First Read
Hits & Takes
JLN Staff
Exchange clearing specialist and economist Thom Thompson has joined John Lothian News part-time as a contributing editor for the CryptoMarketsWiki.com project.
Thomson has worked with the Chicago Board of Trade, BOTCC, Deutsche Boerse, Eurex, Eurex Clearing and the Swiss Exchange in a career that began at the CFTC as an industry economist.
More recently, Thomson has worked with exchange startups Seed CX and Bcause. He can be contacted at thomthompson@johnlothian.com.~JJL
If you wish to vote for whatever horse you have in the Intelligent Trading Technology Awards race, go here. ~SD
Hanweck has been shortlisted in two categories for the ITT Awards: Best Trading Analytics Platform and Best Cloud-Based Data Solution. Hint: You can vote for them here.~JJL
HKEX has published a video with the title “HKEX Begins New Era.” I like Charles Li’s line, “Great times require us to have great dreams.” I couldn’t agree more.~JJL
Speaking of HKEX, turnover of Heng Seng Index futures hit a record today, 265,385 contracts today versus 353,193 on January 26, 2018.~JJL
Also, HKEX held its 2018 Annual General Meeting today at HKEX Connect Hall. Chairman C K Chow presided over the meeting and retired after the conclusion of the AGM.~JJL
OCC was named Best Clearing House by Markets Media.~JJL
Seems we have the world’s first octodecillionaire thanks to cryptocurrency. Due to an exploit in a Smartmesh contract someone transferred 65,133,050,195,990,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Smartmesh tokens to his/her account. Supposedly that is worth $5,684,903,807,376,320,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. The Fed had better turn on the money printing presses.~JB
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Bloomberg is the latest news company planning to make its readers pay
Mike Shields – Business Insider
Bloomberg is planning to start charging readers to access stories on Bloomberg.com, potentially starting next month, according to people familiar with the matter.
/read.bi/2KaGUDC
***** We don’t make you pay, but we ask you to pay. BTW, have you paid for your 2018 JLN subscription?~JJL
****Funny – this Business Insider story is paywalled. Business Insider only recently added Business Insider Prime. ~SD
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Addressing the Financing Needs of Midsize Banks – Richard Sandor, AFX
JohnLothianNews.com
Started at the end of 2015 to address the interbank funding needs of small and midsize banks, the American Financial Exchange (AFX) just welcomed its 80th member, bringing its clients’ assets to more than $1 trillion.
In this video from JLN’s annual series with industry leaders, AFX CEO and Chairman Richard “Doc” Sandor talks about American economic recovery as it relates to bank funding needs, seeking more nonbank lenders and potential derivatives that could be launched on AFX’s products once the exchange hits $1 billion in daily transactions, which Sandor considers critical mass.
Watch the video and read the rest here »
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An In-Depth Look at the Economics of Bitcoin
Bluford Putnam and Erik Norland – CME Group
What is most striking about the economics of bitcoin is the juxtaposition of the certainty of supply and the uncertainty of demand. The rate at which bitcoin is mined has been highly predictable and, unlike almost any other asset, currency or commodity, its ultimate supply is a known quantity, fixed in advance. There will never be more than 21 million coins. This feature makes bitcoin supply almost perfectly inelastic.
bit.ly/2K9wtQK
****SD: For a very different perspective, see the lead story from former Paypal CEO Bill Harris. He’s goes full Dimon in that piece – bitcoin is a “scam.”
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Forget bulls and bears — investors are either foxes or hedgehogs; Do investors have the right animal instincts?
Maike Currie – FT
With bulls and bears, hares and tortoises, ostriches and bouncing dead cats, the investment world is riddled with animal references.
/jlne.ws/2HNWR48
***** I am a bullfrog.~JJL
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Tuesday’s Top Three
Yesterday’s top stories were led by the FT’s piece The 30 minutes that have an outsized role in US stock trading. Second went to the Wall Street Journal’s It’s a Scary Time to Be Trading Wall Street’s Fear Index. Third went to Eric Patnoudes’ piece on his days as a trader and now in education technology in Trading Places in Education: My New Role in Edtech
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MarketsWiki Stats
124,280,107 pages viewed; 23,084 pages; 212,862 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
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Lead Stories
Bitcoin is the greatest scam in history; It’s a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen.
