FSB Warns of “Severe Disruption” in Libor Transition

By Louisa Chender March 15, 2019, Global Investor Group A Financial Stability Board (FSB) sector group has warned that market participants could be forced to continue using Libor in a severely disrupted market when Libor publication is discontinued. In...

Differing European Approaches May Hamper IBOR Transition

By Helen Bartholomew March 14, 2019, Risk Regulators in the U.K. and Eurozone have opposing visions for the end state of benchmark reform, creating a challenge for buy-side firms as they are urged to make concrete plans on how...

Sell-Side Struggles With Rule 606

By Rob Daly March 15, 2019, Markets Media With approximately eight weeks before the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s update of Rule 606 goes into effect, sell-side firms still need much guidance to meet the 334-page mandate. The new...

SEC Promises Revised Advertising Rule Soon

By Mark Schoeff Jr. March 15, 2019, InvestmentNews The Securities and Exchange Commission is on the verge of proposing reforms to rules governing advertising, a regulation that tends to vex investment advisers. Despite the 35-day government shutdown earlier this...

TLTRO Revival Spells Trouble for New-Era Securitizations

By Tom Brown March 14, 2019, GlobalCapital The terms of the third Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTRO III) have yet to be clarified, but there is a heightened expectation that they will be less favourable than those of its...

Federal Reserve Rate Projections Could Show Greater Confidence in Extended Pause

By Nick Timiraos March 17, 2019, The Wall Street Journal Federal Reserve officials are likely to end their meeting this week signaling little if any appetite to raise interest rates this year, part of a strategy designed to reduce...

Brexit: Market Prices in Article 50 Extension

By Sharon Kimathi March 14, 2019, Practice Insight from IFLR The market has now begun pricing in an extension to article 50 as Brexit reaches its planned crescendo. Its effects can be felt from debt and equities capital markets...

Securitization Slump Knocks E.U. Market Ambition Ahead of Brexit

By Huw Jones March 12, 2019, Reuters The repackaging of loans to raise funds for companies has tumbled to its lowest rate since the financial crisis a decade ago, knocking back European Union efforts to deepen its capital market...

FCA to Curtail Investment Platform Exit Fees

By Simon Jessop and Huw Jones March 14, 2019, Reuters Britain’s financial markets regulator on Thursday proposed a package of measures aimed at improving competition in the investment platforms market, including restricting the use of exit fees. It follows...

E.U. Asserts Power Over City’s Euro Clearing Role

By Jim Brunsden and Philip Stafford March 13, 2019, Financial Times The E.U. has given itself powers to press one of the City of London’s flagship businesses to move to the bloc as part of efforts to ensure financial...

European Commission, CFTC Expect Improved Cross-Border Approach

By Louisa Chender March 14, 2019, Global Investor Group The European Commission (EC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) expect to see more deference in their cross-border approaches to supervision. In a statement on March 13, vice president of...

Giancarlo “Losing Patience” With Swaps Data Process

By Louisa Chender March 13, 2019, Global Investor Group CFTC chairman Chris Giancarlo said he is losing patience with the process for international swaps data harmonization as he discusses several cross-border issues during a speech at FIA Boca. During...

Giancarlo Admits He May Not Finish SEF Rules

By Robert Mackenzie Smith March 14, 2019, Risk The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has conceded that his attempt to reform rules governing swap execution in the U.S. may not be finished during his tenure. It...

CFTC Nominee Opposes E.U. Oversight of U.S. Clearing Houses

By Joanna Wright March 13, 2019, Risk The U.S. should have “sovereignty” over its own clearing houses, said Heath Tarbert, who has been nominated to become chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Tarbert, currently assistant secretary for international...

Study Floats Idea of Breaking Up CCP Services

By Alexander Campbell March 13, 2019, Risk Since the financial crisis, central counterparties (CCPs) have grown in size and systemic importance and may now require a different structure, according to a study by regulators and an industry contributor. Their...

