Bondcube is the first new fixed income platform to fail. Meanwhile, PSE – seriously – may have made it to near majority ownership of the local bond exchange. Martin Wheatley demonstrates just why he needs to leave FCA with a stupendous lack of self awareness in a public outburst. NASDAQ & NYSE working on sensible mutual support network lest either has a closing auction glitch. Euronext has a good day in court with judgements backing most of its claims.
Happy scrolling:
Public Markets
Martin Wheatley Still Has ‘Unfinished Business’ At FCA
The Independent
PLY: There are many practitioners who would argue that a major problem for modern capitalism has been the rising of a smug blob class of highly paid but either counterproductive, or simply ineffective, aloof and remote, ‘regulators’ who “shoot first and ask questions later” as Mr Wheatley famously mused when offering a few low latency bullets into his own foot. Mr Wheatley’s clear annoyance at the temerity of the UK Finance Minister to replace a man who had become a liability to making markets better, offers a fascinating insight. I am no big fan of Chancellor George Osborne but he is spot on replacing Mr Wheatley – the question now is can anybody create a viable culture for the FCA or will we have another 5 year spell of disorganisation concluded with political shuffling of agencies to cover up the failure?
One final thought – if an outgoing bank CEO stood up at an AGM and lambasted those who had not renewed his contract, what would the FCA do about it?
PSE Firms Up PDS Buyout Deal With BAP
Doris Dumlao-Abadilla – Inquirer
PSE Closes Deal For Majority Stake In Fixed Income Exchange
Business World
After calling a halt in its own shares, PSE announced that it had finalized a deal to buy the 28.91% stake held by the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP) and some member-banks in PDS for P650.55 mln (USD 14.35 mln), equating to a total enterprise value of P2.25 billion (USD 49.6 mln). This deal hikes its interest in PDS Group to nearly 50%. The stock reopened today.
The deal with BAP makes the PSE the single biggest shareholder of the PDS with a 49.89% interest. SGX is the second biggest PDS shareholder at 20%. Other stockholders are Computershare Technology Services (8%); Tata Consultancy Services Asia (8%); The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (4%); San Miguel Corp. (4%); Financial Executive Institute of the Philippines (3.1%); Social Security System (1.5%); Investment House Association of the Philippines (1.1%); and Golden Astra Capital (0.4%).
Read our Premium PSE – PDEx Merger Brief.
DB1 Backed Bondcube Files For Liquidation Three Months After Launching
John Detrixhe – Bloomberg
Bondcube was 30% owned by DB1, which provided two rounds of investment. It went live for fixed-income trading in the U.S. and Europe in April.
Read our Premium post On Bonds & SEFs and Premium brief The Bond Platforms Rush Part 1, Part 2.
PLY: Disappointment all round while the demise of one platform at the top of the market presages a blood bath amongst many other fresh faced, and frankly naive with their assumptions, new entrants to the nascent electronic fixed income segment…
NYSE, Nasdaq Plan To Back Up Each Other’s Closing Auctions
Reuters
NYSE & Nasdaq said on Wednesday that they are working on a framework that will allow them to back up each other’s closing auctions if they are interrupted by a technical glitch.
Previous discussions on Nasdaq closing auction here.
Euronext Wins Court Case VS. TOM & Binckbank
Euronext
Euronext welcomes the verdict by the District Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, in the proceedings on the merits against TOM and BinckBank, which upheld Euronext’s claim that TOM had breached its various intellectual property rights by trademark infringement, database infringement, breach of contract and publishing misleading information and activities for investors.
PLY: It didn’t all go Euronext’s way but the plaintiff clearly had much the better day. TOM needs to rethink strategy which has clearly been strong in single names.
Beijing’s Stock Rescue Has $800 Billion Bark, Small Market Bite
Reuters
Public statements, media reports and market data reveal that Beijing unleashed 5 trillion yuan ($805.2 billion) in funds – equivalent to nearly 10% of China’s GDP in 2014 and greater than the 4 trillion yuan it committed in response to the global financial crisis – to calm a savage share sell-off.
MondoVisione
SEBI Seeks Finance Ministry Guidance On FPI Participation In Commodity Derivatives
Shishir Sinha – The Hindu Business Line
Private Markets
Black Money: Billion-Dollar Worth ‘Tax Evasion Shops’ Busted, Says Sebi’s UK Sinha
Financial Express
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: MCX and FTIL flat, as SEBI eagerness to bust tax evasion doesn’t trickle through to resolving the NSEL debacle.
Technology
NY Regulator Sends Message To Symphony (subscription)
Ben McLannahan & Gina Chon – Financial Times
In a letter on Wednesday to David Gurle, CEO of Symphony Communication Services, the New York Department of Financial Services asked it to clarify how its tool would allow firms to erase their data trails, potentially falling foul of laws on record-keeping.
Previous discussions re. Symphony earlier this week.
PLY: Given New York is also busy banning Uber I am left wondering whether the city which never sleeps is in danger of being asleep at the wheel of digital technology.
MOEX To Release New Version Of FX System ASTS
Maria Nikolova – LeapRate
Scheduled for July 27, 2015.
The Blockchain Revolution Gets Endorsement In Wall Street Survey
Matthew Leising – Bloomberg
Bitcoin supporters argue the software that makes the digital currency possible could accelerate trading on Wall Street. A new survey suggests financial-services professionals are on board.
More about the blockchain adoption movement earlier this week.
Indexes
FTSE Russell Introduces First 50% Currency Hedged Index Series
MondoVisione
KRX Publishes KOSDAQ 150 Index, A New Benchmark Index Of KOSDAQ Market
MondoVisione
Career Paths
UK Police Drop Investigation Into Tradition (subscription)
Financial News
Financial Calendar
Today
NASDAQ OMX Q2 2015 Financial Results
Complimentary webinar, “The Emergence of the LCH-CME Basis Swap” at 11.30am EDT/4.30pm BST – details here
Tomorrow – “Asian Exchange Forum”,Taipei, hosted by TWSE
New – Dubai Financial Market BoD’ Meeting – Monday 27 July 2015, at 2:00 PM at Borse Dubai
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Other stories
Greece To Show What Happens When A Stock Market Isn’t A Market
Nikos Chrysoloras, Sofia Horta E Costa & John Detrixhe – Bloomberg
Is a market really a market if buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell freely?
PLY: Having redefined all manner of terms to be more politically correct including bankruptcy, the clear problem from Brussels’ rather warped perspective is the definition of market…
WFE Survey – Exchanges See Rising Investor Interest In Sustainability
MondoVisione
A World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) survey shows investors are increasingly studying the sustainability practices and policies of companies as a factor in their investment decisions.
PLY: Hmmm, interesting deployment of statistics to suggest the world has moved all tree hugging and hippy? In truth ‘sustainable’ investment means different things to different people but given the narrow church WFE has only 56 members, are these data really crunchy or just a sign of blob bureaucrats justifying their spending? Of the 56 members, just 22 said they had received enquiries in the broad church of environment, social, corporate governance matters with a fraction of that seeing increasing interest.
At a time when the credibility of WFE has become somewhat disconnected from its grandiose title, is sending out such weak messages with underwhelming endorsement, another sign of the increasing irrelevance of this narrowly focussed body claiming global reach?