News and Notes

central bank digital currency, cryptocurrencies, ECB

Frankfurt am Main, 12 September 2018 L/MD/18/306 Honourable Member of the European Parliament, dear Mr Fernández, Thank you for your letter, which was passed on to me by Mr Roberto…

Basel Committee reduces advantages of “settled-to-market” derivatives

September 21, 2018

BIS, LCR, NSFR, Settled to market

The Basel Committee today issued responses to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) related to the treatment of settled-to-market (STM) derivatives under the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) and Net Stable Funding Ratio…

Get the weekly SFM update – our September 21 newsletter is online

September 21, 2018

Headlines: European regulatory reporting for a global audience, a guest post from UnaVista; Stablecoins could be the link between crypto and securities finance; Envisioning the next evolution of the securities…

ARRC says term SOFR on track for 2021

September 20, 2018

ARRC, SOFR, term SOFR

ARRC Releases FAQs to Build on Efforts to Engage and Educate Market Participants and Other Stakeholders The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) has released a new set of frequently asked…

DataLend says H1 2018 revenue in securities finance was $5.47 billion (lender to broker activity)

September 20, 2018

DataLend has released the fifth edition of The Purple magazine. Other data points of note include: NGT trade count and notional Cash vs. non-cash Australia securities finance market breakdown Information…

IOSCO issues policy measures to protect investors of OTC leveraged products

September 19, 2018

IOSCO, OTC derivatives, retail

The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today issued a final report providing measures for securities regulators to consider when addressing the risks arising from the marketing…

BoE’s Haldane says central banks must rely on “folk wisdom” to build public trust

September 19, 2018

Andrew Haldane, Bank of England, Central Banks

Folk Wisdom Andrew G Haldane Chief Economist Bank of England 100th Anniversary of the Bank of Estonia Tallinn, Estonia 19 September 2018 Central banks, like all public institutions, were created…

Risk: Brexit threatens UK-based banks’ corporate repo funding

September 18, 2018

Brexit, Corporate Bonds, Repo

UK-based trading desks are bracing for tough post-Brexit obstacles to repo trading with the European Union’s non-financial companies – a source of funding that will grow in importance under incoming…

New York Fed Sells Remainder of Maiden Lane LLC Securities; Approximately $2.5 Billion Net Gain Generated for U.S. Public from the Portfolio

September 18, 2018

Federal Reserve, Maiden Lane, NY Fed

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed) today announced the completion of the sale of the remaining securities in the Maiden Lane LLC (ML LLC) portfolio. Sales…

BIS Markets Committee analyses changes in fast-paced electronic markets

September 18, 2018

BIS, electronic trading, Liquidity

Trading in foreign exchange and other fast-paced electronic markets is increasingly spread across a range of platforms, with non-bank intermediaries, most notably principal trading firms, gaining a stronger foothold. In…

EquiLend opens Dublin office

September 18, 2018

Dublin, Equilend, Europe, Ireland

DUBLIN (Sept. 18, 2018)—EquiLend, a leading provider of trading, post-trade, market data and clearing services for the securities finance industry, today announces the opening of its office in Dublin to…

FT: EBA Chief Enria says back-to-back trading must stay after Brexit

September 18, 2018

Andrea Enria, back-to-back trading, EBA, Europe

Andrea Enria, the head of the European Banking Authority, told the FT in an interview that a contentious way of transferring risk across borders was an indispensable “backbone” of global…

Bank of England launches Public Register for the UK Money Markets Code

September 17, 2018

Bank of England, Money Markets Code

The Bank of England’s Money Markets Committee (MMC) – comprised of market participants from a wide range of banks, other financial and non-financial institutions – has launched a Public Register…

Nasdaq clearing member default costs CCP EUR 114 million

September 17, 2018

CCP, default, Nasdaq

OSLO (Reuters) – A Norwegian power market trader racked up losses he could not cover, leaving commodities companies who are part of the Nasdaq clearing house, and the exchange itself,…

Get the weekly SFM update – our September 14 newsletter is online

September 14, 2018

Headlines: Europe is first to SFTR but won’t be last: expectations on the global rise of SFT reporting rules; Rates & Repo NYC Nov 5 2018 — first 40 registrations;…

AcadiaSoft Launches Sensitivities Calculation Services

September 12, 2018

AcadiaSoft, OTC derivatives, SIMM

AcadiaSoft Inc., the leading provider of margin automation solutions worldwide, today announced that it is offering two new services to streamline the generation of inputs necessary for margin calculations using…

