After months of speculation, the financial community is getting an idea of what the Obama administration's financial overhaul plans will look like. The first year of his presidency was dedicated to healthcare reform, two wars, and a tough economy. Now,...

Continue reading "The Bright Side of Silos" »

Market participants in Nordic regions have been slow in implementing the technology needed to connect with alternative trading platforms, according Simon Nathanson, CEO of Stockholm-based agency broker and trading technology provider Neonet, which part-owns Nordic multilateral trading facility (MTF) Burgundy....

Continue reading "Burgundy Yet to Mature" »

After his election to the presidency, Barack Obama surrounded himself with a team of young, bright minds. Even the President himself is the ripe age of 48. But moving to the forefront of financial reform is a man who was...

Continue reading "The Man Speaketh of Regulation" »

I was at the London Stock Exchange this morning for a conference on the Mifid review that the European Commission is planning to undertake this year. Aside from some interesting comments from the EC’s David Wright about their chagrin at...

Continue reading "All change at the LSE" »

Economic conditions on both side of the Atlantic may have picked up somewhat in recent months, but progress is sluggish and securities markets remain crowded and competitive. As a result, some institutional clients and financial institutions are turning the never...

Continue reading "Emerging Opportunities" »

In his State of the Union address last night, President Barack Obama said the bank bailout "was about as popular as a root canal." It was the first of several jabs taken at Wall Street. Much of the President's lengthy...

Continue reading "State of the Root Canal" »

In an effort to recoup liquidity that's gone to dark pools, major US stock exchanges are going to try and push for sub-penny pricing on trades. According to The Wall Street Journal, NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX, BATS Global Markets and...

Continue reading "The (Tenth-of-a-) Penny Arcade" »

It's bonus season again and unfortunately for prospective recipients, public disenchantment with often astronomical remuneration packages doesn't seem to have waned. Governing bodies are reportedly set to step in to appease the electorate, and even HSBC chairman Stephen Green has...

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President Barack Obama and his colleagues in the House and Senate have grown used to talking tough to the nation's biggest banks. Now they want to add some bite to that bark. The President, standing alongside former Federal Reserve Chairman...

Continue reading "Tough Proposition" »

As Obama's health care reform plans enter a limbo stage after the election of Scott Brown, the president is set to propose new banking rules that could offer historic reform in a troubled industry. In short, the proposals offer new...

Continue reading "The Regs Are Coming!" »