| October 23, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Amid the reporting about the death of Sir Brian Williamson, news emerged that his former LIFFE colleague Hugh Freedberg had passed away in August. Freedberg served as CEO of LIFFE from 1998 to 2009 and he played a key role in negotiating the deal for LIFFE to be acquired by Euronext in 2001. He worked side by side with Sir Brian to revitalized LIFFE and under his leadership the LIFFE CONNECT trading platform was developed.
Freedberg left the industry on May 1, 2012, when he retired from his role as chairman of NYSE LIFFE. There was only one death notice online I could find and it was very vague. Following the tradition of his Jewish faith, he was quickly buried after his death and I saw no notices shared about his passing at the time. I asked ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher for a comment about Williamson's and Freedberg's passing. Here is Mr. Sprecher's comment:
"ICE was extremely sad to hear of the passing of Sir Brian Williamson and Hugh Freedberg. As Chairman and CEO of LIFFE respectively, they transformed LIFFE from a member mutual, open outcry market into an electronic, internationally distributed platform, and in doing so they saved LIFFE as an exchange. Without their leadership and vision, LIFFE may not have survived. We are proud to say that their legacy, along with their spirit of innovation and enterprise, live on in ICE's financial derivatives markets."
CME Group Inc. today reported all-time record revenue of $1.6 billion for Q3 2024, alongside record adjusted operating income, net income, and earnings per share in its reported financial results for the third quarter of 2024. The company achieved a record quarterly average daily volume (ADV) of 28.3 million contracts, with growth across all asset classes. Financial product volumes surged by 28%, driven by a 36% increase in interest rates products, including record ADVs in SOFR futures and Treasuries. International ADV also hit a record, with strong growth in EMEA (up 30%) and Asia (up 28%).
In his October 2024 article for Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), ICE Global Head of Oil Market Research Mike Wittner explains the key differences between ICE Brent and NYMEX WTI futures. Brent is a waterborne global crude benchmark, with flexible logistics and storage options that make it less prone to price volatility, including the negative prices seen with WTI in April 2020. WTI, a landlocked crude stored in Cushing, Oklahoma, faces storage constraints and is more sensitive to regional supply and demand, often leading to more extreme price swings. Brent's global reach, storage capacity, and flexibility make it more stable, offering lower volatility and typically better roll yields compared to WTI. You can read the article HERE.
Reuters is reporting that ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, banks, brokerages, and exchanges are ramping up staffing and preparing systems to handle expected market volatility and increased trading volumes. With concerns over a potentially delayed or contested election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, firms are preparing for uncertainty similar to previous events like Brexit and the 2016 election. Institutions are bolstering overnight teams, adjusting staffing schedules, and testing systems to ensure they can manage surges in trading and investor inquiries, as volatility is anticipated to rise significantly around Election Day.
ICE has released its "First Look at September 2024 Mortgage Data" and it shows in September 2024, mortgage delinquencies rose, with the national delinquency rate increasing to 3.48%, a 4.3% month-over-month and 5.7% year-over-year rise. This marks the fourth consecutive year-over-year increase in delinquencies, the longest stretch since early 2018, excluding the COVID-19 period. Serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) reached a 16-month high, while 30- and 60-day delinquencies also rose. Despite this, foreclosure activity remained muted, with fewer starts and completions. Prepayment activity hit a two-year high, rising 2.5% month-over-month and 43.2% year-over-year.
In his remarks at the Bloomberg Global Regulatory Forum, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler emphasized the critical role of U.S. capital markets and nonbank finance in driving economic growth. He highlighted the size and importance of the $120 trillion capital markets, which are five times larger than the banking sector, noting that they provide competition, efficiency, and transparency. Gensler outlined three key points: the benefits of a large, diverse capital market;, the competition nonbank finance offers to traditional banks;, and the need to focus on specific activities that contribute to financial fragility. He stressed the importance of promoting financial resilience and safeguarding against systemic risks, such as those posed by money market funds and the Treasury and credit markets, while also acknowledging the vital role these sectors play in ensuring economic stability and liquidity.
Northern Trust's third annual Charity Trading Day, held on October 16, 2024, raised $1 million for four charities: Habitat for Humanity International, Rise Against Hunger, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Urban Initiatives. This global event, part of Northern Trust's philanthropic focus on healthcare, housing, education, and food security, saw employees from trading, operations, and client services across its global offices participate. Since its inception in 2022, the initiative has raised over $2.5 million. The event is a key part of Northern Trust's broader community investment strategy during its global volunteerism month, "Achieving Greater Together."
BlockFills has appointed Amy Shelly as chief financial officer and promoted Neil Van Huis to chief strategy officer as the firm prepares for international expansion and product diversification.
On Squawk Box on CNBC, Andrew Ross Sorkin interviewed Paul Tudor Jones, founder and CIO of Tudor Investment Corporation and a founder of the Robin Hood Foundation and discussed the 2024 presidential election, the state of the economy, how to fix the federal deficit and the Robin Hood investors conference, and more. Tudor Jones made a very analytical explanation about the debt problems of the U.S. government and how it needed to let the Trump tax cuts lapse and make other difficult changes to deal with the debt.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: Eurex participates in ECB distributed ledger technology, ANALYSIS: DTCC to expand 'done-away' options in US Treasuries clearing, HKEX cites China sentiment shift for 6% revenue boost and ION reports smaller trading firms eyeing FMX Futures.
Fernando Valenzuela, the legendary Mexican-born pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers who sparked "Fernandomania" and won both the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, has died at the age of 63, the Associated Press reported. He passed away Tuesday night in a Los Angeles hospital, with the Dodgers set to honor him during the upcoming World Series at Dodger Stadium against the New York Yankees.
Someone stole the yard sign just below my front office window of my home that reads "A Just World for All" and has the rainbow colors on it. Normally I am working in that office too many hours a day, so there would be no opportunity for such mischief. However, I am down in Florida.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Volatility Hedge Fund QVR Takes Aim at JPMorgan Options Whale from Bloomberg.
- SGX FX Aims to Grow Electronic FX Options Trading from MarketsMedia.
- Bitcoin Options Traders Eye $80,000 No Matter Who Wins US Election from Bloomberg. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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CFTC to Police Electing-Betting Platforms, Chair Behnam Says; Agency is fighting in court to halt politics-based derivatives; Kalshi, Polymarket are seeing increased interest from traders
Lydia Beyoud - Bloomberg
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission will police registered political derivatives markets despite its best efforts to kill them, agency Chairman Rostin Behnam said during a Tuesday interview with Bloomberg Television. The futures and swaps regulator finds itself having to serve as what Behnam likens to an "elections cop" even as it wages a court fight with Kalshi Inc., an exchange that lets Americans bet on election outcomes. "We'll pursue any action, as we do in any part of our markets," Behnam said. He added that the agency is still litigating an appeal of a September court decision allowing Kalshi's political prediction-market contracts to move forward.
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****** If you look at the numbers and the players, you would not want a cop on the block. You would want a platoon of cops with a parade of paddy wagons at the ready.~JJL
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EQT Chair Says Geopolitics Is No. 1 Worry, Not Higher Rates; Conni Jonsson speaks at firm's first US capital markets event; Jonsson says EQT not looking to just become big asset gatherer
Dani Burger - Bloomberg
EQT AB's Chairman Conni Jonsson said the geopolitical tensions in the world right now are a much bigger concern for his business than the issue of higher borrowing costs. "The risks that I am most concerned about are the geopolitical risks," Jonsson said during a fireside chat with Bloomberg News at the Swedish investment firm's first US capital markets event in New York on Tuesday. Jonsson said it was easy to paint a "very negative geopolitical scenario" in which the whole logic for trade and international cooperation goes away. This, he said, would prove more of a challenge for the private equity industry that what it experienced through the Covid-19 pandemic or with higher interest rates.
