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

Brazil:Revenue and income on the up at BM&FBovespa

BM&FBOVESPA S.A. (BVMF3) today reported third quarter earnings ending September 30, 2012. The Bovespa segment recorded its second strongest performance to-date.

This performance together with higher Rate per Contract (RPC) for derivatives and growth in non- trading and settlement segments delivered solid revenue increase. Also, expense control in the quarter contributed to improve operating performance.

3Q12 gross revenues reached R$581.3 million, up 6.2% over 3Q11, reflecting growth across all segments;
Adjusted expenses[1] were R$136.0 million, roughly flat compared to 3Q11. Adjusted expenses rose by 6.4% over the previous quarter in line with the Company’s budget for the year;
Operating income reached R$346.8 million, up 7.0% over 3Q11 and operating margin increased by 84 bps;
EBITDA grew 8.1% and EBITDA margin increased by 162 bps compared to 3Q11;
Adjusted net income[2] totaled R$400.6 million, increasing by 0.3% over 3Q11 as operating income growth was offset by a reduction in financial income and higher non-cash taxes;
Adjusted earnings per share rose 1.7%, to R$0.21;
Average Daily Trading Value (ADTV) for the Bovespa segment reached an all-time-high of R$8.4 billion in September 2012;
ADTV of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) was up 90.2% year-over-year. Average assets under custody of Tesouro Direto rose by 45.6%;
Average RPC in the BM&F Segment increased 14.7% year-over-year, offsetting the 4.0% reduction in the Average Daily Volume (ADV) for the segment;
R$221.2 million in dividends and interest on capital, comprising 80% of 3Q12 GAAP net income.

“We maintained focus on delivering our strategy to grow and diversify revenues and drive operational excellence,” said BM&FBOVESPA Chief Executive Officer Edemir Pinto. “We are also making significant advances in building state-of-the-art technological capabilities which will place our trading technology and capacity at the forefront of global best practices.”
“In this way, we are ready to capture and optimize the opportunities presented by Brazilian capital markets and this new era of low interest rates. We are making infrastructure investments, focusing on market integrity, developing markets and products, and strengthening relationships with market participants” Mr. Pinto added.

Chief Financial, Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations Officer, Eduardo Refinetti Guardia, said: “BM&FBOVESPA achieved solid results and strong operating leverage in the third quarter, consistently expanding margins and cash generation.”

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, Exchanges, , , , , ,

ATG taps Nyse Technologies for ATS Brasil

Americas Trading Group (ATG) today announced the formation of a new company that will develop a liquidity center targeting the Brazilian exchange market called Americas Trading System Brasil or ATS Brasil.

Utilizing trading solutions developed by NYSE Technologies, the technology unit of NYSE Euronext, ATS Brasil will offer customers a new equities matching platform in Latin America.

ATG will maintain the controlling interest as well as operational management of the company with NYSE Technologies as a minority shareholder and the core technology provider. ATS Brasil plans to begin operations in 2013, subject to approvals by the Central Bank of Brazil and the Brazilian Securities Commission (CVM).

Fernando Cohen, ATG´s President, believes that the entry of ATS Brasil will have a positive effect on the local stock market as it will contribute to expanding the range of products and services offered to investors in the region. Cohen also emphasized the importance of NYSE Technologies’ decision to expand into the Brazilian market by becoming a partner of ATS Brasil.

Cohen stated that initially ATS Brasil intends to operate in a model known as “the organized OTC market” based on computerization and transparency in order registration and execution, and adopt rigid mechanisms of self-regulation. He further noted that ATS Brasil was not created to compete with BM&FBovespa, but rather to complement it by improving liquidity and price formation for Brazilian assets.

“The entry of ATS Brasil starts a new cycle in the Brazilian exchange market. Our innovative, high-performance order execution platform will generate more liquidity for the capital markets. This initiative should stimulate cost reduction by offering efficiency gains for investors and create the real possibility of placing the Brazilian market within international standards,” said Fernando Cohen.

Dominique Cerruti, President and Deputy CEO, NYSE Euronext said, “As a leading operator of global markets and market technology, we have designed and deployed proven, market-tested trading platforms in key market centers around the world. We are pleased to partner with ATG ith ATG as they expand their business into equities matching with the ATS Brasil initiative. Our technology platform should provide customers and market participants with the same high-quality trading experience, performance and reliability that they’ve come to expect from NYSE Euronext’s own exchanges.”

ATS Brasil will use the Universal Trading Platform (UTP) developed by NYSE Technologies and used by NYSE Euronext’s global markets. UTP has the capacity to process high volumes of messages with very low latency, giving market participants the opportunity to submit thousands of orders per second while also improving market transparency and liquidity. Additionally, ATS Brasil is expected to attract new investors to the Brazilian market, including local and international high frequency traders. ATG will also utilize NYSE Technologies’ Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI) network to provide global access and direct market data distribution for customers trading outside Brazil. 

