt deal
Noble Group Ltd., the commodity trader battling to survive, warned that it’ll report another vast loss including from the operations meant to sustain a revamped business, and while it signaled progress in debt-restructuring talks, hurdles to a deal remain.
/goo.gl/9fBNPr

HSBC hopes to leave era of scandals behind; The bank has been held back by big fines and hasty acquisitions but believes it is in a position to grow again
Martin Arnold in London – FT
It was just over five years ago when a team of stern-faced US law enforcement officials brandished colourful flow charts at a Brooklyn press conference to illustrate how HSBC’s Mexican business had laundered at least $881m for two of Latin America’s bloodiest drug cartels.
/goo.gl/Vkq6ym

Hedge Funds Regain Their Appeal for a $57 Billion Asset Manager
Bloomberg
CIO of Ilmarinen says he may raise hedge fund allocation; More positive view follows recent sudden spike in volatility
With volatility back on the radar, one of the Nordic region’s biggest asset managers is considering relying a bit more on hedge funds to help oversee his portfolio.
/goo.gl/9fPvLf

Point72 Judge Urged Not to Cloak Allegations of Gender Bias
Chris Dolmetsch – Bloomberg
Firm asked judge to force suit to be heard in arbitration; Plaintiff says request is attempt to hide claims from public
Steven Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management LP is trying to hide its misconduct from public scrutiny by attempting to force an associate director’s gender-bias lawsuit into arbitration, the woman suing the firm
/goo.gl/3bnyPS

Record $23 Billion Flees World’s Largest ETF
Luke Kawa, Joanna Ossinger – Bloomberg
Investors actively abandoned the world’s biggest passive fund during the onset of market mayhem.
/goo.gl/eLzCVe

Citi refreshes FX business with retirement of veteran Sinniah
Laura Noonan – FT
Citi veteran Bernie Sinniah is stepping down after a 38-year run at the bank. Citi confirmed the retirement of the banker – who joined as a spot foreign exchange trader in Colombia and rose to become its global head of foreign exchange solutions – in an email to staff on Monday morning. He will leave by the end of the first quarter.
/goo.gl/v9JGMW

Regions

Deutsche Bank to Cut at Least 250 Investment Bank Jobs
Ambereen Choudhury, Dinesh Nair, Ruth David, Steve Arons – Bloomberg
Reductions are said to continue, could rise to more than 500; CFO has urged more cost discipline after target was abandoned
Deutsche Bank AG has started cutting at least 250 jobs globally at its corporate and investment bank as Germany’s largest lender seeks to keep a lid on expenses amid a sustained slide in the securities unit, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
/goo.gl/UWGiVz

‘No Cash’ Signs Everywhere Has Sweden Worried It’s Gone Too Far
Amanda Billner – Bloomberg
Cash usage declining both as share of GDP and in nominal terms; Riksbank committee could publish report on issue in summer
“No cash accepted” signs are becoming an increasingly common sight in shops and eateries across Sweden as payments go digital and mobile.
/goo.gl/C1AV1P

China Pushes Back on Possible U.S. Metals-Import Limits; Beijing pledges to ‘safeguard its legitimate rights’ as U.S. considers tariffs and quotas
Wayne Ma – WSJ
China hit back at the U.S. a day after the Trump administration said it would consider sweeping new limits on imports of steel and aluminum, measures that could affect Chinese exporters in particular and cause a trade war.
/goo.gl/nSNzgQ

Indonesia Hopes to Lure the World’s Top Oil Companies
Yoga Rusmana, Eko Listiyorini – Bloomberg
Nation offers up to 24 oil, gas blocks to investors: Ministry; Indonesia seeks to boost energy investment as output drops
Indonesia will hold roadshows in the U.S. and Europe later this month to lure investments from the world’s top energy companies as the former OPEC member seeks to reverse a decline in oil and gas production.
/goo.gl/KDNX4N

India’s government says PNB fraud points to supervisory failure at central bank: media
Devidutta Tripathy and Aditya Kalra – Reuters
India’s government has said the $1.77 billion fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNBK.NS) was a “manifestation of supervisory failure” at the country’s central bank, local media reported on Monday.
/goo.gl/S5shCi

SEC Suspends Trading in Three Issuers Claiming Involvement in Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Technology
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today suspended trading in three companies amid questions surrounding similar statements they made about the acquisition of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology-related assets.
/goo.gl/wNSb4R

Academics blame algo trading for amplifying 2015 Swiss franc jump;FX mo vements after the currency cap removal were compounded by hands-off
By Samuel Agini – Financial news
Algorithmic traders exacerbated volatility in the Swiss franc/euro exchange rate that arose when Switzerland’s central bank unexpectedly removed its currency cap in January 2015, according to new analysis.
/goo.gl/afVMbf

Brexit

Deal, or no deal? The £2,000 question
National Institute of Economic and Social Research
Recent leaks of a Brexit impact study produced for the Department for Exiting the EU have reignited the debate about the costs of leaving the EU without a comprehensive trade agreement. The reported magnitude of estimated aggregate effects for such a ‘no-deal’ scenario is very similar to estimates published independently from each other prior to the Brexit referendum and also in line with updated work presented in our latest National Institute Economic Review: a loss in annual GDP relative to what it would otherwise have been of 7 to 8 per cent within the next 10 years. Put differently, annual income per head would be up to £2,000 less, compared to a scenario in which the UK remains in the EU’s single market.
/goo.gl/GimqkR

Spooked fund managers look at rivals to London; With UK’s exit from EU looming ó and transition rules unclear ó many options are on the table
Owen Walker – FT
Politicians in Westminster and Brussels are not the only ones furiously drawing up plans for the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with Europe. Across the City of London and financial centres around the world, asset management bosses are carefully considering how to restructure their operations to cope with Brexit disruption.
/goo.gl/PCxgXQ

‘Brexitannia’: an unsettling, beautiful insight into post-referendum UK
London School of Economics and Political Science
Brexitannia is a sociological portrait of post-referendum Britain. Travelling around the UK, its director invited people to talk about Brexit and left their responses to speak for themselves. Oliver Daddow (University of Nottingham) says the documentary is an unsettling insight into a Britain coming to terms with an imagined past, a leadership-less present and a manifestly uncertain future.
/goo.gl/SWLbfD

Sadly, Brexit must mean leaving the EU single market; I have concluded this is essential for fundamental democratic reasons
Malcolm Rifkind – FT
As the UK enters the most crucial stage of the Brexit negotiations the issues are getting even more challenging and intractable. One could be forgiven for saying that as one door closes another slams in your face.
/goo.gl/qMrGzW

It’s Not Just Bankers – U.K. Farmers Also Face Brexit Confusion
Nicholas Larkin – Bloomberg
Parliament committee calls for funding to help food industry; More Brexit impact analysis needed; new trade partners crucial
Spare a thought for British farmers after the country’s exit from the European Union.
/goo.gl/En65oT

Brexit shutout fears spur asset managers into action; Half of UK investment companies are planning to establish European operations
Attracta Mooney and Owen Walker – FT
Britain’s exit from the EU has spurred UK asset managers to beef up their operations on the continent as concerns mount that the industry risks being cut off from European investors in little more than a year.
/goo.gl/9pXtU4

Keep Looking for the Brexit Effect on U.K. Banking; The country has grown as a base for global lending since the 2016 referendum.
Mark Whitehouse – Bloomberg
People keep saying that the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union will force the global financial industry to move some of its business out of London. It’s thus odd to see it doing the exact opposite, at least in terms of lending.
/goo.gl/2pB47F

The post Market’s $3 Trillion Trauma; FCA and CFTC to collaborate on fintech innovation; Euronext Plans More Acquisitions appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Temenos in advanced talks to buy Fidessa; Congress sets sights on cryptocurrency rules; Bitcoin surges

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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

This Thursday in Chicago, the FIA will hold its 2018 Annual Meeting & Washington Update where Walt Lukken will mention CQG’s Pat Kenny at least three times during his remarks. That is just my prediction.~JJL

This year’s FIA International Conference in Boca Raton, Florida will be the 43rd. The FIA Law and Compliance Division Conference on May 2 to 4 in Washington, DC will be its 40th.~JJL

Trading Technologies’ annual Tennis Tournament benefiting Futures For Kids will be held on March 13th at FIA Boca. Sign up here.~JK

Euronext is participating in the World Exchange Congress, the largest meeting for senior executives of the world’s trading venues.~JJL

Bills and note auctions today! First up are 3-month and 6-month bills, then 4-week bills and 2-year notes.~SD

Since the CPI has been in focus due to inflation concerns, check out the NPR Planet Money episode “The Price Of Lettuce In Brooklyn” which gives an inside peek at the federal employees who go around gathering the prices that constitute the CPI.~SD

++++

Wedbush’s Bob Fitzsimmons Says We’re Just Beginning To Build A Market For Bitcoin
John Lothian News
Q: Now almost two months into the launch of bitcoin futures, how would you assess them?
A: I think it has done incredibly well. There are a lot of MIT Ph.D.s who have been mining these things for years. I’m surprised at how long this has been out there in terms of digital currencies and how many businesses have been built out there. Then you get off on tangents such as ICOs and then the ponzi schemes. There are some legitimate businesses out there that many people are a part of. It’s like 1989 and someone is trying to predict where the internet is going. So long-term, we’re only just beginning. If we look at this in battle terms, the volumes we are seeing in futures are just skirmishes.
/goo.gl/fBEWFc

**Interesting Q&A with Bob Fitzsimmons from last week’s CryptoCon event.~JK

++++

Rosenthal Collins Group Promotes Manumaleuna To President, Mackey To Deputy President
RCG
Rosenthal Collins Group LLC (RCG), a leading independent futures brokerage and clearing firm, today announced the promotions of Jason Manumaleuna to President and Richard Mackey to Deputy President.
/goo.gl/jUXEdY

***** Does Rich Mackey get a badge for being a deputy? Congratulations to both on their promotions.~JJL

++++

Students Ratcheting Up Anti-Gun Protests After School Shooting; As nationwide marches and walkouts are in the works, one mother says of politicians: ‘Our kids are coming after them for change’
Cameron McWhirter – WSJ
High-school students are planning marches and school walkouts across the country in the coming weeks and months as the number of protesters on social media grows, galvanized by last week’s school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead.
/goo.gl/FCdbY1

