FIA
Don Byron has joined the Futures Industry Association (FIA) as head of global industry operations and execution. In this role, he will be responsible for developing and implementing industry solutions relating to clearing operations, execution technology, cybersecurity and market structure issues and will be the principal FIA liaison with the divisions and committees representing these […]
The Futures Industry Association (FIA) has published a new position paper that recommends a number of changes to how exchange traded derivatives (ETDs) are reported under European regulation. The FIA says in the paper that it fully supports the efforts by regulatory authorities to make the derivatives markets more transparent and safe, adding that the […]
The Futures Industry Association (FIA) has welcomed news that the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has agreed on a limited revision of the leverage ratio to allow margin received from a client to offset the exposure amount of client-cleared derivatives. The Committee met last week to discuss a range of policy issues, including the leverage […]
FIA’s president and CEO Walt Lukken announces the appointments of Jacqueline Mesa as chief operating officer and Emma Davey as chief commercial officer of the association. “I am excited about FIA’s leadership team at this important time in our industry’s development,” says Lukken. “These appointments will further solidify our management team and help us to better meet the needs of our global membership going forward.”Mesa has been senior vice president of FIA’s Global Policy group since 2013. In addition to her responsibilities on global advocacy, Mesa’s role as COO will involve advising and assisting the CEO on FIA’s day-to-day operations and advancing its global strategy. Before FIA, Mesa worked at the CFTC, including as director of International Affairs for seven years.
New data from the Futures Industry Association (FIA) shows a 20.2% increase in the number of futures and options contracts traded globally on exchanges in 2018.Futures volume rose 15.6% to 17.15 billion contracts traded, while options volume rose 26.8% to 13.13 billion contracts traded.”The rapid growth in derivatives trading on exchanges around the world highlights the value that these products continue to provide for end-users and investors,” says Walt Lukken, president and CEO of FIA.
The overall rate of growth was the highest since 2010, when rapid growth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America combined with a recovery in the North American interest-rate sector to produce a growth rate of 26.4%.
The Futures Industry Association (FIA) has filed a response to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision urging the adoption of FIA’s suggested modification to the leverage ratio and to recognise the exposure-reducing nature of client collateral in order to align regulatory incentives.
Central clearing of derivatives was a key pillar of the G20 countries response to the post-2008 financial crisis reforms to reduce systemic risk in the financial system, however FIA argues that to date, the leverage ratio’s failure to recognise collateral has had a direct negative impact on the ability of banks to provide clearing services to customers.
FIA together with affiliate FIA Tech, today announced new technical guidelines for firms to properly identify the correct brokerage when executing and clearing exchange traded derivatives.
With the proliferation of execution services, platforms and providers there is increased need for clarity in how to communicate a trade’s execution method through industry standard codes, the groups said in a statement. Brokerage discrepancies are one of the largest causes of operational friction in the reconciliation of exchange traded derivatives, and lack of standardisation has created significant costs for clearing firms and their clients, they noted, adding that by working with FIA’s membership as well as FIA Tech’s global customer base, “the industry has devised standard codes for commonly used execution methods”.
The Futures Industry Association (FIA) has released updated recommendations to improve clearinghouse risk management following recent market developments.
The developments in question are the placing of a member of Nasdaq Clearing’s Nordic market in default in September. The losses were sufficiently large to exceed the margin provided by the defaulter and the CCP’s own skin in the game and required the use of the commodities default fund. This was the first use of a default fund by a major CCP since a default on KRX, the South Korean exchange, in 2013.
The US Senate has confirmed the nominations of Dawn Stump and Dan Berkovitz as commissioners at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), bringing the agency to a full staff of five commissioners for the first time since 2014.
Stump, a Republican, was most recently president of consultancy Stump Strategic, prior to which she was a vice president at NYSE Euronext. Stump also previously served as the Futures Industry Association’s (FIA) executive director of the Americas Advisory Board, and held several staff positions in the Senate and House of Representatives.
There appeared to be a broad consensus in the responses to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed swap dealer rules that the Commission should retain the current $8 billion de minimis threshold for swap dealer (SD) registration and that NDFs should be excluded from the threshold calculations.
Since 2012, Commission regulations have stated that market participants will not be considered a “swap dealer” unless they trade over $8 billion per year in aggregate gross notional amount (AGNA). This $8 billion threshold was meant to be a temporary phase-in period, with the threshold ultimately due to be reduced to $3 billion.
