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The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has called for more participants in the foreign exchange (FX) market to adopt the FX global code, singling out buy-side firms in particular. A release on January 30 states the chair of the BIS markets committee, Jacqueline Loh, has raised concerns about the adoption of the code, particularly by large buy-side firms. [Extracted from the article]

Eurex will look to develop additional total return futures (TRF) products to meet the demands of firms coming into scope of the uncleared margin rules (UMR), according to a director at the firm. The German exchange group said it expects there to be future demand from buy-side firms due to TRF trades not being subject to the UMR. Heath also spoke more specifically about the advantages of TRFs, stating: "Unlike total return swaps, TRFs are traded through an exchange and centrally cleared which means they are not subject to the bilateral margin requirements that come with over-the-counter (OTC) products. [Extracted from the article]

Trading Technologies (TT) has said it plans to connect to two additional cryptocurrency exchanges in 2020, despite the increased vetting that comes with the area. Speaking to Global Investor, chief marketing officer, Brian Mehta, said: "With CME crypto contracts, Coinbase, BitMEX, CoinFlex, Bakkt and Deribit already available, we hope to add two cryptocurrency exchanges to the TT platform in 2020". TT has been gradually building its cryptocurrency offering over the past two years, with the addition of Dutch crypto derivatives exchange Deribit at the start of 2020 being the most recent addition. [Extracted from the article]

JP Morgan has become Eurex GC Pooling's first client for its balance sheet netting offering, with Eurex currently in talks with five other potential clients according to a source. The balance sheet netting service offered by Eurex GC Pooling allows market participants to offset securities finance transactions against one another, reducing balance sheet consumption, the firm said in a statement. Gast added: "We greatly appreciate JP Morgan's support for initiatives such as our partnership program and onboarding them as a client for Eurex GC Pooling with balance sheet netting is just the latest successful cooperation between us". [Extracted from the article]

Indian exchange BSE has signed a deal with Intercontinental Exchange (Ice) to use the Ice Brent index as the final settlement price for its new Rupee-denominated Brent futures. BSE's chief executive Shri Ashishkumar Chauhan said: "BSE welcomes the collaboration with Ice. BSE's deal with Ice also follows a period of expansion and liberalisation within the wider Indian derivatives market. [Extracted from the article]

Former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair Mark Wetjen has joined Miami International Holding (MIH), the parent company of the Miax exchange group, as an executive vice president. Wetjen served at the CFTC during a period of regulatory reform brought about by the financial crisis, however the current CFTC administration has rolled back some of these changes. [Extracted from the article]

Macquarie has appointed Charles Yonts as head of Asian environmental, social and governance (ESG) research at the Australian investment bank. The appointment follows other ESG related developments across the industry in January, with ICE launching a new ESG data service and Northern Trust launching an ESG investment strategy. [Extracted from the article]

Skytra, the new trading venue developed by Airbus, has selected Nasdaq to provide technology for the venture. Commenting on the deal with Skytra, Nasdaq's chief executive, Adena Friedman, said: "By integrating our market technology, Skytra will have the scalability and flexibility to continuously improve the trading experience to the benefit of both the global airline industry and financial market participants". [Extracted from the article]

Trading platform Digital Vega has announced the appointment of Rob Wemyss as a non-executive director and head of business development. Digital Vega operates the Medusa foreign exchange (FX) options trading platform and is a market leader in over the counter FX options. Wemyss said: "Transparency, automation and workflow efficiency are driving the market increasingly towards trading FX options electronically. [Extracted from the article]

Intercontinental Exchange (Ice) has announced that vice chairman Charles Vice is to retire. Vice spent 20 years at the Atlanta-based exchange, assisting with the development of the firm from a start-up to a major global exchange. In 2017 he was appointed vice chairman of the company with responsibility for the firm's global technology, information service and operations. [Extracted from the article]

The Indian central bank has permitted Rupee derivatives to be traded at the Gift City in Gujarat. In an announcement on January 20, the Reserve Bank of India stated that foreign exchange derivatives in any currency pair involving the Rupee are permitted to be traded within Gift City. [Extracted from the article]

