Friday, August 19, 2011

News: HK margin, Dark, TRS, S&Poor....KBW & C2S


G’day All,

One, I’ve gotta dash to Kevin Wilson.

http://www.kevinbloodywilson.com/

Two, there is a City to Surf to run this weekend.

At 85,000 people this is the world’s largest fun run.

http://www.city2surf.com.au/

Three, we have a busy w/end of Internationals:

Fiji v Tonga, Lautoka

France v Ireland, Bordeaux

Italy v Japan, Stadio Dino Manuzzi,

Wales v England, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

South Africa v Australia, Durban

USA v Canada, Glendale

http://www.irb.com/results/index.html

With Australia coming out winners along with, Fiji, France, Italy, England and USA

Some observations.

Equity margining continues to take hold in Asia with HK joining the trend.

LSE buys TRS. In my view TRS should be a utility, not a profit centre.

Greifeld’s right. Technology will drive consolidation.

S&P downgrades US....I assume they downgraded themselves at the same time as DTCC et al.

I just have soooo little respect left for the credibility of the ratings agencies and their vested interests.

Interesting moves in Canada on Dark Liquidity.

2012 will be the year of the Dark. G-20 needs some sort of uniform resolution on this.

Context, materiality and proportionality all need to play a part. I doubt common sense will get much of a chance.

(BTW, 2011 for me is the year of MTFs going into derivatives).

Surprised that HSBC didn’t get retail into the dark.

I could rant about Anders Breivik. I do believe there is an element of our own media being responsible for germinating and generating this type of ideology (and the media then take no responsibility or accountability).

Have a great week-end all.

For those in London, grab a flat screen for me too!

You guys riot over the weirdest things.

S

http://clearingandsettlement.blogspot.com

Platforms

HK to introduce margining of equities

The following is a summary of the article (the article has been posted in the Chinese-language section of the HKEx website).

(2) Reforming the Clearing Houses’ Risk Management Measures and Raising Their Capital Adequacy

As a result, we propose reforming our clearing houses’ risk management measures, including, among other things, introducing margining in the securities market clearing house – a mechanism we have lacked for a long time – and having a dynamic guarantee fund for each of the three clearing houses. The proposal includes measures (such as granting credits) to alleviate the impact on brokers, especially the small and medium-sized brokers.

http://www.asiaetrading.com/hkex-chief-executive-views-on-hkex-market-structure-reforms/

Presentation by HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li and Chief Financial Officer Samuel Wong on 2011 Interim Results http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/hkexnews/2011/documents/1108102news.pdf

Chi-X Japan Celebrates One Year Anniversary with Continued Growth

Chi-X® Japan Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of alternative trading venue operator Chi-X Global Inc., announced its trading results for July 2011. For the month of July

Turnover (JPY) 530 billion
Trades 636,351
Shares Traded 730 million

Nikkei 225 Market Share
by Value 2.79%
by Volume 2.72%

http://www.asiaetrading.com/chi-x-japan-celebrates-one-year-anniversary-with-continued-growth/

Korea FSC To Overhaul Financial System

III. Reform of Capital Markets Infrastructure
1. A license system will be introduced to allow new stock exchanges or an alternative trading system (ATS). Financial investment business providers will be able to operate an ATS with an approval from the FSC. If trading volume through an ATS exceeds a certain threshold, the ATS operator will be able to ask for a permission to become a stock exchange, which is additionally required to carry out self-regulatory functions in listing and market supervision.

2. The proposed revision creates a new category of “clearing business for financial investment transactions” and lays a legal foundation for establishing a central counter party (CCP). By introducing a license system for a clearing business provider, it aims to provide clearing services for a variety of products (e.g. OTC derivatives, securities lending, RPs). For OTC derivatives transactions that can significantly affect markets if defaulted, they will be mandatorily required to be cleared through clearing houses.

3. Regulations on credit rating business, currently under the Credit Information Act, will be governed under the FSCMA, given that credit rating business has an important role in bond markets. In addition, the revision will expand the business scope of credit rating companies, while strengthening their responsibility for investor protection and public disclosure requirements.

http://www.asiaetrading.com/korea-fsc-to-overhaul-financial-system/

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROBES NYSE EURONEXT/DEUTSCHE BÖRSE DEAL The mega-merger between Nyse Euronext and Deutsche Börse faces an extended investigation by the European Commission amid concerns over the impact of a tie-up on competition in clearing and derivatives trading.

Full story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22841

LSE chief fears exchange merger will hit City voice

He said that while the UK's Financial Services Authority had a seat on the European Securities Markets Authority, the new pan-European watchdog set up in Paris in January, it had 8 per cent of the group's vote.

