| September 20, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Today's lead story from Bloomberg's Isis Almeida, Katherine Doherty, Lydia Beyoud, and Alice Atkins titled "Howard Lutnick's Challenge to CME's Treasury Dominance Turns Political" with the subheadlines "Trump backer plans futures venue to compete with CME" and "Democratic Senator warns CFTC of risks to Treasury markets" is a timely reminder not to mess with the CME Group, and of the importance of politics in exchange competition. Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is challenging CME Group's dominance in the US Treasury futures market by launching a competing platform, FMX, backed by major US banks. This move, closely tied to Lutnick's political connections, particularly with Donald Trump, has sparked political concerns, particularly from Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who warns about the risks of allowing Treasury futures to be cleared through a UK-based clearinghouse, LCH Ltd. The debate has become a focal point in an election year, raising concerns about US market stability.
Thank goodness we still have the actors Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda with us so they can star in a sequel to the 1979 movie "The China Syndrome," which centers on a nuclear power plant accident and eerily coincided with the real-life Three Mile Island incident, which occurred just 12 days after the film's release. It turns out Constellation Energy plans to invest $1.6 billion to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, with operations resuming by 2028. Microsoft has agreed to purchase the plant's entire output for 20 years to power its AI-driven data centers. The move reflects growing interest in nuclear energy as a reliable, carbon-free power source amid rising electricity demand. Constellation aims to navigate regulatory hurdles quickly, potentially supplying power by 2027, and will rename the facility the Crane Clean Energy Center. Maybe the movie will get a new name too.
The Wall Street Journal story about this is titled "Three Mile Island's Nuclear Plant to Reopen, Help Power Microsoft's AI Centers" with the subheadline "The 20-year deal with Constellation Energy would kick-start the site of the nation's worst nuclear accident."
Commissioner Caroline D. Pham will participate in a fireside chat titled "Preparing for Digital Transformation: The Role of Regulation" at the Global Blockchain Business Council's (GBBC) 7th Annual Blockchain Central event, held during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The event is scheduled for Monday, September 23, 2024, at 2:40 p.m. EDT, at the offices of the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund in New York City.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has canceled its Open Meeting scheduled for Friday, September 20, 2024. The issues that were to be addressed at the meeting have already been resolved through the commission's seriatim process.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade disciplinary postings for the following, which have an effective date of Thursday, September 19, 2024.
CME Group
CTC Limited - CME 23-1676-BC. Read Full Notice
CTC Limited - CBOT 23-1676-BC. Read Full Notice
Michael Arenson - CME 21-1463-BC-1. Read Full Notice
Lean and Mean Options LLC - CME 21-1463-BC-2. Read Full Notice
Tyler Hynes - CME 21-1463-BC-3. Read Full Notice
Thomas Hessling - CME 21-1463-BC-4. Read Full Notice
Christopher McGrath - CME 21-1463-BC-5. Read Full Notice
Mark Arenson - CME 21-1463-BC-6. Read Full Notice
The Financial Times has come out with a list of business books to read this month with the appropriate headline "Business books: what to read this month" and subheadline "The business of femtech, taming artificial intelligence, and personal efficiency for the 2020s." Highlights include Alison Fragale's "Likeable Badass," which offers strategies for women to gain status in the workplace, and Mithu Storoni's "Hyperefficient," which discusses optimizing mental performance in the AI era. Marina Gerner's "The Vagina Business" explores innovations in women's health, while Gary Marcus's "Taming Silicon Valley" focuses on ensuring AI benefits society.
Here are excerpts from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: A new version of the ISDA swap margin model will reduce margin requirements for many firms by up to 20%, as major crisis events are no longer included in risk calculations, according to Acadia. The BIS warns that central clearing for government bonds shifts rather than eliminates market risks. Tradeweb has appointed Daniel Maguire to its board, while ISDA plans a year-long effort to reform credit derivatives. India's economic growth outpaces its peers, but concerns remain, and clearing brokers are upgrading systems amidst rising volumes and competition. Experts also support India's regulatory reforms for index derivatives.
Add Paul Humphrey to the list of executives named to the Financial News' "Most Influential in European Finance 2024," BMLL was delighted to share on LinkedIn.
Have a great day and stay safe and treat people the same way you want to be treated: with respect, equality and justice.~JJL
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Our most read stories from our previous edition of JLN Options were:
- Cboe CEO on 'integration fatigue' and what's next for the Chicago-based exchange from Crain's Chicago Business.
- Henry Schwartz from LinkedIn.
- CBOE Launches S&P 500 Variance Futures for Managing Market Volatility from tastylive. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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ISITC Chair: Financial Industry Overcomes T+1 Settlement Challenges Through Collaboration and Innovation 
As financial firms navigate the transition to T+1 settlement, industry-wide collaboration and innovative solutions have played a key role in addressing operational bottlenecks. Rich Robinson, chairperson of ISITC, highlights how larger firms adapted quickly while smaller firms faced unique challenges with time zones and funding models. Improved same-day affirmation rates and increased automation helped smooth the transition, but Robinson emphasizes that human oversight and ongoing industry coordination remain essential for future developments.
In the shift to T+1 settlement, financial firms across the industry faced significant challenges and had to make substantial adaptations. According to Rich Robinson, chairperson of ISITC, a global industry trade group that focuses on improving operational efficiency and standards in the financial services sector, the most significant changes varied depending on the size and type of firm.
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What Does America Stand For? The World No Longer Knows; A US diplomat's address in Hungary shows the uncertainty in the age of Trump.
Marc Champion - Bloomberg
In Budapest this week, America's ambassador to Hungary gave one of the most trenchant expressions of values-based foreign policy - and takedowns of a supposed US ally, who shares none of them - that I have heard from a diplomat. It was refreshing, even inspiring, precisely because it was so undiplomatically blunt. But in the context of November's US election, this thunderbolt from a superpower felt out of step with the time and frankly harmless. In fact, Ambassador David Pressman's address distilled for me a sense that's been growing ever since Donald Trump's victory in 2016, and has crystallized since a second spell in power became as likely as not: No matter what Pressman or a President Kamala Harris might say or stand for, it's no longer clear what American values are even supposed to be. They can turn on a Hungarian forint.
/jlne.ws/47Dyvnh
***** I know what America stands for. I know what brings us to our knees, too. And I know what gets us to get back up.~JJL
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Thousands of Fires Are Burning in the Drought-Wracked Amazon; Hot, dry conditions have fueled an unusually destructive fire season in Brazil, spiking carbon emissions.
Barbara Nascimento, Eric Roston, and Simone Iglesias - Bloomberg
Much of Brazil is burning as tens of thousands of fires rage around the country, half of them in the Amazon rainforest. Exacerbated by a severe drought, the fires threaten one of the world's most crucial ecosystems and are consuming the Amazon's vast stores of carbon, sending more of the damaging greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. 2.4 million hectares (about 6 million acres) of forests, fields and pastures in the Amazon burned between June and August. There were more than 95,000 hot spots in the Amazon biome this year to Sept. 18, according to data from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, known as Inpe.
/jlne.ws/3XPbVES
****** First it was Canada, now the Amazon. There is a reason I live next to one of the world's largest freshwater lakes. Keep your masks at the ready.~JJL
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FTC Staff Report Finds Large Social Media and Video Streaming Companies Have Engaged in Vast Surveillance of Users with Lax Privacy Controls and Inadequate Safeguards for Kids and Teens
Federal Trade Commission
A new Federal Trade Commission staff report that examines the data collection and use practices of major social media and video streaming services shows they engaged in vast surveillance of consumers in order to monetize their personal information while failing to adequately protect users online, especially children and teens. The staff report is based on responses to 6(b) orders issued in December 2020 to nine companies including some of the largest social media and video streaming services: Amazon.com, Inc., which owns the gaming platform Twitch; Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms, Inc.); YouTube LLC; Twitter, Inc. (now X Corp.); Snap Inc.; ByteDance Ltd., which owns the video-sharing platform TikTok; Discord Inc.; Reddit, Inc.; and WhatsApp Inc.
