| June 19, 2025 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Uill, nach iongantach! (Scottish Gaelic for "Well, how amazing!") The total raised for the Kilt Challenge Mission I(m)possible announced at the FIA IDX Futures For Kids gala dinner was $173,104. While SGX's Rama Pillai set a new record for the Kilt Challenge in 2024, raising 61,391 GBP as recorded via the JustGiving website, this year's kilt-wearers Alicia Crighton and Chris Edmonds took the challenge to yet another new level, including personal and corporate contributions.
The total included amounts added to the JustGiving site yesterday included a $50,000 donation from Goldman Sachs, $25,000 from Alicia Crighton, and $25,000 from the Edmonds Living Trust. Other major donors included Liam Smith with $1,000, and multiple supporters in the UK-such as David Martin, Gordon Alexander, John Cunningham, Joseph, and Mark Phelps-who each gave between 200 GBP and 250 GBP plus additional Gift Aid. Smaller contributions included $300 from one anonymous donor, 50 GBP plus Gift Aid from Adam Solomons, and $200 from Eric A. Additional anonymous and unspecified donations were made by Emma Richardson and two anonymous contributors.
Edmonds was fully dressed in a kilt, a white dress shirt and tie, and a Prince Charlie jacket, accompanied by Ghillie Brogues shoes, the laces of which were wrapped around his calves. He found his whole highland outfit at an Atlanta kilt store. Crighton was more modern in her shopping, picking a long tartan skirt from Amazon. She wore a white dress shirt and a family heirloom Celtic brooch on her left side, which her grandmother had given her. The ultra-competitive Crighton had told FIA President Walt Lukken that she and Edmonds would crush the record set by Pillai, and Lukken shared the story at the gala using the saltier language Crighton used in the boast that the two delivered on in spades.
The wifi password for the event featured Edmonds and Crighton's first names, with Edmonds listed first. The ever-competitive Crighton questioned Lukken on why Chris was first in the password and not Alicia. Crighton and Edmonds (I want to stay on her good side, so I list them in that order) announced Mark Bortnik, managing director of derivatives clearing at Morgan Stanley and the chairman of the FIA's European Advisory Board.
Bloomberg journalists Justina Lee and Bernard Goyder report that Morgan Stanley is closing its electronic market-making unit for US equity options, a step back from a sector increasingly dominated by high-speed proprietary firms like Citadel Securities and IMC Trading BV. According to sources familiar with the matter, the decision reflects challenges for traditional banks in competing with firms engineered for speed, scale, and fewer regulatory constraints, even as US derivatives trading volumes surge. Morgan Stanley, which had been the last major bank paying for retail options order flow and accounted for 6.4% of such payments among market makers last quarter, is working to reassign affected employees within the company; the bank declined to comment on the closure, Bloomberg reported.
As part of its 25th anniversary, Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) has launched the SGX Capital Markets Conversations for You(th), an initiative aimed at inspiring 300 students aged 17 to 19 to explore the capital markets through immersive sessions held on June 20 and 27 at the SGX Centre. The program offers interactive games, panel discussions, and career exploration activities, including F.I.R.E.side chats with CEOs and senior professionals focusing on themes such as investing for growth and jobs, wealth creation, and building trust in the market ecosystem. SGX CEO Loh Boon Chye emphasized the initiative's goal to enhance financial literacy and expose youth to diverse career opportunities, reinforcing SGX's commitment to nurturing future talent and fostering a trusted, inclusive capital markets environment.
Correction: Yesterday's story about TT-related trust, the Ascend Trust, which is not TT-owned, but was spawned from the sale of TT in 2021 when the patent-related court cases were placed in the trust, was the loser at the Supreme Court, not TT. The second-to-last sentence of the story said, "Harris Brumfield, the former majority owner of TT, who is named as representing the trust, emailed me to let me know that TT lost at the Supreme Court." It should have read, "Harris Brumfield, the former majority owner of TT, who is named as representing the trust, emailed me to let me know that the TT-related trust lost at the Supreme Court." My apologies for this error.
Interestingly, however, the winners of this decision are not only IBG, but also the TT shareholders at the time of the sale, who now receive a distribution of the remainder of assets, including those held by the trust to cover legal fees. Farley Owens, the trustee of the Ascend Trust, told me yesterday in a conversation via WhatsApp that the beneficiaries of the trust should be receiving a letter in a few days telling them about the decision and that the trust is finishing paying bills, collecting its $6.6 million IBG decision proceeds, and then will distribute the remaining balance.
The 2025 NIBA/DePaul University Symposium will take place at DePaul University in Chicago on July 17, 2025, starting at 1:30pm Central Time. This event is designed for professionals interested in alternative investments, specifically Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), and will feature expert speakers, networking opportunities, and the latest industry insights.
My plan is to begin receiving Social Security payments when I turn 72, which will be in 2033. The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the program may become insolvent sooner than expected, beginning in 2034. Given the cutbacks, I will be lucky if Social Security has even processed my paperwork by 2034, so the story in The Atlantic about Baby Boomers' luck running out might be right on the mark. Does anyone know where I can find a four-leaf clover?
Were you confused when you watched the latest Max Armstrong video and read the story? I know I was. I posted the wrong video with the story. We published number 3 before we published number 2 today. Part of the problem was the need for multiple revisions to the videos to incorporate images. Probably the biggest issue was posting the story at 1 am London time after a long day at IDX. My apologies for the error. Wow, two corrections and apologies in the same newsletter. Yikes!
Here are the headlines from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: ICE to clear Euro rates futures in Europe to mitigate regulatory impact, ANALYSIS: Commodity leaders point to resilience amid recent volatility, CFTC commissioner calls for regulatory collaboration on AI roll-out, UK to review this year post-Brexit clearing house regulation, European exchanges benefit from global tariff led activity and Growth of retail creating 'tension' with traditional futures users - FIA chief.
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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NOTE: JLN Options will not be published today in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. We'll be back on Friday, June 20.
Our most-read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Listed Equity Option: Supporting Retail Investors and Propelling European Markets from Cboe.
- Policy Recommendations to Unlock Retail Participation in Europe's Options Markets from Cboe.
- What needs to happen for options trading to grow in Europe? from SmartBrief. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 Farm Broadcaster Max Armstrong Saw the Heartland-and the Airwaves-Change Before His Eyes JohnLothianNews.com ELMHURST, IL-(JLN)-June 19, 2025-Max Armstrong remembers when farm broadcasters didn't need to worry about lighting, camera angles, or video editing. "Many of them never imagined they would do video," Armstrong told John Lothian News over Zoom. "Now, even the writers for big publications like Farm Futures and Prairie Farmer are out in the field shooting video. It's a bit of a strange effort for them." Watch the Max Armstrong Video »
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Opinion: Illinois is driving out its financial industry. Here's how to fix it.
Martin McLaughlin - Crain's Chicago Business
Illinois has long been a pillar of American finance, from the iconic trading floors of Chicago to the small-town community banks that fuel local economies. But today, that foundation is cracking. Earlier this year, Pulaski Savings Bank in Chicago became the first U.S. bank failure of 2025. Investigators uncovered a fraud scheme that left the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation with a $28.5 million loss. Though the incident was isolated, it revealed how fragile some of our financial institutions have become, particularly in an environment where regulatory frameworks are unclear, oversight is uneven, and compliance burdens disproportionately harm smaller players.
/jlne.ws/40aH3iU
***** Poor regulation in Illinois for banks facilitates regulatory arbitrage for crypto. Crypto does not have to work as hard.~JJL
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SpaceX Starship Rocket Explodes Before Test; The Starship experienced a "major anomaly" before starting its 10th flight test. Elon Musk's giant moon and Mars rocket has a mixed record of success.
John Yoon - The New York Times
A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded in a huge fireball on a test stand late Wednesday during preparations for its next launch at the Elon Musk-led company's base in South Texas. Starship experienced a "major anomaly" before starting a test at around 11 p.m. local time, SpaceX said on social media. All personnel were safe and there were no hazards to the residents of nearby communities, SpaceX, a commercial space launch company, said. It warned people to not approach the area while it was conducting safety operations in conjunction with local officials at the test site and the surrounding area.
