A time for change in the non-cleared OTC derivatives industry

To bring good luck in marriage, an English bride is often advised to wear “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” on her wedding day. Some derivatives contracts last longer than marriages these days, but relationships between the counterparties are no longer trusted to luck. From September, a stricter regulatory framework is being introduced for bilateral OTC derivatives transactions, including rules that ensure the assets of one counterparty are unaffected by default of the other, thus avoiding being tied together, “for richer, for poorer”.