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CEO Insight: A Full Set of CFTC Commissioners Is Good for Everyone
The summer is usually a quiet time here in Washington, D.C. but this year proved to be an exception. Right at the end of August, the Senate confirmed Dawn DeBerry Stump and Dan M. Berkovitz to fill the remaining two open spots on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. This is very good news for the CFTC and for our industry. Dawn Stump brings decades of experience in public policy matters to the CFTC having held senior roles at the House and Senate Agriculture Committees as well as NYSE Euronext and FIA itself. Dan Berkovitz is equally qualified, having served as general counsel at the CFTC, a partner at the law firm of Wilmer Hale, and a senior staff lawyer for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
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Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters Battle over Pricing Data
Bloomberg has gained an edge over Thomson Reuters in the business of providing transaction data for the rates markets. Bloomberg announced in July that NEX’s BrokerTec, arguably the most popular source of data on U.S. Treasuries trading, will now make its data available through Bloomberg instead of Thomson Reuters. The BrokerTec data will be combined with data on interest rate swaps from Tradition, a major inter-dealer broker, in a new bundle to be known as the Bloomberg Capital Markets Packa
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CLS and IBM Test 'Agnostic' Blockchain Platform
A proof-of-concept for a new blockchain-powered apps market backed by CLS Bank and IBM is nearing completion. If the tests of LedgerConnect continues to go well, developers say, they anticipate the platform will launch by the third quarter of 2019, and possibly sooner. Nine financial institutions, including Barclays and Citi, are participating in the proof-of-concept now under way. A number of vendors arealso taking part, including Baton Systems, Calypso Technology, OpenRisk, and Synswap. “At this point, we’re in the late stages of testing. Some of the banks have completed or gone through the late stages already,” said Ram Komarraju, managing director, technology for CLS, in London.
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Nasdaq Acquires Swedish Fintech Provider Cinnober
Nasdaq has acted to acquire Swedish fintech provider Cinnober for $190 million. The move bolsters Nasdaq’s offering of analytics, risk management and market infrastructure products.
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Sponsored Content
Offshore Collateral at B3, The Brazilian Exchange
Sponsored Content: Since August 2017, B3 has been authorized by local regulators to accept assets held offshore as part of its total required collateral. This applies to all products traded at B3’s platform. The previous model for offshore collateral had been restricted to specific listed contracts, thus this recent authorization has represented a significant turning point in terms of risk and operational management for international investors, particularly due to the potential interest of newcomers entering the Brazilian market
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AI and Machine Learning: Empowering FCMs to Boost Operating Efficiency
Sponsored Content: Financial firms are toeing the waters of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) with focused initiatives to enhance operations and make more informed decisions. Some of the largest financial institutions in the U.S. are using AI to execute some trades and apply the technology toward detecting fraud. The ability to use this emerging technology to solve for specific issues is part of what makes it compelling and why startups with targeted-use applications are proliferating.
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Trading Volatility – A Fund Manager’s Perspective on Index Options
Parametric Portfolio Associates is a sophisticated user of the U.S. options markets. The Seattle-based asset manager, which currently has $230 billion in assets under management, has been using derivatives for more than 30 years to deliver investment solutions to pension funds and other investors looking for alternative sources of return. In this interview with MarketVoice, two Parametric executives talk about how they use equity index options for one strategy in particular. This strategy is based on extracting the "volatility risk premium" from the options market by systematically selling puts and calls. The key to the strategy is the historical tendency for options buyers to pay a premium to options sellers in return for protection from volatility. To put it another way, the level of volatility implied by the pricing of options is typically higher than the actual level of volatility. Options sellers profit from the difference, so long as they manage the risks effectively.
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Charity Honors Big-Hearted New Yorker Lost on 9/11
Seventeen years ago, the world was horrified when over 2,700 people died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center. While memories of 9/11 have faded for some, there are many people within the New York financial community who continue to dedicate their time and energy to honoring the victims of those attacks.
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SocGen expands European investment products business with Commerzbank deal
In July, Société Générale reached an agreement with Commerzbank to purchase its Equity Markets & Commodities business, a move that will bring additional customers into the French bank's derivatives business and strengthen its footprint in Germany.
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Startup Raises $32 Million to Fund Blockchain for Derivatives
Financial technology firm Axoni is proving that the promise of blockchain may live up to the hype. Axoni, a provider of enterprise blockchain technology that was founded in 2013, raised $32 million in a Series B financing in August. The funding round was led by Goldman Sachs and fintech-focused venture capital firm Nyca Partners. Other investors included well-known venture capital investors Y Combinator and Andreesen Horowitz as well as financial firms such as Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, NEX Group and Wells Fargo.
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