First Read
Hits & Takes
JLN Staff
Clifford C. Histed, a partner of the law firm of K&L Gates, had two articles published by Law 360 on the recent spoofing case. Part 1 and Part 2 of Breaking Down The 2nd Criminal Spoofing Trial are available here.~JJL
The J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities (JPMCC) Summer 2018 issue of the Global Commodities Applied Research Digest (GCARD) is out. ~JJL
The video of two panels from the 2018 IDX has been posted to their website. The panels were Crypto A-Go-Go and Brexit – the Right Model for Financial Markets. ~JJL
The evolving carbon markets received a blow when Ontario’s new premier-designate Doug Ford closed the province’s cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions, and thus withdrew from the Western Climate Initiative. It’s similar to New Jersey governor Chris Christie withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. But now Christie’s successor Phil Murphy is looking to rejoin RGGI. Such is the North American carbon market.~JK
HKEX’s Hong Kong markets will be closed on Monday for Dragon Boat Festival, and will re-open as usual Tuesday morning.~JJL
Andrew Ackerman of the WSJ is headed for five months of paid paternity leave.~JJL
Don’t forget to sign your interns up for MarketsWiki Education World of Opportunity in New York on July 9 and 11 and Chicago on July 30, 31 and August 2.~JJL
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FIA IDX 2018 – Born Tech’s Haworth on MiFID II’s Real-Time Problems
JohnLothianNews.com
MiFID II may have been implemented in January, but that does not mean that everyone in markets was adequately prepared. Certain aspects of the regulation, such as unbundling, were widely understood, but MiFID’s RTS 6 obligation might have some participants still adjusting. RTS 6 requires that firms engaging in direct electronic access (DEA) or algorithmic trading monitor their activities and markets in real-time for “disorderly trading.” In this video, Born Technology’s CEO Derek Haworth talks about some of these challenges stemming from MiFID II.
Watch the video and read the rest here »
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Bridging the Week – Ether; Bitcoin; Utility Tokens; Beanie Babies; Block Trades; Position Limits Violations
Gary DeWaal – Bridging The Week
Last week, a senior official of the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Bitcoin and Ether are not securities and that there might be circumstances when a utility token is also not a security. The same official and the Canadian Securities Administrators each provided lists of specific considerations to help evaluate the nature of a digital token. Separately, CME Group brought a host of disciplinary actions, including one against a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-registered introducing broker for its handling of block trades, and it also modified a summary access denial order issued a few weeks ago against a foreign broker.
/goo.gl/FqyKzn
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Singapore Exchange to continue SGX Nifty trade despite India dispute
Abhirup Roy, Devidutta Tripathy – Reuters
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) (SGXL.SI) said on Saturday a court-appointed arbitrator had told it to continue listing and trading SGX Nifty contracts beyond August 2018, during a dispute resolution with India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE).
/jlne.ws/2HYirzd
***** Nifty move.~JJL
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Friday’s Top Three
Who got busted? Turns out, it was Fuji Futures, Weihao Huang and Shingo Yamamoto. All three were named by the CME for infractions, and they made up the most read items of the day on Friday.
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MarketsWiki Stats
128,121,243 pages viewed; 23,163 pages; 213,485 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics
Lead Stories
Bitcoin Could Break the Internet, Central Bank Overseer Says
Edward Robinson – Bloomberg
Swiss-based BIS says cryptocurrencies have design flaws; Blockchain can’t handle or replace current payment system load
The Bank for International Settlements just told the cryptocurrency world it’s not ready for prime time — and as far as mainstream financial services go, may never be.
/jlne.ws/2K3mGhV
Why even bigger volatility ‘accidents’ are yet to come; February’s market shock was just the canary in the coal mine
John Plender – FT
“There are few things more insidious in markets than the illusion of permanent calm,” said Claudio Borio, head of the monetary and economic department of the Bank for International Settlements.
/jlne.ws/2JXRsbT
Asset managers engage in ESG ‘war for talent’; Few candidates have financial nous and awareness of responsible investing issues
Jennifer Thompson – FT
Competition for employees familiar with environmental, social and governance issues is increasing as asset managers scramble to gain reputations as responsible investors.
