| February 01, 2023 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
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Hits & Takes
John Lothian & JLN Staff
If I told you that $3.8 billion was stolen from futures accounts, or securities accounts, or even bank accounts in 2022, that would be startling. That startling number, $3.8 billion, is a record amount stolen, but it is the amount crypto hackers stole in 2022, led by North Korean groups, Reuters reports. Chainalysis reported that hacking activity "ebbed and flowed" throughout the year, with "huge spikes" in March and October. If cryptocurrencies and blockchain are supposed to be the next best thing to sliced bread, why is it being executed so badly that hackers can steal so much?
It turns out that cryptocurrency lender Celsius was "insolvent since inception," Quartz reported. Evidently Celsius was taking deposits of cryptocurrency and using them to prop up the network's native currency, CEL. The name itself should have been a tipoff. It was not just propping up the price of CEL, it was doing it so that Celsius insiders could dump their holdings of CEL. This is a bait and switch and a pump and dump, with a bit of Ponzi scheme baked in at times. I will admit, it takes some imagination to dream this kind of scheme up.
The U.K. government's HM Treasury published an open consultation titled "Future financial services regulatory regime for cryptoassets." This consultation sets out proposals for the UK's financial services regime for cryptoassets and marks the next stage of the UK's phased approach.
Laurie McAughtry of The Trade has a story today about ION Markets suffering a cyber attack on its derivatives platform that impacted its overnight processing. Some clients, The Trade said, were quarantining all communications with ION.
The DTCC has issued a first-ever analysis on how climate-related financial risk may impact market infrastructures, in a new whitepaper that highlights the unique nature of FMIs' exposure to climate-related risk and emphasizes value of existing regulatory framework.
We missed this the other day, but Michael Torretta has joined FIA Tech as head of strategic alliances. Torretta is a veteran of JP Morgan and is based in New York. He will report to FIA Tech CEO Nick Solinger. Torretta spent over 20 years at JP Morgan, most recently as executive director in the global clearing and execution business.
Ken Griffin is putting some of that $16 billion Citadel made in 2022 to good use in the form of a donation to a pediatric hospital in Miami. He donated $25 million, his single largest gift to a non-profit, to his home state of Florida, to the Nicklaus Children's Hospital for a new wing to house operating rooms and family spaces. The 127,000-square-foot (11,800-square-meter) wing is expected to open in 2024 as the Kenneth C. Griffin Surgical Tower, Bloomberg reported.
Longtime derivatives industry risk management professional Ira Kawaller has retired.
Tom Brady, the quarterback many call the GOAT, or the greatest of all time, announced his retirement, for the second time. He said this time it is for sure, the last time. He really means it, Bloomberg reported.
The Wall Street Journal reported that three Indiana cities led the Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Market Index when affordable markets continued to dominate the rankings, led by Lafayette, IN, home of nearby Purdue University. Sadly, Bloomington, IN, home of Indiana University, was not on the list. The Journal said, "The index identifies the top metro areas for home buyers seeking an appreciating housing market, a strong local economy and appealing lifestyle amenities. News Corp, parent of the Journal, operates Realtor.com."
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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Options Discovery Episode 13: Option Behavior Over Time; Author and Mentor Dan Passarelli Talks Options Greeks and Price Behavior With JLN's Alex Teng
JohnLothianNews.com
In this episode of Options Discovery, Alex Teng talks about how an option's intrinsic and extrinsic values change over time as well as the decay of time value due to theta. Alex also speaks with author, former trader, trading mentor, and business media personality Dan Passarelli, to ask questions related to how option values change over time. You can find more info about Dan on his website MarketTaker.com.
Watch the video »
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Option Price Behavior Over Time and the Options Greeks; Dan Passarelli of Market Taker Mentoring Explains These Concepts and More in This Full Interview With JLN's Alex Teng
JohnLothianNews.com
In this full interview, Alex speaks with author, former trader, trading mentor and business media personality Dan Passarelli, about how option values change over time as well as the intrinsic and extrinsic value of options. You can find more info about Dan on his website MarketTaker.com.
Watch the video »
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How ChatGPT Will Destabilize White-Collar Work; No technology in modern memory has caused mass job loss among highly educated workers. Will generative AI be an exception?
Annie Lowrey - The Atlantic
In the next five years, it is likely that AI will begin to reduce employment for college-educated workers. As the technology continues to advance, it will be able to perform tasks that were previously thought to require a high level of education and skill. This could lead to a displacement of workers in certain industries, as companies look to cut costs by automating processes. While it is difficult to predict the exact extent of this trend, it is clear that AI will have a significant impact on the job market for college-educated workers.
/jlne.ws/3HmROoc
****** I have not worn a white collar for over a year, except to a funeral. Does that make me exempt?~JJL
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New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights, betting big on an increasingly scarce resource
Ben Tracy, Andy Bast and Chris Spinder - CBS News
With the federal government poised to force Western states to change how they manage the alarming shortfall in Colorado River water, there is one constituency with a growing interest in the river's fate that's little known to some: Wall Street investors. Private investment firms are showing a growing interest in an increasingly scarce natural resource in the American West: water in the Colorado River, a joint investigation by CBS News and The Weather Channel has found. For some of the farmers and cities that depend on the river as a lifeline, that interest is concerning.
/jlne.ws/3wIOoaD
****** They are snapping up Colorado River rights rapidly?~JJL
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Why Ralph Nader is launching a print newspaper
Greg Burns - Poynter
Ralph Nader is starting a newspaper. Yes, that Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate, former presidential candidate and scourge of corporate interests. At age 88, Nader is still going strong and, beginning with his hometown in northwest Connecticut, he's determined to do something about the "news desert" crisis in local journalism.
/jlne.ws/3YeFzRr
****** Did I ever tell you about the time I talked to Ralph Nader on the phone after the financial crisis of 2007-08? He was a classmate of a NYSE member I knew and wanted some information about the derivatives markets. The longtime NYSE member, who was a reader of JLN, thought I would be the perfect person to talk to his friend Ralph about the issues he was concerned about.~JJL
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Air Force Says Proposed Chinese-Owned Mill in North Dakota Is 'Significant Threat'
Mitch Smith - The New York Times
After more than a year of debate about whether a Chinese company's plan to build a corn mill in North Dakota was an economic boon or a geopolitical risk, an assistant secretary of the Air Force has weighed in with a warning that the "project presents a significant threat to national security." The letter from Assistant Secretary Andrew P. Hunter, released publicly on Tuesday by North Dakota's senators, noted the proximity of Grand Forks Air Force Base to the proposed mill and said the project raised "near- and long-term risks of significant impacts to our operations in the area."
/jlne.ws/3wIohAz
****** The mill just happens to be near an Air Force base, how convenient?~JJL
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Tuesday's Top Three
Our top story Tuesday was Bloomberg's Ex-Citi Analyst Who Exposed Libor Takes Aim at Its Successor, subtitled "Scott Peng says limits on term SOFR use are skewing market." Second was Eric McNulty's announcement on LinkedIn that he is starting a new position as chief financial officer at NinjaTrader Group, LLC. Third was The 4 best diets for healthy aging that experts say will keep your brain sharp and your body healthy, from Fortune.
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| All MarketsWiki Sponsors» | | | | | | | John Lothian News (JLN) is the news division of John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. (JJLCO). The online media and financial services firm is staffed by derivatives industry, journalism and technology professionals. | | | | | | | John Lothian News Editorial Staff: | | | John Lothian
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| Lead Stories | Traders See AI Technology Shaping Their Future, JPMorgan Finds; Over half of survey respondents see machines most influential; Elsewhere, JPMorgan finds cooled interest in cryptocurrencies
Greg Ritchie - Bloomberg
Traders are betting artificial intelligence and machine learning will have the biggest impact on financial markets in the coming years. More than half of respondents to a JPMorgan Chase & Co. survey of 835 institutional and professional traders said those technologies would have the most influence on trading in the next three years. That's up from a quarter in 2022. "This trend toward automation is something we're seeing across the market now, and is expanding into the credit and rates side as well as commodities," said Scott Wacker, head of FICC e-commerce sales at JPMorgan.