Bill Harris, former CEO Intuit, founding CEO of PayPal and Personal Capital – Recode
I’m tired of saying, “Be careful, it’s speculative.” Then, “Be careful, it’s gambling.” Then, “Be careful, it’s a bubble.” Okay, I’ll say it: Bitcoin is a scam.
/jlne.ws/2qXl5zw
***** I could have written this article a couple of years ago. Actually, I think I mostly did. It is particularly interesting coming from the former CEO of Paypal, someone who knows the alternative payment space well. His criticisms are direct and devastating, but one man’s opinion. I still believe Bitcoin is an alternative currency default swap, and thus has value. Its value is derived from its marginal utility as a means to move currency that does not play well with the regulated banking system. That could be legitimate or illegal. Whether it is legal or not depends on the jurisdiction. Whether it is used for moral purposes depends on the case. Money laundering could be illegal in one country, but not necessarily immoral. People have a legitimate need to protect their wealth during times when their home currency is under duress, even if the laws confine one’s choices.~JJL
The Winklevoss twins’ bitcoin exchange is using Nasdaq technology to monitor for manipulation
John Detrixhe – Quartz
Gemini, the digital asset exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is using Nasdaq technology to monitor for trading manipulation. The partnership comes as regulators are more closely scrutinizing crypto transactions, and may also mark the first time a digital-asset market has deployed a well-established surveillance system to root out misbehavior.
/jlne.ws/2qYJCEj
CFTC Asks Innovators for Competition Ideas to Advance FinTech Solutions; LabCFTC looking to “crowdsource” ideas for using the Science Prize Competition Act
CFTC
LabCFTC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) FinTech initiative, announced today that it is requesting public input to gather ideas and topics for innovation competitions to advance the agency’s FinTech goals. All comments must be received within 90 days of publication of the request in the Federal Register.
/jlne.ws/2HTZLSB
CFTC: deliberate defaults may be ‘market manipulation’; Regulator statement on CDS agreements follows legal clash over Hovnanian deal
Kadhim Shubber in Washington and Joe Rennison in New York – FT
A leading US derivatives regulator has criticised the use of intentional defaults designed to trigger payouts on a company’s credit default swaps, warning that they could “constitute market manipulation”.
/jlne.ws/2HKC2qB
A loud noise knocked out computers that run stock exchanges across northern Europe
John Detrixhe – Quartz
It seems like computers can do just about anything these days. They write news articles, (almost) drive cars, and trade stocks faster than a human ever could. But our future machine overlords also have weaknesses that makes them seem, in a way, almost human. For one thing, it turns out they don’t like loud noises.
/jlne.ws/2qWvWtz
CME and Nex to pay advisers £110m for negotiating £3.9bn takeover
Philip Stafford – FT
Chicago’s CME Group and Nex Group will pay their advisers nearly £110m for their efforts in negotiating the US exchange’s £3.9bn planned purchase of its UK trading and technology rival.
/jlne.ws/2qV5Irg
Matrix Executions Announces the Creation of a High Touch Trading Desk for Options
PRNewswire
Matrix Executions, LLC, a newly formed agency only broker-dealer, has added high touch capabilities to its already robust offering of solutions for exchanges as well as institutional and retail trading professionals.
/prn.to/2K7aGsR
Winklevoss Twins Hire Nasdaq to Keep Cheaters Off Crypto Market
Matthew Leising, Nick Baker – Bloomberg
Their Gemini exchange to use Nasdaq’s market surveillance unit; Investors have wondered who’s watching out for crypto fraud. The Winklevoss twins brought in the pros to keep cheaters off their cryptocurrency exchange.
/jlne.ws/2HQ057t
Aon chief warns that insurance industry is losing its relevance; Greg Case says lack of innovation has led to failure to keep pace with client demands
Oliver Ralph, Insurance Correspondent – FT
The insurance industry is losing its relevance by failing to address its clients’ changing needs, according to chief executive of insurance broker Aon.
/jlne.ws/2HTlxZ4
Why Schwab’s CEO Bets You Won’t Be Trading Stocks on Amazon
Erik Schatzker – Bloomberg
‘It’s a wide moat and a big decision to make,’ Bettinger says; Brokerage chief discusses competitive climate in BTV interview
Walt Bettinger, the chief executive officer at Charles Schwab Corp., has some friendly advice for Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos: Think twice before getting into the investment business.
