Your interests, nearby.

via Pocket http://www.splash.io/ May 19, 2013 at 02:23PM

Regulators Overhaul Derivatives Market, but With a Caveat

Federal regulators approved new rules on Thursday to shine a light on Wall Street trading, but they also softened a crucial aspect of the plan in the face of lobbying pressure from the nation’s biggest banks.

via Pocket http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/regulators-overhaul-derivatives-market-but-with-a-caveat/ May 19, 2013 at 02:10PM

Tableau closes Day 1 as a $2.9B public company, up 64 percent — Tech News and Analysis

Data analytics star Tableau had a successful initial public offering on Friday, closing the day up nearly 64 percent at $50.75 per share. That means the company brought in about $254 million (it sold 5 million shares, while stockholders sold 3.4 million) and has a market cap of $2.9 billion.

via Pocket http://gigaom.com/2013/05/17/tableau-closes-day-1-as-a-2-9-billion-public-company-up-64-percent/ May 19, 2013 at 02:07PM

Nanex ~ 17-May-2013 ~ How to Destroy $45 Billion in 45 Milliseconds

Nanex Research Nanex ~ 17-May-2013 ~ How to Destroy $45 Billion in 45 Milliseconds On May 17, 2013, in the final seconds of trading, the stock of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (symbol APC, market cap $45 Billion) traded from $90 down to $0.01 in 45 milliseconds. Oops.

via Pocket http://www.nanex.net/aqck2/4197.html May 19, 2013 at 02:05PM

Russia gets its first taste of mobile social banking, thanks to Instabank

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on East-West Digital News, a leading English-language resource on Russian digital industries and related venture activity.

via Pocket http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/18/russia-gets-its-first-taste-of-mobile-social-banking-thanks-to-instabank/ May 19, 2013 at 02:04PM

Red-hot ethanol RINs move toward mainstream with futures

* Electronic platform for RINs in the works * Ethanol RIN market estimated $9 bln value * Market volatility spurs fears of fraud KANSAS CITY, May 10 (Reuters) – A little more light is about to fall on the murky, sometimes messy market for renewable-fuel credits, with the launch

via Pocket http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/10/ethanol-credits-trading-idUSL2N0DQ23I20130510 May 18, 2013 at 04:00PM

Red-hot ethanol RINs move toward mainstream with futures, in infancy but Platform coming

Red-hot ethanol RINs move toward mainstream with futures

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/10/ethanol-credits-trading-idUSL2N0DQ23I20130510

* Electronic platform for RINs in the works

* Ethanol RIN market estimated $9 bln value

* Market volatility spurs fears of fraud

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, May 10 (Reuters) – A little more light is about to fall on the murky, sometimes messy market for renewable-fuel credits, with the launch next week of the CME Group’s first futures contracts for the government-mandated credits, known as “RINs.”

Created by a U.S. program aimed at boosting the use of renewable fuels such as ethanol in domestic motor fuel, Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) have until recently been regarded as a somewhat untamed backwater of U.S. energy and agricultural markets, where trading is unregulated and pricing is sometimes hard to peg.

But ethanol RIN values have recently skyrocketed in price and volume has spiked as speculators join oil refiners, gasoline importers and others in a scramble for the credits, which are critical for oil companies to meet U.S. mandates for renewable fuels.

A 20-fold surge in prices this year has roiled Washington as oil industry leaders warn that consumers could get hit with higher gasoline prices if Washington does not step in.

In an effort to capitalize on the market interest, CME Group Inc., owner of the world’s largest futures exchange, will launch futures contracts for ethanol credits and other renewable fuels on May 13, allowing users to trade them alongside its benchmark crude and gasoline products. The IntercontinentalExchange launched its own on April 29.

“There is a lot of interest building around it,” said Dan Brusstar, senior director of energy research for CME Group. “Right now you don’t have good transparency. A lot of companies are leery of trading physical RINs. It (futures contracts) will bring some transparency to the market.”

But some market experts say many more steps are needed to bring transparency to the $9 billion ethanol credit market.

“It’s so new and it’s such a volatile market. It is really messy,” said Jeff Hove, vice president of RinAlliance, an Iowa-based aggregator and trader of RIN credits who handles RIN trades for more than 200 clients.

38 DIGITS

A RIN is actually a 38-digit number created for each gallon of renewable fuel. Typically the biofuel is then sold – together with the attached RIN – to an oil company that needs the fuel in order to blend with regular gasoline or diesel to meet the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard.

Refiners and other so-called “obligated parties” that produce or import gasoline and diesel are required to present a certain number of RINs to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as proof of compliance with the RFS mandate. The policy is aimed at reducing the nation’s reliance on oil.

But some companies may have more RINs than they need, and some may have less – hence the evolution of a secondary market where the credits can be traded.

Without a central platform, packages of the ethanol credits are peddled by brokers who mostly rely on email and instant messaging exchanges with interested parties. Price discovery is often difficult, making some participants wary. Regulation is still evolving, spurring fears about fraud and pricing bubbles.

This March, prices for ethanol RINs shot up to about $1.04 a gallon, from only five cents four months earlier, fueling a debate about the knock-on impact for domestic fuel prices and the impact of speculation on the nascent, shadowy market. Ethanol RINs for 2013 were trading at about 78 cents a gallon on Friday.

HIGHER PRICES?

Refiners have been lobbying Washington lawmakers and EPA officials to roll back renewable fuel mandates, claiming they are limited in how much they can blend and how much they can afford to spend on credits.

They say the price spike was due to the abrupt realization that there may be a shortage of RINs next year, when oil companies may be required to increase use of renewable fuels to the equivalent of more than 10 percent of the nation’s gasoline. The companies, however, may not be able to sell it all at gas stations, most of which are so far unwilling to sell a higher ethanol mix than E10.

Consumers will pay the price, they say.

“The surprise is over and, like every other manufacturing cost, it must be passed on,” Tom O’Malley, chairman of New Jersey-based refiner PBF Energy, said on a recent conference call with analysts.

Ethanol proponents say it is the oil industry, which is fighting efforts to blend more ethanol into gasoline, that is responsible for driving up RIN values. They argue that use of ethanol in gasoline has overall reduced pump prices.

Whatever the forces and factors, many of those participants in the market say growing volume and more volatile pricing for the credits means tighter regulation and more standardization is needed, and soon.

“RIN trading is still in its infancy,” said Progressive Fuels Limited analyst David Dunn, whose company is partnering on development of an electronic trading platform for RINs.

Netage Solutions – CRM Software and Online Reporting Systems for the Alternative Assets Industry

via Pocket http://www.netagesolutions.com/ May 18, 2013 at 03:49PM

Orange Selects Gemalto to Secure eGovernment Services in Moldova with Valimo Mobile ID

Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is providing Orange with an end-to-end solution that will offer their subscribers seamless access to a new generation of eGovernment services in Moldova.

via Pocket http://www.bobsguide.com//guide/news/2013/May/16/orange-selects-gemalto-to-secure-egovernment-services-in-moldova-with-valimo-mobile-id.html May 18, 2013 at 03:46PM

Has interoperability arrived in derivatives?

Galen Stops looks at the tie up between the DTCC and Euroclear and asks if it could pave the way for interoperability in the derivatives market.

via Pocket http://www.fow.com/Article/3206848/Has-interoperability-arrived-in-derivatives.html May 18, 2013 at 02:01PM