Derivs - Credit

GlobalCapital is pleased to announce the nominees for its 2019 Americas Derivatives awards.

Derivatives and fintech specialist lawyer Matthew Kluchenek has joined US law firm Mayer Brown as partner at its capital markets practice, based at the firm’s Chicago headquarters.

Ghanaian banks’ avenues for dollar funding could be set to grow, after one of the country’s financial institutions entered into a total return swap with Société Générale that soothed over bottlenecks in its repo markets.

Trading platform operator Tradeweb has received regulatory approvals to operate trading venues from Amsterdam as it solidifies its preparations for Brexit.

Last year ended on a sour note and spreads looked set to continue their ascent throughout this year and beyond. But here we are, a little over a week into 2019, and the Markit iTraxx Europe is 10bp tighter than December 31 levels.

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a complicated product. But the past year has presented a few examples of market participants resorting to ‘creative’ tactics to optimise payouts. If the market fails to respond to concerns around the viability of CDS, the product may have to be rethought.

Vice-chairman of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Larry Thompson has retired after 37 years working at the firm.

Nearly six years ago to the day the European Commission adopted the technical standards for the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) that, among other things, mandated the reporting of derivatives contracts to trade repositories.

The European Commission has finally confirmed that it will grant temporary equivalence to UK central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) and central securities depositories (CSDs) in the event of a no deal Brexit.

Risk premia strategies — a growing form of quantitative passive investing — performed poorly in 2018, with many flagship funds and strategies under investor scrutiny. Experts in the space have been soul searching and are looking for a reprieve in 2019. Costas Mourselas reports.

The Bank for International Settlements has publish a research paper exploring the risks that spring from the close linkage between banks and clearing houses (CCPs) through OTC derivatives.

US lawmakers have penned their first major reform of the policies drawn up to make banks safer after the financial crisis, and signs suggest that further deregulation could be on the cards during president Donald Trump’s remaining time in office. Tyler Davies asks if this is the beginning of the end for the international push towards tougher banking rules?