He said that although the UK represented two-thirds of financial services activity in Europe, there is a "clear mismatch and a risk."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/31/uk-lse-merger-idUKTRE76U2RK20110731

LSE BUYS FSA'S TRANSACTION REPORTING SERVICE The London Stock Exchange has agreed a £15 million cash deal to buy the Financial Services Authority's Transaction Reporting Service (TRS).

Full story: http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22831

Greifeld: Technology Will Drive Consolidation of Exchanges

Technology ‘synergy’ will drive any future consolidation of exchanges in Asia, Europe and North America, according to Robert Greifeld, chief executive of the Nasdaq OMX Group. Nasdaq OMX in the second quarter dropped a bid to take over NYSE Euronext.

The INET technology also is in place at NASDAQ OMX's U.S. equities and options platforms including The NASDAQ Stock Market, NASDAQ OMX BX, NASDAQ OMX PHLX and The NASDAQ Options Market as well as NASDAQ OMX's Nordic and Baltic markets.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/nasdaq-omx-technology-drive-consolidation-28508-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2680:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__080111

Nasdaq OMX Group's CEO Discusses Q2 2011 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

http://seekingalpha.com/article/282412-nasdaq-omx-group-s-ceo-discusses-q2-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript

CA Chevreux Seeks Approval for European MTF

CA Chevreux has become the latest broker-dealer in Europe to file an application with the U.K’s Financial Services Authority to convert its crossing network into a multilateral trading facility, said two sources at UK brokerage firms in London.

The new BLINK MTF would include all eligible CA Cheuvreux internal flow and orders will be executed at the best bid and offer prices, said sources. Officials at CA Cheuvreux were unavailable for immediate comment.

In early 2010 Japanese investment bank Nomura switched its NX BCN into an MTF. UBS followed suit with UBS MTF in November and Goldman Sachs went live with Sigma X-MTF in April 2011.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/chevreaux-trading-esma-ec-28539-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2680:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__080111

GALAXY MTF GAINS REGULATORY APPROVAL

An Organised Multilateral Trading Facility for European bonds.

http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=40443

ONLINE MARKET FOR TRADING SHARES IN PRIVATELY-OWNED EUROPEAN COMPANIES LAUNCHES

FirstPEX, Europe's first, interactive auction platform to trade privately-owned shares and investments is being launched today in the UK by the highly-regarded Swiss-based technology firm LPO Ventures

http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=40453

Clearing

European banks start to make clearing more competitive
Europe's leading investment banks have increased the competitiveness of clearing as BATS Europe and UBS MTF started offering clients options in terms of their clearing provider. "Consolidating clearing and settlement ... for cash equities offers significant benefits for investors, particularly those operating in multiple markets," UBS MTF CEO Robert Barnes said. Reuters (10 Aug.)

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N), Citigroup (C.N), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Nomura (9716.T) endorsed the moves by BATS and UBS MTF by signing up last Wednesday to use EuroCCP, the smallest of the clearers.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/08/10/uk-banks-clearing-idUKTRE7790QM20110810

S&P Downgrades DTCC Subsidiaries

Just hours after it said that Standard & Poor's downgrade on the U.S. government debt would not impact its valuations on collateral, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp was hit with its own downgrade by S&P. S&P downgraded its triple-A rating on three DTCC subsidiaries Depository Trust Company, Fixed Income Clearing Corp and National Securities Clearing Corp to double A+, the same as U.S. government debt.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/dtcc-downgrade-28603-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2698:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__080811

ISDA: Swap Clearinghouses Should Face Risk Controls

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) is warning regulators that central clearinghouses should be subject to strict risk management guidelines if they are to be given “open access” to trading platforms.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/clearinghouse-swaps-isda-warns-risks-28540-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2680:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__080111

ISDA REPORTS ON COUNTERPARTY CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT IN OTC DERIVATIVES

http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=40497

Full 8 page paper available:

http://www2.isda.org/news/isda-publishes-analysis-of-counterparty-credit-risk-management-in-the-us-otc-derivatives-markets

Policy

CANADIAN REGULATORS TO IMPLEMENT DARK LIQUIDITY FRAMEWORK

http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=40456

Joint Canadian Securities Administrators/Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada

Staff Notice 23-311

Regulatory Approach to Dark Liquidity in the Canadian Market

http://docs.iiroc.ca/DisplayDocument.aspx?DocumentID=E447E3735A9F490C900A1829AD64F989&Language=en

