Top Headlines
Robots Conquered Stock Markets. Now They’re Coming for Bonds and Currencies – Bloomberg
A new breed is taking over to accelerate electronic-trading efforts. BofA, Morgan Stanley and UBS are among firms enlisting their help.
EU Watchdog Holds Fire on Derivatives Action Under No-Deal Brexit – Reuters
The European Union’s markets watchdog has ruled out the need for measures to avoid potential disruption in certain cross-border derivatives contracts if Britain leaves the bloc this month without a deal. The European Securities and Markets Authority’s stance piles pressure on trading platforms to shift business from London to EU hubs.
US Treasury Market Change Catalysed by Proprietary Trading Firms – The Desk
Direct streaming of pricing data is changing the historical client/dealer relationship for traditional sell-side firms and the buy side, but it is proprietary trading firms and not market operators who are changing buy-side access.
Neal Moves to RBC, While BNY Mellon Makes Management Changes – Profit & Loss
BNY Mellon has made changes to its Markets Group following the departure of Michelle Neal, CEO of that group, who has joined RBC. Based in New York, Neal will start her new position as head of RBC’s US FICC business in June and will report into Jonathan Hunter, global head of FICC at the bank.
Regulatory News
Brexit Threatens to Trip up Derivatives Reporting – Risk.net (subscription)
The story of derivatives reporting in Europe could be called ‘How to make life harder in three easy steps’. The first two steps – the overlapping requirements in the European Market Infrastructure Regulation and its younger sibling Mifir – will soon be crowned by Brexit, and neither firms nor their overseers will escape unharmed.
SEC Scrutinizes Fairness of Stock Exchange Pricing – Reuters
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether the multi-tiered pricing system used by stock exchanges favors large brokers at the expense of small ones, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Six Reforms For Greater Market Resilience – Law360 (subscription)
The US economy came out of the most recent government shutdown with a full IPO calendar and a heady jobs report. But don’t open the bubbly just yet.
Euro Swap Bid/Offers Edge to Decade Lows – Risk.net (subscription)
Mifid II and extreme competition raise profitability concerns for euro rates market-makers.
Crypto News
The Institutionalisation of Crypto: Patience Required – Profit & Loss
Institutional investors will start to trade in cryptocurrencies, but the price crash last year has put a hold on their plans. That said, as David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Exchange, which owns the institutional crypto platform LMAX Digital, observes, “All the names you’d expect are looking seriously at crypto.”
Is Quantum Computing a Threat to Crypto? – Markets Media
The chances that quantum computing advances would act like Setec Astronomy from the 1992 spy film Sneakers and unlock all cryptographic-based technologies like blockchains is slim at best, according to cryptographic and security experts.
Fidelity Crypto Chief Says Hard Fork May Delay Firm’s Support for Ethereum – CoinDesk
Fidelity Digital Assets will take its time about adding support for ethereum, the executive in charge of the new platform said.
Here’s What BitGo’s CEO Expects of Goldman Sachs’ and Fidelity’s Crypto Custody Plans – The Block
BitGo CEO Mike Belshe says he welcomes new players like Goldman Sachs, and has an idea of what they may have up their sleeves.
Company News
Barclays Launches New Algo – Profit & Loss
Barclays has added a new algorithm, BARX Peg, to its e-FX trading platform. Available within Gator, the algo is designed to allow clients to minimise both the amount of spread paid and market impact by accessing Barclays’ franchise liquidity pools so that trades can be filled entirely through internalisation.
Bond Platform Tradeweb Joins IPOs Rush – Financial Times
Tradeweb Markets, the US fixed-income and derivatives trading venue, is set to go public this year, providing a windfall for its investment bank backers and fuelling what is expected to be a bumper year of market debuts in the US.
XTX Appoints Two in Paris – Profit & Loss
XTX has appointed Serge Harry as chairman of the Board of XTX Markets SAS, the firm’s newly formed French entity. It has also unveiled the appointment of Geoffrey Damien as managing director, head of France.
Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank CEOs Resume Talks: Focus Magazine – Reuters
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank’s chief executives have resumed talks over a potential merger, Focus magazine reported on Friday.
Gresham, RegTek.Solutions partner on delivering new transaction reporting solution – The Trade
The transaction reporting solution for buy- and sell-side firms is aimed at fulfilling compliance requirements for EMIR, MIFIR, Dodd-Frank.
Market Savvy
Sterling Nurses Losses as Brexit Deal Prospects Elusive – Reuters
Sterling inched higher on Friday and held just above a near two-week low struck in the previous session as investors waited for a long weekend of headlines on the progress of Brexit negotiations between the European Union and British officials.
Swedish Crown Plunges, Dollar Gains as Central Banks Turn Cautious – Reuters
The crown fell to a 16-year low on Friday as the Swedish central bank joined its counterparts in Europe and Canada in adopting a cautious outlook. The euro nursed losses at a 20-month low.
Australian Dollar’s Roller-Coaster Day Leaves Traders Gasping for Breath – Bloomberg
How much is too much? For traders of the Australian dollar, the wild swings on Feb. 21 illustrates why trading the notoriously high-beta currency can at times be almost impossible.
Don’t Let Emerging Markets Be the ‘Something That Breaks’ – Financial Times
Ever since the Great Depression, with only two exceptions, every time the US Federal Reserve has gone through a monetary tightening cycle, something in the world economy has broken — the bankruptcy of a major bank, a localised banking crisis, or an outright, full-fledged financial crisis.