Private Placement Services Portal Changes Name to PPM.co; Adds Full Suite of Product Offerings with Launch of New Website
(PRweb)–New York, NY–July 12 2016- PPM Services, Ltd, the global consulting firm specialising in private placement memorandum document preparation for debt and equities and business plan preparation services for start-ups, announced today that it has introduced a new suite of products and re-branded its website platform under the new domain, PPM.co. Owned and operated by parent company Broker Dealer LLC, PPM.co has also introduced new modules to its platform to support entrepreneurs and fast-growth business enterprises that are in need of documentation for Regulation A+ equity crowdfunding initiatives, Regulation D Exemptions, Eurobond and 144a bond and Regulation S offerings, EB-5, as well as CUSIP and ISIN code application services.
The updated PPM.co platform includes a newly-introduced referral service module for law firms, accounting firms and private investment brokers in need of outsourced securities offering document preparation services, as well as a recently-established investor relations and public relations service for companies in need of expert guidance and implementation of brand awareness and social media campaigns. Concurrent with the brand update, the firm has updated its Twitter account to @PPMexperts. The firm’s FaceBook page is available via this link.
About PPM.co
Established in 1999, PPM.co through its predecessor entities has provided documentation preparation services and investment offering material for hundreds of start-ups, fast-growth and well-established companies in virtually every part of the free world. PPM.co maintains its corporate office in New York’s Trump Building at 40 Wall Street, and regional offices staffed by a professional network of investment banking and legal consultants in Los Angeles, Austin, TX, Chicago, IL and Boston, MA, as well as London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tel Aviv. Our expertise extends across most offering types, ranging from private placement memorandum (PPM) and business plan writing services to 144A offerings, Regulation A and Regulation A+, Regulation S (Reg S or 144a-Reg S mixtures), securities listing, Euro bond creation, IPO services, and obtaining securities identification numbers including CUSIP and ISIN (International Securities Identification Number). The firm’s website is located at www.ppm.co and social media outlets Twitter via @PPMexperts and FaceBook
Now that corporate bond fund managers have proven their continuing interest in and use of bond ETFs, State Street and Bloomberg LP are joining hands in an effort to re-define the notion of “straight-thru-processing” for institutional investors that are using fixed income ETF products…MarketsMuse sends a shout-out to BusinessWire for allowing us to re-distribute the below news release.
BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) , and Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, announced today the launch of an enhancement for the fixed income exchange traded fund (ETF) market that helps clients process and settle ETF orders in a more efficient, scalable and automated manner.
As institutional adoption of ETFs continues to increase, this new link between State Street and Bloomberg marks an evolution in how fixed income ETFs trade and settle in the primary market. The enhancement integrates Bloomberg’s Fixed Income ETF Basket service (BSKT<GO>) with TotalETF℠, State Street’s automated, global ETF servicing solution and Fund Connect®, State Street’s online order management system.
Bloomberg’s service allows authorized participants to submit orders directly from BSKT<GO> to State Street and generates in-kind settlement instructions based on transaction messages received from Bloomberg. It will also be available to all ETF sponsors currently serviced by State Street Global Services.
As MarketsMuse curators work towards competing for the news industry award for publishing the “5 millionth” commentary regarding last week’s “Brexit” vote, our senior publisher voted in favor of keeping the blog post focused on a global macro view that is different than what the popular pundits have been opining for the past week. With that in mind, Neil Azous of Rareview Macro coincidentally canned a video interview yesterday with Interactive Brokers, aka “the professionals gateway to the world’s markets” and arguably, the most robust online brokerage platform used by a broad spectrum of hedge funds and professional traders..The interview below can be found on IB’s blog and via @IBKR_TI
BlackRock is the latest firm to embrace Symphony Chat Platform; Another Shot Across Bloomberg Bow
In early 2014, when David Gurle, a former Reuters exec started to chat up a scheme with prospective banking industry investors that would offer a low cost alternative to Bloomberg LP’s ubiquitous instant message / chat application, prospective strategic investors were more than intrigued. After all, Bloomberg had long held a virtual monopoly on the most critical application used across financial markets, one that enables traders and managers to rapidly communicate indications of interest for large-scale transactions And, because Bloomberg only provides bundled applications within its subscription model, many terminal subscribers who only use that platform for instant messaging have long been handcuffed to annual terminal fees that approach $25,000 per user for the simple privilege of instant messaging. Guthrie’s idea was not only intriguing, it was seen as an epiphany moment by a start-up investing group within Goldman Sachs led by a fellow named David Cohen, who long expressed concerns about Bloomberg’s toe-hold on trading desk communications.
Soon thereafter, a consortium of banks and buyside firms pumped nearly $70 million into the startup named Symphony, each sharing the same goal of hoping to save millions of dollars on Bloomberg subscription fees and via a more secure way to communicate with trading desk counterparts away from watching eyes of Bloomberg’s black box. Nearly 2 years since that first funding round, the company has received approximately $100mil to fund its David v. Goliath battle. Now that Blackrock has joined the Symphony party, the fintech company’s still slow path to prominence is hoped to hasten. Below excerpt from WSJ frames the latest chapter..
