Federal Reserve
At big US banks, Treasury holdings grew over $350bn in 2020
US debt held-to-maturity increased 92% over the year
Top US banks saw liquid assets grow over $500bn in 2020
JP Morgan saw HQLAs increase 28% year on year
Repo exposures fell at BofA, surged at JP Morgan in Q4
Bank of America’s SLR improved to 7.2% by end-December
SOFR adoption stalls after US Libor delay
Stay of execution, RFR illiquidity and fallback reliance slow SOFR adoption
Softer US NSFR could skew global repo pricing
US banks benefit from Treasury repo exemption, while EU banks report only end-quarter ratios
BlackRock: fix commercial paper before MMF meddling
Iosco official agrees that CP market needs to be considered alongside MMF reform
In light of Covid recession, Fed eases stress test scenario
Real GDP projected to fall 4%. In 2020, the simulated drop was 8.5%
Key questions in Libor transition – Q&A with Tom Wipf
In this audiocast, Navin Raunier, partner for risk advisory at consultants TCS discusses recent developments in Libor transition with Tom Wipf, vice-chair of the institutional securities business at Morgan Stanley, and chair of the Federal Reserve Board…
Ending leverage ratio relief could force US banks to downsize
Biggest lenders may have to limit repo activity to manage leverage capital, observers say
Final NSFR rule unlocks subsidiary funding for US banks
Technical clarification allows subsidiary capital to be assigned as funding for consolidated group
Cherry-picking fears as banks pull negative rates commitments
As UK mulls negative rates, banks desert Isda protocol and traders warn of gaming the system
Repair the leverage ratio, revive the repo market
Domestic currency government bonds and repo should be exempted, suggests former supervisor
Bloomberg, IHS Markit join race for SOFR credit add-on
BSBY index seen as ‘easy option’ add-on for regulator-preferred RFR; Markit preps for Q2 launch
Fed stress tests find critics on all sides
Conflicting results fuel arguments over dividends and buybacks
JP Morgan calls for SLR relief to be made permanent
Around 16% of the bank’s exposures were excluded from the ratio in Q4
US Fed facility bought Libor bonds with ‘weak’ fallbacks
Industry surprise over purchase of floaters linked to doomed benchmark
SOFR trading surged at year end
End-2020 volume and rate spike was muted compared to previous years
Smaller US banks grew faster than larger rivals in Q3
Lenders less than $1 billion in size increased loans 16% over the quarter
US banks fear Q1 stress capital buffer reset
Fed left buffers on hold after latest stress test, but can change them until March 31, 2021
Regional banks, FBOs found second round of Fed tests tougher
DB, HSBC, PNC, US Bancorp and TD Group saw their peak-to-trough CET1 ratio depletion increase most
Fed’s Covid stress tests strain top banks’ leverage ratios
Citi, Goldman, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley all had projected post-stress SLRs below 5%
Libor Telethon playback: regulators stress ‘no new use’
Watch BoE, FCA, Fed and industry speakers tackling prickly cessation questions
How buy-to-hold accounting shuffle boosts US bank capital
Banks gamble shrinking AFS portfolios will bring down stress capital buffer, G-Sib surcharge
Fed and FCA see path to synthetic dollar Libor
Reprieve for popular dollar settings could buy time for UK-style tough legacy fix