News Articles

February 2012 InBOX

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:56:34 GMT

This is the February issue of InBOX, your news source from inside the BOX Options Exchange. This monthly publication will provide convenient summaries of recent developments at BOX.

For more information click here

Panopticon Provides Enhanced Front End For CEP In Financial Services - Panopticon Delivers A High-Performance Connector For The Oracle CEP, Providing Financial Services Customers With World Class Visualizations And Analysis Of CEP Data

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:52:44 GMT

Panopticon Software the leading provider of visual data analysis software for real-time, CEP and historical time series data, today announced that its new 5.9 release includes a new data connector for Oracle Complex Event Processing (CEP). This allows Oracle customers to utilize Panopticon's interactive dashboards as the user interface for their CEP-enabled analytical solutions. The announcement comes on the heels of an integrated demonstration that was showcased at Oracle OpenWorld in October. At the event, Oracle and Deloitte gave conference attendees a preview of the combined system's real-time risk management analytics capabilities.

Oracle CEP, coupled with Oracle Coherence, has the ability to process multiple event streams, including market data, to detect patterns and trends in real time. It provides traders and managers with the visibility they need to capitalize on emerging opportunities or react to prospective risks. Oracle CEP helps people make decisions based on large amounts of rapidly-changing data and has applications in financial services, telecoms, utilities, retail, and energy.

Panopticon's unique data visualization software incorporates StreamCube™, a real-time OLAP data model that allows it to support visual analysis of time-series data and real-time streaming feeds emanating from Oracle CEP. By connecting and federating data from real-time streaming data sources, traditional data warehouses and tick databases, Panopticon enables its customers to interact with all of the relevant information in their data environments. In addition, Panopticon's data visualizations are designed to allow business users to rapidly understand and interpret the output of Oracle CEP and quickly make informed and insightful decisions.

According to Chris Elsmore, Senior Vice President for Panopticon, "Sophisticated visualization with a real-time capability has emerged as the next frontier in CEP as it provides business stakeholders direct insight into data and processes. The combined value proposition is resonating well with our capital markets customers who want to combine the speed and flexibility of Oracle CEP with Panopticon's visual data analysis capabilities. We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with Oracle, a company that has clearly positioned itself as a category leader in the rapidly evolving CEP sector."

All of Panopticon's products, including the EX enterprise application, the Developer SDK for .NET and Java environments, and the Panopticon Rapid Development Kit, support Oracle CEP.

Panopticon is a Silver level member of Oracle Partner Network.

BM&FBOVESPA: Individual Investors’ Participation In Total Volume Of ETFs Traded On The Exchange In January Surpasses 14% - Financial Institutions Lead Participation In Volume

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:09:12 GMT

Individuals had a 14.4% participation of the total volume of ETFs traded on the Exchange in January. Financial institutions led with a 32.3% participation of the month’s volume, followed by institutional investors (30.5%), foreign investors (19.5%), and public and private companies (3.3%).

ETFs are a simple diversification alternative for investment in equities. The investor can buy a stock portfolio in a single transaction without having to manage each individual share.

In January, shares of the iShares Ibovespa Index Fund were the most traded on BM&FBOVESPA. The BOVA11 ticker represented 93.6% of the total volume traded by the ETFs on the Exchange, and 94.7% of the number of transactions.

SwapClear Announces U.S. $34 Billion Cleared In Client Business In January 2012 - $28 Trillion In Total Notional Also Cleared In January - Clients Cleared In Seven Of The 17 Available Currencies

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:33:40 GMT

LCH.Clearnet Limited’s (LCH.Clearnet’s) market-leading interest rate swap (IRS) clearing service, SwapClear, today announced that in January it cleared U.S. $34 billion in total notional client business across seven of the 17 currencies currently available. These volumes bring the total client notional outstanding to $288 billion. During this period, SwapClear also cleared $28 trillion of total notional business.

An advocate of compression, SwapClear tore up $10.8 trillion of cleared transactions in January through multilateral trade compression, taking its overall total compressed trades to $99 trillion in USD, EUR, GBP and JPY cleared IRS.