*****Young people have the potential to change politics in the U.S. if they can coalesce around this issue of universal concern. This generation is connected to each other like none before. Stay tuned.~JJL

++++

How Banks Could Control Gun Sales if Washington Won’t
Andrew Ross Sorkin – NY Times
For the past year, chief executives have often talked about the new sense of moral responsibility that corporations have to help their communities and confront social challenges even when Washington won’t.
/goo.gl/SKvxsa

****** Banks have a big public relations issue. Helping fix the gun problem in the U.S. could go a long way to restoring their reputations.~JJL

++++

Monday’s Top Three
Yesterday’s top read piece was led by Gary DeWaal’s Bridging The Week, which led with the CFTC action against a firm that failed to supervise, leading to a cyber attack. Second went to Reuters’ piece LSE goes head to head with ICE over Libor replacement. Third went to Bloomberg’s piece What Shaped the Stock Market’s $3 Trillion Trauma

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Lead Stories

Temenos in advanced talks to buy Fidessa
Philip Stafford – FT
Temenos, the Swiss banking software supplier, is in advanced talks to buy Fidessa in a deal that values the UK trading and technology vendor at more than £1.3bn.
/goo.gl/QzbFfY

****Reuters here.

Congress sets sights on federal cryptocurrency rules
David Morgan – Reuters
Jolted by the global investment craze over bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, U.S. lawmakers are moving to consider new rules that could impose stricter federal oversight on the emerging asset class, several top lawmakers told Reuters.
/goo.gl/C3wVHj

Bitcoin Rises as South Korea Talks ‘Active’ Support for Trading
Eric Lam – Bloomberg
Largest cryptocurrency extends rally after passing $11,000; S. Korea wants to see ‘normal’ trading in digital tokens
Bitcoin’s stunning rebound continued on Tuesday, with the world’s largest digital token extending February’s gains after South Korean regulators signaled they will actively support what they called “normal” cryptocurrency trading.
/goo.gl/zKKZg1

Washington’s $500 Million Financial-Storm Forecaster Is Foundering; Office of Financial Research was supposed to anticipate trouble and issue warnings, but initiatives have been delayed or scaled back
Ryan Tracy – WSJ
Congress created a brand new agency after the 2008 financial crisis with a gargantuan mission: Serve as the finance world’s version of the National Weather Service.
/goo.gl/eM7kVS

Global regulators neutral on new rules for ‘hyped’ fintech
Huw Jones – Reuters
Global banking regulators signaled on Monday they were in no rush to adapt their rules to financial technology firms that have begun nibbling away at banks’ markets. The regulators looked at how fintechs could disrupt banks’ business models by offering payments services, crowdfunding, mobile banks and online trading.
/goo.gl/o6CfCi

Morgan Stanley Says Stock Slide Was Appetizer for Real Deal
Chris Anstey – Bloomberg
The U.S. stock market only had a taste of the potential damage from higher bond yields earlier this year, with the biggest test yet to come, according to Morgan Stanley.
/goo.gl/NZXQ2g

Tudor Veteran Says a Little More Inflation Could Rock Bonds
Adam Haigh – Bloomberg
Ellerston Capital’s institutional global macro fund up 6.9%; Brett Gillespie is betting bond-market sell-off not over yet
The apparent stabilization in the bond market of the past couple weeks could just mark the eye of the storm, according to a former Tudor Investment Corp. trader whose bets on ructions in fixed income have been paying off.
/goo.gl/7AX82P

South Korean Cryptocurrency Regulator Found Dead at Home; Jung Ki-joon was 52 years old
Steven Russolillo in Hong Kong and Min Sun Lee – WSJ
A South Korean official who guided Seoul’s regulatory clampdown on cryptocurrencies was found dead on Sunday, according to a government spokesman.
/goo.gl/aujqfR

PayPal’s Vision for the Future of Mobile Payments; John Rainey, CFO, explains the allure of Venmo for millennials
Kari Paul – WSJ
PayPal is growing fastóand so are its competitors.
The global payments giant has 227 million active customer accounts, 8.7 million added in just the fourth quarter. One of its newer products, Venmo, a peer-to-peer mobile-payment platform with a social-media feature, has become a verb to many young customers. Venmo processed payments totaling $10.4 billion in the fourth quarter, up 86% from a year earlier.
/goo.gl/unnH2u

Vote Again on Brexit; The U.K.’s voters should get a chance to change their minds.
Editorial Board – Bloomberg
Almost two years after the U.K. voted to quit the European Union, and barely more than a year before the actual exit is scheduled to happen, an all but leaderless Britain is fumbling its way to disaster. The country needs to find a way to change course. There should be a second referendum as soon as possible.
/goo.gl/YUwWRq

 

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Ireland steps up plans to avoid market disruption from Brexit; Euroclear moves to build settlement facility for Irish securities by March 2019
Philip Stafford in London – FT
Ireland’s efforts to build infrastructure that will prevent its securities markets being upended by a hard Brexit were boosted after Euroclear announced plans to create a settlement system that does not rely on London.
/goo.gl/8vTVhX

Japan’s cryptocurrency exchanges to form new self-regulating body: sources
Takahiko Wada – Reuters
Sixteen Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges will fix plans as early as next week to create a self-regulating body in a bid to better safeguard investors after a $530 million digital money heist last month, two source familiar with the plan said.
/goo.gl/bHegxN

HKEX Connect Hall Inaugurated As Trading In Year of Dog Begins
HKEX
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) on Tuesday celebrated the Year of the Dog’s first trading day with the unveiling of the HKEX Connect Hall, an iconic venue for Hong Kong’s financial community that exemplifies HKEX’s mission in connecting global markets and forging lasting relationships.
/goo.gl/sJ6K1n

Hong Kong gold exchange seeks to create gold trading corridor along Belt and Road
South China Morning Post
Creation of such a gold trading corridor could boost demand for 1kg gold bars while also increasing turnover for yuan-denominated products, says exchange president
/goo.gl/759y62

Fintech

Bitcoin Thieves Threaten Real Violence for Virtual Currencies
Nathaniel Popper – NY Times
The currency they were after was virtual, but the guns they carried were anything but. In the beach resort of Phuket, Thailand, last month, the assailants pushed their victim, a young Russian man, into his apartment and kept him there, blindfolded, until he logged onto his computer and transferred about $100,000 worth of Bitcoin to an online wallet they controlled.
/goo.gl/NL9Cgb

BlackRock bulks up research into artificial intelligence; World’s biggest investment group to create AI lab in Palo Alto
Robin Wigglesworth and Chris Flood – FT
BlackRock is setting up a new centre dedicated to research in artificial intelligence, underscoring the heightened interest among asset managers in how machine learning can revolutionise many facets of the investment industry.
/goo.gl/xECYP1

2,000 Confiscated Bitcoins Create a Storage Puzzle in Finland
Kati Pohjanpalo – Bloomberg
Authorities given virtual-currency guidelines by Treasury; Treasury says cryptocurrencies should be stored offline
Finland is trying to figure out how to handle the roughly 2,000 Bitcoins authorities in the country have confiscated.
/goo.gl/TNpwYi

Commodities Shipper Seeks $150 Million to Start Digital Coin
Isis Almeida – Bloomberg
Prime Shipping Foundation is looking to raise funds mid-2018; New digital coin meant to speed bulk freight settlement
The shipping agency that struck the first freight deal settled in Bitcoin is now seeking $150 million to launch its own cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/YLz1LL

Is Big Tech facing its version of the 2008 financial crisis?; Ten years after the global banking collapse, is 2018 the year when Big Technology faces its own existential crisis?
Charlie Beckett – London School of Economics and Political Science
Ten years ago, not all financial institutions were the same or equally culpable, though the causes and impacts of that economic disaster were systematic, widespread and long-lasting. That sector struggled to respond to public anger in a way that has left a legacy of mistrust with those brands and, arguably, with the kind of capitalism they represented.
/goo.gl/vjqa8L

Bringing Swiss order to initial coin offerings; The national watchdog’s attempt at regulating the market makes some sense
FT
Switzerland, as a financial centre, has a double reputation. On the one hand, clockwork: practical, competent, reliable. On the other, chocolate: indulgent and dark. The country’s private banks are still living down their reputations as facilitators of tax evasion. It is natural, then, that there should be knowing smiles at the news that Switzerland is keen to become a hub for cryptocurrency finance, and initial coin offerings in particular.
/goo.gl/F89dFu

Politics

How to Test Your Favorite Conspiracy Theory; In most cases, witnesses are unreliable, and the stories are too complicated to be true.
Tyler Cowen – Bloomberg
I am of the view that incompetence, random error and sheer complexity explain most of the mistakes and strange events in our world, and that we shouldn’t readily jump to conspiracy theories. I’m pretty sure Neil Armstrong did walk on the moon, and still inclined to think (although not certain) that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, there is no Bigfoot and aliens have not recently visited humans on Earth.
/goo.gl/hyvzVt

Donald Trump ranked worst president in US history by nearly 200 political scientists; The president ranks even below Richard Nixon
Emily Shugerman – Independent
Nearly 200 of America’s top political scientists have voted Donald Trump the worst president in US history.
/goo.gl/D6Ucu4

A decade after meltdown, Senate moves to roll back bank rules; That the legislation is coming 10 years after the worst credit crunch since the Great Depression has fueled passions around the debate.
Zachary Warmbrodt – Politico
U.S. senators are planning to mark the 10th anniversary of Wall Street’s meltdown this year with a gift to the nation’s banks: a bill that would unravel regulations put in place after the crisis.
/goo.gl/q6Soqs

If Trump has nothing to hide, why is he so soft on Russia?
Walter Shapiro – The Guardian
This is a question the press must keep asking over and over again – until they receive an answer
/goo.gl/fKW9j6

Regulation

FCA launches call for input on the use of technology to achieve smarter regulatory reporting
UK FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today announced that it is seeking views on how technology can make it easier for firms to meet their regulatory reporting requirements and improve the quality of the information they provide.
/goo.gl/jxPRCT

Operation of the MoU with the Bank of England for market infrastructure – 2017 performance statement
UK FCA
Domestically, the Bank co-operates closely with both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) in relation to supervising market infrastructure and payment systems respectively. The frameworks for co-operation are set out in Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) which are reviewed annually by the parties involved, including by seeking feedback from supervised Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs). Co-operation supports effective supervision and policymaking by sharing information between the regulators and promotes efficiency by minimising duplication.
/goo.gl/SYM84Q

