Bitmex beats 475 startups to win Tech in Asia Singapore Arena

9COMMENTS

• 
• Terence Lee2:20 AM on Apr 13, 2016

Bitmex founders Arther (left) and Ben.

Bitmex, a financial trading platform that aims to let anyone bet on anything, has claimed the top prize at the Arena startup pitch battle at Tech in Asia Singapore 2016. The startup has clinched US$10,000 in cash. It also earlier won the Fintech Pitch Battle powered by DBS.

Here’s our in-depth profile of Bitmex.

While the startup only lets users speculate on Bitcoin prices for now, it plans to let a person in China, for example, buy Apple stocks in the US.

GliaCloud, a service which automatically converts text articles into videos, won a special prize: US$10,000 in credits from Aliyun, Alibaba’s cloud computing provider. Eldercare startup Z-Works and “operating system for marketing agencies” Merlin claimed the second and third prizes, respectively.

Judges for this Arena battle were: Saemin Ahn, managing partner of Rakuten Ventures, William Bao Bean, managing director at Mobile Only Accelerator, Anis Uzzaman, general partner at Fenox Venture Capital, and Akio Tanaka, managing partner at Infinity Venture Partners.

Check out the list of six finalists here.

Editing by Osman Husain

(And yes, we're serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)

ABOUT TERENCE

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JAMIE DIMON: The US consumer is A-OK

• Bob Bryan
 
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• 16h
• 626
 
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ReutersJP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon

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Jamie Dimon wrote an op-ed in defense of big banks

JAMIE DIMON: The US is 'creating intergenerational warfare'

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is bullish on the American consumer.

In an interview Wednesday with Yahoo Finance's Andy Serwer, Dimon said consumers are looking strong — and that that's a good sign for the US economy.

"The balance sheet of the American consumer is pretty good, meaning how much of their income goes to serve as debt is lower than it has been in 30 years," said Dimon during the sit-down.

"Asset prices are up, home prices are up, and homes are far more important than the stock market to the average American. It looks like it's in pretty good shape and finally getting stronger."

He pointed to strong jobs growth, near record car sales, and wages that are starting to pick up.

He also said one of the most encouraging signs was that the average consumer's balance sheet is looking solid. Specifically, the amount of income going towards monthly debt payments is at its lowest level in 30 years, he said.

Dimon recently highlighted "structural issues" that he perceived within the country in his annual letter to shareholders.

But the billionaire CEO has generally been bullish on the US economy, and has repeatedly said that while America has its issues, the country's economy is the strongest in the world.

SEE ALSO: JAMIE DIMON: The US has 'serious issues that we need to address'

85 months and counting — Bank of England holds

• Will Martin
 

• 3h
• 276

REUTERS/Sang Tan

The Bank of England has voted to keep interest rates on hold once again in its April meeting — as analysts had expected.

Interest rates have been on hold since March 2009, when the monetary policy committee first cut the Bank Rate to 0.5%. It's now stood at 0.5% for a record 85 months.

All nine members of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee voted for the hold for a third straight month.

In February, the MPC's sole hawk Ian McCafferty, who had previously voted for a 0.25% rise,changed his position and voted to hold rates.

The BoE cited a potential "softening of growth" in early 2016, and continued subdued inflation in the UK as reasons for the hold.

Here's the key quote from the MPC's minutes:

Returning inflation to the 2% target requires balancing the potentially lessening drag from external factors against expected gradual increases in domestic cost growth. Fully offsetting that drag over the short run would, in the MPC’s judgement, involve too rapid an acceleration in domestic costs, one that would risk being excessive and would lead to undesirable volatility in output and employment. Given these considerations, the MPC intends to set monetary policy to ensure that growth is sufficient to return inflation to the target in around two years and keep it there in the absence of further shocks.

General market consensus has been pricing the next interest rate hike as far out as 2020, with some analysts even expecting a cut before the next hike.

However, after slightly better than expected UK inflation in March, some analysts are bringing their predictions for the next hike. Here's what Pantheon Macroeconomics had to say in anote sent on Wednesday evening: "At today’s MPC meeting, the centre of gravity of the policy debate is likely to shift towards the merits of raising interest rates, rather than cutting them."

