| October 22, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | | | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
The FIA mourned the passing of Sir Brian Williamson yesterday in a LinkedIn post. Here is a quote from the post:
"Sir Brian was a legendary figure for our industry and an inspiration to many," said Walt Lukken, President and CEO of FIA. "He was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2007 and remains one of this industry's leading lights. Our industry celebrates the impactful life of Sir Brian."
Exchange Invest's Patrick Young offered his own words of appreciation for the life of Sir Brian in a LinkedIn post titled "Sir Brian Williamson - An Appreciation." Young's post can be summarized as follows:
The late Sir Brian Williamson's leadership and legacy in the financial world, particularly with LIFFE, left an indelible mark. Known for his charm and tenacity, Brian played a pivotal role in rescuing LIFFE during a critical period of financial instability. His ability to lead with both politeness and strategic ruthlessness, coupled with his revolutionary mindset, transformed the exchange, ushering in the era of electronic trading through LIFFE Connect and steering it through a successful demutualization. Brian's vision helped solidify LIFFE's place in financial history, and his passing leaves a significant void in the City of London. His contributions were recognized with a knighthood, and his legacy as a mentor, innovator, and leader will endure.
The Financial Times has a story today titled "If you want your company's stock to go up, hire wonkier IT people." My question is, is there any other kind? Wonky IT professionals can positively impact a company's stock by enhancing cybersecurity, preventing costly breaches, and optimizing cloud infrastructure to reduce operational costs. They can improve data management and analytics for better decision-making and implement automation to boost productivity. Developing new software or platforms introduces revenue streams while ensuring system uptime maintains business continuity. Upgrading legacy systems improves efficiency, and enhancing the digital customer experience increases satisfaction and retention. Supporting e-commerce growth drives revenue, and implementing IT cost-cutting measures enhances profit margins, all contributing to stronger financial performance and higher stock value. Also, they make company picnics more fun.
It sounds an awful lot like Cantor Fitzgerald's Howard Lutnick, who is co-chair of the Trump transition team, will be a member of the Trump team himself if the former president is elected. Lutnick gave very enthusiastic responses to Larry Kudlow's questions in a Fox Business interview yesterday when speaking about the possibility of working alongside Elon Musk and his work for the Department of Government Efficiency.
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: B2C2 cuts deal to build exchange-traded crypto presence, 'Addressing clearing inefficiencies' is vital for Europe - ESMA, EEX to expand offering with French biogas GO auction launch and OptAxe secures approval to launch foreign exchange options market.
I just bought an Audible copy of Malcolm Gladwell's new book "Revenge of the Tipping Point" to listen to on my ride back to Illinois later this month. I was given three copies of the original book, The Tipping Point, because people read it and saw me as a connector and influencer. The Wall Street Journal has a story about "The Generosity Power Move That Can Boost Your Career" that is about being a connector.
In the article, Rachel Feintzeig highlights how becoming a "connector" - someone who introduces others to mutually beneficial contacts - can enhance one's career. Connectors excel at creating opportunities for others and often reap professional rewards in return. By building relationships and offering help without expecting immediate returns, individuals can create lasting professional networks that benefit both themselves and others. From crafting the perfect introduction email to hosting networking dinners, the ability to connect people can lead to promotions, job offers, and deeper career satisfaction. I can't wait to hear what Gladwell has to say about the Revenge of the Tipping Point.
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:
- How Susquehanna's Jeff Yass mastered the options game from the Financial Times.
- The SEC greenlit Bitcoin ETF options trading. Here come the big fish from Quartz.
- Robinhood CEO outlines opportunities in options trades, redesign from Yahoo Finance. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Record-Breaking Temperatures Mask a Subtler Threat: Chronic Heat; Long-term exposure to high temperatures - even if they're not abnormally high - is a growing health risk, particularly for outdoor workers and disadvantaged communities.
Eric Roston - Bloomberg
Phoenix has become a nerve-wracking bellwether for extreme heat. Arizona's capital recently endured a three-week stretch when every day broke a heat record, with thermometers peaking at 117F (47C) on Sept. 28. Yet even below the threshold of smashing records, Arizona is also "having hotter days more often, that last a little bit longer," noted Erinanne Saffell, the state climatologist. Chronic heat at this scale poses its own dangers, without generating nearly as much attention as record-setting extremes. And there have been 92 days in Phoenix this year that were hotter than 95F but didn't breach 110F.
/jlne.ws/48fmxjY
****** It has been really nice and hot in Florida, which is unusual for this time of year. Hmmm!~JJL
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If you want your company's stock to go up, hire wonkier IT people; AI job ads as a sort-of measure of corporate technological advancement, sometimes, maybe
Bryce Elder - Financial Times
Before taking all our jobs, AI sure is creating a lot of jobs. The chart above uses data from Barclays, and it may not tell the whole story, because not all AI jobs are equal. Adam Lauretig and Ryan Preclaw, of Barclays' data science team, have been collecting job ad data to determine which companies are hiring AI specialists, rather than creating "digital prophet" type roles. More than 85 per cent of S&P 500 companies had advertised for AI people by March 2023, they found, so by that measure there was not much to tell them apart. A more useful approach, they reasoned, would be to filter the ads for specifics like natural language processing and computer vision, or for software brands like TensorFlow and Pytorch.
/jlne.ws/40dkzPa
****** I love wonky!~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top story Monday was How Susquehanna's Jeff Yass mastered the options game, from the Financial Times. Second was JLN Launches The History of Financial Futures Episode: Game Changers, Part II, from John Lothian News, a video which features Sir Brian Williamson as the first person you see speaking on the screen. Third was The system that moves water around the Earth is off balance for the first time in human history, from CNN.
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| Lead Stories | SEC to Increase Scrutiny of AI Tools Used by Brokers, Advisers; Agency sharpens focus on AI in 2025 examination watch list; Regulator will scrutinize AI tied to trading, fraud prevention
Nicola M. White - Bloomberg
The US Securities and Exchange Commission's examiners will step up scrutiny of financial firms' use of artificial intelligence next year, the latest sign of regulators' growing concerns about the emerging technologies. Investment advisers, brokers, clearing agencies and others can expect the SEC to focus on their statements about AI tools to ensure they comply with agency rules, according to a Division of Examinations report published Monday. The regulator will also look into how firms supervise the use of the technologies for tasks tied to trading, fraud prevention and anti-money-laundering policies.