Big U.S. Banks Dropped $24trn of OTC Notionals at Year-End

By Alessandro Aimone March 13, 2019, Risk Quantum Large U.S. banks eliminated $24.3 trillion of derivatives notionals in the last three months of 2018, cutting the size of their swaps books by 11% in aggregate. Total notionals reported by...

Wall Street Tries to Clean Up $8tn Market for Credit Derivatives

By Joe Rennison and Sujeep Indap March 14, 2019, Financial Times Nine months after Blackstone caused an uproar in a corner of Wall Street accustomed to sharp elbows, the firms which set the rules of engagement for the $8tn...

U.S., Singapore Agree to Recognize Derivs Venues

By Louisa Chender March 13, 2019, Global Investor Group The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have agreed to recognize certain derivatives trading venues in the U.S. and Singapore. In a joint statement...

‘No Way’ to Avoid No-Trade Lists in No-Deal Brexit

By Samuel Wilkes March 12, 2019, Risk Trading ties between London-based banks and some of their European clients will be severed – temporarily, at least – in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Risk.net has learned. Several banks are...

Firms Fear MiFID-Style Reporting Crunch for Brexit Day One

By Samuel Wilkes March 11, 2019, Risk There is too little time left to prepare reporting systems fully for amendments to financial market transparency requirements if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a deal on March 29, the...

ESMA Predicts No Major Change to Derivatives Trading Post-Brexit

By David Kimberley March 13, 2019, Finance Magnates The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released a document this Tuesday detailing its plans for implementing certain MiFID II regulations if a no-deal Brexit occurs. More specifically, the document deals...

FIA Warns About Risks of Regulating Foreign Activity

By Louisa Chender March 12, 2019, Global Investor Group The Futures Industry Association (FIA) warns that attempts by national regulators to oversee foreign activity could lead to increased fragmentation of the derivatives markets. In a white paper published on...

Investors Sweat the Small Print as Brexit Fragments Bond Laws

By Virginia Furness March 8, 2019, Reuters European borrowers are starting to raise more debt governed by their own laws rather than the English legal system, creating uncertainty for investors over how bond defaults and bank restructurings will be...

CFTC Seeks Trading Venue Equivalence in Asia

By Joanna Wright February 27, 2019, Risk Having taken steps to ensure trading venue equivalence with the U.K. as it hurtles toward Brexit, the United States has been trying to do the same, quietly, in Asia. Amir Zaidi, who...

ISDA Warns UMR May Limit Effective Hedging

By James Thursfield March 12, 2019, Global Investor Group Small buy-side firms may be incentivized to reduce their derivatives exposure to stay outside of the phase-five threshold for uncleared margin rules, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association...

FHFA Chief-to-Be’s Top Priority: More Capital for Fannie, Freddie

By Hannah Lang March 10, 2019, American Banker Despite recent speculation that the White House and Federal Housing Finance Agency were planning a dramatic shake-up of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, observers say the nominee poised to run the...

All Options on Table for Improving Volcker Rule Proposal: Regulators

By Rachel Witkowski March 11, 2019, American Banker Federal regulators are weighing all options for retooling their plan to revamp the Volcker Rule, including finalizing only the least controversial portions of their 2018 proposal, two agency heads said Monday....

Dealer Groups Say MSRB’s Prearranged Trading Guidance Goes Too Far

By Sarah Wynn March 11, 2019, The Bond Buyer Dealer groups believe the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has cast too wide a net with its draft January guidance on prearranged trading, and want clarification on what conduct constitutes a...

BOE Policymaker Unveils the ‘Conceivable’ Brexit Outcomes — Even if May’s Deal Passes

By Lianna Brinded March 11, 2019, Yahoo Finance Bank of England (BOE) policymaker Jonathan Haskel said in a speech today (March 11) that it’s a distinct possibility that Britain will need more than 21 months for the transition period...

Trump’s Push to Ease Wall Street Rules Hindered by Missteps

By Jesse Hamilton March 11, 2019, Bloomberg President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to loosen Wall Street’s leash, but some of regulators’ most meaningful efforts to revamp post-crisis constraints on big banks are running into problems. Take the Volcker...