News Nuggets | 12 June: Nasdaq to Acquire Adenza; A16z's London Office

HSBC Promotes Lindsell as Global Head of Structured Finance

HSBC has promoted Victoria Lindsell as its Global Head of Structured Finance, according to an internal memo that was seen by the Financial News today (Monday).

Previously, Lindsell was the Head of Structured Finance for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at the London-headquartered banking giant. She joined HSBC from NatWest in 2005, and her previous employers include Guggenheim Partners.

She has experience leading the organization and structuring several high-level asset-backed facilities and has been instrumental in launching new products. Her promotion marks the most significant change in the leadership of HSBC.

Spanish Financial Regulator Flags Eight Companies as Unregistered

Spanish financial regulator, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), has issued a warning against ALLIANCEFXLIMITED, DIFC INVESTMENT, EXPRIME, GLOBAL NEWS TRADE, PRISTINE GROUP LLC, MEDIFINANCE LIMITED, NEW HORIZON TECHNOLOGIES, S.L., ROYAL INVESTMENT CONSORTIUM, and UBM CAPITAL.

CNMV said the companies, identified with their websites, alliance-fxlimited.co, difcinvestment.world, exprime.com, globalnewstrade.top/es, medifinancelimited.com, nhtechnologies.com, royalinvestmentconsortium.com, and ubmcapital.co, respectively, are not registered in CNMV's corresponding registry.

In light of that, the commission maintains that the entities are not authorized to offer investment services or other activities under its supervision.

UBS and CS Maintain Singapore Operations Post-Takeover

Following the legal completion of a takeover, UBS Group AG (UBS) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) will continue operations in Singapore without interruption. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) confirmed that the banks would continue operating under separate licenses, maintaining the primary activities of private and investment banking. An orderly integration of Singapore operations will be overseen by governance structures set up by UBS and CS.

MAS remains in close contact with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), CS and UBS to ensure smooth integration. FINMA's statement on 12 June 2023 declared that the takeover completion provided stability and clarity for both banks and their clients. As the implications for employment in the banks emerge, MAS will work with stakeholders to mitigate any negative impacts on jobs.

AMF Conducts SPOT Inspection on AMCs Compliance

The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) has undertaken a study and a SPOT (operational and thematic supervision of practices) inspection campaign on non-financial contractual commitments by funds managed by portfolio asset management companies (AMCs). The campaign falls under AMF's supervisory priorities for 2022 and targets operational and thematic supervision of practices. AMF reviewed the systems responsible for defining, managing, and controlling these commitments across a representative sample of AMCs.

The study aimed to assess the level of compliance of these practices with AMCs' regulatory obligations and identify both good and poor practices. Findings from the review will form future regulatory priorities and provide a benchmark for AMC's non-financial commitments.

CSRC and SFC Discuss Market Cooperation

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) held a high-level meeting on regulatory cooperation in Hong Kong on 12 June. Led by their senior officials, both commissions reviewed the recent achievements of cross-boundary regulatory and enforcement cooperation as well as discussed market development cooperation initiatives.

The consensus was reached to enhance other mutual market-access schemes, such as Stock Connect, Cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect, and Mutual Recognition of Funds. The regulators also agreed to strengthen cooperation between the derivatives market and asset management industry and explore other initiatives to promote the healthy development of Mainland and Hong Kong capital markets.

WFE's Survey Reports ESG Milestone in Exchanges

The ninth Annual Sustainability Survey by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) has revealed significant progress in the exchange industry's collective sustainability efforts. For the first time since the inception of these surveys, every exchange that responded engaged in at least one ESG initiative and participated in at least one WFE Sustainability Principle.

On top of that, the report indicates a rise in the number of exchanges reporting engagements in a dozen or more of the listed ESG initiatives, from eight last year to 16 this year. Notably, 70% of survey respondents implemented initiatives that aligned with all five WFE's Sustainability Principles, and two exchanges engaged in all 14 initiatives.

Nasdaq to Acquire Adenza

Nasdaq announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Adenza, a risk management and regulatory software provider to the financial services industry, from Thoma Bravo for $10.5 billion in cash and stocks.

“The acquisition of Adenza brings together two world-class franchises steeped in market infrastructure, regulatory, and risk management expertise at a time when financial institutions are navigating some of the most complex market dynamics in history,” said Nasdaq's CEO, Adena Friedman.

Adenza is expected to generate revenue of about $590 million in 2023, with an annual organic growth rate of 15 percent and a recurring growth of 18 percent.

Opensee Brings New COO

Opensee, a provider of data access and real-time analytics to financial institutions, announced Anne-Laure Delaplace as its new Chief Operating Officer to accelerate the growth.

Delaplace brings 15 years of finance and capital markets experience to the new role. Previously, she worked at SlimPay, Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters, BNP Paribas, and a few other firms.

“Common sense and collaboration are how I go about managing teams, and it’s how I’ll approach optimizing Opensee’s operational processes,” Delaplace said. “I’m very much looking forward to supporting the development of the team at such an exciting time for the company.”

UBS Changes Credit Suisse Leadership

Following the completion of the takeover of Credit Suisse, UBS confirmed changes to the executive board of Credit Suisse AG in an internal memo. Credit Suisse’s Chief Financial Officer, Dixit Joshi and the General Counsel, Markus Diethelm will leave the bank.

Also, there had been an array of new appointments as the two banks merged. The memo signed by Ulrich Koerner, the CEO of Credit Suisse, a UBS subsidiary, confirmed that Andre Helfenstein, the Head of Credit Suisse’s domestic business, will continue in the role.

A16z to Open London Office

A16z, the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital fund dedicated to crypto and Web3 startups, will open an office in London that will become its first physical presence outside the United States. Sriram Krishnan has been named to lead the new office, which is scheduled to open later this year.

“While there is still work to be done, we believe that the UK is on the right path to becoming a leader in crypto regulation,” the company wrote in a blog post.

“The UK also has deep pools of talent, world-leading academic institutions, and a strong entrepreneurial culture. It is home to more 'unicorns' than Germany, France, and Sweden combined; to some of the world’s largest financial markets and pools of capital; and to highly sophisticated, world-class regulators. All of these make the UK strongly positioned to lead in web3.”

Eurex Adds Three New Futures

Eurex announced today (Monday) the addition of three new futures to its MSCI suite of offerings, which has 163 futures and 28 options. The listings of the new instruments have already become effective.

The three new futures instruments are based on the USD indices, calculated as Net Total Return (NTR).

“Futures on MSCI World ex USA enables trading the Developed Markets separately from the US market, which is by far the dominant part of the global benchmark with more than 66 percent. Many clients are currently using the MSCI EAFE index for this trade, but as that excludes Canada, some banks and clients are actively using World ex USA instead,” Eurex added.