/jlne.ws/3UhAVTc
HSBC Kicks Off Biggest Restructuring in Decade Under New CEO; Lender also announces Pam Kaur as its first-ever female CFO; Georges Elhedery has sought to reduce complexity, trim costs
Harry Wilson, Ambereen Choudhury, and Denise Wee - Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings Plc unveiled a broad restructuring across different business lines and geographies as newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery embarks on an ambitious effort to cut costs at the banking behemoth. The lender will combine its global commercial and institutional banking operations under Michael Roberts and is creating a new international wealth and premier banking business that will be overseen by Barry O'Byrne. HSBC also named Pam Kaur as chief financial officer and announced plans to revamp its regional operations around the world.
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***** Here is the Financial Times version of this story.~JJL
WisdomTree ESG Funds With Fossil Fuels Draw $4 Million SEC Fine; Coal, natural gas and tobacco holdings showed up in portfolios; Cease-and-desist order signed without admitting fault
Nicola M. White - Bloomberg
Advisory firm WisdomTree Asset Management Inc. agreed to pay $4 million to settle US Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that it failed to deliver on its promise to create exchange-traded funds that avoided investments in fossil fuels or tobacco. WisdomTree touted three funds from March 2020 to November 2022 with an environmental, social and governance strategy that excluded certain "controversial products or activities," according to the regulator's cease and desist order on Monday. Some of the companies chosen as investments were involved in coal mining and transportation, natural gas extraction and retail sales of tobacco products, the SEC said.
/jlne.ws/3Yyx9Yi
Gensler to stick to Treasury clearing timetable; SEC chief promises to keep up the pressure for done-away trades
Janice Kirkel - Risk.net
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler told the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Sifma) he is standing by the timetable for the agency's US Treasury clearing mandate. Broker-dealers must begin clearing US Treasury securities from December 31, 2025, while virtually all market participants - including buy-side firms - will be required to clear repurchase transactions after June 30, 2026.
/jlne.ws/3A9qI4j
Clearing houses fear being classified as Dora third parties; As 2025 deadline looms, CCP and exchange members seek risk information that's usually deemed confidential
Paulina Pielichata - Risk.net
Central counterparties (CCPs) and exchanges fear information disclosure requests from their bank members will become excessive under the current interpretation of new European legislation. The European Union's Digital Operational Resilience Act (Dora) enters into force in January 2025, and will require financial institutions such as banks and asset managers to have a better handle on the operational risks stemming from their third-party technology providers. Amid uncertainty over how to interpret
/jlne.ws/3BRVRd8
HSBC splits East and West in major revamp and appoints first female finance chief
Selena Li, Lawrence White and Sinead Cruise - Reuters
HSBC merged some operations and split its geographic footprint into East and West in a sweeping restructuring under new CEO Georges Elhedery that also included the appointment of the bank's first female finance chief. Under the revamp, announced on Tuesday, HSBC will combine some of its commercial and investment banking businesses. It also installed a new leadership structure, which would "unleash our full potential and drive success into the future," Elhedery said in a memo to staff.
/jlne.ws/48hOVSI
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.
/jlne.ws/4dRYGIl
Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones sues AI start-up Perplexity for infringement; Publishers accuse company of 'freeriding' on valuable news content
Daniel Thomas in London and Cristina Criddle in San Francisco - Financial Times
Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones and the New York Post have accused artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity of a "brazen scheme" to rip off their journalism for its AI-driven search engine in a lawsuit filed in New York on Monday. The publishers, both subsidiaries of News Corp, alleged the AI start-up, which is seeking to raise up to $1bn in a funding round that will value it at $8bn, was "engaging in a massive amount of illegal copying" of their work. The lawsuit said Perplexity is "diverting customers and critical revenues" away from the news publishers, whose titles include the Wall Street Journal, "freeriding on the valuable content the publishers produce".
/jlne.ws/4dWnOhj
US oil industry wins reprieve to avert Gulf of Mexico shutdown; Court delays introduction of new protections for endangered species as activists bemoan 'fear-mongering'
Myles McCormick in Houston and Jamie Smyth in New York - Financial Times
The US oil industry won a delay in a high-profile legal clash with environmental advocates over rules that it claimed could trigger the complete shutdown of production in the Gulf of Mexico. A federal court ruled on Monday that agency regulations due to expire in December could remain in place until May, despite a previous finding that they lacked sufficient protections for endangered species.
/jlne.ws/4hcqudx
US rolls out 'open banking' rules to make sharing financial data easier; Agency finalises regulations aimed at increasing competition and helping consumers link bank accounts to apps
Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
The top US consumer finance watchdog has finalised long-awaited "open banking" rules that it hopes will inject more competition into a market with more than 4,000 lenders and make it easier for customers to link their bank accounts to newer apps. The rules announced on Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau bring the US more in line with the UK and Europe, which had previously codified rules around how financial data is to be shared.
/jlne.ws/4eP9t7u
Private Markets Are Reserved for the Rich. Should a Test Let You in? There is a debate over whether wealth or smarts determines who can invest in private markets
Corrie Driebusch - The Wall Street Journal
Investing in private companies has long been a privilege reserved for the wealthy, those with the financial wherewithal to absorb big losses. There is an effort gaining steam to replace this market regulation with a new test. Literally. A group of lawmakers has proposed legislation that would allow any investor capable of passing an exam to buy private securities-an array of investments like shares in pre-IPO startups or loans to private companies that are considered riskier because they have looser disclosure rules than public securities and can be harder, and sometimes impossible, to sell in a pinch.
/jlne.ws/40eeCBt
Asset management association pushes for Europe to switch to T+1 in 2026; The Investment Association concludes UK, EU and Switzerland should transition to T+1 settlement on a date in Autumn 2026, advocating for an earlier move than most.
Jonathan Watkins - The Trade
The Investment Association (IA) has concluded that the UK, EU and Switzerland should transition to T+1 settlement on a date in Autumn 2026 after gathering views from its members. Described as "the average positioning of IA member firms' views", the timeline put forward is one of the more aggressive, with most task forces and associations more on board with 2027.
/jlne.ws/4eQAEid
OptAxe launches new MTF for FX options; Having received authorisation from the FCA, the OptAxe trading venue centralises FX options liquidity to increase trading opportunities.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
Centralised trading venue OptAxe has received FCA authorisation to operate a multilateral trading facility (MTF) for axe-driven FX options trading. OptAxe stated that it is launching the new venue to address fundamental shortcomings in FX options trading. According to the firm, increased fragmentation in FX trading now presents substantial position distribution and coverage challenges, and places constraints on effective price discovery and execution options.
/jlne.ws/3AkjF8Z
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Russian commander blamed for Ukraine shopping centre attack killed with hammer
James Kilner - The Telegraph
A Russian air force commander blamed for a lethal attack on a shopping centre in Ukraine has been found bludgeoned to death with a hammer. Ukraine's military intelligence said that it had assassinated Col Dmitry Golenkov, a senior officer in Russia's 52nd heavy bomber regiment, with the "hammer of justice". Golenkov was said to be behind one of the most egregious attacks on a civilian target of the war. Images of a rocket striking the shopping centre, and its aftermath, were circulated widely.
