FiNETIK – Asia and Latin America – Market News Network

Asia and Latin America News Network focusing on Financial Markets, Energy, Environment, Commodity and Risk, Trading and Data Management

October 31, 2011 • 11:26 pm 1

NYSE Technologies Open Sources MAMA API to create vendor neutral OpenMAMA platform

Broadens Access and Increases Flexibility for All Users and Vendors  through New Standard for Global Capital Markets, Hosted at Linux Foundation

NYSE Technologies, the commercial technology unit of NYSE Euronext (NYX), today announced that it has open sourced its Middleware Agnostic Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAMASM), now called OpenMAMA. As a vendor neutral platform driven by the financial services technology community, OpenMAMA enables companies to protect their technology investments and help remove the friction in implementing new trading technology solutions across their technology operations utilizing a simple, consistent API.

Hosted by The Linux Foundation, OpenMAMA is supported by a steering committee of some of the most recognized names in financial services, including J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, EMC, Exegy and Fixnetix, among others. This newly open-sourced code establishes a new industry standard delivering greater flexibility and reduced development times with an underlying goal of lowering costs and building broader support for a range of interconnected programs. OpenMAMA offers a robust set of features with unmatched reliability and performance that ensure a uniform, future-proof middleware messaging solution for financial services firms. It is available through the Linux Foundation project today and the steering committee will announce new members and participants to the OpenMAMA initiative in the coming months.

“NYSE Technologies’ vision has always been to create a new breed of capital markets community that benefits from our extensive global network and utilizes the best, most innovative technologies from a range of service providers, not just ourselves,” said Stanley Young, CEO, NYSE Technologies. “Launching OpenMAMA through the Linux Foundation is another step toward achieving that goal. Through the industry steering committee, we are positioning ourselves alongside our peers and customers to become expert consultants for open sourced capital markets technology. We have created a vibrant customer community of over 150 market participants using MAMATM, and now with OpenMAMA, customers and firms everywhere will benefit from third-party contributors creating an even richer and more compelling API.”

Additionally, NYSE Technologies has worked with a diverse range of vendors and financial institutions at the forefront of technological innovation to create a steering group comprised of industry leaders building and utilizing financial technology applications. Collectively, the committee will determine OpenMAMA’s development roadmap, funding, strategy and product direction. As the OpenMAMA community grows, the steering committee composition could change to incorporate new members that join through the Linux Foundation.

Scott Parsons, CTO, Exegy added, “OpenMAMA is a very exciting chance for the industry to collaborate and architect the functionality and direction of a key piece of infrastructure. Using the MAMA API, we can now design a platform that strikes a unique balance of performance, interoperability and future proofing that has never been done before.”

“Fixnetix is pleased to join leading members of the global banking, hedge fund and proprietary trading community for the Linux Foundation steering committee on OpenMAMA,” says Anthony Kingsnorth, Director of Operations, Fixnetix. “We believe industry collaboration will only yield the best results and outcome for our universal trading, market data and risk control customer base.”

NYSE Technologies decision to open the MAMA platform creates an easily accessible architecture and proves its commitment to true strategic partnership with its customers. The benefits of the OpenMAMA platform are further strengthened by NYSE Technologies’ innovative plan to publish an industry-wide standardized data model. Furthermore, the OpenMAMA project will release the Middleware Agnostic Market Data API (MAMDA Aerly next year. MAMDA will provide users with the ability to publish and consume market data from multiple sources and vendors in a standardized format onto the open platform to help market participants better leverage technology assets and innovate more rapidly.

As market activity evolves and customer needs change, OpenMAMA will continue to be an open, flexible and efficient means of developing and deploying new, event-driven applications. The first release of OpenMAMA is available now with substantial updates expected through March 2012.

Source: Bobsguide, 31.10.2011

Filed under: Data Management, Data Vendor, Market Data, News, Standards, , , , , , ,

October 26, 2011 • 11:40 pm 0

Special Report: Evaluated Pricing Oct 2011 – A-TEAM

Valuations and pricing teams are facing a much higher degree of scrutiny from both the regulatory community and the investor community in the glare of the post-crisis data transparency spotlight. Fair value price transparency requirements and the gradual move towards a more harmonised accounting standards environment is set within the context of the whole debate about data quality across the financial services business, in light of incoming regulations such as Basel III and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). Whether it is related to risk management, pricing, trading or reporting, firms need to be able to stand behind their numbers.

