| February 21, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Congratulations to CoinDesk's Ian Allison and Tracy Wang and the team for winning a Polk Award, one of journalism's top prizes, for CoinDesk's explosive FTX coverage. JLN was one of the first media outlets to pick up on the significance of CoinDesk's reporting and helped tell their story when we published a video interview with CoinDesk's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Nick Baker titled Nick Baker's Big, Interesting And Weird Stories At Coindesk Turn Consequential With FTX Scoops And Coindesk's Comprehensive Coverage.
Trading Technologies announced this morning it had entered into a commercial partnership with Eurex to offer EnLight, the selective request-for-quote (RFQ) solution from within the TT platform.
Euronext is looking for an account executive in Brussels.
Geneva Trading is looking for a quantitative trader in Chicago.
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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The TRADE is launching its first survey on Diversity & Inclusion. It is open to market participants until February 28 to submit their views, with all responses welcome. The data will be used to inform and create The TRADE's distributed content and survey presentations, and may also contribute to Leaders in Trading categories for 2023. Responses will be anonymous.You can go here to take the survey. ~SR
Trading Amsterdam - Global Coverage, Local Reach is back on April 20, 2023, at the Hotel Okura, Amsterdam. It's the 12th anniversary of this event for the derivatives trading and investment community. Asset management firms, hedge funds, prop trading firms, market-makers, brokerages, banks, and exchanges from Europe and further afield will gather to discuss the main issues, opportunities, and challenges facing the industry today. You can learn more and register here.~SAED
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Trading Technologies and Eurex enter into commercial partnership to offer EnLight directly from TT platform; Banks, other large institutions to benefit from automated RFQ solution on trade execution screen
Trading Technologies International, Inc.
Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global provider of high-performance professional trading software, infrastructure and data solutions, and Eurex Frankfurt AG, the leading European derivatives exchange, today announced that they have entered into a commercial partnership in which TT will offer direct access to the Eurex EnLight selective request-for-quote (RFQ) solution from within the TT platform. The agreement will give institutions on TT's broad global distribution network the opportunity to streamline their RFQ and larger scale, complex trade execution activity on a single screen.
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****** TT and Eurex team up again to make the trader experience better.~JJL
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Millions brace for major coast-to-coast winter storm
Jennifer Gray - CNN
Despite the fact spring is showing up early this year, we must remember winter isn't over yet. A major winter storm is set to impact millions this week, from coast to coast, with heavy snow, dangerous winds, possible blizzard conditions and for some, the coldest temperatures of the season. What to expect this week:
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****** Are you ready for Boca? I am!~JJL
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CoinDesk Wins a Polk Award, One of Journalism's Top Prizes, for Explosive FTX Coverage
Nick Baker and Marc Hochstein - CoinDesk
CoinDesk journalists won a George Polk Award for the scoop that led to Sam Bankman-Fried's $32 billion cryptocurrency empire collapsing in days and for two explosive follow-up stories. This is the news organization's first major journalism award. CoinDesk's Ian Allison and Tracy Wang won the prize for financial reporting, according to a statement Monday. Previous winners in that category include The Wall Street Journal's series on Theranos and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' stories on the so-called Panama Papers.
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****** Congratulations to CoinDesk and Nick Baker and the whole team on this award.~JJL
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There are more hedge funds than Burger Kings (A lot more)
Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
There has been a lot of rending of garments and gnashing of teeth in recent years over the death of active management. Meanwhile, evil passive investing keeps growing. This is wrecking price signals, killing the dynamism of markets, fuelling bubbles/bear markets (delete according to whatever markets are doing that year) and imperilling capitalism itself. Yada yada. The reality is of course that there is more trading than ever before, more mutual funds than ever before, and more hedge funds than ever before.
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****** There may be more hedge funds than Burger Kings, but there is only one hedge fund king. There are also plenty of jesters and several clowns.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top story Monday was Biden Visits Ukraine in Presidents' Day Surprise: In Pictures, from Bloomberg. Second was Jimmy Carter, 98, Opts for Hospice Care, from The New York Times. Third was Putin set for major Ukraine war speech after Biden walks streets of Kyiv, from Reuters.
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MarketsWiki Stats
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
Publisher | | | Sarah Rudolph
Editor-in-Chief
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| Lead Stories | Investment scam reports rise by 193% cent in five years; Financial watchdog notes growth of crypto fraud
Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan - Financial Times
Calls to the UK financial watchdog related to investment scams have nearly tripled over the past five years, as fraudsters use inflationary pressures to better target victims. The data reflects the wider growth of so-called authorised push payment fraud, in which consumers are tricked into sending money to scammers who pose as trusted figures. "Scammers are becoming more and more sophisticated, coming up with different tactics, such as impersonation texts or calls, and using the cost of living pressure as a way to tempt investors into false opportunities," said Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the Financial Conduct Authority.
/jlne.ws/3ErQ64u
Derivatives market still hit by fallout from Ion Markets cyber attack; Incident has left exchanges and regulators unable to compile weekly reports of trading activity
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
Business has yet to return to normal in global derivatives trading, three weeks after a cyber attack on Ion Markets, underlining the financial technology group's significant role in the plumbing of the $1tn market. Little-known Ion was targeted by attackers at the end of January, who disabled part of its derivatives systems and forced many trading desks to manually keep track of their data on spreadsheets.
/jlne.ws/3IcTi4U
Office Landlord Defaults Are Escalating as Lenders Brace for More Distress; Delinquency rate for office loans that back commercial-mortgage-backed securities remains low, but it is heading higher
Peter Grant - The Wall Street Journal
The number of big office landlords defaulting on their loans is on the rise, fresh evidence that more developers believe that remote and hybrid work habits have permanently impaired the office market. The giant investment manager Brookfield Asset Management recently defaulted on a total of over $750 million in debt for a pair of 52-story towers in Los Angeles, according to a February securities filing. Real-estate firm RXR is in talks with creditors to restructure debt on 61 Broadway, a 34-story tower in Manhattan's financial district, according to people familiar with the matter. Handing over the building to the lender is among the options under consideration, these people said.
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Power-Grid Attacks Surge and Are Likely to Continue, Study Finds; Confidential analysis shows sharp rise in targeting of facilities with gunfire, intrusion and vandalism
Katherine Blunt - The Wall Street Journal
Physical attacks on the U.S. power grid rose 71% last year compared with 2021 and will likely increase this year, according to a confidential industry analysis viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A division of the grid oversight body known as the North American Electric Reliability Corporation found that ballistic damage, intrusion and vandalism largely drove the increase. The analysis also determined that physical security incidents involving power outages have increased 20% since 2020, attributed to people frustrated by the onset of the pandemic, social tensions and economic challenges.
