Industry news

June 5, 2012: Call Made for a Bigger Wall on Street; NYSE Euronext opens up data centres; MF Global trustee: Corzine mismanaged firm’s growth

FINRA wants to extend conflict-of-interest rules to cover analysts and bankers who work with debt offerings. NYSE Euronext opens up its data centers to other technology vendors, betting that any advantage it might lose to competitors will be offset by a broader acceptance of its technology. The MF Global trustee releases a big report containing many non-surprises, among them evidence that ex-head Jon Corzine badly managed the company’s growth prior to the company’s final un-growth. In today’s First Read, along with promotions, new technology and more MF Global discussion, you’ll find a MarketsWiki.tv interview with Dan Hart of Cortland Fund Services, who explains his company role and activity in the series trust sector.

First Read

MF Global Report Points Out the Weak Spots

Jim Kharouf, Editor-in-Chief

There isn’t much left out of the June 4th report from MF Global Trustee James Giddens “Report of the Trustee’s Investigation and Recommendations.” It’s a thorough 181 page (275 if you count all the charts and graphs at the end) Titanic journey of MF Global under Jon Corzine’s leadership. While much has been made of the report’s focus on Corzine, as well as chief financial officer Henri Steenkamp and assistant treasurer Edith O’Brien, who often and ultimately sent money to various places, this report is most valuable for its recommendations at the end.

Giddens recommends a number of changes, among them, that customer funds should be segregated, “regardless of whether they are invested domestically or overseas.” He adds that for overseas investments, funds and assets “be segregated to the maximum extent provided for under the stricter of U.S. law and applicable foreign laws and regulations as a condition to allowing funds to be held abroad.”

This is designed to address the shell game MF Global was playing with customer funds that were invested in overseas markets, and thus given a lighter regulatory touch.

In addition, Giddens calls for a protection fund. This is an idea that has been debated in the industry. But the trustee says in the report that “even a modest protection fund from which commodities customers could have received advances” would have worked well in this case. Giddens’ analysis says that about 78% of the FCM customers’ claims were “in fact below a threshold of $100,000, and that the accounts of more than two-thirds of the customers who filed claims represent only 3% of the total amount that MFGI was required to segregate for commodities customers, or no more than $200 million in total.”

In Giddens’ view, a fund capped at a relatively low dollar amount per customer would
“make these customers whole very quickly even in a case with a shortfall the size of MFGI’s.”

There are other recommendations but Giddens’ is really cutting to the crux of the matter here, which many in this industry have grappled with since last October. There needs to be better regulatory harmony and clarity as it pertains to customer seg funds. And a customer fund could indeed, withstand a massive default, and maintain the trust and faith in the futures markets. NFA recently made some strides toward that goal with is May 29th proposal for customer seg funds, also known as the “Corzine Rule.” But Giddens would go much further.
It’s advice well worth taking.

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IntercontinentalExchange Announces Promotions; Farley Named SVP of Financial Markets, Jackson Named President of ICE Futures U.S., Tupper Named President of Trade Vault
IntercontinentalExchange, a leading operator of global regulated futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, today announced senior management promotions as part of the company’s continuing growth strategy. Thomas W. Farley has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Financial Markets, Ben Jackson has added the title of President of ICE Futures U.S., and Bruce Tupper was named President of Trade Vault.
http://jlne.ws/LljnZ6

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Dan Hart of Cortland Fund Services Discusses Series Trusts
MarketsWiki.tv
As the push into managed futures mutual funds continues, we sat down with Dan Hart, managing director with Cortland Fund Services to talk about his firm’s entrance into the series trust space. Cortland is launching its first series trust called the Cortland Cottonwood Series Trust. Hart spoke with JLN Managed Futures editor Jim Kharouf about why Cortland has moved into the series trust arena, how it works and why institutions and CTAs are showing interest.
http://jlne.ws/Lrz1o8

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SunGard’s Fox River Execution Solutions Develops “Dollar Certain” Algorithm for US Equity Trading
SunGard’s Fox River has enhanced its algorithm suite with a U.S. equity “dollar certain” algorithm, which is used when traders want to execute a trade in dollars rather than shares. This algorithm helps eliminate the manual management of dollar certain trades, helping traders avoid calculation errors and reduce operational risk.
http://jlne.ws/LljnZe