/jlne.ws/3TEw7Hk
****** My expectation is that this is happening and will happen. The only privacy I expect to have is for the things still locked up in my mind.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Our top clicked item Thursday was a tie between the ICE press release, ICE and IPC Systems Launch ICE Voice - A New Cloud-Based Audio Solution for Traders and Professional Investors and the Congressional Charter for Boy Scouts of America from 1916. Second was Cboe Global Markets Vice President, Global Head of Client Engagement, Data & Access Henry Schwartz's post on LinkedIn sharing that "Over a million option contracts traded in the 2 minutes following today's half-point interest rate cut. Top ten symbols included SPX and broad-based ETFs SPY, QQQ, IWM, plus a few interesting names including China-ADR JD.com, SoFi technologies and the 3x levered short SQQQ ETF." Third was a tie between New SEC Rules Will Change the Price of Thousands of Stocks, from Barron's, and Abaxx Exchange gets boost as ADM is third broker to go live, from FOW.
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| Lead Stories | Howard Lutnick's Challenge to CME's Treasury Dominance Turns Political; Trump backer plans futures venue to compete with CME; Democratic Senator warns CFTC of risks to Treasury markets
Isis Almeida, Katherine Doherty, Lydia Beyoud, and Alice Atkins - Bloomberg
The battle for market share in US Treasuries is getting an extra dose of politics. Howard Lutnick, the longtime chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, has lined up major US banks to back his plan to start competing with CME Group Inc. in Treasury futures. Now the move from one of Donald Trump's closest allies on Wall Street is drawing attention from the other side of the aisle. Without mentioning Lutnick or his new FMX exchange, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois - CME's home state - warned of risks related to an ongoing debate over how FMX plans to handle a particular aspect of the market, according to a letter to the top US derivatives regulator seen by Bloomberg News.
/jlne.ws/4gAqkMz
US adopts first guidelines to shore up carbon credit markets; Derivatives regulator sets basic standards amid concerns about greenwashing and ineffective offsets
Stefania Palma, Aime Williams and Patrick Temple-West - Financial Times
The US derivatives watchdog has finalised the first federal guidelines for unregulated carbon offsets, as the Biden administration seeks to standardise a disorderly market in a bid to tackle climate change. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission adopted measures announced on Friday that ask exchanges to validate carbon offset derivatives, which base their prices on those of financial instruments bought by companies to offset emissions.
/jlne.ws/47AMU3R
Apple Wins Big as $250 Billion of Index Trades Hit Wall Street; Friday's quarterly rebalance to reflect S&P new capping rules; Technology seen as the only industry benefiting from the event
Lu Wang - Bloomberg
An action-packed week on Wall Street ends with a bang as index-tracking funds are set to reshuffle $250 billion of shares, just as a "triple witching" trading event hits. Equity gauges from S&P Dow Jones Indices and FTSE Russell will be revamped Friday, with this quarterly activity forecast to be the busiest in almost four years thanks to tech-driven market gyrations.
/jlne.ws/4evsV8C
Last-Minute Index Ejection Sinks World's Most Volatile Big Stock; Shares plunge by daily limit of 20% after announcement; Stock to be deleted from gauge starting Tuesday: FTSE
Eduard Gismatullin - Bloomberg
PT Barito Renewables Energy tumbled by its daily limit after FTSE Russell said it would delete the Indonesian power giant from its indexes a day after the anticipated entry date. The decision comes after the index compiler cited "high shareholder concentration" for the $78 billion geothermal power company, adding that four shareholders control 97% of total equity issued. Shares sank by 20%.
/jlne.ws/3Xyt2K3
US Counts Its Bank-Bailout Billions While Europe Still Nurses Losses; Sixteen years after Lehman's collapse, the lesson is: Act fast with overwhelming force.
Marc Rubinstein - Bloomberg
Sixteen years after the financial crisis, European taxpayers are still counting the cost of bailing out their banks. Unlike in the US, where public funds were repaid years ago, European governments continue to nurse losses on stakes in some of their largest banks. Take Commerzbank AG. Last week, the German government sold a 4.5% stake in the bank to Italy's UniCredit AG, leaving it with a 12% holding. The position dates back to 2008 when Commerzbank became the first German bank to tap a bailout fund set up by the state, pulling down EUR18.2 billion ($20.2 billion) in two tranches. Including the proceeds from last week's sale - on which UniCredit paid a premium to the prevailing market price - Berlin has recouped EUR13.9 billion. Yet even with Commerzbank stock at a 10-year high, the government is still sitting on a EUR2.1 billion loss.
/jlne.ws/3XwVoUL
Miami waterfront mansion raided by FBI is linked to $230 million crypto scam, feds say
Milena Malaver, David Goodhue - Miami Herald
The FBI descended on a luxury Miami waterfront home Wednesday in a raid connected to the theft of cryptocurrency the government said was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time agents were serving the warrant in Miami, their colleagues arrested a man in Los Angeles who is part of the same investigation. A source confirmed the raids were part of a grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday related to a $230 million cryptocurrency scam. Agents in Miami arrested Malone Lam, 20, who has residences in Miami and L.A., according to a Justice Department statement. In California, the FBI arrested Jeandiel Serrano, 21. They are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, according to the indictment.
/jlne.ws/47B0V17
A Stock Trader's Guide to South Korea's Upcoming Value-Up Index; Korea Exchange plans to announce Value-Up Index in September; Members may see inflows on bets for better shareholder returns
Youkyung Lee and Winnie Hsu - Bloomberg
Investors are looking for potential stock-market winners from South Korea's launch of the Value-Up Index, a key plank of the government's push for better corporate governance and improved shareholder returns. Korea Exchange, a securities exchange operator in the country, said it will unveil the gauge this month, considering factors including member companies' profitability, payout ratios and capital efficiency. The index and the release of related financial products may provide new impetus to the "Corporate Value-Up Program" announced in February, which aims to boost the local equity market's depressed valuations.
/jlne.ws/3ztVmVL
Vietnam Scraps Stock Pre-Funding Rule With Eye on Market Upgrade
Nguyen Kieu Giang - Bloomberg
Vietnam will remove a requirement for overseas investors to fully pre-fund equity trades, marking the country's latest effort to boost its chances of being reclassified as an emerging market. The new rule takes effect Nov. 2, the finance ministry said in a circular late Wednesday. It resolves a long-standing barrier that has prevented rating agencies from upgrading the nation from its frontier status, which has discouraged large funds from investing in that market. Currently, overseas investors must transfer 100% of funds before buying securities.