/jlne.ws/3YySa4M
Shadow of Ukraine war hangs over Putin's BRICS summit in Russia
Vladimir Soldatkin, Guy Faulconbridge - Reuters
Russia wants the BRICS summit to showcase the rising clout of the non-Western world, but Moscow's partners from China, India, Brazil and the Arab world are urging President Vladimir Putin to find a way to end the war in Ukraine. The BRICS group now accounts for 45% of the world's population and 35% of its economy, based on purchasing power parity, though China accounts for over half of its economic might.
/jlne.ws/4dXkUZu
Zelenskiy says US preparing aid package to finance production of Ukrainian drones
Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday the United States was preparing an aid package worth $800 million to finance production of Ukrainian drones. Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said the package was in addition to a $400 million package for new arms announced during U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to Kyiv. "A separate package is also being prepared -- $800 million in funding for the production of Ukrainian drones," Zelenskiy said.
/jlne.ws/3AaSOwa
South Korea warns it can send arms to Ukraine after reports of North's troops in Russia
Hyung-Jin Kim - Associated Press
South Korea warned Tuesday it could consider supplying weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea allegedly dispatching troops to Russia, as both North Korea and Russia denied the movements. The South Korean statement is apparently meant to pressure Russia not to bring in North Korean troops in its war against Ukraine. South Korean officials worry that Russia may reward North Korea by giving it sophisticated weapons technologies that can boost the North's nuclear and missile programs that target South Korea.
/jlne.ws/48oLKbV
Ukraine's population has fallen by 10 million since Russia's invasion, UN says
Thomas Escritt - Reuters
Ukraine's population has declined by 10 million, or around a quarter, since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion as a result of refugees leaving, collapsing fertility and war deaths, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Speaking at a Geneva news conference, Florence Bauer, Eastern Europe head at the U.N. Population Fund, said the invasion in February 2022 had turned an already difficult demographic situation into something more severe.
/jlne.ws/3YhThED
Why 1,500 North Korean Troops Have the World's Attention
Jon Herskovitz - Bloomberg
For more than a year, Russia has been leaning on its increasingly close ally North Korea for supplies of artillery shells and ballistic missiles to prosecute its grinding war in Ukraine. Now, Ukrainian officials are warning that North Korea plans to expand its assistance by dispatching troops. South Korea's chief intelligence agency said on Oct. 18 that it had monitored the Russian navy moving North Korean forces to Russia as a first step toward sending them to the frontlines in Ukraine. The Kremlin has dismissed reports of the troop deployment as a hoax.
/jlne.ws/3BQebDA
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Sinwar 'may have left orders to kill all hostages if he died'
Paul Nuki - The Telegraph
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar may have given the order to execute the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza in the event of his death, according to one of Israel's leading hostage negotiators. "It is a moment of either opportunity or a moment of doom", said Gershon Baskin, the negotiator who oversaw the release of Sinwar, together with 1026 other Palestinian prisoners, in 2011 in return for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shilat. "A moment of doom because there are rumours that Sinwar instructed people holding hostages that should he be killed, they should kill their hostages".
/jlne.ws/4fdNu9Y
Israel launched a dozen attacks on UN troops in Lebanon, says leaked report; Confidential document says 15 peacekeepers injured by white phosphorus
Raya Jalabi in Beirut - Financial Times
Israel's military forcibly entered a clearly marked UN base and is suspected of using the incendiary chemical white phosphorus close enough to injure 15 peacekeepers, according to a confidential report outlining a dozen recent incidents in which the IDF attacked international troops in Lebanon. The report - prepared by a country that contributes troops, and seen by the Financial Times - underscores how Israeli troops have targeted Unifil, the UN-mandated force deployed along the de facto border between the countries, on multiple occasions. They have damaged several facilities and caused injuries to troops stationed at border posts in southern Lebanon. Unifil has called these incidents a "flagrant violation of international law".
/jlne.ws/4dZ5ljY
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | SGX FX Aims to Grow Electronic FX Options Trading
Shanny Basar - MarketsMedia
Lee Beng Hong, CEO of SGX FX and head of wholesale markets & platforms at Singapore Exchange (SGX Group), said the company would like to grow electronic trading of currency options as average daily volume (ADV) of both over-the-counter and exchange-traded derivatives reached a record. SGX reported that OTC FX ADV surpassed its target by increasing 47% to reach $111bn in the last financial year, between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. In the same period, FX futures ADV grew 36% to about 204,000 contracts. In September this year, combined OTC and futures ADV reached a notional $168bn.
/jlne.ws/3NxHCg6
Abaxx Announces C$2.795 million Strategic Financing
Abaxx
Abaxx Technologies Inc. (CBOE CA:ABXX) ("Abaxx" or the "Company"), a financial software and market infrastructure company, majority shareholder of Abaxx Singapore Pte Ltd., the owner of Abaxx Commodity Exchange and Clearinghouse (individually, "Abaxx Exchange" and "Abaxx Clearing"), and producer of the SmarterMarkets™ Podcast, is pleased to announce that it anticipates entering into a binding agreement with a strategic investor, pursuant to which the investor has agreed to purchase 215,000 common shares (the "Shares") of the Company at a price of CAD$13.00 per common share for aggregate gross proceeds of C$2,795,000 on a private placement basis (the "Financing").
/jlne.ws/3NxEzoj
American Financial Exchange Partners with EXIM Bank to Better Serve America's Community Banking Sector
American Financial Exchange
The American Financial Exchange (AFX), a self-regulated exchange that provides banks and financial institutions a marketplace for overnight unsecured interbank lending and borrowing, announced today that it has partnered with the Export-Import Bank (EXIM), the official export credit agency of the United States. Together, the two organizations will support the underserved customers of America's often overlooked financial institutions, particularly the community and regional banks that comprise the backbone of the U.S. financial system. More specifically, AFX will introduce its member banks to EXIM's programs and solutions that are designed to promote and expand businesses across the United States.
/jlne.ws/3BW0IKs
SIX and China Construction Bank Corporation Agree on a Joint Collaboration
BME-X
SIX and China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB) have signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop cooperation on securities services topics and to foster a continuing relationship between the parties. The signing ceremony took place in Beijing, China, at SIBOS. Based on the terms of the MOU, SIX and CCB share three main purposes: the establishment of business relationships between CCB and different business areas of SIX (in particular in the fields of Securities Services and SIX Swiss Exchange), the further internationalization of Switzerland's financial services market, and the collaboration between CCB and SIX in the following areas: know how exchange, evaluation of joint market presence activities with regards to the business relationships, and product and market development.
