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Wednesday Express: 4 Libra backers' hesitation; AMTD to offer free trading

* Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Stripe are still not sure whether they would officially sign on to Facebook's cryptocurrency project, Libra, because they are concerned about keeping positive relationships with regulators who have reservations about it, Bloomberg News reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

* Brokerage company Siebert Financial entered into a binding agreement to buy Weeden Prime Services, a subsidiary of Weeden Investors. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

* Because of the $150 billion the U.S. banking sector spends on technological efficiencies on an annual basis, the industry could cut approximately 200,000 jobs in the next decade, Bloomberg News reports, citing a Wells Fargo report.

* JPMorgan Chase filed a complaint against one of its former brokers, Pedro Lopez-Villari, for allegedly contacting his previous customers at the Wall Street bank about transferring their accounts to UBS Wealth Management USA, where he moved in August, AdvisorHub reports. JPMorgan claims that the broker was able to convince six clients with $13 million to switch to UBS.

* Meanwhile, rival banks and analysts observed that balance sheet changes at JPMorgan could have contributed to the September spikes in the U.S. repo market, Reuters reports. Policymakers, traders and bank executives said reserve concentration among few banks may have impacted last month's markets, given that they face tighter regulatory standards for cash, the Financial Times reports.

* Former Citibank and WSFS Bank banker Tae Kim was sentenced to 18 months in prison for bank fraud, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports. Kim reportedly conspired with Zahid Aslam, one of his clients, to participate in a loan fraud scheme where Kim allegedly falsified information in loan applications.

* Credit union trade groups support the National Credit Union Administration board's "Second Chance" initiative, under which young adults who have been convicted of minor offenses would still be able to work at credit unions without seeking approval from the NCUA board.

* TD Ameritrade Holding is following its rivals' leads by rolling out free online trading for most U.S. stocks, options and exchange-traded funds, marking the latest salvo in a rapidly escalating price war. Less than 12 hours after Charles Schwab revealed a similar plan, the Omaha, Neb.-based online brokerage said it was eliminating its $6.95 commission fee for online trades involving exchange-listed stocks, options and ETFs in both the U.S. and Canada.

* A wholly owned subsidiary of Enstar Group has successfully reinsured a number of U.S. asbestos and environmental liability insurance portfolios of Zurich North America, a Zurich Insurance Group unit.

* Assured Guaranty unit Assured Guaranty US Holdings closed its acquisition of BlueMountain Capital Management for about $160 million in cash.

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