| December 18, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
In 2022, a record high of 58% of U.S. households owned stocks, per the Federal Reserve's survey of consumer finances, up from 53% in 2019. This marks the highest-ever recorded rate of stock ownership in the triennial survey, encompassing both direct and indirect ownership through various accounts, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The 79th issue of the World Federation of Exchanges Focus, published in December 2023, covers the following topics:
Scaling Climate Risk Disclosures for Investors While Addressing Interoperability Risks
Martina Macpherson and Alexandra Pavlovskis
Head of ESG Products and ESG Product Strategy Lead, SIX
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Financial Markets and Allocation of Capital Will Be an Integral Part in Enabling Decarbonisation
As an exchange our role is to provide transparency and integrity, create transparent markets to allocate capital in the most efficient way possible, and support corporates in their effort to decarbonise through different tools and services.
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Macro-Prudential Supervision in Europe and the U.S.: An Institutional Perspective
Dr. Christopher P. Buttigieg, Chief Officer Supervision at the Malta Financial Services Authority and Associate Professor at the University of Malta, compares macro-prudential supervision in Europe and the U.S.
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Green Equity: Supporting the Transition Towards Sustainable Business Models
Johanna Gronroos, Chief Development Officer at Lamor Corporation, talks about the role green equity can play in supporting the green transition.
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Introducing the DVP Reform of China's Capital Market
The DVP reform kicked off in December 2022 in China's capital market, making China the first market in the world to adopt T+1 DVP. Six months after the reform, the market responded with positive feedback and stable operation.
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Disclosure to Decarbonisation: Bursa Malaysia's Push for Climate Action by Companies
Our market's ESG journey is not just about numbers and regulations; it is about a paradigm shift. It is about shaping a sustainable future where ESG data, environmental solutions, and long-term value creation, go hand-in-hand.
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The Financial Times has published an FT Tech Video Report titled "AI: A Blessing or Curse for Humanity?" that examines artificial intelligence's expanding role prompts crucial questions. Is AI a boon or bane for humanity? This FT Tech video explores the perspectives of prominent futurists and experts on AI's potential effects on personal development, employment, and safety.
Veteran journalist Debbie Carlson wrote a piece for CME Group's Open Market's titled "How Sponsorships are Helping Grow Women's Golf." The CME Group Tour Championship's total purse is set to increase to $11 million, a significant jump from this year's total purse of $7 million. Notably, the champion will earn an impressive $4 million, marking the highest payout in women's sports.
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:
- Fields of Honor from Fields of Honor.
- Asia-Pacific's ETF industry is taking off, says Invesco executive from Financial Times.
- CFTC wrestles with new clearinghouse models from FIA. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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Trading Technologies Executive Alicei Pocklington Discusses APAC Expansion and Growth Prospects at FIA Asia 2023
JohnLothianNews.com
Trading Technologies (TT) Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific, Alice Pocklington, recently sat down for an interview with John Lothian News during FIA Asia 2023. Pocklington, who has resided in Singapore for the past 12 years, discussed her background and her role in overseeing and unifying the Asian region within TT's leadership team.
Watch the video »
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Options Discovery Episode 27: Intro To Options On Futures; Larry Abrams, President Of Absolute Return Capital Management, Discusses Futures Options Trading and More With JLN's Asma Awass.
JohnLothianNews.com
In this episode of Options Discovery, Asma Awass discusses a different type of option: options on futures. This episode includes a breakdown of what options on futures are, benefits they provide, some of the risks present, and more! Asma then sits down with Larry Abrams, a former floor trader and current president of Absolute Return Capital Management, and he shares more insight on futures options. You can check out Absolute Return Capital Management here: https://www.arcapmgt.com/
Watch the video »
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East Coast braces for possible 'bomb cyclone' as furious storm roars in
John Bacon - USA Today
A powerful storm driving gale-force winds, heavy rains and flooding was roaring toward a long stretch of the East Coast on Sunday, creating conditions for a possible "bomb cyclone" poised to wreak havoc ahead of the holiday season.
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****** If this weather keeps up, Rudolph is going to need to turn on the high beams this year.~JJL
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He Built a Trillion-Dollar Company. He Wouldn't Do It Again; Jensen Huang, the CEO of the year's most successful company, has a theory about the superpower of entrepreneurs
Ben Cohen - The Wall Street Journal
When he sat down in a booth at his local Denny's and began plotting out the business that would change his life, Jensen Huang didn't know that his startup would one day be worth $1 trillion. In fact, the only chief executive in Nvidia's history didn't know much of anything about what he was getting himself into. But if he had known three decades ago what he knows today, he never would have founded one of the world's most valuable companies. "The reason for that is really quite simple," Huang said recently. "Building Nvidia turned out to have been a million times harder than I expected."
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***** It sounds like that million times harder came with the appropriate level of reward to make it worth it, though from a human level you never know what he missed out on.~JJL
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Why financial literacy deserves your charity; Research has shown the wide-ranging societal benefits that go hand in hand with better understanding of finance matters
Patrick Jenkins - Financial Times
Amid all the excitement about inflation falling and the cautiously optimistic COP28 deal, last week's report from the OECD into international financial literacy levels unsurprisingly garnered few headlines. And yet for most people the humble topic of whether they understand inflation, interest and financial risk at a personal level is as powerful an influence on personal wellbeing as any globally dominant news event.
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****** Even non-charities involved in financial literacy deserve your support, hint, hint.~JJL
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Friday's Top Three
Our most read story last Friday was from The Wall Street Journal, He's Wanted for Wirecard's Missing $2 Billion. He's Now Suspected of Being a Russian Spy. Second was Bloomberg's (via Yahoo Finance) story, El Nino Nears Historic Intensity With Threat of Weather Havoc. Third was Reuters', OpenAI CEO promotes crypto project Worldcoin after fundraising report.
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| Lead Stories | Power Plays: How Energy Traders Left A Country In The Cold; Pakistan, one of the world's poorest nations, thought it had secured natural gas to fuel its economy. Commodities firms had other ideas.
Stephen Stapczynski and Faseeh Mangi - Bloomberg
Toward the end of 2021, in an office block above the luxury boutiques of Geneva's Rue du Rhone, Ksenia Alleyne called her team into a meeting. Alleyne is the co-head of liquefied natural gas trading at Gunvor Group Ltd.-a Swiss-based commodities firm with customers around the world. Once everyone had assembled, she delivered a message to her fellow traders and analysts. Above all, she said, they needed to find more LNG-fuel that's chilled to -260F and loaded onto ships for long-haul export-and fast. Russian forces were massing on the borders of Ukraine; one certain result of an invasion would be a spike in global energy prices.
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FTX Files Plan to End Bankruptcy, Pay Crypto Creditors Billions
Steven Church - Bloomberg
FTX Trading Ltd. unveiled its latest proposal for returning billions of dollars to customers and creditors, kicking off a final round of potential squabbles about how best to end the bankruptcy case of the fraud-tainted crypto firm. The reorganization plan left some of the most important questions unanswered, including whether FTX will restart its defunct crypto exchange, how the company will estimate the value of some digital tokens and how much creditors can expect to get back.