/jlne.ws/4kQ4nLm
***** I would call an exploding spaceship something bigger than a "major anomaly." ~JJL
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Gillian Tett on Complex Derivatives and the Fifth Stage of Capitalism; What is the role of modern finance?
Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway - Bloomberg
After the global financial crisis, there was a lot of angst over the fact that so much effort and brainpower went into designing complex derivatives, and other financial instruments. Not only was this seen as wasteful, the complexity was deemed to be the heart of the crisis, and therefore bad. But all these years later, looking back, how bad is financial complexity really? What do things look like from the perspective of 2025. On this episode we're joined by Gillian Tett, a columnist at the Financial Times, and also the author of several books including Fool's Gold: The Inside Story of J.P. Morgan and How Wall St. Greed Corrupted Its Bold Dream and Created a Financial Catastrophe. We talked about her reporting on the evolution of financial derivatives, their legacy, what she is concerned about now, and why she sees the world entering into a new, post-neoliberal, fifth stage of capitalism.
/jlne.ws/460aLuL
****** One part of the fifth stage of capitalism is that financial markets are increasingly shaped by complex instruments and global standards. Like tokenization? Where have I heard that before?~JJL
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Wednesday's Top Three
Our top story Wednesday was Bloomberg's Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros. Second was FIA: Collateral Tokenisation at "Turning Point", the opening remarks of Walt Lukken, President and CEO of FIA, at the International Derivatives Expo in London, from MarketsMedia. Third was European Derivatives 2025 - Listed Equity Options, from Cboe.
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| Lead Stories | Europe's Power Market Is So Hot, Traders Are Leaving Retirement
Lars Paulsson, Will Mathis, and Eamon Farhat - Bloomberg
After more than a decade out of the power market, 51-year-old Daken Engmann has been tempted back. The former trader left JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2011 and retired to Ireland, where he bought a 53-acre farm in the Wicklow mountains south of Dublin to rear organic Dexter cattle. Now, he sees a chance to get back in the game. Europe's renewables boom is upending long-standing market trends and increasingly sending prices far below zero. Skillful traders who can profit from that flux have flocked to short-term contracts, with intraday and day-ahead volumes soaring to a record last year.
/jlne.ws/448AIpk
Food, Agriculture Leaders Sound Warnings on MAHA Overreach; Executives vouch for safety and affordability of U.S. food system as RFK Jr. targets chemicals and additives; some welcome a fresh look
Annie Gasparro and Jacob Bunge - The Wall Street Journal
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" mantra sounds simple. Food and agriculture leaders warned that reality is more complicated-and the stakes are high for the U.S. food supply. The MAHA movement argues that a heavily consolidated and industrialized U.S. food industry is the central factor in Americans' high rates of chronic illness. Kennedy and his allies are ratcheting up federal scrutiny on ultra-processed foods, artificial dyes, food additives and pesticides.
/jlne.ws/45vGfc8
What China's Listing Frenzy in Hong Kong Means for Investors
Bloomberg News
Chinese companies are lining up in droves to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange, sparking a frenzy in a market that has been forsaken by investors and companies for many years. In May, the world's largest battery maker, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a HK$41 billion (US$5.2 billion) listing that has been the biggest deal of its kind so far in 2025. It's paving the way for the likes of luxury carmaker Seres Group Co., energy drink heavyweight Eastroc Beverage Group Co., robotics firm Estun Automation Co. and other Chinese companies to list in Hong Kong this year.
/jlne.ws/3FMM4rf
Japan Firms Exit Tokyo Exchange at Record Pace in Delisting Rush
Kentaro Tsutsumi - Bloomberg
Japanese companies are leaving the Tokyo Stock Exchange at the fastest pace in over a decade, reflecting a surge in deals and management buyouts as they face more pressure to make better use of their capital. The number of firms that delisted their shares from the TSE or announced plans to do so has reached 59 in the first half, rising from 51 a year earlier and marking the most on record for a comparable period, according to exchange data going back to 2014. If firms continue to exit the TSE at this pace, the figure for 2025 will exceed last year's annual record of 94 companies.
/jlne.ws/4n9sZA5
London Seeks More Chinese Listings as City Battles IPO Drought
Bloomberg News
London is seeking to attract more Chinese firms to list on its stock exchange as the city struggles with a shrinking equity market and a deal drought across Europe. "We need to get more IPOs happening in London," Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corp., said in an interview from Shanghai. "We don't want to lose business across the Atlantic." The authority for London's Square Mile financial district can provide opportunities for Chinese firms to secure customers and funding in the UK and drive them to list in the city via its connect scheme with Shanghai, Hayward said. The city can also encourage UK firms to raise capital and list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, he said. China introduced its stock connect program with the UK in 2019, allowing listed companies to issue depository receipts on each other's exchanges. It later expanded the program to include Switzerland and Germany. Six years later, only a handful of Chinese firms, including Huatai Securities Co., have listed in London, raising a total $6.6 billion, and trading has been muted.
/jlne.ws/3HHypCr
A Tiny Investment Bank Linked to Trump's Sons Helped Set Up $120 Million Trading Gain
Annie Massa, Tom Maloney, Muyao Shen, and Zachary R Mider - Bloomberg
A tiny investment bank where Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump work as advisers helped an obscure toymaker pivot into crypto this week, sending its shares up more than 500%. The run-up generated more than $120 million in gains on a stock bet the same bank helped arrange last month. The quick profit is the result of two transactions that the bank, Dominari Holdings Inc., handled within four weeks. First Dominari helped an investment fund run by one of its senior executives buy a stake in money-losing toymaker SRM Entertainment Inc. Then on Monday, SRM unveiled plans to transform into Tron Inc., bringing on cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun as an adviser and building up a stash of virtual tokens in another transaction handled by Dominari. The toymaker's stock jumped past $9 on Monday, up from less than $2 at the end of last week. It's now above $7.
/jlne.ws/44oiq4T
Morgan Stanley to Shutter Electronic Equity Market-Making Unit
Justina Lee and Bernard Goyder - Bloomberg
Morgan Stanley is shuttering a unit focused on electronic market-making for US equity options, retreating from a corner of the derivatives landscape that's grown increasingly popular with retail investors, even as trading volumes boom. The business, known internally as automated market-making, is being closed, according to two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. While US derivatives activity has surged, the space has come to be dominated by proprietary firms like Citadel Securities and IMC Trading BV. The exit underscores how traditional players have struggled to keep pace with businesses natively built for speed and scale, aided by specialized technology and fewer regulatory constraints.
/jlne.ws/3SXT3QY
SEC's acting director of the trading and markets division departs; Replacement, Jamie Selway, is set to take over as head of the division in July.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
David Saltiel, The US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) acting director of the trading and markets division is set to leave the regulator. Salitel is set to depart 4 July 2025 having served as acting director since December 2024. He also previously served a separate stint as acting head of the department in 2021. "I want to thank David for his wise counsel since I became chairman, and he has been a critical member of the division's leadership team for nearly a decade," said SEC chair Paul Atkins.
DOJ announces largest-ever crypto seizure related to 'pig butchering' scams
Sarah Fortinsky - The Hill
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday announced the largest-ever seizure of cryptocurrency funds linked to so-called pig-butchering scams. The U.S. attorney's office filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the District Court for the District of Columbia to seize more than $225.3 million in cryptocurrency that federal prosecutors say was part of a sophisticated blockchain-based money laundering network meant to conceal the source of funds obtained through illegal scams. According to the forfeiture complaint, the FBI and Secret Service used blockchain analysis and "other investigative techniques" to determine that the funds were connected to the illegal activity.
/jlne.ws/3TvdlBz
****Here is the press release from the DOJ.
Social Security's Finances Erode Further, Risking Benefit Cuts; The nation's key program for retiree benefits continues to see financing shortfalls. Unless Congress acts, those drops could lead to payment cuts in eight years.
