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

The ISDA Notices Hub: One Year On

In times of war, armed forces are often required to mobilize over large distances at short notice. The most dreaded response to the question of how they are to be transported is ‘by LPC’, meaning ‘leather personnel carrier’ – the...

ISDA Response to OSC Call for Feedback

On June 26, ISDA responded to the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) consultation on facilitating access to its regulatory framework and reducing the burden for capital markets participants by publishing a machine-readable dataset of regulatory instruments. ISDA's comments are supportive of...

ISDA Comments on EP's MISP Draft Reports

On July 15, ISDA shared comments with policymakers in the European Union on the European Parliament’s (EP) draft reports by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Markus Ferber and MEP Eero Heinäluoma on the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP)....

Building Markets, Creating Opportunity

Deep and liquid derivatives markets are fundamental to the development of well-functioning financial markets and healthy economies. They support lending, investment and financial stability, creating the certainty needed for economic growth. But strong derivatives markets do not emerge by chance....