Derivs - FX

A report from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission on central clearing for non-deliverable forwards warned of possible problems if a mandate is applied incorrectly, urging coordination and standardisation of practices, according to lawyers

CLS Group will expand its third-party settlement services in Korea following a recent announcement from the Bank of Korea that the central bank is expanding the range of FX transactions eligible for CLS payment-versus-payment settlement to include those of non-bank of financial institutions.

BGC Partners has increased its all-cash tender offer to acquire GFI Group to $5.45 per share, representing a $.20 premium per share compared to CME Group's offer.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive took a leap forward today with the publication of technical advice and a consultation by the European Securities and Markets Authority that set out the implementation of transparency and trading requirements to a broad range of asset classes and products.

The Financial Conduct Authority is focusing its risk-based oversight efforts in four critical areas of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation for 2015 – trade reporting quality, clearing services provision continuity from clearing members, market readiness for the clearing obligation, and the bilateral requirements for non-cleared trades. This comes as February marks the first year anniversary of trade reporting under the regulation.

Banks operating with large swaps trading operations will no longer be required to relocate their trading to a separate legal entity that is not federally insured following the rollback of Section 716 of the Dodd-Frank Act. As a result, banks will avoid incurring significant expenses, while saving time and personnel, according to lawyers.

Société Générale’s Newedge prime services business has added LCH.Clearnet’s ForexClear as a new central counterparty clearing houses to its client over-the-counter clearing offering, allowing it clients to clear non-deliverable forwards.

TriOptima has completed the first cross currency swap compression cycle for US dollar/Turkish lira, eliminating $213 billion notional.

BTIG has expanded its foreign exchange services with the addition of an electronic trading FX platform. The service, TradeSave FX, provides institutional investors direct access to competitive multi-dealer spot FX prices as well as advanced order matching and 24-hour liquidity aggregation.

Market participants have been buying put options on the euro against the Swiss franc as potential quantitative easing from the European Central Bank could signal some downward movement in spot on the currency pair, raising speculation over the Swiss National Bank's floor at Sfr1.20.

The European Commission has extended the mandatory capital standards for exposures to central counterparties under the Capital Requirements Regulations. Recognising that CCP authorisation and compliance requires more time to complete, regulators have extended the deadline by six months.

Investors have been taking profit on FX options trades that were entered into ahead of the OPEC meeting that took place on November 27.