Europe
Leverage ratio squeeze hits options trades
With clearing banks constrained by leverage limits, prop traders fear options market lockdown
Pressure grows on structured products as losses mount
Dividend-related losses at BNP Paribas may be higher than previously reported
Capital overhaul depresses Crédit Agricole’s solvency ratio
Wind down of “Switch” mechanism may have come at a bad time for the French lender
Crédit Agricole, Natixis, UniCredit pummelled by XVA losses
Top banks take combined €207 million hit from valuation adjustments
Covid-19 chaos drains Axa’s Solvency II ratio
French insurer’s regulatory capital ratio is at its lowest since the Solvency II regime took effect
BNP incurs nine VAR breaches in Q1
Market RWAs jump 37% to €26 billion
Machine learning in fraud analytics to combat financial crime – Getting it right
Risk and compliance professionals gathered for a Risk.net webinar in association with NICE Actimize to consider the challenges and opportunities of successfully harnessing artificial intelligence in the fight against financial criminals
EU ‘non-paper’ reveals new effort to delay CCP open access
Negotiations on CCP recovery and resolution could provide a route to postpone Mifid rule
Electronic bond trading stalled in volatile markets
Bid/offer spreads on bond platforms spiked in March and the buy side struggled to trade
How axed dividends left SocGen in a €200 million hole
Collapse in equity trading revenues prompts rethink of autocall hedging
BBVA trims capital target following ECB relief measures
Spanish lender targets 225-275bp CET1 management buffer
SocGen’s trading VAR unmoved by wild markets
Though market RWAs soared, VAR dipped 7% quarter-on-quarter
Bleak macro view pushes Lloyds’ ECL over £5bn
Anticipated loan losses for commercial loans up 39% on end-2019
Deutsche Bank liquidity buffer shrinks €17bn
Clients’ clamour for cash forces bank to monetise liquidity pool
Sonia term rate contenders tested by market mayhem
Regulator-proposed quote approach falters as dealers pull swap prices from screens
CVA, market RWAs more than double at UBS in Q1
Overall risk-weighted assets increased 10% on end-2019
Covid relief frees €4.9bn of capital at Santander
Bank sees CET1 buffer climb to 272bp
Leaked EU document casts doubt on leverage ratio relief
Several MEPs oppose leverage exemption for sovereign bonds, but some want SA-CCR fast-tracked
Statisticians grapple with inflation impact of Covid-19
Collecting reliable inflation figures during lockdown is not straightforward
EU market risk relief targets VAR measures
Dealers with a large percentage of their total capital set using value-at-risk stand to benefit most
FRTB comes too late for Covid crisis
Expected shortfall would stop Basel 2.5 duplicate capital charges, but backtesting still a problem
EU banks diversified sovereign holdings in 2019
Yet banks in peripheral eurozone countries still heavily exposed to home government risk
BoE and ECB weigh calls to follow US lead on capital relief
European regulators face pressure to exempt sovereign exposures from leverage ratio
CCPs postpone euro discounting switch to July
Five-week extension agreed after working group proposal for September delay fails to find consensus