Too early to tell?
Hope you like the new dedicated Australia page on the Frag website. Even if you’re not directly interested in antipodean fragmentation, Australia will provide a particularly pure data set for what is fast becoming a global phenomenon. This is because (right now at least) there is only one primary and one alternative venue. It’s too early to draw any meaningful conclusions... Read More
MiFID II – 10 key takeaways that will give you indigestion
Just back from a two week trip around Asia and Australia that took in dark pool seminars in Hong Kong and Singapore and attendance at the FPL conference in Sydney. In my absence, it seems like the Eurocrats in Brussels have been busy as the official version of the widely leaked MiFID II proposals came out last Thursday. For a good roundup of the general themes look no further than... Read More
FragINSIGHT – taking a closer look at Asia Pacific
Welcome to the September issue of FragINSIGHT which provides an in-depth study of the Japanese market and an update on developments in Australia, together with our regular analysis of fragmentation across the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan. Also included on page 4 is a useful at-a-glance summary of the global regulatory spectrum. Download your copy here. Thanks to everyone for their... Read More
Australia joins the global fragmentation movement
I was a guest last week to mark the opening of the Australian Liquidity Centre which is not, as you might think, the latest trendy Sydney nightspot. Instead it’s the name chosen by ASX for its impressive new co-location facility and represents the exchange’s latest move to meet the imminent opening up of equities trading Down Under. The transfer of market supervision from... Read More
National interest or political self-interest?
Few can have missed the announcement that the proposed merger between ASX and SGX is about to be halted by Wayne Swan, Australia’s Treasurer. He cites the deal as contrary to the national interest which, of course, has been a concern raised by the Canadian authorities in their review of the proposed merger between their own TMX Group and the London Stock Exchange. I wonder... Read More
Aussie rules OK
The latest of our fragmentation forums landed in Sydney last week where around 150 industry executives got together to debate Australia’s future in the global fragmentation experiment. The event was well timed as the Australian Regulator, ASIC, published its long awaited consultation paper outlining its proposed new rules governing equities trading on the very same day. The... Read More
Aussie rules
For anyone that doesn’t know, Aussie rules football is a highly physical contact sport that combines elements of rugby and football and is a major participant and spectator sport in Australia. One of the things that makes the game so interesting (and dangerous) is the absence of an offside rule which makes it very hard to predict where any likely ‘contact’ may come... Read More
Asia Fragments or does it?
I participated in a series of Fragmentation Forums in Asia last week. Just like previous events in Tokyo the events in Hong Kong and Singapore were very well attended showing that interest in fragmentation is now very much a global phenomenon. One of the key messages that seemed to come out was that offering better execution doesn’t have to be driven by a regulatory mandate.... Read More
Fragmentation Fever Goes East
Looks like 2010 is going to be a pretty interesting year in the battle for liquidity between the established exchanges and the more recently established MTFs and dark pools. It also looks like fragmentation fever is likely to spread eastward, too. This is being driven by a number of factors that include technology, regulation and commercial opportunism. The introduction this week... Read More
