Term SOFR rate still possible this year, benchmark firms say

By Helen Bartholomew July 24, 2020, Risk Benchmark providers say forward-looking term rates linked to the replacement for US dollar Libor could be available as soon as the end of this year, at least in trial form. Transition officials...

European Commission confirms roll back of MiFID II rules in recovery package

By Hayley McDowell July 28, 2020, The Trade The European Commission has confirmed that it will remove certain requirements under MiFID II as part of a package aimed at advancing Europe’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Unbundling research requirements...

Data generation likely to drive ISIN changes – DSB

By Wendy Lisney July 22, 2020, Global Investor Group Data generation and alignment are likely to be the focus of any changes to the calibration and use of International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) for derivatives, according to the Derivatives...

Insurers Warn Against EU ‘Sustainable Preference’ Scheme

By Lucia Osborne-Crowley July 27, 2020, Law360 European insurers and banks have warned the European Commission that its plan to enforce strict new rules governing which investments financial services companies can offer to customers, based on their environmental impact,...

Derivatives crucial to EU’s Green Deal – report

By Wendy Lisney July 16, 2020, Global Investor Group Derivatives markets have the potential to make a crucial contribution to the EU’s European Green Deal by supporting capital raising and investment for the transition to a low-carbon economy, a...

Greenwashing is not a “threat”

By Perle Battistella July 15, 2020, Global Investor Group The Hague-headquartered NN Invesment Partner (NN IP) said in an environmental, social and governance (ESG) webinar that greenwashing is not a threat when you are an ESG specialist. Greenwashing is...

Tradeweb, ICE Offer Treasury Yield Curve as Libor Sub

By Elizabeth Stanton July 22, 2020, Bloomberg The latest candidate to replace Libor is the $20 trillion U.S. Treasury market. Tradeweb Markets Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. are offering up an alternative in the form of a daily Treasury...

EU readies itself for demise of Libor interest rate

By Huw Jones July 24, 2020, Reuters The European Union’s executive proposed new powers for itself on Friday to rewrite financial contracts left high and dry by the demise of the Libor interest rate at the end of next...

CCPs added cash to their liquidity buffers in Q1

By Lorenzo Migliorato July 24, 2020, Risk Major central counterparties (CCPs) stuffed their liquidity portfolios with cash over the first quarter. Eurex saw its overall qualifying liquid resources, used to honour payment obligations like variation margin, increase by 112%...

Sixteen EU-backed derivatives trading venues given access to US traders by CFTC

By Neil Roland July 23, 2020, MLex Sixteen European Union-authorized trading platforms in five countries were granted access to US derivatives traders today without being subject to Washington oversight in the wake of the European Commission’s new third-country clearinghouse...

NABL suggests regulatory relief to help issuers cope with the pandemic

By Brian Tumulty July 27, 2020, The Bond Buyer State and local governments would be better able to manage their cash flow during the financial stress of the COVID-19 pandemic if the federal government loosens several tax regulations, the...

CSDR: UK firms will still have to comply with settlement discipline

By Alice Tchernookova July 23, 2020, Practice Insight from IFLR In an announcement that gave some initial pointers on the shape of post-Brexit financial services regulation, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently said that the UK would not apply the settlement discipline...

Why Growth in the Fed’s Asset Portfolio Has Paused

By Nick Timiraos July 26, 2020, The Wall Street Journal The Federal Reserve’s asset buying is taking a summer break after surging in the spring, but that doesn’t mean the central bank has dialed back its support for markets...

US derivatives regulator pares back international oversight

By Kadhim Shubber July 24, 2020, Financial Times The US derivatives regulator has passed two important rules that clip its international oversight authority and impose capital requirements at a lower level than Wall Street had previously feared. The Commodity...

Banks Scramble to Cut Derivatives Losses on Eve of Market Reset

By William Shaw, Nishant Kumar, and Donal Griffin July 22, 2020, Bloomberg They call it the big bang transition, the day when European interest-rate derivatives markets finally shift to a new benchmark next week. And in the run-up, banks...

