Regulatory Driven Market Fragmentation

It has been 10 years since policy-makers came together through the Group of 20 (G-20) to agree a globally consistent regulatory agenda for derivatives. Since then, substantial progress has been made at the national level to implement rules on clearing, margin, trading, capital in line with the G-20 standards. Derivatives markets are safer, more transparent and more resilient as a result.

But while this progress is unmistakable, these regulatory reform efforts often differ in substance, scope and timing across jurisdictions. This has led to inefficiencies and higher costs for derivatives users, and ultimately results in increased risk.

This paper identifies examples of differences in how global standards have been implemented in individual jurisdictions, and recommends a series of steps that can be taken to address this issue. In particular, ISDA believes that global standard-setting bodies have a role to play in ensuring greater consistency in how rules are implemented, and in achieving a predictable, consistent and timely substituted compliance framework.

ISDA Omnibus Canadian Representation Letter

On September 2, ISDA published the Omnibus Canadian Representation Letter, which combines previously published representation letters drafted to assist firms in compliance with Canadian trade reporting, business conduct, regulatory margin and clearing classification rules. The Omnibus Canadian Letter is designed...

Joint Response on Cross-margining

On August 31, ISDA and FIA submitted a letter to the US Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the agencies’ joint request for comment on the implementation of portfolio margining and cross-margining...