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****** Geopolitical concerns are the number one worry? I hope Jonsson reads JLN.~JJL
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Donald Trump's ex-chief of staff John Kelly says he is a fascist and would govern as a dictator; Four-star US General John Kelly's claims were reported in blockbuster comments to The New York Times
Lauren Fedor - Financial Times
Donald Trump's longest-serving White House chief of staff has said the former president is a fascist who has spoken admiringly of Adolf Hitler and would seek to govern as a dictator, according to new reports. John Kelly, a retired four-star general who was Trump's homeland security chief and later ran his White House, made the comments in interviews published by The New York Times late on Tuesday.
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***** Retired Four-Star General John Kelly does not have a book to sell, he is not trying to get a job on a TV network, he is sharing his opinions and personal, upclose experiences with Donald Trump from having served as his Homeland Security chief and then later as his White House chief of staff.~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story yesterday was, Sir Brian Williamson - An Appreciation from Exchange Invest via LinkedIn. The second most read story was a video of Howard Lutnick on Fox Business with Larry Kudlow via YouTube. Third was, How Susquehanna's Jeff Yass mastered the options game from the Financial Times.
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| Lead Stories | Gensler Sees Potential Peril in $13 Trillion of Eurodollars
Lydia Beyoud, Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde - Bloomberg
Wall Street's top cop is sounding an alarm about the eurodollar market's potential to foment instability in global economies, and he renewed warnings about risks embedded in private credit and artificial intelligence. Much of the $13 trillion of US currency held offshore by non-US banks is uninsured, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said Tuesday during the Bloomberg Global Regulatory Forum in New York. This matters because eurodollar markets have played a role in deepening economic downturns across the globe, he said, including the 2008 financial crisis. "There may be more work for those of us in the global regulatory community to ensure resiliency in the offshore eurodollar markets," Gensler said.
/jlne.ws/40f1wUT
CFTC Chief Sees Agency Stretched Thin by Election Bets, Crypto
Mia Gindis - Bloomberg
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is at an "inflection point" after a court decision legalized contracts that allow speculators to bet on election outcomes, Chairman Rostin Behnam said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The agency intends to comply with the court's decision and regulate trading on those derivatives contracts, even as it appeals the ruling and holds that such enforcement isn't within the agency's authority, he said. "The contracts will continue to grow, and we will have to monitor them closely," Behnam said.
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Banks Are Dumping Exposure Onto Investors and Posing Risk to Financial Stability, IMF Says; Leverage on SRTs could create 'negative feedback loops'; For now, asset pools seem to be of high quality: IMF
Laura Noonan and Carmen Arroyo - Bloomberg
Concerns around the quality of assets being bundled into significant risk transfer are rising among market participants and the opaque transaction could increase risks to financial stability, according to the International Monetary Fund. SRTs, one of the hottest trades on Wall Street, could create "negative feedback loops" during periods of stress because if leverage is used by buyers then "substantial risk" remains within the banking system but capital coverage is lower, the IMF said in a report on financial stability. The transfers may also mask a traditional lenders' resiliency, because they improve a bank's buffers while leaving the overall capital level unchanged.
/jlne.ws/3UkUASf
Tokyo Exchange Employee Probed on Suspicion of Insider Trading
Yasutaka Tamura - Bloomberg
An employee at the Tokyo Stock Exchange is being investigated by the Japanese securities watchdog on suspicion of insider trading, an embarrassment for the organization that's been spearheading efforts to improve corporate governance. Japan Exchange Group Inc. is fully cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission's investigation into the employee at the firm, said the operator of Asia's second-largest exchange known as JPX, in a statement on Wednesday.
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CME Group profit jumps on record trading strength
Reuters
CME Group (CME.O), opens new tab reported a rise in third-quarter profit on Wednesday, as uncertainty around the U.S. monetary policy path led investors to rejig their portfolio, bolstering trading volumes for the derivatives exchange. Trading volumes at exchanges tend to jump during periods of heightened uncertainty as clients increase hedging activity to manage risks. This drove double-digit growth across all CME asset classes in the reported quarter.
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Hong Kong Bourse Profit Rises 7% on Investment Income Jump; Bourse benefits from rising trading, pick up in IPOs; Trading surged at end of quarter following China stimulus
Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
Hong Kong's stock exchange posted a 7% gain in third-quarter profit as investment income surged. Net income at Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. rose to HK$3.145 billion ($405 million), it said in a statement Wednesday. That beat the consensus estimate of HK$3.113 billion, according to five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
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Panic spreads in India over 'digital arrest' scam; Cybercrime complaints surge as fraudsters pose as officials
Neeta Lal - NikkeiAsia
In August, 82-year-old S.P. Oswal was swindled out of about 70 million rupees ($830,000) by scammers. Oswal, who is the chairman and managing director of Vardhman Group, an Indian textile maker, was convinced over a video call that he was involved in a money laundering case that required him to transfer the large sum into multiple bank accounts. The scammers used a method called "digital arrest," which involved everything from fake documents and voice modulation to the name of the Chief Justice of India to convince the industrialist that the investigation was authentic and that he needed to deposit the funds.
/jlne.ws/48fUG3n
Elon Musk's xAI cofounder calls out cheating interviewee-and now employers are outing the AI tools being abused by savvy job seekers
Orianna Rosa Royle - Fortune
Artificial intelligence has been blamed for stealing work from humans and causing the current global unemployment crisis-so some job seekers are getting payback by using impressive AI tech tools to try to outsmart recruiters. With most interviews today conducted virtually, bluffing your way through the job interview has never been easier.
/jlne.ws/3AanbCQ
Wall Street ramps up staffing as election nears, expecting volatile trading
Laura Matthews and Suzanne McGee - Reuters
Banks, brokerages, investment managers and exchanges are adding staff to handle high trading volumes on and around Election Day with markets expected to become volatile as results come in. Political events can trigger wild gyrations that can force market participants to quickly unwind bets, raising market, liquidity and other risks that could pressure trading systems and market infrastructure. With Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck in many polls ahead of the Nov. 5 vote, the prospect of no immediate winner being clear is heightening concerns among investors and traders.
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Watch Out: Wall Street Is Finding New Ways to Slice and Dice Loans; The people who brought you CDOs and other financing esoterica are back with SRTs, NAV loans and more
Matt Wirz - The Wall Street Journal
Wall Street is cranking up its complex bond machine again. Goldman Sachs GS 0.10%increase; green up pointing triangle this month sold $475 million of public asset-backed securitization, or ABS, bonds backed by loans the bank makes to fund managers that tide them over until cash from investors comes in. The first-of-its-kind deal is a lucrative byproduct of the New York bank's push into loans to investment firms, such as these so-called capital-call lines. Goldman's new deal reflects two trends transforming financial markets. Increasingly large managers of private-debt and private-equity funds are moving up in the Wall Street pecking order, but they often need money fast. Banks, once again, are reinventing themselves to adapt.
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Jamie Dimon would reportedly consider joining a Harris administration
Eleanor Pringle - Fortune
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon isn't known for holding back, even when it stirs controversy. Dimon raised eyebrows by agreeing with former President Donald Trump on certain issues and supporting Elon Musk's call for a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the next administration. This praise comes from a man who has described himself as "barely a Democrat." Despite his outspoken nature, Dimon has publicly denied any political ambitions and has avoided endorsing either Kamala Harris or Trump in the upcoming election.
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55% of companies say security risks are at a high-and AI has a lot to do with it, according to new data from Vanta
Allie Garfinkle - Fortune
On the 101 in my bumper-car Prius, there's one billboard that invariably gets a chortle out of me. It's for AI security and compliance startup Vanta, with the tagline: "Compliance that doesn't SOC 2 much." SOC 2, short for Service Organization Control 2, is a certification that outlines how companies should manage and protect customer data. While it's not legally required, it's become a crucial standard for enterprise SaaS companies-though the certification process is notoriously time-consuming.