Tara Siegel Bernard and Margot Sanger-Katz - The New York Times
The Social Security program faces a longstanding financing shortfall that, if left unaddressed, would slash millions of retirees' crucial monthly benefit payments in just eight years. The deteriorating financial outlook for the retirement program, which supports roughly 61 million Americans, was released in its annual trustees report on Wednesday. It is now expected to run out of money nine months earlier than previously projected, which means benefits could be reduced by 23 percent if Congress does not act to bolster the program.
/jlne.ws/40dJKjL
Social Security's Potential Insolvency Date Moves Up One Year; To pay full benefits to retired and disabled Americans in 2034, Congress would need to find more revenue or borrow more money
Ken Thomas - The Wall Street Journal
With an aging U.S. population and a smaller share of American workers who pay into it, Social Security could become unable to pay full retirement and disability benefits in 2034, one year earlier than reported last year, the program's trustees said Wednesday. The Social Security outlook worsened for several reasons, according to the report. Notably, in a bipartisan vote, Congress changed benefit formulas in a way that is providing more money to certain public-sector workers, including many teachers, firefighters and police officers. In many cases, those retirees had faced limits on benefits because they worked for part of their careers in jobs outside the Social Security system. In addition, the government adjusted its expectations for fertility rates.
/jlne.ws/3TvfLQF
Pro-Israel group hacks Iranian crypto exchange for $90 million-but throws away the money
Ben Weiss - Fortune
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have spilled over into the crypto industry. On Tuesday, Nobitex, the largest crypto exchange in Iran, was hacked for more than $90 million, according to the crypto analytics firm Elliptic. A group that calls itself Gonjeshke Darande, or "Predatory Sparrow," claimed responsibility for the hack. "These cyberattacks are the result of Nobitex being a key regime tool for financing terrorism and violating sanctions," Predatory Sparrow wrote on X. Instead of pocketing the $90 million of Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and more than 100 different cryptocurrencies that they raided, the hacking group decided to destroy ("burn" in crypto parlance) the funds instead so as to send a political message, according to Elliptic.
/jlne.ws/407COEL
U.S. Steel ceases trading on the NYSE as Japan's Nippon finalizes takeover; The iconic American company has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel North America after President Donald Trump reversed his opposition to the acquisition.
Spencer Kimball - CNBC
U.S. Steel shares stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after Japan's Nippon Steel completed its acquisition of the iconic American industrial name. President Donald Trump has insisted for weeks that the companies would form a "partnership" in which U.S. Steel would remain American-owned. But the New York Stock Exchange notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that U.S. Steel's shares would be removed from listing, after the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Steel North America.
/jlne.ws/44pkMjS
Treasury Endorses New International Payments Standards, Supports FATF Reports on Countering Illicit Finance
U.S. Department of the Treasury
On June 13, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concluded its joint plenary with the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), the FATF-style regional body for Europe, in Strasbourg, France. The plenary agreed to release reports on proliferation financing sanctions evasion typologies and how terrorist groups like Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis raise and move funds. The body also found consensus on a revised payments standard, new publications on how countries around the world are regulating virtual assets to combat illicit finance, and a new mechanism to prevent the FATF standards from being misused to pressure civil society groups.
/jlne.ws/43O26u6
Deputy Secretary Faulkender Lays Out Guiding Principles for Bank Secrecy Act Modernization
June 18, 2025
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Today, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender spoke at the 62nd Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Group (BSAAG)plenary meeting organized by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). At this public-private partnership event, Deputy Secretary Faulkender discussed the Trump Administration's guiding principles for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) modernization.
/jlne.ws/4n06qxM
Big Pay Packages Spark Growing Dissent Among UK Shareholders
Maggie Shiltagh - Bloomberg
Shareholder dissent over executive pay at British companies is rising just as firms seek to bolster pay packages to remain internationally competitive. Three times as many companies faced opposition from more than 20% of shareholders so far this year compared with the same period in 2024, data from proxy-solicitation firm Georgeson Inc. shows. With investors having already voted on remuneration reports from more than half of FTSE 350 companies, 16 faced dissent exceeding 20% between Jan. 1 and May 31 this year, up from five in 2024, the data shows.
/jlne.ws/447dGiF
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| Trade War and Tariffs | | A roundup of today's trade war and tariff news and the global economic ripple effects shaping markets, industries, and investment strategies. | Surprise! You literally owe the tariffs; Americans are being hit with huge tariff bills on their online orders.
Emily Stewart - Business Insider
Kat Omecene thought she was keeping things simple by asking her bridesmaids to buy whatever dresses they wanted for her wedding - as long as it matched her color palette, of course. But now, one of the women is in quite an expensive bind. In April, the bridesmaid ordered two dresses from the online retailer Six Stories for $400. Neither quite worked, so she wound up returning the items for a refund and thought she was in the clear, out only a small restocking fee. A few weeks later, however, she got a bill in the mail from FedEx, for $600. "At first she thought it was a scam," Omecene says. "It looked like a scam to me."
/jlne.ws/4eazVZS
Australia's Beef Industry Can Wait Out Trump Tariffs, Envoy Says
Ben Westcott - Bloomberg
Australia should maintain its cautious approach to the Trump administration's "reciprocal" tariffs, despite the potential impact on the beef industry which makes up a major part of the nation's agricultural exports to the US, according to a government trade envoy. When considering the tariff feuds between the US and other major trading partners, such as Mexico and Canada, it was better for Australia to "wait and see" rather than attempting to retaliate, Special Representative for Australian Agriculture Su McCluskey said.
/jlne.ws/4lh6acc
Tariffs Spell Trouble for Cans: 'We Can't Absorb Those Costs'; Food and beverage companies say new tariffs on steel and aluminum will raise the cost of their containers. They say consumers are likely to pay the difference.
Julie Creswell - The New York Times
For years, the biggest expense for Pacific Coast Producers was the peaches, pears and tomatoes that the farmers in the co-op grew to be processed for sale in grocery stores as well as restaurants, hospitals and school cafeterias. But since 2018, the biggest expense for the co-op isn't the fruit: It's the cans. New tariffs are reigniting tensions over an object that is critical to the food and beverage industry but that most consumers give little thought. Cans are likely to be more expensive after President Trump's move to double tariffs on imported steel, the main material used in cans for food, and on aluminum, commonly used for beverages.
/jlne.ws/461vPRx
UKRAINE
As death toll rises in Kyiv, Europe believes Russia will not stop at Ukraine
Sertac Aktan - Euronews
Emergency workers recovered more bodies on Wednesday from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, bringing the death toll from the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital to 28. The building in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district took a direct hit and collapsed in what was the deadliest Russian attack on the city this year. Authorities said that 23 of those killed were inside. While sniffer dogs searched for buried victims, rescuers used cranes, excavators and even their hands to clear debris from the site. The attack overnight on Monday into Tuesday was part of a sweeping barrage as Russia once again sought to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences. More than 440 drones and 32 missiles were launched - one of the biggest bombardments on the capital since the war began in 2022.
/jlne.ws/3ZEGA8z
Middle East Conflict
Trump Privately Approved of Attack Plans for Iran but Has Withheld Final Order; As the conflict between Iran and Israel continues, President Trump is considering multiple options, including a U.S. strike on Iran
The Wall Street Journal
President Trump told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program, people familiar with the deliberations said. Iran's well-defended Fordow enrichment facility is a possible U.S. target; it is buried under a mountain and generally considered by military experts to be out of reach of all but the most powerful bombs. Asked if he had decided whether to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, Trump said, "I may do it, I may not do it." And he repeated his insistence of Iran's unconditional surrender: "The next week is going to be very big, maybe less than a week."
/jlne.ws/43QvT5t
Israel, Iran Trade Fire as U.S. Weighs Options; President Trump privately approved of attack plans for Iran but is holding off on giving the final order
The Wall Street Journal
President Trump told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program, people familiar with the deliberations said. In the Middle East, Israel and Iran continued to exchange fire as the conflict entered a seventh day. An Israeli hospital was hit by an Iranian missile, while Israel said it struck 100 targets in Iran, including the heavy-water reactor in Arak and a site in Natanz that it said was being used for nuclear-weapons development.