/jlne.ws/3EsF8vh
Ransomware Attacks Decline as New Defenses, Countermeasures Thwart Hackers; Cybercriminals face drop in payments while some get laid off
Robert McMillan, Dustin Volz and Aruna Viswanatha - The Wall Street Journal
Extortion payments from ransomware, a hacking scourge that has crippled hospitals, schools and public infrastructure, fell significantly last year, according to federal officials, cybersecurity analysts and blockchain firms. After ballooning for years, the amount of money being paid to ransomware criminals dropped in 2022, as did the odds that a victim would pay the criminals who installed the ransomware. With ransomware, hackers lock up a victim's computer network, encrypting hard drives until victims pay.
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A Trader Says Code Allowed Him to Withdraw Millions From a Crypto Exchange. Prosecutors Say He Crossed a Line; Avi Eisenberg manipulated the price of crypto tokens, authorities say; his lawyer says he 'looks forward to his day in court'
Justin Baer - The Wall Street Journal
Federal authorities arrested Avraham Eisenberg in Puerto Rico in December, accusing the 27-year-old trader of manipulating prices on a crypto exchange called Mango Markets and draining more than $100 million from the platform. Mango Markets all but collapsed after Mr. Eisenberg withdrew the money on a single day in October, authorities said. Mr. Eisenberg had defended his actions, saying he did only what Mango's software code made possible.
/jlne.ws/3lJTnp1
Some Everyday Investors Still Bet Crypto Can Make Them Rich; Digital currencies' bruising losses and big risks haven't swayed those who say other paths to wealth aren't accessible to them
Joe Pinsker - The Wall Street Journal
The 2022 crypto crash wiped out roughly $1 trillion in value and scared off many investors. But not all of them. A number of everyday investors say they are continuing to put their money into crypto because they believe digital currencies are their best chance at building significant wealth. Some 39% of crypto owners said last October that they would likely buy more, according to survey data from the Philadelphia Fed.
/jlne.ws/3SyWFYR
'Effective Altruism' Led Bankman-Fried to a Little-Known Wall St. Firm; The FTX founder joined Jane Street Capital not to learn about controlling risk, which is its focus, but because the tenets of a philanthropic movement drew him there.
Joe Rennison, David Yaffe-Bellany and Matthew Goldstein - The New York Times
To close observers of Wall Street, the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried carried a curious twist: The man whose unbridled recklessness may have led to one of the largest financial frauds in history started his trading career - and met many of his future lieutenants - at an under-the-radar firm known for keeping a tight grip on its financial risk.
/jlne.ws/3lUEtwp
Supreme Court to Hear Case That Targets a Legal Shield of Tech Giants; The justices are set to hear a case challenging Section 230, a law that protects Google, Facebook and others from lawsuits over what their users post online.
David McCabe - The New York Times
Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old California college student, was studying abroad in Paris in November 2015 when she was among the 130 people killed in a coordinated series of terrorist attacks throughout the city. The next year, her father sued Google and other tech companies. He accused the firms of spreading content that radicalized users into becoming terrorists, and said they were therefore legally responsible for the harm inflicted on Ms. Gonzalez's family. Her mother, stepfather and brothers eventually joined the lawsuit, too.
/jlne.ws/3lTKnxJ
LSEG's FXall and Saphyre form strategic alliance to digitise client onboarding for buy- and sell-side; Alliance will give liquidity providers the ability to systematically approve accounts and is validated and live for a subset of FXall clients, with plans to expand later this year.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
London Stock Exchange Group's (LSEG) FXall business has entered a strategic alliance with Saphyre to digitise account onboarding for FXall clients through Saphyre's AI technology. Saphyre's patent-approved AI technology gives liquidity providers the ability to systematically approve accounts and is validated and live for a subset of FXall clients - with plans for all FXall clients to receive the offering as additional enhancements are made this year.
/jlne.ws/3Kxendf
EFAMA welcomes European exchanges' proposal on consolidated tape; The funds association thinks the move will improve best execution, but warns that "the devil will be in the detail".
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has confirmed its approval of the recent agreement between a group of European exchanges to build a consolidated tape for equities - a move it believes will improve best execution on trades for both institutional and retail customers. "This affirms the buy-side's longstanding view that a European consolidated tape is key to completing the objectives of the Capital Markets Union and ensuring that European capital markets remain globally competitive," said the association. "We also believe in the potential of the equities/ETF consolidated tape to attract more capital flows into mid-cap and small-cap stocks, as well as smaller markets generally."
/jlne.ws/3EuCup4
FXPA Elects New Officers, Directors at Annual Meeting
Julie Rose - FXPA
The Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) elected a new slate of Officers and Board Members at its annual meeting on February 14, 2023. Effective immediately, Susan Dauber, Head of Legal & Regulatory, Euronext FX, and Chairperson of Euronext Markets Singapore, is Chair of FXPA; Chip Lowry, Senior Managing Director at State Street, is Vice Chair; Lauren Rosborough Watt, Investment Manager at CalPERS, is Secretary; and Paul Houston, Global Head of FX at CME Group, continues as Treasurer. The four officers form FXPA's Executive Committee, which sets the agenda for the upcoming year.
/jlne.ws/3XKoGNW
Commodity Traders Are Taking More Risk to Save Cash; Regulatory group calls for further monitoring in commodities; Review hindered by lack of data on some key functions
Mark Burton - Bloomberg
A group representing the world's top banking regulators warns that some cash-strapped commodities traders are hedging less since last year's unprecedented market turmoil - a strategy may leave them more vulnerable if prices spike again. After investigating the ructions in global commodities markets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Stability Board said the widespread use of leverage left some physical traders facing liquidity stress as prices jumped. The board's members include the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.
/jlne.ws/3xCTyVN
How Europe Ditched Russian Fossil Fuels With Spectacular Speed; Europe has changed Russia from its biggest source of imported energy to a bit player.
Will Mathis and Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg
Europe's most remarkable response to Russia's war on Ukraine hasn't been marshaling military equipment and billions of euros in aid. It's been the unprecedented speed of an energy transition that in one year has nearly eliminated its dependence on Russian fossil fuels in an attempt to strangle the key source of funding for President Vladimir Putin's war machine.
/jlne.ws/3Kqyd9I
Europe's Carbon Price Hits a Record 100 euros as Economy Rebounds From Energy Crisis; Economic outlook helps drive cost of permits to a record high; Price rally may renew concerns among industry, governments
Will Mathis and Ewa Krukowska - Bloomberg
The cost of European pollution permits rose to 100 euros ($106.59) for the first time, boosted by an improving economic outlook and expectations of a rebound in industrial output. Demand for the carbon contracts is building in anticipation that plunging natural gas prices may prompt some industrial companies to revive production that was curbed or shuttered last year by rocketing energy costs. At the same time, the prospect of tougher climate rules means pollution rights may be in shorter supply, deterring market participants with surplus allowances from selling them.
