[00:00:00] Speaker A: This week in the parish of Bourses and Market Structure. Hello coffer resurrection or crucifixion? It's Easter as we ponder ASX's disgrace. My name is Patrick L. Young. Welcome to the Bourse Business Weekly Digest. It's the Exchange Invest weekly podcast, episode 340.
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Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very brief reduction of highlights amongst the key headlines from the week in Market Structure. All the analysis of the many events and happenings from the past seven days can be found in Exchange Invest Daily subscriber newsletter, the unique guide to the Boris business and daily to your inbox. More
[email protected] over in Paris Notes Q1 has ended and thus it's time for our quarterly review of Young's pyramid of exchanges. Our unique approach to viewing the relative size of market infrastructure operating companies Q1 2026 saw CME continue to lead Tier 1, extending its $100 billion market cap at the end of 2025 by a handy margin to reach just shy of $108 billion, while ICE was stable at $89 billion by the quarter's end. There remains a significant distance to Hong Kong Exchanges Group in a clear third place at $63 billion, which is still clearly well ahead of the management challenged lseg, where the legacy Thomson Reuters financial assets keep the market cap at a fairly bloated $54 billion, albeit with avenues to growth not readily apparent. Perhaps the most fascinating point is that ibkr, the mega broker with wafer thin brokerage fees, has now exploded to the point where it rivals the world's largest exchange. Indeed, it ended Q1 neck and neck with CME Group at $108 billion.
Over in Bitcornage, there are issues the IMF is worried understandably about whole new tiers of risk from a hypercollateralization which may speed up trading investing and add layers of new risk to the marketplace. It's a fair call.
Tokenized Finance is the paper from the imf and Bloomberg reported that, as the IMF warns, tokenized finance risks amplifying market crises ahead. Meanwhile, the problem is related to the Malta Exchange Threat, where I outlined an opinion piece last year the risks to all exchanges from the lofty vantage point of the Times of Malta, discussing the risks to all exchanges, not just crypto and the European Union economy as a whole from the EU's regulatory centralization push this week the article was focused on centralizing crypto. While Malta's clash with ESMA is about more than one small state, the trouble is not with crypto per se. It's the persistent failure of the EU to deliver economic growth across its large nations as the bloc atrophies from its own protectionism.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Thanks for listening to Exchange Invest Weekly. We welcome your feedback. You can contact me directly patrick.com with any comments. Meanwhile, if you enjoyed this show, we would welcome you giving us a thumbs up. Or if you have time, a positive review will always be welcome wherever you find this podcast.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: In the world of legacy bourses as a whole, Deutsche Bose's CEO Stefan Leitner maybe CEO of DB1A1's colossal force, which is now kind of still around but without much vestige of influence. Alas. Anyway, Leitner carries on and arguably amps up comments made by his predecessor. His predecessor being now let me try and remember that. Oh yes, Ted or Weimar. That was him. Anyway, Weimar was arguing for a greater equity culture and pension reform. Now his successor has taken up the cudgels. It's the right argument as even the European Union could be saved from resembling 1970s South America if it embraces something like capitalism. This just in from South America. Incidentally, the rate of poverty in Argentina has gone down from 53% to 28%, almost halving in one year under President Xavier Milei and Free Markets MSCI. They've upgraded the Greek capital market to develop market status, which is a further boon for Euronext in their bargain buy of Helix last year. And a great piece I recommend you drop by and read in LinkedIn bringing transparency to Private Markets by Alex Maturi an excellent outline of various key issues in the private market arena, which have often been glibly ignored by the sort of people who think you just wrap liquidity around what was actually relatively intractable assets to move and trade. Alex Muturi, of course, was our guest for IPO VID all those years ago. IPO Vid 006 the view from an index powerhouse when he was running the S and P global business ICE in the midst of a squeeze thanks to the Straits of Hormuz crisis, has been telling traders there's more than enough oil to deliver for its Mirban futures. And it's good to hear that ifad, the ADGM based UAE outpost of ice, continues to deal elegantly and efficiently, having first been born speedily and elegantly during COVID ASX has been talking resurrection, but it looked more like crucifixion from even the all too often supine Australian regulatory blob. The latest report again was published curiously close to the point where parishioners were in holiday mode.