“The continued growth in client volume before any mandate has been enacted confirms the buy-side’s desire to capitalize on the risk management benefits of OTC clearing,” said Michael Davie, CEO of SwapClear. “We are dedicated to providing a truly competitive offering that is fully aligned to the needs of all clients. These impressive volumes validate our superior approach to risk management and commitment to world-class client service.”

SwapClear was launched in 1999 by LCH.Clearnet, a CFTC-regulated derivatives clearing organization since 2001. The one million trades in SwapClear have a total notional value of more than USD 289 trillion. SwapClear clears 17 of the world’s largest currencies and its membership currently stands at 61.

NYSE Liffe U.S. Names Harvey Flax Business Manager, GCF Repo Index Futures

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:29:00 GMT

NYSE Liffe U.S., the innovative U.S. futures exchange of NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced that Harvey Flax has been appointed to the newly created position of Business Manager, GCF Repo IndexTM futures. Mr. Flax will be responsible for leading the launch and development of the DTCC GCF Repo IndexTM futures products trading exclusively on NYSE Liffe U.S. and cleared on NYPC. Based in New York, he will report to Lynn Martin, Chief Operating Officer, NYSE Liffe U.S.

"I am pleased to welcome Harvey to the NYSE Liffe U.S. team to lead our exciting new GCF Repo futures launch," said Thomas F. Callahan, CEO, NYSE Liffe U.S. "Harvey brings a wealth of industry experience in the financing markets and has the ideal background to lead this important initiative. Market feedback since our announcement of GCF Repo futures has been overwhelmingly positive. We believe it will provide a liquid, transparent and efficient risk management tool to allow our customers to better manage their term exposure. I am confident that with Harvey joining our strong team we can quickly build this complex to its full potential."

In his 25 year career at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Flax held a number of senior roles in their Fixed Income and Equity Financing groups that includes, trading, risk management, infrastructure and capital deployment/optimization. Most recently, he was Executive Director of the Equity and Fixed Income Repo Financing unit where he supervised the term stable liquidity financing program and managed significant Equity and Fixed Income Repo Counterparty relationships.

BATS Exchange Receives SEC Approval For Innovative Market Maker Program - Competitive Liquidity Provider Program Designed To Incentivize Active Market Making For BATS-Listed Issuers

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:25:05 GMT

BATS Global Markets, a global operator of stock and options markets, today announced it had received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement its new Competitive Liquidity Provider (CLP) program.

“As we grow our listings business, we’re creating new and unique ways to make the markets better for today’s issuer and enhance competition in the exchange listings business,” said Joe Ratterman, Chairman and CEO of BATS Global Markets. “Our Competitive Liquidity Provider program is designed to help improve market quality for issuers and we are excited to bring this innovative program to market.”

The BATS CLP program, which was designed for BATS’ new U.S. primary listings business, is a rewards-based program designed to incent market makers to make tighter quoted spreads with increased liquidity for each listing on BATS. The CLP program particularly benefits small and mid-cap companies who are often challenged by a lack of liquidity in their stock, which can make attracting larger investors difficult.

Through the BATS CLP program, market makers compete for a daily reward by posting competitive quotes in a stock or exchange traded product (ETP). CLPs are rewarded based on their continuous daily quoted size at the National Best Bid/Offer (NBBO) in the securities for which they are registered CLPs.

Each liquidity provider must be a registered Market Maker on BATS and register and be approved by BATS to be a CLP for a listing. There is no limit to the number of CLPs that can be registered in each corporate listing.

Additionally for ETPs, rather than designating a single liquidity provider, the CLP program encourages multiple liquidity providers to participate in the launch of an ETP public offering.

Additional information on the BATS Listings program is available on the BATS Listings website. Companies interested in learning more about BATS Listings may email listings@batstrading.com.

SEC Charges Smith & Nephew PLC With Foreign Bribery

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:09:14 GMT

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged London-based medical device company Smith & Nephew PLC with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when its U.S. and German subsidiaries bribed public doctors in Greece for more than a decade to win business.

Additional Materials

SEC Complaint

Smith & Nephew PLC and its U.S. subsidiary Smith & Nephew Inc. agreed to pay more than $22 million in agreements with the SEC and U.S. Department of Justice. The charges stem from the SEC’s and DOJ’s ongoing proactive global investigation of bribery of publicly-employed physicians by medical device companies.