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LME Faces Fresh Worries About Russian Metal After UK Sanctions
Jack Farchy, Archie Hunter and Mark Burton - Bloomberg
New UK sanctions on Russian metals have caused confusion among traders and raised fresh worries that the London Metal Exchange could be overwhelmed by a glut of unwanted Russian aluminum. The sanctions, published by the British government Thursday with little fanfare, prohibit British individuals and entities from trading physical Russian metals, including aluminum, copper and nickel.
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Elliott Granted Permission to Appeal Over Court Loss to LME; LME parent company HKEX confirmed the permission in disclosure; Timing of the appeal is yet to be determined, HKEX says
Pei Li - Bloomberg
Hedge fund Elliott Associates was granted permission to appeal its loss in court against the London Metal Exchange over a nickel squeeze, extending the legal battle over the latter's decision last year to cancel billions of dollars worth of trades. Elliott applied to the English Court of Appeal and was granted permission to appeal the judgment that went in the LME's favor last month, according to a filing from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., the parent company of London Metal Exchange. The timing of the appeal, which it plans to contest, is yet to be determined, according to the disclosure Sunday.
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More Americans Than Ever Own Stocks; Pandemic, zero-commission trading 'created a whole generation of investors'
Hannah Miao - The Wall Street Journal
The share of Americans who own stocks has never been so high. About 58% of U.S. households owned stocks in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve's survey of consumer finances released this fall. That is up from 53% in 2019 and marks the highest household stock-ownership rate recorded in the triennial survey. The cohort includes families holding individual shares directly and those owning stocks indirectly through funds, retirement accounts or other managed accounts.
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Dimon's Heir at JPMorgan Still Hazy as 'Five More Years' Tick By; Consumer chiefs Piepszak, Lake are widely seen as frontrunners; Insiders predict a shuffle may give contenders more experience
Hannah Levitt - Bloomberg
Halfway through Jamie Dimon's special incentive to stay five more years atop JPMorgan Chase & Co., insiders are predicting more senior leadership changes to help potential successors gather experience. A management shuffle in mid-2021 put two talented deputies - Jennifer Piepszak and Marianne Lake - into the spotlight as the board prepared to grant Dimon a bonus if he remains chief executive officer another half-decade. But with neither the clear frontrunner, colleagues say the two consumer-banking co-heads will likely need to tackle new assignments before one is ready to run the whole company.
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Wall Street Says Basel 3 'Endgame' Will Upend Climate Finance; Wall Street sees new capital rules challenging green financing; Warning comes amid fossil-fuel transition deal at COP28 summit
Natasha White - Bloomberg
Wall Street's biggest banks are warning that existing assumptions around much-needed green finance will no longer hold if the US goes ahead with stricter capital requirements. The Basel 3 Endgame, as the planned rules have been dubbed, marks the final implementation stage in the US of regulations created after the financial crisis of 2008. Banks will need to set aside more capital, which will make it costlier for them to provide finance. Proposed in July by a group of US authorities that includes the Federal Reserve, the rules will "fundamentally alter" how banks in the world's biggest economy approach risk, EY says.
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Nippon Steel agrees to buy US Steel for $14.9bn; Japanese company targets American market with biggest ever acquisition
Leo Lewis and Kana Inagaki - Financial Times
Nippon Steel has agreed to buy US Steel in a $14.9bn deal, as the Japanese group targets the American market with its largest ever acquisition. The Japanese company, which ranks as the world's fourth-biggest steelmaker by production, said on Monday that it would pay $55 a share in cash for Pittsburgh-based US Steel.
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Rich, White Men Dominate Top UK Finance Jobs, Taskforce Says; Socioeconomic factors have strong effect on career advancement; Progress Today was founded to improve diversity in UK finance
Irina Anghel - Bloomberg
A new taskforce aimed at improving socioeconomic diversity in the UK finance industry found that half of all senior finance jobs were held by white people from wealthy families. Affluent white men are 30 times more likely to be found in those top roles compared with working-class women from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to a report by Progress Together. In general, the report found that employees' socioeconomic background had a much stronger effect on how quickly they could advance through a company compared with gender.
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OpenAI's technology is upending our everyday lives. It's overseen exclusively by wealthy, White men
Catherine Thorbecke - CNN
Over the past year, OpenAI has cemented its place as one of the most powerful tech startups in the world. Its release of ChatGPT heralded an artificial intelligence revolution that sent shockwaves through nearly every industry, and the public remains both enamored and terrified by the possibilities it has unleashed.
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Nvidia Staffers Warned CEO of Threat AI Would Pose to Minorities; As the chipmaker's AI technology has become ubiquitous, it's working to make it more inclusive
Sinduja Rangarajan and Ian King - Bloomberg
Masheika Allgood and Alexander Tsado left their 2020 meeting with Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang feeling frustrated. The pair, both former presidents of the company's Black employees group, had spent a year working with colleagues from across the company on a presentation meant to warn Huang of the potential dangers that artificial intelligence technology posed, especially to minorities.
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Google Funds Leading Civil Rights Group's New AI Policy Center; Civil rights center to focus on 'advancing equity' with tech; Funds were part of $20 million grant for AI policy initiatives
Emily Birnbaum - Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc.'s Google is funding a new center focused on crafting artificial intelligence policy at the country's largest civil rights organization, which wants to ensure racial equity policies are built into the technology. Google and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights confirmed to Bloomberg News that Google.org, the company's philanthropic arm, provided funding for the September launch of its "Center for Civil Rights and Technology," alongside other technology companies and private foundations.
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Almost Entire $8 Trillion ETF Market Hinges on a Few Key Firms
Linly Lin and Sam Potter - Bloomberg
In the past five years US ETF market assets have more than doubled, over 1,000 new funds launched, and annual trading volumes jumped by around $11 trillion. Yet there has been one exception to the explosive growth: The ranks of firms responsible for steering cash in and out of every product.
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SEC Likely to Approve Bitcoin ETFs 'All at Once' to Avoid Being 'Kingmakers'; A Bloomberg ETF analyst on why the SEC will approve multiple spot bitcoin applications simultaneously: "They don't want to pick favorites."
Peter Chawaga - Barron's
As investors scrutinize all updates related to pending spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications in front of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a noted Bloomberg analyst has now described why they should expect regulators to make multiple approvals all at once.
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US Securities and Exchange Commission responds to challenge to new rules by private funds
Chris Prentice - Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday defended its overhaul of rules for private funds, responding in a court filing to a lawsuit from six private equity and hedge fund trade groups. The trade lobbying groups in September sued the top U.S. markets regulator, saying the agency overstepped its authorities when adopting sweeping new expense and disclosure rules. The changes require private funds to issue a swath of new reports and to perform annual audits, as well as disclose certain fee structures.
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Coinbase Wants Crypto Rules. The SEC Says They Already Have Them.
