| September 10, 2024 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
Bloomberg is reporting that traders are on edge ahead of the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the tight 2024 US presidential race. Increased market volatility reflects investor uncertainty, especially around key economic issues like taxes, tariffs, and government spending. Trump's platform, including tax cuts and trade protectionism, contrasts sharply with Harris' proposals. Equities, bonds, and currencies are expected to react strongly depending on debate outcomes, with investors focused on volatility rather than market direction. The debate is seen as potentially pivotal for both campaigns and market sentiment.
That is a lot of words to put a lot of hot air into a lot of hot air.
BlockTower Capital has hired Samuel Gaer as a senior co-portfolio manager for its liquid trading strategy, Reuters reported. Gaer, previously the CIO at FINRA and the New York Mercantile Exchange, joined on July 31, 2024, and will work with co-founder Ari Paul. The firm manages $1.7 billion and aims to attract institutional investors such as pension funds and endowments. Earlier this year, BlockTower faced a hack that drained some of its assets, though the firm did not comment on the incident.
Here are excerpts from in front of FOW's paywall from some recent stories: The London Metal Exchange (LME) is introducing measures to protect liquidity and expand its electronic market, aiming to make it accessible for all traders, not just high-frequency ones. Meanwhile, Intercontinental Exchange will cease publishing US dollar Libor after September 30, as confirmed by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA is also working to reduce systemic risk in UK derivatives markets through new proposals on derivatives trading obligations and post-trade risk reduction services. The LME's latest whitepaper reflects ongoing efforts to align its market structure with global peers. Eurex launched futures based on four US equity indices on September 9, and Singapore Exchange saw a 4% rise in derivatives trading in August. Lastly, BGC Group plans to launch US treasury futures on its FMX venue on September 23.
There is still time to sign up for the FIA Forum: Commodities 2024, from September 16-18 in Houston. It offers a dual-track format covering key topics. The Trade & Risk Track, sponsored by AEGIS Markets, will focus on energy market changes and hedging strategies, while the Legal & Compliance Track addresses regulatory issues like CFTC enforcement and sanctions compliance. Keynote speakers include Tyler Page of Cipher Mining, discussing bitcoin mining and energy demands, and Angelina LaRose from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, presenting energy outlook insights. Networking opportunities begin with a welcome reception on Monday night.
Asset managers are increasingly using Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) for broader insights beyond traditional uses, expanding it to asset classes like fixed income and derivatives. A report from Acuiti, in collaboration with Abel Noser Solutions, found that 65% of firms have increased TCA sophistication in the past five years, using it for risk management and alpha creation. However, challenges remain, particularly with data quality and liquidity measurement. TCA is evolving into a tool for trade optimization, real-time data analysis, and insights across various asset classes.
Benjamin Bain has been promoted at Bloomberg News to managing editor of legal news. He was previously U.S. financial regulation editor team leader. He first joined Bloomberg in 2010 covering emerging markets in Latin America.
Thomas A. Lothian III has been hired as the club manager of the Lake Geneva Yacht Club. Tom is my cousin, the oldest son of my father's brother Thomas A. Lothian II and his wife Carol Ann Lothian. My uncle is a former commodore of the LGYC and my aunt was the longtime executive secretary of the club, a role that has largely been replaced by that of the club manager. Tom grew up at the club, taking sailing lessons and racing cub boats. He was later hired as the driver of the committee boat, which holds the racing committee members who run the various sailboat races. His daughter Elizabeth has been holding that job in recent years. The retiring commodore of the club is Thomas S. Freytag, co-founder of Geneva Trading.
Congratulations to the unsinkable Molly McGregor, who started a new position as senior vice president of marketing and sales enablement for Donnelley Financial Solutions, which offers risk and compliance solutions.
The next time you have a French baguette in New York, it might really be French. Despite a poor harvest, French wheat is being exported to the US, with 27,000 tons recently sent to Albany, New York, where Ardent Mills operates. US flour mills are increasingly turning to European wheat due to declining domestic production, making imports cheaper than sourcing grain from Kansas, Bloomberg reported. This shipment adds to over 53,000 tons of European wheat sent to the US since July, reflecting a growing trend. France, facing one of its worst wheat crops in 40 years, has struggled in closer markets, but gained US buyers, offering a positive outlook for French exporters.
James Earl Jones, the iconic actor known for his deep voice and roles such as Darth Vader and Mufasa, passed away at 93, The Wall Street Journal reported. Overcoming a childhood stutter, he built a career spanning eight decades, starring in films like Field of Dreams and Broadway's Fences. He earned numerous accolades, including Tony Awards and an Oscar nomination for The Great White Hope. Jones' voice work in Star Wars and The Lion King remains his most famous contribution, solidifying his legacy in cinema history.
I loved the movies he appeared in and some are among my favorites of all-time, including Field of Dreams.
Summer is over and September is here, which means it is Oktoberfest time. The Wall Street Journal is here with a story titled "The Best Oktoberfest Beers for Crisp Fall Days and Where to Drink Them." The subheadline is "Just in time for the moment in the year when we begin to crave beers with character, these American breweries are redefining the German rite of Oktoberfest and the brews that go with it, from malty Marzen to floral festbier."
In health news, the New York Post reports that a lawsuit filed in Manhattan claims that Trojan condoms contain harmful PFAS chemicals, known as "forever chemicals," which are linked to cancer. The plaintiff, Matthew Goodman, alleges that lab tests found PFAS in Trojan Ultra Thin condoms, making them unsafe for their intended use. The suit seeks at least $5 million in damages, arguing that consumers would have paid less or avoided the product had they known about the chemicals. Church & Dwight, the manufacturer, has not yet responded to the claims.
Andrew Ackerman is leaving The Wall Street Journal to join The Washington Post. Ackerman has been with the Journal for the past 13 years covering financial regulation in Washington. The Post said he "will be joining the Economics team to cover the Federal Reserve and financial regulatory policy."
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:
- Options Markets Laser-Focused on Fed Before Election Takes Over from Bloomberg.
- The Boom in Zero-Day Options Is Coming for Tesla and Nvidia from The Wall Street Journal.
- S&P 500 just saw its worst first week of September since 1953, this chart shows from MarketWatch. ~JB
Subscribe to the JLN Options Newsletter HERE (it's free).
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 STA President Reflects on Market Structure Changes and Industry Challenges JohnLothianNews.com As the financial industry grapples with a flurry of regulatory proposals and looming political changes, Jim Toes, President and CEO of the Security Traders Association (STA), offered a measured perspective on the road ahead. Watch the video »
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 LaSalle Street Racing to Move Scouts Forward Fundraiser www.tinyurl.com/LaSalle4Scouts On September 25, the Pathway to Adventure Council of the Boy Scouts of America is hosting the LaSalle Street Racing to Move Scouts Forward event at the Chicago Board of Trade Building. This annual tradition, dating back to 1971, brings together professionals from LaSalle Street to support Scouting in our community. The highlight of the evening will be a pinewood derby race. You'll have the opportunity to build your own car or lease one at the event. It's a fantastic way to tap into your competitive spirit while enjoying cocktails and delicious food with colleagues and friends. Your participation will directly benefit Scouting programs that help develop leadership skills and character in our youth. There are various sponsorship levels available to suit your preferences. The event will be held at Ceres, with plans to move outdoors if weather permits. It's a perfect opportunity to network, have fun, and make a difference. Click Here to Register »
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China's future bankers battle 'shame' over derided profession; Government crackdown on financiers is deterring next generation from career once viewed as source of prestige
Cheng Leng and Tina Hu - Financial Times
One of China's best-known finance professors had a surprising call for the country's next generation of bankers when they graduated this summer: there was no need to be ashamed of their choice of profession. "Some people have started to think that the finance industry is worthless because it does not seem to involve hardcore technology, or because it supposedly creates unnecessary transactional costs," said Li Feng, deputy dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Advanced Institute of Finance, in a hall filled with 800 finance graduates.