/jlne.ws/4ejyZCA
Israel Can Hit Iran Nuclear Site Without US, Some Experts Say
Ethan Bronner - The Wall Street Journal
Options for an Israeli attack on Fordow include a high-risk ground operation, a commando raid, or repeated airstrikes using F-35s and F-15s, but all options involve risks. As the world awaits US President Donald Trump's decision on whether to join Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear program, many experts argue that Israel simply can't do the job alone. Its military lacks the heavy bombs and B-2 stealth jets needed to penetrate the uranium enrichment hall at the Fordow site hidden deep under a mountain near the holy city of Qom, whose destruction is viewed as key.
/jlne.ws/3I2sbwQ
Trump and U.S. intelligence appear at odds over Iran's nuclear progress; U.S. intelligence stands by its opinion that Iran has a large stockpile of enriched uranium but isn't close to creating a weapon. Trump said Wednesday that a weapon is "a few weeks" away.
Dan De Luce - NBC News
The U.S. assessment of Iran's nuclear program has not changed since March, when the director of national intelligence told lawmakers that Tehran has large amounts of enriched uranium but has not made a decision to rush toward building an atomic bomb, according to the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and a source with knowledge of the matter. Comments by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have painted a different picture, suggesting that Iran is racing toward creating a nuclear weapon.
/jlne.ws/4kWk9o8
An Islamic Republic With Its Back Against the Wall; The Iranian regime finds itself in its most difficult position 46 years after the revolution that brought it to power. But does it mean the end?
Roger Cohen -The New York Times
Beneath Israel's bombs lies an unpopular and repressive Iranian regime that has spent billions of dollars on a nuclear program and on projecting the Islamic Revolution through armed regional proxies, while presiding over a domestic economic disaster and stifling paralysis. An 86-year-old autocrat, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rules this restive nation, as he has for 36 years, in his role as guardian of the revolution, a conservative calling at which he has proved adept. The supreme leader is no gambler. But his system, remote from a youthful and aspirational society, looks sclerotic to many, and he is now up against the wall.
/jlne.ws/45ZHNv6
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Brazilian stock exchange B3 launches ETH and SOL futures contracts
Cryptopolitan News
Brazil's crypto sector continues to grow but faces regulatory pressures.
B3, a Brazilian stock exchange, has started trading Ethereum and Solana futures contracts in US dollars. The firm announced the groundbreaking development Monday, stating that quoted prices for the products will reference Nasdaq Ether and Solana indices. With this, B3 is consolidating its reach in the crypto derivatives sector as it already offers Bitcoin futures contracts with around $4 billion in daily trading volume on the exchange. Derivative contracts expose investors to the expected price adjustments for crypto assets without owning a single coin.
/jlne.ws/3ZCCs94
Record listing numbers secure solid 2024 revenues for LuxSE
LuxSE
In a year that saw global bond markets attract record inflows, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange welcomed 15,000+ new securities and remained the world's leading exchange for the listing of international debt securities and sustainable finance. At its annual general meeting today, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) released its financial results for the financial year ending on 31 December 2024, reporting a solid performance in a year marked by a more stable and attractive investment environment for bond investors.
/jlne.ws/3HODCIv
SGX Group welcomes Yuanta Global (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. as Derivatives Clearing Member
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) is pleased to welcome Yuanta Global (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. as a derivatives clearing member. Yuanta Global (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yuanta Futures Co., Ltd., a leading futures brokerage firm. Yuanta Futures operates under the umbrella of Yuanta Financial Holding Co., Ltd., one of the largest financial groups in the region. Headquartered in Taiwan, Yuanta Financial Holding offers a comprehensive range of services across banking, insurance, venture capital and asset management.
/jlne.ws/43PCmNT
SET Appoints Soravis Krairiksh As Senior Executive Vice President (Chief Markets Officer)
Mondovisione
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) announced the appointment of Soravis Krairiksh as Senior Executive Vice President (Chief Markets Officer), effective August 1, 2025. In this role, he will oversee the Issuer & Listing Division and the Market Division. SET President Asadej Kongsiri said that the SET Board of Governors, at its meeting on May 21, 2025, resolved to appoint Soravis as Senior Executive Vice President (Chief Markets Officer) in charge of the Issuer & Listing Division and the Market Division. SET is confident that Soravis will be instrumental in proactively advancing the exchange's business operations to keep pace with evolving market dynamics.
/jlne.ws/4kRim3w
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Elon Musk's X to offer investment and trading in 'super app' push; Foray into financial services could include introducing credit or debit card, CEO Linda Yaccarino says
Hannah Murphy and Daniel Thomas - Financial Times
X chief executive Linda Yaccarino has said that users will "soon" be able to make investments or trades on the social media platform, as she outlined a push into financial services in owner Elon Musk's quest to build an "everything app". "You'll be able to come to X and be able to transact your whole financial life on the platform," Yaccarino said in an interview with the Financial Times at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. "And that's whether I can pay you for the pizza that we shared last night or make an investment or a trade. So that's the future."
/jlne.ws/3G9jQH7
Artificial Intelligence
CEOs are trying to warn you: Use AI or else
Tim Paradis - Business Insider
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's warning this week that expanding use of artificial intelligence will mean the company needs fewer people in some roles - and more in others - is the latest sign that, increasingly, CEOs see no place in the corporate world for AI holdouts. While messages that amount to "learn AI or be left behind" might be unnerving, corporate observers told Business Insider that it's ultimately better for cubicle dwellers to hear this message now, rather than when they're sidelined.
/jlne.ws/3TvFHvr
AI runs on dirty power - and the public pays the price; The data center boom is undermining sustainable energy goals and driving billions of dollars in public health costs from air pollution, Business Insider found.
Hannah Beckler, Rosemarie Ho, and Ellen Thomas - Business Insider
The data center boom is driving utilities to torpedo renewable energy goals and rely on fossil fuels, pushing data centers' expected air-pollution-related public health costs to between $5.7 billion and $9.2 billion annually, a Business Insider investigation found. As Big Tech bets on generative AI, electricity demand for data centers far outstrips what renewable power can currently provide. Utility companies say fossil fuels generate cheaper, more reliable electricity to keep the ever-growing number of data centers running around the clock.
/jlne.ws/3ZBBBWm
Multiplier, founded by ex-Stripe exec, nabs $27.5M to fuel AI-powered accounting roll-ups
Marina Temkin - TechCrunch
In late 2022, Noah Pepper, a former Stripe business lead for the Asia Pacific region, founded Multiplier, a startup that aimed to sell software to tax accountants. But soon after ChatGPT was released, it occurred to him that AI can change how professional service firms use technology. "I realized I was barking up the wrong tree by trying to build a SaaS business, and instead I should figure out how to make these people more effective," he told TechCrunch.
/jlne.ws/45uNb9t
The Real Message Andy Jassy Is Sending to Employees on AI; Amazon's delivery workforce is safe for now, but its office staffers need to get on the artificial-intelligence bandwagon
Dan Gallagher - The Wall Street Journal
Amazon chief Andy Jassy had a chilling message for employees this week: AI is coming for your jobs. But things at Amazon are more nuanced than that. The company is unique among its big-tech peers: Amazon's business model requires a huge number of warehouse workers and delivery drivers. The company reported 1.56 million full-time employees in its last quarterly filing-nearly seven times the total of the next-largest megacap tech giant. That equates to nearly $417,000 in annual revenue per Amazon employee. That is actually up 43% from three years ago, when Amazon was feeling the aftermath of its Covid-era hiring binge. But it is also the lowest of that efficiency measure of any tech company producing more than $100 billion in annual sales, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
/jlne.ws/461SflG
Technology Firms
Crossover Markets Expands to U.S. to Meet Institutional Demand
Crossover Markets
Crossover Markets, the institutional digital asset trading technology firm, today announced that it has expanded its global footprint to support U.S.-domiciled institutions, enabling them to trade select spot cryptocurrencies on its CROSSx ECN. The move marks a major milestone as Crossover serves as a gateway between the worlds of traditional finance and digital assets on a global scale. The expansion is supported by the firm's prime brokerage partners, Hidden Road upon completion of its acquisition by Ripple and BitGo, bringing fungibility and liquidity across multiple trading venues. Crossover has made a strategic expansion into the U.S. in response to growing institutional demand for digital assets fueled by increasing regulatory clarity in the U.S. Crossover is currently onboarding the U.S. entities of multiple leading market makers, hedge funds, asset managers, ETF providers and retail brokers, and is expected to be operational by the end of Q3 2025.