Complexity, Concentration and Contagion

Prasanna Gai, Andrew Haldane and Sujit Kapadiaz

1 August 2011

This paper develops a network model of interbank lending in which unsecured claims, repo activity and shocks to the haircuts applied to collateral assume centre stage. We show how systemic liquidity crises of the kind associated with the interbank market collapse of 2007-8 can arise within such a framework, with funding contagion spreading widely through the web of interlinkages. Our model illustrates how greater complexity and concentration in the …nancial network may amplify this fragility. The analysis suggests how a range of policy measures –including tougher liquidity regulation, macro-prudential policy, and surcharges for systemically important financial institutions could make the financial system more resilient.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/speeches/2011/speech512paper.pdf

Participants

Penson announced on Friday it was looking for a capital injection through a strategic partner or a trade sale after its parent Penson Worldwide Inc revealed a bigger than expected loss.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/kinetic-securities-calls-in-administrators-20110807-1ihke.html#ixzz1UOdDRKC0

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES: HSBC Puts Retail Investor Dark Pool On Ice
08/09/11
HONG KONG—Banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC put its plans to launch Hong Kong’s first-ever dark pool for retail investors on ice, it said Tuesday, dimming prospects for the development of alternative liquidity pools in the Chinese territory.
The U.K.-based bank said it decided to launch its controversial StockMax dark pool, which was originally marketed to retail customers, to institutional and professional investors only for now.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110809-707844.html?mod=WSJ_Banking_middleHeadlines

Stuff

AUTHOR HENNING MANKELL ON ANDERS BREIVIK 'No One Is Born Evil'
In a SPIEGEL interview, bestselling Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell talks about his reaction to the Utøya massacre, the absurdity of Anders Breivik's ideas and the need to engage in dialogue with the right wing.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,777778,00.html#ref=nlint

Babbage: Facebook's rural Oregon data centre turns the high desert to its advantage http://news.economist.com/cgi-bin1/DM/t/eCczi0dHglU0BV4a0cIPK0EK

England's beaming: Time to suck it up and admit Poms are No.1

England are so close to achieving the No.1 Test ranking that her majesty is rummaging down the back of the royal sofa looking for MBEs.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/englands-beaming-time-to-suck-it-up-and-admit-poms-are-no1-20110802-1i9y7.html

Today's surprise is the story of how the Knights Templar invented modern banking and made the Swiss the best bankers in the world.

http://thefinanser.co.uk/fsclub/2011/08/we-are-knights-of-the-banking-table.html

Scott Riley

Business Development

ABN AMRO Clearing

8th Floor | 50 Bridge Street | Sydney | Australia | 2000

((Off)+61 (0)2 8916 9634 È(Mob): +61 (0)418 117 627

* scott.riley@au.abnamroclearing.com

News: Eye spy...HK, LSE, Interoperability, CCP & OTC....C2S results

I guess like everyone else this has been a hectic week:

HK eyes China

Oslo eyes LSE

EMCF eyes interoperability. My heartfelt sentiment remains on the ‘fairness’ of interoperability. That fairness being defined by the reciprocal access to trade feeds.

Markit eyes LCH...but they only want to peck at the OTC aye!

Every CCP eyes OTC

Wells Fargo eyes Citadel

NAB eyes Aviva

DTCC...reducing counterparty risk for it’s members by increasing margins?...that’s like reporting the US downgrades its debt to encourage citizens to invest off shore.

Likewise conflicting messages about volatility and volumes in the dark.

Aust eyes netting (important).

That’s enough eye spy for me.

More appointments....plus I better go and check some Nigerian hasn’t sold my pool. (swimming – not lit or dark)

WooHoo, City 2 Surf results available here:

http://tiktok.biz/city2surf/2011/64361/

I’m happy to have come in under 100 minutes at 95:37, a shade faster than last year.

Also had enough energy for many beers on Bondi beach after the race (about one beer per km which I think is fair).

Could have been sunnier on the beach, but hey, just great to be part of the worlds largest fun run.

Whenever I’m in Sydney I’ve run the City 2 Surf.

2000 1:26:14 This taught me you need to train.

2001 1:24.25 This one was ‘fun’

2009 1:42.10 I forgot to train.

2010 1:37.27 This one was fun too.

2011 1:35.37 This one was fun and the start of the 1 beer / km rule (post race!)

Rugby.

Well, Wales rolled England. Well done boy-o’s! And Canada rolled USA (does that matter?)

...and those wounded Wallabies...they scraped a win in too.

This week, Fiji, Wales, France, Scotland, Japan...and of course the AB’s all winners.

http://www.irb.com/results/index.html

One day, I’ll get to sit back and watch all these games.

I’ll be doing some lawn bowls this w/end.

