The latest IM deadline passed at the start of this month without fanfare, and larger firms were able to breathe their fourth sigh of relief. A year from now, the challenge will not be as “easy”. In Phase 4, approximately 35 firms fell in-scope of the €750 bn threshold. Updated numbers for Phase 5 show […]

Confirming recent market rumours, BCBS\IOSCO have today announced their recommendation to stagger IM Phase 5 implementation over a two year period. An adjusted Phase 5 will apply to firms with an AANA equal to or greater than USD\EUR 50bn and less than 750bn. A new Phase 6, from 1 September 2020 to 1 September 2021, […]

Risk Magazine is reporting today about the keynote speech given by Patrick Pearson (Head of the Financial Market Infrastructure and Derivatives unit at the European Commission) at the OpRisk Europe conference in London earlier today.  He is reported to have hinted that a delay in the implementation of the final phase of the IM rules […]

Overshadowed by the MiFID 2 regulatory colossus, the start of the year also marked the coming into force of the EU’s Benchmark Regulation (BMR). As well as defining and categorising benchmarks, the BMR lays down obligations that affect both administrators and users, requiring firms to prepare written plans detailing their response to the cessation, material […]

On 22 September 2015, the all-stars of international standard-setting bodies released the 2015 CCP Workplan (dated 15 April 2015), along with a Progress Report. The Workplan was presented to the FSB Steering Committee by the Chairs of the FSB Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation, the FSB Resolution Steering Group, the Committee on Payments […]

The BCBS\IOSCO twins confirmed yesterday that the imposition of margin requirements for uncleared swaps will be delayed by nine months. The phase-in schedule for the mandatory posting of initial and variation margin will now begin in September 2016, while still adhering to its four-year schedule, beginning with “the largest, most active and most systemically important […]

The industry’s call for a delay in the margin rules, expected to apply from 1 December 2015, may finally receive a positive response from the regulators[1]. These rules on risk-management of uncleared derivatives will impose collection of Initial Margin (IM) and Variation Margin (VM). The global phase-in timeline was set by the Basel Committee on […]

The Presidency of the Council of the EU published the last compromise proposal for regulation of benchmarks, dated 21 November 2014. On that same day, the chairman of the CFTC criticised the EU benchmark initiative as it left no viable space to foreign benchmarks within the EU. Yet, from a version to another, the series […]

On 30 September 2014, the FSB published the Final Report on Foreign Exchange Benchmarks, along with the Review of the implementation of IOSCO principles on financial benchmarks in connection with the WM/Reuters 4 pm Closing Spot Rate. Final Report on FX Benchmarks The Final Report contains 15 broad recommendations, covering: WM/Reuters 4pm London fix Central […]