Additional Thoughts on Margin Practices

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), together with the Institute of International Finance (IIF) responded last year to the consultative paper on margin practices (the Response). Back then there were some issues that we acknowledged but could not develop further in the time available.

This paper provides some additional thoughts on these topics. In addition, we also address some discussions within industry over the last year.

In summary, we cover:

  • Intraday variation margin (VM) collection practices: We consider the potential costs and benefits of CCPs paying out intraday margin, and note that there are pros and cons that need to be discussed with participants in each market.
  • Measurement of procyclicality: To support comparability between models, measurement of procyclicality should be easy to implement and to understand.
  • Governance considerations around anti-procyclicality (APC) tools: We flag the importance of governance of anti-procyclicality (APC) tools.
  • Notice for margin rate increases: We consider whether CCPs can provide advance notice of margin rate changes, especially if the use VaR models.
  • Forward-looking margin transparency: We propose simple scenarios as a basis for forward-looking margin simulators.

Documents (1) for Additional Thoughts on Margin Practices

ISDA AGM Studio: Heath Tarbert

Heath Tarbert, president of Circle, speaks with ISDA CEO Scott O’Malia about the primary applications of stablecoins in derivatives markets and how key legal considerations – including bankruptcy treatment and settlement finality – are being addressed as digital assets become...

ISDA AGM Studio: Yuval Rooz

Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, speaks with ISDA CEO Scott O’Malia about the growing momentum behind tokenization, the most compelling use cases for derivatives markets and the remaining hurdles that need to be addressed to enable widespread...