David Gurle, Symphony CEO
By JUSTIN BAER and SARAH KROUSE
June 23, 2016 7:00 p.m. ET
The world’s largest money manager is trying to change the way Wall Street chats.
BlackRock Inc. will urge banks, brokers and others who interact with it to communicate via a messaging platform backed by banks and investment firms called Symphony Communication Services LLC, according to people familiar with the matter.
The asset manager, also an investor in Symphony, started testing the system with thousands of employees internally last year and now has moved all internal chat messaging to the service, the people said.
The hope from those backing Symphony is that BlackRock’s push will help jump-start the service’s use across the financial-services industry.
Symphony was created as an alternative to Bloomberg LP terminals, long a hallmark of trading floors and an expense banks have struggled to trim. The firms also like Symphony’s secure-messaging technology.
Despite the fanfare that followed Symphony’s late-2014 launch and last year’s $100 million funding round that included an investment from Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Symphony has yet to gain widespread use, according to traders across Wall Street.
At Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a Symphony investor that contributed its own messaging developments to the platform, the service is now used by most of the firm’s employees across all of its businesses, according to a person familiar with the situation. Goldman traders, for instance, use Symphony to communicate with back-office employees charged with settling trades.
Elsewhere, though, Symphony remains little used or, in some cases, virtually unknown.
BREXIT or BREMAIN the NEVERENDUMS Will Continue in Europe
“Should I Stay or Should I Go? That Answer Is Self Evident…”
A Global Macro perspective from Debt Market Veteran..Music by Clash, Comments by Quigley
Below excerpt courtesy of 22 June edition of “Quigley’s Corner”, the industry award-winning debt capital market commentary from Ron Quigley, Managing Director of boutique investment bank / institutional brokerage Mischler Financial Group, the financial industry’s oldest minority broker-dealer owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans
Ron Quigley, Mgn.Dir. Mischler Financial Group
Everyone is now saying how anxious the markets are to get the U.K. referendum vote out of the way. It’s been like a dark cloud hovering over the financial services industry. However, they are also increasingly pointing out that even with a vote to BREXIT, the actual impact will be much less severe than first anticipated. So, without further ado and since the potential impact has been overplayed these last several weeks, I need to chime in here with one day left to voice why the U.K. should want to part from the EU.
Over the last several days British PM David Cameron’s rally cry has been “Brits Don’t Quit” which from my perspective is akin to saying “Brits are followers not leaders.” The U.K. has a long history of doing the right thing at the right time. I point no further than its involvement in both chapters of World War II. That right there is foundational to the people of the U.K. – doing things for the greater good in defense of Britain and our allies Staying in the EU would be doing the wrong thing that will hurt Britain. But I know you want more meat on this bone so let’s get to it:
As I’ve said from the get go, Britain left the EEC – the precursor to the EU – in 1982 in a special referendum vote in which the “leave” vote garnered 52% to the “stay” vote’s 48%. Sound familiar? The U.K. also never adopted the single currency and the Schengen Agreement has no place because the U.K is an island nation. Still the Euro and Schengen are the foundational building blocks for a successful EU. The continent is now into negative rates, there are far too many cultures, borders, nationalities, customs, histories and languages to virtually have doomed the EU from the start. That’s why the U.K. was never part of the EU’s core thesis.
Unemployment will not rise in the U.K. on a BREXIT rather it will hammer out a UK/EU trade agreement to maintain continued healthy trade with the European continent.
For those EU chiefs threatening “if there’s a BREXIT, the U.K. will NEVER rejoin the EU again!” here’s what I have to say on the subject : Advocates to BREMAIN claim that the U.K. maintains a balance of power in Europe that has preserved peace following World Wars I & II. First, I state that WW I & II were actually one VERY long war with a pregnant pause between them. Europe could not keep itself together. History shows that is true. So, follow the logic – if the U.K. leaves and Europe heads toward the cusp of war, don’t you think the continent would do everything in its power to avoid another catastrophe? Europe would obviously welcome Britain with open arms! Not that the U.K. would then chose to jump back onboard.