***JM: I’m a big fan of this kind of thing, whether it’s reducing the risk of costly loss or just relieving the pain of having to do the same clumsy process over and over…

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David Weidner’s Writing on the Wall: Finally there’s straight talk on Wall Street
Market Watch
At last, the CEO of a too-big-to-fail bank is telling the truth about what Wall Street really thinks of its clients, so why is everyone so offended? wonders David Weidner.
http://jlne.ws/LljnZp

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Questions to Ask Mr. Dimon
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN – NY Times
Jamie Dimon’s trip to Capitol Hill next week to explain his bank’s multibillion-dollar trading debacle could quickly devolve into Washington Gotcha Theater. But it shouldn’t. It should be used to draw out some real answers that will help inform the public and lawmakers about the risks of our banking system.
http://jlne.ws/Lljm7H

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MF Global Trustee May Bring Corzine Negligence Claims
By Tiffany Kary and Linda Sandler – Bloomberg
Jon Corzine, the former chairman of bankrupt MF Global Holdings Ltd., may face claims for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence for his role in the company’s downfall, according to a report by the trustee liquidating the firm’s brokerage.
http://jlne.ws/Lljm7I

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What If Speed Traders Competed on Price?
BusinessWeek
In high-frequency trading, speed means everything. With most firms using sophisticated trading algorithms to scour the stock market for tiny price differentials, the trick isn’t so much spotting the profit opportunity, but getting there first.
http://jlne.ws/Lljmo4

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Motif Investing Wants to Be Peter Lynch for the Facebook Age
Wall Street Journal Blogs
Stock investing has been transformed by online stock trading and low-cost index funds. But a new start-up backed by former Microsoft executives and ex-Merrill Lynch brokerage boss Sallie Krawcheck says it is taking a new approach to investing, which the founders say hasn’t kept pace with technological innovations that have transformed everything from email to airline-ticket buying.
http://jlne.ws/Lljmo7

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STREET MOVES: Technology Chief Departs Trading Firm Getco
By Jacob Bunge – Dow Jones
The chief technology officer of Getco LLC has departed the electronic trading company amid an expansion plan outlined by the firm’s new chief executive, focused on developing new businesses.
http://jlne.ws/Lljmoc

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Foreign Exchange Borrows Trading Technology Advances from Equities
Michael Scotti – Traders Magazine
Nothing grabs attention like a good scandal. That’s the story right now in the currency trading business, as two custodial banks fight claims that they “picked off” their pension fund clients with poor executions on their foreign exchange trades. The news of pending lawsuits, filed by some of the nation’s largest pensions, has put every institutional money manager on alert, and scrutiny of execution quality in FX has never been higher.
http://jlne.ws/Lljowe

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Broker-dealer industry symposium – June 19, New York
Grant Thornton event features commentary by CFTC and FINRA officials

Grant Thornton LLP is hosting a securities industry symposium on June 19 to help broker-dealers understand the emerging developments in securities industry. The event will feature discussions on the industry’s hot topics, such as the implementation impact of the proposed Volcker Rule, the JOBS Act vs. the Dodd-Frank Act and changes to the CFTC’s segregation rules as a result of MF Global.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Registration & networking: 5:00 – 6:00pm
Sessions: 6:00 – 7:30pm
The Yale Club, 50 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

For more information, please contact:
Kristi Grgeta
T 312.602.8720
E Kristi.Grgeta@gt.com

MarketsWiki

MarketsWiki Page of the Day
Tadahiro Matsushita
http://jlne.ws/LfNTt4

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MarketsWiki Recent Updates

People

Diane Saucier; James Giddens; Thomas W. Farley; Bruce Tupper; Ben Jackson; Tadahiro Matsushita; Shozaburo Jimi

Companies, Organizations and Groups

PEAK6 Investments, L.P.; MF Global Holdings Ltd; IntercontinentalExchange Inc.; Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd

Products

Euro-OAT Futures

Miscellaneous

Junk bond

Statistics

24,643,934 pages viewed, 6,885 articles, 141,587 edits
MarketsWiki Statistics

Lead Stories

Call Made for a Bigger Wall on Street
BY JEAN EAGLESHAM – WSJ
A Wall Street regulator is pushing to extend conflict-of-interest curbs to include analysts and investment bankers who work in the giant market for debt offerings. Such controls already exist for Wall Street firms dealing with stocks. But the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority plans to submit by year-end proposed rules for debt, said a spokeswoman.
http://jlne.ws/LljmEw

NYSE Euronext opens up data centres
By Telis Demos in New York – Financial Times
NYSE Euronext is taking the next step in its technology business, opening up its data centres to outside telecoms and service providers – a move it now acknowledges may bring competing exchanges to its doorstep.
http://jlne.ws/LljmEB

MF Global trustee: Corzine mismanaged firm’s growth
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Jon Corzine failed to address MF Global Holdings Ltd’s growing liquidity needs as he tried to build the commodities broker into a global investment powerhouse, helping create the conditions that led to its downfall, a trustee in MF’s bankruptcy said on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/LljoME

G7 to hold emergency euro zone talks, Spain top concern
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Finance chiefs of the Group of Seven leading industrialized powers will hold emergency talks on the euro zone debt crisis on Tuesday in a sign of heightened global alarm about strains in the 17-nation European currency area.
http://jlne.ws/LljmEL

Spain under pressure to outline banks rescue plan
Associated Press via Yahoo! News
Spain was under pressure on Monday to reveal what it intends to do about its troubled banking sector as the government’s borrowing rates in the bond markets stayed at worryingly high levels, reflecting investor concern that Madrid may need to ask for foreign aid.
http://jlne.ws/LljoMH

Exclusive: Citadel accuses Jump employees of stealing secrets
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Citadel, one of the world’s biggest hedge fund manager, has accused employees of a rival Chicago high-frequency trading firm of stealing its trading programs. It said in a court petition that at least one its former employees stole trading algorithms and brought them to Jump Trading, a firm that employs 325 people in Chicago, London and Singapore.
http://jlne.ws/LljoMM

BofA masked Merrill loss before 2008 vote – filings
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Top executives at Bank of America Corp did not tell shareholders just before a 2008 vote on its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co that Merrill’s losses were mounting and expected to weigh down earnings for years, papers filed in private shareholder litigation show.
http://jlne.ws/LljoMP

MF Global trustee urges new customer safeguards
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Futures customers should have access to a fund that guarantees their accounts up to a certain threshold, the trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd said in a report on Monday.
http://jlne.ws/LljnbB

The last days of MF Global
By Peter Elkind with Doris Burke – Fortune
How Jon Corzine’s return to Wall Street ended in spectacular calamity. A Fortune special report.
http://jlne.ws/LljnbK

Crisis Makes Greeks Wait Even Longer for Pay
By MATTHEW DALTON – WSJ
Henry Dunant Hospital, a gleaming, state-of-the-art facility in central Athens, is one of the best medical centers in Greece. But quality hasn’t protected it from one of the most troubling trends of the country’s economic crisis: a plague of late payments that threatens to drive Greeks deeper into an economic abyss.
http://jlne.ws/Lljns9

Regulatory

UK online platforms braced for change
By Simon Mundy – Financial Times
Online investment platforms are preparing themselves for sweeping new regulation that may ban the rebates they receive from fund managers, forcing them to introduce upfront client charges and potentially putting pressure on their profit margins.
http://jlne.ws/Lljnsa

The club no-one wants to join: swap dealer rules remain unclear
Peter Madigan – Risk magazine
Around 120 firms will be classed as swap dealers under the Dodd-Frank Act, US regulators estimate – but hundreds more will be uncertain whether they are caught or not. Answering that question may not be easy, lawyers warn.
http://jlne.ws/Lljnsg

Gensler left in limbo as CFTC chief
By Shahien Nasiripour in Washington – Financial Times
The White House has allowed the term of the top US derivatives regulator to expire amid critiques from both political parties over attempts to shape the future of the $648tn swaps industry.
http://jlne.ws/Lljp3h

Paulson Backs Schapiro’s Bid for SEC Rules on Money Markets
Bloomberg
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is backing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro’s effort to impose new rules on money- market funds.
http://jlne.ws/Lljp3i

