FN Rising Star lands Cinnober CEO role

A Swedish technology provider behind high-profile upgrades at the London Metal Exchange and Brazilian group BM&FBovespa has appointed its third new chief executive this year, as it looks to accelerate growth towards a potential listing.

 

       The Stockholm-based Cinnober has appointed Veronica Augustsson, who featured on Financial News' list of 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in Trading and Technology this year, as its new chief executive with immediate effect.

 

       Augustsson, who was promoted to Cinnober's head of sales this year, has replaced Javier Tordable, who joined the firm in March, taking over from interim chief Per-Anders Häll-Bedman. Tordable had previously led the ill-fated attempt to launch Plataforma Alternativa de Valores Españoles, or Pave, as Spain's first alternative trading facility. The project was canned in February.

UK retail fund sales hit post-Lehman low

Net sales of retail funds in the UK dropped to just £23m in August, according to figures published yesterday by the Investment Management Association, marking the lowest figure since October 2008, the month after Lehman Brothers collapsed and the world slid into full-blown financial crisis.

      The IMA said it was cautious of reading too much into one month's figures, but the statistics seems to indicate a general level of risk aversion among investors.

      Overall, investors put £518m into fixed-income funds, but equity funds suffered net outflows of £604m. Fixed-income funds have outsold equities for the past 12 months, the IMA said.

      The £23m in net sales of retail funds contrasts with £1.2 billion in net sales in August 2011

ETF investors shift to eurozone recovery play

Exchange-traded funds focused on peripheral European countries gained traction in September, with both Spanish and Italian ETFs reporting inflows as investors began to bet on a eurozone recovery.

 

  Net new assets in Italy and Spain-focused funds accounted for nearly 80% of all net inflows in country-specific funds in developed Europe, according to research published on Wednesday by Lyxor Asset Management.

  At the same time, regional ETFs that track European indices saw their fourth straight month of inflows.
Germany-specific ETFs posted outflows of €428m during September and €1.5bn for the year to date.

Ex-Adoboli colleague breaks down in court

Ex-UBS trader John Hughes today broke down in tears as he was shown an email sent by his former colleague Kweku Adoboli, in which Adoboli purportedly admitted he had booked trades without counterparties.

  Hughes, who has faced nearly a week of questioning as a witness in the criminal trial against Adoboli, said that it was the first time he had seen the email, which was apparently sent on September 14 last year.

 

   In the email, entitled "An explanation of my trades", Adoboli is alleged to admit to William Steward, a back-office accountant at UBS, that he had not used counterparties on trades booked on the ledger, as he had previously claimed.

Deutsche Bank’s Mr CDS heads for the exits

 

Athanassios Diplas, global head of systemic risk management at Deutsche Bank and a key figure in the $650 trillion market for privately negotiated derivatives known as "swaps," left the bank Monday.

 

  Circumstances surrounding his departure couldn't be learned, and a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

  Diplas is expected to assume new responsibilities at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, having already held a range of senior roles at the industry trade group in recent years, said a person close to the matter. This person declined to be identified because the new ISDA role hasn't yet been finalized.

Large companies expect big costs of financial reform

 

 

The cost of complying with financial reforms could run to many millions for the big firms, according to a new survey into the unintended consequences of the new regulations.

 

  The report, entitled “Benefits and Unintended Consequences of Financial Markets Reform”, aims to put a price on the increasing costs of financial regulation. It found that 31% of senior executives at companies with revenue of over $10bn believe they will spend over £10m this year on fighting its effects.

 

  The report, which was compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit on behalf of Lloyds’ Wholesale Banking and Markets, canvassed the views of 454 senior executives. Forty four percent of those polled were from financial services companies while 54% were from non-financial services companies.

Thirty percent of those from the largest companies said they were unable to quantify the costs involved in complying with the new regulation.

Built to win

Alone among its peers, Goldman Sachs came through the financial crisis of 2008 intact, while its counterparts on Wall Street were transformed by choice or circumstance.

 

Lehman Brothers failed. Morgan Stanley has pivoted toward wealth management, its commitment to institutional trading wavering at times. Citigroup has staked its future largely on its international banking franchise. The European universal banks' ambitions have been trimmed by market stress and regulatory aggression. JPMorgan Chase, in many ways Goldman's most important competitor, emerged stronger, but took on Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual along the way - in rushed marriages that changed its business mix.