FCA and CFTC join forces on FinTech; FinTech agreement is the first of its kind between US and UK financial authorities.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Financial authorities in the UK and in the US have agreed to work together and support technology start-ups through each other’s FinTech initiatives.
/goo.gl/thMkX2

Strict US market rules limit corporate sellers of green bonds; Litigation fears deter North American companies from environmentally-labelled debt
Kate Allen – FT
Companies seeking to raise green-labelled finance are avoiding the US market over fears that supposedly environmentally-friendly debt will not meet the country’s strict legal standards, which aim to protect investors from mis-selling.
/goo.gl/5Cv8xU

William Hill fined £6.2m for failure to prevent money laundering; Bookmaker profited from customers who may have used crime proceeds, regulator finds
Murad Ahmed and Nicholas Megaw – FT
William Hill has been handed the second-largest fine issued to a UK gambling operator following “systemic” failures to prevent money laundering and problem gambling.
/goo.gl/ycHWdr

Investing and Trading

Natural Gas Industry Surprised It Could Be So Much Cleaner
Matthew Carr – Bloomberg
Industry tends to underestimate need to cut methane: institute; CCS is probably needed to meet Paris climate limits: Cicero
The natural gas industry may be one of its own worst enemies.
/goo.gl/FUQ1vB

BHP Is Still Caught Between a Rock and an Oil Well; BHP is emerging as a copper powerhouse, but that strength conceals some troubling signs in oil and coal
Nathaniel Taplin – WSJ
Everyone knows that breaking up is hard to do. That is especially true when the assets you are bidding farewell to suddenly start looking more attractive.
/goo.gl/aM1PMv

How Will the Buy Side Evidence Best Execution for Corporate Bond Trading Under MiFID II?
Rebecca Healey, Liquidnet via TABB Forum
The opportunity cost of corporate bond trading often remains a secondary consideration given the lack of price transparency and limited liquidity. But MiFID II’s unbundling rules will drive a new evolution in execution performance and liquidity provision. The latest installment of Liquidnet’s ‘New Execution Champions’ report focuses on how firms will respond to the new regulatory obligations, in particular on the need to evidence best execution. Download a complimentary copy here.
/goo.gl/AsMHBV

Oil Prices Diverge as Investors Mull U.S. Crude; Investors assessing conflicting recent U.S. data
Neanda Salvaterra – WSJ
Oil prices were mixed Tuesday, as lower-than-expected inventories buoyed the U.S. crude grade while refinery maintenance in Europe weighed on oil prices in the region.
/goo.gl/PWx3qU

KFC runs out of chicken in logistics fiasco; Most UK outlets closed after new DHL supply deal fails to deliver
Cat Rutter Pooley – FT
Almost two-thirds of the UK branches of KFC remained closed on Monday after the breakdown of a new supply contract for chicken with delivery network DHL, which had promised to set “a new benchmark” for service to the global fast food outlet.
/goo.gl/v2FkBF

How to Survive the Regime Change in Markets; The phase of the European Central Bank’s pledge to do “whatever it takes” is coming to an end
Richard Barley – WSJ
The dust appears to be settling in markets: stocks rebounded sharply last week. But compared with previous market wobbles, there are key differences. Central bankers especially will take this as an important cue.
/goo.gl/kzeaq4

Institutions

HSBC Misses Profit Target as Bad Loan Charges Weigh on Results; Bank hit by the high-profile collapses of two borrowers in the U.K. and South Africa
Margot Patrick – WSJ
HSBC Holdings PLC’s full-year profit missed analysts’ expectations after the bank was hit by the high-profile collapses of two borrowers in the U.K. and South Africa.
/goo.gl/Ft939Z

HSBC’s Gulliver bows out with mixed results; Shares slide despite bank showing first revenue gain in 6 years
Don Weinland and Martin Arnold – FT
Departing HSBC chief Stuart Gulliver has signed off with mixed results for 2017, hitting several hard-fought targets but also coming in below analysts’ expectations on profits and revenues in the fourth quarter.
/goo.gl/rWF8Wy

HSBC Says Swiss Bank Tax Probe Could Cost More Than $1.5 Billion
Gavin Finch – Bloomberg
Bank fined 300 million euros by French authorities last year; The firm had related provisions of $604 million at end of year
HSBC Holdings Plc said it could face penalties exceeding $1.5 billion stemming from multiple investigations into claims that its Swiss private bank unit helped clients evade paying taxes.
/goo.gl/mL2Gfy

Germany’s Oldest Bank Is Pushing Into U.S., Hiring Analysts
Stephen Kahl – Bloomberg
Berenberg wants to cover 300 U.S. stocks within two years; Bank moves into new New York office for up to 150 employees
About 130 years after leaving the U.S., Germany based lender Joh. Berenberg Gossler & Co. KG is pushing back to the other side of the Atlantic. The second oldest bank in the world after Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. wants to expand coverage of U.S. stocks dramatically.
/goo.gl/YLYd9o

Regions

Latvian Premier Says Norvik Banka Seeks to Hurt Country’s Image
Aaron Eglitis – Bloomberg
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis lashed out at representatives of Norvik Banka JSC, saying that they’re trying to hurt Latvia’s image following a report that the lender was asked for bribes by central bank Governor Ilmars Rimsevics.
/goo.gl/2vxWQm

Latvia’s banking sector rocked by U.S. probe, central bank chief’s detention
Gederts Gelzis – Reuters
Latvia’s ABLV Bank sought emergency support on Monday after U.S. officials accused it of helping breach North Korean sanctions while the country’s central bank chief faced bribery allegations, turning up the spotlight on its financial system.
/goo.gl/qbHHD7

‘A nightmare’: Banker tells tale of Latvian corruption
Associated Press
Latvia’s top banking official explained the “rules of the game” for successful banking in the small European country. His sidekick sat the owner of Norvik bank down, scribbling the sum on a piece of paper: 100,000 euros ($125,000) a month.
/goo.gl/25Ghcn

Russia set for rating review by S&P, Fitch, upgrade in prospect
Andrey Ostroukh – Reuters
Russia may get a long-awaited upgrade to its sovereign ratings this week when international rating agencies are expected to consider a diminished risk of new sanctions and improved economic fundamentals, analysts and officials said.
/goo.gl/Linx9H

Brexit

SacrÈ bleu! Paris lags in bid to lure City financiers as Frankfurt leads the way
Jasper Jolly – City AM
A Parisian charm offensive, designed to lure financial businesses to France in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the EU, appears to have floundered according to commercial property data obtained by City A.M.
/goo.gl/DRuCQa

Campaigners to stop Brexit prepare 6-week advertising blitz; Billboard and digital publicity will target voters in the Midlands and north
Henry Mance in London – FT
Exactly two years ago David Cameron returned from talks in Brussels to launch the campaign to keep Britain in the EU. Now a handful of well-funded groups are trying to succeed where Mr Cameron failed.
/goo.gl/XXKtJ1

Corbyn Vows to Stop Hostile Bids and Humble the City of London
Flavia Krause- Jackson – Bloomberg
Labour leader vows to make finance the ‘servant of industry’; In speech to manufacturers he cites Melrose and GKN as example
Jeremy Corbyn pledged that a Labour government would make it harder for asset strippers to take over U.K. companies while vowing to make finance the “servants of industry not the masters of us all.”
/goo.gl/8tVGXG

The post Temenos in advanced talks to buy Fidessa; Congress sets sights on cryptocurrency rules; Bitcoin surges appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Temenos and Fidessa forge banking software tie-up; Ex-CFTC Counsel Is Likely Pick for Dem Slot

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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

Correction/Clarification: A clarification on an item in Monday’s JLN: DRW Cumberland’s Bobby Cho said Cumberland’s proportion of crypto-to-crypto trades now represents about 25 percent of its trades, versus crypto-to-fiat trades, meaning that counterparties now increasingly want to trade bitcoin to ethereum (or some other crypto combination), whereas in the past it was predominantly bitcoin to dollar (or other fiat currency). The item could have been interpreted as crypto trades account for 25 percent of all DRW trading, which is inaccurate.~JK

The CFTC collected $413 million in fines last year, which means an investment in market conduct training is an excellent investment. Check out the Exchange Analytics Market Conduct course. This course was designed specifically to teach traders how to avoid violations and when to seek guidance.~JJL

The 2017 budget for the CFTC was about $250 million.~JK

Join ION Capital Markets for a 10k/5k celebrating the 10th anniversary of @FuturesForKids on 23 May. Firms supporting the run at the Stratford Olympic Park are @rjobrien, @Cinnober, @OSTC, @FIAconnect, @CultWinesUK, @KyteConsultants, @GHFinancials, @JohnLothian, and @FOWgroup

Care for a fun disintermediation story? Apple might buy cobalt straight from miners.~SD

We have updated the MarketsWiki pages for Jason Manumaleuna and Rich Mackey at Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG) to reflect their promotions to president and deputy president, respectively.~SR

It is said that Amelia Island, site of the 2018 Options Industry Conference, changed hands so many times that eight different flags have flown over it.~JJL

++++

NFA’s Board of Directors re-elects Michael Dawley to serve as Chairman
NFA
At its February meeting, NFA’s Board of Directors re-elected Michael C. Dawley, Goldman Sachs & Co., to serve a one-year term as Chairman. The Board also re-elected Maureen C. Downs, Phillip Capital Inc., to serve as Vice-Chairman.
/goo.gl/dPmHQt

***** The big news in this release is that Maureen C. Downs has joined Phillip Capital Inc.

++++

Nasdaq Says It Will Delist Long Blockchain, the Iced-Tea-Turned-Bitcoin Company
David Z. Morris – Fortune
The Nasdaq stock exchange has notified New Jersey-based Long Blockchain, Inc. that it would delist the stock because the company’s market capitalization was too low. Long Blockchain was formerly known as Long Island Iced Tea, but changed its name last December and announced it would diversify from beverages into cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/DaPjHT