/jlne.ws/2HYbu0Y
Citi agrees to $100 million USD Libor manipulation settlement; Citibank allegedly made millions in “unjust gains” from governmental and not-for-profit counterparties by manipulating the USD Libor benchmark.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
Citibank will pay $100 million in the US for allegations of fraudulent manipulation of the US Dollar (USD) Libor benchmark.
/jlne.ws/2K0vNjh
Wall St banks sign up to new platform to underpin bond revenues; Top debt underwriters aim to improve pricing technology and maintain market influence
Eric Platt – FT
Goldman Sachs and three other banks have signed on to a new bond platform under development by Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan, as Wall Street clubs together to maintain its influence on the lucrative market for debt issuance.
/jlne.ws/2K0l2O0
Cryptocurrency Manipulation Study Is Underwhelming
Aaron Brown – Bloomberg View
Anyone seriously interested in this new market should read the paper, not as an authoritative last word, but as a plausible account backed by some data.
/goo.gl/4W3myv
INTL FCStone Acquires Luxembourg-Based Interdealer Broker as a Brexit Hedge
Finance Magnates
INTL FCStone has announced the acquisition of Luxembourg-based interdealer brokerage company Carl Kliem. The deal is subject to an official approval on the part of the local financial regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.
/goo.gl/oriE9y
AQR general counsel, NFA board member departs; Brendan Kalb leaves quant firm after 14 years to join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
Eilidh Wagstaff and Sam Dale – CTA Intelligence
AQR Capital Management general counsel and managing director Brendan Kalb has left the firm after 14 years to join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Kalb had worked at Cliff Asness’ quant firm since its earliest days before it grew into the second largest hedge fund in the world.
/jlne.ws/2t6LZGn
FCA details review of unbundling under MiFID II; The FCA will contact asset managers, investment banks and brokers to evaluate the effects of unbundling under MiFID II.
Hayley McDowell – The Trade
The UK’s financial watchdog is to begin a review of MiFID II’s recently enforced rules around research payments and corporate access in asset management over the next few weeks.
/jlne.ws/2JXYQUF
An Ethereum Futures Future? U.S. Commodities Giants Lie In Wait After SEC Surprise
Michael del Castillo – Forbes
Chicago-based commodities giants, Cboe and CME Group are now both exploring the ethereum cryptocurrency with a $49.6 billion market value in a number of different ways. The problem is, until last week, U.S. regulatory uncertainty was preventing them, from taking one crucial step.
/jlne.ws/2JXjhB9
Exchanges, OTC and Clearing
Trading of SGX Nifty contracts to continue pending outcome of arbitration
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) has been granted a licence extension to continue the listing and trading of SGX Nifty contracts beyond August 2018. As part of ongoing arbitration proceedings, SGX and IISL, the National Stock Exchange (NSE)’s index company, were directed by Order dated 14 June 2018 passed by the Learned Arbitrator, to facilitate the continued listing of SGX Nifty products for at least two successive contract month maturations beyond the arbitration’s completion date. SGX was directed to refrain from offering new India equity derivatives products such as those announced on 11 April 2018, in accordance with the Order, available here.
/jlne.ws/2K2pHPE
Ramy Aziz to retire as ASX Chief Financial Officer
ASX
ASX announces that its Chief Financial Officer, Mr Ramy Aziz, will retire in September 2018, after 18 years of service with the Group, including eight years as CFO.
/jlne.ws/2K3pEmz
Provision of market data for all products via EOBI in the T7 production environment and changes to Eurex Exchange’s connectivity price list
Eurex
In the T7 production environment, the Eurex Enhanced Order Book Interface (Eurex EOBI) currently provides market data for a selected group of Eurex
benchmark futures and the KOSPI product traded on Eurex. In February 2019, Eurex Exchange is planning to start the dissemination of market data via EOBI for all products. The additional market data will be made available in a stepwise approach. In the T7 simulation environment, market data via EOBI is already available for all products which are set up in the simulation.
/jlne.ws/2JUO1D5
First buy side client goes live with the Lending CCP; PGGM and Morgan Stanley are in the final stages of admission and testing with a view to start transactions using Eurex Clearing’s Securities Lending CCP.
Eurex
We are proud to announce that the cooperative Dutch pension fund service provider PGGM is in the process of finalizing its admission as a direct participant of Eurex Clearing’s Securities Lending central counterparty (CCP).