For those of you not sure, however, let’s take Greece as an example. Greece has been bailed out three times by the EU. They are in every aspect of the term a laggard economy and society. I have nothing against Greece or Greeks but the word AUSTERITY is not in their vocabulary! ………Hold on a moment, as I need to check that with some phone calls. Oops, sorry folks, in my ambition to get the details right I stand corrected. The word for “austerity” in Greek is “λιτότητα.” So, it does actually exist but the rest of the world can’t seem to decipher those characters – quite literally. Having said that austerity is not embraced by Greek society. They are all about enjoying life and taking it easy. That’s why the average lifespan for a male is 78.6 years and a female is 83.9 years. The average is 81.3 years ranking it 20th in the world. Conversely, we here in the U.S., we rank 26th and at the end of the day isn’t life what it’s all about. So, that’s my concession to Greece, a longer life span because they’re obviously not stressed what with everyone else paying the freight and carrying their load. The point here is that if the EU bailed out that laggard nation THREE TIMES do you really think the idle threat to the U.K. of never being invited back into the EU has any remote credibility with Brits at all? I mean c’mon, get real. Europe is dismantling faster and faster with each month. Britain should want no part of it. Continue reading →
(SubstantiveResearch.com)- The global macro trade idea of the week with eye on China. With all of the debate around the Fed’s signalling for rate hikes this summer, the question of how to hedge, or for that matter, to bet on China is prominent in the mind of investors. Neil Azous of Rareview Macro has some good ideas on how to effectively hedge for the potential/probable devaluation of the RMB, and its wider impact on Asia, whilst also benefiting from some significant positive carry in long China equities. So rather than roll out the same ”will they-won’t they” or ”What today’s fix and what does it mean” there’s some good practical value-add here. Non-subscribers won’t be able to access the full piece, but click below to access Rareview’s archive or book a time to discuss the Rareview product with Azous.
(RaiseMoney.com) -It takes a life-long pioneer in the insurance industry to know best when to grab first mover advantage whenever a new landscape appears, as evidenced by Tuesday’s announcement from New York-based global insurer AIG, which says it will be the first to offer crowdfund insurance for investors in equity crowdfunding deals. Below extract is courtesy of coverage by WSJ reporter Leslie Scism.
(WSJ) American International Group is giving crowdfunding a try. Not to raise money for startups, but to help allay investors’ concerns about being ripped off as they invest in small businesses through this new type of funding.
The New York company is set to launch what it is calling “Crowdfunding Fidelity,” an insurance product developed to protect investors on equity crowdfunding platforms against fraud.
In announcing the new coverage Tuesday morning, AIG noted that there have been few instances of fraud in the sector so far. But it said its new product would help to build investor trust to ensure underlying issuer trustworthiness.
“As a sector still in its infancy, equity crowdfunding platforms are only as strong as the confidence they instill in their investors,” said Lex Baugh, AIG’s president of liability and financial lines, in a news release.
The coverage isn’t available to protect against just any crowdfunding project. So-called equity crowdfunding offers investors stakes in a company. Earlier this month, new U.S. rules kicked in under which ordinary investors—not just wealthy individuals, or so-called accredited investors—can participate in such offerings. The fundraising option originates from the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act.
AIG will sell the coverage only to those portals it has determined have adequate processes in place to check out backgrounds of the businesses they allow to sell equity stakes, Mr. Baugh said.
(RaiseMoney.com)-Minneapolis-based Stratifund, which models itself as a modern day version of a traditional Wall Street “independent equity research firm” has become the first such firm to plant its flag on the crowdfunding beachhead and bring objective analysis to crowdfund deals. Led by a cadre of Wall Street-trained wonks and crowdfund industry thought-leaders, including company advisors who who helped frame the JOBS Act, Stratifund seeks to bring objectivity as well as analytic expertise to help individual investors across the nascent stage equity crowdfund ecosystem.
Much like contemporary independent research firms focused on listed equities, Stratifund offerings are available via an online portal that enables subscribers to receive what is otherwise private placement offering analysis for a monthly subscription rate of $9.99.
Alex Thaler, Stratifund co-founder and co-CEO, said his company will “bridge the gap” for everyday investors as they decide if they should purchase securities from an issuer raising capital online. The service is launching just as the interest in online investments is beginning to rise.
Stratifund co-Founders Thaler, Snover and Julkowski
“We give each investment a rating based on our proprietary algorithm, and back it up with a user-friendly report that highlights key areas that influence a start-up’s position,” stated Thaler.
Stratifund states it does not take any remuneration from any of the companies it rates. The service will be monetized by a small subscription fee that allows individuals access to an unlimited number of reports alongside educational material. Stratifund does not take any funding from the start-up companies it rates, instead relying on nominal subscription fees from investors for unlimited access to deal reports and educational materials.
“Our business model allows us to stay completely independent and objective,” said Marc Snover, Stratifund co-CEO and co-Founder. “We pour an enormous amount of research into every deal report, and we think the pricing structure provides tremendous value to investors. We’re not investment advisors; our only goal is to publish independent research that provides as much information as possible in an approachable, convenient platform so everyday investors can make decisions with confidence.”
To continue reading the story from RaiseMoney.com, please click here
MarketsMuse sends out a shout out to SubstantiveResearch.com for profiling Global Macro guru Neil Azous from Rareview Macro, who “always looks to challenge the consensus and the sometimes lazy view of the prevailing market set up.” In yesterday’s note he focused on China, and the consensus view that the cyclical bounce in China has ended. What’s this mean for risk positioning? Has it already been discounted? He looks to the two most prominent barometers of risk; the USD and S&P500. He argues that while the consensus may be keen to embrace another move higher in the dollar, and a break lower in the S&P, the next set of requirements are yet been met. Indeed the recent sell off from last week’s S&P highs may have accounted for the weak China data in advance.
