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Archiv: August 2006


30.08.2006

Tullett intends to develop Asian and Latin American products

Tullett Prebon Information (TPI), the subsidiary of interdealer broker Collins Stewart Tullett, is set to grow its business in Asia and Latin America, possibly by creating domestic data packages for those markets. According to Henry Ann, senior managing director and head of information sales and new business, the company is seeing significant demand from customers for data on exotic and emerging market currency-denominated instruments that are not yet largely traded electronically and are still mainly voice-broked.

Though TPI has no products specifically for Asian data, it will be exploring the feasibility of creating surch services. But given the lack of electronic liquidity in those markets, the biggest challenge to developing products would be sourcing a suitable live feed of local bond data, Ann says.

TPI is also scoping out the market for launching new data products in South America. "The emergence of Brazil, with the potential to go investment-grade in the next 18 months, opens the door to people looking for data," Ann says. "People in the US are looking for information on Brazil, and people there are looking for information on the US. We have the content and the ability to deliver it."

Source: Inside Market Data

Interdealer brokerage data is available on Telekurs Financial's financial information display Telekurs iD. For more information about this offering, you may read the following feature (download 55 kb) from our news magazine realtime.


SIS to launch world's first fund settlement service

SIS SegaInterSettle is to launch the world's first automated service for the settlement of offshore & hedge funds. The service revolves around a real-time link between SIS SegaInterSettle, its participants and the transfer agents. The company plans to implement the new service in December 2006.

With the launch of GFS – Global Funds Services – the traditionally labour- and paper-intensive settlement of offshore & hedge funds will be largely automated. The service is based on a real-time link between the GFS Internet portal and SECOM, SIS SegaInterSettle's online real-time settlement system. It offers standardised settlement at the ISO 15022 quality standards. The service simplifies securities and cash reconciliation and allows for monitoring and overview of the statuses of pending orders at all times.

Source: SIS Group


29.08.2006

Why hedge fund managers watch the weather forecast

The weather will be an important subject at Wall Street as fall is slowly arriving. In the US the end of the summer usually brings the Hurricane Season. The floods of New Orleans are still in everybody's mind and is only understandable that this season is expected with nervous anxiety. In the financial community the subject is now launched with the rediscovery of a special financial instrument, the so-called Catastrophe Bonds (Cat Bonds). Cat Bonds are issued by reinsurance companies and offer yields which may be 5 to 15 percent higher than US treasuries. These bonds have been in the market for a long time, but it was the series of last year's disasters that brought them back into the spotlight.

For issuers such as Swiss Re or Hanover Re Cat Bonds are used to diversify the risk portfolio. Insurance companies can transfer part of their risks to the capital markets, where numerous hedge funds are willing to invest in disaster risks. Cat Bonds feature an attractive yield, but they can also become worthless in the case of a disaster. In other words: hedge funds buy a bond with an attached option which is activated in a pre-defined scenario liberating the issuer from its duty to refund. In this case, the hedge funds suffers the downside of the instrument.

This risk may be seen as a deterrent. On the other hand, it would take a century disaster to fulfil the conditions of a total investment loss. The probability of such a disaster is rated by the experts with a chance of 1 to 100 by experts or even higher. So far, investors were always refunded at the end of the term.

Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung


Testing Technology in a Disaster Response

It began with a worldwide virus outbreak that had cities under quarantine, emergency workers overwhelmed and government agencies unable to cope. It was compounded by a wave of cyberterror attacks that cut off power, phones and Internet access. Such was the crisis that teams from the Pentagon, nongovernmental agencies and several dozen technology companies set out to resolve in a five-day simulation meant to showcase and test a new set of digital tools in responding to disaster...

Read the full story by New York Times


25.08.2006

OPRA forecasts rising data volumes for 2007

OPRA (Options Price Reporting Authority) has recently corrected its volume forecast. For January 2007, OPRA expects volumes to reach 359'000 messages per second (mps) and 3.3 bln messages per day with a required bandwith of 204.6 MB per second (mbps). In January 2006 volumes of 149'000 mps had been recorded.

This brings the data growth rate up to 200 percent within one year. For OPRA the growth is caused by several factors.

A growing number of market participants operate with a "electronic market access" where quotes are generated automatically. Every machine-generated quote is answered by another automated quote.

The growing economy causes more share splits and spin-offs with a resulting growth in the number of traded stock, which in turn causes more derivatives to be issued.

Penny quoting: Until the end of January 2007 some options will be traded in penny increments during a pilot phase Penny increments will certainly fuel the market, but will also cause volumes to rise as a downside.


Deutsche Boerse launches proximity service

German stock exchange Deutsche Boerse has launched the new "Proximity Service". Customers of Deutsche Boerse are now able to place their trading machines in the vicinity of the matching machines and data distribution systems of the exchange. This will reduce the data latency and will also enable customers to access the data of the trading platforms more rapidly.

