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Quad-Party Clearing – a buy-side focused clearing model – was widely perceived as an innovative solution for the clearing obligation under EMIR (European Market Infrastructure Regulation). The benefits for buy-side firms include efficiency, cost and risk reduction.

However there’s a growing concern that these are outweighed by cost and risk factors of market infrastructure providers and sell-side institutions. For example, many experts anticipate a collateral crunch as a consequence of clearing o

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has done it again. They quietly published a revised European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) timeline which postpones commencement of Trade Repository (TR) reporting until February 2014. This is no surprise as the recent third round of their Questions & Answers (Q&A) still left uncertainty among market participants.

There is no doubt that the regulation comes at a significant cost and requires wide-ranging operational enhancements to en

With ESMA’s (European Securities and Markets Authority) regulatory technical standards (RTS) codifying the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) into an applicable set of rules entering into force on 15 March 2013, the implementation timeline for EMIR has now become much clearer.

The CCP registration process
Under EMIR CCPs apply for authorisation with ESMA to clear under EMIR. It is expected that this will happen sooner rather than later. CCPs will have the required paperwork ready to

Meet Joe. Joe is a swaps trader within a small institution that has a straightforward hedging strategy at both the micro and macro level. Being a price-taker, Joe has built and maintained broker relationships that enable him to easily get a swap priced at an acceptable level provided counterparty limits allow. Joe’s back office is practicing weekly collateral exchange with various counterparties in cash. As such, Joe lives in a very comfortable world.

But Joe is in for a nasty surprise. The pract

Just three years ago the G20 leaders agreed upon a common course to regulate the financial markets, with focus on standardising OTC derivatives. In that time regulators have created the largest reform packages since the dawn of modern financial history including Dodd-Frank and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

But are market participants prepared to cope with the consequences of these regulatory behemoths? With regards to OTC derivatives, under the new rules, these are suppose

When it comes to central clearing houses and regulation, it has been a hive of activity this year.

Literally every jurisdiction is in the midst of trying in someway to fit swap contracts from the OTC domain into a clearing house. It appears however, that some clearing houses seem to be having better luck at doing this than others. 

For those interested in a quick update of global developments, please follow this link.