Japanese investment bank Daiwa Capital Markets expects to launch a range of new services within the next six months following the choice of software provider GigaSpaces Technologies to support its electronic trading infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region. According to Del Abdullah, head of electronic trading technology at Daiwa, the new capabilities will focus on market data, executi

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As of next Monday everyone except university students will be back from holiday. If big investment banking job cuts in October and November are to be avoided, the summer apathy needs to lift – fast.   Last month the Financial Times pointed out that trading volumes were down 30% year to date. And the Wall Street Journal illuminated the fact that the 18 tradin

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Samsung Securities’ Hong Kong operation has been on an aggressive recruitment drive. It has increased its headcount in equity research and sales to 50 in recent weeks, and its total numbers to 100, compared with just 22 when it formally opened its Hong Kong office in August of 2009. The regional arm of Korea’s leading securities firm, Samsung Securities International (Samsun

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Weird: Credit Suisse managing directors are to receive a cash award on the 1st of September to compensate for last year’s 30% cut in their bonuses thanks to the UK bonus tax.   This is odd because:   - Banks are not usually given to making mass retention payments unless they’re in the throes of a merger or moment of upheaval.  

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The net profit of 16 Chinese public lenders accounted for 46 percent of the total earned by 1,829 mainland-listed firms, reflecting a booming banking industry that benefited from sustained credit growth. But analysts cautioned yesterday that banks would face challenges in the second half as China tightened liquidity, took further steps to cool the property market and cleared up

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Investment bank Morgan Stanley has introduced Speedway, its high-speed direct market access (DMA) solution for low latency trading, to Europe and Asia. Available in the US since September 2007, Speedway enables high-frequency traders who are not exchange members to trade directly with roundtrip microsecond latency. Morgan Stanley clients trading through Speedway can interface directly w

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Experts argue markets are not taking into account likely sharper demand for oil and natural gas and a potential supply crisis in coal, copper and iron ore. Banks and fund managers forecast continuing growth in demand for natural gas and oil and a supply crisis in iron ore, copper and coal, leading to sharp price rises in those commodities. Analysts cite a combination of reasons for thei

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Research from the US-based dark pool provider shows a marked improvement in the performance of certain brokers' algorithms, following big investments in e-trading systems in Asia. Banks are pouring capital into developing dark pools in Asia to provide clients with ever faster and more cost-effective trading, and that spending is having the desired effect, according to research released ye

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The international derivatives exchange Eurex today announced its plans to cooperate with The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to set up the world’s first real-time finance trading laboratory on campus as a major part of its new Training & Education Initiative in Asia. Through this initiative, Eurex will become a founding member of CUHK’s trading laboratory and support

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US-based agency broker and trading technology provider ConvergEx has added predictive functionality to its algorithm for trading small orders. The new version of IQx includes volume and price prediction engines that automatically adapt orders to prevailing market conditions, for example by adjusting trading speed in accordance with changing risk factors throughout the day. ConvergEx said t

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Global financial services firm Deutsche Bank has launched an automated equity trading system in Hong Kong that allows client orders to be matched against other client and internal orders. The platform, called Deutsche Bank Automated Trading System (DB ATS), is being launched concurrently with a dark liquidity-seeking algorithm, SuperX, that has been available in the US and Europe since 24

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French banking group Société Générale's Corporate and Investment Banking unit is expanding its electronic trading service with the addition of a new liquidity-seeking feature to its Quantitative Electronic Services (QES) division. The new feature, Block Cross, will be integrated into the QES Eclipse liquidity-seeking algorithm, affording clients access to Soc

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  Anshu Jain doesn't speak German and, despite being at the helm of Deutsche's investment bank (which accounts for 80% of the group's profits), this may hamper his chances  of eventually taking the CEO post.   But this is not just a linguistic issue. The top spot at Deutsche Bank is one of the most politically exposed positions in the German economy and,

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Electronic trading and agency-only brokerage firm Instinet has announced the introduction of US-listed futures and options functionality on its Newport 3 execution management system (EMS).   Futures capabilities have just been added, while options have been available for trading on Newport 3 for four months.   The addition of options and futures trading

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  After last week's redundancies at both BarCap and Credit Suisse it's easy to jump to the assumption that a) these are the first of many and b) banks have already stopped hiring.   The first point is distinctly possible (Morgan Stanley analysts have suggested that a further 600 roles could go at BarCap alone this year), and a number of banks have been jacking up

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ASIAN ENTREPRENEURS, ASIA - Expansion. According to survey findings published by US-based trade body the Entrepreneurs Organization and Standard Chartered Private Bank, Asian entrepreneurs are more bullish on alternatives than global peers. With regard to industry sector outlooks, Asian entrepreneurs believe education and training is the industry most poised for growth, with 41 percent

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For a brief, flickering moment, it looked like something might be going on in the structured credit space. Deutsche hired a US head of structured credit sales and trading from Bank of America a few months ago. In January, UBS hired for high yield CDS, and JPMorgan and UBS began marketing something called ‘collateralised synthetic obligations’ around April.  

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    There are flickers of new growth in Singapore’s hedge fund sector, but recruitment rates remain fairly low and the industry is almost impenetrable for investment bankers in search of a career change.   Hedge fund startups in the city state are on the rise after the Monetary Authority of Singapore approved new rules that don't impose a licens

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It’s happened: the first set of 2010 redundancies has been flagged.   The Financial Times reports that Barclays Capital is ‘planning to cut up to several hundred employees,’ ‘across back office and administrative functions,’ ‘following a sharp fall in market activity in the second quarter.’   The FT doesn&rsqu

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Amar Gill, head of thematic research at CLSA believes the country could make its currency fully convertible in five years time, leading Hong Kong to peg the HKD to the RMB. In a media conference call the Asia brokerage discussed the likely impact of an appreciating renminbi on China and broader Asian economies. During a Q&A, Mr. Gill said that he believed the renminbi could become f

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BNY Mellon has completed its purchase of BHF Asset Servicing GmbH from BHF-BANK Aktiengesellschaft and Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. S.C.A.   The acquisition was first announced on 8th March this year and also includes the purchase of BHF Asset Servicing’s wholly-owned fund administration affiliate, Frankfurter Service Kapitalanlage-Gesellschaft mbH (FSKA

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 With losses around bad loans shrinking in the first half of this year, there's a growing sense of expectation that a number of firms are set to increase headcount in their business banking functions in the second half.   Lloyds last week posted a profit of £742m in its commercial division in the second quarter (compared to a £3.2bn loss last year)

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Forget equity research or prime brokerage sales, the most sellable skill set in the City this summer may be knowledge of IFRS 9 accounting rules.   The new accounting standard replaces the old IAS 39 guidelines for measuring and valuing financial instruments. Although implementation is only mandated from 2013, earlier adoption is entirely permissible.  

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RBC on hiring spree for eastern Europe and Middle East bankers   RBC Wealth Management, the high net worth specialist, is looking to hire 10 bankers to cover eastern Europe and the Middle East by the end of the year.  In his new role as head of private client wealth management for the British Isles, former UBS veteran Philip Harris is embarking on an aggressi

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BarCap has come a long way. As Bob Diamond pointed out yesterday, it wasn’t entirely long ago that it employed only 3,500 people; now it employs 16,600 (in the front office).   As part of this expansionary zeal, BarCap has added a total of 2,300 people this year, of whom 750 were in equities.   But BarCap’s growth-by-hiring model may be

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Corporate finance recruitment is heating up in China as investment banks look to increase their headcount, say Gary Lai, associate director, banking commerce and finance, Robert Walters. The anticipated Agricultural Bank of China IPO has created optimistic sentiment that more listings will follow. Salary levels for senior investment bankers in China are highly competitive as inter

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AMP CAPITALINVESTORS, AUSTRALIA - The firm isbelieved to be looking for an external investment manager for its smallcompanies portfolio. This decision follows an announcement in April when AMPCapital decided to cut its small companies portfolio management team after itsSenior Portfolio Manager Michael Hughes departure.BT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, AUSTRALIA -Expansion. Head of Fixed Interest Vimal Gor

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BNY MELLON, CHINA - Expansion. Recently acquired regulatoryapproval to set up a bank branch in Beijing and plans to hire 70 or more staffin the next three years. Larry Chen, previously the firm's Chief Representativeof the Beijing representative office, will assume the role of General Managerof the Beijing branch. CITIC, CHINA - Expansion. The bank is partnering with Spain's BancoBilbao Vizca

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The hallowed equity derivatives team at SocGen has proved that it is, in fact, fallible – with poor performance in the division hitting overall profits within its corporate and investment bank.   SocGen's second quarter report closely aligns with its French rival BNP Paribas – better than expected results, driven by strong performance in its retail banki

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 London-  Barclays PLC on Thursday reported a 29% rise in net profit for the firsthalf of the year on lower bad-debt charges and higher profits at itsinvestment-banking business. Net profit rose to £2.43 billion ($3.86 billion) in the six months endedJune 30, up from £1.89 billion a year earlier. Net income increased 25% to£13.5 billion from £10.76 billion. S

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It's been a mixed bag of results for the asset management divisions ofinvestment banks in the second quarter, but there are reasons for optimismaround recruitment plans going forward.  Leading the charge with bullish results in asset management is Lazard, whichposted a 58% increase in operating revenue for the first half – to a record$370.9m - and a 26% rise in assets under management

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LCH.Clearnet Group will begin clearing Spanish governmentbonds and repos from 9th August 2010, in response to what the firmsaid was “significant market demand” in both Spain and abroad.The service will be operated by the firm’s RepoClear serviceand trades will settle at either Euroclear Bank or Clearstream BankingLuxembourg. In addition, LCH.Clearnet SA, one of the group’s

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Asset managers are keen to develop equity and fixed-income products to take advantage of liberalised rules regarding renminbi accounts in Hong Kong, but many questions remain. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority signed an agreement on July 19 to expand an existing trade-settlement scheme in renminbi, to further develop Hong Kong as a centre for th

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 AGRICULTURAL BANK OF CHINA - IPO. The bank will raise at least USD19.2bn from its initial public offering after fixing the price on the H-share tranche just above the mid-point of the indicated range. The A-share tranche was priced at the top of the range, but at a discount of about 4.4% versus the H-share offering. ANDHRA BANK, MALAYSIA - Expansion. Plans to open a banking sub

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HSBC has reported interim net profit growth of 28.9 per cent to HK$28.7bn.The surge comes amid market diversification and substantial opportunities."Asia remains the bedrock of our profitability," group chief executiveMichael Geoghegan said. HSBC’s Asia-Pacific arm accounted for 58 per cent ofthe lender's underlying profit.   Following its recent snaring of Tan Su Shan fr

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  Despite its emerging markets focus, HSBC is still ostensibly a British bank and has has kick-started this week's second quarter UK reporting season with a bang. Profits have doubled year on year to $11.1bn (£7bn), driven by shrinking bad debt levels and strong growth in its commercial and retail banking businesses.   Even its investment bank fa

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch has extended its exchange-traded fund (ETF) specific algorithm to clients. ETF-aX is designed to analyse market depth and price data across an ETF's underlying portfolio to try and identify the most efficient combination of ETF, stock, and futures, before automatically trading them to source liquidity and find the best prices. The algorithm was previously o

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Credit Suisse's head of transition management in Asia Pacific, Tom Wyse, says he is expecting a rise in activity over the next six to 12 months, having recently noted an increasing number of requests for proposals. According to Wyse, the job is more about grunt that glamour. But this niche area of banking has grown significantly in popularity over the past decade. Source: AsiaMoney.com

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ASSET MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY, SINGAPORE - The Singapore asset management industry hit a new high in 2009 after improved market sentiment allowed it to again record impressive growth. At the end of 2009, the Monetary Authority of Singapore noted a 40% rise in total active assets to SGD1.2tn (USD869mn), exceeding the pre-crisis peak in 2007 and even going beyond the SGD864bn recorded in 200

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    Analyst predictions of a dramatic recovery in UK banking profits in the first half of 2010 are unlikely to see any investment bankers popping champagne corks.   The big five UK banks – HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered – are expected make a combined £10bn in the first half, leading many to point to a remarkable rec

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    Gary Cohn - The trusted lieutenant Job: president and chief operating officer since April 2009; Age: 49; Joined: 1990   Goldman Sachs is known for grooming leaders from within, which analysts said is unlikely to change, so the internal candidates definitely have an advantage.   The bank is also known for promoting those who make

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Ian Stephenson: We have over a 1,000 staff in the UK and 4,000 across the globe. We have $850bn assets under fund administration, of which $250bn is in alternative assets. We operate regional hubs in Asia and Europe for our traditional business and a global structure for our alternative business.  We do both component and full lift outs. The former can be attractive to

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Cast your mind back, and you may remember the struggles of Liberum Capital – the boutique investment bank born on the cusp of the financial crisis in September 2007 – and the issues it faced last year keeping star analysts away from the grips of high-paying bulge brackets.   This year, it's already taken steps to address this, having increased its sala

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Attempts to improve the transparency of trading volumes in broker-owned crossing networks in Europe appear to need greater coordination following the publication of dark pool data for June 2010. According to recently published figures from Credit Suisse’s Crossfinder dark pool and Citi’s Citi Match platform,  the combined total of trading on their internal crossing engines w

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Attempts to improve the transparency of trading volumes in broker-owned crossing networks in Europe appear to need greater coordination following the publication of dark pool data for June 2010. According to recently published figures from Credit Suisse’s Crossfinder dark pool and Citi’s Citi Match platform,  the combined total of trading on their internal crossing engines w

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ANZ, SINGAPORE - Expansion. Announced the completion of its acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) retail and commercial businesses in Singapore as it officially opens its Singapore branches today. ANZ has rebranded five RBS branches and 19 ATMS, and has moved customers and staff over from RBS with minimal disruption. ANZ, SINGAPORE - Expansion. Plans to hire 500 or more people across it

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  Two articles today focus on the plight of investment banks’ prop traders under the Volcker Rule.   On one hand, Bloomberg reports that Citigroup is contemplating moving its prop traders into hedge funds seeded with its own money. Or failing that, it says Citi might even scatter them ‘across the bank’s main client-facing trading oper

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The big three Singaporean banks – DBS, UOB and OCBC – are taking a more aggressive and flexible approach in the Chinese recruitment market in order to compete with domestic and other foreign banks. Their expansion is evidenced by DBS’s target of growing its 1,000-strong headcount by 20 per cent this year. UOB is also growing its branch network – a furt

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Agriculture Bank of China’s dual Hong Kong and Shanghai IPO of US$19.3bn is amazing the world. Yet size doesn’t always translate into strength and competitiveness. Aware of this, the large Chinese commercial banks and trying to diversify their balance sheets, which means they also have to take on new staff within emerging business lines.   Traditionall

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UBS has reported its second quarter results and they are good. They are especially good for the bank’s historically excellent equities sales and trading business. When exceptional items are taken out of the equation, revenues in UBS equities division actually rose 4% quarter on quarter according to Dirk Hoffman-Becking at Sanford Bernstein. The

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  As well as announcing their second quarter results banks have been announcing how much they’ve been paying in the UK bonus tax.   The Wall Street Journal had a round-up a few days ago, but here we have a far more comprehensive round-up, which is also in dollars for easy comparability.   Given the amount paid in bonus tax is 50% of the amount pa

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  Today, Financial News has woken up to the fact that job cuts or pay cuts, or job cuts and pay cuts, are imminent.   It quotes a head of UK investment banking, and a headhunter, predicting 10-15% headcount cuts, and staff eliminations to maintain the bonus pool.   So far, so predictable. However, it’s worth bearing in mind two ad

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The big three Singaporean banks – DBS, UOB and OCBC – are taking a more aggressive and flexible approach in the Chinese recruitment market in order to compete with domestic and other foreign banks.   Their expansion is evidenced by DBS’s target of growing its 1,000-strong headcount by 20 per cent this year. UOB is also growing its branch netwo

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   U.S. Regulators also closed one more bank on Friday, taking the total number of bank failures in the country to 103 so far this year.   Home Valley Bank, Cave Junction was closed by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was named Receiver.   The FDIC entered into a pur

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  Now that most major European banks have sailed through their long-awaited "stress tests," they face a stiffer challenge in the months ahead: raising billions of dollars of long-term funding to finance new lending. At stake may be Europe's tentative economic recovery. Unlike the situation in the U.S., a large majority of companies in Europe depend on banks fo

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  LONDON—U.S. banks have paid the bulk of the £2.5 billion ($3.81 billion) the U.K. has collected from its bonus tax designed to curb excessive pay, hitting banks' second-quarter earnings while creating a windfall for the U.K.'s new government.   According to statements in the past few days from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank

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  AIG and Citi have joined Bank of America in revealing that they classified billions of dollars of repos as sales, a practice that first came to light in an investigation into the collapse of Lehman Brothers.   AIG and Citi revealed the news in letters to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), both dated 13th April but made public yesterday.

