Derivs - Clearing and Exchanges

Cboe Global Markets has decided to delay its return to open outcry pit trading, amid city closures across Chicago.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) won a licensing agreement this week to list 37 MSCI equity index futures and options contracts, as the index provider agreed to wind down its partnership with rival Singapore Exchange (SGX).

Cboe Global Markets will reopen its open-outcry options trading floor at the beginning of June, after more than two months in which the world’s major derivatives exchanges have operated exclusively electronically.

The Autorité de Marchés Financieres (AMF) has decided not to lengthen a ban on short selling, but some market participants who opposed the action see it returning when extreme volatility next strikes the markets.

Airbus subsidiary Skytra has picked Nasdaq Clearing as the clearing house for its derivatives trading platform, which will offer airlines the ability to hedge revenue risk. With the industry in crisis, Skytra’s COO says there is more interest in the offering than ever.

The Bank of International Settlements has indicated that regulators may need to review central counterparty clearing house margin policies after the coronavirus crisis.

Open access to central counterparty clearing houses may face further delays, it emerged this week, leaving derivatives market participants divided over whether it will actually become part of European regulation.

John Davidson is CEO of the Options Clearing Corporation, the equity derivatives clearing house. GlobalCapital caught up with him to discuss how clearing has held up in the Covid-19 crisis — during which equity markets endured huge volatility — and how he is planning for the return from lockdown.

Open access, the much fought over and delayed section of the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), is facing further pushback, according to a European Council document seen by GlobalCapital.

Cboe Global Markets and FTSE Russell have extended an agreement that will give the derivatives exchange exclusive rights to create options on the latter’s indices.

The derivatives industry’s 2020 events calendar is even thinner, as the Futures Industry Association has cancelled its annual London event.

European short sellers were dealt another blow on Wednesday as the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) decided to extend its ban on short selling.