/jlne.ws/4ecoa3G
****** Shame, an occupational hazard. ~JJL
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Conservative activist launches $1bn crusade to 'crush' liberal America; Leonard Leo was architect of effort to secure conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court
Alex Rogers - Financial Times
The conservative activist who led the crusade to overhaul the US legal system is making a $1bn push to "crush liberal dominance" across corporate America and in the country's news and entertainment sectors. In a rare interview, Leonard Leo, the architect of the rightward shift on the Supreme Court under Donald Trump, said his non-profit advocacy group, the Marble Freedom Trust, was ready to confront the private sector in addition to the government.
/jlne.ws/47jQ1g6
****** I just love hubris.~JJL
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Monday's Top Three
Our top clicked item Monday was David Weild IV's Remembering 9/11 - First in a Series - The People, his memory of the attacks on 9/11/2001, on LinkedIn. Weild was the vice chairman of Nasdaq at the time. Second was We Tested 5 of the Best Budgeting Methods. Here's What We Found, from The Wall Street Journal's "Buy Side." Third was David Weild Speaks to JLN About the JOBS Act and What it Accomplished and the Challenges We Still Face, a podcast John Lothian did in 2023.
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| Lead Stories | The Shadow Dollar That's Fueling the Financial Underworld; Cryptocurrency Tether enables a parallel economy that operates beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement
Angus Berwick and Ben Foldy - The Wall Street Journal
A giant unregulated currency is undermining America's fight against arms dealers, sanctions busters and scammers. Almost as much money flowed through its network last year as through Visa cards. And it has recently minted more profit than BlackRock, with a tiny fraction of the workforce. Its name: tether. The cryptocurrency has grown into an important cog in the global financial system, with as much as $190 billion changing hands daily. In essence, tether is a digital U.S. dollar-though one privately controlled in the British Virgin Islands by a secretive crew of owners, with its activities largely hidden from governments.
/jlne.ws/4ek7o30
Crypto Fraud Increased 45% Last Year to $5.6 Billion, FBI Says; The FBI received more than 69,000 complaints from users; Most money was lost in investment scams, the FBI found
Olga Kharif - Bloomberg
Consumers lost more than $5.6 billion last year through cryptocurrency-related fraud, according to an estimate from the US Federal Bureau of Investigations - a 45% jump from 2022. The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received nearly 69,500 complaints from consumers in the US and abroad last year, according to a report published Monday. While the number of cryptocurrency-related complaints represented about 10% of the total number of financial fraud complaints, associated losses added up to almost 50% of the total losses, according to the report.
/jlne.ws/3Tij0Lt
SEC Fines Seven Companies for Violations to Whistleblower-Protections Rules; Companies will pay a combined $3 million over employment agreements and separation releases with language that could deter whistleblowers from coming forward, the agency says
Mengqi Sun - The Wall Street Journal
The Securities and Exchange Commission has continued its crackdown on companies over language in their employment and separation agreements that could discourage whistleblowers from coming forward. On Monday, the SEC fined seven public companies-in industries ranging from healthcare to software-more than $3 million combined, alleging their employment, separation and other agreements contain confidentiality clauses that violated SEC whistleblower-protection rules, including requiring employees to waive their right to possible whistleblower monetary awards.
/jlne.ws/4dW5qWv
China's $6.5 Trillion Stock Rout Worsens Economic Peril for Xi; Chinese equities trail global ones for a fourth year running; CSI 300 Index is near the lowest level since early 2019
Abhishek Vishnoi and Winnie Hsu - Bloomberg
A deepening selloff in Chinese stocks is exacerbating a crisis of confidence in the world's second-largest economy, heaping pressure on policymakers to halt the downward spiral. A benchmark index of the nation's onshore shares is near the lowest levels since January 2019, yet another reflection of the depth of the market gloom. Down almost 7% this year, the CSI 300 Index is staring at an unprecedented fourth annual drop, while an MSCI Inc. gauge of Chinese stocks is heading for its longest stretch of underperformance versus global equities since the turn of the century.
/jlne.ws/3ZhKjcG
JPMorgan Leads Wall Street's Capital Pivot Ahead of Basel Endgame Rules; Banks redeem preferred shares as they have capital to spare; Scaled back proposals reduce lenders' need for surplus capital
Tasos Vossos - Bloomberg
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is leading a historic retreat from preferred shares as Wall Street lenders re-jig their balance sheets ahead of new rules that are set to be significantly watered down. The bank is planning to repay a $1.6 billion issue next month, at which point it will have reduced its preferred equity by more than a quarter this year. Bank of America Corp. has also redeemed billions of dollars more than it has raised this year, cutting the securities by about 13%. Preferreds are subordinated securities that - similar to Europe's Additional Tier 1 bonds - count toward regulatory capital.
/jlne.ws/3XnbKiC
World's Top Oil Traders See Boom Years Fade as Volatility Tanks; Shocks from Covid-19, Russia-Ukraine war have diminished; Prices set for narrowest range since 2004 so far this year
Archie Hunter, Devika Krishna Kumar, and Serene Cheong - Bloomberg
The world's top commodity merchants are grappling with a tougher environment for trading oil as seismic market events of the past few years start to lose their impact. The slowdown is being felt everywhere, from the likes of Glencore Plc and Gunvor Group - where profits are down - to hedge fund boss Pierre Andurand, who ditched oil trades for bets on copper and cocoa. While industry titans are still profitable, these are no longer the blockbuster figures banked since 2020.
/jlne.ws/3zaCOK8
Make Europe (securitisation) great again; And lets have a European SEC while we're at it
Robin Wigglesworth - Financial Times
Europe pioneered mortgage-backed bonds before the US was even born, but today its securitised bond market is a runt compared to America's. Mario Draghi thinks that should change. MainFT has already written up the main gist of Draghi's The Future of European Competitiveness report, but FTAV couldn't resist a deeper look at it to see if it was all the usual guff that has been said many many times before. Luckily, several sections caught our eye.
/jlne.ws/3XzWccK
Buy-side increasingly utilising TCA outside equities; While 76% of asset managers use TCA for regulatory and compliance purposes, more advanced and sophisticated use cases are continuing to gain traction, according to an Acuiti report.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
While Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) remains most widely used in equities due to the availability of necessary data and standardisation being most mature in this asset class, asset managers are now increasingly utilising the strategy outside this sphere. According to a recent Acuiti report, fixed income and equity derivatives specifically are asset classes where surveyed asset managers confirmed they commonly apply TCA.
/jlne.ws/4dUXVzj
BlockTower hires veteran tech executive as co-portfolio manager
Reuters
Digital assets investment firm BlockTower Capital Advisors has hired veteran technology executive Samuel Gaer as a senior co-portfolio manager for the liquid trading strategy, it said on Monday.Gaer was until recently managing his own money at proprietary quantitative firm Katana Financial. Prior in his career, he was chief information officer (CIO) at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) and former CIO at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The executive, who joined BlockTower on July 31, said he is working alongside co-founder and co-CIO Ari Paul. The firm had $1.7 billion in assets under management in December.
/jlne.ws/3XbW81m
Sophistication of TCA application rises among asset managers
Trading Technologies
Asset managers are increasingly using Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA) to drive insights beyond traditional uses as well as expanding the scope of asset classes covered, a report from Acuiti has found. TCA is a crucial tool for asset managers that has risen in importance as costs have escalated, regulatory requirements have been imposed and increased competition has put a spotlight on execution efficiency. In order to better understand how asset managers are adapting their approaches to TCA, Acuiti partnered with Abel Noser Solutions, a Trading Technologies (TT) company, to conduct a study into how firms are evolving their strategies. The whitepaper, The Growing Sophistication of Transaction Cost Analysis, is based on a survey of senior executives at 64 asset management firms across the global market, released prior to TT's second annual TT Connect event in London on Thursday: Unlocking Profit with Data & Analytics.
