The Americas
Fed succession planning: will Trump stick to the script?
The race to succeed Jerome Powell as head of the world’s most powerful central bank has already begun
NY Fed’s push for repo haircuts gets a tepid response
New risk management standards could make it harder to finance US Treasury purchases
Hedge funds scale back steepener positions as risks rise
Uncertainties around US Treasury issuance and timing of rate cuts see investors trim ‘consensus’ trade
For variation margin payments, cash is no longer king
Dealers are being pressed to accept corporate bonds and even equities as collateral for non-cleared trades
Deutsche Bank casts a cautious eye towards agentic AI
Risk Live: “An AI worker is something that is really buildable,” says innovation and AI head
Limited-loss hedges help US firms dodge costly FX moves
Structurers say corporates’ use of options-based net investment hedging helped soften impact of USD selloff
Investment firms ready plans for US autocallable ETFs
Evergreen format would provide the long-term track record required by portfolio allocators
Oxford quantum start-up to offer high-speed arb trading in NYC
OQC to select data centre for super-fast computing in September 2025, plans to launch in 2028
Back-to-back hedging is back on the table for autocall issuers
Deal activity is picking up as prop shops compete with hedge funds for structured products risk
Eyes on automation as FX options volumes surge
Dealers and trading platforms are making gradual progress to electronify foreign exchange options pricing and workflows
Fed official: SLR tweaks likely unbundled from Basel III
Isda AGM: Complexity of the endgame proposals mean any leverage ratio changes will probably be proposed separately
Wells Fargo’s FX strategy wins over buy-side clients
Counterparty Radar: Life insurers looked west for liquidity after November’s US presidential election
Repo clearing rule could raise SOFR volatility – OFR analysts
Analysis of 2022 data finds large divergence in tail rates but no change in median
Investors dip a toe back into Tips despite April losses
US inflation-linked bonds back in vogue as stagflation hedge
Europe’s Ucits funds: Made in the USA
Counterparty Radar: EU retail funds market is a prime example of Trump’s miscalculation on trade
Goldman Sachs doubled FX trading revenues in 2024
Bumper Q4 powers bank to head of US dealer pack by foreign exchange revenue
Vanguard is new kid on the CDS options block
Counterparty Radar: Passive behemoth held a quarter of reported notional among US retail funds in Q4 2024
Patience pays off for XVA desks in wild week of tariff swings
Dealers avoided knee-jerk reactions that could have caused credit spreads to widen further
Trump tariffs turn swap spreads into ‘pain trade’
Hedge funds bet big on Treasuries to outperform swaps. The opposite happened.
JPM leads record STWF surge at US G-Sibs
Five banks hit new highs in Q4, as increased reliance weighs on systemic risk scores
Hedging playbook goes ‘out the window’ as Trump tariffs slam markets
Dispersion, put spreads and VKOs paid off as stocks plunged, but outlook remains wildly uncertain
Tariffs volatility prompts rush to re-hedge EUR/USD options books
Banks left scrambling to buy vol as spot surged beyond expectations
Corporates hamstrung in response to FX volatility
Restrictions around hedging programmes leave US firms struggling to adapt to dollar weakness
Commodity price insurance, an alternative to swaps?
ChAI founder eyes metals and power for expansion after selling first hedges for recycled materials