That's because in March, consumer price inflation in the UK grew from 0.3% to 0.5%, above the MPC's forecast of 0.4% growth. Pantheon says that this growth is "challenging the consensus view in the markets that the MPC will leave interest rates on hold until the end of the decade."

The BoE doesn't seem to agree with Pantheon's outlook, saying that "the broad outlook for activity and inflation appears little changed." It did however say that “it is more likely than not that Bank Rate will need to increase over the forecast period” — essentially, it expects to hike rates in coming years.

That's despite acknowledging that "core inflation also remains subdued, a consequence of the past appreciation of sterling, weak global inflation and restrained domestic cost growth."

Sterling rebounded after the decision. It had been down as much as 0.8% against the dollar on Thursday morning, after Sky News economics editor Ed Conway suggested that some MPC members could be leaning towards a cut in rates. "I understand at least two members of the MPC are strongly considering a vote for a cut in interest rates" Conway tweeted.

After the decision, it rebounded to just 0.3% down, and is now off around 0.45%. Here's the chart so far today:

Investing.com

Along with the interest rate decision, the Bank also kept its Asset Purchase Facility at £375 billion ($531 billion).

The Panama Papers: Secrets of the Super Rich (Video)

The Panama Papers: Secrets of the Super Rich

2016 

The international news media have been preoccupied by a new financial scandal as of late. Their stories focus around the Panama Papers, a set of leaked documents which reveal the identities of over 200,000 companies, trusts, foundations, criminals, world leaders, and other figures of wealth and influence who keep great sums of their money hidden in offshore accounts. Calling upon the talents of highly skilled investigative journalists across the world, the new documentary The Panama Papers: Secrets of the Super Rich probes the contents of these documents in an effort to unravel a complex tapestry of suspicious financial activity.

These 11 million documents all originate from a single source: Mossack Fonseca, or MossFon for short, a Panamanian-based corporate law firm that provides convenient tax havens for the wealthiest entities across the globe. While some of their clients operate within the boundaries of the law and utilize the company's services for legitimate purposes, many others do not. Offenders include Rami Makhlouf, the richest man in Syria and a chief financial backer of the oppressive Assad regime, and Marlorry Chacon Rossell, a high-profile Guatemalan cocaine trafficker. Mobsters, money launderers, arms dealers, terrorist enablers and other wealthy criminals work with MossFon to set up dummy companies as a shelter from public scrutiny, allowing them to continue their operations without the fear of leaving a traceable money trail.

The realm of politics also plays a key role in the scandal. World leaders are counted among MossFon's most notable clientele, including the Prime Ministers of Iceland and Saudi Arabia. Others have relatives with close ties to the firm such as the father of British Prime Minster David Cameron. Inconveniently, Cameron is one of the leading figures in the fight against these questionable financial operations.

To what extent is MossFon aware of their client's criminal activities and motives, and at what point is the firm itself veering into illegality? That's one of the central points of contention explored in the documentary, and it's a dilemma that has few easy or concrete answers. Produced by ABC Australia,The Panama Papers: Secrets of the Super Rich mounts an ambitious investigation of awesome scope, and successfully scratches the surface of an intriguing scandal which will continue to develop for some time to come.

One of Valeant's creditors just gave it the worst possible news

• Linette Lopez
 
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• 18h
• 6,933
 
• 8

Reuters

One of Valeant Pharmaceuticals' creditors has told the company that it will call a default on the company, Dow Jones reports.

Earlier this month, Valeant announced that it had secured agreement to avoid default and refinance $11 billion in secured loans from 50% of those creditors.

The company risked default because it had failed to file its annual report by March 15, and a failure to file it before April 29 would have triggered a technical default on those loans.

Now that it has been called, Valeant will have a 60-day window during which it must file its annual report or pay its bonds back early.

Here's the company's statement on the default notice (emphasis added):

Valeant Pharmaceuticals... today announced that it has received a notice of default from holders of its 5.5% Notes due 2023 as a result of the delay in the Company filing its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015.

The Company discussed on its March 15, 2016 preliminary earnings call the possibility of receipt of such notice. Under its bond indentures, the Company has until June 11, 2016, 60 days from the receipt of the notice, to file its 10-K, which will cure the default in all respects.

