COVID-19 and CCP Risk Management Frameworks

After the market turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April 2020, the ISDA Clearing Member Committee analyzed how central counterparty (CCP) risk management frameworks reacted to the crisis, based on feedback from CCPs.

The results show CCPs dealt with the crisis well, managing record volumes while most of their staff worked from home. In total, there were three member defaults or close-outs, none of which threatened financial stability. This reflects a more stable financial system overall: clearing members are much better capitalized and hold more liquidity compared to the last crisis.

However, some issues did emerge. Procyclical initial margin requirements exacerbated market stress at certain points. Clearing members also lacked timely information about backtesting breaches and procyclicality in margin models. The paper makes recommendations to address both of those points.

Global Trading in INR Derivatives

Global trading in derivatives involving the Indian rupee (INR) has expanded significantly over the past decade, reflecting the currency’s growing role in international hedging and trading activity. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Triennial Central Bank Survey, the...

Response to FCA on Commodity Derivatives Clearing

On April 9, ISDA, the Commodity Markets Council Europe (CMCE), Energy Traders Europe (ETE) and FIA jointly responded to Chapter 7 of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Quarterly Consultation CP26/8 on increasing the clearing threshold for commodity derivatives under the UK...

Response on EC’s SFR Proposal

On April 9, ISDA published technical comments on the European Commission’s (EC) proposed Settlement Finality Regulation (SFR) as it applies to designated EU systems and registered third-country systems. One significant concern is that the scope of insolvency protections provided to...

Natixis CIB Adopts ISDA’s DRR

ISDA has announced that Natixis CIB has adopted ISDA’s Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) solution, enabling the bank to meet regulatory reporting requirements more efficiently and accurately. The ISDA DRR uses the Common Domain Model (CDM) – an open-source data standard...