Neil Azous, Rareview Macro
But what really matters here for risk is the continuous bid-tone in oil, says Azous. Because if investors believe that the cyclical bounce in China is over, they are by defacto saying that the emerging market inflation impulse has dissipated as well, which implies a total reversal of the FX carry trade. Azous argues that can only happen if oil moves back to $30, and he just can’t see that happening.
To access Rareview archive or to arrange a meeting with Azous to discuss Rareview Macro’s “Sight Beyond Sight” product click here Neil Azous is the Founder and Managing Member of Rareview Macro, an advisory firm to some of the world’s most influential investors and the publisher of the daily newsletter Sight Beyond Sight®. Neil has close on two decades of experience across the financial markets, and is recognized as a thought leader in global macro investing. Prior to founding Rareview Macro, Neil was a Managing Director at Navigate Advisors where he specialized in constructing portfolios and advising on risk. His daily commentary was highly regarded by the institutional investing community and his success in delivering a forward-looking viewpoint on global markets helped lay the foundation for Sight Beyond Sight® to be built. On Wall Street, his career included roles at UBS Investment Bank and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, where his responsibilities comprised of trading derivatives, hedging solutions, asset allocation and fundamental securities analysis. He began his career at Goldman Sachs in Fixed Income, after completing both the firm’s Analyst and Associate training programs, widely acknowledged as the pre-eminent and most coveted learning ground for undergraduate and graduate students. Neil completed graduate level coursework for a MS in Real Estate at New York University and received his BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington, where he is a member of the University of Washington Bothell Board of Advisors and was the recipient of the Bothell Business School 2013 Distinguished Undergraduate Alumnus Award. He is active in various charity and community organizations.
(RaiseMoney.com) May 16 2016 marks the beginning of what could be an avalanche of private equity offerings promoted via the web. Thanks to the JOBS Act and SEC Regulation Crowdfund, which now totals 685 pages of rules to live by for those in the U.S. Equity Crowdfunding space, including brokers and marketers working with entrepreneurs and startups that are seeking to raise money for their initiatives.
Georgia Quinn, Esq
When it comes to preparing for today’s “May Day for Crowdfunding”, few have worked harder than the founders of legal document service provider iDisclose.com, which is led by co-founder and CEO Georgia Quinn, a glass-wall breaking securities attorney who has become a leading expert in the domain of documentation for private securities offerings and equity crowdfunding. Adding further credibility to Ms. Quinn’s stature within the space, she is Of Counsel to New York-based business and securities law firm Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP. That firm’s ‘name partner’, Douglass Ellenoff, Jr is also the co-founder of iDisclose.com.
While a steadily-increasing number of regulators in Europe and other regions have already embraced equity crowdfunding (led by the U.K. based on number of platforms and deal offerings), it has taken several years since the passage of the JOBS Act in the United States for regulators to actually establish the proper goal posts for this playing field. This several-years-in-the-making planning stage, during which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been fine-tuning the regulatory regime in which private placement offerings can be ‘advertised and promoted’ to individual investors without the friction long-associated with private offerings available only to institutional and ultra high net worth investors has included the creation of a cottage industry of service providers. Now that the advance planning for a piece of the equity crowdfunding pie has run its course and Monday May 16 is when the curtain will launch, it’s now “Ready, Fire, Aim” time. Or, to hijack another adage, “Let The Games Begin!” With that, few service providers have worked harder or longer in gearing up for “May Day for Crowdfunding” than iDisclose.com.
May 12-Stamford, CT–Mischler Financial Group (“MFG”), the financial industry’s oldest minority investment bank and institutional brokerage owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans, announced today that in recognition of the upcoming Memorial Day celebration, the firm has pledged a percentage of its entire May profits to Veterans Education Challenge, (VetEdChallenge) a donation-based crowdfund campaign. The philanthropic initiative is dedicated to providing need-based college scholarships to ex-military students pursuing higher education so they can get better access to a broad range of career development opportunities.
Veterans Education Challenge was established in November 2015 by investment management industry veteran Bruce Richards and his wife Avis. Mr. Richards is personally matching the first $1million in donations made to the VetEdChallenge campaign via crowdfund platform “Crowdrise.” He is co-founder, CEO and managing partner of Marathon Asset Management, the $12.5 billion investment firm specializing in global credit and fixed income markets.
Dean Chamberlain
“This Memorial Day Month we’ve embraced a more contemporary approach to paying it forward via the VetEdChallenge program”, said Mischler Financial Group CEO Dean Chamberlain, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who himself earned his MBA via a work-scholarship program at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “Our annual, entire month of May pledge in honor of Memorial Day, as well as our annual Veteran’s Day Month pledge has typically focused on traditional, best-in-class philanthropies and we believe the VetEdCballenge is an ideal vehicle to directly impact the future of returning veterans, as higher education can provide a material lift in the course of pursuing opportunities.”