The SEC’s complaint against Smith & Nephew PLC alleges that its subsidiaries used a distributor to create a slush fund to make illicit payments to public doctors employed by government hospitals or agencies in Greece. On paper, it appeared as though Smith & Nephew’s subsidiaries were paying for marketing services, but no services were actually performed. The scheme basically created off-shore funds that were not subject to Greek taxes to pay bribes to public doctors to purchase Smith & Nephew products.

“Smith & Nephew’s subsidiaries chose a path of corruption rather than fair and honest competition,” said Kara Novaco Brockmeyer, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit. “The SEC will continue to hold companies liable as we investigate the medical device industry for this type of illegal behavior.”

According to the SEC’s complaint against Smith & Nephew PLC filed in federal court in Washington D.C., U.S. subsidiary Smith & Nephew Inc. and German subsidiary Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics GmbH has sold orthopedic products in Greece since the 1970s through the Greek distributor. Greece has a national health care system in which most Greek hospitals are publicly-owned and operated, and doctors who work at those publicly-owned hospitals are government employees and “foreign officials” as defined in the FCPA.

The SEC alleges that the misconduct began in 1997, when Smith & Nephew’s subsidiaries developed a scheme to make payments to three shell entities in the United Kingdom controlled by the distributor. Those funds were used by the distributor to pay bribes to the Greek doctors on behalf of the Smith & Nephew subsidiaries. Smith & Nephew failed to act on numerous red flags of bribery as employees at the company and its subsidiaries became aware of the payments. In one e-mail exchange between employees at the U.S. subsidiary and the distributor concerning whether to reduce the distributor’s commissions, the distributor stated, “… In case it is not clear to you, please understand that I am paying cash incentives right after each surgery…” Smith & Nephew Inc. determined not to reduce the commissions.

Smith & Nephew PLC agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by paying more than $5.4 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest. Its subsidiary Smith & Nephew Inc. agreed to pay a $16.8 million fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice. Smith & Nephew PLC consented without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, to the entry of a court order permanently enjoining it from future violations of Sections 30A, 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and ordering it to retain an independent compliance monitor for a period of 18 months to review its FCPA compliance program.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Tracy L. Price of the Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit along with Brent S. Mitchell and Reid A. Muoio. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice Fraud Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The SEC’s investigation into the medical device industry is continuing.

Vienna Stock Exchange Monthly Statistics - January 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:22:11 GMT

Click here to download Vienna Stock Exchange's monthly statistics for January 2012.

Vienna Stock Exchange Monthly Statistics Report Derivatives Markets - January 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:12:49 GMT

Click here to download Vienna Stock Exchange's derivatives markets monthly statistics report for January 2012.

ICAP Enters Australian Agricultural And Soft Commodities Broking Market

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:54:41 GMT

ICAP, the world’s leading interdealer broker, announces that it is entering the Australian agricultural and soft commodities market in February with a new team. The team of three brokers, led by Gary Booth, was formerly at MF Global.

Based in Sydney, ICAP will broker OTC and exchange-traded agricultural products predominantly grains, wool, cotton and sugar to grain handlers, producers, exporters, trading houses, banks and hedge funds. The team will also offer broking services in cotton, soya beans, corn, milk cocoa, coffee, canola and sorghum.

Hugh Gallagher, Chief Executive Officer, ICAP, Asia Pacific said: “ICAP is delighted to extend its product offering to existing and new customers in a market with significant growth potential. As the leading interdealer broker in Asia, we are well placed to develop this business, first in Australia and then across the region.”

ICAP’s expansion into the Australian market extends its global footprint and depth of market and client coverage into Asia. ICAP already brokers all agricultural and soft commodities in North America, South America and Europe. With agriculture and soft commodities brokers in New York, Chicago, London, Sao Paulo and Louisville, ICAP provides execution services in both exchange-listed and OTC markets. ICAP also has teams on the floors of both the CBOT and ICE Futures U.S. (formerly NYBOT) exchanges, providing pit execution and real time information.

In Australia, ICAP is a leading interdealer broker active in foreign exchange; OTC interest rate swaps and options; government, semi-govt, corporate and inflation-linked bonds: cash and treasury products; electricity and environmental credits; and exchange-traded interest rate futures and options.