Joe Light - Barron's
Coinbase Global has lobbied for years for new rules for crypto. The Securities and Exchange Commission just made clear it won't get its wish anytime soon. The SEC on Friday rejected a request from the trading platform to create a new set of rules that would govern the token markets and exchanges like Coinbase.
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Robinhood Woos Wealthier Clients From Bigger Brokerages; Trading app receives $1.1 billion in account transfers since offering 1% match
Hannah Miao - The Wall Street Journal
Robinhood Markets, known for a clientele of first-time investors, is attracting customers with fatter wallets from other brokerages. Through Wednesday, the trading app received about $1.1 billion in account transfers since Oct. 23, when it began offering a 1% match on transferred brokerage accounts, the company said. In the second and third quarters of this year, customers transferred about $350 million and $375 million, respectively, to Robinhood from other brokerages, according to company filings.
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The Countdown for a Bitcoin ETF Decision Is Approaching a Critical Deadline; Coins have surged on speculation the SEC is poised to approve; Bitcoin ETF approval could be more relief than excitement: BI
Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
There's likely fewer than 30 days left before the crypto world's inevitable leap into traditional finance offers digital-money proponents a path to redemption post-FTX. That's the bullish narrative in virtual-currency land as the clock ticks down to Jan. 10 - when US regulators must finally decide whether to greenlight a physically-backed Bitcoin ETF. The Securities and Exchange Commission will by that time be required to either accept or deny an application from Cathie Wood's ARK Investment and 21Shares, who were the first to file during this year's batch of applicants. It could at that time also rule on other similar filings. More than 10 companies are working toward getting these ETFs - which would directly hold Bitcoin - green-lit.
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Why It's Taking So Long for Americans to Get Payments Instantly; Hundreds of banks use Fed's new instant-payment service, but universal availability could remain a long way off
Andrew Ackerman - The Wall Street Journal
There is a joke in banking circles that few things have moved as slowly as the adoption of instant payments in the U.S. FedNow? More like FedLater. Roughly five months after the Federal Reserve launched its instant-payments system, called FedNow, the number of lenders plugged into the network has risen to more than 300 from about 35. Fed officials say FedNow has early momentum, but they acknowledge it will still take years before instant payments become widely available.
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Carbon Markets Are in Limbo. That's Not Stopping This Firm; An Emirati company wants to broker a nascent market in which nations trade emission reductions even before regulations are agreed upon.
Manuela Andreoni and Max Bearak - The New York Times
First, the little-known Emirati company set its sights on a forest the size of Maine. Then, another one that was big as South Carolina. After that, it focused on a chunk of land the size of Puerto Rico. As the oil-rich emirate of Dubai prepared to host this year's United Nations-sponsored climate summit, the company, named Blue Carbon and founded by a prince, was accumulating proposed deals on huge swaths of land across the developing world. It sought to position itself as a force for a purported solution to global warming: carbon credits.
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Jon Corzine, Steve Aoki and the Art of the Second Act on The Businessweek Show; The former MF Global chief and the chart-topping DJ talk about starting new chapters in their careers.
Max Abelson - Bloomberg
No two second acts are exactly alike, though they can look similar on paper. Wildly successful early careers can turn catastrophic, and not everyone wins redemption. Some people have the knack for failing upward, and others jump from one success to another. Second acts are often the stuff of ambition and opportunity, though they can just as easily be forced by circumstance. And like any change, that second act can turn out to be thrilling, calamitous or both.
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New York regulators threaten crypto's festive spirit; Plus, updates on FTX and the IRS
Scott Chipolina - Financial Times
As Christmas approaches, there are no shortage of bullish predictions for 2024 around the crypto market. After 18 months of misery and failures personal and corporate, confidence is coursing through an atrophied system. Bitcoin, developed by mysterious creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is comfortably above $40,000 and has been predicted to go as high as anywhere between $60,000 and $250,000. After all, it's the time of year when a group of believers pronounce a man never seen in public as a saviour who promises a better future.
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UK FCA rules out extension of post-Brexit licensing regime; Financial regulator says it will clear outstanding cases before the year's end
Laura Noonan - Financial Times
The UK's top financial regulator has ruled out any extension of its temporary post-Brexit licensing regime beyond the end of this year, vowing to complete work on 116 outstanding cases within the next fortnight. The Financial Conduct Authority announced the "temporary permissions regime" in 2018, offering companies that had been using their European licences to "passport" into the UK a grace period of up to three years from Brexit to make other arrangements.
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The TRADE predictions series 2024: Rules around research; Participants across TD Cowen, RBC Capital Markets, and Substantive Research dive into potential shifts in bundling rules for research in 2024 as well as the impacts of the US shift to T+1 settlement.
Editors - The Trade
UK bundling rules are likely to be repealed mid next year, with Europe to follow. Discussions will centre around who pays for research rather than on re-bundling. Although some specialists may see an opportunity here. The question remains as to whether this will have a material impact on SME liquidity. Despite the Swedish Presidency pushing through changes in June, including a single volume cap for dark trading, limitations on SIs and the outlines for a consolidated tape, we're unlikely to see any major impact next year, perhaps with the exception of the removal of the 4% single venue cap on dark trading, which could be lifted in the early part of the new year.
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | 'Exceptionally Heavy Losses' As Russia's Newest Airborne Division Attacks Ukraine's Dnipro Bridgehead
David Axe - Forbes Staff
The 104th Air Assault Division was supposed to save the Russian campaign on the left bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine. Instead, the newly-formed division "suffered exceptionally heavy losses and failed to achieve its objectives during its combat debut," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported.
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Putin Says He Won't Attack NATO as Russia, Ukraine Trade Drone Strikes; Biden's claim of Russian threat to NATO called 'nonsense'; Russia, Ukraine report downing each other's drone attacks
Bloomberg News
Vladimir Putin said Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries, describing as "complete nonsense" claims by President Joe Biden that Moscow poses a threat to members of the defense alliance. Biden told reporters this month that "if Putin takes Ukraine, he won't stop there," as he urged lawmakers to release $61 billion in military aid to Kyiv held up in a dispute with Republicans over border security.
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| Israel/Palestine Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Palestine | U.S. says its destroyer shot down 14 drones in Red Sea launched from Yemen
CBS News
An American destroyer on Saturday shot down more than a dozen drones in the Red Sea launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the U.S. Central Command said. "The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS CARNEY... operating in the Red Sea, successfully engaged 14 unmanned aerial systems launched as a drone wave from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen," CENTCOM said social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Al Jazeera to refer killing of cameraman in Gaza to war crimes court
Reuters
Al Jazeera is preparing a legal file to send to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over what it called "the assassination" of one of its cameramen in Gaza, the Qatari-based network said on Saturday. The cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, was killed by a drone strike on Friday while reporting on the earlier bombing of a school used as a shelter for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster.
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Israel Found the Hamas Money Machine Years Ago. Nobody Turned It Off; Agents worried as millions poured in. Hamas bought weapons and plotted an attack. The authorities now say the money helped lay the groundwork for the Oct. 7 assault on Israel.
