New for Traders: Week ending January 4

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

A wrap-up of new products and services from around the industry