The goal of the AIFMD is to create a level playing field and set basic standards for the operation of alternative investment funds in Europe via new reporting and governance requirements. On the pricing and valuations side of things, firms must establish what the directive calls “appropriate and consistent” procedures to allow for the independent valuation of a fund’s assets. In order to achieve this, the valuation must either be performed by an independent third party or by the asset manager, as long as there is functional separation between the pricing and portfolio management functions.

Download free report here

Source: A-Team, 12.10.2011

Filed under: Data Management, Data Vendor, Market Data, Reference Data, Standards, , , , , , , , , , ,

October 22, 2011 • 4:32 am 0

Chile: Bolsa Electronica de Chile chooses NASDAQ OMX for New Trading System and Strategic Alliance

The NASDAQ OMX Group and Bolsa Electronica de Chile (BEC) today signed a strategic alliance which will provide BEC with the NASDAQ OMX market technology, exchange trading, and advisory services for product development and global visibility.

BEC and its members will benefit from significant enhancements in performance, latency and throughput capacity by shifting to NASDAQ OMX’s proven exchange technology. BEC members will remain connected via the FIX trading protocol for a seamless system shift. NASDAQ OMX market technology is used by over 70 exchanges in 50 countries.

Through the strategic alliance, NASDAQ OMX will advise BEC on their efforts to cross-list shares, develop new indices, improve existing indices and begin a case study to create peso-dollar futures for trading on NASDAQ OMX exchanges. Also, NASDAQ OMX will provide global visibility resources for promotion and marketing.

Fernando Canas, President of BEC, said: “NASDAQ OMX market technology will open the doors to achieve real interconnection for investors who wish to enter the Chilean marketplace and the advisory services will help us create new instruments for investors around the world.

“Our alliance with NASDAQ OMX will support areas of BEC strategic development like technology implementation and partnerships for new products.”

Lars Ottersgard, Senior Vice President NASDAQ OMX Market Technology, commented: “We are extremely proud of our alliance with Bolsa Electronica de Chile, who shares our vision of innovation through electronic markets.

“Together, BEC and NASDAQ OMX will build a community of participants, issuers and investors in Latin America who seek an efficient marketplace and innovative products.”

Source: A-TEAM 21.10.2011

Filed under: Chile, Exchanges, Trading Technology, , , , , ,

October 19, 2011 • 9:16 am 0

Brazil: BM&FBOVESPA – News October 2011 – Nr.21

BRIC exchanges announce alliance

The exchanges of the BRIC emerging markets bloc announced a joint initiative on October 12, during the 51st AGM of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) in Johannesburg, to offer investors access to their dynamic economies. Initially the exchanges – which accounted for over 18% of all exchange-listed derivative contracts traded by volume worldwide as of June this year – will cross-list benchmark equity index derivatives on the boards of other alliance members. Following this, the alliance will develop innovative products to track the BRIC exchanges.

The seven exchanges are:

  • BM&FBOVESPA – Brazil
  • MICEX – Russia
  • RTS – Russia
  • Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) – China
  • Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) – South Africa
  • The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) – India
  • BSE Ltd (formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange) – India

These seven exchanges represent a combined listed market capitalization of USD9.02 trillion, equitymarket trading value/month of USD422 billion and 9,481 companies listed.

BM&FBOVESPA new trading hours

In view of the start of daylight saving time on October 16, 2011, since October 17, 2011, the new trading hours (Brasília Time) for the BM&FBOVESPA markets – BOVESPA and BM&F segments – will be as follows:

Regular session: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

- After-Market: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. (pre-opening phase to trading phase);

- Blocking / Exercise on the stock options market
Days prior to expiration: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (exercise of holder position).
Expiration date: 11:00a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – trading of the expired series to the offset of the position, that is, the sale for the holder of the position and purchase for blocking for the writer of the position / 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.: exercise of the holder position;

- Blocking / Exercise on the Index Options Market:
Days prior to expiration: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (exercise of holder position).
Expiration date: 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – trading of the expired series to the offset of the position, that is sale for the holder of the position and purchase for blocking for the writer of the position / After 6:00 p.m. – automatic exercise of the expired series which fit the following situations: call option (settlement index higher than the exercise price; and put option (settlement index lower than the exercise price).