/jlne.ws/3WRUGz9
Celsius Used Customer Funds to Prop Up Token and Cover Shortfalls, Examiner Finds; The crypto firm sold customers' Ethereum and bitcoin to fund purchases of its proprietary CEL token before bankruptcy, according to a court-appointed examiner
Soma Biswas - The Wall Street Journal
Celsius Network LLC used customer funds to cover shortfalls in its obligations to pay lofty yields and to prop up the value of its CEL token while some company insiders were cashing out, according to an examiner's probe into the crypto lender's practices before its collapse last year. Celsius sold customers' Ethereum and bitcoin to fund purchases of the firm's proprietary CEL token since it wasn't earning enough yield through its various investment activities to cover obligations under its flagship customer offering, according to the report by Shoba Pillay, the examiner appointed to probe the firm's business practices.
/jlne.ws/3wMtKGE
Britain's finance ministry sets out draft rules to regulate cryptoassets
Huw Jones and Elizabeth Howcroft - Reuters
Britain's finance ministry laid out its first set of rules to regulate cryptoassets on Wednesday, saying ongoing turbulence in the sector and the collapse of exchange FTX highlighted risks that need addressing. Cryptoassets, such as bitcoin, have little direct regulation globally, but regulators are taking a closer look after the downfall of FTX last year, which left millions of investors nursing losses totalling billions of dollars, some of them in Britain.
/jlne.ws/3wNeBEY
Russia's War Will Destroy Its Energy Market, Maybe Forever; The invasion of Ukraine is spurring Europe's switch to homegrown energy and hitting global growth, a combination set to slash the market for Russian resources.
Julian Lee - Bloomberg
Wars have long-lasting impacts that reach far beyond the territories on which their battles are fought. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is no exception. In addition to the terrible loss of life and property, the conflict has disrupted global flows of energy, foodstuffs and fertilizers. Now international oil major BP Plc, which published its annual Energy Outlook this week, sees the crisis speeding up the transition away from fossil fuels, undermining the very markets for oil and gas on which Russia's economy depends.
/jlne.ws/3Hhzzk4
ChatGPT Unleashes Stock Trader Stampede for Everything AI; Stocks linked to artificial intelligence have soared this year;l Speculative frenzy recalls those fueled by blockchain tech
Jeran Wittenstein - Bloomberg
A $480 billion chipmaker whose processors are used for complex computing tasks. A digital-media company seeking to mine nascent technologies for content. A tiny software firm whose shares traded below $1 for most of December. These are some of the disparate businesses whose stocks are benefiting from euphoria swirling around artificial intelligence - the latest buzzword to whip traders into a speculative froth - and evoking memories of past bubbles.
/jlne.ws/3HhA6CA
Crypto hacks stole record $3.8 billion in 2022, led by North Korea groups - report
Josh Smith - Reuters
Last year was the worst on record for cryptocurrency heists, with hackers stealing as much as $3.8 billion, led by attackers linked to North Korea who netted more than ever before, a U.S.-based blockchain analytics firm said in a report on Wednesday. The report by Chainalysis found hacking activity that "ebbed and flowed" throughout the year, with "huge spikes" in March and October. October was the biggest single month ever for cryptocurrency hacking, with $775.7 million stolen in 32 separate attacks, the report said.
/jlne.ws/3Dwlrm0
Crypto lender Celsius misused customer funds for years, examiner finds; Group used investor money to prop up its own CEL coin, says law firm appointed by US court
Joshua Oliver and Kadhim Shubber - Financial Times
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius misused investor and customer funds for years before its collapse, including to help its founders cash out tens of millions of dollars, a court-appointed examiner said in a new report. The company founded by Alex Mashinsky promoted itself as an innovative, digital asset alternative to traditional banks, luring customers with interest rates as high as 17 per cent. But it used the money it received from thousands of everyday investors to inflate the price of its own token, CEL, in a scheme an employee described at the time as "very Ponzi like", according to the report prepared by a law firm appointed by the US bankruptcy court.
/jlne.ws/3wNjUnM
Marketers Turn to Meme Accounts for Humor, News and Group Therapy; Ad industry meme creators have begun breaking news, earning revenue and attracting attention from industry leaders
Patrick Coffee - The Wall Street Journal
Advertising meme account @digital_chadvertising had decidedly humble beginnings on its way to becoming a popular outlet for industry workers to voice their frustrations, connect with each other and share marketing news. The account's creator said he was in his bathroom on New Year's Day in 2019, recovering from the previous night's festivities as he scrolled through Instagram. Inspired by accounts that parody the legal, consulting and finance industries, he decided to create a handle poking fun at his own work overseeing digital ad buys.
/jlne.ws/3YbtDQq
First NFT ETF Is Closing as Once-Hot Crypto Trend Fizzles
Vildana Hajric and Isabelle Lee - Bloomberg
The crisis in all things crypto looks set to claim another victim as the first-ever exchange-traded fund centered on nonfungible tokens prepares to liquidate. The Defiance Digital Revolution ETF (ticker NFTZ), which launched at the end of 2021, will close at the end of February, according to a press release. The fund, which tracked blockchain-related companies and an NFT index, will start liquidating its portfolio on or about Feb. 16.
/jlne.ws/3kTcqwF
Commissioner: CFTC Needs More Dialogue With Market Participants to Modernize Regulation
Fran Velasquez - CoinDesk
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) wants to talk with any company that owns a crypto unit in the United States, Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson, told CoinDesk TV's "First Mover" on Tuesday. M"It's important for us to have a relationship with the owner of any entity that is registered to operate in our markets," Johnson said. "A culture of compliance often begins at the top."
/jlne.ws/3Jt9LnO
It's Not Easy Being a Stock Market Villain; With its Adani report, Hindenburg is the latest in a long line of short sellers to go against the odds.
Marc Rubinstein - Bloomberg
It's not easy being a short-seller. The odds are stacked against you from the outset. Stocks tend to climb over time, so unlike peers who buy stocks before they sell, you don't have the tailwind of a rising market. Then you have to navigate a tricky risk-management dynamic: When you're right, your stocks go down but that diminishes position size and hence your potential return; when you're wrong, your position grows, heightening your risk. As a short seller, the maximum you can make on a stock is 100%, yet potential losses are uncapped.
/jlne.ws/3Dt7ghC
Michael Torretta Joins FIA Tech as Head of Strategic Alliances
FIA Tech
FIA Tech, the futures industry's leading technology provider, today announced that JP Morgan veteran Michael Torretta has joined the firm in the newly created role of Head of Strategic Alliances. Mike is based in New York and reports to Chief Executive Officer Nick Solinger. Mike Torretta spent over 20 years at JP Morgan, most recently as Executive Director, Product Development in the global clearing and execution business. Mike's career at JP Morgan spanned exchange traded and OTC derivatives, FX prime brokerage and fixed income/securities prime brokerage and he held positions covering but not limited to operations, sales/execution , client service and product development.
/jlne.ws/3kXqq8K
Kent Clark, Goldman Sachs Leader and 'Brilliant' Alts Professional, Dies at 58; Humble and welcoming, Clark was "the opposite of so many you encounter in the hedge fund space."
Michael Thrasher - Institutional Investor
Kent Clark, a longtime leader at Goldman Sachs who was instrumental in the growth of the bank's hedge fund platform, died on January 27. He was 58. In a memo to employees on Monday, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said that Clark's death was the result of a tragic accident that occurred earlier this month. "Kent was a wonderful leader, a friend to everyone he met, and a respected expert in the industry. He will be greatly missed," Solomon said in his note.
