PLY: DB1 not only seeks to stay in the lead group of the pyramid of markets but targets a top 2 position – #ambitious.
Once again the astute & informed commentary on Blockchain has been heartening overnight – almost entirely in contrast to the mainstream media. To be fair, it’s tough to keep up with all the innovation actually happening and separate it from the froth, I do sympathise. That’s why I created Exchange Invest because the market infrastructure industry needed an informed, cohesive voice. Thanks to one of my favourites Blockchainers who gets it for noting how Dilbert summed things up perfectly. The opportunity is there, many are working on the future but most are outside the limelight.
Interesting nuggets in Exchange Invest Daily today, for those who enjoy ongoing narratives, Barclays is paying out to settle past behaviour once again while there are remarkable results from BM&FBovespa, to wit:
Public Markets
MondoVisione
vs Q4 2014: net revenues 543.2 R$ mln (USD 135 mln), up 1.8%, operating income 329.8 R$ mln (USD 82 mln), up 16.5%, adjusted net income 534.1 R$ mln, up 43.1% (USD 133 mln).
PLY: Particularly impressive results given the rather uncomfortable ripping noise in the firmament of the Brazilian economy recently.
DB1 CEO Says Volatility Has Been Helpful (Video)
Bloomberg
DB1 Aims For Top With Integrated Business Model
Reuters
DB1 (2015 results yesterday) has set its sights on becoming one of the top two global players in its main business areas, profiting from better integration of its trading, clearing and settlement activities.
PLY: Good to see an ambitious target, although that means pretty much doubling the market cap of DB1 at the current level if it is to be valued at the same level as CME & ICE battle it out (as I type CME circa $30.8 bln, ICE at $29 billion). I still believe DB1 is fundamentally undervalued compared with peers (both above and below in the pyramid) and the market does not account well for its depth of clearing and settlement resources, let alone other franchises.
Plus500 Insists It Faces No Further FCA Scrutiny
Ben Martin – Daily Telegraph
Gal Haber, the boss of Plus500, has insisted the spread-betting firm does not face further regulatory scrutiny despite a recent warning shot fired by FCA at the entire CFD industry.
PLY: Coming soon, can we expect a Blockchain initiative from Plus500?
Finra CEO: IEX `Speed Bump’ Seems To Comply With Rules
Dave Michaels – Bloomberg
IEX’s proposal to briefly pause incoming orders is probably consistent with rules that seek to ensure a fair and competitive trading environment, Rick Ketchum, FINRA CEO, said Wednesday. Regulations “should be sufficiently flexible” to accommodate IEX’s proposal as long as the delay is fully disclosed and found to benefit investors, he added.
PLY: Let IEX in and let the market decide on their innovative approach.
Barclays To Pay $50 Mln To End U.S. Currency Rigging Lawsuit
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
Barclays agreed to pay $50 million to settle a U.S. lawsuit claiming it rigged its FX trading system to reject client orders that would be unprofitable for the British bank.
The preliminary, all-cash settlement with investors led by Axiom Investment Advisors was disclosed in papers filed on Wednesday night in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, and requires a judge’s approval.
PLY: Gosh it’s been days since Barclays settled anything…surely the pace of litigation could not finally be slowing down?
LME
LME Hopes To Weather Tough Times At New HQ
Rob Davies – The Guardian
Garry Jones vows to ‘ride the ups and downs’ as the new floor is unveiled.
PLY: I look forward to a visit to add to my pretty considerable list of visited open outcry venues. The ring continues to make sense so long as its multi-purpose activity delivers global benchmarks.
SGX Not Ruling Out M&A To Grow (subscription)
Alec Macfarlane – Financial News
The recently appointed CEO of SGX, Loh Boon Chye, said he is open to expanding the business through mergers and acquisitions, if they can help deliver on the priorities he laid out in 2015 when he took the helm at the Asian bourse.
PLY: Interesting.
SGX CEO Calls For More Cooperation With HKEx (subscription)
Ben Westcott – SCMP
Cooperation can be more important than competition for Asia’s stock markets. SGX CEO Loh Boon Chye said working together could grow the pie, but remained quiet on further moves into China by the exchange.
PLY: Also interesting.
CFTC
CFTC
Private Markets
LBMA Aims To Increase Its Power To Act
Platts
LBMA’s vision is to increase its power to be able to act, as a voice of the market, and represent its members should the need arise, CEO Ruth Crowell told Platts Wednesday.