- Over-the-Counter Market: 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

> Complete information of the new trading hours (Circular Letters 009-2011-DO-Ofício Circular)

The trading hours for the BOVESPA and BM&F segments are available at this link

Market Makers for Options on the Stock of Banco Bradesco, Gerdau and Banco do Brasil

BM&FBOVESPA announced on August 3rd the start of the bidding process to select up to three market makers for options on stock of Banco Bradesco S.A. (BBDC4), Gerdau S.A. (GGBR4) and Banco do Brasil S.A. (BBAS3). This is the third stage of the Competitive Bidding Process to select market makers in equity options and BOVESPA Index (Ibovespa) options, developed by BM&FBOVESPA. The institutions (including nonresident) that wish to participate have until November 29, 2011 to deliver proposals and the winners will be announced on December 14, 2011.

> More info

Market Makers for Options on Ibovespa and on Stocks of BM&FBOVESPA and Usiminas

BM&FBOVESPA announced on October 11 the winning institutions in the second selection process for market makers for options on stocks and on the BOVESPA Index (Ibovespa). The market maker obligation shall last twelve (12) months as of December 12, 2011. Banco Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Banco Itaú BBA S.A. and Timber Hill LLC shall be market makers for options on the BOVESPA Index (IBOV), complying with a maximum volatility spread of half a percentage point (0.5%). The institutions selected for options on stocks in BM&FBOVESPA S.A. (BVMF3) were Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Morgan Stanley Uruguay Ltda, which shall be market makers complying with a maximum volatility spread of four percent (4%). Meanwhile, the institutions selected for options on stocks in Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (USIM5) were Banco BTG Pactual S.A. and Morgan Stanley Uruguay Ltda, which shall be market makers complying with a maximum volatility spread of twenty percent (20%).

> More info

Options on OGX Petróleo and Itaú Unibanco rise with Market Maker activity

The trading volume for options on the stocks of OGX Petróleo and Itaú Unibanco rose significantly in September, strongly influenced by the fact that they have had Market Makers since September 9. The Exchange launched the Market Maker program for stocks this year in order to encourage trading in options and increase their liquidity, as well as to stimulate longer expiries on these contracts. Options on the stocks of OGX Petróleo and Itaú Unibanco now have three Market Makers.

Comparing the average daily volume in September to that of January to August, there were the following increases: OGX Petróleo ON 51.9% (BRL 13.7 million against BRL 20.8 million) and Itaú Unibanco PN 205.6% (BRL 1.7 million against BRL 5.1 million).

ETF financial volume more than doubles in the past two months

BM&FBOVESPA Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) reached BRL 1.4 billion financial volume in August and September, at 78,809 and 75,740 trades respectively. This is more than double the BRL 668 million financial volume and 31,997 trades in July.

Common Shares in Desenvix Energias Renováveis start trading on BOVESPA MAIS

The shares of electricity company Desenvix Energias Renováveis S.A. begin to be traded on October 3 on the BOVESPA MAIS segment of the BM&FBOVESPA Organized OTC Market, under the DVIX3M ticker symbol.

USD11 billion in public offerings and follow-ons in 2011

In the year to October, 15, BM&FBOVESPA registered USD11 billion in public offerings and follow-ons. There were eleven Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in 2011: AREZZO&CO (ARZZ3), SIERRA BRASIL (SSBR3), AUTOMETAL (AUTM3), QGEP PART (QGEP3), IMC HOLDING (IMCH3), TIME FOR FUN (SHOW3), MAGAZINE LUIZA (MGLU3), BR PHARMA (BPHA3), QUALICORP (QUAL3), TECHNOS (TECN3) and ABRIL EDUCAÇÃO (ABRE11).

BM&FBOVESPA on Twitter

BM&FBOVESPA launched its Twitter account in English last week. Please access this link

2011 EVENTS

 The World Cup of ETFs and Indexing Latin America

BM&FBOVESPA is lending its support to the World Research Group’s “World Cup of ETFs and Indexing Latin America.” The event aims at providing attendees with the best practices for ETF use, as well as a comprehensive analysis of market structure, regulations and current and future opportunities. The expected audience includes pension funds, hedge fund managers and investors, investment advisors, financial consultants, and other market participants. A BM&FBOVESPA representative will talk about the Exchange’s ETF products.

