NEWS
Terry Duffy, CME executive chairman and president, told members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry he believes that customers should be able to pay a premium for insurance if they want but it should be an option offered by FCMs and not one mandated by Congress. “I do not think it should be legislated,” he said, adding “this business will be crushed overnight” if it were. Duffy said the exchange operator’s own self-insured $100m fund to cover the potential for fraud could not be insured. “We have $158bn dollars of segregated funds in our world today. I don’t know what the cost would be to insure that,” he added. On a second panel, John Heck, a
member of the board of directors of the National Grain and Feed Association and vice president of The Scoular Company, told the Senators that members of the trade group feel safer today with changes that have been made by the NFA with regards to daily confirmation of customer segregated funds. But he noted members of the group are also curious about the outcome of the insurance study. “We do believe there are other avenues to explore.” He also said the association has had discussions with the CFTC about developing a pilot program that would allow customers to take advantage of a fully segregated customer account. “That kind of account exists in parts of the swaps industry right
now,” he said. “The cost of it is something they would be interested in but we would want it to be optional between customers and FCMs.” EXCHANGES & ATSs
Omega ATS launching multicast feed system
Omega ATS, a Canadian alternative trading system, is launching a multicast market data feed to be released later this year, according to Sean Debotte, director of business development, who spoke to WSL. The service will replace its unicast system and the technology will reduce the time needed to match buyers and sellers, Debotte said. The development of the multicast feed has been going on for about four months, Debotte noted, and the technology will be available to clients by the end of 2013. The multicast system will work like a radio network, he said, adding that clients of, and subscribers to, Omega “can tune in and packets are broadcast out”. Essentially, clients can simply sign in and receive a broadcast of market data that is constantly updating and looping the message, he added. The technology will be fresh for SEAN DEBOTTE Omega, but its director of business development, Omega competitors, such ATS as the Toronto Stock Exchange and Alpha Exchange, already employ multicast systems. Debotte said Omega’s multicast feed will be much more cost effective than its competitors. “Our market data is the most inexpensive on street,” noted Debotte. “We don’t charge for connectivity and the
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MarketAxess ordains professional to board of directors
Lesley Webster, the founder and president of Daniels Webster Capital, joined MarketAxess’s board of directors last week. management, Webster brings experience in corporate governance, credit evaluation and capital allocation to the table. She will be presiding over matters concerning risk as a member of the board.
income, foreign exchange and commodities. Primmer, who joins from UBS where he was global head of equities trading, will report to Daniel Coleman, CEO of KCG Holdings, as will Ogurtso ?????Q???()
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