/jlne.ws/3kSakNz
How the pandemic changed the rules of personal finance
Paddy Hirsch - NPR
In the last half of last year, we heard a lot of talk (and we at NPR did a lot of talking) about the Great Resignation, aka the Big Quit. This was a trend that started right around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and saw - anecdotally, at least - large numbers of people leaving their jobs voluntarily. There was some controversy about the Big Quit, not the least because some reporting on the trend made it sound as though many of these workers had decided to leave the labor force forever.
/jlne.ws/3HpXmya
Pricier Burgers Are Coming for Diners as US Cattle Herd Plummets
Michael Hirtzer and Elizabeth Elkin - Bloomberg
Steaks and hamburgers will likely be more expensive in the next few years with US cattle shrinking to its lowest herd since 2014. There were almost 89.3 million cattle as of Jan. 1, down 3% from a year ago, according to a US Department of Agriculture cattle-inventory report Tuesday. While the drop wasn't unexpected - the total nearly matched expectations in a Bloomberg survey - a bigger decline in beef output may still be ahead in 2025 or 2026.
/jlne.ws/3HryBSr
Shell Is Selling 'Carbon Neutral' Fossil Fuels Again; Gas traders offset emissions with credits under new guidelines; Industry standards don't restrict use of controversial offsets
Stephen Stapczynski and Sheryl Tian Tong Lee - Bloomberg
Emboldened by new industry guidelines, natural gas companies are renewing their efforts to sell "carbon neutral" fossil fuels, a controversial practice of offsetting a shipment's emissions to shrink its environmental impact. Shell Plc delivered roughly 70,000 tons of liquefied natural gas to Taiwan in a deal announced last week, the first shipment certified as "greenhouse gas neutral" under a new standard developed by the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers.
/jlne.ws/3wKBmt3
New York Is Gorging on Fuel Made From Illicit Russian Oil; India buys up Russian oil, becomes top New York fuel supplier; About 89,000 barrels a day from India are headed to New York
Chunzi Xu - Bloomberg
New York is buying an unusually large amount of gasoline and diesel from India - a country that has become a top outlet for sanctioned Russian oil. About 89,000 barrels per day of Indian gasoline and diesel will reach New York this month, the most in nearly four years. This accounts for more than 40% of the region's total imports for January, according to Kpler data compiled by Bloomberg. That's a jump from an average of 5% last year.
/jlne.ws/3XRNjsY
Perella Weinberg banker tied to insider trading probe found dead; German law enforcement suspected UK-based employee shared sensitive information about looming deals
James Fontanella-Khan, Arash Massoudi and Olaf Storbeck - Financial Times
A UK-based Perella Weinberg Partners banker was found dead days after the investment bank put him on leave following a raid of its London office as part of an insider trading probe by German police and regulators, said people briefed on the matter. The banker was suspected by German law enforcement of having shared sensitive information about looming mergers and acquisitions with four German citizens who traded on the information, these people added. The banker's body was discovered in the Greater London area on Friday.
/jlne.ws/3kXUAsB
The TRADE Close Roundtable: Episode 2 - Implicit and explicit costs; Watch the second video instalment: in which we unpack the key implicit and explicit costs for trading at the Close in comparison with the continuous markets.
Annabel Smith - The Trade
In the second of four episodes, senior reporter Annabel Smith and panellists across venues and the buy- and sell-side unpack how much it costs to trade at the Close in comparison with the rest of the trading day, how these costs are split up into implicit and explicit, and who it is that ends up paying them.
/jlne.ws/3YcyaC1
UK government outlines plans for 'tradfi' crypto regulation; The "robust" plans propose stricter limits on crypto lending, as well as the introduction of a new crypto market abuse regime and tighter rules on the role of financial intermediaries and custodians.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
In the wake of last year's crypto winter and the highly publicised collapse of crypto exchange FTX, the UK government has laid out plans to "robustly regulate crypto-asset activities", including tighter rules for crypto trading platforms and a "world-first" regime for crypto lending.
/jlne.ws/3XYfTsK
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| Ukraine Invasion | | News about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and its military, economic, political and humanitarian impact | Brussels urged to rein in Ukraine's 'unrealistic' EU hopes
Henry Foy and Sam Fleming - Financial Times
EU member states have warned Brussels against giving Ukraine an unrealistic expectation of rapidly joining the bloc, ahead of a summit in Kyiv where Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pressing for progress on accession and reconstruction. Zelenskyy is due to host his EU counterparts Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel this week, where he is expected to lobby for the country's EU membership, the use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's reconstruction and a legal mechanism to prosecute Russians for war crimes.
/jlne.ws/3RlcMIA
Nato's weapons stockpiles need urgent replenishment; Russia's attack on Ukraine shows western militaries are ill-equipped for war
Financial Times
Russia's war against Ukraine has been a sobering wake-up call for western militaries. Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, they are discovering they are ill-prepared for a full-intensity conflict like that in Ukraine or the one that China may unleash against Taiwan. Russia's onslaught has turned into an attritional struggle with ghastly echoes of the first world war, albeit with more modern arms.
/jlne.ws/3Rp1yTm
U.S. readies $2 billion-plus Ukraine aid package with longer-range weapons -sources
Mike Stone - Reuters
The United States is readying more than $2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two U.S. officials briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3WSRQtJ
Georgia Wants Russia to Leave Its Land in a Ukraine Peace Deal;p Russia must 'learn where its borders are,' Zourabichvili said; Georgia President Zourabichvili speaks in interview in Tbilisi
Helena Bedwell and Paul Abelsky - Bloomberg
Georgia's president said Russia must be required to abandon its nearly 15-year-long occupation of her nation's territory as part of an eventual peace deal to end the Kremlin's war in Ukraine. "Russia has to learn where its borders are," President Salome Zourabichvili said in an interview in the capital, Tbilisi. "The Georgian issues should be on the table because nobody should think that this war can be resolved without Russia retreating from all the occupied territories" in the region, she said.
/jlne.ws/3WVqSlj
Biden's Escalation in Ukraine Is About Diplomacy Not Victory; Massive shipments of sophisticated Western arms are intended to avoid a long stalemate and bring Putin to the table.
Hal Brands - Bloomberg
The war in Ukraine is reaching a new phase, and US strategy is undergoing an important shift. Fears of Russian nuclear escalation are receding as fears of a long war featuring unrelenting attrition are increasing. So President Joe Biden's administration is ramping up support for Ukraine now in hopes of producing an eventual diplomatic resolution - an "escalate to de-escalate" strategy that may prove very difficult to execute.
/jlne.ws/3HNPQP9
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | NYSE's Haywire Trading Spurs Crush of Demands for Compensation; Claims are likely to exceed liability pool that covers losses; Retail investors poised to be hurt the most by shortfall
Katherine Doherty - Bloomberg
Investors hurt when a New York Stock Exchange malfunction sparked wild swings in stock prices are trying to recoup their losses. There's reason to doubt they'll get all their money back. Losses incurred during NYSE's system glitch last week could amount to millions of dollars, and thousands of claims have been submitted by retail brokerages including Charles Schwab Corp. and Robinhood Markets Inc., as well as market makers Virtu Financial Inc. and Citadel Securities, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
/jlne.ws/3jmmHBi
DTCC Issues First-Ever Analysis On How Climate-Related Financial Risk May Impact Financial Market Infrastructures
DTCC
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today issued the first-ever analysis that examines how climate-related financial risk, namely physical risk and transition risk, may impact financial market infrastructures (FMIs). The new whitepaper, "Climate-Related Financial Risk: An FMI's Perspective," acknowledges that FMIs can have direct exposure to climate-related physical risk.
/jlne.ws/3Dz7x2y
MaterialsXchange launches new digital marketplace for lumber and other building materials
MaterialsXchange via Cision
MaterialsXchange (MX), the leading digital marketplace to efficiently buy and sell lumber, panels, and other building material (LBM) products, announces the launch of its new e-commerce platform. The updated marketplace, available at materialsxchange.com, offers a streamlined ordering process where suppliers can list products either as an "ask" or a "bid" and buyers can receive alerts or order products directly. The technology, powered by Mickey, is designed to make the process for buying or selling wholesale and large-order LBM easier and more efficient - with live, real-time order tracking and pricing transparency.