LBMA said earlier this month that five service providers had made the final cut to submit a “request for proposal” to increase transparency in the London bullion market, widely believed to be CME, LME, ICE, Autilla/Cinnober and Markit/ABS.
New Arrangement In BIST Equity Market Midday Session
MondoVisione
Dividend News
BM&FBOVESPA decided not to pay additional dividends/ interest on capital since it had approved distributions of IOC in Dec’15, which together with previous distributions in 2015 amounted to R$1,242.6 mln (USD 308 mln), which represent a 73.3% payout of the net income attributed to BM&FBOVESPA shareholders, excluding impairment expenses and nonrecurring impacts related to the CME.
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: MCX flat, FTIL 84.80 -0.70 (-0.82%)
EOW Says NSEL Scam Was ‘Economic Genocide’
N Sundaresha Subramanian – Business Standard
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police on Thursday opposed the anticipatory bail plea of Jignesh Shah, founder of NSEL, its largest trader, Jagmohan Garg and other accused at the high court, alleging they had committed ‘economic genocide’ on thousands of investors through forgery and criminal conspiracy. It pressed for custodial interrogation of the accused, saying the money trail was yet to be established.
PLY: “Economic genocide.” Harsh but fair many observers will be inclined to say.
Technology
Mutiny At The Mast: No Plain Sailing For Kent HFT Tower (subscription)
James Rundle – Financial News
An application by a Canadian trading firm to build a 1,000-foot radio mast in rural England has hit opposition from local residents concerned both by its height and the failure of the company to address safety concerns.
PLY: NIMBIES, the hidden army lurking in every British suburb.
Warning: Unauthorised Use Of ESMA’s Identity & Logo
MondoVisione
Products
NYSE Arca Expands Market Making Program for ETPs to Deliver Deeper Liquidity
BUSINESS WIRE
NYSE announced the addition of RBC Capital Markets as a Lead Market Maker (LMM) on NYSE Arca, deepening the pool of liquidity for ETPs.
New Bond Rules Target Large Broker Fees (subscription)
Andrew Ackerman – Wall Street Journal
Finra expected to finalize rules soon in an effort to push for price transparency.
Treasuries Prove Fertile Ground for High-Speed Arbitrage
Alexandra Scaggs – Bloomberg
Arbitrage is alive and well in the $13.2 trillion Treasury market. It just requires computing power, as well as a presence in futures markets.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysts found one big way volatile markets differ from calm ones: the ultra-fast trading that happens between securities. Algorithmic traders that maintain tight price linkages between markets are significantly more active when price moves are turbulent.
PLY: Is the lesser spotted backwardation an endangered species thanks to digital development in Bond markets?
SGX Consults On Changes To Derivatives Rules & Contract Specifications
SGX
RBI, Sebi To Extend Currency Futures Trading Time
Saikat Das – The Economic Times
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in association with Sebi, is set to extend the currency futures trading time to 7.30 pm daily for three cross currency pairs — euro-dollar, pound-dollar and yen-dollar.
Sebi Unearths Stock Options Scam
dna
Sebi barred 22 entities, mostly brokers, from the securities market for allegedly pocketing illicit gains through manipulation of illiquid stock options.
Indexes
CME Launched E-mini IPOX 100 U.S. Index Futures
PRNewswire
The futures contract will be available for trading on the CME Globex electronic trading platform effective March 7, 2016, pending all relevant regulatory review periods.
Career Paths
FT reports that Barclays is expected to tell staff on Friday that Tom King will quit as head of its investment bank in two weeks.
FT reports that Tom Spender and Patrick Spens will leave FCA.
AX Trading announced that industry veteran Tom O’Mara has joined the firm’s Advisory Board.
Economia reports that PwC has hired Patrick Spens to help consider the implications and possible applications for blockchain technology in the financial services industry.
SIFMA announced that the members of the Engage China coalition have agreed the Honorable Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. will take over as Chairman. Mr. Bentsen is currently President & CEO of SIFMA and CEO of Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA).
Financial Calendar
Next week
23.02 – CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee Meeting
24.02 – NZX Preliminary 2015 Full Year Results
25.02 – WSE Annual Report 2015
25.02 – CFTC’s Energy & Environmental Markets Advisory Committee
26.02 – Record date TMX $0.40 dividend
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Other stories
EESC Supports An Effective CMU But Raises Concerns About Relevance For SMEs
MondoVisione
PLY: Good example of Brussels Blob. I am still not sure what EESC is – as there are various possible acronyms… Sound headline but difficult to work out just who said it and what their granular approach is.
MondoVisione