Happy St. Paddy’s Day from sunny and warm FIA Boca!
Exchange M&A continued to be the hot topic yesterday. While none of the executives could comment on the deal announced by Deutsche Boerse and London Stock Exchange Group, that didn’t stop everyone else from chatting about the deal. The swell of rumors seemed to lean toward the deal not being finalized before Jeff Sprecher and the crew at ICE have a say in the matter.
The one thing about rumored M&A moves that seems to be missing from all the scuttlebutt is any mention of anti-trust concerns. Perhaps the Boca crowd is a wee bit overconfident about any potential deal getting a easy approval from anti-trust authorities?
CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad delivered his keynote and also spent time on the sidelines of the conference assuring industry participants that the Commission would adequately safeguard the algorithmic trading secret sauce it intends to collect from trading firms. Given the CFTC’s past performance on pretty much all things technology, it is safe to say Massad’s words fell on very skeptical ears.
Former Speaker of the House John Boehner had the crowd laughing during his breakfast chat. The always “colorful” Boehner brought serious humor and even managed to get a bit surly when weighing in on the presidential election. Something about referring to Sen. Ted Cruz as “Lucifer” … ouch.
Now it is off to hear the wisdom of HKEx boss Charles Li regarding the evolution of Chinese capital markets.
Slainte!