/jlne.ws/3YeSHYj
Performance Bond Requirements: Agriculture Margin - Effective October 22, 2024
CME Group
As per the normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Clearing House Risk Management staff approved the performance bond requirements for the following products listed in the advisory at the link below.
/jlne.ws/4ePkUfx
Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize 2025 shortlist announced: Cristina De Middel, Rahim Fortune, Tarrah Krajnak, Lindokuhle Sobekwa
Deutsche Borse
The four international artists shortlisted for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2025 are: Cristina De Middel, Rahim Fortune, Tarrah Krajnak and Lindokuhle Sobekwa. This long-standing annual Prize, originally established in 1996, identifies and rewards artists for their projects that have made a significant contribution to photography over the previous 12 months. Over its 28-year history, the Prize has become renowned as one of the most important international awards for photographers, spotlighting outstanding, innovative and thought-provoking work.
/jlne.ws/4htDBav
EEX launches French biogas Guarantees of Origin auctions in December
EEX Group
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) will start quarterly auctions for biogas Guarantees of Origin (GOs) on behalf of the French Ministry of Energy on 4 December, 2024. At the auctions, the French State sells GOs produced by selected biogas facilities benefiting from a state support mechanism. EEX already provides registry services for biogas GOs in France since October 2023 and has been operating a similar auction mechanism for French power GOs since 2019.
/jlne.ws/3NyTUEX
ICE Reaches Record Open Interest Across Global Energy Benchmark Brent Crude Futures and Options; Plus, Record Open Interest across Gasoil Futures and Options and Total Oil Options
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of technology and data, today announced that ICE Brent, the largest crude oil futures and options market in the world and the global benchmark price for crude, reached record open interest of 6.4 million contracts on October 18, 2024, surpassing the record previously set in April 2020. Brent open interest is up 20% year-over-year (y/y) across futures and options. In addition, ICE's total oil options markets reached record open interest of approximately 6.4 million contracts on October 18, 2024. While ICE Low Sulphur Gasoil futures and options reached record open interest of 1.3 million contracts, up 67% y/y. ICE Gasoil sits at the center of middle distillates trading as the global benchmark for refined oil products. Average daily volume (ADV) in Gasoil is up 24% y/y.
/jlne.ws/4h845Om
JSE Welcomes Shariah-Compliant, Satrix MSCI World Islamic Feeder ETF
JSE
The ETF is designed to reflect and measure the performance of large- and mid-cap companies across 23 developed markets, ensuring dividends and investments are compliant for Islamic investors. Trading under the code STXWIS, this fund is tailored for investors seeking capital growth, featuring a targeted annual Total Expense Ratio (TER) of 0.55%. It leverages the MSCI World Islamic Index as its benchmark, which is diversified across key sectors such as information technology, energy, healthcare, utilities, and others. Top constituents include Microsoft Corp, Tesla, Exxon Mobil Corp, Procter & Gamble Co, among others.
/jlne.ws/3Yeylys
LSEG and Dun & Bradstreet Expand Access to Private Markets Data, Essential for Driving Impact in Capital Markets; Increased visibility on financial information to drive enhanced investment opportunities.
LSEG
LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) and Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB), today announced a multi-year strategic collaboration to broaden access to private market information. The combination of LSEG's capital markets data, including deals, private equity, news and research, with Dun & Bradstreet's trusted private market data providing visibility on officers and directors, ownership insights and financial information for millions of companies globally, will enable investment and capital market firms to drive better data-driven financial assessments and decisions.
/jlne.ws/4fbO3RV
MEMX Options - Options Exchange Penny Program
MEMX
This regulatory notice is being provided by MEMX LLC ("MEMX") to inform Members of MEMX Options ("MEMX Options" or the "Exchange") that the following classes will be added to the Exchange's Penny Program on November 1, 2024.
/jlne.ws/4eT89Ar
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Exchange Data International and SmartSettle AI Partner to Launch AI-Powered Settlement Exception Management Solution with Integrated Reference Data
Exchange Data International via Mondovisione
Exchange Data International (EDI), a leading provider of global securities reference data, and SmartSettle AI, an innovative AI-driven settlement exception management platform, are excited to announce a strategic partnership to offer a revolutionary solution that combines cutting-edge artificial intelligence with high-quality reference data to streamline settlement exception management for financial institutions worldwide. This partnership brings together EDI's extensive data expertise and SmartSettle AI's advanced AI technology, resulting in a powerful tool for middle- and back-office operations. The AI Settlement Exception Management solution aims to enhance operational efficiency, reduce manual intervention, and lower costs by automating the identification, categorization, and resolution of settlement exceptions. Recently named Best Corporate Actions Data Provider at the 2024 A-Team Data Management Insights USA awards, EDI's recognition further underscores the reliability and accuracy of the reference data integrated into the solution, ensuring financial institutions can manage exceptions swiftly and with confidence.
/jlne.ws/48fgZGi
AI-powered productivity tools that can make life harder; Technology used to summarise notes or generate transcripts does not always work for deaf employees
Joanna S Kao - Financial Times
Deaf since birth, Paul Meyer has used human interpreters and captioners to communicate with colleagues during his almost three-decade career in HR and technical recruiting. But when companies started relying more on video conferencing during the pandemic, he noticed a worrying trend. As meetings moved online, companies started to regularly use AI-driven transcription software. And as that technology became part of everyday business, some employers thought it could be deployed in other instances, for example to replace human interpreters. The problem, according to Meyer, is that there are faults in the technology that employers are not aware of and which are making life harder for deaf workers.
/jlne.ws/3YiZi4h
Microsoft Launches AI Agents, Deepening Rivalry With Salesforce
Matt Day and Brody Ford - Bloomberg
Microsoft Corp. is launching a set of artificial intelligence tools designed to send emails, manage records and take other actions on behalf of business workers, expanding an AI push that intensifies competition with rivals like Salesforce Inc. The Redmond, Washington-based software maker said Monday it would roll out 10 "autonomous agents" to complete tasks on behalf of people in areas such as sales, customer support and accounting. The agents will be available in "public preview," beginning in December and continuing through early 2025.
/jlne.ws/48j8ZEd
CFA Institute Researches AI's Impact on Testing and Curriculum; Questions on exams might have more than one right answer; Research looks into ethical uses of artificial intelligence
Mathieu Dion - Bloomberg
The CFA Institute, which manages the chartered financial analyst certification, is looking into how artificial intelligence could improve its products and exams, which have an average pass rate of around 50%. AI "could change the way we test" over the next five to seven years by making exams more interactive, rather than just questions and answers and multiple choices, Marg Franklin, the Institute's chief executive officer, said in an interview. But that doesn't necessarily mean more candidates will succeed.