Source: FinExtra , 06.11.2012

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

Nyse Technologies, Bolsa Mexicana and ATG build Mexican trading infrastructure

Nyse Technologies, the commercial technology division of Nyse Euronext (NYX: NYX) today announced that in collaboration with Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) and Americas Trading Group (ATG) it has built and deployed a state-of-the-art trading infrastructure complete with global connectivity, risk management functionality and direct market data distribution for customers trading in Mexican markets.

Designed to support the launch of Bolsa Mexicana’s new matching engine and midpoint hidden order book, this solution incorporates advanced technology developed specifically for every part of the trade cycle to provide unprecedented accessibility, performance and risk management for trading on Bolsa Mexicana’s exchanges with the aim of establishing Mexico as a premier Latin American investment destination.

Initially, this collaboration will provide:
• A new co-location model for access to cash and derivatives markets (through ATG directly at the KIO Data Center)
• Global connectivity for buy side, sell side and vendors from the US, Europe, Asia and also other Latin American markets such as Brazil and Chile.
• Sophisticated risk management functionality for international order routing (solution implemented by NYSE Technologies)
• Low touch order stamping by Bolsa Mexicana’s members to settle orders
• Global Market Data distribution via NYSE Technologies Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI) with direct contracting with BMV

“We are excited to again work with one of Latin America’s leading market operators in Bolsa Mexicana and market participants in ATG to deliver dramatic improvements across critical elements of the trade cycle,” said Dominique Cerruti, NYSE Technologies. “By continuing to improve access to key Latin American exchanges and customers, we continue to realize our vision of creating a global capital markets community with cutting-edge connectivity, performance and risk management.”

“Today’s announcement with NYSE Technologies and ATG demonstrates our ongoing commitment to grow and enhance our markets in Mexico to deliver highly flexible multi-market, multi-asset trading,” said Jorge Alegria, Head of Market Operations, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. “We look forward to extending our relationship and cooperation with NYSE Technologies in several important areas that will f further expand that growth and performance in the near future.”

Source: FinExtra, 18.10.2012

Filed under: Asia, BMV - Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Data Management, Data Vendor, Latin America, Market Data, Mexico, Risk Management, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mexico: BMV Mexican Stock Exchange Aims to Attract High Frequency Traders with Platform Upgrade

Mexican stock exchange operator Bolsa Mexicana de Valores detailed its investment in a new trading platform that the bourse hopes will reduce execution time for trades while also boosting trading activity.

The platform will enable the bourse to complete a trade in 90 microseconds, or to facilitate around 100,000 transactions per second, putting it on par with the Singapore Stock Exchange and besting the New York Stock Exchange’s completion rate of 150 microseconds per trade, the Mexican exchange said. The platform, which began handling stock transactions on Sept. 3 and will handle derivatives trades starting in December, cost the bourse 150 million pesos ($11.5 million.)

The Mexican exchange hopes the updated platform will attract a greater number of sophisticated international market participants who are interested in executing algorithmic trades. Currently, such high-frequency trades account for 17% of the volume operated on the bourse, versus 70% of the volume in the U.S., the exchange said. In August the exchange averaged 1.9 million stock transactions a day.

The new platform also incorporates filters to prevent erroneous trades, for example by detecting price action that is out of sync with the market or unusually high volumes. In April the local brokerage house of Bulltick Capital Markets triggered a mini “flash crash” by entering an erroneous trade, knocking Mexico’s benchmark IPC stock index down about 2 percentage points.

Source: FIF Financial Information Forum, 17.09.2012

Filed under: BMV - Mexico, Exchanges, Latin America, Mexico, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

BM&FBOVESPA Market Data Feeds and Order Routing – News Letter 14

Changes to PUMA UMDF Market Data Feed in Certification Environment
Since September 11, 2012, a new distribution of the PUMA UMDF instrument groups has been available in the certification environment. The change was necessary to adapt this environment to the start of trading in the S&P 500 futures contract. On October 1, 2012, distribution of SELIC instruments in the certification environment is scheduled to start via existing channels 3 and 4.
New Version of MegaDirect Order Entry Interface Available in Certification Environment
Version 4 of the MegaDirect order entry interface for the BOVESPA segment is available in the certification environment. Participants who use versions 2 and 3 must have them updated, in order to maintain compatibility with the BM&FBOVESPA PUMA Trading System matching engine. MegaDirect users must perform the tests mentioned in External Communication 023/2012-DI by no later than September 28, 2012.
EntryPoint Order Entry Interface Available in Production Environment
The EntryPoint trading interface for the BOVESPA segment is now available in the production environment. Although it does not entail significant performance benefits (lower latency) at this time, it mitigates the risk of impacts during BOVESPA segment migration to the BM&FBOVESPA PUMA Trading System.

