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John Lothian Newsletter
July 26, 2016 "Irreverent, but never irrelevant"
 
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Stay Hungry: A Fintech CTO's Advice To Interns
Drew Shields, Trading Technologies

On July 14, I gave an address to interns at the 2016 MarketsWiki World of Opportunity Summer Intern Education Series. What follows is an extended version of my remarks.

Trading Technologies has spent the last few years working on the next-generation TT platform. Through the process, we've learned a lot about what makes a good team and how a product needs to challenge the status quo if it is to make a long-term impact.

It's fair to say that any great accomplishment has as its first ingredient the people themselves. This is absolutely the case at TT, and growing our team over the last two years has been one of our major focuses. When I think about the type of people we're looking to add, the most important question I have about any individual is: are they hungry?

As you start your careers and think about what you can do to get ahead, to set yourself apart, I can tell you that there is nothing that can separate you more from your peers than having greater desire and greater motivation. There are many words we can use to describe this hunger: initiative, ownership, self-directed, passionate, the list goes on. Intelligence and expertise can take you a long way, but inevitably, we all reach a point in our development where we are no longer the smartest or the most experienced.

HERE.
***DA: Our first batch of videos from the Chicago event are ready for release, beginning tomorrow. Meanwhile, click over to see Shields' no-nonsense advice to job seekers of any age. Also, TT just launched its new page on Facebook. Take a look and leave a "like."

Algo Trading
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Questions with John Kerin
FinTEx Chicago
The Chicago Stock Exchange is over a century old but it's on the forefront of issues ranging from market structure to transformation. In this Q&A, CEO John Kerin discusses new products, Chicago fintech and teaming with the Chinese to grow for the future.
goo.gl/p37yo5

***DA: Exchanges are really technology companies - a theme we returned to many times during our education series events these past two weeks.

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Japanese will not buy Shinzo Abe's message on stock market greed; The great quest to persuade the Japanese public to invest in stocks is falling on fearful ears
Leo Lewis, FT.com
With the swelter of August approaching, Japan's stockbrokers are retreating to their air-conditioned offices. For most of July — the "spending" month in which the nation's salarymen are paid their summer bonuses — the junior ranks of Nomura, Mizuho and a dozen other houses have slogged their beats in search of a piece of that: assaulting anyone that opens the front door with business cards, market analysis and "this time it's different" sales pitches.
on.ft.com/2ahACDk

***DA: Japan has the highest proportion of elderly citizens of any developed nation. Over 25 percent of the population is over 65, and that number will rise to 40 percent in short order. To expect, and even encourage a shift into risky assets is just plain silly.

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Bridging the Week by Gary DeWaal: July 18 - 22 and July 25, 2016 (New Clearing Member Category; Above the Law; MF Global; FX Trading Front Running; Deliveries; EFRPs)
Gary DeWaal - Bridging The Week
CME Group proposed a new clearing membership category to help customers avoid the risk of receiving a pro-rata allocation of losses from their carrying futures commission merchant in the circumstance of the FCM's insolvency and its inability to satisfy its obligations to all its customers in full. In addition, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority warned its members not to take advantage of recent federal appellate court decisions that it claimed were incorrect in permitting member firms to bar customers and associated persons from taking advantage of FINRA arbitration forums to resolve disputes. Finally, two former senior officers of a global investment bank responsible for certain of its foreign exchange trading were named in a criminal complaint filed in a federal court located in Brooklyn, NY, related to their purported front running of the foreign exchange trades of a customer.
goo.gl/ljMX7V

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Monday's Top Three
Yesterday's top-clicked story was no surprise - Lynne Marek's breaking story in Crain's about E*Trade's purchase of OptionsHouse. A sort of "E*Trade/OptionsHouse backstory took second place - our recent story about rival online platform TD Ameritrade (Bite Sized: TD Ameritrade's FCM Looks for Bigger Slice of Retail Pie) In third place, from the FT, was Front-running: a fuzzy area baked into the way markets work


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John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals.
 