Location: São Paulo (TBC)
Date: October 17-18, 2011.
> Full Agenda and Registration

2nd FX Growth Markets Series: Brazil – Profit & Loss

BM&FBOVESPA will join the Profit & Loss FX Growth Markets conference on October 20, 2011 at the Tivoli Hotel in São Paulo. Profit & Loss has been operating its highly successful series of Forex Network and FX Growth Markets conferences for more than 10 years, with regular annual events held in London, New York, Chicago, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Shanghai and Toronto, and comes to Brazil for the second time. A BM&FBOVESPA representative will talk at the event.

Location: Tivoli Hotel São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Date: October 20, 2011.
> Full Agenda

2nd Brazil–China Capital Markets Forum

BM&FBOVESPA and the Shanghai Stock Exchange are coordinating the Second Brazil–China Capital Markets Forum. This event follows the First Brazil–China Capital Markets Forum, which occurred in February in São Paulo, Brazil. At the event, the Shanghai Stock Exchange shall bring 300 to 500 Chinese asset and insurance managers and representatives of listed companies.

Location: Xijiao State Guest House Shanghai, China
Date: October 27, 2011.

Volumes and trades by Direct Market Access (DMA)

BM&F Segment
In September, BM&F* market segment transactions carried out through order routing via Direct Market Access (DMA) registered 35,144,357 contracts traded and 4,311,865 trades. In August, the volume reached 41,417,494 contracts traded and 4,431,750 trades.

The volumes registered by each access modality in the BM&F segment were as follows:

  • Traditional DMA – 12,583,334 contracts traded, in 1,366,264 trades, in comparison to 17,540,231 contracts and 1,306,241 trades in August;
  • Via DMA provider (including orders routed via the Globex System) – 13,976,949 contracts traded, in 374,992 trades, compared to 14,088,756 contracts and 435,281 trades in August;
  • DMA via direct connection – 2,636 contracts traded in 447 trades, against 4,210 contracts and 830 trades in August;
  • DMA via co-location – 8,581,438 contracts traded, in 2,570,162 trades, compared to 9,784,297 contracts and 2,689,398 trades in August.

In September, transactions carried out by foreign investors presented by CME to BVMF (who use the Globex-GTS order routing system or access BVMF markets via co-location) totaled 4,685,186 contracts traded, in 1,164,510 trades, compared to 5,308,308 contracts and 1,235,349 trades in August.

BOVESPA Segment
In September, order routing via DMA in the BOVESPA* segment totaled BRL 111.41 billion and 14,298,483 trades, from BRL 138.52 billion and 17,021,408 trades the previous month.

Trading volumes per type of DMA in the BOVESPA segment:

  • Traditional DMA – Volume of BRL 95.77 billion and 11,763,618 trades from BRL 120.45 billion and 14,098,638 in August;
  • DMA via co-location – Volume of BRL 14.29 billion and 2,357,270 trades from BRL 16.69 billion and 2,755,498 in August;
  • DMA via provider – Volume of BRL 1.34 billion and 177,044 trades from BRL 1.37 billion and 167,272 in August.

* Direct access to the BM&FBOVESPA market segments is carried out through DMA models 1, 2, 3 and 4. In model 1 or traditional DMA, the client accesses the GTS or Mega Bolsa through technological intermediation of a brokerage house. In model 2 or via DMA provider, the client does not use the technological intermediation of a brokerage house, but rather connects to the system through an authorized access provider. DMA via order routing with CME Globex is also a form of DMA model 2. In model 3, the client connects to the system through a direct connection. In model 4 or via co-location, the client installs its own computer within the Exchange’s facilities.

Notes:

The volumes registered by access modality include both buy and sell sides of a trade.

The volumes by access modality for both the BM&F and the BOVESPA market segments have been reported in a consolidated manner in the BM&FBOVESPA statements since May 2009.

