| October 19, 2018 | "Irreverent, but never irrelevant" | | |  | John Lothian
Publisher
John Lothian News | |
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Hits & Takes
JLN Staff
The winner of the Innovator of the Year Award at FIA Expo 2018 was FreightWaves, the company that is creating the first Trucking Freight Futures contracts to help bring hedging to transportation costs, primarily for agricultural companies. Congratulations to the company and to its founder, Craig Fuller. Interestingly, this is the second year in a row that the winner was an "agtech" company (last year's winner was Tellus Labs). It's also the third year in a row that Chuck Mackie has correctly predicted the winner.~SR
Speaking of Chuck Mackie, here is his writeup of Day 1 of FIA Expo, for Maven Wave. He did a great job of covering Wednesday's conference lineup.~SR
An Expo panel on swaps reform Thursday asked the question, "Has the CFTC achieved its stated goal with the rules laid down in the 2010-2014 period?" Answers from the panelists were mixed, but in general they agreed with the audience poll that answered, "Partially, but there are still some regulatory changes needed."
Michael O'Brien of Eaton Vance said that in execution, nothing has really changed. "Execution was already becoming more electronic even before SEFs [were mandated]." He also said that the industry in the US has achieved much on the clearing side, but less on the trading side.
Citadel's Stephen Berger said we have mostly achieved the goal - the rules could just use a little fine tuning. The changes have made markets more stable and resilient, and "the price-discovery process has been completely revolutionized for the buy side," he said.
Optiver's Sebastiaan Koeling said transparency is not fully where we'd like it to be, especially in the FX space, but risk has gone down somewhat with the move into clearing houses.
The cross-border aspect of how to execute trades has been complex and difficult. There is also much work to do on the reporting side and in achieving better post trade dissemination of data. And for some firms, dealing with swap registration rules is a challenge. O'Brien said we haven't seen as much innovation in SEFs as we have in other fixed income areas, such as Treasuries and FX.~SR
JLN intern Matt Raebel attended several crypto-related sessions at Expo on Thursday and here are a few of his takeaways:
- Tom Jessop of Fidelity Investments said that the company started seriously considering getting into crypto after "holders of a lot of bitcoin" (AKA "bitcoin whales") began approaching them asking for investment services during "Digital Assets: The Institutional Investor Perspective."
- The second and final full day of the FIA expo was the one with all the talks on digital assets. It was also the one with lower attendance.
- JB Mackenzie of TD Ameritrade said during the FIA presentation, "Digital Assets: The Big Picture" that he wants to improve user interfaces for digital asset training so that they're as intuitive as Facebook. Anything involving crypto trading designed to be as addictive as my newsfeed seems like a terrifying concept.
- Thanks to pot stocks, this year was the first expo I've been to where a booth was giving out lighters as swag.
- Someone (Jump Trading's Dave Olsen) finally asked Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler the crucial question: will you finally be able to buy pumpkin spice lattes with bitcoin? Loeffler said yes, and Bakkt will even help you figure out how to pay taxes on bitcoin. You could probably make a whole business just out of that last part.
A few digital takeaways from Jim Kharouf:
- Do you know what BATs are? Answer: Basic Attention Tokens, which reward users for looking at a product, information or service. And here you thought it was Better Alternative Trading System.
- Don Wilson, CEO of DRW, took aim at old narratives about cryptocurrencies, noting the idea that: "'The only people who use these are criminals' - that is a fringe view today."
- Josh Stein, CEO of Harbor, said his firm is working on digital asset tokens for the REIT market, allowing for much easier buying and selling of private real estate assets.
- Tim Grant, CEO of DrumG, noted that his firm is working with large banks on blockchain projects that involve market data. "You will see real utilities used at your institutions," he said.
