Derivs - People and Markets

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is weighing up whether to appeal a decision by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that the exchange operator should sell its recent Trayport acquisition to preserve competition in wholesale energy trading.

The coming market rush to comply with margin rules on uncleared swaps will be a big challenge in itself, but regulators need to think hard about the unintended repo risks they are creating by requiring collateral building at breakneck speed.

Rapeseed futures have hit peak trading volume, with Euronext reporting successive records last week.

Rising costs for derivatives clearing and difficulties gaining access to dealers present a mounting challenge for small end users in the US and Europe, some of which may have to find other means to hedge risk, a study by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association has found.

Intercontinental Exchange is aiming to beat the London Metal Exchange in a race to offer a London gold futures contract, by rolling out a product in February to support central clearing.

BNP Paribas has brought together its global listed derivatives businesses on a single platform hosted by UK software and services company Fidessa.

Icap has bought Abide Financial, a global regulatory reporting specialist.

Rules proposed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission this week on cross-border swap trading are a good first step, according to lawyers, but more clarity is needed on how Dodd-Frank requirements will apply.

The acceleration of Europe’s push to impose margin on uncleared derivatives trades has galvanised big banks to ramp up clearing across products as they face a tighter deadline to comply than expected. The European Council’s timeline for approving the rules makes a January rollout likely, writes Dan Alderson.

Political wrangling on both sides of the Atlantic this week produced contrasting fortunes for two currencies in futures markets, with the Mexican peso receiving a boost and the British pound slumping to some of its worst ever levels against the US dollar.

Unilever’s attempt to raise prices on goods it sells to UK supermarkets would not have covered all of its costs from the recent depreciation of sterling, a Unilever executive has told GlobalCapital.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is to hold an open hearing on its plans to introduce an industry benchmarks regulation, having recently published draft technical standards.