Jonathan Clark, CEO of Luminex Trading & Analytics, was recently interviewed by MarketsMedia news regarding trends in 2019. He believes that the number of ATS venues will continue to shrink. “The barriers to entry, regulatory hurdles, and reputational risk (if you’re not fully committed to doing it right) are far too high for the number of players to remain the same” he said. “Those broker-dealers that are tertiary presences in the space likely will leave, and those who might otherwise be interested in starting an ATS probably will not do so”. Regarding...

The Swiss stock exchange saw a total of 12 new listings during 2018, the highest number reached since 2001. SIX carried out Europe’s third-largest IPO in 2018, the IPO of SIG Combibloc with a transaction volume of CHF 1.7 billion. In the previous year SIX recorded a total IPO transaction volume of CHF 3.9 billion, ranking it fourth in Europe behind Deutsche Börse, London Stock Exchange and Euronext. SIX also registered higher trading activity compared with the previous year. Trading turnover was up by 1.1%, reaching 1361.3 billion by the end of 2018. The number of trades rose as...

Bakkt, the cryptocurrency exchange and platform project from the Intercontinental Exchange ("ICE"), has raised $182 million from its first funding round, according to a story in The Trade news. The funds were raised through a consortium of 12 organizations. ICE first announced plans for its cryptocurrency platform in August last year, drawing on support from non-financial organizations, including Microsoft and Starbucks, to launch a federally-regulated market and warehouse for digital assets. Bakkt will initially be used for trading and conversion of Bitcoin versus fiat currencies by both...

January 4, 2019 Son-Mi Lee, Senior Regulatory Advisor, FIF; Christopher Bok, Director, FIF   On December 19, 2018, over 150 FIF industry participants representing broker-dealers, vendors, and exchanges joined the annual FIF year-end event held at Bloomberg’s flagship office located at 731 Lexington Avenue, New York City.  Opening remarks were made by Mike Tirello, Global Head of SSEOMS Product Compliance, Bloomberg.  Christopher Bok, Director of FIF, reviewed FIF’s 2018 activities, providing an update on FIF’s regulatory-focused working groups, including...

Asset managers are looking to emerging technologies to tackle concerns about hitting growth objectives within the current market environment, according to a survey carried out by State Street. State Street polled more than 500 global asset managers, asset owners and insurance companies to understand what they believe to be barriers to growth, with 48% of respondents labelling emerging technologies, including blockchain and artificial intelligence, as a ‘top enabler of growth’ over the next five years. The results showed a significant increase from State Street’s 2017...

Gerard Francis, head of enterprise data at Bloomberg, was interviewed by MarketsMedia on the topic of skill sets that will see increasing demand in 2019. As the industry continues to respond to rapid changes in AI and machine learning, data science skill sets will be the most sought after. Employees with a deep understanding of these technologies and who can draw insightful conclusions from vast amounts of raw data will be in demand. Individuals who can integrate AI, machine learning, and natural language processing concepts with insightful knowledge of a business domain will be especially...

JP Morgan is experimenting with the way blockchain could help cut costs and facilitate smoother transactions within capital markets through a prototype of its blockchain-based platform for capital markets, called Dromaius. According to a story in The Wall Street Journal, a team of employees will work this year on overcoming challenges related to integrating and scaling the technology before deploying it to customers. JP Morgan joins other banks that are experimenting with how blockchain-based platforms could be used for capital markets, where huge sums of money, a variety of stakeholders...

FIF CAT Tech Spec Working Group - Focused on the scenerios portion on the spec, starting with section 2.1.4 FIF SEC Rule 606 Working Group - Reviewed and elicited feedback from members regarding a potential letter to be sent to the Commission on SEC Rule 606. FIF Front Office Committee Meeting -  Focused on order management and trading system issues resulting from proposed rule changes (SEC, FINRA, SROs) and other initiatives impacting exchange traded equities and options, and OTC transactions. Find this month's agenda here.

The first transaction via SIX Deal Pool took place on the new central and electronic support tool for the Swiss Franc fixed income primary market in Switzerland. With the introduction of SIX Deal Pool, manual and bilateral processes are harmonized and simplified with a centralized electronic service used by both Buy-side and Sell-side. SIX Deal Pool offers institutional investors and banks information about upcoming Swiss Franc bond offerings in a timely, standardized and convenient manner. SIX Deal Pool is supported by 16 syndicate banks. As a neutral provider, SIX makes the same...