One of my favourite quotes to come across this week: Folks today have ... got this idea that self-respect means 'I am a terrific person. I am wonderful. Me, me, me.' That's not self-respect; that's vanity."
--Bessie Delany,
American dentist and civil rights pioneer
With that in mind, I received this email:
Good morning Scott
I am currently marketing the upcoming Capital Markets Technology event you will be speaking at in November.
I noticed that you have a blog and was hoping I might be able to have details of the event, including your session posted on your blog?
I’d love to have the event endorsed by you and viewed by your followers. It is at all possible to have an endorsement from you on your blog or perhaps list the details of the event?
So, keeping in context:
Please hit this web site: http://www.capitalmarketstechnology.com.au/Event.aspx?id=350478
And if you plan to be in Sydney, badger me to try and claim some kind of ‘mates rate’ discount for you.
I whole heartedly endorse my fellow speakers and panellists….as for me, me, me…I know, I know, you’ve heard enough.
BTW, followers is Courtneys choice of word, bewildered and bemused readers more like.
Enough of that,
I’ve just had a look at this site (Thursday am)…OMG Aust already has 21 Golds. I don’t know how many events there are but I assume from this tally we’ve won.
In the world of C&S blogs…feedback runs far higher on sporting commentary than on the intricacies of post trade infrastructure.
On the balance of sport and the new parliament we have in Australia this made me laugh out loud.
(The big eared chap is the leader of the opposition, a ‘wrecker’ of our minority government, the red head one is Welsh (touch of Kinnock I wonder?) and the speaker of the house…well he’s reading about the sporting facilities in Dehli.)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/gallery-e6frg6zx-1111119669474?page=4
Which reminds me, the kiwis beat us in the obesity stakes….Australia didn’t even make it into the medals on that one.
The important news of the week:
FINDINGS REGARDING THE MARKET EVENTS OF MAY 6, 2010
REPORT OF THE STAFFS OF THE CFTC AND SEC TO THE JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON EMERGING REGULATORY ISSUES
http://www.sec.gov/news/studies/2010/marketevents-report.pdf
What a busy week on the Platforms.
Welcome to TOM and every success on your launch day.
LSE makes the jump to MIT.
Canadian competition keep up.
ASX had their AGM…usual propaganda. I do believe national exchanges also have a duty to investor education. I don’t expect them to confess that they are ripping off every retail investor through poor spreads and high commission rates (as evidenced by relatively low velocity) but I do expect them to correct, rather than promote, the false assertion that some shareholders have that HFTs are to the detriment of retail investors. When did a retail investor ever invest on the grounds of being the fastest gun in the west? To my view, they’re entirely different strategies.
Congratulations to Chi-East.
Swiss moves on predatory pricing are less inspiring than NASDAQ initiative of new market innovation.
On Clearing.
I must confess, I do like the MarkitSERV concept. Initially we had ISV’s for multimarket access. Now we have fragmented OTC clearing the same business need / commoditisation of access has arrived.
I’m more perplexed on the Financial News awards (or are they the Financial News Advertising Spend awards?)…as Tim Cave reported for FN…EMCF is the largest clearer of equities in Europe. (and lets not forget the first competing CCP that lead the charge on price competition…but hey facts should not stand in the way of a good story).
On Policy.
As stated above, the 140 page report is out.
Forget the transaction tax. It’ll never be uniform.
Congratulations to some new Getco hires: Jennifer B (FSA) and Virginie S. (many moons ago at Euronext).
Kerviel. Yessss.
And given all the Nobel awards being made, lets spare a moment for the amazing frog:
How a frog can escape capture from a field of diamagnetic levitation:
By changing shape (e.g. from a sphere to an ellipsoid) the induced moment will change (Landau et al 1984), and the force will no longer be zero, so the frog will start to oscillate about a slightly different
point. By repeating this manoeuvre at the frequency of oscillations in the minimum, the oscillations will be amplified by parametric resonance until the frog leaves the stable zone. This is a tiny effect, because the shape dependence of m is of the order j_j _ 10−5, so escape would require 105 such ‘swimming strokes’; therefore the frog would have to be persistent as well as highly coordinated.
http://iopscience.iop.org/0143-0807/18/4/012/pdf/0143-0807_18_4_012.pdf
(In practice, the frog does try to swim—but in the ordinary way, by paddling the air in the solenoid—but nevertheless remains held in the energy minimum, for the entire observation—up to 30 minutes.)
The global debt clock: $39 trillion and counting Our interactive overview of government debt across the planet
http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCPvJ0dHglU0Mo0Klz0EB
Have a great week end all.
Hope you do your bit for the global debt clock.
S
http://clearingandsettlement.blogspot.com/
PLATFORMS
TURQUOISE TRADING DELAYED BY MILLENNIUMIT MIGRATION Trading on Turquoise was delayed by around an hour this morning by technical problems, the day after the LSE-owned platform was migrated to a new technology system.
