Regulators
US banks’ systemic footprints grew in 2019
Balance sheet growth lifts systemic risk scores
ECB cuts top banks’ required capital by over €350bn
Capital conservation requirement and Pillar 2 guidance amounts relaxed, countercyclical capital buffers encouraged to fall
Countercyclical buffer relief to save top UK banks £7bn in capital
BoE expects £190 billion of lending to be supported by CCyB cut
Equity, Treasury collateral builds up at US G-Sibs
Fair value of equity collateral rises 19% year-on-year
EU banks face near €18bn capital shortfall through output floor
Twenty-one out of 51 banking groups surveyed would be constrained by the output floor
OIS trading in sterling, euro and Aussie dollar soar
Euro overnight index swaps notional volumes hit €192 billion on March 1
FX options volumes surged last week amid market panic
USD/JPY options traded volumes highest since at least the start of 2018
At US G-Sibs, rates derivatives notionals the lowest since 2014
Banks cut interest rate swaps notionals by -18% year-on-year
CDX on junk bonds jumped 65% in H1 2019
Notionals to which CCPs were counterparty increased +85%
Dollar OIS volumes hit $3.3trn high
Short-dated swaps dominated trading in last week of February
Systemic US banks’ trading portfolios swell 10% in 2019
US Treasuries held-for-trading soar 28% on Q4 2018
Low risk assets pile up at systemic US banks
Sub-100% risk-weighted assets increased by $157.9 billion
Swaps exposures of US G-Sibs dropped 12% in Q4
Net current credit exposures hit $474.8 billion by year-end
Top banks’ US Treasury holdings up 26% in 2019
Fair value gains follow plummeting yields on government paper
TD Bank’s US unit incurred eight VAR breaches in 2019
Number of backtesting exceptions pushed the bank’s VAR capital multiplier to 3.75
Fewer losing trading days at top US banks in 2019
State Street posted most losing days in 2019, with 146
Capital buffers edge lower at systemic US banks in 2019
CET1 excess above institution-specific amounts slid 228bp at median G-Sib
Wells Fargo’s VAR spiked in Q4
Interest rate VAR increased to $211 million in last quarter of the year
Systemic US banks shed $70bn of repo exposure in Q4
Goldman Sachs lowered repo exposures 13% quarter-on-quarter
€5trn of Eonia swaps mature after benchmark’s death
Almost 20% of derivatives notionals linked to retiring rate will expire post-2022
Systemic EU banks’ bail-in requirements vary
One G-Sib resolution group has an MREL requirement of 32.8% of RWAs
EU banks short €178bn of MREL requirements
117 resolution entities report bail-in bond and capital shortfalls
FCMs’ required client margin up 29% in 2019
Citi still far and away the largest FCM
EU bank clients pressed for better trade terms in 2019
Hedge funds saw price and non-price conditions tighten in Q4