****** Long Blockchain executives need a stiff drink. I know the right one.~JJL

++++

The Rise of Bitcoin Factories: Mining for the Masses; As more people jump into bitcoin mining, companies like Bcause look to provide the infrastructure, security and electricity
Stephanie Yang – WSJ
Michael Poteat, an engineering student at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., decided to start mining bitcoin four months ago.
/goo.gl/GECqps

**** Why should you read this article? Bcause.~JJL

++++

Mark Shore Joins Coquest Advisors As Director Of Educational Research
Coquest Inc.
Dallas-based Coquest Inc., one of the largest independent introducing brokers in the U.S. derivatives markets, announced today that Mark Shore has joined its Coquest Advisors LLC as Director of Educational Research.
/goo.gl/XxAmde

***** JLN interviewed Mark Shore many years ago in front of the CBOT Cow.~JJL

++++

Tuesday’s Top Three
Two of our top three pieces yesterday were about the potential Temenos – Fidessa deal. The FT’s piece Temenos in advanced talks to buy Fidessa was the top read story. The Reuters’ article Temenos in talks to buy British trading software company Fidessa was third. The promotion announcement from RCG was second, with Rosenthal Collins Group Promotes Manumaleuna To President, Mackey To Deputy President

 

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Lead Stories

Temenos and Fidessa forge banking software tie-up; Pact between Swiss and UK fintech groups creates ‘huge opportunity’ in fragmented market
Katie Martin in London – FT
Fidessa – one of the so-called “grandfathers” of the UK financial technology market – has agreed to a takeover by Swiss banking software group Temenos in a deal that will pay investors on the UK side £35.67 a share – a gain of nearly 37 per cent from the closing price in the middle of this month.
/goo.gl/GaWRiQ

****The Trade here

Ex-CFTC Counsel Is Likely Pick for Democratic Slot, Sources Say
Benjamin Bain – Bloomberg
Daniel Berkovitz’s name has been sent to Trump, people say; WhileHale partner played key role in writing post-crisis rules
President Donald Trump is likely to name a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission official who played a key role in creating post-crisis rules to fill a Democratic slot at the U.S. derivatives regulator, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/Q4PZnb

ING says cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has an account with it
Reuters Staff
Dutch financial services company ING on Tuesday confirmed that Bitfinex, one of the largest exchanges for trading in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, has a bank account with it in the Netherlands.
/goo.gl/btUjf8

Bitcoin and the Incredible Power of Fiction; Viewed in a certain light, cryptocurrencies are just like nation-states or religion. Humans generate abstract concepts and use them to coordinate action.
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
Here’s Paul Singer’s Elliott Management with the bull case for bitcoin: “FOMO (fear of missing out) has solidly trumped WTHIT (what the hell is this??),” Elliott told clients in a January 26 letter seen by Business Insider. “When the history is written, cryptocurrencies will likely be described as one of the most brilliant scams in history.”
/goo.gl/svrKS3

IBM study slams derivatives clearing, prime brokerage systems
Joe Parsons – Global Custodian
A new white paper from IBM has criticised current IT systems at major prime brokers and derivatives clearing firms, claiming they are is restricting cost savings.
The paper, published with Cinnober’s subsidiary Minium, highlighted that outdated systems used by banks are not fit for purpose for today’s current regulatory environment.
/goo.gl/3ZeanJ

Quick Byte: Supplemental Leverage Ratio is having an impact on liquidity
FIA Principal Traders Group
On Wednesday, the CFTC held a meeting of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC). The meeting was wide-ranging, covering topics including regulatory fintech support, blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT), algorithmic trading, cybersecurity, and crypto assets like Bitcoin.
/goo.gl/ze5pLr

Blunder at a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange let investors briefly buy bitcoins for free
Thomas Wilson and Taiga Uranaka, Reuters vis Business Insider
A blunder at a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange let investors briefly buy bitcoins for free – though none were able to profit from the mistake.
/goo.gl/YarZ1o

Venezuela says launch of ‘petro’ cryptocurrency raised $735 million
Reuters
President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that Venezuela had received $735 million in the first day of a pre-sale of the country’s “petro” cryptocurrency, aimed at pulling the country out of an economic tailspin.
/goo.gl/N2xeXB

IBM study slams derivatives clearing, prime brokerage systems; The study explained outdated systems used by clearing banks and prime brokers are not fit for purpose for today’s current regulatory environment.
By Joe Parsons – Global Custodian
A new white paper from IBM has criticised current IT systems at major prime brokers and derivatives clearing firms, claiming they are is restricting cost savings.
/goo.gl/3ZeanJ

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Deutsche Boerse posts upbeat quarterly results
Olaf Storbeck – FT
With the resignation of the former chief executive, an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged market manipulation and a profit warning, 2017 proved a tough year for Deutsche Boerse. Yet, operationally, the German exchange slightly exceeded analyst expectations in the fourth quarter, according to preliminary figures published on Tuesday.
/goo.gl/U7hNTt

****Deutsche Boerse release here

Candidates for Directors and Executive Officers
JPX
/goo.gl/5rsC2u

Date of Switch to New Official Website Address
JPX
JPX previously announced plans to change site addresses for all pages on our website. The switch has now been scheduled for the date indicated below.
If you have included links/URLs of any page in the JPX website on digital/printed materials, we ask that you update the site addresses on any such materials once the switch has occurred.
/goo.gl/WEoYVM

Barclays joins multi-dealer platform SPIRE; SPIRE platform was launched in May last year by BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Barclays has signed up to a multi-dealer programme launched by four major investment banks for issuance of secured notes.
/goo.gl/jiUPH6

CurveGlobal To Benefit From MiFID II Best Execution
Shanny Basar – MarketsMedia
Andy Ross, chief executive of CurveGlobal, said the London Stock Exchange Group’s interest rate derivatives venture will benefit from the new best execution regulations despite the mandate for open access being postponed.
/goo.gl/acgc9n

Why MSCI’s index call is bad
The Hindu Business Line
The three Indian stock exchanges, the BSE, NSE and the MSEI, stirred a hornet’s nest last week when they decided to stop providing market data to enable trading on foreign exchanges and platforms. While the reaction of many global institutions was conciliatory, MSCI Inc, the global index provider, made the strongest comment against the move.
/goo.gl/H2PriN

Futures on EURO STOXX 50 Corporate Bond Index (FCBI): Tradability for U.S. Participants
Eurex
As of 1 March 2018, Futures on the EURO STOXX 50 Corporate Bond Index (FCBI) will also be available for trading to Eurex Participants and investors domiciled in the U.S.
/goo.gl/g5WpAv

IMOEX – the new ticker of MOEX Russia Index
Moscow Exchange:
On March 26, 2018 the ticker for the MOEX Russia Index will be changed across all Moscow Exchange data and trading systems. The new ticker – IMOEX – will replace MICEXINDEXCF.
/goo.gl/57qp2F

Fintech

Confluence and ICE Data Services to Help Firms Meet SEC Modernization Reporting Requirements
Globe Newswire
Confluence, the global leader in investment data management automation for regulatory, financial and investor reporting, today announced an agreement with ICE Data Services, which is part of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), to help asset managers meet their compliance obligations with respect to SEC Modernization and other regulatory reporting requirements.
/goo.gl/JR9RWG

Computer shops embrace lucrative business: outfitting cryptocurrency miners
Wyman Ma, Dewey Sim, Joyce Lee -Reuters
Some of the biggest electronics bazaars in Asia are being flooded with customers looking for the latest piece of technology: cryptocurrency mining rigs.
/goo.gl/ZxeLSR

Software update aims to lower costs and transaction speeds in bitcoin market
Aaron Hankin – MarketWatch
In an attempt to tackle expensive bitcoin transaction fees and slow processing times, two leading cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase and Bitfinex, announced Tuesday they have rolled out a software update that they hope will address mounting concerns.
/goo.gl/QKSe7e

Bogus Charges, Surprise Fees: Inside Coinbase’s Credit-Card Pain
Jennifer Surane, Matthew Leising, Julie Verhage – Bloomberg
Exchange clients complain about getting charged twice on sales; Coinbase says it’s evaluating its long-term payment methods
Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, risks seeing its burgeoning business choked if it doesn’t work smoothly with the traditional finance industry.
/goo.gl/9fGHWd

Artificial intelligence poses risks of misuse by hackers, researchers say
Eric Auchard – Reuters
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence are raising risks that malicious users will soon exploit the technology to mount automated hacking attacks, cause driverless car crashes or turn commercial drones into targeted weapons, a new report warns.
/goo.gl/9fjCQ2

****From the FT: AI experts warn of new types of threats

Crypto millionaires are funding research to reverse the aging process
John Detrixhe – Quartz
Silicon Valley’s elite is famously fascinated by the promise of extreme lifespan extensionóif not outright immortality. Research on these issues has drawn funding from the likes of Google, while the Bay Area’s Unity Biotechnology, which is developing drugs to treat diseases that accompany aging, has also raised a bunch of money. Now, the sci-fi-like cause is attracting a new group of benefactors: cryptocurrency tycoons.
/goo.gl/9DWfjZ

Intruders ‘borrowed’ Tesla’s public cloud for cryptocurrency mining (updated)
Jon Fingas – Engadget
Tesla isn’t immune to the plague of cryptocurrency mining hijacks, it seems. Security researchers at RedLock have reported that intruders gained access to Tesla’s Kubernetes console (where it deploys and manages containerized apps) without needing a password, exposing the EV brand’s login credentials for Amazon Web Services. From there, the attackers both abused Tesla’s cloud resources for cryptojacking and accessed private data held in Amazon’s S3 service. The culprits were creative, too.
/goo.gl/r33Aue

Politics

Russian Trolls Tweeted Disinformation Long Before U.S. Election; Tweets about contaminated water, tainted turkey look to security experts like practice for the political season
Rob Barry – WSJ
Alice Norton posted an emergency message on a cooking-website forum on Thanksgiving 2015: Her entire family had severe food poisoning after buying a turkey from Walmart.
/goo.gl/s8Yrjv

Jihadists See a Funding Boon in Bitcoin; Cryptocurrencies come under increased U.S. scrutiny as militants seek anonymous donations
Brett Forrest and Justin Scheck – WSJ
When a group that says it provides financial assistance “relating to the jihad” sought to improve conditions for fighters in a squalid, sandbag-fortified trench in Syria late last year, it turned to a new funding conduit: bitcoin.
/goo.gl/UZBrva

