Category: In the News

GeithnerGate: Love Him or Leave Him?

An investigation into the government rescue of AIG unearthed emails showing that the NY Federal Reserve, at that time under the control of now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, strongly encouraged AIG to hold back public announcement of parts of its derivatives portfolio and the billions in collateral payments it made to its dealer counterparties.  Many […]

Tax Avoidance or Smart Investing?

What else can derivatives be blamed for?  OTC equity derivatives are now in the spotlight of the IRS for promoting tax avoidance.  The theory is that an equity swap allows the purchaser to collect dividends on the “swapped” stock without paying the taxes associated with actually owning that stock.  I can certainly see the merit […]

The Trade – OTC derivatives reforms to accelerate automation

“The automation that will result from standardisation of OTC derivatives will make it easier to get fair prices, as well as making it simpler to trade and clear them using electronic means,” Kevin McPartland, senior analyst, TABB Group and author of a recent paper titled ‘OTC Derivatives US Regulatory Update’ told theTRADEnews.com. Full Story Here

Compliance Reporter – TABB: Derivatives Rules Coming This Summer

The bill that eventually emerges from the Senate will resemble the House of Representatives’ bill on most major issues, but there are several details that will be hotly debated, McPartland wrote in a recent report. “Exemptions will be a big issue–i.e. which end users will be exempt, even which buyside firms might be exempt,” he […]

Wall Street Letter – Equities Trading Industry Tackles Latency Measurement

The demand for a latency standard has increased with the rise in high-frequency trading, higher trading volumes and more volatility. Latency has been reduced in some cases to microseconds, which makes measurement difficult, said Kevin McPartland, an analyst with the TABB Group. The recent proliferation of data types means that a trader must use multiple […]

Information Management – Data Centers as Important As Trading Floor, Says Tabb Group

“From a sell side perspective, it means that those guys–major data center providers such as Equinix and Savvis– should look to expand current client footprints as the sell side looks to reduce server scatter (when firms use space in a variety of geographic locations),” McPartland explained to Securities Idustry News. “So if a major dealer is […]

Risk.net – Number of OTC derivatives dealers could double after US reforms

At the moment, there are 15 major dealers in OTC derivatives, according to Kevin McPartland, a senior analyst at the TABB Group and author of a new study,OTC Derivatives U.S. Regulatory Update. He believes the number of major dealers could expand to as many as 30 over the next two to five years, as “the […]

SIN – Budgeting for Latency: If I Shave a Microsecond, Will I See a 10X Profit?

The trick is to make sure the money being spent to remove delays will be more than reimbursed by the profits achieved in the trading strategy that is improved by it, says Kevin McPartland, senior analyst at Tabb Group. “If I’m spending $1M to get one microsecond faster, will I make ten times what I […]

SIN – In Icap's World,Offense is the Best Defense Best Defense

Inter-dealer brokers (IDBs) execute about half of all OTC derivatives trades occurring between dealers; the rest, the dealers trade directly between each other. Language in the House bill could give the IDBs the remaining 50 percent of the market in dealer-to-dealer OTC derivatives trading, according to Kevin McPartland, senior analyst at the Tabb Group. McPartland’s […]

TABB Group Pinpoints the OTC Derivatives Regulatory Impact of The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 4173)

McPartland analyzes the language of the bill, describes what the OTC derivatives reforms can mean for the marketplace and what lies ahead once the Senate passes their version of the bill by early summer 2010 before a compromise bill is readied for President Obama’s signature. “Depending on the complexion of the bill enacted,” he says, “there […]