News and Notes

Bloomberg, equity benchmarks, ESG

Bloomberg U.S. Large Cap Index is the Basis for Co-Branded ESG Index Family Bloomberg today announced that it now offers U.S. equity benchmark capabilities. The equity offering includes the Bloomberg…

TreasurySpring raises £2m to fuel growth

September 16, 2019

TreasurySpring, the London-based financial technology company today announced the closing of its latest capital raise, securing £2m of investment in a round that was led by ETFS Capital, with participation…

Get the weekly SFM update – our September 13 newsletter is online

September 13, 2019

Top Stories: Connected Data: The Opportunity for Collateral and Liquidity Optimization; FISL Europe: SFTR is the Brexit of securities finance tech; SFTR peer update: where does your firm stand in…

ISDA publishes Legal Guidelines for Smart Derivatives Contracts: Collateral

September 12, 2019

derivatives, ISDA, smart contracts

ISDA has published the third in a series of legal guidelines for smart derivatives contracts, intended to explain the core principles of ISDA collateral documentation and raise awareness among technology…

FCA issues one-pager and sets up hotline for Brexit prep

September 12, 2019

Brexit, FCA

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a one-pager on how firms should prepare for Brexit. The UK will leave the EU without an implementation period on 31 October 2019 unless…

Zero Hash Announces Successful Launch of Settlement for Derivatives

September 11, 2019

derivatives, settlement, Zero Hash

Zero Hash, a digital asset and fiat currency custodian, calculation agent and settlement service, today announced the launch of support for derivatives, providing participants the ability to settle bilateral derivative…

Reserve Bank of India working with regulators to develop fixed income securities lending

September 11, 2019

India, RBI, Securities Lending

20th FIMMDA – PDAI Annual Conference Shri B.P Kanungo, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India – August 31, 2019 – Moscow IRDA, SEBI and PFRDA too could help development of…

ISLA publishes report on LEIs and SFTR

September 10, 2019

ISLA, LEI, SFTR

The International Securities Lending Association has today published a paper titled ‘The LEI & Securities Finance Transaction Regulation (SFTR)’ Against the backdrop of the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR) that…

ESMA risk survey shows “deteriorating” outlook for asset managers and “very high” market risk

September 10, 2019

ESMA, Market Risk, TRV report

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the second Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities (TRV) report for 2019. The report identifies a deteriorating outlook for the asset management industry…

Eurex Clearing launches incentive program to support Brexit preparations

September 9, 2019

Brexit, Eurex Clearing, OTC derivatives

Eurex Clearing introduces a CCP Switch Incentive Program until year-end 2019 to support market participants in migrating OTC interest rate derivatives positions. Regulators and central banks have recently renewed their…

Market Media: State Street presents on AI in securities lending

September 8, 2019

artificial intelligence, machine learning, State Street

State Street and its research arm State Street Associates have collaborated to optimize their securities lending business through the deployment of an internally developed machine learning model. The project’s goal…

QS Holdco asks judge to allow lawsuit to proceed against prime brokers

September 6, 2019

lawsuit, prime brokers, QS Holdco

Plaintiff QS Holdco, Inc. respectfully submits this Memorandum of Law in support of its motion pursuant to Rules 59(e) and 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (the “Rules”)…

Federal Reserve Board invites public comment on proposal to establish capital requirements for certain insurance companies supervised by the Board

September 6, 2019

Federal Reserve, insurance companies

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday invited public comment on a proposal to establish capital requirements for certain insurance companies supervised by the Board. The proposal builds on existing state-based…

Bank of England: Securities settlement fails network and buy-in strategies

September 6, 2019

Bank of England, buy-ins, settlement fails

Staff Working Paper No. 821 By Pedro Gurrola-Perez, Jieshuang He and Gary Harper In the context of securities settlement, a trade is said to fail if on the settlement date…

Get the weekly SFM update – our September 6 newsletter is online

September 6, 2019

Headlines — Help wanted: buy-side firm seeks CCP business model for securities lending; Finadium launches database on hedge fund/prime broker relationships; invites beta testers for online access; FISL Europe: Total…

OCC settlements on regulatory matters with SEC and CFTC

September 5, 2019

CFTC, OCC, sec

OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, released the below statement in response to a settlement reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity…

ISLA publishes Regulatory and Policy Maker Guide to Securities Lending, in association with Finadium

September 4, 2019

Finadium, ISLA, Regulatory, Securities Lending

The International Securities Lending Association is delighted to announce the publication of its new Regulator & Policy Maker Guide to Securities Lending. Produced in association with Finadium, a consultancy focused on…