/jlne.ws/3G9Jewm
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Choosing a Clear Direction in the Face of Growing Cybersecurity Demands; In a rapidly changing AI environment, CISOs are worried about investing in the wrong solution or simply not investing because they can't decide what the best option is.
Marc Solomon - SecurityWeek
For years, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) have faced an uphill battle in securing the resources they need to protect their organizations. Often, security budgets are only increased when a data breach happens or after a significant compliance failure, when the damage has already been done. This approach leaves organizations vulnerable and security leaders struggling to justify proactive investments.
/jlne.ws/4k3HsLj
The 6 biggest cybersecurity breaches of 2025 so far; Ransomware. Malware. DOGE. Your private data has never faced so many threats.
Matt Binder - Mashable
Join Mashable as we look back at the viral moments, breakout movies, memes, dating trends, tech buzz, scientific breakthroughs, and more that have defined 2025 - so far!
2025 is now halfway through, and we have a pretty good idea of what the biggest tech trends will be. AI, cryptocurrency, and AR/VR are just some of the fast-developing technologies that have defined the year so far. However, there's one tech trend that has continued to flourish year after year, unfortunately: Data breaches.
/jlne.ws/3HIDiLz
New AI, New Risks: Inside GenAI's Cybersecurity Dilemma
Mary Bennett and Rob Robinson - JD Supra
Generative artificial intelligence, once the subject of experimental labs and speculative fiction, is now a central force in digital transformation, and cybersecurity professionals are finding themselves on unfamiliar ground. As GenAI tools become more integrated into enterprise environments, they are reshaping threat models, expanding attack surfaces, and introducing vulnerabilities that cannot be fully addressed with traditional controls. A recent report from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), titled Generative AI Outlook, dives deep into this unfolding reality, urging cybersecurity leaders to recognize and respond to a paradigm shift in digital risk.
/jlne.ws/44omwtN
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | President Trump's Crypto Firm Expands Relationship With Embattled Blockchain Billionaire
Zach Everson - Forbes
Donald Trump has deepened his ties with Chinese billionaire Justin Sun-who's fighting civil charges in the United States of fraud and market manipulation-as the president's stablecoin begins minting on Sun's blockchain, which hosted the largest share of illicit crypto activity last year, according to a crypto intelligence firm.
/jlne.ws/4nd3YnW
JPMorgan Chase partners with Coinbase to launch deposit token for institutional clients
Catherine McGrath - Fortune
JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., is doubling down on its bet on the crypto space by launching its own eponymous token, further blurring the lines between commercial banking and the crypto industry. The bank announced on Tuesday that it would be piloting the new digital currency called JPMD in the coming days, in partnership with crypto exchange Coinbase. Rather than a stablecoin, as some were expecting, JPMD will be a deposit token-a digital representation of a bank deposit that is managed with blockchain technology. The company filed a trademark for "JPMD" over the weekend.
/jlne.ws/43PX28x
Trump Company Reduces Stake In Crypto Venture; As the MAGA faithful continue to throw money at Trump's crypto projects, the first family appears to be walking off with some of its profits.
Dan Alexander - Forbes
One of Donald Trump's companies reduced its stake in World Liberty Financial, a key crypto venture for the president, from 60% to 40% at some point in the last 11 days, according to an analysis of fine print on World Liberty's website. The change, which came with zero fanfare, is the latest indication that the president-or someone working on his behalf-continues conducting backroom deals while he serves in office.
/jlne.ws/3Tk1uXb
Bitcoin
Companies Using Debt to Buy BTC Could 'Hurt Bitcoin': Anthony Scaramucci; Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci isn't buying BTC treasury hype. "It will become out of fashion and it'll hurt Bitcoin," he said.
Stephen Graves - decrypt
SkyBridge Capital may be investing in Bitcoin, but the firm's founder Anthony Scaramucci is "not a fan" of companies following Strategy's playbook of issuing debt to buy BTC for their corporate reserves. Responding to a question about Bitcoin treasury companies issuing debt to buy BTC, Scaramucci declared that he was "not in love with that," during a keynote interview at the DigiAssets 2025 conference. "That feels like SPACs, that feels like stuff that happens in our industry that you get excess of," he said.
/jlne.ws/4jVPSEg
Stablecoins
Stablecoin Legislation Will Juice Demand for Treasurys-to a Point; Issuers of digital currencies need Treasury bills for their reserves, but analysts say the consequences are uncertain
Sam Goldfarb - The Wall Street Journal
New legislation regulating stablecoins-a type of digital currency pegged to the U.S. dollar-is widely expected to boost demand for Treasurys. But Wall Street isn't sure how much. The cryptocurrency industry scored a major win Tuesday when the Senate passed the legislation, which many expect to spur adoption by businesses ranging from payment providers like Mastercard and Visa to big merchants including Amazon.com and Walmart.n And because stablecoin issuers back their currencies with short-term Treasurys, many expect them to buy more in coming years.
/jlne.ws/44cbeaU
Coinbase Inks Deal to Allow USDC Stablecoin's Use as Collateral
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Coinbase Global Inc. has inked a deal to have the world's second-biggest stablecoin, USDC, used as collateral in US futures trading. The cryptocurrency exchange is also expanding its payment offerings, including integrating USDC on ecommerce merchant sites. Coinbase Derivatives is partnering with clearing house Nodal Clear to work with regulators on what it expects to be the first regulated use of USDC as collateral, according to an announcement on Coinbase's website Wednesday. Circle Internet Group Inc., of which Coinbase owns a minority stake, is the issuer behind USDC. The stablecoin - essentially a digital asset designed to hold a steady value - has a $61.5 billion market capitalization, per tracker CoinMarketCap.com.
/jlne.ws/3ZCzbGX
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Rahm Emanuel confirms he's eyeing a run for president
Greg Hinz - Crain's Chicago Business
"Of course" it's fair to say he's considering running for president, declared Rahm Emanuel, hands for the moment neither waving nor pointing but resting on the table. "I'm looking at the (Democratic) field and, most importantly, what I have to contribute." What he has to contribute is an acute, almost painful diagnosis of what's going wrong with a national Democratic Party that, in his view, has lost touch with its middle-class roots amid a fixation on political correctness.
/jlne.ws/4l5PNiy
U.S. Administration
Trump quietly shutters the only federal agency that investigates industrial chemical explosions; Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day. Who will investigate them now?
Tristan Baurick - Regional Reporter, Louisiana - Grist
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and Verite News, a nonprofit news organization with a mission to produce in-depth journalism in underserved communities in the New Orleans area.
On a summer night in 2023, an explosion at one of Louisiana's biggest petrochemical complexes sent a plume of fire into the sky. More explosions followed as poison gas spewed from damaged tanks at the Dow chemical plant, triggering a shelter-in-place order for anyone within a half mile of the facility, which sprawls across more than 830 acres near Baton Rouge.
/jlne.ws/463AWRk
Trump Travel Restrictions Bar Residents Needed at U.S. Hospitals; Limits on travel and visa appointments have delayed or prevented foreign doctors from entering the country for jobs set to begin in weeks.
Roni Caryn Rabin - The New York Times
Travel and visa restrictions imposed by the Trump administration threaten patient care at hundreds of hospitals that depend on medical residents recruited from overseas. Foreign medical residents often serve as the frontline caregivers at busy safety-net hospitals in low-income communities. Normally the residents begin work on July 1. Orientation programs for some of them already started this week.