/jlne.ws/3XPWEk0
You Want at Least $3 Million in Savings to Retire Comfortably; Investors surveyed by Bloomberg expect their savings to rise this year.
Suzanne Woolley - Bloomberg
It's one of the thorniest financial questions: how much is enough to be comfortable when you retire? The answer is somewhere between $3 million and $5 million, according to the 553 investors worldwide who shared their views in the latest MLIV Pulse survey. About a third of investors pegged it at $3 million, and roughly another third at $5 million.
/jlne.ws/41octl8
China's Coal Mining Boom Is Running on Fumes; The pressure to bulletproof coal supplies is pricing it out of the market.
David Fickling - Bloomberg
Something strange is happening in the world's most polluting industry. China's coal industry accounts for nearly a fifth of the world's emissions, a greater volume of greenhouse pollution than every car, train, ship and aircraft in the world. It's oddly unclear, however, whether that cloud of carbon is growing, or shrinking.
/jlne.ws/3KoIpPZ
UK regulator looks to improve liquidity rules for £11tn asset management sector; Financial Conduct Authority's post-Brexit review of regulations follows blow-up in pensions market
Harriet Agnew and Laura Noonan - Financial Times
The UK's financial regulator is looking at ways to improve liquidity management in the country's £11tn asset management industry as part of a post-Brexit review of how it regulates the sector following a blow-up in the pensions market last year. On Monday the Financial Conduct Authority announced a consultation on how it could improve its current regime for regulating the UK's 2,600 asset management firms. The regulator said it was seeking to boost competition, encourage innovation and protect investors.
/jlne.ws/3Etnl7o
Credit Suisse Chairman's Outflow Claims Probed, Reuters Says
Marion Halftermeyer - Bloomberg
Switzerland's financial regulator is reviewing comments that Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann made in December on outflows from the company having stabilized, on the basis that they may have been misleading, Reuters reported.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Leopard tanks like a Mercedes, says Ukrainian soldier training in Germany
Sabine Siebold - Reuters
A Ukrainian soldier compared Germany's Leopard 2 tanks to a Mercedes as he underwent training with them ahead of their arrival on the battlefield, saying he hoped they would bring a breakthrough in the war. He is among dozens of Ukrainian troops Germany is training on Leopard 2 simulators and then the tanks themselves at its largest military training ground, in Munster, before sending them to Ukraine.
/jlne.ws/3ICIE91
Russian officials are denying ammunition to Wagner fighters - group founder
Reuters
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia's mercenary group Wagner, accused unspecified officials of deliberately denying his fighters sufficient ammunition as part of an ongoing rivalry between himself and parts of the Russian elite. A onetime catering entrepreneur who once shunned the public spotlight, Prigozhin has assumed an ever more public role in Russian politics since the start of the war in Ukraine a year ago, with his Wagner Group spearheading Russia's months-long battle for the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
/jlne.ws/3XHcPQE
Putin Halts Nuke Pact With US, Vows to Push War in Ukraine; Russia to halt observation of New START nuclear treaty With US; Putin says Russia will achieve its war aims in Ukraine
Bloomberg News
President Vladimir Putin said Russia will suspend its observation of the New START treaty with the US, dealing a blow to the last accord limiting their nuclear arsenals, as he vowed to press on with his faltering invasion of Ukraine.
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How long can Russia keep fighting the war in Ukraine?
Max Seddon, Anastasia Stognei, Polina Ivanova, Chris Campbell, Dan Clark, Sam Joiner and Caroline Nevitt - Financial Times
When he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin's original plan envisioned Russian forces capturing Kyiv within as little as three days. Nearly a year later, Russia's army is no closer to winning the war - and has even lost part of the territory that Putin attempted to annex last September.
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Wagner leader generated $250mn from sanctioned empire; Yevgeny Prigozhin's natural resources interests outside Russia barely hit by years of western sanctions
Miles Johnson - Financial Times
The sanctioned Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin generated revenues of more than a quarter of a billion dollars from his global natural resources empire in the four years before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to corporate records.
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Netherlands warns of Russian attempts to sabotage its energy infrastructure; Dutch military intelligence reports on activities indicating espionage and other potential disturbance
Alice Hancock in Brussels and David Sheppard - Financial Times
Dutch intelligence authorities have warned of Russian attempts to sabotage its North Sea energy infrastructure and told operators to be on their guard. Russia had instigated "activities that indicate espionage as well as preparing operations for disturbance and sabotage" of underwater cables, wind farms and gas pipelines in the North Sea, said a report published by the Dutch military intelligence unit MIVD on Monday.
/jlne.ws/3IJjRQM
Some of the Best Weapons in the World Are Now in Ukraine. They May Change the War.
David Axe - The New York Times
Tens of billions of dollars of weapons have flowed from European and North American countries into Ukraine. Rifles. Bullets. Missiles. Artillery pieces. At first, those nations insisted that the weapons were "defensive," designed to help Ukraine fight off a marauding Russian Army that had stormed, unprovoked, across the border.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | ICE Announces Plan to Expand its Climate Risk Offering Globally with Dun & Bradstreet Supply Chain and Location Data
ICE
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure, today announced an agreement with Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB), a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, to leverage its global supply chain and corporate location data to expand ICE's climate risk offering globally. By leveraging Dun & Bradstreet's supplier network and location data, ICE plans to expand its geospatial data and intelligence platform globally, which can enable multi-asset class climate risk analysis for private and public companies, sovereigns, and real estate portfolios around the world. With the expansion, ICE will be able to provide climate metrics on more than four million unique fixed income securities globally.
/jlne.ws/3XQY11R
International companies, energy and mining issuers defy market trends to lead TSX Venture Exchange in 2023; TSX Venture 50 highlights role that Canada's premier venture exchange plays in supporting access to capital amid economic challenges
TMX Group
TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) today released its 2023 Venture 50â"‡, shining a light on the top-performing companies from Canada and around the world that are driving growth across their respective sectors. The Venture 50 showcases TSXV issuers across five sectors: energy, mining, clean technology and life sciences, diversified industries, and technology. The ranking is an equal weighting of each firm's performance during 2022 across three key indicators: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation, and trading volume.
/jlne.ws/3EtsI6B
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montréal Exchange Closed for Family Day
TMX Group
Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Alpha Exchange and Montréal Exchange will be closed on Monday, February 20, 2023 for Family Day. The Exchanges will re-open and resume regular trading on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
/jlne.ws/3SiaTwJ
Tehran Stock Exchange Ranks Issuers By Governance; Iran's capital market issuers will be ranked regarding Corporate Governance (CG) principles compliance next year.
