Wednesday, February 29, 2012

LCH, ASX, TSE, PAVE....Chartalism and its a credit crunch stupid!




I’ve gotta fly tonight, quite literally, so have to be brief.

TSE outage debate, rightly, continues.
PAVE on ice. This is a long running story from Equiduct onwards. Ultimately, I think the crux of the business case depended on access to Spanish clearing. Wallet size and trading alone would not have allowed them to differentiate locally (at least in my view).
ASX results half year results are out.
Another Aussie exchange, not equities, http://mmadx.com  , in the news.

LCH.Clearnet results also out.
I’m not quite convinced that a CCPs handling of MF Global is a cause for self praise.

It’s a credit crunch stupid, I found enjoyable reading. Likewise the description of Chartalism.
There are funny things going on in Aust.
The main commercial banks are decoupling their interest rate cycle from the RBA (Central Bank).
So much of our borrowing originates ‘off shore’, our big banks are more sensitive to overseas rates than RBA rates.
The undermines the levers the RBA has to pull on the domestic economy.

At the start of the week ANZ announced 1,000 layoffs....by the end of the week they announce $1.48bn in 3 mths.

And I laughed at the former All Black coaches comment on the England Rugby Union role...”sounds like they need a public relations manager”...too true. English Rugby, could be, and should be, so much better and more dominant.

Gotta go.

Last week I mentioned the risk disclaimer on swims against “Marine Attack”.
From Hugh “
Three or four years ago the elite field (first out) swam into a mass of bluebottles that came in suddenly – after the course had been checked.
I was on water safety – it was utter carnage! Two people had to go to hospital and many, many, more were really badly stung. The youth group had to be stopped at the first buoy and turned back and others not started.
In all seriousness, I’m glad it was the elite field that got hit – had it been older people could have been more serious.
So I guess that’s what they mean by marine creatures – occasionally a hammerhead appears from around Ben Buckler, but its soon chased away.

For me, I must say, I do worry about stingers.
The water safety provided is a prerequisite for me to do these swims. I just wouldn’t contemplate half these journey swims without the knowledge of the water safety being there...just in case.
I was a surf life saver in my youth and I like supporting the clubs now.

As for the Bond-ee Classic, I was late for the swim. I’d planned to use public transport but hadn’t allowed for some poor soul falling on the tracks. In the end, I got to the beach just as my wave was setting off under the starters gun. One guy tagged me, another guy gave me a cap (each wave is colour coded with a swimming cap) and a third guy just pointed at the waves and said, that’s your start. I literally dropped my bag and ran down to the surf pulling my cap and goggles on. Some warm up! I was just happy to have caught up with the back markers of my group by the first buoy.

As for the swim. The conditions were perfect. The water was warm, the sun beaming, the swell gentle, the break forgiving, the currents kind and the visibility wonderful.
Snaps and write up of the day here:

I swam it in 34:39...the average was 34:45.

Someone has done some amazing statistical analysis of the big swim.
I did 51:36 bang on median...(and bang on median for my suburb too).


S



PLATFORMS

Alternate venues demand action after TSE outage
“Members of SBI Japannext’s management team, along with PTS friend Chi-X, visited the JSDA to discuss the issue and collaborate to come up with new JSDA rules suitable for the marketplace,” Chuck Chon, CEO of SBI Japannext, exclusively told theTRADEnews.com. “With alternative trading venues flourishing in the Japanese market, the post-analysis of the JSDA’s decision – which let OSE capitalise in this situation while PTSs were forced to halt 241 stocks – calls for fairness in regulations.”
A merger between TSE and OSE was announced 22 November and is currently slated for January 2013.
Last month, SBI Japannext remained the largest PTS in Japan, increasing equity market share to 3.24%, from 2.88% the previous month, while Chi-X Japan increased market share from 2.22% to 2.65%.

DEUTSCHE BÖRSE POOLS DATA AND IT ACTIVITIES INTO NEW BUSINESS UNIT
Deutsche Börse has set out plans to create a new business unit that will be responsible for all data and information technology activities. The division will be led by a new person, with current IT chief Michael Kuhn leaving the company.