/jlne.ws/3WX70hD
GraceKennedy taps Nasdaq for ESG build-out
Jamaica Observer
GraceKennedy (GK) has engaged US-based stock exchange Nasdaq to support the development of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) programme. In early 2022 GK announced that it would be pursuing an ESG agenda, in keeping with the strategic objectives of its 2030 vision which seeks to bolster revenues and profits for the company while positioning the operation to become more globally competitive.
/jlne.ws/3HX81lL
Xetra ETF & ETP statistics 2022: High growth rates for ETFs with a focus on sustainability, commodities and the banking sector; ETF trading turnover on Xetra increases by 14 percent to a new record of EUR 232.8 billion; With 480 new product listings, Deutsche Börse has recorded the highest level of listing activity since the start of the ETF & ETP segment; Xetra remains Europe's largest ETF exchange in terms of number of products and trading volume
Deutsche Boerse
The trading volume in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on Xetra reached EUR 232.8 billion last year, the highest annual turnover since the ETF segment was launched in 2000 (+14 percent; 2021: EUR 205.1 billion). Xetra was once again the leading ETF trading venue among all European stock exchanges.
/jlne.ws/3HpJfZZ
Trading Overview in January 2023
Japan Exchange Group
Japan Exchange Group released Trading Overview in January 2023.
/jlne.ws/3XY7zck
NSE Indices launches Nifty SDL Plus G-Sec Jun 2029 70:30 Index
NSE
NSE's index services subsidiary, NSE Indices Limited today launched a new target maturity index namely, Nifty SDL Plus G-Sec Jun 2027 70:30 Index.
/jlne.ws/3jkLjKz
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | Instagram founders launch Artifact to rival Twitter and tackle misinformation; Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are self-funding the AI-driven news app that can promote content to challenge user views
Cristina Criddle - Financial Times
The duo who created Instagram have launched a new "text-based" news app, believing they can build a competitor that challenges Elon Musk's Twitter and tackle the spread of misinformation online. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger - the entrepreneurial pair who founded and then sold photo-sharing app Instagram to Facebook for $1bn in 2012 - have launched a new company this week called Artifact.
/jlne.ws/3WUcLws
Japanese central counterparty JSCC starts using blockchain for rubber futures settlement
Leader Insights
Today the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) announced it is using blockchain to settle rubber futures. Blockchain is being used for digitizing the paperwork involved in the physical delivery of the rubber when futures mature. Now the JSCC is eyeing the potential for larger commodities such as gold and platinum. The JSCC is the main central counterparty in Japan responsible for clearing Tokyo Stock Exchange transactions, listed commodity derivatives and several kinds of over the counter (OTC) transactions, including credit default swaps and Japanese government bonds.
/jlne.ws/3Dxgbyl
ChatGPT parent OpenAI faces a blockchain rival as a new NFT project creates 3D avatars from text
Phil Rosen - Business Insider
OpenAI, the creator of the language tool ChatGPT and image generator Dall-E, could be facing some new, three-dimensional competition on the blockchain. Polygon is working with Alethea AI to launch CharacterGPT, an artificial-intelligence-powered non-fungible token (NFT) project that describes itself as "the world's first multimodal AI system."
/jlne.ws/3HMaBdU
Blockchain Company SIMBA Chain Received $30M Funding Increase From US Air Force
Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
Indiana-based blockchain firm SIMBA Chain, which has worked with U.S. military on various projects in recent years, has received a $30 million increase in funding. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has granted SIMBA Chain a $30 million strategic funding increase (STRATFI) as part of its aims of "identifying and advancing technologies that have the potential to secure its future dominance," according to an announcement on Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3YwMQwj
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| Cybersecurity | | Top stories for cybersecurity | ION suffers cyber attack on derivatives platform; The trading technology provider was compromised yesterday by a cyber attack that impacted its overnight processing, with some clients quarantining all communications from the firm.
Laurie McAughtry - The Trade
ION Markets was hit with a cyber attack last night that impacted some of its derivatives services and resulted in concerns around trade processing for its clients. The news first came to light with a Twitter post from user PriapusIQ at 10.24pm last night claiming "trade processing carnage" following a cyber attack.
/jlne.ws/3HnTHB2
Denial-of-Service Attacks Rise, Raising Concerns for Banks; Goal is to disable websites by flooding them with traffic; Popularity of IoT devices has contributed to rise in incidents
Andrew Martin - Bloomberg
Long considered a nuisance, distributed-denial-of-service attacks, or DDoS, are a growing problem for banks and other financial businesses, according to a new report. The volume of DDoS attacks targeting financial firms increased 22% year-over-year as of November, according to a new report first provided to Bloomberg News by the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which is known as FS-ISAC. The issue is particularly pronounced in Europe, where financial services saw a 73% increase in DDoS attacks, the report showed.
/jlne.ws/40igEyc
Mastermind in JPMorgan Hack Left US for Israel, His Father Says; Gery Shalon pleaded guilty to running huge financial data hack; Georgian TV interview provides glimpse of sealed proceedings
Helena Bedwell and David Voreacos - Bloomberg
Gery Shalon, the mastermind of sweeping hacks on the US financial system early last decade, returned to Israel after being allowed to leave US custody two years ago, his father said in an interview broadcast in the Republic of Georgia. Shalon was extradited from Israel in 2015 and accused of running what then-US Attorney General Loretta Lynch called "one of the largest thefts of financial-related data in history."
/jlne.ws/3XWfnea
Royal Mail to Start Exporting Some UK Parcels After Cyber Hit; Postal operator was forced to cancel all international mail; Now some tracked and signed packages have been resumed
Sabah Meddings - Bloomberg
Royal Mail has resumed shipping some international packages, two weeks after a cyberattack forced the UK postal operator to pause letters and parcels destined for overseas. Royal Mail told customers to stop trying to send items abroad on Jan. 11, causing a headache for small British exporters.
/jlne.ws/3ntEa98
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried Attempted To Regain Control Of Bankrupt Crypto Exchange
Vandana Singh - Benzinga
Beleaguered crypto exchange FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried tried to stop bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. in November to transfer assets from his crypto exchange to foreign regulators. According to federal prosecutors, Bankman-Fried expected lenient treatment from foreign regulators, eventually allowing him to regain control of FTX. Last month, the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office charged Mr. Bankman-Fried for stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers and misleading investors.
/jlne.ws/3JsfkCP
Bankman-Fried Would Embroil Stanford If He Violates His Bond; His parents' home, used to secure bond, is on Stanford land; The school would have to help sell the home in a liquidation
Erik Larson - Bloomberg
When Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million personal recognizance bond last month, the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange used his parents' home to help secure the massive bail package. What wasn't spelled out in court documents though is that if Bankman-Fried flees, Stanford Law School will end up embroiled in the government's efforts to seize the collateral.
/jlne.ws/40hTPuA
Bankrupt Crypto Exchange FTX had Around $1.4B Cash at 2022-End
Jesse Hamilton, Jamie Crawley - CoinDesk
The figure is around 19% higher than the $1.2 billion reported in November when FTX filed for bankruptcy. Amongst the various arms Sam Bankman-Fried's fallen crypto empire, FTX.US has $260 million in cash. Bankman-Fried has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. wing is solvent. Last month he blogged that FTX US "had at least $111m, and likely around $400m, of excess cash on top of what was required to match customer balances."
/jlne.ws/3YcZL6b
Social Token Project Rally Shuts Ethereum Sidechain, Stranding Users' Crypto Assets
Danny Nelson - CoinDesk
Social token platform Rally said Tuesday it is abandoning its Ethereum sidechain and warned users - creators and their communities of token-holding fans - their crypto assets may soon become stranded. "Since NFTs on the Rally sidechain are not transferable to mainnet, these will not be accessible once the site shuts down," Rally said in an email reviewed by CoinDesk. It further said the site "will no longer be supported" beyond Tuesday.