/jlne.ws/2K0nBQ8
Fintech
Place your bets: fabulous fintech or boring banks?; Market puts the same price on Commerzbank and Adyen but for different reasons
Patrick Jenkins – FT
From Berlin to Bangalore “fintechs” ó the trendy financial technology companies that are promising to overhaul every aspect of traditional finance ó have become investment darlings. In Europe last week came neat proof that the odds of fabulous fintechs beating boring banks are narrowing by the day.
/jlne.ws/2JWobym
BIS wants tighter rules for funds offering credit, fintech
Huw Jones – Reuters
Regulations introduced after the financial crisis a decade ago to smooth out banking booms and busts should be extended to funds that provide credit, or shadow banks, and fintech firms, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said on Sunday.
/reut.rs/2JY2rSF
Brexit And UK Fintech Investment: Two Years On From The EU Referendum
Madhvi Mavadiya – Forbes
Days before the second anniversary of the EU Referendum vote, UK International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox launched an initiative that aims to bring together academics, experts and businesses and in turn, attract investment into the fintech sector.
This came after Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement that more than 1,600 jobs will be created in addition to the £2.3 billion ($3bn) of private investment into the technology industry as a whole, as an attempt to showcase the UK as the best country in the world to run tech.
bit.ly/2K2s9FQ
Fintech entrepreneurs show why finance masters are not just for bankers
Jonathan Moules – Financial Times
Some of the world’s most successful companies have been formed by founders quitting university to nurture their start-ups, not least the Harvard dropouts Bill Gates, of Microsoft, and Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook.
But a small yet significant number of students on masters in finance degrees do the opposite, enrolling to improve their core finance knowledge.
/on.ft.com/2K2QA5Q
Bond trading algos find fresh hunting ground; Machines oust humans in the market for ‘odd lots’ of corporate debt
Robin Wigglesworth and Joe Rennison – FT
A quiet but important evolution is unfolding in a less glamorous corner of the US corporate bond market, as machines oust humans as traders of smaller “odd lots”of debt bought by both institutional and retail investors.
/jlne.ws/2taZZxH
US military trains financial force on search for ‘common sense’ AI; Defence research group Darpa seeks breakthrough in quest for truly intelligent machines
Richard Waters in San Francisco – FT
The US defence department is preparing to take on one of the biggest challenges in artificial intelligence: how to endow computers with common sense.
/jlne.ws/2HWFqKY
Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin is useless, unsafe, and dirty: this new report is withering in its verdict
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – Telegraph
Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic worth and are useless as a form of exchange. They entail exorbitant transaction costs. They are very slow. Together they have turned into an ecological nightmare.
/jlne.ws/2K0wqt9
Regulated Crypto Custody Is (Almost) Here. It’s a Game Changer
Olga Kharif and Sonali Basak – Bloomberg
Service could open market to bigger investors, boosting prices; ‘It will unlock a big wave of capital,’ fund manager says
Hedge fund manager Kyle Samani embraces his job making multimillion-dollar bets on the wild market for cryptocurrencies, but he’s long contended with a headache: Ensuring his holdings aren’t stolen.
/jlne.ws/2JZiSOS
The bigger cryptocurrencies get, the worse they perform: BIS
Reuters Staff
Cryptocurrencies are not scalable and are more likely to suffer a breakdown in trust and efficiency the greater the number of people using them, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS)said on Sunday in its latest warning about the rise of virtual currencies.
/jlne.ws/2I07Fs9
Bitcoin’s Greater Fools Go Into Hiding; Where will the cryptocurrency’s future crop of suckers come from?
Lionel Laurent – Bloomberg
Bitcoin’s price was supposed to go to the moon. Yet over the past six months, from high to low, the linchpin of the entire cryptocurrency craze has shed 66 percent of its value.
