News Centre

SIFMA To Terminate Auction Rate Securities Indices

Date 12/06/2018

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) today announced that it will wind down the publication of its suite of SIFMA Auction Rate Securities Indices. To do so in an orderly fashion with proper notice to the market, each time the number of issues included in an index decreases to ten, SIFMA will post a notice on its website announcing that index will cease to be published in four weeks. The first index to be terminated is the SIFMA Auction Rate Preferred One Month Index, which will be published for the last time on April 8, 2009.

CFTC Charges Florida-Based Mark Olsen Mining Company And Betty Lea Grimes With Engaging In Illegal, Off-Exchange Precious Metals Transactions

Date 12/06/2018

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today filed a civil enforcement action charging Florida-based Defendants Mark Olsen Mining Company (MOMC) and Betty Lea Grimes with engaging in illegal, off-exchange transactions in precious metals with retail customers on both a fully paid as well as a leveraged, margined, or financed basis.  Grimes is MOMC’s president, controlling person, and managing member.  Grimes has used the following names, and/or combinations of these names, in various legal documents: Betty Grimes, Lea Grimes, Lea Lauren, Betty Nehme, and Lea Nehme.  Neither MOMC nor Grimes has ever been registered with the CFTC.

Alberta Securities Commission Announces Appointment Of New General Counsel

Date 12/06/2018

The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Samir Sabharwal as General Counsel, effective immediately. Mr. Sabharwal has been serving as Acting General Counsel since the May 2018 appointment of Kari Horn to the role of Vice-Chair.

Joint Stakeholder Groups Letter To European Parliament On European Supervisory Agencies Review

Date 12/06/2018

Dear Ms Berès, dear Mr Balz,

The four stakeholder groups (SGs) of the European Supervisory Agencies (ESAs) have each submitted or intend to submit their own response to the Commission’s legislative proposal following the review of the operation of the ESAs.

BME: MARF Registers A New Commercial Paper Programme By AEDAS Homes

Date 12/06/2018

• The company, whose debut on the Spanish Stock Exchange took place in October 2017, registers a 75 million-euro commercial paper programme

• The total number of companies with commercial paper programmes in this market amounts to 28, with a maximum outstanding balance of 2.9 billion euros

A Helping Hand For The Invisible Hand: The FCA’s Approach To Competition And Innovation - Speech By Christopher Woolard, Executive Director Of Strategy And Competition At The FCA, Delivered At Competition Policy 2018: The Relationship Between Antitrust, Innovation And Investment, Chatham House, London

Date 12/06/2018

Highlights:

• The FCA’s approach to competition is driven by our objectives to make markets function well and promote effective competition in the interests of consumers. This last part – in the interests of consumers – is crucial, because not all competition is good competition.
• We create the conditions that allow competition to work as well as it can through initiatives like Innovate.
• Open Banking has the potential to solve some of the big problems we see in competition by increasing consumer engagement.
• But new technologies also present challenges, for example in the massive collection of customer data.

BME Admits To Trading The Basque Government´S New Sustainable Bond - With A Value Of 500 Million Euros

Date 12/06/2018

BME, through the Bilbao Stock Exchange, today admitted to trading the Basque Government’s new 500 million-euro sustainable bond issue. The term of the bonds is 10 years (their final maturity is scheduled for 30 April 2028) and they will yield a 1.45% annual coupon.

Athens Exchange Group: Changes In The Composition Of ATHEX Indices

Date 12/06/2018

Following the recent announcement (30/05/2018) of the company «ATTICA BANK S.A.» and according to Index Ground Rules, the investability weight (Free Float) of the company's shares to all ATHEX indices will change from 36% to 19%.

SEC Charges Merrill Lynch For Failure To Supervise RMBS Traders - Merrill Ordered To Return More Than $10.5 Million To Harmed Customers

Date 12/06/2018

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. will pay more than $15 million to settle charges that its employees misled customers into overpaying for Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS).  Merrill Lynch agreed to repay more than $10.5 million to its customers and to pay penalties of approximately $5.2 million.

ESM Reopens 10-Year Bond, Raises €1.5 Billion

Date 12/06/2018

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) on Tuesday raised €1.5 billion by tapping a 10-year bond, only its second syndicated deal of the year, allowing it to complete its financing needs for the second quarter.