MARKET RESULTS

BM&F Segment September 2011

Derivatives markets in the BM&F segment (including financial and commodities derivatives) totaled 59,365,524 contracts and BRL 4.35 trillion in volume in September, compared to 78,606,873 contracts and BRL 5.23 trillion in August. The daily average of contracts traded in the derivatives markets in September was 2,826,930, in contrast to 3,417,690 in August. Open interest contracts ended the last trading day of September with 36,620,797 positions, compared to 37,821,302 in August.

BOVESPA Segment September 2011

In September 2011, the equity markets (BOVESPA segment) financial volume totaled BRL 131.437 billion, in 13,551,487 trades, with daily averages of BRL 6.25 billion and 645,309 trades. In August, financial volume totaled BRL 177.906 billion, the total number of trades 16,234,673, and the daily averages BRL 7.73 billion and 705,855 trades respectively.

Source: BM&FBOVESPA, 18.10.2011

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, China, Events, Exchanges, Hong Kong, India, Risk Management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 19, 2011 • 2:01 am 0

Brazil: High Frequency Trading in Brazil: Mirage or Miracle?

Christian Zimmer, Head of Quantitative Trading and Research, and Hellinton Hatsuo Takada, Quantitative Trader, of Itaú Asset Management reveal the truth about high frequency trading in Brazil.

Conference panels, discussions and articles on High Frequency Trading (HFT) generally start with its definition. The term HFT is like ‘Cleopatra’ – sexy and mysterious and everyone is keen to know more about it. But the term HFT speaks for itself, so is it wasting time to go over it again?

Probably, because the term ‘high’ only has meaning relative to an external point of reference, just like cold, hot, sweet or other adjectives. This subjectivity is all the more interesting, as it is extremely difficult to measure an investor’s  brief holding period in most financial markets and, therefore, determine if it really is ‘high’. Unlike in the US, where the exchanges do not register the origin of the trade, Brazilian regulation allows BM&FBOVESPA to identify the final client on every trade. Consequently, it is much easier to measure the holding period of an investor for each asset. Also, this rule is the means by which the exchange determines whether an investor’s trade is classified as a ‘day trade’ and is thus eligible for reduced fees.

Naturally, BM&FBOVESPA does not classify a trader opening a position in the morning and closing it at the end of the day as a high frequency trader. There should be far more trading than this to qualify as HFT.  But how much more? It depends on the exchange’s criteria and reference point for ‘high’.

Figures for HFT published by BM&FBOVESPA in their April 2011report show 3.9% of the BM&F segment is high frequency and 5.9% of the BOVESPA segment. Consequently, the reduced fees are presented to the Brazilian trading community as less of an issue, as they say there is evidence of HFT taking hold. But HFT volume is not really increasing and is still far off the US figures which are often cited at around 60-70%. After carefully observing BM&FBOVESPA market prices, it is easy to conclude that it would take some time (possibly hours) to have a change in the prices sufficiently large enough to pay the transaction costs.Remember that HFT strategies are very sensitive to transaction costs.

Our suggestion is to step away from making subjective references to ‘high frequency’. Instead, one should look at the underlying trading strategies. The incentives an exchange should create to attract flow must be adjusted to the strategies that are really needed. Each strategy deserves a different set of policies and this will help the diversification of the traders’ strategies.

A trader using a market maker strategy can live with exchange fees as long as the bid-ask spread is sufficiently high. If the spread narrows, the costs become crucial and the exchange must lower the fees in order to keep this client in the market. On the other hand, a directional trader has different issues; if the fees are high, a trader must wait longer for a relevant price move so that they can capitalize on their position. Contrary to the market maker, the directional trader loves to see narrow bid-ask spreads. There would be no need to lower fees when the spread is close. The same is true for the statistical arbitrage traders.

When looking at the third party analyses of HFT in the international markets, we often see that the most common strategy is the market maker approach. This fact is strongly influenced by market fragmentation, which we do not have in Brazil. Fragmentation creates new intermarket trades, which could qualify as arbitrage trades, but not necessarily as market maker trades. Fragmentation also makes exchanges and other venues compete for the customers that provide liquidity and, as a result, give incentives to market makers. As mentioned above, Brazil does not have a fragmented market and BM&FBOVESPA does not see it necessary to ask for more liquidity. At least not as long as international capital flows are strong and increasing. Liquidity is needed in second tier shares and below.

