For those that missed the weekend, Pokemon Go seems to be quite the thing this summer albeit, things in Turkey got a bit out of hand. Plus ca change, Britain dominates the Tour de France and the snowflakes are still struggling to cope with the realpolitik of Brexit. Happy Holidays.
We hit 205 days to the DB1-LSE antitrust danger zone with news the works council of DB1 is applying the sort of astute deal assessment which would, in more normal companies, come from the management.
Back to Brexit, I burst some of the biggest myths last week which prevail amongst the snowflakes and mainstream media still clinging desperately to the notion that Britain is about to disintegrate. The latest Premium post is Brexit Mythbusters: Northern Ireland. (You can now access my Brexit files in Premium through this contents directory: Brexit – Main File). More to follow as the situation develops…
Public Markets
New UK Fin Min To Fight Euro Clearing Protectionism (subscription)
Tim Wallace – Daily Telegraph
PLY: The nakedly protectionist instinct of Buba/ECB/EU writ large on clearing will not benefit anybody if pursued.
DB1 Works Council: New Deal Required
European Online
PLY: The DB1 works council pragmatically does the job of management in noting the large flaws in the deal as negotiated in haste and clearly without much in the way of foresight or perspective.
QV Premium: DB1-LSE Merger Brief.
ING Shuts Institutional Brokerage In Poland Amid Market Malaise
Konrad Krasuski – Bloomberg
PLY: Sad to see the Polish “market malaise” continuing but the continued interventionist approach of government is frightening investors away.
Buy Side Focuses on Order Routing
Shanny Basar – Marketsmedia
Consultancy Greenwich Associates report large institutions are shifting trading volume to algorithmic avenues of execution which has kept the overall commission pool flat. The annual pool of cash equity commissions paid by institutional investors to brokers on US equity trades was $9.65bn (€8.7bn), down more than 30% from its peak in 2009 but 4% more than the low of $9.3bn reported in 2013.
Mondovisione
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM and the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) entered into an MoU to facilitate cross-border activities and enhance regulatory collaboration between the two jurisdictions.
LME Says Ring Trading Moves To Emergency Venue After Offices Shut
Reuters
LME will move open outcry trading to its disaster recovery site in Chelmsford, east of London, on Monday and Tuesday because its offices have been closed due to a structural issue, the exchange said in a statement on Sunday.
The exchange, the world’s oldest and largest market for industrial metals, said a potential safety issue in the building that houses its offices on Finsbury Square in London’s financial district was discovered on Saturday.
PLY: Ooops one hopes the issue is not a dodgy metal girder as that could be embarrassing obviously, even though LME is merely a tenant in its new building.
Master Plan Implementation To address Retail Investors’ Challenges – SEC
Peter Egwuatu – Vanguard
NB That is SEC of Nigeria…
Private Markets
New Rules Force More Stock Brokers To Surrender Licences
Shahid Shah – The News
KARACHI: At least 12 stock brokers of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) have surrendered their Trading Rights Entitlement Certificates (TRECs) to the management as their business became tougher under new regulations.
EXIST In Talks With Turkey’s Neighbors To Merge Markets
Daily Sabah
Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) General Manager Hüseyin Savaş has said talks related to collaborating with energy markets in Turkey’s neighboring countries, in addition to European countries, and market mergers are still in progress.
Membership Verification Threatens NSE’s Ownership Change
Taofik Salako – The Nation Newspaper
A simmering disagreement between the council and management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and majority of its members over the accurate list of its members is threatening the implementation of the change in the ownership structure of Nigeria’s only stock exchange.
Nairobi Securities Exchange Can Now Run Derivatives Market
Geeska Afrika
…after receiving formal recognition as a self-regulating organisation from the Capital Markets Authority.
Nepse Extends Share Trading Hours To Four
Prahlad Rijal – The Kathmandu Post
Nepse has extended the trading hours from three to four hours, effective from Sunday.