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Lead Stories
CME Group Proposes New Clearing Member Category to Help Customers Avoid Pro Rata Distribution Risk in Case of FCM Insolvency
Gary DeWaal - Lexology
CME Group filed proposed rule changes with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that would create a new category of clearing membership, termed a "Direct Funding Participant." Under CME Group's proposal, a DFP could clear all of its eligible proprietary CME Group trades directly with the CME clearinghouse but would not be obligated to contribute to CME Group's guaranty fund or otherwise be responsible in case of a default by another clearing member.
goo.gl/RjYLrh

CME files for new direct clearing membership
Futures & Options World
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is set to launch a new type of direct clearing membership at its various exchanges in September, marking the second such move by a large exchange group. The Merc has filed a proposed change to its clearing rules with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which would create a new category of Direct Funding Participant (DFP). The new structure will come into effect on September 23 pending regulatory approval.
bit.ly/2a3DXmm

Trading volumes soar as S&P breaks record
Philip Stafford - Financial Times
The record high for the S&P 500 index has fuelled strong demand in US equities and derivatives trading in the first half of the year. Data released on Monday by the World Federation of Exchanges, a trade association for more than 200 market structure operators, revealed that the number of share trades in the first half of the year to June 30 in the Americas rose 23 per cent to 3.7bn. Related derivatives instruments such as stock index options rose 25 per cent to 302m contracts and stock index futures rose 24 per cent to 436m contracts.
/goo.gl/j5LCKH

Asia leads share trading slump
Samuel Agini and Anna Irrera - Financial News
Share trading activity dropped by nearly a quarter in the first half of 2016 on the back of a slowdown in Asia and uncertainty in Europe, with analysts warning of continued pressures ahead. Global equity trading activity dropped 24% to $44.9 trillion in the first six months of the year from $59.2 trillion a year earlier, according to figures published on July 25 by the World Federation of Exchanges.
goo.gl/7UbaCA

Finding the Fraud in the HSBC Currency Trading Case
Peter J. Henning - NY Times
The global banking giant HSBC is back in the news in another tussle with United States prosecutors. This time it involves a charge of wire fraud conspiracy against two of its foreign exchange executives, who are accused of "front-running" a trade by the bank's client to generate a $3 million profit. The question is whether taking advantage of a client's decision to engage in a transaction with some dishonest statements is enough to produce a fraudulent scheme.
nyti.ms/2apvVst

E*TRADE Study Reveals What Investors Want from Mobile Investing
Press Release
E*TRADE Financial Corporation today announced results from the most recent wave of StreetWise, E*TRADE's quarterly tracking study of experienced investors. Results indicate that mobile preferences among investors continue to evolve:
goo.gl/Mrj0ql

Break up the financial watchdog over HBOS failures, MPs urge
Tim Wallace - The Telegraph
The City watchdog should be broken in two so that one unit can properly hunt down bad bankers while the other supervises the wider state of the finance industry, an influential group of MPs has said. MPs believe the sprawling nature of the old Financial Services Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority which replaced it in 2013, meant bankers including former HBOS chief Andy Hornby have not been properly investigated.
goo.gl/B3dVzi

America's Exploding Deficit
Martin Feldstein - Project Syndicate
Two recent pieces of budget news are a grim reminder of the perilous state of fiscal policy in the United States. President Barack Obama's Office of Management and Budget announced that the federal government's deficit this fiscal year will be about $600 billion, up by $162 billion from 2015, an increase of more than 35%. And the annual Long-Term Budget Outlook produced by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that, with no change in fiscal policy, federal government debt will rise from 75% of GDP to 86% a decade from now, and then to a record 141% in 2046, near levels in Italy, Portugal, and Greece.
/goo.gl/SdjSK8

Short-term Treasury yields hit 1-month high after weak auction
MarketWatch
Short-term Treasury yields climbed Monday to their highest level since June 23—the day the U.K. voted to leave the European Union—after a sale of 2-year Treasury notes saw the weakest demand in 7½ years. The lackluster auction suggested, according to analysts, that investors were reluctant to buy short-term Treasurys ahead of policy meetings this week by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.
on.mktw.net/2ahA5la

The Libor Has Been Creeping Higher
MoneyBeat - WSJ
An early warning signal for financial distress has been starting to flash. But that doesn't mean a crisis will follow.
The London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, measures the cost of short-term interbank borrowing. It spiked during the financial crisis a bankers grew worried about the health of other banks. Now, the three-month U.S. dollar Libor rate is rising again. It climbed 0.08 percentage points since the end of last month, and 0.05 percentage points since July 18, to 0.734% on Monday, its highest since 2009, according to SIX Financial.
on.wsj.com/2ahBnMX