Former Skadden Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Lying in Russia Investigation
Sharon LaFraniere and Kenneth P. Vogel – NY Times
The son-in-law of a Russia-based billionaire admitted on Tuesday to lying to investigators about his communications with a former Trump campaign aide. The guilty plea by the defendant, a former lawyer at a powerful New York-based law firm, broadened the scope of the special counsel’s inquiry into Russia’s election interference.
/goo.gl/A98q6Z

Trump Administration Looking at Bankruptcy Options for Student Debt; The Education Department could clarify the meaning of ‘undue hardship’ that is needed to have loans erased
Josh Mitchell and Katy Stech Ferek – WSJ
The Trump administration indicated Tuesday it is considering allowing more Americans to erase student debt in bankruptcy.
/goo.gl/CuKpLQ

Regulation

Supreme Court Rejects Hedge Funds on Fannie, Freddie Suits
Greg Stohr and Joe Light – Bloomberg
U.S. Supreme Court won’t take up challenges to profit sweep; Decision leaves 2017 ruling against GSE investors intact
The U.S. Supreme Court dealt hedge funds and other big investors a blow Tuesday by refusing to revive core parts of lawsuits that challenged the federal government’s capture of billions of dollars in profits generated by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
/bloom.bg/2Fgwlgg

Steven Cohen loses bid to seal lawsuit alleging sexism at Point72
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
A U.S. judge on Tuesday rejected billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen’s request to temporarily seal a lawsuit accusing his hedge fund firm Point72 Asset Management LP of sexism toward women.
reut.rs/2EHChxB

Wall Street welcomes Trump’s shift on regulation; Obama-era Dodd-Frank statute still in place but bankers back approach
Ben McLannahan and Barney Jopson – FT
It is just over a year since Donald Trump vowed to “do a big number” on Dodd-Frank, the 2010 law designed to rein in excesses on Wall Street. The new Republican administration would dismantle many of those restrictions, the president said, freeing banks to play their part in boosting growth in the world’s largest economy.
/goo.gl/78WchZ

Reminder: FINRA Internal Testing In Production
FINRA
As a reminder, FINRA will often conduct internal testing of its TRACE, ORF, ADF and TRF systems on Saturdays in the production region. Clients are advised to only bring up their applications and connect to FINRA on those Saturdays if they will be participating in testing.
/goo.gl/jsm88d

CFTC Staff Extends Time-Limited No-Action Relief for Entities Submitting Swaps for Clearing with Derivatives Clearing Organizations Acting Under Exemptive Orders or No-Action Relief
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Division of Market Oversight (Division) today announced the extension of time-limited no-action relief to entities submitting swaps for clearing by derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs) operating under CFTC exemptive orders or no-action relief provided by CFTC staff (Relief DCOs).
/goo.gl/cgGa5g

FCA plans for machine-readable regulatory reporting; Financial regulator issues call for feedback on proof concept developed in TechSprint
UKAuthority.com
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has called for views on how technology can make it easier for firms to meet regulatory reporting requirements and provide better quality information.
/goo.gl/UEdmQB

Sebi permits clearing corps at IFSC to accept cash as trade collateral; Cash and cash equivalents would form at least 50 per cent of the total liquid assets at all times
Business Standard
Markets regulator Sebi today allowed clearing corporations at international financial services centres (IFSCs) to accept cash and cash equivalents as collateral for trades in all product categories.
/goo.gl/5yFhvH

FCA’s chair-elect admits error of judgment over tax avoidance scheme; Charles Randell tells MPs he repaid HMRC more than £100,000 after Ingenious investment
Simon Goodley – The Guardian
The incoming chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority has admitted to an “error of judgment” after investing in a controversial tax avoidance scheme that resulted in him repaying more than £100,000 to the taxman.
/goo.gl/hsBnXA

FCA calls for help embracing regtech
Mike Sheen – InvestmentWeek
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is seeking advice on how best the firms it regulates can embrace technology to aid their reporting requirements and “reduce the regulatory burden” they face.
/goo.gl/9XLhQU

Investing and Trading

The Mining Industry Is Awash With Cash
Thomas Biesheuvel – Bloomberg
Rio pledges record payout and even Glencore pays hefty reward; Companies put era of big spending, risky deals behind them
The mining industry is awash with cash, and so far it’s got two main uses — pay down debt and reward investors.
/goo.gl/QD4z4L

US fiscal stimulus bodes ill for dollar, says currency market; Expansion of budget deficit viewed as extending a 12-month decline of 11.3%
Adam Samson – FT
Currency strategists are increasingly concerned that the fiscal stimulus ushered in by Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress means a much weaker US dollar.
/goo.gl/hPxfHC

Oil industry’s swagger takes knock from gas boom; Gas industry challenges oil for headline billing at key industry conference in London
Anjli Raval and David Sheppard – FT
The oil executives who control the world’s most traded commodity are usually the big draw at the annual International Petroleum Week conference. But this week, it could be the leaders in gas that steal the limelight.
/goo.gl/zYJmtR

Buckle up, there’s a lot more to inflation than the price of goods
Maria LaMagna – MarketWatch
Your dollars aren’t going quite as far when you’re at the store. The consumer-price index (CPI) increased 0.5% on the month and 2.1% on the year, the government announced last week. The increase was fueled in part by a spike in the cost of clothing and gasoline prices. The CPI refers to the rate at which prices for certain products have increased.
/goo.gl/5HiG2J

Gold, violins and wine don’t cut it as a rival to stocks; Over a long time frame beating equity returns is tricky and requires ingenuity
John Authers – FT
Housing has had the Dimson Marsh Staunton treatment, and it seems to have been uncomfortable. For the uninitiated, this week saw a big annual event in the calendar of devoted market-watchers with the publication of the Global Investment Returns Yearbook, produced for Credit Suisse by the academics Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton.
/goo.gl/uJomx5

U.S. Pays Up to Auction $179 Billion of Debt in a Span of Hours
Alex Harris – Bloomberg
Three- and six-month bills sold at levels unseen since 2008; Bid-to-cover ratio on 4-week sale declined to near-decade low
The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday sold $179 billion of securities as it works to rebuild its cash balance, with yields at its auctions of three- and six-month debt rising to levels unseen since 2008.
/goo.gl/hBprpk

Bitcoin nearly doubles in value from year’s low hit in early February
Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss – Reuters
Bitcoin hit a three-week high on Tuesday and has surged nearly 100 percent from its lowest level this year, as its recovery continued after South Korea’s financial regulator eased its stance on cryptocurrencies, weeks after it considered shutting down digital currency exchanges.
/goo.gl/tTs38Y

Biggest gilt redemption set to buoy the market; Fresh BoE purchases come as policymakers consider rate rises
Kate Allen – FT
The Bank of England is set to embark upon its biggest purchases of government debt since it called a halt to its quantitative easing programme last year, in a move that analysts say will prove supportive for the price of medium-dated gilts.
/goo.gl/Tsocy1

Institutions

Barclays Puts ‘America Second’ as Europe’s Attractions Grow
Ksenia Glaauchko – Bloomberg
Europe has replaced the U.S. as Barclays Plc’s favorite developed market, based on what the bank perceives to be the region’s cheaper valuations and strong earnings potential.
/goo.gl/Fuwbj9

Lloyds Fixates on Cost Discipline With Push in Technology
Stefania Spezzati, Stephen Morris – Bloomberg
Bank also unveils 600 million-pound charge for PPI in quarter; Shares gain 2 percent after results and strategy details
Lloyds Banking Group Plc investors welcomed the British bank’s focus on cost discipline over the next three years and its renewed push on technology and insurance.
/goo.gl/MA9ufq

JPMorgan Plans New Manhattan Headquarters for 15,000 Workers
Steve Dickson – Bloomberg
Bank plans to consolidate locations into a bigger building; Construction to begin next year to replace ‘outdated’ facility
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank, plans to build a headquarters in midtown Manhattan that would consolidate other offices into a new office building for 15,000 employees on Park Avenue.
/goo.gl/EPYA8E

Glencore issues bumper payout after 44% profit jump; Swiss miner and trader benefits from higher commodity prices
Neil Hume – FT
Glencore, the miner and trader, has announced a bumper payout to shareholders after annual earnings surged on the back of higher commodity prices and the best performance from its trading arm since 2008.
/goo.gl/2UNhXB

Deutsche Bank plots March IPO of asset management unit; German lender aim to sell about a quarter of Deutsche Asset Management for up to EUR2bn
Peter Smith in London and Olaf Storbeck in Frankfurt – FT
Deutsche Bank is preparing to publish an “intention to float” document for its DWS asset management unit next week before listing the business on the Frankfurt stock exchange in March, according to people close to the initial public offering.
/goo.gl/NpTLJi

Goldman Debunks Idea Dollar Is Being Driven Down by U.S. Worries
Joanna Ossinger – Bloomberg
Further moderate dollar depreciation coming, Goldman says; Some investors still appear structurally long greenbacks
Are worries about the twin U.S. deficits dragging down the greenback? Is it more about the Trump administration endorsing a weak-dollar policy? Not so, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts say.
/goo.gl/aUGPw5

Regions

Latvian defense ministry says corruption claims may be disinformation campaign
Gederts Gelzis – Reuters
Corruption allegations that led to the suspension of Latvia’s central bank governor on Tuesday may be part of a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging trust in the country and influencing October elections, its Defence Ministry said.
reut.rs/2EGmfnG

North Korea steps up cyber powers with shadowy ‘Reaper’ hacker group
Nicola Smith – The Telegraph
North Korea is stepping up its cyber capabilities to target international aerospace and defence industries through a shadowy and sophisticated hackers group called Reaper, a new report revealed on Tuesday.
The group, also known as APT37, was identified in research by American private security company FireEye, which tracks cyber-attackers around the world.
bit.ly/2EG2zAu

South Korea won’t ban cryptocurrency trading after all
Swapna Krishna – Engadget
South Korea has been flirting with banning cryptocurrency trading for some time now. However, now it appears the country is backtracking. Bloomberg reports that South Korea’s regulators have indicated that they will continue to support “normal” trading of the cryptocurrency.
/goo.gl/bTpJBT

