A high rise soiree from TMX following a CBOE FTSE Russell Index briefing brought London IDX week to a close last evening while in the world of markets themselves, folks are almost giddy at the idea of a whole 100 basis point Bund yield while Greece continues to hog headlines but avoid productive, reasoned solutions…
Plus 500 takeover vote in mid-July, Mary Schapiro joins the LSE board as the US pivot continues. DB1 launches venture network while NFX gears up for (re-)launch. Various interesting clearing snippets as Marex Spectron is up for sale. All this and much more to end another frantic week in market structure…
Conference News:
Next week it’s FESE Convention (June 18). Registrations close today. I look forward to chairing the opening panel about the vital topic of SME financing.
Meanwhile looking ahead to September, 17th, Young Markets, the forum for new markets and innovation, organised by myself is back, in Warsaw. Another highlight coming up: September 23rd it’s SFOA Burgenstock in Geneva which continues to enjoy an upswing in interest as Dan Day-Robinson is re-energising the association: Register now.
Exchange Invest Premium, is on a roll discussing market failures, oversights and ugly stuff this week which will doubtless roll into next week too:
New! Will the Plus500 Takeover Survive?
New! Dear Carsten – An Open Letter to the New DB1 CEO
Meanwhile, Premium Briefs keep you abreast of various industry issues, updated daily, condensing past stories from our daily bulletins. All topics covered can be found on our dedicated Briefs page via Exchange Invest Premium.
The latest include:
Plus500 Turmoil & Deal – Brief – Part 1, Part 2 New!
SunGard IPO Brief
HKEx – SSE – Stock Connect Brief Part 4
BBY Collapse – Brief
Saudi Arabia Opening Capital Markets – Brief
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Today in Exchange Invest:
Public Markets
Plus500 Shareholders To Vote On Playtech Deal July 16
Maria Nikolova – LeapRate
At the SGM, shareholders will vote on the proposed acquisition of Plus500 by Playtech, with the broker’s board recommending the deal with Odey (holding over 25%) expected to vote against the 400p cash bid.
Plus500 Believes That The Merger Proposal Is Fair
Directors Talk Interviews
Read our Premium Plus500 Turmoil & Deal – Brief – Part 1, Part 2
DB1 Launches Venture Network To Fund Young Growth Companies
DB1
Programme designed to connect growth companies and professional investors/ 27 growth companies and 42 investors already active on the platform.
PLY: An interesting venture. Private, so less danger than the NeuerMarkt which ended up in the wake of dotcom collapse as a platform no insider wanted to risk their career supporting in the face of significant investor anger at losses.
Mary Schapiro To Join LSE Board
Chad Bray – NY Times
The appointment of Ms. Schapiro to LSE’s board comes as it makes a major push into the US.
PLY: LSE extends its hiring of members of the political regulatory complex to the other side of the Atlantic. A big name hire for the Group.
MCX Invites Bid For Sale Of Its Warrants In MSEI
The Economic Times
Racing against time, commodity exchange MCX made a fresh attempt to sell warrants held by it in Metropolitan SE which expire June 19th
PLY: Time decay is eroding any value, especially as the paperwork would likely take a few days anyway…
Previously discussed here and here.
Nasdaq Claims Clearing Costs ‘Half Of CME’
Elliott Holley – Banking Technology
Clearing costs at Nasdaq’s new NFX futures venue will be half those on rival CME, the exchange claims. NFX is due to launch later this summer.
PLY: The proof of the pudding will be in the eating but at least re-energising NFX is a good move and the acute cost conscious approach of management under Hans-Ole Jochumsen gives NASDAQ a lot of optionality going forward without spending huge sums of money.
NFX Clamoring For Houston Energy Companies
Suzanne Edwards – Houston Business Journal
Nasdaq is gearing up to launch its new exchange NFX over the next few months (announced in March), and that includes courting Houston’s major energy companies for support and interest in trading futures on the new exchange.
Dubai Capable Of Hosting Renminbi Clearing
Want China Times
Essa Kazim, Chairman Of the free zone DIFC authority, said the DIFC could become a clearing hub for the Chinese currency. Earlier in April this year, Qatar established the first renminbi clearing hub in the Middle East in Doha.
Read our Premium China Capital Markets Transformation Brief – Main File.
Clearstream To Offer Settlement & Custody For Mexican “Cebures”
DB1
Mexican corporate debt now eligible in Clearstream via its link to the Mexican central securities depository.
Trayport Connects To REGIS-TR For REMIT Reporting
DB1
Trayport extends its EMIR connectivity to REMIT by connecting to REGIS-TR’s Registered Reporting Mechanism (RRM).
SGX Says Some CDP Customers Received Erroneous Printed Monthly Statements
MondoVisione
SGX wishes to inform the public that some customers may have received erroneous May 2015 Central Depository (CDP) printed account statements.
HKEx – Cancellation Of Bonds & Full Conversion Of Outstanding Bonds
HKEx
An additional bond conversion and issuance of 24,022,166 shares, representing approximately 2.01% of the total shares in issue as at the date of this announcement (1,196,864,109 Shares), have been issued and credited as fully paid.