/jlne.ws/3TADwqo
Trump calls Fed chair Powell 'stupid' and 'political' after latest decision not to cut rates: 'We have no inflation, we have only success'
Christopher Rugaber - The Associated Press via Fortune
The Federal Reserve kept its key rate unchanged Wednesday as it waits for additional information on how tariffs and other potential disruptions will affect the economy this year. The Fed's policymakers signaled they still expect to cut rates twice this year, even as they also project that President Donald Trump's import duties will push inflation higher. They also expect growth to slow and unemployment to edge up, according to their latest quarterly projections released Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/4l7cQtT
Trump's $499 smartphone will most likely be made in China; "There is no way the phone was designed from scratch, and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the U.S. or completely manufactured in the U.S.," one expert said.
Arjun Kharpal - CNBC
The Trump Organization's newly announced smartphone will most likely be made in China, experts say, despite claims that the device will be manufactured in the U.S. Owned President Donald Trump, the company on Monday announced the T1, a gold-colored device that it said would retail for $499. The smartphone will run Google's Android operating system. The Trump Organization says the phone will be "built in the United States" - but experts note the phone was most likely designed and would be manufactured by a Chinese firm.
/jlne.ws/3Txn5ey
United Kingdom
Britain's got an EU deal - but the Brexit red tape keeps coming; U.K. plows ahead with unpopular 'Not for EU' labels in Northern Ireland, despite planned deal with Brussels.
Sophie Inge - Politico
Keir Starmer hailed a "landmark deal" with the European Union back in May which he promised would slash red tape. One month on, however, and Starmer's promises still seem like a distant dream in Northern Ireland, as businesses brace for yet more Brexit paperwork. From July 1, a whole raft of new food products sold in Northern Ireland will have to carry "Not for EU" labels as part of the third and final phase of a controversial labeling rollout.
/jlne.ws/43SEVil
China
China made millions of drones. Now it has to find uses for them; Authorities bet 'low-altitude economy' will be next driver of growth
William Langley - Financial Times
In a school district in Shenzhen, would-be truants dodge surveillance drones that patrol the streets. At a nearby park, office workers pick up takeaway delivered by drones from food delivery app Meituan. Elsewhere in southern China's technology hub, unmanned aircraft transport vials of blood between hospitals, help police departments with crowd control and extinguish blazes for firefighters.
/jlne.ws/3G6geFO
Japan
Trump, Japan and the era of 'stick-holder capitalism'; Nippon Steel's $15bn deal for US Steel reflects a version of capitalism that does not fully serve the interests of shareholders
Leo Lewis - Financial Times
After 18 months of bargaining, multiple White House interventions, a presidential election, a snarling lawsuit, a xenophobic rant, two national security reviews and a government golden share, Nippon Steel has finally secured approval to buy US Steel. The $15bn takeover makes history for many reasons, but perhaps most potently as a marker of era-change: it is the first large-scale cross-border deal in the age of "stick-holder capitalism" - which is like stakeholder capitalism but with at least one particularly heavy-handed stakeholder.
/jlne.ws/4jYm5Ll
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Joint Investigation Disrupts Cryptocurrency Scam That Used Facebook Advertisements And Scam Websites, Recovering $140,000 And Freezing $300,000 In Stolen Funds
Mondovisione
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, together with New York State Attorney General Letitia James and Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services Adrienne Harris, today announced that a multi-agency long-term investigation resulted in the disruption of a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scam that targeted members of the Russian community in Brooklyn and across the country. Stolen cryptocurrency was sent to domain registrars as payment to create fake cryptocurrency investment domains and to Meta as payment for Facebook advertisements that promoted fraudulent cryptocurrency investment opportunities. After learning of the investigation, Meta shut down more than 700 accounts associated with the "Black Hat" advertiser promoting the scam. Court orders have led to the seizure of $140,000 worth of cryptocurrency, the freezing of approximately $300,000 worth of cryptocurrency, and the dismantling of a cluster of scam websites and registrar accounts.
/jlne.ws/4e9u8Ul
Watchdog Urges Canada to Open Airline Sector to More Foreign Capital
Melissa Shin and Mathieu Dion - Bloomberg
Canada should loosen investment rules for airlines to allow full foreign ownership of carriers that fly only within the domestic market, according to the country's competition watchdog. The recommendation is one of several released Thursday by the Competition Bureau following a nearly yearlong study. It also suggests raising the ownership limit for Canadian airlines so that a single foreign investor can own as much as 49%, up from the current 25%, and prioritizing competition in merger reviews.
/jlne.ws/442Bi8g
Japan Banks Set to Ban Storage of Cash in Safe Deposit Boxes
Taiga Uranaka and Hideki Suzuki - Bloomberg
Japan's main bank industry group is urging its members to prevent customers from keeping cash and other high-risk items in safe deposit boxes, following a series of thefts by employees. The Japanese Bankers Association has revised its sample agreement to explicitly prohibit the storage of cash in safe deposit boxes, it said on Thursday. Banks use the document as a model for their contracts with clients who use the service.
/jlne.ws/4ldt1Fu
ABN Amro Fined by Dutch Central Bank for Bonus Ban Violation
Sarah Jacob - Bloomberg
ABN Amro Bank NV was hit with a fine of EUR15 million ($17.2 million) by the Dutch central bank for violating some bonus restrictions that were put in place after the financial crisis. The regulator said ABN Amro fell afoul of the ban by awarding bonuses to seven positions in second-tier management between 2016 and 2024, according to a statement on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/3G40ByI
Keynote Remarks of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson at RegHub Summit London 2025: The Future of Finance: Enabling AI Tools To Enhance Compliance and Surveillance
CFTC
Good morning. Thank you for the kind invitation to deliver keynote opening remarks at the RegHub Summit and to join TradingHub Executive Chair Neil Walker for a fireside chat. I appreciate that you have historically had the pleasure of hearing from the most senior regulators in our industry including our immediate past Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman, Russ Behnam; President and CEO of the National Futures Association, Tom Sexton; and a recent past Director of Enforcement, Ian McGinley.
/jlne.ws/3FN4zvI
SEC Announces Departure of David Saltiel
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that David Saltiel, who has served as Acting Director of the Division of Trading and Markets, will depart the agency effective July 4, 2025. He has served as Acting Director since December 2024, and he also did so for several months in 2021.
/jlne.ws/3ZDAzck
SEC Announces Dismissal of Three Civil Enforcement Actions
SEC
On June 18, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed joint stipulations with the defendants in three separate cases to dismiss, with prejudice, the following ongoing civil enforcement actions against them:
/jlne.ws/448QOiQ
ASIC issues Equity Trustees infringement notices for misleading investment statements
ASIC
Equity Trustees Limited has paid $56,340 to comply with three infringement notices issued by ASIC in which ASIC alleged that Equity Trustees as the responsible entity of the Artesian Green and Sustainable Bond Fund made misleading statements about the fund's investments. Between 10 April 2024 and 7 November 2024, the fund's product disclosure statement, target market determination and website stated that the fund invested in green, sustainable and social corporate bonds issued by companies.
/jlne.ws/4jUo1V5
ASIC Chair Joe Longo spoke to Business News Senior Editor Mark Pownall at the Business News Success and Leadership event
ASIC
/jlne.ws/4n8EOGV
SFC suspends Pun Hong Hai for 10 months
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has suspended Mr Pun Hong Hai, a former responsible officer (RO), chief executive officer and manager-in-charge of overall management oversight of Freeman Commodities Limited (Freeman), for 10 months from 11 June 2025 to 10 April 2026 for supervisory failures (Note 1). The SFC found that Pun failed to discharge his duties as an RO and a member of the senior management of Freeman to ensure the company maintained appropriate standards of conduct and adhered to proper procedures. In this capacity, he also failed to adequately manage the risks associated with Freeman's business.
/jlne.ws/4lb4fFM
SFC bans Law Man Wai for three years
SFC
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has prohibited Mr Law Man Wai, a former licensed representative of Cinda International Securities Limited (CISL), from re-entering the industry for three years from 19 June 2025 to 18 June 2028 (Note 1). The disciplinary action follows an SFC investigation which found that Law had used accounts belonging to his sister and a friend, maintained with CISL and another brokerage, to conduct personal trading.
