Articles by Costas Mourselas
Sunil Cutinho on CME’s crisis performance
Maverick clearing house boss dismisses the need for anti-procyclicality tools imposed by regulators
BNP inks back-office clearing deal with FIS
Vendors jostle to offer collateral management services amid negative rates and shrinking returns for FCMs
CME targets year-end rollout of new margin model
Clearing house testing new Span 2 framework with members, more work needed with vendors
CFTC rule change sparks dealer-client margin scuffle
FCMs fear “race to the bottom” as funds lobby dealers for lower margin status
CME, FICC to overhaul Treasury market margining
Clearers eye deal to dramatically improve cross-margin savings, aim to extend offsets to end-users
CME rebuts accusations of procyclical margining
Merc issues white paper touting strong portfolio-level coverage during pandemic, rebuffs calls for higher MPOR
Nomura hires McKinsey to examine Archegos failings
Risk framework under external review as DOJ reportedly opens probe into fund’s collapse
LCH, JP Morgan question BoE’s CCP resolution powers
Isda AGM: UK proposals give central bank broad powers to intervene in winding up stricken clearers
Credit Suisse and the Wild West of synthetic prime brokerage
Industry insiders describe a frontier business with few rules – and plenty of questionable practices
Credit Suisse held just 10% margin against Archegos book
Swiss bank gave family office 10 times leverage, compared with four or five times at Goldman
After Archegos, Credit Suisse clients tap rivals for clearing
Swiss bank is said to have lost clearing business amid uncertainty over its future
Euro swaps clearing showdown pits banks against Brussels
Forcing swaps clearing to Frankfurt would play into hands of US rivals, say European dealers
Would margin rules have checked Archegos? Perhaps not
Regulator-prescribed margin methodology permits six-times leverage on equity swaps
Hero or villain? NSCC draws fire for Robinhood margin waiver
Fears of moral hazard after CCP waives billions in margin demands following meme-stock volatility
Buy-side physical FX clearing at LCH faces scepticism
Lack of clearing mandate and settlement wrangles mean demand for putative service remains weak
UK Treasury opens door to ditching Mifid open access rules
Champion of competition in derivatives clearing may throw in the towel
Nasdaq held Aas portfolio for nine months after blow-up
Swedish regulator reveals CCP’s decision to keep defaulted power portfolio – and claims it was not fully hedged
Nasdaq whacked with $36 million fine over Aas default
Swedish regulator’s fine poses serious questions over default management and margining, while providing few answers
FCMs to let clients offset swaps and futures margin at Eurex
Banks target Q2 support for client cross-margining following lengthy lobby effort from hedge funds
Don’t blame CCPs’ models for Covid margin spikes – WFE
Lobby group counters popular view that tools could ease procyclicality; puts focus on liquidity management
FCMs fret over S&P 500 options settlement changes
Dealers say CME, Cboe settlement time shift for S&P 500-linked options causes risk management headache
US regulator casts doubt on key SA-CCR netting benefit
OCC rejects suggestion banks can net certain cleared client exposures; Fed stays silent
SA-CCR proves a bitter pill for US banks to swallow
Dealers concerned new regime will punish some business lines with rise in risk-weighted assets
SA-CCR switch clouded by confusion over netting sets
An effort by US regulators to incentivise the switch to SA-CCR may be having the opposite effect