By Steve Grob
Not much surprise at this week’s news then, but the rationale for blocking the deal seems odd. Firstly, and whatever they may claim, Brussels did take an overly Eurocentric view. Just call the CME in Chicago and ask where Liffe and Eurex appear on its list of major competitors. Secondly, the Commission claims that LIFFE and EUREX themselves compete but, in fact, they are effectively two ‘mini-monopolies’ operating at opposite ends of the yield curve with almost...

Hedge Funds World Middle East is just over a month away and the list of confirmed investors is growing!  Have you seen who’s attending yet?  You can download the list of confirmed investor attendees here – just enter a few details and we’ll email the list to you.  Investor attendees include Emirates Investment Authority, Dubai Holding, the Kanoo Group and many more.   Local family offices, institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds will provide the Middle East...

Traditionally, single view technology monitoring or transaction tracing has been unable to provide the full business context of the trading infrastructure. ITRS has been recognised as a key APM innovator in a recent analyst report: Gartner APM Innovators: Driving APM Technology and Delivery Evolution.

Hedge Fund Data Management – Background
Originally hedge funds were small nimble firms that were highly focused on the task of alpha generation. The industry’s out-sized returns soon attracted attention resulting in huge inflows of capital. For many managers this success also came with much greater operational complexity. Key industry developments like the change in hedge fund investor profile from high-net-worth individuals to institutional investors, the move from...

As market data volumes continue to grow exponentially, so too does the burden on wealth managers and financial advisors to identify ways to harness the power of market data and transform it into a meaningful competitive advantage. What’s required is a cohesive market data management strategy that not only simplifies internal operations, but also lays the groundwork for tools that enhance engagement with customers. Introducing the market data cloud Cloud technology available today is...

By Neil McGovern, Senior Director, Marketing

“Our currency is not AAA, and in recent months the performance of our government has not been AAA, but our debt is AAA.”
- Warren Buffett in response to the Standard and Poor’s downgrade of U.S. treasuries on August 5th, 2011

It seems the markets agree with Warren Buffet on this one. A downgrade in an instrument usually results in a rush to unload said instrument. But the result in this case was a rush to safety, which...

According to a study conducted by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), demand for trade finance products will slow down globally in 2012. This is caused by liquidity shortage of banks resulting from the prevailing debt crisis in the eurozone. The survey finds that the factors contributing to the negative outlook were primarily financial constraints that limit the availability of trade finance for companies. A major finding of the study is that...

According to a Financial Times article, commodities and gold prices continued their winning streak since the start of the year, on expectations of further monetary easing in the US and a soft landing in China. An easier monetary policy is seen as a positive for gold, which is denominated in dollars. Bullion is also seen by many investors as a hedge against inflation, with many anticipating that historic-low interest rates will lead to higher inflation. The picture is not all rosy for...

In theory, I am busy writing material for my upcoming speaking events, rather than writing terribly illuminating posts on my blog (see what I did there?).  In actuality I am being lazy and have pretty much taken January off for a recharge.In the spirit of doing something which ticks both the event-speaking and blogging boxes, this is a quick update on the conferences I'm confirmed for so far.  Put the following dates in your diary - these are my first international solo speaking...

By Steve Grob
Well at least it is in France, as reports seem to confirm that its finance minister is enthusiastically pushing ahead with a unilateral Tobin-style tax on equities, bonds and derivatives trading. It’s a shame that the proponents of such a tax don’t seem to have done even a basic amount of homework. The original idea introduced by Nobel Laureate economist James Tobin was conceived as a tax on all spot conversions of one currency into another. The idea was to discourage...