It remains to be seen whether the inventive BM&FBOVESPA program to exempt the officially designated market makers from exchange fees will be enough to stimulate other participants to trade. At least theoretically, this provides an entry/ exit point for statistical arbitrage traders. However, as long as the allowed spreads can be as large as 1%, the strategy might not be necessarily profitable. At this moment it is worth noting that most of the Brazilian statistical arbitrage trades are longshort trades in stocks focusing on preferred-common stock relationships (in Brazil they are known as PNON, with PN standing for preferred stocks and ON for common ones).

It is also interesting to look at statistical arbitrage trades that are latency dependent, i.e. true arbitrage trades. Are these the ‘true’ high frequency traders? If there are only a few trading opportunities per day, it does not seem as if BM&FBOVESPA could classify them as high frequency. Latency sensitive traders typically use what the exchange refers to as the DMA3 (clients directly sending orders through a connection to the exchange) or DMA4 (co-location) categories. Trades through these categories can easily be measured. Unfortunately, the ability to measure the latency sensitive flow is lost because the DMA3 category is also used for any direct sponsored customer trades, so all that remains is to  measure the flow from the co-location model.

If we use the DMA4 numbers as the reference point for HFT, then we reach a HFT participation figure of 2.8% in the BM&F segment and about 2% in the BOVESPA segment (as at April 2011). The BM&FBOVESPA DMA4 measurements are significantly lower than their HFT percentages. This suggests they accounted additional strategies into this pool, such as market making strategies. Theoretically market makers could have contributed to this figure, but because of a very narrow spread in the high volume stocks and high fees, it is reasonable to assume that the market making strategy does not contribute too much to the HFT volume.

One might argue that there are still the directional trades. Yet, as this strategy needs a certain price move before it can make money and the number of trades per day is limited. On the other hand, the number of traders that might be using this strategy is not limited, as the models are nearly all different. There are only about ten Brazilian players able to successfully run intraday directional trades. Perhaps we should conclude that the international players have better models or a better understanding of the market?

Recently, BM&FBOVESPA announced a new pricing model for high-frequency traders, which uses the Average Daily Trading Value (ADTV) to calculate fees in its equity market. Fees range from 0.019% for R$20 million ADTV up to 0.01% for firms trading over R$500 million ADTV. Ironically, almost no firms were able to qualify as ‘high frequency’ players within the exchange’s cost reduction program.

Source:FIXGloabalTrading, 15.06.2011

Free FGlobalTrading Magazin subscription at http://fixglobal.com/subscription

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, Exchanges, Latin America, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 15, 2011 • 11:03 pm 0

Brazil: BRIC exchanges form alliance

The exchanges of the Brics emerging markets bloc have announced plans to form an alliance in cross-listing and to expose foreign investors to their dynamic economies and to increase the liquidity of their trading venues (Brazil, Russia, India, Hong Kong (China), South Africa)

This initiative was announced at the 51st AGM of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) in Johannesburg.

The initiative brings together BM&FBOVESPA from Brazil, MICEX from Russia (currently merging with RTS Stock Exchange), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx, China) and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from South Africa. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the BSE Ltd (India) have signed letters of support and will join the alliance after finalizing outstanding requirements.

At the first stage of this project the exchanges will begin cross-listing of financial derivatives on their benchmark equity indices. It is planned to launch cross-listed products by June 2012.

“Global investors are increasingly seeking exposure to leading developing markets,” says Ronald Arculli, chairman of HKEx and of the WFE. “Thanks to this alliance, investors will gain easier access to major equity index derivatives of the BRICS markets which will now be offered in local currency on the alliance exchanges”.

This is an important milestone in the history of developing countries, continues Mr Arculli. “The alliance enables more investors to gain exposure to the emerging economies of the BRICS group whose economic power is on the rise. From a global perspective this alliance highlights the growing significance of the BRICS economies and financial markets for the coming decade, and further underlines the importance of enhancing cooperation between the BRICS members”.

At the second stage of the project members of the alliance plan to jointly develop new products for cross-listing on their exchanges. “In addition to measuring market performance, equity indices may be used as underlying assets to create new products, which can be the next step in the alliance development”, says Russell Loubser, CEO of the JSE.

