A remarkable ‘clarification’ from LSEG on recent Xaverian remarks while many wonder if Prince Jeff will soon lay siege to London’s ancient bastion of capital…
Meanwhile in American stock markets I think barks per millisecond may become the hot new benchmark.
Elsewhere, Malaysian results inch up as we begin a frantic week of A&E-GMs and auction specialists Perfect Channel powers new Global Dairy Trade platform.
Save the date: September 15th, InterContinental Hotel, Warsaw. First CEE CMU Capital Markets Summit, chaired by me, Patrick L Young. Confirmed CEO speakers includes Ivana Gazic of Zagreb and Ivan Takev of Sofia. More names to follow.
Finally, a word of warning: cybersecurity is here and a clear and apparent danger…what are you doing to ward it off? They got SWIFT this week (perhaps not surprising as it is the dinosaur of the tech world despite a lot of marketing lipstick): SWIFT Hack Spreads Panic.
Public Markets
Bursa Malaysia Q1 2016 Results
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vs Q1 2015: Operating revenue at RM126.1m (USD 32.3m), up 5.3%, PATAMI at RM49.9m (USD 12.8m), up 6.1%.
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LSE CEO Says Hasn’t Held Talks About ICE’s Strategy
Rory Gallivan – Dow Jones Business News
LSEG Monday said its CEO Xavier Rolet hasn’t held discussions with ICE about ICE’s strategy.
LSE said it was making the comment for clarification after the Sunday Telegraph newspaper published on April 3 an interview with him, in which he made comments about ICE’s track record in Europe.
QV Premium: DB1-LSE Merger Brief.
PLY: A remarkable statement from the LSE in the wake of considerable discomfort in the parish about some recent statements, particularly those addressed, at least in part, above. Read the “Clarification Statement” it is somewhat excruciating – and given the ongoing rumours of micromanagerial tendencies, it arguably raises questions about industry comprehension amongst the C-suite.
Chris Hughes – Bloomberg
The pressure is building on ICE to try to break up LSE’s merger with DB1. Investors don’t see it that way.
LSE shares have underperformed the market since Feb. 29, the day before ICE said it was considering an offer. If investors believed ICE was going to make a generous offer to wrest LSE from its German rival, the stock would have outperformed.
PLY: The message seems to be that the “merger arb” folks see no future in the deal so they are sitting on their hands.
Shanghai London Link `For September Start’
The Standard
The Shanghai-London stock link will be rolled out in September, with GDRs (previously discussed earlier this month) initially, to gauge market reaction.
PLY: So essentially just a GDR market listing for big stocks with a streaming dongle. Not quite the remarkable unification of Anglo-Sino flow which might have been hoped for.
IEX Asks For SEC Exchange Approval On Merits Of Its Application (subscription)
Financial Times
Upstart trading venue seeks green light over and above broader debate over stock trading rules.
PLY: It’s well beyond time but “decision” and “bureaucrat” make uncomfortable bedfellows.
SEC Draws NYSE’s Fury With Idea a Millisecond Doesn’t Matter
Annie Massa – Bloomberg
Does a millisecond matter?
Maybe not, SEC is saying. If a stock exchange intentionally delays orders by just one-thousandth of a second, it would be acceptable under an SEC proposal. NYSE and others oppose the change, saying a millisecond is anything but trivial.
The fight over a tiny fraction of a second is tangled up in IEX’s attempt to convert its private market into a full-fledged public stock exchange.
PLY: After much pondering, all with significantly more than a millisecond of latency, I fear the only logical lowest common denominator answer to this remarkable debate is “Woof!”
(If you would prefer added perspective from the world far beyond the madding crowd of binary cash equity markets’ folk, I could stretch my analysis to “Woof! Woof!”).
Citadel Tops List Of Private U.S. Trading Venues
John McCrank – Reuters
Citadel executed just over 1.1 billion shares in its brokerage the week of April 4, according to FINRA.
European Commission – CMU: Taking Stock Of The Progress Made So Far, Brussels, 25 April 2016
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QV Premium: EU CMU Brief.
TMX
New centralized mutual fund solution, TSX NAVex, has entered the client testing phase.
Garry Jones: LME Looking To Tap Asian Demand
Natsuki Kaneko – Nikkei
LME aims to attract more market players in China, India and other parts of Asia amid intensified competition from rivals around the world.
PSE: SEC Should Enter Into Deals With Asean Peers On Stock Trading
VG Cabuag – Business Mirror
Philippine SE (PSE) said the government should enter into mutual recognition agreements with its regional peers in Southeast Asia, mainly on buying and selling stocks.
QV Premium: ASEAN Exchanges Project Brief.
SGX Partners China Construction Bank To Promote Singapore’s Capital Markets
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Private Markets
NSE To Challenge Sebi Panel’s Findings
Jayshree P. Upadhyay – Livemint
Sebi has sought an explanation from National SE (NSE) on a report by a Sebi constituted expert panel which had recommended action against the bourse for violating norms of fair access.
NSE To Challenge Claims Of Unfair Access At Its Venue
Santanu Chakraborty – Business Standard
National SE will in the coming weeks submit a detailed report to its regulator to challenge claims that high-frequency traders gained unfair access at its venue, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Boursa Kuwait Officially Assumes Responsibility For Kuwait SE Operations
Zawya
Boursa Kuwait announced that it has officially assumed responsibility for the management of the Kuwait SE (KSE)’s operations. The hand-over follows the implementation of a detailed operational plan and strategic roadmap to ensure the smooth transition of stock market operations. The process has been developed in close collaboration with CMA. Transition scheduled for completion by 30 September 2016, when Boursa Kuwait will obtain its official license to replace KSE, and at a later stage, prepare for an IPO.