/jlne.ws/3MZ2Kvj
Barclays disputes CDS committee decision ahead of auction; Representing the bank, law firm Milbank argues the committee's approach risks constraining the market and goes against expectations
Ben St. Clair - Risk.net
Barclays has challenged the committee that adjudicates on credit derivatives defaults on its decision to disqualify debt from next week's auction to decide payouts on contracts linked to beauty brand Avon. The determinations committee (DC), composed of banks and investors active in credit default swap (CDS) markets, had decided to exclude Avon's $405 million promissory note to an affiliate of its Brazilian parent company Natura from delivery into Tuesday's (September 24) default auction. Barclays
/jlne.ws/3MT3i60
Trafigura set to name Richard Holtum as chief executive; Trading house to announce as early as next week that head of gas, power and renewables will succeed Jeremy Weir
Tom Wilson and Leslie Hook - Financial Times
Trafigura, one of the world's biggest commodity traders, is preparing to announce the appointment of Richard Holtum as its next chief executive as soon as next week, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Holtum, 39, a former British military officer, has enjoyed a rapid rise at Trafigura since he joined from Glencore in 2014. He currently runs Trafigura's gas, power and renewables division. Holtum will succeed Jeremy Weir, 60, who has served as chief executive for 10 years during a period of rapid growth for the company. Weir, who is currently also executive chair, will become chair, one person added.
/jlne.ws/4duoI4x
Africa Floods Spread Misery Where 55 Million Already Face Hunger; In Mali alone, an area the size of Austria is under water; The number of the needy is likely to surge in coming months
Antony Sguazzin and Katarina Hoije - Bloomberg
The worst floods in decades across a swath of West and Central Africa are deepening a record food-insecurity crisis in a region where the United Nations says 55 million people are already going hungry. While aid agencies and governments are rushing to feed and shelter millions of displaced people, they're struggling to meet the scale of the disaster. There are more food insecure people in the conflict-wracked region with some of the world's poorest countries than the entire population of South Korea.
/jlne.ws/3MQ37bE
Private equity firms seek new terms to increase payouts on deals; Lenders are pushing back on 'high-water ebitda' provisions and most have been excised from terms
Eric Platt - Financial Times
Private equity firms are aggressively pushing to include language in loan documents that could give them room to pay themselves larger dividends from the companies they have bought, drawing a sharp rebuke from lenders. In the past, loan documents usually capped exactly how much money a private equity firm could extract from one of its portfolio companies. Over time, those fixed amounts became malleable and were based on a percentage of a company's earnings.
/jlne.ws/4gArl7l
The new generation is seeing FX options through a different lens; When it comes to FX options alternative liquidity is being perceived as increasingly natural, agreed expert panellists at the TradeTech FX conference in Amsterdam.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
While the trend of banks historically ruling the FX options sphere will take time to shift, there's a "very interesting opportunity" for non-bank market makers to get involved, agreed panellists at the TradeTech FX conference. Ramon Puyane, head of FX trading at IMC, explained: "There's a lot of volume going through FX options and that's partly driven through interest rate differentials, central bank diverging policy, and a lot of geopolitical unrest.
/jlne.ws/4dbkNct
Fireside Friday with... ION's Edoardo Pacenti; The TRADE sits down with Edoardo Pacenti, head of trading tools for fixed income at ION, to discuss the latest rule changes for fixed income clearing in the US, the impact on trading desks and how to navigate compliance.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
What are the drivers behind the SEC's new rule changes?
The new rule changes published by the SEC have been primarily driven by the need to enhance market stability and reduce systematic risk. They will bolster the security of the US Treasury market by mandating central clearing for eligible securities, such as repos and reverse repos, inter dealer broker transactions and other cash transactions. In doing so, these rules are intended to reduce counterparty risk, limit contagion and increase transparency in the market.
/jlne.ws/3XB6TdM
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Volunteers dying as Russia's war dead tops 70,000
Olga Ivshina - BBC Russian
More than 70,000 people fighting in Russia's military have now died in Ukraine, according to data analysed by the BBC. And for the first time, volunteers - civilians who joined the armed forces after the start of the war - now make up the highest number of people killed on the battlefield since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022. Every day, the names of those killed in Ukraine, their obituaries and photographs from their funerals are published across Russia in the media and on social networks.
/jlne.ws/3XtYNUx
Russia warns West and Ukraine of 'disastrous consequences' if Kyiv moves against Belarus
Reuters
Russia warned the West and Ukraine on Friday of "disastrous consequences" if Kyiv moved against close Russian ally Belarus, making clear it would intervene to defend a country where it has deployed tactical nuclear weapons. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Moscow was concerned by what she called increasingly "provocative" activity on the border with Belarus, saying she did not rule out that there could be attempts to escalate in the region.
/jlne.ws/47BBUmv
US wants more clarity from Ukraine on possible use of long-range weapons
Lolita C. Baldor And Aamer Madhani - Associated Press
The Biden administration still is not convinced that it should give Ukraine the authority to launch long-range missiles deeper into Russia, and U.S. officials say they are seeking more detailed information about how Kyiv would use the weapons and how they fit into the broader strategy for the war. U.S. officials said they have asked Ukraine to spell out more clearly its combat objectives, as President Joe Biden prepares to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy next week.
/jlne.ws/3TDq1Xz
The Indian Apartment Behind Russian Efforts to Break US Gas Sanctions
Stephen Stapczynski, Rakesh Sharma and Christopher Udemans - Bloomberg
The crayon marks on the wall of the sparsely furnished apartment hint at it being a conventional family home. But the single sofa, pink plastic chair and child's bike obscure something else: a vital component in Russian efforts to circumvent US energy sanctions. And it's sitting 90 miles southeast of the Indian city of Mumbai. Since June the apartment has been the registered address of Ocean Speedstar Solutions. The Mumbai-incorporated company provides essential support to a Russian shadow fleet of tankers exporting liquefied natural gas from a flagship facility above the Arctic circle. On occasion, some of the vessels have disguised their location as they play a high-stakes version of hide-and-seek with US authorities.
/jlne.ws/3ZvgQfs
Russia says it will take back Kursk territory captured by Ukraine in 'timely manner'
Reuters
Russia said on Friday that its army would regain control of its Kursk region "in a timely manner", declining to say how soon this could be achieved. Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the western Kursk region supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.
/jlne.ws/4d8aCp6
Ursula von der Leyen announces EUR35bn EU loan to Ukraine; European Commission president says Kyiv can use money to fund its military in defence against Russian aggression
Paola Tamma and Henry Foy in Brussels and Christopher Miller in Kyiv - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3XP80YP
EU Plans New EUR35 Billion Loan for Ukraine Under G-7 Plan; Loan to be backed by profits from immobilized Russian assets; Funds could start flowing to Ukraine early next year
Jorge Valero, Andrea Palasciano, and Olesia Safronova - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4dcJxkO
Sanctions on Russia's Oil Tankers Lack Bite; Moscow has called the bluff of US and European authorities, and shown their hands to be empty.
Julian Lee - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3TBdgNo
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | The Israel has crossed 'all red lines' in pager 'massacre', says Hezbollah leader
Kieran Kelly - Telegraph
Israel struck sites in Lebanon just as Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, was about to deliver his first statement since dozens were killed in pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon this week Israel struck sites in Lebanon just as Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, was about to deliver his first statement since dozens were killed in pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon this week Israeli jets triggered huge sonic booms during a speech by Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday. Nasrallah, speaking for the first time since twin pager-and-radio attacks killed dozens across Lebanon, said Israel had crossed all 'red lines'. The attacks could be seen as "a declaration of war," he added.
/jlne.ws/4gzoV92
'Big Short' fund manager Steven Eisman says he is 'celebrating' Gaza destruction; Famed investor subsequently apologises and deletes account on X
Alan Livsey - Financial Times
Steven Eisman, a hedge fund manager best known for betting on the collapse of the US housing market, wrote on social media that he was "celebrating" the destruction of Gaza, in comments he subsequently retracted. A managing director at New York-based Neuberger Berman since 2014, Eisman featured in the Michael Lewis book The Big Short. His character was played by actor Steve Carell in the 2016 film version. In the adaptation, Carell's character was given the name of Mark Baum.
