ISDA and IIF Respond to Basel Committee Consultation on SFT Haircuts

On March 31, 2021, ISDA and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) submitted a joint response to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) consultation on technical amendments to minimum haircuts for securities financing transactions (SFTs).

The BCBS published for consultation two technical amendments to the section of the framework that deals with the calculation of minimum haircut floors for SFTs. The technical amendments clarify an interpretation issue relating to collateral upgrade transactions and fix a misstatement of the formula used to calculate haircut floors for netting sets of SFTs.

In the response, the associations took the opportunity to respond to broad aspects of the framework. The response is structured in two components. First, it focuses on the scope of application of the minimum haircut requirement and, in particular, the potential negative impact for securities borrowing transactions. The second component focuses on the quantitative determination of minimum haircut requirements and issues relating to the penalty function embedded in the proposed framework that creates cliff-effect outcomes and introduces instability in the calculation.

Documents (1) for ISDA and IIF Respond to Basel Committee Consultation on SFT Haircuts

Maintaining Focus on Basel III Endgame Recalibration

In its original form, the US Basel III endgame proposal would have resulted in disproportionate increases in capital for trading book activities, forcing banks to make difficult choices about their participation in certain businesses. After two-and-a-half years, a revised proposal...

IRRBB Management in EMDEs

Interest rate risk in the banking book (IRRBB) has become a growing priority for banks and regulators in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). As many of these countries face monetary tightening cycles and ongoing macroeconomic volatility, bank balance sheets...

Response to CPMI-IOSCO on Consultation

On February 5, ISDA and FIA responded to the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) consultation on the management of general business risks and general business losses by financial market infrastructures (FMIs)....