The secondary market will now remain from 11:00am to 3:00pm.
Bitcoin Regulations Not Welcomed by Everyone in Bitcoin Community
newsBTC
There are a set of companies and organizations stressing for regulations in the Bitcoin sector , which an opposing camp believes will violate the very principles the digital currency is built on.
Regulating Blockchain: The Israeli Block In The Chain
Brian Worley – CoinReport
The recent, May 2016 resolution adopted by the European Parliament, a fairly conservative institution, to take a “hands-off” approach to the regulation of the Blockchain may signal a significant about-face in the approach towards Blockchain and Virtual Currencies (VCs).
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: BSE and FTIL up 2%, as others fear jail:
ED’s Arrest Of Jignesh Shah Sparks Fear Of Incarceration Among Other Accused
Ram Sahgal & Maulik – The Economic Times
The Enforcement Directorate’s arrest of Jignesh Shah, — promoter of the scam hit National Spot Exchange (NSEL) — appears to have sparked fears of similar incarceration among the other accused in the case.
Fast-track Court Set Up To Expedite NSEL Cases
Dilip Kumar Jha & Shrimi Choudhary – Business Standard
Following direction from the Bombay High Court, a sessions court in Mumbai on Friday set up a fast-track court for speedy disposal of National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL)-related cases.
QV Premium: NSEL Scandal Brief – Main File
Technology
Cinnober Chosen For Major Design Study
Mondovisione
Cinnober has signed an agreement with a major international exchange group to conduct a comprehensive design study for utilizing Cinnober’s technology for real-time clearing for listed derivatives as well as a complete CSD system.
PLY: Fascinating… Naturally we all wonder who it might be…
Osaka Bourse Revamping Derivatives Trading
Nikkei Asian Review
Next J-Gate can process orders, contracts and notices in 100 microseconds — 20 times as fast as its predecessor. It goes live this coming Tuesday.
SGX Outage Triggered By Hardware Issue: CEO
Channel News Asia
SGX Securities Market Reopens After Disruption
Aradhana Aravindan & Marius Zaharia – Reuters
SGX, Saying Sorry Is Not Good Enough
Goh Eng Yeo – The Straits Times
The “technology problem” that caused the shutdown of the securities market on Thursday was “triggered by hardware”, said Singapore Exchange (SGX) CEO Loh Boon Chye in a conference call on Friday (Jul 15).
Mr Loh clarified that SGX’s technology is supplied by Nasdaq, but did not say if the problem originated internally or from the vendor.
SGX To Transfer Regulation Unit To Subsidiary Company With Separate Board
Mondovisione
Singapore Exchange (SGX) will establish a separate subsidiary company (RegCo) to undertake all the front-line regulatory functions it currently performs. The move aims to further enhance the governance of SGX as a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) by making more explicit the segregation of its regulatory functions from its commercial and operating activities.
Blockchain Gains Inroads In India
Rachel Chitra – The Times Of India
Indian banks have started engaging in pilot projects on blockchain, banks are looking at private ledgers to reduce transaction costs, interchange fees, etc.
BNP’s Ex-Blockchain Lead Is Now Coding Smart Contracts For Clearinghouses
Michael del Castillo – CoinDesk
PLY: Article about Colin Platt of dPactum who was on my panel at the excellent ICDA Blockchain event in London a few months back.
Products
Jefferies, LendingClub Said to Eye Revival of Scuttled Bond Sale
Matt Scully – Bloomberg
Jefferies Group is again considering selling bonds backed by LendingClub Corp. consumer loans, after disclosure issues at the online lender scuttled an effort earlier this year.