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Nigerian court orders release of Binance executive after charges dropped
Camillus Eboh - Reuters
A Nigerian court on Wednesday ordered the release of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan after the government dropped money laundering charges against him to allow him to get medical treatment abroad. Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) withdrew the case against Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and head of financial crime compliance at Binance, in open court in the capital city, Abuja, a lawyer for the EFCC said on Wednesday.
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Singapore LNG signs deal with Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines for second LNG terminal
Reuters
Singapore LNG Corporation (SLNG) has agreed to charter from a unit of Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, a newly built floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) as the island nation's second import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG).SLNG, which operates Singapore's sole LNG terminal, said on Wednesday that the new terminal, or FSRU, was expected to start operations by the end of the decade.
/jlne.ws/3NESGYZ
Done deal: Poten parent BGC confirms purchase of Oil Brokerage owner; Transaction tipped in TradeWinds still poses unanswered questions about tanker brokerage business
Joe Brady - TradeWinds
Poten & Partners parent BGC Group has reached an agreement to acquire OTC Global Holdings, the company that owns fast-growing Oil Brokerage, for an undisclosed sum in a deal that confirms previous reports of the talks by TradeWinds. Terms of the cash purchase were not detailed in an announcement on Tuesday from Nasdaq-listed BGC and Oil Brokerage parent OTC Global Holdings.
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North Korean troops are in Russia, US defense secretary says
Phil Stewart - Reuters
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday there is evidence that North Korean troops are in Russia but it remained to be seen what they would be doing there. Austin said it would "very, very serious" if they are preparing to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, as Kyiv has alleged. "There is evidence that there are DPRK troops in Russia," Austin told reporters in Rome, using North Korea's formal name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
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Everything you always wanted to know about bonds (but were afraid to ask); A gascon's guide to gilts
Toby Nangle - Financial Times
Let's play make-believe. Imagine you're a youngish person working in or around British politics. You've got a degree in economics or something similarly impractical from a fancy university. And you've secured a great gig doling out advice to a minister who has no background in finance. You project smartness, but this has its downsides. For instance, your new employer assumes you've got some insight into how the bond market works, and what on earth it is saying about the state of the world. No sweat. FTAV is here to help you out.
/jlne.ws/3NBGHeD
Putin Says BRICS Summit Shows a 'Multipolar World' Is Emerging; BRICS is in demand amid 'dramatic' global changes, Putin says; Russian leader to meet Turkish, Iranian presidents at summit
Henry Meyer - Bloomberg
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the newly expanded BRICS group showed that a "multipolar world" is being created, in a challenge to the US-dominated global order. BRICS "meets the aspirations of the main part of the international community, the so-called world majority," Putin said Wednesday at the formal opening of the leaders' summit in Russia's Kazan. It's "especially in demand in the current conditions, when truly dramatic changes are taking place in the world, and the process of forming a multipolar world is underway."
/jlne.ws/4eSDNON
Oil Traders Flock to Options Like Never Before on Mideast Risk; Brent options open interest jumps more than 25% this month; Traders protect against price spike amid bearish 2025 outlook
Alex Longley - Bloomberg
Oil traders are holding a record number of options contracts as they seek to protect against the risk of a price spike driven by potential supply disruptions in the Middle East. Brent options open interest this week topped 4 million contracts for the first time - the equivalent of four billion barrels. The total number of positions held by traders has jumped by more than 25% so far this month.
/jlne.ws/3NDcZWQ
Hydrogen Startup Verdagy Opens California Plant at Risky Moment; The company is firing up its electrolyzer factory even as hydrogen demand has been slow to grow.
David R Baker - Bloomberg
A laser-wielding robot hovers over a nickel tray in Verdagy Inc.'s new California factory, inspecting the seams of what will become an electrochemical cell. Rather than a battery, it's the heart of a machine that could one day fuel a hydrogen-powered economy - if that economy ever arrives. Startup Verdagy makes electrolyzers, devices that split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The US Department of Energy awarded the company a nearly $40 million grant this spring to help get the plant up and running as part of the Biden administration's multi-billion-dollar effort to spur production and use of the climate-friendly fuel. Verdagy, which has raised $104 million in venture funding, will celebrate the plant's opening Wednesday in a cavernous industrial building near San Jose.
/jlne.ws/3BZrbH6
A Wind Power Crisis Is Holding Back the World's Green Energy Goal; While solar deployment is accelerating, bottlenecks in the wind industry are jeopardizing the chance to meet a global target to triple renewable capacity by 2030.
Will Mathis and Josh Saul - Bloomberg
The world's green power goal has a wind problem. At the COP28 climate talks in Dubai last year, leaders from more than 130 nations agreed to triple renewable power capacity by the end of the decade. It was one of the few tangible agreements at the annual meeting and a goal that's crucial to cut dependence on fossil fuels that cause climate change. While the target remains achievable, current rates of clean power deployment aren't sufficient and the rollout of wind turbines is lagging, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
/jlne.ws/3YiSraJ
How the Media Can Escape Its Doom Loop of Distrust; Former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller argues that news needs more transparency and accountability to regain public trust. Greater media literacy is also essential.
Bill Keller - Bloomberg
This column is a part of Republic of Distrust, a series about the loss of trust in American institutions and what can be done to restore it. Walter Cronkite was often described as "the most trusted man in America" in the 1960s and '70s. The avuncular CBS News anchor was admired for reporting fairly and accurately, even when his view challenged the official line or popular opinion. After a 1968 reporting trip to Vietnam, for example, Cronkite told his 30 million viewers that the American war there was an unwinnable "stalemate," a judgment that helped turn the public against the war. Conservative pundit George Will said the history of journalism in our era could be divided into "Before Cronkite" and "After Cronkite." "After Cronkite" was characterized by a precipitous decline in the public's trust.
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Deutsche Bank Loses Court Fight With Postbank Shareholders; German appeals court sides with investors seeking euro 100 million; Ruling could influence other litigation pending in dispute
Karin Matussek - Reuters
Deutsche Bank AG was ordered to increase payments to a group of former Postbank investors as part of a long-running share-valuation dispute that has already cost Germany's biggest lender hundreds of millions of euros. The Cologne Appeals Court on Wednesday upheld a previous ruling in favor of investors who were seeking a total of EUR100 million ($108 million). The judgment is also likely to influence other litigation still pending in a lower court.
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Apple CEO Vows More China Investment in Meeting With Tech Czar; Apple supports millions of jobs, many suppliers in China; China has tightened control over flow of data in recent years
Debby Wu - Bloomberg
Apple Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook promised to keep investing in China during a meeting with Beijing's top technology official, underscoring the country's vital role in the iPhone maker's global operations. Cook, making his second visit to the country this year, told China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong that Apple would "continue to grow its investments in China and help the high-quality development of the supply chain," according to a ministry post on WeChat.
/jlne.ws/3BUInNH
Arm to Scrap Qualcomm Chip Design License in Feud Escalation; Arm sued its longtime partner for breach of contract in 2022; The company gave Qualcomm a 60-day notice of cancellation
Ian King - Bloomberg
Arm Holdings Plc is canceling a license that allowed longtime partner Qualcomm Inc. to use Arm intellectual property to design chips, escalating a legal dispute over vital smartphone technology. Arm, based in the UK, has given Qualcomm a mandated 60-day notice of the cancellation of their so-called architectural license agreement, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. The contract allows Qualcomm to create its own chips based on standards owned by Arm.
