In Warsaw to lecture some delightful PHD students at the Systems Research Institute – my afternoon will clearly involve my brain overheating (beyond even the lofty ambient temperature in the prevailing heat wave) to keep up with these agile brilliant minds.
Today in Exchange Invest Daily: ICE results break records again as Russell Deal delayed and LSE pursues ill – considered open access fetish. TMX reflect soggy domestic economy. FTIL bewilders technophobic Indian blob (and some of the dead tree press) by using an autodirect…and much more, happy scrolling:
Public Markets
ICE
Q2 Rexsults Highlights
vs Q2 2014: total revenues, less transaction-based expenses $797 mln, up 6%, operating income $430 mln, up 31%, net income $289 mln, up 23%, diluted EPS $2.54
H1 2015 Highlights
vs H1 2014: total revenues, less transaction-based expenses $1,647 mln, up 6.4%, operating income $892 mln, up 24%, net income $612 mln, up 20%, diluted EPS $5.34
ICE Nears Singapore Launch As Profit Tops Views
John McCrank – Reuters
Q4 2015 launch target for Singers’.
TMX
vs Q2 2014: revenue $178.7 million, down 2%, net income 27.6 mln vs. (26.4) mln, diluted EPS 51 cents vs. a diluted loss of 49 cents
Business Wire
vs Q2 2014: net revenues $2,839 mln, down 0.4%, net income $15 mln, down 79%
vs H1 2014: net revenues $6,024 mln, up 4%, net income $389 mln, up 146%
Leucadia Writes Down FXCM Bailout Loan By More Than $100 Million
Zeke Faux – Bloomberg
Leucadia National Corp. said the value of its bailout loan to FXCM declined by more than $100 million even as the firm more than doubled its money on the deal.
The $300 million rescue loan and associated rights are now valued at $759 million. The company had valued the investment at $947 million as of March 31.
Leucadia also said it received $75.9 million in cash payments from FXCM during Q2, bringing the total received to $94.5 million.
Read our Premium FX – CHF Crisis – Brief and FXCM Stakes Sales Brief.
PLY: The wonders of accounting and how the shareholders of FXCM must rue being involved with the clearly myopic (or at least one-sided to be precise) risk management approaches of FXCM, amongst many others in the retail leveraged forex broker field…
LSE Sale Of Russell Asset Manager Stalls (subscription)
Arash Massoudi & Philip Stafford – Financial Times
A deal is not expected imminently. LSE has been working with JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs on a disposal of the unit, which has assets under management of $266bn.
Read our Premium LSE – Frank Russell Deal Brief.
PLY: Not so much a setback but clearly a speedier settlement would be better for LSE. For now dreams in Paternoster Square of being acquired remain on ice (to be precise, they are indeed ‘off ICE’ for those reading too much into the previous phrase).
ITG Record Fine Further Dents Trust In US Equity Market Structure (subscription)
Philip Stafford – Financial Times
ITG Faces Fight For Reputation Amid Fallout From Dark-Pool Probe
Ryan Hoerger, Sam Mamudi & Matt Robinson – Bloomberg
The departures of CEO Bob Gasser and General Counsel Mats Goebels were a sign of the seriousness of SEC’s probe. ITG said last week that it could be slapped with a record $20.3 million fine for actions taken by a market-making unit in its Posit dark pool.
More on this in our Premium service: “ITG, Dark Fines & a Coalition for Change.”
PLY: Again a lot about management change – it is to Liquidnet’s unique credit that nobody was moved after their then significant SEC fine, given the upheaval at Pipeline before and now ITG.
LSE Promotes Open Access Over Exchange Consolidation (subscription)
Financial News
Read in Premium: Homer Simpson & The Supermodel Buffet – aka a Guide to Clearing in the New Era, Sometimes You Need A Plumber, Open Clearing: A Paradismal Shift By LCH, LCH Opens Swingers Club
PLY: Cash market led group continues to push a narrow and ill-considered attempt to please the sell side which does nothing to make markets safer – quite the opposite in fact. That the LSE is even coherently reported for such actions demonstrates how the legacy of cash market branding has a remarkable hold, even in a derivatives world (as indeed LSE tries desperately to get three dimensional albeit with very binary lobbying suggestions).
