Compression Plays Role In Libor Transition

By Shanny Basar November 4, 2019, Markets Media Banks are using compression to help them transition derivatives contracts from Libor as the the benchmark interest rate is expected to be discontinued after the end of 2021. After the financial...

Pressure grows on administration to fill Fed, FDIC seats

By Neil Haggerty November 3, 2019, American Banker The Federal Reserve has become one of President Trump’s favorite targets. He frequently taunts Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, and recently even suggested that the U.S. central bank is a bigger threat...

Japan switches to centralized stress tests for 5 major banks

By Jun Watabane November 4, 2019, Nikkei Asian Review Japan’s government and central bank will conduct joint stress tests on five large financial institutions, gauging their ability to absorb economic shocks as expansion abroad leaves them more vulnerable to...

Big central banks move to wait-and-see mode

By Howard Schneider, Francesco Canepa, and Leika Kihara November 3, 2019, Reuters Easing come. Easing go. A concentrated burst of interest rate cutting and other measures to loosen global financial conditions by the world’s central bankers looks to have...

The Bond Market Panic That Wasn’t

By Randall Forsyth November 1, 2019, Barron’s Remember the Attack of the Killer BBBs? It was a popular narrative in the capital markets in 2018. The swarm of corporate bonds with the lowest investment-grade rating supposedly were on the...

Risky Mortgage Bonds Are Back and Delinquencies Are Piling Up

By Claire Boston November 4, 2019, Bloomberg The subprime mortgage-backed bond may be dead in America a decade after it helped trigger the global financial crisis, but a security with some of the same high-risk characteristics is starting to...

Why China’s Digital Currency Is a ‘Wake-Up Call’ for the U.S.

By Naomi Xu Elegant November 1, 2019, Fortune China’s central bank may launch its own digital currency in the next 18 months amid strong endorsements of blockchain from the highest levels of government, signaling a desire for China to...

Structural snags frustrate STS for synthetics

By Samuel Wilkes October 31, 2019, Risk The quest to restore balance-sheet synthetic securitizations to favor could face an unbridgeable divide for some of Europe’s originators. Regulatory requirements for meeting high-quality labeling status for synthetics – simple, transparent and...

GSEs need to shape up if they want to leave conservatorship: Calabria

By Hannah Lang October 31, 2019, American Banker With the Federal Housing Finance Agency intensely focused on setting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on a path out of conservatorship, it is sometimes easy to forget that the agency still...

Tiering Isn’t Tightening as Money Markets Show ECB ‘Nails It’

By James Hirai October 31, 2019, Bloomberg The European Central Bank’s new system to help lenders cope with negative interest rates started with a whimper – and that’s good news for policy makers. Money markets barely responded to Wednesday’s...

JP Morgan Has Solution for Powell That Will Free Up Banks’ Cash

By Alex Harris and Benjamin Purvis October 31, 2019, Bloomberg The Federal Reserve could design a permanent tool that would unlock “a significant fraction of cash” currently held by larger banks and prevent funding stresses, according to analysts at...

E.U. market changes tune on consolidated tape

By Alice Tchernookova October 30, 2019, Practice Insight from IFLR Results gathered through the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) latest consultation on the formation of a consolidated tape (CTP) for equity instruments have brought little clarity on what...

MiFID II: what are minor non-monetary benefits?

By Hugo Bromley October 30, 2019, Practice Insight from IFLR Nearly two years after the implementation of MiFID II, the definition of a minor non-monetary benefit is still not clear, several sources have told Practice Insight. Under MiFID II,...

Global banking watchdog to study capital requirements for crypto assets

By Huw Jones October 31, 2019, Reuters Global banking regulators said on Thursday they will consider how much capital lenders should be setting aside to cover risks from any holdings of crypto assets. The Basel Committee, which includes banking...

New Bank of England governor decision put off until after election

By Larry Elliott and Phillip Inman October 31, 2019, The Guardian The announcement of a successor for Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England has been postponed until after the general election. With only days to go...

Cash Market Volatility Adds to Worries Facing Libor Replacement

By Daniel Kruger and Vipal Monga October 30, 2019, The Wall Street Journal Turmoil in short-term money markets has rattled a protracted effort to phase in a new borrowing benchmark meant to eventually underpin trillions of dollars in lending...

