G’day
All,
Well
a while since a blog post. Sorry about that. Swamped at work...pretty much like
getting swamped by a wave.
Then
Easter and a trip to Thailand...where the tsunami scare hit.
The
scare was an event in itself...talk of herd mentality quickly deteriorating
into mass panic. Amazing.
Footware
littered the streets, shops just abandoned, people trying to run over the top
of my kids. A lot of respect for ‘women and children first’ is forgotten in a
panic.
BATS
glitch, now old news, but nevertheless noteworthy for the record. I think it’s
a bit of a mountain out of a molehill.
ASX
scales back data centre ambitions.
Tokyo
AIM misses the LSE target.
I’m
actually a little surprised the LSE bid for LCH has come so far. Then again, I
am on the other side of the world. Even with the swap clear boom, the valuation
is still less than the 2003 LCH / Clearnet merger. (I think 1.2byn – need to
search blog).
NYSE
Euronext will do it’s bit to reduce the value of the LCH.CN regulated markets
business.
Back
in Aus the Treasury have published their long awaited paper on Central Market
Infrastructure suggestions to meet the G20 OTC recommendations.
Well,
that gets the blog started again and a few draft emails out of the way....but
the inbox is still overflowing.
Summer
is passing here. My open air training pool closes at the end of next week, so
time to really savour these last few ocean swims of the season.
National
Geo is doing a special show on the Sydney Shark Invasion....hope I get to watch
it next week!
(Hmmm..
An elite team of marine biologists set out to investigate why the
waterways surrounding Sydney have become hunting grounds for some of the most
dangerous shark species known to man.)
Whatever
your leisure, make it a pleasure!
Have
a great w/end.
S
PLATFORMS
Circuit breakers contained
potential fallout from BATS glitch
BATS suffered a trading glitch late last week that sparked concerns about electronic trading but also highlighted how circuit breakers, which regulators introduced after the May 2010 "flash crash," were able to contain the potential fallout. BATS credited the safety mechanism from the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the situation proved "recent improvements in the U.S. equity market structure are working as intended."
BATS suffered a trading glitch late last week that sparked concerns about electronic trading but also highlighted how circuit breakers, which regulators introduced after the May 2010 "flash crash," were able to contain the potential fallout. BATS credited the safety mechanism from the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the situation proved "recent improvements in the U.S. equity market structure are working as intended."
BATS
Chairman Will Give Up Post
BATS
Global Markets Inc.'s directors voted to remove Joe Ratterman as chairman
Tuesday, while expressing unanimous support for him to stay on as the company's
chief executive.
A
Message From BATS CEO Joe Ratterman
Presentation
by HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li and Deputy Chief Financial Officer Vincent
Kwong at the 15th Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/speech/2012/Documents/sp120322.pdf
Specialise or die, ASX told
THE Australian Securities
Exchange should "bite the bullet" and position itself as an
exploration and development specialist platform as the relevance of the
Australian market in the global mining sector diminishes because of the
dominance of the major players.
ASX trials small cap research scheme
The ASX has awarded funding to a 12-month
$1 million equity research scheme to produce independent research on listed
small and medium-caps.
Targeted at the 92% of ASX-listed entities
(around 1,800) with a market capitalisation less than $1 bn.
ASX
shares new data centre with Singaporean firm
ASX fee schedules indicate that customers
paid $5000 a month for a physical rack with 2kW of power in Bondi as of July
2010.
As of December 2011, the ASX charged $2500
a month for a cabinet with 2kW of power in the Australian Liquidity Centre and
$2000 a month for a cabinet in Bondi.
TOKYO
AIM to Become TOKYO PRO Market
LSE
OFFLOADS TOKYO AIM STAKE TO TSE
The
Tokyo and London stock exchanges are bailing out on their joint venture market
for growing companies in Japan, with the TSE agreeing to buy out its former
partner.
The
JV - 51% owned by the TSE and 49% by the LSE - has seen just one company list
so far, prompting the London operator to sell up for an undisclosed sum.
HKEx
Invests US$380 Million in Technology to Fuel Growth http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/hkexnews/2012/120328news.htm
Questions
& Answers on the HKEx Orion Programme http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/hkexnews/2012/Documents/1203283news.pdf
SGX
REORGANISATION
From
May SGX will split into five business units: derivatives, listings, market data
and access, post-trade and securities. The current fixed income business will
become a part of the securities market while commodities will be grouped within
derivatives.
Instinet first to float EBBO in dark pool
Agency broker Instinet’s BlockMatch dark
pool has added a consolidated pan-European price feed as it reference point for
matching trades and now offers buy-side clients more flexibility on the price
at which their trades are executed.
To
qualify for inclusion in Instinet’s EBBO, trading venues must have a
pan-European market share of over 2.5%. Currently this includes 14 domestic
markets and MTFs BATS Chi-X Europe, Turquoise and Nordic-focused Burgundy. The
individual stocks traded on qualifying venues are monitored on a real-time
basis to ensure they stay above the 2.5% floor. Venue qualification is reviewed
quarterly.
Possible
Early Warning Sign for Market Crashes
Complexity researchers who study the
behavior of stock markets may have identified a signal that precedes crashes.
They say the telltale sign is a measure of
co-movement, or the likelihood of stocks to move in the same direction. When a
market is healthy, co-movement is low. But in the months and years before a
crash, co-movement seems to grow.