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U.K. Hedge Fund Tycoon Buys The Spectator Magazine; Paul Marshall, a multimillionaire founder and investor in upstart conservative media outlets, has bought the right-wing British magazine in a deal worth about $131 million.
Stephen Castle and Mark Landler - The New York Times
The Spectator, a 196-year-old magazine with a prominent place in British political life and longstanding ties to the Conservative Party, was on Tuesday sold to a hedge fund tycoon whose media interests also include a right-wing TV channel that has antagonized the country's broadcasting regulator. In a deal worth 100 million pounds, or $131 million, Paul Marshall, a press-shy multimillionaire who made his fortune through the hedge fund he co-founded, Marshall Wace, took control of The Spectator.
/jlne.ws/4ghQHqC
Spectrum Markets enhances offering through sino partnership; Through the collaboration, Spectrum Markets is expanding its client reach while providing sino clients with increased trading hours.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
Spectrum Markets and German high-end brokerage sino AG have announced a new partnership to enhance their respective trading offerings. Through the collaboration, Spectrum Markets is expanding its client reach across Europe to include high-end retail traders while sino clients will benefit from increased trading hours - 24/5 capabilities - for the first time.
/jlne.ws/3MFuGEz
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Ukraine is fielding machine-gun turrets remotely controlled by the Steam Deck video game system made for playing Halo
Chris Panella - Insider
Ukraine appears to be using a very popular video game system for an unusual purpose: remotely controlling gun turrets. The use of the Steam Deck platform to control the unmanned machine-gun systems highlights the continued influence of modern technologies in the Ukraine war, something also evident in the prevalence of drones. It also highlights the tendency to employ systems in ways outside of what they were intended to do, as is the case here.
/jlne.ws/3ATMoBI
Kremlin opponent Kara-Murza urges against 'face-saving exit' for Putin in Ukraine war: AFP
AFP
A leading opponent of Vladimir Putin, freed in a prisoner swap last month, on Monday urged the West against allowing the Russian leader any "face-saving" way out of the war against Ukraine, saying the end of his quarter-century rule was the only solution for peace. Vladimir Kara-Murza, who had been serving a 25-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony on treason and other charges after denouncing the invasion of Ukraine, was one of 16 Russian dissidents and foreign nationals freed on August 1 in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
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A woman is killed near Moscow as over 140 Ukrainian drones target Russia, officials say
The Associated Press
Over 140 Ukrainian drones targeted multiple Russian regions overnight, including Moscow and surrounding areas, killing at least one person and injuring eight, officials said Tuesday, in one of the biggest drone attacks on Russian soil in the 2 1/2-year war. A woman died in the town of Ramenskoye, just outside Moscow, where drones hit two multistory residential buildings and started fires, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. Five residential buildings were evacuated due to falling drone debris, Vorobyov said.
/jlne.ws/3XBcKky
Russia Faces Mass Drone Attack That Shut Moscow Airports
Bloomberg
Russia said it downed 144 drones early Tuesday, including in the Moscow region, where the attack caused airports in the capital temporarily to halt flights. Anti-missile systems downed 20 drones in the Moscow region alone, Russia's Defense Ministry said.
/jlne.ws/4egvnQt
Russia Kicks Off Major Naval Combat Drills That China Will Join; Exercises by more than 400 ships planned in five locations; Codename 'Ocean' echoes largest Soviet-era postwar navy drills
Bloomberg News
The Russian Navy started major drills that are planned to involve more than 400 vessels in multiple locations and showcase its cooperation with the Chinese military. Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to join the exercises, known as Ocean 2024, via videolink from the Kremlin on Tuesday, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax news service.
/jlne.ws/3XzWq3A
Europe Braces for Last of Ukraine's Russian Gas Deliveries
Priscila Azevedo Rocha, Elena Mazneva and Anna Shiryaevskaya - Bloomberg
With more than 22,000 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, Ukraine has been a key player in Europe's energy markets for decades. But by the end of the year, those strategic assets might be stranded. While talks are intensifying ahead of the heating season, an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv to move Russian gas to Europe is unlikely to be renewed before it expires in December. That would halt flows, which continued through more than two years of the full-scale invasion, hitting the market at a critical period.
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World's largest uranium miner warns Ukraine war makes it harder to supply west; Pull towards Russia and China grows stronger, says boss of Kazatomprom
Harry Dempsey and Anastasia Stognei - Financial Times
/jlne.ws/3Xne5tU
More Ukrainians Want to Negotiate an End to the War. Soldiers Don't Agree; The debate highlights a tension in Ukrainian society between those who are in combat and those who aren't
Ian Lovett - The Wall Street Journal
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| Israel/Hamas Conflict | | News about the recent (October, 2023) conflict between Israel and Hamas | Israel Says Its Forces Likely Shot 'Unintentionally' at Slain American Activist; The Israeli military expressed regret over the killing of Aysenur Eygi, a young American who was participating in a protest in the occupied West Bank.
Adam Rasgon - The New York Times
The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it was highly likely that a slain American-Turkish activist was "unintentionally" struck by Israeli fire last week at a protest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and expressed regret over her killing. In a statement describing its initial inquiry into the matter, the military said that it had meant to target a person it described as a "key instigator" of the protest, which it called "a violent riot."
/jlne.ws/3zg1OQ5
Hostages Still Held by Hamas Are in 'Grave Danger,' Families Warn; Six hostages who were found dead in Gaza recently had been held in narrow tunnels and suffered from malnutrition, family members said, citing an Israeli military investigation.
Ephrat Livni - The New York Times
A group representing the families of hostages in Gaza - including six captives whose bodies the Israeli military recently retrieved from a tunnel there - say that harrowing details about the conditions of their captivity indicate that those still held by Hamas are in "grave danger." The Hostages Families Forum, which represents relatives of many of the captives, said in a statement on Monday that families of the six dead hostages had been briefed on an Israeli military investigation that described some of the conditions their loved ones endured. The information, the group said, exposed "an utterly horrific reality."
/jlne.ws/3AZl0SG
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | New Whitepaper Emphasizes the Benefits of Credit-Sensitive Rates
AFX
The American Financial Exchange (AFX), a self-regulated exchange that provides banks and financial institutions a marketplace for overnight unsecured interbank lending and borrowing, announced today that it has published new research in coordination with the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Marco Macchiavelli, Assistant Professor of Finance with the Isenberg School of Management and former Principal Economist at the Federal Reserve. The whitepaper examines reference rate options following the cessation of LIBOR in July 2023.
/jlne.ws/3B6ZlrE
IBEX 35 companies increase share redemptions by 6.6% in the first half of the year
BME-X
Spain's large listed companies continue to increase their treasury stock and the pace of their share redemption plans. This is confirmed by the report published today by BME's Research Department, which analyses data from last year and the end of the first half of 2024. IBEX 35 companies ended last year with a level of treasury stock representing 1.03% of their total market capitalization, the second highest figure in the last six years. This value has grown to 1.69% of capitalization in the first half of 2024.
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New Product Summary: Initial Listing of the Henry Hub Natural Gas Weekly Futures Contract - Effective October 14, 2024
CME Group
Initial Listing of the Henry Hub Natural Gas Weekly Futures Contract
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Supervisory Board Chairman Martin Jetter to resign after the Annual General Meeting 2025
Deutsche Boerse
The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG, Martin Jetter, has informed the company that he will resign from his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Member of the Supervisory Board at the end of the Annual General Meeting 2025. Martin Jetter said: "I was appointed to the Supervisory Board in 2018 and elected as its chairman in 2020 and 2024. I became chairman at an eventful time. Next year, I will have led the Supervisory Board for five years and all the challenges that existed and were foreseeable were overcome. The company is stable in terms of personnel and business, and is on the right track.
/jlne.ws/3B7dAg5
Closing Financial Literacy Gap, JSE Empowers South Africans to Claim Dividends
JSE
This campaign seeks to empower individuals financially, enabling them to claim their rightful benefits. In 2022, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority's (FSCA) research revealed that there's nearly R88.56 billion in unclaimed assets across the financial sector, with a significant portion tied to unclaimed retirement benefits. In South Africa, these unclaimed funds disproportionately impact underserved communities where poor record keeping has led to untraceable ownership.