Customers who will use this new interface must observe the requirement for uniqueness in the ClOrdID (11) tag in the order entry, change and cancellation messages, to prevent any crossed references between orders of the same customer and instrument from generating inconsistencies in the participant’s management. The customer is responsible for correctly filling out the tag, as announced in External Communication 021/2012-DI.

Alterations to ProxyDiff Market Data Feed in Certification Environment
The ProxyDiff market data feed is now available in the certification environment in accordance with the alterations described in External Communication 024/2012-DI. This market data feed includes a large number of test cases (e.g. clash of messages with the same Order ID, and numeric and alphanumeric groups of quotations) that will be implemented in the production environment during and after migration to the BM&FBOVESPA PUMA Trading System in the BOVESPA segment. All customers who use the ProxyDiff market data feed must perform the tests by September 28, 2012.

See full IT News letter Nr.14

Source: BM&FBOVESPA, IT News Letter Nr. 14, 17.09.2012

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, Data Management, Exchanges, Market Data, , , , , , ,

Brazil: Perseus Telecom acquires ETradeLab Brazilen Trading Tech Co

Perseus Telecom, a global connectivity provider, today announces the acquisition of ETradeLab, a Sao Paulo-based financial technology provider of hosting, managed connectivity, order routing and trade monitoring support. The purchase comes at a time of global demand for efficient trading systems with low-latency connectivity and local support models suited for banks, hedge funds and proprietary firms.

The joint company expects to add significant value to its services by tightly integrating them. Combining ETradeLab’s hosting solutions with Perseus’ ultra-low latency networks will provide cost effective, efficient and valuable network solutions for its customers. Anticipating and responding to innovative demands while having pricing sensitivities further led to this agreement.

“Our purchase of ETradeLab shines light on the accelerating market growth in Brazil, Peru, Chile, Panama and Colombia where capital markets require ultra-fast, reliable connections to mitigate risk and to provide worldwide reach,” states Dr. Jock Percy, Chief Executive of Perseus Telecom. “Incorporating ETradeLab into our brand was an easy decision given its expertise in the market and trade monitoring services.”

Effective immediately, Marcos Guimarães, founder of ETradeLab, is President of Perseus Telecom, Brazil. “It is a thrill to be part of Perseus Telecom’s top-tier management team. Perseus brings innovation and high performance networks at fair prices due to its strong portfolio that allow customers to increase revenues while reducing operating costs,” states Guimarães. “The LATAM region’s continuing market growth requires such building blocks for optimum time-to-market and even faster development; Perseus has the DNA to deliver them allied to ETradeLab’s local market knowledge. I’m ready for the challenge and can’t wait to start working with our customers.”

The expansion of Perseus’ Brazilian presence follows its recent Global Telecoms Business award for “Best Innovation,” related directly to building the fastest connectivity from London to BM&F BOVESPA, Brazil. Prior to the award, Perseus announced the fastest route to BM&F BOVESPA with its strategic partner GlobeNet.

“Our recent announcements and awards with regards to Brazil and South America have indicated the firm is taking a permanent and local stake in the region and we have done this with the valuable acquisition of ETradeLab,” says Percy. “We welcome Marcos Guimarães as President of Perseus do Brazil and will continue our path of commitment to providing the lowest latency networks globally whilst delivering intelligent and cost efficiencies.”

Source: LowLatency.c0m, 12.09.2012

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

Finamex: It’s a Fine Time to Cross the Border – Mexico the Emerged Market of Growth

In January of this year the theme of emerging markets became more of a primary investment rather than that of an alternative one. Many people ventured toward countries that have had rocket high growth over the last few years such as the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China which received the preponderance of excitement in the emerging market approach.

Read full article Mexico the Growth Market

Today, the BRIC countries have been challenged to maintain upward momentum. The simmering down of the American market crisis and the expanding concerns for the Eurozone present a dilemma and are showing the effects. The Institute of International Finance (IIF), a global association of financial institutions, says that “net private capital flows to emerging market economies remain quite volatile and subject to disturbance from the euro area”. According to the research, data capital flows fell in 2011 to $1.03 trillion from $1.09 trillion in 2010 and are expected to fall again this year to $912 billion before rising to $994 billion in 2013.

The woes of the Eurozone monetary crisis have influenced investors to move money out of country and to seek safe haven in securities markets elsewhere. Brazil, Indonesia, China as well as others are no longer experiencing upward momentum and are now even in decline or negative.

However year after year, analysts continue to see strong signs of growth and long term prosperity in Mexico as many of the emerging markets troubles are not being seen in Mexico, in fact quite the opposite.

