Infrastructure/Regulation

LCH.Clearnet bid sparks conflict-of-interest debate

A proposal by a consortium of major derivatives dealers to acquire London-based clearing house LCH.Clearnet has led to suggestions that banks becoming intimately involved in the clearing process could present a conflict of interest.

Trichet: Eurozone CCP will help improve oversight

European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet backed a central counterparty (CCP) for clearing credit default swap (CDS) trades in the eurozone today, in a speech that also called for banker compensation to be linked to avoiding excessive leverage.

More MCAs needed to meet equity derivatives targets

Participants in the equity derivatives market say a significant amount of work remains to be done on standardising documentation before it can meet regulators' electronic processing targets for over-the-counter trades.

Banks agree to EU CCP for clearing CDS

Nine major dealers agreed to use an EU central counterparty (CCP) for clearing trades in credit default swaps (CDSs) today, paving the way for talks to resume with the European Commission.

BoE stability chief calls for stress war games

Banks could be forced to carry out joint stress tests to model the knock-on effects of a single disturbance on the entire financial system, according to the Bank of England's head of financial market stability, Andrew Haldane.

US and European firms in bid for LCH

A consortium of major US and European financial institutions is lining up a bid for London-based derivatives clearing house LCH.Clearnet. Deutsche Bank is acting as adviser on the acquisition, as well as being part of the bidding group.

US and European firms in bid for LCH

A consortium of major US and European financial institutions is lining up a bid for London-based derivatives clearing house LCH.Clearnet. Deutsche Bank is acting as adviser on the acquisition, as well as being part of the bidding group.

Q4 loss of Sfr8.1 billion for UBS

Swiss banking giant UBS reported a fourth quarter net loss of Sfr8.1 billion ($7 billion), bringing its full-year net losses to Sfr19.7 billion. The bank also revealed $16.4 billion of illiquid credit assets had been transferred to the Swiss National…

Renewed scrutiny for WTI benchmark

The effectiveness of the WTI price benchmark in reflecting the value of global crude oil has once again been brought into question, finds Pauline McCallion

European CDS regulation 'inevitable' - EC official

The European Commission (EC) is moving ahead with plans to enforce central clearing of credit default swaps (CDSs), despite a plea by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) to resume dialogue on the issue.

Unblocking the euro pipeline

Last month brought a huge EUR48.4 billion of new corporate bonds, more than half the total amount of supply one investment bank predicted for the whole year in the euro market. Matthew Attwood looks at the drivers of the trend, and finds that in one…

The repo effect

The ability of banks to use securitisation deals as collateral for repo funding from central banks has resulted in larger deals with more esoteric assets. Laurence Neville looks at how this change is affecting the securitisation market as a whole