Deutsche Boerse has joined forces with the data center specialist IXEurope to launch this service. It is specially designed for the time-critical applications of algorythm and program trading and satisfies an important customer demand.


Telekurs iD release 2006-1 is now live!

Here is a summary of the new features that await you:

Display enhancements:
- Fade in/out for the title bar
- Client logo can be integrated
- Enhanced tool tips with additional fields
- Choice of blue or red background colour for refreshed quotes
- Revised content and new look for single quote
- Regional formats

Improved quick search
New list type with several columns in one list
New list type with multiple lists
Lists: Convert prices into foreign currency
Enhanced style editor (now with integrated search function)
New matrix viewer for displaying forex data
New quote fields in chart function
Charts now display yield curves
New calendar for date selection
Single quote: Greater data depth for the SWX and the LSE (=level 2)
Ticker: More data fields to choose from
Securities data: D-U-N-S number for corporate structure identification
New user preferences
Enhanced display of your own entitlements
New groups level for users
New screen paging mode for automatic screen sequences

New screens:
- Analyses (in the Advisory folder)
- London Metal Exchange LME (in the Markets folder)
- Eastern Europe overview (in the Markets folder)
- Sports news (in the News folder)

Further information: Telekurs iD Newsletter


24.08.2006

Banks to challenge LSE with rival trade reporting system

Ten City banks, thought to include Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Merrill Lynch, are working together to set up their own system for the collection and sale of trading data that would by-pass those operated by the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and other European exchanges.

According to press reports, the banks are holding preliminary talks about setting up a trade reporting system that will take advantage of the changes introduced by the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which is expected to be implemented in November 2007.

At present, all trades must be reported to the LSE or a recognised exchange, regardless of whether an exchange's systems were used for the transaction. The LSE and other exchanges charge brokers for this service and also for access to the trading data they then provide.

Source: Finextra


23.08.2006

UK trade bodies band together to influence MiFID

A group of 11 UK trade associations have banded together to influence the way the European Union's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is implemented following fears that City regulators could take an "overly stringent approach" to the new measures, reports the Financial Times.

The FT says the 11 financial trade associations, which have formed a steering group called MiFID Connect, are lobbying to establish a "practical, cost-effective and market-sensitive policy" on the directive's implementation. They hired law firm Clifford Chance to compile a MiFID Survival Guide*, which is on sale for £1100.

MiFID, which takes effect in November 2007, has been finalised in Brussels but uncertainty remains over how the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) will interpret the directive.

*More information about the MiFID Survival Guide may be obtained from the MiFID Connect Secretariat, which is based at The British Bankers’ Association, Pinners Hall, 105-108 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1EX, Tel: +44 (0)20 7216 8800 or from any of the participating associations.


22.08.2006

Banking 'top student job choice'

Investment banking is the most popular future career for university students, a survey suggests. The publisher GTI found that 20% of the 20,000 undergraduates and recent graduates it interviewed would like to work in this area.

Read the full story by BBC News.


21.08.2006

Telekurs Financial Announces A-Day Pricing Solution

With new pension valuation rules soon approaching, Telekurs Financial is pleased to announce the launch of its A-Day Pricing Solution through the Intraday Pricing Service. The service is designed to meet the requirements of the UK Government's A-Day rules for the valuation of clients’ Self Invested Pension Plans (SIPP), which come into effect on 1 October 2006.

ipslogo.gif

The change to valuation rules following A-Day affects everybody who has a SIPP, whether contributing or not, and in some cases those who are already drawing their pension. The new tax system brings the eight different tax rules governing the various types of pensions into line to create a single tax regime.

As well as giving the pension holder more flexibility in terms of which instruments can be included in a SIPP, the new rules specify the methods to be used in the valuation of SIPPs.

Telekurs Financial will provide clients with a 'Quarter-up Price', a 'Halfway Price' and a 'Market Value Price' for UK instruments, along with the relevant prices for international instruments.

The Intraday Pricing Service is a flexible solution that meets the needs of UK SIPP providers by delivering the following benefits:

>> Flexible, portfolio-based valuation snapshots
>> Customisable output reports for simple implementation
>> Access to prices for over 2.7 Million instruments globally, across all asset classes
>> Security selection using a client's chosen numbering system (Sedol, ISIN, Valor, etc.)
>> Simple uploading and downloading of requests and reports

To find out more about our Intraday Pricing Service please click here.

To get in touch with a representative from Telekurs Financial , please email info@telekurs.co.uk or call on Tel. +44 (0)20 7550 5000.


17.08.2006

PRESS RELEASE: Telekurs Financial introduces the CARS Verification Service

Telekurs Financial announces the Verification Service as a new feature in the Corporate Actions Reports Service (CARS). This report is made available to CARS clients on request – adding considerable value to their current service.

Read the full text of this press release (download 21 kb).


