MarketVoice News
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Cross-Border Oversight
In August the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an exemption to Australia’s ASX Clear from registering as a derivatives clearing organization.
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Moral Hazard
The European System of Central Banks issued a statement on Aug. 25 expressing opposition to any change in EU regulations that would give central counterparties an automatic right of access to central bank liquidity. The statement emphasized that the current legal framework allows each central bank to determine for itself which facilities it wishes to offer to CCPs and defines the conditions for such access. An automatic right to central bank liquidity “would create moral hazard on an extraordinary scale,” the ESCB warned. The statement was issued in response to a European Commission consultation on possible changes to EMIR.
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Swap Compression
With banks looking for ways to reduce capital charges for their derivatives exposures, clearinghouses are expanding their services aimed at “compressing” swap positions, reducing the overall notional amount and the number of contracts by removing offsetting exposures.
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Links with China
CME Group and China Foreign Exchange Trade System, a sub-institution of the People’s Bank of China, announced on Sept. 25 an agreement to cooperate and explore ways “to promote each other’s market infrastructure and products.”
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Preparing for Remit
On Sept. 24, FIA issued a notice summarizing the registration and reporting requirements of the EU Regulation on Wholesale Energy Markets Integrity and Transparency (REMIT). FIA drafted the notice to help clearing firms inform customers who may have to comply with the new reporting obligation, which enters into force on Oct. 7 for certain exchange-traded wholesale energy products and on April 7 for certain over-the-counter energy products. Those products include futures, options and swaps based on electricity or natural gas for delivery in the European Union as well as contracts relating to the transportation of electricity or natural gas in the EU.
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Cybersecurity: NFA Sets Standards
The National Futures Association, the U.S. futures industry’s self-regulatory organization, has drafted standards that all NFA members will need to apply in protecting themselves from the risk of unauthorized access or attacks on their information systems.
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Regulating Swaps
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission jointly issued a consultation on introducing the first phase of mandatory clearing and the second phase of mandatory reporting.
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Preparing for Remit
On Sept. 24, FIA issued a notice summarizing the registration and reporting requirements of the EU Regulation on Wholesale Energy Markets Integrity and Transparency (REMIT).
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Electronic Trading
OTC Global Holdings, a Houston-based group of interdealer brokers specializing in energy commodities, is now offering customers the ability to execute block trades in natural gas options and other over-the-counter energy products via an online trading platform.
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System Performance
More and more firms are outsourcing their trading infrastructure to external providers, creating new monitoring challenges for trading firms.
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