/jlne.ws/3ZwtriB
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | SIX Makes Strategic Investment in Carbonfuture, a Leading Digital Infrastructure Provider for the Carbon Removal Market
SIX
Carbonfuture specializes in managing the entire lifecycle of CDR credits, from initial project support and due diligence to comprehensive digital tracking and independent third-party verification. Using its data-driven digital infrastructure, Carbonfuture provides monitoring, reporting, and verification (Carbonfuture MRV+) services to ensure the integrity, transparency, and reliability of CDR credits. By offering de-risked CDR credit portfolios through multi-year purchase agreements, Carbonfuture has gained the trust of both suppliers and buyers, including multiple major companies. Carbonfuture, founded in 2020, is headquartered in Freiburg, Germany, with offices in Zurich and San Francisco.
/jlne.ws/3XP9ZfD
Daniel Maguire Appointed to Tradeweb Board of Directors
Tradeweb
Tradeweb Markets Inc. (Nasdaq: TW), a leading, global operator of electronic marketplaces for rates, credit, equities and money markets, today announced the appointment of Daniel Maguire to its Board of Directors, effective as of September 18, 2024. Mr. Maguire is currently the Group Head of LSEG Markets and CEO of LCH Group. He has been a member of LSEG's Executive Committee and CEO of LCH since 2017. Mr. Maguire initially joined LCH in 1999, and has served in a variety of leadership positions, including as Global Head of SwapClear, and also as COO. He was based in New York from 2010 until 2014, where he set up LCH's U.S. operations.
/jlne.ws/4d8htPm
The FIAB General Assembly at the BCBA
BME-X
Buenos Aires has been chosen this year as the venue for the Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Ibero-American Federation of Stock Exchanges (FIAB), which takes place from Wednesday 18 to Friday 20 September in the halls of the BCBA and the Hotel Sofitel Recoleta. With the participation of member stock exchanges from Latin America, the Caribbean and Spain, the first part of the 19th was dedicated to the Annual Assembly, a closed event with exclusive participation for FIAB Members.
/jlne.ws/47BA3y1
HKEX Announces Establishment Of Integrated Fund Platform Task Force
HKEX via Mondovisione
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) is pleased to announce today (Friday) the establishment of the Integrated Fund Platform (IFP) Task Force (Task Force), bringing together key industry stakeholders to support the development of a more efficient, diverse and vibrant fund distribution ecosystem in Hong Kong.
/jlne.ws/4ebRJ5X
Forfeiture of Unclaimed First Interim Dividend for 2018
HKEX
On 2 August 2024, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited ("HKEX") announced that, pursuant to HKEX's Articles of Association, the first interim dividend for 2018 of HK$3.64 per share, payable on 20 September 2018 and remaining unclaimed on 20 September 2024, would be forfeited and would revert to HKEX. Accordingly, the unclaimed first interim dividend for 2018 amounting to HK$18,268,406.07 is forfeited and reverts to HKEX today.
/jlne.ws/3MPxcbv
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | AI development is being hijacked by Big Tech and rich nations, UN report warns
Nazneen Rajani - Fortune
Nazneen Rajani, PhD, is the CEO of Collinear AI and a member of the UN's High-Level Advisory Body on AI.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often regarded as the modern-day equivalent of electricity, powering countless human interactions daily. However, startups and developing nations face a clear disadvantage as Big Tech companies and richer nations dominate the field, especially when it comes to two critical areas: training datasets and computational power.
/jlne.ws/47BxCLS
ByteDance denies reported plan to make self-designed chips and cut reliance on Nvidia
South China Morning Post
Chinese technology giant ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has denied reports that it plans to design and produce two types of semiconductors by 2026 to cut reliance on leading US chip designer Nvidia. The Beijing-based company, which also operates TikTok's Chinese sibling Douyin, said its initiatives in the field of semiconductors "are in the early stage, focusing on cost optimisation of recommendations, advertising and other businesses", local media reported, citing a ByteDance statement written in Chinese.
/jlne.ws/3ZwnVN5
Brazil imposes fine on Musk's X after service returns; Platform says temporary restoration was 'inadvertent' but will keep fighting court order that banned it in the country
Hannah Murphy in Los Angeles, Michael Pooler in Sao Paulo and Bryan Harris in Brasilia - Financial Times
Brazil's Supreme Court will impose a fine of about $1mn per day on Elon Musk's X and his satellite internet provider Starlink after service to the social media platform was temporarily restored in spite of a court-ordered ban. The app became partially accessible on Wednesday after the company switched third-party cloud providers to Cloudflare, in what some Brazilian officials believe was a technical manoeuvre to deliberately skirt the ban in Latin America's largest nation.
/jlne.ws/4ec5u4w
Investors pile into OpenAI's $6bn funding round in unprecedented bet; Venture groups believe ChatGPT-maker will eventually be the world's dominant AI company and worth trillions of dollars
George Hammond - Financial Times
Investors seeking to buy into OpenAI's latest $6bn-plus funding round are making an unprecedented bet that the ChatGPT-maker will become the world's dominant artificial intelligence company and be worth trillions of dollars. The San Francisco-based start-up is finalising a new fundraising valuing the company at $150bn. Thrive Capital, Josh Kushner's venture capital firm, has already provided at least $1bn to the company in recent weeks, according to people with knowledge of the deal.
/jlne.ws/3XwDe5C
Tom Siebel: AI models are too complex for regulators-new government agencies won't help
Paolo Confino - Fortune
The landmark AI safety bill sitting on California Governor Gavin Newsom's desk has another detractor in longtime Silicon Valley figure Tom Siebel.
/jlne.ws/47wROi0
Farmers Look to AI-Powered Equipment for More Productive Future
Drake Bennett - Bloomberg
The future of farming
Some of the first technologies humans made, at least after the ones for killing things and chopping them up, were for farming. Plows, hoes, etc. - crops themselves are technologies of a kind, bred from wild cousins. Still, agriculture isn't something we've solved. It requires lots of land and fossil-fuel derived inputs; its runoff mucks up the water; and it still relies heavily on the capriciousness of the weather. Climate change is making all of this harder, as a world population set to keep growing for awhile means more mouths to feed.
/jlne.ws/4evaCR1
Macklem Warns AI May Push Prices Higher Through Demand Boost; AI could raise demand more than it adds to supply in near term; Speech makes no reference to near term interest rate outlook
Erik Hertzberg - Bloomberg
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem warned that artificial intelligence technologies may add to inflationary pressures as well as price and labor volatility in the short run. In a Friday speech in Toronto, Macklem said strong investment in AI is boosting demand as rising equity prices and hiring add to consumption. Electricity demand is also "surging" because of the massive computing requirements of the technology. If those forces outweigh the expansion of productive capacity, the result may be faster price growth.
/jlne.ws/4gLACKb
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | Crypto Ads Fill India Top Court's YouTube Channel After Hack
Shruti Mahajan - Bloomberg
The official YouTube channel of the Supreme Court of India that was used for streaming proceedings was purportedly compromised by hackers on Friday showing crypto advertisements. The channel was uploaded with videos relating to a cryptocurrency product. The entire page has been deleted since. The top court has been using the video streaming platform to live telecast cases of constitutional and public importance for a wider audience. Recorded videos of the court proceedings were saved within the channel.