Two ways to read Mrs Watanabe’s splurge on Japanese stocks; The biggest weekly buying of Japanese equities since 1987 offers conflicting historical signals
Leo Lewis – FT
It’s not often that the October 1987 “Black Monday” crash that eviscerated the world’s biggest stock exchanges finds itself lit by the cosy glow of nostalgia, but these are counterintuitive times.
/goo.gl/pq5z1e

Brexit

The latest pro-Brexit analysis has got its sums badly wrong
Chris Giles – FT
An analysis by the pro-Brexit advocacy group Economists for Free Trade says the potential gains from the UK government’s favoured route to leaving the EU would provide a 2 to 4 per cent boost to national income in the long term. The results contrast with the unpublished internal Whitehall analysis suggesting a 2 to 8 per cent loss of national income from any plausible Brexit policy.
/goo.gl/8Be3fC

U.K. Eyes Longer Brexit Transition and Asks EU to Talk Dates
Nikos Chrysoloras and Tim Ross – Bloomberg
Transition must last until new systems are in place, U.K. says; British position outlined in draft legal text on transition
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is asking the European Union for flexibility on the length of the Brexit transition period with just over a year before the country leaves the bloc.
/goo.gl/YiyT53

Anglo-Dutch bonds suffer the strain from Brexit; With so much to lose, the Dutch position on EU-UK relations is more complicated than most
Mehreen Khan in Brussels – FT
Few countries have felt the pain from Brexit like the Dutch.
/goo.gl/4yCmKN

Miscellaneous

Sexism in the City: Business Women Take On Old-Boy London Clubs; ‘The zeitgeist is really with us,’ co-founder says
Suzi Ring – Bloomberg
“There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” Madeleine Albright told a fired-up Hillary Clinton rally in 2016.
/goo.gl/C7n2oH

Epic crop fail made it a bad year for bulk wine
Janina Conboye – FT
Last year was unkind to wine producers across the globe. Bordeaux, one of France’s best known regions, was ravaged by frost. California’s wine country endured soaring temperatures and forest fires. Italy’s prossecco region was hit by a heat wave, frost and hail. Spanish viticulturists also experience brutal weather extremes.
/goo.gl/kfRSBv

Clean meat is the future of meat
Richard Branson – Virgin
In 30 years or so, I believe we will look back and be shocked at what was the accepted way we killed animals en masse for food. I think that in the future clean and plant-based meat will become the norm, and in 30 years it is unlikely animals will need to be killed for food anymore.
/goo.gl/pcW59m

The post Temenos and Fidessa forge banking software tie-up; Ex-CFTC Counsel Is Likely Pick for Dem Slot appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

Amazon is taking over the stock market, too; U.K. starts cryptocurrency inquiry; France clamps down on crypto

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First Read

Hits & Takes
JLN Staff

What do you call a computer that sings? Adele. H/T Alexa.~JJL

LME is launching an Introduction to Physical Trading and Warehousing course in London this March.~JJL

A tidbit from yesterday’s JLN Options newsletter – the CIO for the Hawaiian pension fund that got burned selling puts is no longer with the fund.~SD

According to a study by Credit Suisse and the London Business School, rare books have a seven fold return since 1900. Meanwhile, classic cars have 242 fold returns. But how are my comic books doing?~SD

Registration is now open for the 40th Annual FIA Law & Compliance Division Conference!~JJL

Download the official 2018 New York Institute of Finance course calendar:~JJL

You can follow the National Futures Association on Twitter for more updates on industry developments and NFA news @NFA_News.~JJL

Fidessa’s Mike Wilkins will be at the @SRICFoundation‘s 2018 Trading Forum on the 27th February in Geneva.~JJL

FOW is holding an event in Amsterdam, FOW Trading Amsterdam, on March 7, 2018.~JJL

++++

IPC collaborates with GreenKey to bring a powerful, AI-based speech recognition solution that converts real-time voice into useable data for the financial markets
Greenkey
IPC and GreenKey Technologies announced an agreement for a significant collaboration between the firms. The agreement brings to market a powerful AI-based speech recognition solution that converts real-time voice into useable data for financial market users.
/goo.gl/mGSZWy

**** I wonder what Alexa thinks of this.~JJL

++++

Crypto exchanges welcome regulators as they woo institutional clients
Brian Patrick Eha – American Banker
When the top Japanese cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer expanded to the United States last November, its timing could hardly have been better. Led by bitcoin, digital assets were enjoying a historic bull run.
Almost immediately, despite bitcoin initially being the only asset available to buy and sell, trading volumes on bitFlyer’s U.S. exchange shot up to more than $1 million a day.
/goo.gl/3Dn67L

***** It used to be that regulators put the “cry” in crypto.~JJL

++++

Barclays reveals gender pay gap of nearly 50%; UK bank struggles to promote women to senior, high-paying positions at its international division
By Paul Clarke – Financial News
Barclays pays female employees within the division that houses its investment bank nearly 50% less than their male counterparts, with the UK group struggling to promote women to senior positions.
/goo.gl/Tm626D

****** Barclays, there are some people not WILD about this.~JJL

++++

Sorry, Collectors, Nobody Wants Your Beanie Babies Anymore; Over two decades after the great Beanie Baby craze, speculators are back, hoping someone will finally buy their floppy collectibles
By Shibani Mahtani – WSJ
Cameron Percy thought he’d found a rare treasure when he moved into a new place two weeks ago. Someone had left behind dozens of Beanie Babies in a box in the basement.
/goo.gl/2J5C4F

***** Would you pay more if they came with a pet rock?~JJL

++++

Risky Crypto Bet Dents Dennis Gartman’s Retirement Account
By Lily Katz – Bloomberg
‘Commodities King’ has bad day as Riot Blockchain shares tank; CNBC exposé sent stock plummeting 33 percent in one day
Making big bets on speculative assets with retirement money is something most advisers warn against, but Bitcoin fever is prompting all sorts of puzzling decisions.
/goo.gl/8GUHps

***** Somewhere people are looking up the word “schadenfreude.”~JJL

++++

CryptoCon 2018 – Impressions
Chuck Mackie, Contributing Editor, John Lothian News

You practically can’t walk down the street these days without bumping into a conference, seminar, or MeetUp about blockchain and cryptocurrencies as the bitcoin fever of 2017 has metastasized into a cottage industry bent on “figuring it out.” If the results from last week’s FinTank CryptoCon are any indication, the crypto industry is further along than you thought but still very much in its early stages.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

++++

Wednesday’s Top Three
Our most read item yesterday was our Marketswiki Page of the Day, Maureen Downs, who has taken an advisory role at Phillip Capital. Second went to the Wall Street Journal’s The Rise of Bitcoin Factories: Mining for the Masses, which features the crypto firm Bcause. Third went to the FT’s Temenos and Fidessa forge banking software tie-up

 

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Lead Stories

Amazon Is Taking Over the Stock Market, Too; The online retail giant has accounted for 27% of the S&P 500’s gains this year, followed by Microsoft and Netflix
By Akane Otani – WSJ
Three technology titans have powered nearly half of the S&P 500’s advance this year, a worrying sign for investors expecting a strengthening economy to lift shares of manufacturers, oil companies and other firms whose fortunes typically improve with growth.
/goo.gl/oa2q2F

U.K. Starts Cryptocurrency Inquiry as Lawmakers Weigh Regulation
By Edward Robinson – Bloomberg
Parliament will consider Bitcoin’s impact on banks, consumers; Inquiry follows action taken by regulators in U.S. and China
U.K. lawmakers are launching an inquiry into cryptocurrencies to investigate their benefits and risks and consider how the new technology should be regulated.
/goo.gl/gV3WEx

France clamps down on crypto bets, banning online ads; Products based on cryptocurrencies must be regulated like derivatives, regulator says
Hannah Murphy – FT
France’s financial regulator has said that financial products based on cryptocurrencies should be formally regulated as derivatives, meaning online trading platforms will need authorisation to offer them and can no longer advertise them online.
/goo.gl/mdDm13

Second investor files lawsuit over U.S. LJM fund: court filing
Reuters Staff
A second investor on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against managers of a U.S. mutual fund that lost most of its value earlier this month during a bout of market turmoil.
/goo.gl/8CP7Lt

Boca financial executive sues fund management firm over market-fueled collapse
Lawsuit
David Lyons -Sun-Sentinel
A top executive of a Boca Raton financial services firm is leading a proposed class-action lawsuit that alleges he and other investors were deceived by a Chicago-based fund management firm that lost 80 percent of its value.
/goo.gl/WTALqX

The top cryptocurrency traders are asking for a big shakeup to bitcoin futures
Frank Chaparro – Business Insider
Some of the biggest players in the crypto market are calling for a shakeup in bitcoin futures trading. Bitcoin futures started trading on Cboe Global Markets and CME in December and have been steadily growing since, with volumes for both markets at just under 10,000 contracts traded on Wednesday, according to data from Bloomberg. At least 30 firms trade on Cboe, according to briefing documents from the exchange.
/goo.gl/4yZHrU

Treasury Recommends Keeping Dodd-Frank Liquidation Power; Administration proposes tweaks to orderly liquidation authority but wants to retain it
By Ryan Tracy – WSJ
The Trump administration recommended retaining the government’s power to seize and unwind a failing financial firm in a crisis, departing from some conservative Republican lawmakers and endorsing a plank of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law.
/goo.gl/jagJiw

EU official to U.S.: clearing plans won’t undermine bilateral pacts
Huw Jones – Reuters
European Union representatives have sought to reassure the United States that plans to tighten oversight of foreign clearing houses operating in the bloc will not disrupt transatlantic ties on market access that took years to agree.
reut.rs/2FjrmLV

Elliott Views $2 Billion Bid for Fidessa as Too Low
By Scott Deveau, Neil Callahan – Bloomberg
Activist believes software firm is undervalued by Temenos; Rivals, private equity firms may be other potential suitors
Activist investor Elliott Management Corp., having acquired a stake in Fidessa Group Plc, believes that a $2 billion bid from Temenos Group AG undervalues the U.K. computer-software provider, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/yoLvMA

Fidessa accepts Temenos bid as Elliott reveals stake in UK company
Nic Fildes in London – FT
Activist hedge fund Elliott Capital Advisors has built a near-5 per cent stake in Fidessa, a position it revealed after the UK financial technology company agreed to a £1.4bn cash takeover by Swiss banking software group Temenos.
/goo.gl/sn5bNE