/jlne.ws/3BTr1AV
TSMC says it alerted US to potential violation of China AI chip controls; Chipmaker reported having received order for processor resembling that of Chinese company Huawei
Kathrin Hille - Financial Times
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has said it alerted the US government to a potential attempt to have it manufacture artificial intelligence chips for Chinese technology group Huawei in circumvention of export controls. The Information, a technology news publication, reported last week that the Department of Commerce was investigating whether TSMC had been violating US export controls by making AI or smartphone chips for Huawei.
/jlne.ws/4hd9kfM
Paytm Shares Dive After Fintech Pioneer's Revenue Slides 34%
Sankalp Phartiyal - Bloomberg
Paytm's revenue fell sharply for the second straight quarter, reflecting the India fintech company's struggles to revitalize its bottom line after a regulatory clampdown on some of its most important businesses.
/jlne.ws/4dZhEwR
AI Chip Startup Kneron Seeks Funds at $1 Billion Valuation; AI firm plans to open regional office, R&D lab in Saudi Arabia Company targets Nasdaq listing in 2025 through SPAC vehicle
Jane Lanhee Lee - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3UgW7Zm
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | US unveils new rules to block China, Russia and Iran from accessing bulk US data
Sarah N. Lynch and David Shepardson - Reuters
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday proposed new rules to protect federal government data or Americans' bulk personal data from getting into the hands of countries like China, Iran and Russia by placing new limits on certain business transactions. The proposal, which was previewed in March, implements an executive order issued earlier this year by President Joe Biden which aims to keep foreign adversaries from using accessible American financial and genomic data and health data for cyber attacks, espionage and blackmail.
/jlne.ws/4dYakBI
Meta to Use Facial Recognition to Fight Fake Celebrity Scams; Meta also testing 'video selfie' solution for locked out users; Social network leans on AI for content moderation challenges
Kurt Wagner - Bloomberg
Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. will start using facial recognition technology to crack down on scams that use pictures of celebrities to look more legitimate, a strategy referred to as "celeb-bait ads." Scammers use images of famous people to entice users into clicking on ads that lead them to shady websites, which are designed to steal their personal information or request money. Meta will start using facial recognition technology to weed out these ads by comparing the images in the post with the images from a celebrity's Facebook or Instagram account.
/jlne.ws/3Ud9Lg3
Singapore Bars 10 Foreign-Linked Websites for Potential Threat
Aradhana Aravindan - Bloomberg
Singapore ordered the blocking of 10 fake websites linked to foreign actors that could be used to "mount hostile information campaigns" against the city-state. The sites masquerade as Singapore websites by spoofing and incorporating familiar local features, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Infocomm Media Development Authority said in a statement on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3YhYwnN
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Traditional exchanges gain ground in the US$100bn-a-day crypto derivatives market 18
Natasha Rega-Jones - IFR
A battle between the worlds of traditional finance and crypto currencies is heating up as mainstream exchange operators like CME Group start to grab a larger share of the US$100bn-per-day crypto derivatives market. CME, one of the largest derivatives exchanges in traditional financial markets, has seen average daily volumes in its bitcoin futures contracts almost triple over the past year to US$4.5bn amid growing interest from institutional investors. Other mainstream platforms like Eurex are steadily gaining ground too, while LCH, owned by IFR's parent LSEG, has plans to ramp up its involvement in the market.
/jlne.ws/4hcjqO1
Nomura-Backed Crypto Custodian Komainu Makes First Acquisition
Sidhartha Shukla - Bloomberg
Komainu, the cryptocurrency custodian backed by Nomura Holdings Inc., is buying Singaporean rival Propine Holdings Pte Ltd. in its first acquisition. The takeover of Propine, which is pending approval from Monetary Authority of Singapore, is likely the first of several acquisitions, Komainu co-Chief Executive Officer Paul Frost-Smith said in an interview. He declined to say how much Komainu is paying for Propine.
/jlne.ws/3Nw0lZA
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | What Croesus wants from Trump; Rather than turning to Harris, US billionaires are again backing the man they once condemned
Edward Luce - Financial Times
With a fortune that has more than doubled to $50bn since 2021, Steve Schwarzman and his descendants could spend a million dollars a week for the next thousand years and still have change. Yet the Blackstone co-founder is so worried that Democrats will harm the economy that he is all-in for Donald Trump. This is in spite of describing the January 6 assault "as an affront to the democratic values we hold dear". Not that dear, it seems. It would be arbitrary to single out Schwarzman. As Susan Glasser lays out in The New Yorker, many of the billionaires funding Trump are having to eat their words. Elon Musk, who is offering a million dollars a day between now and November 5 in lottery prizes for newly registered voters in Pennsylvania, once urged Trump to "hang up his hat and & sail into the sunset".
/jlne.ws/3UgUFWU
Trump's policies would jeopardize Social Security, report finds. 'Beyond irresponsible,' says one expert.
Janna Herron - Yahoo Finance
Seniors would face heftier cuts to their Social Security benefits sooner than expected if Donald Trump wins the presidential election and his campaign promises are implemented, a new analysis found. The reserve fund for Social Security would run empty by 2031 instead of the current estimate of 2034 if Trump's tax breaks, tariffs, and mass deportations are imposed, according to a new report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).
/jlne.ws/4e43law
Trump Election Victory Threat Gives Europe Economic Nightmares; Central bankers are concerned that Donald Trump will unleash a new trade war if he returns to the White House, making their job much harder.
Alexander Weber and Niclas Rolander - Bloomberg
Central bankers losing sleep over Europe's souring economies have another worry looming large: how much more damage Donald Trump could cause if he returns to the White House. With memories of the former US president's first stint in office still fresh, policymakers know his appetite to wage new trade wars threatens unavoidable fallout on a region whose position is far weaker than last time round. Investors are alive to the dangers too and market strategists say a win for Trump could drive down the euro toward parity with the dollar.
/jlne.ws/3YxNix3
Why do Russian oil bosses keep dying?
Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
Another prominent Russian businessman has died under mysterious circumstances after apparently falling out of a window, the latest in a string of similar unexpected deaths among Russian energy executives. Mikhail Rogachev, the former vice-president of Yukos - once one of Russia's foremost oil and gas companies - was found dead at the entrance to his home in Moscow over the weekend. He was reportedly discovered by an employee of Russia's foreign intelligence agency, the SVR, with injuries characteristic of a fall. The Russian state news agency said the 64-year-old, who lived on the tenth floor, had died by suicide. Police are reportedly "studying" a suicide note, said The Times.
