Derivs - People and Markets

Investors are now actively trading the UBS delta-hedged short volatility strategic index launched last year that seeks to replicate a series of short S&P 500 options as market participants look to gain risk premium exposure.

Market participants are showing substantial interest in structured products on the iBoxx Euro Contingent Convertible Index on the back of a surge in popularity of contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds. This comes after the European Central Bank’s decision to introduce quantitative easing last month.

The idea that non-deliverable forwards should be cleared has never been easy to swallow for some in the FX market. So it comes as no surprise that the European Securities and Markets Authority has decided not to introduce clearing for NDFs. To implement that mandate now would mean piling pressure on market participants to clear an unstandardised, infant product at the same time as they are grappling with clearing for credit default swaps and interest rates.

The British Bankers Association (BBA) has suggested that the UK's Prudential Regulatory Authority and Financial Conduct Authority extend their controversial Senior Managers Regime (SMR) to include other firms in the wholesale markets. This move is likely to hit the broker community the hardest.

FX derivatives traders breathed a sigh of relief after the European Securities and Markets Authority scrapped clearing of non-deliverable forwards for the time being. This was bad news for LCH.Clearnet, which is the only European clearing house authorised to clear NDFs, but good news for other third-country central counterparties who are still waiting to be recognised as equivalent to their European counterparts — a problem that has superseded all others in NDF discussions. Hazel Sheffield reports.

Last week, TABB Forum held a conference in New York where senior buysiders, sellsiders, exchanges, clearing houses, lawyers and other market officials met to discuss the trading and regulatory landscape in the fixed income derivatives markets. GlobalCapital reported from the event on hot topics such as liquidity, fragmentation, volatility, Dodd-Frank, trading and execution legislation, and more.

On Wednesday the People's Bank of China (PBoC) cut its reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50bp in a move that the market had not expected to happen until after the Chinese New Year holiday. The shift triggered a flurry of receiving in short-end swaps on Thursday morning and short-end outperformance drove some disinversion momentum across the curve, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

ICAP believes that the fine imposed by the European Commission of €14.96m (£11.3m) on Wednesday for having breached EU antitrust rules by facilitating several cartels in the sector of yen interest rate derivatives is wrong both in fact and in law.

Non-deliverable forwards will not be subject to the clearing obligation for over-the-counter derivatives following a consultation with market participants by the European Securities and Markets Authority, which said Wednesday that more time is needed to discuss market participants’ issues with NDF clearing before an obligation is introduced.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plans to offer multilateral compression services for its clearing members in the first half of 2015 following a rise in popularity of market agreed coupon swaps and increased competition for compression services. Multilateral offerings will complement the services CME currently offers and will provide its members with more independence for maintaining their portfolios, said CME executives.

Icap Information Services has launched the ICAP Bond Correlated Call US Treasury Index, which will allow participants to access exposure created through US interest rate increases using liquid futures contracts. The index was designed to capture gains realised through interest rate increases using US Treasury bonds and options on the bonds, which offer additional liquidity that traditional strategies lack, according to Icap.

The European Commission has proposed a further two year exemption for pension funds from central clearing requirements for their over-the-counter derivatives transactions.