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People News - January 2019
U.S. Treasury official Heath Tarbert has been formally nominated by the White House to be the next chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. The nomination, which was first announced in December, was submitted to the Senate on Jan. 9 and is now pending before the Senate Agriculture Committee. Tarbert currently serves as assistant secretary for international markets at the Treasury Department. Earlier in his career he was a partner at the law firm of Allen & Overy. If confirmed, he would succeed CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo, who has announced he plans to leave when his term expires in April.
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R.J. O'Brien expands beyond futures with structured products
R. J. O’Brien, the largest independent futures broker in the U.S., has launched a new service providing agricultural structured products to its clients, the company’s first venture into this area. Designed for commercial agricultural firms of all sizes, the service covers structured products based on corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, sugar and coffee. Structured products are bilateral contracts between two counterparties and typically are customized to the customer's business needs. The product features that can be customized include contract expirations, cash settlements, barriers, and binary payoffs. "When we decided to enter this market, we knew we wanted to offer something different than others provide, that would produce real value for our clients. This includes the ability to generate far more quotes, much faster than competition is offering," RJO's Chairman and CEO Gerald Corcoran said in an announcement.
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CME releases reference data API to support trading automation
These days, trading takes place in nanoseconds. But the process of setting up the mechanics of that trading process has remained cumbersome manual work. That is changing now for traders of CME products. The Chicago-based exchange has released the CME Reference Data API that contains detailed specifications on all available products including futures, spreads, strategies and options, making it possible for much of this information to be uploaded automatically.
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Top Six Deals of 2018: Capital Markets M&A
Investment bankers who work on mergers and acquisitions in the finance sector had a busy year in 2018. Some of the biggest names in capital markets were involved in billion-dollar deals to expand their businesses. There was also a significant number of smaller deals, particularly among technology vendors and brokerages looking to expand their geographic footprint, target a niche market, or bring in additional capabilities. The following six M&A transactions reflect key trends in the global capital markets and indicate what kind of deals we might expect in the year to come. In some cases, such as CME Group's acquisition of NEX, the transactions involved companies directly engaged in the trading and clearing of derivatives. In other cases, such as Intercontinental Exchange's acquisition of Bondpoint, the transactions were outside the derivatives markets, but we have included them on the list because of their implications for trading technology, data solutions and market structure.
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A Year in Review: Timeline of 2018 M&A Transactions
FIA has compiled a list of 30 noteworthy transactions from 2018 related to derivatives markets in some way. Collectively, these deals reflect key trends in the global capital markets and indicate what kind of deals we might expect in the year to come.
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Fintech Innovators Offer New Products, New Solutions
FIA holds a showcase for fintech startups each year at the FIA Expo, its annual trade show in Chicago. The startups at the Innovators Pavilion are selected by an independent committee comprised of technology experts, venture capital investors and derivatives industry executives. To qualify, the startups must offer a technology solution that is both innovative and relevant for companies in the listed and cleared derivatives markets.
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BaFin: An Integrated Approach to Market Supervision
With the U.K. set to leave the European Union in March, Germany is becoming a more important center for financial institutions doing business in the EU. This raises the profile of BaFin, Germany’s main supervisor for the financial services sector. BaFin is responsible for the supervision of a wide range of financial services, including capital markets, banking institutions and insurance. Within the capital markets sector, this includes oversight of the two main derivatives clearinghouses in Germany, Eurex Clearing and European Commodity Clearing, as well as one central securities depository, Clearstream.
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Bursa Malaysia Updates Palm Oil Futures to Support Sustainability
The production of palm oil, the most popular vegetable oil on the planet, comes with some serious problems. In Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Asia, rainforests have been destroyed to create palm oil plantations, displacing endangered species and causing irreparable harm to the environment.
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Wall Street Rides FAR Helps Fund Autism Research
No one will deny that Wall Street can be a competitive place. But Bryan and Melissa Harkins have found the perfect way to put those competitive energies to good use—and for a good cause. The annual Wall Street Rides FAR charity event brings together hundreds of people from across the financial markets to benefit autism research. Now in its fourth year, the event has raised a cumulative total of roughly $1 million. The funds go to the Autism Science Foundation, which provides assistance to scientists and researchers studying the genetic causes behind the disorder.
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