EXCHANGE NEWSWIRE, 15 September 2010
CME announced an IR swap soft launch scheduled for end-2010, according to CFO Jamie Parisi who mentioned that “it’s also a somewhat lower-margin business for us versus our core business”, and that “they can be very protective,” referring to the dealers who currently have a stronghold on the OTC market who see the clearing model as a threat to their profits.
HKEx will start consultations on a revision to stock-market trading hours as early as this week, according to Henry Law, the exchange’s spokesman. CEO Charles Li said that the proposed timetable is to begin half an hour earlier at 9:30 am, with an hour’s break at noon, while keeping the close at 4 pm.
OSE and KRX signed an MOU agreeing to cooperate in financial markets development particularly in growth markets.
Chi-X Global announced that its Asia-Pacific head, Ron Gould, will leave the firm on October 15 “to pursue other interests,” according to main shareholder Instinet. He is the second key employee to leave after CEO John Lowrey left last week.
EPEX Spot’s German and French Intraday markets will be operated on the same ComXerv trading solution by the end of 2010, leading the way for greater integration flexibility.
Eurex is considering the expansion into the listing and clearing of IR swaps. According to Eurex Product Development head Steffen Kohler, “if central counterparty clearing is what the market wants then we will take that on board.”
Eurex aims to engage in more partnerships with Asian exchanges to expand its product and services distribution, in a bid to boost European volumes, according to Head of Product Development Steffen Kohler, who listed “Singapore Exchange, the Korea exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange” as “examples that are on the table.”
NZX issued clarification on the origin and purpose of futures markets reference prices, which increases transparency, after Open Country Dairy objected to the usage of globalDairyTrade (gdT) as a pricing reference for NZX’s Dairy Futures.
MasterCard’s Board of Directors approved a $1 bn Class A share repurchase program effective immediately.
BM&FBOVESPA was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Buy” at Goldman Sachs; target price was reduced to R$16.10 from R$16.40.
ICAP’s was downgraded to “Neutral” from “Buy” at UBS, target price was maintained at GBp450.
CFTC filed a $6 mn lawsuit against Vitol and Vitol Capital Management for non-disclosure of the relationship between both companies to NYMEX, of which both parties are non-clearing members.
CFTC Chairman Gensler commented at the CFTC/SEC joint hearing that “the Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions on data, swap data repositories and real time reporting will increase transparency both to regulators and to the public.”
The CFTC declined to comment on the potential coverage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act despite uncertainty faced by insurers lacking clarity if their products will be included in the new swaps regime, due to ambiguous definitions in the act, according to the Financial Times.
The European Commission adopted a regulatory proposal on CDS and short-selling, aimed at greater transparency, reduced risks, and coordinated action at a pan-Europe level. This empowers both national and European regulators to act when needed. The new rules will require central clearing of standardized contracts.
The Futures and Options Association (FOA) and the FOA European Industry Council (EIC) expressed concerns that there is there is no need for public consultation on regulation of CCPs, and that the European Commission’s desire to avoid a standardized approach to the different classes of OTC markets directly conflicts with the need to accommodate market differentiation and could distort market functionality.
Provided By: Equity Research Desk, www.erdesk.com