Derivs - Regulation

Bankers and lawyers have been grappling with likely consequences of the end of euro clearing in the City of London — specifically, will their trading floors have to follow clearing into the eurozone? The UK chief executive of one major French bank said that the firm had received differing legal advice on this point, and that it was a "crucial" question.

The land grab for financial supremacy in Europe is under way. After the UK voted to leave the EU last week, rival financial centres are lining up to snatch business form London, and one of the early battlegrounds is clearing euro-denominated business. Dan Alderson reports.

Clearing looks set to be one the first areas of London’s dominance as a financial centre to be challenged, following last week’s vote to leave the European Union, with uncertainty over the future of euro business putting pressure on central counterparties based in the UK to relocate their clearing operations elsewhere.

US and Asian regulators should hold fire on imposing margin rules on uncleared swaps to allow Europe to catch up, said the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA).

A British vote to leave the European Union could lead to the reopening of a spat between the Bank of England and the European Central Bank over clearing euro-denominated trades. Last year, the UK won a court battle in the European Court of Justice, keeping the right to clear euro-denominated trades outside the eurozone.

The European Commission will likely go against a recommendation made by the regulator that penned the Markets in Financial Instruments II standards, in a bid to ensure liquidity in the bond and derivatives markets isn’t damaged by the rule’s implementation, GlobalCapital understands.

Bonds, derivatives and other non-equity instruments will be subject to the automatic phase-in of pre-trade transparency reporting requirements, despite pushback from elected officials, a top regulator said on Tuesday.

US regulators are determined to press ahead with plans to impose margin rules on uncleared swaps from September despite the disadvantage this would cause US dealers, said lawyers, after the European Commission postponed its effective date until mid-2017.

In this round-up, China introduces a new calculation for bank’s reserve ratio, trading of RMB futures in Hong Kong drops, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) is ready for Hong Kong Connect, and Singapore’s central bank sees a slowdown in RMB internationalisation. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s coverage this week.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is stepping up regulatory oversight of contracts for difference and other products it deems ‘speculative’ that are sold to retail investors.

In this round-up, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect see steady volumes on its southbound channel, the Sino-German exchange in Frankfurt marks its first six months and HKEX offers new details on its expanded RMB futures. Plus, a recap of GlobalRMB’s top stories this week.

Communication between foreign exchange market participants remains essential, the Bank for International Settlements said on Thursday, as it published a global code of conduct aimed at restoring confidence that the market can be “robust, fair, open, liquid and appropriately transparent”, despite recent scandals.