United Kingdom (UK)
Safety first: UK set to keep ring-fencing but may ease rules
There is also pressure to make changes to tackle banks’ overexposure to retail debt due to the rules
Archegos report details margin failings at Credit Suisse
Dynamic margining and a $150,000 software fix for ‘bullet swaps’ could have saved the bank $3 billion
Cross-currency swaps set to ditch Libor in ‘RFR first’ drive
A plan to oust Libor in September is expected to spur voluntary RFR adoption for euro legs
Banks hail UK plan to pare scope of taxing pre-trade reporting
UK wants to exempt bonds and OTC derivatives from Mifid rules on pre-trade transparency
Swaptions get fallback safety net, but crave CCP fix
Isda’s Ice swap rate fallbacks calm fears, yet CCP action needed to protect physical settlement
New BoE climate risk scenarios spark race for extra data
Banks need information from clients or third parties to populate 1,760 stress test variables
UK aims to beat EU in Mifid swaps reporting stakes
UK follows up proposed EU solution to confusion over post-trade transparency with its own fix
New Isda definitions pave way for bespoke swaps clearing
Pick-and-mix grid of floating rate options will make it easier to clear post-Libor bond hedges
UK tipped to take lead on consolidated tape provision
Fixed income focus could pip European Union in race to provide market data golden source
JP Morgan warns hedge funds to expect intraday margin calls
US bank may demand variation margin ‘up to seven’ times a day after Archegos default
UK banks’ RWAs near record low – BoE
Lower credit and counterparty RWAs led the quarterly drop, latest figures show
Euronext’s tech migration sprint alarms electronic traders
Co-location users sound warning on plan to chop two years off data centre move from UK to Italy
ECB tightens grip on back-to-back booking models
Supervisor could impose large exposures limit for intragroup trades, even if UK granted equivalence
Aegon turns its back on pension deals in its home market
The Netherlands is Europe’s second-biggest pension market, but Aegon made little money from deals
The race to offload the world’s biggest pool of assets
Specialist insurers on both sides of the Atlantic expect a bumper post-Covid second half of 2021
EU and UK climate rules may lead to a disorderly transition
Asset managers can wait until 2024 to disclose the carbon emitted by their investments
Ice pips Refinitiv to synthetic Libor prize
FCA selects IBA term Sonia for sterling tough legacy fix; Torf chosen for three yen settings
Could global regulators miss another Archegos whale?
Spotting systemic risk from OTC swaps requires cross-border access to derivatives data
UK banks interest rate swap exposures fall £711bn
Credit derivatives exposures bucked the downward trend, growing 16% quarter on quarter
Quantum trading and the search for the perfect clock
Government push to overhaul satellite technology could improve time-stamping accuracy for trading firms – and for regulators
Early deaths could kill defined benefit pension shortfalls
Covid-19 will only worsen a trend in life expectancy that was already well underway
Rush to meet net-zero target could see Sonia, SOFR collapse
Policy inaction could halt benchmarks’ normalisation, BoE biennial exploratory scenario finds
Time for BoE to rethink the leverage ratio
The disparity of treatment keeps UK banks on an unlevel playing field
Credit risk exposures shrink share of top UK banks’ RWAs
Barclays reported the biggest drop, both on a quarterly and yearly basis