Prop traders sound warning over EU capital regime

Non-banks fear topsy-turvy capital requirements under new rules based on clearing margin

In September last year, officials from Nasdaq were scrambling to contain the damage of a poorly timed bet by a power trader from Norway. Today, non-bank market-makers are sweating over proposed rules that could transform their capital requirements.

The link between the two is not obvious, but Risk.net can reveal how Einar Aas’s default was used by French policymakers to spearhead a push for the imposition of bank capital on non-bank trading firms (see box: The French connection: Nasdaq and non