E.U. coordination on post-Brexit planning lacking – FCA

By Sharon Thiruchelvam October 30, 2019, Global Investor Group Greater effort from the E.U. is required to mitigate potential post-Brexit market disruption, particularly in clearing and trading obligations, according to U.K. regulators. Nausicaa Delfas, executive director of international at...

CCPs dismiss bank, buy-side criticisms

By Robert Mackenzie Smith October 31, 2019, Risk A whitepaper – co-signed by nine banks and large asset managers, including JP Morgan, Citi and BlackRock – on reforming central counterparties (CCPs) “lacked credibility” and was “poorly written”, according to clearing house chiefs....

CFTC set to eliminate post-trade name give-up

By Robert Mackenzie Smith October 31, 2019, Risk The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has called time on a controversial practice that has been viewed by many as a way to restrict buy-side firms and non-bank market-makers...

CFTC Kicks Can on SDR Reporting Reform

By Rob Daly October 29, 2019, Markets Media The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission hopes good things come in threes as it has offered a second 90-day comment-period extension for proposed changes to Certain Swaps Data Repository and Data...

SEC Fix for Conflicts of Interest at Credit Ratings Firms Has Failed

By Cezary Podkul October 29, 2019, The Wall Street Journal After the financial crisis, Washington focused on the credit-ratings firms and the conflict of interest that made them “essential cogs in the wheel of financial destruction,” according to the...

‘Hubble Telescope for markets’ attracts new criticism

By Patrick Temple-West and Robert Armstrong October 29, 2019, Financial Times Republican politicians and regulators, along with securities industry advocates, are making another push to derail the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to create a single, real-time record...

U.S. regulators prepare for further margin requirements changes

By Sharon Thiruchelvam October 29, 2019, Global Investor Group The CFTC is establishing a subcommittee on margin requirements for uncleared swaps, at the same time as U.S. prudential regulation authorities propose dropping initial margin requirements for swaps undertaken between...

The Fed has been injecting hundreds of billions into markets since September’s rate crisis. Here’s why it might not be enough to calm lending conditions.

By Ben Winck October 30, 2019, Business Insider The Federal Reserve has been injecting capital into the financial system for weeks to calm money markets. But the actions are prompting worry among analysts, portfolio managers, and even Democratic primary...

Here’s why the U.S. Treasury may struggle to take full advantage of Fed’s bill-buying program

By Sunny Oh October 30, 2019, MarketWatch With the Federal Reserve set to hoover up billions of dollars of short-dated bills every month, some have called for the Treasury Department to meet the central bank’s demand. But market participants...

U.S. Treasury monitoring new Fed bill purchases; no financing changes yet

By Howard Schneider October 30, 2019, Reuters The U.S. Treasury is monitoring the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin expanding its balance sheet with $60 billion in monthly bill purchases, but has made no changes yet in its financing plans...

Fed Adds $104.5 Billion to Financial Markets, Also Buys More Treasury Bills

By Michael Derby October 29, 2019, The Wall Street Journal The New York Fed added both permanent and temporary liquidity to financial markets ahead of this week’s rate-setting central bank meeting and before the end of the month, which...

Why smaller asset managers are on the prowl for M&A deals

By Owen Walker October 26, 2019, Financial Times Competitive pressure and rising regulatory costs have spurred mergers and acquisitions in the U.K. investment market recently. While consolidation has long been predicted, few large deals have taken place so far....

U.K. watchdog says keep retail and institutional investors apart

By Sebastian Cheek October 28, 2019, International Adviser The Financial Conduct Authority chief executive has floated the idea of separating retail investors from institutional funds in the wake of Woodford Investment Management’s collapse. Speaking to U.K. newspaper The Times,...

Swedish regulator claims MiFID II decreased bond transparency

By Margaryta Kirakosian October 24, 2019, Citywire Selector Finansinspektionen has criticized the decreased transparency in bond trading following the implementation of MiFID II. The Swedish regulatory body made an official statement following analysis of the impact of the transparency...