Derivs - Interest Rate

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has replaced the head of its implementation effort for margin on non-cleared derivatives, just months before the industry faces a major regulatory deadline.

Tullett Prebon has obtained approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority for its proposed acquisition of rival interdealer broker ICAP’s global hybrid voice broking and information businesses.

Rather than wailing about a regulatory Trumpocalypse, those who care about the health of financial markets should seize upon last week’s shock US presidential result to help bring about meaningful and beneficial changes.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has called for a two year delay to rules requiring smaller financial counterparties to centrally clear derivatives trades.

Symbiont, a start-up firm specialising in smart contracts and distributed ledger technology, has appointed a former SEC commissioner and a former investment manager chief executive to its board of directors.

LCH has outlined plans to deepen its dominance of the interest rate derivatives market, by launching a centralised service for non-cleared trades.

The fast approaching March 1 roll out of variation margin rules for uncleared derivatives has prompted an overhaul of battle plans at major law firms, which are increasingly pairing up with technology companies, low-cost legal services firms and other financial services providers as competition mounts to secure big mandates from banks.

IHS Markit has integrated services offered by SmartDX, the capital markets division of Smart Communications, into its Counterparty Manager platform to automate documentation handling under the ISDA 2016 credit support annex (CSA) for variation margin.

The UK should not rely too heavily on EU law ‘equivalence’ preserving its dominance as a financial centre, bankers and lawyers have warned, after Bank of England governor Mark Carney suggested that use of the concept in Brexit negotiations could provide a template for a global regulatory system.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing will introduce a ‘volatility control mechanism’ next month for its derivatives market in a bid to stop trading errors and other incidents causing extreme price volatility.

TriOptima, the derivatives post-trade services firm, claims to have performed the first compression of client-cleared trades in its latest SwapClear cycle for Canadian dollar interest rate swaps.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has named the replacement for a departing senior official from its solutions and sales business.