News and Notes

CSDR, ESMA

From “MIFID/MIFIR- CSD hearing before ECON,” Steven Maijoor, 24 March 2015: CSDR Let me in the remainder of my contribution talk briefly about CSDR. ESMA has been drafting more than…

ISDA welcomes delay for non-cleared derivatives margin rules

March 20, 2015

NEW YORK, March 18, 2015 – The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) today published the following statement regarding the revised implementation date for non-cleared derivatives margin rules: “ISDA…

Clearstream and ICE Clear Europe launch collaboration on triparty margin collateral management service

March 20, 2015

Clearstream, ICE Clear Europe

ICE Clear Europe now linked to Clearstream’s Global Liquidity Hub Clearing members who are customers of Clearstream’s ICSD can use Global Liquidity Hub to manage margin requirements at ICE Clear…

Old Mutual Global Investors selects CloudMargin for OTC Derivatives Collateral Management

March 18, 2015

CloudMargin, Old Mutual Investors

London, UK 18 March 2015 CloudMargin, the low-cost high-performance collateral management platform, today announced that it has been selected to provide collateral management technology for Old Mutual Global Investors. The…

Federal Reserve Board announces proposal requiring banking organizations to include existing Legal Entity Identifiers on certain regulatory reporting forms

March 17, 2015

Federal Reserve, LEIs

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday announced a proposal that would require banking organizations to include their existing Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) on certain regulatory reporting forms. The LEI is…

S3 Partners to provide weekly seclending benchmark data for Imagine Software clients

March 17, 2015

Blacklight, Imagine, S3

Imagine Software, the leading provider of real-time portfolio management, risk and regulatory solutions for financial firms worldwide, today announced a new partnership with S3 Partners. As a leading financial analytics…

Government debt no longer risk free? ESRB publishes new report

March 11, 2015

European Systematic Risk Board

10 March 2015 ESRB publishes report on regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures Today the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) has published a report on the regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures…

CalPERS revealed as OCC’s liquidity facility source with eSecLending

March 10, 2015

CalPERS, eSecLending, OCC

CHICAGO and BOSTON (March 10, 2015) – The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and eSecLending announced today that they collaborated with CalPERS to develop a product to help OCC diversify and…

OpenGamma releasing open source Standard Initial Margin Model calculation engine

March 10, 2015

LONDON, NEW YORK – March 9, 2015 – OpenGamma, a leading provider of OTC market structure solutions, is working with dealers and other OTC derivatives market participants to deliver an open…

SIX Group profit up 17.6% in 2014

March 10, 2015

SIX

SIX achieved excellent results in the 2014 financial year. All four business areas boosted their earnings, with some of them increasing their profits significantly. At the same time, SIX developed…

Federal Reserve adds RRP counterparties

March 9, 2015

Federal Reserve, Reverse Repo Facility

On November 12, 2014, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (the New York Fed) announced the application submission deadline for the final wave of reverse repurchase agreement (RRP) counterparties. …

SLT: PASLA/RMA attendees optimistic about future of securities lending in Asia

March 5, 2015

Securities Lending Times reports: PASLA/RMA: just a matter of time Shanghai | 05 March 2015 The securities lending industry is optimistic about doing business in the Asia Pacific, with 65…

Monte Titoli adds new XCOM segment for OTC repo collateral management

March 5, 2015

Monte Titoli is pleased to inform you that on the 9 March 2015 a new segment of XCOM will be launched for the management of repos traded bilaterally over-the-counter. By…

LCH.Clearnet to launch interest rate portfolio margining capability

March 4, 2015

3 March 2015 Margin offsets to be available for listed and OTC interest rate derivatives portfolios Members and their clients offered significant opportunity for portfolio margin optimisation Service will…

Basel Committee: top banks already meet minimum Basel III requirements

March 4, 2015

Basel III Monitoring Report March 2015 This report presents the results of the Basel Committee’s latest Basel III monitoring exercise. The study is based on the rigorous reporting process set…

Options Clearing Corp down in seclending for Feb 2015

March 3, 2015

OCC

OCC’s securities lending CCP activity was down 9 percent in new loans from February 2014 with 97,356 transactions last month. Year-to-date stock loan activity is up 4 percent from 2014…

