A brisk start to the morning, replete with a good breakfast in a wondrous banking hall opposite the Bank of England & onwards to the ICDA Blockchain conference, in another august hall where once upon a time ledger data was entered with quill pens. I enjoyed giving a brief keynote from a sort of enthusiastic Don Cupitt realist perspective…Peter Randall of Setl is dazzling onstage as I type. ICDA Chairman Dan Day-Robinson has done a great job creating a forward looking event.
Last night, London genuinely rocked where a serious message was underpinned by a truly joyous moment of bilateralism. Dave Setters was the sole counterparty to every guest and he did a brilliant job of hosting an excellent event. Dave approaches Motor Neurone Disease with the sort of cheery fortitude and good grace which all of us aspire to exemplify in such adversity. It is so humane, Dave is in many ways superhuman. I think the parish is universally humbled by Dave’s incredible example and his City Vs MND initiative will I am sure, flourish.
Today in Exchange Invest, it has all gone legal in SEF-world: “outside inside” resolution looks to be towards “inside the court” finality & there’s more…
Public Markets
TeraExchange Files Antitrust Lawsuit In New York
Mike Kentz – Reuters
TeraExchange filed an antitrust lawsuit Monday alleging that some of the biggest banks in the world conspired to block customers from using its service. First reported last week, TeraExchange charges that 12 banks conspired to keep investors from trading interest rates swaps on its platform.
BAML, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, RBS and UBS were named in the suit. The filing in US District Court in the Southern District of New York also named two competing trading platforms: ICAP Capital Markets and Tradeweb Markets.
PLY: It has long been rumoured that some bankers are seeking to encourage dealing outside…
Plus500 Registers 26% Q/Q Growth In Revenues In Q1 2016
Maria Nikolova – LeapRate
Quarterly revenues hit a record level of $85.2 million, +26% from the preceding quarter, +4% from Q1 2015.
PLY: Call it my masculine intuition but I sense a new wave of short selling analysis…
New Row Over LSE Takeover After Bosses Behind Bid Appear To Suggest HQ Could Move To Germany
Daily Mail
QV Premium: DB1-LSE Merger Brief.
PLY: Once upon a time DB1 was keen to describe itself as a tech company which did markets. You would think somebody would realise that things in German can be read by the Daily Mail (if required through Google Translate) within minutes. The DB1 LSE Merger of equal deseration remains on message, provided the message is, DB1 remains rather a counterparty for an analogue era of communication. Alas. (Then again is LSE any better? – Answers on a piece of parchment delivered by carrier pigeon are encouraged).
ICE
PLY: Essentially ICE has to make such announcements but somehow they do so with such an understated elan that it is rumoured to be leaving some deal protagonists in a position akin to killers driven mad by hearing the heartbeat of the corpse they buried under the floorboards.
Private Markets
Tadawul Plans SME Equity Market Early 2017
MondoVisione
CFTC
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
Markets closed: Mahavir Jayanti.
SC Sets Aside HC Order On FTIL Assets
The Financial Express
The Supreme Court on Monday set aside a Madras High Court’s order that had partially lifted freeze on FTIL’s assets and investments.
QV Premium: NSEL Scandal Brief – Part 16 and FTIL Stakes Sales Brief.
PLY: Doesn’t seem to clarify why the stock of FTIL rocketed yesterday.
Technology
Is IEX Battle Nearing End As Rival Exchanges Adopt Their Technology?
Mark Melin – ValueWalk
PLY: Indeed as the SEC vacillates, the changing rooms of the algo boutique do indeed appear to be full of legacy exchanges trying on variations of IEX algos (and apparently patent pending approaches)…
High-Speed Trading & Return Chasing
Matt Levine – Bloomberg
PLY: Interesting discussion of “Nice” days after the death of the most famous Mr Nice of them all, albeit never a member of this parish.
Smartkarma Launches Collaborative Marketplace To Radically Change Investment Research & Analysis
Smartkarma
Smartkarma, the premier collaborative marketplace for Asian investment research and analysis, has officially launched from closed beta with a single subscription model.
Products
China Launches Yuan Gold Fix To Boost Power In Global Bullion Market
Ananthalakshmi & Ruby Lian – Reuters
China launched a yuan-denominated gold benchmark on Tuesday, as the country took an ambitious step to exert more control over the pricing of the metal and boost its influence in the global bullion market.
The Chinese benchmark price, derived from a 1 kg-contract traded by 18 participants on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), was set at 256.92 yuan per gram ($1,234.49 per ounce) in Tuesday’s morning session.
QV Premium: China Capital Markets Transformation Brief – Main File.
PLY: A spot of pre-convertible Yuan foreplay, just as the Gold market is heating up in structural terms…
Career Paths
Euronext announced the appointment of its new CFO, Giorgio Modica, as Amaury Dauge is leaving the company to pursue new professional projects in fintech in New York.
The Supervisory Board unanimously decided to appoint Giorgio Modica as CFO of Euronext as of 2nd May 2016. Giorgio joins from BNP Paribas in Paris, where he was a senior Corporate Finance banker in Financial Institutions for 9 years, holding the responsibility for the Stock Exchange sector globally, as well as for the Italian and Spanish markets.
Amaury Dauge & Giorgio Modica will handle the transition until 1st June 2016.
Giorgio will be supported by a strengthened finance management team within Euronext:
Bernard Holsboer, currently Treasurer & Tax Director, who has been with the Euronext since 2007, is promoted Group Finance Director.
Stéphanie Bia, currently Head of IR, who has spent 13 years in total within the Euronext, is promoted Head of IR & Business Performance.
Jan Breken, Group Financial Controller, who has been with the Euronext group since 2001, will remain responsible for all Group accounting and consolidation.
Camille Beudin joins as Head of M&A. Camille has 8 years of M&A execution experience and has led a large number of acquisitions, including international transactions, with Deutsche Bank and previously with RBS & ABN AMRO.
PLY: Amaury Dauge has opted to return to NYC where he worked for several years. Good to see Stéphanie Bia promoted after the excellent job she has done for the newly independent Euronext.
Financial Calendar
19 – 20.04 – ICDA Blockchain Conference
20.04 – SGX Q3 Results FY2016
21.04 – I-Cham Breakfast, in Dublin, Ireland, Guest Speaker Patrick L Young discussing investment in CEE & SEE markets
17-19.04 – IOMA: WFE’s Clearing & Derivatives Conference 2016 in Kuala Lumpur – programme
New! 12.05 – Oslo Børs VPS Holding ASA AGM
New! 26-28.09 – CBOE Risk Management Conference (RMC) Europe – press release
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Other stories
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Statement Of CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad On The Same
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