Alcoa Ramps Up Criticism Of CFTC Over LME Warehouse Reform
Reuters
Alcoa has stepped up efforts to challenge CFTC’s intervention in LME’s warehousing reform plan, criticizing its handling of the issue for a second time in as many months. In a letter dated July 27, Alcoa general counsel Max Laun called on CFTC Chairman Massad, to retract its decision to delay ruling on the LME application to register as a “foreign board of trade” in the US.
Goldman Estimates China’s ‘National Team’ Stock Rescue At $144bn (subscription)
Gabriel Wildau – Financial Times
China’s “national team” has probably spent about $144bn to bolster the country’s fragile stock market..
PLY: Some day we will look back and think “Ah yes that was when $144 billion was real money…”
Virtu Starts Trading In China As Regulator Cracks Down On Algos
John Detrixhe & Sam Mamudi – Bloomberg
HFT Firms Virtu, Optiver Enter Chinese Market
Mark Melin – ValueWalk
PRNewswire
CME and China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) signed a MoU in Shanghai.
ASIC: Proceeds Of Crime Seized Following Account Hacking
MondoVisione
Russian Hackers Manipulate ASX
ARN
AFP and ASIC uncover internet hacking, market manipulation and money laundering traded through Morgan Stanley Australia.
U.S. SEC Debates Waivers For Rule Violators In Swap Dealing
Sarah N. Lynch – Reuters
The debate over granting waivers to people with a history of regulatory violations heated up on Wednesday, when U.S. securities regulators proposed a process that would permit swap dealers to do business with those who have broken the law.
SEC
SEC Adopts Rule for Pay Ratio Disclosure
SEC
ESMA 2015 -1243 Opinion On Hellenic Capital Market Commission Renewal Of Emergency Measure Under SSR
MondoVisione
Private Markets
Overstock CEO Uses Bitcoin Tech To Spill Wall Street Secret
Wired
EI reported yesterday that Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, unveiled tØ at the headquarters of Nasdaq.
Dividend News
ICE announced a $0.75 dividend for Q3 2015, payable on September 30, 2015, record date September 16, 2015.
TMX announced a $0.40 dividend, payable on September 4, 2015, record date August 21, 2015.
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: FTIL soars +6% as it shows regulators how to create a mail forward while MCX is down 1%:
FTIL Says It Devised Auto Response System
N Sundaresha Subramanian – Business Standard
FTIL has told the Bombay High Court that it had devised an automated system to route shareholder responses to the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) on a draft order to merge it with NSEL.
Read our Premium NSEL Scandal Brief – Main File.
Career Paths
DB1 named Rob Jolliffe as Global Head of Sales. Rob will report as MD directly to CEO Carsten Kengeter. Rob has a long career in international investment banking. He has held senior positions at JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, RBS & UBS.
Bloomberg reports that Remco Lenterman, MD at IMC Financial Markets, is leaving the company and moving to London.
PLY: I wish Remco every success in the future. His presentation at “Gomberfest” at the e-Finance Lab Frankfurt event remains one which everybody ought to consider on either side of the HFT debate.
Sibex BoD appointed Mr. Buliga Mihai as interim Board member, until the next AGM.
Financial Calendar
Aug 06 2015
BVB H1 2015 Results
FXCM Q2 2015 Results
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Analyst Notes
LSE “Outperform” Rating Reiterated By RBC Capital – GBX 2,900 Price Objective
CBOE Upgraded By Zacks From “Hold” To “Buy” – $70.00 Price Target
CME-LSE Deal Will Not Hit ICE Revenues (subscription)
Cian Burke – FOW
According to KBW.
Read our Premium FTSE Russell & CME Indexing.
Here’s How To Make Money Out Of Greece: Advice From Ireland
Dara Doyle – Bloomberg
Want to make money on Greece? Buy the company that runs the Athens stock exchange. At least, that’s the advice from Irish securities firm Merrion Capital.
PLY: Sensible suggestion, especially as Helex will make money on any restructuring transactions for government bonds and management is sound.
A full table of current analysis can be found on our Analyst Ratings page which is updated daily.
Other stories
Statement At Open Meeting On Pay Ratio, SEC Chair Mary Jo White, Aug. 5, 2015
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Statement On Pay Ratio Disclosure, SEC Commissioner Kara M. Stein, Aug. 5, 2015
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