Jo Becker and Justin Scheck - The New York Times
Israeli security officials scored a major intelligence coup in 2018: secret documents that laid out, in intricate detail, what amounted to a private equity fund that Hamas used to finance its operations. The ledgers, pilfered from the computer of a senior Hamas official, listed assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Hamas controlled mining, chicken farming and road building companies in Sudan, twin skyscrapers in the United Arab Emirates, a property developer in Algeria, and a real estate firm listed on the Turkish stock exchange.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | Hong Kong exchange picks Chan to be new CEO as challenges mount
Selena Li and Rishav Chatterjee - Reuters
Hong Kong's stock exchange operator named Bonnie Chan as its new CEO on Friday, as it struggles to improve a performance dented by China's economic slowdown and regulatory uncertainties. Currently co-chief operating officer of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX), Chan will replace former JP Morgan banker Nicolas Aguzin, the bourse said in a statement.
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China's biggest nickel producer to list battery unit in Hong Kong; Debut of Tsingshan's REPT Battero Energy comes at end of barren year for initial public offerings
Cheng Leng - Financial Times
China's Tsingshan Holding Group, the world's biggest nickel producer, is set to raise up to HK$2.39bn ($306mn) in an initial public offering of a battery-making subsidiary on Monday, testing investor appetite at the end of another lacklustre year for listings in Hong Kong.
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Nasdaq Named to Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the Eighth Consecutive Year
Nasdaq
Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), one of the most prestigious environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ranking benchmarks, for the eighth consecutive year. Nasdaq is one of 11 diversified financial services companies selected for inclusion in the North America index.
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The New York Stock Exchange Leads Industry in Transfers for a Second-Straight Year
Intercontinental Exchange
Reports Major Technology and Community Milestones. Completes upgrade of all NYSE exchanges to its cutting-edge trading platform. Welcomes 32 transfers, second-highest total since 2002; Includes 20 operating company transfers, nearly triple those to competing exchanges. Lists two of the year's three largest IPOs. As 2023 winds to a close, the New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), today announced that it led the industry in listing transfers for a second-straight year as the NYSE continued to drive value for its unparalleled community of listed companies. Those transfers included Fiserv (NYSE: FI), the second-largest listing transfer in NYSE history. The exchange reported 32 listing transfers in 2023, the second-highest total since 2002, bringing $120 billion in new market capitalization to the exchange. Of those, 20 were operating companies, nearly triple the number of operating companies transferring to competing exchanges. Notably, the median market capitalization for all transfers to the NYSE was five times larger than those to other exchanges.
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Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans Testing and Member Designation Standards
MIAX
Pursuant to Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity ("Regulation SCI"), 17 CFR 242.100 et. seq. and MIAX Options Rule 321, which is incorporated by reference into both the MIAX Pearl and MIAX Emerald Exchange Rule Books, and thus applicable to Members of both Exchanges, certain Members of the MIAX Exchanges will have mandatory participation requirements in the annual SIFMA Business Continuity Planning Disaster Recovery ("BC/DR") test. Please refer to the following for more information on designation standards and requirements for Designated Members.
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NGX Targets Gen Zs, Millennials To Deepen Capital Market ...Takes Financial Literacy Campaign To NYSC Camp
Mondovisione
The Nigerian Exchange Limited has set a target to pull in younger investors in to the capital market with products and new initiatives. This was revealed as the exchange took its financial literacy campaign to the members of the 2023 Batch C, Stream II of the National Youth Service Corp in Lagos State. Speaking at the event, the Divisional Head, Business Support Services and General Counsel, NGX, Dr Irene Robinson-Ayanwale, said, "The Gen Zs and the millennials always like their financial independence and they want to be able to make decisions on their own. Stay tuned because we are going to be rolling out a lot of products and initiatives around the Gen Zs and the millennials."
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Goldman-Backed Saudi Fintech Firm Tamara Hits Unicorn Valuation
Matthew Martin - Bloomberg
Saudi Arabian financial technology company Tamara, which is backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has been valued at over $1 billion in its latest equity funding round.
/jlne.ws/3v280Zv
India's assault on unsecured loans hits Paytm and other fintech companies; Country's central bank raises capital requirements in move to curb rising delinquencies
Benjamin Parkin - Financial Times
India's central bank has moved to curb rising stress in the burgeoning market for unsecured consumer loans, hitting fintech lenders such as Paytm who had been increasingly relying on riskier borrowing for growth.
/jlne.ws/3TuOeQB
Liquidnet enhances electronic trading offering with bondIT credit analytics integration;
The pair said the collaboration will "empower traders to anticipate market trends, mitigate credit risk and make informed investment decisions faster".
Annabel Smith - The Trade
Liquidnet has expanded its fixed income electronic trading capabilities with the integration of AI-based credit research from bondIT. Fixed income fintech bondIT's Scorable Credit Analytics leverage machine learning to anticipate credit spreads and ratings and identify future trading opportunities
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JP Morgan and Baton Systems team up to expand CCP coverage for collateral management; Clients of JP Morgan will be able to access an automated collateral optimisation process for cleared derivatives across 13 CCPs globally.
Jonathan Watkins - The Trade
JP Morgan's collateral services team is working with post-trade fintech Baton Systems to enable triparty clients to automate the optimisation of collateral to meet margin calls at a range of clearing houses. Having gone live with the first central counterparty (CCP) in November, the collaboration will enable the roll out of the solution across Baton's network, which currently includes 13 clearing houses across EMEA, North America and Asia.
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Cloud increasingly the primary choice of deployment for post-trade workloads and trading, as market readiness accelerates; Financial Market Infrastructures (FMI) can improve execution quality through streamlined pathways by adopting third party expertise - such as Cloud providers - and reduce friction for participant across the value chain, says Nasdaq paper.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
The Cloud is increasingly the primary choice of deployment for post-trade workloads and trading, a new Nasdaq paper has found, with market readiness one of the factors driving the adoption. Specifically, regulatory uniformity in terms of wider views is a key aspect highlighted by the report, as well as the establishment of resiliency models.
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AI Is Ravenous for Energy. Can It Be Satisfied? The revolution in artificial intelligence may soon require more electricity than all electric vehicles combined
Christopher Mims - The Wall Street Journal
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Billionaires' Family Office Starts AI Fund With Ex-SenseTime MD
Venus Feng - Bloomberg
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How science fiction helped write AI's first rule book; Like Isaac Asimov before us, we have to work out how to benefit from the new technology while staying safe
Vera Jourova - Financial Times
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Artificial Intelligence Billionaire's Death Prompts Stock Selloff
Weilun Soon - The Wall Street Journal
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Visa Agrees to Acquire Majority Interest in Payments Processor Prosa; Visa says Prosa will operate as an independent company with its own technology infrastructure
Denny Jacob - The Wall Street Journal
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | "Smishing" Is The Latest Way Scammers Are Trying To Get Your Info. Here's How To Protect Yourself; Beware if you ever get a message that sounds like this.