/jlne.ws/3YzNN9O
BlockFills Appoints Amy Shelly as CFO, Promotes Neil Van Huis to Chief Strategy Officer; New roles lay groundwork for continued growth geographically and diversification of product offering
BlockFills
BlockFills, a leading digital assets technology and trading firm for institutions and professional traders, today announced the appointment of Amy Shelly as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and promotion of Neil Van Huis to Chief Strategy Officer. The executives assume significant leadership roles as the firm prepares to launch international offices, expands the BlockFills product offering and positions itself for major growth in the institutional digital assets space. Shelly has more than three decades of financial services management experience, including recently serving for six years as CFO for the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Van Huis has been a Director of BlockFills since its 2018 inception, working with the team to successfully raise a $37 million Series A funding round in 2022 and establishing the framework for the company's corporate strategy and trading business lines.
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SIFMA's Board of Directors Announces Newly Elected Officers for 2024-2025
Press Release
Following the SIFMA Annual Meeting and fall Board Meeting, the Association's Board of Directors announced it has elected the following principal officers to leadership positions on the Board for 2024-2025: Chair: Laura Chepucavage, Head of Global Financing and Futures, Global Rates and Counterparty Portfolio Management, Bank of America; Chair-Elect: Ronald J. Kruszewski, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Stifel; Vice Chair: David Lefkowitz, Managing Director, Securitized Products Group, JPMorganChase; Chair-Emeritus: Ken Cella, Principal, Head of External Affairs, Edward Jones; Treasurer: Lisa Kidd Hunt, Managing Director, Head of International Services, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
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ECB Nod Is 'Catalyst' for UniCredit's Commerzbank Move, Mediobanca Says;
Alberto Brambilla and Arno Schuetze - Bloomberg
UniCredit SpA's move on Commerzbank AG will probably come to a head once the Italian lender gets approval from the European Central Bank to increase its existing stake, a Mediobanca analyst said. The ECB nod "should be a catalyst for the deal," Andrea Filtri said in a note on Wednesday. A combination is "sensible both financially and strategically," he said.
/jlne.ws/4hiLMq0
HSBC east-west overhaul reignites break-up debate; Top 20 shareholder calls for bank to consider total split
Ortenca Aliaj, Harriet Agnew, Kaye Wiggins and Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
HSBC chief executive Georges Elhedery's planned overhaul of the bank has reignited debate about a break-up of the group, with one top 20 investor saying it should consider a total split between operations in the east and west. Rajiv Jain, founder of GQG Partners, which owns an almost $800mn stake in HSBC, said the "direction" for the bank "should really be an eventual break-up", an idea that was championed by top shareholder Ping An and shot down at an investor vote last year.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine Top Prosecutor Resigns After Zelenskiy Blasts Graft; Officials used fake certificates to claim disability benefits; Situation demands political responsibility, Zelenskiy says
Aliaksandr Kudrytski and Volodymyr Verbianyi - Bloomberg
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin submitted his resignation following a large-scale investigation into prosecutors obtaining fake disability statuses, which drew criticism from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Kostin submitted his resignation citing "many shameful cases of abuse" discovered in the prosecutor's office of Ukraine, according to a statement posted on the Prosecutor General's Telegram channel.
/jlne.ws/3AaLMaI
Russia halting strikes on energy targets could lead to peace talks, says Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Ukrainian president floats mutual cessation of aerial attacks on power grids as first step towards ending war
Fabrice Deprez - Financial Times
Russia putting an end to aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy targets and cargo ships could pave the way for negotiations to end the war, the Ukrainian president has said. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv on Monday that "when it comes to energy and freedom of navigation, getting a result on these points would be a signal that Russia may be ready to end the war".
/jlne.ws/3YySpNv
Ukraine's drone attacks find a new target: Russian alcohol
Tom Porter - Business Insider
Ukraine targeted alcohol distilleries in drone attacks deep inside Russia early Tuesday. Dmitry Milyaev, the governor of the Tula province, said in a statement Tuesday that the drones struck distilleries in Yefremov and Luzhlovsky. Tambov province governor Maksim Egorov said that drones struck the Biokhim enterprise in Rasskozovo, around 288 miles southeast of Moscow, causing a fire.
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Lebanon's Hezbollah rules out negotiations during fighting with Israel
Reuters
Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said on Tuesday there would be no negotiations while fighting continued with Israel and it claimed sole responsibility for a drone attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's holiday home. The group "takes full and sole responsibility" for targeting Netanyahu's house, Mohammad Afif, head of the Iranian-backed militant group's media office, told a press conference in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
/jlne.ws/4fbvGfM
US urges Israel to end war as IDF attacks Gaza and Lebanon; Antony Blinken pursues mission to de-escalate conflict across the Middle East
Neri Zilber and Chloe Cornish and Raya Jalabi - Financial Times
US secretary of state Antony Blinken urged Israel on Wednesday to focus on ending its war with Hamas and bringing its hostages home from Gaza as the Israel Defense Forces continued their attacks in the Palestinian enclave and in southern Lebanon. Blinken told reporters at Israel's Ben Gurion airport that Israel had "achieved most of its strategic objectives" in Gaza, where according to Palestinian health officials more than 42,000 people have been killed in a year of bombing and street fighting.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | CME Group Inc. Reports All-Time Record Revenue, Adjusted Operating Income, Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Earnings Per Share for Q3 2024
CME Group
CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today reported financial results for the third quarter of 2024. The company reported revenue of $1.6 billion and operating income of $1.0 billion for the third quarter of 2024. Net income was $913 million and diluted earnings per common share were $2.50. On an adjusted basis, net income was $977 million and diluted earnings per common share were $2.68. Financial results presented on an adjusted basis for the third quarter of 2024 and 2023 exclude certain items, which are detailed in the reconciliation of non-GAAP results.
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OCC Welcomes Two New Members to Board of Directors
OCC
OCC, the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization, today announced the addition of two members to its board of directors: Public Director Rachelle Keller, former financial executive, and Exchange Director Mike West, Head of Operations at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Keller has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and has held leadership positions across a diverse product set including investment banking, markets and trading, operating services and institutional brokerage. In addition to senior roles at Citibank, NA, Keller held senior roles at other market-leading firms, including Chief Financial Officer of Treasury and Securities Services at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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EsTech and BME team up to boost investment and financing for Spanish scaleups
BME-X
BME, the operator of all securities markets and financial systems in Spain, which is part of SIX, is from today a new strategic partner of EsTech, the platform driven by Adigital, which brings together the main Spanish technology scaleups. Both organisations will join forces to support high-growth technology companies, improving their competitiveness through the attraction of capital, access to new markets, as well as the integration of more technology companies to the stock market in Spain. This strategic alliance stems from the shared commitment of BME and EsTech to strengthen the scaleup ecosystem in Spain and position our country as a global benchmark in innovation and technological development.
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SIX Raises the Bar at Global Custodian's Agent Banks in Major Markets Survey; SIX was confirmed as Global & Market Outperformer in the latest Global Custodian Agent Banks in Major Markets survey.
SIX
SIX received top ratings in the international central securities depository (ICSD) and Switzerland central securities depository (CSD) categories in all areas. It averaged a total of 6.40 out of 7 for ICSD (in 2023: 6.30) and 5.97 out of 7 for CSD (in 2023: 6.51), in this way becoming a market outperformer for both categories. Moreover, compared to all service categories (for ICSD/CSD) SIX has exceeded the average in 13 out of 13 categories once again as "Best-in-Class".
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Delisting of Securities of Vocodia Holdings Corp and SinglePoint Inc. from Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc.
Cboe
Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("BZX") announced today that it will delist the common stock and warrants of Vocodia Holdings Corp. Vocodia Holdings Corp's securities were suspended on September 11, 2024 and have not traded on BZX since that time. BZX also announced today that it will delist the common stock of SinglePoint Inc. SinglePoint Inc.'s securities were suspended on September 11, 2024 and have not traded on BZX since that time.