CME Readies 6 Weekly FX Option Contracts For Electronic Trading
LeapRate
CME Group announced that effective Sunday, August 7, 2016 for trade date Monday, August 8, 2016, and pending all relevant CFTC regulatory review periods, Chicago Mercantile Exchange will make available its six (6) existing FX weekly options contracts for trading on CME Globex and for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort
Contracts to list:
- Mexican Peso/US Dollar (MXN/USD)
- Brazilian Real/US Dollar (BRL/USD)
- New Zealand Dollar/US Dollar (NZD/USD)
- Euro/British Pound (EUR/GBP)
- Euro/Japanese Yen (EUR/JPY)
- Euro/Swiss Franc (EUR/CHF)
TOCOM Has Announced That July 25th Will Be The Start Date Of New Gold Physical Transaction
Investor Village
Indexes
Shenzhen Securities InformationCo.,Ltd.And Euronext Sign An Index Cooperation
Mondovisione
Recently, Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd. (SSIC) and Euronext signed an Index Cooperation Agreement, signaling that the parties will develop exchange and promotion based on their respective index business and energetically carry out innovative cooperation in the field.
Career Paths
Following the completion of Nasdaq’s acquisition of ISE on June 30, 2016, Nasdaq, Inc. announced the election of seven additional directors to the Boards of The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, NASDAQ PHLX LLC and NASDAQ BX, Inc. and the election of sixteen directors to the Boards of the ISE, LLC and ISE Gemini, LLC and fifteen directors to the Board of ISE Mercury, LLC. Directors serve a one-year term.
SETL announced additional appointments to its board. Rachel Lomax, former Deputy Governor of the BoE and Ed Richards, former CEO of Ofcom, join the SETL board, following the appointment of Sir David Walker as SETL Chairman in December 2015. PLY: SETL also claim to have raised funding but didn’t provide any data on the round(s), investors or pre/post money valuation. Clearly some work needs to be done in achieving transparency via the Blockchain.
Paul Richardson, a 14 year veteran of the FCA has now departed CME Europe as Chief Regulatory Officer according to FOW.
ICE has reshuffled management for its European franchise, appointing Stuart Williams as COO for its futures exchange, effective immediately. He was previously director of corporate development.
Financial Calendar
19.07 – IBKR Q2 2016 Results
19.07 – SEC – Advisory Committee On Small & Emerging Companies
20.07 – ICDA Cyber Risk London Conference
20.07 – Record date WSE 2015 PLN 2.36 dividend
21.07 – Adjourned WSE Ordinary General Meeting to resume proceedings
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Share Notes
IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc. (ICE) Shares Bought by AMP Capital Investors Ltd
Mideast Time
Consumer Eagle
Analyst Notes
Tullett Prebon “buy” Rating reiterated by Numis – 450 Target Price
A full table of current analysis can be found on our Analyst Ratings page which is updated daily.
Crowdfunding
Do Crowdfunding Investors Need Better Protection?
Jim Atkins – iExpats.com
Crowdfunding watchdogs want to tighten up the rules to protect peer-to-peer lenders and equity investors. As the value of crowdfunding investments increases with more than 100 platforms completing deals worth £2.7 billion last year, the Financial Conduct Authority wants to check the market is safe for lenders and backers.
PLY: A clear risk now appears to be counterparty…
A Case Of Regulatory Evolution: A Review Of The UK FCA’s Approach To Crowdfunding
Robert Wardrop & Tania Ziegler – Crowdfund Insider
Across Europe, crowdfunding is quickly moving from a fringe funding instrument to becoming a mainstream – nance channel, connecting “crowds” to fund businesses, projects and individuals
Indications Of Interest For Crowdcube Share Offer Now at £50 Million
JD Alois – Crowdfund Insider
Crowdcube, the UKs largest investment crowdfunding platform by amount of capital raised, will launch its most recent self-crowdfunding round this coming Tuesday.
Other stories
ESMA Updates Its Q&A Document On Prospectus Related Issues
Mondovisione
Turkish Business World Condemns Attempted Coup
Hurriyet Daily News
Turkey’s business world has condemned the July 15 attempted coup and voiced support for the country’s democracy, democratic institutions and national will.