Mondovisione
At the fourth annual meeting of Iran Financial Association (IFA), Mahmoud Goudarzi, CEO of Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), introduced corporate governance as the foundation of capital market success. "Capital market issuers in Tehran Stock Exchange should fully recognize the CG directives. From the next year, all listed companies will be ranked regarding their compliance with CG principles.", he stated.
/jlne.ws/3YRfb0M
Replacements in indices
NSE
The Index Maintenance Sub-Committee (Equity) of NSE Indices Limited has decided to make replacement of stocks in various indices as listed hereunder. These changes shall become effective from February 28, 2023 (close of February 27, 2023).
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Automation and Data Standards in Collateral
International Swaps and Derivatives Association
At times of market stress, it's critically important that collateral gets to where it's supposed to be quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, operational practices can sometimes come under strain. Collateral management processes are not always fully automated and a lack of interoperability between systems means firms may struggle to manage the large increases in margin calls and settlement volumes that can occur during periods of heightened volatility - adding to the pressure on markets and increasing risk.
/jlne.ws/3IFWAiw
India ties up with Singapore for its first real-time overseas payments link
Siddhi Nayak and Xinghui Kok - Reuters
India and Singapore launched on Tuesday a real-time link to facilitate easier cross-border money transfers between the two countries, the first such for the South Asian nation that is the world's biggest recipient of remittances. Transfers of funds between the two countries will now be possible using just mobile phones due to the tie-up between India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Singapore's PayNow facility.
/jlne.ws/3ErFeU3
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Hackers Start Selling Data Center Logins for Some of World's Largest Corporations
Jordan Robertson - Bloomberg
In an episode that underscores the vulnerability of global computer networks, hackers got ahold of login credentials for data centers in Asia used by some of the world's biggest businesses, a potential bonanza for spying or sabotage, according to a cybersecurity research firm. The previously unreported data caches involve emails and passwords for customer-support websites for two of the largest data center operators in Asia: Shanghai-based GDS Holdings Ltd. and Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, according to Resecurity Inc., which provides cybersecurity services and investigates hackers.
/jlne.ws/41duQsF
Darktrace Hires Ernst & Young for Review After Short Seller Report
Amy Thomson - Bloomberg
Darktrace Plc, the British cybersecurity company that's been the target of short-seller reports, said it's hired accounting firm EY to review "key financial processes." The company said in a statement on Monday that it stands behind its results and is commissioning the audit to put down doubts about its accounting that short seller Quintessential Capital Management raised last month. Darktrace refutes QCM's accusations.
/jlne.ws/3lUWPx6
ChatGPT is bringing advancements and challenges for cybersecurity
Randy Lariar - Help Net Security
Understanding why ChatGPT is garnering so much attention takes a bit of background. Up until recently, AI models have been quite "dumb": they could only respond to specific tasks when trained on a large dataset providing context on what to find. But, over the last five years, research breakthroughs have taken AI to a whole new level, enabling computers to better understand the meaning behind words and phrases.
/jlne.ws/3kd6gb1
Paid security features at Twitter and Meta spark cybersecurity concerns
Tim Starks - The Washington Post
In recent days, Twitter - and to a lesser extent Facebook parent company Meta - has debuted features that gate off stronger security features for those who pay for them. It's a development that seemingly goes against a movement by some U.S. government officials and cyber pros for products to offer strong security to everyone at the outset without additional cost.
/jlne.ws/3ZcDQwG
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | FTX Bankruptcy Claims Sell for 20 Cents on the Dollar in Private OTC Markets
Oliver Knight - CoinDesk
Distressed asset funds can pick up FTX bankruptcy claims for up to 20 cents on the dollar in private over-the-counter (OTC) markets, a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk. FTX filed for bankruptcy in November after its sister company Alameda Research was blown out of levered long positions during the market downswing. Sam Bankman Fried's defunct exchange now owes its 50 largest creditors $3.1 billion.
/jlne.ws/3IkIfGG
Hong Kong's Crypto Hub Ambitions Win Quiet Backing From Beijing
Sarah Zheng and Kiuyan Wong - Bloomberg
In October, Hong Kong rolled out the red carpet for crypto businesses to help revitalize the embattled financial hub. Signs are now emerging the push has under-the-radar backing from Beijing, providing impetus for mainland Chinese firms to return. Representatives from China's Liaison Office and other officials have been frequent guests at the city's crypto gatherings over the past months, swapping business cards and WeChat details, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private information.
/jlne.ws/3Z6K5BT
Cryptoverse: Tether tightens grip on wobbling world of stablecoins
Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal - Reuters
The world of stablecoins is suddenly looking shaky. Seismic shifts may be afoot in the $137 billion market after New York-based Paxos Trust Company, which mints Binance's stablecoin, said it would cease issuing new BUSD tokens after U.S. regulators labeled the asset an unregistered security.
/jlne.ws/3Eo42ME
Here's how a Pensacola police detective uncovered an international cryptocurrency scheme:
Benjamin Johnson - Pensacola News Journal
The Pensacola Police Department recognized a detective as 2022 Officer of the Year for working more than 200 cases, including cracking an international cryptocurrency scheme. The PPD announced Feb. 14 that Detective Joseph Taschetta, 29, earned the award after he managed to solve a case involving someone from India calling an elderly woman in Pensacola and convincing her to transfer all her money into Bitcoin to expunge a fake outstanding warrant.
/jlne.ws/41sT9TV
'Bitcoin Jesus' Is Said to Owe Genesis Millions. So, What Makes Him Tick? (Podcast); A unit of Genesis is accusing early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver of failing to settle some outstanding crypto options transactions.
Muhammad Farouk Abdulrahman - Bloomberg
Bitcoin "evangelist" Roger Ver has said in at least one interview that when he was a little boy that he wanted to be a garbage truck driver. That way, he could drive heavy machinery around his neighborhood and get to talk to everyone. Sure enough, Ver did end up talking to a lot of folks -- but just not while collecting their trash. Instead, he promoted Bitcoin as the future of money and finance in the early days of crypto, which earned him the title "Bitcoin Jesus."
/jlne.ws/3XPWmtq
Binance Downplays Reports That Company Is Leaving U.S.
PYMNTS
Binance's CEO is denying reports his company is considering cutting ties with U.S. businesses. "We pulled back on some potential investments, or bids on bankrupt companies in the U.S. for now. Seek permission first" Changpeng Zhao said on Twitter Friday (Feb. 17), following reports that his company was backing away from doing business in the U.S.