/jlne.ws/47Ayh0j
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Why investing in Bitcoin-adjacent companies may offer larger gains than Bitcoin itself
Rob Nelson - The Street
Investors in the cryptocurrency space are constantly exploring new strategies to maximize returns, particularly when it comes to diversifying between digital assets and related companies. A recent discussion focused on the potential benefits of investing in bitcoin miners and companies involved in the crypto space, rather than directly holding bitcoin. Roundtable anchor, Rob Nelson, led the conversation with George Tung, host of CryptosRUs; Gav Blaxberg, CEO of WOLF Financial; and Rob Chang, CEO of Gryphon Digital Mining. They each shared insights on how to navigate the volatile crypto market and the advantages of looking beyond bitcoin itself.
/jlne.ws/4exYfUz
Ethereum co-founder says partisanship will block Trump crypto plans; Charles Hoskinson warns the former president's proposed new digital assets platform could politicise the industry
Chris Wright - Financial Times
Charles Hoskinson, one of the crypto industry's best known entrepreneurs, has warned that the new digital assets platform promoted by Donald Trump and his sons could be "scary" for the industry. Hoskinson, who co-founded the popular Ethereum blockchain, told the Financial Times he had reservations about the Trump-backed venture, announced on Monday. Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump and property developer Steve Witkoff are backing a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform called World Liberty Financial.
/jlne.ws/3Y14WJr
Boerse Stuttgart Digital, DZ Bank Expand Crypto Access to 700 German Banks
Bitcoin.com News
Boerse Stuttgart Digital announced on Thursday that it is "the crypto infrastructure partner of DZ Bank, representing the German cooperative banking group - one of the largest banking groups in Europe and the second largest one in Germany." Boerse Stuttgart Digital is a regulated provider of cryptocurrency infrastructure solutions across Europe.
/jlne.ws/3BfH1Nq
Jump Crypto's Frankendancer client launches on Solana mainnet; Firedancer on testnet
Danny Park - The Block
Jump Crypto's Kevin Bowers said during the Solana Breakpoint event that Jump's Frankendancer validator client launched on the Solana mainnet. Firedancer is currently on testnet, and a mainnet launch date has yet to be announced. Frankendancer, a validator client and a prototype of Firedancer, launched on Solana's mainnet, Jump Crypto's chief science officer Kevin Bowers announced Friday at Singapore's Solana Breakpoint event. Frankendancer's launch precedes the mainnet launch of its full validator client, Firedancer.
/jlne.ws/3Zy6pbk
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Trump and his family jump into crypto, which the FBI calls a hive of 'pervasive' criminality
Michael Hiltzik - LA Times
There have been a couple of new developments in the crypto world over the last few days just begging to have their dots connected. Here they are: On Sept. 9, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued its annual report on cryptocurrency fraud. The FBI found that, in 2023, crypto-related fraud absolutely exploded, with $5.6 billion in losses suffered by Americans. That was a 45% increase over the year before. "Criminal actors exploit cryptocurrencies in each scheme category" tracked by the agency's Internet Crime Complaint Center," Assistant FBI Director Michael D. Nordwall wrote in the report. Crime was "pervasive" in the field, he wrote, with the most common victims being investors; their losses accounted for nearly 71% of the total.
/jlne.ws/3TAGdZQ
Trump Hitches His Campaign to the Crypto Crowd; The former president's embrace of digital currencies is drawing fervent support from a niche he once scorned
Ben Foldy, Vicky Ge Huang and Caitlin Ostroff - The Wall Street Journal
Donald Trump this week pivoted to embrace a niche constituency that few would have expected him to champion-cryptocurrencies and the deep-pocketed investors who have made them their domain. The former president and onetime bitcoin skeptic on Monday helped launch a new crypto business with his family. On Wednesday, he bought a round of burgers for denizens of a bitcoin-theme dive bar in New York. Pledges to block a Federal Reserve-backed digital currency and establish a "strategic national bitcoin stockpile" stand out in stump speeches that mostly focus on such center of the plate political issues as immigration and trade.
/jlne.ws/4eaxndo
Understanding Kamala Harris; Who she is, and what she might do if she wins.
Josh Wingrove, Karen Breslau and Akayla Gardner - Bloomberg
As she finished laying her trap for Donald Trump on the night of Sept. 10, Kamala Harris turned to offer her pitch to Americans for why she, not he, would be the best person to hold the office of president of the United States. At Trump's rallies, she told viewers, people leave "early out of boredom and exhaustion." But while you're there, "The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams and your desires," she said. "You deserve a president who actually puts you first, and I pledge to you that I will." When the debate ended, talk centered on how she'd provoked Trump into attacking her over crowd sizes instead of the question's subject, immigration. How it had led him to invoke a racist hoax that immigrants in Ohio were eating pets. And how it had all presaged a night on which she'd gotten under his skin.
/jlne.ws/3TFfTNZ
The Fed Risks a Political Backlash by Spurring Economy Close to Election; The central bank's decision to cut rates seven weeks before the vote has it fielding criticism from both parties.
Amara Omeokwe - Bloomberg
The Federal Reserve would prefer to keep its distance from politics. But it just took a bold step to boost the economy weeks ahead of a high-stakes election-so good luck with that. For most central bank officials, there was a clear economic case for Wednesday's decision to lower borrowing costs by half a percentage point-a bigger-than-usual move-now that inflation has been tamed and the job market is losing steam.
/jlne.ws/4emhHU6
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Macquarie Unit Settles SEC Fraud Allegations for $79.8 Million
Nicola White - Bloomberg
Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust agreed to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company inflated the value of thousands of illiquid investments and overstated the performance of client accounts. Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, the firm agreed to pay $79.8 million to settle the matter, the SEC said Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4dfxoeE
SEC adopts final amendments to Regulation NMS rules, (Sep 18, 2024)
Suzanne Cosgrove - Wolters Kluwer
The changes include the addition of a second minimum pricing increment, or tick size, of $0.005 for certain national market system (NMS) stocks. By a unanimous vote, SEC commissioners have approved amendments to certain rules under Regulation NMS. The changes include adding a new minimum pricing increment, or tick size, for the quoting of certain NMS stocks, reducing access fee caps, and increasing the transparency of exchange fees and rebates (Regulation NMS: Minimum Pricing Increments, Access Fees, and Transparency of Better Priced Orders, Exchange Act Release No. 101070 (Sept. 18, 2024)).
/jlne.ws/3XTKQRi
FinCEN Publishes Beneficial Ownership Reporting Outreach and Education Toolkit
FinCen
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has issued another resource to familiarize small business owners with beneficial ownership reporting requirements. These reporting requirements are mandated by the Corporate Transparency Act, a bipartisan law enacted to curb illicit finance by supporting law enforcement efforts. This law requires many small businesses to report basic information to the Federal government about the real people who ultimately own or control them.
/jlne.ws/3XPeVRT
Cancelled - September 20 Commission Open Meeting
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Open Meeting scheduled for Friday, September 20, 2024, has been cancelled. The matter under consideration has been completed through the Commission's seriatim process.
/jlne.ws/47BB6ht
NFA orders Florida firm Trinity Trading Group LLC and its principal not to reapply for NFA membership and principal status
NFA
NFA has ordered Trinity Trading Group LLC (Trinity Trading), a commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor and former NFA Member forex firm located in Orlando, Florida, not to reapply for NFA membership or act or be listed as a principal of an NFA Member. NFA has also ordered Bruce R. Schock (Schock), a former NFA Associate and prior principal of Trinity Trading, not to apply for NFA membership, or reapply for NFA associate membership, or act or be listed as a principal of an NFA Member.
/jlne.ws/4gAhyOD
Small Business Forum's Report to Congress Highlights Recommendations to Improve Capital Raising
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today released a report to Congress summarizing policy recommendations made during the SEC's 43rd Annual Small Business Forum. The report provides a summary of the forum proceedings, including the recommendations developed by participants for changes to the capital raising framework and the Commission's responses to those recommendations.
