Why raiding CCPs’ initial margin would be bad policy

A wounded CCP should not have a claim on users’ assets, says hedge fund group

Hands off: distressed CCPs should not be allowed to help themselves to users' margin

Adam Jacobs is head of markets regulation at the Alternative Investment Management Association

When asked why he robbed banks, the prolific thief Willie Sutton is said to have replied, "Because that's where the money is". The same reasoning could be said to apply to raiding a clearing house's initial margin pool to keep it going through stressed times: if the money has to come from somewhere, why not that tempting pot of assets? The idea has its supporters – as shown by a recent Risk.net comment