Derivs - FX

Europe needs to upgrade its supervisory regime for clearing houses, the economic and monetary affairs committee of the European Parliament heard this week as it debated a European Commission proposal to relocate powers.

ESMA has published an updated list of third country central counterparties that can offer their services in the European Union, with three Indian institutions joining the list.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), which is working to improve the stability of financial markets after the 2008 crisis, on Friday announced it would soften its terms on banks' derivatives liabilities.

Commissioner Brian Quintenz of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave the high frequency trading industry a boost this week in a speech that confirmed the end of a regulatory bugbear for algo traders.

Commissioner Brian Quintenz of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave the high frequency trading industry a boost this week in a speech that also asked questions of the burgeoning cryptocurrency markets.

Interdealer brokerage firm TP ICAP has made a number of hires in its Institutional Services division, the company announced on Wednesday. The division provides advice, sales and execution to clients like institutional asset managers and hedge funds.

Debate on the location of euro clearing flared up again this week as the Bank of England warned of “substantial risk of disruption” for the activity, while the European Commission gave its blessing to more powers for the European Central Bank over central counterparties (CCPs).

Financial counterparties in Switzerland had to start reporting derivatives trades to repositories on Monday, as required by the country's Financial Market Infrastructure Act.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) has published the final draft of the regulatory technical standard (RTS) giving details of which OTC derivatives will need to move to a trading venue when the Regulation on Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFIR) is implemented in January.

A subsidiary of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) on Monday launched its offering for the creation of International Securities Identification Numbers (ISIN) for over-the-counter derivatives.

The doyenne of derivatives policy in Europe, Kay Swinburne MEP, warned on Thursday that political urges in the European Union risked tainting the oversight of foreign clearing houses.

Deutsche Börse has linked with SmartStream RDU for a systematic internaliser (SI) registration system, while Ullink has released a platform easing SI pre-trade transparency and request-for-quote (RFQ) order management issues.