(Hopefully bare foot and with beers to hand!)

Have a great weekend all,

S

http://clearingandsettlement.blogspot.com/

Platforms Asia

SINGAPORE EXCHANGE REACH TRADING ENGINE GOES LIVE

http://www.finextra.com/news/announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=40580

HKEx all eyes to China

The Board of Directors of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) is pleased to announce that HKEx has agreed in principle to enter into detailed discussions with the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange with a view to establish a joint venture company to be incorporated in Hong Kong.

http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/hkexnews/2011/110818news.htm

HKEx enters joint-venture talks with Chinese exchanges
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing wants to tap into the yuan's liberalisation and the opening of Chinese financial markets through joint ventures with the country's stock exchanges. HKEx said it is in talks with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges to create indices and derivatives products. Bloomberg (18 Aug.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-18/h-k-exchange-in-talks-with-shanghai-shenzhen.html

HSBC confirms HK dark pool refocus

Dark pools are currently the only form of alternative trading venue allowed in Hong Kong as HKEx’s monopoly is currently enshrined in law by the Securities and Futures Ordinance. Recently, the bourse was excluded from a new Competition Bill. (http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/exchanges/4993) Brokers that already operate dark pools in Hong Kong include Nomura, Deutsche Bank and UBS.

http://www.thetradenews.com/regions/asia/6632

BM&F News

http://www.bmfbovespa.com.br/english/news/index.asp

Oslo Børs to adopt LSE trading platform

Norwegian exchange operator Oslo Børs has confirmed it will be moving its equity and fixed income trading onto Millennium Exchange, the trading platform owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/exchanges/6609

MarketAxess May Be Up For Sale

The operator of an electronic platform for trading in corporate bonds and credit default swaps has received expressions of interest, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The firm was founded by Bear Stearns, Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan. ABN Amro Bank NV, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Lehman Brothers and UBS AG later made equity investments in MarketAxess.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/marketaxess-corporate-cds-bond-trading-sale-28667-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2720:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081711

Swaps volumes on the increase……

IRS & CDS number of trades and volume traded on both Bloomberg & Tradeweb have drastically improved. See the attached chart from his report.

http://singledealerplatforms.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/swaps-volumes-on-the-increase/

Clearing

EMCF, Chi-X Join Push for Interoperability in European Clearing

Five of the world’s largest investment banks have thrown their weight behind EuroCCP, the pan-European central clearinghouse owned by Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., as their preferred clearinghouse for European trades on alternative trading platforms.

Four of the five -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Nomura have picked EuroCCP

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/emcf-euroccp-lchclearnet-sixxclear-european-clearing-interoperatiblity-28666-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2720:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081711

Chi-X offers four-way clearing as EMCF relents on interoperability

... the absence of any likelihood that Europe’s major exchanges would provide the necessary trade feed access to support full post-trade choice...

http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/mtfs-ecns/6627

LCH.Clearnet Talking Only to Markit, Report Says

The talks apparently do not include Nasdaq OMX Group, which in June entered the takeover picture, seeking a minority stake.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/markit-lch-clearnet-nasdaq-omx-nyse-db-negotiations-28657-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2714:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081511

CME, ICE Will Proceed With Swaps Data Repositories

The CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange both plan to launch their own repositories for transaction data being generated by new derivatives trading exchanges, the trade information site Risk.net reported.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/cme-ice-trade-repositories-derivatives-28654-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2714:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081511

DTCC Unit Making Extra Margin Calls

With stock markets showing volatility, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. Tuesday said its equities clearinghouse is reducing counterparty risk for its members through extra intra-day margin calls.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/nscc-dtcc-clearing-28618-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2714:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081511

Close-out netting contracts: Government consults on proposed reforms

Inconsistencies between various Acts’ treatment of close-out netting have prompted the Australian Government to propose changes. But will these reforms introduce other concerns?

http://www.claytonutz.com/publications/newsletters/derivatives_insights/20110816/close-out_netting_contracts_government_consults_on_proposed_reforms.page

Treasury consultation paper available here: (BTW, consultation closed-out on 25th July)

http://www.treasury.gov.au/contentitem.asp?NavId=037&ContentID=2076

Policy

Global Market Volatility: What’s the Surprise?

http://www.woodbineassociates.com/uploads/Woodbine_Opinion_-_Global_Market_Volatility_-_August_2011_-_Final.pdf

Exchanges Should Clip Excess Message Traffic, Traders Groups Say

The two traders groups said, in their response to the IOSCO report that a good example of “a creative,nonprescriptive, and effective approach to curtailing superfluous bandwidth usage” is IntercontinentalExchange’s “Weighted Volume Ratio” (“WVR”) messaging rule.

