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Margin Xchange…we hardly knew you

Highlander 1986, “There can be only one!” or for a younger generation, “When you play the game of thrones, you win or die”. Risk magazine reports that MarginXchange (MX) has retired from the fray, leaving an open (if depleted) field for its erstwhile rival ISDACreate (IC). MX was established by the triumvirate of Allen & Overy, […]

Winter is coming…

The deadline for compliance with Phase 4 and Phase 5 of the IM requirements is miles away, isn’t it?  Isn’t it…? The truth is that, whether you like it or not, the clock is already ticking.  Whether anyone has told you or not, the countdown has already begun. Why worry about it now? The classic […]

ISDA presses the panic button on IM

As market participants are all too aware, following the financial crisis in 2008-2009, G20 agreed to a regulatory reform agenda covering the OTC derivatives market and market participants, including proposals for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The recommendations were finalised in the BCBS-IOSCO’s Final Framework for Non-Centrally Cleared Derivatives, which established the international standards […]

FFX Margin- the far off sound of a fat lady singing

The will they-won’t they soap opera of European FFX margin regulation is likely drawing to a close. As promised in their 24 November announcement, the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESMA, EBA and EIOPA) published a draft amendment to the EMIR Margin RTS. The amendment does clarify matters by excising the announcement’s “most likely”, confirming that […]

EU FFX – fiasco saga

On 24 November the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) released their long (in context) awaited forbearance announcement with respect to the margining or not of forward foreign exchange. A short summary follows: Everyone else agreed to this but didn’t follow on Our hands are tied and we will need to change EU law Likely changes will […]

VM/IM Repapering: Learning the lessons from ‘Big Bang’

What did we learn? 1 March 2017 – deadline day for ‘big bang’ – has come and gone.  We all breathed a sigh of relief.  Or did we?  Regulators recognised the fact that firms would not be compliant and, in general, counselled the industry to ‘do your best to get it done by 1 September’.  […]

Singapore and Australia finalise VM compliance

To rephrase the old complaint- you wait for ages for a WGMR update then two arrive at once. The MAS in Singapore and the APRA in Australia have today issued revised and final timelines for compliance with their respective non-cleared margin rulesets. The APRA announced that Prudential Standard CPS 226 Margining and risk mitigation for […]

The ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol: Boldly Going Where No Protocol Has Gone Before

The Final Frontier On 17 November 2016, ISDA published a “Supplemental Rules Exhibit” (the “EMIR Supplement”) to the ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol (the “Protocol”).  The purpose of the EMIR Supplement is to enable adherents to the Protocol to integrate amendments for margin rules for OTC derivatives in order to achieve compliance with EMIR[1] into […]

EP adopts non-cleared margin rules- market quietly panics

As previewed by its own ECON committee, the European Parliament yesterday adopted the “final” draft of the long-awaited non-cleared margin rules under EMIR. The uncharacteristic fast-tracking has created the ironic situation in which market participants are now lobbying the Council to delay their adoption of the rules in order to avoid entry into application during […]

EU non-cleared margin rules “clarification” confusion cleared-up

The EC has rushed to publish an addendum correcting the most glaring error in its 28 July RTS on non-cleared margin rules. The RTS stated that the first implementation of IM in the EU would be 1 September 2017, a full year after all other countries who are following the BCBS/IOSCO timetable. The addendum clarifies […]

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