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  UBS wants to increase its FICC revenues to $7.5bn by the end of 2011. Yesterday’s results from JP Morgan and today’s from Citigroup and BofA make this look about as likely as a levitating pig.   In the second quarter, year-on-year FICC revenues were down 33% at Citicorp, and 14% at BofA Merrill. For UBS to increase its FICC revenues to

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We review the forecasts made by the most active bank in the G3 bond markets this year and find out what it expects for the latter half of 2010.       Deutsche Bank in January  the forecast was for another year of robust volumes in Asia's G3 bond markets, with Chinese property developers and high-yield borrowers expected to contribute a greater share of new issuance. Deu

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 Looming restraints on proprietary trading might not be the biggest threat to traders' careers. While the rise of algorithmic and high-frequency trading has created trading jobs for quants and developers, it is rendering some other traders obsolete.   Schonfeld Group Holdings, one of Wall Street's larger private trading shops whose history dates back to 1988,

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  Take a page out of the high-frequency traders' playbook and offer it to institutional clients. That's the game plan at RBC Capital Markets' electronic trading group.   Long known for its high-touch trading business, RBC has quietly been building out its electronic trading desk since 2009, looking to earn a piece of the electronic trading revenue pie,

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      Giesea has guided the STA through some dynamic and tumultuous times in the industry. His leadership spans the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the May 6 "flash crash." It includes significant regulatory and technological changes, from the earliest days of decimalization, to the upsurge of electronic trading, the implementation

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  Mizuho Securities Co, Japan’s third- largest brokerage by market value, hired Alastair Sclater to head its prime brokerage business in Singapore, two people with knowledge of the matter said.   Sclater, the former head of UBS AG’s Singapore prime brokerage business, starts at Mizuho in August, the people said, asking not to be identified because

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  Bankers in Europe face tougher pay rules limiting cash payments to no more than 30 percent of their bonus under revised laws to regulate banks’ capital approved by the European Union parliament.   Directors of banks that received public money will be forced to justify their bonuses and lenders will have to report the number of people earning more than

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  Deutsche Bank's new head of equity electronic trading, Jose Marques, wants the firm to build trading tools that take into account what algorithmic trading will look like tomorrow, how it will evolve.   Jose Marques, Deutsche Bank   Today's buyside has been using algos that think like traders. Marques say clients need to have algos that think

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  International banks still have healthy hiring plans in Asia for the coming quarter, despite continued worries about the state of some Western economies. A survey released yesterday by recruitment firm Hudson reports that 77 per cent of financial services institutions in Hong Kong forecast headcount growth over the next three months. Just 1 per cent of firms expec

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Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Japan’s second-largest brokerage, agreed to buy KBC Groep NV’s convertible bond and Asia equity derivatives units for about $1 billion as the Belgian bank raises funds to repay state aid. Under the agreement, Daiwa is paying about $200 million for assets and about $800 million for the trading position, the companies said in a jo

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  As we noted last month, Citigroup has been suffering a fairly scary exodus of senior investment bankers.   Things are not getting much better.   Yesterday, it emerged that Citigroup has lost Reid Marsh. Like Ken McGrath, a senior Citi financial sponsors banker, and Richard Blackburn, Citi’s co-chief operating officer of banking in Europe, Marsh

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      Whenever foreign banks in China announce aggressive future hiring targets in China, many in the industry ask whether the numbers are grounded in reality, or just wishful thinking. After all, banking is a sector constantly suffering from a critical shortage of talent.   A case in point occurred earlier this month, when the chief executive of

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If you tell a senior banker that between 40% and 60% of his or her bonus must be deferred over three to five years and that the cash portion will be limited to 20-30%, he or she is unlikely to bat an eyelid. After all, Bank of America reduced the cash component of its bonuses to just 15% last year, and most banks deferred at least 50% of 2009 bonuses for three years&rsqu

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Until last week, the town of Basildon, in Essex, was probably best know for being the home of “Essex man”, working class voters who backed Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, and for spawning Depeche Mode, a flamboyant 1980s pop group. Now it is proving an important centre for the trading and technology industry. Last week NYSE Euronext opened its Europea

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  Historically, UBS has not been known for its generosity in paying its people.   However, while Barclays chief executive clearly feels the need to keep talking down bonuses, Oswald Grubel has taken to straight talking about the need to pay well.   Not all bankers are overpaid and arrogant," he informed the Australian at the weekend, add

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We may be moving fast to the time when hiring locks down for the summer and doesn’t reopen until the first quarter, but two institutions are still doing some big hiring for the front office. They are Barclays Capital and HSBC.   BarCap, which has been building an M&A business for the past 18 months, is still building an M&A business even now. Having p

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If you’re a client facing, revenue generating, high earning front office banker, you may begrudge sharing your production with swathes of people in operations, risk, IT, and accounting.   It may please you, therefore, to learn that rationalisation remains in vogue.   Citigroup and Deutsche have been doing it. Now SocGen’s doing it too.

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As the US Congress prepares to vote on the financial-overhaul bill, China's financial regulators and top executives gathered over the weekend to celebrate the success of the country's economic model and call for greater international engagement.   The G-20 has agreed to give banks more time to adopt tougher global rules in a concession that the body tasked with co

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A time of feast or famine may be approaching for OTC derivatives professionals. How you position yourself now could determine whether you starve, or achieve a BMI in excess of 45 at some point in the future.   This is because, short term, the outlook for fixed income trading looks ok. Longer term, it doesn’t.   From 2012 onwards, analysts at Be

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    Yesterday, a nasty thing happened to Goldman Sachs. Analysts at Barclays Bank slashed its predicted Q2 EPS by 65%. They also reduced their Q2 estimates for Goldman’s M&A revenues by 25%, for Goldman’s ECM revenues by 50%, and for Goldman’s DCM revenues and core FICC and equities revenues by 40%. In total, the bank’s Q2 revenues

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If you’re worried about the likely cash component of bonuses in future, there may be a solution: Cantor Fitzgerald.   As a follow-up to our article earlier this week, the US broker has been in touch to clarify its hiring plans and payment formulae.   The answer? Yes, it is doing some very big hiring. And yes, it does pay very favorably.

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For anyone upset about the impact of the proposed banking levy on the UK financial services industry, analysts at KBW have some conciliatory news: net of the reduction in corporation tax, its effect will be negligible. Remember that last year’s bonus tax raised £2.5bn. Net of the reduction in corporation tax, KBW's analysts expect the levy to raise just &poun

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Deals may be getting pulled and postponed, but investment banks in Asia continue to gear up for what are expected to be better times ahead. Several banks were caught off guard when the secondary markets started rallying in March last year and many had to meet the massive debt and equity deal flows that followed -- particularly in the second half of the year -- with a man

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  DBS is the latest firm to step up its search for transactional banking staff in Asia, but it is recruiting in a sector suffering from an increasingly serious skill shortage.   In recent months the bank has already poached professionals for its global transaction services (GTS) division from Citi, HSBC, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered and RBS. It plans to a

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The cuts are coming, soon. Following tomorrow’s budget, tens of thousands of the UK government’s 660k direct and indirect employees are likely to find themselves in danger of losing their jobs. (still booming) Ambition, a recruitment firm, has attempted to quantify the number of public sector workers who may be eligible to look for alternative employment in

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Morgan Stanley will today unveil its Algorithm Manager, a tool that provides traders with greater control over the execution of individual orders. It is being rolled out first in Asia as part of the bank's global expansion of its customizable electronic trading platform and comes alongside continued growth of the e-trading team in the region. Algorithm Manager allows traders to automati

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Following last night’s Mansion House speech, it’s now certain that a new tax on the UK banking system will be introduced, although its form and enormity remain indeterminate. It’s also certain that there will “a demand for further restraint” on pay and bonuses, although just how much restraint and just how it’s to be demanded ar

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Capital introduction – back from the dead "There’s definitely been a marked increase in hiring for capital introduction roles as a product differentiator,” says James Bright at headhunter CT Partners. “Capital introduction died a death in 2008, when a lot of people were let go,” he adds. “But now the money’s flowing

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Institutional broker BTIG has made a major new hire in Australia and is sounding out the employment market for other senior professionals to join its small, but growing, Sydney office. BTIG, which opened in Sydney in 2008 and now has 12 staff, also wants to offer prime brokerage and fixed income services when there is sufficient demand. Brech expects this will mean doubli

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BNP Paribas has been offering complementary custody services to Brazilian clients for many years through its investment partners business. The BNP Paribas Securities Services operation will be the first official custody provider for the group, based in Sao Paulo, which is currently being run by a team of 14 with plans to grow. Marcia Rothschild has been appointed

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Getting a banking job in Russia has become less of a cyclical fad and more of a permanent fixture.   The global economic crash following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 has changed the game. Sovereign defaults and the boom and bust episodes in Russia pale in comparison, and seem to have become historical footnotes anyway.   Brazil,

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Wall Street equity trading commissions are slipping this year. That's keeping a lid on demand for not only sales and trading pros, but also for ancillary services, primarily research, typically paid for with commission dollars. The pullback reflects both declining trading volume and an ongoing migration of institutional trading business from conventional execution me

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Paris-based BNP Paribas has ambitious plans to grow its worldwide investment banking business, creating a new team of bankers to cater to Europe's 200 largest corporations. Selective expansion in Asia and U.S. investment banking is on its agenda too. The Financial Times reports that France's largest bank is eager to exploit its "fundamental transformation" in the wa

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  Nomura’s fixed income operation appears to have a magnetic appeal. According to CITY A M staff turnover in the division is down to 4% (the average across investment banking is usually in the region of 20%). Ominously, it says this may yet necessitate redundancies.   Why is no one leaving?   A spokesman for Nomura says he can't confirm

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  More than 50 mm of monthly rainfall, looming tax increases, anti-banking sentiment, the fear of a weak coalition government, a spiraling budget deficit and a falling pound. London. Not necessarily as appealing as it once was for the young French finance elite.   There are an estimated quarter of a million French-born in the UK, most of them in London

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JP Morgan Chase unveiled a Chinese securities joint venture Wednesday in the latest move by a global investment bank to tap the mainland’s lucrative capital markets. (Financial Times) Jobs growth in Singapore will ease in the third quarter. But employers here - especially in the services sector - remain among the most optimistic worldwide. The latest survey

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Daiwa Securities Group Inc., Japan’s second-biggest brokerage, boosted pay for top executives by 36 percent last fiscal year as larger rival Nomura Holdings Inc. tripled compensation.   Chief Executive Officer Shigeharu Suzuki and his executive team received an average of 55 million yen ($590,000) for the 12 months ended March 31, up from 40.5 million yen a ye

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Independent asset managers are feeling the pressure to increase base salaries in a bid to counter perceived competition from investment banks. However, this may not be such a wise move. Investment banks' remuneration shake-up is no secret – with most drastically increasing base pay to counter restrictions and increased taxes around bonuses.

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“Almost everyone in Hong Kong is hiring in ECM these days. For the past two quarters, demands on the already thin talent pool have increased, with every investment bank’s declaration to improve their ECM share,” comments Gary Collister, director of front office search, Connected Group. Other recruiters reckon this period of musical chairs in Hong Kong will

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In the relationship between a banker and his managers, the most important moment of the year is the annual assessment each December. No matter whether you work in the middle, back, or front office, everyone has a right to this event. This doesn't mean, however, that the process is always the same. For non-traders, the annual assessment is a purely qualitative affair. There's a discussion of what w

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Martin Gymer, CEO of FX option recruitment specialist Marshall Whitney (and a former trader), thinks so. In an article posted on the website Automated Trader, Gymer argues that most headhunters are simply incapable of distinguishing between good and bad traders nowadays. This is because: 1) There's far less in the way of face to face interaction Once upon a time, says Gymer, face to face activity

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The availability of free trading platforms from brokers willdiminish in the US over the next three to five years, a new report fromresearch consultancy TABB Group warns. Brokers have historically provided front-end systems toinstitutional clients in return for guaranteed levels of order flow.But a more cost-conscious approach to order-flow acquisition on thesell-side means that more of the buy-sid

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In one of the biggest hiring drives by a single employer here in years, Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart) yesterday announced plans to employ 2,000 more staff in Singapore by 2012. The hiring spree means Stanchart, which earns at least three-quarters of its profits in Asia, will be increasing its staff strength by one-third, from about 6,000.      The new hires

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Following the departure of Daniel Coleman earlier this year, UBS finally rustled up some new heads of its equities business this week. In future, UBS equities will be jointly run by Yassine Bouhara, Deutsche Bank’s former global head of structuring and head of global markets EMEA, and Francois Gouws, who’s been with UBS for 15 years and is currently head of equities for EMEA and global

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Six investment banks including UBS AG, Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG agreed to report European dark trades executed on their internal systems as the industry comes under closer regulatory scrutiny. Starting today, the banks, which also include Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Cazenove Ltd. And, Credit Suisse AG, will report European equity trades matched in their internal crossing engines to M

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Trade broker and clearing firm MF Global is slashing as many as 480 jobs from its 3,200-person work force in a move to stanch ongoing losses. Thursday's announcement is a reminder that mass layoffs can happen even while industry-wide hiring is in an upswing. In reporting results for its quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, MF Global said it has frozen hiring, changed the incentive s

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Whether they are managing mergers, controlling costs, or planning expansions, project managers are in serious demand, but  there’s simply not enough of them in either Hong Kong or Singapore. Why PMs are so popular “Demand for people with these skill sets is very strong for a combination of reasons. The mergers and acquisitions within financial servic

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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Mary Schapiro told the US Congress yesterday that the sharp drop in US stock prices on 6 May demonstrated the “urgency and importance” of its efforts to reform US equities markets.   Appearing before a subcommittee of the US House of Representatives’ committee on financial services, Schapiro said the sudd

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Independent research firm Euler Securities has selected agency broker Instinet Europe as its exclusive provider of trading and execution services.   Euler specialises in customised research on large-cap companies globally across a variety of sectors and asset classes.   Instinet will offer Euler’s clients its full range of electronic trading service

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US investment bank Jefferies has added its latest suite of algorithms to execution management system RealTick, which it claims will help traders respond quicker to changing market conditions.   RealTick users can now trade international equities using new Jefferies’ strategies such as Multiscale, Trader and Panel, all of which are designed to allow traders to better

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Two big hiring stories. One  says Morgan Stanley’s hired 10 people for European credit sales and trading in the past two months. In the other , it says BofA Merrill Lynch intends to hire between five and seven ‘key revenue generators’ in M&A, each of whom is likely to bring two or three people with them, implying that it wants as many as 28 new M&A banker

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Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s recent hiring of Deutsche Bank's top Asian executive Lee Zhang as its new vice president is a landmark appointment for a Chinese bank and will also help ICBC to expand globally. This is the first time a senior management position at a major state-run bank will be filled by an executive from a Western firm, and Zhang is the only one at this leve

