The CFTC leads the news with a couple of rule decisions, one of which is controversial beginning with its vote. The IMF says that European banks may have to sell trillions of dollars in assets through next year if their financial firewalls prove inadequate. The hedge fund industry, coming off a fairly lousy 2011, sees enthusiasm for new startups wane as far fewer investors are willing to fund new ventures. In the top box, lots of attention paid to the CFTC, which is a great showcase for how well MarketsReformWiki catalogs regulatory information; and Sarah Rudolph’s JLN Options Newsletter has a comparison of incoming mini option offerings from NYSE Arca and ISE.

The CFTC sets forth, on a 3-2 vote, a rule proposal for regulating big swap trades. CME Group indicates its continuing interest in Asia, suggesting that it would like closer connections to exchanges in China and Japan.  The Italian securities regulator cries foul over the five year old Milan-LSE tie-up, claiming that extra order flow hasn’t materialized in Italy as promised.  In the top box today, Editor-In-Chief Jim Kharouf celebrates the one-million mark for MarketsReformWiki.

By John J. Lothian

A year ago at this time,  John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. was showing people something that we were working on behind the curtain; MarketsReformWiki.

We showed people the site and what we had, what we hoped to have and what we thought we needed.  On February 28, we will celebrate the one year anniversary of the launch of this global regulatory reform online tool.  The pressing question in the office is whether we will reach 1 million page views in the first year.  We just passed 900K this week.

CBOE Holdings provides details of a major internal reorganization of management roles. Eurex announces that since it won’t be merging with NYSE-Euronext, it will replace its trading engine at the end of 2012. The Libor price-fixing investigation continues, and brokers in London and Asia are suspended or fired as the inquiry deepens. In a fully-packed top box today, John Lothian shines a spotlight on MarketsReformWiki; he also takes aim at CME Group’s plans to sell the CBOT Building; Nicole Rohr has a piece about the upcoming Futures For Kids charity walk; and Sarah Rudolph provides a JLN Options interview with Steve Crutchfield of NYSE Amex.

$200 million in missing MF Global money is found in Britain at JP Morgan Chase.  Fitch says the USA is AAA, but that could change if we don’t behave.  Bloomberg provides another hard look at the financial crisis of 2008, this time revealing fascinating items about Henry Paulson’s sharing skills.  Judge Jed Rakoff, wielding the Sword of Pragmatic Justice, throws the SEC-Citigroup settlement out the door on the grounds that it was a pathetic whitewash, and schedules a trial.  And in the wonderful world of wikis, MarketsReformWiki passes its 500K page view milestone, and MarketsWiki has handily zipped along past 16 million views.

The amount of missing money at MF Global takes a sharp turn for the worse.  After weeks of leaks, denials and silence, two exchanges in Japan formally announce their plans to merge.  The European economy continues to hug its arms to its chest in worry, and banks become increasingly cautious about sovereign exposure.  In the US, much ado is made about the “nothing” that resulted from the national budget supercommittee.  And in the newsletter top box, Don Horowitz writing on MarketsReformWiki discusses the value of an SIPC-style insurance fund for the futures industry.

John Lothian News is pleased to announce Eurex Clearing has agreed to become a Premier Level sponsor of MarketsReformWiki (“MRW”).

“MarketsReformWiki has become a valuable source for one of the most controversial discussed topics of our industry,” said Heiner Seidel, spokesman for Eurex Group.  “John and his team again showed their impressive ability to create a new platform with impressive clicks within a few months. Thus, it was no question for us to support this initiative.”