North America
FCMs held record customer funds on eve of Iran war
F&O funds climbed 6% in February as seven brokers set new records
Equity trading volumes surge at Canadian, Singaporean banks
Seven of eight lenders post double-digit rise in 2025, early systemic data shows
CME outages hit eight-year high in Q4
Operational failures totalling 8.5 hours most severe since 2017
Goldman tripped up by VAR in Q4
BNY and Citizens also record backtesting exceptions
US banks trim long-dated bonds to 10-year low
Medium-term securities reach record as 5+ year share hits decade low
Stressed liquidity flows swell at Canadian banks
Derivative and repo activity push up LCR cash flows at RBC, TD and Scotiabank
US banks lose appetite for Treasuries as G-Sibs turn to trading book
Two-year surge in non-trading USTs plateaus as HFT bonds tick up
EU clearing houses pressured to diversify cloud vendors
CROs and regulators see tech concentration risk as a barrier to operational resilience
Exposures with undisclosed risk-weights hit new highs at US banks
Assets in the ‘other’ category of standardised risk-weights grow to $700bn
Repo market exposed to $100 billion-plus cyber tail risk, OFR warns
Concentration and time-of-day vulnerabilities amplify impact of extreme outcomes
Fed review of mortgage servicing risk-weight to help Western Alliance most
Bowman proposal to revisit 250% risk-weight could reshape $92 billion of RWAs
Treasury repo clearing mandate would free up $207bn leverage exposures for G-Sibs
OFR estimates repo clearing share would jump from 45% to 77% under SEC rules
Year of the minnow: small FCMs grew rapidly in 2025
Coinbase, Hidden Road, GH Financials lead surge
Repo stress drove 2025 SOFR-to-fed funds swap pivot
SOFR OIS volumes slipped to almost half of fed funds activity during September repo spikes
How Optimal aims to shake up US retail options trading
New wholesaler has assembled a team of market-makers to compete with Citadel, IMC/Dash and Jane Street
HSBC leads F&O funds surge in turbulent January
US FCM adds $2.1bn in customer funds in two weeks
SocGen’s head of US Treasury clearing preparations to depart
Bank’s head of product for FX and fixed income prime brokerage for the Americas set to leave later this month
Forex looks to flip the (stable)coin
Friction-free foreign exchange is the prize offered by stablecoins such as Tether and USDC. But the prize remains elusive
Real money investors cash in as dispersion nears record levels
Implied spreads were elevated to start 2026. Realised levels have been “almost unprecedented”
DFAST 2026 softens again, but SCB freeze blocks capital gains
Banks to miss out on any capital relief from gentler scenario
JP Morgan gives corporates an FX blockchain boost
Kinexys digital platform speeds cross-currency, cross-entity client payments