/jlne.ws/3SdN2P1
FTX Unit in Japan Becomes First to Resume Customer Withdrawals
Takashi Nakamichi, Nao Sano and Ava Benny-Morrison - Bloomberg
The Japanese subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried's failed crypto exchange plans to reopen withdrawals on Tuesday, making itself the first of the FTX group's businesses to return money to clients. FTX Japan K.K. will start allowing customers to withdraw their fiat and crypto funds at noon in Tokyo, it said in a statement.
/jlne.ws/3XOv8nd
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | EU calls for fast-track crypto capital rules for banks
Huw Jones - Reuters
Tough capital rules for banks holding cryptoassets must be fast-tracked in the European Union's pending banking law if Europe wants to avoid missing a globally-agreed deadline, the bloc's executive has said. The global Basel Committee of banking regulators from the world's main financial centres has set a January 2025 deadline for implementing capital requirements for banks' exposures to cryptoassets such as stablecoins and bitcoin.
/jlne.ws/3SfIIyy
Russian Oil Flows to China Hit Highest Levels Since Ukraine Invasion; Overall exports of crude, fuel oil in January hit record high; The oil bought by China is cheaper than similar Africa grades
Bloomberg
Russian exports of discounted crude and fuel oil to China have jumped to record levels as the re-opening of the world's biggest energy importer gathers pace after the dismantling of Covid Zero. Overall flows last month were at the highest at any point since the invasion of Ukraine a year ago and surpassed a record set in April 2020, according to data intelligence firm Kpler. Exports of fuel oil surged to an all-time high.
/jlne.ws/3xEQDfC
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | National Advice Solutions convicted of hawking in relation to superannuation roll over calls
ASIC
On 20 February 2023, National Advice Solutions Pty Ltd appeared at the Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland and pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching anti-hawking laws. The Court imposed a penalty of $70,000. Between August 2019 and June 2020, National Advice Solutions made unsolicited calls to consumers encouraging them to roll over their superannuation into different superannuation products. The company then charged an initial fee for the rollover as well as ongoing fees.
/jlne.ws/3xHWMrq
UK financial watchdog hit with claim over prospectus climate risk disclosure
Attracta Mooney - Financial Times
The UK's financial watchdog has been hit with a rare legal action by an environmental group that claims the Financial Conduct Authority unlawfully signed off listing documents that allegedly failed to adequately outline oil and gas producer Ithaca Energy's climate change risks. The case marks the first time that the environmental law charity ClientEarth, which has a record of successful claims, has targeted the UK regulator.
/jlne.ws/3XJuual
Armchair detective investors take inspiration from Sherlock Holmes to foil investment scams
FCA
New research from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found that a quarter (25%) of investors who avoided a scam are taking inspiration from Sherlock Holmes to stop scammers in their tracks. It comes as the FCA launches its latest ScamSmart campaign which provides investors with the tools to identify and avoid scams.
/jlne.ws/3ErGdUf
Hong Kong Securities And Futures Commission Consults On Proposals To Regulate Virtual Asset Trading Platforms
Hong Kong Securities And Futures Commission
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) today launched a consultation on the proposed requirements for operators of virtual asset trading platforms. Under a new licensing regime to take effect on 1 June 2023 (Note 1), all centralised virtual asset trading platforms carrying on business in Hong Kong or actively marketing to Hong Kong investors will need to be licensed by the SFC.
/jlne.ws/3YZFKAI
Mauritian regulators examine bank in wake of Trafigura nickel fraud; Silver Bank's shareholder has ties to alleged fraudster Prateek Gupta
Robert Smith, Harry Dempsey and Cynthia O'Murchu - Financial Times
Mauritian regulators are examining a small bank whose majority owner has links to the alleged perpetrator of the $577mn nickel scam revealed this month by commodities trader Trafigura. Silver Bank, a lender with MRs11.4bn ($248mn) in assets, has the same controlling shareholder as TMT Metals, one of the companies Trafigura accuses of a "systematic fraud" involving fake nickel cargoes.
/jlne.ws/3XSSPdX
Lack of Crypto Audit Regulation Raises Questions About PCAOB Authority; Watchdog says it lacks jurisdiction on audits of private companies, but some accountants and academics say there are ways to strengthen its crypto oversight
Mark Maurer - The Wall Street Journal
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is facing calls to be the regulator that brings supervision to bear on auditors of cryptocurrency companies, even as the majority of crypto businesses fall outside its jurisdiction. Cryptocurrencies in the U.S. are largely unregulated, leaving investors at risk of market manipulation and fraud, and most crypto exchanges are privately held, so they aren't required to produce audited financial statements or file the reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
/jlne.ws/3KxdgKB
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | The Yen Regains Place as Most Attractive Bet to Fund Carry Trades; The currency's yield has been little changed over past year; 'Yen has no competitor now,' says Tokai Tokyo's Shibata
Masaki Kondo - Bloomberg
The yen is regaining its place as the most attractive option for carry traders to fund their purchases of higher-yielding currencies. The Japanese currency now has the lowest implied yield of 31 currencies analyzed by Bloomberg, having been in fifth place a year ago. Other currency yields have risen amid the wave of global monetary tightening, while the yen's has remained static with the Bank of Japan steadfastly sticking to its negative rate policy.
/jlne.ws/3XLPH3E
Trafigura Names New Battery-Metals Heads in Wake of Nickel Fraud
Archie Hunter - Bloomberg
Trafigura Group has appointed new co-heads of battery metals trading - a business the commodities giant has said was the victim of a "systematic fraud" that could cost it more than half a billion dollars. Mehdi Wetterwald and Daniel von Arx, who have both worked at Trafigura for over a decade, will run the global nickel, cobalt and lithium trading operations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
/jlne.ws/41gRdxp
In South Florida, an Anti-Cathie Wood Investor Is Quietly Building a Stock Empire
Ye Xie - Bloomberg
Rajiv Jain is everything that Cathie Wood isn't. The co-founder of GQG Partners doesn't have a Twitter account and rarely appears on TV. And in his growth stock funds, there are no driverless-car companies or hypersonic-missile manufacturers. Instead, you will find lots of industries with a decidedly 20th-century feel: oil, tobacco, banking.
/jlne.ws/3IFw6g3
Investors in a $10 Trillion Market Are on a Rollercoaster Ride; There've been some dramatic mark-to-market moves.
Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg
Surging interest rates pummeled the $10 trillion market for high-quality corporate bonds last year. Then, expectations that the Federal Reserve would slow the pace of hikes it soaring. Now, as yields on benchmark debt rise anew, the value of corporate credit is dropping once again.