/jlne.ws/4kQYE85
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | EU reaches consensus on T+1; high-level report to be delivered end of June; Giovanni Sabatini, independent chair of the EU T+1 industry committee, provides the latest update at The Network Forum in Madrid.
Chris Lemmon - The Trade
The European Union's T+1 committee has reached a consensus on the first set of high-level recommendations for Europe's switch to a shortened settlement cycle. Members of the committee convened in person in Brussels on 28 May to finalise the proposals. This is according to independent chair of the committee, Giovanni Sabatini, who, speaking at The Network Forum in Madrid, said the team is now working to collect all of the recommendations into a single report - due to be published at the end of this month.
/jlne.ws/3G68a80
The world's most profitable nickel plants face cost challenge
Alfred Cang, Annie Lee - Fortune
A pioneering group of Indonesian nickel smelters with the world's lowest production costs has been hit by a jump in the price of a key raw material, crimping their profitability just as the market is saddled with a glut. The price of sulfur, a chemical used to produce acid, has more than tripled in price over the past year, driven by increased demand. That's a headache for producers in Indonesia that use high-pressure acid leaching, known as HPAL. The breakthrough technique enables the smelters to extract metal from low-grade ore with chemicals, avoiding the need for blast furnaces.
/jlne.ws/4n9vH8I
European Defense ETFs are the Break Out Theme of 2025
Eric Balchunas - Bloomberg
One of the hottest themes of 2025 is defense companies as potential US isolationism has other countries scrambling to beef up their military. And within that it is European stocks that have really led the charge. This theme went from rags to riches overnight practically but it's been largely a winner takes all category. On this episode of Trillions Joel and Eric speak with Bloomberg Intelligence's Senior ETF Analyst for Europe, Henry Jim about the wild frenzy to launch European defense ETFs around the world to catch this massive wave of returns.
/jlne.ws/3TvhZzv
SNB Introduces Stealth Negative Rate to Protect Money Market
Bastian Benrath-Wright - Bloomberg
The SNB's decision is seen as "understandable" by the Swiss Bankers Association, but criticized for diminishing the incentive for responsible saving and placing pressure on retirement provision, with the insurance association also expressing concerns about the low interest rate environment. The Swiss National Bank may have cut its interest rate to zero, but the way it penalizes banks' excess reserve holdings means lenders will face negative rates if they park too much cash at the central bank. Swiss banks can hold up to an unchanged 18 times their minimum reserve requirement in sight deposits at the SNB for free. For anything over that they will be charged interest of -0.25% as the discount from the policy rate remains unchanged at 25 basis points, the institution said in a statement on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4jVf91u
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Godfather of EU carbon market says CO2 offsets deserve second chance; Former top climate official Jos Delbeke says EU should be allowed to outsource part of its emissions cuts.
Zia Weise - Politico
Jos Delbeke once banned Europe's heavy industry from offsetting its pollution by paying for emission cuts abroad. Now he thinks it's time to give the idea a second chance. The retired Belgian official, who led the European Commission's climate policy department until 2018, thinks Brussels is right to consider meeting part of the bloc's next emissions-reduction target with international carbon credits. That puts him at odds with the EU's own scientific advisers, who have warned against such a move.
/jlne.ws/4e7bFrn
California just debunked a big myth about renewable energy; The state went a record 98 of 116 days providing up to 10 hours of electricity with renewables alone.
Matt Simon - Grist
One of the biggest myths about renewable energy is that it isn't reliable. Sure, the sun sets every night and winds calm down, putting solar panels and turbines to sleep. But when those renewables are humming, they're providing the grid with electricity and charging banks of batteries, which then supply power at night.
/jlne.ws/4k3jUX1
Chevron seeks buyers for 50% stake in Singapore refinery, sources say
Trixie Sher Li Yap, Yantoultra Ngui and Chen Aizhu - Reuters
U.S. oil major Chevron has sought non-binding bids for the sale of its 50% stake in Singapore Refining Company (SRC), including from joint venture partner PetroChina, eight sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Chevron is also gauging interest for the sale of other assets in Asia, including terminal and fuel storage facilities in Australia and the Philippines, one of the sources and a separate source said.
/jlne.ws/4jUTHty
King's floating wind farm project fails to attract enough providers; Auction of space off Cornish coast secures deals to develop 3GW of power, but falls short of target
Rachel Millard - Financial Times
An attempt by the King's property group to secure floating offshore wind farms off the coast of Cornwall has fallen short, after fewer providers of the nascent technology signed up than hoped. The Crown Estate sought providers for up to 4.5 gigawatts of power from areas of seabed in the Celtic Sea in an auction, but secured only 3GW. A joint venture between EDF Renewables UK and Irish energy company ESB secured 1.5GW of capacity, while Norway's state-owned energy group Equinor took another 1.5GW - each enough to power 1.5mn homes.
/jlne.ws/3I4hgCP
The World's Most Profitable Nickel Plants Face Cost Challenge
Alfred Cang and Annie Lee - Bloomberg
A pioneering group of Indonesian nickel smelters with the world's lowest production costs has been hit by a jump in the price of a key raw material, crimping their profitability just as the market is saddled with a glut. The price of sulfur, a chemical used to produce acid, has more than tripled in price over the past year, driven by increased demand. That's a headache for producers in Indonesia that use high-pressure acid leaching, known as HPAL. The breakthrough technique enables the smelters to extract metal from low-grade ore with chemicals, avoiding the need for blast furnaces.
/jlne.ws/45B4cPn
DEI Backlash Turns Recruiting Event Into Litmus Test; An annual event for Black professionals takes on a new political undercurrent
Simone Foxman - Bloomberg
Litmus test
Does sponsoring an event for Black professionals count as DEI? The annual gathering of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) is one of corporate America's flagship diversity recruiting events. This year, it was also a litmus test of the impact of Donald Trump's executive orders attacking what he calls "illegal DEI."
/jlne.ws/4e66ckE
How DEI and ESG Investing Has Changed Under Trump
The Wall Street Journal Video
How have the recent pullbacks in corporate DEI and ESG commitments affected investors with a socially conscious approach to investing? Rachel Robasciotti, founder and Co-CEO of investment firm Adasina Social Capital, joins WSJ's Take On the Week to share her views on the financial advantages of social conscious investing and the enduring importance of DEI principles despite political pressures
/jlne.ws/3HKvRmP
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | BNY integrates CollateralOne and LiquidityDirect platforms; Through the move, the buy-side is set to benefit from an enhanced platform which allows them to automate and use MMFs as collateral on triparty by transforming excess cash.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
BNY has completed the integration of its buy-side CollateralOne platform with its short-term investment platform LiquidityDirect as it seeks to transform assets to higher-quality balance collateral. The move is set to allow clients to automate the use of Money Market Funds (MMF) in triparty transactions, specifically by converting excess cash into collateral against the trade.
/jlne.ws/4kNWcix
Bank of Montreal Buys Burgundy Asset to Boost Wealth Business
Melissa Shin - Bloomberg
Bank of Montreal is buying Burgundy Asset Management Ltd., bolstering its wealth management unit by adding an established Canadian firm that manages money for affluent individuals, pensions and foundations. The bank will pay C$625 million ($456 million) in shares, with 20% of that amount conditional on Burgundy maintaining a minimum level of assets under management for 18 months after the deal closes.
/jlne.ws/3TxAJhK
UBS Capital Boost From Swiss Reforms Is Feasible, SNB Says
Jeff Black - Bloomberg
UBS Group AG should be able to meet any new capital requirements arising from the Swiss government's recent reform proposals without tapping shareholders or unduly curtailing investor payouts, according to the Swiss National Bank. In its annual financial stability review published Thursday, the central bank said that the measures aimed at strengthening the resilience of the bank to potential losses at its foreign units are "the best solution" to ensuring robust capitalization.