The regulator of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) has prohibited "speculative" derivatives trading by SOE's. As the Chinese state clamps down on trading by SOE's, the securities regulator plans to make it easier for foreign firms to trade in China by lifting the restriction on foreign ownership of Chinese futures firms. [Extracted from the article]

Banks significantly outperformed non-bank futures commission merchants (FCM) in terms of December revenue growth, according to research by Acuiti. Despite the revenue growth, around 50% of banks cut headcount in the last quarter, whilst non-bank FCMs increased headcount. [Extracted from the article]

Airbus' new derivatives trading venue, Skytra, is to submit its application for regulatory approval in the coming weeks, according to a source close to the venture. Indices developed by the firm will be used to price futures and options contracts that will allow operators to manage ticket price volatility. Finnair's head of treasury Christine Rovelli said in a statement: "Finally we will have a risk management instrument tailor-made for the air travel industry that will help us manage our exposure to ticket price volatility more efficiently". [Extracted from the article]

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Sifma) has announced the promotion of Ellen Greene to managing director, equity and options market structure. The New-York based organisation said in a statement on January 23, Greene is now responsible for all market structure issues in the equities and listed options area, and Sifma's listed options committee. [Extracted from the article]

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Sifma) has announced the promotion of Ellen Greene to managing director, equity and options market structure. The New-York based organisation said in a statement on January 23, Greene is now responsible for all market structure issues in the equities and listed options area, and Sifma's listed options committee. [Extracted from the article]

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has said it will host an open meeting on proposed rules relating to position limits and the reporting requirements of swap execution facilities (SEF). The CFTC has rolled back many reforms passed by former administrations, including rules on the regulation of foreign swaps and the regulation of asset managers. [Extracted from the article]

AcadiaSoft believes it is well-positioned to capture the large number of firms that will come into the scope of the uncleared margin rules (UMR) when the threshold for inclusion is lowered twice over the next 18 months. John Pucciarelli, director of strategic initiatives at the Massachusetts-based firm, said: "There are a significant number of firms who may come into scope of the UMR in the final phases. He said: "For firms in scope of the UMR our threshold monitoring service lets them know when they will meet the $50 million initial margin threshold. [Extracted from the article]

A unrepresentative "zombie" Libor would last for a period of months not years, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Ice Benchmark Administration (IBA). In its letter the IBA states that continued publication of an unrepresentative Libor is not contemplated by the benchmark regulations that cover the rate. [Extracted from the article]

Trade body the FIA has called upon the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to amend the margin requirements on customers with multiple accounts and agreements that enable trading by institutional investors. In a release on January 22, the trade body's first proposal requests an amendment which would authorise futures commission merchants (FCMs) and clearing houses to continue to treat separate accounts of the same customer as separate legal entities. [Extracted from the article]

UK-based banks are facing a "hard ask" to meet the September deadline for them to stop using Libor as the reference rate for the sterling-linked cash products, according to an executive from risk management consultancy JCRA. As for the bank lending market, Roberts did have some positive words on the September target, stating: "The best way to prepare for the Libor transition is to stop signing new deals on Libor, so an aggressive deadline might be a step in the right direction". [Extracted from the article]

The interest-rate derivative trading platform Trad-X has launched the first dealer-to-client (D2C) electronic central limit order book (CLOB). He added: "We expect this to be particularly beneficial for non-dealers trading standardised interest rate swap products, as it enables access to pricing for a wide range of trading instruments from multiple dealers in a very cost-effective manner". Trad-X is owned by brokerage Tradition, which in November 2019 said it intended to extend the number of currency pairs it offers through its foreign exchange trading platform. [Extracted from the article]

Asia's markets have underlined their dominance in a growing global derivatives market, according to 2019 volume statistics from trade association the FIA. The Indian exchange NSE overtook the American exchange CME as the largest global exchange by trading volume, with a 58% increase to a total of 6 billion contracts, according to the FIA data. [Extracted from the article]

The research by London-based analytics firm OpenGamma has found 300 firms will be pulled into scope of the UMR in the final two phases in September this year and 2021. In December 2019 OpenGamma partnered with asset manager Pimco to provide a margin optimisation service to the US money manager's clients. [Extracted from the article]

The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority have set the financial industry aggressive 2020 deadlines for the migration away from the Libor lending rate. The Bank of England (BoE) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have also published a letter outlining their expectation that the goals will be met and industry progress will be monitored closely. [Extracted from the article]