/jlne.ws/47vAYjH
SEC Charges Advisory Firm Inspire Investing With Misleading Investors Regarding its Investment Strategy
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Idaho-based investment adviser Inspire Investing LLC with making misleading statements and for compliance failures related to the execution of its "biblically responsible investing" strategy.
/jlne.ws/3XwRCuz
SEC Charges Advisory Firm Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust with Fraud; Firm to pay nearly $80 million in connection with overvaluing assets and engaging in unlawful cross trades
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced registered investment adviser Macquarie Investment Management Business Trust (MIMBT) will pay a total of $79.8 million to settle charges for overvaluing approximately 4,900 largely illiquid collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs) held in 20 advisory accounts, including 11 retail mutual funds, and for executing hundreds of cross trades between advisory clients that favored certain clients over others.
/jlne.ws/4dfonCk
Nothing to See; Nothing to Say: Statement on Recent Whistleblower Awards
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce and Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
The Commission recently issued two whistleblower award determinations awarding an aggregate $122,000,000 among four claimants.[1] We did not support these determinations, but we are unable to explain our reasons because the public final orders determining the awards redact certain information necessary to the explanation. The text surrounding the redactions describes how the Commission calculated the total amount collected for purposes of determining the award amount.[2] We did not believe that the redactions were necessary or appropriate under the relevant statutory authority because the redacted information could not reasonably be expected to reveal the whistleblowers' identity. As an inadvertent result of these redactions, the legal reasoning in final orders of the Commission determining that $122,000,000 should be paid from the Investor Protection Fund at the Treasury of the United States is immunized from effective public scrutiny. These awards illustrate why the Commission's redaction decisions are consequential not only for whistleblowers, but also for oversight of the Commission's operation of the whistleblower program.
/jlne.ws/3MPYEpo
Hello and Farewell, but not Goodbye: Remarks at the Meeting of the SEC Investor Advisory Committee
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
Today's agenda consists of two panels, which should allow for broad discussions involving many Committee members. The first panel relates to fiduciary duty in different contexts. The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard has dubbed September "Fiduciary September," so the timing of this discussion is apt.[2] The fiduciary topic, though, is hot all year round. I look forward to hearing the panel's views on what this term means in the different contexts it is used, particularly in the provision of investment advice by SEC-registered advisers. As the Commission has explained, when the fiduciary standard applies, we are able to take a principles-based approach to regulation that allows an investment adviser latitude to use her own judgment in meeting the standard.[3] This principles-based approach is at the heart of the Investment Advisers Act.
/jlne.ws/4eq4Ik4
Prepared Remarks before the Investor Advisory Committee
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
I want to thank the Committee members who will be leaving in November. We as a Commission have benefitted from your insights, and I wish you all the best. I'd also like to welcome the new members to the Committee. I thank each of you for your willingness to serve, and for providing the Commission with important perspectives on behalf of investors.
/jlne.ws/3Xzp0AR
Office Hours with Gary Gensler: Systemic Risk in Artificial Intelligence
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
This video can be viewed at the below link.[1] What might Scarlett Johansson and romcoms teach us about artificial intelligence and systemic risk in our capital markets? There was a movie back in 2013 called "Her" in which Scarlett Johansson plays Samantha, an AI-powered virtual assistant. Samantha forms a romantic bond with Theodore, a human played by Joaquin Phoenix. Late in the movie, Theodore is shaken when he gets an error message: "Operating System Not Found." Upon Samantha's return, he asks if she's interacting with others. Yes, she responds with 8,316 others. And shortly thereafter she goes offline for good.
/jlne.ws/47xDea6
SEC Reaches Settlement with Fifth Individual Charged In Insider Trading Scheme
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Philip Markin, the fifth individual charged in connection with an insider trading scheme to trade ahead of a pharmaceutical company tender offer.
/jlne.ws/3ZwSW3f
ASIC action to disqualify company directors
Claire LaBouchardiere - ASIC
Disqualifying directors from managing corporations for up to five years is a key part of ASIC's regulatory toolkit to deter director misconduct and protect small business. It provides a timely and efficient enforcement outcome when compared to similar criminal and civil remedies. Other enforcement action available for director misconduct includes civil penalty proceedings, and referrals of briefs of evidence to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) recommending criminal charges. In some cases, ASIC may employ a combination of these actions, for example, both disqualifying a director and referring a brief to the CDPP.
/jlne.ws/3BmMeCP
ASIC reissues Regulatory Guide 121 on doing financial services business in Australia
ASIC
ASIC has reissued RG 121 to provide the latest guidance to individuals and companies from outside Australia that wish to conduct a financial services business in Australia. This version replaces guidance issued in June 2013.
FSA Weekly Review No.603
FSA
What's New on the FSA Website; Week of September 6, 2024 - September 12, 2024
/jlne.ws/4eyrXc3
SFC-HKMA joint survey shows strong rebound in sales of investment products in 2023
SFC
A joint survey by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on the sales of non-exchange-traded investment products by licensed corporations (LCs) and registered institutions (RIs) (Note 1) showed a 14% increase in total transaction to $4,338 billion (Note 2) in 2023 from $3,799 billion in 2022.
/jlne.ws/3Xznvml
New speech by Julia Leung: Speech at Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute's 14th Biennial Corporate Governance Conference
SFC
A speech titled "Sound Corporate Governance as Bedrock for Quality Listing Market" delivered by Ms Julia Leung at the Hong Kong Chartered Governance Institute's 14th Biennial Corporate Governance Conference was posted on the SFC website today.
/jlne.ws/4evVWBf
Canadian Securities Administrators Propose Amendments to Modernize Continuous Disclosure Regime for Investment Funds
Canadian Securities Administrators
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have published for comment a series of proposed amendments aimed at modernizing the continuous disclosure regime for investment funds. These proposals are designed to provide investors with more focused and valuable disclosure while reducing the regulatory burden on investment fund managers.
/jlne.ws/3zrCqXF
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Annuities' New Golden Age Probably Isn't Over Yet High rates have helped annuity sales, but so have other forces
Telis Demos - The Wall Street Journal
It has been a historic couple of years for annuity sales, fueled by the highest interest rates in a generation. Will falling rates put an end to that? For eight years through 2021, sales of U.S. annuity policies averaged around $230 billion a year, according to Limra, an insurance industry-funded research firm. In 2022, when the Fed began raising rates aggressively, they surged to $313 billion. They hit $385 billion in 2023. And sales in the first half of this year were 19% ahead of where they were the first half of last year, according to the preliminary results of Limra's survey.
/jlne.ws/4erzFVd
How Five Wall Street Investors Will Trade Falling Interest Rates; World of 5% yields is ending
David Uberti - The Wall Street Journal
For all the nail-biting about the economy over the past year, investors had it easy: a 5% yield on short-term U.S. debt, one of the safest investments in the world. Now, the times they are a-changin'-again. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered its benchmark rate by a half-point, capping a more than two-year effort to curb inflation with elevated interest rates. Officials penciled in a series of additional cuts in the coming years. That shift away from a world of 5% yields is already rippling through markets. We asked five investors where they are moving money and how to avoid danger in a new era of falling rates.
/jlne.ws/4esOjLU
Oxford endowment fund boss Sandra Robertson to give up investment role; Neamul Mohsin will take over chief investment officer position at university's £6.5bn fund
Harriet Agnew - Financial Times
Sandra Robertson, who has run Oxford university's £6.5bn endowment fund since it was founded almost two decades ago, is stepping back as chief investment officer, according to three people familiar with the situation. Robertson, who is currently CIO and chief executive of Oxford University Endowment Management, will give up the investment role as of January next year and remain CEO. Deputy-CIO Neamul Mohsin, who joined the institution 12 years ago, will become chief investment officer.