/jlne.ws/2HOsquN
City fund manager attacks ‘amateur’ accounting watchdog; Alan Miller accuses FRC of deep-seated conflicts of interest and says it is not fit for purpose
Madison Marriage – FT
A prominent City fund manager has launched a scathing attack on the UK accounting watchdog over its handling of a complaint accusing the regulator of deep-seated conflicts of interest and an “amateur” approach to investigations.
/jlne.ws/2HQckRi
UK finance chiefs call for regulatory crackdown on tech giants; Oversight of platforms should be brought into line with that of banks
Patrick Jenkins, Financial Editor – FT
Some of Britain’s top financiers have called for a regulatory crackdown on Facebook and other technology groups to bring them into line with the kind of rules that banks must follow.
/jlne.ws/2HO4Lul
Exchanges, OTC and Clearing
TMX Group to Observe Moment of Silence Across All Markets This Morning
TMX
TMX Group offers sincere condolences to the families and friends of those affected by the tragic events in Toronto yesterday. We will be observing a minute of silence to honour the victims at 10:00 a.m. EDT across all of our markets. TMX Group support desks will not be accepting calls during this time.
/jlne.ws/2r2O7On
Saudi Arabia Is Delaying Stock Exchange IPO on Higher Valuation Hopes
Matthew Martin, Archana Narayanan and Glen Carey – Bloomberg
Saudi Arabia is delaying the initial public offering of its stock exchange on hopes that a potential MSCI Inc. upgrade could boost its value, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
/bloom.bg/2KcsEKw
Oxatis lists on Euronext Growth
Euronext
Euronext today announced the listing of the e-commerce solutions provider Oxatis on Euronext Growth Paris. Oxatis is the fourth listed company to have participated in Euronext’s TechShare programme, which familiarises growing businesses with capital markets.
/jlne.ws/2I0j7FW
Venues downplay pre-matched activity on periodic auctions; Industry leaders debated the rise of periodic auctions on a keynote discussion panel at TradeTech in Paris this week.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Pre-matched activity on increasingly popular periodic auction venues has been over stated, according to leading industry participants speaking at TradeTech 2018.
/jlne.ws/2HItDE7
Cboe Periodic Auction smashes EUR1 billion daily barrier; Cboe European Periodic Auction book exceeds EUR1 billion daily notional volume traded for the first time.
John Brazier – The Trade
Exchange operator Cboe’s European Periodic Auction book has set a new one-day record of EUR1.08 billion notional value traded.
/jlne.ws/2qVnHhg
Poll Results of 2018 Annual General Meeting
HKEX
/jlne.ws/2HNSdTS
ICE Benchmark Administration Publishes Report Outlining Evolution of ICE LIBOR and Transition to the Waterfall Methodology
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, today announced that ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA) has published a report outlining the evolution of ICE LIBOR.
/jlne.ws/2HLwprZ
Nasdaq Reports First Quarter 2018 Results; Delivers Strong Growth in Revenues and Income
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2018.
/jlne.ws/2HNpDlM
Fintech
TORA Launches AI-Powered AlgoWheel To Help Firms Adopt Systematic Best Execution Processes
Globe Newswire
TORA, provider of the industry’s most-advanced cloud-based order and execution management system (OEMS), today announced the launch of its AI-powered AlgoWheel, which will help firms create scalable, systematic best execution processes.
/goo.gl/WFfkBN
Equinix to Support Direct Connectivity to New Google Cloud Partner Interconnect Service
Benzinga
Equinix announced support for Google Cloud Partner Interconnect, a new service from Google Cloud that allows customers to connect to Google Cloud Platform from anywhere through its partners. Equinix also announced its expansion of private connectivity to Google’s Dedicated Interconnect cloud service to the Stockholm, Sydney and Munich metros, bringing the total number of markets where Google has deployed its Dedicated Interconnect service in Equinix data centers to 20, globally.
bit.ly/2HosORx
Born Technology tackles overlooked Mifid II real-time algo surveillance rules
FOW
/jlne.ws/2qW5wb7
Clients Of triReduce Take Advantage Of Trade Revision To Significantly Improve Their Compression Results
Mondovisione
NEX TriOptima, the award-winning infrastructure service provider for OTC derivatives, announces today that four major clients of the triReduce service have taken advantage of its new Trade Revision functionality in recent LCH SwapClear compression cycles. Several more banks are testing and are expected to adopt Trade Revision soon.
