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The CFTC has announced that Bloomberg SEF’s available-to-trade determinations (MAT determinations) for certain interest rate swap (IRS) and credit default swap (CDS) contracts are now self-certified.
This self-certification involves only certain IRS and CDS contracts made available to trade via earlier determinations that were self-certified on 16 January, 22 January and 27 January 2014, respectively.
These determinations became effective on 15 February, 21 February and 26 February 2014 meaning that the CDS contracts and IRS contracts in this MAT determination, whether listed or offered by Bloomberg or any other SEF or designated contract market (DCM), are subject to the
The push toward an exchange-traded derivatives (ETDs) market has exposed gaps in the post-trade process used by market participants to clear and settle these transactions.
That is according to a study from Greenwich Associates, sponsored by Omgeo, which says that recognising the need for greater efficiency in post-trade process, derivatives market participants are prepared to make investments to handle increased trade volumes.
In the report, Cleared Derivatives Processing: A Strategic Approach, Greenwich Associates spoke with over 50 buy-side operations professionals and found that trade confirmations in ETDs remain a largely manual process for institutional investors.
Despite the growing
Law firm Dechert has appointed Mark Browne as a partner with the firm’s financial services group in its Dublin office.
“We are delighted to have Mark join us,” says Peter Astleford, Dechert’s global financial services group co-chair. “Mark’s experience, dynamism and deep knowledge of the Irish and international investment funds sector will be an important addition to our expanding local and global capability. His experience in advising US, UK and international asset managers on their Dublin-based fund projects, combined with his offshore experience, will be invaluable in meeting the needs of our clients and adding to our capability to advise
Leaders of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) have signed a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) regarding the supervision and oversight of regulated entities that operate on a cross-border basis in the US and Japan.
Through the MOC, the CFTC and JFSA express their willingness to cooperate with each other in the interest of fulfilling their respective regulatory mandates regarding derivatives markets.
The scope of the MOC includes markets and organised trading platforms, central counterparties, trade repositories, and intermediaries, dealers, and other market participants.
The MOC was signed by CFTC
Institutional investors are predicting increased rates of growth in hedge fund assets in 2014, according to the Credit Suisse’s sixth annual Hedge Fund Investor Survey.
“Onwards and Upwards”, which presents the views of some 500 respondents representing USD1.16trn of hedge fund investments, analyses a number of topics including growth and return prospects for the industry; strategy preference and allocations plans; and appetite for day one Investments and new launches.
Robert Leonard, managing director and global head of capital services at Credit Suisse, says: “Institutional investors predicted hedge fund industry assets under management to grow even faster this year by
The number of exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) worldwide increased by three per cent in 2013 to 22 billion contracts, according to statistics compiled by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
The WFE, which annually conducts a survey on derivative markets, found that in 2013, 22 billion derivative contracts (12 billion futures and 10 billion options) were traded on exchanges worldwide – a 685 million increase above derivatives contracts traded in 2012.
The drop in equity derivatives (-5.3 per cent) is mainly explained by the size changing of the KRX (Korea Exchange) KOSPI 200 contracts, the weight of which is very
Clearstream, BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo and BBVA are developing an asset servicing model for a market environment with TARGET2-Securities (T2S).
Clearstream will connect via its central securities depository to the T2S platform, hence attracting settlement flows, while the custodian bank partners will handle asset servicing at a domestic market level, bringing the company’s local market expertise to the model.
Target markets via these partners are Belgium, France and the Netherlands (with BNP Paribas Securities Services), Italy (with Intesa Sanpaolo) and Spain (with BBVA).
Development work is in progress with the aim for T2S readiness once Clearstream
Singapore Exchange (SGX) and Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on promoting the development of commodities markets in China and Singapore.
The two exchanges inked the MOU in Singapore on 7 March.
The MOU will jointly explore areas of cooperation including development of new commodity derivative products, joint commodity-related events, information sharing, training, member and investor education in each other’s markets. Through the MOU, DCE and SGX aim to strengthen understanding and promote bilateral partnership.
Liu Xinqiang, chairman, Dalian Commodity Exchange, says: “China is the world's major commodity producer and consumer.
Don’t rule out a UK rate rise in 2014, says Thant Han, portfolio manager at US-based Standish, a BNY Mellon company. Meanwhile, a mid-2015 interest-rate hike looks more likely for the US as ‘tapering’ remains on track…
We believe the chances of a UK interest-rate hike by the end of this year are rising. The general consensus is an early 2015 rise but there is plenty to support earlier action from the Bank of England (BoE): from unemployment being down to the BoE’s forward guidance range, the very real prospect of above-trend growth by the end of 2014, to stable
LCH.Clearnet has expanded its compression offering to include multilateral compression via SwapClear, its interest rate derivatives clearing service.
Multi compression is in addition to SwapClear’s existing Solo and Duo compression capabilities and enables multiple members to simultaneously compress their trades with each other.
Compression reduces the number of trades and notional outstanding by terminating contracts with offsetting positions. This allows market participants to reduce their counterparty credit exposure and capital costs, as well as increase their operational efficiency through lower administrative and legal expenses.
In 2013, SwapClear compressed over USD83trn through its proprietary and TriOptima’s compression offering.