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FFG Asset Management Adopts DTCC's ITP Services as Industry Focuses on Accelerating Settlement Globally; The firm is leveraging DTCC's solutions to achieve no touch post-trade processing across equities and fixed income asset classes
DTCC
New York/London/Hong Kong/Singapore/Sydney, October 23, 2024 The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced that FFG Asset Management (FFG AM) has adopted the firm's Institutional Trade Processing (ITP) services, leveraging the automated post-trade solutions to achieve no touch processing for equities and fixed income transactions.
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Eurex Clearing successfully participates in ECB trials for wholesale digital money pilot
Eurex
Tests reaffirm the importance of central counterparties (CCPs) in DLT-based environments.
Together with the clearing community, trials were conducted to test cash settlement in cleared intraday repo transactions and intraday margin calls within production environments. Eurex Clearing participated in the Eurosystem's exploratory work on new technologies for wholesale central bank money settlement. The initiative, led by the European Central Bank (ECB), aims to explore the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in enhancing financial market infrastructures. On 22 and 23 October, a production trial with the DLT system of Banque de France was successfully completed on site at Deutsche Börse Group's headquarters.
/jlne.ws/48hIcYU
ICE Interest Rate Markets Hit Record Trading Volumes
Euribor Futures and Options Trading at Highest Volume in Over 10 Years
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today announced record activity across its interest rate derivatives markets with over 190 million contracts traded in Q3 2024, surpassing the previous record set in Q1 2020. ICE's interest rate markets also hit record average daily volume (ADV) during the quarter with 2.9 million contracts traded, up 39% year-to-date (YTD). In the past quarter, a record 118 million Euribor futures and options traded, exceeding the last high set in 2013. Euribor is the benchmark for managing short term euro-related interest rate risk. ICE Euribor futures and options ADV is up 28% this year.
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ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: September Sees Prepayments at Two-Year High, Slowly Rising Mortgage Delinquencies
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, reports the following "first look" at September 2024 month-end mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database representing the majority of the national mortgage market.
/jlne.ws/3YAtxos
HKEX 2024 Third Quarter Results
HKEX
/jlne.ws/3Ygd7Ag
Business & Government Collaborate to Showcase South Africa at SA Tomorrow Investment Conference
JSE
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and its co-sponsors Standard Bank, Old Mutual, and UBS, will host the 11th annual SA Tomorrow conference on 28 - 29 October 2024, in New York City.
/jlne.ws/3AbVKc0
MCX honoured with "Digital Transformation and Resilience" award
at the Red Hat APAC Innovation Awards 2024 for India.
MCX
The Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX), India's largest Exchange in the Commodity Derivatives Market segment, was honoured with the "Digital Transformation and Resilience" award by Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, at the 'Red Hat APAC Innovation Awards 2024 for India' held on 22nd October 2024. Red Hat recognized the noteworthy milestones achieved by MCX for their innovative use of Red Hat solutions to address evolving business objectives.
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | The tech entrepreneurs translating their business success to philanthropy; This new class of wealthy elite is shaking up the charitable world with their start-up mentality and technical expertise
Stephanie Stacey - Financial Times
Johanna Småros, after helping to build one of the first technology unicorns in Finland, decided to set up a philanthropic foundation with her co-founders dedicated to protecting biodiversity simply "because we could". Relex, the supply chain and data management start-up that she co-founded in 2005, was valued at more than $5bn in 2022. So, that same year, Småros set up the EUR100mn Relex Foundation, alongside Michael Falck and Mikko Kärkkäinen, as well as one of their first employees, Marko Nikula.
/jlne.ws/3YwT1mO
Qualcomm CEO Says Everyone Will Have AI Smartphone in Five Years
Edward Ludlow and Romaine Bostick - Bloomberg
Qualcomm Inc. Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon, who unveiled a new version of the company's Snapdragon processor this week, said new phones that handle artificial intelligence on the device itself will be common within a few years. "Over the next five years, we are probably going to have - all of us - an AI smartphone," he said in an interview Tuesday with Bloomberg Television. The problem will be waiting for use cases to emerge, he said, something that also happened with the transition to smartphones.
/jlne.ws/4dYQaY4
Anthropic says latest AI model can control users' computers; Start-up backed by Google and Amazon says tool can act like a 'human collaborator'
Cristina Criddle - Financial Times
Anthropic has enabled its artificial intelligence to control actions on a computer, including searching the internet, clicking buttons and inputting text, as companies increasingly seek to leverage the new technology to build virtual agents. The "Computer Use" feature, unveiled for developers on Tuesday, grants access to Claude, its AI model, to conduct actions on users' behalf, with their consent, "like a human collaborator", the company said - controlling the mouse and keyboard to browse the internet, schedule calendar appointments and fill in forms.
/jlne.ws/48elEZf
Nvidia's design flaw with Blackwell AI chips now fixed, CEO says
Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Supantha Mukherjee - Reuters
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Wednesday a design flaw with its latest Blackwell AI chips which impacted production has been fixed with the help of longtime Taiwanese manufacturing partner TSMC. Nvidia unveiled Blackwell chips in March and had earlier said they would ship in the second quarter but were delayed, potentially affecting customers such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet's, Google and Microsoft.
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Russia says 'unprecedented' cyber attack hits foreign ministry amid BRICS summit
Reuters
The Russian Foreign Ministry was targeted by a severe cyber attack on Wednesday, coinciding with the major BRICS summit taking place in the country, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Earlier Zakharova said that the ministry had been targeted by a large-scale distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS).
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Binance Employee, in Custody for 8 Months in Nigeria, Will Be Released; Prosecutors have dropped the criminal case against Tigran Gambaryan so he can receive medical care, a government spokesman said.
Ismail Auwal and Emily Flitter - The New York Times
Nigerian officials said on Wednesday they were preparing to release Tigran Gambaryan, an American who has been imprisoned there as part a criminal case against the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, after prosecutors dropped charges against him of money laundering. Dele Oyewale, a government spokesman, said Mr. Gambaryan was being released on humanitarian grounds after significant declines in his health. Mr. Gambaryan had malaria and dealt with issues stemming from a herniated disk.
/jlne.ws/4fh2qnQ
Crypto Hedge Fund Managers Merge in Effort to Woo Pension Flows; Australia-based JellyC and Trovio in Singapore unveil deal; JellyC says scale helps to attract institutional allocations
Suvashree Ghosh - Bloomberg
Crypto hedge fund managers JellyC and Trovio Asset Management have merged as part of an effort to attract allocations from institutional investors such as pension funds. Australia-based JellyC will be the majority shareholder of the combined operation, company executives said in interviews. Scale will help to open doors to big investors in the Asia Pacific, eventually including Australian superannuation funds, JellyC's Co-Founder Michael Prendiville said.
/jlne.ws/40h43O5
Japan maintains cautious stance on crypto ETFs; Tax and regulatory restrictions continue to loom large even as firms make preparations to launch digital asset products
Will Fee - Financial Times
The approval of spot crypto exchange traded funds in the US, Hong Kong and other markets has highlighted the contrasting and conservative approach being taken by Japan's regulators. Japan has long billed itself as a digital asset-friendly country as part of wider ambitions to become a larger asset management hub. But there is a reluctance at the policy level to take the plunge and lift the tax and regulatory restrictions needed for widespread adoption.
/jlne.ws/4fj2Nyx
Bitcoin Options Traders Eye $80,000 No Matter Who Wins US Election; Implied volatility on options around election day has jumped; Bets heavily skew toward calls with record high strike prices
David Pan - Bloomberg
Options traders are increasing bets that Bitcoin will reach a record high of $80,000 by the end of November no matter who wins the US presidential election. The implied volatility for Bitcoin options coming due around the Nov. 5 election day is elevated, with the wagers skewed toward call options that give the buyer the right to buy the cryptocurrency at new highs. "I believe the market consensus is that Bitcoin is likely to perform well regardless of the election outcome," said David Lawant, head of research at crypto prime broker FalconX. "Our analysis shows that options activity surrounding the upcoming elections exhibits a notable topside-heavy bias."
