Issue 912 -marking the short-lived 1600 cc entry level 911 from the 1960’s…
Thanks to the many well wishers who sent messages about our move to Malta. Day One involved rain (egad!) while the locals are suffering climactic depression disorder and after a week in Poland it still strikes us as somewhat balmy.
Great job last night by Ron Attard, Simon Barberi and the EY Malta team who organised with 100 Women in Finance a super soiree discussing Malta’s attractiveness. Many thanks for the invitation.
In Video
FinTech, PLY, “Victory or Death” – view if you are interested in the future of finance!
In Today’s Exchange Invest
BSE prices IPO at 805-806. LSE denies job moves, upending a century of M&A lore, Turkish President opens new Borsa Istanbul offices, Blackrock’s Fink appears to strike discordant notes on where the world is headed and much more…
In BigWorld
It’s Davos, where a broad swathe of mostly self-centred, insufferable and largely irrelevant classes of delusional linearist corporate types (“jobsworths for the boys” as it were), gather and compare notes on how awful it is that the darned voters aren’t willing to follow their ill-conceived corporate socialist plans to continue a flawed status quo. Never before has the Davos meeting looked so utterly irrelevant – even the politicians are broadly avoiding the event this year it seems, which goes with the zeitgeist, an event which struggled for relevance is now simply outmoded.
Haven’t seen Donald Trump offering to build a wall to keep the troughers in Davos and prevent them from getting back to the real world (in their case, peripherally I suppose). Anyway, I’m broadly in support if anybody can manage it! This is a lateral changing fast paced world and “Davos Man” is simply irrelevant to the future, despite many having levers to capital in their possession. It’s the ending of an era but like all parties, it will doubtless carry on for some years to come, with everybody oblivious to the fact the world has left them broadly obsolete. If not already, some day they will have a cracking hangover though…
Public Markets
London Stock Exchange Hits Back At Claims Frankfurt Will Seize Jobs From The City After Merger
Telegraph.co.uk
PLY: This would be the same London Stock Exchange which championed the shangri-la notion of benefits from cross-border margin offsets, presumably.
DB1-LSE Merger Make Markets Healthier: Blackrock
Reuters
“Sceptics of this merger must consider the need for stronger capital markets in Europe – as well as the ways the alliance could in fact benefit competition by deepening access to capital on the continent,” Blackrock Chairman Laurence Fink said in a speech at a Deutsche Boerse reception on Monday.
PLY: It’s understandable the second biggest shareholder in DB1, itself a “massive passive” of the kind which is inherently threatened by the ongoing effects of Capital Market Revolution will push a bloated monopolist status quo. The blacksmiths of 2016 want to be all part of one big forge which is unable to deal with the small, new and innovative in a nanotech world.
DB1 used to be (or at least EUREX and some other components certainly were) a fast, responsive enterprise – nowadays the whole enterprise looks rather becalmed…and expect that to be an enterprise “lost at sea” when we must all hope this merger of equal desperation is killed off before it can exercize a dubious monopoly over European markets.
NB Mr Fink went on to offer support for Angela Merkel’s re-election saying she has delivered “moral leadership.” IMHO Mr Fink is delusional, Merkel is a fifth rate political pygmy who has a curious svengali-like hold on parts of the German electorate while achieving less than nothing.
Meanwhile slightly off topic but useful background is this gem from FT AlphaVille pertaining to BlackRock and executive pay: Let he who has increased wages in line with their CEO’s salary cast the first BlackRock.
Alex Brummer: The Frankfurt Ruse
This Is Money
PLY Given the likely move to be firm but fair with the EU from the UK government being signalled this week by a speech from PM Theresa May, I think Brummer’s voice is being heard in Westminster…
UK Urged to Split Euro Clearing Business with European Central Bank
Finance Magnates
PLY: At first glance, a logical and pragmatic potential solution offering joint supervision of Euro markets so they ECB can have a window onto what is happening in the CCPs.
Private Markets
BSE IPO: Shares To Be Priced At Rs805-806 Apiece
Livemint
Asia’s Oldest Stock Exchange BSE May Raise $182 Million In IPO
Reuters
By comparison, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (0388.HK) has a market capitalization of nearly $30 billion…
PLY: …or the BSE market cap is in the region of Moodys recent fine…
BSE Starts Trading At Newly Launched India INX
Hindu Business Line
PLY: Plaudits to BSE on a smooth launch of their new venue oriented to international investors. It will be fascinating to see how GIFT City pans out.
Borsa İstanbul Group Launches New Office Buildings On Its 143rd Anniversary
Exchange News Direct
Borsa İstanbul Group participations Takas İstanbul, Merkezi Kayıt İstanbul and Gold Custody Center were launched with a ceremony participated by President Erdogan.
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
Kotak Mahindra Stake Buy In MCX Under Lens (Exclusive)
Moneycontrol.com
This is part of the SFIO’s investigation into the scam at NSEL in 2013…
Technology
Bond RfQ Platform Ready For Simulation, Timeline For Vendor Integration
Eurex Bonds
Eurex Bonds will introduce a Request for Quote (RfQ) platform for negotiation of trades on 3 April 2017.
PLY: Good.
Moscow Exchange Temporarily Halts Trading On Stock Exchange Platform
Reuters
High-Speed Traders Are Taking Over Bitcoin
Bloomberg
“It’s the golden age to be in the bitcoin market, because it’s imperfect,” says Bitcoin trader Zhou [Shuoji], a former IBM technology consultant whose firm, Fintech Blockchain Group, runs a bitcoin hedge fund and venture capital fund.
PLY: An elegant contrast with Davos.
Products
BSE: Six New Companies Join SEE Link Indices
Novinite.com
Six new companies have joined the indices of the regional stock exchange platform SEE Link, the Bulgarian Stock Exchange announced.
PLY: Great to see yet more progress with the EBRD backed SEE Link.
Career Paths
Appointment Of VP & Chief Regulatory Officer Of Bourse De Montréal
Exchange News Direct
Montréal Exchange announced the appointment of Julie Rochette as VP and CRO
Street Food: Three Ravis of National Stock Exchange (India)
Business Standard
Though it might not have been so apparent, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a significant amount of human resource churn over the past few years.
Crowdfunding
Funerals Paid For By Crowdfunding Are On The Rise
BBC News
Other Stories
JPMorgan Wants to Prove You’re Getting the Best Currency Trade
Bloomberg
PLY: Good idea for best ex in a very fraught and deeply untrusted market.
Day Two of Realtor Blitzkrieg in Malta…
Thanks as always for reading Exchange Invest and have a great day.
Best wishes,
Patrick
Patrick L Young
Executive Director DV Advisors