/jlne.ws/4gx1yNq
Fee rule changes to boost UK investment trusts; Exemption from cost disclosures to make the products more attractive to both institutions and customers
Emma Dunkley - Financial Times
The UK government has exempted investment trusts from onerous cost disclosures in a move analysts believe will boost the £260bn industry and could support trusts' share prices. In a joint statement this week, the government and Financial Conduct Authority said investment trusts will be excluded from European regulation that affects how their charges are reported.
/jlne.ws/3Zwh71W
Nvidia's Option Expiry May Allow Renewed Surge, Spotgamma Says; About $1 billion worth of raw gamma at $120 strike to expire; Options volatility is looking relatively cheap: Spotgamma
Michael Msika - Bloomberg
The expiration of large option positions on Friday could help Nvidia Corp. shares push higher, according to analysts at Spotgamma. The option specialists note that there is "a giant $2 billion worth of raw gamma at the 120 strike," of which about half will roll off Friday. "This suggests that OPEX could remove some resistance," the team around founder Brent Kochuba says. More than $5 trillion worth of contracts tied to US single stocks, ETFs and indexes will expire Friday.
/jlne.ws/3zyRx1u
Sugar's Biggest Jump Since 2008 is a Fresh Threat to Food Prices; Poor weather in top producer Brazil threatens sugar production; Sugar's surge puts pressure on foodmakers, risks price rises
Charlotte Hughes-Morgan - Bloomberg
Sugar prices are surging as fires and drought slam fields in top grower Brazil, threatening higher costs for sweets and desserts. Raw sugar futures headed for their biggest weekly gain in 16 years, as traders digested the extent of crop damage from the blazes and a blistering heat wave in the nation. Sao Paulo state - part of Brazil's main Center-South growing region - has faced a record number of fires this summer due to a lack of moisture. That damaged cane roots, and may force producers to replant or face a smaller harvest in the upcoming season. It also followed a long dry spell since last October, which curbed yields.
/jlne.ws/3Bch6Gg
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Big Three Money Managers Cut Support of Environmental Proposals
Saijel Kishan - Bloomberg
The three biggest US money managers slashed their support of environmental and social shareholder proposals in the latest voting season amid a Republican-led backlash against sustainable investing. State Street Corp.'s investing unit said it supported 6% of environmental shareholder proposals in the first half of the year and 7% of social ones, less than what it did in the same year-ago period. Vanguard Group said last month that it didn't back any of those resolutions, while BlackRock Inc. said it voted for 4% of the proposals in the 12 months ending June, down from 7% a year earlier.
/jlne.ws/3TzRcCL
Western philanthropies drum up climate finance ahead of UN meetings; African pledge comes as wrangling continues about how to fund the energy transition in developing countries
Aime Williams - Financial Times
Western philanthropies have committed to put up $10mn in fresh funds to help the World Bank and African Development Bank accelerate investment in green energy in Africa, as positioning begins ahead of climate finance talks on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York next week, The Rockefeller Foundation, along with the Global Alliance for People and Planet, which counts the Ikea Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund as members, said they would provide the money to accelerate 15 projects in countries including Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
/jlne.ws/3ZyjlOm
Is it time to invest in the UK's green transition again? Labour's ambitious environmental agenda has lifted the outlook for clean energy groups and investment vehicles
Simon Mundy - Financial Times
One hundred miles out to sea from the Yorkshire town of Hornsea, the world's largest offshore wind farm is set to start operations in three years - a giant array of more than 300 turbines, their blades over 100 metres long, generating enough electricity to power 3.3mn UK homes.
/jlne.ws/3zn5ujd
Elite US universities rake in millions from big oil donations, research finds; Student-led analyses raise concerns of conflict of interest at six universities, including Princeton, Columbia and Cornell
Dharna Noor - The Guardian
Prestigious US universities are raking in millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. And one university even appears to have owned a petroleum company from which it has earned millions of dollars, according to a spate of new reports produced by student organizers.
/jlne.ws/4guVBAC
'Doomsday' Glacier Set to Melt Faster, Swell Seas as World Heats Up; Scientists say warm sea water is speeding the retreat of the Thwaites Glacier, which acts as a backstop for the huge West Antarctic ice sheet.
Danielle Bochove - Bloomberg
Tidal action on the underside of the Thwaites Glacier in the Antarctic will "inexorably" accelerate melting this century, according to new research by British and American scientists. The researchers warn the faster melting could destabilize the entire West Antarctic Ice sheet, leading to its eventual collapse. The massive glacier - which is roughly the size of Florida - is of particular interest to scientists because of the rapid speed at which it is changing and the impact its loss would have on sea levels (the reason for its "Doomsday" moniker). It also acts as an anchor holding back the West Antarctic ice sheet.
/jlne.ws/4esdMVK
A Tiny Fraction of Carbon Projects Are High Quality, MSCI Says; Study is latest blow for voluntary carbon-credit market; The MSCI review covered more than 4,000 projects globally
Frances Schwartzkopff - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/47B0G6l
Microsoft's AI Power Needs Prompt Revival of Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant
Will Wade and Dina Bass - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4gpGBnw
Scant green premium stalls over 450 low-carbon projects, analysis shows
Reuters
/jlne.ws/3TZm0x1
Swedish Solar Firm Alight Secures EUR110 Million Project Financing
Charles Daly - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/4gzVFPq
A $90 Billion World Bank Plan to Electrify Africa Gets Underway; Mission 300 aims to bring electricity to 300 million Africans; Rockefeller Foundation, GEAPP to help assess proposed projects
Antony Sguazzin - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3MPwBqh
Singapore Boosts Power Import Capacity by Tapping Malaysia Flows
Sing Yee Ong - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3XNDrCK
Four reasons why the hydrogen market is floundering and why it could bounce back
Gabriel Friedman - Financial Post
/jlne.ws/4eyssTv
Qatar Eyed as LNG Supplier to Prevent South Africa's Gas Cliff; State power utility Eskom, Sasol seek to aggregate supply; Nation faces gas-supply 'emergency' that puts jobs at stake
Paul Burkhardt - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3Zzi5dE
Federal plans to open up the desert for massive solar farms has angered environmentalists
Matthew Rozsa - Salon
/jlne.ws/3XQGLgs
Methane Emissions Still Rising After Pledges to Curb Pollution; Analysis by Kayrros shows increases at major fossil fuel hubs; Australia and Turkmenistan are making some progress: report
Aaron Clark - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/47BHUM3
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Apex Group taps industry veteran to lead Apex Invest Events ahead of Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi summits
Apex Group Ltd.
Apex Group Ltd. ("Apex Group"), the leading global financial services provider, has announced the appointment of Colette Leong-Son as Head of Apex Invest Events in the lead up to two major events in its investor networking series, Apex Invest: Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. The strategic move and scheduled events underscores Apex Group's commitment to the investor community. Apex Invest Events, the market-leading series of investor networking events, guarantees attendance of two investors per manager. They are an essential component of Apex Invest's suite of capital raising, advisory and distribution solutions, offering a curated platform by and for LPs, allocators and managers to connect, benchmark and share knowledge.
