Chicago-based swap execution facility, Seed SEF, has been granted full registration by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It is underpinned by the GMEX Technologies’ trading and surveillance software. GMEX is also a stakeholder in Seed SEF. SEFs are trading facilities that operate under the CFTC’s regulatory oversight for trading and processing swaps. They […]
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a set of derivatives trading principles, which are part of an effort to get regulators around the world to harmonise their efforts at derivatives market standardisation. The principles include a call for greater flexibility on US swap execution facilities.
Like opening Pandora’s box, the emergence of swap execution facilities in US derivatives markets has brought unexpected consequences and problems as well as benefits. In some cases, asset managers are actively looking to avoid trading on the new platforms and even turning to other asset classes, according to a new report by OpenLink.
Pre-trade risk and post-trade processing specialist Traiana has launched a new version of its CreditLink tool for credit derivatives, which it says will help buy-side firms to trade on swap execution facilities.
ICAP has launched a swap execution facility in the UK, as part of a push to dominate both the European and the US OTC derivatives markets as they are brought under new regulation.
Trading firms are still struggling with the Dodd-Frank requirement for certain swaps to be traded on registered Swap Execution Facilities. According to a survey conducted by trading communications vendor IPC Systems, 60% of survey respondents said the industry as a whole was behind on meeting the deadlines on SEF trading, though only 39% said their […]
The Dodd-Frank Act launched the acronym SEF into the alphabet soup of modern capital markets, After three years of repeated discussions, consultations, submissions and furious wrangling, Swap Execution Facilities finally come into operation this week.
Most banks are still not ready for the arrival of Swap Execution Facilities, the new category of trading venues created by the Dodd-Frank act in the US to handle OTC derivatives. Worse still, market participants are almost universally negative about SEFs, according to a new paper by research house GreySpark Partners.
The European Commission has expressed concerns that the US government shutdown is preventing a deal between the EU and US regulator, just as new swaps rules come into force for firms based both inside and outside the US.
As CFCT commissioner Scott O’ Malia calls for more time for SEF reforms to be implemented, senior market observers are concerned that the new rules will not only fail to meet their 2 October deadline, but will also hurt ordinary market participants and increase systemic risk rather than reduce it.