16.08.2006

Truce sends stocks in Beirut and Israel higher

The beginning of the cease fire in the Middle East gave the financial markets of the region a breather on Monday. Stocks at the Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) rose by an average of 5 percent. To contain any drastic volatility, the BSE had limited the fluctuations of prices to the same percentage. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has deeply hit the Lebanese economy. The damages in infrastructure are estimated to amount to more than $ 2.5 bln. according to official sources.

Stocks at the Tel Aviv exchange also reacted positively. The stock index Tel Aviv 100 rose by 0.19 percent on Monday. The exchange had already anticipated most of the positive effects of the cease fire on the day before.

Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung


15.08.2006

Twenty five years of the IBM PC

Computer firm IBM made technological history on 12 August 1981 with the announcement of a personal computer - the IBM 5150. Costing $1,565, the 5150 had just 16K of memory - scarcely more than a couple of modest e-mails worth.

Read the full story by BBC News.


09.08.2006

Hand movements to replace remote control

Those wasted hours searching for remote controls could soon be over. Researchers at Osaka University in Japan have come up with a new system where palm movements, rather than remotes, are used to control domestic appliances.

Read the full article by BusinessWeek online.


08.08.2006

Europe remains IPO champion

According to the recent study "IPO Watch Europe" by Pricewaterhouse Coppers (PwC) the number of IPOs in European trading places has risen from 126 in the first quarter to 187. The total issuing volume has even rise by 100% to a value of Euro 19.415 bln.

With these figures, Europe has clearly left behind the USA. In the USA the number of IPOs went back from 56 to 51. The total issuing volume suffered a setback to reach (only) Euro 8.27 bln. According to PwC's study Europe is seen as an attractive IPO pole by the international financial community. Europe is also capable of attracting non-European companies. In the 2nd quarter 33 IPO's of non-European companies were registered with a volume of Euro 1.246 bln, they make 6 percent of the total IPO volume.

As for the most attractive trading place within Europe, it is Euronext that has reached the top position (with a issuing volume of Euro 4.157 bln, leaving behind the London Stock Exchange (LSE). In London the IPO value sank from Euro 5.971 bln to Euro 3.655 bln. However, if the actual number of IPOs is compared, London still keeps the top position with 74 IPOs.

Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung

IPOs are comprised in Telekurs Financial's global reference data offering.


UBS to purchase 51% of Korea's largest asset manager

UBS Global Asset Management has announced that it plans to enter into a stock purchase agreement with Daehan Investment & Securities Company (DI&S) to acquire 51% of Daehan Investment Management Trust Company (DIMCO), Korea’s largest asset management company. Under the joint venture, DIMCO will be known as UBS Hana Asset Management Company Ltd (UBS Hana Asset Management) internationally and as Hana UBS Asset Management in Korea. The transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed within the third quarter of 2006.

Source: UBS


04.08.2006

Citigroup to create Islamic banking hub in Malaysia

Citigroup is to base the centre of its new Asian Islamic banking unit in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. The majority Muslim population of Malaysia is one of the drivers for Citigroup to center their operations in this country, although the Citigroup have stressed that the plan is to use Kuala Lumpur as a hub through which Islamic banking under the Citigroup brand can be expanded throughout Asia.

Amid the current trend by many of the world's banks to supply Shariah law-compliant services, Citigroup can profit from its own long-term expertise, having first set up Islamic banking in 1981, and becoming the first bank to set up a separate Islamic Bank – Citi Islamic Investment Bank (CIIB) in 1996.

Islamic banking is presently regarded as one of the most dynamic and fastest growing sectors in the world.

Source: bobsguide


03.08.2006

Beirut exchange registers heavy losses after reopening

At the reopening of the Lebanese exchange at the beginning of this month, Investors were not showing any hesitation to sell their stock. The exchange had been closed for a period of two weeks due to the ongoing crisis between Lebanon and Israel.

During the first half an hour of trading all share prices fell rapidly and soon reached the official maximum limit of 5 percent. Traders confirmed on Tuesday that the investors were not wiling to buy under the circumstances of the ongoing war. However, their interest might awake if shares would continue to fall down to another 15 to 20 percent. The Lebanese share index Blom closed trading with -4.1 percent.

Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung


02.08.2006

Man Group purchases Eurex US

The derivative exchange Eurex, which is owned by Deutsche Boerse and the Swiss exchange SWX, has sold 70 percent of its American subsidiary Eurex US to the British hedge fund company Man Group.

Man Group will purchase this majority stake for a purchase price of $23.2 million in cash and in addition make a capital injection of $35 million into a new business model. According to Kevin Davis, Chairman and CEO of Man Financial, the brokerage division of Man Group, the goal is to offer new derivative products and options which are not traded at other exchanges. The new trading platform, wich will be called US Futures Exchange (USF), will use the technical infrastructure of Eurex and Deutsche Boerse.

Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung


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