Exchanges/Platforms

India’s offshore trading assault might pay off

12 Feb 2018

Local exchanges will no longer share data with foreign rivals. This move, which is especially painful for Singapore, looks protectionist and will irritate some investors. The higher volumes for Indian exchanges, and a potential tax boost to New Delhi, could make it worthwhile.

Hohn’s LSE/U.S. mashup is tantalising but tricky

26 Jan 2018

After a failed boardroom coup, hedgie Chris Hohn reckons the $20 bln London Stock Exchange could be bought by a U.S. rival, according to Sky. A deal with, say, ICE, would create savings and scale in derivatives clearing. But the latter could prompt the UK government to object.

Aramco IPO beggars needn’t feel like losers

19 Jan 2018

BAML, UBS and Barclays have missed the cut to be global coordinators on the Saudi oil giant’s mega-listing, Reuters reports. Forgoing big fees from a $100 billion IPO will be cause for garment rending. Then again Saudi is a risky client and the process is replete with uncertainty.

Hong Kong will start atoning for missing Alibaba

4 Jan 2018

The city lost many Chinese tech listings to New York. But it is building a critical mass of stocks, analysts and investors, and is poised to weaken governance rules in favour of founders. That sets the stage for the IPOs of rising stars Didi, Toutiao and Meituan-Dianping.

Hadas: Albanian mania is cautionary crypto tale

28 Dec 2017

Back in 1996, the Balkan state went wild for investment funds offering 30 percent monthly returns. The final cost was 2,000 lives and five years of lost GDP growth. Bitcoin’s 24 percent monthly gains in 2017 show similar foolishness, but a quick collapse could limit the harm.

Viewsroom: Saudi Aramco’s path may lead to China

21 Dec 2017

That the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will join Riyadh in hosting the world’s largest IPO is one of Breakingviews’ 2018 predictions. We also explain the method to our fortune-telling and lay out why China will win the 5G standards race and why Wall Street will learn to love bitcoin.

LSE needs plan for itself, not just its bosses

20 Dec 2017

Hedge fund TCI's aggressive campaign to remove Chairman Donald Brydon failed. Yet the bruising soap opera over ex-CEO Xavier Rolet has exposed a lack of forethought. As well as its two top jobs, the exchange group needs to consider acquisitions – or selling itself.

Saudi Aramco’s backup IPO plan runs through China

19 Dec 2017

Venue shopping is proving difficult for Saudi's national oil giant. London's listing rules - and Qatar’s investment in the LSE - will be hard to overcome. Legal risks make New York iffy. A Hong Kong float, supported by a pipeline of cash from China, may be the least-bad option.

Bitcoin futures set scene for more gambling

11 Dec 2017

The 20 pct surge on new CBOE cash-settled contracts is sedate by crypto-currency standards. There’s still cause for concern. Rather than being a useful hedge, futures make it easier to trade bitcoin without actually owning it. For now they have little utility beyond speculation.

LSE boardroom ceasefire is least bad outcome

29 Nov 2017

CEO Xavier Rolet is leaving the London Stock Exchange immediately, ending an activist campaign for him to stay on. Chairman Donald Brydon will step down in 2019. The compromise averts a longer and more damaging public row. But nobody emerges from the saga with much credit.

Fred Goodwin’s ghost haunts LSE board fight

28 Nov 2017

In 2007 the forceful RBS boss led his bank into a disastrous deal, encouraged by Chris Hohn. The activist investor is now backing London bourse CEO Xavier Rolet against the company’s directors. Hohn’s call for Bank of England support has backfired. Goodwin may help explain why.

BlackRock ETF bot makes turkeys of human managers

27 Nov 2017

Larry Fink’s $6 trln asset manager is turning to computers to run a new batch of exchange-traded funds tracking shifting industry sectors. Machine learning and big data should do it well and at low cost. It adds more worries for flesh-and-blood stock pickers.

LSE boardroom brawl will produce only losers

20 Nov 2017

Activist TCI wants to oust bourse Chairman Donald Brydon and reverse the departure of CEO Xavier Rolet. The board is preparing a public explanation for Rolet’s exit, perhaps including salty details. Directors, executives, shareholders and the exchange itself will all look bad.

UK economy will share Theresa May’s pain

13 Nov 2017

The Prime Minister is facing growing challenges to her leadership from the ruling party’s pro- and anti-EU factions. Political disarray increases the risks that leaving the European Union will do serious economic harm. A softer Brexit is growing harder to deliver.

TCI turns “inactivist” investor with LSE campaign

6 Nov 2017

The hedge fund usually demands that CEOs quit. This time it’s pushing for London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet to stay in his job while criticising the chairman. The LSE board owes shareholders an explanation. The risk of a board spat, though, is that both men end up leaving.

CEO exit worsens Deutsche Boerse’s bind

26 Oct 2017

Carsten Kengeter is stepping down after failing to resolve an insider-trading probe. An aborted plan to merge with the London Stock Exchange also eroded support at home. But his departure leaves the German group ill-prepared to benefit from any Brexit-related opportunities.

Crypto-currencies’ strength becomes their weakness

29 Sep 2017

Freedom from regulation was the big draw of bitcoin, ether and the like. But exchanges established to trade them often lack basic controls on identity, fraud, tech and even volume. Without fixes, digital currencies will stay on the financial fringe, prone to crime and bubbles.

Nasdaq signals information is the real market

5 Sep 2017

The tech-heavy exchange is paying $705 mln for eVestment, a data provider to asset owners and managers. It’s pricey at over 16 times adjusted EBITDA. But CEO Adena Friedman sees more value in information that brings buyers and sellers together than in acting as a trade conduit.

Hong Kong’s fresh Aramco pitch is flawed

5 Sep 2017

Stock exchange boss Charles Li is pushing a "Primary Connect" scheme allowing Chinese punters to buy into listings in the city. The aim is to lure the bumper Saudi IPO with the prospect of a flood of retail money. But mainland investors have a better playground at home.

Vanguard slowly flexes corporate-governance muscle

1 Sep 2017

Index funds can’t choose to sell stocks. But the $4.5 trln fund giant is engaging more with companies and in the past year voted against management at Exxon Mobil, Viacom and Wells Fargo on climate change, pay and the like. It’s hardly activism but it beats pure passive investing.