/jlne.ws/3C3pLuR
Georgia's shark-owning billionaire tells voters: Don't risk war with Russia
Felix Light - Reuters
Georgia's saviour. Russia's stooge. Philanthropist. Oligarch. Bidzina Ivanishvili has been called all these things, and more. The billionaire, Georgia's richest person and the founder of its ruling party, is seldom seen in public and, of late, almost exclusively behind bulletproof glass. Yet his presence looms large over this small European country caught been Russia and the West and an election that could shape its destiny.
/jlne.ws/4eQDc00
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC Charges Advisory Firm WisdomTree with Failing to Adhere to Its Own Investment Criteria For ESG-Marketed Funds; Firm misstated that funds did not invest in companies involved in fossil fuels and tobacco
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged New York-based investment adviser WisdomTree Asset Management Inc. with making misstatements and for compliance failures relating to the execution of an investment strategy that was marketed as incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
/jlne.ws/3A6wN1A
SEC Division of Examinations Announces 2025 Priorities
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Examinations today released its 2025 examination priorities. The Division publishes its examination priorities annually to inform investors and registrants of potential risks in the U.S. capital markets and to make them aware of the examination topics that the Division plans to focus on in the new fiscal year. This year's examinations will prioritize perennial and emerging risk areas, such as fiduciary duty, standards of conduct, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence.
/jlne.ws/3NBpUbw
Modernizing Equity Markets: Even the Leader Must Keep Training - Prepared Remarks before the SIFMA 2024 Annual Meeting
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Nearly four years ago, Jen Psaki was freshly in her White House press secretary job when she had to answer questions about the GameStop fallout from the podium.[1] A few months later, my first testimony as SEC Chair was centered on those events. What GameStop put on display was how much has changed-in technology and business models-since 2005 when we last comprehensively updated our equity market rules.
/jlne.ws/4hbfehn
Remarks at the Los Angeles County Bar 55th Annual Securities Regulation Seminar
Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
This gathering is special to me. After graduating law school in 1995 and working a year in private practice in Washington, D.C., I came back to my Southern California roots and spent the next seven years as a transactional attorney a couple of blocks over with O'Melveny & Myers LLP. I ended up renting an apartment for that entire time on Bunker Hill and I was one of the few lawyers who would walk to work.[1] My thinking was that I would rather commute to fun on the weekends than commute every day to work on the freeway. During this period, I joined LACBA and eventually became part of its committee responsible for organizing this seminar. Also serving on the committee was John Hartigan of Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius, who is a proud alumnus of the SEC's Division of Enforcement and a past leader of the Association of SEC Alumni.
/jlne.ws/48frcmc
ASIC warns small businesses to be on high alert for scams
ASIC
ASIC is urging small businesses to be on high alert as false billing, investment, and remote access scams cause significant financial losses in an environment of elevated inflation, surging operating costs and rising company insolvencies. Scammers use increasingly sophisticated techniques to steal information and money from small businesses, taking advantage of the limited time and resources small business owners may have.
/jlne.ws/3YhS6VJ
ASIC cancels the Australian financial services and credit licences of Ultiqa Lifestyle Promotions Limited
ASIC
ASIC has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence and Australian credit licence (credit licence) of Ultiqa Lifestyle Promotions Limited (in liquidation) (Ultiqa) following payment of compensation by the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR). On 28 June 2024, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) made a determination against Ultiqa, which Ultiqa failed to pay. Subsequently, on 2 October 2024, the CSLR paid $19,429.60 to a person for AFCA's determination and notified ASIC. As a result, ASIC cancelled Ultiqa's AFS and credit licences on 16 October 2024.
/jlne.ws/4eP53gU
ASIC annual report underscores transformation
ASIC
ASIC's program of transformation continued in 2023-24, according to the agency's latest annual report. ASIC Chair Joe Longo said the report highlighted a range of key regulatory and enforcement outcomes focused on protecting consumers, reducing costs for businesses, and strengthening capabilities.
/jlne.ws/4e4s7Y4
Samantha Barrass speaks at Financial Services Federation Conference 2024
FMA
As this is my very first Financial Services Federation conference, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself, as I have done in my mihi. My story is that of a child born in the UK whose family moved to Christchurch when I was young. While I have pursued my career and had my family in the UK and Europe for the past 20 odd years, I returned to New Zealand in 2022, to take up the role of Chief Executive of the Financial Markets Authority. There is never a dull moment being head of a financial regulator, not least because of the degree of regulatory change that the sector has experienced in recent years. For the FMA, our remit has expanded, and is expanding, considerably.
/jlne.ws/4eStFWe
FCA cracks down on illegal finfluencers
FCA
Twenty finfluencers are being interviewed under caution by the FCA, as it launches targeted action against finfluencers who may be touting financial services products illegally. The FCA also issued 38 alerts against social media accounts operated by finfluencers which may contain unlawful promotions.
/jlne.ws/3NASt99
FCA imposes restrictions on Business Agent Limited from regulated activities over 'Nextcrowd' failings
FCA
The FCA has placed restrictions on Business Agent Limited. The action follows concerns about the firm's failings related to its 'Nextcrowd' platform. The move to restrict Business Agent Limited came on 22 July 2024, after our review exposed significant regulatory breaches. Following a review of the firm's representations, we issued a Second Supervisory Notice on 10 September 2024, detailing the findings and the restrictions imposed.
/jlne.ws/4htB2VV
SFC welcomes Process Review Panel Report 2023-24
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) welcomes the 2023-24 annual report published today by the Process Review Panel (PRP) for the SFC (Note 1). The panel presents its observations and recommendations in the report based on its comprehensive review of 60 cases (Note 2). These recommendations aim to help the SFC maximise its regulatory outcomes while maintaining fairness and orderliness in the financial market.
/jlne.ws/4f9PXSW
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Rates movements boost FX net investment hedging; Changing differentials bring more positive carry opportunities for corporates
Emma Siponmaa - Risk.net
Corporate foreign exchange structurers had a tough time post-Covid. Developed-market central banks had all cut rates in response to the pandemic, meaning interest rate differentials were slender. For corporates domiciled in those low-rate countries, hedging their investments in foreign subsidiaries in higher interest rate countries would come at a cost, making it undesirable for treasurers.
/jlne.ws/3Yy87Za
$2 trillion Norway oil fund CEO Nicolai Tangen says AI stock boom has created a concentration risk 'we have never seen before'
Ryan Hogg - Fortune
The boss of Norway's $2 trillion sovereign oil fund has fired a warning to investors who have won big on the AI stock market boom, as he cautioned that "we are heading for a period of low returns." Nicolai Tangen, the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said there was a new reality in the stock market amid geopolitical tensions and falling liquidity.