/jlne.ws/4e5u1cg
Fidelity, BlackRock Target Chinese Demand for Offshore Funds
Echo Wong - Bloomberg
Fidelity International is poised to offer products that attract mainland investors chasing higher returns from overseas funds, according to people familiar with the matter. The global asset manager is considering seeking approval for products under the decade-old Mutual Recognition of Funds scheme, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. It also plans to partner with its Chinese mutual fund company for domestic distribution, the people added. BlackRock Inc. is making similar plans, said another person.
/jlne.ws/4kRvmGr
Scottish Widows to slash UK equity exposure; Move by Lloyds Banking Group-owned pension provider comes as government pushes for more investment in British companies
Mary McDougall - Financial Times
Scottish Widows, one of Britain's largest pension providers, is preparing to significantly reduce its allocation to UK equities just as the government is pushing retirement funds to invest more in British companies. The group, which manages £72bn of workplace pension assets in its default funds, is planning to cut the allocation to UK equities in its highest growth portfolio from 12 per cent to 3 per cent, according to a document seen by the Financial Times.
/jlne.ws/4lepA1l
Hedge Funds
Jefferies Sues Regional Bank Over Alleged Water Machine Scam
Carmen Arroyo and Jonathan Randles - Bloomberg
A Jefferies Financial Group hedge fund widened its legal fight to recover more than $100 million that its former portfolio manager invested in an alleged fraud scheme involving water vending machines. Jefferies' 352 Capital sued Port Angeles, Washington's First Fed Bank last week in Seattle, claiming the First Northwest Bancorp subsidiary was aware of the alleged fraud. But the bank facilitated the scheme in order to prioritize repayment of its own loans to the machine company and its franchisees, 352 said.
/jlne.ws/3FZ3AbS
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Is your job application being rejected by AI? We asked 7 big companies.
Jacob Zinkula - Business Insider
It's the great mystery facing frustrated job seekers: Who - or what - is rejecting my application? As more companies turn to AI to boost productivity, applicants often tell BI that they wonder whether a human ever reviewed their résumé. We reached out to seven major companies and found out that AI's role in the hiring process varies widely. Mark Grimwood, Salesforce's SVP of Recruiting, said the company received "tens of thousands" of applications for account executive roles in the first quarter of this year - a position the company is investing heavily in.
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Why Companies Are Already All-In on AI After Arriving Late to Everything Else; PepsiCo executive Athina Kanioura says business leaders fear AI's power to disrupt their companies
Steven Rosenbush - The Wall Street Journal
After largely failing to grasp the internet, social media, smartphones and e-commerce quickly enough to avoid significant pain, many businesses have already gotten onboard with AI. Many potentially transformative applications of artificial intelligence remain hypothetical, of course. Researchers are still assessing the strengths and significant limits of reasoning models. Cybersecurity professionals emphasize the risk of connecting AI with private company data. And regulators, lawmakers and advocates want rules to protect humans on the whole from out-of-control AI.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | UK Heat Wave to Make It Harder to Sleep as Health Alerts Raised
Joe Wertz - Bloomberg
The heat wave is expected to drive up demand for medical and care services, and could also trigger travel delays and transportation disruptions, the UK health agency said. UK authorities upgraded health alerts for England as heat wave conditions are forecast to see London reach 34C (93F) by Saturday. The British capital will reach 32C on Thursday as a stream of hot air drives up temperatures across the country this week. The UK Health Security Agency raised the alert level to amber for all English regions until 9 a.m. on Monday, warning of significant risks to children, older people and those with health conditions.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Top Thai Billionaires-Backed Groups Win Digital Bank Permits
Anuchit Nguyen - Bloomberg
Three groups led by Charoen Pokphand Group, Gulf Development Pcl and SCB X Pcl have clinched Thailand's new virtual bank licenses to boost competition in the nation's banking industry, according to the central bank. ACM Holding Co., which is part of CP Group, and Advanced Info Service Pcl, a Gulf Development's mobile phone affiliate, secured the permits, Bank of Thailand said on Thursday. SCB X, which formed a consortium that includes China's WeBank Co. Ltd. and South Korea's KakaoBank Corp, also obtained the virtual bank license.
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Hong Kong set to regain top IPO spot under US-China tensions; Soy sauce producer Haitian makes latest splash as mainland companies drive rebound
Peggy Ye - Nikkei Asia
Hong Kong is poised to reclaim its crown as the top spot for initial public offerings, estimates show, potentially ending a five-year cold streak. China's largest soy sauce maker, Foshan Haitian Flavouring and Food Company, rang the gong at the Hong Kong exchange on Thursday. The shares opened 3.3% above their offer price, with the listing raising $1.3 billion. Haitian marks the third listing on Hong Kong's main board this year to crack the global top 10 by deal size.
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Under China's Threat, Taiwan Needs Its Own Power Sources More Than Ever; Taiwan, which makes most of the world's advanced computer chips, relies almost entirely on imported energy.
Amy Chang Chien and Meaghan Tobin - The New York Times
A Chinese military magazine, Naval and Merchant Ships, recently zeroed in on one of Taiwan's biggest vulnerabilities. The island democracy, which China claims is part of its territory and threatens to overtake, imports more than 96 percent of its energy. Most of it - oil, coal and liquefied natural gas - arrives by ship, and most of the oil is from the Middle East. China could debilitate Taiwan by blocking these ships and thereby "win without fighting," the magazine said.
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Indian IPO Market Set for Busy Week With $1.7 Billion in Deals
Rajesh Mascarenhas - Bloomberg
India's primary market is set for its busiest period this year, with at least four companies planning to raise a total of about 150 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) through initial public offerings next week. Kalpataru Ltd., Ellenbarrie Industrial Gases Ltd., and Globe Civil Projects Ltd. will start share sale Tuesday. HDB Financial Services Ltd., a unit of India's biggest private lender HDFC Bank Ltd., is also planning to launch its 125 billion rupees IPO on June 25, the company said in an exchange filing Thursday.
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China Copper Smelters Match Record as Foreign Rivals Falter
Bloomberg News
Chinese copper production stayed at record levels last month, despite a plunge in the fees charged by smelters, piling the pressure on operations elsewhere in the world that compete for feedstock. nOutput of refined copper matched the previous month's all-time high of 1.254 million tons, although there was an extra day in May. That pushed volumes over the first five months 8% above last year's level, even as spot treatment charges have turned deeply negative as too much capacity chases insufficient supplies of ore.
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Oaktree co-founder Howard Marks calls on China to open up to foreign investors; Distressed debt specialist outlines upbeat view of world's second-largest economy
Thomas Hale and Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
Howard Marks, co-founder of $200bn alternatives manager Oaktree Capital Management, has called on China to open up more "asset classes" to foreign investors as he set out an upbeat view of the world's second-largest economy. "I'm very optimistic about the Chinese economy in the long run," Marks said on a panel at Shanghai's flagship annual financial conference, citing the country's infrastructure and the size of its middle class. He proposed that China "expand the range of investment asset classes that are open to foreign investors".
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Non-Doms Are Trying to Sell London Homes, But No One Wants Them
Damian Shepherd - Bloomberg
The luxury London housing market is experiencing a slump in demand, with 45% more price reductions on £5 million-plus properties between January and May than the same period last year. The number of London homes for sale at £5 million ($6.8 million) or more rose to the highest on record last month, as the nation contends with the departure of wealthy foreigners looking to escape tax hikes. There was a 22% year-on-year jump in these homes on the market at the end of May, according to data from researcher LonRes. However, there were 15% fewer deals compared with the same month last year, hinting that the UK's decision to abolish tax breaks for non-domiciled residents has weakened demand.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Melinda French Gates Turns the Page
Emily Chang - The Wall Street Journal
1.Critics say philanthropy has been astonishingly ineffective at solving societal problems-that giving has increased, but problems have gotten worse.
I would beg to differ. We know millions of people are alive because of the lifesaving vaccines that have been developed and given around the world. Moms and dads in low-income countries line up to get measles vaccines for their children, because you know what? A measles outbreak in their community means that kids die. Has all of philanthropy been great? No. Philanthropy is only one tool in the toolbox. Philanthropy can take a risk that we wouldn't want government to take with our taxpayer funding, but it can prove things out at scale, and then governments can come in to scale that up.
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