/jlne.ws/4ewgkSG
Trading Places: Millennium, Jefferies and DC Advisory boost their ranks
Financial News
Law firm Mishcon De Reya hired former NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose as an adviser. Mishcon said in a statement that Rose's focus will be on equity, diversity and inclusion strategy. She will work with the firm's EDI committee alongside mentoring a number of partners. JPMorgan installed a banker to oversee the "success and well-being" of its analysts and associates as investment banks face new pressure to overhaul working practices for their junior dealmakers. The Wall Street bank, which also introduced a cap of 80 hours per week for its juniors earlier this month, named Ryland McClendon as global investment banking associate and analyst leader. Millennium hired Citadel's Naman Jain as a senior portfolio manager in its London office. Jain will join Millennium's fixed income unit in December.
/jlne.ws/3Zt5Ijr
JPMorgan takes on Wall Street's overwork concerns with new role, memo shows
Reuters
JPMorgan Chase has created a new role that will oversee its junior bankers and analysts amid a focus to tackle the persistent problem of overworking on Wall Street. Ryland McClendon, a near 14-year JPMorgan veteran, has been named as the global investment banking associate and analyst leader, according to an internal memo sent earlier this month and seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3MRPU2c
Works council head 'bitterly determined' in opposition to deal; The issue risks driving a wedge into Berlin's ruling coalition
Arno Schuetze - Bloomberg
Commerzbank AG's labor representatives are "bitterly determined" to prevent a merger with Italian rival UniCredit SpA, warning that two-thirds of the jobs at the German lender could be cut in a takeover. "Berlin can prevent the deal," Uwe Tschaege, the head of the lender's works council, said in comments to Bloomberg. UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Andrea "Orcel has said that he only wants a friendly deal."
/jlne.ws/47GOzVp
SocGen Retreats Further From Africa With Sale of Guinea Unit
Steven Arons and Yinka Ibukun - Bloomberg
Societe Generale SA took another step toward reducing its business in Africa, joining a long list of European lenders who have retreated from the continent. The French bank on Friday said it agreed to sell its subsidiary in Guinea to Atlantic Financial Group, a Pan-African banking group, for an undisclosed price. SocGen has now agreed to sell 11 of 17 African units since the beginning of last year. It's reviewing strategic options for two more and hasn't made any announcements for the remaining four.
/jlne.ws/3MQgCIz
Renaissance's shrinking hedge funds
Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3XQ3zNv
Apollo Snags $5 Billion From BNP to Expand Private Credit Bets; Bank commits funding for investment-grade, asset-backed deals; Financing will help Apollo's new Atlas business fund assets
Sridhar Natarajan, Carmen Arroyo, and Allison McNeely - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3MRiLUc
Hedge Fund Two Sigma Is in Settlement Talks With SEC; Firm likely to pay as much as $100 million to settle probe of trading scandal
Gregory Zuckerman - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4e8LUq5
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Young women are starting to leave men behind; Men's education deficit is increasingly becoming an employment, earnings and outcomes gap, with significant repercussions
John Burn-Murdoch - Financial Times (opinion)
Across the developed world, girls and young women have been pulling ahead of boys and young men in education for several decades, with much larger proportions going on to attend university than their male counterparts. This trend has generally been treated more as something to remark upon than to act on. The myriad domains in which women remain at a disadvantage to men have understandably led to efforts at achieving gender equality becoming synonymous with advancing women's opportunities and outcomes. Men have always gone on to have better labour market outcomes anyway, and if women outperform men in education, this helps narrow the overall male advantage - or so the thinking has gone.
/jlne.ws/3XP8xdh
Will AI Make Job Recruiting More Efficient-but Less Fair? We asked readers what they think about companies that are relying more on artificial intelligence to screen candidates. Are the trade-offs acceptable?
Demetria Gallegos - The Wall Street Journal
If you're hunting for a job-or looking for the right person to hire-you know how difficult the process can be. Already, more job seekers are robo-filing hundreds of applications online, flooding recruiters with responses that make it hard to responsibly screen all candidates. Machines are now in the middle of the process, and artificial intelligence, while imperfect, is increasingly running the show, putting some trade-offs into sharper focus.
/jlne.ws/3XTjTvR
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | U.S. spends the most but ranks last in health compared with other high-income nations, new report says
Sara Moniuszko - CBS News
Americans, despite spending the most on healthcare, are the sickest and die the youngest compared with nine other high-income nations, according to a new report. The report, released Thursday by independent research group The Commonwealth Fund, found the United States has the worst-performing health care system overall despite spending the most of any nation in the study. Using data from World Health Organization and more since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the study looked at five key health care measures, including health equity, access to care, care process, administrative efficiency and health outcomes.
/jlne.ws/4ea3YQA
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Finance Chief of Troubled China Province Dies in High-Rise Fall
Bloomberg News
The finance chief of China's central Hunan province fell to her death from a high-rise building Thursday, local media have reported, in what's being investigated as a criminal matter. Liu Wenjie, director of the provincial finance administration, fell from her 13th-floor apartment, news outlet Yicai cited witnesses as saying. In a separate report, Caixin said the incident was being probed as a "criminal case," suggesting Liu, 58, was killed.
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Active ETF launches stagnate in Singapore; There has been just one debut since the city-state's regulator approved the products in December
Ernest Chan, Ignites Asia - Financial Times
Nine months after Singapore regulators approved the listing of active exchange traded funds, the city-state has seen just one product launch, with managers waiting for clearer signs of investor interest. The more conservative investing habits of local investors, as well as unresolved gaps in Singapore's ETF ecosystem and infrastructure, have also damped enthusiasm for the funds, according to industry participants.
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Asia's Oldest Bourse Set for Best Week Ever on Rival's IPO Hopes; BSE Ltd.'s shares rally about 38% this week to record high; Regulator's clearance of NSE in legal case renews IPO hopes
Chiranjivi Chakraborty - Bloomberg
BSE Ltd.'s stock in India is poised for its best weekly performance ever as investors bet on a trading boom for the stock exchange operator stemming from a competitor's potential IPO listing.
/jlne.ws/3XRfQRR
Derivatives Service Bureau Data Shows Industry Ready For UK UPI Reporting - UPI Reporting In The UK Comes Into Force On 30 September 2024
Mondovisione
The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), the global golden source of reference data for OTC derivatives, today released data indicating industry readiness for the start of UK UPI (Unique Product Identifier) reporting on 30 September 2024 under revised UK EMIR rules. The UPI is reported to trade repositories so regulators can monitor the build-up of systemic risk across the OTC derivatives market.
/jlne.ws/3XOjkoa
Canada opens new critical minerals hub in push to end China's dominance; Saskatchewan facility marks small step in drive to challenge Beijing's control of processing rare earths
Ilya Gridneff - Financial Times
Saskatchewan, a global breadbasket and a world-leading producer of potash and uranium, is set to add another dimension to its strategic importance in the great resources competition between the US and China: rare earths processing. North America's latest rare earth processing centre opens in the city of Saskatoon this week, part of an effort to counter China's global dominance in the supply of the critical minerals needed for the green technology, defence and aerospace industries. The Saskatchewan Research Council, a 75-year-old government-funded scientific research and development institute, has built the commercial venture that will process rare earth minerals from Australia, Brazil and Vietnam until large-scale Canadian mines are operating.
/jlne.ws/47Q1ggV
Coffee producers fear being cut off from EU by new land protection law; Drinks company JDE Peets pleads for year's delay on ban on supplies from deforested areas over lack of guidelines
Susannah Savage and Alice Hancock and Andy Bounds - Financial Times
Coffee-producing nations could find their exports blocked from the EU market unless Brussels delays a ban on products from deforested areas, one of the world's biggest coffee and tea companies has said. JDE Peets said that if the bloc's new deforestation law was not postponed by at least a year it could temporarily cut countries from its supply chain amid uncertainty about their compliance with the rules.
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