Regardless of whether stock prices go up or
down or stay the same, they do so in tandem. People are copying each other, and
a small nudge can send everyone in the same direction. The system appears
primed for collapse.
BlackRock
Plans to Start Bond-Trading System to Bypass Banks
Clients
who use Aladdin will have to pay a fee to get access to BlackRock’s trading
network. MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX) (MKTX)’s
electronic trading system for U.S. and European investment-grade, emerging
markets and other types of bonds said earlier this month that it had a record
$58.7 billion of transactions during March. Other electronic trading systems
for fixed income include Tradeweb Markets LLC and Bloomberg LP
CLEARING
LSE's
Rolet passes key LCH takeover test
LSE
and LCH.Clearnet shareholders voted overwhelmingly to ratify Rolet's plan to take
up to 60 percent of the clearing operator with an offer of 20 euros per share,
which values LCH.Clearnet at 813 million euros ($1.1 billion).
NYSE
TO INVEST $85 MILLION IN NEW EUROPEAN DERIVATIVES CLEARING HOUSE
Nyse
Euronext is to spend $85 million on developing a new clearing house for its
derivatives business in Europe, terminating an existing relationship with
LCH.Clearnet.
Nyse
will build on the recent investments made in Nyse Liffe Clearing, the central
counterparty to all trades conducted on the Nyse Liffe market in London, and
bring in house all remaining functionality currently out-sourced to
LCH.Clearnet. The clearing house is expected to be fully operational by the
summer of 2013. Derivatives trading in London will be shifted to the new
platform in mid-2013, with European trading moving over in Q1 2014.
In
the cash markets, Nyse says it will negotiate a new long term arrangement with
LCH.Clearnet, replacing the current arrangements which terminate in December
2013.
POLICY
Australia:
Implementing G20 commitment on OTC derivative reforms
Today
the Government releases the final report of the Council of Financial Regulators
(the Council) outlining its proposed next steps towards the implementation of
Australia's G20 commitment to improve risk management and reduce systemic risk
in the ‘over-the-counter' (OTC) markets for financial derivative products.
The
Council has advised that where possible market driven solutions, in part driven
by appropriate regulatory incentives, should be preferred.
OTC
Derivatives Market Reform Considerations
RBA
Financial Stability Review.
Clean
bill of health for Aussie banks – but don’t expect growth.
Includes
table C1 of 29 G-SIBs (from FSB)
Domestically,
the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) has continued to consider how best to
implement reforms to the regulation of OTC derivatives markets in Australia,
following its consultation with industry during the second half of 2011. The
CFR’s conclusions will be published shortly. (p62)
Since
the consultation process, the CFR has developed policy recommendations that are
expected to be published shortly. As flagged in the consultation
paper, work is ongoing on issues relating to competition in clearing and
settlement systems and the segregation and portability of
customer accounts of participants of CCPs. (p64)
Reviews:
RBA Ticks Financial System Health, But Warns Banks, Again
The Reserve Bank has given the Australian financial system and
banks a tick of good health in its first Stability Review of 2012. But the
central bank has again cautioned banks and their investors not to expect
rampant profit growth in the next year or so
The
Kay Review of UK Equity Markets and Long-Term Decision Making
On
29 February 2012 Professor John Kay published the Interim Report of his
independent review to examine investment in UK equity markets and its impact on
the long-term performance and governance of UK quoted companies.
Interested
parties with additional evidence relevant to the Review can make a submission
to the secretariat by email to: kayreview@bis.gsi.gov.uk.
The deadline for receiving further submissions is Friday 27 April 2012.
BIS Releases Working Paper on Necessary Data for Assessing
Systemic Risk
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued a working paper that highlights some of the unique challenges to global systemic risk measurement with an eye toward identifying those high-priority areas where enhancements to data are most needed. The paper notes that while currently available data can be used more effectively, supervisors and other agencies need more and better data to construct even rudimentary measures of risks in the international financial system. Similarly, market participants need better information on aggregate positions and linkages to appropriately monitor and price risks. It adds that ongoing initiatives, such as the G20 Data Gaps Initiative and enhancements to the BIS international banking statistics, will help close data gaps.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) issued a working paper that highlights some of the unique challenges to global systemic risk measurement with an eye toward identifying those high-priority areas where enhancements to data are most needed. The paper notes that while currently available data can be used more effectively, supervisors and other agencies need more and better data to construct even rudimentary measures of risks in the international financial system. Similarly, market participants need better information on aggregate positions and linkages to appropriately monitor and price risks. It adds that ongoing initiatives, such as the G20 Data Gaps Initiative and enhancements to the BIS international banking statistics, will help close data gaps.
Systemic
Risks in Global Banking: What Can Available Data Tell Us and What More Data Are
Needed?
http://www.bis.org/publ/work376.pdf
http://www.bis.org/publ/work376.pdf
PARTICIPANTS
NOMURA
DOMINATES JAPANESE EQUITIES
Nomura Securities Co. Dominates Japanese Research
Nomura is No. 1 in All-Japan Trading Team
Nomura Leads First All-Japan Sales Team
STUFF
Nuclear
Power: Japan’s Sunset, Will We See Another Sunrise?
Tens of billions of dollars worth of extra
LNG and thermal coal have been imported from overseas (much of it from
Australia).
Figures out yesterday in Japan show the
country's five largest power utilities will have lifted their spending on fuel
by 60% by the time the books are ruled off for the current Japanese fiscal year
tomorrow night.
Australia's
Future Tax System
The
Henry Review
