Top Headlines
Investment Bank Research Teams Suffer Deepest Job Cuts – Financial News
Investment banks’ research divisions were the hardest hit by job cuts last year, as sweeping European trading regulations introduced in January 2018 started to impact analyst numbers.
- Top 12 Banks’ Revenues Level Off after Four-Year Decline – Global Investor (subscription)
- The Absolute Worst Places to Work in Banking Now. And the Absolute Best – eFinancialCareers
JP Morgan Investment Bank Boss Expects Steep Trading Falls – Financial News (subscription)
The chief executive of JP Morgan’s corporate and investment bank expects first-quarter revenues in its sprawling sales and trading business to be down by “high teen” percentages. Daniel Pinto’s comments, made at the US bank’s investor day on February 26, will dampen Wall Street hopes of a trading bounce-back after a tough end to 2018.
Multi-Dealer Liquidity on the Rise – Profit & Loss
Although the latest FX committee turnover data hold no terrors for other channels, a longer term trend does seem to be confirmed that more volume is heading towards the multi-dealer model, especially those on a disclosed basis.
Forex Traders Hope for March Relief from Volatility Doldrums – Reuters
Price swings in the world’s most-traded currencies have plummeted as a dovish shift by major central banks reversed a brief revival at the end of 2018, and traders are hoping events such as Brexit will shake up moribund markets next month.
Regulatory News
EU Agrees Tough Post-Brexit Financial Services Rules – Financial Times
The EU has agreed tough rules for investment firms wanting to operate in the bloc after Brexit, making clear that London’s financial services industry will have to stick closely to EU standards on everything from capital requirements to bonuses in exchange for market access.
Finance Industry Wins a Two-Year Break on EU’s Benchmarks Law – Bloomberg
The deal reached by EU diplomats and members of the European Parliament will allow Eonia and Euribor to be used by firms based in the bloc until the end of 2021, according to a statement from the European Commission.
UK Quant Academics Fear Brexit Brain Drain – Risk.net (subscription)
Brexit is hitting graduate jobs, funding and “driving European academics away from the UK”, say universities.
FRTB 2.0: Lower Capital But High Running Costs – Risk.net (subscription)
Revisions to market risk rules fail to ease the complexities of an internal models approach.
Crypto News
Catalenello Tapped to Head B2C2 Americas – Profit & Loss
Rob Catalanello has joined B2C2 as CEO of the OTC cryptocurrency liquidity provider’s Americas business. Catalanello spent nearly a decade at Credit Agricole, where he was managing director, head of fixed income markets sales, Americas.
Crypto Fans Need to Monitor Four Key Developments – Bloomberg
The real action in digital currencies in coming months isn’t likely to be in prices or user adoption, but in the plumbing.
Julius Baer Partners with Swiss Crypto Firm for Digital Asset Solutions – Investment Europe
Julius Baer has entered into partnership with Switzerland-based Seba Crypto to provide its clients with access to a range of new digital asset services.
London Stock Exchange Leads $20 Million Fundraise for Blockchain Startup Nivaura – CoinDesk
Capital markets blockchain startup Nivaura has raised a total of $20 million with the closing of its second seed extension round led by the London Stock Exchange Group.
CEO Chat: Edward Woodford, SeedCX – Traders Magazine
Edward Woodford, co-founder and CEO at Seed CX, a new all-institutional digital asset exchange, discusses how the exchange has just launched spot trading capabilities in the wake of the recent institutional adoption of digital assets.
Company News
CME Tweaks FX Options – Profit & Loss
CME Group is set to change the strike price listing for certain FX options contracts in a bid to offer more granularity on these products.
Goldman Traders Had Most Losing Days in Seven Years Last Quarter – Bloomberg
The end of 2018 proved to be a rough one for Wall Street. Goldman Sachs just showed how bad it got.
Standard Chartered to Slash Costs by $700m – The Times (subscription)
Standard Chartered has pledged to improve its balance sheet dramatically in the next three years by slashing costs by $700 million and focusing on underperforming countries.
QuantHouse Makes FastMatch Tape Available via API – Profit & Loss
QuantHouse says the FastMatch consolidated central market data product, the FX Tape, is now available on its API Ecosystem store.
Market Savvy
Sterling Builds on Gains as Fears of No-Deal Brexit Fade – Reuters
Sterling extended this week’s gains on Wednesday as investors bet that a no-deal Brexit was less likely and that Britain’s departure from the European Union would be delayed.
Yen, Swiss Franc Rise after Pakistan Shoots Down Indian Jets – Reuters
The yen and the Swiss franc strengthened on Wednesday after Pakistan shot down two Indian jets, sending investors out of riskier markets and into safer assets.
Most Asian Currencies Tread Water after Powell Comments – Reuters
Most Asian currencies traded sideways on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated the US central bank’s shift to a more “patient” monetary policy as the world’s biggest economy slows.