New for Traders: Week ending January 4

Financials

• Peregrine Financial Group Trustee Ira Bodenstein asked a court for more time to shut down the bankrupt brokerage. In a court filing, Bodenstein said that he needs until March 15 to consolidate the firm’s business operations, sell off its assets and review customer claims.
• The Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange merged their operations to form the Japan Exchange Group, a new holding company.

• MF Global Inc. (MFGI) reached an agreement with MF Global UK Ltd. to resolve all claims between the two entities. The deal will return between $500 million and $600 million to MFGI. The broad agreement also resolved claims between MFGI and MF Global Holdings as well as between Holdings and the UK affiliate.

• The Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) revised margin requirements for futures contracts based on its normal procedures and standard margining technology. The changes will take effect on Jan. 2.

• IntercontinentalExchange  (ICE) announced a definitive agreement to acquire NYSE Euronext in a transaction valued at $33.12 per NYSE Euronext share (roughly $8.2 billion). The exchanges also entered into a deal under which ICE Clear Europe will clear NYSE Liffe’s derivatives markets.

Technology

• Bursa Malaysia implemented the Millennium SurveillanceTM System on Dec. 31. The system was developed by MillenniumIT, part of the London Stock Exchange group, and is designed to provide a cross-market surveillance platform for the equity and derivatives markets.

• NASDAQ launched SMARTS Broker market surveillance for commodities trading on the London Metal Exchange, including the go-live of two global broker-dealer customers, one of which is brokerage Newedge.
• SuperDerivatives, a provider of derivatives data and analytics, introduced DGX, its real-time cash and derivatives market data platform. DGX is designed to deliver cash and derivatives market data—including coverage of 800,000 bonds; 50,000 stocks, indexes and ETFS; and 4,000 CDS curves—to the user’s desktop, iPad and/or mobile device.

Regulation

• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. (DTCC) announced that, as of Jan. 3, all registered swap dealers active in credit and interest rate trading are sending information to its swap data repository.
• Nearly half of sell-side firms are unprepared for over-the-counter regulation deadlines, according to a new survey from consulting firm Rule Financial. According to the survey, 30% of sell-side respondents said they are not equipped to handle regulatory changes affecting inventory management, pricing and valuation of assets.

• The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission authorized the Osaka Stock Exchange to provide automated trading services through its securities and derivatives trading platforms.
• The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) approved LSE’s planned acquisition of LCH.Clearnet, saying that following a thorough investigation, it “concluded that the deal did not raise competition concerns.”

Commodities

• CME Clearing Europe introduced two near over-the-counter (OTC) iron ore contracts for clearing: Iron Ore 62% CFR China Average Price Options and Iron Ore 62% CFR China Calendar Swaps.
• The European Energy Exchange plans to launch three new futures contracts for trading of hydroelectric power from the Scandinavian and Alpine regions, along with wind power from northern Europe.

• The Tokyo Commodity Exchange Inc. (TOCOM) and Nikkei Inc. launched new indexes based on their co-branded indexes. The Nikkei-TOCOM Leverage Index, which is available on a daily basis on TOCOM’s website, is designed to realize a high-risk/high-return investment strategy based on the expectation of a bullish market.

• On Dec. 10, ICE Futures Europe reopened the daily futures market for the carbon credit Phase II EU Allowances and Certified Emission Reductions, and launch a new daily futures contract for Phase III EU Allowances.

Managed Funds

• The Hedge Fund Association announced that it has created a High Net Worth Advisory Board that will develop global educational programs and  networking events for high net worth investors.

Options

• The Miami Options Exchange (MIAX) launched on Dec. 7 after receiving regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is the 11th U.S. equity derivatives market.
• The International Securities Exchange (ISE) will launch trading in Mini Options on March 18, 2013. ISE is the first exchange to confirm a launch date for the options, which will represent a deliverable of 10 shares of an underlying security. Mini Options will initially be listed on APPL, AMZN, GLD, GOOG and SPY.

Forex

• Thomson Reuters enhanced its FX matching platform designed to boost capacity, scalability and performance. New features include a graphical user interface and click to trade capability.
• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) will launch two new cash-settled forex futures contacts for the Indian rupee (INR)/U.S. dollar and Brazil real/U.S. dollar beginning Jan. 28, 2013. ICE is the first U.S. exchange to launch an INR futures contract.