SIFMA Supports OFR Repo Market Data Collection Proposal

September 12, 2018

OFR, Repo, SIFMA, SOFR

In a comment letter filed with the Office of Financial Research, SIFMA expresses its broad support for the OFR’s proposed data collection covering centrally cleared transactions in the U.S. repurchase,…

EMMI cancels European repo index project

September 12, 2018

EMMI, Europe, Repo

The EMMI Board of Directors has decided to stop the efforts toward the production of a pan-European reference index for the secured segment of the euro money market under the…

European Systemic Risk Board says data coverage of Shadow Banking “hampers activity-based monitoring”

September 12, 2018

Europe, Shadow Banking

The European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has today published the EU Shadow Banking Monitor 2018 which covers data up to end-2017. This is the third issue in an annual series…

CFTC’s Giancarlo argues for a global swaps regulation

September 11, 2018

A New Approach to Cross-Border Swaps Reform: One Market, One Regulator, One Set of Rules Remarks by Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo at FIA Japan, Tokyo, Japan It is time to…

ISLA releases 9th Securities Lending Market Report

September 11, 2018

ISLA, Securities Lending

The International Securities Lending Association (ISLA), a leading financial services trade association has today published its latest Securities Lending Market Report. This is the 9th edition of the report and…

Tradeweb repo activity up 39% in August 2018 year over year

September 10, 2018

Average daily volume (USD mm): 148,361 Volume (USD mm): 3,412,292

World Federation of Exchanges calls for global reform of Leverage Ratio

September 7, 2018

Leverage Ratio, WFE, World Federation of Exchanges

London, Friday 7 September 2018 – The World Federation of Exchanges (“WFE”), the global industry group for CCPs and exchanges, has today published its response to the four global standard-setting boards…

ESMA says demand for EU HQLA remains robust, pricing 12 bps over GC

September 6, 2018

ESMA, HQLA

European Union (EU) securities markets, infrastructures and investors face new risks in the form of high volatility, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said today in its latest Trends,…

ISLA staffs up for SFTR

September 5, 2018

ISLA, SFTR

International Securities Lending Association (ISLA) announces Richard Colvill is to join the team Wednesday, 5th September 2018 – London – The International Securities Lending Association (ISLA), a leading financial services…

OCC seclending CCP volume up 17% in August 2018 year over year

September 5, 2018

CCP, Options Clearing Corp, Securities Lending

OCC’s securities lending CCP activity was up 17 percent in new loans from August 2017 with 235,780 transactions last month. Year-to-date stock loan activity increased 21 percent from 2017 with…

MetLife issues $1 billion in SOFR-linked floating rate notes

September 3, 2018

MetLife, SOFR

Bloomberg reports that “The MetLife transaction, which was managed by Bank of America, is a floating-rate note with a coupon of 57 basis points more than SOFR, according to a…

Ecuador does $500 million repo deal with Goldman Sachs at LIBOR 3M+4.25%

September 2, 2018

Ecuador, Goldman Sachs, Repo

The deal terms were LIBOR 3M+4.25% for four years. The transaction was part of a capital raising effort of $1.14 billion that included loans from two separate development banks. The…

Get the weekly SFM update – our August 31 2018 newsletter is online

August 31, 2018

Headlines: FICC starts to see liftoff with money fund cleared repo; FISL NYC is coming to town; Sanction backfire, a non-US payment system would change the balance of financial power; …

ICMA: lack of Asian repo liquidity constricts corporate bond market

August 30, 2018

Asia, Corporate Bonds, ICMA, Repo

ICMA has published a report on the state and evolution of the Asia-Pacific cross border corporate bond secondary market. While the report is primarily focused on G3 (USD, EUR, GBP)…

SmartStream launch QA testing for collateral management

August 29, 2018

QA Testing, SmartStream, TLM

SmartStream Technologies, the financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM®) solutions provider, today announced the addition of Quality Assurance (QA) testing as a service for its TLM Collateral Management solution. The new…

BIS: Reserve requirements and capital flows in Latin America

August 28, 2018

BIS, capital flows, reserve requirements

The experience of a number of central banks in emerging economies indicates that capital flows can pose a dilemma. For example, raising policy rates can attract more capital inflows by…