U.S. financial stability faces threat from Brexit: U.S. monitor
Reuters
The U.S. financial system faces greater potential instability due to Britain's decision to leave the European Union while low and negative interest rates also raise risks, a U.S. government monitor said on Monday. In its biannual update on U.S. stability, the Office of Financial Research said overall risks "remain in the medium range but have been pushed higher by the United Kingdom vote to exit the European Union."
reut.rs/2apxGWJ




World of Opportunity 2016



Exchanges, OTC & Clearing
Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities
CME Launches Online Comparison of Futures vs ETF Costs
Markets Media
CME Group, the US derivatives exchange, has launched an online tool to allow investors to compare the costs of futures against exchange-traded funds, as some ETF issuers have claimed the funds are now cheaper to use. Last month the CME launched the Total Cost Analysis tool to allow investors to compare the all-in costs of replicating the S&P 500 by trading equity index futures versus ETFs, and intends to expand the tool to other indexes.
goo.gl/cb8gJb

Nasdaq Futures to launch first fuel oil, crack futures
Futures & Options World
Nasdaq Futures, the energy market, plans to launch a raft of new contracts next week, marking the ambitious exchange's first anniversary since launch.The new chief executive officer of Nasdaq's energy exchange, Rick Beaman, told FOW NFX will next week launch 15 new contracts, including its first fuel oil and crack futures contracts as well as additional brent contracts.
goo.gl/Md0BQX

Deutsche Boerse and GSX list Bitcoin instrument
Joe McGrath - The Trade
Traders are now able to gain exposure to digital currency Bitcoin through an exchange traded product that has listed on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse.
goo.gl/nq9Ut8

LSEG: UnaVista Offers LEI Allocation Service To Help Firms Meet Their Accreditation Requirements
Mondovisione
UnaVista has developed an LEI Allocation service to help reduce the regulatory and operational challenges of becoming an accredited Local Operating Unit (LOU) for Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI).
goo.gl/fBMgPd

Futex funds at Marex "the priority" for administrator
Futures & Options World
Establishing legal ownership of the £800,000 held in the Futex account at clearer Marex Spectron and redistributing it to the trading firm's creditors is the top priority for the administrators of Futex's parent company, according to sources close to the process. A source close to the administrator said a decision over the ownership of the funds held in the Marex account will be "the priority for the administrators". The source added: "The cash is available so dealing with this first means that these funds can be distributed sooner."
goo.gl/0ADeaA

SGX Electricity Market Report
SGX
SGX Electricity Futures (EF) traded 40 lots in the past two weeks, bringing the total volume since trading start to 1,972 lots (2,163 GWh). Open interest as at the end of last week was 764 lots (838 GWh). The forward prices remain between the mid $60/MWh and mid $80/MWh, with the front quarter settlement price coming down to the mid $60/MWh level after briefly elevated to the $70/MWh level on Friday, 15 July, in line with the jump in USEP that day.
goo.gl/AKSHtJ




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Politics
An overview of politics during an election year as it relates to the financial markets
What the Democrats Mean for the Stock Market
Justin Lahart - WSJ
One cornerstone of U.S. politics has been that Republicans treat investors and big businesses better than Democrats do. In the current campaign, that assumption needs updating. In many areas such as bank regulation, the minimum wage and the environment, Republicans are still the kindlier party, but the differences are subtler. And on trade and immigration, the Democrats under Hillary Clinton have become the more business-friendly party.
on.wsj.com/2apHNdY

One Thing Both Parties Want: Break Up the Banks Again
NY Times
Could the Glass-Steagall Act — the Depression-era legislation that forced the separation of investment banking from commercial banking, among other things — be coming back? In an extremely odd political dovetail, both the Democratic and the Republican platforms include planks that call for the restoration of the landmark 1933 law. Glass-Steagall aimed to protect the common folk who deposited money in their banks for safekeeping, and ordered that those banks decouple themselves from the business of placing the type of speculative stock market bets that caused the great crash of 1929.
goo.gl/WKyiWt

US election could see 25% pull out of stock market
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
A quarter of investors in the US have said they would consider pulling out of the US stock market altogether, following the presidential election.
goo.gl/EUZrwP