/jlne.ws/3YQjj10
How to Invest in the S&P 500; Why S&P 500 index funds are the most popular investments around
Bernice Napach - The Wall Street Journal
If you're new to investing or just want a portfolio built around a diversified, core holding that covers most of the U.S. stock market, you don't have to look any further than an S&P 500 index fund. The S&P 500 index, short for Standard & Poor's 500 index, is one of the most widely traded and talked about stock indexes in the world. According to Morningstar, a Chicago-based financial research firm, at the end of last year investors had $2.2 trillion in assets in funds that track the S&P 500 index, making them the most popular equity investments on the U.S. market.
/jlne.ws/3ZeMOJL
BHP Will Start to Dig Itself Out in 2023; Mining company's outlook is brighter-but there are some potential spoilers
Nathaniel Taplin - The Wall Street Journal
Australian mining company BHP had a rough half year-not unexpected given where the price of iron ore, its biggest earner, was in late 2022. This year will almost certainly be significantly better. But there are still a few potential party spoilers for 2023: namely China and U.S. inflation. BHP's net profit for the half year ended in December 2022 fell 32% year over year to $6.5 billion, the company said Tuesday, and it will reduce its dividend to 90 cents a share from $1.50 a year before. And the company's net debt rose 13% to $6.9 billion. Lower cash generation and cash balances were the main factor: gross debt still fell nearly $2 billion to $14.7 billion.
/jlne.ws/3Z7JoZ9
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Stronger El Nino events may speed up irreversible melting of Antarctic ice, research finds; New study shows impact of weather phenomenon could have a 'double whammy' effect, leading to worsening extreme weather and accelerating sea level rise
Adam Morton - The Guardian
Stronger El Nino events due to global heating may accelerate irreversible melting of the Antarctic ice sheet and ice shelves and the rise in sea levels, according to research from Australia's premier government science agency. Previous studies have found that rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to increase the magnitude of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (Enso), the planet's most significant year-to-year climate fluctuation and a major driver of extreme droughts and floods. Extreme warm El Nino events and cool La Nina events are expected to become more frequent as the planet heats.
/jlne.ws/3kjvg0a
Europe Supported Ukraine With Not Just Tanks, But Heat Pumps Too; Individual citizens have made the most immediate changes to Europe's green energy transition.
Will Mathis and Akshat Rathi - Bloomberg
There have been numerous cases of everyday citizens in Ukraine and across Europe doing extraordinary things to support the war effort. Some left their home country and joined the international wing of the Ukrainian army to fight on the frontline. Cities in Poland, where nearly 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have registered since the outbreak of the war, organized efforts to provide shelter, food and childcare. Britons donated some £400 million to support Ukrainians, and the UK is just one of many countries that have organized financial aid.
/jlne.ws/3II0Rln
Imagining a World Without Fossil Fuels; Mark Stoll's new book "Profit" describes how capitalism and its spawn, consumerism, fuel climate change and environmental degradation. "The environment," he writes, "can no longer bear the cost."
Kiley Bense - Inside Climate News
The commercial, from 2021, starts with a typical prelude to a 21st-century first date. There's a young woman, with pink-streaked hair and a teal smartphone, swiping on dating profiles as upbeat music plays in the background. She fixes her hair, puts contacts in her eyes and applies lipstick in the backseat of a car on her way to the restaurant to meet her date. The date, a guy in glasses, appears in front of his bathroom mirror, smearing gel in his hair. The camera zooms in on his white sneakers as he approaches the girl, and they stop on the sidewalk, staring at each other and smiling. "That connection was brought to you by petroleum products," the commercial's narrator informs us.
/jlne.ws/3xHtGbG
Thailand to Ban Plastic Waste Imports From 2025 to Cut Pollution; Officials seek to curb flood of refuse from rich countries; Imports limited to firms that use the scraps as raw material
Suttinee Yuvejwattana - Bloomberg
Thailand is restricting plastic waste imports and will ban scrap shipments of the material starting in 2025, as officials seek to halt a flood of refuse from rich countries that has impacted the health of its citizens and polluted its air and water. From this year, plastic waste imports will be restricted to 14 manufacturers located in Thailand's free trade zone that use the scraps as raw materials, the government said in a statement after the cabinet approved the policy. Inflows will be cut by half next year, although exceptions may be made on a case by case basis, a government spokeswoman said Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3Z5EcVG
Wall Street Clashes With Green Bankers Fed Up With Oil Agenda; The world's largest climate-finance alliance faces an embarrassing mutiny from its cleanest members.
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
Inside the world's biggest climate-finance alliance, a number of green banks are reviewing their membership in objection to perceived concessions to Wall Street. The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, which is a sub-unit of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, faces a potentially embarrassing mutiny from some of the world's most climate-conscious lenders after it decided against imposing binding restrictions on fossil-fuel financing.
/jlne.ws/3Z504Az
Tesla Undercuts Average US Car by Almost $5,000 in EV Shakeout; Elon Musk's latest US price drop brings Tesla's electric-vehicle premium to a record low.
Tom Randall - Bloomberg
After a hopscotch of price cuts over the past month, Tesla's Model 3 sedan now sells for $4,930 less than the average new vehicle sold in the US. That's the cheapest price Tesla has ever had relative to the typical US vehicle, according to a new Bloomberg analysis.
/jlne.ws/3IlY9Rb
China: What the world's largest food system means for climate change
Sally Qiu and Zizhu Zhang - Carbon Brief (guest post)
China is the world's largest producer and consumer of food. In 2019, China's giant food system produced 1.9bn tonnes of CO2 equivalent - around the same as the total annual emissions of Russia, the world's fourth largest polluter. Several factors are behind China's rising food emissions, including a growing taste for red meat, increasing fertiliser use and high levels of food waste - among other drivers. Food giant; Across the world, around one-third of total greenhouse gas emissions come from the production of food.
/jlne.ws/3KnUdSM
Can higher ambition in developed countries create 'carbon space' for others?
Gaurav Ganti and Prof Carl-Friedrich Schleussner - Carbon Brief (guest post)
The Paris Agreement was a historic deal that, for the first time, asked all countries to take action towards the collective goal of trying to limit warming to 1.5C. The deal was made possible by reiterating equity principles that recognise developed countries mostly caused the problem of climate change - and, therefore, need to work hardest to solve it. Moreover, it gave developed countries the responsibility of not only taking the lead in cutting their emissions, but also of supporting developing countries as they transition away from fossil fuels. As developed countries have fallen short on both fronts - climate action and finance - a number of developing countries have asserted their claim to a "fair share" of the remaining carbon budget.
/jlne.ws/3IIhIVc
UK Investors Undeterred by Offshore Headwinds; Onshore lag and grid connectivity issues plaguing the UK and its European counterparts, despite capacity growth.