/jlne.ws/2Fd9Wio
Use of facial recognition systems on the rise among financial firms in Japan
Mainichi Japan
Financial institutions across Japan are continuing to bring in facial recognition systems, which can confirm a person’s identity simply by reading facial characteristics with a smartphone camera and other devices.
/jlne.ws/2qYL8Gv
HPR Extends High-Performance Capital Markets Infrastructure Platform into Europe T
Globe Newswire
Hyannis Port Research (HPR), provider of advanced capital markets infrastructure (CMI) technologies, today announced that a leading global investment bank has gone live on the HPR platform in Europe. With the launch, the bank is now using HPR’s Riskbot in EMEA, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, enabling it to provide its trading clients with sub-microsecond DMA (direct market access) to Cboe Europe, Euronext, LSE, Turquoise and Xetra.
/goo.gl/QiA4xL
Google overhauls Gmail to lure businesses away from Microsoft
Paresh Dave – Reuters
Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google unveiled on Wednesday its first Gmail redesign since 2013, capping what the company says was an expensive overhaul two years in the making to adopt security and offline functionality and better resemble Microsoft Outlook.
/jlne.ws/2qWjABy
Cryptocurrencies
Gemini to Launch Market Surveillance Technology in Collaboration with Nasdaq
GlobeNewswire
Nasdaq is providing SMARTS Market Surveillance technology to monitor cryptocurrency market
Gemini Trust Company, LLC (Gemini) and Nasdaq Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today that Gemini will be leveraging Nasdaq’s SMARTS Market Surveillance technology to monitor its marketplace. The technology, which is considered the most widely deployed surveillance system in the world, will enable Gemini to monitor across all of its trading pairs, including: BTC/USD, ETH/USD and BTC/ETH. Further, SMARTS will also surveil activity across the Gemini auction process that is used to determine the settlement price for the Bitcoin XBT futures contracts that trade on Cboe’s CFE Exchange.
/jlne.ws/2qRZQ23
Report: Iran officially bans use of cryptocurrencies
Associated Press
Iran’s Central Bank has officially banned the use of cryptocurrencies in financial transactions in order to prevent money laundering and terrorism, a newspaper reported Monday.
The move is seen as part of Tehran’s efforts to control the currency market after the rial hit an all-time low earlier this month.
bit.ly/2JnMdhI
Cboe Exchange Wants to Lower Its Bitcoin Futures Prices
Nikhilesh De – Coindesk
The Cboe wants to change the way it prices bitcoin futures contracts, a move that comes just months after the exchange operator first debuted its inaugural cryptocurrency product.
/jlne.ws/2HNQZrC
MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency from the creator of Signal, just raised $30M for mobile payments
Taylor Hatmaker – TechCrunch
A new privacy-centric cryptocurrency project with some big names on board just raised a round worth noting. On Tuesday, the team at MobileCoin announced that Binance Labs, the major blockchain incubator associated with the Binance exchange, led a $30 million round denominated in bitcoin and ether for the new cryptocurrency. MobileCoin will enjoy “priority consideration” for being listed on Binance as part of the relationship.
/jlne.ws/2qXmFRY
‘OK, I’ll say it: bitcoin is a scam,’ says the former CEO of PayPal and Intuit
Shawn Langlois – MarketWatch
Bitcoin has enjoyed a nice stretch lately, breaking through the $9,000 level on Tuesday and leading a broad advance in the crypto space, which has seen a $100-billion surge in market cap to $425 billion over the past week. So, Bill Harris, are you warming up to bitcoin as an investment?
/jlne.ws/2HMRPoQ
Founding PayPal CEO Bill Harris Says Bitcoin Is A Scam, Here’s Why He’s Wrong
Kyle Torpey – Forbes
In a recent post for Recode, founding PayPal CEO and former Intuit CEO Bill Harris made the case that Bitcoin is a “colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen.”
/jlne.ws/2qVwVtU
Why Some Cryptocurrencies Are Only for the Wealthy
Olga Kharif – Bloomberg
Initial coin offerings, which have become the ground floor for investing in cryptocurrencies that hope to soar like Bitcoin, raised almost $6 billion last year. In most cases, the issuer had no product — only a white paper jam-packed with business ideas — and said its coins (or tokens) weren’t securities because they’d be used in running whatever venture it was. Regulators didn’t buy that. Some crypto startups are now pitching their digital coins in a different way, by calling them security tokens, ones that can take advantage of exemptions in securities laws.
