Isda called on to improve OTC commodities market

Elaine Whiting, head of global over-the-counter commodities transaction documentation and management at Barclays Capital, yesterday called for assistance from financial institutions to create operations 'metrics' for OTC commodities markets.

The operations metrics are a collated, pooled set of historical monthly statistics reflecting trading volumes, outstanding confirmations, nostro breaks and levels of automation, said Whiting, speaking at an International Swaps and Derivatives Association commodities conference in London.

Such pooled data already exists for the OTC markets of fixed income, equities and credit derivatives. Extending the initiative to cover OTC commodities would enhance transparency for the asset class and help Isda to monitor it more carefully, she said.

Any firm submitting regular information to the metrics would receive market-wide information back from Isda, she added.

Whiting also called for greater industry support for Financial Products Mark-up Language (FpML). More widespread use of the language would enhance automation and promote straight-through processing, reducing risk across the industry, she said.