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U.K. bankers, the butt of political and public criticism for getting taxpayer bailouts and large bonuses, at least have some friends in London’s courts. A former Societe Generale  managing director, an ex-Seymour Pierce Ltd. investment banker and a derivatives trader who had worked at Rabobank International, have all won rulings on unpaid compensation claims this year. &ldqu

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May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc  agreed to settle a lawsuit in Singapore with Pagoda Partners Pte. for failing to pay a S$365,000 ($264,000) fee for a banker it hired from Merrill Lynch & Co., according to the recruiter. Pagoda partner Nick Burnham   said today that he was “happy” with the out-of-court settlement, declining to reveal terms because of a con

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Key economic indicators suggest China is gearing up to become the largest economy in the world. With that growth comes a whole lot of work. Analysts and politicians have been going to town with China's growth story of late -- it's poised to not just become the second-largest economy in the world, but is gearing up to push America off its pedestal too. Before you get all swept up in the h

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Kevin Burke, Barclays Capital's head of distribution, plans to hire senior talent to increase revenues three-fold by 2012. Barclays Capital is on a hiring drive in Asia as it aims to increase its revenues in the region by up to three times current levels by 2012. The main focus is to expand the bank's equity business to complement an already strong presence in fixed income, commodities and fore

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Could it be that over the course of the last 12 months, the City employment market has come full circle and is now facing a skills shortage? Certainly, that's the suggestion of recruiters Astbury Marsden , which has concluded that the number of skilled candidates available for an increasing tide of new job vacancies is decreasing, and aggressive poaching practices are on the horizon. However

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Sungard held its first City Day in Hong Kong this past week in what was a truly successful event. This oversubscribed expo featured many of the leading minds in Asia’s electronic trading industry and culminated in a party that rivaled even the Fix Protocol Christmas bash held every year also in Hong Kong. The success of the event was based on several factors one of which was GL Trad

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Advent Software, a technology supplier for the investment management industry, has opened a new office in Singapore following substantial growth in its Asian client base over the past year. Advent’s Singapore office is the firm’s third in Asia alongside Hong Kong and Beijing. “We have experienced tremendous momentum in Asia, having doubled our client base in the regio

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Reclassifying broker crossing networks as multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) when they reach a certain size will not bring the desired results of creating a level playing field between execution venues in Europe, according to Karel Lannoo, chief executive at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), charged by the European C

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Recruitment policies are changing to cope with a more vibrant employment market. Movement in the market Roundtable delegates agreed that there is a lot of movement in the current quarter because of pent-up frustration. In the words of one: “There are plenty of people who wanted to move during the last two years, but couldn’t afford to because of the awful job market.”

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Anybody who's bothered to dip their nose into a newspaper over the last 18 months will know that risk management is an increased area of focus in the banking sector. However, few banks have publicly stated a desire to recruit risk professionals, despite assumptions that demand for their services would sky-rocket in the wake of the financial crisis. Based on conversations with recruiters

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Japanese investment bank Nomura has received approval to operate its NX non-displayed internal crossing engine in Hong Kong. NX is scheduled for launch as an alternative trading system (ATS) in Hong Kong at the end of May, after receiving regulatory approval from domestic regulator the Securities and Futures Commission. Nomura will start by trading Hong Kong-listed stocks from

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Credit Suisse and UBS have already increased salaries  for their investment bankers. Recruiters say MDs at UBS can now get up to £330k and that MDs at Credit Suisse can now get up to £380k. However, if yesterday’s proposals from the Swiss government come to pass, salaries could rise even more dramatically. The Swiss government is proposing to prevent all bonuses

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Investment banks have launched a hiring drive for equity analysts, who were among the staff at the forefront of redundancy programmes during the financial crisis. The rise in hiring comes despite an uncertain outlook for cash equities trading, which is likely to lead to only lacklustre revenues this year. Royal Bank of Scotland  plans to hire around 15 research analysts this year,

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Technology-savvy buy-side firms are showing that analysis applied at the time of the trade can help reduce execution costs and move beyond the widely prevalent ‘measure and forget’ attitude, according to a new report from consulting firm Celent. The study, ‘Transaction Cost Analytics Stuck in Neutral: Accelerating At-Trade Adaptation’, says that while even elemen

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The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined broker and market maker Winterflood and two of its traders a total of £4.25 million for market abuse after they lost their case in the Court of Appeal. As a result of the Court of Appeal’s decision, Winterflood will have to pay a £4 million fine while the two traders, Stephen Sotiriou and Jason Robins, will have to pay

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The non-displayed book operated by pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF) BATS Europe passed the €100 million turnover mark for the first time on 21 April, trading €100,758,149. The new milestone for BATS Europe’s dark pool follows a number of market share records set by the MTF’s lit book the previous week. According to BATS’ own figures. It had a

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Jefferies & Co.'s top executive sees stronger capital markets continuing to drive transaction growth for the firm, whose staff expanded by 432 people or 18 percent over the past nine months. Jefferies' headcount increased by 101 last quarter – the third straight period of adding 100 or more employees. The firm set aside $319.8 million for compensation and benefits, or 55 percen

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In its first profit report under Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, posted earnings that beat analysts’ estimates as fixed-income trading revenue more than doubled from a year earlier. First-quarter net income was $1.78 billion, or 99 cents a share, compared with a loss of $177 million, or 57 cents, in the first quarter of 2009, the New York-based company said today in a stateme

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The big(ish) Barclays Capital push into Australia is continuing as the firm recruits for its new foreign exchange and interest rate trading business in Sydney. About 15 staff have been hired or transferred to Sydney from Singapore or Tokyo as part of the expansion. The move reflects the current attractiveness of Australia’s high-yielding, highly-rated securities market, as well as

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Based on the banks which have announced their first quarter results so far (Goldman, Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill, JPMorgan, and – as of this morning – Credit Suisse ), we’ve had a quick look at who gained and lost in the first quarter.      The clear loser currently appears to be….Credit Suisse, which has lost market share across both equities s

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Royal Bank of Scotland is doubling the salaries of scores of investment bankers and raising the pay of hundreds more. Royal Bank Of Scotland Group In a move likely to infuriate the public and politicians, the state-backed lender is increasing the base pay of its high-flying investment bankers to offset their lower bonuses. Last year, it paid out £1.3bn in bonuses. Managing dir

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GOLDMAN SACHS, the world’s biggest investment bank that is now assailed by accusations of fraud, is poised to reignite controversy over bankers’ bonuses by paying its staff more than £3.5 billion for just three months’ work. The bumper payouts will equate to about £110,000 a head for the firm’s 32,500 employees worldwide, with a handful of top traders

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Japan-based investment bank Nomura has added new equity execution strategies to its ModelEx algorithmic trading platform in Asia, claiming to be the first broker to offer high-frequency-style tactics to all its clients in the region. The bank has also introduced co-location for its TactEx strategy for Japan, allowing clients to co-locate next to the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), affording

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The bank has extended its e-trading service to Malaysia and will add Indonesia incoming weeks as it strives to tap growing regional demand. The bank is positioning itself as Asia plays catch-up with developed markets. Société Générale is set to expand its highly regarded e-trading service to Indonesia in coming weeks having just done so in Malaysia as it strive

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A new trend is in the making, supported by strong liquidity flows into Hong Kong.     Rusal's listing in Hong Kong in January may have had its share of controversy at the time, but participants at the  Russia Capital Raising and Investment Summit in Hong Kong last week agreed that it changed the way Russian companies view their overseas listing alternatives. Hong Kon

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             The European air traffic control organisation has said flights could be disrupted for another 48 hours by ash spewing from a volcano in Iceland. Eurocontrol spokesman Brian Flynn said a lack of wind in the area meant the ash cloud was "progressing very slowly eastwards" and remained "very dense".

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  RBS wants to hire more people in Asia to support growth areas like wholesale and investment banking, and its expansion plans have not been impacted by the fact that it is 84 per cent taxpayer owned, says regional HR director for Asia Brian McLaren. The UK Government appreciates that in order for RBS to return to standalone strength, and continue to support the UK economy, it must b

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           The Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) has said it would support restricting European non-displayed trading venues to executing large sized orders, going a step further than CESR, the pan-European securities regulator, which yesterday proposed a minimum order size for dark pools that use MiFID’s reference price waiv

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They are also very bearish on Malaysia and New Zealand, preferring Indonesia and Taiwan. Global allocators are boosting Japan weightings and shunning Europe.       Global emerging-market (GEM) investors have kept their country weightings relatively steady in the past month, but the same cannot be said for Asia-Pacific ex-Japan punters, according to Bank of Ameri

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The fledgling private-equity market in Russia has yielded scorched earth for many outsiders. In the meantime, the locals are cashing in.     There haven't been many international success stories in Russia's private-equity market . One exception has been TPG  (formerly known as Texas Pacific Group), which jointly with Russian state bank VTB last year bought into Lenta, Russia'

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Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) announced April 13 a new category of empanelment for market data technology vendors serving high speed, low latency trading. NYSE Technologies worked closely with the BSE on the project and today becomes the first technology firm empanelled under the new agreement. The agreement is one of a number of moves by BSE to address the growing interest in high spee

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  The launch of three new equity trading platforms will ensure the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) stays relevant to all constituents of the trading community, says Richard Murphy, general manager, equity markets at the exchange. The new platforms, which will respectively cater for ASX’s traditional cash equities business, high-frequency trading and blo

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European investment banks Deutsche Bank and Société Générale have extended the geographic scope of their electronic equities execution offerings by making their algorithms available in several new countries. Autobahn Equity, the electronic trading division of Deutsche Bank, now offers clients the ability to trade algorithmically on stock exchanges in

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Hong Kong’s banking industry has remained somewhat immune to the global furore about compensation packages in financial services, but the sector’s employment market has certainly experienced its fair share of turbulence during the financial crisis. Fortunately the job market has bounced back and so it would seem has pay. However, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has

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ANZ aims to add as many as 80 people to its Hong Kong currency team as the bank expands its business in Asia. (Bloomberg) HSBC says it is capitalizing on China's fast-growing economy and a government-led campaign aimed at expanding rural financial services to ramp up its business in the country. HSBC has 99 outlets across 23 cities in mainland China, a sharp increase from fewer than 30

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Goldman Sachs recently came out fighting on the fixed-income front, with Daniel Dees, head of pan-Asia financing, telling Reuters that the firm is recruiting in Asia and is also relocating senior debt bankers from other regions.     Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has poached three senior pros from Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, including Michael Luk who now heads up

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NYSE Technologies, the commercial technology unit of global exchange group NYSE Euronext, has launched its SuperFeed real-time market data delivery service in Brazil in conjunction with Brazilian telecoms firm Unitelco. According to NYSE Technologies, SuperFeed, which will deliver global market information to Brazil, has a measured transmission speed of 70 milliseconds, which it claim

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Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading (GSET) has released an enhanced version of its Auction algorithm. Auction now includes Target Market on Close functionality, which is designed for orders that are benchmarked to the close but may be too large to participate solely in the closing auction. The new strategy dynamically calculates the portion of the order that should be traded during the c

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Nikko Cordial Securities, the brokerage and investment banking unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, has announced plans to increase global staff numbers by 14 per cent (about 1,000 people) between now and the end of March 2013. According to a Bloomberg report, the hiring surge is aimed at tapping into what the firm expects will be increased demand for underwriting securities an

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                  Inland Revenue has signalled its intention to clamp down on fee structures, often utilised by hedge funds, that it says are used to potentially evade tax. Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department has recently issued an interpretation to existing tax laws that has the potential to impact any company that transfe

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The integration of risk-taking ING and ultra-conservative OCBC to form Bank of Singapore never looked liked being straightforward. And so it’s proving: OCBC bankers are storming out, upset with the ING-dominated management; BOS is desperately trying to stop more departures; and it’s also planning to recruit more relationship managers. A team of about 10 OCBC private bankers

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Agency broker and buy-side crossing network operator Liquidnet has selected Solace Systems, a provider of hardware-based middleware, to provide messaging technology for its liquidity matching service. Solace provides message routers that enable computer systems to share and distribute information at high speeds. Liquidnet will use Solace’s unified messaging platform and the Solace 326

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The German bank says the growth in the take-up of its Islamic products is outpacing its conventional funds business in Asia.     Deutsche Bank has launched a sharia-compliant custody and fund service in Malaysia, which it says is the first product of its kind in the country. Islamic Securities Services targets Malaysian and foreign Islamic fund providers and adds to a

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Deutsche Bank is establishing a new private equity fund of funds business within its asset management unit. The bank announced today that it will combine three existing businesses under the new group entitled, DB Private Equity, which will manage approximately €6 billion of private equity fund of fund client assets. The three units that are being rolled into one are the Private Equity

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Industrial Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) plans to launch operations in India by opening a new branch in Mumbai later this year. (Asian Banking and Finance ) Banking giant Standard Chartered plans to hire 1,000 more relationship managers in the next three to four years, said its consumer banking global chief executive Steve Bertamini. (Asia One) Bank of Communications says there wi

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch is planning more Asian expansion as the merged firm looks to make the most of its combined strength. And it appears that candidates are more willing to work there, compared with a year ago when many saw Merrill as too unstable and BoA as too insignificant in Asia. BoA Merrill wants to become a leading corporate bank in Asia and Europe, as it already is in the US.

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The first quarter of the second decade of the 21st century has come to a close. Let’s take a look at what happened in Electronic Trading in Asia these past ninety days. January * TSE Arrowhead goes live * KRX Introduces New Fee Structure For Derivatives Trading * BSE Introduces Maker Taker Charges in the Equity Derivatives Segment * Newedge is first foreign broker to earn Kore

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It’s again that time of year when the most frantic job switching among front-office investment bankers takes place, and this is the case in China as much as anywhere else in the Asia. Recent high-level mainland moves include HSBC’s appointment of Jane Wang – previously vice chairman for China investment banking at Nomura – as China chairman for corporate finance.

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The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), the body responsible for regulatory harmonisation across the continent’s securities markets, has issued a call for evidence into “micro-structural” market issues affecting European equities markets, such as the growth of high-frequency trading and sponsored access. The call for evidence is designed to address technology-d

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Europe is on the verge of an explosion in the number of firms conducting high-frequency trading strategies in its equities and derivatives markets, according to Lilia Severina, proximity hosting director, finance and capital markets, at European co-location and data centre service provider Interxion.    Ongoing reductions in the cost of ownership for the trading infrastructur

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Investment bank Citi has completed a two-year project to revamp its global algorithmic trading platform for institutional equity trading clients. The new platform was a total overhaul of its previous algorithmic platform and was done to help Citi keep up-to-date with the changing market structure across the globe. “While we continued to provide tactical enhancements to original platf

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Indian regulators allow Credit Suisse to open a bank branch in Mumbai, enabling it to broaden its suite of products and services in the country.Credit Suisse has received in-principle approval from India's banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India, to establish a bank branch in the country.Credit Suisse will open the branch in Mumbai. The licence will allow it to accept deposits, provide financ

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  Trading using execution algorithms and direct market access could increase to just under 70% of European equities order flow by 2012 from 2009’s level of 51%, according to a new report by research and consulting firm Aite Group. The study, ‘The European Equity Electronic Trading Landscape: How Deep Is Your Pool?’, based on conversations with market profess

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While market participants are largely supportive of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed abolition of ‘naked’ sponsored access to trading venues, some have warned that the proposals could have an unintended impact on equity market liquidity if not amended. On 19 January the SEC proposed a new rule, 15c3-5, which would require brokers offering clients t

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Headhunters have been circling firms in the City of London on the back of uncertainty created by the government's imminent 50% tax rate for top earners, according to a new survey that comes less than a month after Financial News revealed the UK capital was poised to become the least tax-friendly of all the main finance hubs.   Online jobs website eFinancialCareers surveyed 703 bankers and

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch is planning more Asian expansion as the merged firm looks to make the most of its combined strength. And it appears that candidates are more willing to work there, compared with a year ago when many saw Merrill as too unstable and BoA as too insignificant in Asia. BoA Merrill wants to become a leading corporate bank in Asia and Europe, as it already is in the US.

