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It’s that time of the year again when CDS market participants turn their attention to technical, rather than fundamental, factors.

Clifford Davis, managing director institutional equity derivatives sales at BNP Paribas in New York has left the firm.

Market participants trading non-centrally cleared swaps have been given a reprieve as proposals from regulators regarding rules for initial and variation requirements have been delayed.

US buysiders are struggling to access overseas liquidity as many dealers do not want to trade with US clients due to regulations such as Dodd-Frank, resulting in increased fragmentation and smaller liquidity pools.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has set an initial timetable for the launch of China’s Cross-border Inter-bank Payment System (CIPS), according two sources close to the matter. GlobalRMB understands seven international banks — ANZ, BNP Paribas, Citi, DBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered — are among the 19 firms selected for first stage testing.

Investors were buying puts and put spreads on real estate investment trusts ahead of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee announcement on Wednesday (March 18), as such sectors are sensitive to interest rates so are prime targets for options hedging.

The decision to add 25 constituents to the iTraxx Crossover in September was a mistake, as it hasn’t increased the trading volume of single name credit default swaps as expected, according to market makers.

Moscow Exchange is now trading futures contracts on the onshore Chinese renminbi against the Russian rouble after a substantial increase in renminbi turnover on the exchange and growing volume of settlement in the currency between Russia and China, in addition to new demand for hedging of such transactions.

The rapid slide in the euro against the dollar has made buying shortdated puts an increasingly popular but expensive trade. As a result, investors are seeking to capitalise on further euro downside with more exotic trades on the back of higher volatilities.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has fined ICE Futures $3m in penalty liabilities for failure to accurately submit trade reporting data as mandated under the Dodd-Frank Act for designated contract markets.

Clearing houses are being forced to re-evaluate margin requirements and costs thanks to persistent incongruences in national jurisdiction rules for central counterparties.

Default fund contributions by central counterparties, known as skin in the game, are not the only risk management mechanisms for clearing house operations and resolution systems, and they do not compensate for other risk mitigation strategies, said market officials.