Free markets epitomise freedom. Without these core aspects of liberty, our society is rapidly inclined towards a return of feudalism. Those who hide behind a barbarian regressive and extremist fundamentalism deserve a unified show of contempt – in our parish we must deliver with economic growth for all. Wherever terrorism takes place – and our thoughts are clearly with Paris today – our markets must stand united with all those who adhere to civilised society. Markets, as was so delightfully evident at last week’s MV Exchange Forum in London, are inclusive of anybody who wishes to improve their society. In delivering prosperity & growth from the multilateral origins of the wondrous broad church of markets reading just this newsletter alone, we can deliver a better world and do our bit to end the threat of any barbarians who fundamentally twist human decency to pursue their disgusting goals riven with bigotry, and hatred. They must not succeed.
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The deal firmament is moving into hyperdrive – today’s Sesame Street letter is “C” for “Chi-X Canada” & “CETIP”…and this is only the start to what may yet prove an unprecedented of deal flow well into next year.
Public Markets
Nasdaq Said In Talks To Acquire Chi-X Canada Market
Annie Massa, Matthew Monks & Nick Baker – Bloomberg
A deal valuing Chi-X Canada at about $100 million could be announced within the next two weeks. Chi-X Global retained Moelis & Co. to help explore a sale after receiving an unsolicited offer for the company. It also drew interest from SGX. Nomura is the controlling shareholder of Chi-X, which also runs stock markets in Australia and Japan. Other investors include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, UBS, and Goldman Sachs.
BM&FBovespa Offer Values Cetip At $2.6 Bln
Reuters
BM&FBovespa SA said on Friday it made a non-binding offer for Cetip, valuing the Brazilian securities clearing house at about 10 billion reais ($2.6 billion). The offer, part of a deal first announced earlier this month, values Cetip at 39 reais ($10.14) a share or 15.5% above its price on Oct. 30, the last day the shares traded before the planned purchase was announced.
QV EI Premium: BMF&Bovespa Monopoly – Brief and Exchange Deals Brief.
PLY: Of course any CETIP deal would bring a whole new realm of back office rationalisation to Brazil as already propelled forward by the ongoing implementation of Cinnober’s state of the art real-time clearing system. It’s a topic I touch upon in my “Zero Hour” paper “Towards A Real-Time Market” which is now available for free download.
Interview: Phiz Seals £1.1bn Mega-Deal
Jim Armitage – Evening Standard
John Phizackerley looks knackered. It’s four in the afternoon, and he’s been up since the early hours selling to the City the mega-deal he announced between his Tullett Prebon brokerage and its arch-rival Icap.
NYSE Attacks IEX Exchange Proposal, “Flash Boys” Hero Responds
Mark Melin – ValueWalk
A new shot was fired in that “dirty” battle Thursday, as a public comment letter (reported here) from the stalwart NYSE accused the up and coming hero of “Flash Boys” of not practicing what it preaches. In an exclusive statement to ValueWalk, the “hero” exchange responded.
PLY: IEX response eagerly awaited while I see Eric Hunsader of Nanex tweeted rather bluntly: “If you are affected by a 350 microsecond delay, you are a parasite.” I believe the HFT community speaks highly of him too…
China’s Stock Connect Hasn’t Tapped Into Foreign Money (subscription)
Gregor Stuart Hunter – Wall Street Journal
The lackluster take up has left Beijing looking for other ways to counteract capital outflows.
PLY: Hmmm, the media returns to burn the “through train” that had the temerity to prove them wrong once. Stripping away the cyclicity in the data, it strikes me the process was a rational investor desire to avoid a market in freefall (perhaps with some sabotage from the Chinese government as they railed against investors. In the circumstances, the order imbalance was always against an FDI influx through share investment…
QV Premium: HKEx – SSE – Stock Connect Brief Part 4.
Barclays To Pay $120 Mln In U.S. Libor Litigation
Jonathan Stempel – Reuters
Barclays agreed to pay $120 million to settle private U.S. litigation accusing it of conspiring with rivals to rig the benchmark interest rate known as Libor, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Friday.
PLY: Gosh, it’s been days since Barclays last got fined by a US regulator. Meanwhile, their traders are in the dock soon:
SFO Charges 10 Individuals Over Euribor
Reuters
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office has charged 10 Barclays and Deutsche Bank employees in the first criminal proceedings for alleged manipulation of Euribor.
Dangling The Listing Carrot (subscription)
Peter Davy – Financial News
Competition between stock exchanges to attract ETFs is heating up.
PLY: The department stores are facing considerable threats from the arrivistes like BATS as the brand of the fund matters more than the listing venue it seems…
Drip Of Rules Exposes Financial Pipework (subscription)
James Mackintosh – Financial Times
Something is wrong with the plumbing of the world’s markets.
PLY: Progress but many CCPs remain discriminated against by the apartheid of the trans-Atlantic duo… More please. ASAP.