Investing & Trading
Today's top stories from fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC)
BlackRock: Expect Lower Returns For Pretty Much Everything Over the Next Five Years
Julie Verhage - Bloomberg
Good luck trying to make double-digit returns. According to BlackRock Inc., it's going to be really hard for any asset class to give investors returns above a mere 6 percent in the coming years. In fact, according to BlackRock Inc.'s Global Chief Investment Strategist Richard Turnill, most won't even scrape 5 percent.
bloom.bg/2apNSao

Markit employs help of Deutsche AM to expand iBoxx indices
The Trade
Markit has employed the help of Deutsche Asset Management's research and infrastructure teams to expand its iBoxx tool with the launch of infrastructure corporate bond indices.
goo.gl/suqajN

Understanding the "why" of smart beta
Rolf Agather - FTSE Russell
The world of smart beta indexes has evolved to the point where "why" has replaced "what" as the central question on the minds of industry players and watchers. The "what" question has been largely answered, as global asset managers now have a robust and varied toolbox of smart beta indexes at their disposal. As asset owners and consultants increase their use of smart beta indexes, the "why" questions has taken center stage. What are the primary reasons investors give for using smart beta indexes? And why in many cases are they allocating a rapidly increasing portion of their investment portfolio to index-based approaches?
/goo.gl/1RrZB6

Active fund managers face more pain — Moody's
Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
The investor shift from active asset management to cheaper passive strategies will accelerate in the coming years and weigh on the earnings and credit ratings of investment groups unable to adapt to the new realities of the money management industry, according to Moody's. The worsening ability of many fund managers to beat their benchmarks, coupled with their costs, has led to an investor exodus in favour of cheaper investment strategies such as exchange-traded funds, that seek to merely mimic the performance of a market at the cheapest possible cost.
/goo.gl/2szW7P

Renminbi and yen command attention
Jennifer Hughes - Financial Times
Once upon a time, everything in currencies was measured against the dollar. And, in large part, it still is. But, in Asia, attention is increasingly being paid to exchange rates against the renminbi and the yen. So pity policymakers in the region, with both of these regional giants on the slide. Dollar rates are still the best-known reference points. Last week, the offshore renminbi hit Rmb6.7045 against the dollar, its weakest level in more than 5 years. Meanwhile, the yen fell back to ¥107 to the dollar, a whopping 5.3 per cent slide from its early July peak at ¥101.3. Both currencies are critical for the rest of the region as, combined, they represent between 25 per cent and 45 per cent of each Asian country's trade, on a weighted basis — with India the least sensitive and South Korea the most.
on.ft.com/2apCviU

Bond investors wary of threat from potential 'fallen angels'
Eric Platt - Financial Times
Bob Dylan won favourable reviews for the "easy-going charm" of his latest album, Fallen Angels, released in May. There is not too much easy-going or charming about fallen angels in the universe of bond investing. Investors in the most highly rated US corporate bonds have enjoyed a buoyant 2016, with the Barclays index returning nearly 9 per cent. However, the market now faces an unsettling threat from a potential new wave of fallen angels — companies that first sold debt with investment grade status but have since been downgraded to junk.
/goo.gl/wRTIjn

Liquidity Conditions in USD Swaps
Chris Barnes - Clarus Financial Technology
We analyse Liquidity using our Price Dispersion Index; We find that liquidity conditions have worsened for 10 year USD swaps; The analysis quantifies liquidity using price and volume; We conclude that illiquidity begets illiquidity
Liquidity often feels ephemeral and fleeting when you're trying to transact. To counteract this, it is beneficial to quantify liquidity conditions, taking the subjectivity out of something that feels difficult to define.
bit.ly/2apOVqX

Crude Slump, Pipeline Expansion Mark End of U.S. Oil-Train Boom
WSJ
The oil-train boom is waning almost as quickly as it began. Rail became a major way to move crude after companies began unlocking new bounties of oil from shale formations, with volumes rising from almost nothing in 2009 to more than one million barrels a day by 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
on.wsj.com/2ahBx6V

This Company Will Give a Peek Inside How Much Private Start-Ups Are Worth
Katie Benner - NY Times
Private companies like Uber and Snapchat are not legally required to share financial information such as their valuation or the number of shares held by investors. For investors, that lack of transparency is something of a hazard. Now Equidate, a market for trading shares of private companies, plans to lift the veil on some of that information.
goo.gl/IVwm3b