/jlne.ws/2qYdxfK
Crypto Billionaire Sued by Sequoia After Deal Falls Apart
Benjamin Robertson – Bloomberg
Binance founder Zhao Changpeng sued in Hong Kong court; Dispute sheds light on how VC firms have valued the exchange
A legal dispute between Zhao Changpeng, founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and a unit of Sequoia Capital is offering a rare glimpse into one of the digital-asset industry’s fastest-growing startups.
/jlne.ws/2qUDrBk
Winklevoss twins hire Nasdaq to monitor crypto market
Nicole Bullock in New York- FT
The Winklevoss twins have hired Nasdaq to monitor its cryptocurrency exchange for bad actors in the US-based exchange operator’s first such surveillance deal in the space.
/jlne.ws/2qVWhro
Politics
Mick Mulvaney Tells Bankers to Pay Up If They Want Favors From Trump
Jonathan Chait – New York Magazine
Donald Trump ran for the presidency as an economic populist who promised to implement stringent new reforms to limit the power of money in government. Not only has he ignored these promises, he’s likewise failed to observe even the old norms, which called for some pretense of good government. For instance, people in government might have always given their donors more influence over their decisions, but they at least pretended that was not the case in public. The Trump administration is not even bothering to put up a façade.
/jlne.ws/2HMSpD2
Mulvaney, Watchdog Bureau’s Leader, Advises Bankers on Ways to Curtail Agency
Glenn Thrush – NY Times
Mick Mulvaney, the interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives on Tuesday that they should press lawmakers hard to pursue their agenda, and revealed that, as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign.
/jlne.ws/2HRBL5j
Senators push banks for information on Russian ‘oligarchs’
Patricia Zengerle – Reuters
U.S. senators are pressing many of the world’s largest financial institutions to disclose any links between their companies and wealthy Russians allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a letter released on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/2qVlWkc
Trump’s H-1B curbs are putting off foreign students and choking the US economy
Ananya Bhattacharya- Quartz
The Donald Trump administration’s hard stance on immigration is beginning to take a toll on the US economy.
/jlne.ws/2HNP1aU
The Rusal Case Is a Failure of U.S. Sanctions; There are ways to hit Putin’s shadowy cronies without hurting top Russian firms.
Leonid Bershidsky – Bloomberg
The softening of U.S. sanctions against Russian aluminum producer Rusal sends at least two important signals to investors and to official Moscow. One is that the Trump administration has little understanding of the impact of its moves before it makes them. The other is that it doesn’t want to impose sanctions that will do a lot of collateral damage outside Russia.
/jlne.ws/2HLEMUB
Washington Wants to Weaken Bank Rules. Not Every Regulator Agrees.
Peter Eavis – NY Times
Bank regulators are on the cusp of weakening a rule put in place to prevent the nation’s biggest banks from causing another financial crisis, marking the first significant attempt by policymakers to fulfill President Trump’s promised regulatory rollback.
/jlne.ws/2qVlkuS
Regulation
SEC Upshifts on Market Structure
Rob Daly – MarketsMedia
After a long period of regulatory status quo, Wall Street should brace for a quicker tempo from the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the rest of the year.
During a recent market structure symposium hosted by the Security Traders Association and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Chairman Jay Clayton noted that the SEC would vote on the final rule of the 2015 proposal to enhance automated trading system disclosures as well as the 2016 proposal on broker order-routing disclosures in the coming months, according to James Toes, CEO of the STA, during an open call hosted by the STA Foundation.
bit.ly/2Hoiuss
ISDA Publishes Future of Derivatives Survey at 33rd ISDA Annual General Meeting
ISDA
Derivatives industry participants are optimistic about the future of derivatives markets, but have flagged a number of important changes that will have an impact on the future of the business, according to a new survey published by ISDA to coincide with the start of the 33rd ISDA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Miami.
/jlne.ws/2qWormg
Altaba, Formerly Known as Yahoo!, Charged With Failing to Disclose Massive Cybersecurity Breach; Agrees To Pay $35 Million
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the entity formerly known as Yahoo! Inc. has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty to settle charges that it misled investors by failing to disclose one of the world’s largest data breaches in which hackers stole personal data relating to hundreds of millions of user accounts.