/jlne.ws/4gmCpVQ
Cautious on Economy & the Election, US Investors Empowered by Index Funds & Financial Advisors
LSEG
FTSE Russell has released the results of its US Wealth survey today, a follow-up to its 2022 report. While the findings reveal caution about the economy and US presidential election, investors in index funds have a more optimistic outlook and are more satisfied with their performance than non-index fund investors. In addition, those working with financial advisors report a high level of satisfaction and are more confident this election year.
/jlne.ws/4dWroZE
LSEG & Perennial Partners Announce Strategic Collaboration to Enhance Investment & Trading Workflows
LSEG
LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) today announced a strategic collaboration with investment management firm, Perennial Partners, to provide a seamless end-to-end offering for buy-side workflow. In collaboration with Perennial, LSEG combined its portfolio management tools and Workspace desktop to create a single space for Perennial's traders to monitor their portfolios in real-time and explore pre-trade data, news and analytics. This is seamlessly integrated at the point of trade through a combination of LSEG's order and execution management tools and its trade-routing capabilities.
/jlne.ws/4cXmKJr
Miami International Holdings Reports Trading Results for August 2024; YTD Volumes Reach Record Levels on MIAX Options, MIAX Emerald and MIAX Pearl Equities Exchanges
MIAX
Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes, today reported August 2024 trading results for its U.S. exchange subsidiaries - MIAX®, MIAX Pearl® MIAX Emerald, and MIAX SapphireTM (collectively, the MIAX Exchange Group), and Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX).
/jlne.ws/3z2jleJ
Nodal Exchange to Launch New Carbon and REC Contracts in Collaboration with IncubEx
Nodal Exchange
The Alberta Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Emission Performance Credits (EPC) futures contract physically delivers credits issued to obligated entities for the difference between their allocated and reported emissions for the compliance period. Nodal also plans to list a set of new REC futures products that complement its current broad portfolio of REC futures and options.
/jlne.ws/3TnOmjT
Circular of Shanghai International Energy Exchange on Trading Adjustments for the Mid-Autumn Festival 2024
SHFE
Shanghai International Energy Exchange has released its Circular on Trading Adjustments for the Mid-Autumn Festival 2024 as follows: In accordance with the Trading Schedule during National Holidays for Year 2024, Shanghai International Energy Exchange (hereinafter referred to as "INE") hereby notifies the trading adjustments for the Mid-Autumn Festival 2024 as follows:
/jlne.ws/3Xntr1A
Toronto Stock Exchange Unveils the 2024 TSX30, Recognizing the Companies Powering Canada's Economy
TSX
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) today announced its sixth annual TSX30, a ranking of the top 30 performing companies based on dividend-adjusted share price performance over a three-year period. The 2024 list underscores how these companies are driving advancements in sectors such as energy, electrification, and critical minerals, while delivering strong investor returns and shaping Canada's economy.
/jlne.ws/3Xj1A2E
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Advantage Futures migrates to ION's XTP; ION's cleared derivatives trade processing platform, XTP, offers real-time, post-trade capabilities; the onboarding of Advantage Futures to the platform was completed in record time.
Claudia Preece - The Trade
High volume futures commission merchant (FCM), Advantage Futures, has become the latest to migrate its legacy back-office solution to ION's cleared derivatives trade processing platform, XTP. The move comes as the FCM sought a solution which could provide extensive automation across clearing and settlement workflows.
/jlne.ws/3Zh8vfm
FINBOURNE Technology increases funding total to over £100 million; Secondary funding round has enabled six investors to follow-on from their original investment and four additional investors to join the group of firms with a stake in FINBOURNE.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
FINBOURNE Technology has completed a secondary funding round which follows a Series B funding round of £55 million in June this year. The secondary funding round brings the total to over £100 million, making it one of the largest series B raises in the UK.
/jlne.ws/4gmDVHw
Digital Vega and CME Group launch new FX options block trading service; Service will enable buy-side participants to use existing OTC workflows on Digital Vega's multi-bank platform to request quotes and trade blocks of FX options on futures.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
FX options e-trading platform Digital Vega and CME Group have launched a new FX options block trading service. The new offering will allow buy-side participants to use existing OTC workflows on Digital Vega's multi-bank platform Medusa to request quotes and trade blocks of FX options on futures.
/jlne.ws/47nSCFR
MarketAxess extends BlackRock partnership to enhance credit markets connectivity; Expanded partnership will see improved trading experiences through the integration of select MarketAxess credit protocols natively within the Aladdin platform.
Wesley Bray - The Trade
MarketAxess has expanded its decade-long partnership with BlackRock to integrate its credit trading protocols, pricing and data into the latter's Aladdin order execution management system (OEMS). The new connectivity will offer mutual clients an enhanced trading experience through the integration of select MarketAxess credit protocols natively within the Aladdin platform.
/jlne.ws/3AZi4Wl
Axoni Unveils Hydratm - A New Era For Real-time Data Replication In Capital Markets
Axoni
Axoni, a leading provider of trade workflow applications and real-time data replication technology, today announced the rebranding of its flagship data platform, AxCore, to "HYDRA." This rebranding marks a significant step in Axoni's product evolution, delivering unparalleled solutions for secure, real-time data replication across financial institutions. HYDRA is trusted by many of the world's largest Central Counterparty Clearing Houses (CCPs) and leading sell-side and buy-side firms.
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China's AI industry could see US$1.4 trillion in investment in 6 years, executive says
South China Morning Post
China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry could pour more than 10 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) into developing the technology in the next six years, according to Chen Liang, chairman of the state-backed investment vehicle China International Capital Corporation (CICC). Chen made the comments on Sunday during a talk at the International China Investment Forum, organised by the municipal government of Xiamen, in northeastern Fujian province, and co-sponsored by CICC. China's AI market still has significant room for growth and investment, he added.
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Learning to Manage People by Talking to a Bot; One company is using AI to reinvent the B-school case study method.
Robb Mandelbaum - Bloomberg
Two emails summed up the situation with Peter Choi. One was from Peter himself, which began by asking if I was "working hard, or hardly working?" and then sought permission to attend a conference in Denver, which would give him "an excuse to break out my ski gear." Peter was a longtime, trusted employee, but lately the joking seemed to mask a sharp decline in his performance. The second email came from a client complaining about some shoddy work Peter had turned in. As Peter's manager, I would have to address both at today's check-in and make a decision: either send him to the conference, with or without conditions, or not-and maybe even propose a formal intervention.
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Oracle Cloud Growth Could Cement Wall Street's Next AI Favorite
Ryan Vlastelica - Bloomberg
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | China poised to embed 'Communist Party spies' inside US firms - including Microsoft, critics warn
Thomas Barrabi - NY Post
China's government has positioned itself to embed "Communist Party spies" at Microsoft and other US companies that do business in the country - and further expose them to theft of trade secrets, employee poaching and even scary intimidation tactics, The Post has learned. A new version of Beijing's "company law" that took effect July 1 - a clampdown that has seen scant coverage in the Western press, according to experts - requires multinational firms with more than 300 workers in the country to appoint an "employee representative" to their China affiliate's board of directors.
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Russia to Spend $646 Million to Block VPNs, Forbes Reports; Russia passed a law in 2019 to enable the country to cut itself off entirely from the internet.
Bloomberg News
Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor plans to spend 59 billion rubles ($644 million) over the next five years to upgrade its internet traffic-filtering capabilities, the Russian edition of Forbes reported on Tuesday. The money will be used to upgrade hardware used to filter internet traffic, as well as block or slow down certain resources, Forbes reported, citing documents. Russia passed a law in 2019 to enable the country to cut itself off entirely from the internet, in what it calls a campaign to maintain its digital sovereignty. Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin forced out several foreign social media and internet companies, although many services remain accessible via virtual private networks, or VPNs.