Brazil with its lucrative energy industry capitalized by the largest South American exchange, has attracted many investors to seek opportunities in Latin America. Brazil has enjoyed the influx of foreign investments and has gone further to encourage more interest from the North by recently lowering some of its staggeringly high tax penalties on returns and additionally allowing the shares of foreign instruments to take more of a part in portfolios of its domestic shareholders. “Investors are more cautious with Brazil,” Gustavo Mendonca, an economist with Oren Investimentos in Sao Paulo said this week. “The country has slowed very sharply and the prospects for long-term growth have gone downhill.”

Policy adjustments invite and attract investments, but many of these actions are late and under pressure by issues developing in other countries such as Spain. On the other hand, the opportunities for a rudimental Northern investor looking South of the Border to Mexico remain solid.

A key factor with Mexico is that it has  some of the most definitive metrics that provide the level of transparency needed in a volatile global market.  Unlike Brazil, Russia, India or China, Mexico is directly tied to American monetary policy with a correlation that does not exist in other Emerging Market countries and not surprisingly is also growing alongside the American economy.

Is Mexico beyond ridicule and examination? Of course not, but to begin to understand the benefits of investing in Mexico for the short and the long term we should begin with how Mexico plays a key role as a member of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). The implementation of NAFTA along with close inter-country relationships, ties Mexico’s trade and currency valuation to that of the US and Canada.

 For example, in 2010 many believed the US would remain flat for the next two years, but we now see this was not the case. As a result of American performance, Mexico’s markets have also increased working in parallel a framework portfolio managers find affirmative Mexico has also maintained a weak peso over the last ten years. The Mexican peso has been priced at a competitive advantage with China.

 Currency rates have helped Mexico realize an economic boom that continues to rise since the 90’s. The move to NAFTA in 1994 could be the key contributing factor for Mexico’s 600 percent increase in sales to the US. With inflation no longer under control in countries like China and  Brazil, analysts are discovering that Mexico’s policies have proven successful in weathering many global financial catastrophes.

…..

As opportunities within the developed markets diminish, the Mexican marketplace is standing strong. As a top emerging market for the global investing community, particularly in Latin America, Mexico represents a substantial alternative to Brazil, home of the leading Latin American stock market. Mexico, although not a BRIC country, certainly has more promising economic stability and growth potential than some of the most mature economies. With a clear goal in sight, the local markets in Mexico continue to take measures that enhance liquidity in equities and derivatives trading which provide surety to its financial institutions and reach more investors abroad.

Source: FINAMEX /Dan Watkins, 01.08.2012  dwatkins@cc-speed.com

Filed under: Asia, BMV - Mexico, Brazil, China, Exchanges, Latin America, Mexico, News, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brazil:CMA – The Latin American Market Data and Trading Company offers Direct BM&F BOVESPA Connectivity

July 30, 2012– New York, NY (USA) and São Paulo(Brazil) – Latin American trading services provider CMA Inc. http://www.cma.net, has announced a new delivery method for direct BM&F and BOVESPA market data and trading connectivity for International firms.

CMA has been providing BM&F and BOVESPA market data for over thirty five years to the trading community of Brazil. It now has leading exchange trading software services in Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Chile with 20,000 subscribers worldwide. Today, CMA’s platforms such as CMA Series 4 have been rolled out on an impressive network called “CMA Redes Digitais.” The Redes Digitais  infrastructure is installed and directly connected within the exchange’s datacenter for the lowest possible latency.

Today’s announcement by CMA represents the launch and deployment of a directly connected infrastructure at the BM&F BOVESPA in São Paulo, Brazil with the CMA datacenter in New York. Companies can now co-locate their routers and servers with CMA at the BM&F BOVESPA datacenter or chose to receive the raw market data over CMA’s multi-gig private lines which terminate at CMA’s datacenter in New York City. The offering was developed to help firms trading with counter parties in São Paulo or for going directly to the exchange’s trading systems in a Direct Market Access (DMA) fashion.

 Many firms need to bring market data back to the USA and in return send trades messages to the exchange in Brazil. In both cases planning, paperwork and relationships are needed in order to complete the set-up. CMA is a certified exchange vendor able to help participants with the required documentation needed by the exchange to receive market data and to send trade messages. CMA also provides the relationships and connectivity to Brazilian brokers who can handle orders for foreign firms.