Disclosing Cyber Security Incidents: The SEC Weighs In
Peter J. Toren – Forbes
Recent high profile data breaches, corporate economic espionage cases and government reports detailing the threat posed by foreign economic espionage in cyberspace have generated more focus on the risks posed by cyber incidents and whether corporations are doing enough to protect their computer systems and intellectual property.
http://jlne.ws/LljnIQ

[NFA] Compliance Date of CFTC Conflict of Interest Rules for FCMs and IBs Has Been Extended Until August 3, 2012
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently adopted CFTC Regulation 1.71 to implement new section 4d(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act, which requires FCMs and IBs to implement a conflict of interest system and procedures with respect to its research function and its trading and clearing activities. Except as for the requirements under Regulation 1.71(d) related to clearing activities, FCMs and IBs must be in compliance with Regulation 1.71 by August 3, 2012.
http://jlne.ws/LljpjL

SEC Advisory Committee On Small And Emerging Companies To Meet On June 8
http://jlne.ws/LljqEj

DTCC Calls For Increased Public-Private Information Sharing To Protect The Capital Markets From Cyber-Attacks – DTCC Urges Restarting Federal Pilot Program That Targeted Cyber Espionage
http://jlne.ws/LljqEk

ASIC provides update on Trio
http://jlne.ws/LljqEx

ASIC releases information on transferring assets for trustee companies
http://jlne.ws/LljqUQ

ASIC consults on new guidelines for credit advertisements
http://jlne.ws/LljpAm

Exchanges & Trading Facilities

MarketAxess Announces Monthly Volume Statistics for May 2012
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. , the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for U.S. and European high-grade corporate bonds, emerging markets bonds and other types of fixed-income securities, today announced total monthly trading volume for May 2012 of $48.7 billion, consisting of $30.0 billion in U.S. high-grade volume, $2.6 billion in eurobond volume, and $16.0 billion in other volume.
http://jlne.ws/LljpAt

TMX Group – Consolidated Trading Statistics May 2012
Trading volume on Toronto Stock Exchange increased 12% in May 2012 from April 2012, though was down 10% compared to May 2011. Transactions were up 10% from April 2012, and increased 4% from the same month a year earlier.
http://jlne.ws/Lljrbi

ASX Group Monthly Activity Report – May 2012
http://jlne.ws/LljpQM

ASX Compliance Monthly Activity Report – May 2012
http://jlne.ws/LljpQW

KMG Chemicals to Transfer Stock Exchange Listing to NYSE
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
KMG Chemicals, Inc. announced today it will transfer the listing of its common stock to the New York Stock Exchange from the NASDAQ Global Select Market .
http://jlne.ws/Lljrby

EXCHANGE MEMBERS OF EPEX SPOT ELECT NEW EXCHANGE COUNCIL
The Exchange Members of the European Power Exchange, EPEX SPOT, have duly elected a new Exchange Council on 30 May 2012. It was the first election by the Members of the Exchange. The current Exchange Council was appointed by the Exchange during the creation of EPEX SPOT for a three year mandate. The newly elected Council takes over its functions on its constitutive meeting on 20 June 2012 in Leipzig.
http://jlne.ws/LljrrO

CBOE Holdings, Inc. To Present At Sandler O’Neill Global Exchange And Brokerage Conference On June 8
CBOE Holdings, Inc. today announced that William J. Brodsky, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Sandler O’Neill Global Exchange and Brokerage Conference in New York, NY, on Friday, June 8, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
http://jlne.ws/LljrrV

Hedge Funds & Managed Futures

Proceed with caution: State of the Exchange Traded Products
Joshua M. Brown – The Christian Science Monitor
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) are probably in the 3rd or 4th inning of their renaissance. As a professional and both a frequent user and critic of them, I’ve learned to take the good with the bad. I believe that at a certain point in the coming decade, the ETP wrapper will completely swamp the mutual fund and ultimately put it out of its misery.
http://jlne.ws/LljrrY

Our volatile age defies spreadsheet strategy
Gillian Tett – Financial Times
Why are investors engaged in a “dash for cash” (or a flight into any havens that they can find)? It is not hard to think of reasons: doubts are rising about the future of the eurozone, the underlying developed world economic data are grim – and in the US there is concern about the prospect of a “fiscal cliff”, or new debt debacle.
http://jlne.ws/Lljq7m