Read our Premium HKEx – Bonds Redemption Brief
Nairobi Securities Exchange Wins Big As Treasury Drops Tax
Kamau Muthoni – Standard Media
The Government has scrapped 5% Capital Gains Tax and introduced a 0.3% withholding tax in a bid to increase competitiveness in the stocks market.
Private Markets
Marex Spectron Up For Sale
Reuters
Marex Spectron, majority owner by PE firm JRJ Group, is up for sale, four years after the global energy and metals broker was formed from two different entities, four sources close to the company said.
PLY: Interesting. The commodity brokerage and trading industry is undergoing a lot of change currently, topics which I am sure will be on the agenda at Burgenstock in September.
‘KSE Not In Share Sale Talks With QSE’
Dawn
The MD of Karachi SE (KSE), Nadeem Naqvi, has dispelled rumours of advanced talks with the Qatar SE (QSE) for sale of 40% strategic shares in the demutualised KSE.
As Saudi Arabian Bourse Opens To Foreigners, Don’t All Rush At Once (subscription)
Steve Johnson – Financial Times
Saudi Arabia’s $530bn Tadawul stock exchange, the seventh largest in the emerging market world by capitalisation, will be opened up to foreign investors for the first time on Monday.
Read our Premium Saudi Arabia Opening Capital Markets – Brief
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: FTIL and MCX end the week essentially flat.
Technology
SEC Gives Green Light For New PSE Trading Engine
ABS CBN News
Philippine SE’s new NASDAQ sourced trading system is set to be launched June 22, after getting the green light from SEC, having been delayed from June 1st.
PSE said the launch of PSEtrade XTS (developed by Nasdaq) is slated for June 22. The new platform will replace the PSEtrade platform provided by NYSE Technologies.
BSE Eyes Trading Speed Of 20 Microseconds In Three Years
The Economic Times
BSE aims to increase the speed of trades on its platform to 20 microseconds in the next three years, which would be ten-times faster than the current speed.
BATS Preps Feeds For New EDGX Options Market (subscription)
Faye Kilburn – Waters Technology
BATS Global Markets is readying new market data feeds in conjunction with the launch of its second US options market (reported here), BATS EDGX Options Exchange, which is scheduled to launch on Nov. 2.
PLY: Another interesting move capturing the innovation zeitgeist of contemporary fintech.
Products
BME Launches TCA Service
MondoVisione
Rising Cost On U.S. Rate Swaps Raises Worries
Richard Leong – Reuters
A widening gap in the costs to hedge interest rate risk between platforms based in London and Chicago is generating losses for Wall Street dealers and creating concern about how well this corner of the bond market will respond when the Federal Reserve raises rates.
In the last month, dealers have frequently been forced to pay a costly premium on London’s LCH.Clearnet to offset their risk for facilitating interest rate swaps on smaller rival Chicago Mercantile Exchange on behalf of their clients.
PLY: Ongoing development which I hope to get time to discuss more next week in Premium!
Indexes
Nifty Futures Completes 15 Years
dna
Nifty futures, a key trading index of India, is completing 15 years of its existence today.
Career Paths
Mary Schapiro will join LSE Board as a NED with effect 1 July 2015. Mary brings considerable experience and a deep understanding of US financial markets, which will be of significant benefit to the Group as it expands its operations in North America.
Mary Schapiro has held senior regulatory positions including, from 2009 to 2012, the Chairman of SEC. She has also variously held the Chairmanships of FINRA, and its predecessor, the National Association of Securities Dealers Regulation, and CFTC. In these roles, Mary has made a significant contribution to shaping US financial regulatory policy as well as overseeing activity within the US financial markets.
In addition, LSE appointed David Weisbrod as the Group’s country head for the USA. Mr Weisbrod will continue in his position as CEO of LCH.Clearnet LLC.
At its constituent meeting in Leipzig, the Members of the Exchange Council of EPEX SPOT elected Peter Heydecker as their Chairman. They also designated Dr. Michael Redanz from MVV Trading, Mr Andrea Siri from Edison Trading, and Dr. Bernhard Walter from EnBW Trading as Vice-Chairmen of the Exchange Council. The Council also appointed the following permanent guests: Mr. Thorsten Dietz from Tennet TSO, Mr. Manfred Pils from APG, Mr. Stefan Sewckow from Trianel, and Mr. Jan Horst Keppler from Université Paris-Dauphine as academic counsel.
Financial Calendar
Record date Nasdaq $0.25 quarterly dividend – June 12
TMX $0.40 dividend payment – June 12
Next week
Thomson Reuters $0.335 quarterly dividend payment – June 15
Record date ICE $0.75 Q2 2015 dividend – June 16
MOEX RUB 3.87 dividend payment – June 16
CBOE $0.21 quarterly cash dividend payment – June 19
FESE Convention – Oslo – June 17-18
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Share Notes
Lending Club Director Rebecca Lynn sold 450,000 shares Tuesday, June 9th at an average price of $16.91 (bargain $7,609,500.00).
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