Mystery Remains Of Who Had Fingers On Keyboard In JPMorgan Hack
Michael Riley & Chris Strohm – Bloomberg
Pimco, BlackRock Seen Thwarted in Bid for Block Trade Exemption
Sridhar Natarajan – Bloomberg
Pimco, BlackRock pushing for delay in detailing large trades.
Finance Sector Builds Hitlist Of EU Rules It Wants Scrapped (subscription)
Mark Cobley & James Rundle – Financial News
Consolidating rules and removing inconsistencies – rather than major cutbacks to red tape – are topping the hit list being compiled by financial trade bodies after the European Commission invited the industry to say where regulation has gone too far.
Deutsche Börse Banks On Changing Markets (subscription)
James Rundle & Anna Irrera – Financial News
Despite a rocky period for one of its investments over the summer, Deutsche Börse plans to make further forays into solving fixed income liquidity in the future, and may look to offer trading in shares of private companies, as it seeks to build on its IPO mentoring service.
World Exchanges Launch Global Financial Education & Literacy Initiative
WFE
JPX to lead WFE Financial Education & Literacy Project.
PLY: A good announcement somewhat overshadowed by the deal flow above. Financial literacy is of paramount economic importance throughout the world and if the largest WFE working group can distill their thoughts into action, this clearly has considerable potential.
Sibex Q3 2015 Results
Sibex
vs Q3 2014: net turnover lei 411k (USD 99k), down 52%, loss lei 1.39 mln (USD 337k).
PLY: SIBEX descends clearly into road kill territory with no apparent management ability to turn around what remains an entirely soluble solution albeit shareholders appear to lack any inclination to actually see the market drive forward.
Private Markets
Exclusive US Block Venue Seeks To Break New Ground (subscription)
Tim Cave – Financial News
Some are sceptical, but none can ignore the launch of Luminex by a group of the world’s largest investors.
QV Premium: Luminex – Crazy Name, Crazy Development?, Platonic Virtues?
Special Section: FTI, NSEL, India at the Crossroads
PLY: MCX flat, FTIL up 2.5%.
Technology
Nasdaq To Develop Blockchain Services In Estonia
John McCrank – Reuters
Nasdaq plans to develop several applications for blockchain, the technology underpinning the digital currency bitcoin, using its Estonian settling and clearing business.
PLY: Given the existing footprint of NASDAQ in Estonia, this is entirely logical given the way the Baltic state operates its e-government and other cutting edge digital initiatives.
LSE, SocGen, CME, UBS Among Big Names In Blockchain Trade Push (subscription)
Anna Irrera – Financial News
Some of the world’s largest stakeholders have set up a cross-industry group to explore how blockchain technology could transform the way securities trades are cleared, settled and reported.
Robo Advisers Set For Centre Stage (subscription)
Mike Foster – Financial News
PLY: Always obvious given how various regulatory reviews effectively made human interaction unviable (at least based upon the often eye watering – certainly by comparison to wholesale markets – commissions payable to IFAs).
MTS Repo Integrated With X-COM Triparty Collateral Management Solution
MondoVisione
ESMA Updates EMIR Standards On Data Reporting
MondoVisione
Products
JPX & Taiwan Futures Exchange Initiate Product Cooperation By Listing TOPIX Futures In Taiwan
MondoVisione
Russia Launches Crude Benchmark To End Dependence On Dollar, Brent
Sputnik News
In November, Russia is set to launch test trading of its new domestic-produced benchmark oil. It is expected to drive up the price for Russian oil and end its dependence on Brent pricing. That may result in trading Russian oil in rubles.
PLY: Another part of the granular product evolution as discussed in client briefings for many, many, months.
Sebi To Look At Allowing FPIs In Commodities Derivatives Market
NDTV
Thomson Reuters Creates New Eikon App For Buy-Side Equities Traders
Finextra
Career Paths
Metal Bulletin reports that William Fyfe will join LME as head of buy side sales for Southeast Asia, effective January 2.
Nasdaq’s Greifeld: How He Built A Global Giant (subscription)
Alexander Eule – Barron’s
In 12 years at the helm, Bob Greifeld took the exchange from a domestic trading backwater to a global financial powerhouse—boosting its shares 832% along the way.
PLY: There is no doubt when he finally stands down, Bob Greifeld will deserve plaudits for the NASDAQ he inherited being almost unrecognisable from the NASDAQ he has built up.
Financial Calendar
This week
17.11 – ICE Singapore Launch
18.11 – MarketAxess $0.20 quarterly cash dividend payment
19.11 – SEC annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation
19.11 – Record date Thomson Reuters $0.335 quarterly dividend
20.11 – Record date TMX $0.40 dividend
20.11 – Record date BGC Partners $0.14 dividend
20.11 – Record date ITG $0.07 quarterly dividend
All forthcoming exchange / investment related events are now listed in our Events page.
Other stories
LSE Signs MoU With India’s Yes Bank
MondoVisione
BIST & The Development Bank Of The Republic Of Belarus Sign MoU
MondoVisione
Japan’s Financial Services Agency: Publication Of “IFRS Adoption Report”
MondoVisione