The Company is working diligently and is on schedule to file its 10-K on or before April 29, 2016. The notice of default does not result in the acceleration of any of the Company's indebtedness.

Valeant also maintains that it will be able to file its annual report by April 29.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Centerbridge owns about $250 million face value of the $1 billion 2023 note issue, and holders of 25% of any single Valeant issue can call a default under certain circumstances, including the failure to file.

Valeant's stock is down around 6% in after-market trading.

Debt is just one of the issues plaguing the company, whose stock has fallen over 80% since October. That's when allegations of malfeasance from a short seller combined with government scrutiny over Valeant's pricing practices turned the former Wall Street darling stock into a corporate disaster.

Outgoing CEO Michael Pearson will testify about Valeant's business practices before the US Senate Special Committee on Aging on April 27. On Wednesday, that same committee will hold a business meeting to decide whether or not to initiate contempt proceedings against Pearson for his failure to take a deposition earlier this month.

On Tuesday, US House Representative Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) also accused Valeant of failing to cooperate with Congress, saying that documents he requested from the company have yet to materialize.

The world's 2nd-biggest coal miner has officially filed for bankruptcy

• Will Martin and Reuters

• 7h
• 11,252
 
• 30

ReutersA truck driver walking past a giant mining truck at the largest open-pit gold mine in Australia, called the Fimiston Open Pit, also known as the Super Pit, in the gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie, located about 500 kilometres east of Perth, in 2001.

Peabody Energy, the world's largest privately owned coal producer and the second biggest on earth, has filed for US bankruptcy protection.

The bankruptcy comes after a sharp fall in coal prices that left it unable to service a recent debt-fueled expansion into Australia, saying it is taking "a major step to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt amid an unprecedented industry downturn."

The company listed both assets and liabilities in the range of $10 billion (£7 billion) to $50 billion (£35 billion), according to a court filing.

Peabody's bankruptcy filing ranks among the largest in the commodities sector since energy and metals prices began to fall in the middle of 2014 as once fast-growing markets such as China and Brazil began to slow.

The company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which according to the US government"generally provides for reorganization, usually involving a corporation or partnership."

It further explains: "A chapter 11 debtor usually proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its business alive and pay creditors over time. People in business or individuals can also seek relief in chapter 11."

Here's what Peabody CEO Glenn Kellow had to say in a statement released Wednesday:

This was a difficult decision, but it is the right path forward for Peabody. We begin today to build a highly successful global leader for tomorrow. Through today's action, we will seek an in-court solution to Peabody's substantial debt burden amid a historically challenged industry backdrop. This process enables us to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt, build upon the significant operational achievements we've made in recent years and lay the foundation for long-term stability and success in the future.

While the bankruptcy proceeds, Peabody will continue to operate as normal, the company said:

All of the company's mines and offices are continuing to operate in the ordinary course of business and are expected to continue doing so for the duration of the process. No Australian entities are included in the filings, and Australian operations are continuing as usual.

The firm warned in mid-March that it may have to file, saying it potentially lacked "sufficient liquidity to sustain operations and to continue as a going concern." At the time of its warning, the company said it had skipped a $71.1 million (£50.45 million) interest payment on some of its debt.

Peabody's shares have fallen by more than 95% in the past year.

Prices for coal have followed the general trend for commodities in the past few years, crashing ever lower. Coal's market price has halved since 2011 and fallen 41% since late 2013. Here's how that looks:

Investing.com

Coal has been particularly badly hit by the commodity crash as governments across the world have started to look at using more renewable energy sources and lowering carbon emissions. In late 2015 the COP21 conference in Paris ended with an international agreement on cutting carbon emissions, which will necessitate less use of coal.

Peabody is not the first coal miner to file, with its rivals Alpha Natural Resources and Arch Coalentering bankruptcy within the past year. Other coal-based firms that filed for bankruptcy protection last year included Walter Energy and Patriot Coal.

Some of the country's biggest banks are about to have their 'living wills' rejected

• Lisa Lambert, Reuters

• 12h
• 1,161
 
• 1

Thomson ReutersA view of the exterior of the JP Morgan Chase & Co. Corporate headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York

U.S regulators are preparing to notify some of country's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co , that they have submitted flawed "living wills," the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

A "living will" refers to a bank's plan for how it would wind down operations during a crisis without the help of public money.