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US and European banks are offering huge pay packages to hire top bankers in the Asia-Pacific region, in a sign that the compensation curbs pledged by financial groups after the crisis are already being eroded. A shortage of talent combined with rivalry among banks to expand or rebuild operations across the fast-growing region has sent compensation levels for some bankers soaring to levels last see

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Foreign financial institutions appear to be turning their back on Japan. According to a recent report by human resources firm Executive Search Partners, between early 2008 and August 2009 some 4,500 full-time staff were cut at foreign banks, securities firms, asset management firms and investment funds in Japan. This, the report says, reflects foreign firms’ belief that investing i

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Big institutions' race to expand in Asia is sparking bidding wars for top bankers. The region appears immune from the public ire against high pay packages for bankers. The Financial Times reports: A shortage of talent combined with rivalry among banks to expand or rebuild operations across the fast-growing region has sent compensation levels for some bankers soaring to levels last seen bef

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Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000149 EndHTML:0000003314 StartFragment:0000000199 EndFragment:0000003280 StartSelection:0000000199 EndSelection:0000003280                 Raised hemlines, low necklines -- yes, it's another white-collar boxing night in Hong Kong, this one courtesy of independent financial advisers IFS. &nb

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   Leon Goldfeld of HSBC Global Asset Management believes the slow-down could be deeper than investors are currently thinking.        Leon Goldfeld, chief investment officer at HSBC Global Asset Management, manages more than $400 billion of assets. He explains why top-down decision making, a sharp focus and sensitivity to risk are important.    W

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The Ho Chi Minh City-based asset manager has just received a licence for the new fund and is about to list its existing PXP Vietnam Fund in London. PXP Vietnam Asset Management, which manages $120 million in listed and pre-listed Vietnamese equity, has a big few weeks ahead of it. The Ho Chi Minh City-based firm is about to launch its first open-ended fund, and to list its flagship PX

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Agency broker Instinet has launched Meet the Street, a corporate access offering for the US market that aims to match corporate management teams with interested buy-side investors though a web-based service. Instinet has become the third agency broker to enter the corporate access space in recent months, which has traditionally been the preserve of bulge-bracket investment banks. Liquidnet

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The best box -- as far as we can remember after copious cups of Carlsberg -- was a tough call this year, as several investment banks once again got into the rugby spirit and decked out themed box-areas for their clients to hang out in and enjoy the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens 2010. After last year's sober affair, when banks were terrified to be seen partying after they had t

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German exchange group Deutsche Börse has confirmed that it plans to shed 3% of its workforce as part of ongoing programme to increase efficiency and optimise operational processes across the exchange group. The exchange's cost-cutting drive will affect 370 jobs in total, but only 100 positions – 3% of the total workforce – will be cut. Around two-thirds of the 370 jobs will be

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The largest banks in France and Germany, and a powerful US hedge fund, were last night dragged into one of the biggest insider trading scandals ever perpetrated in the Square Mile. An executive at Deutsche Bank was one of six financiers arrested yesterday on suspicion of running what the City watchdog called 'a sophisticated and long-running insider dealing ring'. A senior executive at Exa

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Don’t expect a flood of high-level resignations now that China hasfollowed countries like the UK and France in curbing bankers’ bonuses.  Chinese banks, trust companies and financial units of othergovernment-owned enterprises must withhold at least 40 per cent ofbonuses for top executives for a minimum of three years and can recoverpayments if poor performance causes losses, under

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Who’s haemorrhaging staff; who’s hiring? Along with our analysis of where in the world  hiring has taken place since February 1st, we’ve tracked which banks have won and lost the most staff over the past 7 weeks. The results make for illuminating, and possibly unexpected, reading. According to investment banking people moves reported on Bloomberg and elsewhere, the bi

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As deal flows rise, Asia’s M&A bankers are feeling more confident about their careers. Most of the good ones know they would be snapped up quickly if they wanted to change banks. Hiring volumes have increased “significantly” in the last six months, according to Farida Charania, chief executive officer, banking and financial services, Nastrac. Dominant M&A player

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If you’re among the 500 senior Lehman Brothers employees in Asia who secured two-year guaranteed bonuses from Nomura in 2008, you’re probably feeling pretty smug right now. Let’s look at how the past 24 months have panned out: you survived the bankruptcy with your job and bonus intact; you rode out the GFC without redundancy worries; being based in Asia, you escaped much of t

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Macquarie Group has hired Leong Yung Chee from rival Credit Suisse to lead a key division of Macquarie Capital Advisers in Singapore. Leong will be based in Singapore under Kalpana Desai, Macquarie Capital Advisers deputy head of Asia. (The Australian)   Deutsche Bank has suffered two more senior defections from its Asia debt capital markets team, following the resignation

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Multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe has implemented data vendor Thomson Reuters’ pan-European low-latency direct feed, pricing and reference data service to benchmark its trading performance against other trading venues in Europe.   Chi-X Europe plans to use the data feeds to compare its prices with other venues and ability to offer price improvement over its r

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Interdealer broker ICAP has axed its integrated full-service agency cash equities offering in Europe and Asia following a strategic review of the business. However, the company will retain its London-based execution-only cash equities business and continue to run its BlockCross pan-European non-displayed multilateral trading facility. ICAP will also continue to develop the full-services e

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Korn Chatikavanij tells investors in Hong Kong that the current anti-government demonstrations are manageable.     The mass of red-shirted protesters in Bangkok is not a serious concern for foreign investors, assured Korn Chatikavanij, the Thai finance minister, at Credit Suisse's Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong yesterday.    Two weeks of protests by supporter

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Sayeed’s departure doesn't augur well for Nomura bonuses. Along with other Japanese banks, Nomura is among the last in the industry to announce and pay bonuses. However, it’s due to happen this week or next, and the untimely resignation of Sadeq Sayeed may not be a good omen. Historically, Japanese banks – Nomura included – haven’t been known for their generos

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BTIG LLC, the U.S.-based broker- dealer, hired Jesse Lentchner as chief executive officer of its Asia-Pacific operations after the executive spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in Asia. Lentchner will join BTIG’s Hong Kong office in June, the brokerage’s unit in the city said today in a statement. He will drive expansion in Asia, overseeing business in Hong Kong, S

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   BGC Partners Inc. and two executives unlawfully conspired to hire Tullett Prebon Plc employees, a judge said in a dispute that featured allegations about lost BlackBerries and threatening phone calls. Justice Raymond Jack  in London ruled that BGC, company president Shaun Lynn and another executive conspired to poach brokers from its rival. Damages in the case will be assessed

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A sign that RBS may have increased salaries. Could it be that RBS has finally succumbed to commercial reality and increased salaries along with the rest of the industry?  Some suggest salaries for some people in the investment bank have been hiked by 100%. This coincides with news of a new executive bonus plan at RBS, in which senior staff will henceforth be able to receive four tim

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Citi to Double Team Helping Institutional Hedge Fund Investment March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., the bank 27 percent owned by the U.S. government, plans to double the size of a team helping pension and government-backed funds manage direct hedge fund investments, said Nick Roe, its global prime finance head. The targeted increase of the now 30-person consulting team may be completed w

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ICAP is dumping equities staff, Morgan Stanley's hiring them. These are not good times for ICAP’s 114 equities staff. As of today, it emerges that they are surplus to requirement; ICAP has decided to leave cash equity trading to the big boys. Fortunately, however, one equities headhunter says they should have absolutely no problem finding a new job elsewhere. “They will get n

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ICAP – the world’s biggest interdealer broker – said it would scale back its full-service cash equities business in Europe and Asia at the cost of £51m and up to 114 jobs. Conservative party co-treasurer Michael Spencer runs the firm which issued a profit warning last month. A total of 114 traders and analysts will be hit by the cutting of the majority of its unprofitab

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Investment Technology Group (ITG) said today it has launched a new dark pool in Asiato meet growing demand in the region for alternative forms of liquidity. ITG aims to replicate cost savings already shown in the US. Wirh Average Asian trading costs 66% higher than in the US. Sourse Asiamoney.com  ( Read Article... )

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Asset managers without proprietary distribution arms face major challenges in India's onshore funds market, says Cerulli Associates.   A foreign brand counts for little in the Indian asset-management industry, where global names are often unheard of -- and last year's ban on front-end fees for mutual funds won't make things any easier for overseas firms, says US research hous

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For a long time, Singapore has had a reputation of being a fairly easy place to set up a hedge fund in Asia. If a hedge-fund manager didn't want to jump through all the regulatory hoops imposed in Hong Kong, the Lion City represented a benign alternative location. That may be set to change. Among the new measures that are understood to be possibilities within an enhanced regulatory regime in

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Sigma X is completely anonymous and trades more than 300 million shares daily, according to Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading (GSET), operator of a major non-displayed liquidity pool in the US, has expanded its global crossing capabilities with the launch of Sigma X in Hong Kong. While already popular in the US, block trades done off-stock exchanges are just starting to become

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  The move is designed to make Bank of America Merrill Lynch a leading provider of equity trading to the buy side in Asia; and perhaps to revive its prop trading capability. Gene Reilly, a respected veteran in Asian equity markets, has resigned from Goldman Sachs and will join Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong. The move represents BAML's push to become a top-tier broker of A

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NPC Deputy Liu Xingqiang: The futures market should better service the changing mode of economic development and the altering economic structure.   On March 5th, after hearing Wen Jiabao’s “Government Report”, National People’s Congress Deputy Liu Xingqiang, president of the Dalian Commodity Exchange, said to the Futures Daily that the government&rsqu

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Singapore Exchange (SGX) announced March 11 additions to its membership network and fast-growing product suite, tapping on the rising global interest in Asian equities, derivatives and commodities.   The new members given in-principle approval are:   Securities Trading and Clearing   1.Goldman Sachs Futures Pte Ltd 2.Standard Chartered Securi

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Tom Fennimore moves to Beijing from New York as part of Goldman Sachs's efforts to build its industrials team in Asia. Goldman Sachs has been building its Asia industrials coverage team during the past few months, topped off last week with the relocation of Tom Fennimore from New York to the bank's Beijing office. Fennimore formerly ran the global automotive business from New York, so he joi

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Indian financial services firm India Infoline receives a key Singapore Exchange approval and aims to launch broking services in Singapore in three months.   Indian financial services firm India Infoline has received approval from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) for its Singapore-based subsidiary IIFL Securities to become an SGX member.    The SGX has given IIFL Securities in-princ

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Standard Bank’s Craig Polkinghorne and Tee Chong Ong talk about Asia’s evolving trade relationship with Africa Trade between Africa and the Bric countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- has grown 10-fold over the past decade. The value of total transactions increased to about $166 billion by the end of 2008 from $16 billion in 2000. Now the flavour of the month is Sino-Africa

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China’s plan to turn Shanghai into a leading financial centre by 2020 could be undermined by its ability to attract the talent it needs, as suggested by respondents to our latest poll.   This time last year, China's leaders announced plans to develop Shanghai into an international financial centre by 2020, but, with just 10 years to complete the transition, the city faces a skills sh

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A new rule announced by Hong Kong's regulators could be the first in a process of alignment with other jurisdictions.      Hong Kong's stock market regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, conducted a survey in 2009 that has led it to change the monitoring of short selling in constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Index, H-shares index and certain other stocks, including fin

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Comp Summary Tables for Banks

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Deutsche Bank receives the licence from the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia.   Deutsche Bank has received an international Islamic banking licence in Malaysia, allowing it to more easily provide Islamic commercial and investment banking services denominated in foreign currencies to institutional clients throughout Asia. The licence was given by the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia.

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William Ross is HSBC’s first global markets co-head of Islamic finance.   HSBC has appointed William Ross as its first global markets co-head of Islamic finance, part of a larger plan to extend its global markets capabilities into shar'iah compliant structures. In what is to be a two-person role, Hong Kong-based Ross will focus on Islamic liabilities, including liquidity and

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Chinese authorities have shown a strong will to tighten capital markets by raising reserve requirement ratios twice in a month, but specialists say it's an insufficient effort. In China, the first working week after the Lunar New Year holiday normally sets the tone for the rest of the year. It is obvious that this year is going to be a year of tighter monetary policies. Chinese authorities h

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In addition to a regional institutional sales position, the firm wants to fill marketing, client-service and product-manager roles in Japan, South Korea, India and Malaysia, says managing director Oliver Bolitho. Goldman Sachs Asset Management has built investment teams in key Asian markets over the past few years. Confident of its track record in managing local equities, debt and alternat

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Barclays Capital continues to build its equities team in Asia by hiring a head of equity-research in non-Japan Asia.   Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has appointed Stephen O'Sullivan as head of equity research, non-Japan Asia -- a newly created position for the firm. O'Sullivan will be responsible for building the firm's equity research platform acros

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Tora Holdings, Asia’s leading provider of advanced trading technology and financial services, announced february 24 that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS), has made a minority investment in the company.   Tora will use the proceeds from the investment to accelerate geographic expansion. This will include further penetration in Asian markets such as Singapore and

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J.P. Morgan adds a second UAE office in Abu Dhabi. Following the trail of money, J.P. Morgan has complemented its existing presence in Dubai with a new office in Abu Dhabi, home to the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) central government and purse strings. The US bank opened the office in a ceremony this week attended by Heidi Miller, chief executive of J.P. Morgan treasury and securities

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The Paris-based asset manager is raising capital for the new convertible-bond fund, with an ultimate target AUM of $1 billion. Paris-based Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdR AM) is marketing a new emerging-markets convertible-bond fund that will source most of its investments from Asia. The fund is targeting $1 billion in assets within a few years, says Bruno Vanier, Paris-bas

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ONECROSS, the new dark pool launched by quantitative trading solutions provider Pragma, will be the first in the US to allow traders to track benchmarks anonymously without the risk of incurring opportunity costs. Using ONECROSS, traders can target market-on-open, market-on-close and full-day or intra-day VWAP benchmarks by participating in one of the platform’s crossing windows.