“The products designed at the second stage would then be cross listed and traded in local currencies,” says Edemir Pinto, CEO of BM&F BOVESPA. “They will also ensure easy access for investors to other emerging markets through locally listed products.”

The third stage may include further cooperation in joint products design and new services development.

“Apart from cross-listing products, there are other opportunities for growth and development within this alliance. For example, creation of joint products combining various underliers which will facilitate liquidity growth in the BRICS markets and improve the understanding of other developing markets by local investors,” says Ruben Aganbegyan, President of MICEX.

All the partnering exchanges estimate the potential for cooperation created by this alliance very positively.

“The BRICS exchanges alliance has a great potential as it will create avenues for Indian investors to diversify their portfolios and expand into other emerging markets. It will also provide unique opportunities to investors in other BRICS nations to participate and contribute in India’s growth. BSE will actively work towards bringing world-class products to India as well as developing new products for other BRICS markets.” says Madhu Kannan, CEO of BSE Ltd.

Interest towards the BRICS markets is supported by the above-average growth forecast for these regions, as well as the rising consumer power generated by growing middle classes in each of the participating economies” says Ravi Narain, MD of the National Stock Exchange of India.

According to the WFE these six exchanges represent a combined market capitalization of USD 9.02 trillion, the number of their ussuer companies totals 9.5 thousand.

As per the research by the Futures Industry Association these six exchanges accounted for 18% of the global turnover in financial derivatives in H1 of 2011.

Source: BM&FBOVESPA, FinExtra, 12.10.2011

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, China, Exchanges, Hong Kong, India, News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 11, 2011 • 10:31 pm 0

Argentina: Rosario Futures Exchange (ROFEX) added to SunGard Market Data Distribution Platform

Rosario Futures Exchange (ROFEX), an Argentina-based derivatives exchange, is now available through SunGard Global Network for Securities (SGN) for global connectivity, order routing and market data. SGN will help futures and options traders around the world easily access ROFEX, facilitating electronic order routing access to their exchange. SGN will also help increase efficiencies and reduce errors for traders that trade through ROFEX by helping them trade electronically, for greater automation across the trade lifecycle.

Growth in the derivatives markets in Latin America is attracting new liquidity through improved access and collaboration between exchanges. As traders expand their derivatives trading reach to international markets they increasingly require robust trading tools and access to an extensive global network. SunGard’s Valdi and SGN offer comprehensive derivative trading solutions as well as one of the largest networks in the world. Valdi provides futures and options traders with global trading software, powerful market data, risk management solutions and low latency execution services. SGN provides trade automation and connectivity to over 120 electronic markets and more than 530 brokers worldwide, helping shorten time to market for trading new products and in new geographies.

Mr. Diego Fernandez, chief executive officer of Rosario Futures Exchange, said “SunGard is helping us expand our global reach by providing us with electronic access to new markets and participants, facilitating the growth of our business and helping make global trading easier and efficient for our clients.”

Raj Mahajan, president of SunGard’s global trading business, said, “We are pleased to provide Latin American customers with a customizable solution for multi-asset, global trading, through Valdi and SGN. It is our goal to provide customers with a simplified gateway to access all exchanges in Latin America; we already provide access to equities and derivatives exchanges in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and now Argentina.”

Source: Bobsguide, 10.10.2011

Filed under: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Data Management, Data Vendor, Exchanges, Latin America, Market Data, Mexico, News, Peru, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 5, 2011 • 2:02 am 1

SIBOS Toronto Round Up: LEI, TS2, Standards – A-Team

Unsurprisingly given the host’s recent market positioning, the dominant theme at last week’s Swift user conference Sibos in Toronto was standards, in many different flavours. The one at the top of the list in terms of reference data, however, had to be the legal entity identifier (LEI) and there was certainly no shortage of discussions on the subject (see the list from my preview here). A total of three sessions were dedicated to the topic and the exhibition hall was abuzz with the potential that the LEI holds for the vendor community in terms of revenue generation.

As I noted in my interview with Fabian Vandenreydt, Swift’s head of Securities and Treasury Markets, at the conference last week (see more here), the industry messaging network provider has made reference data a key part of its 2015 strategy and its selection by the Sifma led committee to act as the issuing body for the proposed ISO 17442 standard is a significant element in these endeavours. However, the US Office of Financial Research (OFR) has not made a final decision on whether the Swift, ISO and Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) team will get the gig (see more on which here) and there are many factors to be considered before a new data infrastructure is put in place, not least of which is governance.