At least half of the eight U.S. banks labeled “systemically important,” meaning they could significantly damage the financial system if they encountered distress, are expected to receive "harsh verdicts" on their plans for how they would handle a potential bankruptcy without a federal bailout, the Journal reported. 

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Bill Rigby)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

JPMorgan BEATS, but ...

• Portia Crowe
 
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• 3h
• 2,271

AP ImagesJPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

JPMorgan Chase  $60.66

JPM

+/-+1.33

%+2.20

Disclaimer

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Jamie Dimon wrote an op-ed in defense of big banks

There has been 'a perfect storm' on Wall Street

It's earnings season on Wall Street — brace for a rough one

JPMorgan just reported first-quarter earnings that beat on the top and bottom lines.

The firm on Wednesday reported earnings per share of $1.35 on revenue of $24.08 billion.

Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $1.24 on revenue of $23.80 billion, according to Bloomberg.

"We delivered solid results this quarter with strong underlying drivers," CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

"While challenging markets impacted the industry, we maintained our leadership positions and market share in the Corporate & Investment Bank and Asset Management, reflecting the strength of our platform."

Earnings, however, are down significantly from the same quarter last year, when JPMorgan reported EPS of $1.61 on revenue of $24.82 billion.

The firm missed expectations on investment-banking revenue but beat on trading. Revenues in all of the major divisions were down from the same quarter last year.

Here's the breakdown:

• Investment-banking revenue was $1.23 billion ($1.36 billion expected), down 24% year-on-year. That was driven by lower debt and equity underwriting fees, the firm said.
• Trading revenue came in at $5.17 billion ($4.58 billion expected), down 11% year-on-year.
• Fixed-income trading revenue came in at $3.59 billion ($3.23 billion expected), down 13% year-on-year. That reflects "an increase in the rates business which was more than offset by lower performance across asset classes," the firm said.
• Equity trading came in at $1.58 billion ($1.35 billion expected), down 5% year-on-year.

Last quarter, JPMorgan beat on the top and bottom lines, reporting earnings per share of $1.32 ($1.28 expected) on revenue of $23.7 billion ($23.24 billion expected).

The first quarter is typically the strongest for investment banks, but analysts are expecting an unusually weak Q1 earnings season on Wall Street this year.

Choppy trading conditions in early 2016, fears over China's growth, and a collapsed oil price are thought to have created a "perfect storm" for banks. Investment-banking revenue is down 36% across the Street, according to preliminary Q1 data from Dealogic — its lowest level since 2009. More on that here.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo will report fourth-quarter earnings at 6:45 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Thursday.

IMF says Greek debt 'highly unsustainable' and debt relief is 'essential'

• Renee Maltezou, Reuters

• 7h
• 667

Thomson ReutersGreek PM Tsipras looks on as he arrives to welcome Portugal's PM Costa at the Maximos Mansion in Athens

ATHENS (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants Greece's European partners to grant Athens substantial relief on its debt which it sees remaining "highly unsustainable", according to a draft IMF memorandum seen by Reuters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Greece and inspectors from its EU/IMF lenders adjourned talks on a crucial bailout review, mainly due to a rift among the lenders over a projected fiscal gap by 2018 and over Athens' resistance to unpopular reforms.

They will resume the review after this week's IMF spring meetings in Washington, where the lenders are also expected to discuss Greek reforms and debt.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who told Reuters on Tuesday that he saw no need for debt restructuring, will also be there.

"Despite generous concessional official financing and further reform plans ... debt dynamics are projected to remain highly unsustainable," the IMF draft said. "To restore debt sustainability, in addition to our reform efforts, decisive action by our European partners to grant further official debt relief will be essential."

EU institutions expect Greece to have a fiscal shortfall equivalent to 3% of economic output in 2018, while the IMF projects a 4.5% shortfall.

The EU institutions also believe Athens can reach a primary surplus - the budget balance before debt-servicing costs - of 3.5% of GDP by 2018, as targeted in its latest financial bailout.