/jlne.ws/2JZiH6a
Korean Authorities Admit to Postponing Cryptocurrency Regulation Because it Legitimizes Market
Joseph Young – CCN
Authorities have admitted that the South Korean government had postponed the regulation of the cryptocurrency sector because it feared consumers will acknowledge it as the government legitimizing the cryptocurrency market.
bit.ly/2JY4kPr
Walmart Awarded 3 Blockchain-Related Patents
Anatol Antonovici – Cryptovest.com
US retail giant Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, received last week three patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office for several blockchain-related systems. The patents refer to a system for obtaining medical records on blockchain, a method and system for managing demand on an electrical grid, and a system for controlling access to a locked place. Besides Walmart, IBM and Cisco also saw their patent application approved last Thursday.
bit.ly/2K2SW4E
Blockchain explained
Maryanne Murray – Reuters
A blockchain is a database that is shared across a network of computers.
/jlne.ws/2JZojx7
Bitcoin could ‘bring the internet to a halt,’ banking group warns
Jethro Mullen – @CNNTech
Don’t bet on bitcoin ever replacing the dollar or other traditional currencies as everyday money.
/jlne.ws/2JZlU5I
Hedge fund attacks Chinese-backed crypto exchange; Institution criticises practice of paying traders to exchange coins
Don Weinland in Hong Kong – FT
A Hong Kong-based hedge fund has launched an attack on a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency exchange for helping inflate the price of a digital token whose market capitalisation has risen beyond $500m in a matter of months.
/jlne.ws/2HXqmNh
Blockchain Becomes More Mainstream as Technology Advances
FinancialBuzz.com
According to a report by Netscribes, the global Blockchain market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 42.8% from 2017 to 2022, resulting in a global revenue of USD 13.96 Billion by 2022. Blockchain technology is increasingly being used in the Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) segment for financial transactions and cross-border payments. The report indicates that the technology is also employed across a variety of sectors including healthcare, supply chain management, energy, media, informatics, etc. BFSI holds the largest share of the market, while Blockchain in the retail industry is the fastest growing sector.
/jlne.ws/2HYc8vq
IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and Others Are Plunging Into ‘Blockchain-as-a-Service’; The salad days of crypto may be gone, but the ‘blockchain as a service’ market is just getting started.
Annie Gaus – The Street
The wild west days of crypto are officially over. That was the message from the SEC this week, which issued a long-awaited decision on the regulatory status on Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies, sending prices higher on Thursday. But a new day of corporate crypto is already upon us.
/jlne.ws/2I2zHDy
Politics
Trump is creating his American caliphate, and democracy has no defence
Nesrine Malik – The Guardian
Officials quoting a holy text to justify repressive policies is something we who grew up in the Arab world have seen before
If there was a dictator’s playbook, the Donald Trump administration would now be on the “Instrumentalise Religion” chapter. Last week, in what sounded like the launch of a US caliphate, the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, reached for a biblical verse to defend his department’s policy of separating migrant parents from their children at the Mexican border, suggesting that God supports the government.
/jlne.ws/2JZkvMu
UN urges US to end separation of migrant children ‘immediately’; Human rights chief calls practice of removing undocumented offspring from parents ‘unconscionable’
Adam Samson in London – FT
The United Nations has become the latest high-profile body to criticise the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their immigrant parents, calling on the US to end the practice “immediately”.
/jlne.ws/2K2nwvp
Trump’s Family Separations Bedevil Republicans as Public Outrage Grows
Jennifer Epstein – Bloomberg
First lady urges governing ‘with heart;’ DHS takes to Twitter; ‘Transcends politics,’ Senate Democrats campaign chief says
Donald Trump’s policy of separating immigrant children from parents who illegally cross the Mexican border threatens to balloon into an election-year headache for Republicans, as the president’s administration struggles to explain and defend a practice questioned even by his wife.
/jlne.ws/2K0tvkb
Angela Merkel’s Political Future Is At Risk
Arne Delfs and Patrick Donahue – Bloomberg
Chancellor has until June 28-29 EU summit to get European fix; Migration has surged to top of political agenda across Europe
Germany’s crisis over migration policy is entering a critical phase with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s political future on the line and the ripples already being felt across Europe.
/jlne.ws/2JZpP2h
New York’s Case Against Trump May Be Prophetic; Why the complaint involving the president’s foundation is a road map for Mueller.
Francis Wilkerson – Bloomberg
The report released by the inspector general of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday painted a vivid picture of the past. It shows that in 2016, James Comey, then the FBI director, inexcusably broke the rules in advertising his department’s investigation into Hillary Clinton while simultaneously following the rules in keeping its investigation of Donald Trump under wraps.
