While transparency may be seen as a new wonder drug that will cure all the industry’s ills, it does not come without side effects, so it was refreshing to see ESMA promoting a collaborative approach with the industry in defining the details of how MiFID II and MiFIR are implemented.
The complexity of regulatory reforms in Europe and the US are placing pressure on the industry and may catch some participants unawares.
Fixed income is a bit like the tortoise of Aesop’s fables, while equities is unquestionably the rambunctious hare. While equities finished the race towards an agency trading model many years ago, fixed income is just plodding onto the starting lines now. But a little outsourcing may provide the rocket boost the industry needs to push ahead, according to Carl James, managing director of dealing services UK at BNP Paribas.
Broadridge Financial Solutions has formed an alliance with UK software developer Lombard Risk Management under which Lombard’s collateral management system will be integrated into Broadridge’s applications and infrastructure services.
Political turbulence in the Ukraine, Russia and Turkey this year produced disagreement between senior financial industry executives at a FIX Trading Community conference in London yesterday, with some arguing that politics should not be allowed to detract from the longer-term rise of non-western economies and others arguing the opposite.
ABN Amro Clearing has launched a new global trading platform for equities and futures which it says can route clients between Asia, Europe and the US using a single FIX connection.
US broker BGC Partners and UAE government-run free zone the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre have done a deal to promote Islamic ‘Murabaha’ products, as part of a drive to turn Dubai into an Islamic finance hub. The DMCC has a trade platform called DMCC Tradeflow, which operates in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers Free Zone. A […]
Denmark’s Saxo Bank has introduced futures spread trading onto its online trading and investment platform for retail and institutional clients, in a move the bank says will give investors access to a low-volatility trading style.
Industry standards organisation the FIX Trading Community has published its guidelines for transaction cost analysis in equities, which it says will help to create a better market by clearing up the competing methodologies and definitions that are currently in use.
The Dodd-Frank Act launched the acronym SEF into the alphabet soup of modern capital markets, After three years of repeated discussions, consultations, submissions and furious wrangling, Swap Execution Facilities finally come into operation this week.
Long-only institutional investors are increasingly turning towards advanced futures trading strategies that have previously been the preserve of hedge funds and proprietary trading shops, according to a new report published by Tabb Group and Fidessa.
In the wake of scandals involving manipulation of market indices, can statistical learning theory be used to detect and fix anomalies in Libor and other market indices?
Oman’s Bank Muscat has installed tech firm Charles River’s investment management solution for its asset management business in the Arabian country, which covers equity and fixed income.
Broker Instinet has released Make, a new algorithm which it says will help traders to shift large orders more cautiously without disturbing the market.
Citi has begun lending services in Russian securities through its OpenLend platform, which the bank says will help investors to diversify into promising emerging markets.
Bloomberg’s execution management system has begun using a complex event processing engine from tick data and analytics specialist OneMarketData to support its intra-day trading analytics.
As Moscow modernises its corporate governance, legal institutions and financial infrastructure, new possibilities are opening up to foreign investors, says Tim Bevan, executive board member at BCS.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has set a date for the first stage of sweeping changes to the ISDAFIX benchmark for annual swap rates, as part of a major global push to clean up rates and make them more accountable.
Trading system monitoring specialist ITRS Group has added a module to its Geneos system for the Murex cross-asset trading and risk management platform.
January has been a good month for ETFs, with the launch of two new products aimed at making it safer and cheaper to trade – and easier to get the information needed to make trading decisions.
A digital currency called Ven is poised to give alternative currency poster child Bitcoin a run for its virtual money.
Russia’s securities markets have taken another step forward with the decision by Euroclear Bank to launch post-trade services for Russian corporate and municipal bonds on 30 January, via its relationship with Russia’s newly established CSD the National Settlement Depository.
Following the tumultuous change that came in the wake of the subprime crisis, capital markets firms have yet to regain a strong foothold but 2014 is showing increasing evidence of a shift to a higher gear.
IntercontinentalExchange has revealed further details of its plans for Liffe, following its acquisition of NYSE Euronext in November.
Bitcoin is more traceable but less regulated, less expensive but more volatile, and more decentralised but less accountable, than a regular currency. Feeling confused? That’s not the half of it, according to Ernst & Young.
Smaller regional banks may want a single-dealer FX platform; unfortunately, they’re not cheap, so UK technology company Caplin Systems is targeting regional banks that want a single-dealer FX platform without building it themselves.
Sapient Global Markets has launched a close of business reporting service that it says will help capital and commodity markets trading firms to meet regulation at lower cost.
Standard Chartered and Agricultural Bank of China have launched renminbi-denominated clearing services in the UK in a deal that reflects the ongoing internationalisation of the currency.
Bank algos may superficially appear to be well-tested – but the process may be open to any number of unexpected flaws, according to Steve Wilcockson, industry manager at big data specialist firm MathWorks.
Enlightened buy-side firms are facing the challenges of high-touch regulation, fragmented liquidity and ongoing cost pressures head on and developing new business models and approaches at every stage of their workflow.
Regulators should consider carefully the implications of their actions, and not be too hasty to censure or restrict trading activity on dark pools, according to a report released by analyst firm Celent this week. The findings have been supported by senior financial services executives at Fidessa, who have called for investor choice to be maintained.
The burgeoning wealth of Asia represents a huge opportunity for asset managers that can scale their businesses across the region, but it will place huge strains on firms’ operations, driving them to explore a new approach to outsourcing.
IntercontinentalExchange is to acquire Singapore Mercantile Exchange, including the venue’s clearing house, in a deal that will give it a foothold in Asia for the first time. SMX offers futures for metals, currencies, energy and agricultural commodities.
The wisdom of emerging market exchange deals was a subject of controversy at the Mondo Visione exchange forum in London on Wednesday, with some participants lambasting such deals as “not worth the air miles they were written on”. Others had a more positive view.
Large exchange groups face a backlash from businesses trying to raise capital if they do not change to address this part of their function, leading to the emergence of private equity markets and more political interference and protectionism.
The European Commission has rejected a request from the European Securities and Markets Authority to delay the reporting of exchange traded derivatives, with the effect that all derivatives trades will have to be reported to registered trade repositories from 12 February next year.
Portugal’s Caixa Geral de Depositos bank is planning to grow its trading business in Brazil, using a hosted service provided by SunGard.
Sell-side only block trading network Squawker has completed its pan-European rollout, connecting 70 sell-side firms to the new venue, which promises ‘algorithm-free’ trading in 13 European countries.
Nasdaq OMX is planning to launch a test facility for algo trading early next year. The Algo Test Facility will be developed jointly with Thesys Technologies, a subsidiary of Tradeworx,
One may speculate that with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic party having secured a quite remarkable third term in office, the last in a long line of potential hurdles for the advocates of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) in Europe has been overcome