Och-Ziff’s hedge funds post mild declines in May
Market Watch
Och Ziff Capital Management Group LLC’s OZM four main hedge funds posted milder declines than the Standard & Poor’s 500 index’s 6.3% drop last month. Among Och-Ziff’s four main funds, OZ Asia Master fell the most, by 2.2%, OZ Europe Master Fund was 1.8% lower, while OZ Master Fund and OZ Global Special Investments Master Fund were down less than 1%.
http://jlne.ws/LljrIn

Nominations Now Being Accepted For 2012 Platts Global Energy Awards
http://jlne.ws/LljrIv

Banks & Brokers

Banks weigh awkward truths on storage
By Tom Braithwaite – Financial Times
Ten days ago the biggest global banks met some of the biggest institutional investors for a discussion in Boston. Topics for the summit, held out of the public eye, included electronic trading and concerns over bond liquidity. Together, they could define the future of Wall Street.
http://jlne.ws/LljqnN

Goldman meetings secret, CEO tells insider trial
By Sebastian Smith | AFP
The CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, told a New York federal court that his former colleague Rajat Gupta regularly attended highly confidential board meetings. The chief executive took the stand for the second time in as many years to testify about Gupta, accused in one of the highest profile insider trading cases for years.
http://jlne.ws/LljqnO

Sallie Krawcheck signs on with new discount broker
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Sallie Krawcheck, ousted in September as head of Bank of America’s wealth and asset management division, is joining the board of Motif Investing, a new discount brokerage that offers investors bundles of stocks linked to investment themes. Investors can tap Motif’s website to buy a group of stocks that could benefit from, for example, a U.S. housing recovery.
http://jlne.ws/LljqnV

JPMorgan has returned $600 million of MF Global money: WSJ
Reuters via Yahoo! News
JPMorgan Chase & Co has returned about $600 million that was at the bank when MF Global Holdings Ltd went bust in October, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Friday citing people familiar with the matter. MG Global’s bankruptcy trustee James Giddens might have additional claims against JPMorgan for several hundred million dollars, the business daily said.
http://jlne.ws/Lljtjq

JPMorgan Names Bacon Deputy Risk Chief After $2 Billion Loss
Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) named Ashley Bacon deputy chief risk officer as the firm overhauls risk management following a $2 billion trading loss in its chief investment office.
http://jlne.ws/LljrYY

Morgan Stanley’s Saperstein to Lead MSSB Investment Products
Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley (MS) Smith Barney, the world’s largest brokerage, appointed Andy Saperstein to oversee a reorganized investment products and services division.
http://jlne.ws/LljtjB

Goldman Sachs Cuts a Little Deeper
By SUSANNE CRAIG – NY Times
It isn’t getting better out there. Wall Street, which has been paring its ranks over the last year as it struggles with lackluster markets and new regulations, is cutting deeper as it heads into what is expected to be a rough summer.
http://jlne.ws/LljrZ9

Blackstone, Morgan Stanley To Buy $1.8 Billion Lloyds Loan Book
Wall Street Journal Blogs
Real estate private equity funds managed by The Blackstone Group and Morgan Stanley have agreed to purchase a 1.8 billion Australian dollar (US$1.76 billion) portfolio of distressed property loans from Lloyds Banking Groups international subsidiary BOS International, two people familiar with the matter said.
http://jlne.ws/LljtA0

Analysis: In failed JPMorgan hedge, lessons from past missed
Reuters via Yahoo! News
A well-regarded U.S. lender once lost a tidy sum on derivatives, and Jamie Dimon had to ride to the rescue. It wasn’t JPMorgan. It was Banc One, a regional lender that piled into derivatives in the early 1990s. Banc One’s shares tumbled as the trades went sour, eventually leading to the hire of Dimon as CEO in 2000 – and later, Banc One’s acquisition by JPMorgan.
http://jlne.ws/Lljsfo