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Japan's Financial Services Agency Appoints Mr. Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus Of The CME Group, As The FSA Advisor
Mondovisione
The FSA has appointed Mr. Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group), as the FSA advisor.
bit.ly/2NPVWiE
***** Exiting the CME Group board has given Leo Melamed more time to pursue other opportunities.~JJL
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SEC Launches New Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology
SEC
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the launch of the agency's Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub).
bit.ly/2NPIaNc
***** The folks at the CFTC's LabCFTC say welcome.~JJL
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The heyday of the ugly American; Not only is the US going in the wrong direction, it's becoming a danger to global order
Edward Luce - FT
Criticisms of the US always have a slightly edgier quality when they come from a Brit. From time to time an American reader emails me to point out that there are more than enough problems in my own country. To which I wholeheartedly agree. But I live in America not Britain. Occasionally, an uncharitable reader misreads a post-colonial hauteur in my writing. More likely I haven't expressed myself clearly enough. So let me declare this before I make my larger point (for fear it'll be misinterpreted as anti-American): I fervently want America to succeed; I don't think any other country has the same ability, or legitimacy, to uphold a global system of rules. Indeed, I doubt that any desirable international order will be possible if the US goes Awol. While I'm on a roll let me also fantasise that had I been a resident of one of the 13 colonies in 1776, I would've fought the redcoats. At least, I like to think so. Perhaps I have seen too many movies. At any rate, I've spent more of my adult life in the US than Britain so I've established some standing.
/on.ft.com/2pZCHtJ
***** Edward Luce is always a good read.~JJL
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Thursday's Top Three
Readers had some fun with our top story Thursday, The Onion's Guide To Blockchain Technology. Second was the Financial Times piece, US threatens to bar EU banks from exchanges. Third was a picture of the CQG charity softball game in support of FIA Cares. Organizer Pat Kenny noted that there weren't quite enough non-US participants, so they mixed and matched this year.
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MarketsWiki Stats
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| Lead Stories | U.S. Banks Make Hay of European Trading Rules; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley gain from consolidation in equities trading
Paul J. Davies - WSJ
No banker likes new regulations, but European investment bank chiefs will feel more aggrieved than normal this year. The reason? A set of rules for securities trading that came into force in January appears to be handing U.S. banks a big competitive advantage.
/on.wsj.com/2q1f5F9
NYSE, Nasdaq Take It on the Chin in Washington; SEC's move to block fee increases is latest setback in exchanges' growing list of disputes with regulators
Dave Michaels - WSJ
The country's biggest stock exchanges are on a losing streak in Washington. The Securities and Exchange Commission's decision this week to block the exchanges from raising fees on some data products is the latest example. The three main exchange operators also are fighting to kill off a two-year SEC initiative to test lower trading fees. Separately, the SEC has rebuffed their requests to delay and pare back a surveillance database that exchanges are nearly a year late in delivering.
/on.wsj.com/2q0KyqJ
Khashoggi case shows bankers have become our morality police; Big recipients of Saudi money and the regime's armourers warrant more scrutiny
Tom Braithwaite - FT
Banks have long been tools of law enforcement, forced to snitch on their clients. But expecting bank chief executives to be morality police is different.
/on.ft.com/2NPdhs4
The rise and fall of Ethereum; Cult cryptocurrency is down 70% this year but still loved by enthusiasts
Hannah Murphy in London - FT
For much of last year, many cryptocurrency enthusiasts believed that Ether would steal the crown from rival bitcoin to become the world's most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, a moment they dubbed "the flippening". But this year, both currencies flopped.
/on.ft.com/2pWuzKu
London Stock Exchange to lift stake in LCH clearing house; Group has forged pact to acquire additional 15% of LCH
Philip Stafford - FT
The London Stock Exchange Group unveiled plans to buy another 15.1 per cent of LCH, strengthening its grip on the clearing house at the centre of arguments between regulators of the global derivatives market.
/on.ft.com/2NPx4HR
LSEG ups majority stake in LCH; Several shareholders will sell their entire stakes in LCH, including Deutsche Bank, Nasdaq and Nomura.
Hayley McDowell - The Trade
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has confirmed it is in the process of increasing its majority shareholding in central clearing counterparty (CCP), LCH.
bit.ly/2pYfjMW
London gold association plans to approve blockchain trackers
Peter Hobson - Reuters
The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is planning to help modernise and improve transparency in the industry with an approval process for companies using blockchain technology to track the movement of gold.