Added Chamberlain, “Because we are always mentoring returning veterans, we know first-hand about the challenges these men and women face as they assimilate back into the mainstream and find themselves working multiple jobs to put aside funds for educational degrees beyond their pre-military academic background. We’re proud to partner with Bruce Richards and be affiliated with his truly thought-leading program. We encourage our institutional clients to help us support this initiative via our trading desk(s) and/or directly via theVeterans Education Challenge crowdfund program.“
Other philanthropic organizations that Mischler Financial Group supports are displayed on the firm’s website via this link.
Below extract is courtesy of May 09 edition of daily debt capital market commentary and focus on investment grade corporate debt deals courtesy of boutique investment bank Mischler Financial Group, the financial industry’s oldest minority broker-dealer owned and operated by Service-Disabled Veterans. MarketsMuse editorial team adds: “Make no mistake, the phrase ‘service-disabled’ applies to members of the military injured in the line of duty and no longer certified for combat situations. The heroes who have earned “SDV certification” are highly-trained, uniquely capable and often, thanks to the skills learned while serving in the U.S. military, are more qualified than most to meet and exceed job requirements across every facet of any business setting.
Today makes it clear why I featured “The Most Interesting Man in the World” in last Friday’s “QC” saying, “EMBRACE NEXT WEEK’S IG ISSUANCE
Ron Quigley, Mgn.Dir. Mischler Financial Group
AVALANCHE!” Just look at today’s numbers: 10 IG Corporate issuers priced 25 tranches between them totaling $25.10bn. SSA featured 1 issuer and 1 tranche for $500mm bringing today’s all-in IG day total to a monolithic 11 issuers, 26 tranches and $25.6bn.
Here’s where today stands:
The 7th highest IG dollar new issue volume day of all-time.
The 2nd busiest day of 2016 for the same.
The 3rd highest number of tranches priced in history.
New Issues Priced Today’s recap of visitors to our IG dollar Corporate and SSA DCM:For ratings I use the better two of Moody’s, S&P or Fitch.IG
Issuer
Ratings
Coupon
Maturity
Size
IPTs
GUIDANCE
LAUNCH
PRICED
LEADS
AbbVie Inc.
Baa2/A-
2.30%
5/14/2021
1,800
+135a
+120a (+/-5)
+115
+115
BAML/BARC/DB/JPM
AbbVie Inc.
Baa2/A-
2.85%
5/14/2023
1,000
+150a
+140a (+/-5)
+135
+135
BAML/BARC/DB/JPM
AbbVie Inc.
Baa2/A-
3.20%
5/14/2026
2,000
+165a
+155a (+/-5)
+150
+150
BAML/BARC/DB/JPM
AbbVie Inc.
Baa2/A-
4.30%
5/14/2036
1,000
+195a
+180a (+/-5)
+175
+175
BAML/BARC/DB/JPM
AbbVie Inc.
Baa2/A-
4.45%
5/14/2046
2,000
+210a
+195a (+/-5)
+190
+190
BAML/BARC/DB/JPM
Banco de Bogota
Ba2/BBB
6.25%
5/12/2026
600
mid 6.00%a
6.50%a (+/-12.5)
6.50%
+474.8
CS/JPM/HSBC
Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC
A3/A
3.90%
8/01/2046
750
+155a
+135a (+/-2)
+133
+133
CITI/GS/JPM
Chevron Corp.
Aa2/AA-
FRN
5/16/2018
850
3mL+50a
3mL+50 the #
3mL+50
3mL+50
BAML/JPM/WFS
Chevron Corp.
Aa2/AA-
1.561%
5/16/2019
1,350
+70a
+70 the #
+70
+70
BAML/JPM/WFS
Chevron Corp.
Aa2/AA-
FRN
5/16/2021
250
3mL+equiv
3mL+equiv
3mL+95
3mL+95
BAML/JPM/WFS
Chevron Corp.
Aa2/AA-
2.10%
5/16/2021
1,350
+90a
+90 the #
+90
+90
BAML/JPM/WFS
Chevron Corp.
Aa2/AA-
2.566%
5/16/2023
750
+105a
+105 the #
+105
+105
BAML/JPM/WFS
Chevron Corp.
Aa2/AA-
2.954%
5/16/2026
2,250
+120a
+120 the #
+120
+120
BAML/JPM/WFS
Deutsche Bank
Baa1/BBB+
FRN
5/10/2019
500
3mL+equiv
3mL+equiv
3mL+191
3mL+191
DB-sole
Deutsche Bank
Baa1/BBB+
2.85%
5/10/2019
1,600
+212.5a
+200 the #
+200
+200
DB-sole
Deutsche Bank
Baa1/BBB+
3.375%
5/12/2021
1,500
+237.5a
+225 the #
+225
+225
DB-sole
Duke Energy Indiana LLC
Aa3/A
3.75%
5/12/2046
500
+130a
+115a (+/-3)
+115
+115
CS/GS/MIZ/USB
GATX Corp.