/jlne.ws/2HOvpU8
Statement on Manufactured Credit Events by CFTC Divisions of Clearing and Risk, Market Oversight, and Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Divisions of Clearing and Risk, Market Oversight, and Swap Dealer and Intermediary Oversight today issued the following statement regarding manufactured credit events in connection with credit default swaps (CDS):
/jlne.ws/2HYk0hY
Wells Fargo fined $1 billion for ‘unfair’ insurance practices — how to avoid being oversold
Maria Lamagna – MarketWAtch
Some car owners have been paying much more than they need to — sometimes leading to losing their vehicles entirely.
/jlne.ws/2qYeaWE
A Decade on, Madoff Geneva Case Gets Partial Reboot With Ruling
Hugo Miller – Bloomberg
Swiss feeder fund at heart of case belonged to Banco Santander; Acquittal of fund manager for criminal mismanagement upheld
Nearly a decade after Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for orchestrating a $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme, Switzerland’s top court revived prospects for a criminal complaint against the manager at one of Madoff’s Geneva-based feeder funds.
/jlne.ws/2qWknlY
SIs say future is bright under MiFID II regime; TradeTech keynote panel discussion suggests the buy-side is becoming more comfortable interacting with systematic internalisers.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Leading European systematic internaliser (SI) operators are optimistic on the future under the MiFID II regime despite signs of initial caution from the buy-side.
/jlne.ws/2HLtGyL
FINRA Requests Comment on the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Its Rule on the Annual Compliance Meeting
FINRA
FINRA is conducting a retrospective review of Rule 3110 (Supervision), governing annual compliance meetings to assess its effectiveness and efficiency. This Notice outlines the general retrospective rule review process and seeks responses to several questions related to firms’ experiences with this specific rule.
/jlne.ws/2qWPkXo
FINRA Progress Report on FINRA360 Highlights Significant Changes; One-year Report Lays out Changes through the Organizational Review
FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) today released a comprehensive progress report summarizing the significant operational and regulatory changes FINRA has made in the first year of its ongoing FINRA360 organizational review.
/jlne.ws/2qZ4A5Z
CFTC Charges New York Resident Kevin Scott Antonovich with Commodity Pool Fraud
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the filing of a civil enforcement action on April 23, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Defendant Kevin Scott Antonovich of Woodside, New York, with misappropriation of customer funds and fraudulent solicitation in connection with investments in a commodity pool. The CFTC Complaint also charges Antonovich with registration violations.
/jlne.ws/2HIxYan
FCA response to the Independent Review of the Funding of Debt Advice by Peter Wyman
UK FCA
Peter Wyman’s report (link is external) into the funding and delivery of debt advice in the UK is an important step which will make a real difference to policy and practice in this vital area. Good quality advice, delivered in a cost effective way, is crucial in helping avoid harm to consumers struggling with debt, many of whom can be vulnerable. We are working through the detail of the recommendations that affect the FCA directly, and look forward to working closely with the Money Advice Service and other stakeholders as we think about how we might act on the report’s findings.
/jlne.ws/2HQbjsu
Investing and Trading
U.S. Investors Just Gave Up on the Bull Market
Luke Kawa – Bloomberg
More respondents see stocks lower in 12 months than higher; S&P 500 stuck in range since February rout on host of concerns
Call it the running of the bears. With equities almost three months removed from the last record, Americans have grown less optimistic that the market will bounce back. For the first time since Donald Trump’s shock election in November 2016, a majority of consumers expect stocks to be lower 12 months from now, according to the latest sentiment reading from the Conference Board.
/jlne.ws/2qXIMaR
Analysis: China crude futures’ discount shuts Dubai-Shanghai arbitrage
Gawoon Philip Vahn – Platts News Article & Story
The bullish tone in China’s new crude oil futures contracts during late March has quickly faded this month, essentially shutting the arbitrage window for traders who were hoping to take advantage of higher prices quoted in the Shanghai exchange compared to other Middle Eastern benchmarks.
bit.ly/2Hp0ZbL
Grumpy Investors Can’t Find Anything to Look Forward To
Matt Phillips – NY Times
The stock market is forward-looking. That’s a problem when there’s not much to look forward to.
/nyti.ms/2K9RB9s
Olam Sees Cocoa Deficit Likely Next Season as Demand Grows
Isis Almeida – Bloomberg
Rising consumption will probably flip the global cocoa market into a shortage next season, according to Olam International Ltd., the world’s third-biggest processor.