/jlne.ws/2JXVoJH
You Can’t Be Pro-Life and Against Immigrant Children
Charles C. Camosy – NY Times
What does “pro-life, pro-family” really mean? The idea behind that phrase has long been an important organizing principle for pro-life groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.
/jlne.ws/2JWlHQy
Trade Wars Don’t Matter, Unless You Think $2 Trillion Matters; Hey, maybe this stuff is bad for business after all.
By Mark Gongloff – Bloomberg
Maybe Trade Wars Are Bad and Easy to Lose
An old Wall Street saw says “Buy on the sound of cannons, sell on the sound of trumpets,” meaning stock traders see wars as buying opportunities. The story may be different if those cannons are aimed at their wallets, however.
/jlne.ws/2I0UI19
Temptation Lies Inside Trump Foundation’s ‘Empty Shell’; What can the latest lawsuit tell us about the president’s businesses?
By Noah Feldman – Bloomberg
The lawsuit filed last week by the New York State attorney general’s office makes it clear that Donald Trump and his family treated the Donald J. Trump Foundation not as a legitimate charity, but as a pass-through vehicle that benefited Trump, his businesses and his presidential campaign.
/jlne.ws/2HWLanP
The proper way to view the Trump Foundation scandal
By Tristan Snell – CNN
Forget about Donald Trump for a moment. Imagine a hypothetical man who takes donations from people who think they are giving to a charity for veterans.
/jlne.ws/2HVSMHn
Regulation
Monthly Disciplinary Actions June 2018
FINRA
Monthly Disciplinary Actions June 2018
/jlne.ws/2JWroho
FCA to launch asset management Mifid probe; UK regulator’s investigation to focus on research costs and corporate access
Chris Flood – FT
The UK financial regulator is to begin a review of the EU rules that changed how asset managers pay for the research they use to make investment decisions.
/jlne.ws/2JWcYhr
A Central Banker’s Plea for Less Power; Former Bank of England official Paul Tucker thinks technocrats need to retreat, at least a little.
By Justin Fox – Bloomberg
After more than 30 years at the Bank of England, the last four-plus as deputy governor for financial stability in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis, Paul Tucker left in late 2013 for a fellowship at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where he started work on a book. I was in the same fellowship program at the same time and was also starting work on a book, of which I have now written 1 1/2 chapters.
/jlne.ws/2HYEAgF
Kathy Kraninger to Be Nominated to Head Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
White House to tap Office of Management and Budget staffer to succeed Mick Mulvaney, renewing his tenure as it was set to expire
By Lalita Clozel – The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTONóThe White House on Saturday said it intends to nominate budget official Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, choosing a deputy of the bureau’s current interim chief Mick Mulvaney as his successor.
/goo.gl/kWbnwu
Investing and Trading
Investors Fret About a Trade War, but They Aren’t Fleeing the Stock Market
Peter Eavis – NY Times
At a conference held by a top investment bank in Manhattan last week, attendees were asked to submit what they thought was the biggest risk to the global economy. When their concerns showed up on the conference screen, these words were the most popular: Trump, trade war and protectionism.
/jlne.ws/2JWy8fl
Trump Picks Economic Winners, Guided by Nostalgia
Brad Plumer and Jim Tankersley – NY Times
As President Trump tries to tilt global trade in the United States’ favor, he is increasingly putting his finger on the scale to help once-iconic industries that are declining as a share of the American economy, at the expense of some of the country’s fastest-growing sectors.
/jlne.ws/2JXfy6D
When Past Performance Actually Is a Guide to Future Results; Sticky returns are a feature of the private equity and venture capital industries but there are reasons that could change
Paul J Davies – WSJ
Past performance isn’t necessarily a guide to the future. Investors in public stock markets and mutual funds have heard this for years, and academics have shown it to be true. But it isn’t so in private markets.
/jlne.ws/2K2q1xN
Bond investors discover powers of persuasion on governance; Fixed income managers are joining forces with equity investors to achieve shared aims
Attracta Mooney – FT
Bond investors have had limited influence on companies’ governance, when compared with their equity peers. Some believe shifting market conditions will now give them more sway ó which fund managers hope will translate into increased returns.