Risks of failure in $6.6tn forex market at record high, study shows

By Eva Szalay July 24, 2020, Financial Times The risk of failed trades in the vast global foreign-exchange market has never been higher, according to the chief executive of CLS, the central bank-backed settlement service, which admits that it...

October switch driving SOFR liquidity – panelists

By Wendy Lisney July 23, 2020, Global Investor Group Goldman Sachs is seeing evidence of growing liquidity in SOFR in the build up to the so-called “big bang” transition to the US dollar rate in October. Richard Chambers, global...

UK and EU warn crash-out Brexit ahead

By Lucy McNulty July 23, 2020, Financial News The UK must prepare to exit the European trading bloc without a deal, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator has warned today. David Frost said in a statement following the conclusion of...

China Fortifies Hong Kong’s Role as Financial Powerhouse

By Jing Yang, Quentin Webb, and Frances Yoon July 23, 2020, The Wall Street Journal China’s tightening grip on Hong Kong has some in the West predicting the city’s days as a global financial center are numbered. Beijing, however,...

Libor Was Largely Guesswork at the Height of Volatility in March

By William Shaw and Silla Brush July 13, 2020, Bloomberg At the peak of the pandemic-induced market meltdown, guesswork played a vital role in setting international borrowing costs. Transactional data used to calculate sterling Libor all but vanished as...

Prepare for a World Without Libor: NY Fed President

By Bernice Napach July 13, 2020, ThinkAdvisor New York Fed President John Williams has a message for all U.S. companies involved in financial contracts: Refrain from any new use of U.S. dollar-based Libor. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a...

Fed’s Main Street lending inches up as balance sheet holds above $7 trillion

By Dan Burns July 24, 2020, Reuters The U.S. Federal Reserve facilitated another $2 million in emergency loans this week to U.S. businesses struggling to survive the coronavirus-fueled recession, while its overall asset portfolio showed modest growth for a...

Europe Readies MiFID Rollback to Increase Recovery Investment

By Alexander Weber and Silla Brush July 22, 2020, Bloomberg The European Union is planning to roll back landmark regulations on securities trading and investment research, arguing that softer rules on the finance industry are needed to help the...

Regulators in ‘advanced talks’ to delay Settlement Discipline Regime to February 2022

By Joe Parsons & Jonathan Watkins July 21, 2020, The Trade European regulators are set to table a proposal to push the controversial Settlement Discipline Regime (SDR) back to February 2022, a move that would be hugely welcomed across...

Libor: all hands on deck for end-2021

By Alice Tchernookova July 23, 2020, Practice Insight from IFLR Those who were hoping for a quiet summer away from the Libor craze may be disappointed. After a few months where all discussions focused on Covid-19 related delays to...

UK’s tough legacy fix spells trouble for US Libor transition

By Helen Bartholomew July 22, 2020, Risk In their rush to rid the financial world of Libor rates, regulators glossed over a stubborn problem: an untold number of so-called tough legacy contracts are hardwired to the discredited benchmark and...

More Libor International Accounting Relief Coming in August

By Nicola M. White July 22, 2020, Bloomberg Tax International accounting rulemakers plan to issue by the end of August a second round of accounting help for businesses facing the reporting fallout from the phaseout of the world’s most...

High standards will keep London competitive, incoming FCA chief says

By Huw Jones July 22, 2020, Reuters Maintaining high regulatory standards rather than having a “competitiveness” mandate is the best way to preserve the City of London’s status as a dynamic financial centre, the Financial Conduct Authority’s incoming chief...

U.S. banks given regulatory green light to safekeep cryptocurrencies

By Pete Schroeder July 22, 2020, Reuters A leading U.S. banking regulator said on Wednesday that national banks may provide custody services for cryptocurrencies. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a new letter that providing...

SEC approves new rules for proxy advisers

By Kadhim Shubber July 22, 2020, Financial Times The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved new restrictions on proxy advisers but dropped a measure that would have required the influential firms to give corporate executives advance notice...