CPMI and IOSCO issue quantitative disclosure standards for central counterparties

March 1, 2015

CCPs, CPMI, IOSCO

The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have today published Public quantitative disclosure standards for central counterparties. To help ensure that…

FSB releases public responses to the November 2014 Proposed Standards and Processes for Global Securities Financing Data Collection and Aggregation

February 26, 2015

Financial Stability Board, FSB, Trade repositories

On 13 November 2014, the FSB published a consultative document on the Standards and Processes for Global Securities Financing Data Collection and Aggregation. The FSB indicated that it would welcome…

CloudMargin announces investment from Illuminate Financial Management LLP

February 25, 2015

CloudMargin Ltd, the revolutionary cross-product cloud based collateral management technology solution, is delighted to announce that Illuminate Financial Management LLP has today acquired an interest in the company. This is…

ESMA publishes revised work programme

February 24, 2015

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its revised Work Programme for 2015. The revised programme, based on an approved budget of €33,601,402 and 137 Establishment Plan posts…

US Office of Financial Research Strategic Plan 2015-2019

February 23, 2015

Office of Financial Research

Office of Financial Research Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2015-2019 Available here: http://financialresearch.gov/strategy-budget/files/Office-of-Financial-Research-Strategic-Plan-2015-2019.pdf

Forbes: New SEC Swaps Rules Could Impact Dealers

February 23, 2015

The SEC has reopened its possessed rule governing the use of collateral held by security-based swap dealers (SBSDs) — a proposal which would effectively ban rehypothecation — the use of…

Short selling of Chinese A shares now available through Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect

February 23, 2015

A Shares, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect

Stock Exchange of Hong Kong: SHORT SELLING OF CHINA CONNECT SECURITIES THROUGH SHANGHAI-HONG KONG STOCK CONNECT Reference is made to the Exchange circular (Ref: CT/004/15) dated 23 January 2015 regarding…

Reuters: ECB monetary policy may fail due to lack of bond sellers

February 23, 2015

ECB

ECB’s Draghi wants to buy bonds, but who will sell? (Reuters) – At the height of the euro zone debt crisis in 2012, ECB President Mario Draghi’s problem was how…

New York Times: New Rules Spur a Humbling Overhaul of Wall St. Banks

February 19, 2015

Nearly seven years after the financial crisis, banks are still churning out profits and wrestling with regulators. Yet Wall Street, by many important measures, appears to be in the middle…

PwC: Financial market utilities: Is the system safer?

February 19, 2015

Financial Market Utilities, PwC

It has been two and a half years since the Financial Stability Oversight Council designated select financial market utilities (FMUs) as “systemically important.” As a result, systemically important FMUs (SIFMUs)…

BME expands its post-trade and depository services

February 19, 2015

BME

BME has launched BME Securities Solutions, a set of post-trade, clearing and depository services for financial institutions. The reform of the registration, clearing and settlement system, which will become operational…

SunGard: Effective Collateral Management Processes

February 18, 2015

This exclusive report features insights from industry experts including leading firms such as Aegon USA Investment Management, AcadiaSoft, AllianceBernstein, Brandywine, Citco and SunGard, and offers a holistic view at effective…

DTCC: G20’s Global Derivatives Transparency Mandate

February 18, 2015

From Jim Binder at DTCC: Just as the G20 prepared to meet in Istanbul, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) released a new white paper that examines progress against…

Eurex CEO Thomas Book: Risk incentives critical in clearing recovery plans

February 18, 2015

Article first published in FT Trading Room on 17 February 2015 During the financial crisis, public support for the financial industry was administered on enormous scale. For a clear reason:…

Fed offers four one-week term reverse repo operations

February 17, 2015

As noted in the January 28, 2015, Statement Regarding Term Reverse Repurchase Agreements, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) instructed the Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) at the Federal…

Reuters: Too many e-trading venues for corporate bonds

February 17, 2015

Corporate Bonds, Reuters

Which corporate bond trading platforms are lost causes? LONDON, Feb 13 (IFR) – Around 30 e-trading platforms are currently competing to address the liquidity crisis in corporate bond trading, but…