/jlne.ws/2JZrKUx
‘Big ticket’ trades made possible by bond ETF liquidity; Inflows are rising, but they are yet to be properly tested by market strain\
Chris Flood – FT
Exchange traded funds are revolutionising stock markets, regularly accounting for a third of all US equity trades and growing rapidly in popularity among equity investors in Europe and Asia.
/jlne.ws/2JZrkgV
Distressed debt funds tap into fears over credit cycle; New York-based Mudrick Capital becomes latest specialist to raise money from investors
Joe Rennison and Lindsay Fortado – FT
A growing number of US hedge funds specialising in distressed debt are raising money in anticipation that the next economic downturn will punish companies that have borrowed record amounts since the financial crisis.
/jlne.ws/2K2nX94
Buying the Dip May Get a Lot Tougher Going Forward: Taking Stock
Arie Shapira – Bloomberg
We spent the last five trading sessions biting our nails over a combative G-7, a grandiose showdown between Trump and Kim Jong Un, a hawkish tilt from the Fed, a ratcheting up of the U.S.-China trade conflict, and the plot-thickening drama over the $43 billion NXP Semiconductors/Qualcomm deal that still hasn’t officially received Chinese approval.
/jlne.ws/2K0EOsM
Easy Money Era Endures Even as Central Banks Unwind Stimulus
Enda Curran, Alessandro Speciale and Rich Miller – Bloomberg
Crisis medicine being removed as Fed hikes rates, ECB halts QE; Japan, China and Australia among those keeping policy on hold
Don’t declare the end of easy money just yet. Major central banks took significant steps last week toward dismantling the emergency stimulus they’d used to lubricate financial markets and escape recession in the decade since the financial crisis. But most are clear that they’re not ready to get out of the business of supporting their economies.
/jlne.ws/2JZIpHG
Institutions
US banks poised for $170bn in shareholder payouts; Large banks set to distribute more than annual profits for first time since the crisis
Alistair Gray and Ben McLannahan – FT
Large US banks are poised to hand over more capital to investors than they are generating from their businesses for the first time since the 2008 crisis, lowering their defences against another catastrophic shock to the financial system.
/jlne.ws/2K2L03o
Hedge funds are selling volatility again; The last time they were this certain the market would stay calm ó well, it didn’t
Robin Wigglesworth – FT
Hedge funds are once again betting the US stock market will remain tranquil. The volume of “short” positions in the Vix volatility index has climbed to the highest since late January, just before the implosion of several Vix-linked funds ripped through financial markets.
/jlne.ws/2K2ntjd
UBS’s Main Unit Is Upgraded at Moody’s on Wealth Business
Christian Baumgaertel and Jan-Henrik Foerster – Bloomberg
Ratings firm highlights UBS’s less complex investment bank; Upgrade comes weeks after rival Deutsche Bank was cut
UBS Group AG had the credit rating for its main operations raised by Moody’s Investors Service, which said the restructured investment bank and wealth management business should help the lender weather a market downturn.
/jlne.ws/2JZqn8l
Goldman Sachs Bankers Moonlight as Venture Capitalists After $350 million gain on Spotify, bank bets on pea milk
Liz Hoffman and Peter Rudegeair – WSJ
When Spotify Technology SA went public in April, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was sitting on a stake in the music-streaming startup worth more than $350 million, a sevenfold return on a 2012 investment.
/jlne.ws/2JZnKDv
Disturbing before-and-after images show how major Wall Street banks could be flooded by 2100
Jeremy Berke – Business Insider
The world’s oceans are rapidly rising as waters warm and ice sheets melt. Coastal cities like New York ó much of which lies on an island barely above sea level ó are at serious risk of flooding.
/jlne.ws/2HYIkid
Regions
Argentine Peso Resumes Plunge After Central Bank Shakeup
Rita Nazareth , Carolina Millan and Patrick Gillespie – Bloomberg
Luis Caputo to lead monetary authority after Sturzenegger exit; Currency slumps Friday after surging more than 4 percent
The Argentine peso resumed its slide toward a historic low as a major shakeup that put a former Wall Street trader at the helm of the nation’s central bank failed to curb the currency’s massive volatility.
/goo.gl/GhzHps
London House Prices Continue Their Descent
Jill Ward – Bloomberg
Average property value fell 0.9% in June, Rightmove says; BCC business lobby revises down U.K. economic growth forecasts
London house prices fell the most since the beginning of the year in June as the capital’s property market continued to lag behind the rest of the country.