LSE Group-owned CurveGlobal has announced the signing of Robert Grillo as head of business development in the Americas. CurveGlobal is an interest rate derivatives platform owned by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). [Extracted from the article]

Intercontinental Exchange has announced plans to launch a new data service that will enable investors to assess the environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in corporations. The offering will allow ICE data services customers to receive primary ESG data points, such as greenhouse gas emissions, board diversity and around 500 other ESG related metrics. [Extracted from the article]

The head of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) has called on China to adhere to an internationally-recognised protocol used in the event of a counterparty default. In a speech in Singapore on January 15, Isda chief executive Scott O'Malia, stressed the importance of close-out netting for the development of Chinese capital markets and recommended legislative changes to address the issue. O'Malia recommended the current Isda template for close-out netting legislation, which he stated "can be a valuable guide" for Chinese legislators who wish to implement "a comprehensive statutory regime for close-out netting". [Extracted from the article]

The Spanish derivatives exchange MEFF has launched new foreign exchange (FX) futures contracts in conjunction with the platform TradingView. A release by MEFF, which is the derivatives arm of Spanish exchange BME, states the new futures are ideal for investors who wish to carry out currency risk-hedging. [Extracted from the article]

A paper released by the Bank for International Settlements has found that cut backs in activity by large foreign exchange (FX) swap dealers reduces liquidity in the spot market. The paper goes on to suggest window dressing by large FX swap dealers is disruptive to swap market and spot market liquidity. [Extracted from the article]

The London-based fintech firm CloudMargin has announced the promotion of Armando Hernandez to the new role of executive director, head of North America. Commenting on the promotion, Connolly said: "In this key new position, Armando will join the executive leadership team, heading up the effort to further grow our footprint and provide a framework in the US, which plays an ever-increasing role in our future". [Extracted from the article]

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda), law firm Clifford Chance, blockchain platform R3 and the Singapore Academy of Law have offered analysis and recommendations in a whitepaper on the legal issues relating to smart derivatives contracts that use distributed ledger technology (DLT). The whitepaper on issues relevant to Singaporean and English law, recommends that parties using DLT should agree on a common "law of the platform", effectively choosing their own legal system. [Extracted from the article]

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has announced the members of a subcommittee on margin requirements for uncleared swaps. The new subcommittee, which sits within the CFTC's global markets advisory committee, has been established to report on issues surrounding the implementation of uncleared margin rules (UMR) and the next phases of lowering the threshold. [Extracted from the article]

The New York-based fintech firm LiquidityBook is set for a period of rapid growth in London, with several new deals and hires lined up in the city. Speaking to Global Investor, LiquidityBook's chief revenue officer Sean Sullivan, said: "We have recently signed a deal with a major London-based hedge fund who are now live on our trading system. We also expect to sign deals with two additional London hedge funds in quarter 1 of 2020 and have a further six London-based deals in the pipeline". [Extracted from the article]

Singapore Exchange and the Australian Securities Exchange have reported solid increases in trading volume in 2019, as the two Asian-Pacific exchanges join China in outperforming their US and European counterparts. Both ASX and SGX saw total derivative trading volume increase by a tenth for the calendar year, with 223 million lots being traded on SGX's derivatives market and ASX increasing its derivatives total to 86 million lots. The Spanish exchange BME bucked the downward trend within European exchanges, with a 12% increase in derivatives trading volume to 44 million lots. [Extracted from the article]

The Futures Industry Association (FIA) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) have suggested improvements to Europe's Mifid II rules on commodity derivative position limits. Mifid II position limits require regulators within the European Union (EU) to place a limit on the size of a net position which a person can hold in commodity derivatives. The two trade associations support Esma's proposal to limit the regime to "critical derivatives contracts" and "dis-apply position limits to securitised commodity contracts". [Extracted from the article]

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has partnered with fintech startup risQ to provide climate risk analytics to the municipal bond market. The aim of the analytics platform is to enable all purchasers and issuers of municipal bonds to produce quantitative measures of the key climate risks associated with the investment. Even Kodra, said: "We have been targeting a scientifically rigorous climate risk analytics platform to enable informed decisions from the day we founded the company". [Extracted from the article]