Spanish mtf pave's launch put on ice
Spanish MTF Plataforma Alternativa de Valores Españoles (Pave) has "temporarily postponed" its launch, blaming the "harsh" financial environment.

Spanish MTF switches tech partners, loses market makers

...and who was going to be PAVEs CCP?
Spanish MTF PAVE selects EuroCCP

ASX HALF YEAR 2012 RESULTS
and

DIRECT EDGE LAUNCHES HISTORICAL TRADE AND QUOTE DATA SERVICE

Australian banks may take stake in new exchange
Money Market and Debt Exchange Ltd., Australia’s first electronic money market repurchase agreement and interest rate derivative exchange, will invite the country’s biggest banks to take as much as a 50 per cent stake in the company.

HKEx Launches Founding Members Programme for Hosting Ecosystem at Next Generation Data Centre http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/hkexnews/2012/120213news.htm

NYSE EURONEXT TO BUY FIXNETIX STAKE
Nyse Euronext has agreed to acquire a 25% stake in UK trading technology outfit Fixnetix. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MUSCAT SECURITIES MARKET MIGRATES TO NYSE TECHNOLOGIES TRADING PLATFORM



CLEARING

LCH.Clearnet Group Limited Results 2011

> retained share of interest income 28% 9p130
> There can be no more eloquent demonstration of the value of a well-resourced and well managed clearing house than the way our team handled the MF Global situation, closing out market positions with a combined nominal value of over €14.7 billion. This was achieved in turbulent market conditions with minimal disruption to clients and no recourse to the Default Fund.
> At year end, there were over a million trades in SwapClear.
> Clearing fees (and volumes), p15.
> Extended NYSE contract in SA to 2013 (p7)
> NYSE Euronext intend to commence their own clearing arrangements in 2013 for European cash equities and derivatives markets, and NYSE Liffe and the London Metal Exchange have announced that they intend to commence their own clearing arrangements at some point in the future, but the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements. NYSE Liffe and the London Metal Exchange have yet to serve formal notice of termination on the Group for the current clearing agreements with them.
> Last autumn, following a number of approaches from interested parties, the Board appointed the investment bank JP Morgan  to advise on the options for the business.  As a user and exchange owned Group,  LCH.Clearnet was clear that as well as providing a fair value for the business and
an opportunity for those who wish to exit to do so, any transaction we might contemplate would have to support the long-term objectives of our business and be compatible with user and shareholder preferences for exchange neutrality as a cardinal principle  of the way LCH.Clearnet operates. The London Stock Exchange confirmed in September that it was in exclusive discussions with LCH.Clearnet regarding a possible transaction. As things stand at the time of writing, these discussions are still ongoing and there can be no certainty about their outcome.

Equities trading costs under pressure
14 February 2012 - Article reports that EuroCCP has cleared an average of 3m sides per day in January, equal to around 25 per cent of Europe’s daily average volume. Since the introduction of interoperability on Chi-X Europe, EuroCCP has taken 40 per cent of the venue’s trading volume. Together with a number of other European alternative trading venues, Chi-X Europe is pushing for interoperability to reduce costs. The article says that BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Nomura are banks that have switched trading flow to EuroCCP.

POLISH CLEARING HOUSE KDPW_CCP SELECTS NASDAQ OMX FOR RISK MANAGEMENT



POLICY

Statement by Commissioner Michel Barnier, following the agreement in trilogue of new European rules to regulate financial derivatives
The regulation ensures that information on all European derivative transactions will be reported to trade repositories and be accessible to supervisory authorities, including the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), to give policy makers and supervisors a clear overview of what is going on in the markets.
The regulation also requires standard derivative contracts to be cleared through central counterparties (CCPs) and establishes stringent organisational, business conduct and prudential requirements for these CCPs.

