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The Financial Stability Oversight Council in the US is changing the classification process for systemically important financial institutions, prompting concern about the government's extended remit over insurance, clearing and other non-financial organisations. With no hard set of rules and procedures for the new classification system yet released, lawyers are concerned that the statute is ambiguous, inherently flawed and opaque.

Hedge funds and asset managers are increasingly turning to short term options and short dated derivatives products as ways of maximising liquidity in an increasingly illiquid market, according to TABB Group.

Sharon Bowen, from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued a statement on January 22 arguing that the retail FX market was the least regulated part of the derivatives industry, following the shock move on January 15 by the Swiss National Bank to abandon the Sfr1.20 euro/Swiss franc exchange rate peg. However, lawyers argue that retail FX is one of the most heavily regulated sectors, which may in fact be increasing risk.

John Grace, ex-senior managing director at AIG, has joined the Options Clearing Corporation as executive vice president and chief risk officer.

The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) has established a pre-funded $1bn committed repurchase facility with a leading pension fund in order to increase the central counterparty’s overall liquidity resources from $2bn to $3bn.

Investors have been looking at buying call spreads on the Euro Stoxx 50, funded with out-of-the-money put spreads based on high volatility and expectations of quantitative easing announcements at the European Central Bank meeting on January 22.

Overall interest rate derivatives trading that was reported to swap data repositories last week increased by 14% from the previous week, according to data from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

BGC Partners has retaliated once more within hours of CME Group announcing an increased two-tier, front end-loaded tender offer for GFI Group at $5.85 per share, with the interdealer broker offering a fully financed, all-cash tender offer of $6.10 per share.

CLS Group and TriOptima have teamed up to offer an FX forward compression service in order to address the regulatory requirement for financial counterparties to have procedures in place to analyse the possibility of portfolio compression for non-centrally cleared over-the-counter derivatives.

CME Group has once again increased its two-tier, front end-loaded tender offer for GFI Group to $5.85 per share, matching BGC Partners’ contingent $5.85 per share all-cash offer announced on 15 January. This price escalation represents the newest development in a nearly eight month bidding war for the firm, and nearly a $0.40 per share escalation since 15 January.

BGC Partners has retaliated within hours of CME Group announcing an increased tender offer for GFI Group at $5.60 per share, offering a non-contingent $5.75 per share offer that can increase up to $5.85 should the tender offer be accepted by the extended 29 January 2015 deadline. This price escalation represents the newest development in a nearly eight-month bidding war for the firm.

CME Group has increased its two-tier, front end-loaded tender offer for GFI Group to $5.60 per share, matching BGC Partners’ $5.60 per share all-cash offer announced on 14 January. This price escalation represents the newest development in a nearly eight-month bidding war for the firm.