Derivs - People and Markets

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday announced that Democrat commissioner Rostin Behnam will sponsor the Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC), a body that advises the CFTC on market structures and systemic risk.

Interest rate derivatives enjoyed increased popularity this quarter as their traded notional rose 9.8% to $46.4tr year-on-year, according to a report by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. The rise was accompanied by a 5.6% trade count increase.

London based clearing house LCH Group has revealed that John Horkan, the head of its North American operations, will become COO of the company.

Equity volatility has threatened a comeback in the past week as markets prepared for the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday. But after the ECB performed within market expectations, announcing a 50% reduction in its bond buying programme, fear gauges settled down once again.

The embattled chief executive of Deutsche Börse, Carsten Kengeter, has resigned after a multi-million euro settlement over alleged insider trading was thrown out by Frankfurt's local court on Monday.

Intercontinental Exchange, the global exchange and clearing house operator, on Tuesday announced it had bought a 4.7% stake in Euroclear from Royal Bank of Scotland for €275m. The move was followed a few hours later by an announcement that it would buy fixed income trading venue BondPoint from Virtu Financial for $400m.

Exchange and clearing house operator Deutsche Börse and its CEO Carsten Kengeter are back in hot water after a multi-million euro settlement offer over alleged insider trading was thrown out by Frankfurt’s local court on Monday. Senior public prosecutor in Frankfurt, Nadja Niesen, told GlobalCapital on Tuesday that the court rejected the prosecution's attempts to settle the case by means of a "monetary penalty".

The FCA has imposed its first fine for failure to report derivatives trades under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) — but endemic cultural issues in large banks suggest it won’t be the last.

Market participants are divided over the importance of having total return swaps (TRS) for the additional tier one (AT1) market, after investment banks started offering the contracts earlier this month.

Regulators, bankers and lawyers converged on Paris this week to attend the first ever conference organised by the European Securities and Markets Authority. Held at The Westin Paris Hotel right by the Tuileries Garden, the event came during an important year for ESMA.

The CEO of London Stock Exchange Group, Xavier Rolet, will leave the company by the end of December next year, it was revealed in a statement on Thursday.

Major clearing house LCH on Wednesday announced that its COO, Daniel Maguire, has been appointed CEO of the firm.