September 26, 2012--EU proposals to regulate high frequency trading under MiFID may well end up raising transaction costs for end-investors and pushing trading into the dark rather than making markets more transparent, argues Remco Lenterman.
Remco Lenterman is chairman of the FIA European Principal Traders Association.
"The negotiations on the revision of the EU’s law for securities markets, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), are entering a crucial phase. Some proposals may well end up raising transaction costs for end-investors and pushing trading into the dark rather than making markets more transparent.
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Source: Euractiv.com
European Parliament moves to fight market speculation
September 26, 2012--The European Parliament on Wednesday agreed plans to improve financial market transparency and end speculation, notably deal-making blamed for volatile food prices.
The assembly's economic affairs committee unanimously agreed -- by 45 votes in favour -- new rules based on a proposal last year by the European Commission to update European Union regulation on markets in financial instruments, known as MIFID.
Under the agreement, market players and trading operators would be required to lay down clear rules and procedures for fair and orderly trading, objective criteria for executing orders efficiently, and transparent criteria for determining which financial instruments may be traded via their systems.
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Source: EUbusiness
S&P lowers eurozone growth forecasts
September 26, 2012--The international ratings agency Standard and Poor's slashed its 2012-2013 eurozone growth forecasts on Tuesday, and now expects a slightly stronger economic contraction this year.
S&P said that business activity would likely decline by 0.8 percent across the 17-nation bloc rather than by 0.7 percent, its previous forecast issued in July.
For 2013, the ratings agency expects the eurozone economy to record no growth, revising the earlier outlook for a slight expansion of 0.3 percent.
"Recent economic indicators continue to paint a bleak picture for Europe," a statement quoted Jean-Michel Six, S&P chief economist for Europe as saying.
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Source: EUbusiness
ESMA publishes a Q&A on KIID for UCITS
September 25, 2012--The purpose of this document is to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of the UCITS Directive and its implementing measures.
It does this by providing responses to questions posed by the general public and competent authorities in relation to the practical application of the UCITS framework.
view the Q&A Key Investor Information Document (KIID) for UCITS document
Source: ESMA
German High-Frequency Bill to Affect Hedge Funds, Official Says
September 25, 2012--Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet will vote on a bill tomorrow that limits high-frequency trading even for market participants outside Germany and requires automated orders to be marked as such, a government official said.
High-frequency traders will have to seek authorization and will be supervised under the legislation proposal, the official told reporters in Berlin today on condition of anonymity because the bill has not yet been published. High-frequency trade will be curbed and market abuse will be punished, he said in Berlin.
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Source: Bloomberg
MEPs' MiFID text proposes maker-taker ban
September 25, 2012--The European Parliament's version of MiFID II could ban maker-taker tariffs as well as imposing a widely-expected crackdown on high-frequency trading, according documents seen by theTRADEnews.com.
A version of the directive and its attendant regulation proposed by rapporteur Markus Ferber MEP to the Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) will be voted on by the committee this Wednesday. It will then be voted on by all MEPs next month.
The document seen seeks to outlaw the use of rebate pricing structures, stating, “an investment firm shall not receive any remuneration, discount or non-monetary benefit for routing orders to a particular trading venue or execution venue”.
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Source: The Trade
EEX wants futures contracts for green power trading
EEX presents five possible new contracts for discussion
Wind, solar and hydroelectric power to be traded
No details of further timing, decision-making
September 24, 2012--The European Energy Exchange
(EEX) said on Monday it aims to introduce futures contracts to
allow investors to trade wind, hydroelectric and solar-derived
power in Europe.
German-based EEX has been looking at ways to capture opportunities in the fast-growing green energy sector. Its
proposals envisage five power futures contracts, tradeable up to
the three years in advance, the exchange said in a note issued
after a meeting of its supervisory council.
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Source: Reuters
Investors force radical reshaping
September 23, 2012--The eurozone's investment industry has been radically reshaped in the past decade, with the proportion of funds owned by retail investors almost halving.
Direct ownership by private investors accounted for just 27.2 per cent of the €4.6tn industry last year, down from 49.1 per cent in 2001, according to figures from the European Fund and Asset Management Association.
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Source: FT.com
British budget deficit swells to August record
September 21, 2012--Britain's budget deficit widened to the biggest on record for any August, data showed on Friday, a day after the central bank governor said overshooting budget targets may now be acceptable.
The government said a weak economy pushed down corporation tax receipts and drove up benefit payments. As a result, public sector net borrowing excluding financial sector interventions - the government's preferred measure - rose last month to 14.410 billion pounds from 14.365 billion in August 2011. That was the highest for any August since records began in January 1993, although slightly below economists' forecast in a Reuters poll for 15.0 billion pounds.
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Source: Today's Zaman
Turkey embraces Islamic finance with sovereign sukuk
September 20, 2012--Turkey's issue of its first sovereign sukuk this week paves the way for Turkish companies to raise money through Islamic bonds, and may help the country become a major market for Islamic investors from the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
After coming to power a decade ago, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government, which espouses Islamic values, largely shied away from Islamic finance for fear of opening itself to charges that it was trying to roll back state secularism. This prevented the world's eighth most populous Muslim nation from participating fully in rapid growth of the industry. Islamic financial assets globally hit $1.3 trillion in 2011, a 150 percent increase over five years, according to an estimate by lobby group TheCityUK's UK Islamic Finance Secretariat.
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Source: Today's Zaman
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