/jlne.ws/3UinvXg
Sugar Supplies Seen Dwindling to Lowest in Years in Early 2025; Drought in top producer Brazil to delay start of new harvest; Futures for March delivery trade at a premium in New York
Dayanne Sousa - Bloomberg
Global sugar supplies are seen shrinking to the lowest level in six years in early 2025 as drought hampers production in top exporter Brazil, according to commodities trader Czarnikow Group Ltd. Extreme dryness has eroded sugar-cane crop conditions, limiting mills' ability to produce sugar in the latter months of the current season and signaling a delayed start to next year's harvest, Pedro Mizutani, Czarnikow head of raw sugar trading, said during a conference in Sao Paulo.
/jlne.ws/40fkzOS
Panic Grows in Alumina Market as Prices Spike Toward a Record; Block on EGA's bauxite shipments highlights supply fragility; China depends on Guinea to feed vast aluminum sector
Bloomberg News
The key raw material needed to make aluminum is tearing toward a record high as buyers race to secure supplies, following an export disruption in top-miner Guinea that has rippled through to China. Prices for alumina have surged by more than 20% so far this month and are now within striking distance of the record of $707.75 set in 2018, according to pricing agency Fastmarkets Ltd.
/jlne.ws/4e2iVDb
Gold's Record-Breaking Run Is Drawing Attention; Investors may be confused by gold's inexorable rise, but they're still buying
John Stepek - Bloomberg
The price of gold has been going up for a while. It's been setting new records across the globe, but the US dollar price is the main one, clearing $2,730 per ounce for the first time on Friday. Meanwhile in the UK we got a nice round number breach, at £2,100. This has been going on all year. If you'd chosen to put your money in gold rather than the S&P 500 at the very end of last year, you'd actually be better off today (even including reinvested dividends). The US index is up 24% year-to-date, while gold is up 32%.
/jlne.ws/4fgGolp
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | The new corporate green goal: being 'nature positive'; More companies are committing to protect and improve biodiversity. But some experts fear the potential for greenwashing
Susannah Savage - Financial Times
Marco Lambertini holds up his hands and splays his fingers: that is how many companies turned up to previous UN conferences on biodiversity, says the veteran conservationist, with only a flicker of exaggeration. While big business has flocked to the UN's recent climate summits to talk about decarbonisation, protecting nature has remained the domain of conservationists, philanthropists and other ethically minded types.
/jlne.ws/4eRaJXE
Russia's Warming Arctic Is a Climate Threat. War Has Shut Scientists Out of It.; Climate science has been stymied as Russia continues its war in Ukraine. The stalled work threatens to leave the West without a clear picture of how fast the Earth is heating up.
Jacob Judah - The New York Times
Western scientists studying the Arctic are increasingly lost in the hunt for data, the result of the cutoff in relations with Russia. Crucial climate science has been stymied as Russia, which makes up over half the Arctic, continues its war in Ukraine. Data flowing between Western and Russian scientists has slowed to a trickle with Western-imposed sanctions and other restrictions, interrupting work on a host of projects.
/jlne.ws/48imp3p
JPMorgan Hires NOAA Chief Scientist to Advise Clients on Climate; Kapnick will serve as global head of climate advisory; She will help clients advance their strategies in this area
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has hired a senior climate scientist to advise its corporate and investment banking clients on how to navigate the impacts of climate change. Sarah Kapnick, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022 as chief scientist for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is joining JPMorgan as global head of climate advisory, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the appointment.
/jlne.ws/4fcLtLr
Lifting the Veil on Tens of Billions in Oil Company Payments to Governments; New reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal payments around the globe. One takeaway? The U.S. government might be getting a bad deal.
Nicholas Kusnetz - Inside Climate News
Tutu Alicante was studying in the United States when his sister, suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, was rushed to the hospital back home in Equatorial Guinea. It was 1996, a year after Mobil had discovered oil off the country's coast. When she arrived at the hospital, Alicante recounted recently, there was no power and no doctor. His sister bled to death.
/jlne.ws/4e4t8iQ
Three Mile Island nuclear plant gears up for Big Tech reboot
Laila Kearney - Reuters
Giant cooling towers at Constellation Energy's Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania have sat dormant for so long that grass has sprung up in the towers' hollowed-out bases and wildlife roam inside. Armed guard stations at an entrance to the shut concrete facility, surrounded by barbed wire, sit empty. The plant, which would run so loud when operating that workers were required to wear hearing protection, is nearly silent.
/jlne.ws/3NVhJY1
China Is Overtaking Europe as Top Market for Russia's Pipeline Gas; Gazprom flows to China at 23.7bcm in Jan.-Sept.: calculations; China volume is still well below pre-war sales to Europe
Bloomberg News
/jlne.ws/4eUBaMg
Russia's Share in European LNG Market Grows Despite Concern; Bloc's energy watchdog issues market-monitoring report; Overall gas demand in Europe continues to fall, including LNG
John Ainger - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3YdjdRT
Germany Approves Plans for EUR19 Billion Hydrogen Network; Grid will be 9,040km long and connect key industry hubs; Hydrogen plans have been shaken by stop of Norwegian pipeline
Eva Brendel - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Y8e91e
Zambia Considering Debt-for-Nature Swap, Finance Minister Says; Framework for operation being addressed, Musokotwane said; Country said in talks with IMF for new loan under RST Trust
Jorgelina Do Rosario - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4dRpWqA
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Wall Street's Scrappy Underdog Has an Ambitious Plan to Make It Big; Jefferies is doubling down after other investment banks retreated
Lauren Thomas - The Wall Street Journal
Many investment banks thinned their ranks as dealmaking sputtered in the past few years. Jefferies took the opposite approach. The bank is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to lure top bankers from competitors. The goal: become the world's fifth-largest investment bank and maintain the spot year after year. So far this year, Jefferies is the seventh-largest by investment-banking revenue, up from 11th a year ago, making the goal sound relatively modest. But achieving it would require unseating a giant. The top five list for years has included JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, along with either Citigroup or UBS.
/jlne.ws/4f8E7Zg
US rolls out 'open banking' rules to make sharing financial data easier; Agency finalises regulations aimed at increasing competition and helping consumers link bank accounts to apps
Joshua Franklin - Financial Times
The top US consumer finance watchdog has finalised long-awaited "open banking" rules that it hopes will inject more competition into a market with more than 4,000 lenders and make it easier for customers to link their bank accounts to newer apps. The rules announced on Tuesday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau bring the US more in line with the UK and Europe, which had previously codified rules around how financial data is to be shared.