Morgan Stanley Global Private Equity Portfolio Company Trinity CO2 Investments Acquires SandRidge Tertiary for $130 Million
Morgan Stanley Global Private Equity announced today that portfolio company Trinity CO2 Investments LLC, a Midland, Texas-based carbon dioxide pipeline and supply company, has acquired SandRidge Tertiary, LLC from SandRidge Energy Inc. for $130 million in cash.
http://jlne.ws/LljtAb

Jonathan Falik Joins BGC Partners’/Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Capital Markets Team
BGC Partners, Inc., a leading global brokerage company servicing the wholesale financial and property markets, today announced the appointment of Jonathan Falik as Senior Managing Director and Head of Hospitality Capital Markets for BGC Real Estate Capital Markets.
http://jlne.ws/LljtAd

Peter Bowden Leaving Morgan Stanley for Energy Banking Post at Jefferies -Bloomberg
Dow Jones
http://jlne.ws/LljsvX

Citi Launches Renminbi (RMB) Exporters and Importers Letters of Credits in Latin America
Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance
Citi has launched Renminbi Letters of Credits for Importers and Exporters in Latin America, being a leading bank in Latin America to offer a trade services solution suite available in RMB.
http://jlne.ws/LljtQB

JPMorgan hands operations executive more authority
Reuters via Yahoo! News
JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Monday it named company veteran Paul Compton to be deputy chief of operations and added to responsibilities he already holds as chief administrative officer of the company’s investment bank and head of its global service center in India.
http://jlne.ws/LljtQD

Did JP Morgan Violate the Volcker Rule?
Forbes
Would JP Morgan’s in-house trading be exempt from the Volcker rule? Probably not. It was too dangerous, and it is hard to see how it qualifies for even the proposed rule’s very loose concept of hedging.
http://jlne.ws/Lljsw2

How Many Times Will Bank Of America’s Shareholders Pay For Merrill?
Forbes
The Times today reports that former Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis has admitted in a deposition that bank officers knew before it completed the 2008 acquisition of that Merrill’s losses would be devastating for both companies.
http://jlne.ws/LljtQJ

French rogue trader launches appeal, blames bank
AFP via Yahoo! News
French rogue trader Jerome Kerviel was back in court on Monday arguing that he was a scapegoat and that Societe Generale must take responsibility for the billions of euros his gambles cost the bank.
http://jlne.ws/Llju6Y

Indexes & Products

US ETF giants force European shake-up
Mike Foster and Rebecca Hampson – Financial News
The fight for an increased global share of the exchange-traded fund market is intensifying as US giants iShares, State Street and Vanguard have moved to tighten their grip on the sector.
http://jlne.ws/LuJhM2

Technology

SunGard’s iWorks Wins RAVE Award from Tech Decisions and Novarica in Financials Category
SunGard received a RAVE Award for its iWorks Investment Accounting solution (IAS) in the Financials category. The RAVE Awards – presented by Tech Decisions, an insurance technology trade publisher, and Novarica, an insurance technology research, consulting and advisory firm – recognize those solutions that are delivering exemplary value to their customers as measured by those customers themselves.
http://jlne.ws/LljsMz

Trayport in vanguard of OTC software revolution
Rebecca Hampson – Financial News
Energy trading has come under greater scrutiny during the past few years amid an attempt by global regulators to force transparency on the over-the-counter derivatives markets. This reform agenda is creating opportunities for commodities trading technology providers, particularly UK-based software firm Trayport.
http://jlne.ws/Llju7c

Enforcement

SEC Charges Company Officers And Penny Stock Promoters In Kickback And Market Manipulation Schemes
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged several penny stock companies and their officers as well as three penny stock promoters involved in various stock schemes in which bribes and kickbacks were paid to hype microcap stocks and illegally generate stock sales.
http://jlne.ws/Lljt2Z

FINRA Hearing Panel Fines Brookstone Securities $1 Million for Fraudulent Sales of CMOs to Elderly
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced today that a FINRA hearing panel ruled that Brookstone Securities of Lakeland, FL, and the firm’s Owner/CEO Antony Turbeville and one of the firm’s brokers, Christopher Kline, made fraudulent sales of collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) to unsophisticated, elderly and retired investors.
http://jlne.ws/Lljt30