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Standard Chartered plans to hire 500 employees this year for its wealth management business in Hong Kong. The bulk of the new hires will be “frontline” staff. (Bloomberg) When Citic Private Equity Funds Management Co closed the largest local-currency private equity fund in China’s history last month it could not have looked more different from the previous funds to

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And we’re back: aggressive growth and increased recruitment are here once again, expect that the rest of this year is going to see much more hiring than firing. But while senior management at banks in Singapore and Hong Kong consult with their HR teams on increased recruitment needs, retention of current talent is actually their biggest concern. Retention is a particular prior

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) has introduced a new low-latency direct market access (DMA) service that allows buy-side firms to choose between brokers to achieve cost-efficient connectivity across Japan’s exchanges. Users of the new platform, which BoAML says is a first in Japan, will trade via a single third-party data centre, rather than connecting to multiple co-location serv

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ConvergEx Group, a US agency brokerage and trading technology provider, has released a new equities execution algorithm, Abraxas, which is designed to help traders manage challenging market conditions and handle difficult orders. According to ConvergEx, Abraxas uses a proprietary multi-dimensional sensitivity profile to exploit hidden liquidity, favourable price movements and volatilit

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 Analysts are taking note of Korea's increasingly strong economic performance amid the global gloom. Optimism is growing for Korea's recovery from a sharp slowdown in the wake of the worldwide financial crisis and recession, largely thanks to the government-led stimulus measures and aggressive interest rate cuts by the central bank. Indeed, Asia's fourth-largest economy has impressed many

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For the first time, Asia will generate more new demand than the US this year, according to DBS economist Dave Carbon. "This is Asia's year," proclaims Dave Carbon, managing director for economic and currency research at DBS, Singapore's top bank. Over the past decade, professional analysts and amateur pundits have portended the rise of Asia relative to a plodding, if not decli

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Barclays was not bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis Banking giant Barclays has seen its full-year profits increase by 92% to £11.6bn ($18.2bn) in 2009. The figure was boosted by the sale of its BGI fund management arm to US firm BlackRock last year. Stripping this out, profits were £5.6bn compared with £1.6bn in 2008, though that figure included h

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Deutsche Bank belatedly hopped on the deferral bandwagon, but in a way that likely spells less pain for employees than some other big global banks. Deutsche Bank belatedly hopped on the deferral bandwagon, but in a way that likely spells less pain for employees than some other big global banks. Deutsche's new deferral scheme   kicks in for bonuses above 100,000 euros ($136,000), B

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Here’s an update on all that’s currently in the public domain regarding compensation on a bank by bank basis. The list is long (and not in alphabetical order), so for quick consumption, the notable points are: In dollar terms, last year’s highest payer per head was Goldman ($498k), followed by Deutsche ($478k) and Credit Suisse ($419k). BofA Merrill is rumou

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Olivetree, a UK-based agency broker specialising in equities trading, has appointed Jim Cirenza as CEO of its US subsidiary, Olivetree USA, to expand the broker’s business in the country. Cirenza has more than 25 years of international experience and extensive contacts across the UK, Europe and the US. Before joining Olivetree, he was global head of equity and fixed income securi

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'Asia is ready to increase its use of alternative crossing networks that provide dark pools of luquidity' states Ned Philips new CEO for Chi East. The use of alternative crossing networks is already widespread in the US and Europe, but remains fairly underdeveloped in Asia. Currently Asia has only a handful, compared to 60 in the US and over 30 in Europe. Chi East, the joint venture be

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UBS bankers' 2009 cash bonuses up a third on year Stocks   UBS AG UBSN.VX CHF13.88 -0.28-1.98% 1:06pm UTC   UBS AG UBS.N $12.84 -0.27-2.06% 12:00am UTC   Deutsche Bank AG DBKGn.DE €44.74 +1.64+3.81% 1:07pm UTC LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) -  will pay about 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($2.7 billion) in cash bonuses for 2009, up about a third from depressed

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View on the Equity Markets JAMES HEWSON– JP CAPITAL PARTNERS (HONG KONG/ LONDON) My view on the markets is a positive one, I believe we are going to see a strong round of secondary hiring post bonus this year for the following reasons: ·2009 has seen a great deal of senior management movement (firms have committed to building out and strengthening platforms to these can

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Singapore is the best city in Asia to headquarter an electronic trading business according to a two week opinion poll conducted at the AsiaEtrading.com website. In what was the most successful poll to date and it came as no surprise. With a corporate tax rate of 18% (17% in 2010), a high standard of living, a great quality of life and wonderful weather all year-round the island at the apex of the

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The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has released the findings of its review of algorithmic trading and market access. The review commenced in July 2009 and sought to examine the impact and likely growth of algorithmic trading activities in Australia, and identify ways to meet demand for alternative access arrangements to ASX’s markets without creating new risks to market integrity.

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License will allow the global agency-only brokerage to establish institutional sales and trading desk onshore to accompany the firm’s existing clearing business. Instinet Incorporated, a global leader in electronic trading and agency-only brokerage services, announced February 1 the establishment of Instinet Australia Pty. Ltd., a full Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) member. With the

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    Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010 ...... The end of 2009 and the start of 2010 has all been about “show me themoney”; big pay rises for the first time in years, deferrals, and bonuses beingthe hot topic of debate, not only in the financial world but in politics,mainstream media and Joe Public’s daily conversation as well. The UK governme

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Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia: FMO, the online Portfolio Management System for global hedge funds with industry leading reporting and attribution analysis, announced the opening of their Hong Kong office February 5. “We already have a number of key clients in Hong Kong who have successfully been using FMO”, said Paul Lemphers, Director-FMO Asia. “FMO originates from Asia-

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Franklin Templeton is following recent moves by BlackRock, Fidelity, JP Morgan and Mirae to introduce feeder-fund structures to the Indian market. Franklin Templeton is gearing up to break a long period of stasis in India's funds industry by introducing its first offshore products. The move follows similar launches from BlackRock, JP Morgan Asset Management and Mirae Asset. Fidelity Internation

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Hedge fund manager Michael Liang lists the daunting tasks that lie ahead for China, including tackling rising inflation and property prices. Michael Liang is chief investment officer of Hong Kong based hedge fund Foundation Asset Management. He helped establish the firm in Hong Kong in 2006 with Singapore's UOB and Britain's CIM Investment Management. The Foundation China Opportunities Fund l

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Metal and wood – an incompatible pair of elements could lead to restless activity on the trading floor, says CLSA in its tongue-in-cheek Feng Shui Index report. 2010 is the year of tiger, the third of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs. The tiger is energetic, optimistic, impulsive and restless; and the same characteristics will apply to Hong Kong stocks this year, with the benchmark Hang Seng Ind

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Early indications are that Arrowhead, the new equities trading system implemented by the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) on 4 January, is positively influencing equity trading volumes, but it may take longer for its effects to be fully evident. The TSE reported that daily average trading value was ¥1.69 trillion (US$18.7 billion) in January 2010, putting it back at the ¥1.6 trillion level f

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  It’s still early days – in the few places where bonuses have been announced, only the most senior people have been told. That doesn’t mean that rumours about banks’ new deferral policies aren’t leaking out.  Yesterday it emerged that BofA is allegedly planning to trim the cash component of bonuses to 15% for senior staff.  If this sounds h

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RBS bosses were last night accused of "living on another planet" over plans to press ahead with an incentive scheme that will enable high-earners to convert their bonuses into cash. Politicians are angered by a letter outlining a complex pay deal that will see top performers collect a large bonus in June.   The bonuses for staff earning more than £39,000 per y

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As the hedge fund sector put the crisis behind it, many prominent fund firms are giving Asia first priority in expansion plans. GLG Partners, Soros Fund Management and Prana Capital are among U.S. and UK-based fund groups moving to open offices China and Hong Kong , relocate senior staffers or create new funds that will focus on the region. Other veteran fund pros are launching new shops to invest

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Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc.  Japan’s largest brokerage, returned to profit in the third quarter on a nine- fold surge in the value of local equity sales as the nation’s banks issued new stock to bolster capital. Net income was 10.2 billion yen ($112 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a record quarterly loss of 342.9 billion yen a year earlier

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Morgan Stanley is set to increase the notice period required of its vice-presidents and executive directors to 90 days in a bid to keep hold of key talent during a period of expansion for the bank. Currently, VPs at Morgan Stanley only need to serve 30 days notice, while executive directors are required to stay for 60 days. From 1 March, this is going to increase to a three-month notice period fro

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Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -KBC Groep NV, Belgium’s biggest bank by market value, may sell its unprofitable brokerage unit in Japan, said two people with knowledge of the matter. KBC, based in Brussels, is in advanced talks with several potential buyers to sell KBC Securities Japan , which employs about 100 equity research and trading staff in Tokyo, said the people, who declined to be identified be

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In any normal year, Goldman Sachs would divulge the size of bonuses a few days before announcing its Q4 results. This year, Q4 results are due to be announced on Thursday, but bonuses, which were supposed to be revealed starting yesterday , won’t now be unveiled until next week. The Guardian  uncovered the news of the mysterious delay yesterday, saying Goldman people could be forced to

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Several senior financial executives are exploring the possibility of making a bid for Merrill Lynch.There has been increasing chatter about the possibility of a spin-off in recent weeks. But today's announcement of new financial regulations that would rebuild the Glass-Steagal era wall between banking and trading  has created a new sense of urgency and opportunity.Several question marks remai

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Bank of America ML revealed its new and exciting bonus structure yesterday, and while the dearly departed Ken Lewis would remind everyone they should be thankful they’re getting anything, unlike some people [this guy], employees are apparently not so keen on getting very little cash and stock paid out over the next decade.The math works as follows: If bonus is:-> between $100k and $250k,

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JP Morgan analyst Kian Abouhossein has produced some interesting research on the banks that will be most heavily impacted by the ‘Volcker Rule.’ This is the same Abouhossein who produced something back in September on the likely impact of proposed regulatory changes on various banks. In September Abouhossein was predicting biggish comp/headcount changes at banks in order to maintain RO

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Hong Kong shares advanced as investors snapped up New World Development and other property stocks, though Asian markets ended mixed Monday.New World Development jumped 3.9% after a report in the Standard that the developer sold around 80% of the homes at Belcher's Hill in western Hong Kong Island within two days of the launch. Other local property companies also gained in Hong Kong. Cheung Kong ro

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Asian markets ended mixed Tuesday, with Australian shares rising after the country's central bank surprised traders with its decision to keep rates on hold.The Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to hold rates after raising them in the previous three meetings also weighed on the foreign-exchange markets, sharply dragging down the Australian dollar.The surprise move "will certainly please Aus

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When it comes to pay, Wall Street could learn a thing or two from Singapore. Outsize bonuses at big banks and securities firms have never been more controversial. Governments are on the warpath, imposing bonus taxes and new rules to force bank paymasters to change the way they compensate their talent. Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. could give them a master class on the subject. Te

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Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- China’s property market “bubble” is set to burst as the government curbs credit growth and clamps down on speculation, according to independent economist Andy Xie.As bank lending slows, “it’s very difficult to see this demand continuing,” Xie, formerly Morgan Stanley’s chief Asian economist, told Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong toda

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Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s largest brokerage, returned to profit in the third quarter on a nine- fold surge in the value of local equity sales as the nation’s banks issued new stock to bolster capital. Net income was 10.2 billion yen ($112 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a record quarterly loss of 342.9 billion yen a year earlier w

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This was the message from the four buy-side fund managers in the opening keynote panel at TradeTech in Shanghai January 28. The fund managers (Li Shu – Changxin Fund Management, Sha Qin – Guotai Asset Management, Liu Dayuan – Harvest Fund and Dennis Lee – Hua An Fund Management) contended that more services and functionality is needed in their trading applications. Local IT

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Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) has announced the following holiday risk management arrangements. HSI, MHI, HHI and MCH Futures MarketsThere will be mandatory intra-day variation adjustment calls in the Hang Seng Index (HSI), Mini-Hang Seng Index (MHI), H-shares Index (HHI) and Mini H-shares Index (MCH) futures markets on Friday, 12 February 2010 based on open positions in the mark

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License will allow the global agency-only brokerage to establish institutional sales and trading desk onshore to accompany the firm’s existing clearing business.Instinet Incorporated, a global leader in electronic trading and agency-only brokerage services, announced February 1 the establishment of Instinet Australia Pty. Ltd., a full Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) member. With the mem

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If you’re looking for a genuinely tight employment market, fuelled by real economic growth, try ECM in China.Last year China ascended the global IPO throne, accounting for 183 deals (the US managed 54) and making up 45 per cent of IPO volume, according to data tracker Dealogic. And for the first time, a Chinese firm, CICC, was the number one international IPO bank.All this deal activity mean

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President Obama is reigning in the size and capabilities of US banks, but regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore aren't following his heavy-handed lead. This means recruitment at local banks is unlikely to be negatively affected.So why aren’t Asian financial centres keen to break up and constrain their own banks? Here are a few reasons.OneIt would amount to an undeserved punishment for instit

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Those appalled by the excesses of banker compensation in New York or London might be tempted to praise China's restraint. They shouldn't. (Wall Street Journal)A Chinese regulator’s criticisms of the “irresponsible” pricing of initial public offerings has fuelled speculation that Beijing could temporarily halt the new issue market in order to introduce fresh pricing rules. (Financ

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I met a candidate last week who told he was “cooling down” his job search until after Chinese New Year because firms wouldn’t be recruiting anyway in the lead-up to the big break.If you share these silly ideas, please purge yourself of them at once.As a candidate, you should still be on the hunt this week and next week. At the very least, if you’re not getting interviews, y

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Having completed its merger with ING Asia Private Bank, OCBC's wealth-management unit has big international ambitions.Following the acquisition of ING's Asian private banking business (IAPB), Singaporean bank OCBC has its sights set on wealth-management markets well beyond Southeast Asia. The merged entity, Bank of Singapore (BoS), plans to service and attract more clients in North Asia, Europe an

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Asian central banks have intervened in the currency markets and forged regional alliances to maintain their foreign exchange reserves and help exports.Accusations against Asian policymakers of perfidious currency manipulation to help their exporters gain price advantages are commonplace, and have helped engender or justify protectionist rhetoric and reactions from governments in Europe and the US.

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Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG, the largest Swiss bank by market value, decided to trim its global bonus pool by 5 percent to spread the cost of the U.K. bonus tax, with senior employees in London taking bigger reductions. About 400 managing directors in the U.K., who make up less than 10 percent of Credit Suisse’s staff in the country, were told today that their bonus pool

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In any normal year, Goldman Sachs would divulge the size of bonuses a few days before announcing its Q4 results. This year, Q4 results are due to be announced on Thursday, but bonuses, which were supposed to be revealed starting yesterday won’t now be unveiled until next week. The Guardian  uncovered the news of the mysterious delay yesterday, saying Goldman people could be forced to sw

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Michael Geoghegan arrives in Hong Kong to a 'pop star' welcome, surrounded by photographers then applauded by his staff. Michael Geoghegan walked into his new office on the dot of nine o’clock yesterday morning to a welcoming round of applause. HSBC staff had waited 17 years for their chief executive to have an address in Hong Kong and, now that he was here, they were ready to celebrate.

