Competition TMX heats up; derivatives regulatory reform in EU hits delays; more extensions for Dodd-Frank comment periods
Disagreements amongst EU finance ministers on the application of new regulation to derivatives (all derivatives vs. solely OTC derivatives) and the role of ESMA, the newly formed EU watchdog, threatens to delay the progression of EMIR. This news follows the theme from last week when the CFTC voted to extend the deadlines for some of the Dodd-Frank rules from July 16th to December 31st 2011.
Speaking of delays, more recently, five federal agencies announced this Thursday they are pushing to extend the comment period on the proposed rules for swap margin and capital requirements for major swap participants, swap dealers and security-based swap dealers/participants to support the Dodd-Frank Act. The new comment period is now July 11th 2011.
Regulators continue to progress despite delays. This week CFTC announced the members of its new Technology Advisory Subcommittee on Data Standardization, a new subcommittee that will review solutions for establishing standards for the communication, description and storing of data for complex financial products. This new subcommittee, which includes members such as Michael Atkin of EDM Council, ISDA’s Karel Engelen and Malene McMahon of SWIFT, will reports its recommendations to the wider Technology Advisory Committee.
This summer is sure to be an active one as rulemaking process continues but how will the implementation of the new rules play out? In a DerivSource podcast, we Joe Sack, Bill Thum and Frank De Maria who offer their macro view on the implementation of Dodd-Frank rules going forward. (registration to DerivSource required for this but registration is free!)
On the exchange front, competition for Canadian exchange group, TMX Group continues as the Maple Group, a consortium of Canadian banks and London Stock Exchange improve their offering in attempt to clinch the deal. FT Trading Room offers a great timeline on exchange merger activity.
One of the leading stories from last week was the publication of the FIA-ISDA execution agreement, which is the industry’s first attempt to regulate the relationship between parties entering trades for central clearing. Derivatives Risk Solutions’ managing director Michael Beaton explains the structure of this new legal agreement.
Also, new this week is some market commentary provided by Interactive Data’s Kenneth Lee who shares market commentary on the trends impacting evaluated prices for structured products, including RMBS, for the month of May 2011.
Stay tuned for new content next week on client clearing models and don’t forget to register for a complimentary webinar hosted by DerivSource on this topic next Thursday at 10am EST/3pm BST. If you cannot attend but have questions for our 5-person panel, you may submit questions to events@derivsource.com
See you next week!