ICE’s WVR accomplishes all of this by defining a ratio between the number of messages (new orders, cancels, modifies, etc.) an electronic trading system (“ETS”) sends and the total volume of orders the ETS executes. If an ETS exceeds the posted WVR limits, the ETS’ owner is fined. If this behavior continues, the ETS’ owner faces possible suspension of direct market access privileges.

The truly creative part of this solution is that ICE assigns a weighting scale based on the message’s price level relative to the current best bid and offer. If the order in question has a price equal to the best bid or offer, the message does not count towards the WVR.

If it is one tick away from the best bid or offer, the message has a weighting multiplier of 0.5 for orders on outright futures and 0.25 for spreads. This multiplier continues to increase until the order in question is more than five ticks away from the best bid or offer. At that point, the message has a weighting multiplier of 3.0 for outright futures and 2.0 for spreads.

By imposing the WVR, ICE has simultaneously incentivized firms to submit orders that are likely to be filled while penalizing firms that submit orders that are unlikely to be filled.’’

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/principal-traders-group-clip-message-traffic-28669-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2720:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081711

Participants

POSIT's Volume Jumps 74% in August

Trading on the ITG dark pool, which handles big blocks for institutions, reached 144 million shares a day as stock markets experienced huge surges up and down, in prices.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/-28672-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2720:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081711

Uncertain markets lower dark trading volumes

In the week ended 12 August, trading turnover on Europe’s dark MTFs – including those operated by Chi-X Europe, Turquoise and brokers UBS, Goldman Sachs and Nomura – averaged €1.6 billion per day, representing 2.29% of European stock trading

Liquidnet also reported rising volumes in Asia-Pacific, with available liquidity averaging US$11 billion per day between 1-11 August inclusive, compared to a year-to-date average of US$9 billion. Liquidnet also reported that daily volumes in Australia had tripled compared to a 50% increase in trading on the Australian Securities Exchange.

http://www.thetradenews.com/trading-venues/dark-pools/6621

Citigroup Begins Clearing Derivatives on NYPC

The first trades were cleared for BlackRock, the large New York asset manager. New York Portfolio Clearing is a joint venture of NYSE Euronext and The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation.

NYPC this week announced that, besides Citigroup Global Markets, that ABN Amro Clearing Chicago and Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith became clearing members.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/nypc-citigroup-blackrock-derivatives-clearing-28671-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2720:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081711

Wells Fargo to Pick Up Citadel’s Investment Banking Operation

The Chicago-based hedge fund recently decided to unload after concluding that its plan to convert the company into an investment bank was not working out.

http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/news/citadel-wells-fargo-investment-bank-28659-1.html?ET=securitiesindustry:e2714:171544a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SIN_DailyClose__081511

National Australia Bank buys Aviva Investors; wins two custody contracts
NabInvest, the direct asset management business of National Australia Bank Ltd., says it has acquired Aviva Investors Australia Ltd., which has about $5.5 billion in funds invested in Australian stocks.

http://www.iandtnews.com.au/2011/08/16/national-australia-bank-buys-aviva-investors-wins-two-custody-contracts/

Stuff

Visa no longer world's largest card scheme
China UnionPay has surpassed Visa to become the world's largest card scheme.

http://www.banktech.com/payments-cards/231400141

Warren Buffet on Buying when everyone else is selling. “We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. It’s been an ideal period for investors: A climate of fear is their best friend … Big opportunities come infrequently. When it’s raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble.”

http://moneyland.time.com/2010/03/01/warren-buffetts-boring-brilliant-wisdom/#ixzz1V3ZHZtDa

No, not more Nigerian scammers selling Perth houses they didn’t own. Now it's landlords having the pool sold by their tenants. And they also took the pool fence.

http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/tenants-sell-landlords-pool-in-rent-to-buy-swindle/2011081751200?utm_source=Property+Observer+List&utm_campaign=3a11cb6b9e-August_18_20117_4_2011&utm_medium=email

“A month ago it was decided the prawn should be demolished. And when this leading retiree destination decides that something is passe, you can believe its time has truly passed,” Drewe suggested.

http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/commercial/bunnings-shells-out-for-big-prawn-site-but-has-no-plans-for-its-renovation/2011081851207?source=flicker1&utm_source=Property+Observer+List&utm_campaign=3a11cb6b9e-August_18_20117_4_2011&utm_medium=email

...and why Australia continues to be culturally (and intellectually) restrained...

http://www.crumbproducts.com/aboutcrumb_sydney.html

But, hey, we’re great at sport! WooHoo!