Baa2/BBB
5.625%
50NC5
150
5.75%a
RG: 5.625%a
+5.75%a
5.625%
$25 par
BAML/MS
Waste Management
Baa2/A-
2.40%
5/15/2023
500
+110a
N/A
+90
+90
BAML/CITI/MIZ
Westpac Banking Corp.
Aa2/AA-
FRN
5/13/2019
250
3mL+equiv
3mL+equiv
3mL+71
3mL+71
BAML/CITI/GS/JPM
Westpac Banking Corp.
Aa2/AA-
1.65%
5/13/2019
750
+95a
+85a (+/-5)
+80
+80
BAML/CITI/GS/JPM
Westpac Banking Corp.
Aa2/AA-
FRN
5/13/2021
250
3mL+equiv
3mL+equiv
3mL+100
3mL+100
BAML/CITI/GS/JPM
Westpac Banking Corp.
Aa2/AA-
2.10%
5/13/2021
1,250
+110a
+100a (+/-5)
+95
+95
BAML/CITI/GS/JPM
Westpac Banking Corp.
Aa2/AA-
2.85%
5/13/2026
1,500
+137.5
+120a (+/-5)
+115
+115
BAML/CITI/GS/JPM
WW Grainger Inc.
A2/AA-
3.75%
5/16/2046
400
+140a
+120a (+/-3)
+117
+117
HSBC/MS/WFS
For the entire edition of Quigley’s Corner, including a full analysis of the day’s debt capital market activity, please click here
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal authorities investigating the market-making arms of the $25bil hedge fund Citadel LLC and broker KCG Holdings Inc, are looking into the possibility that the two giants of electronic trading are giving small investors a poor deal when executing stock transactions on their behalf.
The Justice Department has subpoenaed information from Citadel and KCG (formerly known as Knight Capital Group) related to the firms’ execution of stock trades on behalf of clients, according to people familiar with the investigation. FBI Director Jim Comey, the top cop for the US DOJ will ultimately oversee the investigation, as he does for all other DOJ matters. Prior to his current role as FBI Director, Comey worked as the General Counsel to Westport, CT-based Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund with $150bil (RAUM) and owned mostly by the firm’s Founder Ray Dalio, a trading guru who is known to have a particularly intense personality. But, that comes with the territory if you’ve built a personal fortune estimated at $15bil. Chicago-based Citadel is steered by billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, whose estimated net worth of $7bil is half of what Dalio purportedly has, but does include multiple luxury residences, whose total value is nearly $500 mil, and includes a $200mil NYC penthouse that he purchased in Q3 2015.
Intermission from news flash: For followers of Showtime’s drama-parody of the world where hedge funds cross paths with regulators aka Billions, you’ll get the joke. Meaning, the notion that a guy who first appeared as a rising federal prosecutor, working all the way up to White House level roles, then, by virtue of administration revolving doors, he finds his way down the yellow brick road into the private sector, where he manages to land a sweet job at a defense contractor and takes in $6mil after 5 years and then, he finds Jesus [in Westport CT], who is located at the peak of Hedge Fund Mountain. This is where he makes nearly $10mil –pretty good pay for a former Elliot Ness–in less than three years as top lawyer to of all folks, the world’s biggest and most secretive hedge running $150bil (RAUM) for institutions and sovereign governments. Wait! Now flash forward two seasons; that same guy is now the FBI Head who, in Season 2, Episode 1 goes after Apple Inc and threatens to waterboard Tim Cook unless he pries open the back of an iPhone belonging to a self-acclaimed follower of Daesh . And now, Season 2, Episode 2, our top cop is now going after a billionaire hedge fund manager who happens to swim in the same “billionated” pool of HF sharks as his former partner! Memo To: Andrew Ross Sorkin–Are you writing this sh*t down?? P.S. New phrase above ie. ‘billionated’, also pronounced billion-ated. Means: to be full of billions, to be inflated with material possessions that cost billions, to have your brain inflated with thoughts of self aggrandizement because you are full of billions. Not to be confused with “Billionator”, which is the finance industry equivalent to “Terminator”…but we digress… back to the main story…
Authorities are examining internal data concerning the firms’ routing of customer stock orders through exchanges and other trading systems, to see whether they are giving customers unfavorable prices on trades in order to capture more profit on the transact
Bloomberg LP’s agency broker Bloomberg Tradebook is continuing to grab market share in the ETF execution space thanks to introducing a blockbuster approach that has proven to work across a universe of hard-to-trade financial instruments: RFQ (“Request For Quote”). The “Bloomberg ETF RFQ” tool, which, according to a statement issued by Bloomberg LP, has triggered “a 3-fold increase in ETF volume compared to the same quarter in 2015” for the agency broker, is one that enables traders to source block trade liquidity from across a universe of liquidity providers who specialize in US-listed exchange-traded funds as well as ETFs listed in Europe, the latter of which are typically more difficult to secure tight markets for when using screen-based services that display actionable bids and offers.
Total notional value traded also tripled in European ETFs as the number of investors actively using the ETF RFQ service grew by more than 50 percent, according to a company press statement.