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Banks are recruiting again in Singapore, but don’t take our word for it, here’s what some big cheeses in the industry have to say about their general headcount plans for 2010… "We are in the market for talent to support our growth plans," says D M Arulraj, regional head of human resource at Standard Chartered Bank for Singapore and South East Asia. "

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Assuming that bankers and politicians gathering in Davos this week don't manage to scupper the new Volcker Rule, hedge fund recruitment could be on the up in the near future. If banks are no longer able to trade on their own account, or manage a hedge fund, there could be a rush of talent looking for new homes. "While some will move to the larger hedge funds, because of the degree o

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Peter Hahn, the former Citigroup MD-turned Cass Business School lecturer and financial services pundit, begs to disagree with anyone who thinks the City has finished making redundancies and is back to adding headcount.According to Hahn, banks are still substantially overstaffed, and will need to deal with this in the near future. This is the thrust of his argument:1) 2009’s recover

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US agency broker and block crossing system operator Pipeline has added a block equity options crossing capability to its order control system for the buy-side.The implementation of the new feature, called Blind Bid Options Cross (BBOX), will allow buy-side traders to access block liquidity for both stocks and equity options from a single user interface.As a result of the addition, the Pipeline sys

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The CLS Aggregation Service (CLSAS), a joint-venture post-trade netting system for over-the-counter foreign exchange trades developed by FX settlement provider CLS Group and a unit of interdealer broker ICAP, has gone live.According to CLS and Traiana, a division of ICAP that provides solutions for automating post-trade processing of financial transactions, CLSAS will reduce operational risk, lowe

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Tora, a provider of trading technology to the Asian markets, has integrated its Compass trading platform with Eze OMS, the order management system supplied by US-based agency broker and trading technology provider ConvergEx.Using the linkage, Tora Compass clients will be able to sync their orders with the Eze OMS, as well as benefiting from real-time profit and loss and risk management in both sys

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Market data and analytics provider Interactive Data has upgraded its client site processor (CSP), which it claims will improve financial messaging processing performance by 70%.Interactive Data’s CSP supports the delivery of PlusFeed, the firm’s low-latency global data feed used to power algorithms, high-frequency trading strategies and electronic trading applications.According to Inte

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Trading technology and connectivity provider Fidessa is offering faster access to Korea’s equities and derivatives markets via a linkage to Koscom's PowerBase NFS, a new high-speed interface to the Korean Exchange (KRX).According to Fidessa, its new NFS gateway provides high-speed market access to KRX that reduces order processing times by 98% and increases throughput by around 200%.Koscom i

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Nomura is bullish on Asia and expects that regional domestic demand will overtake exports to become the main driver of growth in 2010. Japanese bank Nomura expects 2010 to be "a tale of two recoveries" with developed economies in Europe and the US experiencing a staggered recovery after the financial crisis, while emerging markets like China and India will enjoy a strong come

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US President Barack Obama goes after the big banks in the US, but his proposals, which are weak on detail, seem more like a PR stunt than sound economic planning. On January 21, US President Barack Obama shocked the financial markets by proposing rules that would prohibit commercial banks from making trades for their own accounts and prohibiting banks from owning or investing in hedge funds or

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Swiss investment bank UBS has appointed ex-Morgan Stanley executive Neal Shear as global head of securities to drive a more aligned approach across its equities and fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) businesses. Shear spent most of his career at Morgan Stanley and was most recently co-head of sales and trading with responsibilities across equities and fixed income. He was als

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European multilateral trading facility (MTF) BATS Europe has revealed plans to launch a smart order routing (SOR) service to exchanges, fellow MTFs and dark pools on 15 February.Only one other displayed pan-European MTF, Nasdaq OMX Europe, currently has a smart routing service, which it has offered since its launch in September 2008. While trading venues in the US need routers, as Reg NMS’s

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Quant Capital, a London-based private investment firm focusing on quantitative trading strategies, has implemented financial software firm Aleri’s complex event processing (CEP) technology to boost the performance of its equities trading and achieve consistent low latency.“It is imperative to employ real-time, rapid response technology solutions that allow us to meet the growing demand

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The Advanced Execution Services (AES) division of investment bank Credit Suisse has added its options algorithms to data vendor and technology supplier Bloomberg’s execution management system, EMSX.EMSX clients, as well as users of the Bloomberg Professional service, will now have access to the algorithms, which include spread strategies and delta hedging strategies.“We are very excite

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Data vendor Thomson Reuters has unveiled a new service designed to give high-frequency traders the fastest possible access to machine-readable news content. Thomson Reuters NewsScope Direct will offer high-frequency traders in London and Chicago microsecond delivery of news and economic data before it has a chance to move the market. NewsScope Direct will be housed within Thomson Reu

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Developing a stronger culture of domestic consumption is crucial to Asia’s growth, but in the near-term the challenge for many countries is to sidestep asset price inflation by orchestrating a measured withdrawal of government stimulus. A news piece from last year about an elderly Chinese man whose life savings were eaten by mice tells us two things; firstly, that the stove, as in 80-year

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The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has censured and fined Credit Suisse Securities (USA) $150,000 after one of the algorithms used by the broker's proprietary trading desk sent hundreds of thousands of erroneous messages to the bourse, freezing the order queue and delaying the close of five floor trading posts.As a proprietary trading algorithm, the strategy in question, SmartWB, is not available

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Pan-European multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe has reported sustained trading growth on both its lit and dark platforms and has confirmed it has received additional investment from members via its 2009 equity participation scheme.“Despite reduced overall market volumes in 2009 we have seen an increase in our own pan-European market share throughout the year,” Graham Dick, head

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Burgundy, the pan-Nordic multilateral trading facility (MTF), has said it expects fragmentation of Swedish equities trading to accelerate in 2010.According to figures from data vendor Thomson Reuters quoted by Burgundy, over 28% of Swedish blue-chip equity trading was conducted away from Nasdaq OMX, owner of Sweden’s primary stock exchange, in December 2009, compared to 12% at the end of 200

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Quant Capital, a London-based private investment firm focusing on quantitative trading strategies, has implemented financial software firm Aleri’s complex event processing (CEP) technology to boost the performance of its equities trading and achieve consistent low latency.“It is imperative to employ real-time, rapid response technology solutions that allow us to meet the growing demand

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ZTE raises $338 million and TCC International pockets $109 million, while the controlling shareholder in Bawang reduces its stake to make another $132 million worth of shares available in the market.Two weeks into the new year and placement activity in Hong Kong is starting to pick up. Last night there were two deals in the market and yesterday morning telecommunication equipment maker ZTE Corp an

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Kx Systems supplies many of the world’s major banks, hedge funds, exchanges and other financial institutions with a unique and highly original solution set for ultra-high performance database and time-series analysis.Financial institutions are facing constant pressure to collect, store and analyse data from numerous sources, such as exchanges, in-house or vendor. Not only are data volumes in

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If you are trading Japan I am sure you must be aware that the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) finally upgraded their moribund technology and matching engine on January 4, 2010. Code name Arrowhead, the highly anticipated and long overdue leap into modern trading services has been rolled out successfully. A spokesperson from the TSE asserted that the transition was “smooth” and “no sig

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ConvergEx Group has become the latest execution-focused broker to ramp up its full-service credentials with the launch of a new corporate access service offering for institutional investors.Although the US-based agency brokerage and technology provider already offers access to third-party research via its Westminster Research Associates arm, it is best known for its execution services. As well as

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Arrowhead, the Tokyo Stock Exchange's radical new trading platform, is ready to shake up Japan's old-fashioned equity market.The launch of a new trading system at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has dragged Japan's equity market into the 21st century, albeit a decade late.After years of nagging reliability problems, stone-age connection speeds and capacity constraints that limited direct access to

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Non-displayed trading venues are viewed as the most likely recipients of more stringent regulation this year.When asked to identify the major regulatory changes that could be expected in 2010, 37% of readers said tighter regulation of dark pools was on the cards during the next 12 months.The remainder of the responses were fairly evenly divided between the other three categories, with 23% expectin

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The new ownership structure of pan-European multilateral trading facility Turquoise following its takeover by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) will be key to stepping up competition with market-leading MTF Chi-X Europe, according to those involved with the deal.The LSE announced the acquisition of Turquoise on 21 December, in a transaction that allowed the MTF’s nine member banks to retain a

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Chi-Tech, the technology services unit of trading venue operator Chi-X Global, has announced that Dutch investment firm ABR Financial will use its MarketPrizm infrastructure to power its automated trading strategies.ABR Financial’s primary business is trading pan-European derivatives and providing market-making services to pan-European equity markets. MarketPrizm, Chi-Tech’s electronic

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German exchange group Deutsche Börse will attempt to persuade the Frankfurt Regional Court to lift before the end of the month the injunction that closed its new electronic bond market.A spokesman for the exchange told theTRADEnews.com that Deutsche Börse will present its opinion to the Frankfurt Regional Court on 21 January.On 5 January, Deutsche Börse suspended trading on its new

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Employing a single system to manage both order and execution management, rather than using one or the other or attempting to integrate two disparate systems, is gaining currency among technology vendors and the buy-side, according to Tom Driscoll, managing director, global, at trading technology firm Charles River Development.Charles River has launched version 9.1 of its Investment Management Syst

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Singapore Exchange (SGX) is increasing its derivatives trading hours for contracts with T+1 sessions to accommodate growing international demand for Asian equity derivatives.The extension, which will be implemented from 11 January 2010, will allow traders to execute derivatives on SGX until 01.00 Singapore time of the following day.“With the longer hours, traders will be able to respond to m

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The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has reported a 56% growth in the trading of listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2009, the third straight year in which record turnover has been recorded.Turnover of ETFs listed on SGX grew to S$4.6 billion (€2.3 billion), compared to S$2.94 billion in 2009.ETFs generally represent a basket of securities that give investors exposure to an index or market sector

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Credit Suisse appoints Bunt Ghosh and Atsushi Mizuno and vows to increase its Asian headcount in the division by a further 20% this year.Credit Suisse continues to expand its Asian fixed-income platform with an announcement yesterday that it is moving Bunt Ghosh to Hong Kong from London and re-hiring Atsushi Mizuno to act as joint vice-chairmen for the bank's regional business.Ghosh was previously

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Broker Newedge has become the first foreign firm licensed to sell all futures and options products in Korea.Newedge has started selling a complete range of futures and options in Korea after becoming the first foreign broker to win a full futures licence there.The new licence allows it to sell all of the products on the Korea Options and Futures Exchange to local investors, including interest-rate

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Chinese bank spending on technology will reach $11.3 billion by 2011, says Celent. Banking in China is not always easy. Customers opening an account at one branch are often restricted to using that particular location for any transaction more complicated than a deposit or a withdrawal. But Chinese banks are investing to change this fact. According to a recent report from banking consultanc

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The new job will see Long change his focus from Southeast Asia to China. His previous role at Credit Suisse has been filled by Manish Chhalani, who has been named head of ECM for Southeast Asia.Ian Long will return to Deutsche Bank in early February after a couple of years at Credit Suisse, taking up a position as an origination banker in the equity capital markets (ECM) team, according to sources

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Far East Consortium raises HK$800 million from a Hong Kong dollar-denominated CB which is priced at best terms for investors.Hong Kong property and hotel group Far East Consortium last night raised HK$800 million ($103 million) from a Hong Kong dollar-denominated convertible bond, becoming the first company in Asia to tap the equity-linked markets this year.The bonds, which mature in five years bu

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The appointment is a response to Asia’s growing need for robust cash management solutions.Bank of New York Mellon has appointed Filippo Santilli as its first Asia-Pacific managing director of liquidity services, bringing a much-needed service to regional finance executives who continue to demand robust liquidity management tools.Based in Hong Kong, Santilli will oversee the expansion of the

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Macquarie continues to reinforce its presence in Korea after receiving final approval to offer corporate banking services. Macquarie Bank said yesterday that it has received its final licence to provide corporate banking services in Korea. The Australian bank joins 39 other overseas lenders with branch licences in the country.

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The Indian stock market is expected to continue its rally in 2010 on the back of strong GDP growth, high inflation and loose US monetary policy, raising the possibility of a bubble forming, according to Noble Group.Prevailing economic conditions, both domestic and global, suggest the Indian stock market is poised to continue to rally in 2010, increasing the risk that a bubble is forming, according

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Kumho Asiana's emergency restructuring exposes Korea's recovering banking sector, but Moody's say ratings remain unchanged.Large sections of Korea's recovering bank sector are exposed to the liquidity problems facing Kumho Asiana Group, which were revealed over the Christmas period after several weeks of stock market rumours.Last week, Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) estimated that the

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Well it already has. First of all the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) is wholly owned by Financial Technologies, an Indian financial services company. Exchanges in Asia are owned and operated locally and have a close relationship with national regulators and business leaders. Some would say too close. The SMX is uniquely foreign owned and to have a regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapor

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Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) announced December 24, 2009 that the Exchange has decided to start working with concerned parties to reopen the gas oil futures contract on May 6, 2010.The Exchange had been exploring the possibility to reopen the gas oil futures contract, but finally reached its decision following the Government Tax Commission’s announcement on December 22 on its policy towa

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In the second article of a three-part series, we give you more insights from this week’s eFinancialCareers recruitment roundtable in Singapore, which was attended by 14 HR professionals from international financial institutions. If you haven’t read part I, click here. Roundtable delegates were in unanimous agreement: first-half hiring in 2010 is going to be stronger than we’ve se

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China said “fraudulent practices” by some foreign investment banks were partly to blame for more than US$1.67bn of derivatives losses at Chinese state-owned companies last year. (Bloomberg) Asia’s second-largest listed bourse, the Singapore Exchange (SGX), will launch contracts for gold, fuel oil and coffee in the first quarter of next year, as the firm

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As China’s fledging private banking sector starts to expand, local and foreign firms face a fierce battle to find talent. The number of mainland (US dollar) millionaires is expected to reach 450,000 by the end of the year, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group. And private banks are obviously keen to turn them into clients. Global players, including HSBC

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Robert Morrice, Barclays Capital’s Asia-Pacific chairman, plans to double the London-based firm’s investment banking team in India as it vies to sell stock. Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan are competing to sell shares for state-run companies in India as the government plans the biggest sell-off in at least five years. (Bloomberg) Singapore&rs

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Simon Mortlock Poaching, counter offers, hiring spikes, huge salary rises and severe talent shortages: no, we’re not talking Wall Street in 2006 – this is now and this is Shanghai. Foreign commercial banks in the Chinese city are engaged in what recruiters describe as a recruitment “boom” (at a senior level at least). Now there’s a word you won&r

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During the darkest days of the financial crisis in late 2008/early 2009, the three bright lights on the employment market were risk, compliance and product control. Over the last three months, middle-office job volumes at banks, particularly those in Singapore, have increased even further as the need to beef up governance is finally matched by hiring budgets. Recruitment agen

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HSBC Private Bank wants to increase its hiring in Asia but it is also focusing on preventing existing employees from jumping ship as the wealth management talent war starts to warm up. Private bankers are becoming more open to moving firms as their sector rebounds from the financial crisis faster than anticipated. And the dramatic recent departure of 70 RBS Coutts employees m

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A team of distressed debt traders who resigned from Deutsche Bank earlier this year have set up their own boutique investment bank in Hong Kong. SC Lowy, which opened on Thursday, will deal exclusively in distressed and illiquid investments across Asia, an asset class that has become increasingly fashionable among banks and hedge funds since the financial crisis struck. (Financial Time

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HSBC is in advanced talks to buy separate Asian assets being sold by two troubled western financial groups, in a further sign of its rising commitment to expand in the region. The bank is a front-runner to acquire the Asian private banking operations being divested by ING. HSBC has also re-emerged as a serious contender for the Asian retail and commercial assets being sold by RBS. (Fin

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Barclays Wealth's latest report on high-net-worth individuals shows that wealthy investors are planning to increase property investments. Wealthy investors are once again eyeing property markets, according to the latest report by Barclays Wealth and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) titled Prospects for Property: On Solid Foundations? More than 2,000 global high-net-worth

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Daiwa Securities Group’s deputy president Takashi Hibino talks about the firm’s expansion plans in Asia. Daiwa Securities Group plans to invest $1 billion to expand in the region, deputy president Takashi Hibino told a media briefing in Hong Kong last Thursday. Daiwa, Japan's second largest brokerage, is aiming to become one of the top five brokers in Asia ex-Japan

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12/2/2009 BTIG, an institutional broker-dealer and fund services company, has added two new members to its pan-European sales and trading team. The latest hires are part of the firm’s ambitions to build up its London presence. Robert Smith will join BTIG as managing director for pan-European sales trading. Smith joins after 10 years at Deutsche Bank where he was

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Chi-X Global, the holding company for all Chi-X trading venues, has hired ex-Lehman executive Steven Silberstein as the firm looks to ramp up its technological capabilities. In addition, Gregory E. Smith, CEO of Chi-X Global Technologies, will also assume the role of vice chairman, Chi-X Global.Silberstein will be responsible for all of Chi-X Global’s technology and will lead the technology

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Daiwa Securities SMBC is the latest bank to set up an enhanced electronic trading platform in Asia, despite growing criticism of dark pools.Daiwa Securities SMBC on Friday revealed an improved electronic trading platform in Asia, which offers a range of tools for its institutional clients to trade in Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, India and Taiwan.The tools include algorithmic and Direct

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Ronald Arculli joins the ranks of those criticising alternative trading platforms for creating an unfair playing field.Much has been said and written in recent months about dark pools, and on Wednesday the chairman of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing threw his hat into the ring. Ronald Arculli is not in favour of such trading platforms, which only require prices to be published after a transaction

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Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) announced December 15 that the Exchange has taken disciplinary actions against some of its executive officers for the suspension of the gold night session (standard, mini and options) on November 27.The Board of Directors today has given a verbal warning to President & CEO Tadashi Ezaki, and he reprimanded Kazunari Hayakawa, Executive Managing Officer, an