/jlne.ws/3Jvurvg
Celsius Problems 'Dated Back to at Least 2020': Examiner's Report
Max Koopsen - Decrypt
"Celsius's problems did not start in 2022," read today's examiner's report on the now-bankrupt crypto lender. "Rather, serious problems dated back to at least 2020, after Celsius started using customer assets to fund operational expenses and rewards."
/jlne.ws/3XTQ90B
Cryptocurrency lender Celsius was "insolvent since inception," investigation finds
Scott Nover - Quartz
Turns out the Celsius Network, a cryptocurrency lender that promised customers 17% annual yields on their deposits, was indeed too good to be true. The company halted withdrawals and transfers in June 2022 amid a liquidity crisis, citing "extreme market conditions." The price of bitcoin had halved in two month's time. In June, Celsius filed for bankruptcy and its founder and CEO, Alex Mashinsky, resigned in September.
/jlne.ws/3WNzSZG
Celsius Was Using QuickBooks for Its Accounting-Just Like FTX
André Beganski - Decrypt
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius used Quickbooks to keep track of its finances, a court-appointed examiner wrote in a report released Tuesday. That made it especially challenging to assess the company's finances post-bankruptcy, as Quickbooks is "geared mainly toward small and medium-sized businesses," wrote Examiner Shoba Pillay.
/jlne.ws/3wKdSUL
Bankrupt Lending Platform Celsius Names Users Eligible to Withdraw Assets
Sandali Handagama - CoinDesk
Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius published the names of users who are allowed to withdraw a majority of their assets locked on the platform. The 1,400-page document filed with a New York bankruptcy court on Tuesday shows the company has court permission to distribute 94% of each user's assets. While eligibility is contingent upon certain criteria - for instance, transfers had to be less than $7,575 when they were made - withdrawals will be processed only if the users have enough assets on the platform to cover any withdrawal fees, and only if they update "specific customer information related to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) information."
/jlne.ws/3DwasZJ
First Exchange-Traded NFT Fund Shuts Down
Mathew Di Salvo - Decrypt
NFTZ, widely touted as the world's first exchange-traded fund for NFTs, is shutting down. nDefiance ETFs announced that it will "close and liquidate" NFTZ, its Defiance Digital Revolution ETF, by February 28. When it kicked off trading in December 2021, Defiance ETFs co-founder and Chief Investment Officer Sylvia Jablonski said NFTs "could be bigger than the internet."
/jlne.ws/3JxrD10
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | EDI and PRS Group Partner to Provide Quant-Driven Geopolitical Data
Exchange Data International
Today, Exchange Data International (EDI) announced their partnership with PRS Group to provide their clients with geopolitical risk rating and forecasting series. The geopolitical risk series resorts to weighted metrics to evaluate, score and rank countries according to political, economic and financial risks. The methodology integrates political and financial risk variables such as real GDP growth, inflation, fiscal account balances, external debt, liquidity sufficiency and currency stability.
/jlne.ws/3HP2z4h
White House blasts Exxon over historical $56 billion annual profit
Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland - Reuters
The White House on Tuesday expressed outrage on Tuesday at Exxon Mobil Corp's record net profit in 2022 of $56 billion, a historical high not just for the company but for the entire Western oil industry. Oil majors are expected to break their own annual records due to high prices and soaring demand, pushing their combined take to near $200 billion. The scale has brought renewed criticism of the oil industry and sparked calls for more countries to levy windfall profit taxes on the companies.
/jlne.ws/3Jxf99j
U.S. senators question Silvergate on dealings with FTX
Reuters
Three U.S. senators have asked cryptocurrency-focused bank Silvergate Capital Corp for details of its risk management practices and its dealings with bankrupt exchange FTX, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Democrat Elizabeth Warren and Republicans Roger Marshall and John Kennedy said they were "disappointed" by the bank's "evasive and incomplete response" to a previous request for information the lawmakers sent to the company in December. Silvergate did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
/jlne.ws/3jsxwSd
The US Has a Renewed Urgency to Regulate Crypto Post-FTX (Podcast); Lawmakers are under more pressure than ever to propose legislation overseeing digital assets, after last year's losses.
Sharon Beriro - Bloomberg
The bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX and the arrest of its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has had a lasting effect on the digital-asset sector. But it's also made an indelible impact on the politicians and policy makers who are supposed to regulate the industry. A fire had already been lit under some lawmakers as far as imposing regulations on crypto is concerned. Last year, President Biden issued an executive order asking agencies to take coordinated action on digital assets.
/jlne.ws/3DvkQkh
JPMorgan's European Millionaires and Signs of The Brexit Shift; High-earners at German unit soared to 85 from zero in 2015; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley are piling on staff in the bloc
William Shaw - B Bloomberg
To see how Brexit has transformed banking, just look at the surge in top earners at JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s European business. In 2015, the year before Britain voted to quit the European Union, nobody at the bank's Frankfurt-based division took home more than EUR1 million ($1.09 million). By 2019 there were nine and by 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, the number rose to 85. Seven raked in more than EUR3.5 million.
/jlne.ws/3jfMDyB
EU Unveils a Green Investment Plan to Compete With US and China; The plan is a response to Biden's Inflation Reduction Act; Proposal would loosen state-aid rules to boost investment
Jorge Valero - Bloomberg
The European Union unveiled a roadmap for how it plans to keep its industries competitive as the bloc tries to catch up to the US and China, which offer huge subsidies to domestic green technologies. The European Commission wants to use its Green Deal Industrial Plan to boost national support for companies through investment aid and tax credits, while also tapping into common European funds to underwrite important projects involving sectors such as hydrogen and quantum computing, according to the proposal presented on Wednesday.
/jlne.ws/3l0r5X6
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | Stories about regulation and the law. | My Big Coin cryptocurrency firm founder gets 8 years in prison for fraud
Nate Raymond - Reuters
The founder of a defunct cryptocurrency business was sentenced on Tuesday to more than eight years in prison for defrauding investors and customers out of millions of dollars by marketing a virtual currency called My Big Coin with lies and half-truths. Federal prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston to impose a 13-year prison term on Randall Crater to send a message to others in the first sentencing of a cryptocurrency company founder for a marketing fraud.
/jlne.ws/3JvkSMY
Shell Accused of Greenwashing by Climate Group in Claim to SEC; Global Witness says Shell's renewables investments are unclear; Complaint asks financial regulator to probe firm's statements
Will Mathis and Austin Weinstein - Bloomberg
A climate activist group is urging the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Shell Plc's claims about its investments in renewable energy are misleading to investors.
/jlne.ws/3jmJdKd
UK unveils wide-ranging plans to regulate crypto industry; Britain seeks to align rules with traditional finance in attempt to become digital asset hub
Scott Chipolina - Financial Times
The UK has set out a sweeping new regulatory regime for the cryptocurrency industry that aims to bring the rules governing the issuance, trading and lending of crypto tokens closely into line with those for traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds. The proposals to "robustly" regulate the sector, which are subject to a consultation, are the clearest sign yet that the government is determined to transform the UK into a hub for the crypto industry, despite a year of turmoil that saw the value of many popular crypto assets plummet and the collapse of leading crypto exchange FTX. The government's embrace of crypto comes amid concerns that Brexit threatens London's dominance as Europe's leading financial centre.
/jlne.ws/3wKgIJo
UK pushes ahead with plans to bring crypto under mainstream regulation; Government will temporarily backtrack on aligning treatment of promotions with that of stocks and shares
Scott Chipolina and George Parker - Financial Times
The UK government is pressing ahead with its plans to bring the cryptocurrency industry under the umbrella of mainstream financial services regulation even after last year's collapse of several high-profile digital asset companies stung retail investors. The Treasury said late on Tuesday it would unveil a series of proposals to "regulate a broad suite of cryptoasset activities, consistent with its approach to traditional finance". It also said it would temporarily backtrack on a previous pledge to align the regulation of crypto promotions with the standards applied to stocks, shares and insurance products.