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He Scammed People for Their Money. He Was Also a Victim; A Ugandan man named Jalil Muyeke traveled to Thailand for a promising job opportunity. He ended up being trafficked into a cybercrime operation.
Tara Siegel Bernard - The New York Times
Internet scammers steal billions from Americans each year. In one workroom in Southeast Asia, where dozens of fraudsters trolled dating apps for fresh victims, they would beat a giant drum and chant each time they successfully duped someone into sending them money. "It was a whole celebration," said Jalil Muyeke, a 32-year-old from Uganda who witnessed the festivities from inside a compound in Myanmar.
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Bitcoin miners got kicked out of China. Now they're sucking America dry.
Taylor Dorrell - Business Insider
China used to be the crypto capital of the world. Thanks to the cheap energy and friendly regulations, mining companies flocked to set up shop in a country reluctantly playing host to the energy-intensive process of creating coins and validating transactions. In 2019, despite some regulation and a ban on initial coin offerings years prior, China's leader, Xi Jinping, called for widespread implementation of blockchain technology to support the country's quest for secure and reliable data systems, boosting blockchain research and further propelling China ahead of the US. At its peak, in 2021, the country accounted for almost 70% of global cryptocurrency mining.
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Justice Alito's Stock Portfolio Stands Apart on US Supreme Court
Emily Birnbaum - Bloomberg
Justice Samuel Alito is the only US Supreme Court member with a stake in more than two dozen individual companies, a distinction that threatens to sideline him from major business cases. Alito or his wife own tens of thousands of dollars of stock in companies including Raytheon Co., ConocoPhillips and a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The holdings may force him to recuse as oil companies challenge lawsuits blaming them for climate change and J&J tries to settle talc lawsuits by placing a subsidiary into bankruptcy. Alito's 2023 financial disclosure report was publicly released last week and shows he continues to own stock in over two dozen companies. Supreme Court disclosures extend to financial interests of spouses and dependent children. In Alito's case, the filings don't clarify whether the stocks are owned by the justice or his wife.
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Donald Trump escalates tariff threat in vow to protect dollar; Ex-president's latest broadside warns countries to stick with US currency in trades or face 100% levy
James Politi, Colby Smith and Aime Williams and Andy Bounds - Financial Times
Donald Trump is escalating his threats to increase tariffs on imports if he wins a second term in the White House, reviving fears of renewed trade wars that hit the global economy during his presidency. The Republican candidate, seeking to win blue-collar votes in swing states pivotal to November's presidential election, has doubled down on his protectionist rhetoric, delivering blunt warnings of tariffs to US trading partners including the EU.
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The Billionaire Backers; The richest Americans have so far given more to Trump than to Harris in the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Kristine Owram and Bill Allison - Bloomberg
As Election Day approaches, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will be judged on their personality, policies and experience. Money is needed to get that message out to voters. And while both campaigns have raised millions from small donors and billionaires, it's the latter whose power and influence can have an outsized impact on any potential administration.
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Trump Is the Only One Threatening the Dollar; Contrary to the former president's claims, countries aren't abandoning the greenback, though they might if he ever made good on his tariff bluster.
Robert Burgess - Bloomberg Opinion
Donald Trump's strategy for reelection is centered on speaking to the deepest, darkest fears of Americans. In his view, migrants streaming over the border are taking jobs away from Americans, especially Black workers (whatever that means). They're not. Crime, he asserts, is way up. It's down. The economy, he claims, is in shambles. The opposite is more accurate.
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The EU buys too much defense equipment abroad, especially from the US, a major report says
Lorne Cook - Associated Press
European Union countries are buying too much of their defense equipment abroad, almost two thirds of it in the United States, and failing to invest enough in joint military projects, a landmark report on EU competitiveness warned on Monday. The 27 member states are also failing to make best use of Europe's research and development capacities to modernize their armed forces, with just a fraction the level of U.S. investment, said the report by former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.
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Russia's Espionage War in the Arctic; For years, Russia has been using the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, which borders its nuclear stronghold, as a laboratory, testing intelligence operations there before replicating them across Europe.
Ben Taub - The New Yorker
It was polar winter, one long night. The lakes had frozen in the Far North, and the foxes and the grouse had shed their brown fur and feathers in favor of Arctic white. To survive the months of snow and ice, predators resort to camouflage and deception. But so do their prey.
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | Former Swedbank CEO Sentenced to Prison for Gross Swindling
Jonas Ekblom - Bloomberg
Swedbank AB's former chief executive officer, Birgitte Bonnesen, was sentenced to a year and three months in prison for gross swindling related to her statements on the lender's efforts to combat money-laundering. A Swedish appeals court on Tuesday concluded that Bonnesen, who helmed the bank between 2016 and 2019, "disseminated misleading statements" in media interviews in connection with its third-quarter report in 2018.
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Ex-Samsung Execs Arrested for Allegedly Stealing Tech for China; Police accuse two former execs of stealing trade secrets
Yoolim Lee - Bloomberg
South Korean police have arrested two former Samsung Electronics Co. officials on suspicion of stealing technologies worth more than 4.3 trillion won ($3.2 billion) to build a copycat chipmaking plant in China. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday described how the pair had collaborated with local Chinese officials to build a semiconductor facility. One of the two, identified as a 66-year-old surnamed Choi, recruited South Korean chip experts and leaked Samsung memory technologies via a joint venture, the police said in a statement.
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Ex-Glencore executives appear in court on corruption charges; Commodity trader's billionaire former head of oil Alex Beard plans to plead not guilty to charges, say lawyers
Suzi Ring and Tom Wilson - Financial Times
Glencore's billionaire ex-head of oil and five other former executives appeared in a London court for the first time to face corruption charges over the UK-listed commodity trader's business in Africa. Alex Beard, 57, who became a billionaire when Glencore listed in 2011, was in the dock at Westminster magistrates' court on Tuesday alongside former colleagues Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, Martin Wakefield and David Perez after the UK Serious Fraud Office announced the charges last month.
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UK regulator charges man with unlawfully running crypto ATMs; Move by Financial Conduct Authority marks first criminal prosecution for activity widely used for money laundering
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
The UK's financial regulator has charged a man with unlawfully running a network of crypto ATMs, its first criminal prosecution for an activity that is widely used for money laundering. The Financial Conduct Authority said on Tuesday that it had charged Olumide Osunkoya, a 45-year-old living in London, with running multiple crypto ATMs that had allegedly not been registered with the watchdog.
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Federal Court Orders Israeli Man to Disgorge $7 Million in Gains from Fraudulent Binary Options Scheme
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a consent order requiring Yakov Cohen to disgorge $7 million in ill-gotten gains received from his participation in a fraudulent binary options scheme. The order resolves the allegations against Cohen in the CFTC's August 12, 2019 lawsuit against Cohen and co-defendants Yossi Herzog, Lee Elbaz, Shalom Peretz, Yukom Communications Ltd., Linkopia Mauritius Ltd., Wirestech Limited d/b/a BigOption, WSB Investments Ltd., d/b/a BinaryBook, and Zolarex Ltd, d/b/a BinaryOnline. [See CFTC Press Release No. 7995-19] The lawsuit is pending against the co-defendants.
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SEC Charges Nine Investment Advisers in Ongoing Sweep into Marketing Rule Violations; Firms made untrue or unsubstantiated claims or lacked required disclosures
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against nine registered investment advisers for violating the Marketing Rule by disseminating advertisements that included untrue or unsubstantiated statements of material fact or testimonials, endorsements, or third-party ratings that lacked required disclosures. All nine firms have agreed to settle the SEC's charges and to pay $1,240,000 in combined civil penalties.
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SEC Charges Seven Public Companies with Violations of Whistleblower Protection Rule
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against seven public companies for using employment, separation, and other agreements that violated rules prohibiting actions to impede whistleblowers from reporting potential misconduct to the SEC. To settle the SEC's charges, the companies agreed to pay more than $3 million combined in civil penalties.