Blockchain is entering the valley of despair phase, and that’s a mistake
Danny Crichton – TechCrunch
I’ve had a number of conversations with blockchain-focused people over the past few weeks. In some of those conversations — particularly with engineers — there is a palpable excitement and a belief that this technology is going to end up being their life’s work. As one blockchain hacker told me this past week, “It’s going to be a multi-decade long battle against the technologies that have been weaponized against us,” referring to the technology of the attentional economy.
/goo.gl/HgyfT1

Shame on You Crazy Diamond Bankers; A Swift circular sent back in November 2016 shows the regulator had reason to suspect systemic abuse.
By Andy Mukherjee – Bloomberg
It’s disingenuous to think that India’s biggest banking fraud was just one bent officer in a bumbling state-run lender enriching an uncle-nephew pair of greedy diamond merchants. That’s the spin Punjab National Bank is trying to put on the $1.8 billion scam that went on for seven years.
/goo.gl/dUkW5x

Goldman Has a $500 Million Army of Little Guys to Buff Its Image
By Dakin Campbell – Bloomberg
Firm diverted a sliver of its revenue to help small businesses; Beneficiaries flock to D.C. for hundreds of lawmaker meetings
No one would mistake them for typical Goldman Sachs clients. Marcus Moore runs a staffing firm. Jessica Johnson-Cope places security guards and rents out drug-sniffing dogs. J.R. Foster helps companies maintain their offices and buildings.
/goo.gl/eTtbpi

Opinion: Here’s the truth about stock market volatility that investors don’t want to admit
By Mark Hulbert – MarketWatch
Computers aren’t to blame for dizzying swings
If you blame computers for the market’s recent volatility, it’s just blaming the messenger for bearing bad news. That’s because computers are doing what their human programmers have instructed them to do. Computers may be quicker and more efficient than humans, but they only do what they’re told. By blaming them, investors avoid focusing on the truth of the matter — and how to handle it properly.
/goo.gl/zLuD95

Bondageddon Is Closer Than You Think. Watch the 30-Year; Yields are approaching an important line in the sand.
By Marcus Ashworth – Bloomberg
Bond traders have been absolutely riveted to the U.S. 10-year and it’s hair-raising creep to 3 percent. While that note’s not exactly a sideshow, they should really be diverting some of their focus to the 30 year.
/goo.gl/jNXVBp

Inflation Is a Bigger Danger to Stocks Than Rising Rates; Rising prices have a stronger relationship with poor market outcomes.
By Ben Carlson – Bloomberg
Not quite this much. Photographer: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images
Investors tend to attach narratives after events like the recent bout of market volatility as a way to provide comfort in the face of market uncertainty and losses.
/goo.gl/4Toc3h

25 Billion Global Futures Trades
Jeff Malec – Seeking Alpha
The FIA (Futures Industry Association) is out with their annual data showing just how big the futures and options (what some might call derivatives) world is. Specifically, looking at the 2017 volume and open interest on all futures and options exchanges, 2017 held steady with 25 billion contracts
/goo.gl/ypKuc3

How to buy Bunge? Bond investors say ADM would likely issue equity
Tom Polansek, Karl Plume – Reuters
U.S. grain merchant Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM.N) would need to issue equity to help finance a proposed takeover of rival Bunge Ltd (BG.N), according to investors and bond analysts, as a years-long slump in agricultural commodity prices makes a debt-only deal too risky.
/goo.gl/QmRxAo

Exchanges, OTC and Clearing

Coinbase is finally supporting new tech that could fix bitcoin’s slowness problem.
Business Insider
The $1.6 billion cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will start using an updated version of bitcoin called SegWit. The company announced on Tuesday that it finished testing and will roll out updates throughout next week. SegWit is a politically contentious update to bitcoin which many believe will scale the popular cryptocurrency, making it faster and cheaper to use.
/goo.gl/GZSZ7Y

Chicago Stock Exchange forced to again re-evaluate future after SEC axes deal
By Declan Harty – S&P Global Intelligence
Chicago Stock Exchange Inc.’s future is now up in the air after regulators blocked an investor group’s bid to acquire the company. Two years ago, one of the smallest U.S. exchange operators struck an acquisition agreement with a consortium of China- and U.S.-based investors. The deal represented the Chicago Stock Exchange’s chance to position itself as a gateway to U.S. markets for Chinese companies to go public through.
/goo.gl/iBhwAA

Bitcoin Exchange Operator Charged With Lying to SEC About Hack
By Patricia Hurtado – Bloomberg
U.S. says BitFunder chief tried to cover up stolen currency; Prosecutors say he lied about knowing when theft occurred
The operator of a now-defunct cryptocurrency investment platform was charged with lying to U.S. regulators to hide the fact that hackers stole more than 6,000 of his customers’ Bitcoins.
/goo.gl/JuWJsZ

Options Offers New Managed Colocation At Nasdaq Stockholm; Low Latency Connectivity To Nordic Feeds At Source
Options
Options, the leading provider of global market data and colocation services for trading firms, today announced the availability of its high performance managed colocation solution at Nasdaq Stockholm, the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. The new service will enable colocated clients to avail of low latency connectivity to the exchange’s Nordic feeds directly at source at its Vasby data center.
/goo.gl/Dkco9g

Deutsche Börse sets sights on quarter of euro clearing post-Brexit; Chief calls on politicians to support his aim to move lucrative trade to Frankfurt
Olaf Storbeck in Frankfurt – FT
The new chief executive of Deutsche Börse has said he wants the Frankfurt exchange to win at least a quarter of the market for clearing euro interest rate swaps from London by 2019 and called on politicians for more support in its efforts.
/goo.gl/UoSnEP

Dutch Star Companies ONE Celebrates IPO on Euronext
Euronext
Dutch Star Companies ONE N.V.[1], a special purpose acquisition vehicle, began trading today on Euronext Amsterdam.
/goo.gl/eJavdw

Egypt successfully raises $4bn triple tranche bonds in London
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) welcomed yesterday Egypt’s $4 billion triple tranche bonds to the Main Market. The bonds, listed solely in London, are also available to trade on LSEG’s MTS BondVision, the Group’s multi-dealer-to-client trading platform for government bonds.
/goo.gl/eBdg9F

Fintech

Jane Street’s Systematic Internaliser now available via QuantHouse’s QH API Ecosystem
QuantHouse
QuantHouse, the independent global provider of end-to-end high performance market data and trading through API-based technologies, today announced the addition of Jane Street Financial’s systematic internaliser (SI) to its QH API Ecosystem.
/goo.gl/pDSLhn

Platts deploys blockchain to track oil storage data in UAE; Move is one of the first commercial uses of the technology in the energy business
David Sheppard – FT
S&P Global Platts has deployed a blockchain network for reporting oil storage data in the UAE, in one of the first real-world commercial applications of the technology to go live in the energy industry.
/goo.gl/r2Y7hc

Blockchain: an overview; Blockchain, like the internet, is a revolutionary technology that is most likely here to stay
Demelza Hays – London School of Economics and Political Science
During the late 1990s, investors were eager to invest in any company with an Internet-related name or a “.com” suffix. Today, the word “blockchain” has a similar effect. Like the Internet, blockchains are an open source technology that becomes increasingly valuable as more people use it due to what economists call “the network effect”. Blockchains allow digital information to be transferred from one individual to another without an intermediary. Bitcoin was the first use of the blockchain technology. However, the volatility, transaction fees, and uncertain legal framework have stalled bitcoin’s widespread adoption.
/goo.gl/H4WPBh

Blockchain could save asset managers $2.7bn a year; Online ledger technology promises to upend processes linked to buying and selling funds
Attracta Mooney in London – FT
Blockchain could save asset managers $2.7bn a year if the investment industry shunned the laborious manual practices involved in buying and selling funds in favour of using online ledger technology, according to research published on Thursday.
/goo.gl/zGyC6M

Politics

Mueller Is Ending the Era of Impunity for Washington’s Foreign Lobbyists; If the goal is to find proof of election meddling, why are all the indictments about failing to register as an agent?
By Eli Lake – Bloomberg
Washington’s unregistered foreign agents, who in the past have tread the gray areas between legal and illegal with impunity, should be nervous about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
/goo.gl/j2GYhC

Twitter purges accounts, and conservatives cry foul; The move comes as the company, stung by criticism since the 2016 election, says it is taking steps to curb ‘spammy behavior.’
By NANCY SCOLA – Politico
Twitter has pruned more suspected trolls and fake accounts from its platform, prompting several of its most outspoken conservative users to complain Wednesday that they had lost thousands of followers overnight.
/goo.gl/oVpdGg

The Trolling of the American Mind
Ross Douthat – NY Times
There are two Russian scandals connected to the 2016 campaign. One deserves the attention that it’s getting. The other is closer to — what’s the term I’m looking for? — fake news.
/goo.gl/nRbA2U

Regulation

Companies Could Get More Flexibility to Start IPOs; SEC is studying a move to expand ‘testing the waters’ to all companies
By Dave Michaels – WSJ
The IPO “on-ramp” could be getting an expansion. Securities regulators hoping to spur more initial public offerings are weighing a deregulatory move that would allow all companies—not just smaller firms—to stage private talks with investors before announcing they will sell stock, according to people familiar with the matter.
/goo.gl/gmrwvx

Statement on Cybersecurity Interpretive Guidance
SEC
Yesterday, the Commission approved the issuance of an interpretive release to provide guidance to public companies when preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents. The release also communicates the Commission’s views on the importance of maintaining comprehensive policies and procedures related to cybersecurity risks and incidents.
bit.ly/2Fm8dZu

****SD: They even put out a statement about the statement – SEC Adopts Statement and Interpretive Guidance on Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures

Supreme Court declines to broaden whistleblower protections
Andrew Chung – Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to broaden protections for corporate insiders who call out misconduct, ruling they must take claims of wrongdoing to the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to be shielded against retaliation.
/goo.gl/zEehkN

FDIC Sues 16 Banks as Receiver for Failed Puerto Rico Bank; Agency alleges Libor rigging scandal hurt Doral Bank
By Lalita Clozel – WSJ
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Tuesday sued 16 banks connected to the Libor rigging scandal as part of its effort to recover funds related to Doral Bank, a Puerto Rican institution that collapsed in 2015.
/goo.gl/Yzz3aq