After launching over two years ago, Bloomberg has managed to extend its services to over 250 firms.
Market volatility and the demand for block liquidity in ETFs drove the value of the total ETF market last year. Research firm ETFGI reports that assets in global ETFs topped $3 trillion at the end of 2015.
“Institutions are finding new and increasingly strategic applications for ETFs, with 77 percent of them using ETFs to obtain Core Exposures,” said Andrew McCullum, a consultant for Greenwich Associates and author of Institutional Investment in ETFs: Versatility Fuels Growth.
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One of the stimuli behind the growth in this sector was the increase in ETF trading in the US throughout 2016. During Q1 2016, ETF assets climbed by 2.4% QoQ to $2.3 trillion in the US, which was fueled by retail channels, as calculated by Broadridge’s Fund Distribution Intelligence. In parallel to this trend, market volatility and the demand for block liquidity in ETFs also drove the value of the total ETF market to new highs over the same period.
In particular, its recent volumes have undergone a three-fold increase YoY in Q1 2016, relative to Q1 2015. In addition, Bloomberg Tradebook’s total notional value traded also tripled in terms of European ETFs, fueled in large part by the number of investors utilizing the ETF RFQ service grew – users of the service also swelled by over 50% YoY in Q1 2016.
Kiran Pingali, Bloomberg Tradebook
According to Kiran Pingali, Head of ETF Product Development at Bloomberg Tradebook, in a recent statement on the business’ performance, “Bloomberg Tradebook developed its ETF RFQ service to address the unique challenges facing ETF investors in the United States and Europe, while also meeting client demand for direct access to liquidity in a greater variety of ETF products.”
“In the United States, liquidity is concentrated in the top 150 ETFs by AUM, with more than 90 percent of them trading less than a million shares per day. Europe faces its own challenges in sourcing ETF liquidity because of market fragmentation and low transparency due to deficiencies in trade reporting,” Pingali reiterated.
(FinanceMagnates.com) Supporters of Tom Hayes, the former UBS rates trader and the first person to be convicted for the manipulation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), have launched a crowdfunding appeal via UK platform Fundrazr to raise £150,000 ($217,403) to underwrite a further appeal against his conviction. The former trader, currently serving an 11-year prison sentence, was also ordered to pay a confiscation order of £878,806 ($1,240,267) in February by a UK criminal court.
The crowdfund campaign hopes to to raise 150,000 pounds to pay for a fresh attempt to appeal against his conviction.
Hayes, a former UBS and Citigroup derivatives trader, last August became the first person to be convicted of fraud offences linked to the setting of benchmark Libor rates. In sentencing him for dishonesty, the judge said a message must be sent to the world of banking, “where probity and honesty are essential”.
He was initially handed a 14-year jail sentence – one of the toughest in the UK for white collar crime – before it was reduced to 11 years on appeal four months later. However, his simultaneous appeal against the conviction failed and in March the Court of Appeal also refused leave for his case to be brought before the UK’s Supreme Court.
Hayes on Tuesday formally announced plans to bring his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which looks at miscarriages of justice and can refer a case back to the appeal courts – usually on the basis of compelling new evidence.
Hayes was initially given a 14-year sentence before it was reduced to 11 years on appeal four months later. However, his concurrent appeal against the conviction failed and in March the Court of Appeal also refused leave for his case to be brought before the UK’s Supreme Court.
This week, Hayes formally announced plans to bring his case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which examines miscarriages of justice and can refer a case back to the appeal courts, usually on the basis of compelling new evidence.
Hayes’ family is now said to be in possession of fresh evidence, some of which he had requested in his trial but which the prosecution did not supply. His latest attempt to appeal comes three months after six former brokers he is alleged to have conspired with were acquitted in a separate London trial.
Hayes’ attempt to appeal is supported by David James, a member of the House of Lords, who is reported to have said that Hayes had been victimised and called for a more precise legal clarification of Libor and how it should be supervised.
Last year, European Union lawmakers gave their backing to a draft law introducing direct supervision of important benchmarks like Libor. The UK has also introduced a law requiring Libor to be compiled by a third-party administrator which fulfills certain requirements.
Cheryl Cargie, head trader at buy-side fund manager Ariel Investments in Chicago, said that while the buy side is looking for more from its sales trader coverage, it depends on whether a buy side trader is representing a passive or active strategy. For a veteran with over 20 years in trading and representing all of Ariel’s trading strategies, Cargie wants a sales trader who will partner with her and be proactive.
“For a traditional trader like me, I want my sales traders to pay attention to my order and not just ‘set it and forget it’,” Cargie said. “I need them to be an extension of me.”
Today’s high-touch or cash sales traders are looking to electronic trading tools and skill sets to stay relevant in today’s equity market structure.
Born out of a “if you can’t beat them, join them” mentality, sales traders are increasingly learning about electronic trading tools to cater to the buy side’s increasing appetite for technology along with human interaction. If not, more traders could find themselves out of work in a persistently difficult job market.