/jlne.ws/2JWbgN3
China tariffs on U.S. soybeans could cost Iowa farmers up to $624 million
Des Moines Register
Perhaps Iowa farmers’ biggest fear is becoming a harsh reality: The escalating U.S.-China trade dispute erupted Friday, with each country vowing to levy 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in goods.
/jlne.ws/2JZhOum
1MDB Scandal Turns Funds Cool on Malaysia
Y-Sing Liau and Ruth Carson – Bloomberg
Unexpected scale of indebtedness leads to fears of downgrade; Fiscal, political risks are reasons to be cautious, Pimco says
The escalating scandal around troubled state-investment-fund 1MDB is turning bond funds against Malaysia.
/jlne.ws/2HYNkU2
Brokerages Are Said to Seek Tax Easing for Offshore India Trades
Santanu Chakraborty – Bloomberg
Firms representing foreign funds also want ID rules relaxed; Indian authorities want more trading to come onshore
Brokerages representing offshore investors are asking for more concessions to trade in India’s nascent international financial hub in Gujarat, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
/jlne.ws/2HZNSJd
Brace For An Even Bigger Bubble In China’s Stock Markets
Tom Holland – South China Morning Post
Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, Weibo: they are among the biggest giants of China’s internet. Providing everything from search and messaging to shopping and financial services to hundreds of millions of users each day, these and other Chinese technology companies dominate Chinese cyberspace every bit as much as Amazon, Facebook and Google monopolise the web in the rest of the world.
/jlne.ws/2I0fBtf
Thai king assumes direct ownership of portfolio worth billions; Assets previously held in royal family’s name will lose tax-exempt status
John Reed in Bangkok – FT
The trust that holds billions of dollars of assets in the name of Thailand’s royal family said at the weekend it had transferred ownership of a wealth portfolio directly to King Maha Vajiralongkorn, in a move that confirms his position as one of the world’s richest monarchs.
/jlne.ws/2HXL0wJ
Brexit
What’s Left to Be Settled Before Brexit (Quite a Lot)
Emma Ross-Thomas – Bloomberg
With just over nine months to go until Britain is set to leave the European Union, the task of untangling itself from its neighbors is proving fiendishly complex. Former World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy says it’s like taking an “egg out of an omelet.” Brexit, as the withdrawal is known, poses risks to people and businesses that could get caught on the wrong side of a newly erected border.
/jlne.ws/2K3nJOT
Europe is fast losing interest in the Brexit soap – it has bigger worries
Andrew Rawnsley – The Guardian
Faced with challenges that threaten the EU’s very existence, continental leaders have little patience left for Britain’s baffling theatrics
Travel does not always broaden the mind, but it can sharpen perspective. Recent weeks have taken me to Germany, France, the Netherlands and Spain. I learned much about these very different countries, but the most important takeaway was about my own. The largest conclusion I drew from recent conversations on the continent is that Europe is no longer terribly interested in these islands. How much attention are our closest neighbours paying to what is happening to the United Kingdom? Not much, in truth.
/jlne.ws/2JWagIN
Fund managers and regulators thrash out post-Brexit path; FCA’s Andrew Bailey urges politicians to preserve benefits of open financial markets
Chris Flood – FT
Leaders of the UK’s £8tn asset management industry met in London as anxiety grew over how Brexit will disrupt their European operations, causing damage to profits and jobs.
/jlne.ws/2I009NM
Miscellaneous
Trust in Social Media FallsóRaising Concerns for Marketers; Consumers advocate pressure by brands and regulators to clean up fraud, cyberbullying and hate speech, an Edelman study finds
Suzanne Vranica – WSJ
Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. elections, the spread of fake news on social media and the recent Facebook data scandal are all contributing to the distrust that people world-wide have developed for social media, according to a new study being released Monday.
/jlne.ws/2K2pbkD
What makes innovation managers successful?
They stay away from silver bullets and build the collective capabilities of the organisation, argues Alessandro Di Fiore
London School of Economics and Political Science
Despite good intentions ó and widespread acceptance of the importance of innovation ó efforts to innovate at large companies often go off the rails.
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