/jlne.ws/3YBuLA1
CoinShares opens new office in New York City
Maria Nikolova - FXNewsGroup
CoinShares International Limited, an investment company specializing in digital assets, today announced the establishment of a U.S. central office based in New York City, marking a significant step in its U.S. expansion strategy. As a part of the growth initiative, CoinShares is actively recruiting for key roles in sales, marketing, operations, and compliance to support its commitment to scaling U.S. operations.https://jlne.ws/40aZDZe
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | U.S. intel officials say Russia is behind attempts to smear Tim Walz
Shannon Bond - NPR
Russia was behind salacious false claims against Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz that circulated widely on social media last week, according to U.S. intelligence officials."The intelligence community assesses that Russian influence actors created and amplified content alleging inappropriate activity committed by the Democratic vice presidential candidate during his earlier career," an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/4heEEuC
Former White House chief of staff John Kelly says Trump meets the definition of a 'fascist'; The former Trump administration official also said that his one-time boss had spoken positively about Adolf Hitler while in office.
Zoe Richards - NBC News
John Kelly, who was White House chief of staff during the Trump administration, said in a series of recent interviews that former President Donald Trump meets the definition of a fascist. The remark, published Tuesday, was made in one of Kelly's interviews with The New York Times. Audio of his comments was made available online.
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***** Here is The Wall Street Journal version of this story.~JJL
Donald Trump accuses UK Labour party of interference in White House race; Keir Starmer seeks to defuse potential transatlantic dispute
Lauren Fedor, Jim Pickard and Lucy Fishe - Financial Times
Donald Trump has filed a legal complaint against the UK's ruling Labour party, alleging "illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference" to help Kamala Harris in the US presidential election. The complaint filed by Trump's campaign to the independent Federal Election Commission accuses Labour of sending strategists and staffers to help the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign.
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The Secretive Billionaire Network Funding 'Stop the Steal' 2.0; GOP donors have given more than $140 million to nearly 50 groups working on election integrity; 'another crusade of ours'
Rebecca Ballhaus and Mariah Timms - The Wall Street Journal
When Donald Trump refused to concede the 2020 election, he and his allies led a chaotic effort to overturn the results, spreading conspiracy theories, filing dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits and encouraging "Stop the Steal" protests that culminated in the assault on the Capitol. Next month will likely play out differently if Trump loses again. The former president and his allies have spent the last four years laying the groundwork for a more organized, better funded and far broader effort to contest the outcome-a Stop the Steal 2.0-if the vote doesn't go his way.
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Lagarde Says Trump Should Visit to See How Hard Fed's Job Is; ECB president also praises trade as boost for growth; Lagarde speaks in interview with Bloomberg TV in Washington
Mark Schroers - Bloomberg
Christine Lagarde challenged two of Donald Trump's key gripes by defending monetary-policy makers and the importance of global trade. The European Central Bank chief suggested the former US president should visit Frankfurt to see just how hard the job is of her US counterpart, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump has repeatedly criticized.
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US Election Creates 'High Uncertainty' for Fragile Markets, IMF Says
Ramsey Al-Rikabi - Bloomberg
The International Monetary Fund said the US election is creating "high uncertainty" for markets and policymakers, given the sharply divergent trade priorities of the candidates. The knife-edge contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump comes against an already fraught geopolitical background, generating deep uncertainties that haven't so far been reflected in financial markets, the IMF said in its Global Financial Stability Report published Tuesday.
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Putin touts 'multipolar world order' at flagship BRICS summit
AFP
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Xi tells Putin the world is in chaos but friendship with Russia will endure
Reuters
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Not Picking Sides Is Paying Off for These Countries; More than 100 nations are embracing a new kind of geopolitical neutrality. For many, it's working.
Nicole Gorton-Caratelli, Shawn Donnan, Enda Curran, Dorothy Gambrell - Bloomberg
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC Chair Comments on Equity Market Structure
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) unanimously approved the most important updates to the equity markets since 2005, according to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. In his prepared remarks before the SIFMA 2024 Annual Meeting, he noted that earlier this year, the Commission also unanimously adopted final rules to enhance disclosure requirements for order execution quality. "These rules will help drive greater efficiency, competition, and fairness," he said.
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Top Regulators Call Out Valuation Risks in Private Credit; SEC, ECB and IMF regulators spoke at Bloomberg panel Tuesday; Agencies concerned about systemic risk, redemption issues
Laura Benitez - Bloomberg
Top financial regulators around the globe are voicing concern about private credit valuations, whether lenders are hiding troubled loans, and the deep entanglement between private markets and insurance money. "Valuation risks are where we see a core issue," Andrew Dean, the co-chief of the Division of Enforcement Asset Management at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said during a Bloomberg regulatory forum in New York City on Tuesday.
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Andrew Left Associate's SEC Deal May Threaten Short Seller; Ryan Choi settles SEC suit, to return $1.6 million in profits; SEC, DOJ have accused Left of manipulating markets with tweets
Erik Larson - Bloomberg
One of Andrew Left's close associates settled US Securities and Exchange Commission claims about his role in preparing tweets that misled investors, potentially raising legal pressure on the famed short seller. Ryan Choi's settlement, disclosed Tuesday in court documents, is the latest twist in US authorities' ongoing civil and criminal cases against Left and his Citron Research. The short seller is widely known on Wall Street for his damning reports about companies he claimed - often correctly - were overpriced by the markets.
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SEC Accuses Four Firms of Downplaying SolarWinds-Related Hacks; Firms minimized breach significance to investors, SEC alleges; Regulator also accuses Unisys of deficient disclosure controls
Nicola M. White - Bloomberg
Four hacked companies will pay a total of almost $7 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that they downplayed the significance of the cyberattacks, the latest fallout from the massive SolarWinds Corp. breach. Unisys Corp., Avaya Holdings Corp., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Mimecast Ltd. misled the public about the seriousness of the attacks when the actors behind the SolarWinds hack breached their systems in 2020 and 2021, the SEC said Tuesday. The companies settled with the regulator without admitting to or denying the allegations.
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Taiwan Weighs Financial Inspection Rule Easing to Lure Investors; Regulator to adopt more consistent standards for inspections; Taiwan is seeking to become regional asset management hub
Chien-Hua Wan - Bloomberg
Taiwan's financial regulator is reviewing some of its current rules and practices amid criticism from local banks and insurers on the inconsistency and over-complication of its governance, according to people familiar with the matter. The Financial Supervisory Commission has agreed to adopt more consistent standards during on-site inspections, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions were private. They pledged to amend rules and regulations to correct any missteps, said the people who participated in a private meeting earlier this month.
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CFTC to Hold a Commission Open Meeting October 29
CFTC
Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam today announced the Commission will hold an open meeting Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (EDT) at the CFTC's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Members of the public can attend the meeting in person, listen by phone, or view a live stream at CFTC.gov.