Jack Grogan-Fenn - ESG Investor
After a record year for new UK offshore wind capacity, market momentum is threatened by project delays and National Grid connectivity issues, but investors remain upbeat while backing calls for urgent reforms. The UK currently has the second-biggest operational offshore wind capacity and the second-largest offshore wind pipeline, with only China ahead of it. A quarter of British electricity on average is produced by wind each year, with it already an "integral part of the UK energy mix", Alex Brierley, Co-Head of Octopus Energy Generation's fund management team, told ESG Investor.
/jlne.ws/3XQZB43
Lithium's Plunge Is Pitting Cathie Wood Against Sector Veterans; There's sharp debate within the electric-car industry over the path ahead for prices, and the potential impact of promised new mines.
Annie Lee - Bloomberg
Lithium's recent price collapse and the prospect that supply from new mines could accelerate the slump are stoking fierce debate in the electric-car battery industry. It's an argument that's pitting ARK Investment Management Chief Executive Officer Cathie Wood against some of the sector's most prominent voices. Lithium carbonate in China, a key benchmark, has tumbled almost 30% since touching a record in November, a sharp reversal from the material surging more than 14-fold since mid-2020 as automakers rushed to lock in raw materials needed for the rapid expansion of their electric lineups.
/jlne.ws/3IKcok8
Chickens Need More Room and Slower Growth, EU Food Watchdog Says; EFSA lays out recommendations as part of Farm to Fork review; Report comes as EU battles unprecedented bird flu outbreak
Megan Durisin - Bloomberg
The European Union's food watchdog recommends that farmers slow the growth of chickens, stop housing hens in cages and stock fewer birds to improve conditions for poultry. The European Food Safety Authority issued the guidance in two separate reports as the bloc moves toward its Farm to Fork strategy, which calls for improving animal welfare. It adds to similar proposals for pig farming last year and comes as livestock production across the continent shrinks from disease outbreaks and lofty feed and energy costs.
/jlne.ws/41dNb9d
Vanguard chief defends decision to pull asset manager out of climate alliance; Champion of low-cost trackers warns against expecting superior returns from ESG funds and alternative strategies
Chris Flood, Harriet Agnew and Patrick Jenkins and Madison Darbyshire - Financial Times
The chief executive of Vanguard has defended his decision to pull the world's second largest asset manager out of an industry-wide alliance to tackle climate change, saying the group's "voice was being drowned out". In December, Vanguard resigned from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, a coalition of 301 asset managers committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
/jlne.ws/3KoGoDt
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | David Solomon prepares to explain himself to Goldman Sachs investors; Chief executive has to convince shareholders the US bank is moving in the right direction
Joshua Franklin, Brooke Masters in New York and Adrienne Klasa - Financial Times
Earlier this month, in front of massed rows of Goldman Sachs partners at a controversial private meeting in Miami, chief executive David Solomon performed a rare mea culpa. The four-day off-site event, which also featured a fireside chat with comedian Trevor Noah, was Solomon's chance to explain the deep bonus reductions and job cuts that he said he had been forced to implement as the economy turned.
/jlne.ws/3xDPAfH
Ex-JPMorgan Fugitive Gets Jail Sentence in Libya Fund Fraud; Three ex-bankers sentenced by judge in long-running case; Men found guilty of defrauding Libyan sovereign wealth fund
Katharine Gemmell - Bloomberg
A former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker who's now on the run was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in jail for his role in a multimillion-pound fraud against the Libyan government. Frederic Marino, 56, was found guilty in December of fraud by abuse of position of trust from 2009 to 2014. Marino wasn't present for his sentencing on Monday at Southwark Crown Court and an arrest warrant was already issued last year after he failed to show up for his eight-week jury trial.
/jlne.ws/3SdAeIl
In China, There Are No Star Bankers, Only Fallen Angels; The disappearance of a high-profile executive has renewed fears that Beijing may not yet be done with its crackdown on elite businessmen.
Shuli Ren - Bloomberg
Here is a question for those with corporate credit cards. When a wild party ends and everyone is happily inebriated, who will pick up the tab? Months later, will your company say your receipt failed audit and you are personally responsible for those bottles of champagne? This increasingly feels like a fitting analogy to describe China's anti-corruption campaign in its financial services industry.
/jlne.ws/3xXoS21
Hedge Fund Buying Sparks 380% Rally for Hard-Hit Education Stock; Hedge fund ownership of New Oriental US shares have soared; FengHe CIO predicts 50% more price upside over next 12 months
Bei Hu - Bloomberg
A battered Chinese education stock has become a hedge fund investment darling, soaring 380% since its March-low. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. could see another 50% upside in price in the next 12 month, according to a January newsletter by Singapore-based FengHe Fund Management Pte, one of several hedge funds that bought into the company's US-traded shares.
/jlne.ws/3IHZMKF
Star Banker's Disappearance Surprises Even China's State Lenders; China Renaissance had $1.1 billion of loans, credit facilities; Bocom, Pudong Bank, CMB among lenders having asked for clarity
Bloomberg
The disappearance of Chinese banker Bao Fan has surprised even some of his state-owned lenders, several of which are asking his firm for more information as they assess their exposure, according to people familiar with the matter. The development underscores how opaque the country's business and regulatory landscape can be, even for players like state-owned banks with strong links to Chinese officialdom.
/jlne.ws/3Y2H05b
Credit Suisse Shares Hit Record Low on Outflow Claims Probe; Chairman Lehmann said in December outflows 'basically stopped'
Finma investigating if comments potentially misleading
Marion Halftermeyer and Allegra Catelli - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG fell to an intra-day record low on a report that the chairman is facing a probe over comments he made that the firm had put a stop to huge client outflows after a run of share declines. Swiss financial markets regulator Finma is seeking to establish whether the comments from bank representatives including Chairman Axel Lehmann were misleading, according to a Reuters report. In a Bloomberg TV interview on Dec. 2, Lehmann had said that outflows "basically have stopped" after it had disclosed on Nov. 23 the loss of 84 billion francs of client assets. By the end of the quarter, that figure had risen to 110.5 billion francs.
/jlne.ws/3Es2OjC
HSBC's Defense Is Sturdier Than Standard Chartered's; The London-listed Asia-focused lenders are fending off distractions.
Paul J. Davies - Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc both have unwanted attention from outsiders: HSBC's biggest investor is demanding a breakup, and a potential suitor from Abu Dhabi is threatening the latter's independence.
/jlne.ws/3Kqy71Q
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | World's Largest Four-Day Work Week Trial Finds Few Are Going Back; And about one in six employees in the study said no amount of money would convince them to return to five days a week.