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SEC Approves a New PCAOB Quality Control Standard; New standard is designed to drive registered public accounting firms to significantly improve their quality control systems
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's (PCAOB) new quality control (QC) standard and related amendments to its standards, rules, and forms.
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SEC Publishes Small Business Educational Resources About Income Statements and Balance Sheets
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation this week released new educational resources for small business owners that explore the anatomy of income statements and balance sheets.
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Remarks before the 2024 AICPA & CIMA Conference on Banks & Savings Institutions: Accounting for Crypto-Asset Safeguarding Obligations-A Facts-Based Analysis
Paul Munter, Chief Accountant - SEC
Thank you to the AICPA for inviting me to speak with you today. Let me begin by saying that I am here in my official capacity as the Chief Accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the views I express here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners or other members of the staff.
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Statement on Quality Control in Auditing
Chair Gary Gensler - SEC
Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering whether to approve a final standard regarding the quality control systems of audit firms. I am pleased to approve this standard because it will improve the quality control systems of auditors, and thus better protect investors. Without high-quality audits, investors won't receive complete and truthful financial disclosures. Without strong quality control systems, auditors can't consistently conduct high-quality audits.
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Modernizing Audit Firm Quality Control Standards
Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga - SEC
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted unanimously in the U.S. Senate and nearly unanimously in the U.S. House, explicitly required the PCAOB ("Board") to establish, and modify, quality control ("QC") standards. This important law required the Board to establish expert advisory boards to make recommendations on QC standards. When registering with the Board, auditing firms are required to include a statement on QC policies. And when inspecting audit firms, the Board is required to evaluate QC systems.
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Statement on the PCAOB's Quality Control Standard - QC 1000
Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda - SEC
Thank you, Chair Gensler. Today, the Commission considers whether to approve an updated standard of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the "PCAOB" or the "Board") governing audit firms' quality control ("QC") systems.
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Statement in Support of QC 1000, A Firm's System of Quality Control
Commissioner Caroline A. Crenshaw - SEC
Today the Commission will vote on amendments to existing Quality Control standards ("QC Amendments") that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("the Board") adopted earlier this year.
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SEC as EQCF: Statement on Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; Notice of Filing of Proposed Rules on a Firm's System of Quality Control and Related Amendments to PCAOB Standards
Commissioner Hester M. Peirce - SEC
Auditors play a critical role in maintaining healthy capital markets. Comprehensive, dynamic quality control systems help audit firms fulfill their mission. Troublingly high audit deficiency rates, though likely attributable to multiple causes, suggest that the five-year-long effort by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB" or "Board") to revamp its outdated quality control standards was warranted.[1] Getting the quality control standard right, however, would have required more time for additional pointed questions, comment, reflection, and revision. The PCAOB, now with the Commission's assent, cut the process short and put out QC 1000, a standard that still needs work. Accordingly, I am unable to support it.
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SEC Charges Former Maryland Resident for Conducting an Offering Fraud and Ponzi Scheme
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on September 6, 2024 charges against Hunter Haithcock for engaging in an offering fraud that raised approximately $520,000 from at least 50 retail investors, mostly from in and around Baltimore, Maryland.
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ASIC calls on product issuers to review distribution practices for DDO compliance
ASIC
ASIC is calling on product issuers to ensure distribution practices are up to scratch, pointing to flawed consumer questionnaires being the catalyst for some recent interim stop orders. The call to action follows ASIC's latest design and distribution obligations (DDO) surveillance, which looked at the obligation for product issuers to take reasonable steps to support appropriate distribution of their products. Poor product design and distribution puts consumers at risk of financial harm as they can end up with products that don't meet their needs.
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Understanding Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services
FMA New Zealand
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - Te Mana Tatai Hokohoko - has today published research on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in New Zealand's financial services sector.
The research, undertaken as part of the FMA's occasional paper series, draws on responses from financial service providers in asset management, banking, financial advice and insurance. FMA Chief Economist, Stuart Johnson, says, "We reviewed how AI is currently used in New Zealand financial services and firm's plans for future applications. We sought to understand both the benefits and the risks to inform more oversight.
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FCA charges first individual with running a network of illegal crypto ATMs
FCA
The FCA has charged Mr Olumide Osunkoya, who is 45 and resides in London, for unlawfully running multiple crypto ATMs without FCA registration. Crypto ATMs are machines that allow you to buy or convert money into cryptoassets. Mr Osunkoya is accused of running crypto ATMs, which processed £2.6m in crypto transactions across multiple locations between 29 December 2021 and 8 September 2023 without the required registration.
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MAS Reprimands Mr Tan Chuan Lam for Failing to Discharge his Duty and Function as Chief Executive Officer and Director
MAS
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has reprimanded Mr Tan Chuan Lam, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a director of the formerly registered insurance broker, Acesynergy Brokers Pte. Ltd. (ABPL), for breaches committed by ABPL under the Insurance Act.
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Written reply to Parliamentary Question on participation of women in the labour force
Date: For Parliament Sitting on 10 September 2024
MAS
Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan, MP, Pioneer SMC - MAS
Question: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in view of the study on Singapore's current resident labour force participation rate as reported in Macroeconomic Review published by MAS in April 2024, what will be the potential increase in the number of women participating in the labour force (i) for each percentage point of decline in gender pay gap and (ii) if the gender pay gap is eliminated.
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Written reply to Parliamentary Question on breach of motor vehicle financing rules
Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye, MP, Radin Mas SMC - MAS
Question: To ask the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) in the past five years, how many enforcement actions has MAS taken against financial institutions that breach the rules for motor vehicle loans; and (b) what is MAS' stance on social media advertisements that tout zero downpayment for purchase of premium luxury vehicles that are targeted at consumers.
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Private Equity Fights Insurance for $15 Trillion Retirement Prize; A niche regulatory clash could shape the future of annuities and pensions, affecting the nest-eggs of millions of savers.
Allison McNeely, Marion Halftermeyer, and Silla Brush - Bloomberg
The swanky cabana by the rooftop pool at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills had been booked for the Milken Institute Global Conference by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., an almost century-old purveyor of life insurance and annuities. But in the afternoon of the first full day, the company made way for a cocktail party hosted by the private equity and private credit giant Apollo Global Management Inc. As Nationwide executives left, a glowing Apollo sign was set up above a pop-up bar and its name was spelled out in huge letters in the pool.
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Britain is building a new sovereign wealth fund - what can it learn from the others? Establishing strong governance arrangements will be key
Toby Nangle - Financial Times
Twenty years ago, sovereign wealth funds were rare. Today, you can hardly move for them. According to Global SWF, a company tracking state-owned investors, there are 179 funds managing a collective $12.4tn in assets. As Britain gets ready to launch its new National Wealth Fund, what lessons can it take from abroad? With only £7.3bn of initial funds, the NWF will be a world away from the massive intergenerational saving fund that think-tanks on the left and right of Britain's political spectrum have spent decades calling for the state to build. And rather than investing where returns look best, the NWF task force has recommended that it should aim simply not to lose money. Its real focus will be on supporting Britain's clean energy transformation, and economic growth more broadly.
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BoE urged to sell more short-dated gilts to boost market liquidity; Investors and analysts call on central bank to broaden quantitative tightening to include maturities of one to three years
Mary McDougall - Financial Times
The Bank of England should broaden the range of bonds it sells in order to boost market liquidity when it lays out plans to scale back the size of its balance sheet next week, investors say. Over the past two and a half years the BoE has shrunk its gilts portfolio - which was swelled by numerous rounds of quantitative easing stimulus - from nearly £875bn to £688bn. Unlike other central banks, it is not just waiting for bonds to mature but is also actively selling them.