According to a recent report from Greenwich Associates, the human touch in trading is still as important as ever, even in a largely electronic marketplace. As the buy side looks to their brokers for an increasing array of services, simply acting as an order taker is no longer enough to ensure return business. The sell-side sales desk must provide proactive suggestions, understand market structure and offer clients advice on how to best leverage trading technology. And that is something an algorithm or smart order router simply cannot do.
Re-enter the human sales trader.
Kevin McPartland, head of market structure and technology research at Greenwich Associates, told Markets Media that new buy-side demands are being handled by a smaller sales force than 10 years ago. So in order to provide a high level of service to the buy side and keep its business, the remaining top-notch sales desks are leveraging technology “not only to help clients trade, but to better understand their customers’ portfolios, trading habits and profitability.” He added that technology does not replace human intuition in this case, but instead enhances the abilities already present on the desk.
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“Report Cards” Delivered to Brokerages Citing High-Speed Manipulative Practices, Including Spoofing and Layering
(WSJ) –Finra, the securities industry’s self-regulator sent out its first monthly “report cards” to brokerage firms warning about manipulative superfast trading practices, marking the beginning of an effort to encourage the firms to cut off traders that aren’t playing fair.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it made the grades available to brokerage firms Thursday, identifying potential evidence of manipulative practices by firms or their customers. The report cards, which aren’t made public, focus on spoofing and layering, two practices that involve traders submitting orders they don’t intend to execute with the goal of moving prices and capitalizing on the change.
“Spoofing” is an illegalpractice in which a trader with long position enters a a buy orderforthatsecurityandimmediatelycancels it withoutfillingtheorder in an effort to artificially create a demand for that security so as to induce otherinvestorstothenissuetheirownbuyorders at a higher price,whichincreasestheappearance of heightened demand. Thefirstinvestorthen closes his/herlongposition by selling thesecurity at thenew,higherprice.
“These types of manipulation take advantage of other investors and harm public confidence in market integrity,” Finra Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Ketchum said in a news release. “We expect that the firms will use the data to enhance their own surveillance and move swiftly to cut off potential market manipulation.”
The move is part of a broader regulatory effort to stamp out devious practices in response to high-profile cases of alleged manipulation, such asthe case involving Navinder Sarao, the British trader accused of contributing to the 2010 stock market “Flash Crash.”
Finra wouldn’t say how many firms received the report cards, but a spokesman said it was “a large number.”
The report cards are designed to help brokers identify shady traders that might place buy and sell orders across several brokerage firms to carry out a scheme. But they also won’t preclude Finra from bringing enforcement actions against brokerage firms involved in manipulative trading, or referring investigations to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In effort to thwart the “Catch Me If You Can” crowd, the SEC has proposed a new audit system that will purportedly allow regulators to track every bid and offer submitted to stock and options exchanges in effort to catch market manipulators.
(WSJ)–U.S. market regulators on Wednesday proposed a massive data repository that will eventually allow them to sift through billions of daily trading records to detect market manipulation and probe bouts of extreme market disruption.
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s consolidated audit trail will,enable regulators to track 58 billion daily transactions submitted to stock and options exchanges, as well as private-trading venues maintained by brokerage firms. Plans for the CAT, as it is called, were spurred by the May 6, 2010, flash crash, when more than 20,000 trades were executed at clearly erroneous prices and nearly $1 trillion in equity-market value was wiped out before prices rebounded.
The project has taken years to get off the ground, as industry groups have disagreed over its scope, costs and governance. Regulators believe the system will become a powerful means of quickly investigating excessive volatility and could be harnessed for other purposes, such as detecting insider trading and whether brokers are getting the best price for their clients.
Kara Stein
“This will help us to fully understand the trading that is occurring in our markets within a matter of days, instead of months,” SEC Commissioner Kara Stein said at a meeting where the agency unanimously approved the plan. “The need for the CAT has unfortunately been proven over and over again.”
According to one market structure expert who spoke with MarketsMuse, “Another intriguing idea brought forth by a bureaucracy that has proven it has no fluency in technology and no real ability to implement policy that might infringe on the interests of Wall Street. They’ll be talking about this pipe dream for another four years, then spend 3x the amount budgeted and then discover the system is flawed.”
The proposal also sets several deadlines to ensure the system is fully operational within four years. The SEC must take final action to approve the CAT within six months. Exchanges would have to begin reporting trading data to the system by late 2017. Large brokers would have to comply by 2018, and small brokers would have until 2019 to report their activity.
Regulators still have to choose who will build the system, a decision that could come late this year or early in 2017. A selection committee has narrowed the choice to three bidders—the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Fidelity National Information Services Inc. unit SunGard and Thesys Technologies LLC.
The project’s supporters say it would have been useful last August, when huge price swings triggered more than 1,000 trading halts in stocks and exchange-traded products. It took the SEC nearly six months to issue a paper explaining the factors that influenced the barrage of trading halts on Aug. 24.