Full story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21866
Toronto aims to regain market share with new ATS
http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/exchanges/5170
As from Friday 8 October 2010, The Order Machine (TOM) will start its operations. TOM will offer trading in both Belgian and Dutch equities.
http://www.tomtrading.eu/Press.aspx?id=25
ASX questions benefits of exchange competition
Fri, 2010-10-01 16:40
David Gonski, chairman of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), has warned that the introduction of competition between trading venues would bring instability to Australia’s equity markets.
http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/exchanges/5154
Chi-East gets regulatory go-ahead
Chi-East, the pan-Asian dark pool joint venture between Chi-X Global and the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has received approval by local regulator the Monetary Authority of Singapore to become a recognised market operator.
According to the platform’s CEO Ned Phillips, Chi-East will launch trading in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore by mid-November and already has backing from large sell-side firms.
Chi-East will use European clearing house LCH.Clearnet to provide central counterparty services for Japanese and Australian stocks. Singaporean stocks will be cleared through SGX’s central depository, while Hong Kong-listed stocks will also be cleared through its own local infrastructure.
http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/mtfs-ecns/5161
REUTERS: Chi-X Europe Contacts FSA over Swiss Exchange Fee
By Luke Jeffs
10/06/10
Chi-X and its peers, known as multilateral trading facilities (MTF), take data from Europe's largest exchanges, including the Swiss group, so clients can compare the prices in these trading systems' private, dark pool systems with those publicly available on the main exchanges.
The exchange's share of Swiss business was 91.4 percent in January 2008, but has fallen to 66.5 percent this month, according to data from Thomson Reuters.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6950HM20101006
BLOOMBERG: Chi-Tech CEO Greg Smith Leaves Firm in Management Reshuffle
By Nandini Sukumar
10/05/10
Greg Smith, chief executive officer of Chi-X Global Technology, left the firm. Chi-X Global Technology, known as Chi-Tech, was formed in November 2008 following Chi-X Global's acquisition of Cicada Corp., which Smith founded.
Nasdaq to Land First Punch in Next Round of Exchanges
By Tom Steinert-Threlkeld
The Nasdaq OMX Group Friday morning launches its second U.S. equities exchange – one week before BATS Global Markets matches suit, with its second U.S. equities exchange.
The Nasdaq exchange, to be called PSX, will differentiate itself by giving priority to the size of an order, at a given price. This will make it the first U.S. equity trading platform with a price-size priority model.
For shares that execute above $1.00, transaction pricing will be:
$0.0013 fee to remove liquidity
$0.0020 rebate for adding liquidity
Volume Drops More Than 20% Second Month in Row
Equity markets in the United States suffered their second consecutive month of volume dropping more than 20 percent compared to a year ago. Daily volume is off 40 percent from May, the month of the market's Flash Crash.
September sees European trading volumes recover
Fri, 2010-10-01 13:49
European trading volumes for September 2010 have recovered to their highest level since June 2010, surpassing the turnovers recorded at the start of the year.
http://www.thetradenews.com/asset-classes/equities/5153
We are pleased to provide our eighth month of monitoring the MTF performances in European Equities trading, in partnership with Thomson Reuters
Equity Market Share Reporter (EMSR).
06/10/2010 11:48:00
BOND TRADING TO START ON XETRA AFTER INJUNCTION LIFTED
Deutsche Börse will restart trading in around 700 corporate bonds over its electronic trading system Xetra on Monday after an interim court injunction was lifted.
More on this story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21867
Trading Pennies Into $7 Billion Drives High-Frequency's Cowboys
CLEARING
LCH.CLEARNET ENHANCES CDS CLEARING SERVICE
http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=35946
OCC Moves into OTC Derivatives Clearing Space
OCC will take on OTC equity derivatives in the new cleared market, but also confront exclusive index ...
http://www.advancedtrading.com/articles/227700294?cid=nl_wallstreettech_daily
MarkitSERV To Become Primary Gateway for Central Clearing
http://www.advancedtrading.com/articles/227700291?cid=nl_at_daily
http://www.markitserv.com/ms-en/about/history.page?
FINANCIAL NEWS: NYSE Euronext Takes Top Gong at Financial News Awards
By Tim Cave
10/07/10
Best Clearing House
Winner: DTCC’s EuroCCP
EuroCCP reduces loss in 2009
By Tim Cave
EuroCCP, the clearing house owned by the US-based Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, posted a €10m loss last year, although it said it remains on track to reach profitability in 2015.
The accounts also include four separate capital injections totalling €30m from its US parent the DTCC, to ensure it complied with the requirements of UK regulator the Financial Services Authority, the accounts said.
EMCF is 22% owned by Nasdaq OMX, with the remaining shares held by ABN Amro, and is the largest clearer of equities in Europe.
--write to timothy.cave@dowjones.com
http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2010-10-08/euroccp-posts-10m-loss-2009
CFTC CALLS FOR CAP ON STAKES IN CLEARING HOUSES AND EXCHANGES The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is calling for caps on the ownership stakes members can hold in clearing houses, exchanges and trading systems.