/bloom.bg/2FdIBN4
A $3 Trillion Credit Market Has Corporate Bond Investors on Edge
Adam Tempkin, Brian W. Smith – Bloomberg
Notes rated BBB look increasingly vulnerable to some analysts; Strategists ‘trying to figure out when everything turns’
A huge swath of the corporate bond market is looking increasingly vulnerable.
/jlne.ws/2HLdTzZ
Institutions
Want To Replace Your Hedge Fund Allocation? Here’s One Option
Julie Segal – Institutional Investor
Under pressure to explore new ways to hedge their risks while cutting fee expenses, institutions are taking a fresh look at listed options — in some cases, at the expense of hedge funds.
/jlne.ws/2qWzoV3
The $5tn ETF market balances precariously on outdated rules; Let us create regulations that put all these investment products under one umbrella
Henry Hu – FT
In 25 years, the exchange-traded fund has become one of the most popular financial innovations of the modern era. In 2016, seven of the 10 most actively traded US securities were ETFs. But the sector is a regulatory backwater.
/jlne.ws/2qWyqrT
Lloyds Bank profits jump by 23% to £1.6bn
BBC
Lloyds Banking Group has said it has made a “strong start” to 2018, with profits for the first three months of the year jumping by nearly a quarter.
/jlne.ws/2HNPh9S
Credit Suisse Reaps Wealth Management Rewards as Assets Soar
Jan-Henrik Foerster – Bloomberg
Credit Suisse added net new assets at 7.5% rate in quarter; Bank remains confident in growth of wealth, investment bank
Tidjane Thiam is reaping the rewards of Credit Suisse Group AG’s pivot to wealth management after the bank attracted new assets at the fastest pace in seven years.
/jlne.ws/2HNa0L8
Credit Suisse Lands a Heavy Blow On a Swiss Hedge Fund; But the mission to overhaul bank isn’t over yet.
Lionel Laurent – Bloomberg
Credit Suisse AG’s first-quarter results have given CEO Tidjane Thiam ammunition against activists calling for more radical surgery. Despite a fairly weak quarter for the investment bank, the CEO’s focus on wealth management while cutting costs and dumping unwanted assets is paying off. The shares rose 4 percent in response. Profitability is still below target, though. This isn’t the finish line.
/jlne.ws/2qW2uDJ
Credit Suisse Sues to Recoup Part of $4.8 Billion Bank Bonus Tax
Jonathan Browning – Bloomberg
Swiss bank says impact of 2010 levy was ‘arbitrary’ in nature; U.K. Labour government-era tax generated $4.75 billion
Credit Suisse Group AG is seeking to reclaim hundreds of millions in taxes from a controversial U.K. bonus levy that hit banker compensation in 2010.
/jlne.ws/2qWimpU
Regions
How to Run Hedge Funds in a Communist Country; Rewards and pitfalls greet foreign money managers in China.
Shuli Ren – Bloomberg
As global managers from UBS Group AG to BlackRock Inc. get into China’s $2 trillion investment industry, they’ll need strong stomachs to run hedge funds in a Communist country.
/jlne.ws/2HNNzoM
China’s soybean imports from US plunged 27 per cent in March
Yuan Talks
China’s soybean imports from the US dropped by 27 per cent year-on-year to 3.1 million tons in March, while its imports from Brazil surged by 30 per cent in the same period compared to a year earlier to 2.33 million tons, shows data released by China’s state customs on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/2qXjrxQ
Russia’s Wheat Crop Under Threat From Miserable Start to Spring
By Anatoly Medetsky – Bloomberg
Cold delayed winter-crop growth resumption, spring plantings; Analysts see next season’s output falling by at least 9%
Russia’s poor start to spring means farmers may struggle to collect a wheat crop that’s near to last year’s record.
/goo.gl/Fpf3Ra
A $7 Trillion Debt Pile Looms Large Over Chinese Households
Bloomberg News
Household borrowing has risen sharply over the past decade; Analysts see mortgage repayments hurting shift to consumption
The next front in China’s crackdown on debt is the one closest to home.
/jlne.ws/2HK3XH9
Brexit
David Davis admits UK could push back Brexit day – but says customs union extension would be “failure”
Catherine Neilan – City AM
David Davis has admitted the UK could push back the moment it leaves the EU – but said he would regard any need to extend the customs union membership as “a failure”.
/jlne.ws/2HRGbJr
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