EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 29 July 2010

CME reported 2Q10 EPS of $4.11 ($4.43 excluding a $20.5 mn CMA write down), on revenues of $813.9 mn (+26% Y/Y; +17% Q/Q) and expenses of $298.8 of (+20% Y/Y; +7% Q/Q). Adjusted expenses totaled $278.3 mn (+15% Y/Y; +4% Q/Q).

Chi-X Japan started operating Chi-X’s first Asian platform today. Trading started with only five highly liquid stocks and will be expanded to all Nikkei 225 constituents in the coming weeks and to 800 stocks or 95% of TSE’s market capitalization by September 2010.

Australia’s ASIC established its Markets Disciplinary Panel and the initial membership; Lisa Gay was appointed as Panel Chairman. Ms. Gay is currently a member of the ASIC Markets Supervision Advisory Panel and was previously General Counsel of Goldman Sachs.

Hellenic Exchanges 1H10 net profit declined -41% Y/Y to €10 mn, including a -€7.9 mn extraordinary social responsibility tax  from 2009. 1H10 consolidated turnover increased +11% Y/Y to €35.5 mn.

LME completed the merger of its Mediterranean and Far East steel billet contracts into a single, global contract.

OSE approved the listing of the NEXT FUNDS NASDAQ-100 ETF (OSE:1545) sponsored by Nomura Asset Management. It is the first domestic ETF based on the NASDAQ-100 Index in Japan.

PSE CEO, Val Suarez, said “I’d like to go full blast on the listings of REITs in my first year … REITs would bring in more investors and improve the stock market’s breadth and depth.”

NCDEX CEO Ramaseshan said the exchange is “actively looking at what could be the contribution of an anchor investor.” Ramaseshan said NCDEX is holding talks with Jaypee Capital, which is considering acquiring a stake in the company.

ITG 4Q10 pro forma EPS was $0.35, down -24% Y/Y, on revenues of $155 mn (-8% Y/Y). Pro-forma results, which exclude $7.7 mn in one-time charges, were in-line with consensus estimates. US revenues declined 11% Y/Y to $108 mn while non-US revenues rose 3% Y/Y to $47.2.

LCH.Clearnet is planning to create a special membership category for central banks and other public sector agencies accessing the clearing facility.

Direct Edge selected Correlix s RaceTeam technology to monitor the speed of transactions on the EDGX and EDGA exchanges

Turquoise's pan-European mid-point book was the largest MTF dark pool in June and have exceeded €4 bn of traded value in Stoxx600 constituents July to date.

Visa fiscal 3Q10 EPS rose 45% Y/Y to $0.97, beating consensus estimates of $0.93. Revenue rose 23% to $2.02 billion. Cross border volumes grew 17% during the quarter. Payment volume rose 13% Y/Y to $745 bn in the quarter ended in March 2010.

Visa and MasterCard: SmartMetric filed a second Amended Complaint for patent infringement against the credit card companies.

MasterCard appointed Tara Nathan as COE of the JV with Smart Hub. Ms. Nathan was previously Head of Citigroup’s Citicards cross-sell business.

Franklin Resources 2Q10 diluted EPS increased +23% Y/Y to $1.58 on operating revenues of $1,534 mn (+43% Y/Y) and operating expenses of $1,013 mn (+35% Y/Y).  AUM declined -3% Q/Q to $570.5 bn on long-term sales of $51 bn and long-term redemptions of -$33.6 bn.

Artio Global 2Q10 adjusted diluted EPS increased +14% Y/Y to $0.41 on revenues of $83 mn (+18% Y/Y). AUM declined -13% Q/Q to $49 bn on market depreciation of $5.6 bn and net client cash outflows of $1.8 bn.

Bank Sarasin 1H10 net profit increased +11% Y/Y to CHF60 mn on operating income of CHF333 mn (+5.5% Y/Y) and operating expenses of CHF243 mn (+5.4% Y/Y). AUM increased + 2.7% H/H to CHF 96.2 bn on net new money of CHF 6.4 bn.

Fidelity Investments added 95 brokers with $7 bn in client assets and 13 teams with $250 mn in client assets during 1H10.

TradeStation restated its 2Q10 EPS upwards by $0.03 to include an unrealized mark-to-market gain of $2.3 mn on a CBOE stake.

DB1 was downgraded to "Hold" from "Buy" at Kepler. Target price was reduced to €58 from €65.

EFG International was downgraded to "Hold" from "Buy" at Deutsche Bank. Target price was reduced to CHF15 from CHF23.

EFG International was downgraded to "Neutral" from "Outperform" at Macquarie. Target price was reduced to CHF12.30 from CHF20.00.

EFG International was downgraded to "Neutral" from "Outperform" at Mediobanca. Target price was set at CHF16.

EFG International was downgraded to "Reduce" from "Neutral" at Nomura. Target price was reduced to CHF12 from CHF18.

The European Commission mostly collected comments opposing public disclosure of short sales. Instead, market participants proposed disclosing short-positions only to regulators.

CESR published a set of technical advice in the subject of reviewing MiFID to the European Commission.

UK FSA said it is planning to introduce changes in rules on remuneration to align policies with other European countries. FSA would require companies to defer at least 40% of bonuses over at least three years. FSA will issue a policy statement in November, and new rules will apply from Jan. 1.

Provided by: Equiy Research Desk, www.erdesk.com