US ‘too big to fail’ regime set for Trump overhaul; Treasury plans ‘Chapter 14’ bankruptcy process to shield taxpayers from bank collapses
Barney Jopson in Washington – FT
The Trump administration is proposing to recast a central pillar of post-crisis financial regulation with a new “Chapter 14” bankruptcy process designed to eliminate the risk that taxpayers will have to pick up the cost of a bank failure.
/goo.gl/Uoke4p

Verena Ross, ESMA’s Executive Director, speaks at ECON scrutiny on Short-Selling Regulation
ESMA
The Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Verena Ross, appeared today at the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee’s (ECON) meeting in Brussels.
/goo.gl/KZ3ogF

Opening a Brokerage Account: Part 2
ERIKA KARELL – FINRA
More than half of Americans surveyed in a recent study said they rely on a broker or professional advisor to help them make investment decisions. If you are one of those people, you’ll want to make sure that broker or advisor is someone you trust—and someone who understands you and your goals. After all, it’s your money.
/goo.gl/so8vB7

Proposed Rule Change to Eliminate the Fee for an Explained Decision
FINRA
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) a proposed rule change to amend FINRA Rules 12214(e)(1) and 12904(g)(5) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes (“Customer Code”) and FINRA Rules 13214(e)(1) and 13904(g)(5) of the Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes (“Industry Code”) (together, “Codes”) to eliminate the $400 fee for an explained decision.
/goo.gl/RXALnP

SEC Votes to Modify Compliance Date for Open-End Fund Liquidity Classification
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today voted to extend by six months the deadline by which open-end funds must comply with certain elements of the Commission’s liquidity risk management program rule.
/goo.gl/rmH9R8

SEC Adopts Statement and Interpretive Guidance on Public Company Cybersecurity Disclosures
SEC
Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted unanimously to approve a statement and interpretive guidance to assist public companies in preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents.
/goo.gl/XYQdQ1

Statement on Cybersecurity Interpretive Guidance; SEC Chairman Jay Clayton
SEC
Yesterday, the Commission approved the issuance of an interpretive release to provide guidance to public companies when preparing disclosures about cybersecurity risks and incidents. The release also communicates the Commission’s views on the importance of maintaining comprehensive policies and procedures related to cybersecurity risks and incidents.
/goo.gl/fZ5V7U

Securities Commission Malaysia Charges Former MD Of Johor Land Bhd And Businessman For Insider Trading
MondoVisione
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today charged the former Managing Director of Johor Land Bhd (JLand) with insider trading under section 188(3)(a) of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA). A.F.M Shafiqul Hafiz, 71, was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with communicating material non-public information to one Dato’ Harjit Singh a/l Gurdev Singh between 22 March 2009 and 6 April 2009.
/goo.gl/wjGjRf

IOSCO Consults On Guidance To Address Conflicts Of Interest In The Equity Capital Raising Process
Mondovisione
The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today is proposing guidance to help its members address conflicts of interest and associated misconduct risks that may arise during the equity capital raising process.
/goo.gl/wojYUf

Investing and Trading

If You Thought Frontier Investing Was High Risk, Here’s Comfort
By Srinivasan Sivabalan – Bloomberg
The World Bank has a track record of frontier market investments, says VP Oteh.
Try not to gasp, but in these days of surging volatility, frontier-market stocks are outperforming their more developed peers.
/goo.gl/QT4PWu

A golden opportunity just opened up for cryptocurrency traders
Frank Chaparro – Business Insider
The price of bitcoin is trading at a big premium in South Korea relative to US markets, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The price of bitcoin is trading close to $11,800 a coin on Upbit and Bithumb, the two main South Korean exchanges. That’s more than 13% higher than the price on GDAX, the US exchange operated by cryptocurrency company Coinbase.
/goo.gl/AeDkaw

Inside Uncle Sam’s Secret Bitcoin Hoard
By JEFF JOHN ROBERTS – Fortune
When Alexandre Cazes hanged himself in a Thai jail cell in July, the 25-year-old left behind the trappings of a big-league drug dealer: villas, Lamborghinis, a Porsche, bank accounts in Liechtenstein and Switzerland. But Cazes, who authorities allege operated AlphaBay, the world’s largest black-market website for drugs and weapons, also left something else: Internet “wallets” holding millions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
/goo.gl/SxGVQT

Opinion: ‘Bond vigilantes’ should die a quiet death
By Caroline Baum – MarketWatch
Bad ideas never die. They just come back to haunt us, sometimes in an altered form, but more often than not in the same silly guise.
/goo.gl/4SDZAt

Institutions

A 2006 Boom Wouldn’t Fix Deutsche Bank or Barclays, Analyst Says
Donal Griffin and Stephen Morris – Bloomberg
Deutsche Bank AG and Barclays Plc, two of Europe’s biggest lenders, may have trouble meeting their targets even if they improve investment-banking revenue by 50 percent this year, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
/bloom.bg/2Fkg5uO

Goldman Sachs Raises $2.5 Billion to Buy Stakes in Private-Equity Firms; Group will follow the permanent capital approach of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway by not setting exit dates for investments
By Dawn Lim and Laura Kreutzer – WSJ
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised $2.5 billion to buy minority stakes in private-equity firms, betting on an industry that is commanding increasing influence as more businesses choose to stay private longer.
/goo.gl/yM1VJ4

Barclays swings to net loss of almost £2bn; UK bank hit by one-off charges as it tries to cheer investors with promises on dividend
Martin Arnold, Banking Editor – FT
Barclays has announced a full-year loss of almost £2bn, hit by one-off tax and disposal charges, as it tried to boost its underperforming share price by promising to restore its dividend back to levels before it was cut two years ago.
/goo.gl/osKUYG

Hedge Fund Manager Palomba Leaves Citadel After Losses
By Marton Eder, Nishant Kumar – Bloomberg
Palomba was one of a number of traders in a fixed income fund; Hungary interest-rate swaps rose most in about 3 years in Jan.
Hedge fund manager Uberto Palomba has left Citadel LLC after suffering losses on a Hungarian trade, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
/goo.gl/xsUPYJ

HSBC caps back-office bonuses for thousands despite profit bounce; Announcement follows decision to pay ex-chief Stuart Gulliver $8.5m
Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong – FT
HSBC is capping bonuses for thousands of operational staff globally to streamline remuneration, just as former chief executive Stuart Gulliver has received a bumper payout.
/goo.gl/QcidPK

Market divided on Bridgewater’s $22bn European ‘big short’; World’s largest hedge fund targets blue-chip companies and Italian banks
Miles Johnson – FT
There are few things that can set chins wagging among European market watchers like the world’s largest hedge fund unveiling a $22bn bet against the continent’s largest companies.
/goo.gl/tEG8ve

Maureen C. Downs Joins Phillip Capital Inc.
Phillip Capital Inc.
Phillip Capital Inc. (“PhillipCapital”), a self-clearing futures commission merchant (FCM) and broker dealer firm, announces Maureen C. Downs, Vice-Chairman of the National Futures Association, has been appointed as an Advisor, where she will provide strategic guidance to the executive management team.
/goo.gl/hKbpbj

Fidelity backtracks on passing external research costs to clients; Bermuda-based asset manager faced pressure to foot the bill itself for broker notes
Attracta Mooney, Investment correspondent – FT
Fidelity International, a leading global asset manager chaired by Abigail Johnson, has backtracked on its decision to pass on the cost of investment research to clients after coming under pressure to pay for broker notes from its own pocket.
/goo.gl/SCm2f4

Hong Kong-based cyrptocurrency broker taps ‘block trade’ demand from institutional investors
by Georgina Lee – South China Morning Post
Cryptocurrency brokers have started offering off-exchange trading venues for large-sized orders of digital currencies in ways similar to “dark pools” offered by their equities broking counterparts, as the new asset class increasingly attracts institutional investors. Octagon Strategy, the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency broker, said in recent months it has seen a surge in institutional investors’ demand for trading digital tokens ranging from US$1-2 million per order.
/goo.gl/Mppb9R

Regions

Brazil Seen as More Corrupt Than Argentina in Global Ranking
By David Biller, Charlie Devereux – Bloomberg
Brazil sinks 17 positions in Transparency International index; Venezuela and Mexico seen as most corrupt key LatAm countries
Brazil is now seen as more corrupt than Argentina for the first time in over two decades after suffering last year one of the biggest plunges among the nations tracked by a global transparency ranking.
/goo.gl/xbCvtw

Hungry Venezuelan Workers Are Collapsing. So Is the Oil Industry; Starving employees are growing too weak for heavy labor, hobbling the refineries that keep the economy running.
By Fabiola Zerpa – Bloomberg
At 6:40 a.m., Pablo Ruiz squats at the gate of a decaying refinery in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, steeling himself for eight Sisyphean hours of brushing anti-rust paint onto pipes under a burning sun. For breakfast, the 55-year-old drank corn-flour water.
/goo.gl/1z3kmg

Brexit

Bank of America Commits to London Even as Brexit Draws Closer
Jack Sidders – Bloomberg
Bank of America Corp. is the latest overseas bank to commit its long-term future to the U.K. even as the country prepares for Brexit.
/bloom.bg/2FlYF0A

Brexit anxieties grow over London’s market infrastructure; Concern centres on hard EU divorce or a deal agreed only in principle
Philip Stafford in London – FT
As Theresa May tries to navigate the political minefield of Brexit, the future of the key financial market infrastructure located in London is becoming increasingly urgent.
/goo.gl/wLgw8N

Bank Brexodus Gets Closer as Deutsche Bank Relocates Booking
By Steve Arons, Gavin Finch, Alexander Weber – Bloomberg
Lender says it started to ‘engage with clients’ about move; Plans to complete shift this year if no transition is agreed
The banking Brexodus is coming a step closer. Deutsche Bank AG on Wednesday became the first large bank to publicly announce the beginning of a wholesale relocation of client business out of the U.K. in response to Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. The Frankfurt-based lender said it plans to complete the shift this year unless negotiators in Brussels agree on a transition period that will give banks more time.
/goo.gl/oaNzXD

The post Amazon is taking over the stock market, too; U.K. starts cryptocurrency inquiry; France clamps down on crypto appeared first on John Lothian News (JLN).

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