Asia CCPs forced to hike margins rapidly during equities rout

Margins for Nikkei 225 futures more than doubled at JSCC in a matter of days

Asia’s largest clearing houses had to hike margins dramatically during the March coronavirus equities rout, forcing clearing members to meet large intraday margin top-up calls – and vindicating long-held concerns that bourses compete on margin on benchmark contracts, dealers say.

As Risk.net reported in January, the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) is overhauling its margin framework, which will have the cumulative effect of raising initial margins. But with the changes set to take