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Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds
The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures
Commerzbank Says Capital Ratio Falls on Operational Risk
Nicholas Comfort - Bloomberg
Banks see litigation risk increasing capital requirements
Net income drops 32% in second quarter from a year earlier
Commerzbank AG, Germany's second-largest bank, said a key measure of financial strength fell in the second quarter as it made accounting adjustments to reflect operational risks to lenders across the industry.
bloom.bg/2apOuwL

UBS names co-heads for EMEA sector client coverage
Reuters
Swiss bank UBS Group AG appointed Javier Oficialdegui and Laurent Bouvier as co-heads of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sector client coverage and origination, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.
reut.rs/2ahABiU

Lael Brainard, Donning a Global Lens, Champions Low Rates at Fed
Binyamin Appelbaum - NY Times
Lael Brainard is poised to win another round this week in her fight for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low. Ms. Brainard, a Fed governor in Washington since 2014, has emerged over the last year as a leading advocate for patience, pressing the case that low rates are important for domestic economic growth and for global stability.
goo.gl/iTrdMK

Why a Fed repeat of 2015 will not help the dollar
FT
For all the drama and turmoil that has defined 2016, in one important respect an air of predictability is starting to settle over this year. Investors were unnerved by January's oil price decline and fears over Chinese growth, they might have been thrown off course by June's Brexit vote and this month's failed coup in Turkey, and could yet have to contend with a Donald Trump victory in the US presidential election. And yet, in one respect, 2016 is shaping up in much the way 2015 unfolded — a year of shifting communications from the Federal Reserve, bouts of weakness and strength in the US economy and record stock prices on Wall Street, culminating, according to some, in a likely rate rise in December.
/goo.gl/Q9p2fS

The DoJ 1MDB complaint analysed: how the named banks fare
Chris Wright - Euromoney Magazine
The US Department of Justice's complaint seeking the recovery of assets related to the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, is compelling reading. In a 136-page filing, a remarkable web of money transfers and illicit purchases is exposed. Several banks are involved in it and three more have since been rebuked by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for failing to implement proper money laundering checks. So who comes out of it in the best and worst shape? Here is a quick guide.
goo.gl/mU3hx6

JP Morgan wealth management executive Di Iorio to retire
Financial News
JP Morgan's head of its global wealth management business, which includes the private bank and JP Morgan Securities, is slated to retire at year end, according to people familiar with the matter. Phil Di Iorio, who has worked at the New York bank for about 30 years, will stay on until then, these people said. The bank didn't immediately name a successor to the role in a memo sent Monday afternoon by asset management chief Mary Callahan Erdoes to bank employees. And it isn't clear if there will be one, the people said.
goo.gl/9GDveB




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Fintech
A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors
Investing in Big Data Is Top Priority, But Buy Side Asks, 'Whose Job Is It?'
Gary Stone and Aryeh Hauptman - TABB Forum
For many on the buy side, Big Data is synonymous with analytics and business intelligence, and the largest investment they will make in their execution desks in the next three years will be on 'market data and analytics.' But within the majority of firms, no particular group is responsible for data governance.
goo.gl/IdaCFE

Reporting complexity forcing buy-side to outsource data services
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
Reporting requirements under regulations like MiFID II are driving the buy-side to outsource data functions to manage the complexity of complying with the rules. The explosion of data handled by asset managers for reporting to regulators, stakeholders and clients, is so complex that buy-side institutions are increasingly seeking to outsource data operations.
goo.gl/fsDVPa

Web pioneer Yahoo failed to keep up with changing times
Nikkei Asian Review
The sale of Yahoo's core businesses to Verizon Communications marks the company's retirement from the modern internet it helped build, as the once leading web portal operator will become an investment holding company following its failure to keep up with the transforming landscape.
s.nikkei.com/2apALpR



Regulation & Enforcement
For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts.
Should enforcement be separated from the FCA?
The Trade
The UK's Treasury Select Committee has renewed calls for separating the enforcement arm of the Financial Conduct Authority from the main regulator. These recommendations surfaced after the Treasury Select Committee looked at enforcement action relating to failed lender Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBoS).
goo.gl/KIhy73

Deutsche Bank must face U.S. lawsuit over subprime disclosures
Jonathan Stempel - Reuters
A U.S. judge on Monday said Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) must face part of a lawsuit claiming it deceived investors who bought more than $5.4 billion of preferred securities by concealing its exposure to the fast-deteriorating subprime mortgage market. U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts in Manhattan rejected the German bank's bid to dismiss claims with respect to roughly $1.9 billion of securities sold in November 2007 and February 2008. She also dismissed claims with respect to more than $3.5 billion of securities sold in May 2007, July 2007 and May 2008.
reut.rs/2apxcji

