Israeli bank Mizrahi Tefahot has adopted Bloomberg’s Multi-Asset Risk System (MARS) Collateral Management to comply with evolving collateral regulations.
Under the uncleared margin rules (UMR), firms need to value their derivative contracts with each counterparty, calculate the amount of collateral required, agree on the value, make or receive the payments daily, and update their records much more frequently than ever before. The requirements for firms to exchange initial and variation margins were agreed by global regulators and are being phased in.
Shlomo Bitton, head of OTC Derivative Operations at Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, said in a statement that MARS “provides us with the data and functionality we need to manage margin requirements efficiently and reduce operational and credit risk.”
Siti Eschrich, Bloomberg’s Collateral Management product manager, said in a statement: “To help our clients comply and manage risk in an efficient manner, MARS Collateral Management provides an integrated and transparent workflow including data and analytics, such as independent valuations and initial margin calculations using ISDA’s Standard Initial Margin Model (SIMM).”
MARS Collateral Management has built-in portfolio reconciliation tools to communicate and resolve disputes. It calculates, aggregates and displays margin calls across products and legal entities and generates independent derivative and collateral valuations and liquidity risk scenarios. It can be used to manage the day-to-day margin call process, including sending margin calls, booking collateral, and managing interest payments. Clients can track their exposures, as well as collateral positions and agreement terms in real-time.