September 12 2016

In Today’s Exchange Invest

Seth Johnson to head the merged EBS Brokertec following the departure of Gil Mandelzis who beat him to the job in the first place. Interesting times. DB1’s Curran and DTCC’s Garrison talk cloud, as British media attacks XavRol and there’s more…

Events

Last call for the Inaugural CEE CMU summit will kick off the day of the 2nd CEE Capital Markets Awards this Thursday, September 15th in Warsaw. CMU summit features top line speakers from EBRD, European Issuers and, from this parish leading figures from Vienna, Zagreb, Sofia et al with me chairing the CMU stream. Email me or follow this link HERE to sign up.

Bigworld

Meanwhile in Bigworld the CSRC head was warning Saturday about the dangers of systemic risk… Meanwhile on Taobao, a looming crisis is emerging amongst those who fear they won’t get the payout on their Taylor Swift – Tom Huddleston insurance which guaranteed a 100% payout if the affair lasted less than a year. Thus the perils of summer love are writ large with perhaps the biggest systemic risk this side of an early demise to the Ziggy Stardust singer when Bowie bonds were first issued…

True, I’m just annoyed as I was sceptical about the duration of TS-TH from the start and unaware of this bounteous opportunity for speculation but clearly the counterparties are not all reliable rendering it frustrating but not worth the effort…

Elsewhere, 10 year Bunds rocketed to a positive yield for the first time since Britain took the lead in leaving the EU. A cracking 0.006% can be yours annually – In other words if you could buy all the 10 years in circulation, you could just about afford a couple of the more expensive historic racing cars sold at Goodwood at the weekend, upon the next coupon payment…

Public Markets

Financial Technologies Swings Into Profit, Shares Soar 17%
NDTV

PLY: So the orbital launch of the stock price Friday wasdriven by the turnaround. Now we have all manner of “it’s a sustainable new company” stories doing the rounds. Also, interestingly, various blog posts seem to have appeared recently e.g. “Financial Technologies Group Actuality”  which emerged on the weekend in (a rather sophisticated) WordPress template and includes such gems as FTIL Laid An Exemplary Role In Transforming The Way Financial Exchanges Work Worldwide. By comparison, some may feel various other posts border on the sycophantic.

Clearly the work of a devoted Jignesh Shah fan. In a nation of 1.25 billion people, it’s quite feasible it wasn’t a family member either…

HK SFC, HKEx Extend Deadline For Listing Rules Consultation
Reuters

Notice Of Solicitation For Public Opinions On The Relevant Rules Of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect
深圳证券交易所

Brokers Woo New Clients, Try Not To Upset Old Ones
Risk.net (subscription)

PLY: On IDBs and their history of bank-centricity… For those who wonder why they ought to be reading the intermittent gems on Exchange Invest Premium, consider that I outlined these dynamics in April 2014 in “ICAP Explores A New Universe.” $300 per user / year to be 2 and a bit years ahead of the curve sounds like a fair deal to me…

DB1-LSE: Regulators Eye Market Pricing & Fees
Irish Independent

Turncoat Who Now Wants To Be Cheerleader For The City: He’s The Frenchman Who’s Selling The LSE …
This is Money
Clearing Rolet Off The Deck: LSE boss Shouldn’t Be Involved In City’s Brexit Talks With Government
This is Money

PLY: Ouch!

Clearly having reached peak Xavier just before the first deal to sell Russell’s fund management arm collapsed, the descent has been brutal for somebody who was never much liked but often respected, albeit perhaps not as a day to day manager. At the same time, there is a reasonable point here. Given that he is a good dealmaker but dismally on the wrong side of most every argument of late in the political sphere, it does not make sense to have yet another confused remainer with clear conflicts of interest and a very linear investment banker mindset, arguing on behalf of the City of London when the evidence is, the future of the LSE under DB1 is going to be a Frankfurt HQ…later, not sooner…but rather inevitably so.