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Oil Spread Narrows Sharply Amid Concerns Over European Demand; Spread may drive Asian refineries to seek more Atlantic crude; Libyan supply concerns appear to be easing, boosting supply
Sherry Su - Bloomberg
A closely watched spread that shows the price difference between Europe and Middle East crude has more than halved in the space of ten days as weaker demand from Europe's oil refineries finally bites. The premium of Brent oil futures to Dubai crude swaps, also known as Brent-Dubai exchange of futures for swaps, dropped to $1.54 a barrel on Friday, according to PVM Oil Associates data. This compares with $3.67 on Aug. 30, which was the highest since October. When it narrows, oil priced relative to Brent becomes more attractive to refineries in Asia.
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Australia proposes banks phase out AT1 bonds in wake of Credit Suisse collapse; Regulator says loss-absorbing instrument does not fulfil purpose
Nic Filde and Thomas Hale - Financial Times
Australia's banking regulator has proposed that banks phase out the use of additional tier 1 bonds to meet capital requirements, highlighting concerns over the loss-absorbing instruments after the failure of Credit Suisse last year. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority said on Tuesday that banks should seek to replace AT1 bonds - which are contingent convertible securities designed to absorb losses - with "cheaper and more reliable forms of capital" by 2032.
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Global investors warn Italy over capital markets reforms; Fund managers urge 'rethink' of controversial corporate governance rules
Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli - Financial Times
Global investors have warned that Italy's new capital markets rules could undermine the country's corporate governance standards and damage its competitiveness just as Rome seeks to lure wealthy individuals and businesses. The International Corporate Governance Network, a group of asset managers with $77tn of assets under management, last month wrote to Treasury under-secretary Federico Freni criticising the rules, which introduces sweeping changes to shareholder voting rights.
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Volatility, thy name (probably isn't) leveraged ETF; A look at some pesky rebalancing flows
George Steer - Financial Times
Markets have been choppier lately, and once again some people think leveraged ETFs are exacerbating it. After all, even the Bank of England thinks they might be a bit dangerous. Robin might not be blaming them, but he's not a fan either. And he reckons the leveraged Microstrategy ETF launched last month might be the industry's shark-jumping moment. But do leveraged ETFs really have a top-level impact on stock market volatility?
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French Bonds Suffer Exodus of Japanese Cash in Sign of Fragility; Japan funds sold most French sovereign debt since 2020 in July; Outflows come amid period of political turbulence for France
Alice Gledhill - Bloomberg
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Why This Hurricane Season Has Defied Forecasts-So Far; Tropical Storm Francine heads for the Gulf Coast after an unexpectedly quiet month
Eric Niiler and Taylor Umlauf - The Wall Street Journal
Francine-the first tropical storm to form in four weeks-is expected to bring dangerous winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall to the Texas and Louisiana coasts by Wednesday, breaking a dry spell that has puzzled forecasters. Federal officials had warned the nation to expect a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season with up to 25 named storms. In June, Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Category 5 storm. By mid-August, conditions shifted.
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How China and a tariffs row cast a shadow over booming US solar power
Andrew Gumbel and Adam Lowenstein - The Guardian
The source of new renewable energy is also a battleground over China's cheap exports of panels that has split US firms; The Biden administration touts solar energy as one of its big success stories, a booming new industry that is curbing the effects of the climate crisis and creating high-paying jobs across the country. But the more complicated truth is that the United States is mired in a long-running trade war with China, which is flooding the market with artificially cheap solar panels that carry an uncomfortably large carbon footprint and threaten to obliterate the domestic industry.
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Altman-Backed Startup Bets on Heat and the Sun to Tackle AI's Massive Carbon Footprint; Exowatt has developed an energy generation and storage system that can provide a novel way to power data centers.
Michelle Ma - Bloomberg
A startup backed by OpenAI Inc.'s Sam Altman has a plan to provide cheap, clean energy to data centers increasingly in search of ways to cut their emissions. Miami-based Exowatt launched a modular system to generate, store and dispatch clean energy on Tuesday. The company pairs a solar energy collector with a thermal battery that can deliver either heat or electricity. Though the startup is relatively new, it already has a demand backlog of 1.2 gigawatts from some of the world's largest data center operators and wind and solar developers, all hungry for new sources of energy amid the AI boom.
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Built-Up Cities Get More Rain Than Rural Outskirts, Study Finds; From Miami to Lagos to Kuala Lumpur, many cities around the world receive more rainfall than their outlying areas. Researchers call this the "urban wet island" effect.
Matthew Griffin - Bloomberg
Cities often get more rain and experience extreme rainfall more often compared to surrounding areas, a new study finds, a phenomenon that compounds other risk factors for urban flooding. Of the more than 1,000 cities around the world that the researchers considered, 63% received more annual precipitation on average than outlying rural areas, according to an analysis of two decades of satellite data published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In some cases, the difference was more than half a foot per year. Many cities also saw more frequent and more dramatic extreme rainfall.
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Brookfield Invests $1.1 Billion Into Green Fuel Maker Infinium; Deal marks Brookfield's first investment in green jet fuel
Joe Ryan - Bloomberg
Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is investing up to $1.1 billion in the low-carbon e-fuels startup Infinium. The Canadian asset manager agreed to invest more than $200 million into Infinium's Project Roadrunner that's under development in West Texas and up to $850 million in other Infinium projects around the world, according to a statement Tuesday.
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FCA to allow 'temporary flexibility' on new Sustainability Disclosure Requirement rules
Cristian Angeloni, Investment Week - Business Green
Deadline for complying with naming and marketing rules extended to 2 April 2025
The Financial Conduct Authority will allow firms "temporary flexibility" to comply with the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements' (SDR) naming and marketing rules, which are set to come into force from 2 December. Following engagement with firms and trade bodies, the regulator said in a statement yesterday that it has taken "longer than expected" for some firms to make the required changes under SDR and ahead of the December deadline.
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Rise in corporate climate targets continues, but credibility concerns persist
Matt Mace - edie
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Investors guided to protect biodiversity-rich areas ahead of COP16
Sidhi Mittal - edie
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Big Oil Faces a 'Good Sweating.' Some Aren't Fit; The industry has enjoyed a bonanza leading to bumper payouts to shareholders via buybacks, but sustainability remains in question.
Javier Blas - Bloomberg
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Russia's central bank and lenders tell each other to resolve the country's yuan supply squeeze
Huileng Tan - Business Insider
Russia's central bank and lenders are asking each other to preserve the country's stash of Chinese yuan. Last Thursday, Russian banks complained that they've run out of the Chinese yuan and called on the Central Bank of Russia to increase liquidity through currency swaps. But Russia's central bank is passing the buck back to the country's banks. In a report published on Friday, Russia's central bank advised lenders to limit the issuance of yuan-denominated loans. The central bank is a primary source of yuan liquidity that it provides via daily sales and one-day swaps of the currency.
/jlne.ws/3MA6DqC
Vanished Banker Loses $750 Million in China's Unending Crackdown
Bloomberg
In the go-go years when China minted a billionaire every two days, banking rainmaker Bao Fan almost reached that milestone himself. His skill in advising tech giants like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. made him one of the country's most sought-after financiers, helping him amass a fortune worth more than $800 million through his ownership stake in China Renaissance Holdings Ltd.
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Bank Bosses Head to Reeves Meeting With Capital Rules in Focus; BOE to announce UK plans for latest Basel package on Thursday; UK banks have leaned on government to align with US, Europe
Laura Noonan and Ellen Milligan - Bloomberg
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has invited top executives from the country's six biggest lenders to a meeting later this week to discuss a slate of new bank capital rules. The meeting will come after the UK announces its final plans for implementing the last phase of post-crisis reforms on Thursday, according to the people familiar with the matter. In addition to the chief executives, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and Sam Woods, the head of the central bank's regulatory arm, are also expected to attend, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing non-public information.
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Bank of America Raises Minimum Wage to $24 on Way to $25 an Hour
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Bank of America Corp. will increase its minimum hourly wage to $24 next month, taking the next step toward a goal of paying $25 by 2025 that it set seven years ago. The move bumps pay up from $23, a level the firm put in place last September, the company said Tuesday. It translates to a full-time annualized salary of about $50,000 and applies to all full-time and part-time hourly positions in the US. The change continues a series of hikes lifting the firm's base pay from $15 in 2017.