Breakthrough for EU OTC derivatives regulation

The European market infrastructure regulation (EMIR), a new regulatory framework for over-the-counter derivatives based on criteria set by the G20, has been approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
The two bodies had been in disagreement over the role of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in resolving disputes between national securities regulators on the authorisation of central counterparties used to clear standardised OTC derivatives.

The European Commission has presented its first annual Alert Mechanism Report (AMR).
It is the starting point of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure (MIP), a new surveillance tool that helps to detect and correct risky macroeconomic developments in the EU and the euro area and thus strengthens the economic pillar of the Economic and Monetary Union. The MIP forms part of the so-called "six-pack" that entered into force on 13 December 2011.
21 page report here:
*** Greece, Ireland and Portugal are too dire to report on....I guess we’ve been alerted!

This  paper  has  been  produced  by  the  International  Swaps  and  Derivatives  Association  to describe the nature of trading structure and liquidity formation in OTC derivatives markets and the  implications  for  framing  pre-trade  transparency  obligations  under  MIFID2/MIFIR.  The
paper makes the following points:
·         Different trading models exist for different instruments.
·         Pre-trade transparency differs according to the nature of a given trading model.
·         Pre-trade  transparency  should  be  calibrated  by  trading  model  and  should  adequately
accommodate Request for Quote trading systems.
February 15, 2012

CFTC CREATES HFT SUBCOMMITTEE
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has voted to set up a subcommittee on high frequency trading in a bid to better understand its effects on the market.

Swan song for the RBA: Gottliebsen

With the benefit of hindsight we should have realised that the ability of the Reserve Bank to be the main determiner of interest rates was weakened when Australian banks in the last two decades – but particularly in the last 10 years – turned their back on using local Australian savers but rather funded their growth by massive overseas borrowing on the wholesale banking market.
At the time, they could obtain funds overseas much more cheaply than local savings and this was a contributor to the large growth in bank profits and the Australian economy. But if we had thought about it, we would have realised that we had greatly lessened our power over Australia’s interest rate destiny
Wayne Swan knows that if the banks allowed their profits to fall at this time, the cost of this overseas money would skyrocket further, forcing even higher interest rates.
Overseas investors are scrambling to buy Australian government paper and the government can borrow at much lower rates than the banks. Swan should be ready to tap that market and fund maturing overseas bank borrowing at much lower rates. This would enable banks to lower interest rates.

Europe's Effects on Australian Financial Markets

It’s a credit crunch, stupid



PARTICIPANTS

ANZ to cut 1000 jobs
ANZ today said it would cut 1000 permanent jobs in Australia during the 2012 financial year. Most of the cuts would be among middle management, back office and support staff, it said.

ANZ reaches $1.48bn in three months
ANZ has recorded an unaudited underlying profit of $1.48 billion for the three months to December 31 2011, calling it a solid result during a difficult global period with volatility also impacting wealth management.

NAB struggles with tech glitch

“We can confirm that NAB experienced system problems last night which meant some customers were unable to successfully transact using NAB banking channels including ATMs, Eftpos, Internet Banking and Telephone Banking,” a NAB spokeswoman said Saturday morning. “The issue was identified at 8:20pm and the issue was resolved, with customers able to transact as per normal from 2.00am.


STUFF

The king and his coins

Chartalism is a descriptive economic theory that details the procedures and consequences of using government-issued tokens as the unit of money, i.e. fiat money. The name derives from the Latin charta, in the sense of a token or ticket. The modern theoretical body of work on chartalism is known as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

Parents with good intent, don’t always implement the ideal solution....

Father shoots daughter's laptop after Facebook 'chores' complaint

*** (I don’t own a gun.)
*** My daughter provides this insight “In my opinion its just a waste of money, good luck to her completing any form of digital homework now…”

Kodak to stop making cameras, digital frames


Savvy Smith knocks back role for England

Former All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith has ruled himself out of the running as England manager, saying the job sounded more suited to a public relations manager than a rugby mentor.

If you apply an inquisitive mind to any task, it will always become interesting.
And rewarding if you add responsibility.
(Me)

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