/jlne.ws/3Dsmp2n
US Regulatory Changes Rival Post-Dodd-Frank Period
Shanny Basar - Traders Magazine
The current volume of proposed regulatory change in the US compares to the period after the passing of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Deloitte said its 2023 Capital Markets Regulatory Outlook: "In 2023, we expect the impacts to ripple across firms and markets in transformational and hard-to-predict ways."
/jlne.ws/3wKbU6P
2023 Outlook: US Rule Proposals Impacting Swap Dealers and Derivatives Clearing
DerivSource
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) monitors and responds to new global regulatory proposals. In a Q&A with Kyle Brandon, SIFMA's managing director, head of Derivatives Policy and Bill Thum, managing director and associate general counsel within SIFMA's Asset Management Group (SIFMA AMG), we explore the possible changes afoot in the derivatives clearing space and swaps dealer regulation space in 2023.
/jlne.ws/3HLZz8t
The CSA Exempts CBCA-Incorporated Reporting Issuers from Director Election Form of Proxy Requirement
Canadian Securities Administrators
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today published an exemption for reporting issuers incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) from the form of proxy requirement for the uncontested election of directors. "The exemption aims to clarify applicable rules by exempting CBCA-incorporated reporting issuers from the requirement under securities legislation to specify that securities be "voted" or "withheld" from voting in the form of proxy for the uncontested election of directors where these issuers comply with the applicable requirements under the CBCA and associated regulations" said Stan Magidson, ASC Chair and Chief Executive and CSA Chair.
/jlne.ws/3HJBIqb
Statement of Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson Regarding IOSCO Publication of Principles for the Regulation and Supervision of Commodity Derivatives Markets - Final Report
CFTC
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has long taken a leadership role in providing guidance and best practices for regulation of commodity derivatives markets. In 2010 and 2011, the G20 Leaders called for further work on regulation and supervision of the commodity derivatives markets, "enhanced transparency in both cash and derivatives markets as previously recommended by IOSCO," and "asked IOSCO to finalize...its recommendations on regulation and supervision in this area especially to address market abuses and manipulation, such as through position management powers, including the authority to set ex-ante position limits where appropriate, among other powers of intervention."
/jlne.ws/3Hnffh5
FCA tripled the number of fines in 2022, while SEC doled out a record $6.4 billion in penalties
SteelEye - Finextra
SteelEye analysed financial penalties issued by the UK's FCA; the US SEC; France's AMF; the Netherlands' AFM; and Germany's BaFin and Federal Office of Justice, to create a snapshot of financial services fines for compliance failures in 2022. The results show just how grave the consequences are, across markets, for those that fail to meet their obligations.
/jlne.ws/40ie9Mk
Small Business Advisory Committee to Host Meeting to Discuss Alternatives to Traditional Private Company Financing, Private Fund Reforms, and Public Company Investment Research
SEC.gov
The Securities and Exchange Commission's Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee today released the agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The Committee will discuss alternative approaches to private company financing, the Commission's February 2022 proposal regarding private fund advisers, and the role of equity research for smaller public companies and investors. Members of the public can watch the live meeting via webcast on www.sec.gov.
/jlne.ws/3wJW0cX
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Abaxx Tests Future of Physical Contracts in Quest for LNG Benchmark
Jacob Dick - Natural Gas Intel
As global natural gas market volatility continues to raise questions about the effectiveness of established futures benchmarks, Abaxx Technologies Inc. is pursuing a solution through physically-settled LNG contracts. Through a unit based in Singapore, Abaxx is preparing to launch physically-settled contracts for the three major liquefied natural gas markets: Northwest Europe, North Asia Pacific and the Gulf Coast. The contracts could serve as an alternative to financially-settled instruments like the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) that currently dominate international gas trading, including for LNG.
/jlne.ws/3kS9Qad
Virtu Reports Record Year in Options Market Making
Anna Lyudvig - Traders Magazine
Doug Cifu, CEO of Virtu Financial, said that the company had another record year in options market making in 2022б as it continues to expand across venues, asset classes and geographies. "We continue to view our investment in this business as a key long-term engine of growth," he said. "We continue to view our investment in this business as a key long-term engine of growth," he said.
/jlne.ws/3l29PR5
Black Swan's Taleb Warns 'Disneyland' Is Over for Investors; Higher interest rates will burst asset bubbles, Taleb says; Author warns asset-based inflation is distorting society
Sonali Basak - Bloomberg
Nassim Nicholas Taleb has a message for investors. Prepare for a painful return to reality. "Disneyland is over, the children go back to school," the author of "The Black Swan" said. "It's not going to be as smooth as it was the last 15 years." A generation of near-zero interest rates triggered a monumental series of asset bubbles and turbocharged inequality, Taleb said Monday at an event in Miami hosted in part by Universa Investments, the hedge fund firm that he advises. Investors are largely unequipped for a high-interest world as the Federal Reserve raises rates to levels more compatible with history, he said.
/jlne.ws/3RoOduh
UK Bonds Lure Record Foreign Inflows as Scars of Crisis Fade; Non-resident funds bought £38.3 billion gilts in December; RBC's Parkinson says LDI funds may be rebuilding positions
James Hirai - Bloomberg
Overseas funds piled into UK government bonds at an unprecedented pace in December, one of the strongest signs yet that a market written off as broken just months ago is on the mend. Non-residents bought £38.3 billion ($47 billion) of gilts last month, figures published by the Bank of England on Tuesday showed.
/jlne.ws/3l2c6vB
Liquidity loses top slot as investors' biggest concern after six years; Traders' confidence was bolstered after retaining their ability to buy and sell during last year's ructions
Nikou Asgari - Financial Times
Liquidity is no longer the biggest worry for traders in financial markets, following a year in which markets survived a series of major shocks without the ability to buy and sell becoming too severely impaired. Instead, volatility has climbed to the top of the list of traders' concerns in 2023, as rising global interest rates and geopolitical tensions spark big moves in markets, according to a survey of traders by JPMorgan.
/jlne.ws/3jouBdo
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| Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance | | Stories about environmental, social and governance investing | Paris' Vision for a '15-Minute City' Sparks a Global Movement
Salome Gongadze and Anne Maassen - World Resources Institute
Until just a few years ago, the right riverbank of the Seine in Paris was an urban highway used by over 40,000 vehicles every day. Despite being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the road was either heavily gridlocked during rush hour or was a corridor for cars traveling at high speeds. It contributed to the city's high rates of air pollution, which regularly exceeded EU limits and contributed to thousands of deaths each year in the city. In 2016, the road was converted into a car-free linear park, used by commuters during the week as well as residents and visitors for leisure activities on the weekends.
/jlne.ws/3WWexgK
Investors Push Mining Companies to Adopt Better Sustainability Standards; Miners producing metals and minerals for renewable technologies are under pressure to address environmental and social concerns
Dieter Holger - The Wall Street Journal
Investors are pushing miners to adopt tougher sustainability policies amid fears the rush for minerals to expand renewable energy will harm the environment and poor communities. The newly-launched Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 said it would introduce sustainability standards by next January which will seek to overhaul the mining industry this decade.
/jlne.ws/3jtAnKF
Shell Accused of Greenwashing by Climate Group in Claim to SEC; Global Witness says Shell's renewables investments are unclear; Complaint asks financial regulator to probe firm's statements
Will Mathis and Austin Weinstein - Bloomberg
A climate activist group is urging the US Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Shell Plc's claims about its investments in renewable energy are misleading to investors. Global Witness said that it filed a complaint with the SEC's Climate and ESG Task Force and through the agency's tips portal over Shell's statements on renewables. The London-based energy giant may have "materially misstated its financial commitment to renewable sources of energy," the nonprofit said in a copy of the filing reviewed by Bloomberg News.
