Derivs - FX

The Korea Exchange’s US Dollar Futures contract will be available after-hours on CME Group’s electronic trading platform, Globex. This will be effective from December 8 in order to provide international market participants increased access to the Korean markets.

The Royal Bank of Scotland had hired Colin Holdstock, ex-head of fx options for Asia ex-Japan at Nomura, and Glen Goh, ex-deputy global head of Asian fx and global head of Asian non-deliverable forwards at Standard Chartered, as managing directors in its Asia Pacific markets business, both based in Singapore.

The clearing industry could face increased systemic risk thanks to incoming Basel III regulations on capital charges if more clearing providers, or futures commission merchants as they are known in the US, are forced to close.

TriOptima has eliminated $500bn in notional principal outstanding since the launch of its cross-currency compression swap service earlier this year, and client participation has nearly doubled from 12 to 20 institutions.

International regulators must do more to implement standards for the reporting of over-the-counter derivatives trade data, according to Alex McDonald, CEO of the Wholesale Markets Brokers’ Association in London.

Six years on since the global financial crisis, Europe has made great progress in transposing the G20’s regulatory framework to reform the over-the-counter derivatives market into law and incorporating that workflow into the single market project. The G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane in November is an opportune time to reflect on this transit and what remains to be done as the industry seeks to restore the integrity of the global financial system.

Market participants, particularly institutional investors, have been picking up risk-reversals and put options on sterling against the dollar.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) this week launched FX futures contracts for Chinese onshore and offshore renminbi (USD/CNH and CNY/USD). Transactions in the new RMB futures achieved a first day volume of 1,836 contracts on October 20, or approximately Rmb1.1bn in notional value ($180m), said SGX.

A new offshore renminbi bond index launched by Markit this week could improve liquidity in the market, enhancing the opportunity for derivative products linked to the indices.

The European Commission will propose an extension of capital relief for non-qualifying central counterparties beyond December 2014. If the extension is not granted, banks using non-European clearing houses could face sky-high capital charges.

Robert Pickel, ex-CEO of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, has been appointed to the special advisory board of Droit Financial Technologies, a trading solutions firm based in New York.

Steven Maijoor, chairman of the European Securities Markets Association, has emphasised the importance of a single rulebook in the EU, calling for single rulebook regulation to be applied consistently to ensure differences in supervision do not threaten financial stability in the region.