CME reports record trading in SOFR futures as OI surpasses $960 billion notional

September 4, 2019

CME, SOFR, SOFR futures

Open interest in CME SOFR futures surged to a record 283K contracts ($960B notional) in August, on record ADV of 40K contracts: More than 15 new firms began trading in August,…

CME Group to Launch SOFR Options on January 6, 2020

September 4, 2019

CME, SOFR, SOFR options

CME Group, the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that it will launch options on Three-Month Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures starting on Jan. 6, 2020,…

ISDA Create to Add New Custody Function for Initial Margin

September 4, 2019

BNY Mellon, Custody, ISDA Create

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) and Linklaters have announced the addition of a new custody function on ISDA Create’s initial margin (IM) offering, which will enable users…

Fed blog: The Transmission of Monetary Policy and the Sophistication of Money Market Fund Investors

September 4, 2019

Federal Reserve, Liberty Street Economics, money market funds

In December 2015, the Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy for the first time in almost ten years and, over the following three years, it raised interest rates eight more times,…

BIS: Spillovers of funding dry ups

September 4, 2019

BIS, funding, Repo

BIS Working Papers No 810 04 September 2019 by Iñaki Aldasoro, Florian Balke, Andreas Barth and Egemen Eren Focus Dry-ups in funding markets often lead to financial crises, with adverse macroeconomic consequences.…

OCC seclending CCP volume declined 5.53% in August 2019 year over year

September 3, 2019

CCP, OCC, Securities Lending

OCC’s securities lending CCP activity was down 5.53 percent in new loans from August 2018 with 111,375 transactions last month. Year-to-date stock loan activity has decreased 2.56 percent from 2018…

ESMA strengthens liquidity stress tests for investment funds

September 3, 2019

AIFs, ESMA, liquidity stress tests, UCITS

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its final guidance regarding liquidity stress tests of investment funds – applicable to both Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) and Undertakings for…

ECB’s Yves Mersch on why cryptocurrency Libra may be a new kind of money

September 2, 2019

cryptocurrencies, ECB, Libra

Yves Mersch: Money and private currencies – reflections on Libra Speech by Mr Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the the ESCB Legal…

Baton Systems Secures $12 Million Series A led by Trinity Ventures

September 2, 2019

Baton Systems, distributed ledger

Baton Systems (“Baton”), a provider of high-speed, blockchain-inspired, bank-to-bank payments infrastructure, has raised more than $12 million to dramatically increase processing times and efficiencies within the $2 trillion global payments…

CNA: BNP Paribas plans bid for Deutsche Bank’s equity derivatives

August 30, 2019

BNPP, Deutsche Bank, equity derivatives

French lender BNP Paribas plans to bid for Deutsche Bank’s equity derivatives book and is hopeful it can beat off rival bidders to secure a deal in the next few…

ISLA’s 11th securities lending market report notes uncertainty and faster pace of regulatory change

August 30, 2019

ISLA, Securities Lending

We are delighted to announce the release of the 11th Edition of the ISLA Securities Lending Market Report. The report continues to provide a platform for us all to better understand…

BIS: Bank intermediation activity in a low interest rate environment

August 30, 2019

bank profitability, BIS, interest rates

BIS Working Papers No 807 30 August 2019 by Michael Brei, Claudio Borio and Leonardo Gambacorta Focus This paper examines how the long period of low interest rates has affected the business…

Get the weekly SFM update – our August 30 newsletter is online

August 30, 2019

Headlines: Challenges in Adopting a Common Domain Model for Securities Finance; FISL Europe: IHS Markit on a quantifiable risk overlay for measuring securities lending performance (Premium); Finadium – Leading Asset…

HSBC facilitates first T+3 trade in China Interbank Bond Market

August 29, 2019

China, HSBC

HSBC announces that it has successfully facilitated the first T+3 trade in the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM), right after the official announcement to extend bond settlement cycle for overseas…

BIS: Geographic spread of currency trading: the renminbi and other EM currencies

August 28, 2019

Bank for International Settlements, Renminbi, reserve currency

BIS Working Papers | No 806 | 27 August 2019 by Yin-Wong Cheung, Robert N McCauley and Chang Shu Increasing use of the renminbi outside China by residents of the rest of…

BoE’s Carney calls for alternatives to US dollar system

August 26, 2019

Bank of England, Mark Carney, US dollar

The Growing Challenges for Monetary Policy in the current International Monetary and Financial System Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England Jackson Hole Symposium 2019 23 August 2019 Ultimately…