Fed Prepares New Action Against Goldman Sachs in Leak Case
Ben Protess and Jessica Silver-Greenberg - NY Times
Two years ago, the Federal Reserve faced a predicament: One of its New York employees had leaked confidential government information to a banker at Goldman Sachs. Both men ultimately pleaded guilty to stealing government property. Goldman, for its part, paid a $50 million penalty to New York State regulators because its "management failed to effectively supervise" the banker. At that point, the case seemed to be closed, which was just as well for Goldman and the Fed — institutions dogged by the public perception that they are a little too cozy. But the Fed, it turns out, was not done.
nyti.ms/2apHC2B

Who Says The CAT Doesn't Have a "Silver Lining?"
Patrick Flannery - MarketsMedia
For broker-dealers, the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) may seem to be another weighty technical challenge, whose cost and implementation challenges will fall disproportionately on their shoulders (and their budgets). In fact, last week, SIFMA submitted a letter to the SEC detailing exactly how burdensome CAT will be. The current plan, according to SIFMA, "would impose the vast majority of CAT-related costs on broker-dealers."
goo.gl/89ytch

Bear Stearns Withheld Details on Financial Condition, Judge Says
Christian Berthelsen - Bloomberg
Shareholder suit over 2008 Bear collapse allowed to proceed
'Active attempt to hide facts' cited in sharply worded ruling
A federal judge sharply criticized statements and actions by former executives of Bear Stearns Cos in the final days of the investment bank, saying important information was "withheld from the public" and allowing a shareholder lawsuit to move forward.
bloom.bg/2apOLQa

CFTC Staff Issues Advisory Clarifying Chief Compliance Officer Reporting Line Requirements
CFTC
The advisory clarifies the Regulation's required elements and addresses additional supervisory relationships that a chief compliance officer may have with senior management in addition to those with the board or the senior officer of the registrant.
goo.gl/NTjqZo

LAN Airlines Settles FCPA Charges
SEC.gov
An SEC investigation found that when LAN encountered problems negotiating labor agreements with the unions, it was contacted by a consultant from Argentina who offered to negotiate on the company's behalf. The consultant made clear that he would expect compensation for such negotiations, and that payments would be made to third parties who had influence over the unions. LAN's CEO approved $1.15 million in payments to the consultant through a sham contract for a purported study of existing air routes in Argentina. The CEO knew that no actual study would be performed and that it was possible the consultant would pass some portion of the money to union officials in Argentina to settle the wage disputes.
goo.gl/xq66ER








Regions
Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions
Asia could be barreling towards a financial crisis
Business Insider
Asia could be walking into a financial disaster. Rising debt, real estate getting bubbly, and threats to growth all threaten the possibility of a credit crunch, leading to a financial crisis throughout the region.
goo.gl/REc0Vj

To regain its competitive edge, Hong Kong must stay the course in shipping and finance
Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide
When the first quarter of 2016 ended, Hong Kong, as an international financial centre, has already borne a spate of negative news. Firstly, the international rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's lowered the credit rating of Hong Kong from stable to negative.
goo.gl/5suoxs

Edward Misrahi of Ronit Capital talks about China
Business Insider
For those who have been following Asian markets for some time, Taiwan and China are looking awfully similar. Back in the late 1980s, the stock and futures markets in Taiwan were highly driven by mom-and-pop investors. Property prices climbed and stock prices shot up more than tenfold to a record high in early 1990, thanks to credit expansion and financial deregulation.
read.bi/2a3FYiy

Tokyo forex market turnover hits all-time high
Nikkei Asian Review
Daily trading in Tokyo's foreign exchange market averaged a record $407.1 billion in April, data released Monday shows, as negative interest rates drove institutional investors to higher-yielding foreign securities.
s.nikkei.com/2apAQtB

Record bankruptcies pressure Brazil banks as recession bites
Reuters
Brazil's harshest recession in eight decades is prompting some of the nation's top banks to reclassify some 90 billion reais ($27 billion) in problematic corporate loans, eroding profits as banks struggle with a doubling in bankruptcy protection filings.
goo.gl/8Y7MJv








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