Laura Shin – Forbes
On Monday, Bitstamp announced that Luxembourg has granted it a payment institution license, making the company the first nationally licensed Bitcoin exchange in the world.
Under the EU’s “passport” program, which allows financial services providers legally established in one member state to operate in others, Bitstamp will also be licensed across all 28 EU countries. The license goes into effect July 1, when Bitstamp will be operational in Luxembourg.
PLY: Deft syllogism, not sure it is quite accurate and indeed a Payment Institution is many things but not an exchange. Then again in other news, granny SWIFT has been hacked – not surprising but rather terrifying.
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: MCX flat to small off, FTIL up 1%.
Technology
MOEX- Derivatives Trading Interruption
Maria Nikolova – LeapRate
On Monday, April 25th, trading in derivatives was halted at 11.20 and resumed at 12.15 (Moscow Time). The causes for the problems are still investigated. FX, stock and precious metals markets have been operating normally.
Perfect Channel
PLY: Fonterra delivering supply guarantees a lot of liquidity (in all senses) for the new Global Dairy Trade auction platform to be powered by Perfect Channel. Interesting move in a time of EU dairy deregulation.
EU Regulators Agree On Definition Of HFT (subscription)
Tim Cave – Financial News
European regulators have settled on a definition of HFT as part of efforts to rewrite the rulebook for trading in the region.
Troise Looks To Boost ITG’s Fintech Credentials (subscription)
Tim Cave – Financial News
Frank Troise believes ITG was a fintech company long before the term came into vogue.
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Products
HKEX Rolls Out Risk Management System For Its Derivatives Market
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HKEx launched its Pre-Trade Risk Management (PTRM) system, a system that offers tools to help Participants in its derivatives market meet their needs for pre-trade controls while complimenting their in-house risk controls.
Sebi Tightens Prop Trading Norms In Commodity Derivatives
Business Standard
Commodity exchanges ordered to amend provisions and bye-laws to launch proprietary trading in alignment with equity exchanges.
Nairobi SE: Launch Of Derivatives Market To Delay Further
Constant Munda – The Star
The planned trade in financial derivatives on Nairobi Securities Exchange will delay further than June as stakeholders bid to deepen knowledge among participants and create public awareness.
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Indexes
CES Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect 300 Index To Be Revamped & Renamed
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Responding to the market’s strong demand for a comprehensive cross-border index related to the Stock Connect programme, China Exchanges Services Company Limited (CESC) announced a revamp of its CES Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect 300 Index (CES SHSC300) to include Shenzhen stocks, with the new name CES Stock Connect 300 Index (CES 300) from 23 May 2016.
KRX & S&P To Develop Smart Beta Index
Korea Bizwire
Korea Exchange (KRX) will develop its own smart beta indices in partnership with S&P.
Career Paths
LME appointed Gonzalo Cuadra as Chairman of the LME User Committee, replacing John Smillie. Mr Cuadra is CEO of Chile Copper Limited and MD of Codelco Services Limited.
Stefan Boel, an executive board member at Aurubis, has resigned from the LME User Committee and has been replaced by Christophe Koenig, a SVP at Aurubis.
LCH announced two senior executive appointments. Effective 1 May 2016, Daniel Maguire will assume the role of Global Head of Rates & FX Derivatives. Paddy Boyle has been appointed as Head of FX Product.
CSat Funds (CSAT) appointed Phil Bak as CEO. Prior to joining CSAT, Mr. Bak served as MD of ETFs at NYSE.
Following the hand-over of Kuwait SE (KSE)’s management to Boursa Kuwait, the BoD of Boursa Kuwait has replaced KSE’s committee, whose duties have ceased. In addition, Boursa Kuwait’s CEO, Khaled Abdulrazzaq AlKhaled, has been officially assigned as the Director of the Market.
SimCorp appointed Thorvaldur Flemming Jensen head of its Application Service Provider (ASP) Division and member of the company’s executive management team, reporting directly to the CEO.
Financial Calendar
26.04 – CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee – agenda
26.04 – BVB AGM
27.04 – BGC Partners Q1 2016 Results
27.04 – LSEG AGM
27.04 – MOEX AGM
27.04 – Nasdaq Q1 2016 Results
28.04 – CME Q1 2016 Results
28.04 – HKEX AGM
28.04 – SIBEX EGM & AGM
29.04 – CBOE Q1 2016 Results
29.04 – WSE Q1 2016 Report – announcement
Warsaw SE & WOOD & Company – conference call followed by a Q&A session to discuss Q1 2016 results 10:00 EST / 14:00 GMT / 15:00 CET Speakers: Paweł Dziekoński & Grzegorz Zawada – VPs of the GPW Management Board.
New! – 05.05 – Bats Q1 2016 Results
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Share Notes
In connection with a monthly share savings plan for employees of subsidiaries, Oslo Børs VPS Holding has sold a total of 2018 shares. New holding is 2280 shares. Employees paid a share price of NOK 86,98 per share, but were allowed a discount of 20% on purchases up to NOK 625.
Crowdfunding
RBI To Bring P2P Lending Under Regulation Soon
The Indian Express
Other stories
CFTC Spoofing Witness Says He’s Oystacher Whistle-Blower
Janan Hanna – Bloomberg
Matthew Wasko, who said he worked for CGTA Analytics before it closed last year, said Monday in Chicago federal court that his firm lost money trading against a spoofer, whom he has since learned was Oystacher. Wasko said CGTA partnered with HTG Capital Partners.
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Europex Response To ACER Consultation On The Functioning & Usefulness Of The Centralised European Register Of Energy Market Participants (CEREMP)
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FIA Releases SEF Tracker For March 2016
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