U.S.: Restitution impractical for Stanford victims
Reuters via Yahoo! News
The government said it would be “impracticable” to enforce an order of restitution against financier Allen Stanford to victims of his estimated $7 billion Ponzi scheme and that it should be permitted to compensate fraud victims with forfeited assets.
http://jlne.ws/Lljunw

ASIC bans former broker for three years
http://jlne.ws/Lljt31

Environmental & Energy

97% of RGGI Units Meet First Compliance Period Obligations
RGGI Press Release
206 of the 211 power plants subject to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) requirements met program compliance obligations, according to the program’s first three-year Compliance Summary Report. The program’s first three-year control period began on January 1, 2009 and concluded on December 31, 2011.
http://jlne.ws/LjBTBl

Emissions Fell Under Cap and Trade Program, Report Says
The New York Times
The cap and trade system known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative announced Monday that carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the nine participating states on the East Coast fell by an average of 23 percent during the first three years of the program.
http://jlne.ws/M8SCbk

Who’s Brave Enough to Start a Solar Fund Today?
Cleantech Insights
I believe we may be missing the big picture as we focus on the immediate challenges. Here’s why I think a courageous investor would do great investing in solar today.
http://jlne.ws/M09lxW

Asia-Pacific

With the Bad News Pouring Out Of China, Fund Managers Rush In
By RESHMA KAPADIA – WSJ
There has been no shortage of red flags: sluggish demand for exports, frothy real-estate prices and economic forecasts of a so-called hard landing. So why are some investors making the surprising—and seemingly risky—move of upping their bets on China?
http://jlne.ws/Lljt32

Ex-Lehman trader quits as Asia hedge funds falter
By Nishant Kumar – Reuters
Smaller-sized hedge funds are increasingly throwing in the towel in Asia as they struggle to attract money from risk-wary institutional investors, casting a cloud over prospects of the $128 billion industry.
http://jlne.ws/LljunL

Traders set for Korean options hit
Tom Osborn – Financial News
An option on the index of Korea’s top 200 stocks is set to lose its crown as the world’s most traded derivative. Pressure from the South Korean securities regulator to increase the face value of the option fivefold is expected to reduce the volume of trading by the same magnitude, according to a report from the World Federation of Exchanges.
http://jlne.ws/Lljt39

China warns on lending to steel plants
By Simon Rabinovitch and Leslie Hook in Beijing – Financial Times
China has warned its banks of rampant illicit borrowing by steel companies, a development that underscores the financial dangers for the country as the government mulls a new stimulus effort to support the slowing economy.
http://jlne.ws/LljvYB

SGX positions itself as Asian OTC clearing hub
The Trade News
Singapore Exchange (SGX) president Muthukrishnan Ramaswami has laid out plans for his bourse to take a regional role in OTC derivatives reform, as markets across the globe seek to reduce systemic risk in the swaps market.
http://jlne.ws/JOnzWw

Credit Suisse to replace top Asia prime exec Meehan with Schollum
Reuters via Yahoo! Finance
Credit Suisse will move Kevin Meehan, its head of prime services coverage for the Asia Pacific region, to London later this summer as global head of its prime fund services business, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
http://jlne.ws/LljvYI

Summary Of May 2012 Activities At Tokyo Commodity Exchange – TOCOM May 2012 Average Daily Volume Up 12.7% from April 2012
http://jlne.ws/LljuEh

Shenzhen Stock Exchange: Training Session Held To Educate Issuers On Good Corporate Behavior
http://jlne.ws/Lljwf8

Hong Kong’s Securities And Futures Commission: Further Recovery Of Minibond Collateral
http://jlne.ws/Lljwff

HKEx Appoints Chief Financial Officer And Chief Administrative Officer
http://jlne.ws/Lljwfm

Frontier Markets

Egypt bars brokerages from trading foreign stocks
Reuters via Yahoo! News
Egypt’s markets watchdog has told local financial institutions they can no longer trade foreign securities, saying it exposes investors to risks that Egyptian authorities are unable to monitor.
http://jlne.ws/LljuUH

The Next Phase In Islamic Finance – Opening Address By Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authority Of Singapore At The 3rd Annual World Islamic Banking Conference: Asia Summit
http://jlne.ws/LljwvE

NJ Global Invest Limited Joins DIFC
http://jlne.ws/LljwvF