Monica Torres - HuffPost
One of the biggest scams you need to watch out for is coming from your phone. In "smishing" âEUR• a term that combines "SMS" and "phishing" âEUR• bad actors try to get your personal and banking information through unsolicited text messages on mobile devices. They do it by pretending to be government agencies, companies that you might have done business with, or a package delivery service. They'll say something to get your urgent attention like a text about a free gift that you have to pay a small "shipping fee" to receive or they will send a warning about suspicious activity on your account.
/jlne.ws/3RLC7xi
Clorox, Boeing, MGM and More: Why Big Hacks Have Surged in 2023; Activity is at an all-time high' Palo Alto Networks CEO says; Safe havens for hackers hinder efforts to curb cybercrime
Jordan Robertson and Jessica Nix - Bloomberg
Widely disruptive, large-scale hacks are surging. After a lull in 2022, ransomware attacks on high-value targets such as big companies, banks, hospitals or government agencies, have seen a "massive uptick" this year, rising 51% through late November, according to cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike Holdings Inc. Last year, such attacks declined from the year before, the company said.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | SEC accused of âEUR˜gaslightingâEUR™ in Coinbase rulemaking dispute; Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton said that the SECâEUR™s stance in the Coinbase rulemaking dispute directly opposes the SEC chairâEUR™s statements during his congressional testimony earlier in 2023.
Amaka Nwaokocha - CoinTelegraph
In the ongoing legal dispute between Coinbase and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton accused SEC Chair Gary Gensler of gaslighting the public and disagreed with his stance on cryptocurrencies. The accusation comes amid the SEC rejecting Coinbase's crypto rulemaking petition for three reasons: applying current securities laws to cryptocurrencies, the SEC's engagement with the crypto securities markets through rulemaking, and the significance of preserving the commission's discretion in establishing its rulemaking priorities.
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Ethereum Scaler Arbitrum Suffers Outage-And Inscriptions Are to Blame; Arbitrum and other chains have recently been bombarded by users making "inscriptions" as on Bitcoin, even though such networks support NFTs.
Sander Lutz - Decrypt
Ethereum scaling network Arbitrum reported a "partial outage" Friday, bringing activity on the Arbitrum One blockchain to a standstill for the first time since June. Offchain Labs, the company that developed Arbitrum, announced that the network stalled at 10:29am ET Friday due to "a significant surge in network traffic." The issue remained unresolved for well over an hour, ultimately resuming at 11:57am ET.
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Cristiano Ronaldo Faces $1 Billion Lawsuit After Binance Involvement
Caden Pok - Benzinga
In early November, Binance Holdings Ltd. was hit with $4.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures by the U.S. Justice Department. The fine was a result of several wrongdoings by the company, ranging from money laundering to aiding criminals and terrorist organizations. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stepped down and admitted to participating in money laundering. "I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility. This is best for our community, for Binance and for myself," he wrote in a post on X.
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Galaxy Digital targets more crypto bankruptcy asset sales after FTX deal; Funds under management at Mike Novogratz-led group triple to more than $5bn
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
US billionaire Mike Novogratz's cryptocurrency group Galaxy Digital is hunting for more asset sales by bankrupt digital assets companies after a deal to sell coins held by FTX trebled its funds under management. Galaxy was chosen in August by administrators of the collapsed crypto exchange to sell, hedge and stake FTX's bitcoin and ether coins, as well as its holdings of Grayscale's bitcoin trust.
/jlne.ws/3RszPlt
If You Held On for Dear Life, It's a Merry Cryptomas Blockchain currencies didn't just survive the collapse of FTX, they've been the investment of the year. Turns out, decentralized finance doesn't need exchanges.
Niall Ferguson - Bloomberg
It's Merry Cryptomas, everybody! Bitcoin is up 167% year-to-date. Ethereum is up 91%. If a massive crypto rally was one of your predictions for 2023 a year ago, I take my hat off to you. Compare those returns with other asset classes. The NASDAQ is up 36%. The S&P 500 is up 19%. Gold is up 10.7%. If you were long oil or a broad basket of commodities, you are down 10%-12%.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | What to do about disinformation; The proliferation of falsehood online is dividing the world as never before. Education, not regulation, is the answer, argues Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins
Eliot Higgins - Financial Times
In the digital age, the echoes of truth and falsehood reverberate with increasing intensity. Each click, share and retweet amplifies narratives, shaping perceptions and moulding realities. Yet amid this cacophony of voices, some pressing questions emerge. Whose narrative do we trust? And at what cost? Social media platforms such as X, once celebrated as democratising forces, are under ever more scrutiny. The challenge isn't just about rogue posts or unchecked algorithms. It reflects a deeper malaise, rooted in societal distrust, exacerbated by business models and perpetuated by reactive policies. The ramifications of disinformation spill on to the streets with tangible, often devastating real-world consequences.
/jlne.ws/3GN3rFe
Yellen plans to accelerate climate, financial market cooperation with China
Andrea Shalal - Reuters
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday mapped out her top priorities for managing U.S.-Sino relations next year, including a planned second visit to China and steps to accelerate cooperation on climate risks and financial markets.
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Trump Defends 6 Republicans Charged in Scheme to Overturn His 2020 Loss
Michael Gold - New York Times
Former President Donald J. Trump on Sunday defended six Nevada Republicans who were recently indicted in connection with a scheme to overturn his 2020 election loss, claiming without evidence that they were victims of political persecution by the Biden administration. Mr. Trump has repeatedly rebuffed accusations this month that he has antidemocratic inclinations by pointing his finger at President Biden. He often claims without evidence that Mr. Biden is weaponizing the Justice Department to influence the 2024 election.
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Ken Griffin, Charles Schwab to Host Fundraiser for David McCormick's Senate Bid
Stephanie Lai - Bloomberg
Billionaires Ken Griffin, Charles Schwab and Paul Tudor Jones are among the wealthy investors who will host a fundraiser for David McCormick, a Republican running for Senate in Pennsylvania.
/jlne.ws/3H6y1Kd
U.S. Climate Envoy Reflects on Recent Deal, and What Comes Next; John Kerry said major oil-exporting countries' willingness to acknowledge that the era of fossil fuels must come to an end underscored the "urgency" of the deal.
Lisa Friedman - The Wall Street Journal
The deal 198 nations struck this week to transition away from fossil fuels is "the most important decision since the Paris agreement," in 2015, John Kerry, President Biden's special envoy for climate change, said Friday. The global agreement made in Dubai at the annual U.N. climate summit was the first time in the nearly three decades that diplomats have been grappling with climate change that they were willing to name its fundamental culprit: the burning of coal, oil and gas.