/jlne.ws/3YcnP9s
1 big thing: Exxon's climate pitch
Axios
Call it an irony of energy transition: Oil giants that produce planet-warming fuels say their size makes them best equipped to launch projects that help tame emissions, Ben writes. Driving the news: The latest exec to deliver this message is Exxon boss Darren Woods, who yesterday touted the company's long-term business plans around hydrogen, carbon capture and lower emissions fuels.
/jlne.ws/3kYkhcC
Sustainable Bonds to Hit $5T This Year, Says Study; The Institute of International Finance expects $1.7 trillion in new bonds and loans to be sold this year
Banking Exchange
The market for bonds and loans linked to sustainability and social impacts is expected to exceed $5 trillion this year, according to new research. A report from the Institute of International Finance forecast environmental, social and governance linked debt to hit $1.7 trillion in 2023 and exceed $2 trillion next year.
/jlne.ws/3kYcXxE
Do Voluntary Carbon Markets Help or Hinder Climate Action?
Vibeka Mair - ESG Investor
As media investigations reignite the debate on the viability of carbon offsets, academics argue for wider stakeholder engagement and changes to carbon accounting approaches to build robustness. It's not been a good start to the year for the voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), with two major press investigations alleging that forest-based offset projects are misleading in their carbon emissions reduction claims and at worse ineffective. Social media was scathing with criticisms in reaction. Greta Thunberg said it showed "the ugly truth of carbon offsetting".
/jlne.ws/3Dupdfq
PRI Seeks End to 'Box-ticking' Approach to Stewardship
Chris Hall - ESG Investor
Project aims to tackle "pervasive" under-resourcing, but asset owners must show they value stewardship via manager selection. The upcoming AGM season will see asset owners and managers pushing for change at investee firms, with many observers counting votes and shareholder resolutions as a measure of investors' commitment to both sustainability and the principles of good stewardship.
/jlne.ws/3l1Fxhj
Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance raises expectations for members' real economy impact with updated Protocol
United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI)
Third edition of Target-Setting Protocol published, setting out pathway to reducing portfolio emissions for 84 major institutional investors including Aviva, CDPQ, and Dai-ichi Life; Updated methodology now covers private assets target-setting including Commercial Real Estate Lending, and reporting on Sovereign Bonds; Alliance incorporates principles on Just Transition for target achievement while barring carbon removals. Today, the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance releases a significant update to its Target Setting Protocol, ratcheting up scope and coverage for its 84 members in its third edition of the document.
/jlne.ws/3Y9gkQq
Investors Push Canada's Metro to Explore Science-based Climate Targets
Aaran Fronda - ESG Investor
Shareholders of the Canadian grocery retailer also called for "time-bound commitments" on establishing climate targets validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative. Concessions made by a Canadian food retailer have demonstrated the risks of falling behind both investors' expectations and peers' climate policies, according to co-filers of a shareholder resolution at its AGM last week.
/jlne.ws/3l0nf08
Hong Kong needs ESG talent, but what makes someone qualified?; Companies in Hong Kong are urgently seeking employees who can help them meet their sustainability goals, but finding the right skill set is a challenge; This talent gap is driving the development of new courses and qualifications that encompass training in both business and the environment
Christine Loh - South China Morning Post (opinion)
Who qualifies as a sustainability professional? This is a matter that has yet to be settled. Employers in Hong Kong are seeking to hire people with experience in measuring the sustainability of a company or investment from the perspective of its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Such experience is increasingly sought after owing to the pressure on companies to disclose their ESG performance, amid a global and local push for them to reduce their carbon and other emissions, as well as improve their social impact.
/jlne.ws/40n1zeX
J.P. Morgan Asset Management Adds $500 Million of Southern Timberland; The deal is Wall Street's latest wager that forests will be valued for more than wood products
Ryan Dezember - The Wall Street Journal
J.P. Morgan Asset Management's timber-investing arm has acquired about 250,000 acres in the Southern pine belt for more than $500 million, Wall Street's latest big woodlands purchase made with an eye toward carbon markets.
/jlne.ws/3RmKOw2
EU Sets Out Options to Compete With U.S. Green Subsidies; Tax rebates, looser subsidy rules to be discussed at European leaders' summit next week
Kim Mackrael - The Wall Street Journal
The European Union's executive body on Wednesday set out a road map for competing with American green subsidies with a range of tools that could include coordinated tax rebates and the ability to match certain U.S. incentives on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
/jlne.ws/3JxzvzA
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Barclays replaces branches with semi-permanent banking pods
Finextra
Barclays already has the largest network of alternative branch formats - Barclays Local - with 200 opened by the end of 2022. The bank says it will open an additional 70 in the first half of 2023. Under this model, the bank works with local councils and communities to arrange a presence in places such as town halls and libraries, offering in-person banking support. Barclays Local staff provide face-to-face assistance, alongside free digital skills workshops and fraud and scams awareness events for the community.
/jlne.ws/3HLS1mc
Citi Poaches JPM's Besseddik to Head Europe Health-Care Banking
Dinesh Nair and Michelle F Davis - Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. is hiring Cyril Besseddik from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to lead coverage of health-care companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for its investment bank. Besseddik is set to join Citigroup's banking, capital markets advisory group in May and will be based in London, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. He was most recently co-head of EMEA health-care investment banking at JPMorgan.
/jlne.ws/3wJ9F3E
The Money Move That Has People Ditching Their Bank Accounts; More people are banking with companies that hold their 401(k)s
Imani Moise - The Wall Street Journal
The typical checking account pays so little interest that more people are moving their day-to-day banking into their brokerage accounts to get a better return on their cash. At Fidelity, the nation's largest 401(k) plan provider, there has been a double-digit percent increase in the number of people using cash-management accounts over the last three years, according to a spokeswoman. These money-market accounts let customers earn competitive interest on their cash without sacrificing many of the key features of traditional banking.
/jlne.ws/3WUmKlz
Superheroes Need Not Apply for BOJ's Top Job; The challenges facing Kuroda's successor look almost conventional. There's no sense of national peril this time.
Daniel Moss and Gearoid Reidy - Bloomberg
When it comes to filling the vacancy at the top of the Bank of Japan, prospective candidates should take note - a crisis manager need not apply. As the government prepares to name the successor to Haruhiko Kuroda after a decade in the big seat, the appointment will be a very different one to that made in the opening months of 2013. While BOJ skeptics bet they can force a transformative policy switch while the eyes of the world are on Japan's geopolitical renaissance, this is no job for a superhero.
/jlne.ws/3WW4zvL
Ex-Banker Who Built Financial Empire Warns of India's Complexity; Doing business in India requires investment and patience: Shah; Shah founded Edelweiss Financial, now a $770 million company
Saikat Das and Tom Redmond - Bloomberg
As interest grows in India as a bigger driver of the world economy, one of its best-known finance entrepreneurs warned the country is complex, volatile and only yields success to those prepared to commit for the long haul. "India is not a straight road," said Rashesh Shah, who founded Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd. in 1995 and built it into a roughly $770 million group. "It's not like you can take the US business model and just transport it," he said in an interview in Mumbai. India "requires investment and patience. You've really got to have a 10 to 20-year view."
/jlne.ws/3Jvp6nK
Lebanon to Devalue Currency 90%, Central Banker Says: Reuters
Simon Kennedy - Bloomberg
Lebanon will adopt a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per US dollar on Feb. 1, central bank Governor Riad Salameh said, according to Reuters. That would mark a 90% devaluation from its current rate, which has been unchanged for 25 years, Reuters said. The change will apply to banks, Salameh said.
/jlne.ws/3kSc5KF
Credit Suisse to Move Private Funds Group to First Boston Unit; Private Funds Group currently sits in asset management unit; Credit Suisse identifying businesses for investment bank
Gillian Tan and Marion Halftermeyer - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG plans to shift an asset management business that helps buyout firms raise funds to its First Boston spinout as the firm works to reshape its investment bank after losses. Internal discussions are taking place on moving the Private Funds Group, co-headed by David Klein in the US and Michael Murphy in London, to First Boston later this year, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be identified.