 “CMA’s market visibility as a prime vendor of the exchange and to 90% of the exchange’s broker dealers allows for our customers to be installed, up and running and trading as fast as possible,” Mario Chuman, General Manager of CMA commented. “International firms rely on us to help them with both exchange and broker connectivity, enabling market data and trading right from our switches in São Paulo which are now directly connected to our New York datacenter.“

 CMA is utilizing the fastest Trans Atlantic cable systems available, giving connectivity managers the security they require for proper networking, the lowest possible latency for competitiveness, multi-market/asset availability and an array of choices in being able to do so. Connectivity managers can now expand their market reach with CMA as they look to join both the BM&F BOVESPA Equities and Futures markets at roughly 50% lower IT and communications costs than other offerings which generally only provide one feed stream and one market at a time. CMA’s solution is the most cost effective, fastest and easiest way to implement an electronic trading solution for Brazilian securities.

Source, CMA, 30.07.2012

Filed under: Brazil, Data Vendor, Exchanges, Market Data, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , ,

Fidessa explores the development of electronic trading in Latin America

Fidessa group plc , provider of high-performance trading, investment management and information solutions for the world’s financial community, has today announced the publication of a white paper, Life in the fast lane: the development of electronic trading in Latin America. The paper explores the current trading landscape in Brazil, Mexico and the Andean region, and how recent technology and regulatory developments will affect domestic and international brokers trying to establish a rewarding position in these fast-paced markets.

White paper looks at market growth and trading technology in Brazil, the Andean region and Mexico

To highlight the unique trading conditions, market challenges, technology and regulatory changes shaping each market, Fidessa’s white paper considers specific regions in Latin America individually: from the extreme growth of Brazil as a strategic trading destination, to upgrades being made to Mexico’s trading infrastructure as well as the Andean region’s efforts to boost liquidity and exploit economies of scale. The paper explores the challenges presented by Latin America’s varying stages of growth as an electronic marketplace and concludes that flexibility, agility and scalability will be key attributes of the technology solution.

Alice Botis, Fidessa’s Head of Business Development in Latin America comments: “Latin America is attracting significant interest from global market participants and this shows no signs of stopping. Brokers are looking at the unique benefits each country has to offer and are taking the necessary steps to gain a presence in multiple locations across the region, in financial centers such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. Each country retains its unique style of trading, so it is important for buy-side and sell-side firms to understand how the marketplace is evolving in each region within Latin America and how those developments fit in with their local and global trading strategies.”

Source: Bobsguide, Fidessa 12.07.2012

Filed under: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, News, Peru, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mexico:RTS Powers Bolsa Mexicana de Valores Trading Front-End for Members

Chicago/Mexico City, June 14, 2012 – RTS Realtime Systems Group, a leading global trading solutions provider, and the Mexican Stock Exchange BMV (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores) announced today the roll-out of a new front-end for the BMV equity marketplace powered by customized RTS front-end technology. This further expansion of their relationship comes after RTS has provided next generation trading technology for more than three years to MexDer, the Mexican Derivatives Exchange owned by the BMV Group.

The launch enables members of both BMV and MexDer to access the equity and derivatives markets and their market data on one, exchange-provided trading screen. It also brings members of BMV markets the ability to utilize sophisticated RTS risk management technology to control access to all available asset classes.

  • Access equity and derivatives markets on one exchange-provided trading screen
  • Trade multiple markets across asset classes with sophiticated new capabilities and speed
  • Easily combine click and algorithmic trading to automate orders
  • Trade spreads between BMV, MexDer and CME Group

Alfredo Guillen, Chief Operating Officer for the Equity Markets at BMV Group, said:  “We are pleased to offer our members the sophisticated new capabilities and speed provided by RTD Trader, RTS’ solution for click traders.  As our members are increasingly interested in trading across asset classes, this new deployment will bring them the opportunity to easily access and participate in the equity and derivatives markets alike.”

Timo Pentner, RTS Managing Director, Americas, said:  “We’re very proud to expand on the important relationship we have established with the BMV Group and its markets. For algorithmic trading, members can easily transition to our RTD Tango Trader solution which combines click and algorithmic trading. With this we support sophisticated order execution capabilities including the ability to automate all types of orders.”

Jorge Alegria, Head of Market Operations at BMV Group, said:  “This is a great example of successful collaboration between a technology vendor and exchange staff to introduce the seamless integration of multiple trading platforms onto one screen.  Thanks to a terrific, dedicated effort in recent months – and groundwork laid in 2009 by MexDer and RTS – when we complete the final phase of adding cash bond markets execution capabilities, BMV Group will be one of the first exchanges to list all asset classes on one, exchange-provided front-end.”

Pentner said that RTD Tango Trader can enable members of BMV and MexDer to trade spreads not only between those two markets but also the markets of CME Group, as part of the South to North order routing agreement established between BMV Group and CME Group.  He said adding access to other international markets would also be an easy upgrade as RTS offers connectivity via RTD Trader to more than 135 marketplaces globally.