Everything you hear about the ASX that it's inward looking, tin eared, glass jawed, arrogant, complacent is true, remarked the Australian Financial Review's Chanticleer column Pith perfect quotations. Albeit the weirdest part of the AFR reaction was Chanticleer going on to a opine that outgoing CEO Helen Lofthouse may have started turning this ship. How on earth you can shrug a ship into a turn when denying all past apocalypses escapes me. All the rest of the pith on that hot topic was in exchange Invest this week. Go sign up now. You can get a 70 free
[email protected] meanwhile, if you fancy some financial insights with moving pictures, check out our live stream Tuesdays five o' clock London time, midday New York time. It's the IPO video live show. Catch the back episodes on LinkedIn and YouTube via IPO fiddle our finance book of the week wall the Creators and Corruptors of American Finance by Edward Morris, which traced back the work of 14 critical figures who wrote and occasionally broke the rules of American finance Product News this week big news from Seoul. It's bye bye Cory Bohr and welcome coffer the Korea Overnight Financing Repo rate which like offer rates in general is a risk free benchmark based on actual overnight repo transactions backed by government securities.
Speaking of government securities in Asia, SGX derivatives have made their excellent move. As previously mentioned in Exchange Invest weeks ago, EI3524, the Singapore Exchange launching Asian government bond futures amongst geopolitical turmoil and last but by no means least in a golden week for product development, the National Stock Exchange of India is collaborating with the Indian gas exchange to launch derivatives based on IGX's benchmark price index.
Regulation News well, lots happening in the world of prediction markets insider trading amongst the CFTC priorities said the top cop for the derivatives regulator, the late great professor Desmond Fitzgerald, railed as I recall against insider trading rules not because he knew anything, because rather insider trading mostly lost money and also left a footprint in the price. So it was better to fold information in the market than not. I think we may be approaching logically a limits to growth in insider trading law which is the problem one often sees from regulatory mindsets. Solutions AKA trying to police everything or anything that may deliver on informational advantage is next to impossible, particularly in broad global macro issues, even limited but public issues pertaining to say sport, let alone war. To that end this does show up the limitations of anti market thinking by certain cadre politicians. Also it's worrying that there seems to be a panic mode gripping Washington D.C. right now and the CFTC simply knee jerking. To say they will crack down on something which may be inherently tough to police in many instances is only going to fuel the classes who believe regulations should strapping bricks to the back of aircraft to keep them safe by precluding them from flying. At the same time, the CFTC has sued the states of Arizona, Connecticut and Illinois against CFTC Registered Designated Contract Markets as it tries to reaffirm its exclusive jurisdiction over the prediction markets Korea Pal this week four new additions to the Board of Directors of DTCC highlight amongst those Roland Chai of NASDAQ alongside Massimiliano Ciardi of Citadel, Stephen Hood of America and Georges Lucia of Barclays.
Meanwhile in China, the former vice chair of the Chinese securities regulator CSRC Vice Chairman Wang Zhanjun has hit the career skids, to put it Mildly. He was 86th as boss of Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the Exchange Invest inaugural 1000 list of the world's most influential people in market structure in 2017. But I think it's fair to say that Mr. Wang is out of the running for the 2026 edition after being prosecuted for bribery. Johannesburg Stock Exchange this week said a fond farewell to their CEO Leila Fury, who at least worked hard to stop the rot in the Johannesburg Exchange, albeit with great difficulties in the macro economy thanks to poor government. Good luck to Valdine Reddy as she steps up to become the third JSC Group CEO in a row who is female, a first for the parish.
Meanwhile in Big World, of course, with the team in the heart of Southeast Asia, we can't ignore at Exchange Invest the fascinating phenomenon of K Pop, which as I won't tire of noting, is a rounding error in the South Korean economy, but when overlaid with the DPRK up North would be the equivalent to 15 to 25% of that nation's GDP.
Blackpink, the number one girl band in the genre of K Pop, finished their deadline global tour in Hong Kong January 26 began at Goyang Stadium in South Korea on July 2025. The girl band casually sold out the 50,000-seater Kai Tak built where the fabulous old airport once delivered landings. At least the equal and raw excitement of the blackpink stage show itself. Thanks to the divine tour, Lisa, Jisoo, Ruse and Jenny along with their entourage added a healthy $400 million. That's a 60 plus million dollar profit to the balance sheet of YG Entertainment, Blackpink's record label management, Vertical Silo and on that mysterious and magnificent note. Thank you for listening to this Exchange Invest weekly podcast number 340. Join us daily via exchangeinvest.com or if you have a new exchange or marketplace you'd like built, get in touch. My name is Patrick L. Young and I wish you a great week in life and markets.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: This show relates to the business of bourses. It is not to be construed as investment advice nor are we making any investment recommendations.
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