/reut.rs/2NMJm3H
China regulators try to reassure investors as stock market wobbles; Concerns over economic growth and trade prompt rare statements from agency heads
Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong - FT
Chinese regulators made a rare move on Friday to reassure investors amid the sharpest fall in equities since the rout in 2015, ahead of data that revealed China's economy grew at its slowest pace in almost a decade over the past three months.
/on.ft.com/2q1h8ZS
Wall Street Loves These Three Letters. The Rest of Us Should Be Wary; The C.L.O., a cousin of the mortgage-related product that malfunctioned a decade ago, has become one of the hottest investments on Wall Street.
Matt Phillips - WSJ
A financial assembly line that went haywire a decade ago and contributed to an economic crisis is gearing up again on Wall Street.
/nyti.ms/2q2gMC6
Contagion Creeps Back Into Europe's Bond Markets
Investors dumped the bonds of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, sending their yields higher for a fourth consecutive day
Christopher Whittall and Marcus Walker - WSJ
Concerns over Italy's finances are spreading to other European bond markets, in a worrying sign for investors who till recently hoped that market jitters would be contained.
Bitcoin Ponzi Schemer Must Pay $2.5 Million, Federal Court Rules; Case marked the first use of anti-fraud authority related to bitcoin
Gabriel T. Rubin - WSJ
A federal court ordered a New York trading firm to pay $2.5 million in fines and restitution for orchestrating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 80 customers who thought they were investing in bitcoin.
/on.wsj.com/2q35E7P
China Urges Investor Calm While Stopping Short of Market Rescue
Bloomberg News
Senior regulators seek to reassure investors after stock rout; Shanghai index gains 2.6%, with some state buying suspected
China's top financial officials moved to shore up confidence in the country's tumbling stock market, marshaling a rare show of coordinated verbal intervention as the government tries to prevent a $3 trillion equity rout from infecting the world's second-largest economy.
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| Exchanges, OTC & Clearing | | Top news from exchanges, clearing, settlement and trade execution facilities | London Stock Exchange Group to increase its majority shareholding in LCH Group
London Stock Exchange Group
London Stock Exchange Group plc ("LSEG") announces that it is in the process of acquiring further shares in LCH Group Holdings Limited ("LCH"), which will increase its majority ownership of this valuable strategic business.
bit.ly/2NPabnW
"CCPs have a sound framework" - FIA Expo wrap-up (part II)
Eurex
Clearing continues to be a major topic for the financial sector. On the second day of the 34th Annual Futures & Options Expo in Chicago, the futures and options industry still wrapped its collective mind around default fund contributions, margin breaches and auction formats. The CEO of Eurex Clearing, Erik Müller, spoke at the clearing house leaders panel.
bit.ly/2NQaGOF
Hong Kong sweeteners fail to lure Chinese tech listings; Start-ups put off by HKEX's lengthy IPO vetting procedures and stricter scrutiny
Louise Lucas and Emma Dunkley in Hong Kong - FT
Chinese technology start-ups still favour listing in New York, despite Hong Kong's efforts to woo entrepreneurs.
/on.ft.com/2q1gTxW
Nasdaq CEO, Facing Questioning, Says Nordic Loss Under Scrutiny
Matthew Leising - Bloomberg
Firm hired Oliver Wyman to assess its rules and risk practices; Citi, other banks and brokers had to repay $125 million loss
The head of Nasdaq Inc., facing sharp questioning about the exchange's role in a 107 million-euro ($125 million) loss on its Nordic power market, said steps are being taken to prevent a repeat.
/bloom.bg/2NMWdDf
SGX reports 1Q FY2019 net profit of S$91 million
SGX
Singapore Exchange (SGX) today reported 1Q FY2019 net profit of S$91.1 million (S$90.7 million), on the back of revenues of S$208.9 million (S$204.5 million). Operating profit was S$106.4 million (S$106.0 million), with earnings per share at 8.5 cents (8.5 cents). The Board of Directors has declared an interim dividend of 7.5 cents (5 cents) per share, payable on 5 November 2018.
bit.ly/2NLZeUg
Euronext announces 2019 Holiday Calendar for its Cash and Derivatives markets
Euronext
Euronext today announced the 2019 trading days for its markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, London and Paris.