Source: RTS, 14.06.2012

Filed under: BMV - Mexico, Exchanges, Latin America, Mexico, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brazil: TRADING SCREEN launches OMS, THOMSON REUTERS offers Elektron Hosting

TradingScreen Inc. launches TradePlus, its order management system (OMS) for the sell side in Brazil.

TradePlus, which will be available globally later this month, integrates all trading infrastructure required by broker dealers through a no-install Software-as-a-Service model.

TradingScreen’s TradePlus clients will benefit from an exchange co-located in a local datacenter and an office in Brazil, which ensures low-latency and the industry leading follow-the-sun support that TradingScreen is known for. TradePlus has seamless integration into the world’s leading execution management system (EMS) for the buy side, TradingScreen’s TradeSmart, ensuring a new level of communication between brokers and their clients.

“Sell-side firms looking to buy an OMS face significant challenges when trying to find a system that will integrate with their buy-side customers,” said TradingScreen CEO Philippe Buhannic. “TradingScreen’s TradePlus provides a significant advantage, because there is integration between both sides right out of the box.”

TradePlus covers the entire workflow from liquidity management, order management, book passing, warehousing, sophisticated trading tools, an algo development environment, allocation management and supports a full integration to local back office and middle office systems while leveraging the TradeNet network distribution capability.

“TradePlus offers an innovative set of hosted exchange links and risk and compliance features that insure a new level of control in a high-volume trading environment. TradePlus also provides a highly sophisticated and efficient method for trading the Brazilian equity and listed derivatives markets, while allowing brokers to give their clients the best EMS in the market,” said Jose Barrera, Director of TradingScreen’s Sao Paulo office. “TradingScreen has the largest number of deployed EMS screens globally, and a deep understanding of the market in Brazil. With this foundation beneath it, TradePlus is the right product at the right place and the right time.”

Thomson Reuters launches  Elektron hosting and managed services in Brazil.

The new service, situated in close proximity to the BM&F BOVESPA exchange, will provide trading firms with cost effective, low latency access to the real-time data required to fuel algorithmic and high-frequency trading strategies in Brazil.

Based in São Paulo, the new Elektron data solution delivers high speed connectivity to BM&F BOVESPA for market participants seeking local liquidity in Brazil, including full depth of market pricing along with US-traded American Depository Receipts (ADRs) and CME futures data. By accessing the Elektron services, either through cross-connecting applications within the data centre or externally through a choice of connectivity options, local firms can consume both low latency local market content as well as global, cross-asset real-time data from over 350 electronic venues and hundreds of OTC market contributors and reference data sources.

Investor interest in the fast-growing Brazilian market has increased rapidly in recent years, driving market liquidity and seeing an expanding number of domestic and international firms adopting algorithmic trading. Elektron Hosting and Managed Services provides the comprehensive, high-quality, real-time data and high-performance delivery required to support these trading strategies and help customers gain competitive advantage.

Mike Powell, managing director, Elektron Hosting and Managed Services, Thomson Reuters, said: “The launch of Elektron in Brazil is a natural extension of our established business in the country and supports our customers’ evolving requirements. With Elektron, we continue to bring together global market participants and deliver world-class content that further empowers these communities. We are delighted to be working with BM&F BOVESPA in Brazil to address the requirements of our collective clients for high-performance, cost-efficient data solutions.”

MondoVisione, 24.04.2012

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, Exchanges, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Innovations in Accessing Asia: Listed Equity Derivatives and Delta One Products.

Institutional investors seeking exposure to emerging Asian equity markets face challenges in accessing many of the region’s closed markets and are turning to exchange-traded derivatives markets, as well as over-the-counter (OTC) instruments that can provide the exposure they need, says TABB Group in new research published today, “Innovations in Accessing Asia: Listed Equity Derivatives and Delta One Products.

Investment managers are active users of OTC equity derivatives, including contracts for differences (CFDs), equity swaps, participation notes and other structured products, says Andy Nybo, a TABB principal, head of derivatives research and the report’s author. “However, global regulatory efforts to reduce concentration of counterparty risk have driven investment managers to explore alternatives for exposure, leading them to centrally-cleared, exchange-traded products that can lower overall levels of risk.”

According to TABB, as the appeal of developed markets waned in recent years, investors began examining new markets, searching for investment opportunities offering higher alpha and greater returns, especially emerging markets in Asia. Hedge funds are focusing their attention on the APAC markets, with 33% of US and European funds targeting the region for new investments. However, Nybo explains, direct investment in the emerging equity markets of Asia has been hindered by low market capitalization, restrictive regulatory environments and capital constraints that prohibit direct access to cash markets.