Although it was not addressed at length during the three panel discussions on the LEI (in fact, it was only briefly noted), the notion of a privately run, public data utility is something of a challenge in terms of governance. Given that DTCC owned Avox is currently run as a commercial operation with a number of large customers such as Citi, how will the vendor’s technology be deployed as the backbone of a data utility without granting the DTCC unfair advantage over the market? Ditto with Swift, given that it plans to offer “value added” services on top of the basic reference data set provided by the OFR.

This was a subject I raised offline with a number of the DTCC and Swift execs at the show and the response was that it is an issue that is due to be tackled over the coming months. Given the European Commission investigations of players such as Thomson Reuters and S&P’s Cusip Global Services (CGS) on the subject of potential anti-competitive issues regarding reference data, it will be an active participant in this debate. That is, if Europe agrees to go down the utility route.

A lot seems to be predicated on this week’s Financial Stability Board (FSB) discussions in Basel; an event that nearly everybody I spoke to was planning to attend. The hope seems to be that the new global body will make a final recommendation about whether Europe and the rest of the world will adopt the LEI as it has been proposed. Given that the FSB is working on tricky issues such as tackling the shadow banking sector in a coordinated fashion (see more on which here), it seems likely that there will be some pressure to adopt such a standard.

However, whether the FSB has the teeth to be able to get the global regulatory community to listen and get on the same page as each other is another matter entirely. After all, China has already indicated it will be developing its own entity identification standard. How many more can the industry expect? As noted by UBS’ Daniel Maury, who is the global lead for the firm’s Enterprise Client Data Programme (ECDP), during the LEI session there could be 10 or more if regulators don’t agree on one; a development that could prove especially costly for the industry as a whole.

The party that these developments will prove most beneficial too, however, will be the vendor community. Maury admitted that there is no appetite within the investment banking community to build a vast library of cross references to these new standards, hence these firms will turn to vendors for the solution. Thomson Reuters’ announcement on the first day of the conference (see more here) that it has expanded its legal entity data solution is a case in point of vendors scaling their capabilities ahead of the requirements. It follows a similar move by Bloomberg earlier this year and it will certainly not be the last.

Turning away from the LEI for a second, the other main news from the conference from a post-trade perspective was the announcement by the European Central Bank (ECB) that the Target2-Securities (T2S) settlement infrastructure would be delayed by up to another year (see my guide to T2S from back in 2009 here). Rather than launching in September 2014, the pan-European settlement platform will be delayed until an unspecified date in 2015, according to T2S programme board chairman Jean-Michel Godeffroy.

Speaking during a panel debate on the Tuesday of the conference, Godeffroy said the delay was caused by a need for additional user requirements to be taken into account and for user testing with central securities depositories (CSDs) to be extended beyond the originally scheduled nine month period. However, the buzz from the conference and exhibition halls was that given the loss of T2S champions at the ECB Jean-Claude Trichet and Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, the central may back away entirely from the project and leave it up to the industry to sort out.

What does all of this mean for the data standardisation space? T2S has been a driver for a lot of work around corporate actions standardisation and, as such, a delay or even a complete reversal will have an impact on these developments, as well as more general data standardisation efforts (see more on which here). The main impact of the T2S developments relate to the fact it would take settlement out of the hands of CSDs and thus result in a complete re-evaluation of their business models and those of all the other players in the securities market active in Europe. Taking this pressure away could therefore have a whole host of consequences.

Of course, a roundup of the Sibos week couldn’t go without a mention of my standards forum panel, during which myself and Bob Masina, head of technology and operations for the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA), and Dan Retzer, CTO at corporate actions solution vendor XSP, debated whether ‘standards innovation’ was an oxymoron (see my earlier blog here). Our conclusion was that being innovative with standards is all well and good, but it takes the big players adopting these standards (and thus bringing the rest of the market with them) to make a difference. Standards development is merely the first step.

Source: A-TEAM, 26.09. 2011, Virginie O’Shea

Filed under: Corporate Action, Data Management, Data Vendor, Market Data, Reference Data, Standards

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