Top Headlines

UK Bank Trio Agree $924m Forex-Rigging Bill – Sky Three of Britain’s biggest banks were hit with a $924m (£600m) bill for foreign exchange-rigging on Thursday, adding to the spiralling cost of one of the industry’s biggest trading scandals.

Lloyds Bracing Itself for Fresh $1.6 Billion Redress Charge – Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc will probably take a further 1 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) charge for wrongly sold loan insurance in the year’s second half, undermining efforts to clean up the bank as the government prepares to sell shares to individuals.

China Likely Holds 10 pct of FX Reserves in Sterling – Morgan Stanley – Reuters China allocates an estimated 10 percent of its $3.5 trillion foreign exchange reserves to sterling, double the holdings of other emerging market central banks in the British currency, an analysis by Morgan Stanley shows.

BOJ to Cut Price Forecast for Next FY Only Slightly – Reuters The Bank of Japan will cut its growth and inflation outlook for this fiscal year at a rate review next week but only slightly tweak its projections for next year.

Oil at $50 Is Driving Norway to Zero as Recession Risk Soars – Bloomberg Western Europe’s biggest crude producer may need more than a weak currency to stay afloat.

FIX Trading Community Revises Guidelines on Execution Analysis in EMEA – Profit & Loss FIX Trading Community, the non-profit, industry-driven standards body, has announced revisions to its EMEA specific guidelines on execution venue analysis.

 

 

Regulatory News

Progress on Prudential Regulation and Three Areas to Complete – Bank of England Speech by Andrew Bailey, deputy governor for prudential regulation at the Bank of England and CEO of the UK Prudential Regulation Authority.

Regulators Focus on Opaque Treasury Trading – FT.com (subscription) The $13tn US Treasury market likes to keep things hidden. That is a problem for US regulators trying to analyse what is driving buying and selling flows behind the market’s $500bn in daily volume.

Bitcoin Regulatory Landscape Continues to Fragment – Profit & Loss On the same day that a top European court ruled that Bitcoins should be treated as a currency, legal experts warned that the regulatory landscape for Bitcoin and blockchain technologies in the US is becoming increasingly fragmented and complex.

Bitcoin Currency Exchange not Liable for VAT taxes: Top EU Court – Reuters Exchanging traditional currency for the digital currency bitcoin online should be exempt from consumption taxes just like other transactions of banknotes and coins, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday.

CFTC Prepares for New Automated Trading Rules – Profit & Loss The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is planning to introduce new rules aimed at curbing the potential risks associated with automated trading.

 

 

Company News

Ainsworth Swaps UBS for FastMatch – Profit & Loss Paul Ainsworth has joined FastMatch as head of sales in New York.

Hungarian Forint On-Track to Join CLS – Profit & Loss The Hungarian forint is expected to be added to the CLS settlement system by the end of the year, according to a spokesman for the company.

Barclays Chairman Urges Elimination of Bonus System – FT.Com (subscription) The bonus system for investment bankers encourages cutting corners, Barclays Chairman John McFarlane says, and eliminating “geared incentives” would remove temptation.

Credit Suisse to Exit All European Primary Dealer Roles – Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG no longer wants to act as a market maker for European government bonds, the bank said.

 

 

Market Savvy  

ECB’s Accidental Euro Devaluation – Reuters For a central bank not trying to drive down the euro, the European Central Bank is doing a pretty poor job.

Investors Bet on More ECB Easing – Wall Street Journal (subscription) Stocks soared Thursday as investors ramped up bets that the European Central Bank would expand its easy-money policies later this year after its top official hinted strongly that it was prepared to do more to boost inflation and growth.

 

 

Press Releases

SunGard Enhances Data Offering with Markit Pricing to Improve Customers’ Workflow – SunGard SunGard’s Pricing and Data Services now includes the full portfolio of Markit fixed income data, giving customers access to customized data sets, pricing and validation.

 

 

Industry Events