“Asia’s relatively stable political and regulatory environment has done well to attract investor interest,” Nybo says, “but some of the region’s regulators seem to use regulation as a policy tool in an attempt to control market fluctuations.” He adds that markets with heavy-handed regulatory authorities face a backlash from investors seeking opportunities and provide an opening for regional exchanges to launch products designed to meet investor demand for exposure to more closed markets.

“Pent-up demand from investors will contribute to innovation and new product launches by these emerging Asian exchanges to capture investment flows from both international investors and Asian-domiciled hedge funds,” he adds. “Many of the region’s regulators are very keen to promote greater participation in the financial markets. They are eager to attract strong capital flows from investors all over the world.”

The 33-page report with 24 exhibits is available for download by TABB Research Alliance Derivatives clients and pre-qualified media at https://www.tabbgroup.com/Login.aspx. For an executive summary or to purchase the report, visit http://www.tabbgroup.com or write to info@tabbgroup.com.

Other recent TABB derivatives research includes: Accelerated Expirations: The Growing Relevance of Short-term Options; US Options Trading 2011: Finding the Other Side of the Trade; Feeding the Options Beast: Big Data in the US Options Space; EU Equity Options Market Structure: Opening The Door To High Frequency Flow; VIX Trading: The Structure of Uncertainty; and TABB Group Options LiquidityMatrix.

Innovations in Accessing Asia:Listed Equity Derivatives and Delta One Products – Executive Summary

Source: MondoVisione, Tabb Group, 15.03.2012

Filed under: Asia, News, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brazil: RTS Realtime Systems Launches DMA to BM&FBovespa

Offers Algorithmic Trading Solutions with Ultra-low Latency

Brazil – The Challenges of DMA and Risk Management  read full article

RTS today announced that it now offers DMA (Direct Market Access) connectivity for low-latency, high frequency traders to BM&FBovespa, Brazil’s securities, commodities and futures exchange. The new native connectivity comes with comprehensive pre-trade risk functionality that was audited and approved by the exchange and now can be used via DMA 1 and DMA 2 connectivity.

The Exchange’s DMA 1 model consists of the routing of orders via a local brokerage house’s technological infrastructure while the DMA 2 model orders are routed via a third party or DMA provider.

Through RTS, global clients can gain immediate access to the burgeoning financial markets in Brazil, tapping arbitrage opportunities and local financial instruments, ensuring they are receiving top-tier service, mitigating operational risks and abiding by Brazilian regulatory approvals and procedures. As one of the first fully certified vendors of the exchange, RTS provides access to the exchange’s FIX-based Unified Market Data Feed (UMDF) and EntryPoint application programming interfaces (APIs)…read the full press release

Key Highlights

  • Capture new trading opportunities in the Brazilian markets
  • Access BM&FBovespa via RTS’ certified technology
  • Existing relationships with local brokers and clearers
  • Trade with internationally proven solutions suited for market makers and arbitrage

Source: RTS, 14.03.2012

Filed under: BM&FBOVESPA, Brazil, Exchanges, FIX Connectivity, Trading Technology, , , , , ,

Brazil – The Challenges of DMA and Risk Management

As the Brazilian economic freight train gathers momentum, Timo Pentner – Managing Director Americas, at RTS Realtime Systems, explains why the market’s demand for ultra-low latency DMA access and the regulators requirements for rigorous risk control don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

With US and European economies still wrestling with deeply entrenched structural economic problems resulting in largely stagnant economies, investors have been looking further afield for investment returns. One of the markets that has attracted significant foreign investment is Brazil, and it’s not too hard to see why. Brazil is rich in mineral and energy reserves with oil, gas, hydro-electricity, bioethanol and uranium; agriculture is booming with Brazil now boasting the world’s largest cattle herds, and as well as the exports of commodities long associated with the country such as coffee and cocoa, Brazil now produces the majority of the world’s exotic fruit. On the back of these strong fundamentals, Brazil has experienced rapid growth in its middle class amongst the growing population of 200 million. Economic output has now overtaken that of the UK and its broad IBRX market index, despite strong volatility, has grown by over 60% since the financial crisis erupted back in 2007.

With this foundation in place and strong inward investment, it’s easy to see why Brazil has attracted such considerable interest from the global trading community. We noted with some interest some of the statistics about Latin American growth from Automated Trader’s recent algorithmic trading survey; the key point being that within three years the number of buy side firms accessing LatAm markets is expected to quadruple, with Brazil being probably the best placed to capitalize on that interest. A significant factor behind this growth is the innovation now being demonstrated by Brazilian markets.