Bloomberg: European government borrowing costs at record lows

February 12, 2015

European borrowing costs, European Central Bank

Europe’s Debt Investors Lap Up $19 Billion at Record-Low Yields (Bloomberg) — Borrowing costs for European governments tumbled to all-time lows in $19 billion of debt auctions across the continent…

Bloomberg: TLAC bonds get cool reception from buyers

February 12, 2015

Sleep-at-Night Bank-Debt Buyers Seen Cool on TLAC Bonds (Bloomberg) — Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC Holdings Plc, wants to know who’s going to buy the trillions of dollars of loss-absorbing…

4sight Launches New Triparty Collateral Management Functionality

February 5, 2015

4sight has enhanced its support for the tri-party trading process in the 4sight Securities Finance and Collateral Management system. The new features support the tri-party process with Clearstream, JP Morgan…

SmartStream Acquires Algorithmics Collateral Assets

February 4, 2015

Algorithmics, IBM, SmartStream

SmartStream Technologies, the Financial Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM®) solutions provider, today announced that SmartStream has acquired assets related to software, sales and support of IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) Algorithmics collateral solution.…

GFMA and IIF comments to the FSB on Total Loss Absorbing Capacity

February 4, 2015

GFMA, IIF, TLAC

GFMA and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) provide comments to the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on the FSB’s publication of a term sheet (TS) for Total Loss Absorbing Capacity (TLAC)…

Federal Reserve announces series of expanded TDF test operations with early withdrawal feature

February 2, 2015

As part of operational testing of the Term Deposit Facility (TDF), the Federal Reserve plans to conduct a series of three weekly TDF operations in February that offer 21-day term…

The Fed’s Tarullo speech on macroprudential policy objectives

January 31, 2015

Federal Reserve, Tarullo

Governor Daniel K. Tarullo At the Office of Financial Research and Financial Stability Oversight Council’s 4th Annual Conference on Evaluating Macroprudential Tools: Complementarities and Conflicts, Arlington, Virginia January 30, 2015…

BoE’s Andrew Hauser: Realigning private and public interests in wholesale financial markets: the Fair and Effective Markets Review

January 29, 2015

“I’m here primarily to talk about the Fair and Effective Markets Review, a joint initiative by the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Treasury, launched by…

BNY Mellon, State Street and Natixis join Eurex’s Securities Lending CCP

January 29, 2015

BNY Mellon, Eurex Clearing, Natixis, State Street

BNY Mellon and State Street: Eurex Clearing, Europe’s leading clearing house and part of Deutsche Börse Group, today announced a collaboration with BNY Mellon and State Street, two of the…

Federal Reserve experiments with term for Reverse Repo Facility

January 28, 2015

Statement Regarding Term Reverse Repurchase Agreements January 28, 2015 The Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been working internally and with…

Calypso Platform to Support BCBS/IOSCO Requirements for Margin on Non-Cleared Derivatives

January 28, 2015

Calypso Technology, a leader in Capital Markets software, today announces it will be releasing a new solution for calculating the Initial Margin required on noncleared derivatives trades. The solution meets…

Hong Kong Monetary Authority consults on “No Creditor Worse Off Than in Liquidation” (NCWOL)

January 26, 2015

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

Second-stage public consultation to establish an effective resolution regime for financial institutions in HK launched The Government and the financial regulators, namely the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the Securities and…

China offers Switzerland $8b QFII quota

January 23, 2015

From CHINA SECURITIES JOURNAL: DAVOS – China has agreed to give Switzerland an $8 billion investment quota under its Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program. 　　The agreement is part of…

Federal Reserve convenes Alternative Reference Rates Committee

January 22, 2015

Governor Jerome H. Powell At “Making Markets Fair and Effective for All,” Sponsored by The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. January 20, 2015 Comments on the Fair and Effective Markets Review…

Reuters: ESMA expected to delay non-cleared derivatives margin rules

January 20, 2015

Reuters: Speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Financial Forum in Hong Kong on Monday, Steven Maijoor, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority, told Reuters the European regulator…

OCC announces US$1 billion committed repo facility

January 20, 2015

Options Clearing Corp