Top Headlines

Draghi to the Rescue With Geopolitics Spiking as Fed Withdraws – Bloomberg As 2015 comes to a close, Mario Draghi is again trying to keep the European economy on track.

Exchange-Rate Swings Zoom In on Rates – Wall Street Journal (subscription) Further foreign-exchange fireworks possible if ECB and Fed policies diverge.

Lord Libor Says He Skewed E-Mail After Badgering From ICAP Pals – Bloomberg Colin Goodman, the former ICAP Plc broker accused of skewing a supposedly-independent prediction e-mail to suit Tom Hayes, told a London court that he was subject to “constant badgering and pressure” from his colleagues.

China Shares Fall Sharply as Regulators Investigate Brokers – Wall Street Journal (subscription) China shares fell 5.5% Friday, the biggest daily slide since August, as authorities intensify their crackdown on the securities industry.

Regulatory News

Wall Street Poised for Swaps Collateral Victory at CFTC – Bloomberg Wall Street banks may be close to winning one of their biggest lobbying fights this year by beating back U.S. requirements that would have led to billions of dollars of additional costs on derivatives trading.

Wall St. Faces Mounting Criticism From Regulators – New York Times Despite the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis, Wall Street still has a tendency to dismiss as frivolous some of the ethical issues it faces daily.

Regulation: The Benefits of Blockchain – Euromoney Banks are suddenly obsessed with potential of the distributed ledger in financial markets, but regulators must make sure it is used in ways that remove collusion and wrongdoing.

Company News

Deutsche Bank Democracy – Financial Times (subscription) Is Cryan’s pooh-poohing of bonuses a sign of things to come?

Pimco, Others Sue Citigroup Over Billions in Mortgage Debt Losses – Reuters Pacific Investment Management Co and other investors have sued Citigroup Inc over the bank’s alleged failure to properly monitor toxic securities backed by more than $13.8 billion of mortgage loans, resulting in $2.3 billion of losses.

Market Savvy  

Pound Falls for Second Day as Data Confirm UK Growth Slowdown – Bloomberg The pound fell for a second day after a report confirmed UK economic growth slowed in the third quarter.

What are the Chances of an Actual Currency Crisis in China? – FT Alphaville First things first, and to repeat ourselves, China’s recent devaluation was pathetic. We mean, really, what is this?

Franc Slides to Five-Year Low Versus Dollar Amid SNB Speculation – Bloomberg The Swiss franc dropped to the weakest level in five years against the dollar as speculation the European Central Bank is gearing up to boost stimulus led investors to consider whether the Swiss National Bank will respond by intervening to weaken its own currency.

Copper, Zinc Hit Eight-Day Highs, Rebound from Multiyear Lows – Wall Street Journal (subscription) Betting China will reduce oversupply with buying at current low prices.

Spat On and Taunted No More: It’s Okay to Be Irish Banker Again – Bloomberg Reviled during Ireland’s financial crisis, banking is back in vogue for the country’s young and ambitious.

Asset Managers and Best Execution – Thomson Reuters There was a time when best execution to some on the buy side merely meant calling three or four banks on the telephone, asking each for the same price and hitting the best bid or offer.

Peer-to-Peer FX Providers Hedge Disintermediation Threats – Euromoney Leading P2P providers are confident their FX products can rival leading banks, but tech bulls concede the shifting FX market-structure landscape will still see the top-tier financial institutions dominate.

Press Releases

Risks From Outside Euro Area Rise According to Latest ECB Financial Stability Review – ECB The euro area financial system has been resilient through occasional bouts of financial market volatility in the second half of the year, according to the ECB’s latest Financial Stability Review.

Industry Events

• 11th Annual FIA Asia Derivatives Conference, 8-10 December in Singapore