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Trump Says He'd Go After University Tax Breaks If Elected Again
Stephanie Lai - Bloomberg
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Trump bemoans record stock market as just making 'rich people richer'
Tim Reid - Reuters
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Crypto titans launch 2024 election play with $78M super PAC spend
Jasper Goodman - Politico
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | SEC rejects Coinbase petition for new crypto regulations
Julie Hyman and Luke Carberry Mogan - Yahoo Finance
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) denied crypto trading platform Coinbase's (COIN) petition for an enhanced regulatory framework on cryptocurrencies and digital assets Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger details the story and comments from the SEC and Chairman Gary Gensler.
/jlne.ws/3RMrHh1
CFTC Approves Proposed Amendments to Regulations Regarding Real-Time Public Reporting and Swap Data Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the approval of a proposed rule to revise CFTC regulations regarding real-time public reporting and swap data recordkeeping and reporting. These proposed measures are part of the agency's continued efforts towards international data harmonization and to ensure the CFTC continues to receive accurate, complete, and high-quality data on swap transactions.
/jlne.ws/4818Tjw
CFTC Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Rule to Amend Capital and Financial Reporting Requirements of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued for public comment a proposed rule to amend the capital and financial reporting requirements of Swap Dealers (SDs) and Major Swap Participants (MSPs).
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Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham in Support of Proposed Amendments to Capital and Financial Reporting Requirements for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants
CFTC
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Supporting Statement of Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger on Proposed Rulemaking to Codify Staff Relief
CFTC
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Statement of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson Regarding Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Amend Capital and Financial Reporting Requirements for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants
CFTC
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Statement of Chairman Rostin Behnam in Support of the Proposed Rule on Capital and Financial Reporting Requirements for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants
CFTC
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Concurring Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham on Proposed Amendments to Parts 43 and 45
Statement of Commissioner Caroline D. Pham
CFTC
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Statement of Commissioner Summer K. Mersinger on Proposed Amendments to Swap Data Reporting Rules in Parts 43 and 45
CFTC
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Statement of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson Regarding Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Making Amendments to Parts 43 and 45 Swap Data Reporting Technical Specifications
CFTC
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Statement of Chairman Rostin Behnam in Support of the Proposed Amendments to Regulations Regarding Real Time Public Reporting and Swap Data Reporting and Recordkeeping
Chairman Rostin Behnam
CFTC
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SEC Issues Staff Report on Accredited Investor Definition
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a staff report on the accredited investor definition. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act directs the Commission to review the accredited investor definition as it relates to natural persons every four years to determine whether the definition should be modified or adjusted. The Staff previously reviewed the definition in 2015 and in 2019 (as part of the Concept Release on Harmonization of Securities Offering Exemptions). Staff from the Divisions of Corporation Finance and Economic and Risk Analysis prepared the report in connection with this third review of the definition.
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Statement Regarding Denial of Petition for Rulemaking
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce and Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
The Commission has denied the Petition for Rulemaking filed on behalf of Coinbase Global, Inc. ("Petitioner") on July 21, 2022.[1] We disagree with the Commission's decision. We acknowledge that the Commission has broad discretion to set the timing and priorities of its rulemaking agenda. In our view, the Petition raises issues presented by new technologies and other innovations, and addressing these important issues is a core part of being a responsible regulator. Any exploration of these issues should include public roundtables, concept releases, and requests for comment, which would afford us the opportunity to hear from a wide range of market participants and other interested parties. Then, using what has been learned, the Commission could issue guidance or engage in rulemaking as needed.
/jlne.ws/4apHx8s
Statement on the Denial of a Rulemaking Petition Submitted on behalf of Coinbase Global, Inc.
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Today, the Commission denied a Petition for Rulemaking[1] filed on behalf of Coinbase Global, Inc. I was pleased to support the Commission's decision for three reasons. First, existing laws and regulations apply to the crypto securities markets. Second, the SEC addresses the crypto securities markets through rulemaking as well. Third, it is important to maintain Commission discretion in setting its own rulemaking priorities.
/jlne.ws/46YvGvj
SEC Charges Tingo Mobile Founder, Three Companies with Massive Fraud and Seeks Emergency Relief
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Justin Murphy, a former resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, and his investment management firm Mara Investments, LLC, for fraudulent misappropriation of approximately $3.4 million of investor assets. The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Mmobuosi Odogwu Banye a/k/a Dozy Mmobuosi and three affiliated U.S.-based entities of which he is the CEO-Tingo Group Inc., Agri-Fintech Holdings Inc., and Tingo International Holdings Inc.-in connection with an alleged multi-year scheme to inflate the financial performance metrics of these companies and key operating subsidiaries to defraud investors worldwide. The SEC is seeking emergency relief to prevent Defendants' continued dissemination of materially false information to investors and to protect corporate and investor assets.
/jlne.ws/3GNUGul
Kristofer Ridgway charged with providing false or misleading information to ASIC
ASIC
Former Brisbane-based financial adviser Kristofer Ridgway has appeared at the Southport Magistrates Court in Queensland charged with two counts of providing false or misleading information to ASIC during the conduct of a compulsory examination, contrary to section 64(1) of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth).
/jlne.ws/41nWUKB
The average cost of retail investment products declines but significant differences across EU Member States remain
ESMA
/jlne.ws/47ZeUgP
Financial Industry-Wide Cybersecurity Exercise (Delta Wall VIII)
Financial Services Agency
Large-scale cyberattacks are increasingly observed across the world. Techniques used by attackers become further sophisticated and complicated. Similarly, in Japan, cyberattacks increasingly cause disruption of business operations, compromise of confidential information and financial losses. Threats of cyberattacks potentially pose significant risks that could undermine financial stability.
/jlne.ws/41ugVyV
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | It's the Magnificent Seven's Market. The Other Stocks Are Just Living in It; Big tech stocks have jumped 75% in 2023-and now make up about 30% of the S&P 500
Hardika Singh - The Wall Street Journal
Big tech stocks reclaimed their position as the market's leaders this year. Just how far ahead of the pack have they run? Collectively, the stocks known as the Magnificent Seven-Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Tesla and Meta Platforms-have jumped 75% in 2023, leaving the other 493 companies in the S&P 500 in their dust. (Those have risen a more modest 12%, while the index as a whole is up 23%.)
/jlne.ws/48cIJKy
Big Four Accounting Firms Overhired. Now They're Starting to Lay Off Partners; Higher interest rates and weaker economic conditions lessened demand for certain professional services
Mark Maurer and Alexander Saeedy - The Wall Street Journal
An Ernst & Young senior partner, during a call with some of the accounting firm's U.S. partners and staff, delivered a sober message usually reserved for clients: It's time to cut costs. "This has been a difficult week as we took needed action to address resource challenges in our business, where growth has notably slowed or where we have excess capacity," said Dave Burg, EY's head of Americas cybersecurity, in the webcast call on Thursday.
/jlne.ws/4amBfXf
Australia Sees Renewables Boom Forcing Earlier Coal Plant Closures
Rob Verdonck - Bloomberg
Australia's biggest grid has slashed its forecast for the end of coal-fired power by five years, as the nation's households drive a world-leading transition away from the dirtiest fossil fuel.
