Derivs - Interest Rate

The European Securities and Markets Authority has appointed Giuseppe Vegas, chairman of Italian regulator Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa, as chair of the Post-Trading Standing Committee.

NYSE Euronext has hired Demetria O’Sullivan as chief risk officer of its new London clearinghouse NYSE Clearing.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive could restrict investor choice in negotiating financial contracts on trading platforms and discourage the establishment of organized trading facilities, according to market officials.

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority is to wait on regulatory developments in Europe before pressing ahead with regulation covering the distribution of so-called complex structured products to retail investors.

Barclays is recommending a post-U.S. election play by selling dollar 3m*10y straddles and buying euro 3m*10y straddles to benefit from low rates in both currencies.

Noel Freeman, an interest rates salesman at Tradeweb in San Francisco, has joined Nomura as an executive director, also in rates sales, in New York.

The rate of structured product redemptions has eased recently in Asia, as investors hold on to investments amid uncertainty.

The slower pace of regulatory change in Europe could benefit European dealers operating in Japan, as firms there diversify away from U.S. counterparties ahead of stiff Dodd-Frank regulations being implemented. Tomoko Morita, policy director and head of the Tokyo office for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, said Japanese firms will be tempted to shift to European counterparties in order to sidestep registration as a major swap participant under U.S. regulation.“

Mandatory clearing of yen-denominated interest rate swaps booked in Japan, between two Japanese entities, started Thursday without major setbacks to liquidity or volume—making Japan the first G20 signatory to fulfill part of its mandatory clearing commitments.

Australian firms preparing to register as major swap participants under the U.S. Dodd-Frank rules being implemented by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission could find it hard to comply with domestic over-the-counter derivative regulations.

Credit Suisse is recommending entering 2 year vs 10 year curve interest rate swap flatteners on the Czech koruna to play the view that the Czech National Bank may undertake monetary easing measures.

Attempting to simplify product information in a key information document for structured products may limit the usefulness of the disclosure and is likely to mislead investors, according to the Joint Associations Committee on Retail Structured Products.