The Americas
Hedge funds pile into short volatility QIS options
New twist on capturing vol premium remains popular despite mixed performance in August vol spike
Inside Nomura’s European equities rebuild
Talking Heads: Global chief Simon Yates also addresses US crowding and Japan’s prospects post-carry trade
BNP Paribas’ FX forwards notional jumps 75% in Q2
Counterparty Radar: French bank’s increased trading with Pimco lifts it into top spot
Accounting fix needed for done-away Treasury clearing – DTCC
Splitting UST execution and clearing “not viable” for clearing brokers under current regime
Banks urged to boost third-party scrutiny amid AML crackdown
Three US regulators highlight deficiencies in banks’ due diligence on fintech partners
Supply chain decoupling fires up alpha focus at BofA
Talking Heads: Stock dispersion sees funds gross up on long/short baskets, while US structured notes come of age
Could Trump presidency herald $27bn margin call on World Bank?
Think-tank’s policy plan to pull US out of multilateral threatens AAA rating, ending collateral exemption
Goldman appoints new financial risk head
Promotion sees Josh Schiffrin oversee strategy and financial risk, including trading supervision
Rates traders brace for jobs data after August steepener payday
Investors hope for weaker-than-expected non-farm payrolls to trigger re-steepening
Jane Street ups its game in FX market-making
High-frequency trading firm now streaming bilateral spot FX liquidity to clients
Pre-market trades blamed for record Vix surge
Traders rushed to cover short vol positions before the market opened on August 5
US corporates tap euros for cheap debt and FX hedging
Interest rate differentials and cross-currency basis drive highest reverse Yankee issuance since Covid
CME, Ice tread nuanced path to US Treasury clearing
CME floats “hybrid” model, Ice commits to agent clearing, while LCH is yet to reveal its hand
Op risk data: Payday lender Skytrail sees $1.4bn disappear
Also: Cartel claims cost European bond dealers dearly, plus oil price gouging and crypto cover-ups. Data by ORX News
Marex plots interest rate clearing push
UK broker is live on LCH and plans to be a “day one” clearing member on FMX
Tired of fat-finger blunders, G-Sibs turn to robots for help
Big banks speed up shift towards control automation and AI adoption to counter costly human errors, Benchmarking survey finds
Bitcoin ETFs drive demand for borrowing in crypto markets
Mismatch between cash and crypto settlement cycles creates pre-funding challenge
CME, FICC in talks to expand cross-margining to client accounts
New rules and account structures will be needed to allow cross-margining by non-members
Treasury futures super-user switches to swaps
Capital Group’s Anbax fund slashes UST futures holdings in move to alternative rates derivatives
IDB to expand contingent swap scheme in Latin America
New mechanism gives regional development banks cheaper FX rates with hedges linked to credit events
Covid halted variance trading. Can Cboe revive the market?
With liquidity in variance swaps drying up, traders may finally be ready to give futures a shot