/jlne.ws/41vpDwX
Bond Market, Not Banks, Dominates a World of Looser Lending; Even strong believers in free markets worry that they're distorting judgments and misdirecting credit.
John Authers - Bloomberg
Credit is a big deal. Over the past decades it's inexorably risen as a share of the global economy, fueled by credit markets that have steadily displaced the role of banks. That growth has often been too rapid, and flaws in credit markets sparked a global seizure in the 2008 financial crisis. And yet even that proved little more than a road bump in the rise of credit.
/jlne.ws/472nNEY
Trader Vitol Builds Fuel Station Network to Rival Oil Majors; Deals mean trader has a share in network of over 8,800 sites; Trading houses are investing record profits to bolster margins
Archie Hunter - Bloomberg
Vacationers filling up with gasoline in Brisbane or Durban this holiday season have a good chance of pulling into a station that's part of the growing fuel-retailing empire of the world's biggest independent oil trader. Vitol Group, a closely held company known for cutting oil deals from Kurdistan to Benghazi, made purchases this year that mean it either owns or has a share of over 8,800 gas stations worldwide. Those acquisitions give it a portfolio to rival some oil majors and will make the firm Africa's No. 2 fuel retailer.
/jlne.ws/3TqgaVF
Hong Kong Comeback Story Turns Into Terrible Year for Investors; Hang Seng Index is one of world's worst performing benchmarks; Home sales set to be lowest on record; office rents tumble
Richard Frost - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3RuBMh4
America's Sugar Shortfall Leaves Candy-Makers Scrounging
Ilena Peng - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48nCm76
Floundering Weed Stocks Test Wall Street's Faith in 2024 Rebound
Carmen Reinicke - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/481dYIC
Nasdaq Drops Zoom in Sign Pandemic-Era Darling Trade Is Over
Emily Graffeo and Brody Ford - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3tdRyoJ
Wall Street's 'Bond Vigilantes' Are at Battle as U.S. Debt Soars
Talmon Joseph Smith - The New York Times
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | COP28: the new climate commitments that really count; Beyond the headline statement, three new pledges might cut demand for fossil fuels and eliminate potent emissions
Pilita Clark and Jamie Smyth - Financial Times
Every UN climate COP ends with a mix of relief, exhaustion and bafflement. The two-week COP28 conference in Dubai was no exception. It ran nearly 24 hours over schedule and headlines centred on 34 agonisingly crafted words in the final text that called on countries to shift away from fossil fuels in energy systems. Markets do not move and change does not magically happen with such words, even though these were the first of their kind in nearly 30 years of COPs. The power of these meetings lies instead in their ability to normalise the once unthinkable, which is why exhausted delegates haggle so fiercely over a final outcome.
/jlne.ws/3RMWIkM
Protesters vs critical minerals: Panama copper fiasco shows risks to green transition; Project shutdowns are environmental coups but can be 'crippling' for developing economies
Christine Murray and Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
As protests escalated in Panama last month against one of the world's largest copper mines, including appeals from Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and climate activist Greta Thunberg, support from the country's political class quickly evaporated. Just weeks after Congress renewed the Cobre Panama mine's contract, street blockades and social media claims of irreversible environmental damage and land sales to foreigners had turned the project, which supplied 1.5 per cent of the world's copper, into political kryptonite.
/jlne.ws/3tpMiyf
Food producers turn to greener fertilisers to reduce carbon footprints; New rules next year will force companies to publish supply chains' emissions data
Susannah Savage - Financial Times
From baguettes to beer, the world's leading food and drinks makers are rushing to reduce their carbon footprint by tackling one of the hidden culprits of emissions in their value chains: fertilisers. Ahead of disclosure rules for greenhouse emissions throughout their supply chains enacted next year, companies including PepsiCo, Heineken and Nestlé have turned to green fertiliser start-ups to help tackle emission levels.
/jlne.ws/3v26Ugl
More Than 3 Million Americans Are Already Climate Migrants, Researchers Say; A new analysis finds it's not uncommon for people to move away from their street or neighborhood due to flood risk.
Leslie Kaufman - Bloomberg
Over the last two decades, as San Antonio and surrounding Bexar County, Texas, grew by more than 600,000 people, some 17% of the city's blocks experienced a decrease in population. That delta is largely due to flood risk that climate change exacerbates, according to a new report by the First Street Foundation, a data nonprofit with the mission of communicating climate hazards.
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The Biden Administration's Scaled-Back Lease Proposal For Atlantic Offshore Wind Projects Prompts Questions, Criticism
Aman Azhar - Insider Climate News
The Biden administration's latest lease offering for offshore wind projects doesn't allocate adequate acreage for Maryland and other mid-Atlantic states to achieve their legally binding emissions reduction and clean energy targets, industry groups and environmental advocates say. They believe the offering also further hobbles the offshore wind industry, which already faces supply constraints, a lack of new tax credits and high interest rates.
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UK to implement carbon levy on imported goods by 2027
Kylie Maclellan and Susanna Twidale - Reuters
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*****This story from Bloomberg.
Novo owner commits $265 mln of Wegovy windfall to respiratory diseases
Jacob Gronholt-pedersen - Reuters
/jlne.ws/483cDRC
A Shale Oil CEO's Second Act: Going Green; Tony Sanchez III rode the shale boom's highs and lows. Now, like many fossil-fuel veterans, he's betting on a shift to cleaner energy.
Phred Dvorak - The Wall Street Journal
/jlne.ws/4873I1S
Record November Warmth Means 2023 Is On Track to Be Hottest Year Ever
Brian K. Sullivan - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/48nzWFy
Hong Kong retail investors could mobilise US$18 billion for climate action by 2030: Standard Chartered
South China Morning Post
/jlne.ws/3v0yNW9
Protesters vs critical minerals: Panama copper fiasco shows risks to green transition; Project shutdowns are environmental coups but can be 'crippling' for developing economies
Christine Murray and Harry Dempsey - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3tpMiyf
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Barclays risks centuries-old ties with Cambridge university over fossil fuel financing; Students and staff are putting pressure on college bursars to find a greener bank
Stephen Morris and Kenza Bryan - Financial Times
Barclays is in danger of losing its prestigious position as the bank of Cambridge university after more than 200 years, as students and staff lobby for a greener lender. Cambridge has notified banks and asset managers that it is looking for an institution with robust climate policies to manage "several hundred million pounds" in cash and money market funds, according to a document seen by the Financial Times.
/jlne.ws/41HicDf
KKR Buys BMO's $7 Billion RV Loan Portfolio as Banks Shed Debt
Carmen Arroyo - Bloomberg
A group led by KKR & Co. has purchased a roughly $7.2 billion portfolio of recreational vehicle loans from Canada's Bank of Montreal, as private credit lenders continue to scoop up assets from financial institutions, according to a statement seen by Bloomberg. BMO started exploring the sale of the super-prime portfolio earlier this year, Bloomberg reported in October, noting KKR was among the potential bidders. BMO provided seller financing to the purchasing parties, by buying $6.4 billion of bonds backed by the RV loans KKR purchased, the statement says.