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"A Feature, Not a Bug: The Important Role of Capital Markets in the U.S." Remarks before the Bloomberg Global Regulatory Forum
Gary Gensler - SEC
Thank you, Mary, for the kind introduction. As is customary, I'd like to note that my views are my own as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow Commissioners or the staff. I want to talk to you about the importance of capital markets and nonbank finance. The global regulatory community often debates this sector's resiliency. Let me be clear: promoting financial resiliency is at the core of the SEC's mission. In normal times, it helps promote trust in capital markets. In times of stress, it protects investors, issuers, and markets alike.[1]
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SEC Charges Four Companies With Misleading Cyber Disclosures; One company, Unisys Corp., also charged with controls violations
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged four current and former public companies - Unisys Corp., Avaya Holdings Corp., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, and Mimecast Limited - with making materially misleading disclosures regarding cybersecurity risks and intrusions. The SEC also charged Unisys with disclosure controls and procedures violations. The companies agreed to pay the following civil penalties to settle the SEC's charges:
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Statement Regarding Administrative Proceedings Against SolarWinds Customers
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce and Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
According to the Government Accountability Office, the 2019-2020 cyberattacks against SolarWinds Corporation ("SolarWinds") and its Orion software were "one of the most widespread and sophisticated hacking campaigns ever conducted against the federal government and the private sector."[1] It was an attack against America.[2] How has the Commission responded? By first charging SolarWinds in district court[3] and, in today's settled proceedings,[4] charging four customers of its Orion software, with violations of the federal securities laws. Today's proceedings impose nearly $7 million in penalties against these victims of the cyberattacks.
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SEC Settles Action Against Beverly Hills Resident For Involvement In Scheme to Defraud Readers of Citron Research Tweets
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Ryan Choi agreed to pay more than $1.8 million to settle charges that he negligently engaged in a scheme to defraud readers of Citron Research in connection with two tweets issued by the platform. In July 2024, the SEC charged Andrew Left, who operates the Citron Research website and related social media platforms, for engaging in a scheme to defraud Citron Research followers by publishing false and misleading statements regarding his supposed stock trading recommendations.
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ASIC alleges QBE misled customers over pricing discounts
ASIC
ASIC has commenced court proceedings alleging QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited (QBE) misled customers about the value of discounts offered on certain general insurance products. Between July 2017 and September 2022, QBE made statements and sent renewal notices promising discounts on premiums for a range of general insurance products, including home, contents and car insurance.
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Save the date: ASIC to host webinar on assessing financial adviser qualifications
ASIC
ASIC will host a webinar in November to provide practical guidance to Australian financial services (AFS) licensees and financial advisers (relevant providers) to assist industry with the application of the qualifications standard, particularly to existing providers (enrol here). The webinar will include a practical walkthrough of how to assess a person's qualifications against the requirements, and how to input qualifications information into the Financial Advisers Register.
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Discretionary Investment Management Services - Sector Insights 2024
FMA
A Discretionary Investment Management Service (DIMS) is where a provider manages an investor's portfolio on their behalf and is authorised to make investment decisions in line with authority granted by the investor. Anyone providing a DIMS service in New Zealand must be licensed by the FMA. In 2022, we surveyed DIMS providers to find out how their governance, policies, processes, systems, and controls are used to meet compliance obligations and mitigate the risk of investor harm. We followed this up over 2023 and 2024 with monitoring of nine licensed DIMS providers.
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FMA publishes first insights report into Discretionary Investment Management Services sector
FMA
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko - today published its first monitoring report of the Discretionary Investment Management Services (DIMS) sector. The report found that while DIMS providers strive for positive investor outcomes, there is room for improvement in their processes and controls. DIMS is a large part of the wealth management sector in New Zealand. It involves investors giving their provider authority to use their discretion about buying and selling financial products on their behalf.
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The FCA and Practitioner Panel 2023/24 survey findings
FCA
The FCA and the Practitioner Panel have published a report from our 2023/24 joint survey of FCA regulated firms. We have published the findings of the FCA and Practitioner Panel 2023/24 survey (PDF). The survey provides us with valuable feedback on how firms feel about the FCA's performance. We use the results to get a better understanding of the issues affecting firms and assess whether any changes should be made to our approach. We are pleased that the majority of responding firms have a positive view of the FCA's performance over the last year.
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FCA writes to Novus Black Fund investors
FCA
We have written to investors in Novus Black Fund UK Ltd about the firm's unreported losses. We have written to investors in Novus Black Fund UK Ltd (Novus Black Fund), an alternative investment fund based in the UK. Novus Black Fund is managed by MCI Global Investment Advisors Limited (MCI). UK regulations require this type of fund to have a regulated fund manager - known as an authorised alternative investment fund manager (AIFM). Among other things, the role of an AIFM is to manage the assets held by the fund and to provide risk management.
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Consumer Price Developments in September 2024
MAS
This September 2024 report contains an update of the latest consumer price developments in Singapore, prepared by MAS and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Taxpayers will get higher standard deductions in 2025, IRS announces
Wyatte Grantham-Philips - Associated Press
U.S. taxpayers will again see higher standard deductions for 2025, allowing them to shield more of their money from taxation on future returns. The Internal Revenue Service detailed the increases in its annual inflation adjustments announced Tuesday. For single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately in tax year 2025, the standard deduction is rising to $15,000 - up $400 from 2024.
/jlne.ws/3BYNVqI
Pimco Says Favoring World's Riskiest Bonds Is a Loser's Game; Many investors use EM debt for wrong reasons, white paper says; Dhawan's EM bond fund beat 9 out of 10 peers in past year
Zijia Song - Bloomberg
Pacific Investment Management Co., one of the world's largest asset managers, says investors have misplayed emerging markets by focusing too heavily on risky bonds. In a white paper released Tuesday, Pramol Dhawan, the head of emerging markets, and Michael Story, executive vice president and emerging-markets fixed income strategist at the $2 trillion asset manager, said investors should avoid the "temptation" to migrate toward crowded positions in high-yielding countries.
/jlne.ws/3YfJNdg
Cargill Supply Chain Head and Treasurer to Retire Amid Shakeup; Mercer, Chase will step down after more than 30 years apiece; World's top crop trader is restructuring after profits plunged; Cargill Inc. said two senior executives plan to step down at a time when the world's largest agricultural commodities trader is shaking up its business following a decline in profits
Isis Almeida - Bloomberg
Julian Chase, the head of business operations and supply chain, and Treasurer Susan Conzemius Mercer will retire at the end of the year to focus on personal interests after more than 30 years at Cargill, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-based company confirmed.
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Cost to Hedge Against Treasuries Losses Soars to Highest of 2024
Edward Bolingbroke - Bloomberg
The price of options that protect against an extended slump in Treasuries is soaring as traders brace for a bevy of decisive events in the weeks ahead that have the potential to deepen the market's losses. Hedging is ramping before the release of a key batch of payrolls data next week, followed by the US election Nov. 5 and the Federal Reserve's next policy announcement two days later. Benchmark 10-year rates touched the highest since July on Tuesday, but as traders see it now, the risk is for an even bigger jump in yields.
/jlne.ws/4e0UVk1
Wall Street Pros Get Into Position to Profit From a Trump Win; While polling shows a tight race, some investors are putting on wagers that could pay off if Trump beats Harris
Caitlin McCabe - The Wall Street Journal
Some large hedge funds and money managers, sensing a potential shift in momentum, are getting behind trades that could pay out if Donald Trump beats Kamala Harris in the presidential election. While most polling still shows a tight race, that shift has rippled across markets in recent weeks, boosting assets seen as likely to benefit from a Republican victory. For instance, the private-prison operator GEO Group is up 21% in October, on pace for its best month since 2022, while the bitcoin miner Riot Platforms has risen 34%.
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Carbon credit standards body defends policies after former director charged with fraud; New chief executive of Verra says code of conduct and conflict of interest rules are robust enough
Kenza Bryan - Financial Times
The new chief executive of the world's largest carbon credit registry Verra has defended its policies on conflicts of interest, after a former board member and client was charged in the US over fraud involving credits that it had certified. US federal prosecutors in New York accused former Goldman Sachs and Verra director Kenneth Newcombe earlier this month of faking data to obtain some of the $100mn invested in C-Quest Capital, a carbon credit developer backed by Macquarie and Shell.
