Financial services firms that participate in derivatives markets on both sides of the Atlantic have found themselves treading difficult water for the past year or so, as regulators have struggled to harmonize cross-border market structure rules and regulations. Industry observers say European and U.S. regulators are on the same page as to the importance of… Read More >>
SEC Makes Available Swaps Data Analyses
Analyses of data regarding the reporting and dissemination of security-based swap-transaction information are now available at the SEC’s website. The SEC reports that the analyses examine the “effect of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s mandated post-trade transparency in the index credit default swaps (CDS) market on total credit exposure, trading volume, and trade size in… Read More >>
Are You Ready for Bitcoin?
If you haven’t heard of it before, my guess is that you are likely to become more acquainted with the crypto-currency Bitcoin. “As a non-political online money, Bitcoin is backed exclusively by code,” according to the Bitcoin Foundation website. “This means that — ultimately — it is only as good as its software design. By… Read More >>
TeraExchange Has First Bitcoin Derivatives Trade
Bitcoin, the much-debated “virtual currency,” has passed a milestone on the road to more widespread financial-world acceptability with the first Bitcoin derivative transaction executed on a regulated exchange. The transaction has been completed via TeraExchange, the newly regulated exchange, which launched as a swap execution facility (SEF) in October 2013 and completed the CFTC’s self-certification… Read More >>
Greed, Governance and the Trust Factor
Good governance is a watchword of today’s financial services industry. But are the new regulations and requirements enough to restore trust? The public’s trust in the industry “languishes at about the 24 percent level, with many expressing continued concerns regarding both excessive compensation and a lack of integrity among top corporate managers,” SEC Commissioner Luis… Read More >>
CFTC’s Bowen Names Legal and Policy Staff
CFTC Commissioner Sharon Bowen has announced her legal and policy staff to help her “carry out the Commission’s efforts to implement the Dodd-Frank Act and ensure compliance with the Commission’s regulations,” according to a statement. The appointments are: Eric Juzenas, principal adviser Juzenas previously served in several senior roles at the CFTC, including deputy director… Read More >>
Blurred Lines: OTC Reforms for Voice Trading
(Editor’s note: This is the online version of the story appearing in the Fall 2014 edition of FTF News magazine, which will be available on the website later this month. The print edition of the magazine debuted at the SIBOS 2014 conference and exhibition in Boston last week. The event, put on by financial messaging… Read More >>
O’Malia Sets the Agenda for ISDA
Scott O’Malia, the relatively new CEO for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), has been on the job for “some five weeks,” and he has been busy. FTF News readers will remember that O’Malia was until recently a rather vocal and active CFTC commissioner who among other accomplishments brought attention to many of the… Read More >>
SEFs Get More Time to Prep for Block Trades
Swap execution facilities (SEFs) that are still sorting out credit screening and straight through processing requirements for block trades got a reprieve from the CFTC when the regulator’s Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued time-limited, no-action relief last week. The time-limited relief via a no-action letter for SEFs and block trades will last until Dec…. Read More >>
SEF Launches Bitcoin Derivatives Trading Platform
TeraExchange, which characterizes itself as a CFTC-registered swap execution facility (SEF), has launched the first regulated platform for Bitcoin derivatives and a spot Bitcoin price index. Trading of US dollar/Bitcoin swaps will be subject to the rules and regulations of TeraExchange and the CFTC, according to a company statement. Created in 2009, Bitcoin is a… Read More >>
