Derivs - Credit

Big moves in credit, equity and foreign exchange markets this week were magnified by mass unwinding of previously popular trades as investors capitulated to a reversal of fortunes for Japan and European banks.

In the heady days of 2004-2007, before the Great Moderation came to a shuddering halt, it seemed set in stone that European investment grade credit default swaps traded tighter than their North American counterparts.

Seven bonds will be deliverable when dealers hold an auction next Thursday to settle credit default swaps referencing Portugal Telecom International Finance, with ISDA's Determinations Committee including June 20-terminating PorTel contracts in those triggered by the bankruptcy filing of Brazilian parent firm Oi.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has proposed a two year extension on the deadline for smaller trading counterparties to comply with a derivatives clearing obligation under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), citing lack of progress on the initiative.

Regulators have failed to consider the data challenges of their plans to impose margin on uncleared swaps, threatening a “tidal wave of new documents”, said D2 Legal Technology, a consulting firm specialising in legal and regulatory data management.

Data firms IHS and Markit completed their merger on Tuesday, after shareholders agreed terms for a deal worth $13bn in which bond, loan and derivative services are key areas of focus.

ISDA’s Determination Committee was in its third day of deliberation on Thursday over whether the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has triggered a failure to pay credit event, following the island having suspended as much as $1bn of general obligation debt payments that it was scheduled to make on July 1.

Seven bonds will be deliverable into an auction to settle credit default swaps referencing Portugal Telecom International Finance, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s (ISDA's) EMEA Determinations Committee has ruled.

Confusion reigns over Europe’s plans to impose margin on uncleared swaps, with the European Commission facing calls from supervisory bodies to pick up its pace on implementing the rules, as an industry survey found that banks are woefully unprepared to meet the deadlines.

Credit and equity fund managers taking off hedges may have contributed to the resilience of these markets in the wake of the UK's EU referendum, according to derivatives traders, but a cocktail of calamities this week hinted at a precarious exposure to any further sudden moves.

The parlous condition of the European banking system keeps coming back to haunt the global economy, with the latest attack of lurgy coming from Brexit. The UK electorate’s vote to leave the EU has laid bare the weak credit quality of lenders, a state of affairs that needed little revealing.

A lack of clarity around margin mandate regulations and compliance requirements has left banks unprepared to comply with approaching uncleared derivative margining deadlines, an industry survey has found.