bit.ly/2NPJaRk
Quantile Completes First NDF Optimisation Cycle With Cme Group
Quantile Technologies
Quantile Technologies (Quantile), the provider of multilateral compression and optimisation services for Financial Markets, today announced the successful completion of its initial NDF Margin Optimisation cycles with CME Group.
bit.ly/2NO2gY3
Trading Statement Including Revenues And KPIs For The Three Months Ended 30 September 2018 (Q3)
London Stock Exchange Group
Good Q3 results - growth across the Group including strong performances from LCH OTC clearing and FTSE Russell; Q3 reported revenue up 5% and total income up 8% to £522 million; on a like-for-like basis, excluding a £9 million year-to-date accounting change impact on adoption of IFRS15 in Capital Markets, revenue would have been up 7% and total income up 9%
bit.ly/2NO6Q8H
Amendments to the FCM Regulations and FCM Default Rules of Eurex Clearing AG
Eurex
On 24 August 2018, Eurex Clearing published Eurex Clearing circular 072/18, which announced Eurex Clearing's plan to launch a refined Legally Segregated Operationally Commingled (LSOC) framework as soon as final CFTC approval is received, as well as corresponding amendments, including renewed Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) Regulations exclusively for the LSOC framework and FCM Default Rules.
bit.ly/2NLY0s8
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| Fintech | | A roundup of today's market tech news and a look at tomorrow's disruptors | SEC Launches Fintech Hub To Engage With Cryptocurrency Startups And More
Michael del Castillo - Forbes
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is launching a portal for engaging with companies using blockchain, artificial intelligence and more.
Available today, the new fintech hub, or FinHub for short, is designed to bring the SEC's existing services to a single access point and provide an easier way for companies to communicate with the public.
bit.ly/2AjPiOe
Fintech firm Hearsay launches a productivity tool for advisors.
Ross Snel - Barron's
Advisors, feel threatened by robo advice? Hearsay says it has a technological remedy to help you maximize your efficiency.
The San Francisco-based company this week announced the launch of its Advisor Actions mobile solution.
The system connects mobile phone communications to advisors' core systems such as those that manage business intelligence and customer relationships.
bit.ly/2AiJ7Kv
Lessons Learned: The Path From Fintech Startup To $1B In Business Loans
Brock Blake - Forbes
The startup puzzle is different for every business. Regardless of your industry, there are a few pieces every company must put in place to survive and thrive. It's taken more than a few years for us to get Lendio on a path to success, and the puzzle is certainly nowhere near complete (candidly, I feel like we're just getting started). Still, from humble beginnings as a fintech startup, Lendio has grown into the nation's largest marketplace for small business loans. To date, Lendio has facilitated over $1 billion in business loans, which in turn have generated $3.8 million in gross economic output and created over 25,000 jobs. While there were bumps along the roadÂmore than we care to admit sometimesÂin the end, my co-founder and I managed to put the most critical pieces of the puzzle in place to shape a company that's making a nationwide impact.
bit.ly/2AiyNlt
Banks Face Off With Fintech Rivals in $250 Billion Payments War
Alastair Marsh - Bloomberg
The humdrum business of helping companies pay suppliers and collect funds from customers has turned into a battleground between banks and technology upstarts, with $250 billion of revenue at stake, according to Oliver Wyman.
/bloom.bg/2Ait0wo
83% of Brits unsure about fintech, says TopLine study
Aaron Hurst - InformationAge
The study, which saw 2,000 UK consumers take part, was conducted during what could be seen as a prosperous period for fintech in the UK, with the country attracting more investment than China and the US in the first half of 2018.
But according to the TopLine Comms report, many choose not to trust the sector for a few reasons; just under a third (27%) cited a lack of understanding of it in comparison to traditional banks, while 22% referred to the lack of physical locations within which consumers can seek assistance if needed.
bit.ly/2Akrdad
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| Cryptocurrencies | | Top stories for cryptocurrencies | Novogratz Says Tether's Lack of Transparency Hurts It
Eyk Henning - Bloomberg
He favors custody-supported stable coins such as Gemini Dollar; Pushing back on Roubini criticism, he says sector must mature
Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz, one of the best-known advocates of cryptocurrencies, blamed controversial "stable coin" Tether for its own recent woes.