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Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) and the Association of Financial and Commodity Traders (Singapore) (AFACT) today jointly launched the SGX Academy Algorithmic Trading Initiative to upgrade professional traders’ algorithmic trading capabilities. The initiative will feature intensive, hands-on workshops with expert-level trainers using a live training facility at SGX.The programme is supported

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Tinbergen Asset Management, a French alternative asset management company, has integrated SunGard’s MarketMap real-time data feeds with its market and transaction data flow management system. This environment helps Tinbergen to define its execution strategies and manage its complex trading algorithms in real-time.SunGard’s MarketMap provides Tinbergen with real-time market data flows t

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NYSE Technologies, the commercial technology unit of NYSE Euronext (NYX) and a world leader in microsecond feed handlers, announced that Deep Value, Inc. a developer of innovative algorithmic trading solutions, has implemented its SuperFeedTM product. SuperFeed is NYSE Technologies’ fully-managed and hosted data ticker plant offering the extensive global market coverage of the Secure Financi

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SmartPool, the pan-European non-displayed trading venue operated by exchange group NYSE Euronext, has started integrating the dark trading assets acquired as part of its parent’s takeover of trading technology firm NYFIX, as it bids to make its mark in the dark pool arena.As well as migrating core customers from NYFIX’s Euro Millennium pan-European dark pool, SmartPool will also replac

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Importing into Europe established US crossing engine models that mix retail and institutional flow may prove a challenge, but two operators of such systems – Knight Capital and Citi – believe they can rise to it.Knight Capital Europe, the European division of US-based broker Knight, has today launched a version of the firm’s Knight Link off-exchange trading service which allows o

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Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have joined forces to make the declaration of all short-selling orders compulsory in a bid to improve market transparency.The measures will come into place in the first half of 2010 and will require buy-side firms to inform their brokers whether a sell order is a short sale at the point of placing the order. Brokers will then

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Data vendor Thomson Reuters has added real-time analysis of US company events to its machine-readable news offering.Thomson Reuters NewsScope Company Events will provide clients with low-latency distribution of key data from US company press releases. The service will eventually be broadened to Canada and Europe.The solution automatically extracts critical pieces of information from corporate anno

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Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading (GSET) has released version 9.1 of its REDIPlus execution management system (EMS), which includes expanded options and futures trading capabilities.The new version of REDIPlus also contains portfolio trading enhancements and enables users to integrate certain functions of the EMS with the Bloomberg Professional news and data and trade execution service.Options trad

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The fragmentation of liquidity in Europe since the introduction of MiFID has had no material impact on the quality of the price formation process, but dark pools can cause problems with price discovery, according to new research by the CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity.The study, which includes empirical analysis and a survey of 962 CFA Institute members involved in investing, tr

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NYFIX Euro Millennium, a non-displayed pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF), has closed its doors following the completion of exchange group NYSE Euronext’s acquisition of its parent, trading technology firm NYFIX.Euro Millennium customers are expected to shift their liquidity to SmartPool, NYSE Euronext’s pan-European dark pool, which launched in February with backing from

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Market participants are fiercely divided on whether the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should follow through on its proposal to ban ‘flash’ orders in the US equities and options markets, according to responses submitted during the comment period, which closed on Monday.Some respondents, including exchanges, mounted a robust defence of the controversial order types, which b

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Liquidnet Europe, a non-displayed buy-side-only crossing network, has had to change the basis under which it protects client orders from pre-trade transparency, following intervention by the Financial Services Authority, the UK financial regulator. Previously, Liquidnet Europe operated under a negotiated price waiver, as outlined in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, but has

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Macquarie Group’s recent acquisitions in the US and Canada look unlikely to open up a raft of North American jobs for Australian bankers. Last month the Aussie i-bank announced plans to buy Canadian financial advisory firm Blackmont Capital and rebrand it as Macquarie Private Wealth. A spokesperson for Macquarie says the bank will mainly recruit local staff for Blackmont, although Earl Evans

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HSBC Private Bank wants to increase its hiring in Asia but it is also focusing on preventing existing employees from jumping ship as the wealth management talent war starts to warm up. Private bankers are becoming more open to moving firms  as their sector rebounds from the financial crisis faster than anticipated. And the dramatic recent departure of 70 RBS Coutts employees  means

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CA Cheuvreux, the equity broking business of Credit Agricole, has connected to an additional five European dark pools, bringing the total number of non-displayed trading venues it accesses on behalf of institutional investors to 20.The French-owned broker now connects to the dark pools of four pan-European multilateral trading facilities – Chi-X’s Chi-Delta, Turquoise Mid-Point, BATS E

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Vega-Chi, a planned multilateral trading facility (MTF) for convertible bonds, has appointed BNP Paribas Securities Services, a division of French bank BNP Paribas, as a post-trade partner.Vega-Chi, which is awaiting approval from the UK’s Financial Services Authority, plans to offer buy-side institutions trading in around 150 of the largest, most liquid bonds with an aggregate issue size in

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CQG, Inc., the industry-leading order execution, charting, and analytics provider for global electronically-traded futures markets, today announced it has expanded its Direct Market Access to include the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), an operator of a diverse range of futures and options markets in Australia and New Zealand.CQG customers will have access to trade ASX’s Australian Feed

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BSE announces the launch of its new market access platform – FASTRADE™.It is a terminal and Internet based Market Access solution developed by Marketplace Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd. It will open a gateway for market participants to access BSE Derivatives along with other market segments. It is highly customisable allowing the user to define h

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The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Nomura International Plc (Nomura) £1.75 million for widespread systems and controls failings around book marking within its International Equity Derivatives (IED) business. The systems and controls around marking the IED books fell far short of those expected by the FSA for a business trading complex and high risk financial products.

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Program trading in Asia is a challenging and complex endeavor. Each exchange has their own order types, trading rules and gateway API’s. As a leader in the global program trading space I wanted to investigate what Fidessa was bringing to the market and was recently afforded such an opportunity. It was their out-of-the-box hosted or ASP version of the Asian Trading Platform v5.11 (they ha

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Interdealer broker ICAP’s nascent equities execution business, which launched 18 months ago, is aiming to pull itself out of the boutique space and become the world’s leading agency broker, according to Daryl Bowden, the unit’s co-CEO of Europe and Asia. Unlike most of ICAP’s business, which is focused largely on serving the sell-side, the equities division provide

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The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has set a date for the launch of its new trading system, which has been developed following rapid growth of trading volumes in recent years.The new platform will be implemented on 23 November, subject to approval by domestic regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission. According to the SSE, the upgrade will offer improved matching ability, safeness and r

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Singapore signs an agreement with France to share tax information, allowing it to qualify for the OECD's white list of jurisdictions that have substantially tightened their rules. Singapore has entered into an agreement for sharing tax information with France. The agreement, signed on Friday, marks Singapore's twelfth such agreement and, with this, Singapore qualifies for the Organisation for E

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The central bank is concerned about a new property price bubble, but analysts say worries are overdone. A surge in housing prices in recent months has put Korea's central bank under the spotlight, and has raised speculation that it might hike interest rates to slow any speculative bubble. Between April and August, housing prices climbed for five consecutive months, according to data collected by K

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Domestically there are concerns about creditor protection, while overseas there is wariness towards hedge funds but more interest in private equity.Japanese limited partners (LPs) and institutions are watching the distressed-asset market but not yet committing large amounts of capital."We expect to see more corporate distressed situations worldwide," says Hideya Sadanaga, deputy general

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The 70 RBS Coutts employees in Singapore who grabbed international headlines today by quitting the firm en mass are all joining the local office of Swiss private bank BSI. And many of the defectors are said to have clinched guaranteed three-year employment packages. It was announced last week that Hanspeter Brunner, former co-chief executive of RBS Coutts, had joined BSI to build up its compara

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Equity Capital Markets Issuance in the equity capital markets more than doubled this week to $6.8 billion, fuelled by the $3.3 billion initial public offering for Maxis. Regional volume for the year so far stands at $122.7 billion - an increase of 51% over the same period last year. Activity of 1,099 issues is up 41% year-on-year.Morgan Stanley holds on to the top spot in the league table ran

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The spin-off from Las Vegas Sands sets its price range at a slight discount to Wynn Macau's current valuation.Sands China, the Macau casino operations owned by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), yesterday kicked off the roadshow for its Hong Kong initial public offering with the aim of raising between HK$19.41 billion and HK$25.96 billion ($2.5 billion to $3.4 billion).The launch came on the same day that Chi

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The Chinese developer attracts strong interest from both institutions and retail investors, despite an aggressive valuation relative to other recent newcomers in the same sector.Longfor Properties was able to live up to expectations that its initial public offering would be able to attract significant investor interest despite a much higher valuation than the recent market newcomers in the same se

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STX Pan Ocean, Korea's largest bulk shipping company, last night raised $200 million from a five-year convertible bond that seems to have benefitted from expectations of a continued improvement in bulk shipping rates. According to a source, the deal was a bit more than 1.5 times covered at the final price and attracted about 70 investors.With no stock borrow available, investors were not able to h

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Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai Prime Minister, accused his enemies of “false patriotism” yesterday as the fierce dispute over his visit to Cambodia led to a further deterioration in relations between the countries.The neighbouring states expelled each other’s diplomats, and Thailand moved to cancel a road project involving loans to Cambodia of some 1.4 billion baht (£2

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Asia is leading the world back to recovery but a strong dollar remains important to global stability, Timothy Geithner, the United States Treasury Secretary, told an audience Singapore today.His comments, which come amid rising concerns over the stability of the greenback and the currencies pegged to it, followed a summit meeting of finance ministers from across the Asia-Pacific region. Delegates

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The global economy may be poised for the creation of a massive and potentially explosive “dollar carry trade” — just like the pre-crisis yen carry trade, only more frightening and potentially much bigger.The warning was issued today at a summit of Asia Pacific leaders in Singapore and comes as a diverse variety of assets have begun to display bubble-like patterns of inflation: ev

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South Korea’s £125 billion state pension fund is poised to buy HSBC’s head office building in London in an £800 million investment lunge for one of Canary Wharf’s foremost landmarks.The deal, whose negotiations were first revealed by The Times in September, is expected to be signed early next week and follows about three months of talks and competition from several ri

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The Australian Securities Exchange Markets Supervision (ASXMS) office – mandated to supervise futures, equities, clearing and settlement at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) – published its 2009 annual report this week. Here are some highlights.The ASXMS made 88 “referrals” and 60 “notifications” to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (AS

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9 November 2009 – A study by the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre has found that trading in overseas-listed futures contracts benefits both the index futures as well as its component stocks in the home exchanges. This is the first study to examine how the trading activities of the home markets are affected by the additional listing of a similar index future in a foreign marke

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ICICI Bank Limited, Indias second-largest Bank, has entered into an agreement for providing clearing and settlement services to Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX). This agreement will enable ICICI Bank to provide clearing and settlement processing services to facilitate settlement of transactions executed on SMX. This membership will also facilitate ICICI Bank to provide a platform to the commodi

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Thomson Reuters held a discussion last night (Nov 12, 2009) in their Hong Kong headquarters on the finer points of High Frequency Trading (HFT). The panel was moderated by Mike Powell the Global Head of Enterprise Information at Thomson Reuters. The panelists invited to speak represented a large swathe of the electronic trading vertical including buy side, sell side and technology. The discussion

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Portware, a supplier of multi-asset electronic trading systems, has said interest in its Strategy Server algorithmic engine has increased strongly as traditional buy-side firms look to take advantage of, and better understand, high-frequency trading.Strategy Server allows users to build their own high volume, high-frequency trading strategies. It combines trading-specific functionality with comple

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The global equities division of Swiss investment bank UBS has launched algorithmic trading capabilities in Brazil for its international clients.UBS will initially offer VWAP, TWAP and Volume Inline, a trading strategy that enables an investor to execute an order correlated to available liquidity. The algorithms can be used in conjunction with the bank’s direct market access (DMA) service to

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Trading on pan-European multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe increased in the stocks affected by the London Stock Exchange’s partial outage on Monday afternoon, indicating that European traders’ dependence on primary market prices has declined since September 2008.At 15.04 on Monday, 9 November, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) experienced a glitch in its TradElect trading engine

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Standard Bank’s new head of structured trade finance for Asia, Tee Chong Ong, wants Asian trade customers to make the bank their first choice when it comes to Africa."Right or wrong, everyone draws the conclusion that this is the decade of China rising," said Tee Chong Ong, Standard Bank's new head of structured trade finance for Asia.Whether or not we've entered a new Chinese era

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The hires include Dan McNamara – a move we reported in August – as well as Daniel Yap, Graham Conran, Oi Yee Choo and Reginaldo Cariaso.Nomura officially announced yesterday five new appointments to its Asia ex-Japan investment banking division."We continue to attract top talent to our team at Nomura," Glenn Schiffman, head of investment banking for Asia ex-Japan, said in a p

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Tradar Limited today announced that Gerry Gualtieri has been named to serve as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.Gualtieri comes to Tradar with over twenty years of experience in financial technology covering a number of senior roles, most recently as MD of global sales at latency management specialist Corvil. Previously, Gualtieri served as the Chief Operating Officer of Fidessa LatentZ

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On October 29, 2009 the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group, Inc. (TSE Group) and Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) reached an agreement to establish a joint venture in the future. The objective of the new company will be to set up an emissions trading exchange, in order to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases and facilitate emissions trading. Both parties had already signed a Memorandum of

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Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd (IPS), a Malaysian brokerage firm, has gone live with SunGard’s GL Net low-latency market data and order routing network to gain direct market access (DMA) to Bursa Malaysia Berhad’s derivatives exchange.IPS intends to expand its derivatives business, and therefore it was looking for the right solution to enhance its derivatives trading services. SunGar

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A combination of high levels of automation, soaring market data volumes and cut-throat competition have turned trade execution in the US equity markets into a “complex science”.A new report from research firm Tabb Group identifies four execution risk forces that have grown in significance as equity-trading operations have become more truly global. A combination of trade automation, mul

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Agency broker Instinet has announced the full launch of BLX, a non-displayed US block equities trading platform that combines continuous execution with point-in-time crossing, which has been in soft launch mode since the end of April.Instinet has also signed BlockCross, a block matching platform run by Boston-based broker Pulse Trading, as a liquidity partner for BLX. Clients will be able to opt i

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Christian Chan, former head of electronic trading at agency broker Instinet’s Asia-Pacific operation, joined pan-Asian crossing network BlocSec as director of sales on 2 September. He is based in Hong Kong.“Christian’s responsibilities as the director of sales will be to boost liquidity and continue to build on our client relationships from both the buy-and sell-side. He has done

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While lit and dark multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) have successfully taken market share from Europe’s incumbent exchanges, equity trading order flow could reconsolidate in a handful of venues as quickly as it fragmented, according to the latest report from consultancy Aite Group.The report, ‘European trading venues vie for victory’, notes that Chi-X Europe gained a 12.1% t

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Pan-European multilateral trading facility Chi-X Europe will reduce fees for adding liquidity to its Chi-Delta non-displayed trading platform from tomorrow.Until the end of the year, passive orders – non fill-or-kill and immediate-or-cancel order types – sent to the platform will be charged at 0.15 basis points instead of 0.3 bps. The cost of aggressive orders will remain at 0.3 bps.Fe

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ConvergEx, a US agency brokerage and financial technology provider, has agreed to buy the US Transaction Services division of trading technology firm NYFIX, which includes the Millennium dark pool.In addition to Millennium, NYFIX’s Transaction Services division includes direct market access capabilities and algorithmic products. The deal depends on the conclusion of the sale of NYFIX to NYSE

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Bursa Malaysia has launched direct market access (DMA) capabilities for its equities markets, which will allow investors to trade equities directly on the exchange through member brokers’ systems.The exchange now has a complete DMA infrastructure for both its equities and derivatives markets, having launched derivatives DMA in April 2008.According to Bursa Malaysia, the introduction of DMA f