The Brazilian exchange BM&F Bovespa illustrate this point well, with recent innovations including single stock options, interest rate derivatives, clearing house cross margining, and a new low latency multi-asset-class matching engine with co-location options, called Puma. Now a cross-listing and cross-licensing deal with CME Group and S&P Indices has been launched meaning that Bovespa index products will be available in Chicago for dollar clearing, while S&P 500 futures, CBOT Mini-sized soybean futures and NYMEX listed light sweet crude (WTI) futures will all be traded in São Paulo with settlement in Brazilian Real. Little wonder then that traders are rushing to get past capital controls or that regulators mindful of earlier Latin American misfortunes, are keeping a close, prudential eye on market risks.

With the objective of addressing these issues, RTS Realtime Systems have been working hard to deliver ultra low-latency connectivity and risk solutions to trading firms looking to access Brazilian markets. High frequency traders will now be able to trade Brazilian markets with fully compliant pre-trade risk checks. US based traders will be able to co-locate in the exchange’s DMA facility for sub millisecond access, slashing latencies available to US based order routing networks and substantially outperforming current third party colocation options in Brazil. The mandatory risk checks can be independently monitored and controlled in real time both by the executing local broker in Brazil and for example by the trader’s own US based clearing broker, while ensuring a dependable, pass-through latency in tens of microseconds. When combined with a growing number of long-haul optical fibre networks, cross-market and cross-region arbitrage strategies become real opportunities.

Both the clearing broker and the executing broker will specify their own risk checks and each will be able to modify their limits or other parameters independently in real time. Meanwhile RTS will ensure risk checks comply with the exchange’s own rules and provide verifiable and consistent trade data to all concerned. As a result, costly reconciliation and remote monitoring can thus be avoided. This reduces risks for the whole supply chain. Remote US traders have had to put up with the uncertainties of long haul networks and considerable jitter depending on overall trading volumes. Since initial margin rules are tough with daily adjustments, traders are keen to keep tight control on their positions. The RTS direct market access (DMA) option reduces these exposures of remote trading, allowing strategies to be more adventurous and demanding.

The RTS Brazilian solution effectively opens a new generation of multi-institutional workflow for integrated collaboration in the capital markets. By packaging all the risk checks in a single software application supporting both FIX and the local exchange application programming interfaces (API), we have responded to the messy realities of cross-jurisdictional trading and longer supply chains, and we’ve taken a lot of cost out of the equation as well. RTS is already working with a number of local and international brokers including Ativa, SLW, Alpes and ICAP Brazil to leverage the new technology for international trading firms.

Currently virtually all trading is concentrated on the primary exchange in Brazil although several automated trading platforms like Direct Edge and BATS Global Markets have expressed interest and are in discussions with the regulators. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has however launched its own electric power market and Chi-X Global has partnered with BM&F Bovespa to offer multicurrency trading in Brazilian securities, so change is coming. Additional competition will inevitably grow the Latin American markets and encourage high frequency trading to align price discovery. Liquidity, after all, follows liquidity.

Source: Automated Trader, 16.03.2012

Filed under: Brazil, FIX Connectivity, Trading Technology, , , , , , ,

Brazil: BM&FBOVESPA Financial Report: IT Business-CoLo-HFT-ETF’s and Sharebuyback

BM&FBOVESPA S.A. (BVMF3) today reported fourthquarter  earnings  ending  December  30,  2011.  New  strategic  areas  such  as  Securities Lending, Tesouro Direto, ETFs and High Frequency Trading (HFT) performed well in the quarter. Successful implementation of the derivatives and spot FX modules of the PUMA Trading System and forward momentum on the multi-asset integrated clearing system further boosted the Company’s technological edge.

BM&FBOVESPA announced an adjusted expense1 budget range of R$580 million to R$590 million and a capital expenditure budget range of R$230 million to R$260 million for 2012. The adjusted Opex range equals the range for 2011 as a result of the Company’s cost- cutting improvements.

“We remain focused on capturing the growth opportunities offered by the Brazilian market,” said BM&FBOVESPA Chief Executive Officer Edemir Pinto. “The execution of our investment   program   to   strengthen   our   IT   infrastructure   and   the   launching   and development of products and markets, such as ETFs, HFTs and options on single stocks, are aligned with this goal. We are also taking actions to strengthen market supervision, which will help make the Brazilian market more attractive to investors. Mr. Pinto added,“We highly welcome the government’s decision to remove an IOF tax on equity investments by non-residents.”

During 4Q11, net revenues were almost flat year-over-year. This reflected a decline in trading volumes which was offset by a 39.5% increase in other revenues. Expenses were higher as a result of a one-time extraordinary transfer of restricted funds to strengthen the BM&FBOVESPA Market Supervision (BSM) while adjusted expenses were well in line with the Company’s announced budget range. Adjusted EBITDA2margin was relatively stable at65.2% compared to 66.5% in 4Q10. Adjusted net income3 per share declined by 1.0% year-over-year.

 

Source: MondoVisione, 15.02.2012

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

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 53 other followers