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has announced the launch of two new futures contracts linked to Vietnamese indices. The contracts, which were launched in December 2019, are the SGX MSCI Vietnam price return index futures and the SGX MSCI Vietnam net total return index futures. [Extracted from the article]

The major Chinese derivatives exchanges have significantly outperformed their global counterparts with substantial growth in trading volumes for the year 2019. London-based ICE Futures Europe recorded an annual decrease of 11.7% to 1.1 billion lots and a 7% decrease in December volumes to 76 million lots. On ICE's US market total trading volume was down 4% for the year to 339 million lots, with futures down by 3.5% and options down by 9%. [Extracted from the article]

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) has released a guide on the cross-border application of EU, US and Japanese margin rules for non-cleared derivatives. The publication specifically considers the rules of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), US prudential regulators, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the European Commission (EC) and the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA). For example, within the US there are significant differences between the SEC rules and those of the CFTC and prudential regulators when it comes to regulating domestic and foreign firms. [Extracted from the article]

Shanghai Futures Exchange (SFE), Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) and China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE) have reported a spike in trading volumes for the second month running. DCE's performance is partially due to exceptionally large increases in the trading of certain products, including fibre board futures which increased 3600% year on year to 844,961 lots. [Extracted from the article]

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has announced the successful integration of Powernext and Gaspoint Nordic. Following acquisitions Powernext and Gaspoint Nordic products had been on EEX's Pegas platform but they will both now be on EEX's main exchange. [Extracted from the article]

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) has appointed former Euroclear executive Su Yen Chia as the trade body's head of Asia-Pacific public policy. Chia will be based in Hong Kong in her new role and will report to the global head of public policy at Isda, Steven Kennedy. [Extracted from the article]

US markets CME Group and OCC have reported slight drops in 2019 and December monthly trading volumes. Within asset classes equity index was down a quarter and interest rate contracts fell 42% compared to December 2018, whilst foreign exchange rose 4.5%. US equity options market OCC saw its average daily contract volume fall 5.4% to 19.7 million a day for the year 2019. [Extracted from the article]

The crypto-currency exchange Binance has announced an investment in the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX. In a release on December 20, the Malta-based exchange said it has provided an equity investment in FTX and taken a long-term position in the FTX token with the aim of developing the crypto-currency ecosystem. [Extracted from the article]

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved a proposal that limits the regulator's oversight of foreign swap dealers and major swap participants despite dissent from two commissioners. The CFTC also made two further rulings on December 18, unanimously approving a final rule that amends the regulations of derivatives clearing houses and a proposal to prohibit post trade name give-up practices for swaps. [Extracted from the article]

Northern Trust has partnered with AcadiaSoft to provide a new collateral optimisation service for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, enabling clients to outsource the calculation of initial margin, margin demands and margin transfers. Derivatives product manager at Northern Trust Judson Baker said: "Our clients' use of derivatives often falls within the threshold of heightened global derivatives regulation, requiring resource-intensive tasks to support compliance. [Extracted from the article]

Nodal Exchange has partnered with product developer IncubEx to launch the first physically delivered low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) futures and options contracts on January 24 2020. On December 16 Nodal's parent company EEX completed the first migration of contracts from Nasdaq Futures to its own platform following its acquisition of the Nasdaq energy market in November. [Extracted from the article]

Six Swiss exchange (SIX) and Sygnum bank have acquired a stake in digital ledger firm daura and pledged to develop a "Swiss ecosystem for digital assets". The investment comes as the Swiss exchange group is building the SIX digital exchange (SDX), a fully integrated financial market infrastructure for digital assets. Commenting on this development, member of the SIX executive board Thomas Zeeb, said: "As a digital exchange, SDX will form a central part of the future Swiss financial market infrastructure. [Extracted from the article]

Governor of the Bank of England (BoE) Mark Carney has warned against liquidity drying up in times of stress and called for central banks to do more to supply liquidity rather than a relaxation of post-crisis liquidity regulation. Carney said: "The solution is not to unwind post-crisis liquidity regulation, a recidivism that would only recreate, with time, the enormous systemic risks of the past". Carney, who is set to step down from his role in January 2020, said increased central clearing would improve liquidity in the repo market. [Extracted from the article]