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Asian agency broker and technology provider Tora Trading has integrated its order and execution management system TORA Compass with Tradar Insight, a portfolio management solution from hedge fund software provider Tradar.The combination enables Tora’s clients to benefit from continuous, real-time posting of orders executed in TORA Compass to individual portfolios. It also gives traders the a

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Investment bank Nomura has launched its Nomura Cross (NX) crossing network and SmartDMA routing and execution algorithm in Japan.NX went live in Q3 with stocks tradable on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) and Jasdaq Securities Exchange. NX aggregates the liquidity of Nomura, its clients and its trading partners, and facilitates the crossing of institutional order flo

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Société Générale is hiring i-bankers in Asia again as it launches a new global capital markets platform from its Hong Kong hub. The French firm is providing debt and equity solutions to issuers wanting to access European capital markets. Yves Jacob, who was previously director of Soc Gen’s Paris-based corporate origination team, is leading the Asian business. He s

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Trading platform operator Chi-X Global’s plans to establish a joint-venture dark pool in Singapore with the country’s national exchange could be followed by further similar initiatives in the region next year, according to John Lowrey, Chi-X Global’s CEO.The firm has long held ambitions to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. It announced plans to form Chi-X Australia in February 2

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With equity markets in Asia having regained the momentum they lost so drastically this time last year, alternative liquidity sources could finally be poised to challenge incumbent exchanges, according to Glenn Lesko, CEO, Instinet Asia.Instinet has already made inroads in Japan, for example, with CBX, a block crossing venue that trades Japanese equities, and JapanCrossing, a point-in-time crossing

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While Asia-Pacific lacks an equivalent of Europe’s MiFID or the US’s Regulation ATS, there is still strong impetus for the development of alternative trading venues in the region, according to John Lowrey, CEO of trading platform operator Chi-X Global.A number of alternative trading venues have established a presence in Asia’s biggest markets, including buy-side focused crossing

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US equities trading system operator Direct Edge will introduce a new maker-taker fee structure on its EDGA platform from 1 November, mirroring the pricing model used by rival venue Nasdaq OMX BX.From 1 November, EDGA traders will be charged $0.0002 for posting liquidity and rebated $0.0002 for taking liquidity. There is currently no charge for either posting or taking liquidity on the platform.Acc

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Brian Mitchell, head of dealing and transaction cost analysis at Baring Asset Management, will join rival asset management firm Gartmore as head of dealing in mid-January 2010.Mitchell, who leaves Baring after an 11-year tenure as head of dealing, will be responsible for overseeing all Gartmore’s trading activities in London, Tokyo and Boston, including equities, derivatives, fixed income an

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NYSE Technologies, the commercial technology unit of NYSE Euronext (NYX) and a world leader in trading technology and low-latency market data solutions, is actively expanding its SuperFeed™ product suite to Asian markets. SuperFeed™ is NYSE Technologies’ fully managed and hosted data ticker plant, with microsecond latency and coverage of major markets in North America, Europe, an

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Marketcetera’s initiative to establish an open-source model for execution systems took a step forward this month as Lime Brokerage agreed to make the company’s Automated Trading Platform available to clients alongside its existing connectivity solutions.Marketcetera has been canvassing vigorously for open source, securing a distribution arrangement with NYSE Technologies earlier this y

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RBC Capital Markets continues its expansion in Asia with the hiring of Mike Bass as head of fixed income and currencies for Asia (non-Japan) and Mark Otis Zownir as head of US dollar rates trading, Asia. Both hires will become managing directors and will be based in the firm's Hong Kong office.RBC Capital Markets is the corporate and investment banking arm of Canada's largest bank, Royal Bank of C

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Patsystems announced November 3 that it has further extended its global reach by providing connectivity to the Taiwan Futures Exchange, TAIFEX.Customers of Patsystems will be able to utilise the new low-latency TAIFEX gateway for direct access to TAIFEX products such as the MSCI Taiwan Index & TAIEX Futures, Spreads and Options. These products will be available on Patsystems’ industry-le

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Hong Kong-based Income Partners Asset Management, an independent fund management company specializing in Asian investments, has implemented SunGard’s APT multi-asset risk modeling solution to help analyze and manage risk on the firm’s new equity fund, the IP Asian Equity Long-Short Fund. Income Partners uses APT’s Asia Pacific ex-Japan equity model to help gain an understanding o

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Sunguard announced August 6 that the Energy Division of Marubeni Corporation has become the first SunGard customer in Japan to go live with SunGard’s ASP connectivity services to support its trading and clearing operations on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM). Marubeni has also implemented SunGard’s GL Clearvision, a real-time middle-office matching and clearing system for derivativ

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Liquidnet recently reported its quarter ended September 30, 2009 where, among other achievements, notional executed in Asia-Pacific increased 52% to US$3 billion from the previous quarter. And compared to the same quarter last year boasted and 81% increase. Good results in a tough market.With the previous 12 or so months begin fraught with fear and spreads necessarily widening buy side clients wer

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The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. today reported that Dubai Financial Market (DFM) has successfully completed migration to its new trading platform from NASDAQ OMX. DFM’s system launch, which took place on October 29, received immediate positive acknowledgement from participating members and the investing public.The trading platform from NASDAQ OMX replaces DFM’s previous system, also from NA

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RTS Realtime Systems Group (RTS), a leading global trading solutions provider, today announced that equinet AG, a Frankfurt-based investment bank and one of Germany’s largest securities brokers, has selected RTS to provide high-speed, low latency access to German markets Xetra and Eurex. RTS provides proximity hosting services to equinet and deploys its algorithmic trading solution, RTD Tang

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Orc Software, the leading global provider of solutions for advanced trading and connectivity, today announced the addition of E2E Infotech as a business partner for deploying algorithmic trading solutions based on Orc Trading.Through this extended partnership, E2E Infotech, a subsidiary of AurionPro Solutions Ltd, and a longtime global integration partner of Orc Software, will extend its services

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Nomura has selected Colt to provide network infrastructure for its new European connectivity and collocation service. The Nomura initiative comes as the Japanese firm seeks to build on the strong European equities position of Lehman Brothers, whose European and Asian operations it took over a year ago.Nomura calls its new infrastructure a “next-generation ultra-low-latency trading service.&r

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Settrade, a subsidiary of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), has developed “Settrade Streaming,” a securities trading program for the iPhone, to fit the lifestyle of today’s investors. This service will enable securities firms to provide another service for customers and give them another trading channel that is easy and convenient, as well as color the world of high technolog

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Liquidnet recently reported its quarter ended September 30, 2009 where, among other achievements, notional executed in Asia-Pacific increased 52% to US$3 billion from the previous quarter. And compared to the same quarter last year boasted and 81% increase. Good results in a tough market.With the previous 12 or so months begin fraught with fear and spreads necessarily widening buy side clients wer

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While block trading will be exempt from new non-displayed trading rules proposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week, some US dark pools are concerned that the exemptions will not apply to small- and mid-cap blocks.Last Wednesday, the SEC proposed three changes aimed at increasing transparency in US dark pools: requiring ‘actionable’ indications of interest (IOIs) to

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Smarter aggregation tools will be crucial in expanding European buy-side traders’ access to sources of non-displayed liquidity as fragmentation continues to increase, according to the latest report from research firm TABB Group.‘Trading in the dark in Europe: choice and complexity on the cusp of change’, predicts that dark trading in Europe will account for 7% of the total daily

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A consortium of independent US broker-dealers, Mahogany Partners, has asked agency broker and technology provider ConvergEx to build a suite of electronic trading products to enhance its members’ block trading capabilities.ConvergEx will start the project by developing “advanced blotter polling tools” that will enable Mahogany’s members to access external block liquidity as

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Goldman Sachs Electronic Trading (GSET) has joined the network of broker connections underpinning Townsend Analtyics’ RealTick execution management system. As a result, Townsend Analytics clients will be able to access GSET platforms and algorithms via the RealTick EMS.Under the deal with Goldman, RealTick users will be able to access GSET’s equity algorithms. Clients will also be able

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J.P. Morgan Chase has unveiled the Aqua and Arid trading algorithms that enable users to trade on so-called dark books, electronic trading venues that do not publish quotes to the marketplace. The Aqua algorithm is for trading large orders in liquid markets. The Arid algorithm is for trading less liquid securities. Both provide access to dark books and to more open execution venues, such as exchan

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The Securities & Exchange Commission’s move last week to restrict the activities of dark pools in the US was greeted with a mix of bewilderment, outrage and then confusion.The bewilderment stemmed from a sense of wonder that the regulator would step in to dismantle a set of arrangements that have grown up as a result of market progress; based of course on the fact that dark pools –

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Algorithmics announced today that the First Commercial Bank (FCB), a tier one Taiwanese bank, has chosen Algorithmics’ integrated risk solutions to help with Basel II compliance and for counterparty credit risk management and credit limits monitoring.FCB will be implementing Algorithmics’ integrated and enterprise wide risk management solutions Algo Market Analytics, Algo Credit Exposu

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Principia Partners, a solution provider for the management and administration of structured finance portfolios, today announced the launch of Principia Structured Finance Platform (Principia SFP) Version 6.2. The latest upgrade helps financial institutions and investment managers to track, monitor, analyse and report on the collateral pool performance of any fixed income asset, including asset bac

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Principia Partners, a solution provider for the management and administration of structured finance portfolios, today announced the launch of Principia Structured Finance Platform (Principia SFP) Version 6.2. The latest upgrade helps financial institutions and investment managers to track, monitor, analyse and report on the collateral pool performance of any fixed income asset, including asset bac

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Ninety-six percent of buy- and sell-side companies believe regulators continue to struggle with the implications of high-frequency trading, according to a survey published today by data vendor Thomson Reuters.Furthermore, concerns among market participants over the negative impact of high-frequency trading are still rife, with 63% of respondents considering the practice to pose a threat to capital

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Portware, a supplier of multi-asset electronic trading systems, has said interest in its Strategy Server algorithmic engine has increased strongly as traditional buy-side firms look to take advantage of, and better understand, high-frequency trading.Strategy Server allows users to build their own high volume, high-frequency trading strategies. It combines trading-specific functionality with comple

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Global agency broker and financial technology provider ITG has added a new algorithm, Raider, to its suite of European trading tools.Initially launched in the US in April this year, Raider allows orders to remain completely hidden while grabbing liquidity from both lit and dark trading venues simultaneously. Its aim is to capture favourable liquidity opportunities rather than being tied to a speci

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While Asia-Pacific lacks an equivalent of Europe’s MiFID or the US’s Regulation ATS, there is still strong impetus for the development of alternative trading venues in the region, according to John Lowrey, CEO of trading platform operator Chi-X Global.A number of alternative trading venues have established a presence in Asia’s biggest markets, including buy-side focused crossing

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Apama, the algorithmic trading and complex event processing division of Progress Software, has launched version 4.2 of its event processing platform, which is designed to make it easier for non-technical users to develop faster and more powerful algorithms.The Apama platform is used by financial institutions to develop event-driven applications, including trading algorithms and market surveillance

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Despite calls for bulge-bracket brokers’ internal crossing networks in Europe to be reclassified as multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) under MiFID, regulators should not rush into any changes, according to David Lawton, head of markets infrastructure and policy at the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA).“There are some important differences to note between the business models o

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Portware, the leading provider of global, multi-asset electronic trading systems, today announced that demand has surged for Strategy Server, the company’s event-based algorithmic engine designed for ultra high-frequency trade execution. Growth has been particularly strong among quant funds and prop trading desks seeking to bolster their trading infrastructure with a powerful end-to-end trad

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OneMarketData, LLC, the leader in tick data management and analytics, today announced that Mismi, Inc., a next-generation crossing system that gives traders greater control over trading outcomes, has licensed OneTick Database, the one solution for tick data management, analytics and complex event processing (CEP), as its data management solution to support its algorithmic trading as well as pre-tr

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Investment Technology Group, a leading agency broker and financial technology firm, has extended the reach of POSIT to cover equities from Greece and Cyprus. This brings the number of countries directly covered by POSIT in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to 20. However, since last March 2009, connection to the London Stock Exchange’s International Order book (IOB) has given POSIT users

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Fidessa group plc, provider of award-winning trading solutions for the buy-side and sell-side, today announced that Capstone Global Markets, LLC (CGM), is the first broker dealer to go live on its fully hosted and integrated options and equities trading platform in the US.Fidessa’s US hosted platform provides a proven, cost-effective equity trading solution targeted at small and mid-tier fir

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Orc Software, the leading global provider of technology for advanced trading and connectivity, today announced that Erste Group Bank AG (Erste Group), a leading financial services provider based in Vienna, Austria, has selected an Orc Trading solution based on Orc Liquidator, to support the bank’s future electronic trading needs including its plans involving automated trading. This order mar

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Nomura announced today that Nomura Securities International, Inc. (NSI) a U.S. broker-dealer within Nomura has released a set of algorithmic trading strategies for external client use in U.S. equity markets as part of the global ModelExTM family of strategies.The new strategies will complement Nomura’s market-leading European and Asian algorithmic trading suites, which have an established tr

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Chi-X Europe Limited, operator of the largest pan-European equity multilateral trading facility (MTF), today announced the launch of Chi-Velocity. Available immediately, Chi-Velocity is a proximity-hosted risk management software layer located next to the Chi-X Europe primary matching engine that permits trading participants of Chi-X Europe to offer ultra-low latency Sponsored Direct Market Access

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Other banks might get ideas. When Credit Suisse announced its toxic asset program last December, it was expected to spark widespread resignations.Seven months on, headcount is almost unfeasibly static and Credit Suisse has earned its place in the pantheon of premier investment banks. It recorded a fivefold increase in investment banking earnings in the second quarter and increased market

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Goldman Sachs surprised even optimistic analysts with a $3.44 billion profit for the three months to June, almost 90% more than the previous quarter. Profits were also up at JPMorgan Chase, which announced second-quarter profits of $2.7 billion on July 16th, which were 36% higher than a year ago.A federal judge in Miami agreed to a request by the American and Swiss governments and U

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As the economic and financial crisis deepens, a number of financial markets firms are considering yet another round of job cuts. Here's our own lay-off league table (the current total exceeds 133,000).The figures below are based on our best estimates for job losses since August 2007.In many cases, the firms themselves won't confirm (for obvious reasons) the number of staff they are letting go.&nbs

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Wachovia - Global Markets & IB Technology TeamHere's the results of the Thomson Keene-sponsored 'Best Trading Technology Team' Poll 2008.28 teams from 15 firms fought it out this year, as we looked for the teams that develop state-of-the-art software solutions for their front office colleagues. We wanted to find out which team had built the best proprietary trading applicat

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During these difficult times (financially and politically), executives at firms like Goldman Sachs are understandably keen to downplay what bonuses may look like come this year-end.And it's true, we are only half-way through the year - and anything could happen to bonus pots between now and the end of the fourth-quarter. But The Wall Street Journal reports that, based on current analysts' earnings

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Here's a few interesting Thomson Reuters Global & and Equity league tables for the first-half of 2009.Global Debt, Equity & Equity-RelatedBookrunning1. JPMorgan - $371.4bn proceeds, 870 deals2. Barclays Capital - $281.4bn, 6063. Bank of America Merrill Lynch - $251.9bn, 6804. Citi - $246.7bn, 6645. Deutsche Bank - $196.6bn, 5336. Morgan Stanley - $194.0bn, 5047. Goldman Sachs - $191.7bn, 4

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 Latest Step in Ongoing Expansion of Fixed Income Sales and Trading Platform  NEW YORK, January 14, 2009 -- Jefferies & Company, Inc., the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF), today announced the hiring of Daniel B. Markaity and Christopher M. Bury as Managing Directors and co-heads of the Firm’s fixed income rates business, which includes i

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