‘Flash crash’ Trader Takes Extradition Case To Appeal
Telegraph.co.uk

PLY: Perhaps the wealthiest hapless sap in history, I am no fan of Mr Sarao and even less enamoured of how he was allowed to trade so dubiously for so long (one must fear this was not a bright spot in exchange surveillance history). However, as I have said before, the notion of the ‘Hound of Hounslow’ being a master criminal rather coincides with the ugly American concept that scapegoating means justice, and justice is a dish best served to foreigners in orange jumpsuits dragged from whichever jurisdiction was dismally managed enough to sign one-sided extradition warrants. In the latter sense, American protectionism is just as odious as the EU’s ‘we love success just not when it’s an American multinational like Apple / Google / Microsoft’ variety.

Directors Of Collapsed Options Broker BBY To Take The Stand
The Australian

PLY: On the trail of black marks which leave many faintly uncomfortable, the BBY meltdown left a margin hole which was quickly covered at clearinghouse level but nonetheless somehow $9.5 million (AUD) was in the CCP without authorisation and that is not a good look for markets. A full process to clear the air is thus welcome.

Bursa Malaysia Listing Board To Energise SMEs
The Star Online

Private Markets

Capital Asset Exchange & Trading To Expand In Austin
Benzinga

Capital Asset Exchange & Trading, the largest semiconductor commodity trading platform in the world, continues to grow consistently

PLY: Behold, a new golden age for B2B exchanges?

Special Section: FTIL, NSEL, India at the Crossroads

PLY: FTIL is flat after its big upswing on good results Friday while MCX is down 1.5%

NSEL: EOW Yet To Retrieve Crucial Data From Crashed NSEL, FTIL servers
Hindustan Times

PLY: More on the news of the backlog of disks to be checked – perhaps Indian data scientists are too busy on Hillary’s servers to get to NSEL right now…

NSEL Victims Ask For Euthanasia
Afternoon Voice

PLY: Ugly headlines, not good for encouraging investors…

Sebi Audit May Spell Trouble For NSEL Brokers
mint ePaper – Livemint

Technology

Fintech & The Future of Financial Market Infrastructure
CIOReview

PLY: Article by Robert Garrison, CEO of DTCC

Interview With Thomas Curran
Deutsche Börse AG

PLY: …And the second big cloud article of the day comes from Thomas Curran, the Berlin-based appointee of Carsten Kengeter who advocates BPO / SaaS et al wherever he can. Pithy quotations on DB1 include: “Our problems were probably not a lack of ideas, but the ability to implement the ideas fast and purposefully. Right now, we have a structural framework that hampers innovation.” It’s an interesting process – DB1 has good tech but may be simply the least agile of all big bourses…albeit there is competition for that title methinks…oh and all exchanges look as light-footed as a prima ballerina when compared to some in the clearing and settlement field…

BRIEF – IEX Group H1 revenue 1.3 million euros
Reuters

Products

NSE (Nairobi) Backs Sharia Products To Deepen Capital Markets
The Star, Kenya

Career Paths

Eric Daniels, the former CEO of Lloyds, has joined the board of P2P lender Funding Circle.

DB1 is looking for a Product Manager – Fixed Income Derivatives while the Irish SE is looking for an Associate VP of Funds Business Development, First Derivatives seeks an SQL DBA and for those of you looking at the ground floor opportunities – Tulletts seek a Trainee Broker (there is even a training programme, my how times change!).

Crowdfunding

$100 A Brick: A New Way To Invest In Property
The Australian Financial Review

Other Stories

Latest HKEx CEO Charles Li Direct: Addressing Mainland Investors’ Questions About How Hong Kong’s Market Works
MondoVisione

Linking Farmers With Commodity Exchanges
DAWN.com

PLY: PMEX perspective from an AFM conference.

Readying Comexes To Take On Defaulters
Hindu Business Line

There’s A $500 Billion Remittance Market, & Bitcoin Startups Want In On It
Quartz