Irina Anghel and Arianne Cohen - Bloomberg
The largest-ever trial of the four-day work week found that most UK companies participating are not returning to the five-day standard, and a third are ready to make that change permanent. The study involved 61 organizations and about 2,900 workers who voluntarily adopted truncated work weeks from June to December 2022. Only three organizations decided to pause the experiment, and two are still considering shorter hours, data released Tuesday showed. The rest were convinced by revenue gains, drops in turnover and lower levels of worker burnout that four is the new five when it comes to work days.
/jlne.ws/3kbDc3D
The Biggest Earners May Not Be the Smartest Workers, Study Says
Low De Wei - Bloomberg
It pays to be smart, or so the saying goes. But the biggest earners may not be the workers who are the brainiest, according to one recent Swedish study. The research, published in the European Sociological Review in January, found that higher general intelligence was correlated to higher wages-but only up to a threshold of about 600,000 Swedish krona ($57,300) a year. Beyond that point, the study found that ability plateaus as wages continue to rise. And earners in the top 1% score slightly worse than those in the income tier directly below them.
/jlne.ws/419DNU5
World's Largest Four-Day Work Week Trial Finds Few Are Going Back; And about one in six employees in the study said no amount of money would convince them to return to five days a week.
Irina Anghel and Arianne Cohen - Bloomberg
The largest-ever trial of the four-day work week found that most UK companies participating are not returning to the five-day standard, and a third are ready to make that change permanent. The study involved 61 organizations and about 2,900 workers who voluntarily adopted truncated work weeks from June to December 2022. Only three organizations decided to the pause the experiment, and two are still considering shorter hours, data released Tuesday showed
/jlne.ws/3xXoBw1
JPMorgan Cuts About 30 Investment Banking Jobs in Asia Pacific; JPMorgan starts cutting investment bankers across Asia-Pacific; Cuts is driven by global headcount reduction, China cooling
Cathy Chan - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is letting go of about 30 investment bankers in Asia-Pacific this week, with a majority of them based in Greater China, as deal flows in its biggest growth market in the region struggle to rebound, people familiar with the matter said. The cuts to its Hong Kong and China-based bankers are the biggest seen in years, though they make up less than 5% of its investment banking headcount in the region, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Most of those affected are junior level bankers, they said.
/jlne.ws/3YJesyy
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | How banks may catch signs of dementia before the doctors do
Patti Waldmeir - Financial Times
Kirk Johnson says a few late utility bills and a dental bill that "fell through the cracks" were the first clues that his "brilliant" wife, a 50-something senior executive, would be diagnosed with dementia years later. Ann in Atlanta says her family became aware of cognitive problems in an elderly relative when he began writing "$10 or $20 cheques to any charity that asked - real or fake", long before his diagnosis.
/jlne.ws/3EmSNUA
How likely is a human bird flu pandemic? Scientists urge more vigorous action to reduce circulation of highly contagious H5N1 strain
Donato Paolo Mancini and Clive Cookson - Financial Times
The worst-ever outbreak of bird flu has led to the disease becoming endemic in some birds, inflicted huge costs on the poultry industry, spread into wild and captive mammals and, in some rare instances, infected humans. The World Organisation for Animal Health this month said a rising number of cases had been reported in mammals, "causing morbidity and mortality" in species such as otters and seals. Reports of infections in farmed mink in Spain had increased concerns, WOAH said, because cases involving large numbers of animals kept close to one another exacerbated the risk of wider transmission.
/jlne.ws/3ZcHczM
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China no longer viable as world's factory, says Kyocera; Japanese component maker is investing at home with first new plant in nearly two decades
Eri Sugiura - Financial Times
US curbs on China's access to advanced technology are killing its viability as a manufacturing base for exports, according to the head of Japan's Kyocera, as one of the world's largest makers of chip components shifts its production elsewhere and invests heavily in facilities at home.
/jlne.ws/3YTyKFG
Liverpool FC owner John Henry calls off sale; US businessman is still open to securing new investment for football club
Sara Germano - Financial Times
The US owner of Liverpool FC said the club will not be sold, capping three months of exploring options for the English Premier League team amid a tumultuous market for professional sports teams. John Henry, who also owns baseball's Boston Red Sox and ice hockey's Pittsburgh Penguins, said that his company, Fenway Sports Group, was still considering new investment for the club though he does not anticipate owning it indefinitely.
/jlne.ws/3KkrL4d
Finland Tightens Mining Law as Demand for Minerals Surges
Leo Laikola - Bloomberg
Finland's parliament passed an overhaul of its mining law to better protect the environment and safeguard national production of minerals amid surging demand. The new bill, approved on Monday, gives greater control to local residents in permissioning of new mining areas, aims to increase sustainability in the industry and evens the playing field for companies. Stricter regulation and higher fees are expected to help weed out unreliable operators and benefit those who comply with the rules, the government has estimated.
/jlne.ws/41odSrU
US gas export plant hit by blast reopens with uncertain future; Freeport facility accounted for 10% of European LNG intake before explosion in June
Justin Jacobs - Financial Times
Before dawn on June 8 last year, workers at the sprawling Freeport liquefied natural gas export plant on the Texas coast heard "strange" noises emanating from some of its pipes. They notified their bosses but a follow-up inspection found nothing amiss. Then came a fireball. The explosion at Freeport LNG knocked out a centrepiece of the US gas export industry just as the world was looking for more fuel as the war in Ukraine squeezed supplies from Russia. The terminal supplied about 10 per cent of European LNG imports at the time of the explosion.
/jlne.ws/3xJ3jli
Florida's climate exodus has already begun - and it's only going to get worse
Jake Bittle - Business Insider
The state's climate exodus has already begun. As many residents will be proud to tell you, the thousand-odd islands that make up the Florida Keys are one of a kind: there is no other place in the world that boasts the same combination of geological, ecological, and sociological characteristics. The islands have a special, addictive quality about it, an air of freedom that leads people to turn their backs on mainland life. The Keys are also the first flock of canaries in the coal mine of climate change. Over the past few years, the residents of these islands have been forced to confront a phenomenon that will affect millions of Americans before the end of the century. Their present calamity offers a glimpse of our national future.
/jlne.ws/3Z8JShx
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Goldman, JPMorgan Lead Billion-Dollar Football Pitch Invasion; Wall Street banks help to reshape world's favorite sport; Manchester United is latest opportunity to earn deal fees
David Hellier - Bloomberg
Wall Street banks are profiting from the billions of dollars shaking up the world's most popular sport. From advising on takeovers of historic clubs, to providing funding for top leagues, the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are discovering European football to be a lucrative source of revenue at a time when broader mergers and acquisitions activity is slowing. The influx reflects the new era of American influence on a game that was traditionally dominated by wealthy Europeans and their close circle of advisers. Whether it's the sale of English Premier League giant Manchester United Plc, or a new stadium for FC Barcelona in Spain, US banks are first in line.
/jlne.ws/3XPVZPy
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