/jlne.ws/4ah6T8q
Sale of Silicon Valley Bank's Old Venture Capital Arm Hits a Snag; Creditors including Pimco and Davidson Kempner may wind up taking over SVB's roughly $10 billion venture capital business, sources say
Lauren Thomas and Alexander Saeedy - The Wall Street Journal
A process to sell the venture-capital arm of bankrupt SVB Financial, the former parent of Silicon Valley Bank, has fallen flat and creditors are now gearing up for a potential takeover of the business. Two front-runners had been vying for SVB Capital: a duo of Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital and Atlas Merchant Capital, and San Francisco private-equity firm Vector Capital, The Wall Street Journal reported in September.
/jlne.ws/3GO1Yye
Credit Suisse Disbands China Onshore Wealth Unit, Dozens Depart
Bloomberg
Credit Suisse dismissed its entire wealth management team in China, scrapping its ambition to become one of the biggest foreign money managers in the country as UBS Group AG decided not to take on the staff, people familiar with the matter said. Those let go included at least 20 relationship managers and investment consultants as well as Wang Jing, the chief executive officer of Credit Suisse's securities venture, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn't public. Some support roles were also affected, they said, without being specific on numbers. The division at one point had about 40 staff, one of the people said.
/jlne.ws/3tlyapA
Hedge Fund Titan Boaz Weinstein Gears Up For a $240 Billion Crusade; Saba pushing back against 'grotesque behavior,' Weinstein says; Fights are over how to boost share prices in closed-end funds
Yiqin Shen and Vildana Hajric - Bloomberg
In an oft-overlooked corner of the finance industry, Boaz Weinstein is waging perhaps his most ambitious battle yet. Fresh off two legal victories over fund giants BlackRock Inc. and Nuveen, Weinstein - a veteran credit derivatives trader who played a key role in taking down the London Whale - has his sights on upending the $240 billion closed-end fund industry.
/jlne.ws/475qDJw
Bond Managers Seek to Win Back Clients Sitting on $6 Trillion in Funds; Active funds covet the cash sitting in money-market funds; 'We are in a winner-takes-a lot moment' after three-year rout
Michael Mackenzie and Silla Brush - Bloomberg
/jlne.ws/3RMj06f
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | Schroders Keeps Covid-Era Flexible Working Despite London's Return to Office; Asset manager introduced flexible working policy in 2020
Olivia Konotey-Ahulu - Bloomberg
As firms across the City of London consider clamping down on working from home, Schroders Plc is sticking to its policy of letting workers decide how much time they spend in the office. "Flexible working provides a strong link to enabling women to successfully fulfil their career ambitions," Emma Carroll, head of HR business partners for the investment manager, said in emailed comments to Bloomberg News. "It was clear that a one size fits all approach would create obstacles to designing a truly inclusive workplace going forward."
/jlne.ws/3RM2EdQ
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Should I worry about my gut microbiome?; It's often overlooked and left to its own devices, but should you listen to your gut more, or is it listening to you? Here's what the science says
Joel Snape - The Guardian
Until fairly recently, the idea of listening to your gut was mostly metaphorical. The heart, lungs and liver are important to keep in good shape. But the stomach, intestines and colon? Surely they just keep chugging along, processing whatever you put into them, occasionally objecting, but basically doing their job. Well, not quite. Over the last five years or so, evidence has been piling up that the huge community of microorganisms - bacteria, viruses and fungi - that live in the gut affect everything from the immune system to mental health. We have learned that there are roughly 500m neurons in the human gut, alongside the 100bn in the brain, and research around the "gut-brain axis" - the biochemical signalling system that links your gastrointestinal tract and your central nervous system - suggests that signals go both ways between the two.
/jlne.ws/3RLOucz
'A pile of dirt makes me drool': why some people crave and eat inedible things; From chalk to rubbers and clay, there are a variety of reasons why those with pica syndrome yearn to eat non-foodstuffs. But is this dangerous?
Amy Fleming - The Guardian
Mary (not her real name), a 20-year-old from Ireland, has just kicked her habit - of eating firelighters. "I got through a box of individually wrapped ones every six months for most of my adolescence," she says, "but during exam season I would go through a box every three weeks. I would allow the firelighters to dry out in the box after opening them, as that was how I preferred them." Mary has pica (pronounced pike-a) syndrome, often classified as an eating disorder that involves consuming non-food items. But even within this condition, her version is unusual, leaving her feeling isolated. "I haven't heard of anyone else experiencing anything like it," she says. "Internet searches have led to poison hotline phone numbers or pregnancy forums, because expecting mothers often crave the smell of firelighters. But someone else must eat them like I used to."
/jlne.ws/473mq8X
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China Should Trim US Treasury Holdings, Ex-PBOC Adviser Says
Bloomberg News
China should gradually reduce its holdings of Treasuries and balance trade by boosting imports to control its exposure to US debt risks, a former adviser to its central bank said.
/jlne.ws/483Q9zY
Beleaguered China Feed Giant to Sell Poultry Stake to Raise Cash
Hallie Gu - Bloomberg
New Hope Liuhe Co., China's top animal feed maker and leading meat producer, is selling controlling stakes worth 4.2 billion yuan ($590 million) in two core operations to raise cash after heavy losses this year.
/jlne.ws/470NA0h
Russians See Egg Prices Soar Ahead of Holidays and Elections
Bloomberg
The price Russians pay for eggs has surged amid reports of shortages in some regions, prompting criticism from President Vladimir Putin and government action to secure supplies of the staple ingredient that's used in many favorite holiday dishes.
/jlne.ws/47ZleVG
BP pauses oil shipments through Red Sea after rebel attacks; Brent crude price rises nearly 2 per cent over disruption of key global trade route
Lukanyo Mnyanda and George Steer and Shotaro Tani - Financial Times
BP has become the first oil major to pause all shipments through the Red Sea, citing a "deteriorating security situation" as Yemeni rebels' attacks on ships transiting through the key global trade route escalate.
/jlne.ws/3tm06JZ
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | MacKenzie Scott surprised a nonprofit with a $2.2 million donation it didn't even apply for, as the billionaire continues to give away the bulk of her wealth
Chloe Berger - Fortune
'Tis the season, and MacKenzie Scott is no Scrooge. Formerly the richest woman in the world, Scott is speeding along on her mission to redistribute her wealth and make a difference. The philanthropist's latest donation: over $2 million to a small nonprofit in Cincinnati.
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Chaos, Injustice and Joy: This Year's College Essays About Money; Each year, we ask teenagers to send us their application essays about work, money or social class. Here are four, from California to Cambodia.
Ron Lieber - The New York Times
Some of the most basic questions about money are also central to figuring out what and who you want to be: What do I have, what do I want, how does that compare to others around me and how should I feel about it? In The New York Times's 10th year of publishing teenagers' college application essays about money, work, social class and other related topics, all four writers grappled with these questions in their own ways.
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