Wooing investors, Rwanda hosts first tantalum-tracking blockchain
Clement Uwiringiyimana, Barbara Lewis - Reuters
Rwanda's mining boss announced on Tuesday the world's first blockchain project to track tantalum from the pit-face to the refinery, part of a push to woo investors seeking a conflict-free source of minerals.
/reut.rs/2J6rwYU
No one is killing it in crypto (not even Woz)
Jemima Kelly - FT
What does this chart tell you? It shows the amount of money raised via initial coin offerings (ICOs) since the start of 2017 (we assume with an extra 6 zeros at the end of those numbers). But does this chart give you the sense that all is well in the Divine Brodom of Cryptoland? Does it give you any sense of crypto à la Européene?
/on.ft.com/2NMW6HP
Bitcoin And Blockchain Jobs In The U.S. Are Surging
Billy Bambrough - Forbes
The U.S. jobs boom, which saw a record 7.14 million unfilled positions in August  coupled with last year's bitcoin mania  has resulted in a 300% increase in the number of jobs related to bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain over the last 12 months, according to new research from jobs site Glassdoor.
bit.ly/2AiUSRb
More Skepticism About Blockchains, Bitcoins, and What Not
Adam Lashinsky - Fortune
On the concluding morning of the Fortune Global Forum in Toronto Wednesday, Fortune's Jeff John Roberts began a panel on blockchain technology by asking who in the audience was skeptical about blockchain. I raised my hand. Fortune's Alan Murray, who was sitting next to me, guffawed: "You're skeptical about everything!"
/for.tn/2yqYf75
Binance, TRON And Others Gather In Malta To Support Blockchain For Social Good Movement
Rachel Wolfson - Forbes
DELTA Summit, Malta's blockchain conference held earlier this month, attracted more than 3,500 industry experts and government officials. At the conference, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, spoke on the impact of blockchain technology for driving economic growth.
bit.ly/2S0CaEr
Ticketmaster acquires blockchain technology company
Sarah Toy - MarketWatch
Live Nation Entertainment Inc's LYV, -1.65% Ticketmaster has acquired a blockchain technology company, the ticketing software company announced Thursday. The company, called UPGRADED, provides tech that converts traditional tickets into digital assets protected by blockchain.
/on.mktw.net/2EungDO
How the Electric Vehicle Industry Provides a Roadmap for Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Startups
Marissa Peretz - Forbes
Startups focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain - which are different kinds of digital cash and the platform that allows this cash to be exchanged -- are enormously hot right now. Investments in these companies nearly doubled in 2017 compared to the previous year and have only been increasing in 2018. In late May, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, announced it was launching a $1 billion venture fund for blockchain and cryptocurrency startups.
bit.ly/2NQC6Eh
How a Bitcoin Exchange Is Surviving the Central Bank Crackdown in India
Leigh Cuen - Coindesk
Indian regulators' clampdown on cryptocurrency businesses is forcing the exchange startup Unocoin to experiment with stablecoins and ATMs to continue receiving fiat deposits from customers.
bit.ly/2EvJcyr
Digital Asset blockchain platform processed 27,000 trades per second in latest test; The DA platform processed more than four times the amount of trades per second than the latest DLT prototype developed by DTCC.
Joe Parsons - The Trade
A new test of the Digital Asset (DA) blockchain platform showed it processed upwards of 27,000 trades per second, far exceeding the latest prototype developed by market infrastructure DTCC.
bit.ly/2pYfXdk
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| Politics | | An overview of politics as it relates to the financial markets | Politicians say nothing, but US farmers are increasingly terrified by it - climate change
Art Cullen - The Guardian
Research forecasts Iowa corn yields could drop in half within the next half-century thanks to extreme weather - yet it's not part of the political conversation
bit.ly/2q1PGef
A President Who Believes He Is Entitled to His Own Facts
Maggie Haberman - NY Times
He accepts less-than-credible denials from autocratic heads of state about nefarious acts. He disputes the existence of man-made climate change and insists that photographic evidence of the crowd at his inauguration is fake, part of a media plot to harm him.
