North America

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.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s New York branch decided to scrap a 10 year portion of a dual-trancher on Monday, as mismatch on pricing led to investors shunning the tenor in favour of a five year.

The US took a step forward as a renminbi hub in September, when Bank of China New York branch was appointed as the local clearing bank. GlobalRMB met with a representative of the Working Group on US RMB Trading and Clearing to discuss new and future developments.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch posted a post-crisis record for its pre-tax profits in the third quarter this year, supported by eye-popping growth in fixed income, currency and commodities division and in capital markets revenues and profits.

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.

The European Investment Bank was first into the dollar market this week with a three year mandate, the maturity of choice for dollar issuers over the last few weeks. Export Development Canada last Friday sold the first five year dollar benchmark from SSA in several weeks and, while it went well, bankers do not expect other issuers to follow suit.

Revenues at Citi’s fixed income operations soared 35% year on year in the third quarter 2016, helping to offset the overall revenue decline at group as it continues to reduce non-core assets in Citi Holdings.

The US Treasury Department has maintained the view that China is not a currency manipulator in its second report to the congress on the foreign exchange policies of its major trading partners.

BDO Unibank in the Philippines and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China New York branch made their respective returns to the dollar bond market on Monday.

ZTO Express has revealed the terms for its upcoming $1.3bn US IPO, which will be the largest listing in the country by a Chinese firm since Alibaba Group Holdings' $25bn float in 2014.