Top Headlines
EU Markets Watchdog Approves Brexit Agreement with Britain – Reuters
The European Union’s markets watchdog said it has approved an agreement on supervisory cooperation with Britain after Brexit to avoid disruption to cross-border financial services like asset management.
New Report Makes Tough Reading for CTAs – Profit & Loss
The report, Managed Futures/Global Macro 2018 Strategy Review, notes that last year was generally a disappointing one for managed futures and global macro across most strategy groups.
How Artificial Intelligence Can Make FX Brokers Cleverer – Euromoney
The ability of AI to help retail FX brokers is quickly moving from the theoretical to the practical; the result should be better operational efficiency and better trader services.
Where Some of the World’s Top Hedge Funds Will Invest in 2019 – Bloomberg
One of the macro trades that investors, hedge fund managers and family offices say should make money in 2019: short the dollar vs. emerging market currencies.
Regulatory News
EU Accuses Eight Banks of Collusion in Sovereign Bond Market – Financial Times
Brussels has accused eight unnamed banks of colluding to game the €7tn market for eurozone government bonds, marking another escalation in the EU’s drive to punish financial institutions for rigging financial markets.
City Body Urges ‘Fair’ Rules on Misbehaving Bankers – Financial News (subscription)
Senior bankers should be able to change jobs without “frivolous” allegations of misconduct dogging their careers, according to an industry group aiming to make a new official reference system “fair”.
High-profile whistleblowers from around the world share their experiences of speaking out against corporate wrongdoing – and of losing their jobs, being made homeless or going to jail.
FIA, Isda Say Venue Equivalence Alone is Not Enough – Global Investor (subscription)
Trade bodies said post-Brexit trade venue equivalence alone would not guarantee access to liquidity.
EU Benchmark Regulation – Not Just a European Problem – Regulation Asia
There are tens of millions of benchmarks that are, or could be, used in the EU. Many of these rates are administered by stock exchanges, banks, asset managers and data providers based outside the and, at the time of writing, none are approved to be used from 2020 in the EU. Why is this a problem? Right now it’s not. But from next year the direct and indirect impact will be extensive both in the EU and beyond.
Crypto News
Bitcoin’s Winter Grows Colder With Record Run of Monthly Losses – Bloomberg
As record low temperatures grip a large portion of North America, the winter that has descended on Bitcoin shows few signs of thawing.
Some Crypto Investors Find a Way of Playing it Safe – Bloomberg
After the volatile cryptocurrency price swings of the last few years, some investors are becoming content with essentially earning interest on their holdings. They’re embracing a practice known as staking, where their tokens are placed in so-called digital wallets and used to help validate transactions that create new blocks in blockchain networks.
B2C2 Gets Green Light for Crypto CFDs – Profit & Loss
B2C2, an OTC cryptocurrency liquidity provider, has been authorised by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to arrange and deal in contracts for difference with eligible counterparties and professional clients.
Fidelity Says Its Crypto Trading and Storage Platform Is in ‘Final Testing’ – CoinDesk
Financial services provider Fidelity, which has some $7.2 trillion in client assets under management, said that its anticipated crypto trading and custody platform is in its “final testing” phase.
Company News
Futures Industry Association’s Head of Europe Steps Down – The Trade
The head of Europe at the Futures Industry Association (FIA) has decided to leave the trade body to pursue an opportunity outside of financial services.
Barclays Adds Further to FX Business – Profit & Loss
Colin Devereux has joined Barclays in London as a director and senior spot FX trader.Devereux joins from a spell at Nomura in New York, prior to which he was at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as chief dealer G10 spot FX.
RMB Securities Added to Bloomberg Indices – Profit & Loss
Chinese RMB-denominated government and policy bank securities are set to be added to the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index.
Stock exchanges intend to fire the contractor they hired to build a data warehouse, known as the Consolidated Audit Trail, for all US stock market activity – the latest sign of trouble for a project designed to detect trading fraud and causes behind wild swings in prices.
Top Dealers Continue to Dominate Swaps Business – Greenwich Associates
Systemic risk has been reduced, but so has competition.
Nomura to Review Investment Bank after Big Lehman Writedown – Financial News (subscription)
Japanese bank takes $746m hit linked to Instinet and Lehman Brothers businesses.
Market Savvy
Sterling Extends Losses after Weak PMI Data – Reuters
Sterling extended losses on Friday, falling under a key technical level against the dollar as weak survey data highlighted the degree of uncertainty sweeping across British factories as it heads towards Brexit.
Australian Dollar, Yuan Slump on Bleak China Data – Reuters
The offshore yuan was headed for its worst daily decline in over five months on Friday after weak economic data out of China damaged risk sentiment and weighed on the Australian dollar.
In Venezuela, the Black Market Price of Dollars Is Lower Than the Official Rate – Bloomberg
Even in the upside-down, topsy turvy world that is Venezuela, where dueling presidents reign and cash has become so worthless it doubles as confetti, this one is pretty weird: The going black market price to buy dollars is lower than in the officially sanctioned government market.