/nyti.ms/2pWy2su
Mercurial US president poses particular investment challenges; Investors can use cryptocurrencies, derivatives or other means to minimise policies' potentially disruptive impact
Laura Noonan - FT
The Trump presidency is arguably the ultimate investment challenge. Its potential sphere of influence is vast, spanning everything from individual company share prices to foreign exchange rates. Its policies can be unpredictable and its musings are often blasted out with zero warning via micromessaging platform Twitter.
/on.ft.com/2q04OJ7
Trump's home tax changes costing votes in the suburbs; Trump's cap on state and local deductions causes anguish on campaign trail
Gregory Meyer in Westfield, New Jersey - FT
Standing beside two frisky dogs at her front door, Anne FitzPatrick rattles off healthcare and immigration as two reasons she will vote Democrat in next month's US midterm elections. Then there is the value of her home, a sturdy American Foursquare in Westfield, New Jersey.
/on.ft.com/2pZJx2f
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| Regulation & Enforcement | | For more regulatory, visit MarketsReformWiki, our website focused on current market reform efforts. | ESAs write to EFRAG on the endorsement process of IFRS 17 insurance contracts
ESMA
The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESA - ESMA, EBA and EIOPA) have today written a letter to the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) regarding the endorsement process of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17.
bit.ly/2NPSKUr
Speech by ESMA Chair Maijoor on IFRS 9 at Banco de Espana Conference
ESMA
ESMA Chair, Steven MAijoor, delivered today a keynote speech at the Banco de Espana - CEMFI - FSI High-Level Conference in Madrid, Spain.
bit.ly/2NQtbSW
5 Tips to Stay Safe Online This National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Kaitlyn Kiernan - FINRA
These days, so much of our lives happen online. Email is more common than snail mail. Americans are just about as likely to shop online as at a brick-and-mortar store. And more than half of all bills are paid online.
bit.ly/2NPKS5c
Podcast: CFTC Talks EP068: Dallas Federal Reserve President Rob Kaplan
CFTC
This week on CFTC Talks, we have on special guest Dallas Federal Reserve President and CEO Rob Kaplan. We had a...
bit.ly/2NN4UNT
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| Investing & Trading | | Today's top stories from equities, indices and FICC (fixed income, currencies and commodities) | Tech Startups Stoke Market For IPOs; A number of highly valued Silicon Valley companies are gearing up to go public, including Uber, Lyft and Palantir Technologies
Maureen Farrell, Rob Copeland and Corrie Driebusch - WSJ
After years of remaining on the stock market's sidelines, a number of highly valued Silicon Valley technology companies are now gearing up to go public as soon as next year.
/on.wsj.com/2q0PbkR
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| Banks, Brokers & Managed Funds | | The latest from banks, brokers, hedge funds and managed futures | Goldman Sachs wants to weed out women in class-action suit
Kevin Dugan - NY Post
Goldman Sachs is trying to weed out women who are participating in a class-action lawsuit against the Wall Street bank alleging that it's a "boys club" ridden with sexual discrimination.
/nyp.st/2pXSrxf
Pimco Revs Up Private-Fund Playbook to Profit in Next Recession
John Gittelsohn - Bloomberg
Firm is said to be floating private variation of Income Fund; CEO Roman, CIO Ivascyn bolster staff for higher-fee products
Pacific Investment Management Co. is prepping for the next downturn, betting high-fee private funds can turbocharge its growth.
/bloom.bg/2q2iR0Y
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| Regions | | Stories of local interest from the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions | Suddenly Toxic, Saudi Prince Is Shunned by Investors He Courted
Glen Carey - Bloomberg
Crown prince under pressure to provide answers about Khashoggi; He may become threat to his own project of attracting business
He was the man who sold the world on his vision of a Saudi economy no longer dependent on oil. Now Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman could become the biggest risk to his own project. Everything changed when Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 and didn't come out. Allegations rapidly spread that the Washington-based journalist was murdered by a hit team sent from Riyadh. And suspicion naturally fell on the oil-rich kingdom's de facto ruler, the 33-year-old heir to the throne.