ASIC proposes ban on the sale of binary options to retail clients, and restrictions on the sale of CFDs

August 25, 2019

ASIC, Australia, binary options, CFDs

ASIC has released a consultation paper Product intervention: OTC binary options and CFDs (CP 322) on proposals to use its product intervention power to address significant detriment to retail clients…

P&I: Los Angeles County Employees preps securities lending search

August 25, 2019

LACERA, Securities Lending

Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Pasadena, plans to launch a search for a securities lending firm soon, according to board minutes of the $58.4 billion pension fund. State Street…

Canadian regulator delays margin and collateral rules for non-cleared derivatives

August 23, 2019

CSA, Non-Cleared OTC Derivatives, UMR

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has decided that it will delay the implementation of mandatory margin and collateral requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. After completing a review of derivatives trade…

US FDIC and Comptroller of the Currency approve Volcker Rule reforms

August 22, 2019

FDIC, OCC, Volcker Rule

The final rule will: Tailor the rule’s compliance requirements based on the size of a firm’s trading assets and liabilities, with the most stringent requirements applied to banking entities with…

The Trade: Hedge fund performance forces prime brokers to rethink risk

August 22, 2019

hedge funds, prime brokers

Performances within the hedge fund industry last year are causing prime brokers to reassess the credit and counterparty risk of financing. The $180 million loss within Citi’s FX prime brokerage…

BoE: Does liquidity spill over in the credit market? The case of CDS and corporate bonds

August 20, 2019

Bank of England, bond liquidity, CDS, Corporate Bonds

CDS contracts can reduce risks in financial markets by providing valuable insurance. In a recent paper, Bank of England research Robert Czech shows that CDS also offer another, more subtle…

Private sector working group issues recommendations on the transition from EONIA to €STR for cash and derivatives products

August 20, 2019

€STR, alternatives to EONIA, ECB

• Transition from EONIA to €STR has impact on broad variety of financial products and processes • Market participants urged to actively prepare for change in publication time of EONIA…

State Street Provides Clients Record Access to Cleared Repo Financing

August 19, 2019

FICC, sponsored repo, State Street

August 15, 2019. State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), today announced that it has sponsored a record $140 billion in repo investment volumes as a result of its partnership with the…

Broadridge posts white paper on trade flows for Centrally Clearing Institutional Tri-Party

August 16, 2019

Broadridge, CCIT, Repo

Broadridge Consulting has issued a white paper on DTCC’s CCIT program including useful details on trade flows. While aimed towards the buy-side, the paper is a useful reference for any…

Get the weekly SFM update – our August 16 newsletter is online

August 16, 2019

Headlines: US Treasury issuance suggests more funding market stress and a push for the Standing Repo Facility; How Traiana is phasing in equity swaps automation (Premium); AcadiaSoft’s collateral tech is…

ISLA, FIA, ICMA and ISDA to create new Master Reporting Agreement

August 15, 2019

FIA, ICMA, ISDA, ISLA, Master Reporting Agreement

ISLA has partnered with the FIA, ICMA and ISDA, to create a new Master Reporting Agreement. The purpose of the new agreement is to provide for both mandatory and delegated…

Frequently asked questions on the Basel III standardised approach for operational risk

August 14, 2019

Basel Committee, Basel III, operational risk

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision finalised the the new standardised approach (SA) for operational risk capital, as published in the final Basel III standards in December 2017. To promote…

MarketAxess to acquire US Treasuries trading platform LiquidityEdge

August 14, 2019

LiquidityEdge, MarketAxess, US Treasuries

MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: MKTX), the operator of a leading electronic trading platform for fixed-income securities, and the provider of market data and post-trade services for the global fixed-income markets,…

Hazeltree Launches Hazeltree Private Markets™ to Manage Capital Activity Lifecycle

August 14, 2019

cash management, HazelTree

Hazeltree, the leading provider of integrated treasury management solutions, yesterday announced the expansion of its treasury and portfolio finance solutions to support private markets fund managers. Hazeltree Private Markets™ is…

Eurex Repo launches GC Pooling Cheapest-To-Deliver (CTD) Basket

August 13, 2019

Cheapest-to-Deliver, Eurex repo, GC Pooling

From Eurex Repo: With its GC Pooling Cheapest-To-Deliver (CTD) Basket Eurex Repo introduced new trading opportunities to customers as of 12 August. We spoke to Manan Wagishauser, Business & Product Development, Eurex…

Bloomberg Acquires RegTek.Solutions to Expand Regulatory Reporting Services

August 13, 2019

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

Bloomberg, Reg.Tek Solution