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NYC Funds Plan Additional Fossil-Fuel Investing Restrictions; Plan calls for barring future investments in private markets; Lander presses to mitigate economic risks from climate change
Saijel Kishan - Bloomberg
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander proposed ending fossil-fuel investments in private markets by the city's pension funds as part of a pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal involves barring future investments in energy infrastructure such as pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals from private equity and infrastructure portfolios, according to a statement Tuesday from Lander's office. The plan would impact three of the city's five retirement plans.
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A Wind Power Crisis Is Holding Back the World's Green Energy Goal; While solar deployment is accelerating, bottlenecks in the wind industry are jeopardizing the chance to meet a global target to triple renewable capacity by 2030.
Will Mathis and Josh Saul - Bloomberg
The world's green power goal has a wind problem. At the COP28 climate talks in Dubai last year, leaders from more than 130 nations agreed to triple renewable power capacity by the end of the decade. It was one of the few tangible agreements at the annual meeting and a goal that's crucial to cut dependence on fossil fuels that cause climate change. While the target remains achievable, current rates of clean power deployment aren't sufficient and the rollout of wind turbines is lagging, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
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Holding Out Hope On the Drying Rio Grande; The once-mighty river is barely a trickle through much of West Texas. Scientists and advocates say local initiatives could be scaled up to restore flows to the river.
Martha Pskowski - Inside Climate News
The year was 1897. Flood waters from the Rio Grande submerged entire blocks of downtown El Paso. The New York Times described the crash of crumbling houses and the "cries of frightened women and children" on its May 26 front page. The raging river displaced hundreds of people and destroyed scores of adobe homes.
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Pollution-free environment a 'fundamental right', India's top court says
Sakshi Dayal - Reuters
Living in a pollution-free environment is a fundamental right, India's Supreme Court said on Wednesday as it urged authorities to address deteriorating air quality in the north of the country. India's capital Delhi recorded a "very poor" air quality index of 364 on Wednesday, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, which considers readings below 50 to be good. Swiss group IQAir rated Delhi the world's most polluted city in its live rankings.
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COP16: Investors worth $2.5tr urge governments for bold action on biodiversity loss
Amber Rolt - Business Green
Investors representing trillions of dollars in assets under management join forces at COP16 to call on governments worldwide for urgent action on the nature crisis
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World's Top Gas Turbine Maker Sees AI Boom Lifting Orders
Sing Yee Ong and Ishika Mookerjee - Bloomberg
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China's Oil Refiners Face Low Profits, Run Cuts on Fuel Glut
Bloomberg News
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JPMorgan Eyes Physical LNG Trading Again After Dimon Hails Boon
Ruth Liao, Hannah Levitt and Priscila Azevedo Rocha - Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance
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Singapore Clears $20 Billion Link to Australian Solar
Lou Del Bello and Ishika Mookerjee - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Northern Trust Charity Trading Day Raises $1m
Northern Trust via Traders Magazine
Northern Trust held its third Charity Trading Day with employees across the world participating to benefit four charities aligned with Northern Trust's philanthropic strategy. As a result of Charity Trading Day, which occurred October 16, 2024, a total of US$1 million will be donated to Habitat for Humanity International, Rise Against Hunger, Ronald McDonald House Charities® and Urban Initiatives.
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HSBC Revamp by New CEO Elhedery Stumps Staffers, Investors Alike; Lender streamlines businesses, scraps regional divisions; Biggest restructuring in a decade aimed at reducing costs
Harry Wilson, Ambereen Choudhury and Denise Wee - Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc's new chief executive officer just unveiled the biggest overhaul of the company in at least a decade, but it was missing some key details for employees and investors. There was, for instance, no sense of how many jobs might be on the chopping block as the lender merged two of its largest businesses and axed some of its longtime regional divisions. Shareholders were also left wondering how much money the bank would even save after it implements the changes.
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Private equity management fees fall to lowest level since records began; Fund managers are fighting to secure investors' money in a tough environment
Alexandra Heal - Financial Times
Management fees on private equity buyout funds have fallen to their lowest levels since records began in 2005 as fund managers fight to attract investors in a tough fundraising environment. According to industry specialist Preqin, the average management fee for buyout funds that closed this year or were still raising money in June was 1.74 per cent of investors' committed capital. The previous low was 1.85 per cent in 2023.
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Amazon boss to unhappy remote workers: Go find a new job
Ben Kesslen - Quartz
Amazon (AMZN) Web Services CEO Matt Garman has a message for the scores of workers unhappy about the return-to-work mandate: find another job. Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's (NWS) Tech Live event, Garman said Monday evening that requiring workers to be in the office five days a week starting in January is necessary for the company.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | New Stroke Recommendations Call Out Risks Unique to Women; In a first, the guidelines link poor pregnancy outcomes to stroke and call on doctors to exercise greater vigilance.
Roni Caryn Rabin - The New York Times
New guidelines for preventing strokes spell out for the first time the risks faced by women, noting that pre-term births and conditions like endometriosis and early menopause can raise the risk. "Prior guidelines tended to be sex-agnostic," said Dr. Brian Snelling, director of the stroke program at Baptist Health South Florida's Marcus Neuroscience Institute, who was not involved in writing the guidelines.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Think Tank Urges $281 Billion for Market Stabilization; Report on State Council-linked think tank presses for new fund; Think tank also urges central bank to look at inflation target
Foster Wong and Jacob Gu - Bloomberg
China should issue 2 trillion yuan ($281 billion) of special government bonds to help create a market stabilization fund, according to a top government-linked think tank. The fund would promote market stability through the buying and selling of blue-chip stocks and exchange-traded funds, Chinese media outlet the Paper reported, citing a release from the Institute of Finance & Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. That think tank is affiliated with the State Council, China's cabinet.
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Philippines Cancels FX Trading as Storm Trami Strengthens; Over 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rainfall forecast for Luzon; System expected to make landfall late Wednesday or Thursday
Cliff Harvey Venzon, Ditas B Lopez and Mary Hui - Bloomberg
The Philippines canceled currency trading after most government agencies suspended operations, as Tropical Storm Trami tracked toward the main island bringing heavy rain that's flooded some areas. Trami - known locally as Kristine - has intensified with top sustained winds of 85 kilometers (53 miles) per hour, up from 75 kilometers, according to a notice from the Philippines' weather bureau. The storm is forecast to cross the Luzon coast late Wednesday or early Thursday morning.
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India scraps parboiled rice export tax to boost shipments
Rajendra Jadhav, Mayank Bhardwaj and Urvi Dugar - Reuters
India scrapped the export tax on parboiled rice, the government said in an official order on Tuesday, as inventories in the world's biggest exporter of the grain surged and the country is set to produce a bumper crop after copious monsoon rains. Last month, India reduced the duty to 10% from 20% to boost exports, and gave the go ahead for exports of non-basmati white rice to resume. But New Delhi set a floor price for non-basmati white rice exports at $490 a metric ton.
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Court Ruling Sets Back Bunge's Rescue of Argentina Soy Exporter
Jonathan Gilbert - Bloomberg
A ruling by a high court has set back a distressed takeover by Bunge Global SA of Vicentin SAIC, once the crown jewel of Argentina's massive soybean-processing industry. Five of the six judges in the supreme court of Santa Fe province - where family-run Vicentin filed for bankruptcy protection nearly five years ago after a $1.5 billion default - ruled on Tuesday to take on a complaint by a hostile creditor.
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Global copper rush draws investors to Argentina's untapped deposits; Miners are finally willing to give backing despite logistical difficulties and uncertainty over the economy
Ciara Nugent - Financial Times
Accessing the copper at Taca Taca, a deposit of the metal in Argentina's inhospitable north-west, is a gargantuan task. The site's low-grade 0.5 per cent copper ore lies several hundred metres beneath a Mars-like desert of rolling red dunes, volcanoes and salt lakes. It sits 3,600m above sea level and a bumpy seven-hour drive from Salta, the nearest city.
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