/jlne.ws/40baUGq
UK Bonds Lure Record Foreign Inflows as Scars of Crisis Fade; Non-resident funds bought £38.3 billion gilts in December; RBC's Parkinson says LDI funds may be rebuilding positions
James Hirai - Bloomberg
Overseas funds piled into UK government bonds at an unprecedented pace in December, one of the strongest signs yet that a market written off as broken just months ago is on the mend. Non-residents bought £38.3 billion ($47 billion) of gilts last month, figures published by the Bank of England on Tuesday showed.
/jlne.ws/3l2c6vB
UBS Announces $5 Billion Buyback as Rate Tailwind Lifts Results
Myriam Balezou and Marion Halftermeyer - Bloomberg
UBS Group AG reported fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations and announced plans to repurchase more than $5 billion of shares this year, as rising interest rates helped offset a slump in trading revenue and wealth-management fees.
/jlne.ws/3jpR8GQ
Darktrace announces £75mn share buyback after short seller attack; Move to boost stock comes after hedge fund publishes report alleging accounting irregularities at UK cyber group
Anna Gross - Financial Times
British cyber security group Darktrace said on Wednesday that it would buy back up to £75mn worth of shares, after coming under attack from a short seller that accused it of accounting irregularities. The London-listed company said plans to acquire up to 35mn shares was an attempt to boost its stock, which has tumbled more than a fifth since the start of the month.
/jlne.ws/3kXV6Xu
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| Work & Management | | Stories impacting work and more about management ideas, practices and trends. | America's Fever of Workaholism Is Finally Breaking; For the first time in 50 years, the rich are buying more free time.
Derek Thompson - The Atlantic
One of the weirdest economic stories of the past half century is what happened to rich Americans-and especially rich American men-at work. In general, poor people work more than wealthy people. This story is consistent across countries (for example, people in Cambodia work much more than people in Switzerland) and across time (for example, Germans in the 1950s worked almost twice as much as they do today).
/jlne.ws/3X8XsQV
PayPal to Cut 2,000 Jobs in Push to Trim Costs; Cuts amount to about 7% of workforce at online payments firm; Slowdown, pandemic retreat have weighed on spending growth
Jennifer Surane - Bloomberg
PayPal Holdings Inc. said it will cut 2,000 staffers as it contends with a macroeconomic slowdown that's weighed on the firm's business in recent quarters. The cuts, which will affect about 7% of employees, will take place in the coming weeks, Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman told employees in a memo. "While we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost structure, and focused our resources on our core strategic priorities, we have more work to do," Schulman said.
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US Offices Reach 50% Occupancy for First Time Since Pandemic Hit; Most of 10 cities tracked saw RTO hold steady or rise; New York office attendance increased, yet still below 50%
Matthew Boyle - Bloomberg
More than half of workers in major US cities went to the office last week, the first time that return-to-office rates crossed 50% of their pre-pandemic levels. An index of building occupancies in 10 major metro areas increased 0.9 percentage points to 50.4% in the week ended Jan. 25, according to security firm Kastle Systems. All of the cities tracked by the company - including San Francisco, Chicago and Austin, Texas - reached return-to-office levels of 40% or above, which was also a post-pandemic first.
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| Wellness Exchange | | An Exchange of Health and Wellness Information | Vaccine Makers Kept $1.4 Billion in Prepayments for Canceled Covid Shots for the World's Poor; Separately, Johnson & Johnson is demanding additional payment for unwanted shots, confidential documents show.
Stephanie Nolen and Rebecca Robbins - The New York Times
As global demand for Covid-19 vaccines dries up, the program responsible for vaccinating the world's poor has been urgently negotiating to try to get out of its deals with pharmaceutical companies for shots it no longer needs. Drug companies have so far declined to refund $1.4 billion in advance payments for now-canceled doses, according to confidential documents obtained by The New York Times.
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To Prevent Cancer, More Women Should Consider Removing Fallopian Tubes, Experts Say; A top research group is urging even women without genetic risks to have their fallopian tubes removed under certain circumstances.
Roni Caryn Rabin - The New York Times
There is no reliable screening test for ovarian cancer, so doctors urge women at high genetic risk for the disease to have their ovaries and fallopian tubes removed once they are done having children, usually around the age of 40. On Wednesday, a leading research and advocacy organization broadened that recommendation in ways that may surprise many women. Building on evidence that most of these cancers originate in the fallopian tubes, not the ovaries, the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance is urging even women who do not have mutations - that is, most women - to have their fallopian tubes surgically removed if they are finished having children and are planning a gynecologic operation anyway.
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COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children, but is still rare
Ayana Archie - NPR
COVID-19 was the eighth leading cause of death among children in recent months, according to a study published Monday. In a yearlong period from August 2021 to July 2022, 821 children ages 0 to 19 died from COVID-19 at a rate of 1 per 100,000. Children's deaths of any kind are rare, researchers noted. COVID-19 ranked fifth in non-disease-related deaths and first in infectious or respiratory illness deaths, overtaking the flu and pneumonia.
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Chinese City Turns Quarantine Camp Into Temporary Homes for 'Skilled Talent'
Low De Wei - Bloomberg
Local governments in China are looking for new uses for the makeshift quarantine facilities built during the pandemic, after years of strict Covid Zero rules left many authorities strapped for cash. In the northeastern coastal province of Shandong, a facility measuring 20,563 square meters has been turned into temporary housing for workers, called the "Skilled Talents' Condominium." Located in the Jinan Innovation Zone Intelligent Equipment City, one of 10 high-tech industrial parks in the provincial capital Jinan, the complex opened its doors on Jan. 26, according to an announcement last week from the WeChat account of the park.
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Adani Stock Meltdown Hits $92 Billion as Collateral Worries Grow
Abhishek Vishnoi and Ishika Mookerjee - Bloomberg
The crisis of confidence plaguing Gautam Adani has taken a sudden turn for the worse, with a record 28% plunge in his flagship company's stock raising questions over the extra collateral he needs to cover loans.
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Credit Suisse's Wealth Unit Halts Margin Loans on Adani Debt
Denise Wee and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen - Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG has stopped accepting bonds of Gautam Adani's group of companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients, a sign that scrutiny of the Indian tycoon's finances is growing after allegations of fraud by short seller Hindenburg Research.
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USDA Launches Cattle-Sales Database to Check Meat Giants' Power
Mike Dorning and Michael Hirtzer - Bloomberg
The Biden administration introduced a public database on payment terms for private cattle sales, designed to give producers more leverage in negotiating with the four meatpacking giants that dominate US beef processing. The Cattle Contracts Library will go live as a pilot project at noon on Tuesday and will disclose terms for all cattle-purchase contracts made by large meat packers, but not the identities of buyers or sellers, US Agriculture Department officials said.
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Griffin Makes His Biggest Miami Gift Yet to Pediatric Hospital; Citadel founder donates $25 million to Nicklaus Children's Hospital for a new wing to house operating rooms and family spaces.
Amanda L Gordon - Bloomberg
Ken Griffin is giving $25 million to a Miami hospital that specializes in pediatric care, his single largest gift to a nonprofit in his newly adopted state of Florida. The funds will help the Nicklaus Children's Hospital complete a new building with high-tech operating rooms and spaces for family, the hospital said Tuesday in a statement. The 127,000-square-foot (11,800-square-meter) wing is expected to open in 2024 as the Kenneth C. Griffin Surgical Tower.
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Americans Are Leaving High-Tax New York and Moving to Florida; New Jersey, California and Illinois are also among the places losing residents as lower costs draw people to the Sun Belt.
Paulina Cachero - Bloomberg
Low taxes and warm weather were once again a draw for Americans in 2022, with Florida and Texas seeing the most migration from other states, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. And on the flip side, California, New York and Illinois are losing the most people.
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