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Ex-Macquarie Banker Raises $1.4 Billion for Distressed-Assets Fund; Ben Brazil's FitzWalter Capital now has $2.3 billion in AUM; Fund looking to invest in companies struggling with debt loads
Nabila Ahmed and Lucca De Paoli - Bloomberg
Former Macquarie Group Ltd. banker Ben Brazil raised $1.4 billion for his firm's second fund targeting distressed assets globally. Brazil's FitzWalter Capital Ltd. beat an initial target of $1.25 billion for the fund, set when it began fundraising in late 2022. The firm now has $2.3 billion under management.
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Alternative Asset Manager Balbec Acquires EUR4 Billion of Soured Portuguese Loans; It purchased the portfolio from Luxembourg-based LX Partners; About two-thirds of the portfolio consists of unsecured debt
Scott Carpenter - Bloomberg
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Multi-manager hedge funds suffer outflows as investor frenzy fades; Industry's hottest sector posts first client withdrawals in seven years after weaker returns in 2023, Goldman Sachs data shows
Costas Mourselas - Financial Times
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Europe's first collateralised loan ETF listing overcomes concerns; Format has been a hit in the US, while European regulators have approved no new CLO mutual funds since 2020
Steve Johnson - Financial Times
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | There for 8 hours, only working for 2: These summer interns were neglected - or ghosted - by their bosses; One major complaint comes up again and again as internship season draws to a close: There just wasn't much to do.
Mara Mellits - The Boston Globe
Lots of college students get ghosted by their Tinder dates. Olivia Reiskin was ghosted by her boss. The Boston University student worked remotely as a social media intern at a makeup company based in California. That was until her boss stopped all communication with her by blocking her on multiple platforms, she said. Reiskin interned at the company from the end of February until the end of June.
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It's Not The Work I Want To Quit
Curt Steinhorst - Forbes
"I don't want to do this anymore." A leader recently confided in me with those words. It's a sentiment I hear all the time, and it's not about the work itself. Most of us are fine with long hours, challenging tasks, and even the occasional missed family time. We thrive on the challenge, the complexity, and the satisfaction of a job well done. So why are so many of us burning out? It's the drag - those invisible, exhausting forces that drain our energy, kill our productivity, and even make us want to quit. The Drag Of Politics And Power Dynamics No one wants office politics, yet it's everywhere because it's rewarded. When office politics are incentivized, people naturally focus on them, often at the expense of what really matters. The result? We develop skills that are bad for business but essential for survival.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Hospitals must be candid about cost of medical care, economists say
Ken Alltucker - USA TODAY
An MRI can cost $300 or $3,000, depending on where you get it. A colonoscopy can run you $1,000 to $10,000. Economists cited these examples of the roulette wheel of health care prices in their request that Congress mandate hospitals and health providers be upfront about their prices for medical care. Backers of the Health Care Price Transparency Act 2.0 hope the push by a group of influential economists will convince lawmakers to advance the Senate bill introduced in December by Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana. The measure, co-sponsored by 11 Democratic and Republican senators and Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, has not advanced out of committee. Braun's "top priority is getting this bill through committee and to the floor," for a vote, said Allison Dong, Braun's deputy communications manager.
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New Biden Administration Rules Aim to Hold Insurers Accountable for Mental Health Care Coverage; The regulations will force health insurance plans to collect and report more data on how they limit and deny mental health claims.
Maya Miller and Annie Waldman - ProPublica
The Biden administration announced on Monday that it has finalized new regulations to strengthen protections for mental health care coverage and hold insurance companies accountable for unlawfully denying it. The rules update the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which was passed in 2008, requiring health insurance plans to provide the same access to mental health care as medical care. The new provisions will force health insurance plans to collect and report more robust data on how they limit and deny mental health claims. If disparities exist between mental and medical care, insurers will need to lay out how they are attempting to address these gaps.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | China begins anti-dumping probe into Canadian rapeseed
Reuters
China announced on Monday the start of a one-year anti-dumping investigation into imports of rapeseed from Canada, just weeks before Ottawa's 100% tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and other products come into force. There has been growing trade tension between Beijing and the West in recent weeks after Canada, the United States and the European Union opted to impose tariffs on imports of electric vehicles from China.
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Why Nominal Is the Real Gauge to Look at in China
Chris Anstey - Bloomberg
China's Deflation In looking at a nation's economic output, most of the time it makes sense to remove the impact of changes in prices. But things are different when a country experiences deflation. In that case, "real" gross domestic product is actually inflated by the decline in prices. That's when nominal GDP can provide a clearer read on conditions - just as was the case during Japan's so-called lost decades.
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French Wheat Heads to New York as US Flour Mills Keep Importing
Celia Bergin - Bloomberg
French wheat is headed to New York despite the country's disastrous harvest, a sign that American flour mills will continue to tap European supplies after years of declines in local production. The vessel Patagonia set sail for the US in late August, carrying almost 27,000 tons of French wheat, according to data from the port of Rouen. The supplies are expected to unload at Albany, New York, where Ardent Mills has a facility along the Hudson River. The company, owned by Cargill Inc., CHS Inc. and Conagra Brands, didn't respond to a request for comment.
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Italy Gets Record Demand for Bond Offering Ahead of ECB Meet; Investors bid over EUR130 billion for Italian 30-year debt; ECB is expected to lower its deposit rate on Thursday
James Hirai and Paul Cohen - Bloomberg
Italy's sale of new 30-year debt attracted over EUR130 billion ($143 billion) of orders as investors rushed to lock in the region's highest yields before an expected interest-rate cut by the European Central Bank later this week. The country's Treasury is selling EUR8 billion of a bond maturing in October 2054, with pricing set at a spread of 13 basis points over comparable debt. The order book exceeds the previous record set in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic in 2020 when the European Central Bank was actively buying bonds to support the economy.
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World's First GMO Wheat Gets 'More Real' After US Approval; Nod will help remove global barriers, Bioceres CEO says; Bringing the technology to market is expected to take years
Jonathan Gilbert - Bloomberg
An Argentine crop developer that is the first to receive US approval for genetically modified wheat said it will take years to bring the technology to market Still, Bioceres Crop Solutions SA Chief Executive Officer Federico Trucco said he hopes the authorization will help break down global barriers. "This is becoming more and more real every day," Trucco said in an interview as the company posts quarterly earnings, which saw a boost from sales of the drought-tolerant wheat variety known as HB4. "There's a more immediate effect in terms of increasing the level of credibility. It's a more demanding market saying: 'We want the technology.'"
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Canada's Canola Pile Hits Four-Year High as China Probes Dumping
Michael Hirtzer - Bloomberg
Canola is piling up in Canada, with supplies only set to grow after China kicked off an anti-dumping investigation. Stockpiles of the commodity used to make cooking oil and animal feed surged to a four-year high of 3.1 million metric tons by the end of July, according to Statistics Canada data Monday. The 67% jump from a year earlier came ahead of this year's harvest, with farmers already gathering the new crop.
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| Miscellaneous | | Stories that don't quite fit under the other sections | Business Insider finds replacement for Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Carlson
Reuters via NY Post
Digital news website Business Insider said on Monday it had appointed Jamie Heller as its new editor-in-chief, replacing Nicholas Carlson, who announced his departure from the role earlier this year. Heller has been at the Wall Street Journal for over 20 years and was in charge of their global business and technology coverage, including AI and the dominance of the tech giants.
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Andrew Ackerman joins The Post's Economics desk to cover the Federal Reserve and financial regulatory policy
The Washington Post
We are thrilled to announce that Andrew Ackerman, who has spent more than 13 years covering financial regulation in Washington, will be joining the Economics team to cover the Federal Reserve and financial regulatory policy. Andrew comes to us from the Wall Street Journal, where he established a reputation for delivering consequential scoops about banks and financial regulation.
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