But the IMF's draft Memorandum of Financial and Economic Policies (MFEP), which is compiled during the review, projected a primary deficit of 0.5% this year, a surplus of 0.25% in 2017 and a primary surplus of just 1.5% in 2018.

It said these figures reflected reform fatigue after five years of adjustments and social pressures in Greece due to high unemployment, which rose to 24.4% in January.

The draft projected an average rate of economic growth of 1.25% for the long term, which is lower than its previous forecast.

REUTERS/Mariana BazoInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

The targets, which it called "ambitious, yet realistic", could be underpinned by implementing measures that would save the equivalent of 2.5% of GDP by 2018, including reforms to its pension system, income tax, value-added tax (VAT) and the public sector wage bill.

Pension reforms mentioned in the IMF memorandum include the phasing out of a benefit for poor pensioners (EKAS), changing the contribution base from notional to actual incomes for the self-employed, recalculating pensions and introducing a national pension of €345/month after 15 years of contributions and €384/month after 20 years of contributions.

To tackle further pension fund deficits, Greece should implement measures worth another 0.5% of GDP but without including any more cuts to its main pensions which would be frozen by law, the IMF said.

Greece's leftist government, which was re-elected in September on promises to mitigate the negative impact of austerity and has a fragile parliamentary majority, does not want to hurt the country's 2.7 million pensioners any more, having seen their monthly stipends cut 11 times since 2010.

Readjusting tax income brackets and lowering the tax-free threshold was also among the measures under discussion.

Greece and the lenders are discussing the liberalization of the loan market as part of measures to reduce the volume of non-performing loans. Athens would amend its legislation to allow the sale of non-performing and performing bank loans by non-banks "freely and immediately", the draft said.

The legislation related to these measures should be passed before 2017 and implemented gradually, the IMF said. Athens will probably also need to submit a supplementary budget this year, it added.

Athens said on Tuesday it would submit pension and income tax legislation to parliament next week.

(Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

Russia just confirmed talks with Saudi Arabia — but oil is diving

• Will Martin
 

• 2m
• 2,917
 
• 2

The price of oil is sliding on Wednesday, despite rumours that Russia and Saudi Arabia have agreed to freeze output, and confirmation from Russia's oil minister confirming that he spoke with Saudi Arabian officials on Tuesday.

Near 2:00 p.m. BST (9:00 a.m. ET) both European and US benchmarks are lower by more than 1%, with investors seemingly jittery about the upcoming oil producer meeting in Qatar over the weekend.

Brent crude, Europe's benchmark has fallen by 1.12%, to $44.19 per barrel, and off a five-month high, while WTI crude has lost 1.45% to trade at $41.56. Here's how oil looks today:

Investing.com

Investing.com

Yesterday media reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia had held talks and agreed on an output freeze sent the price of oil sharply upwards, but since oil chief Alexander Novak confirmed the talks with Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, oil's price has remained subdued.

"Now I do not want to comment prematurely on what will be discussed on April 17 in Doha. Let’s wait for the consultations. The talks were held yesterday, this is a fact, but I will not announce the decision beforehand," Novak told Russian news agency TASS, hinting that the two countries may have reached an agreement on a freeze.

"Everything is possible because these are open documents. Everyone who wants to join this will join. As for those who do not want to join - no one will force them," he added, possibly alluding to Iran's reticence on coming to the meeting. However, Novak did say that he was optimistic about achieving an agreement on a freeze.

While it looks like Saudi Arabia and Russia are willing to cooperate on a freeze, one of the big sticking points ahead of the Doha meeting is Iran's involvement in any freeze. Since reentering into the global markets in January after the lifting of sanctions, Iran has ramped up output massively, and the officials have said the country will continue to do so.

On Wednesday morning, there were unconfirmed reports that Iranian officials are not even planning to attend the producer meeting, which is likely to have helped push oil lower.According to a journalist at Iranian publication Seda Weekly Iran's oil minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh will not go to Doha on Sunday, but will instead send a delegate.

Opinions on a freeze in production — designed to address supply issues and boost oil's price are mixed. Saudi Arabia and Russia are both thought to be keen on the freeze, while a senior Iraqi official yesterday called a freeze "the only way".