Derivs - FX

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission gave market participants adapting to working from home some relief late on Tuesday, with sweeping no-action relief on voice recording requirements. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority hasn’t gone so far, but has offered firms some flexibility.

Financial market participants were left wondering this week if what felt to many like a very vivid stress test had become a complete meltdown, as searing volatility puts all players into crisis preparation mode, write Ross Lancaster, Jon Hay, Max Adams and David Rothnie. Strains are appearing in places where they were not expected, such as the US Treasury market. But markets are continuing to function and some traders have enjoyed exceptional volume.

TP ICAP has launched a new trading platform for FX options that will offer both order book and RFQ trading for its users.

Financial industry lobbyists have told the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that its proposed revisions to swap dealers’ and major swap participants’ capital requirements will have “a significant negative impact on the US swaps market”.

Demand for exchange-listed derivatives soared during February, with Cboe Global Markets, CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange hitting record average daily volumes during the month.

One of the derivatives industry’s largest annual conferences was cancelled on Tuesday, after the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus made the event unviable in the view of the organisers.

As clear daylight emerges between jurisdictions making their transitions away from Ibor benchmarks, the cross-currency basis swap market could become a headache.

MEP Markus Ferber has come out swinging at the European Securities and Markets Authority for appointing chief French regulator Robert Ophèle to temporarily chair its central counterparty (CCP) supervisory committee.

A European Central Bank (ECB) survey has found that market making in over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives decreased last year, but respondents were confident of their ability to support the products during bouts of market stress.

Robots are going up against humans in the OTC broking markets as AiX announced the launch of its natural language artificial intelligence broker platform this week.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has given the go-ahead for trading in rupee futures and options, allowing the development of offshore markets in the products.

A popular frontier market trade in Nigerian open market operations (OMOs), central bank securities, has been faltering on the back of local currency depreciation, which if deepened will force foreign market participants to consider eating into their returns with an FX hedge.