News
US life insurers take axe to FX forwards positions in Q2
Counterparty Radar: $47.5bn in G10 positions reported, a 12.9% decline from Q1
Vendors under new scrutiny in CFTC due diligence push
Planned cyber resilience regime will force dealers to subject “critical” tech vendors to stricter audit
BlackRock plans use of corporate bond repo in new LDI fund
Holding corporate bonds would provide backup liquidity, lift returns
Behavioural analytics: data trend has asset managers looking inwards
Vanguard and others are building tools that “nudge” investors to make better investment decisions
US vol experts hint at calm before storm in markets
Many buy-siders believe today’s relative tranquility in equities masks underlying fragility
US regionals load up on cheap receive-fix term SOFR swaps
Major dealers are welcoming basis-risk-offset trades with “open arms”, say hedge advisers
CFTC plan to relax MMF margin restriction sparks debate
Industry welcomes proposal to lift ban on repo-using funds as eligible IM, but some warn MMFs bring risks
Nasdaq moves second matching engine to AWS cloud
Exchange and cloud partner encouraged by smooth migration with improved capacity and latency metrics
US mutual funds piled into call-selling strategies in Q1
Counterparty Radar: BlackRock, Franklin Templeton and T Rowe Price among the managers who added to single-stock positions
Legal challenges loom for renewed US focus on Sifis
Lawyers say any FSOC attempt to designate systemic non-banks risks a repeat of MetLife case
CLO managers tap captive capital for ‘uneconomical’ deals
Funds raised to comply with overturned risk-retention rule underpin 80% of new deals
Post-crisis accounting trick haunts clearing brokers
FCMs gave up interest income for capital savings when rates were low. Now, some want it back
Industry divided on whether Europe should delay FRTB
Most bankers prefer to keep to earlier start date, even though it puts continent out of sync with US
Rising costs prompt US borrowers to embrace compounded SOFR
Sophisticated firms with term SOFR loans increasingly willing to run basis risk to cut hedging costs
Mystery clearing member delays ICEU’s CDS transition
But Ice is confident open interest will be close to zero when service shuts down in October
Industry aims to Fix patchy exchange outage comms
A Fix working group is hoping to standardise the way that venues communicate with the sell side when tech glitches strike
Banks call for direct oversight of cloud providers by US regulators
Tri-opoly of cloud vendors “poses systemic risk” to financial sector, say risk managers
HKEX expected to cover damages in LME nickel lawsuits
Legal costs cannot be passed to members as non-default losses under the LME’s rule book, lawyers say
Pension funds weigh corporate bonds as margin for gilt repo
Stung by disastrous losses during last year’s LDI squeeze, funds consider greater range of collateral on gilt repo
China eyes new derivatives contracts to boost investor morale
Regulator announces futures and options products on mainland and HK, but there are doubts it will help
Lincoln, Global Atlantic push JPM to index options top spot
Counterparty Radar: Among life insurers, options notional grew 7% in Q1
Why credit default committees are a turnoff for the buy side
With high costs and little to gain from participating, investment firms seem content to leave the legal work to the banks
FX disruption template paused due to Isda definition clash
GFMA’s close-out framework put on hold as Isda reviews 1998 FX derivatives rule book
SEC rewrite of criteria for investor ‘group’ alarms buy-siders
Hedge funds fear it will freeze out activists and have chilling effect on everyday discussions