/bloom.bg/2NRAc6a
Khashoggi affair unlikely to derail Saudi Arabia index inclusion; Many investors have been put off by issues surrounding transparency and governance
Jonathan Wheatley - FT
Does alleged extrajudicial death by dismemberment have any bearing on investment decisions? It's not a question you hear every day, but it is one investors will have to address in the approach to Saudi Arabia's inclusion in emerging market equity indices next year.
/on.ft.com/2pYFVNY
India's Richest Brothers and How they Grew $41 Billion Apart
Bhuma Shrivastava - Bloomberg
Mukesh Ambani's wealth has soared, while Anil's worth declined; The two siblings split the family business empire in 2005
Over the past year, the fortunes of the two brothers at the helm of India's wealthiest dynasty have grown apart -- to about $40 billion apart.
/bloom.bg/2pZC835Norway's Wealth Fund Is Now Twice the Size of Its Economy
Norway's Wealth Fund Is Now Twice the Size of Its Economy
Sveinung Sleire and Mikael Holter - Bloomberg
Government wants to keep $1 trillion fund under central bank; Proposes new monetary policy committee to free up board
Norway's government proposed improving oversight of its sovereign wealth fund after it has swelled to more than twice the size of the economy since it was set up two decades ago.
/bloom.bg/2q1eWBC
$50 Billion Hole Grows as Carnage Strikes European Stock Funds
Ksenia Galouchko - Bloomberg
Region's equity funds lose $4.8 billion, most in 27 weeks; Sentiment 'very slushy' on Europe stocks, Barclays' Hobbs says
The U.S. market led last week's equities turmoil, but unloved European stocks still managed to stand out -- in a bad way.
/bloom.bg/2pYyarm
China's One-Time Richest Woman Becomes Biggest Loser in Wealth Rout
Blake Schmidt and Venus Feng - Bloomberg
Lens Technology's Zhou Qunfei loses 66% of fortune this year; Zhou's company supplies touchscreens for IPhones, Tesla cars
IPhone and Tesla touchscreens once made her China's richest woman. The U.S.-China trade war has made her the biggest loser in 2018 among Chinese billionaires.
/bloom.bg/2NOZotP
Swiss Banking Secrecy Rule Dealt Setback in Month to Forget
Hugo Miller - Bloomberg
Overseas bank units not subject to Swiss secrecy laws: court; Information on 2 million accounts just shared under new rules
Two events this month may have finally brought the curtain down on secrecy rules that were the key to Geneva and Zurich's private banking heyday, when foreign clients could come armed with suitcases of cash and their bankers would look the other way.
/bloom.bg/2NRfDHb
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| Brexit | | Financials stories regarding the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union | Can Theresa May Be Forced to Hold a Second Brexit Vote?
Kitty Donaldson, Alex Morales and Robert Hutton - Bloomberg
There are those in the Conservative Party so against Brexit that they are willing to gang up with the opposition to vote down Theresa May's deal in order to secure a second referendum.
/bloom.bg/2AiSl9r
Brexit: Five things that happened at the EU Brussels summit
BBC
With five months until Britain leaves the EU, both sides want an exit agreement. But they still can't settle on one key point: how to keep the border free and open between Northern Ireland (which will be non-EU) and Ireland (still in the EU). They have not found a solution.
/bbc.in/2AiSnOB
No-deal Brexit must be avoided at all costs, says Toyota president
Justin McCurry - The Guardian
The president of Toyota has said a no-deal Brexit should be avoided "at all costs", in the latest intervention by a major Japanese investor in the UK economy.
bit.ly/2AjkUnk
UK investment trust discounts widen since Brexit vote; Some analysts think now is a good time to buy back into the sector
Kate Beioley - FT
Half of UK equity investment trusts are trading at discounts wider than their 10-year average after a spell of poor performance and uncertainty triggered by the Brexit vote.
/on.ft.com/2pWvaMe
Why a No-Deal Brexit Risks Freezing London's Diamond Trade
Thomas Biesheuvel and Lyubov Pronina - Bloomberg
U.K. is a member of key Kimberley Process through the EU; Britain warns no-deal Brexit could temporarily halt shipments
The U.K. has warned that a no-deal Brexit risks London being frozen out of the global diamond trade.
/bloom.bg/2NS2mhg
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