Full story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21853
*** same as last week. Still a stupid and ill conceived idea.
POLICY
What caused Flash Crash.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/10/what_caused_flash_crash
FINANCIAL TIMES: Trading Firms Sign up for Cash Equities Protocol
By Philip Stafford
10/5/10
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe, a trade lobby group, on Monday said it had agreed a legal framework that allows a signatory to strike a cash balance for open trades with a signatory that defaults.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and UBS have all signed up to the protocol.
Trichet says a transaction tax must be global or forgotten
Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, said a tax on financial transactions must be imposed worldwide or not at all. Trichet said introducing such a tax in Europe only would force banks to flee to areas without a levy. "The financial-transaction taxation presents a number of disadvantages economically, financially, in terms of technical implementation, and ... it has to be implemented, if decided, absolutely everywhere in the world," Trichet said. "Otherwise it only translates in displacing transactions out of those who introduce this, so I insist on that." Google/The Associated Press (02 Oct.)
*** You’re right. So, forget it.
PARTICIPANTS
FINANCIAL TIMES: Getco Hires FSA’s Jennifer Boneham
By Jeremy Grant
10/5/10
Getco has hired Jennifer Boneham, a senior staffer at the UK’s Financial Services Authority, in the latest sign that the US proprietary trading and market-making firm is tapping talent at regulators to help deal with anticipated changes to market structure regulation.
As first reported by FT Trading Room, it has also hired Virginie Saade, former head of SmartPool, a dark pool run by NYSE Euronext, to head a new European dark pool set up by Getco.
GETCO hires ex-UBS equities head
Wed, 2010-09-29 15:37
Global market making firm GETCO has appointed Daniel Coleman to its business development team as managing director
http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-execution/brokerage/5141
Swiss panel proposes a capital surcharge for UBS and Credit Suisse
A Swiss panel has proposed that UBS and Credit Suisse, the country's two largest banks, hold nearly twice as much capital as required by Basel III regulations. "It's indispensable that Switzerland imposes tighter rules than other countries," said Peter V Kunz, head of the University of Bern's business-law department. "Because of their size, the two big banks pose a bigger threat to Switzerland than the systemically relevant banks in other countries do to their economies." Bloomberg Businessweek (04 Oct.)
IMF Publishes Global Financial Stability Report
The International Monetary Fund published chapters two and three of its Global Financial Stability Report focusing on systemic liquidity risk and sovereign credit ratings. On systemic liquidity risk, the report calls for higher liquidity charges for all financial institutions that are reliant on short term wholesale markets for funding and engage in maturity transformation as well as the consideration of a fee or surcharge on the externality produced by institutions when they do not take into account the effect of their behavior on the funding market. The report also offers new guidelines on how much maturity transformation by financial institutions is appropriate when they have access to the financial safety net.
STUFF
AUSSIE BANKNOTE MAKER HIT BY POLICE RAIDS OVER BRIBERY CLAIMS Securency, a banknote maker half owned by the Reserve Bank of Australia, has been hit by raids in Melbourne, the UK and Spain by police looking for evidence of corruption and bribery, according to The Age newspaper.
Full story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21871
KERVIEL JAILED FOR FORGERY, UNAUTHORISED COMPUTER USE Jerome Kerviel has been found guilty of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorised computer use by a Paris court in relation to 2008's EUR4.9 billion rogue trading loss at Société Général.
Full story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=21860
The former trader has been sentenced to five years in jail, two of them suspended, and ordered to repay the bank the entire EUR4.9 billion.
*** How does one repay 4.9 billion?
Kerviel Joins Rogue Traders' Gallery
The ex-Soc Gen trader who was just sentenced to 3 years in jail, joins the ranks of some other ...
http://wallstreetandtech.com/regulatory-compliance/227700126?cid=nl_wallstreettech_daily
The Aussie banks continue to report growth in net profit through-out the GFC.
Government guarantees and a nice oligopoly….provide stability of dividends for shareholders.
http://www.rba.gov.au/chart-pack/bank-income-profitability.pdf
Hedge maze is no match for Google Earth
Staff at the Longleat Safari Park in England say visitors are increasingly using smartphones to find their way out of the park's 2-mile hedge maze. Some have navigated through the labyrinthine garden in just minutes with the help of GPS and digital maps. The Daily Mail (London) (10/6)
*** What’s the point? Next you’ll be numbering pieces on a puzzle.
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at once.
Samuel Smiles
Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the tea break.
Earl Wilson
All the strength you need to achieve anything is within you.
Sara Henderson
Children think not of what is past, nor what is to come, but enjoy the present time, which few of us do.
Jean de la Bruyere
It's better to regret the things you did than regret the things you didn't do.
Randall Lane
Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be, be one."
--Marcus Aurelius,
Roman emperor
A true teacher defends his students against his own personal influences."
--Amos Bronson Alcott,
American teacher, writer and philosopher
*** This is almost right, it lacks something about learning from your students
Scott Riley
Business Development
8th Floor | 50 Bridge Street | Sydney | Australia | 2000
((Off)+61 (0)2 8916 9634 È(Mob): +61 (0)418 117 627
* scott.riley@au.abnamroclearing.com