Deutsche Börse acquires minority stake in HQLAx

August 28, 2018

Deutsche Borse, HQLAx

Deutsche Börse Group has just made an initial investment of a single-digit euro million amount in HQLAx S.à r.l. in exchange for a minority shareholding. With this step, the company…

QCAM: “The Powell Doctrine”

August 27, 2018

Powell, QCAM

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole was widely viewed as dovish. The USD lost subse- quently 0.5% versus the EUR, while equity markets rallied and 10-year US Treasury…

Thomson Reuters supports Trax MiFID II reporting and SI determination services with comprehensive data

August 26, 2018

MiFID II, ThomsonReuters

LONDON – Thomson Reuters has entered into an agreement with Trax to provide its trusted reference and market data to support Trax’s MiFID II regulatory reporting and Systematic Internaliser (SI)…

US regulators accept some munis as HQLA

August 23, 2018

HQLA, municipal bonds, US

WASHINGTON–Three federal banking agencies today issued an interim final rule amending the agencies’ liquidity rules to treat certain eligible municipal securities as high-quality liquid assets, as required by the Economic…

Bloomberg: What Squeeze? Treasury Repo Suggests Shorts Are Not So Extreme

August 23, 2018

Repo, US

For all of the hoopla about data showing speculators’ record net short positions in Treasury futures, the market for repurchase agreements suggests people may be overestimating the potential for a…

Eurekahedge publishes data on the global hedge fund industry

August 22, 2018

Eurekahedge’s global hedge funds infographic sums up the industry as at August 2018. Find out more about global hedge funds assets under management (AUM), asset flows into strategic and regional…

CCP12 supports SA-CCR, warns against punitive charges to clearing firms

August 22, 2018

CCP12, SA-CCR

Position of CCP12 in regards to the Basel III Leverage Ratio Framework CCP12 would like to emphasize again its reservations in regards to the Basel III Leverage Ratio (LR) and…

FINRA Fines Interactive Brokers $5.5 Million for Regulation SHO Violations and Supervisory Failures

August 21, 2018

FINRA, Interactive Brokers

WASHINGTON – FINRA announced today that it has fined Interactive Brokers LLC (Interactive) $5.5 million for Regulation SHO violations and supervisory failures spanning a period of at least three years.…

BIS: Transmission of monetary policy through global banks: whose policy matters?

August 20, 2018

BIS, international bank lending, Monetary policy changes

This paper examines how monetary policy changes in various countries affect international bank lending. Most of the existing literature looks at monetary conditions in one or two countries, that of…

BoE paper: XVA pass-throughs mean bilateral IRS is more expensive than cleared

August 17, 2018

Bank of England, OTC derivatives, XVA

OTC premia Staff Working Paper No. 751 By Gino Cenedese, Angelo Ranaldo and Michalis Vasios Using trade repository data at transaction and ID levels, we provide the first systematic study…

CPMI: Call for comments on governance of OTC derivatives data

August 17, 2018

CPMI, FSB, OTC

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have today published for public comment a consultative report on governance arrangements for over-the-counter…

Get the weekly SFM update – our August 17 2018 newsletter is online

August 17, 2018

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Charles River joins Broadridge to get SWIFT in wake of T+2

August 16, 2018

Anna Reitman

Broadridge, Charles River, middle office, T+2

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

Charles River and Broadridge have formalized a business alliance to enable better integration with the SWIFT network in the Charles River Investment Management Solution, prompted by the SEC’s regulatory mandate to…

Blockchain tech firm Axoni raises $32mn Series B co-led by Goldman Sachs

August 15, 2018

Anna Reitman

Axoni, blockchain, DLT, enterprise, fundraising, Goldman Sachs, NEX, Nyca Partners

Axoni completed a $32 million Series B financing round led by Goldman Sachs and Nyca Partners, bringing the enterprise blockchain tech firm’s total funding to $55+ million. Its AxCore technology has been…

Bloomberg: Libor’s Heir Presumptive Prepared to Take on Bank Bond Market

August 15, 2018

Bank Bond Market, LIBOR, SOFR

The heir presumptive to dollar Libor is gaining traction with debt issuers and banks may be ready to sell floating-rate notes linked to it within months. That’s the view of…

FSB, CPMI, IOSCO and BCBS study highlights continued central clearing interdependencies

August 9, 2018

CPMI, FSB, workplan implementation

Study highlights continued central clearing interdependencies The Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Basel Committee…

ISF: JP Morgan looks to offload half of its EquiLend stake

August 8, 2018

Equilend, JPM