/jlne.ws/3YwQSr2
Hedge Fund Altana Accused of Taking Secrets by Partner After Deal Soured
Upmanyu Trivedi, William Shaw, and Lucca De Paoli - Bloomberg
A London-based investment firm accused a hedge fund of misusing trade secrets to set up its own lucrative fund, according to allegations at a UK trial. Illiquidx Ltd. sued the hedge fund Altana Wealth Ltd. following a failed attempt to set up a joint venture in 2019. The relationship broke down within months and Altana allegedly used the confidential information shared during the short-lived partnership to set up a sanctions-compliant fund to invest in Venezuela's sovereign debt, Illiquidx says in documents prepared for the trial that started this month.
/jlne.ws/3zVX4ja
Norway $1.8 Trillion Fund Trails Benchmark With 4.4% Return
Kari Lundgren - Bloomberg
Norway's $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund returned 4.4%, or $76.4 billion, in the third quarter after broad equity gains on declining interest rates. Norges Bank Investment Management, the world's biggest single owner of listed companies, added 4.5% on stocks in the period and 4.2% on fixed-income investments, according to a statement Tuesday. The fund's total return was 0.1 percentage points lower than that of the benchmark against which it measures itself.
/jlne.ws/4dV5UeP
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Back-to-office orders have become common. Enforcement not so much
Roger Vincent - LA Times
Since Cynthia Clemons' employer announced last month that she was required to be in the office two days each week, the switch from remote work hasn't been smooth. The self-described extrovert, who works as an organizer for the nonprofit Abundant Housing LA, said she so far hasn't "gotten into a rhythm of being productive at a desk again." "I feel like I'm back in grade school and being forced to sit down and do my homework," she said. "Maybe it's a matter of getting used to it."
/jlne.ws/4eU0Oka
EY fires staff who took multiple online training courses at once; Accounting firm says multitasking violated US policy but some describe dismissals as overreaction
Stephen Foley - Financial Times
EY has fired dozens of US staff for what the accounting and consulting firm called cheating on professional training courses, sparking an internal debate about business ethics and the limits of multitasking. The dismissals took place last week after an investigation found that some employees had attended more than one online training class at a time during the "EY Ignite Learning Week" in May.
/jlne.ws/48dj8Cx
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | The human race is suffering from success; Treating today's mental and physical conditions may be a challenge, but their prevalence is actually a good sign
Stephen Bush - Financial Times
The human race is suffering from success. Our own ingenuity, our capacity to keep inventing and innovating, means that almost all of us live not just geographically but more importantly technologically a million miles away from the "EEA": the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. One reason why modern, wealthy societies struggle with rising obesity, say, is that the human body is built for hunter-gathering. Place us in an environment of abundant, tasty food and comfy chairs and we put on weight. Obesity, along with atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, certain cancers, type two diabetes and other conditions are sometimes dubbed "diseases of modernity".
/jlne.ws/3Yjau0u
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Wealth Fund Issues Record $29 Billion of Bonds This Year; Central Huijin prices two local bonds in latest debt issuance; Firm has at times bought ETFs to support stock market
Bloomberg News
Central Huijin Investment Ltd., a unit of China's sovereign wealth fund that has at times bought equity to stabilize the stock market, issued bonds that pushed its total local debt sales this year to a record. The firm has now sold 207 billion yuan ($29 billion) of notes this year, the most since it first tapped the onshore credit market in 2010. The fresh issuance includes 9 billion yuan of three-year debt securities and 15 billion yuan of five-year bonds, people familiar with the matter said.
/jlne.ws/4eOW3Zh
Zombie Companies May Finally Succumb to Bankruptcy on BOJ Hikes; Japan saw almost 8,500 bankruptcies last year, most since 2015; Higher interest will push struggling businesses into more debt
Nicholas Takahashi - Bloomberg
After three decades of ultra-loose monetary policy, even small hikes in interest rates by the Bank of Japan are poised to fuel an increase in the number of zombie companies that could be tipped into insolvency. Bankruptcies topped 5,000 cases for the first time in a decade between April and September, a report by Tokyo Shoko Research showed earlier this month. Those 5,095 firms collectively account for almost ¥1.38 trillion ($9.2 billion) yen in debt, with the largest slice coming from the service industry.
/jlne.ws/3YeubGL
The Quest to Save the 'King' of Japanese Rice From Rising Temperatures; Scientists in Japan are mining DNA to try to make the country's famous Koshihikari rice resistant to heat, after a broiling summer ravaged the crop.
River Akira Davis and Hisako Uen - The New York Times
Scientists in Japan are racing against time to save the country's most popular rice from the devastating effects of climate change. At a research center in Niigata Prefecture, Japan's mountainous heartland of rice production, a team of scientists has identified a pattern within rice DNA that makes certain varieties of the plant resistant to heat.
/jlne.ws/4hhYBk8
Russia Wheat Crop Seen Falling for Third Year on Dry Weather
Celia Bergin - Bloomberg
Russia's wheat production is seen shrinking for a third year after a lack of rain has delayed plantings in the world's top exporter. Wheat production in 2025 is expected to total 80.1 million tons, according to consultancy SovEcon. That would make it the smallest harvest since the 2021-22 season, putting pressure on already tight global stockpiles. Bumper crops from the country helped ease supply concerns in recent years after other key growing regions, such as the US and Europe, saw poor production. The dominance of cheap Russian crops in the market helped to lower prices from record highs in 2022 and continues to weigh on global futures markets.
/jlne.ws/40lbaoG
Organised crime has taken on a different shape in Latin America; The US and Europe must partner with the region to dismantle bigger and stronger criminal enterprises
Will Freeman - Financial Times (opinion)
Latin America is learning the hard way. Organised crime in the region has been bad since the 1980s; but "reorganised crime" is proving far worse. Ecuador's gang war meltdown; Mexican mafias' colonisation of avocado farms; hitmen prowling the once peaceful streets of Chile. These are a few recent developments that have made organised crime the unavoidable question of the moment in Latin America.
/jlne.ws/4fbOX0L
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Australian Wine Exports Jump by a Third as China Resumes Buying; Beijing removed tariffs in late March as relations improved; Shipments to its biggest buyer are nearing pre-tariff levels
Keira Wright - Bloomberg
Australia's wine exports jumped by more than a third, boosted by an increase in shipments to China after the Asian nation lifted tariffs. The value of shipments in the year through September rose 34% to A$2.4 billion ($1.6 billion), its highest since the 12 months through August 2021, according to Wine Australia. That follows a recovery in supply to China and Hong Kong after Beijing in late March lifted punitive tariffs of as much as 218% on Australian wine put in place three years earlier.
/jlne.ws/3A9Q7Lq
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