May 18 2016

elb2 Just over a week and I will be speaking at the Finance Malta May 25/26 on a FinTech theme.

Meanwhile the FESE Convention, is upcoming at the same venue, Malta, 15/16th June (and don’t forget the First CEE CMU Capital Markets Summit, chaired by me, Patrick L Young, with the 2nd CEE Capital Markets Awards that evening September 15th, Warsaw).

New Premium Post today, we unveil: 2016 Year In Exchange Invest: Winners as part of our ongoing birthday celebrations.

I am out of the office today at a university faculty conference and then have the exams for my “Startups & Entrepreneurships” class. Back in time for EST PM.

Public Markets

LSE To Hold DB1 Merger Vote In July

Anjuli Davies – Reuters

Both exchanges “continue to make good progress with the preparation of the relevant documentation for their shareholders in relation to the recommended all-share merger,” LSEG & DB1 said in a joint statement.

QV Premium: DB1-LSE Merger Brief

EU, U.S. Race to Spare Banks $5 Billion Clearing Capital Hit

Silla Brush – Bloomberg

EU, U.S. regulators strive to reach agreement before June 15.

LME Profits Rise 160% As Fee Hike Offsets Falling Trading Volumes (subscription)

Metal Bulletin

LME recorded net profits of $108.57m in 2015, up 160% on the previous year, as an increase in trading fees, stronger market data sales and the disposal of a stake in LCH.Clearnet more than offset the commercial impact of a 4.5% drop in trading volumes.

LME To Extend Incentives To End-Clients (subscription)

FOW

LME will in June extend its programme of incentives to end-clients, in a bid to boost trading activity.

Electronic Trading Innovator Predicts Brokerage Industry Cull (subscription)

Robin Wigglesworth – Financial Times

Thomas Peterffy, the billionaire owner of Interactive Brokers and a pioneer of electronic markets, says there will be a huge cull of the US brokerage industry in years to come, triggered by falling revenues, rising costs and a mounting regulatory burden.

CFTC Moving To Amend Position Limits Rule (subscription)

Elizabeth Blosfield & Alexander Osipovich – Risk

CFTC is nearing completion of a new set of amendments to its controversial proposed rule on speculative position limits in commodity derivatives, sources say. The amendments – which will come in the form of a ‘supplemental proposed rule’ rather than a complete overhaul of the rule – are said to focus on the bona fide hedging exemptions available to end-users that use futures and swaps to manage their commodity price risk.

Fixing Rule Clashes On Derivatives & Capital Is EU Priority (subscription)

Tim Cave – Financial News

Reducing conflicts between new derivatives and capital requirement rules – as well as lowering reporting burdens for asset managers – are among the issues the European Commission wants to address as part of its sweeping review of post-crisis reforms.

MiFID II Delays Prompt ‘Wait & See’ Approach To Compliance

Hayley McDowell – The Trade

The delay in the publication of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) for MiFID II has led to an increased ‘wait and see’ sentiment to compliance, according to new research.

GreySpark Partners wrote up its findings in a paper looking at the delays to MiFID II and the effects it has had on financial markets companies.

Nasdaq Prices €600m Senior Notes Offering

MondoVisione

PLY: Great rate if you can get it: 1.75%, redemption 2023.

Private Markets

SBI Puts Its 5% Stake In NSE Up For Sale

Jayshree P. Upadhyay & Swaraj Singh Dhanjal – Deal Street Asia

State Bank of India (SBI) has invited bids from investors to sell its 5% stake in the National Stock Exchange (NSE), according to a request for proposal floated by the lender. SBI has hired SBI Capital Markets to manage the bidding process for the stake sale. The bank and SBI Capital Markets together hold nearly 15% of NSE. The stake sale could fetch SBI around Rs.900 crore (USD 134m) (resulting a USD 2.68b valuation for the exchange).

PLY: Fascinating business NSE, I have done Due Diligence in the past on the exchange.

DSE’s IPO Staged For Oversubscription

allAfrica

Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) IPO that seeks to raise 7.5bn (USD 3.42m) kicked off amid experts’ anticipation for full or oversubscription.

The bourse, scheduled for self-listing in the next three weeks at the main investment market, wants to off load 30% of its total shares to the public.

The primary offer allows local and foreign investors to buy 15 million shares at 500/- each and 10% green shoe option, meaning that in case of oversubscription, the firm may collect up to 8.25bn (USD 3.87m).

PLY: Good news for the Dar Es Salaam IPO.

Dividend News

CME declared Q2 dividend of $0.60, payable June 27, 2016, record date June 10, 2016.

ITG declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.07, payable on June 14, 2016, record date May 31, 2016.

HKEX – Scrip Dividend Scheme in relation to the Final Dividend for the year ended 31 December 2015 – Calculation of Market Value – here.

Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads

PLY: MCX flat, FTIL off 1%.

Career Paths

Montréal Exchange appointed Luc Fortin as MD, Derivatives Trading, effective June 27, 2016. Most recently, he served as MD, Canadian Head of the Institutional Client Group at HSBC Bank Canada.

Financial Calendar

18.05 – CME 2016 AGM

18.05 – Record date Oslo Bors NOK 4.15 dividend

19.05 – Record date ENX €1.24 yearly gross dividend

19.05 – Record date Thomson Reuters $0.34 quarterly dividend

19.05 – Tullett Prebon 11.25p final 2015 dividend payment

20.05 – ENX €1.24 yearly gross dividend payment

20.05 – NZX AGM

New! – 22.06 – BGC Partners AGM 2016 – press release.

All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.

Crowdfunding

Isle of Man Opens The Door To Crowdfunding Platforms

Monira Matin – International Adviser

The Isle of Man has introduced new legislation to regulate crowdfunding platforms in a bid to attract more of the P2P lending startups to the island.

PLY: Good move by the Isle of Man.

LendingClub Now Targeted In Shareholder Lawsuit

Reuters

In a complaint filed late Monday in San Francisco federal court, the plaintiff Steeve Evellard said LendingClub misled shareholders into believing its internal controls were strong enough to stop questionable lending practices and ensure proper disclosures to customers.

PLY: Ambulance chasers on the hunt to help the banks reel in the P2P industry which is a future arm of finance and at the same time a huge concern for both conventional lenders and central bankers alike…